Commissioner Carmen Orechio was born and grew up in Nutley with his two brothers and one sister. He attended Washington School, Nutley Junior High, and Nutley High School, where he played football. Nowadays you can find him on the field playing softball.

Growing up he wanted to be a writer he attended Rutgers University and then owned a travel agency with his brother. Mr. Orechio didn’t think about getting into politics until his brother, who was a town commissioner, decided not to run again. Mr. Orechio, who had been busy in different civic organizations, felt he could serve Nutley better as a commissioner. He ran for the first time in 1968 and has been commissioner for 36 years. During his nine terms he spent some time as commissioner of Parks and Recreation, Public Affairs and Public Safety. Most of his political career he’s been commissioner for the Public Safety Department. Mr. Orechio also served as mayor of our town.

The Public Safety Department includes, the police, and fire department, the Emergency Rescue Squad, the zoning board and the town attorney. Since our police department needs to get three new cars a year, a decision was made to make use of the old cars by giving them to another department .Sometimes they use them for parts to save the town money.

The Commissioner and his department work to keep Nutley a place where people want to live by providing services and making improvements that benefit the citizens.One of these services is provided by Nutley’s Hazardous Waste Management Unit (HazeMat). Since 1987 we helped other towns and our environment with the trained personal we have. To improve fire safety in town, a task force was formed to see if another firehouse is needed in the Lincoln School area of town. In response to the many calls that the police station receives, the Department of Public Safety has formed a citizens group called DVRT (Domestic Violence Response Team). This team responds to all domestic calls.

The Public Safety Department honored a fallen crossing guard with this statue.

Our commissioner made many decisions over his nine terms. One of the most important decisions made about 11 years ago, was to sell the home nursing care division in town. The surrounding hospitals were forming Home Health Agencies and he knew he had to do something. He made a proposal so the local hospitals would buy our agency and keep the employees at their same salaries. It took a lot of planning to make this decision and the Commissioner saved the town $400,000.

Through the leadership of Commissioner Orechio the Public Safety Department keeps our town safe. Nutley citizens can enjoy walking through the parks and feeling secure in their community. Mr. Orechio’s goals are to provide services to the citizens in town and keep it affordable. Commissioner Orechio has a demanding job.

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