Pine Barrens Tribune August 10, 2024-August 16, 2024
PROBABLE MICROBURST
B y D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer
MEDFORD—A “probable microburst” has been cited by the National Weather Service for causing extensive tree damage in Medford Township on the evening of Aug. 2, with reports of damage extending into parts of Evesham Township.
The Mount Holly forecast office of the National Weather Service says it was sent pictures of widespread tree damage around Cherry and Cedar Streets in Medford, allowing the agency’s meteorologists to conclude a “probable microburst” occurred in the township.
According to a National Weather Service storm report, “several trees and wires” were also downed around the Medford area by the microburst, with a few trees even reported in houses.
A microburst is a localized column of sinking air, also known as a downdraft, within a thunderstorm and is usually
less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter, per the official National Weather Service definition.
Essentially, a National Weather Service explanation continues, when a moisture loaded thunderstorm is no longer capable of holding its large core of rain aloft, and the core plummets to the ground, and as it hits the ground, it spreads out in all directions, and the location in which the microburst first hits the ground experiences the highest winds and greatest damage.
“At approximately 6:10 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, a strong thunderstorm moved through Medford,” said Medford Emergency Management Coordinator
Robert Dovi, also the township fire chief. “During the thunderstorm, Medford Township sustained significant wind damage south of Route 70 that brought down numerous trees and telephone poles. The areas impacted were Medford Village, Hartford Road
and surrounding subdivisions, Hoot Owl and Oakwood Lakes.”
Other areas of the township sustained minor damage, Dovi said.
According to Dovi, a 55-mph wind gust was recorded at the township’s weather station in Freedom Park.
In the hardest hit locations, the damage, Dovi noted, included numerous downed trees that were blocking roadways and entangled in power and communication lines, damaged or broken telephone poles, and trees that damaged homes or property.
“Medford Township first responders and Department of Public Works personnel responded immediately by opening our Emergency Operation Center, coordinating Emergency Services with PSE&G and Atlantic Electric,” the chief said. “Additional fire resources were requested through Burlington County Central Communications to
FREE
Shamong Cellphone Tower
May Finally Go Up This Fall with ‘All Avenues of Appeal Exhausted’ in Opposing It
Years-long Legal Dispute Concluded with Land-Use Board, Developer After Court Orders Equipment Pad Reduced in Size to 100 Square Feet
y B ill B onvie Staff Writer
SHAMONG—It now appears that the proposed 150-foot-high cellphone tower planned for a privately-owned tract at 449 Oakshade Road near the intersection of Indian Mills Road in Shamong Township, which was the subject of a prolonged legal dispute consisting of Land-Use Board rejections and ultimately successful court appeals, will be going up within the next few months, albeit with some modest modifications, filling what has been described as a “gap in coverage” for local cellphone users.
While the enterprises that will be erecting the monopole, TowerNorth Development, LLC and Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, failed to respond to an inquiry from the Pine Barrens Tribune as to what its anticipated schedule is for completion of the project, “fall construction is their goal,” according to what Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato noted in an update provided at a recent meeting of the Shamong Township Committee.
As far as the township is concerned, “it’s already been decided,” Shamong’s joint land use board attorney, Christopher Norman told this newspaper in a phone interview on Aug. 2, there being “nowhere to take this legally” following a Feb. 2 decision by the Superior Court Appellate Division upholding a June 28, 2022, order signed by Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Bookbinder overturning the land use board’s denial of a use variance, conditional use variance and site plan approvals for the project.
“All the avenues of appeal have been exhausted,” contended Norman, effectively ending the years-long attempts by both the board and a local developer to keep the plan from materializing. That process,
See TOWER/ Page 5
B
Photo Provided
Damage from the microburst in Medford Township on Aug. 2.
By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—Funding for new guns for Pemberton Township Police officers, an Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) for the Police Department, a new fire truck for the Fire Department, per diem, part-time firefighters to work during the daytime hours on weekdays and returning animal control services in house are just some of the major highlights of the recently-adopted Pemberton Township budget for 2024.
According to Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel, the average assessed home of $165,096 will see an increase in municipal taxes of $14.86 for the year, or what is “about $1 and change per month.”
• 2023 – 1.103 [$165,096 * .01103 = $1,821.01]
• 2024 – 1.112 [$165,096 * .01112 = $1,835.87]
The estimated total tax levy for 2024 is $16,368,626.
“We really worked hard to make this as flat a budget as possible,” he declared during a recent budget presentation to Pemberton Township Council.
That is despite a $300,000 jump, Hornickel pointed out, in the salary and wages line item, or from about $9.5 million
to $9.8 million, as well as a $133,000 increase in pension costs (bringing that line item, which also includes items such as Social Security payments, to $2.3 million).
He noted of the salary and wages increase “much of that is contractual” as the municipality negotiates with four labor unions.
“It is still a little bit behind inflation,” he said of the increase, however.
The small tax increase was also despite a “very difficult year for us,” Hornickel acknowledged, with the municipality’s group healthcare costs.
“Most of our workforce tries to take care of their health, but last year we had a bad year,” he explained. “We had some employees who, unfortunately, came down with major afflictions.”
Additionally, the business administrator revealed that some family members of the workers, as well as township retirees, “also came down with major afflictions.”
The impact from the purported afflictions forced the township to amend last year’s budget “in order to pay all those claims,” according to Hornickel, and in examining the expenses incurred so far this year, “the first five months have not been pretty, either.”
See BUDGET/ Page 5
Dr.
What Some Woodland Residents See as Information Vacuum
Over Tea Time Hill Wildfire Has Them Asking for OEM Changes
Officials Asked to Release ‘General Plan’ of Where Public Should Go, and Where They Can Bring Their Animals, Should Emergency Arise with Concern Voiced About Information Access for Those Not Online
By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer
WOODLAND—What some Woodland Township residents see as an information vacuum entailing the Tea Time Hill Wildfire of early July is now leading to calls for the municipal emergency management coordinator to be replaced and for a “general plan” of what one in town should do in an emergency to be released ahead of any next one.
Apparently, as the fire broke out in Tabernacle Township and heavy smoke and ash blew into parts of Woodland, it took some resident phone calls to Woodland Committeewoman Donna Mull for a Nixle emergency notification to be put out by the township (a task that is usually the responsibility of the local emergency manager) informing residents of the wildfire.
Both residents Terry Sheerin and Jane Donoghue thanked Mull “for putting out the Nixle,” which stated at 11:16 a.m. on July 5, “There is an active forest fire between Carranza Road in Tabernacle and Apple Pie Hill in Chatsworth, Woodland Township.”
But the fire was first discovered nearly two-hours before that message, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, just after 9 a.m. on July 5. It has since been determined that the wildfire was ignited by fireworks late on July 4.
And, according to Donoghue, the 11:16 a.m. Nixle message, which stopped short of describing any precautionary actions residents should take, was the only one put out during the course of the blaze, which burned for more than five days.
“One Nixle for a five-day fire, in my opinion, is not acceptable,” Donoghue told the Woodland Township Committee during its latest July 24 meeting, further indicating that having observed ash in her travels to and from work during the course of the five day period was an unnerving site.
For Donoghue, she said had it not been for a close friend who is a fireman, “who kept me apprised of what was going on and what type of danger our actual township was in,” she would not have known what was going on.
“We got lucky,” she declared of the fire not threatening the town’s population and structures. “We may not get lucky next time.”
Despite the major wildfire of the past month that burned 4,300 acres in the two municipalities, both Donaghue and Sheerin indicated that they were perplexed that the Woodland emergency management coordinator, Michael Huber, had submitted “no report,” as listed on the July 24 agenda and confirmed by Township Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown at the meeting, as well as was not present for the first session following the wildfire.
“OEM – where is he?” Donaghue asked the committee. “It is kind of an important position.”
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service, which typically takes the lead in communications during wildfires, put out updates during the course of the wildfire on social media.
But Sheerin maintained she has not been on social media since November 2022, and pointed to past comments of Woodland Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff that he is not on social media, in raising the point that not all residents are on social media to receive such information.
She also pointed out that residents have to sign up to receive Nixle notifications, and not all of them are presumed to be signed up for the service (typically local emergency managers attend township meetings and impress upon the public the importance to sign up for the notifications).
Sheerin, a regular meeting attendee, recalled Huber having only attended one governing body meeting and submitting two reports.
While she maintained that she likes Huber as a person, Sheerin asserted, “He is not the guy for OEM.”
“We need someone there,” Sheerin contended.
Also of concern to Sheerin is that residents are reportedly not informed of where to go in the event of an emergency in the township.
“We have a lot of new people in this town who don’t have anywhere to go or know what to do,” Sheerin declared.
Sheerin pointed out she placed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request seeking a copy of the local emergency operations plan to learn what to do, but that her access to the document was denied by the township clerk.
“I am just trying to get my neighbors and residents to understand what to do when we have an emergency,” maintained Sheerin, noting that it would be nice, for example, if residents knew where to bring their animals in the event of an emergency.
“You need to have something in place. The problem is you don’t know where to go in an emergency.”
Township Solicitor William Burns interjected that the “whole reason” Sheerin’s OPRA request had been denied is the plan is intended to be “secure.”
“Bill, I don’t think Hamas is coming down here to get you guys!” Sheerin retorted. “Let’s face it, you guys are really not here more than 12 hours a week! And I am more security conscious than anybody – I had a top-secret security clearance in the Army.”
(Under the OPRA, emergency or security information or procedures for any buildings or facility which, if disclosed, would jeopardize security of the building or facility or persons therein, or security measures and surveillance techniques which, if disclosed, would create a risk to the safety or persons, property, electronic data or software, can be denied.)
Pemboro Council Deliberates Whether to Require Permit, Charge Fee for Using Borough’s Mill Creek Park and Have Police Check for Permits Mayor Opposes Fee Unless It’s for Someone Wanting Park Exclusively for Day and Council President Opposes Having Police Shut Down Child Birthday Parties, Leading Officials to Settle for Now on Security Deposit for Large Gatherings
By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON BOROUGH—Should the public have to pay to use Pemberton Borough’s Mill Creek Park? Should those intending to use the park for any celebrations or gatherings have to make reservations and/or identify themselves to the municipality and/or its police force before or during usage?
Those were the two questions deliberated heavily by Pemberton Borough Council during its June and July regular sessions, with elected officials appearing to be on both sides of the spectrum as they reviewed a draft ordinance in the works that would codify proposed regulations and a fee schedule for park use, as well as the use of the municipality’s indoor gymnasium.
The final proposed regulations have not yet been published, as of press time.
“I personally think we should not charge anything to use the park,” declared
Pemberton Borough Mayor Bonnie Haines of Mill Creek Park, which flanks the North Branch of the Rancocas Creek by the Hanover Street Bridge. “It is a public space and most of it was built using grant funds, not borough taxpayer money. And grant funds are going to be used again in the future. It is an open space and public park, and by its very definition is a ‘public’ park. I don’t agree with charging a permit fee for everybody.”
An early draft of the proposal apparently proposed requiring one to get a permit to use the park at a cost of $100.
Officials, in proposing the ordinance, appear to be trying to address two issues – recent gatherings that have purportedly resulted in a mess that had needed to be cleaned up, presenting an expense to the borough, as well as trying to find a new source of revenue to the municipality to cover some of its expenses.
See PARK/ Page 7
before the
Photo Provided
File photo of Mill Creek Park in Pemberton Borough.
prepared
power outage.
Tabernacle Officials Lambasted by Transparency Advocates for Opening Hearing on Municipal Budget Without First Providing Details on Budget After Intense Criticisms Public Learns of Proposed 2.8 Cent Tax Levy Increase and That Reasons Behind It Include Need to Pay Firefighters for Daytime Coverage; Officials Can’t Answer How Much
B y D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer
Was Spent on Plan, Now Dead, for New Complex
TABERNACLE—During a July 22 Tabernacle Township Committee meeting, officials appeared to be getting ready to pass the 2024 municipal budget and opened a public hearing on it, which is the final step in the process, but officials were lambasted for over 10 minutes by transparency advocates and residents Stuart and Fran Brooks over having not even provided, by that point, basic details to the public about the budget, including how they justified the line item allotments and why a 2.8 cent increase in the local purpose tax levy was necessary.
There were not even budget workshops this year, as the Brooks pointed out, to allow for the township committee to give its inputs in the development of the budget, which other municipalities commonly employ, also giving residents a chance to comment well in advance of final passage on the budgetary priorities.
“Almost every line item in this budget is packed unnecessarily,” declared Fran Brooks, in apparently obtaining a copy of the budget prior to the hearing.
“All this does is raise our taxes more than is necessary! Numerous line items have a ton of money that was leftover in reserve from last year. Yet, why would you let allocations be increased, or left at last year’s levels with money having been reserved?”
Fran Brooks further maintained of Tabernacle officials there is “always this attitude to keep building surplus and keep increasing taxes, instead of really using reserve money and trying to produce a more honest budget!”
“You could easily decrease the tax increase by one cent, if not more, by using the money that is in reserve!” Fran Brooks contended. “But that is not what you are doing! You just keep adding money to appropriations, which ends up raising our taxes every year!”
In addition to what Fran Brooks
maintained were officials “stuffing line items,” she asserted “other line-item increases are inexplicable!”
“This is because you never have any discussion of the budget!” she declared.
The transparency advocate called it a “serious problem” that the township committee doesn’t “hold any meetings with residents to discuss the budget.”
“Your entire discussion – and this happened last year, and the previous year and in all the previous years –consists of (Chief Financial Officer) CFO (Rodney) Haines speaking for two minutes and that is it,” declared Fran Brooks, though this time, prior to the hearing being opened to the public, that did not even happen.
As the five members of the governing body appeared perplexed and frustrated, with some of the elected officials simply crossing their arms or placing their hands on their cheeks, Brooks asked, “Who on this committee really understands how municipal budgets are put together?”
“It would really help to at least have one meeting!” she maintained. “There is no intelligent discussion of the budget!”
After pointing out that she and her husband have been “monitoring the township for over 20 years,” Brooks maintained the transparency problems “go back decades” and the current committee is simply “still living with that legacy!”
“The most important thing you can do, as the town (committee), is putting the budget together – and to be giving it such short shrift … I am sick of it as a resident, and I know there are a lot of people who work damn hard in this town to pay their taxes, and it is time for some intelligent focus and analysis of the budget and for people to learn how a municipal budget is put together!” Fran Brooks declared.
Fran Brooks then pointed to specific, proposed line items in which more money is reportedly being allocated this year
See ADVOCATES/ Page 6
MICROBURST
(Continued from Page 1)
with damage assessment and clearing roadways.” All impacted residents by power outages had electricity restored late Sunday afternoon, Aug. 4. All roadways were reopened by midday on Sunday.
See MICROBURST/ Page 8
Photos Provided
Damage from the microburst in Medford Township on Aug. 2.
BUDGET
(Continued from Page 2)
One saving grace, however, Hornickel noted, is that the township has “some reimbursements coming,” after having maintained “stop-loss” insurance, which he explained covers the municipality “when an employee hits a certain medical expense threshold.”
Over the past several years, council has heard numerous requests from residents for the township to hire its own animal control officers and eliminate the privatization of animal control services.
Hornickel said that as a result of this budget, the municipality intends to advertise for animal control officers with the hopes of getting two people on the township rolls by late September.
Only one of those two people will be on duty at any given time, he noted, with the township also budgeting for one vehicle to be utilized by its anticipated animal control team.
“We may repurpose an existing vehicle and then buy something cheaper to replace that,” he said.
Additionally, Hornickel pointed out “we budgeted what we need to equip animal control.”
Also, Hornickel announced that $55,000 has been allocated in the budget for the township to hire “per diem firefighters.”
“They will work Monday through Friday, to help us during the day, because we have only one person answering the calls now (during that time),” Hornickel explained. “And it is a model we looked at in other towns. It is a cost-effective model that will help us get some certified firefighters to help us out during the day.”
However, by far, the biggest driver of the salary and wages line item is police officer wages, which account for 52 percent of that line item, according to Hornickel, with Public Works the next closest at about 25 percent.
“We need to pay police good wages in order to attract and keep police,” Hornickel declared. “I feel very strongly about it. With council’s blessing, we negotiated a good contract with the police last year.”
Within the budget is the township’s capital budget, with Hornickel explaining that because Pemberton “is a township with over 10,000 residents, we can’t do a capital budget for a single year.”
“We have to do a capital budget
reflecting our needs for the current year and five more years,” he said. “So, it is really a six-year capital budget. However, we only actually budget for the current year in the budget.”
Among “this year’s capital items,” Hornickel revealed, are funds allocated for the replacement of four police cruisers.
“We keep our police patrol fleet fresh,” Hornickel declared. “So, it has been a goal to continually purchase four police cruisers. Our vehicles get a lot of miles. We typically run them for 150,000 miles and then they get handed over to the detective bureau, or for another purpose.”
Hornickel additionally proclaimed that “this year we are also looking to purchase an ALPR to help us with traffic enforcement.”
Additionally, Hornickel maintained, the police handguns have reached the end of their useful life and “for the safety of the public and officers, it is time to replace the guns and everything that goes with them.”
The capital budget, the business administrator noted, also anticipates a fire engine, though “if we come to council later (to buy one via a resolution), we are not going to spend the money for two years because there is such a backlog” in obtaining them.
The fire department, Hornickel noted, is looking to replace a 1999 fire truck, as well as one from 2001, asserting that they reach the end of their useful life after 25 years, “so we got our useful life out of them.”
Among other capital expenses covered in the 2024 budget are improvements toward a “five to 10-year park improvement plan” intended to upgrade outdated equipment at the parks and make them more user-friendly toward populations with disabilities, as well as street paving.
“We have to do street paving every year,” Hornickel said. “Fortunately, we are one of the few towns that do (pave) our own roads. … Medford has a humungous budget increase, and their budget is going up on average like $250 a home, and they are spending $1.8 million because they have to contract it all out.
“If we were to budget $1.8 million for roads, we would have to get started in April and then probably could do like 7 or 8 miles. Every year, we continue to budget money to pave roads, and also, our parking lots and courts. We just did the tennis and pickleball courts out in Presidential Lakes.”
As far as the township’s debt, which
TOWER
he explained, originally involved consideration of “several dozen potential sites” listed by Verizon, all of which were rejected by the Pinelands Commission because they didn’t conform to its celltower master plan, which calls for all such structures to be in growth zones
That left only two potential sites, he said, one on the property of the Indian Mills Memorial School, which was ultimately turned down by the Shamong Township Board of Education, and the one located at 447 Oak Shade Road that was rejected by the joint land use board, culminating in the lawsuit.
“The town did everything it could to find another location,” he maintained, “and this was the only site the Pinelands Commission would approve,” due to the commissioners wanting to avoid setting “a precedent of (allowing) a cell tower in a rural development zone, which is not consistent with their master plan.”
But despite his role in helping lead the effort to keep it from being built in the Oakshade Road location, Norman acknowledged that the tower itself “is needed in Shamong.”
“They did present evidence it fills a gap in coverage,” he conceded, adding that “the more bandwidth these cell phones have, the more cell towers they need.”
of Bookbinder’s 2022 ruling, which was subsequently appealed:
“They (the Cell Tower North partnership, referred to as the plaintiffs) state that the defendants have had three years, multiple hearings and briefs to raise every argument they could come up with in opposition to the application and in support of the board’s serial denials. … Alternatively, the plaintiffs argue that this court may resolve the litigation as they are prepared to reduce the equipment pad to an area of 100 square feet, bringing it into compliance with the ordinance and eliminating the need for a C variance.”
That 100-foot reduction ended up being a condition of the court’s resolution of the matter, which further noted that “plaintiffs shall work with the land use board engineering on an acceptable landscaping plan to screen the base of the cell tower.”
Just how complex the case for and against the building of the tower became during the legal back-and forth is reflected in this passage from the “arguments” section of a court summary
The court’s denial of the land use board ruling was also appealed by local developer Travis Pratt, who challenged it both as an individual and as the owner of Oakshade LLC, an adjacent proposed development for which some half a dozen luxury homes are planned, that has previous approval from the township. His arguments were rejected by the court on a number of grounds—for example, that his expert witness, certified realestate appraiser Charles Poliero “did not produce any report or data to support his testimony” that it would reduce the value of the lots involved.”
In upholding that finding, the appeals panel maintained that Poliero
(Continued from Page 1) See TOWER/ Page 9
VACUUM
(Continued from Page 3)
Sheerin clarified she is looking for a “general plan” of what residents are to do in the event of an emergency, further asserting, “Everybody in this room has a right to know what to do!”
Sheerin added that emergency management activities should not just pertain to wildfire response, but that “OEM has a huge plethora of things it can do,” including establishing “cooling stations” during power outages in the heat.
DeGroff’s response to the concerns was to ask Sheerin if she would like to be an “assistant” to emergency management, to which she responded she would be “happy to help,” though she began her remarks by stating she has limited time to be the local emergency manager (DeGroff would have to officially appoint a resident to a deputy emergency manager post).
Sheerin also conveyed her concern with the current shared service agreement Woodland has with Tabernacle Township for a construction official, pointing to the recent firing of the shared official in Pemberton Township, as well as the controversy the official is at the center of in Tabernacle.
“I don’t want to get yanked into lawsuits because of shared service agreements with that particular individual, as I know we will end up as,” Sheerin declared.
Sheerin, who works in the insurance industry, maintained that she is dealing with three claims currently in which the “carriers are not covering them because they are saying they do not agree with Governor (Phil) Murphy’s shared services” push.
“You guys can do it, but they are not going to give you an attorney for it,” she contended.
Officials, including Brown, who also works as the administrator of Tabernacle, did not comment on Sheerin’s liability concern.
However, there was an indication given later in the meeting that there is some delay in the construction official (Tom Boyd) responding to a concern over a purportedly disheveled property at 115 Maple Drive in the Lebanon Lakes community.
Resident Lisa Sabatini inquired about the status of litigation that was previously promised by officials to be brought against the owner of the parcel, with her
pointing out that “I have not been here in 9 months – and nothing has happened.”
“I have not filed it,” Burns acknowledged. “I am waiting on the construction official, and waiting on some information from the construction official and will go from there.”
After Sabatini declared of the parcel it is an “eyesore for the development,” DeGroff responded, “We have not forgotten about it, and we understand your complaint.”
Mull asked Brown to follow-up on the matter, with the township administrator responding, “I certainly can.”
The meeting began with the committee introducing a pair of ordinances – one that would amend the salary ranges for Woodland officials, and another that would set the parameters for “cannabis taxation,” with no explanation offered for either one.
Additionally, Fire Chief Shawn Viscardi again highlighted in a report to the committee a number of fire and EMS vehicles that have fallen into disrepair.
An “old ambulance,” he explained, was “towed out of the building” after “we went to go on a call, and it was dead again.”
A second ambulance that was reported last month to be out of service, which had caused the committee to authorize up to $4,500 in repairs to it, only ultimately required some $1,000 in repairs, the chief reported, and is now back in service. An oil leak and “O-rings found to be leaking” were reported to have caused the issue for that vehicle.
The chief’s vehicle, a Ford 2014 Ford Explorer, meanwhile, was reported on July 24 to have been towed to a local dealership and is “not drivable.” The committee, based on two estimates, approved on July 24 up to $10,000 in repairs, though it also wanted the chief to obtain a third estimate.
It was followed by DeGroff maintaining his steadfast support for a proposed well project at the Chatsworth firehouse, but officials recognized not much progress has been made on it with a deadline looming to spend federal relief money from the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition, the Woodland mayor, in a separate matter, reported that “somebody stole a bunch of signs at Woodmansie” and Public Works had to replace them.
(Signs have also recently been reported stolen in nearby Bass River and Shamong townships.)
The meeting also did feature praise from Sabatini.
“Thank you for paving Lebanon Lakes,” she said. “It looks very nice.”
ADVOCATES
(Continued from Page 4)
over last, but yet money from those line items in 2023 were placed in reserve due to the fact it was not fully spent last year.
On another page, she maintained, there is a “list of projects for a $150,000 appropriation,” but without any information presented, “maybe it is rational, but it certainly doesn’t show.”
“We are paying through the nose unnecessarily!” she charged.
Another question she had in looking at the budget: is the governing body “canceling the remaining funds” allocated through a prior bond for the municipality to purchase a 19-acre parcel on Carranza Road for a new municipal building, now that officials said the deal is off? (A question to which she never received an answer during the July 22 session.)
“An analysis was not done on last year’s budget, and it is still not being done, and that is your responsibility as administrator, Ms. (Maryalice) Brown!” Fran Brooks declared. “While you work two days a week for a full-time salary and are sucking all the money out of the budget to pay for your golden pension, we are suffering, and it is time for you to go! And you guys better do it! Because this township is PO’d that we have at least two professionals who are not doing their jobs properly!”
Fran Brooks, in further tearing into the municipal administrator, the latter who has a shared service agreement to provide the service as the administrator and clerk of Woodland Township, alleged of Brown that she has “done no budget work since she was hired.”
“Does she treat Woodland Township residents the way she treated Tabernacle residents, while she pulls down $132,000 annually under a shared service agreement so she could have her golden retirement pension?” Fran Brooks asked. “That shared service agreement was written by (Solicitor) Mr. (William) Burns (also the solicitor of Woodland) and he was doing her a favor at our expense, unfortunately!”
It led Fran Brooks to “wonder who on this committee asked relevant questions about this budget, or if you even care about adopting an honest budget so you don’t keep squeezing the taxpayers!”
The method of adopting the budget
without a complete presentation, and seemingly without community and committee involvement, is one that Fran Brooks declared is “really fundamentally dishonest.”
“You know, for the longest time I wanted to say this – and nobody who is a Republican take this as an insult as I change parties: all you Republicans are supposed to be for small government,” declared Fran Brooks of the all-GOP committee. “But not the Tabernacle crew! There ain’t no small government in Tabernacle and never has been! It is all phony and a myth! We are being improperly squeezed!”
It took more pressing by Stuart Brooks in asking “How did you determine the line-item increases?”, for Haines to break his silence on how he came up with the figures contained in the budget.
“I looked at individual line items,” answered Haines, before asking Stuart Brooks if one can rely on not having to buy salt in 2023 year after year, to which Stuart Brooks shot back, “You tell me!”
“We do put reserves back in the budget,” Haines said. “The revenue line item of $1.4 million of surplus was used as balance money. With proper budgeting, yes, you put in items in the budget in case of an emergency, so you don’t have to raise or defer a charge next year. You do a transfer to make something work.”
Then, finally, came some details.
The proposed 2.8 cent increase in the local purpose tax levy is intended to raise $200,000, according to Haines, with $108,000 of the funds for offsetting increased fire company expenses to “make sure we can have manned crews during the day” after a grant providing funding for daytime firefighter coverage has reportedly expired.
The remaining amount of the increase is to cover increased liability insurance costs of $45,000, according to Haines, as well as $50,000 that is anticipated to be spent on street sweeping now required of municipalities by the state.
But having to learn of those details only by pressing and lambasting officials is, as Stuart Brooks put it, a “bad way of doing business.”
“I can’t make the change, you guys have to make the change, and frankly the change has to come at the professional and department head level,” Stuart Brooks told the Tabernacle governing body. “They have to have the vigor,
See ADVOCATES/ Page 8
(Continued from Page 3)
“Am I reading that correctly that everyone pays a fee, including residents?” asked Councilwoman Diane Fanucci of the draft ordinance in front of her, to which Haines responded, “We will talk about that.”
“What’s your feeling?” the mayor added.
Fanucci initially suggested a “refundable” fee for residents “assuming everything is left the way it is supposed to be,” but that for non-residents, “I don’t know about the refundable part.”
But Councilwoman Andrea Martin stated her belief that “I can’t imagine people from other towns flocking here to use our spaces.”
“So, to kind of say residents don’t have to pay a fee is kind of cutting ourselves off,” Martin added.
Fanucci maintained asking, “’What are we using the permitting money for?’” is a “valid question.”
After Fanucci contended there are some outside groups that use the borough’s recreational facilities, both she and Martin settled on the idea of a “two-tiered” fee structure being a “good idea,” with non-residents having to pay a higher fee.
But that is when Haines voiced her objections, maintaining that park use should be free in most instances.
“If you would like to rent the park so no one can come for the entire day, yes, then absolutely (one should be charged a fee),” Haines maintained. “But if you want to go down and have your kid’s birthday party at the park, go have a great time!”
Councilman Steven Fenster, in adding his opinion to the mix, said that he “mostly agrees” with the mayor, but contended the Burlington County Park System has a “tiered” structure and “reservation system in place.”
“We do have to draw the line somewhere,” he said. “I remember last year that we had big gatherings, with big loudspeakers, and I could hear it at my house four blocks away.”
Fenster said the fee should apply, in particular, if the police have to check out the park in the event of “especially large events, as opposed to a picnic.”
Fanucci was moved enough to voice her agreement with Fenster’s view, but then
Corrections and Amplifications
In the Aug. 3 print edition, the intersection of concern referenced in a story about tennis courts at Seneca High was misidentified – it is Carranza and Hawkin roads, not Carranza and Flyatt roads.In an article published in the July 13 edition, it stated that the two Seneca students who went to West Point were the first in the school’s history to attend a military academy. Additional information has since come to light, and this was incorrect. To the best of our knowledge, in 2006, two students graduated and went on to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The Pine Barrens Tribune regrets its errors.
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Haines put a question to council: “OK, what if they don’t have a permit and the police ride by – what is it that you want them to do about that?”
Fenster replied, in part, that if the individuals using the park are “creating a nuisance or loud noise” or “dumping garbage,” the police should “at least have a record of who it is and what they are doing.”
“There are reasons why we don’t want to make it a free-for-all,” he maintained, noting he found the county’s reservation system (for large gatherings and to host events) to be useful.
When Fanucci pointed out that a “giant Easter Egg Party” earlier this year at Mill Creek Park, which she contended “accrued 40 people” had caused her to spend the “next day picking up plastic pieces and boxes,” Haines shot back, “I think that is a biproduct of using the park.”
But it led another council member to propose a refundable fee so long as the park is cleaned up after use.
“Let me be devil’s advocate,” Haines responded. “OK, nobody came in, signed up, and the police ride by (and see people), what do they do? Should they shut them down, or collect a fee while there?”
Having the police come in and shut down a public gathering, the mayor maintained, is “not a good idea,” further declaring that if council wants a permit process in place, it needs to “figure out how you are going to enforce it.”
“And if you are not going to enforce it, there is no point,” Haines asserted.
After Fanucci proposed that a “form” be created for use by the police to obtain contact information from park users who failed to obtain a permit, Council President Terry Jerome inserted himself into the deliberation, appearing to caution his colleagues to be as user friendly as possible and to limit police involvement.
“People are going to use the park no matter what, whether they have a permit or they don’t,” Jerome maintained. “I think our permit process should afford them the ability to reserve the park, and we should have a mechanism to display that, or that this part of the park is reserved on this day and at this time. And for that, they get a permit.
“But if you are a borough resident, I don’t think you should be charged. And if you are an out-of-town resident, I think a nominal fee is reasonable. I think in either
case, a security deposit for reserving the park is reasonable. If someone wants to roll the dice and show up with balloons, gifts, and guests, and the park is open, I don’t believe anyone should stand in their way.”
He emphasized that “the last thing this municipality needs is a police officer going down to a birthday party, telling them (the organizers) you have to turn this off.”
“That would be bad,” declared Jerome, putting an emphasis on the word “bad.”
Jerome, in pointing out that he ran a commercial park for 35 years, noted “you can give people the rules seven ways to Sunday, and they are not always going to abide by them.”
Providing for a public park and having to clean it routinely is “part of what we provide as a municipality,” Jerome maintained, and “creating impediments to that, or making this extraordinarily hard, is not a good thing.”
“I think we need to streamline this as much as we possibly can and make it easy for people to use the park,” Jerome continued.
Requiring a security deposit for those wishing to hold events or large gatherings at the park is a “very good idea,” the council president maintained, but he cautioned “you are not always getting people to come back to clean up the park.” Whether or not to return any security deposit is a “judgement call” that should lie with the township administrator, Jerome maintained.
It was Jerome that appeared to move the needle on the discussion, with Martin agreeing with him that she would “never want an officer to shut down a kid’s birthday party.”
“Maybe there should be a process to gather information,” she said of the police’s involvement. “Then say, ‘Thank you for using our park.’ That way if something does happen, they have contact information.”
It was preliminarily decided to require a $50 security deposit for anyone wishing to host large gatherings at the park.
As for the borough’s indoor gym, also known as the “Field House,” it was said the borough office staff had “called around” to other municipalities to learn of their fee structures for indoor recreational facilities and, as a result, it was proposed to council to have the borough charge “$150 daily, $250 weekly, and $700 monthly” for renting the gym.
The council discussed the need to recoup costs for items such as the use of electricity as the intent behind the proposed fee schedule.
But Fenster questioned whether there should be a “discount for residents,” leading Haines to ask, “Should they be paying at all?”
It was preliminarily decided to charge residents “half” price.
However, Jerome maintained that the final product of any ordinance should include a mechanism for “non-profit, or community-based organizations to petition for a reduced or no fee” as there are such groups that are “inherently beneficial” in providing for “seniors and children that may not have the means to rent the field house at full price.”
It was preliminarily decided to “give the administrator and mayor such oversight” to grant exemptions.
Another version of the proposal was placed before council during its July 15 session. It was then that Fanucci suggested provisions regarding the use of “confetti and glitter,” maintaining “it is hard to clean up” afterwards and “gets chopped up by the grass cutters.”
“I am still picking up streamers three weeks after a party at the park,” maintained Fanucci (who volunteers to clean up the litter in the community, helping to complement Public Works’ efforts), to which Haines maintained it was the responsibility of Public Works to clean up the park.
Fanucci, as she did in June, asked for language that specifies that the police should be monitoring the park and monitoring “who is there,” but Haines responded that designating the enforcers of the policy is an “internal policy decision” and that is before council now “is a policy for the public using the park.”
Meanwhile, newly-appointed Councilman Ben Bernacki maintained any new regulations should contain a prohibition on the use of cannabis at the park, along the lines of an alcohol ban, now that recreational use of cannabis is legal in the state, to which Haines responded, “It would not hurt.”
The final “policies for our public space and rental of the gymnasium” would have to be adopted via an ordinance following a first and second reading and public hearing. It is expected any ordinance could be introduced as soon as council’s next Aug. 19 meeting.
Events and special promotions happening locally next month!
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Damage from the microburst in Medford Township on Aug. 2.
MICROBURST
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“In true Medford fashion, we witnessed neighbors helping neighbors through the aftermath of the storm,” Dovi told this newspaper. “As a community we should be proud of how we all come together when an event like this occurs.”
ADVOCATES
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whatever it takes, to get it done, get it in your hands, and then have to push you to have multiple meetings, in February, March and April if you have to.” He added that spending $132,000 on a shared municipal administrator service is “outrageous,” and in pointing to the budget mess, maintained “you are not getting good service.”
The storm, before rolling into Medford, also reportedly caused tree damage in Evesham Township. According to the National Weather Service, several wires were reported down in the vicinity of the Routes 70 and 73 interchange. On Elmwood Road, several trees were reported to have fallen.
More than 11 roads in Evesham had downed trees or storm damage, according
The Pine Barrens Tribune reported two weeks ago that at this same meeting, after a closed session, it was announced that the committee would be seeking a fulltime municipal administrator, though Brown’s future was not discussed.
Before Stuart Brooks sat down, he asked another question of Haines: how much was incurred by the township committee and its professionals in developing a site plan and attempting to obtain approvals for a new municipal complex, a plan which has since been killed.
to Evesham Public Information Officer Zane Clark, but no injuries were reported. Radnor and Knox boulevards seemed to be the hardest hit. It was here, according to Clark, lightning reportedly struck a vehicle, and several live wires were brought down, blocking the roadway. Additionally, on Knox Boulevard, a tree fell on the house, Clark said.
A second round of thunderstorms on
“I can’t answer that,” Haines said. “I don’t have those records here.”
Stuart Brooks then pressed the chief financial officer for an “approximation,” to which he said he could not give any because of not having those records with him.
“I am shocked you can’t even give the public an approximation how much that cost,” Stuart Brooks declared. “It was just a brutal decision that caused a road closure that has caused terrible pain.”
The committee, at the behest of Mayor
Aug. 4 mostly weakened by the time the line got to the Medford area, but before they dwindled, an outflow boundary, or gust front, was produced, and the gusty winds associated with it knocked down additional wires along Tomlinson Mill and Taunton Lake roads, according to the National Weather Service.
There was a heightened risk of major storms in New Jersey on Aug. 6, however, the Pinelands was generally spared the worst, with little in the way of precipitation occurring.
However, Northwestern Burlington County was not spared on Aug. 6, instead being hit severely.
According to the National Weather Service, 7.03 inches of rain was recorded in Delran, with Willingboro having received 5.68 inches, while the Moorestown to Mount Laurel area got between 2 and 3.5 inches of rain.
Floods were reported in Burlington City, Burlington Township, Delanco, Delran, Edgewater Park, Mount Laurel, Palmyra, Riverside, Riverton and Willingboro, according to Burlington County Spokesman David Levinsky, and the rain caused severe flooding on several roads and highways, most notably on Route 130.
No injuries have been reported from the flooding, according to Levinsky, but “numerous vehicles became stranded in floodwaters on roadways.”
To give a sense of how the Pinelands communities of Burlington County lucked out Aug. 6, in the northwestern part of the county, according to Levinsky, a total of 77 rescues were performed by first responders involving vehicles trapped on flooded roads: 60 in Cinnaminson, 16 in Delran and one in Willingboro.
Residents from 15 homes in the Silver Park West community in Edgewater Park were also evacuated due to the flooding.
See MICROBURST/ Page 11
Noble McNaughton, decided to continue the public hearing on a later date, and instead of approving the budget on the spot, vowed to meet with Haines and Brown, alongside Deputy Mayor Joseph Barton to discuss the budget.
The budget hearing began by McNaughton making a motion, seconded by Barton, to reduce the committee member salaries back down from $7,000 to $5,000 for the 2024 budget year, which passed in a 5-0 vote.
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BUDGET
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as of Dec. 31, 2023, was $28.6 million (excluding the township utilities), “there is good news” on that front, Hornickel maintained, with it “forecast to improve dramatically” next year.
“Our municipal debt levels are going to decrease because we went out and sold bonds last year, and by selling bonds, we are paying down our debt over the next 12 years,” the business administrator said. “Additionally, as mentioned at the last meeting, New Horizon came in and filed with the Planning Board to demolish and reconstruct the old Browns
TOWER
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could not point to any studies he conducted to support his conclusion that the public’s perception of cell towers and power lines lowers the value of nearby properties, nor had he offered calculations or other information to bolster his opinion that the proposed cell tower would result in
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Mills Shopping Center. If all goes well, by the end of the year, they should be paying us $2.7 million for that property, which we will then apply to debt service.”
Hornickel added that “real estate values in Pemberton are going up, and going up pretty significantly,” which has a direct impact on “our municipal debt ratio” and “our ability to borrow.”
“Our debt ratio has actually dropped because the value of properties has grown,” he said.
Overall, council adopted a budget with some $27.3 million in appropriations (a decrease of $834,004 over last year), with Hornickel maintaining “council passed on the need to be very austere, and the department managers heard this.”
a 10 to 20 percent diminution of Pratt’s property value.
“Without more information, no reasonable factfinder would be able to rely on [his] testimony as evidence of the adverse impacts of cell towers on neighboring property values or the potential impact of the proposed cell tower at issue on nearby property values,” the panel asserted.
In his ruling, Judge Bookbinder also found that “the interpleader defendant (Pratt) had ample opportunity to
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develop the evidence and record before the defendant land use board and present his arguments against the grant of C-variance.”
In commenting on the cell-tower resolution at the township committee meeting, Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce, pointing out that the structure would be located at the rear of the former Opici wine distributor site (which is now owned by Audubon Environmental & Helical Piers), close to the Indian Mills Memorial School, said he had been “a big
proponent” of having the tower put up on the school property itself “so that they could actually pay the fees to the school and help lower our taxes.
“But the school board was not interested in that, so they’re going to have a cell tower pretty nearly on their property for which they get no revenue,” the mayor pointed out. “But be that as it may, the good news is that our cell service will be better—it is better for our emergency management and we’ll get better reception in this area.”
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“Burlington County has a highly trained team of first responders and public safety professionals, and once again, they proved their value last night,” said Burlington County Commissioner Director Felicia Hopson of the Aug. 6 flood that occurred just northwest of the Pinelands. “Close to 600 emergency 911 calls and 1,800 non-emergency calls were fielded by Burlington County Central Communications and the dispatch center’s telecommunicators during the
storm and floods last night. More than 1,500 police, fire and emergency medical incidents were dispatched through Central Communications.
“We’re tremendously thankful for the services of all first responders and public safety officials. While we’re relieved no injuries were reported, our emergency management team is concerned about the potential for more severe storms and floods this week. Residents are encouraged to be mindful of the weather and use extreme caution if driving during storms. We also recommend taking action now to prepare for the possibility of more flooding. Create an emergency supply kit
and disaster plan for your family.”
The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, as of press time, were expected to come up the Eastern U.S., but were expected to track west of New Jersey. Additional tropical downpours were forecast as a result, and in addition, forecasters were also concerned about strong wind gusts and isolated tornadoes on Friday, Aug. 9.
In light of the recent storminess, Burlington County officials are encouraging residents to prepare disaster kits with essential items such as medications, important documents, clothing and necessary supplies and be prepared to evacuate on short notice
if conditions worsen or a mandatory evacuation order is issued.
“It is also important for residents to pay close attention to the weather forecasts and any emergency alerts from New Jersey, Burlington County or their local municipality,” the county said in a release. Residents can sign up for real-time alerts and notifications from the Burlington County Department of Public Safety’s CivicReady Emergency Alert system online at http://co.burlington.nj.us/210/ Emergency-Notification-Systems. Nicer weather was anticipated to take hold for the weekend and most of the new week ahead.
