Dennis McNerney

Bergen's Irish Boss

By Seán McCarthy NUJ

"My Dad's family is from Cavan, and my mother's are from Longford," says Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney proudly when I ask him of his Irish roots. "I'm actually first generation, so."

And sure wasn't my own grandfather Dermot McCarthy the County Manager of Cavan for several decades, I offer in reply, as we speak over a mobile phone link direct to the studios of RADIO IRISH in the Meadowlands, New Jersey. "That's great!" chuckles the good humored McNerney, who, since we first set up our audio studios here in Bergen County has shown himself to be a very hands-on public figure, highly visible and accessible for a man with such tremendous responsibility.

Imagine waking up in the morning to a job the duty of which directly affects close to one million people. Dennis McNerney is currently serving his second term as County Executive, the highest elected office in Bergen County.

He took office in January 2003 after being twice elected to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1998 and 2001.

McNerney was re-elected to a second term of office as County Executive in 2006, defeating former Freeholder Todd Caliguire.

"It's really like being the mayor of the entire county," says McNerney, whose name you will see on large road signs welcoming you across county lines into Bergen County, one of the wealthiest counties in the entire United States.

Having launched RADIOIRISH.COM one year ago this March 17th it was delightful to hear that he and his staff were tuning in to us, and equally as thrilling to receive a big welcome from the man whose job it is to run the County.

"I want to congratulate you for choosing Bergen County, the largest county in the state in terms of population. We're actually bigger than five states in terms of population, so, good choice!" says Dennis McNerney as he joins me on RADIOIRISH.COM for a special on-air interview. "We have seventy municipalities here in Bergen County and about 900,000 residents. Indeed, we are one of the most densely populated areas in the entire United States. So it's a good choice ... and I like to name too, RADIO IRISH."

During his first term as County Executive, McNerney has placed the sharing of services as a goal to help control Bergen's spiraling property taxes.

He has worked with local and county officials to find ways to work cooperatively to provide the residents of Bergen County with essential public services while helping to lower the tax burden.

He has also focused much of his attention on attempting to convince towns across Bergen County to share services amongst each other as a cost-effective approach to getting things done, and one which he believes will lower taxes.

McNerney has called for municipalities with populations less than 10,000 in Bergen County to merge, saying that the surest way to significantly lower homeowners' property taxes is to merge small towns and reduce administrative overhead.

Considering that thirty-five of Bergen County's municipalities have less than 10,000 residents each, the plan of action McNerney is promoting seems like common sense.

Yet oddly enough, McNerney's drive to convince towns that sharing their services is cost-effective continues to come up against stiff resistance, especially from small well-to-do towns whose mayors and councils don't seem to like the idea of sharing services with other towns.

Merging their resources with fellow neighbourhoods is not, seemingly, something they want to do. However, Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney is not easily thwarted from his goal to convince towns that shared services are the future: "We are unique because it's seventy communities, and it's really because of a quirk in history that a number of towns incorporated in 1894 for a tax pick up, and the towns sort of divided," says McNerney. "There were only about fourteen towns, and they divided for different reasons. One town wanted liquor licences, the other town didn't. One town wanted to be north of a railroad track, the other town didn't. And now we are sort of paying the price for that because we have over seventy police departments, public works departments, attorneys for every little project with different departments. So we're just looking to merge them together. Towns have been doing it on a small scale, but now with the economic crunch they are looking to do it on a bigger scale. They share a lot of tools and equipment, but now we are talking about sharing departments like public works departments. There are some towns that have only about four public works employees, and if they were to merge with another one they would be more efficient. And we are encouraging, as the Regional Government, for towns to continue to do that."

Dennis McNerney has fought for the resources needed by emergency response personnel and to place more police officers on the street.

For instance, Bergen County has installed a Community Notification System that can automatically contact every county household within minutes and provided our first responders with over 1,600 "personal protection ensembles" that can help protect them in the case of a chemical attack. I've witnessed it myself, where your landline phone will ring, and when you pick it up, an emergency test is being broadcast. McNerney has also directed the Bergen County Police Department to work with local police to secure the county's transportation hubs.

As County Executive and previously as a Freeholder, McNerney has worked to preserve open space in Bergen County.

During his first year as County Executive, he fought for the reauthorization of the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund, which has helped the County acquire hundreds of acres of open space since its inception in 1998.

The voters of Bergen County overwhelmingly approved the referendum, which included increasing the amount of funds available to preserve and protect the remaining parcels of open space in Bergen County.

"We have 70 towns, and they run the municipal functions such as the police and the fire departments. But at the county level, we run the bigger infrastructures - the county college, the jail, all of the sewers, 475 miles of county roads, we have the largest hospital in the state Bergen Regional Medical Center, we have seven high schools, seven county academies. It's a whole county of with a number of terrific county parks. We have our own ski center, two horseback riding stables, five golf courses, and a zoo. Covers the whole gambit!"

Bergen County also houses the old Giants Stadium, the brand new Giants Stadium, and the newly built Xanadu Entertainment Complex which is expected to finally swing open its doors in 2010.

Xanadu is a 5-story retail and entertainment complex undergoing construction in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

This complex was supposed to have been completed in 2007, but the grand opening was pushed back until next year.

Meadowlands Xanadu will be the largest retail and entertainment complex in the United States and the third largest in the world, with 4,500,000 square feet of entertainment, sports, retail, office, and hotel space, including an indoor ski slope.

The Xanadu Project will reside within the Meadowlands Sports Complex, using existing parking areas. Additional parking will be provided through the addition of new parking decks.

"Up until recently they were Superbowl Champions, the Giants. And that new stadium is going to be a 1.3 billion dollar stadium and that is the largest investment from anywhere in the world for a sports arena. So, I know the economy is difficult, but that commitment to Bergen County really shines through."

Thoughts of Olivia Newtown John on a pair of roller skates being blasted out of the cosmos to the sound of a twenty-men-strong string section at an Electric Light Orchestra concert spring to mind, when I think of Xanadu.

I wonder are they planning to invite Olivia to sing during the Summer 2009 opening of the enormous entertainment complex?

Xanadu Meadowlands is expected to attract crowds as large and passionate for fun as Disney and Universal Studios do. Exciting times for Bergen County?

"It's going to put us on the map," says Dennis McNerney. "We have more malls, more retail sectors here in Bergen County than all of Manhattan. And while the county is unique in that we don't have shopping on Sundays, we are still able to generate those retail sales. So a new mall... some people are saying, well you know maybe we don't need it. But where it is, right off of Route 3 right in the Meadowlands is really going to be dynamic, because we're going to get people not only from Bergen County and New Jersey to go there, but people flying in who want to go visit a real shopping destination. You're going to get people from Minnesota flying in for the weekend and visiting. It's only a few miles from Times Square and there's going to be buses and a train directly into the area, so it's really going to be a destination."

So what of the man himself? Dennis McNerney expresses great job satisfaction, and he is running for re-election in 2010.

"It's a job I love and I hope to continue to do. I work well with the (Bergen County) Freeholder Board who do a terrific job in really providing a system of checks and balances for the county. Bergen county is just a great place to live, work, and raise a family."

The 28th Annual St. Patrick Day's Parade was held on Sunday, March 15th. The line of march started north of the National Guard Armory in Teaneck, New Jersey, and continued north up Washington Avenue to Main Street in Bergenfield. Given his Irish ancestry, Saint Patrick's Day is a day Dennis McNerney loves to share with, not only the Irish, but all of his constituents.

Speaking before the big day he said: "I will encourage all Bergen County residents to go to the Bergen County Parade up in Bergenfield. There's a number of other parades and parties and all the senior centers have parties too so we're going to be partied out, officially of course!"