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November 16, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 9
Last week, voters in Allendale and Saddle River endorsed the candidates who ran uncontested races for the mayor and council seats in those municipalities. Allendale Incumbent Allendale Councilwoman Amy Wilczynski received 653 ballots and Allendale Planning Board Member Jacqueline McSwiggan received 678 ballots in their uncontested bids for seats on the borough’s governing body. Both are Republicans. Wilczynski owns and operates an ornamental gardening company with an
Voters endorse candidates in uncontested local elections
emphasis on the environment. She is seeking election to a second term. She is the council’s resident expert on trees and other environmental matters and has been an active proponent of the revitalization of Crestwood Lake. McSwiggan, a retired executive at the Bank of New York, is president of the Allendale Municipal Alliance, a group that strives to prevent drug and alcohol abuse. She is a former member of the Allendale K-8 Board of Education. McSwiggan won election to the seat that was long held by Robert Schoepflin, who decided not to seek re-election after many years of service on the council. Saddle River Saddle River’s registered voters have endorsed Mayor Samuel Raia and Councilmen Michael Mutter and Michael Toomey. This Republican slate ran unopposed in the Nov. 8 general election. Raia received 548 ballots, Mutter received 534, and Toomey 530. These figures include absentee ballots. Raia is now completing his first term as the borough’s mayor. Before being elected to the borough’s top post in 2007, Raia spent two terms as a councilman and served as a member of the planning board. During his first term on the council, he spearheaded the reorganization of the police department and the creation of the borough’s 24-hour police station and dispatch facility. He also headed the approval and development of the fire department’s public safety water lines and the Rindlaub Park improvement
program. A long-time borough resident, Raia has spent over three decades as a corporate manager. He helped make Raia Industries the state’s largest concrete supplier. He later sold that business and developed Raia Properties and Raia Self Storage. Councilman Mutter received a bachelor’s degree from Saint John’s University, College of Pharmacy and a master’s from New Jersey Institute of Technology. He received a Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship AHA/HRET. He is pharmacy manager and director of patient safety at The Valley Hospital. He is a member of the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists and of the New Jersey Hospital Association. Toomey holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, and logged over 40 years as a sales and marketing executive in the computer hardware, software, and service business. He now runs his own small business in semi-retirement.