Bruce A. Bennett

Councilman at Large

Councilman Bruce Bennett, who was born and raised in Paterson, has been a proud Hawthorne resident for 48 years. He and his wife, Antoinette (a.k.a. Toni), have been married for 49 years and have three children – Pat, Alessia and Kevin – all of whom went through the Hawthorne school system before going on to college. They also have three grandchildren.  

Councilman Bennett began his public service career as a Hawthorne Board of Education trustee in 1997. Upon completion of his term, he ran for and won election to the Council as the Ward 2 representative in 2000, serving one four-year term.  When groundbreaking Councilwoman Marge Shortway decided to retire for health reasons in early 2005, she handpicked Mr. Bennett to fill her Council at Large seat for the remaining 10 months of her term. Later that year he won reelection, and has served as a Councilman at Large ever since. 

Councilman Bennett, who is a retired technical journalist who worked for such prestigious publication as NASA Tech Briefs, now works part-time as an auto racing writer and photographer. He has degrees in both engineering and business management, which he puts to good use performing his duties on the Council. He has chaired the Public Works Committee for 19 years, helping to manage the town’s road program that annually spends in excess of a million dollars repaving and maintaining the town’s 45 miles of streets and roadways. He was instrumental in acquiring the town’s state-of-the-art brine system used to treat roads in the winter to keep them from freezing. He was involved in construction of Hawthorne’s state-of-the-art DPW building, which saves taxpayers money by housing the borough’s equipment indoors during inclement weather. He works with committee members Mike Sciarra and Dominic Mele, Borough Administrator Eric Maurer, and Boswell Engineering to maintain and improve Hawthorne’s aging infrastructure. He also played a key role in the design, acquisition, and installation of Hawthorne’s cutting-edge PFAS water treatment system that ensures safe drinking water for our residents.

Councilman Bennett also serves on the Public Safety Committee, Technology Committee, Administration Committee, and Legislation Committee, and is the council’s liaison to the Board of Recreation.