Hawthorne Republican Organization

Barbara Zakur, Chairwoman

Hawthorne, NJ, Feb 4, 2010 – The Borough Council last night appointed   John Lane to fill the vacant seat on the council left by the resignation of Shirley Shortway-English last month.

Lane, a former borough councilman, is a licensed electrical inspector, and inspector of hotels and multiple dwellings and a sub code official currently employed by the Township of Mahwah.

Lane served 12 years as a councilman, including three terms as council president. He chaired the public works committee and retired from the council in 2002.

Borough Republican Municipal Chairwoman Barbara Zakur said the Republican committee submitted three names to the borough council and lane was chosen by a 5 to 1 vote.

She said Lane is extremely qualified to fill out Shortway-English’s term. “John is an experienced public official who can hit the ground running and begin doing the work of a councilman immediately,” she said. “With John, there is no learning curve.”

Lane said he was honored to again serve the people of Hawthorne. “I am gong to do everything I can to help the residents of borough. I think my expertise will help the council move on a number of pressing issues. I can hit the ground running and help the council move forward and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

Besides Lane, the Republican County Committee submitted two other names:  David Schroeder and Mark Joustra.  Council president John Bertollo said each of the candidates presented good qualifications to serve on the council, but none could match Lane’s depth of experience.

“Given the economic environment we face this year and the tasks that lay ahead of the borough, I feel we need an experienced hand on the council who knows how borough government operates and how our town interacts with state agencies – and John Lane has that knowledge,” said Bertollo.

Mayor Richard Goldberg, who served with Lane on the council, said he welcomed Lane’s expertise and is looking forward to his input as the mayor  is striving to pursue economic development opportunities for the borough.