Silverio “Sal” Vega of West New York, the chair of the county’s Board of Freeholders, has released the 2002 committee assignments for the board. The freeholders act for the county as the city council acts for a city, making policy and hiring contractors for the county’s business, including the roads, buildings, courts, and the county jail.
The board of Hudson County freeholders includes Vice-Chairman William O’Dea of Jersey City, Chairman Pro Tempore Barry Dugan of Bayonne, Nidia Davila-Colon and William Braker of Jersey City, Al Cifelli of Kearny, Maurice Fitzgibbons of Hoboken, Thomas Liggio of North Bergen and Union City Mayor Brian Stack.
The committee appointments are as follows: Hudson County Board of School Estimate, Vega and Fitzgibbons; Hudson County Community College Board of School Estimate, Vega and Davila-Colon; Contract Review, Chairman Cifelli, Braker and O’Dea; County Government Oversight and Policy Review, Chairman Braker, Dugan and Fitzgibbons; Economic Development and Housing, Chairman Stack, Braker, Vega; Education, Chairman Stack, Braker, Vega; Environment, Health and Human Services, Chairperson Davila-Colon, Fitzgibbons, and O’Dea.
Also, Ethics, Chairman Dugan, Cifelli, O’Dea; Finance Budget and Administration, Chairman Vega, Fitzgibbons, Cifelli; Hudson County Improvement Authority, Chairman and Liaison Cifelli, Alternate Dugan; Hudson County Planning Board, Member Liggio, Alternate Stack; New Jersey Association of Counties (NJAC), Representative Fitzgibbons, Alternate Liggio; Personnel, Chairman Dugan, Liggio, O’Dea; Public Resources and Emergency Management, Chairperson O’Dea, Dugan, and Liggio.
Also, Public Safety and Department of Corrections, Chairman Braker, O’Dea, Dugan; Purchasing, Chairperson Liggio, Braker, Dugan; Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Chairperson Fitzgibbons, O’Dea, Stack; Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs, Chairperson Dugan, Liggio, Stack; Welfare, Welfare-to-Work, Chairperson Stack, Cifelli, Davila-Colon; Women and Minority Affairs, Chairperson Davila-Colon, Braker, O’Dea; and Workforce Investment Board, Chairman and Liaison Stack, Alternate Fitzgibbons.
Vega disclosed that the Education Committee is a new addition to the committee system this year and praised the increased use of that system since he became chairman as responsible for “several outstanding advances in government.”
“By processing most of the problems and challenges through the committee system first, it ensures an increased flow of information and eventually maximum participation by members of the Board of Freeholders in the decision making process,” he said.
To reach the freeholder board, call (201) 795-6022. The board’s headquarters is in 567 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City.