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Steven Bair sworn in as newest council person
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - January 16, 2008)
|
A look at Councilman Steven Bair D.M.D.
| Years resident: |
30 |
| Profession: |
Dentist, with a full-time dental practice in
Lodi |
| EDUCATION: |
B.S. from
Ohio
State
University ; D.M.D. from
Fairleigh
Dickinson
University
School of Dentistry |
| MunicipAL Service: |
Appointed to the Planning Board January, 1998; Elected by the Board as vice-chairman, January, 2000; Elected by the Board as chairman, January 2001 and each year though the present year; Currently serving as Planning Board Chairman. |
| Family: |
Mimi, wife of 35 years; three daughters, Janine, Corinne, and Monique. |
|
Dr. Steven Bair, a Republican who ran unopposed for the Emerson Council in November, was sworn in on Saturday, Jan. 5 at the council’s reorganization meeting.
Bair, a 30-year resident of Emerson, is a dentist, and runs his own practice in
Lodi . After receiving his B.S. from
Ohio
State
University , he went on to earn a D.M.D. from the Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dentistry. He later put his dental expertise to use as a part-time clinical assistant professor in the
Fairleigh
Dickinson
Dental
School for 13 years and as a part-time associate professor at the
University of
Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey for three years.
He brings 10 years of experience on the Planning Board with him to his council position. Bair was appointed to the Planning Board in January of 1998, and was elected by the board as vice-chairman in 2000. By the following year, he was elevated to the position of chairman, which he maintained through 2007. At the Jan. 5 meeting he was appointed by the council to another one-year term on the planning board.
Bair’s wife of 35 years, Mimi, also has experience in public service. She served as a member of the Board of Education in Emerson for 18 years, serving five terms as board president, and is currently a middle school principal. Bair also has three daughters who attended Emerson Public Schools, one of whom teaches in the Emerson school system. Janine is a third year medical resident at St. Luke’s/ Roosevelt Hospital in N.Y.; Corinne is a third grade teacher in Villano School in Emerson; and Monique is a second year law student at the University of Maryland School of Law at Baltimore.
Largely thanks to his long history of service to the Planning Board, Bair says that the issue of Emerson’s long awaited and much-debated redevelopment holds a special place in his heart. The redevelopment project has been in the works since Bair became the chairman of the Planning Board in 2001. Bair says, “As the authority over this project has now moved to the Mayor and Council, I’d like to continue my efforts to make it a reality there.”
He holds high hopes for the project, which recently hit a speed bump with the loss of the originally chosen redeveloper, Atkins Cos. The borough has since chosen a new developer to handle the project, and is in the process of working with the borough planner, Burgis Associates, as well as the District of Community Affairs’ Office of Smart Growth to come up with a comprehensive plan that is both workable for the developer and agreeable to borough.
“It should be an exciting year in Emerson if we can get redevelopment going,” says Bair, “I firmly believe we can.”
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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