Services Set for Fair Haven’s Councilman Koch

By Elaine Van Develde

The times and place have been set to honor and bid farewell to Fair Haven Borough Councilman Jerome A. Koch, Jr., who died on Sunday after sustaining fatal injuries from a Saturday afternoon bicycle accident in the borough.

On Wednesday, there will be a visitation at Church of the Nativity, 180 Ridge Rd., Fair Haven, from 5 to 8 p.m., according to information on the Thompson Memorial Home website.

A Mass of Christian burial will follow on Thursday at 11 a.m. at the church.

Koch, 63, who moved to Fair Haven in 1975, served on the governing body since 2006. He was retired from the family business, Karl Koch Erecting Company and served in the U.S. Army from 1973-77, according to his biography on the borough website.

He was also the council liaison to the borough’s Department of Public Works and Fair Haven Fields Natural Area.

Councilman Koch leaves behind his wife Betsy, a teacher at Knollwood School, Kristen, Kathryn (Katie) and son-in-law Erik Thorvilson, Jerome (Jake), Kerry and granddaughter Grace, the child of Katie and Erik.

Click here for Jerome Koch’s full obituary on the Thompson Memorial Home website.

Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect will be writing a tribute/feature story about Councilman Koch. Anyone who would like to contribute information and/or quotes is invited to contact us at [email protected]

FYI on Fair Haven Hirees

By Elaine Van Develde

Fair Haven has hired a new “Special Law Enforcement Officer, Class I” and renewed the temporary contract of its interim borough mechanic.

Both are familiar faces and names in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

A resolution was passed at last week’s Borough Council meeting, the governing body approving of the hiring of Michael Volker, effective Dec. 1, for the Special Class I position in the borough’s police department at a pay rate of $13 per hour.

The appointment was made at the recommendation of Fair Haven Police Chief Darryl Breckenridge.

Volker, a Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School graduate who lives in Fair Haven and is from Rumson, according to his Facebook page, attends the Academy of Law and Public Safety in Long Branch.

Special Class I officers are apprentices, of sort, who work for police departments and have limited enforcement powers. They go through weeks of basic training in areas such as first aid, motor vehicle laws and do not carry firearms. Class II specials do carry firearms, go through months (rather than weeks) of training and have full enforcement power, but only while on duty.

Council also passed a resolution to hire David Becker as interim borough mechanic for another 90 days at a stipend of $120 a week on top of his regular borough salary in Public Works.

Becker, according to the resolution, had been hired as the interim mechanic for an initial period of 90 days, which has expired.

This 90 days is effective from Nov. 11, 2014 to Feb. 9, 2015.