HUDSON COUNTY — County Freeholder Chairman Eliu Rivera was admitted to Jersey City Medical Center a few days after he was sworn in as the chairman for 2012, as a precaution, sources said. Officials said he had been running a fever, and because he already has a history of lung problems – which had brought him near death several times last year – the hospital admitted him.
This forced him to miss the freeholders’ first regular meeting and caucus, and came at a time when the state has asked him to step down as a member of the Liberty Academy Charter School board for being among dozens of officials on school boards around the state who failed to meet the deadline for a criminal background check. He had apparently made an appointment for the check, but local officials said Rivera has been in and out of the hospital for months, possibly explaining his inability to meet the state mandated requirement in time.
The requirement is due to new legislation, and the state released a long list last week of board members who failed to meet it in time.