Pine Barrens Tribune February 10, 2024-February 16, 2024

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PRE-PRIMARY PURGE

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

A Split That Took Place a Year Ago in the Ranks of the Solidly Democratic Evesham Council Widens into a Chasm When the Local Party Votes to Replace Two Incumbents on the Ballot, Including the Newly Chosen Deputy Mayor, Who Calls the Decision ‘Sudden and Shocking’ Evesham Township Deputy Mayor Ginamarie Espinoza, with her daughter in hand, and, at left, Councilman Eddie Freeman III.

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EVESHAM—In a somewhat stunning political development apparently arising from a split in the ranks of the solidly Democratic Evesham Township Council that originated more than a year ago over a decision to change the municipality’s legal representation, the township’s Democratic Committee has voted to replace two council members —including the new deputy mayor— who were presumably up for re-election on this year’s primary ballot.

The decision on Jan. 25 to drop the local party’s support for Ginamarie Espinoza, who was named deputy mayor in a 3-2 vote at last month’s reorganization meeting, and Eddie Freeman III, who served as deputy mayor in 2023, was “the result of a large majority of the members of Evesham Democrats losing faith in the incumbents,” according to a statement emailed to this newspaper on Feb. 5 by Committee Chair Phil Warren.

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Saturday, February 10, 2024

Bid for $194K to Rehabilitate Pemberton’s Jones Farm Storage Barn Raises Hackles of Local Farmers, Ultimately Putting Project on Hold Business Administrator Responds Insurance Claim to Cover Nearly 80 Percent of Costs, Town Also Must Comply with Public Contract, Prevailing Wage Law

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—A plan to rehabilitate a red barn on Fort Dix Road belonging to Pemberton Township for $194,442 has been put on hold following public outcry during a Jan. 17 Pemberton Township Council session that the bid price is “outrageous,” with a local farmer declaring that one could “build a whole new building for the price of that roof!”

However, Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel maintained, in response, that “it is not a simple roof replacement,” the majority of the planned work, or nearly 80 percent of it, is covered under an insurance claim following a July 2022 fire in the barn, and that the township must also comply with Public Contract and Prevailing Wage Law, which limits the township to a select number of qualified contractors, unlike in the private sector.

Administration had asked council on Jan. 17 to award a $194,442 contract to Joseph Porretta Builders, Inc., for “the reconstruction of the roof at 151 Fort Dix Road.”

T he bar n at is sue is Pe mb er ton Township’s Jones Farm Storage Barn, a red barn currently used to store materials for the municipality’s Water and Sewer divisions and is most synonymous with the

former Pemberton Township Municipal Utilities Authority (PTMUA), as it sits on the site of the former PTMUA’s headquarters (the agency was dissolved in late 2019) on the Jones Farm.

The barn has been largely boarded up since the 2022 inferno, with Hornickel describing at the Jan. 17 session that the holes seen atop the barn’s roof were ones cut by firefighters when they had battled the blaze.

Hornickel, in March 2023, described a repair plan for the barn that entails making the storage barn a “drive-through barn” and that would also redesign the roof to accommodate a potential future solar array.

Council, at the time, retained the architectural firm of Reagan Young England Butera for drawing up the plan to restore the “Jones Farm Storage Barn” at a cost not to exceed $33,075.

“The price of it is outrageous,” declared local farmer Valerie Roohr to council upon taking note of a resolution to award Joseph Porretta Builders a $194,442 contract for the repairs. “I got a price by the Amish, quoted for my barn at my mom’s house at 541 Ridge Road (in neighboring Southampton Township), and it (the barn) is much bigger than the one at the PTMUA, and it got quoted for $7,000.”

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‘Third Time is a Charm,’ Pemberton Business Administrator Declares After Passage of Controversial Mandatory Water-System Hook-up Law Republicans Flip Positions, Pointing to ‘Deep’ and ‘Very, Very Good Concessions’ That Include One Can Keep Their Well for Drinking Water Until It Fails, Home Sells

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—The “third time is a charm” is how Pemberton Township Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel characterized it – or the Jan. 17 passage by Pemberton Township Council, following two other previous failed attempts, of an ordinance that compels those with well water to connect to the municipal water system for potable water should service be, or become, available in their neighborhood, and if their home is within a 200 linear-feet distance of a township water supply main.

The decision to grant approval of the latest rendition of the ordinance was unanimous – with the Republican officials previously “staunchly opposed” to such a mandate, which was first considered when council was under absolute-Democratic control back in 2021, having now flipped their positions.

They did so on the basis that the latest crafted law reflects “very, very good concessions” by administration (which includes Republican Mayor Jack Tompkins, who at one time was also very vocally opposed to any such mandate) as the municipal water utility reportedly struggles financially, including that a property owner

would now only be required to connect in the event their well fails, or if that person sells their home to someone outside their family.

Still, the latest measure brought about opposition from residents in a community that not only has areas where people value their clean, crisp, and refreshing well water without the aftertaste of chlorination, but also has a poverty rate above 10 percent, as well as a median household income of only $76,516, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Being forced to connect, if you sell, I think is wrong,” declared local Valerie Roohr, voicing that she is against the mandate. “I think if you have a working well, you should be able to keep it. If you have a well that is working, and it is fine, why do you have to have extra costs involved to sell that property or home?”

Roohr, in railing against the measure, repeatedly called it “insane” to put someone wishing to sell their home through “extra costs” when that property has “water running to it perfectly fine.”

“And I would not want city water when I have perfectly great well water,” she declared. “It is better than city water. I See WATER/ Page 8

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‘We Don’t Have Anything to Show for It,’ Committeeman Says, Two Years After Tabernacle Started Process for New Town Hall Declaration Prompts Motions to Revive Building Subcommittee and Require Monthly Reports from It, But Township Administrator Had Just Reported Town Filed Pinelands Commission Application

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—Despite more than two years of Tabernacle Township officials developing and presenting concept, floor and site plans for a prospective new municipal building at 144 Carranza Road, the holding of two town-hall style meetings to elicit feedback, a development of an agreement of sale, an environmental study, and passage of two bond anticipation notes being taken out for transactions related to the project – and the probable expense that went along with all that – Committeeman William J. Sprague, Jr., declared during a Jan. 22 session, “frankly, we don’t have anything to show for it.”

It was a revelation that somewhat contradicted Township Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown moments earlier, who announced in regard to the prospective new town hall, “the Pinelands application was submitted to the Commission on Jan. 15.”

But yet, Sprague called for the reestablishment of a building subcommittee, which technically could open the door to the possibility of changes beyond what is in the application reportedly submitted to the commission, signifying just how little of a grasp at least some members of the governing body appear to currently have on the project.

“The township has a building project that has been going on for over two years,” Sprague said. “We are paying for trailers, we bought a piece of property, we are paying for professionals, and frankly we don’t have anything to show for it. People don’t know what is going on. And two times it has happened to me where somebody has come to me and said, ‘Oh, I hear the township is going to knock down the old building.’ And I say, ‘What?” Yeah, that is what is around.

There is so much misinformation and lack of information that something needs to be done.”

But as previously reported last week by the Pine Barrens Tribune, during the same Jan. 22 session, it turned out there is at least some members of the governing body who have a newfound willingness to explore demolition of the old town hall, dismissing its historical value, and casting the concern more along the lines of the building simply being sentimental.

Sprague, prior to some committeepersons seemingly revealing their willingness to consider demoing town hall, which represents a hard right from a prior committee plan to simply relocate the facility at 163 Carranza Road as part of a planned Village Greene, described that a subcommittee has been in existence for the last two years, or a “a small group, within a group, that is tasked with specific duties to make recommendations and release findings as to what is going on.”

“We need a new subcommittee to go forward for next year,” Sprague declared.

It was a re que st that s e eme d to bewilder Brown (given the application now is in process), with her asking, “A subcommittee for what?”

“The new building,” Sprague replied.

Still, at the suggestion of Sprague, the subcommittee was re-established, with Mayor Mark Hartman and Deputy Mayor

Natalie Stone appointed to serve on it.

The Jan. 22 session, at the behest of Sprague, also appeared to be a meeting where the governing body took at least some control of the building project from the administration and township professionals through a series of moves.

Brown, for instance, has been providing reports to the township committee about the building project during the committee meetings, albeit there have been several occasions where she has said there was very little, if anything, new to report.

“There should be reports,” Sprague asserted. “I recommend, and make a motion, that the subcommittee reports monthly to the committee, and to the town, about what is going on, and what progress has been made, and where we are with that building.”

It passed, 5-0.

The governing body’s decision came at a time in which it has been under fire for what some believe has been a lack of discussion with the public about the project, as well as for offering few opportunities for public input, and even having limited public comment, or deciding against having any engagement with residents.

Late last year, new details about changes to the concept plan were brought to the committee by Brown, as well as it having been tacitly mentioned that the township is putting off a new Public Works building to another phase of the project.

Brown and the professionals also dodged several queries posed about the cost of the site plan.

As the committee made its motion on reports, Brown sought clarification as to whether it sought a “monthly report from the subcommittee as to what is going on.” The governing body agreed with that characterization of the motion it had just passed.

“That brings me to my next point,” Sprague continued. “What has happened is there is no direction to this building, as a committeeperson, that I have seen. And what I need to know, a year from now, OK – and I don’t think it is going to happen, but a year from now, when we break dirt, and Mr. Mayor, Ms. Stone, you get your white hats and go out and dig a hole, and play construction workers for that day, on day one, and day two, after that, when rubber meets the road, what plan do you have to guide the township into how we are going to do this?”

That is when Hartman, in answering that query, appeared to acknowledge the arrangement that had been in place, replying, “I would have to lean on the professionals, because I have never built a building before.”

“Every time you contact a professional, you are paying for it!” Sprague retorted. “It is the township’s responsibility, that you as a subcommittee know what direction we are going in, where we are and what is being done! If you don’t have that in your initial plan, we are not going to get any place!”

Sprague’s actions appeared to also be a response to Hartman, Stone and See TABERNACLE/ Page 11

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 3

Medford Lakes Looks to Replace Its 30-Year Old Fire Engine; Council Awards $522K Bid for Road-Improvement Program Former Councilman Questions Why Announcement Hasn’t Been Made That Petition Packets Are Available as 3 Council Seats Are Up for Grabs

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

MEDFORD LAKES—The Medford Lakes Fire Department has requested a new fire engine from Medford Lakes Borough Council, Dr. Robert Burton, borough manager, reported during a Jan. 25 council meeting.

“The chief has asked for a new engine because ours is approaching 30 years old,” Burton told council.

Borough Clerk Mark J. McIntosh later told this newspaper that the fire engine needing replacement is Engine 3712, a 1998 fire truck.

“The governor did just sign a bill that extends the useful life from 10 to 20 years for engines, which is a really good change,” said Burton during the Jan. 25 session.

“When you talk about bonding out a $1 million piece of equipment over 10 years, it has effectively doubled that time, which makes it more affordable.”

Following the enactment of the legislation, Burton said he believes the fire chief’s request is “definitely” something “we should look at.”

Council, also during its Jan. 25 session, awarded a $522,300 contract to Asphalt Paving Systems, Inc., of Hammonton, for the borough's 2022 Road Improvement Program.

Some $502,000 is being covered through the borough's capital fund budget, according to a corresponding resolution authorizing the award, while another $12,000 is coming from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) relief funds that the borough received, which will cover stormwater aspects of the project.

The remaining $7,000 or so will be fu nde d v ia wastewater c ol le ctions maintenance monies.

Burton previously described that the project includes improvements to Mohawk Circle.

According to the bid package, the work to be undertaken includes full-depth reclamation, road resurfacing, drainage improvements, and ADA upgrades, as well as the installation of a rain garden and selective driveway replacement, on Mohawk Trail, between

Tuckerton Road to Mudjekeewis Trail.

T he proje ct, ac cord i ng to the bid package, additional ly i ncludes miscellaneous roadway improvements to Oswego and Meeshaway trails, as well as the replacement of five sanitary sewer manhole castings throughout the borough.

The Jan. 25 session concluded with Former Borough Councilman Joseph A. Aromando III questioning why the borough has reportedly not made any announcement that a “petition packet for borough council” is available for any resident wishing to seek one of three seats up for grabs in a scheduled May 14 election.

“Ever since it was available on the second of January, we have had ample opportunity to promote this thing,” Aromando declared.

“What I don’t understand is aren’t the people of Medford Lakes entitled to know when council seats are open, and what the process is, if they wish to participate? And why aren’t we doing this?”

Nothing has been said by officials at recent council meetings about the availability of the nomination petition packet, Aromando pointed out, and the “website is really bad” in keeping residents apprised of such details. The borough’s Facebook page, Aromando continued, “could have been used, but that wasn’t used,” and a fire department sign “is not on again.”

The only response Aromando received to his grievance came from Burton, who contended the electronic sign in front of the firehouse has had some issues, but is covered under warranty, and the firm it was purchased from was again back out and found that the latest issue entails it continually disconnecting from the Internet.

“I just don’t understand,” Aromando responded. “Aren’t the people in Medford Lakes entitled to be informed of something like this – the governance and participation of their town. I bring it up to you, because

February 14

See ENGINE/ Page 11

Page 4

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Longtime Woodland DPW Supervisor Battles Throat Cancer, Reportedly Undergoes Surgery to Have Voice Box Removed Community Rallies to Collect Over $6,000 to Support Medical Bills; Officials Put Contingency in Place for Operation of Town’s Grader

By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

WOODLAND—Officials in Woodland Tow nsh ip have sp ent re c ent we eks grappling with the sudden illness of one of their own, it was revealed during a Jan. 31 Woodland Township Committee meeting, with the community having since rallied behind the official.

A G oFu nd Me f u nd r a i s i ng p a g e recently shared on several local social media outlets has publicly disclosed that long ti me Woodland Tow nsh ip Public Works Supervisor Fred “Freddie” Arnwine has been diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer.

“Fred is a well-known Chatsworth resident and township worker that needs our help,” wrote organizer Kathleen Preston in making the pronouncement.

“As many of you know, he is willing to help anyone with anything.”

Preston described that Arnwine is “currently out of work with no health insurance.”

So far, in response to the plea for help, more than 54 people have donated $6,000 for Arnwine, surpassing a goal that had been set.

Preston has been keeping the public apprised of Arnwine’s recovery since he reportedly had surgery on Jan. 19 to remove his voice box, as a “PET scan shows the cancer has not spread anywhere else.” She reported that “the whole tumor was removed” and that he can “breathe a lot better now.”

“Fred had some surgery,” Woodland Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff told Jan. 31 committee meeting attendees. “And everything seems to have gone well. That is good news. We hope he will make a full recovery.”

As of Feb. 3, Preston, according to an online post she made, anticipated Arnwine beginning radiation treatments in about two weeks, and posted that he has a “long road to recovery” ahead of him.

“Fred thanks everyone for thinking of him and appreciates all the help,” she said.

Preston also noted that “Fred would

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“He does not have a voice, so be prepared to read lips and hands,” said Preston of Arnwine. “He is doing very well with it.”

Meanwh i le, Wood land Tow nsh ip Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brow n approache d the Tab er nacle Township Committee during its Jan 22. session (she is also the administrator and clerk there through a shared service agreement) to report that the “Woodland Public Works Department is very small, and we currently have an employee out with some medical issues,” and that while a “part-time gentleman has been hired to fill-in,” the “one thing he does not know how to do is grade roads.”

She then pitched the idea to the Tabernacle committee for a Tabernacle employee to come to Woodland once a month to operate Woodland’s John Deere grader, or as she put it, she would like for Woodland “to borrow Tabernacle’s grader driver for a day or two to drive Woodland’s grader in Woodland.”

Woodland, she maintained, would be willing to reimburse Tabernacle for the “employee’s hourly rate and fringe benefits,” as well as pay it a “usage fee on top of that to thank the township for allowing it.”

Grading roads once a month, she said, “is a lot” for Woodland, with the schedule typically along the lines of once every three months.

“I just don’t have a body that knows how to run it,” said Brown, noting about four Woodland roads typically need to be graded.

The Tabernacle committee approved of Brown working with William Burns, solicitor of both Woodland and Tabernacle townships, to draft an agreement.

“As everyone knows, we have a new Public Works employee who does not See CANCER/ Page 6

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Evesham School Board Votes 6-2 to Close Teddy Bear Academy, Which Superintendent Calls a Money Loser District Can Ill Afford Parents, Along with Former and Current Board Members, Vociferously Oppose Decision to Abandon ‘Beloved’ Daycare Facility That Survived a Court Challenge

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

EVESHAM—Back in August of 2018, even the heat of a scorching August afternoon was no match for the passion of a demonstration outside the building housing the Evesham Township school system’s Teddy Bear Academy (TBA) by approximately 100 area residents protesting the court-ordered closure of the district-sponsored day-care center and preschool that resulted from a legal challenge to its existence mounted by a competitive commercial facility.

So essential did the parents of many toddlers and preschoolers consider the child-care services offered by the facility back then that they ultimately succeeded in having the state law modified that had caused it to be ruled an “unauthorized activity” by an administrative law judge.

Through the creation of a pilot program passed by the legislature and signed into law by Democratic governor Phil Murphy in March of 2020, TBA and some 15 other such school district-run institutions, were allowed to remain open and continue to serve the public to a sigh of collective relief.

This year, however, that much-celebrated victory in the legal and legislative arena is being shunted aside not by a court ruling but rather by the Evesham School District itself, whose board of education, at its Jan. 25 meeting, voted 6-2 to end the still-popular TBA’s availability as of this coming June 28, its 10th anniversary. The reason, according to Superintendent Justin Smith, is an economic squeeze, accelerated by successive reductions in state aid, with which the district is currently grappling (and which might also involve having to move fifth graders in the system to a middle-school facility).

Prior to that vote, however, the projected closing had already been announced in a Jan. 3 letter to “Teddy Bear Academy families” from Smith, which maintained that “TBA loses money” and claimed the district could not continue to operate it “within the context of a projected $719,000 loss in state aid” coupled with rising costs, even while acknowledging the facility has been “an important resource in the community.”

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While those affected by the newly pending loss of TBA might not be quite as vociferous in opposing it as were the parents who resisted the court-ordered closure six years ago, it was evident from both the comments by some of those present at the meeting and the frequent and sustained applause that followed them that the “Save the Bears” spirit that characterized those earlier efforts has by no means entirely disappeared. Nor, for that matter, has the indignation that fueled those protests.

Resident Justin O’Brien, for instance, questioned what he called a lack of transparency by school officials in making their initial decision to close the facility.

“Where is TBA actually accounted for in the budget, because I looked, it is public, and it is not really there,” O’Brien contended.

“So, we are just taking your word that it’s losing money, essentially. How much is it losing? Don’t know, you didn’t say.”

The board, O’Brien claimed, had also failed to make public information such as the status of two properties it said it would sell to make up the shortfall in this year’s budget presentation or projected enrollment figures for TBA versus those of its tuition-free pre-school.

“Why wouldn’t you increase tuition to make up the shortfall that you knew about,” he asked. “It is behind closed doors, there is no transparency here other than this meeting where you haven’t given us anything. We’re talking before you tell us the facts … It seems there is an indifference to the actual citizens whom you answer to.”

O’Brien, however, added that his son has “thrived” at TBA after having failed to do so at other facilities.

Also questioning the calculations behind the decision to close TBA was another of its “family” members, Lisa Weber, who noted that she works as an accountant for the federal government and is thus in a position to “understand the numbers.”

“Your cold and quite frankly disrespectful letter stated that it was because of money,” Weber asserted. “I know for a fact that I am paying $1,575 a month for my daughter

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(Continued from Page 1) in their place will be Evesham Board of Education leader Joseph “Joe” Fisicaro Jr. and Christian Smith, a former member of the township Board of Fire Commissioners, a c c ord i ng to a pre s s rele a s e that accompanied Warren’s statement.

Complicating the candidate substitutions was an announcement that Espinoza had suffered a miscarriage in the immediate aftermath of the vote, news of which was first announced on a political website that reportedly was subsequently asked to tone down the language of an initial press release issued by Warren in light of the deputy mayor’s health crisis.

“The evening we took the endorsement vote, with Deputy Mayor Espinoza present and participating, nobody had any knowledge of any health issues she may have been or would be going through, and when we heard about her tragedy the next day, we were all deeply saddened for her and her family,” Warren told the Pine Barrens Tribune.

In addition to voicing her indignation at Warren and fellow Councilwoman Heather Cooper for having decided to proceed with an announcement of the decision while she was in the throes of losing her pregnancy, Espinoza was highly critical of the entire process used to convene the committee that voted to dump her and Freeman from the ticket, a development she called “sudden and shocking” in a statement she prepared for this newspaper.

“We heard about the meeting from other committee members and had to request from Phil (Warren) the email about the meeting,” she maintained. “We didn’t get the invite until a little over 24 hours in advance. The meeting agenda had no mention of endorsements of local candidates. At the meeting it was clear that members didn’t even know who the candidates being proposed were. When a comment was made that one of the candidates (Fisicaro) is a lifelong Republican, members appeared visibly confused and were then railroaded into voting.”

“The message is clear,” added Espinosa.

“If you don’t vote for the vendor that Phil Warren and Heather Cooper want you to vote for, even when you’re doing what is right for the town, you will be punished.”

Freeman, returning a call from a reporter, said he, too, had been “blindsided” by the unexpected turn of events and was “literally in shock” at the manner in which it unfolded.

The only thing he asked the committee, he said, was “what ulterior motives they thought we had in general,” but was greeted by silence.

“I didn’t ask any other questions, as they had already made their decision, and being a lawyer by profession, I’m not going to badger anyone,” he said.

Freeman did, however, concur with Espinoza on the committee’s having failed to provide them with advance word of the vote.

“We didn’t receive a notification until the day before, and I don’t necessarily believe we would have gotten one had not some other people on the committee raised a stink about not being notified,” asserted the councilman, who added that he had not been invited to join the committee because the seats representing the part of town where he lives had already been filled.

Also critical of the process by which the committee voted to replace the pair on the ballot was a third member of the Evesham

Council, Patricia Hansen, who is not up for reelection, but who described herself in a phone interview as being “totally disappointed by the backroom politics and the lack of transparency and the following of our bylaws” that she said prevented her from taking part in the proceedings, as she should have.

“The bylaws for the Democratic Committee are pretty straightforward,” declared Hansen, claiming that under Section 7, “if you are on the Evesham Council, you’re supposed to be included.

But I never even knew about it, they never called, never asked, nothing.”

Espinoza, Freeman and Hansen were the three council members who at a reorganization meeting in January, 2023, voted to switch the legal firm representing Evesham from Malamut & Associates, of Cherry Hill, to Mount Laurel-based Parker McCay, which had served the township in that capacity during the prior Republican administration, and who also voted at this year’s reorganization meeting to keep the firm on in a number of different functions—a decision initially opposed by Mayor Jaclyn “Jackie” Veasy and Cooper, who simply abstained from voting on it last month, as well as on Espinoza’s nomination for deputy mayor.

The resulting division in the ranks of the council is what appears to have ultimately led up to the decision to remove Espinoza and Freeman from the party’s official ballot, and to their reportedly being described as a “rogue caucus” in the initial press release before the phrase was removed in deference to Espinoza’s health ordeal.

In responding to questions from this newspaper, all three council members who voted in favor of retaining Parker McCay concurred they had done so because Malamut’s attorneys were failing to provide them with timely enough feedback to perform their governmental duties and that Parker McCay seemed to be the firm best equipped to help them in that regard.

Espinoza said her own dissatisfaction with the previous counsel started in the summer of 2022 when she found she “was not getting the information I needed from our legal team to do my job effectively for the residents of Evesham and lost confidence in that firm.”

It was after sitting down with a member of the firm and relaying her concerns but being provided with no follow-up contact about them or finding solutions, she said, that she began looking at applications the township had received from other practitioners seeking to fill the position.

“For a town our size we need a legal team who can meet our needs,” she maintained, and after reviewing the applications she thought it best to go with a firm that she felt had the capability to both do that and “communicate with all members of the council.”

Espinoza continued, “The fact that our local party leader Phil Warren and our Councilwoman Heather Cooper are upset that I decided not to vote for pay-to-play politics and instead vote for what is right for our town is terrible. To question my ethics and my decisions is insulting to women everywhere in leadership positions who day in and day out make informed decisions … The only unethical behavior that has occurred is the lack of transparency and inability to follow our Democratic bylaws.”

Freeman, who introduced the actual See PURGE/ Page 6

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(Continued from Page 5) resolutions to replace Malamut with Parker McCay at the 2023 meeting, said he did so because he, too, “was not happy with some of the communications with the (former) solicitor” and with some of his questions not being answered.

Consequently, after reviewing the requests for proposals (RFPs) from all the law firms that were applying to be township solicitor, a process repeated every year, “Parker McCay simply had the better resume” in terms of its experience, its knowledge of local government, its other municipal clients and the size of the firm relative to that of the township.

Those application requests, Freeman added, are something “we normally get every year,” as all the outside professionals that work for the township are subject to being replaced on an annual basis. In fact, he said, he had informed both Veasey and Cooper, who was then deputy mayor, of his selections to fill those positions, about a week or two prior to the 2023 reorganization meeting, so they should have come as no surprise. He also estimated in response to any suggestions that they were being booted off the ticket for not being team players and charting their own course, that they had “supported the mayor 95 to 99 percent of the time.”

Hansen told this newspaper she was having a similar problem with the previous law firm, which ultimately caused her to decide to vote for Freeman’s resolutions in favor of using Parker McCay.

CANCER

(Continued from Page 4) know how to run the grader,” Brown told the Woodland Township Committee during its Jan. 31 session. “I have spoken w it h Tab e r n a c l e Tow n s h ip ab out potentially renting, for lack of a better word, their grader driver to drive our grader in Woodland.” “… Our grader, our roads, their guy.”

Brown, during the Woodland session, revealed that the grading has not been done “probably since September and I am getting a few complaints about the condition of some of the dirt roads.”

“Right now, the grader is down,” Brown added. “So, it is not going to happen soon.

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“I felt like I was not getting the material and communication from them,” she said, noting that she had notified the mayor and then-Township Manager Robert Corrales in writing prior to the vote that this was her decision. “I was looking for specific information, and they weren’t providing it.”

Hansen added that she felt the situation was one that actually “interfered with my job as a member of council.”

Both Espinosa and Freeman said they had yet to decide whether they will seek to retain their seats on the council by filing as independent Democratic candidates and challenging the contenders selected by the Democratic Committee, which would require them to collect at least 50 signatures each of registered Democrats by the nominating petition filing deadline of March 25, making for a contested primary.

Espinosa said she was currently taking time out to heal from her miscarriage, which she plans to speak openly about in an effort to help women who have been through similar ordeals in trying to bear children. But she also emphasized that, “I love representing Evesham and am excited to continue to do that, and I have gotten a lot done.”

The deputy mayor, who also serves as head of the Evesham Farmers Market, added that she had “built a lot of relationships” in the township, and noted that she had friends in both political camps, because she considered maintaining good government to be her number-one duty.

“It is never been personal or political, or about party,” she declared.

Warren, when asked by this newspaper whether having widened the division among

local Democrats by seeking to replace two of their members on the council might not create an opening for Republicans to regain those seats, replied that his “personal take is that retaining Eddie and Gina on the council as our candidates would have been in the Republicans’ favor.”

One prominent Republican who weighed in on the matter for this newspaper, Evesham GOP Vice Chairman Michael Thompson, after first expressing his condolences to Espinosa and her family for their loss, voiced the opinion that, “It shows the dysfunction of the Democratic party to remove two incumbent council people off their ticket.”

“It shouldn’t be that way,” he declared.

“We all should be working together to make Evesham better, whether it’s five Democrats (on the council), five Republicans, or a mixture, not fighting among ourselves.”

“I have never had any problems with Eddie or Gina, and think they have tried to do everything they were allowed to do or what was in their power to do to try to help our township.”

Veasy did not immediately return a call to her private number for the purpose of eliciting comment on the situation.

In h is new pre ss releas e, rather than casting further aspersions on the incumbents he was seeking to replace, Warren offered capsule bios of the ones who will now be in the regular Democratic party column on the primary ballot.

For nearly two decades, the first one noted, Fisicaro has been a dedicated Evesham Township Board of Education member, demonstrating leadership as

president, vice president, and finance c om m itt e e me mb er. A n A mer ic a n Government teacher and director of Cherokee High School’s annual musicals, Fisicaro is credited with making decisions that “kept our schools running despite financial and strategic challenges.”

The Democratic Committee, it said, has endorsed him “due to his balanced approach to decision-making, often resolving issues behind the scenes to achieve a compromise resolution that benefits the entire community.”

Christian Smith is described in the second as being “a former member of the Evesham Township Board of Fire Commissioners who demonstrated his commitment to our growing community by tackling internal and external challenges faced by the fire district.” According to the release, Smith and his colleagues on the board have “worked to expand permanent full-time coverage of fire and EMS services to the community.”

Smith is also described as having worked as an audio-visual infrastructure and systems technician in the pharmaceutical industry and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Philadelphia, and as a volunteer coach for several Marlton Recreation Council sports teams.

“Fisicaro and Smith look forward to engaging with the community on the campaign trail and for years to come as they continue to serve the public,” according to the release.

Their campaign, it added, will be rolling out more information and resources in anticipation of the June primary.

for (a mechanic) to get us on a schedule to come out and repair it, and to get it up and running.”

The Woodland committee approved, 3- 0, enter ing into a shared ser vice agreement for the grading of its roads.

Fire and EMS Chief Shawn Viscardi, who was recently appointed to the partti me Woodland P ubl ic Works role, summarized his detailed written report, part of a Woodland committee meeting packet, about a number of equipment repairs over the last month, including that a salt spreader’s wiring “melted dur i ng a stor m and bur ned up the motor.” He announced that some 30 tons of salt were used in what were two winter storms earlier in the month, while a wind and rainstorm, also during January, had knocked down some 20 trees in town

onto the local roads, with most of the wood having since been removed.

On the fire and EMS side of things, as Viscardi put it, the “power cot and load system are now in service,” with everything “finally delivered.”

Additionally, one of the Woodland Volunteer Fire and EMS Company’s trucks had its exhaust system fall off on Route 72, “and so, we had to have that replaced,” with an invoice since provided to Brown, Viscardi noted.

DeGroff asked Township Engineer Tom Leisse, “What is going on with the well for the firehouse?”

“We are working on the specs,” he responded. “We will have that, and the permit applications prepared for the next meeting.”

Leisse, in a report, announced that the

abandoned Spartan Gun Club building (and purported asbestos) “has been successfully removed” and that the design has been completed for the first phase of a Lebanon Lakes repaving project, with the hope to award the project in time for spring or summer resurfacing. He also reported that the “full set” of revised township tax maps his office has prepared is now with the state, awaiting their approval.

“The g un club site looks g reat,” Committeewoman Donna Mull declared.

“Thank you to the engineer for his hard work. It looks good!”

DeGroff, meanwhile, took note of “a lot of people” who are complimenting Viscardi for his recent efforts in cleaning up the township Transfer Station.

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Pemberton Township’s Jones Farm Storage Barn, damaged by fire in July 2022.

BARN

(Continued from Page 2) Hornickel answered, in part, Roohr’s remarks by maintaining that a “good chunk of it,” or the project, is covered by the insurance claim, putting the amount covered by the claim close to 80 percent.

Roohr, however, maintained, “the price of almost $200,000 is outrageous, whether it falls under an insurance claim, or however it is getting paid for!”

“Someone is getting paid way too much and gouging the system!” Roohr further charged.

The local farmer told the council to “look into that,” calling the amount quoted “downright crazy, just downright crazy!”

Hornickel responded that the Jones Farm Storage Barn is a “very large building” and what the contractor plans to undertake there is “not a simple roof replacement,” but rather there are “giant holes” from the firefighter’s having cut them into the roof, and as a result, “half of those rafters have to be removed and replaced” and then the roof also has to be “re-sheathed.”

Electrical work, he added, also “needs to be redone.”

“It is not as simple as tacking shingles over it,” Hornickel maintained. “The whole roof has to be ripped off. We are also looking at getting a modification to the main entrance of the barn to get larger pickups in there, as we want to use the barn to store pipe, sewer materials and supplies.

We want to have enough clearance to be able to bring trucks in there with trailers, and load those pipes on the back of them.”

Hornickel, in specifically addressing Roohr, asserted, “and whether you like it or not, the estimate the architects put together were actually much higher than what the actual bids came in at.”

But Roohr shot back, asking, “So, is it worth spending $200,000 for a ‘storage shed?’” repeating once more that what is proposed to be spent is simply for what she views as a “storage shed.”

“My brother-in-law was a roofer, and that is just insanity!” Roohr declared.

“You can build a whole new building for the price of that roof! C’mon!”

Township farmer Pat Giberson, also attending the Jan. 17 session, asked if the barn at issue is a stanchion (or stall) barn. Hornickel replied that he believed it was a “barn to feed cattle,” and that is when Giberson recounted that it was “used to milk cows.”

With there being such stalls in the barn, Giberson asked the business administrator, “Do you plan on tearing the stanchions out, or the cleaners?”, with the farmer also noting that such a barn design typically “doesn’t allow for a lot of height, too.”

“For $194,000 – would it not be cheaper to knock it down and put a new pole barn up that would actually be useful, versus not having room in there?” Giberson asked.

Hornickel replied that, “I wish that it would be as easy as doing that!”

In further response to some calls for Hornickel to call up the Amish Country to build a new barn, for a cheaper price, the business administrator expressed that, “I think there are some misperceptions.”

“I know people who have had Amish barns built and it was very expensive,” Hornickel declared. “And we can’t just ask the Amish to build something. It would have to be designed, they would have to come get their Public Works Contractor Certification in order to do it, and they would be very reluctant to do that because the state has certain insurance requirements.”

Additionally, he maintained, any contractor would also have to provide the township with “proof” of past projects that they performed.

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Hornickel further maintained that “three different parties” were involved in producing the plan for the barn, including an insurance adjuster and the township architect, and “we asked all three what would be a better path, from a dollars and cents perspective,” to address the matter.

A “comparison,” Hornickel maintained, found that the “cost to restore is cheaper” and “so, it is cheaper to restore it.”

Giberson responded that while he is familiar with those who have “constructed commercial buildings around here,” from the “municipality-end of things, I am not so sure.”

“But all I hear is ‘ratables’ and ‘ratables,’ but I never hear ‘cut costs,’” the farmer declared. “It seems like a lot of money for an antiquated building that is not serving a purpose for what you are asking for it to do.”

Pemberton Republican Councilman Dan Dewey asked Hornickel to provide the size specs of the building to council, with the business administrator responding that it is 100 feet long by some 45 feet wide.

While Dewey responded that he “knows you are getting insurance money,” one can get a “steel building” for $25,000 to “store pipe,” or even purchase a “nice tarp” to cover the materials to protect them outside from the elements.

“It is mindboggling,” declared the Republican councilman of the plan, noting the adjacent farmhouse is also “falling down,” and inquiring about the future plans for the farm in general.

The Pemberton business administrator responded that the township “has leases” on the farm and is “renewing a permit for sludge application, which would be good for five years, and is also looking at some alternative sludge methods that might be cheaper.”

Dewey, who is known for not mincing words, also refer red to the fi re as “mysterious” at one point (Hornickel previously told this newspaper that a “faulty extension cord” that was still reportedly plugged into an electrical outlet is suspected as the cause behind the July 29, 2022, fire), and charged that the plan to use the facility to store pipe “tells me you are doing more development on that end of town,” with the GOP councilman having expressed mostly opposition to large development projects in the pipeline.

“To spend $194,000, it is like putting aluminum siding on an outhouse in my book,” Dewey further asserted.

But Hornickel shot back that Pemberton Township doesn’t “have that many places to store that many materials for the Water and Sewer divisions” of Public Works,

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES ♦ Page 7 describing how various other facilities are either too small or have been deemed unsafe over the years.

Another point of contention for Dewey, however, is that most of the Water and Sewer lines are currently on the other side of town, with reportedly “95 percent” of all “leaks” in the Browns Mills section, or about 10 minutes away from the barn. He questioned whether it would be a wise decision to have trucks and equipment making such a trek back and forth to the storage site, or better to put such a facility closer to the infrastructure.

“We don’t have suitable land,” said Hornickel of constructing a similar facility in Browns Mills. “It is in the Pinelands – everything on the east side, about 92 percent, is in the Pinelands!”

But as far as Dewey is concerned, “I think administration should get a price on a steel building.”

“You can get a 40 by 50-foot building at a price for way less,” maintained Dewey, with Hornickel responding that “a steel building has to be compliant with state law – including it having to be manufactured by someone with a Public Works Contractor License, and with that person having to also pay prevailing wage.”

As Dewey expressed that “I can’t wrap my head around it,” Democratic Councilwoman Elisabeth McCartney asked, “Is there a way to reduce this cost?”, noting that the insurance claim would cover $150,000 of the anticipated cost, with the township responsible for the remaining $44,000.

“The $151,000 is the base (price) for the removal of approximately half of the beams,” Hornickel explained. “They have to take them all, remove them, and construct new beams, and then put new sheathing up. If we do that, and don’t do options (alternate bids) A ($17,000 for re-shingling) and B ($24,000 for a masonry wall), we will have a building that has mismatched shingles. If people don’t care, we will have shingles that comprise of brand-new ones, and those several years old!

Then, if one side leaks, you are going to end up ripping half the roof off in the future!

“And (as for) the other alternate bid, it would fortify and raise one wall for the entrance, so you can bring in larger vehicles. If not, you are stuck with vehicles that can only get through the height of a standard door.”

Hornickel pointed out that much of the Public Works fleet comprises of Ford F-250s or higher, which are larger-sized vehicles.

Things turned somewhat heated when Dewey raised the prospect of a “tin roof,” with Hornickel quipping of Republican See BARN/ Page 8

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

BARN

(Continued from Page 7) Mayor Jack Tompkins, “I know the mayor is a fan of a metal roof,” but contending, it still needs to attach to something, and “If someone throws a rock, it is going to go right through the tin roof!”

“No, it is not!” Dewey shot back. “Put trusses up, put boards going vertical with the trusses and then put the tin on!”

The business administrator, however, in alluding to a previously described plan to put solar panels on the barn when it is finished, remarked, “I don’t think you can do solar on a tin roof; it doesn’t have capacity.”

Hornickel, somewhat exacerbated by that point, remarked, “I don’t know if we

ACADEMY

(Continued from Page 4) to attend TBA on a five-day basis, and I understand that it is not totally your fault that the cost of childcare is exorbitant in this country. However, I pay a lot of money and on top of that I provide everything for my daughter’s well-being, so truthfully, what I want to know is how in the world is TBA actually losing money when I am paying that much money a month and supplying you with everything?

“My daughter’s room alone brings in $6,300 a month and there are multiple other classrooms with more students paying pretty close to what I am paying,” Weber further maintained “So, I would really love an explanation as to how TBA is losing money.”

Another resident who made known her opposition to the move, eliciting considerable applause, was former school board member Trish Everhart, who said she had been “saddened” when she heard about

WATER

(Continued from Page 2) am just saying, why would you make them do that? Why would you put that on them – the cost? Why? What does it gain?”

Resident Michelle Forman, in also expressing concerns with the latest measure, asked how much the connection fee would be “if some of these wells went bad.” “$2,000 is the connection fee,” Hornickel responded. “It isn’t changing.”

But Democratic Council President Paul Detrick acknowledged, “That is the fee to the township, but that is not the cost to pay to a contractor to dig up your lines and install water lines, etc.”

It led Forman to press officials as to the “estimate to do this work.”

Township Solicitor Andrew “Andy” Bayer responded, “Fixing things is not my thing.”

Previously, Dan Callahan, of Callahan Well Drilling & Pump Service, based in West Berlin, told the Pine Barrens Tribune in an October 2021 interview that the cost of disconnecting or capping a well is generally somewhere in the ballpark of $800 to $1,500.

Callahan also told this newspaper that the $2,000 connection fee is “just for the connection to the street” and that property owners would also “have to pay for a whole new line to be run from the curb to the house, and then have to disconnect the whole well,”

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Saturday, February 10, 2024

are doing solar or not.”

“This building falls under the Sewer utility, so this expense is not being charged to our General Fund,” said Hornickel of the overall project. “Our alternative is to submit the insurance claim, take the money and maybe get a much smaller replacement building. I can try, but I am just saying, if we can get $150,000 from our insurance, it is not going to cover a claim for the architect fee. It is just the way it goes.”

When Dewey retorted, “Steel buildings come with certified architect prints,” Hornickel warned, “I don’t know if a steel building is going to comply with the Prevailing Wage Law, and that is a big thing that the trade unions have been getting on the New Jersey Department of Labor to enforce, and then they come down to enforce it, and then fine you!”

“The way around it is to build into the specs, ‘this is the size of the building,’ and you must give us your certification that you paid New Jersey prevailing wages to manufacture and deliver the building, and to erect the building,” Hornickel noted.

McCartney, however, appeared to side with Dewey, asserting that in anticipation of major hard decisions forthcoming in the municipal budget (as previously advertised), “we have to look into things carefully” and that getting a quote for other options “may be a benefit.”

The bottom-line is the other options suggestion “might be more expensive,” but council does not know without quotes, she said, with GOP Councilman Joshua Ward, remarking, “Some of the things Councilwoman McCartney brings up are good points.”

“Table it, and maybe get more ideas on it,” Ward said.

Democratic Councilman Donovan Gardner also urged administration to “get a quote.”

“Just keep in mind, if we are getting a steel building, we are going to have extra cost for site work, because you have to clear and level to the ground, and we may have to put gravel down, instead of using concrete,” said Hornickel, emphasizing that it would amount to a “totally different building.”

Council tabled the measure Jan. 17, with Township Solicitor Andrew “Andy” Bayer noting that if council decides to “go to metal, it would be a basis to reject the current bid.” It must act either way on the bid within 60 days, with Bayer confident that the governing body has at least 30 days to arrive at a decision based on its meeting schedule.

the letter announcing TBA would be closing, given that she had been on the board when it was first started.

“We had been facing a lot of fiscal challenges, and through some creative brainstorming we came up with a plan to institute this program,” Everhart noted. “We were able to overcome litigation and issues from the state, we marched on Trenton, not Washington, to save TBA and the public got involved and rallied behind the board when we were having these challenges.

“So, I am a little dismayed I guess that we didn’t reach out to the public or share that perhaps it wasn’t making as much money as it was in the past.”

Everhart then queried the current board if perhaps instead of closing “such a beloved institution and program,” they would consider putting some of the preschoolers in that facility and urged its members “to consider keeping it open and just reconditioning and repurposing it like we did with another school in the district for a way to keep things here and help the families that are using it.”

Smith, when it came his turn to speak, maintained that the decision to close the facility had been given “much consideration,” but that when faced with its seventh straight year of reductions in state aid, the district, whose job is to educate youngsters in pre-K through eighth grade, but not to operate a day-care center, could not afford to run a program that was losing money on kids whose care it was not responsible for providing.

“You are welcome to disagree with me, but ethically I can’t do that,” he declared.

The superintendent further asserted that TBA “really never made money,” and while “it may have broken even some years,” without ECC (Evesham Child Care, which was halted in November when some of its functions were transferred to a nonprofit organization) to carry it along, there is no hope it will make money.”

The Evesham district, Smith emphasized, must now devote its efforts to pursuing state grant money to provide tuition-free preschool, “as every district around us is either already doing or is in the process of implementing.”

Once that is done, some 50 of the 72 toddlers now served by TBA will be of pre-school age, he noted.

But Janis Knoll, one of the two school board members who voted against the plan to close TBA (the other being Jaron Brown), sharply disagreed with Smith’s premise.

“We can have Teddy Bear Academy remain open and still go for preschool money,” she contended. “They are not mutually exclusive.”

Knoll also called the decision to close the facility “the first in a series of calculated steps to forever change the Eveham Township School District. Once TBA closes, the contractors will come in, the classrooms will be undone and the work by previous boards will be demoed.”

“Please don’t forget we were elected by the community and taxpayers,” Knoll urged her fellow board members. “We are supposed to be financial stewards of taxpayer money. Are we going to spend money to undo something when we already have a preschool there?”

which can cost upwards of $10,000.

Those estimated costs were prior to inflation taking hold.

Republican Councilman Dan Dewey, on Jan. 17, in response to Forman’s question, put the current cost at $68 a foot. That means that a connection required 199 feet away from a water supply main, in the worst-case scenario, could potentially cost as much as $13,532.

“It depends on what kind of connection you have on your house,” Dewey added.

Hornickel emphasized, however, there is an “installment plan” available to residents and “the ordinance does have provisions for a discounted connection fee for senior citizens 65 and older,” in which the “connection fee would be $1,200, instead of $2,000,” and in highlighting another concession, said that “if you live in your house, there is no interest on the installment payments.”

“If you live in your house, it is an interest-free installment,” the business administrator declared.

Forman also put this question to council, however: “If I had a well, working perfectly fine, and I just got it this year, and then I sell my house to somebody, are you saying that person has to be connected to city water?”

The business administrator responded, “Correct.”

“Even though nothing is wrong with the well?” Forman pressed officials, which led Hornickel to remark, “It still can be used, it just can’t be used for drinking water.”

“It still can be used for washing lawns, filling pools, watering the grass, or power washing the house,” the business administrator added.

But Forman continued to inquire about the cost, including asking, “So, I still have to pay $2,000 to connect?”, to which the business administrator replied that the fee responsibility would be “between the buyer and seller.”

Republican Councilman Joshua Ward, in responding to the concerns about cost, suggested that Pemberton Township businesses would be willing to cut a break to residents, including that if one approached them to say “Hey, I don’t have this money,” one of the “great things about Pemberton” is that they still would be willing to “grab a shovel” on their behalf.

Ward, in further responding to the concerns, also questioned whether “some kind of a list” could be made available of contractors “more than willing to give estimates prior to this happening.”

“There are things you can do to probably mitigate some of that cost,” Ward further maintained.

But the Republican councilman, while appearing to lead council’s public response to the ordinance both during the Jan. 17 session, and a preceding Jan. 3 one when the ordinance was first introduced, ultimately acknowledged, “You are probably looking at $10,000.”

“That is a lot of money, and I certainly don’t have that,” Ward declared.

But then why, going back to Roohr’s initial question that she posed, is Ward, who again called himself on Jan. 17 a “staunch proponent of having a well,” along with Dewey and Tompkins, now going along with the mandate they once opposed?

“There are a couple different things that happened,” maintained Ward since council last took up the issue in August 2023.

Ward, both during the Jan. 3 and Jan. 17 sessions, claimed that he has since learned that it is a “strong possibility” that the municipal water utility “basically goes bankrupt” if council does not act given its currently “negative funding” outlook (as described at this and previous meetings, at one time, reportedly “bad decisions” were made by previous officials, and as a result of not requiring connection initially, there are a number of homes not connected and paying into the system, with a map looking like a “Christmas tree” in how scattered about the connected homes present on it), and that there is a state statute that sets forth “mandatory allowable hook-ups for municipalities.”

Essentially, he maintained, New Jersey has a “mandatory hook-up law on the books” that has “already been argued by the Supreme Court,” and in the event the water utility goes defunct, a company such as American Water “can come into our township,” and “if they want you to hook-up, the firm can compel it, without any cause,” and one could end See WATER / Page 9

Saturday, February 10, 2024

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While Ward maintained he has “lost sleep over it,” or the proposition, and voted “‘no’ three times in the past year on the water,” he thinks the administration has since “worked very, very diligently with council to come up with this agreement.”

The prospect that someone was “going to come in, and tell me, Mr. Ward, you have to hook up” was one of the “driving reasons,” Ward acknowledged, that he at one time “came in here as a community member and was staunchly opposed to city water hook-up,” but that now, “honestly speaking, as a human being, administration made huge concessions with this ordinance that you will not find with any other company.”

Ward pointed to another “concession” that the mandatory connection does not apply so long as home ownership stays

(Continued from Page 8) up paying as much as $15,000.

“If we let our water department go defunct, another water company can come in, such as American Water,” Ward emphasized. “That is the last person we want telling you what you can do with your properties. The State of New Jersey already says they can force you to hook up. If they come in and force you to hook up, they can charge twice as much, and we don’t have any control over it.

“It is better to dance with the person that you know, rather than the person you don’t. Administration has made deep concessions with respect to this.”

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within the family.

“So, I mean eventually, you (get) another 50, 60 or 70 years out of it, depending on how well you take care of your well,” Ward said. “This is a very, very good concession from administration, and I think we should seriously take it at this point in time.”

It passed in a 5-0 vote, with Dewey suggesting this all could actually bring about a cheaper alternative to a township landowner in the event their well fails, with it costing far less to put city water in than to dig a new well, the latter which he estimated costs upwards of $35,000, versus an average homeowner, within 75 yards of the waterlines, having to pay $5,000 to connect to city water.

“It is a deal,” he maintained, further contending it could also ward off potential hardships should a new homebuyer assume a bad well, and while “the realtor still gets paid.”

Upon approval of the ordinance, Hornickel told council, “I can assure you that you are not in a boat by yourself,” pointing out that in neighboring Manchester Township, “they approved an ordinance raising their water supply base rates, from $5 a quarter, up to $35 a quarter for their customers.”

(As Detrick revealed, in response to another question from Forman, the newly-approved Pemberton ordinance also increases the township’s quarterly service charge from $42 per quarter to $50 per quarter, effective July 1, with there being a quarterly allowance of 8,000 gallons.)

“They have an article (in another newspaper), and their DPW director explained the need for this, to keep that water system solvent. … Third time is a charm,” Hornickel concluded.

Page 10 ♦

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TABERNACLE (Continued from Page 3)

Committeeman Samuel Moore, at a preceding reorganization meeting, putting the kibosh on Committeeman Noble McNaughton’s request to hold monthly workshop meetings to have detailed discussions about such things.

“Every time I hear a couple say, ‘I just had a kitchen put in,’ they didn’t put a kitchen in, they had somebody do it!” declared Sprague in shooting down Hartman’s desire to lean on the professionals. “They (the couple) have no idea what was used, smile, and simply hand them a check. I don’t want the township to do that! I want the township directly involved, to understand what is going on!”

Sprague further asserted he does not want a quarterly report, but rather a “dayto-day” breakdown of what is going on, so that way, “when someone walks up and says what is going on,” he can respond, “‘They are doing this; they are doing that.’”

“So far, that has not happened,” he maintained.

For the past two years that the project has been in the works, the committee has strictly held to a two-minute public comment policy.

Only more recently, on Jan. 5, was the time allotted to speakers expanded to four minutes, as public outcry only intensified.

Sprague, in pointing to the period when the two-minute rule was in effect,

ENGINE

(Continued from Page 3) you guys are ultimately the ones responsible for this. This isn’t a statutory requirement, or the responsibility of the clerk, but ultimately this is your call and your responsibility to do!

“Why the people of Medford Lakes should not be informed of this is beyond me. Why is this a big secret?”

Aromando called on council to “invite

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recognized the “high level of tension in the room” that was caused, in part, by it.

“People asked questions, and questions were not answered,” said Sprague of that period of time. “Tonight, their questions were answered.”

Sprague then made a motion that “when a person steps up to the podium, their questions be answered ASAP, and if not, they be presented before public comment at the next meeting.”

“Can I make such a motion?” he asked.

McNaughton responded that, “as far as I am concerned, there should not be a motion on that.”

“It should just be done,” he declared.

“That is why we are here – to answer questions. We don’t need a motion to do that; it should just be done. Make a list of questions, and then after their four minutes, try to answer them, and if you don’t have answers, say, ‘We will get back to you during the month – the administration or the lawyer will get back to you, or get back to you at the next meeting.’ That is the way we should operate.”

Moore, who held tightly to the two-minute public comment policy over the past two years (2022, 2023) as township mayor, a policy that was originated by Hartman, and therefore, dubbed by some in the community as the “Hartman rule,” responded that “the mayor is presiding over the meeting, and I don’t think you need a motion for it.”

“Just let him answer the question,”

Moore suggested.

Sprague, in again raising the prospect of the governing body holding workshops, declared of he and McNaughton, “We want workshops to be able to lessen the tension in the room!”

He then turned to Stone, pointing out, “you were the deciding vote on the workshops, on whether or not to have them to be able to lessen the tension in the room.”

“You decided not to have them!” Sprague asserted. “Right now, we have police protection. The township has never had police protection at any of their meetings.

That is where we have come down to now.

Something has to be done! You must have a plan to be able to diffuse some of the tension in this room, so, what is it?”

Stone answered, in part, that “a lot of the tension in this room, I believe, starts with the people sitting at this table.”

“I would hope I could be a catalyst for all of us to work more collaboratively, honestly and transparently together for our sake, and the committee’s sake, because nothing can get done for the sake of warring factions,” she continued. “Since I began this process, I have found there to be a big difference between government and politics.

“I have been approached by a lot of people who served on this committee in years past, and there is a lot of finger pointing. I don’t know any of them, or any of you, and I am not in cahoots with anyone sitting at this table. I know Sam

from buying blueberries from him, and that is about it. You are all pretty much strangers to me. So, obviously, people wanted someone new, as I would not be sitting here now (having won the seat from longtime committeewoman Kim Brown).

I will learn the same way as you.”

Stone described that she believes the best way to diffuse the tension is for “all of us to work together and collaboratively to move things forward, and not have all that tension.”

While she maintained that she “can’t say why the police are sitting here, she would say some people got nervous when people were shouting from the crowd,” as happened often late last year when residents were not allowed to comment beyond two minutes, or their questions went unanswered.

“It could be intimidating to some people,” she said. “While I don’t feel threatened, the shouting can be very intimidating, and it is uncalled for. I understand people are passionate about their life here, whether it is on the federal level, over the Constitution of the U.S., or about their little circle of influence here.

“If we are all working together for the circle of concern, in the spirit of service, we should not have all these problems. So, I have hope.”

Some of those most outspoken about the public comment policy were seen shaking Sprague’s hand at the conclusion of the meeting.

your residents and citizens to get involved.”

“At least make an effort to connect with them in some way,” he declared.

McIntosh, in response to later questions posed by this newspaper, explained that borough residents wishing to seek any of the seats up for grabs have until Feb. 29 at 4 p.m. to submit a nominating petition.

Three seats are open for four-year terms, he said, including that of Mayor Dr. Gary Miller, Deputy Mayor Bill Fields and Councilwoman Gail Caputo.

Polls are open on Election Day, May 14, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Aromando, who has run in every municipal election since having lost his council seat in 2022 and previously challenged council’s decision to not move municipal elections to November, stopped short of saying whether he intends to run again for borough office this time.

On Jan. 25, the for mer borough councilman, who has recently made the point that the borough has still not seen a resolution to tree concerns previously

brought to council several years ago now, also slammed the reportedly poor attendance at a Tree Committee meeting earlier in the day (with the meeting of the Tree Committee the first such session held in some time), contending, “if you are a leader and in charge of something like this, call them out and say this is ‘unsatisfactory.’”

“You had four people show up tonight – four!” Aromando said. “I can’t see how anybody could be happy with that situation.”

Page 12 ♦

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