Storm Damage, Councilman Suing Assemblyman, Shooting Review Top This Week's News

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A sudden but intense storm Wednesday afternoon led to numerous road closures and dangerous situations, including downed power lines and flooding around Hillsdale and Westwood and also caused some traffic delays in Washington Township.

Washington Township Council Vice President Joseph D'Urso filed a lawsuit against State Assemblyman Robert Schroeder this week, alleging Schroeder never paid back more than $330,000 in loans and that he gave D'Urso several checks which bounced.

Officials from the Bergen County Democratic Committee called for Assemblyman Robert Schroeder to resign from his seat and for county Republicans to return money contributed by Schroeder Monday.

Schroeder was  August 3. He previously said .

The New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice found no wrongdoing during its review of the by Washington Township Police last year, according to a letter from Division Director Stephen Taylor.

Police killed 48-year-old Ridgewood resident Robert Ellis at his parents' Washington Township home early in the morning of March 12, 2011 after Ellis fired at a pair of Washington Township Police officers and hit their patrol vehicle.

Local officials are opposing a proposed rate increase from PSE&G which they said will subsidize the cost of new solar panels required by state law for the utility.

The town councils of Hillsdale, Washington Township and Westwood all passed resolutions to formally object to the rate increase during recent meetings. Officials said they would appeal to the state Board of Public Utilities to not allow the increase.

Inspectors from Realty Appraisal Company are scheduled to begin visiting Hillsdale homes and businesses Wednesday for a borough-wide tax revaluation, according to Councilman Douglas Frank.

Hillsdale officials decided to have a revaluation done because too many property owners, including expensive commercial property owners, were successfully appealing their taxes, according to Mayor Max Arnowitz. When a property owner wins an appeal, it ends up costing the municipality extra money because they have to return some local taxes as well as county and school taxes from the town's budget, Arnowitz said.

Frank said about 25 percent of residents are expected to see lower taxes, about 25 percent are expected to see higher taxes and about 50 percent will remain roughly steady.

A new store that opened in Westwood this week offers 25 exclusive varieties of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and other olive oil-based products.

Olive Branch & Grape Vine owner Paul Karoyan said he and his wife, Darina, were inspired to open the store because of the impact olive oil has had on their own health.

"The health effects are tremendous," Karoyan said. "We wanted to share that with people."

John MacEwen took his oath of office and officially joined the Hillsdale Council as its newest member during their meeting Tuesday night.

 has a new principal, but her face may already be familiar to some district parents.

Melissa Palianto, who was approved as the school's new principal in March, has worked in the Westwood Regional School District for 11 of her 13 years in the education field

The Westwood Historic Commission will delay its vote on a plan to , according to commission Chairman Donald Rubin.

If the plan goes through as originally conceived, property owners in the district would need to get approval from the commission before having work done to the exterior of their buildings. Several property owners came to a hearing about the plan last week to share .

"We had a lot of comments from people who are afraid we would become another layer of bureaucracy," Rubin said.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Jim Leggate at Jim.Leggate@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.