Borough Employee Recognized for 40 Years of Service

Forty years ago, Dallas won the Superbowl, Oakland won the World Series, Mikey Liked It!, it took a tough man to make a tender chicken and Kevin Kerrigan joined the DPW.

On May 4, Kerrigan, a foreman with the DPW, celebrated 40 years with the Borough. As noted during a celebration held in his honor, 40 years is older than many borough employees and longer than most marriages.

When Kerrigan first walked through the chain-link gates of the DPW yard, Nixon was president, Logan was Mayor, Mash and The Price Is Right premiered, and Roberta Flack's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face topped the Billboard charts. It was the summer of Watergate, the Munich Olympics and the Equal Rights Amendment.

In talking about his early days on the job, Kerrigan said, "I had longer hair when I started." 

When he further commented that everyone had long hair back then, another employee laughed and said, "Now we're just thankful if we have any hair."

Kerrigan was hired under the Emergency Employment Act signed by President Richard Nixon in July of 1971. The act was designed to assist returning Vietnam veterans move back into the labor force as well as aid America’s youth in acquiring jobs.

Kerrigan's starting salary was $6200 per year. "$5000 came from the federal government and $1200 came from New Milford," Kerrigan said.

"Good money back then when you could buy a car for under $6000."

Kerrigan has worked under six superintendents and has worked through a fair number of hurricanes, blizzards and floods.

"Hurricane Floyd was the worst storm," Kerrigan recalled. "That was the first really bad flood event we had in New Milford."

When asked if retirement was looming anywhere on the horizon Kerrigan laughed and said, "I can't retire before my mother."

Kerrigan's mother is 92-years old and employed as an administrative assistant at Farleigh Dickinson University.