Oroho replaces Weiner on council

Vernon - James J. Oroho was appointed to replace Ira Weiner on the Vernon Township Council at a meeting on Monday evening. Choosing from a slate of three candidates that included Andrea Cocula and Glenn McLaughlin, the council voted unanimously in favor of Oroho. The new councilman will fill the seat left vacant by the recent resignation of eight-year Councilman and former Mayor Weiner, a land-use attorney. Weiner cited the press of duties associated with a position he took in June with the firm of Beattie Padovano, LLC of Montvale. Weiner formerly had been associated with Azrak & Associates LLC in Pompton Plains. Weiner hadn’t attended a council meeting since July 24. Last Saturday, more than 40 members of the Sussex County Republican Committee met to select a slate of three Vernon registered voters as prospective council members, Councilman Austin Carew said. Cocula and McLaughlin along with a third candidate yet to be named will have another chance at a council seat when the mayor and council vote at the next meeting on Oct. 2, to fill the seat Philip Weiler left empty when he resigned from the council last Wednesday. Weiler, a lieutenant in a police department in Bergen County, was elected to the Vernon Council in November 2004. After being assigned to a night shift in May, Weiler found attending council meetings increasingly impossible and had not attended a meeting since April 24. Oroho, known to his friends as Jim, grew up in the Newfoundland section of West Milford, and calls Highland Lakes his hometown. A member of a family that he describes as being exceptionally close and deeply committed to public service, Oroho is no stranger to the Vernon political scene, having served on the zoning board since 2005. Oroho’s brother, Steven V. Oroho, served as a Franklin Borough council member until recently, and was elected in 2005 to the County Board of Freeholders. Another brother, Chief Warrant Officer Third Class Tom Oroho, now is serving as a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot in Kirkuk, Iraq. Describing himself as an independent thinker, Oroho said that he likes to gather ideas from people with many viewpoints, and form his own opinion after analyzing all the alternative views. “I’m keenly aware that I am accountable for my decisions, and I want to do what’s best for Vernon’s taxpayers,” Oroho said. “I’m very excited by this opportunity and I’m looking forward to working with the council and members of the community in moving the vision of Vernon ahead. More work needs to be done.” Oroho observed that Vernon has witnessed significant progress over the past few years, and he mentioned the Main Street project, Maple Grange Community Park, the redevelopment plan, and the open-space preservation program as being especially significant. Oroho began his professional career 30 years ago with the investment firm of P. Morgan Chase, where he serves as senior vice president of corporate financial reporting. “My financial experience of 30 years will bring value to the council and my background will complement the skill sets of the other council members,” Oroho said, adding that he thought that his financial expertise would be of special value to the township with regard to the economic issues associated with the development of the town center and the expansion of Mountain Creek. Oroho and his wife Gail have lived in Highland Lakes for the past 15 years, and he has served as trustee of the Highland Lakes Country Club. The three Oroho children, Megan, 20, Kelly, 17, and Patrick, 15, went through the Vernon public school system from elementary through middle school. Following in her father’s footsteps, Megan is an accounting major at Monmouth University, and the two younger children both attend Pope John High School in Sparta, which Oroho also attended. Oroho received his baccalaureate degree from Saint Francis College in Loretto, Pa., and in 1986 passed the New Jersey certified public accounting examination. Describing himself as an avid reader, with a particular fondness for American history, Oroho says biographies of presidents are at the top of his of reading list. He also enjoys playing golf, and he runs several miles every day. “Jim is a respected member of the community,” said Mayor Janet Morrison. “He will be a most welcome member of the Vernon council.” Upon being queried by Democrat Jeff Blank about why the two councilmen had waited to submit their resignations until the Sept. 1 election deadline had passed, the mayor said two reasons stood out, the most important being reluctance to put the township through the annoyance and expense of holding an election. Blank ran unsuccessfully for the council seat Austin Carew won in November 2005. “Vernon voters chose to hold council elections every two years,” Morrison said. “We thought we should honor that choice.” Morrison also said that she had begged Weiner to try to hang on a little longer and to try to work out a way to remain on the council until his term ended. Reflecting on the process of selecting a new council member, Deputy Mayor Neil Desmond said that a statute governed the method used to select a slate of candidates for a council seat. “There are qualified people sitting in the audience right now, but as much as we might like to handpick a candidate, we have to follow the statute in making our choice,” Desmond said, adding that a seat left vacant when a council member resigns before completing a two-year term gives the political party to which that council member belongs the duty to fill the seat with a person belonging to the same party. “Had a Democrat resigned from the council, another Democrat would have been put in his place,” Desmond said.