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Right where we want them… Two
HRI staffers elected to three chairperson positions By a unanimously vote on January 13, Captain Bill Sheehan was elected
Chairperson of the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Advisory Board, the body
charged with administering funds collected through bonding and a dedicated tax
approved by County voters in 1998. Its mission is to review requests for open
space, recreation, and historic preservation funding and to approve projects that
the Board deems to best serve the public good. The Board is comprised of
government officials, business people, civic leaders and representatives from
the environmental community. Captain Bill has been a member of the Board since
its inception. “When we started campaigning to establish the Trust Fund, there were
some who questioned whether there was even any open space left in Bergen
County,” recalled Capt. Bill. “But by
this time next year, the Board will have funded over thirty projects to the
tune of $40 million.” The original ballot measure approved in 1998 has a
five-year “sunset clause” meaning that if the Fund is to continue past 2003,
the voters must once again give their approval. “There is still a lot of work
to be done,” the Captain added. “The people of Bergen County realize that, and
I’m certain they will support reauthorization of the Trust Fund because it gets
results.” Just nine days later on January 21, the Trustees of the Meadowlands
Conservation Trust (MCT) unanimously elected Capt. Bill to serve as Chairman of
that board as well. The MCT is a state-chartered land trust with the power to
acquire, hold and manage lands and easements for conservation within the
Meadowlands and the entire Hackensack River watershed. In his last official act
before retirement, Richard Kane of the New Jersey Audubon Society nominated
Capt Bill. Other Trustees include
Commissioner Susan Bass Levin, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell representing the
Meadowlands Mayor’s Committee, Abigail Fair of the NJ Association of
Environmental Commissions, and Vice-chairman Mark Becker of Bergen Save the
Watershed Action Network (SWAN). In a related development, Hackensack Riverkeeper Program Director Hugh
Carola was recently named Chairperson of the Watershed Management Area 5 (WMA5)
Education and Outreach Committee. The EOC is responsible for such projects as
the new Passaic, Hackensack, and Hudson River Watersheds boundary signs on
Routes 3, 4, 7, 17, 46 and 80 and is currently exploring the feasibility of
producing a short documentary about the natural and human history of the
Hackensack River Watershed. |