CLARK — The Clark Council met on Monday to update residents of the township on upcoming events and the continued aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
Mayor Sal Bonaccorso started the meeting off with the mayor’s report. He thanked all of the first responders who helped Clark residents on the night that Hurricane Ida flooded the streets of the municipality. “They were working; they were wading in water up to their chest, trying to get people out of cars, evacuating houses,” said Mayor Bonaccorso.
Councilman Patrick O’Connor agreed with the mayor and also thanked all of the first responders. “I had the opportunity to see them firsthand when they came to my friend’s house to drop off a pump…They’re there when you need them,” he said.
He continued by saying the Department of Public Works (DPW) has been working hard to clean the streets of the township and putting all debris in the parking lot of the Clark Pool. During the flooding, the township lost a DPW dump truck, a fire truck and a few police cars, as they were all at auto repair shops.
Councilwoman Angel Albanese said that the library is open for the fall/winter hours, including Sunday hours from 1 to 5 p.m. Senior movies also are starting again after not being available since the start of the pandemic. Friends of the Library will hold a vendor fundraiser on Saturday, October 2, which will feature a craft fair. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and all proceeds will benefit the library. The Clark Public Library can now be chosen as a charity on Amazon Smile. Residents are encouraged to pick Clark Public Library when purchasing on Amazon in order to donate funds to the library.
Councilman Frank Mazzarella updated the public on the amount of debris that was collected by the DPW. He said the “DPW has removed over 2,500 yards of debris curbside and over three tons of metal items.
“If you still have items to be picked up…DPW will pick those items up, so email DPW@OurClark.com,” he added.
Bulky and appliance pickups require appointments to be scheduled.
Councilman William Smith said that registration for Fall recreation programs is now underway. “If you’re interested in registering for classes, please do so ASAP. If there’s a lack of registrants, classes do risk being canceled,” he noted.
Clark UNICO will hold its Italian-American festival from Thursday, October 7, through Sunday, October 10. Anyone interested in volunteering for the festival is encouraged to talk to Ralph Bernardo in the recreation office.
The reservoir committee is organizing a cleanup of the area on Saturday, October 16. Anyone interested in helping to clean the reservoir can come to the Municipal Building to organize and go to different parts of the reservoir. Cleanup will run from 8 a.m. to noon and refreshments and food will be served at the end. Any questions can be directed to Mark Hayden at the Municipal Building.
Scott McCabe, supervisor of the Clark DPW, thanked the governing body for its accolades on the job the department has been doing but redirected it to the employees working for him. “It was a lot of my guys. The whole department came together as a whole and they constantly worked non-stop to get the town clean. I just commend all the guys in the DPW crew that did the extra work and stayed there,” Mr. McCabe said. He pointed out that the DPW is still maintaining the township, with landscaping and the like, while also dealing with flooded houses around the township.
