Secaucus police have arrested a Jersey City man for a number of car thefts and burglaries.

According to police, on June 23 at 2:34 a.m. a resident of Luhmann Terrace called and reported that he observed several individuals attempting to burglarize vehicles. Upon the arrival of Sergeant Stephen Hurtuk, he observed three individuals flee the area on foot.

Sergeant Hurtuk pursued the trio on foot and was able to place Tyhaze Williams, a 23-year-old of Jersey City, under arrest. Other responding police units established a perimeter around the immediate area, but despite the use of Hudson County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Units, the two other suspects remain at large.

At the time of his arrest, Williams possessed property that was stolen from a resident’s vehicle on Grace Avenue that was burglarized. Additional evidence linked Williams to the attempted to burglary of three additional vehicles parked on Luhmann Terrace. Evidence was also obtained that Williams burglarized another vehicle parked on 1st Avenue.

Later in the morning patrol officers responded to the area of Lucht Place, which is a short distance from Luhmann Terrace. Police located a Nissan Pathfinder, Honda CRV and a Toyota Rav4.

The Nissan Pathfinder was discovered to be stolen from North Bergen, on the night of June 22. The Honda CRV was discovered to be stolen from Born Street in Secaucus and the Toyota Rav4 was discovered to be stolen from 2nd Avenue in Secaucus. Both the Honda CRV and the Toyota Rav4 were stolen on the night of June 23.

Also at the time of his arrest, Williams was found in possession of the key to the stolen Toyota Rav4. The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests may be made.

“This arrest was made possible because of the partnership we have developed with the community,” Chief Dennis Miller said. “The resident’s keen eye and reporting of suspicious activity led to an immediate police response. I want to thank the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance, but I also want to laud the efforts of the Night Tour Commander, Lieutenant Thomas Malanka Jr. Lieutenant Malanka has redeployed his manpower and used innovative approaches to address these types of crimes that are occurring during the night to protect our residents’ property while they sleep. Additionally, I cannot stress enough that residents need to lock their car doors to curtail this crime of opportunity!”

Williams was charged with three counts of Burglary, three counts of Criminal Attempt to Commit Burglary, Conspiracy to Commit Burglary, three counts of Theft, two counts of Receiving Stolen Property, Obstructing of the Administration of Law, and Resisting Arrest. Williams, was lodged in the Hudson County Jail.

Anyone with additional information on these burglaries or if they did not initially report their vehicle was burglarized, can contact the Secaucus Police Detective Division at (201) 330-2052 or [email protected]. These charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected]. 

Secaucus has officially designated an architect for the new senior center project in town at 101 Centre Avenue. Mayor Michael Gonnelli and the Secaucus Town Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution doing so at a meeting in late May.

The architect chosen for the gig is Clarke Caton Hintz for $440,000, the existing architect for some Secaucus contracts. According to the resolution, the Chief Financial Officer determined sufficient grants funds were available to award the contract.

The plans are necessary before any construction can begin. Meanwhile, demolition of the old senior center and environmental remediation of the site is complete.

New senior center needed

In August of 2021, the Secaucus Town Council voted unanimously to adopt a bond ordinance to cover the cost of the new senior center totaling $7,818,670. While the bond will foot most of the bill, the town has received a number of grants and is using other monies to supplement the project such as from town reserves.

The move came after the town realized that oil tanks underneath the old center had been leaking for a number of years. Environmental remediation work needed to be done at the three buildings that composed the old center, but because some of the contamination leached under the foundation, officials said it was cheaper to start from scratch then to remediate the existing center. The old center was demolished before contaminated soil that was formerly beneath the building was removed.

Now plans are in the works for the new center. While the new building will primarily serve as a senior center during the day time, for the rest of the day and evening the facility will serve as a community center for residents to hold events and meetings. When the new senior center opens, it will be larger and more accessible to the handicapped. Amid the ongoing construction, the community center on Front Street is functioning as a makeshift senior center.

Project design coming along

In a interview after the passage of the resolution, Town Administrator Gary Jeffas gave an update as to the status of the project which has been in the design phase since at least the beginning of this year.

“The architect was already our architect for professional service contracts that are awarded every year,” Jeffas told the Hudson Reporter. “But since this is a specific project for the senior center, we got their proposal. And we approved a resolution so that all of their services under that proposal are billed to the senior center.”

Jeffas said the architect has already been working on the project, but now have been officially designated as such and will be billed specifically for their work on this project. He added that the architect has gotten to the schematic phase of the design, which he believes is the second of three phases.

“Now we’ll have to look at it, review it, and then it would go into the third phase of architectural design,” Jeffas said. “That is like the final details, when they’re getting down to the nitty gritty. That’s the electrical, the plumbing, the beams.”

Next phase in 2023?

The third phase may take some time to complete. However, by this time next year Jeffas expects the town to be going out to bid for a construction contractor.

“I think their estimation is towards the early winter time of this year to be done,” Jeffas said. “So hopefully we can bid the project in Spring of 2023.”

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].

Mayor Michael Gonnelli and the Secaucus Town Council introduced an ordinance at the council’s May 24 meeting updating police fees for extra-duty service.

Extra-duty employment includes police related employment not performed during regular duty hours. The extra-duty service is conditioned on the actual or potential use of law enforcement powers by a police officer, including but not limited to, traffic details and side jobs paid through the Secaucus Police Department.

Under the proposed ordinance, the current fees for extra-duty employment services provided by the Secaucus Police Department would be kept on file in the Town Clerk’s Office. The fee for extra-duty employment shall be paid by the person or entity requesting the services and an itemized invoice shall be provided by the Department.

The ordinance also allows for the establishment of fees for records and documents. After the meeting, Town Administrator Gary Jeffas described the introduced ordinance in an interview with the Hudson Reporter. Jeffas said was spurred by interactions between the town’s police department and PSE&G.

“When PSE&G does a job, they pay our police back for the time that they spend having their cars on the site and protecting the traffic,” Jeffas said. “So we’re allowed to have an administrative fee. And PSE&G essentially said: ‘If your administrative fee is from an outside company that you’ve hired, we’re not paying that company fee. You can’t pass that through to us, but if your municipal employees do the work, you can pass their administrative fee on.'”

According to Jeffas, Secaucus did not fall under the aforementioned scenario, but wanted to make that clear to PSE&G.

“Our employees do it, and always have,” Jeffas said. “So we’re just passing a resolution to kind of make that clear to PSE&G, that if they’re getting billing from Secaucus, that’s all in house being performed. Because they don’t want an outside agency having exorbitant fees and just people passing it off to them.”

This ordinance, along with two others regarding licenses for both vaping and food establishments, will be up for a public hearing and final passage at the next council meeting on June 28. For more information, go to secaucusnj.gov and click on the link on the calendar webpage.

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].

Secaucus has recently renamed a road to honor a late local faith leader.

In May, Mayor Gonnelli accompanied by Councilman Bill McKeever, Councilwoman Orietta Tringali, Didi Krishna Kumari and several residents gathered to rename the driveway leading to the Secaucus Animal Shelter. A tour of the animal shelter took place prior to the unveiling.

The street was dedicated to the late Rev. Dada Vaswani of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, an avid animal lover who has been an activist for the animal rights for decades. Vaswani has also long supported the humane treatment of animals at the Secaucus shelter, making the street renaming fitting.

Gonnelli and Kumari led the street renaming and street sign unveiling ceremony. A psalm was sang prior to the unveiling, with pictures of Vaswani accompanying the song. Additionally, a coconut was broken on a fence post adjacent to the street sign as a ceremonial offering.

The street is now known as Rev. Dada Vaswani Way. That sign is blue, his favorite color. A hymn was sung following the unveiling. Then a ribbon to open the road was cut.

This was followed by another sign unveiling. This one is green, the typical street sign color. Another hymn was sung following this unveiling.

Afterwards, Mayor Michael Gonnelli, spoke briefly. He noted the Secaucus Town Council would soon pass a resolution to rename the street.

Gonnelli said: “I don’t know what to say. This is a wonderful day. It is wonderful for all us. I pray for Dada every day of the year.”

“It’s a great day,” McKeever said. “It’s great to see everyone come out. It’s a great honor to have this in Secaucus.”

Later in the day, those in attendance gathered for the official groundbreaking for the Joy and Peace Garden, which will be constructed on Meadowlands Parkway. Members of the Native Plant Society and the Secaucus Environmental Department planted native flowering plants to mark the official start of construction on the garden. The space will have community garden plots and a variety of plants and walking paths, of which the Sadhu Vaswani Mission has in part contributed toward its inception.

The events culminated at the Sadhu Vaswani Meditation Garden at the Recreation Center on Koelle Boulevard where children sang songs and presented recitations. The faith-filled day ended with a lunch for all who attended.

Watch the three-hour back-to-back events online at youtube.com/watch?v=rlox2Okk2_c.

For updates on this and other stories, check www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Daniel Israel can be reached at [email protected].