Week in Review: Freeholder Election Voided; Council Makes Changes

: A new GOP Freeholder nominee is expected to be named Monday. The Morris County Republican Committee is holding a special convention to choose the person who will face Democrat Trushcha Quattrone in November's general election. The convention takes place at 7 p.m Monday at Zeris Inn, Route 46 in Mountain Lakes. The special convention is required following Superior Court Assignment Judge Thomas L. Weisenbeck's move Tuesday to overturn the narrow primary victory of Montville's William "Hank" Lyon. 

: The Parsippany Troy-Hills Township Council elected new leadership and filled a vacated seat during its Tuesday agenda meeting. Following the resignation of President John Fox, the council filled Fox's unexpired term seat with Republican council nominee Paul Carifi Jr. The body's new president is former vice president Michael dePierro; Brian Stanton was elected as the new vice president. Former president Fox resigned to take a seat on the Morris County Board of Elections.

:  At Tuesday's Town Council meeting, a second public hearing was held on the town's contract with Synagro, a sewage sludge processing firm. If the pact is approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Division of Local Government Services, the Parsippany-Troy Hills Bio-Energy Center, L.L.C., a Synagro company, will upgrade the town's incinerator and wastewater treatment plant to make them more energy efficient. Attorney John Wyciskala said this could save the township an estimated $50,000 to $100,000 per year. If all goes through as officials hope, the upgraded plant should open in 2014.

: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities will hold public hearings Sept. 26 and 27 to solicit public comments on how power companies prepared for and responded to Hurricane Irene. Several towns, including Parsippany, expressed frustration with how Jersey Central Power & Light, the company that provides electricty to the township, communicated during outages that affected about 2,000 customers in town and lasted, in some cases, for days.

: Parsippany Mayor James Barberio, speaking at the Tuesday Township Council meeting, announced that in answer to resident anger over the Irene-related flooding, he will investigate the situation surrounding the Boonton Reservoir Dam. The focus of the probe will be to determine whether Jersey City-based United Water behaved responsibly in its storm response.

:  Over the wishes of some area residents, the Planning Board on Monday okayed a request from the Franciscan Sisters of St. Elizabeth to build a new parking lot at St. Elizabeth School. Attorney William Strasster, representing the nuns, said the project would maximize safety and have very little impact on the area surrounding Park Road. Meanwhile  Board Chairperson Kaushik "Casey" Parikh announced the resignation of board member Milin Shah, who he said is leaving to attend Seton Hall University.

Tough Weekend for Par-Troy Football Fans: In sports, both high school football teams came up short in their gridiron efforts this week. The 32-0 on Friday night. That same evening, the 28-21.