MONTVALE, N.J.—Mayor Michael Ghassali took to email on Dec. 26 to advise on cleanup and power restoration following a messy storm overnight into Christmas.
Wind gusts reached 67 mph in New York City. Here in the Pascack Valley, felled branches and trees cut power and damaged property.
“At this time, power has been restored to everyone in town except for few houses with broken direct connection to the poles. That connection on private property is the homeowner responsibility. To help those homeowners we are going to be waiving the permits fees temporarily,” Ghassali wrote.
He said, “Starting Monday and for a week except on New Year’s Day, if you have branches 4 feet or shorter, please put them in bins or place them tied up in bundles curbside. If you have long branches, they need to be cut to six feet or shorter and placed on the curb to be picked up by our DPW.”
Ghassali warned, “If contractors cut your trees and branches, the contractors need to haul them off your property, we will not be picking up any contractor-cut trees and branches. Since this was not a state emergency, FEMA will not reimburse the borough for the work, so we need to be responsible to all the taxpayers and follow this procedure using our own resources.”
The mayor extended thanks to “everyone who volunteered their resources with amazing offers of generosity for the past two days. It is a testament to this great community and it is a motivation and an honor to serve this incredible community.”
Ghassali said, “A royal Montvalean bow goes to every member of our DPW, police, fire and Tri-Boro Ambulance, Orange and Rockland Electric field and management workers, and of course our Office of Emergency Management coordinator Frank DiPalma.”
He added, “Frank lost power himself and was with me through out the process. Job well done everyone.”
On Friday, the Park Ridge administration shared that the electric crew continued to work on restoring power to residents.
“Although a number of customers have their power back, the crew has several more hours of work on the lower section of Ridge Avenue before power will be restored to customers in that area. We are also aware of a few streets on the east side of Park Ridge where trees are down and residents are without power.”
The message added, “Unfortunately, our crew has been up since 1 a.m. and will be needing to get rest. As a result, we will not be able to work on those restorations until tomorrow morning. If possible, please try to find an alternate place to reside until tomorrow. We are so sorry for this inconvenience especially during the holiday.”
Emergency calls were directed to the Park Ridge police dispatcher.