Meet Council candidates running for a seat

By Howard Prosnitz, Staff Writer

Teaneck Suburbanite, April 26, 2012, p. 2

Teaneck Suburbanite asked both challengers and incumbents to provide biographical information and to respond to several questions about current issues. Incumbents were asked an additional question about a major issue during their tenure on the council. All interviews were conducted orally.

The Teaneck non-partisan Municipal election is Tuesday, May 8. Get out and vote. Polls close at 7 p.m. The six candidates running are seeking to fill three seats for a four-year term on the board.

Councilwoman Monica Honis, who is seeking reelection, did not respond to an email and phone messages requesting an interview. The issue questions follow:

1. What is the biggest problem(s) facing Teaneck?
2. What is your vision for Teaneck in 5-10 years?
3. What is your position on restoring council work session?
4. What is our position on the four day work week and re-opening the municipal building on Fridays?

Incumbents were asked the following question:
1. What is a personal initiative that you have taken on the council?

(Only the relevant candidate is shown here)

Henry Pruitt

Henry Pruitt is seeking his first council term. A Teaneck resident since 1963, Pruitt earned a BA degree from NYU, a sixth year certificate in school administration from City College and an Ed.D. from Teacher's College at Columbia University, where his dissertation was on educational finance. He taught in City College and at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he was a department chair. He was principal of two charter schools and of the Janis E. Dismus Middle School in Englewood for 18 years. He continues his work in education as a consultant.

Pruitt is completing his third term on the Board of Education, where he served two years as president. He has also been president of the Community Relations Advisory Board and served on the Parks, Playground and Recreation Advisory Board. He was president of the Voorhees Street Block Association and President of the Northeast Block Association Presidents Association. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of William Paterson University for more than 25 years and served as its president for two years.

Pruitt has been married for 54 years. He is the father of four children, all of whom went through the Teaneck school system. He has 11 grandchildren, two of whom attend the Teaneck Community Charter School, and two great-grandchildren.

Biggest problem: Communications is the central problem.

"Teaneck has a severe problem of communications among the different groups living in town," he said. He would seek greater opportunities for the different groups to communicate with each other and also more opportunities for the council and board of education to cooperate with each other. Such cooperation could be cost savings in shared services, he said. He noted that BOE members visited solar energy installations at Rutgers and WPU and, as a result, the district will be installing solar panels in parking lots that will cut energy costs by almost 50 percent.

Pruitt proposes that the council do an annual self-assessment. "The council members would evaluate on how well they relate to the public, the manager, the department heads, the employees and to each other." while the BOE is required by the state to do a self-assessment, the council's would be voluntary.

"Everything is all about building relationships among people," he said.

Vision: Ten years from now he would like to see Teaneck develop into the type of community that people are eager to move to.

My vision of the town in 10 years is that it will be kind of a town that a house on the market will be sold in a week and that sellers will get more money than they asked for," he said.

He noted the foresight of the town's fathers who planned such amenities as bridges over railroad tracks rather than crossing grades and widening of Teaneck Road. He wants to see the town continue this progress.

"We want a town that is clean, has excellent community services, good community relations, effective public school system and a handle on taxes," he said.

Workshops: Pruitt supports the return of regular workshops. "The council needs to be more transparent and needs to conduct workshops," he said. Such workshops would give the public the chance to have impact on issues before the council votes on them.

Four day work week: He would seek a way to stagger hours so that employees could work a four day work week but that the municipal building and departments would be open five days. "It is good to open early and have evening hours but residents have no access to the building, health, assessor and other departments one day a week. We need to find a way to stagger people so they are open five days."