INSIDE THIS WEEK
Estlow and Fitzgerald Take Helm of LRHSD BOE - Pg. 7
PINE BARRENS TRIBUNE www.pinebarrenstribune.com
Vol. 2 – No. 21
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January 20, 2018 – January 26, 2018
Mayoral Change in the Capital of the Pines
PHOTO BY RYAN MARCHESE
William DeGroff is sworn in as the new mayor of Woodland Township by Township Clerk Maryalice Brown.
Elected Head of Woodland Changes for Only Third Time in Four Decades By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
WOODLAND—A rare mayoral change was made earlier this month in Woodland Township. William DeGroff, a township committeeman in Woodland since 2009, was elected by his fellow committeemen on Jan. 5 to serve as the township’s mayor this year. The leadership change follows months of political wrangling that led to accusations, resignations and a bitter, nail-biter primary. “I feel good about it,” DeGroff said. “Maybe it is time for a change and I hope to move the town forward and that a lot of the stuff can die down.” DeGroff takes over for Matthew Henrich, who has held the mayoral position since 2011. “Both (Committeeman) Mark (Herndon) and I felt it’s best to nominate Bill DeGroff to be mayor for 2018,” Henrich said. “Bill is retired now and has plenty of time to dedicate to this position. I am sure he will do a good job as mayor.”
However, Henrich and DeGroff haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. The most notable occasion is when DeGroff questioned Henrich’s decision to not reappoint Fire Chief Shawn Viscardi as emergency management coordinator, leading to a dispute last year that made headlines. DeGroff was particularly concerned with the way in which the decision was reached. The dispute led to loud and unproven accusations that Henrich recruited DeGroff’s June 2017 primary opponent, Tom Getz, and that he was responsible for DeGroff not being placed in the first column of the primary ballot—a position typically reserved for incumbent politicians. DeGroff defeated Getz, whose father-in-law is a self-described adviser to Henrich, by only four votes last year. Notably, following the primary, Getz’s father-in-law brought up a township nepotism policy at a township committee meeting. Getz, moments after the nepotism policy
was brought up, questioned the employment of Debbie DeGroff, William’s wife, as secretary of the Woodland Township Planning Board. She was forced to resign last summer after Solicitor William Burns said her employment violated the nepotism policy. Getz now serves as the township’s deputy emergency management coordinator, a decision that William DeGroff supported last month. “One of my goals is to see everybody in town get along,” William DeGroff said. “We don’t need all of this bickering.” DeGroff, who has lived in Woodland since he was 6 years old, was a 32-year police officer for the Burlington County Bridge Commission. He retired in July 2016 as he neared the age of 60. Prior to his first term on the township committee, DeGroff served for 12 years on the Woodland Township Board of Education. One area where he and Henrich agree is the need to restore the state’s Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program contributions to the
municipality. Henrich has been working with state Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ-1) to get a bill passed in the state Legislature to restore the contributions. Numerous parcels in the township have been acquired by the state for open-space preservation. As a result, the properties have been removed from the tax rolls. The state, in 1977, established the PILOT program to compensate municipalities for the loss of tax revenue due to the tax-exempt status of state-owned property by providing annual payments. However, former Governor Chris Christie in 2010 made drastic cuts to the program. He reduced the amount paid to municipalities by one-third and required that payments to towns with preserved open space be based on pre-2010 preserved open-space acreage. Woodland has lost a total of $1.75 million over the last seven years. “I’d like to get the aid back,” William
MAYOR>>PAGE 19
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