Kathleen Mazza with her third-grade class at Marshall Hill School in 1985. (File photo)
West Milford had administrative changes in 1985, with Township Manager Jack Terry, Recreation Director Gary Webb and Treasurer Judith Tiernan leaving their positions.
Terry became township administrator in Moorestown.
New faces on the Township Council were Mayor Stewart Perry and Deputy Mayor Edwin Aldrich Jr.
There also were new appointments on nearly every advisory board and committee.
West Milford lost a $6 million tax appeal case to the City of Newark over watershed land.
The state Department of Transportation awarded a $74,150 grant for resurfacing the entire length of Lincoln Avenue from Marshall Hill Road to Greenwood Lake Turnpike.
The township applied for an additional $234,350 to construct and realign a dangerous curve on Warwick Turnpike between Union Valley Road and White Road. That project was not selected for state funding. Township officials were told they could resubmit an application for the project in the next three years.
Lake Isle developer Hy Diamond asked for and received Planning Board permission for a one-year extension on approvals granted by the board for his four-phase condo campground development off Otterhole Road near Gordon Lakes.
Kimberly Kimble, a student of Nancy King Performing Arts Studio, started her dance to stardom on TV’s “Star Search.”
The Board of Education introduced a $20.3 million.
J.J.’s Landing owner John Joseph proposed (and later built) 16 townhouses on Lakeside Road after the public unsuccessfully fought to preserve a historic house there.
Bob Coyman bought state-owned former bowling alley property on Greenwood Lake Turnpike. His plan to to renovate the building and create a roller-skating rink was not accomplished.
February
The Passaic County Board of Taxation ordered all towns to undergo a tax revaluation by 1988.
Local officials blamed the Newark tax appeal case and cost of the township’s garbage contract for a proposed 74-point property tax increase.
Local volunteer fire departments until this time had to generate funds for their equipment without municipal aid. The fire chiefs, seeking an annual appropriation of $100,000 from the municipal budget, urged the Township Council to pay for at least one firetruck annually to aid each of the six volunteer fire companies. The council met the chiefs halfway by allocating $60,000 in the 1985 budget to buy a firetruck in 1986.
Benzine contamination was found in wells supplying Stainsby Court homes and an investigation and action to correct the problem got under way.
Three local 13-year-olds were charged with setting a fire that gutted the two-story retreat center building at the CYO Camp on Nosenzo Pond Road.
March
Township officials asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency to designate Highlands Aquifer Systems as a sole aquifer to protect area groundwater from being polluted by any proposal to build a landfill site.
A Morsetown Road homeowner shot and killed a suspected burglar and escaped manslaughter charges based on a county prosecutor’s decision.
The Township Council adopted a $100,000 bond ordinance to finance a neighborhood park on six acres at Mount Laurel, based on a Green Acres low-interest loan approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Preliminary construction started on the Monksville Reservoir.
The Rev. Mychal Judge completed his time as pastor of St. Joseph Church, Echo Lake.
Entering the race for a seat on the Township Council were incumbent George Eckert, Carl Richko, Stewart Perry and Edwin Aldrich Jr.
April
Hewitt resident Robert Langendoen and his specially trained German Shepherd, Flash, helped New York State Police locate the body of an IBM worker who was believed to have been abducted and killed.
Connie Nobis left her seat on the Board of Education after serving eight years, saying she “did not have the energy to play political games anymore.”
The council adopted the municipal budget calling for a 23 percent increase in the tax levy.
May
An 18-year-old was indicted by a Passaic County grand jury in the deaths of three companions in a January motor vehicle accident.
With Perry and Aldrich elected under the nonpartisan form of government in effect, Councilman Peter Gillen said he was confident that he and the two new council members would form a voting majority and promised a change in spending policy.
Upper Greenwood Lake homeowners voted in favor of the Papscoe/Riverside voluntary road assessment program.
The annual Greenwood Lake regatta was successful despite a small boat fire that forced a power boat off its course.
June
An 11-year-old boy suffered a fatal head injury while playing in a Little League game.
Passaic County freeholders promised that the county would not put a landfill in West Milford in “any way, shape or form.”
Parents threatened to boycott Paradise Knoll School unless the state Board of Health put it back on the priority list for asbestos removal.
The Board of Adjustment, despite strong objections from High Crest Lake area homeowners, granted Victor Marchifava a use variance to operate a junk yard on a 6/10th portion of his Concours Automotive Recycling operation on Route 23 North.
July
Under the nonpartisan form of government, the annual council reorganization meeting was held. When the council voted for a chairman (who was called mayor), Stewart Perry and Edwin Aldrich Jr. were appointed mayor and deputy mayor.
Apparently, some promises made earlier to Gillen were not kept and he was not voted council president (mayor). A party to celebrate Gillen’s expected appointment as mayor at Floyd and Ann’s Bar and grill had been planned with invited guests.
Gillen and his supporters were “devastated” that the vote went to Perry. But in true Irish spirit, he and his supporters partied anyway.
Administrative assistant Michael Pellechio was appointed acting township manager, and Martin Murphy was given a six-month term as township attorney. (Gillen had wanted to appoint a new attorney.)
The council battled fiercely for months with deadlocks in votes on people to serve on boards and advisory committees.
The Board of Education declared an emergency for Paradise and Marshall Hill schools, saying they would not reopen in the fall unless the asbestos in them was removed. The removal work did get under way.
A Superior Court judge ordered the removal of a group of trailers (in violation of the township zoning ordinance) on a Paradise Road site where a nudist camp had been.
The state DEP announced plans to improve the Greenbrook water system in a two-phase $2,.6 million project to supply potable water to Stainsby Road homeowners, whose wells were contaminated by a benzine plume.
August
The township agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Newark on an appeal of the tax appeals case that reduced the former court-mandated $6 million rebate in back taxes to $4.35 million.
Residents continued fighting to get the Marchifava junkyard use variance overturned.
A $109 million grant allocated by the House of Representatives for the Clean Lakes Act earmarked $200,000 for Greenwood Lake restoration.
September
Board of Education members discussed a proposed policy to allow high school officials to search student lockers. The board adopted a search and seizure policy that applied to all township students despite objections of residents who said they were not notified in advance that the policy was to be considered. It was adopted by the board in December.
One of the worst fires in township history gutted a six-store complex on Union Valley Road at the Macopin Road intersection, resulting in damages of $500,000. This row of stores had replaced ones that were destroyed in a massive fire years earlier.
Hurricane Gloria blew through the area, taking down hundreds of trees and causing power outages and minor damage.
October
After three months of debate, all seats on the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment were filled.
The council upheld Marchifava’s junkyard license. Foes said they would go to court to try to block the council’s action.
Monksville Reservoir began to take shape, with Greenwood Lake Turnpike redirected by project contractors.
November
Recycling Day in the township was a great success through efforts of recycling director Richard Gros and volunteers.
The township handed over a $4.35 million check to Newark to refund the city’s overpayment of taxes on watershed holdings from 1975 to 1985,
December
Mary Kate Felber, a local resident affiliated with the King Centre for the Performing Arts, was chosen to appear on TV program “Star Search.”
A 64-year-old hunter, who appeared to have suffered a heart attack, was found dead in the woods.
A historic survey of local sites and structures was completed and made available by an independent firm hired to conduct the inventory.
Holidays were celebrated in a traditional manner without action to ban religious themes from public places.