BERGENFIELD, N.J. -- The Mayor and two incumbent Bergenfield council members were sworn to new terms of office Friday, Jan. 1.
Mayor Norman Schmelz, elected by only a few votes against a strong challenge in November, was sworn in for his first full term as mayor by GOP Congressman E. Scott Garrett.
Schmelz was previously elected to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Timothy Driscoll.
Councilman Thomas A. Lodato, whose father James is a former Bergenfield mayor, is now serving his fourth term on the council.
Lodato’s oath was given by his wife Mary Ann Salemi, a Hackensack attorney, and his teenaged daughter held the Bible.
Councilman Hernando Rivera was sworn to his second term by 38th District state Senator Robert Gordon of Fair Lawn, accompanied by his wife, children, and other family members.
Rivera is a native of Colombia who moved to Bergenfield just a decade ago.
Other well-wishers included Assemblyman Joseph Lagana, Paramus; Freeholder Tracy Zur of Franklin Lakes, and Freeholder Thomas Sullivan of Montvale, who grew up in Bergenfield and lived there many years before moving to Montvale.
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