Glen Ridge Council Opens 2025 With Temporary Budget, New Meeting Calendar and Board Appointments

At its Council Reorganization Meeting on January 6, 2025, the Glen Ridge Council opened the year by adopting a temporary 2025 operating budget to keep the borough running while officials finalize the full spending plan. The stopgap measure, allowed under state law, caps spending at just over a quarter of 2024's totals, providing $4,427,018 for day-to-day borough operations, $429,901 for the Water Utility, and $136,811 for the Pool Utility, along with $200,000 set aside for capital improvements and equipment.

The Council also locked in its schedule for the year, setting regular meetings for most second and fourth Mondays at 7:30 p.m., with a handful of Tuesday exceptions, preceded each time by a 6:30 p.m. workshop session. A Public Safety Committee will meet monthly at 5:30 p.m., and the Council already picked January 5, 2026 as the date for next year's reorganization meeting.

In other organizational business, the Council reappointed attorney John Malyska and the firm Meyner & Landis to serve as Municipal Attorney for 2025, and confirmed Mayor Mans' full slate of appointments to borough boards and commissions, including the Board of Adjustment, Planning Board, Board of Health, Library Board of Trustees, Historic Preservation Commission, Shade Tree Commission, Environmental Advisory Committee, and Municipal Alliance Committee. Officer designations were also confirmed, naming Michael Zichelli as Borough Administrator, Sean Quinn as Chief of Police, and Mark Clemente as Municipal Court Judge.

The Council rounded out its reorganization business by adopting the borough's 2025 employee holiday schedule, covering standard holidays from New Year's Day through Christmas and the day after; approving the amended 2025 Bylaws of the Borough Council; and authorizing $600 in petty cash each for the Current Fund and the Police Department. Mayor Mans closed the meeting by delivering a prepared speech reviewing the borough's 2024 activities and laying out goals for 2025.