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Christina M. Hinke for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood TimesA CHALLENGING COURSE...Some kids try out the obstacle course offered upby Child's Play Challenge Courses at Sunday’s Rockin’ For Autism fundraiser atLaGrande Park in Fanwood.

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Courtesy of Tom KranzFUTURE EMTS...The Father Nelligan Council of the Knights of Columbusrecognized police officers, firefighters and rescue squad members from ScotchPlains and Fanwood during their 44th Annual Shield Awards presentation at St.Bartholomew the Apostle Church on April 24. Pictured here are the ScotchPlains Rescue Squad Cadet Corps led by EMT Chang Yaramothu. The awardwas presented by Chief Carolyn Sorge, at left. The ceremonies were emceed byGrand Knight Don Yost, right.

Courtesy of Tom KranzFORTY-SIX YEARS OF SERVICE...Fanwood Volunteer Fire Departmentfirefighter Russ Hamill was recognized for his 46 years of service at the FatherNelligan Council of the Knights of Columbus 44th Annual Shield Awardspresentation held April 24 at St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church. Alsopictured are Grand Knight Don Yost, left, and Assistant Fanwood Fire ChiefDave Zawodniak, right.

Courtesy of Tom KranzLAW ENFORCEMENT AWARD...Fanwood Police Officer Mike Rusin wasrecognized at last week’s Father Nelligan Council of the Knights of Columbus 44thAnnual Shield Awards for a check fraud bust that led to a larger fraud ring andarrests related to a murder. Presenting the award to him is Fanwood Police ChiefRichard Trigo.

Courtesy of Tom KranzFORTY YEARS OF SERVICE TO SPFD...Scotch Plains Volunteer Fire Depart-ment firefighter Bill Malone is recognized for 40 years of service to the departmentat last week’s Father Nelligan Council of the Knights of Columbus 44th AnnualShield Awards. The award was presented to him by Battalion Chief Dan Biglin,right.

his three daughters and their spouses,Elizabeth Kopin (Keith), Laurie Call(Richard) and Amy Slusak (Steve); hissister and her husband, Jean Mulligan(Robert); and his eight grandchildren.

Funeral services for Mr. Johnstonwere held on Saturday, April 27, atAll Saints’ Episcopal Church.

Mr. Populus lived in Fanwood foralmost 50 years while raising his family.He died last week at JFK Medical Centerin Edison following a long illness.

Mr. Populus served several terms asa borough councilman in Fanwood be-ginning in 1993. During those terms, heserved as council president and councilliaison to the borough recreation com-mission, shade tree commission and thecouncil’s public works committee.

According to his obituary, he wasinstrumental in creating a master plan forborough parks and helped secure fund-ing for them. He also spearheaded theformation of the first merchants’ asso-ciation in 1993 and later created com-mittees bringing together business, vol-unteer and community leaders to beginthe rebirth of Fanwood’s downtown.

“His legacy lives on in the redevelop-ment that has shaped our town and con-tinues today,” according to his obituary.

Mr. Populus was the first black coun-cil representative elected in Fanwood.He remained politically active inFanwood’s Democratic organization,taking part in committee meetings andfundraisers well into 2018.

“One of the things he was veryproud of was being appointed a realestate commissioner,” said MarilynPopulus, his wife of 59 years, in hisobituary. She has the letter he re-ceived from then-Governor Jim

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Johnston, PopulusMcGreevey confirming his appoint-ment to the New Jersey Real EstateCommission in 2003. His appoint-ment was continued by Acting Gov-ernor Richard Codey and later byGovernor Jon Corzine. Mr. Populusworked as a real estate broker andlater as an appraiser well into his 80s.

“But his greatest achievement inlife was being the perfect father andhusband,” Mrs. Populus said.

According to his obituary, thePopuluses were originally from NewOrleans. They moved to Plainfield in1961. Mr. Populus’ first job after mov-ing to the area was selling lingerie atKorvettes department store in the BlueStar shopping center. He later becamea mail carrier before finally getting hisreal estate license. The Populusesmoved to their house on La GrandeAvenue in Fanwood in 1971, wherethey raised their two sons, William andPeter, and daughter, Erika. All wentthrough the Scotch Plains-Fanwoodpublic school system.

Mr. Populus was a military veteran,first joining the Navy in 1953 and laterjoining the Air Force, the obituarynoted. As luck would have it, his stintsin those branches of the armed forcesdid not require him to serve in eitherthe Korean or Vietnam wars.

“We send our deepest condolencesto Marilyn, Billy, Peter, Erika and thegrandchildren,” Fanwood Mayor Col-leen Mahr said. “I considered Bill aclose friend and confidant. He wassomeone whose opinion and guidanceI sought. I am a better person andmayor because I knew Bill Populus.”

Funeral arrangements for Mr.Populus are pending.

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Freeholders Adopt Budgetwhile Hudson, Middlesex, Morris andMonmouth Counties each has a countypolice agency.

John Bury of Kenilworth said thecounty’s open space trust fund “isbeing raided.”

“Two million (dollars) of that ispaying parks employees,” Mr. Burysaid, explaining that the money istransferred back into the county bud-get. “I think you should be honest andjust get rid of the open space trustfund because you are using it for yourbudget,” he stated.

Todd Milner of Westfield said “thelevel of debt this county is carryingmay be giving a false sense of secu-rity by its credit rating.”

The debt service payment this yearis $71.2 million or 14.53 percent ofthe budget.

Mr. Milner urged the board “tothink about the directions you give tocounty management to forcibly pushdown the debt as much as possible.”

Bruce Paterson of Garwood said

by his calculations overall spendingfor 2019 is the same as it was in 2015while county taxes have gone up $32million over the same five-year span.He noted that the county’s “runningfund balance” grew to $103 millionwhile the annual debt payment is $25million.

“Something is not right with thebudget...as it is out of balance,” hesaid.

Mr. Paterson urged the board toreview the chart he presented to boardmembers, “because the tax increasereally needs to be decreased to zero.”

Finance Director Bibi Taylor re-sponded that the county, “has beensaving quite a bit of operating dollarswhich goes directly to tie into oursurplus on an annual basis.”

She said in 2011 the county taxincrease was $13.8 million, comparedto 2019, which will see a tax increaseof $6.3 million.

During public comments, severalspeakers addressed the proposed 130-foot cell tower at Union County Col-lege in Cranford.

Ray Licata of Dartmouth Road inCranford said a DAS system of smallantennas on each floor of its build-ings would solve UCC’s lack of inte-rior cell coverage in buildings on theCranford campus. He said exteriorcoverage is not an issue as that cover-age has three bars.

He called it a “financial issue,”noting the college will benefit finan-cially by $34,500 annually throughits agreement with Verizon.

“You’re representing us. It can’tjust be pushed to local and state (gov-ernments),” he said, saying a “com-prehensive cell study” is needed.

Mike Morgan of Cranford alsoasked for an “independent study be-fore major disruption is done...in ourcommunity.”

Meghan Leary of Westfield said,“There’s options other than just thisreally huge cell tower.”

John Mulholland of Westfield, whosaid he lives on Harding Street just100 yards from the proposed celltower, said he never received anynotification of the project.

New Fire Truck WouldCost Garwood $1.3 Mil.

By MICHAEL BONACCORSOSpecially Written for The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times

GARWOOD – Fire Chief AllanTweedle and Assistant Chief JohnScalzadonna discussed the FireDepartment’s proposed purchase of anew $1.3 million ladder truck at atown hall-style meeting on Mondayat Lincoln School.

Chief Tweedle said Garwood is theonly municipality in Union Countyaside from Winfield that does nothave a ladder truck. Councilman Ri-chard McCormack, the fire commit-tee chairman who moderated the eventwith Mayor Sara Todisco, had toldthe borough council earlier this yearthat the fire department had been re-questing a new truck for more than 10years and that after a review of how anew truck would provide “enhancedsafety to residents,” he had asked thegoverning body to consider the pur-chase.

The fire department’s existingground ladder cannot reach 20 build-ings on the north side of town, ChiefTweedle said, including ones hous-ing 27 businesses and 130 residentialunits as well as Lincoln School, 72senior-housing residential units, anda church. He said the south side oftown has 18 buildings that are inac-cessible using the department’s cur-rent ground ladder, including build-ings housing 21 businesses, 43 resi-dential units and two churches.

A new ladder truck’s aerial plat-form will enable firefighters to accessbuilding roofs, vent pitched roofs,attach hoses to the platform to fightthe fire and access more area from asingle position, Chief Tweedle ex-plained. He said the ladder truck of-fers a 100-foot reach compared to theground ladder’s 40-foot reach.

The 40-foot reach is calculatedwhen the ladder is directed upright,Chief Tweedle said. When consider-ing a ladder is not utilized “directlyupright,” the ladder’s functional reachis less.

He said an aerial platform — whichhe called a “stable platform to workfrom” — also allows firefighters to“spray down into a fire” with a masterstream spraying 1,500 gallons perminute.

Mayor Todisco said the ladder truckis not an expenditure purchase only

because of redevelopment projectsgetting underway in the borough. Shesaid the purchase is needed for theall-volunteer fire department to con-tinue serving residents.

“The new developments will onlymake the problem worse,” said ChiefTweedle, acknowledging that im-proper equipment that cannot extin-guish a fire at the new developmentscould be fatal for many Garwoodresidents.

The mayor told the audience that,under state regulations, the boroughcannot issue bonds to purchase usedequipment. The new truck would bein operation for 20 to 30 years, ChiefTweedle said. He said most paid firedepartments purchase new trucks ev-ery 15 years, but boasted thatGarwood’s fire department “reallytakes care of our equipment.”

He said the department’s existingapparatus includes three enginetrucks. Engine 4 was purchased in1974, Engine 5 was acquired in 1993and Engine 3 was bought in 2005.

Engine 4, a 1974 Hahn model, is notrecognized under state law as allow-able for service, Chief Tweedle ex-plained. The engine only offers spacefor a two- to three-man cab, containsno water tank and no ground ladders,and has a pump that is not in service.He said the truck would be put intoservice at the chief’s discretion as aworst-case scenario emergency situa-tion if another truck was inoperable.

One resident at the town hall meet-ing asked the chief to clarify why atruck was “not deemed allowable forservice” but was still considered asfunctional by the department. ChiefTweedle responded that the truckwould service the borough if othertrucks were not available.

The department’s other two avail-able engines are 26 years and 14years old, Chief Tweedle said. If pur-chased, the new ladder truck wouldbe stored in the fire station, replacingthe 1974 Hahn engine.

Another resident questioned theneed for the purchase, saying he “cansleep easily at night” and pointing outthat buildings that cannot be reachednow have not been reached before.

Mayor Todisco said a second townhall-style meeting will be held onTuesday, May 7.