Strengthening Shared Services a Priority for Verdonik

The following is the third in our eight-part series of council candidate profiles for the Nov. 8 election. Each day, Tri-Boro Patch will bring you a new profile so that you know who you can vote for and what issues they are most concerned with. On election day, we will bring all of the profiles together for you in one article so you can make an informed decision.

In Butler, two Republican councilmen are running unopposed. This is a profile story of one of them.

Incumbent candidate Ray Verdonik has been serving on the borough council for more than a decade.

He initially decided to run after attending several borough council meetings and being intrigued by the work then-councilmembers were doing, "trying to get the town back to where it needed to be," he said.

Since serving the borough, Verdonik has been a part of many projects he is proud of, including helping to fund projects at the reservoir dam and the redevelopment of Butler's Main Street, including the construction of the River Place condominum complex.

In addition to serving on the council, Verdonik is vice chairman of the Pequannock River Basin Regional Sewer Authority, sits on the board of the Two Bridges Sewerage Authority and as a career, works as a superintndent for a utility company. On the council, he serves as the liaision to the and serves on the Ad Hoc Committee to

Working with the school board, Verdonik said the committee has been able to accomplish many things for the community.

"A good example is installing practice lights on the little field next to the parking lot," he said.

The borough has also been able to partner with the school district in to run through the schools and allow the district to have a Verdonik said a priority of his for the future of the council is "working with our area communities to see what services we can share."

Another priority is to help the council continue to make fiscally responsible decisions, he said.

"Maintaining our financial strategy, which is not to do projects unless we have the money to pay for them," he said as one thing he hopes to achieve.

Butler has been Verdonik's home for the past 38 years. He and his wife, Glenda, have raised two children, Trevor, 20, and Amy, 17, in the borough. He also previously coached soccer and little league.

Verdonik said his favorite thing about the borough is the "hometown feeling" it provides to residents.

"I like the way that when you talk to people about Butler, they talk about Butler. People from Butler love Butler, that hometown feeling," he said.