North Bergen Freeholder Anthony Vainieri (D-8) and Jersey City Freeholder Bill O’Dea (D-2) maintained their leadership positions on the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders for the second year in a row.Â
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“The phone doesn’t stop ringing sometimes, you can’t please everybody, but we try to. And that’s what we’re here for: to serve the people,” Vainieri said at the board’s annual reorganization meeting earlier today.
” … We did a lot in the last couple of years here: a lot of building, parks, unbelievably, looking forward to a police academy, looking forward to a new high school … this is what we’re doing with the taxpayers money.”
Vainieri, who was first elected in 2014 and then re-elected last year, is a close ally of state Senator (D-32)/North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco and is a top tier candidate to run for commissioner in the 2019 municipal elections if a spot becomes available.
Like Vainieri, O’Dea, a freeholder since 1997, also thanked his colleagues and the county workers, including County Executive Tom DeGise, for their continued support.
“There’s a lot of important work to be done over this next year, and in fact over the next three years of your term. We’ve enjoyed a wonderful relationship, for 15 years, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot of things, build a lot of buildings and bridges and basically stay out of terrible,” DeGise said after swearing in Vainieri.
The only change from last year is that Hoboken Freeholder Anthony Romano (D-5) will serve as the board’s chairman pro tempore, replacing West New York Freeholder Caridad Rodriguez (D-7).
Considering Hoboken taxpayers pay a much higher share of County revenue then it gets back, the Freeholders need to figure out a way to make it more equitable. Can Freeholder Romano make that happen ?