Judge denies Bergen executive's request to block police merger until lawsuit resolved

Judge denies Bergen executive’s request to block police merger until lawsuit resolved
Thursday, January 16, 2014 Last updated: Friday January 17, 2014, 12:09 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

A judge denied on Thursday the Bergen County Executive’s request to block a merger of the County Police into the Sheriff’s Office until a lawsuit over the case is resolved.

But Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan’s side saw the ruling as a victory because Judge Menelaos W. Toskos also noted that any merger cannot go forward without the County Executive and the Sheriff reaching agreement on the details.

Because the freeholders cannot force Donovan to sign such an agreement, the merger won’t happen so long as she is county executive, her staff said.

“It’s a huge victory for the taxpayers because I don’t have to budget $3 million to $4 million to implement this ill-conceived plan,” County Administrator Ed Trawinski said of the ruling.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/Judge_denies_Bergen_executives_request_to_block_police_merger_during_lawsuit.html#sthash.KP1ttlol.dpuf