Before I deliver my Mayors Message, I would ask everyone to turn to your left, right, in front of you in back of you and say hello and introduce yourselves to each other.  

Good evening, Happy New Year and thank you for attending our 2026 Reorganization meeting of the Borough of Waldwick.  

I would like to thank Councilwoman Michele Weber and Councilman Mark Ramundo for their service on the Town Council. Thank you for your hard work, tireless efforts and genuine love for Waldwick. We will miss you.

To our newly elected Councilwomen, Angela Smith and Courtney Wingate, congratulations on your election and welcome to this Council, whose sole focus is to serve the residents of Waldwick and to strive to make this community a wonderful place to live and raise a family.

To Council Members Katie Cericola-Drake, Mike Ritchie, Andy Brennecke and Joe Martinello, thank you for your hard work and unselfish dedication this past year in moving Waldwick forward. 

To my wife Marion and all the council members’ spouses, thank you for all your support, love and understanding you give us as we work together for Waldwick

I want to welcome our new Borough Administrator, Tatiana Marquis, and our new Police Chief, Troy Seifert, and wish them great success in their new roles. I look forward to working with both of you as we strengthen Waldwick even further. 

To our Borough Clerk Kelley Halewicz, CFO Colleen Ennis, Assistant Clerk Melissa Librizzi, Waldwick Police Dept, Fire Dept, Ambulance Corp, DPW, CERT and all our Borough Employees, you are the backbone of our community and without your dedication to your jobs we would not be able to function as a borough. 

I would like to thank our appointed professionals and consultants for your diligence in providing guidance throughout the year.

To all our residents who volunteer and put in many hours on different town committees, clubs and other organizations in Waldwick.  I have always said there is a spirit of service here in Waldwick that is at the very heart of our community that holds us together. Without you, we could not accomplish all that we have and be the borough that we are. 

I would like to thank our businesses and welcome the new businesses that have made Waldwick their home this past year. Please support all our Waldwick businesses by shopping locally – your patronage is so important to their success!

This past year we have had many accomplishments and improvements throughout the Borough, we continued with our goals and projects for our residents and community. Here is some of the work we have done. Please look on our website for a complete list of projects that have been set in motion.

The Borough added two Special Law Enforcements Officers to the PD roster in support of our relationship with the Board of Education. These SLEO’s provide added security at all the schools and traffic support during drop-off and pick-up times. The program has been a tremendous success. 

The Police Department is also under new leadership with Chief Seifert. We wish him Lt. Passaretti, and newly sworn-in Lt. Moore, and the entire Department safety and success in 2026. 

The Borough replaced all the playground equipment at Lions Park in Borough Park. We are excited for a ribbon cutting in the Spring to officially open the new playground which we know will be a busy community meeting location for many of our families in town.

The Borough invested in new servers, firewalls, security cameras and computer hardware increasing added efficiency, productivity, scalability, and an increased cyber security footprint.

The Borough completed paving on the following roads in 2025 – Rustic Dr, Ackerman Dr, a portion of Grove St, Richard Dr, Charles Terr, Albert Pl, Herbert Dr, a portion of Floral Ln and Schuler Ave. We also completed work on Hudson Ave in preparation of future paving.  

A major HVAC & roofing renovation is underway at the pistol range and is expected to be completed in early 2025. This valuable facility allows our Police Department to meet rigorous training requirements without leaving Waldwick and serves as a training facility for other local agencies.

Creation of a Water Quality Subcommittee - led by our professional water consultants.

We addressed traffic safety concerns, especially around the schools. New Blinking Crosswalks were installed on Crescent Ave near the school and near the library.

2026 will be an opportunity for the Borough to continue providing the high-quality services that residents have come to expect.

From the exceptional services provided by our first responders to garbage and recycling collection to snow and leaf removal to the road paving program to easily accessible and accommodating Borough employees, we strive to help all residents to the best of our ability by providing vital information on programs aimed at helping seniors, veterans and homeowners. 

While inflationary pressures and increased cost of goods and services continue to affect all municipalities, the same way our residents are dealing with the same challenges at home, we are forced to make difficult budgetary decisions.

The Waldwick Water Department will be our primary focus. Together with our professionals, we will lay out a road map to continue addressing the issues that our residents have dealt with firsthand. 

We will use all resources available to the Borough to better understand our water system’s challenges and make improvements. 

These are just some of the items we are working on with much more that will come up. There will be challenges in 2026 and we will respond to them with diligence, determination, hard work and bold decisions.

In Waldwick, we do not look backwards for a very long time. We keep on moving forward, opening new doors with new ideas. We are curious and curiosity will lead us down new paths that will lead to success. 

Albert Einstein said, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

Our destiny is ours to determine. How we go is ours to control. Let us continue our destiny to lead Waldwick forward never looking back but always looking to our future.

Let us never let the light of Waldwick burn out, rather let the light of Waldwick light the way to our future.

As we enter 2026, may we find inspiration all around us and motivation within us to be the very best version of ourselves.

May we heal from the past, live fully in the present and dream boldly for the future.

Let all our dreams turn into reality and all your efforts into great achievements. May 2026 bring all of you good health, joy, peace, prosperity and happiness.

May God continue to bless all of you, our country and the place we all call home Waldwick.

Mayor Tom Giordano