Pine Barrens Tribune January 28, 2023-February 3, 2023

AN ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ SPAN OF TIME

Sale of Bass River School Set to be Consummated in February After Judge Denies Buyer’s Complaint

Long-Delayed Closing Reported Ready to Proceed with High Bid of $757,500 Submitted Last March by Lakewood-Based Developer

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

BASS RIVER—Nearly a year after a winning bid of $757,500 was submitted for the former Bass River Township Elementary School, the sale of the more-than-century old landmark building located at 11 North Maple Avenue in the hub of the New Gretna commercial district is reportedly about to be consummated.

A Trove of Emails Reveals the Official Conversations That Led to the 2021 Closing of Jackson Road Bridge in Medford, Which Continues to Inconvenience Residents and Impact Local Businesses with No Relief Now Being Promised Until Early Spring

By D ouglas D. M elegari

Staff Writer

MEDFORD—Any reopening of the Jackson Road Bridge in Medford Township, which has been closed since the fall of 2021, purportedly bringing about an adverse impact on at least some “aggravated” local businesses and many “inconvenienced” motorists, has now been delayed until “early spring” of this year, with the latest timeframe provided by both county and township officials.

Construction reportedly just resumed

a couple weeks ago after at least a couple months’ long pause, the circumstances of which have drawn scrutiny in recent weeks, with a county spokesman only detailing to this newspaper that it took one utility over two months to relocate its lines, and that the relocation of the utilities in the area to make sufficient room for project work is required by federal law.

Questions have also been raised about why a bridge that was supposedly significantly repaired following a major flood in 2004 was no longer viable for

normal traffic less than two decades later.

But the larger story to emerge in the last couple of days, the result of a credible news tip given to the Pine Barrens Tribune, is the discovery of email conversations late last week involving both county and local officials indicating that the span was closed in 2021, months earlier than it probably would have otherwise been (county officials had imposed a six-ton weight restriction when the bridge was first found to have

See

/ Page 5

But that has only come about after what was supposed to have been a smooth realestate transaction that was intended to help ease the tax burden on residents of this rural community was delayed by a lawsuit filed in Burlington County Superior Court by the high bidder, who claimed that the Bass River Board of Education, which is now in a send-receive relationship with the neighboring Little Egg Harbor School System, had violated the terms of its agreement with him.

It wasn’t until the breach of contract claim and associated relief sought in that litigation by the prospective buyer, Eli Blech, a Lakewood real-estate developer, was denied “without prejudice” earlier this month by the judge in the case, Hon. Paula Dow, that a date and time for a closing were reportedly set by mutual agreement for Feb. 6 at 11 a.m., according to a knowledgeable source who didn’t wish to be identified, with the amount of the original bid to be See SCHOOL/ Page 7

Photo By Eugene Kobliska

An aerial view of the Jackson Road Bridge on Jan. 21.

LeisureTowne Residents, Southampton Officials Excoriate Pinelands Water Company for Proposing Hefty Rate Hikes Comments at Public Hearing Called to Air Customers’ Views and Experiences Lambaste Quality of Water, Service as Well as Requests for Steep Increases

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—Bill Cozzi likes to recall the 52 years during which he had the privilege of drinking “the purest water in the area” from his own well in Southampton Township. But that was before he decided to become a resident of the local retirement community, LeisureTowne.

Now, he can only say how he would “love to go back and put my own well in and eliminate this whole thing” – by which he means his current dependency on Pinelands Water Company, the firm that back in September petitioned the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) for a whopping increase of 64.22 percent – nearly two-thirds of present rates – for water usage, in addition to its sister company, Pinelands Wastewater, which proposed a hike of 26.76 percent in its wastewater rate for residents of both LeisureTowne and the nearby community of Hampton Lakes.

As someone who has spent the last 45 years working for utility companies around the country, however, presenting information that would justify welldocumented rate increases, Cozzi is frankly unable to understand the “breakdown in costs” used to substantiate these newly proposed ones by the Pinelands firms – or so he testified during a Jan. 12 public hearing held virtually via Zoom before Administrative Law Judge Jacob Gertsman, with an option to participate via a remote setup at Southampton’s Robert L. Thompson Municipal Building, intended to allow affected residents to voice both their opinions on the increases sought by the company and the quality of service it provides.

And did they ever.

In both live and Zoom session statements from some 17 residents, including the current mayor and two other members of the Southampton Township Committee, Gertsman and Michael Kammer, the director of the BPU’s Division of Water and Energy, who listened in on the proceedings, were given a scathing collective appraisal of the water company’s proposal (as well as that from the wastewater company), its potential effect on a population consisting largely of seniors on fixed incomes, the firm’s treatment of its customers, and of the adequacy of the product it provides, which some of those who spoke – including Cozzi – called undrinkable.

A couple of the participants delivered particularly passionate denunciations of the requested increases in hopes of convincing both Gertsman and Kammer, along with a team of lawyers from the state Division of Rate Counsel represented by attorney Emily Smithman, that “the preponderance of the credible evidence” in Gertsman’s phrase, fails to prove “that the proposed increases in the respective rates “are necessary for the petitioners to provide safe, adequate and proper service to the respective customers and to earn a reasonable return.”

One such speaker was Thomas Haluszczak, an attorney, author and former LeisureTowne board member, who made a point of the water company’s having been granted a monopoly, and in return for providing a critical service, is “guaranteed a clientele” in a market protected by the government, unlike other industries that are “restrained by competition.”

Haluszczak then called on the judge to “ascertain and weigh very carefully the socioeconomic strata” of the people” the company serves in that guaranteed market,

and to “keep in mind that none of us in it can draw a well,” the company being “the only shop in town to get us water.”

“We have nowhere else to go,” he declared. “They’ve got us by the throat.”

Haluszczak then suggested that “if the burden of proof is on Pinelands to establish the prima facie reasonableness of their petitions for increase, I would ask that they be compelled to advise us all how they factored in the socioeconomic income levels of their customers and further show us how in all honesty they can they justify through a preponderance of evidence that their economic metric supports these petitions.”

He then asked, “Where is this analysis in their paperwork?,” maintaining that, “I don’t see it anywhere.”

Then, in addressing his remarks to company executives who didn’t speak at this particular session, he asked, “Did you consider us at all, or are you hiding behind your protected status of a public utility to saddle us all with a fait accompli?”

Also weighing in on those themes was Southampton Mayor Michael Mikulski, who started off the session by referring to “the devastating impact the proposed increases will have on some of our most vulnerable residents and on the township itself through increases to our 90-plus fire hydrants,” the cost of which would rise by more than $300 each.

As for the proposed amounts of the increases, Mikulski maintained that “it is difficult to say those numbers without laughing or crying, one or the other.”

The mayor said he was particularly concerned that “in terms of revenues and expenses,” Pinelands Wastewater has produced an income statement as part of their submission that indicates an increased net income by almost 1,500 percent between 2019 and 2021 and that “a three-year balance sheet shows steady asset figures and liabilities that are nearly $1 million less in 2021 than in 2019, with last June’s figures being even lower.”

“But there is no definitive timeline and no cost estimates that we can identify with our engineers and find out if those are reasonable expectations,” Mikulski contended. “These are percentages that are far in excess of the inflation of the past three years.

Mikulski then asked that “increases of these great amounts” be denied, adding, “We understand there is inflation and supply chain issues – but for rates this high, the records should be replete with specific examples of what things are going to cost,

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As She Gets Ready to Retire from Public Service, Jean Stanfield

Reflects on a Long Career of Dedication to Quality-of-Life Issues

Both in Her Six Terms as Burlco Sheriff and Shorter Stint as a State Lawmaker, the 8th District Senator Says Her Focus Has Remained on Helping Constituents

a means to an end.

“You have to get elected in order to serve,” is how she put it.

But once in office, her mission has always been to find ways to improve the quality of life for her constituents, rather than to achieve power over others or ego gratification.

In both roles, she said, that has meant “being creative” and “working with people to make things come alive.” During her 18 years heading the sheriff’s department, for example, “the most fun we had,” she maintained, was in coming up with ideas for new programs, and applying for grants to make them happen.”

As a result, we had a great department that was very community-oriented, which offered programs “to help people in all walks of life — senior citizens, kids, veterans”— as well as fighting such problems as human trafficking. Some of these had a special focus on giving citizens a better understanding of how law enforcement works, like the “police academy” she and her staff created for seniors to help answer questions like, “Why do police do certain things? Why can’t they just shoot somebody in the leg?”

“Just explaining things like that to people made a difference,” she asserted.

in that capacity was in the realization “that a prosecutor’s job was to do justice, not to win at all costs.”

While in that office, she said she found herself working under then-Chief of Detectives Gary Daniels, who successfully ran for sheriff, choosing her as undersheriff, but who quit after two terms (Daniels died this past December), giving her a chance to throw her hat in the ring.

“I was very fortunate to get the support of the Republican party,” she said, given how unusual it was for a woman to run for that post and not knowing how voters would react to it.

But their response to her was a positive one, as indicated by her having been elected five more times to the three-year office.

She announced her retirement from the job in 2019, only to become a candidate for Assembly the following year and then to win Addiego’s Senate seat in 2021. But “health issues” she encountered last fall, coupled with a desire to spend more time with her grandchildren, have caused her to rethink those commitments to the demands of public life.

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

MOUNT HOLLY—As hard as it may be for some area voters to believe and as “funny as it sounds” for her to say, state Sen. Jean Stanfield, the senior member of the Eighth Legislative District’s team of lawmakers who recently announced she won’t be seeking another term in office, is, by her own admission, really “not a very political person.”

Stanfield, 65, of Westhampton, a former six-term Burlington County sheriff who retired from that position a few years ago, only to run for and win an Assembly seat as a Republican before ousting Democratic party-switcher Dawn Addiego, from her state Senate seat in November of 2021 in a hard-fought campaign, revealed to the Pine Barrens Tribune in a Zoom interview this past week that being elected to office, whether in law enforcement or lawmaking, was merely

Stanfield’s approach to her current job has been much the same, she noted, with a day every month totally dedicated to community service along with her colleague, Republican Assemblyman Michael Torrissi, of Hammonton, as well as focusing on various causes like the county animal shelter and protecting women from domestic violence.

But such concerns come naturally to someone who started her career working for the Division of Civil Rights when she first got out of college and thinking she’d like to become a public defender, only to end up working in the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. However, the way she differed from many others who have served

Asked if there is anyone she would like to see step into her current job, Stanfield was quick to call former Republican County Freeholder Latham Tiver, a labor union activist who recently entered the 8th District race, someone who “would be a fantastic replacement” and who shares many of her values.

“We’ve known each other for many years,” she noted. “He is someone who wants to serve, a very genuine and caring human being, and that is what you need to be in public service.”

With Tiver, she maintained, “it is not about ego, it is not about anything else, it is not about power – it is about what I can

File Photo

Eighth Legislative District State Sen. Jean Stanfield (center) with Assemblyman Brandon Umba, and other GOP faithful. See

BRIDGE

structural issues, and it was originally going to be closed when construction commenced, [which happened some eight months later]), the result of apparent communication and resource deployment failures, as well as the then-imposed weight restriction being disregarded on at least two occasions.

In fact, the email conversations obtained by this newspaper reveal that the county’s order to close the bridge came within less than an hour of a township official apparently being emailed for the second time over the course of a couple days that one of the municipality’s own vendors was seen crossing the bridge with solid waste collection trucks that exceeded the weight restriction, with the local official being asked to rectify the matter.

But as the township official corresponded back-and-forth with the vendor over a period of about 50 minutes, in which that vendor asked for more details about where the bridge in question was located (nearly five days after the initial notice of the weight restriction was first emailed to the township), the county arrived at the decision “in the interest of public safety” to close the bridge “due to continued disregard for the load posting.”

The discovery of the emails, obtained Jan. 20 by the Pine Barrens Tribune through an answered Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, came as a result of a tipster reporting “there are whispers that the county has a problem with Medford Township,” with that person maintaining that they had “become aware of the issues” while in service to one of Medford Township’s governing boards.

That person, who maintained the bridge closure “has created a huge annoyance for residents from the south end of Medford to get to doctors’ appointments, grocers, churches, salons and the rest of Medford,” became distressed enough by what they had heard to contact this newspaper and plead for “investigative reporting,” believing it was important for the public to be in the know.

The tipster also raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the continual delays, pointing out “the bridge has been out of used for over a year,” asking, “What’s going on?” and “What’s the truth?”

When “unsafe conditions” were discovered during an inspection of the bridge that had occurred the week prior to its Nov. 23, 2021, emergency closure, the county’s initial reaction was to only put in effect an “immediate reduction of the bridge load to a six-ton maximum,” in an apparent attempt to keep the major township artery of Jackson Road open to most through traffic for as long as possible.

Then, on Nov. 23, 2021, the county put

out a statement that “non-compliance with the reduced order prompted the Engineer’s Office to order the closure restricting all traffic across the span until repairs are made.”

But while that statement might have been seen by some as a suggestion that it was simply the general public or private industry not complying with the weight restrictions, what officials didn’t apparently divulge is that it was actually vehicles belonging to, or affiliated with governmental entities, and in the case of Medford Township, one of its vendors, that were observed by a county engineer disregarding the weight restriction – the latter on at least a couple of occasions.

On Nov. 19, 2021, at 9:49 a.m., an official of the Lenape Regional School District (LRHSD), an official of the Medford Township School District, and several officials from Medford Township, were initially emailed by Joseph Brickley, the county’s head engineer and director of County Public Works, that he will be “immediately reducing the load for the subject bridge until proper repairs can be designed and made.” He expressed that his team was in the process of making calculations on what the limit should be, and that it would be conveyed and commence through posted signage.

Then, on Nov. 22, 2021, at 9:49 a.m., Brickley sent a follow-up email to those officials, writing, “upon further review, and crunching the load calculation numbers over the weekend, based on limiting structural components, it is necessary to restrict all vehicles, including emergency vehicles, to six (6) tons, maximum,” noting that “this needs to be immediate.”

At the time, the county engineer added that the “bridge will be closed to all traffic during repairs,” which would commence “once we have secured all materials.”

But it was at 3:27 p.m. on Nov. 22, 2021, that Brickley wrote to the officials for a third time, in addition to including other county officials (among them, two members of the Burlington County Board of Commissioners), to inform them that “Folks: County engineers, today, observed school buses and private trash collection trucks disregarding the posted weight limit and crossing the bridge.”

“I understand there may have been a delay in getting the Lenape School district noticed, which has been/is being addressed,” Brickley continued. “If the posted limit is continued to be ignored, in the interest of public safety, I will have no choice but to close the bridge (with physical barriers).”

Brickley, in that same email, told both the township and school districts to “please do whatever you can to make sure the posting is observed.”

A couple minutes later, at 3:34 p.m. on

Nov. 22, 2021, Richard Parks, the director of the township’s Department of Neighborhood Services, apparently copied and pasted the contents of Brickley’s third email, sending it off to Republic Services, the township’s contracted trash collection provider. (In the batch of emails provided on Jan. 20 of this year, no other prior correspondence about the bridge situation between Republic and the township was located by this newspaper, nor were there any replies prior to that moment from any township or school district officials acknowledging receipt of Brickley’s emails.)

“Please make sure your solid waste vehicles do not travel this road and cross this bridge,” wrote Parks to Republic on Nov. 22. “We are providing fair warning that the (Medford Township) Police Department may be taking enforcement action against any violators.”

While forwarding the contents of Brickley’s third email to Republic, Parks also included the contents of the county engineer’s email from the morning stating that “upon further review, and crunching the load calculation numbers, over the weekend, based on limiting structural components, it is necessary to restrict all vehicles, including emergency vehicles, to six (6) tons, maximum.”

It is unclear, based on a review of the emails provided to this newspaper, whether Parks had ever notified the trash collection provider about Brickley’s initial Nov. 19 and 22 emails, at least by verbal means, or if he had even received Brickley’s emails before that afternoon, given that no reply could be found in the batch.

Brickley’s third email emphasized that the weight restrictions needed to be “immediate” and urged local officials to “please pass along this notice to any impacted.”

On the following day, Nov. 23, 2021, at 10:56 a.m., in another email from Parks to Republic representatives, copied to Township Manager Kathy Burger, Parks wrote that he “received word” from the Medford Township Police Department “through the county Engineer’s Office” that “Republic’s solid waste vehicles are still using Jackson Road.”

“More specifically, the truck hauling loaded roll-off containers from our yard was seen driving over this bridge that is clearly marked with a six-ton weight limit,” Parks continued. “If the county continues to see violators doing this, they will close the bridge in an effort to protect the public.”

“Please have your drivers avoid traveling over this bridge until further notice,” emphasized Parks to Republic’s representatives copied on the email.

A couple of minutes later, a dispatcher from Republic responded, “Could you tell me where the bridge is located along Jackson Road so that I can be specific on what portion to avoid?”

Parks, in a reply at 11:02 a.m., explained

that the bridge is “located between North and South Lakeside Drives.”

“If your trucks are not servicing this area, please avoid Jackson Road between Stokes Road and Tuckerton Road,” Parks added.

Then, at 11:52 a.m., or only some 50 minutes later, Parks wrote to the Republic representatives again to “please see (the) notification below from the county Engineer’s Office regarding (the) Jackson Road bridge closure.”

The notification of a “bridge closure” that Parks referenced was one he received moments earlier from Brickley, at 11:44 a.m. that day, in which the head county engineer wrote “Folks: Due to the continued disregard for the load posting, in the interest of public safety, I am physically (with Jersey barriers) closing the bridge effective 1 p.m. this afternoon. The closure will be posted at Stokes & Tuckerton with local traffic only. No detour route will be provided.”

Burger was among some nearly two-dozen local and county officials who received the notification, also copied to the township engineer, Chris Noll, county solicitor, Ashley Buono, then-Medford fire chief, Thomas Thorn, and Medford police chief, Arthur Waterman.

Robert Dovi, the township’s thenemergency management coordinator, was notably left off all four of the county’s correspondences, and in the batch of emails provided to this newspaper, no emailed attempts of forwarding these messages along to Dovi were located.

One of the emails obtained by this newspaper also suggest there was more than a 72-hour delay in deploying variable message boards to the site to better forewarn motorists of the weight restriction, as well as in enforcement, with Parks, just a little less than an hour before the county’s Nov. 23, 2021, decision to close the bridge was made, writing to Republic, “once variable message boards and additional signage is in place, the Police Department will begin enforcement.”

“It is likely that these things will be in place shortly and enforcement efforts will be immediately following,” wrote Parks to Republic on Nov. 23, 2021.

In the Nov. 19, 2021, email from Brickley, he, at that time, asked for “any assistance law enforcement can provide in enforcement,” though the county engineer did note that the county would be posting “temporary load posting signs,” maintaining it would be done “ASAP.”

All four of Brickley’s emails were copied to the LRHSD’s “transportation coordinator,” though the regional school district’s “director of transportation” was not included, nor was the regional school district’s top administrative staff, including Superintendent Dr. Carol Birnbohm and the business administrator. The lone Medford school district official to be sent an email

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Photo By Andrew King

Another view of the repair work to the Jackson Road Bridge that is underway.

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was the transportation supervisor, with the assistant transportation supervisor and district administration not copied.

It was unclear, as of press time, whether any corresponding phone calls were made directly to the parties to give them more urgent notification of the actions being taken, or to better coordinate the local response.

Dave Levinsky, a spokesman for Burlington County, when asked this week if there had been phone calls or even meetings to more quickly deploy resources and coordinate efforts on the local level, replied, “signs were posted notifying motorists and Medford Township and all other pertinent agencies were also contacted.”

Burger, in answering this newspaper’s OPRA request, wrote that a search for emails pertaining to Jackson Road found some 6,000 emails and that a “special service charge” may have to be assessed to this publication if it didn’t narrow its requested search parameters. This newspaper agreed to narrow its search to avoid any special service charge.

No further emails from 2021 were found in the provided documents, with the next one from the county to the township having been sent in mid-January of 2022, giving township officials a heads-up on an exchange the county had with a resident.

In that particular correspondence, Brickley advised the resident that the “bridge was closed due to significant wood rot and damage above the water line” and that the “county attempted to ‘post’ the bridge at a reduced load and keep the bridge open to passenger vehicles, but the posting was largely disregarded, and the situation became unsafe.”

While the emails obtained by this newspaper reveal the observations of a county engineer, Levinsky, when queried about what kind of vehicles were seen disregarding the weight restriction, would only say that “county staff observed several vehicles exceeding the weight limit use for

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the bridge.”

“In the interest of public safety, the decision was made to close the bridge until it could be replaced,” he added.

As the emails detail, from late winter 2022 into spring of last year, both local homeowners’ associations and township officials, corresponded back-and-forth about receiving “lots of questions” and “daily inquiries about the bridge work on Jackson Road.”

Those apparent questions continued to come in, with Burger on June 27, 2022, in recognizing that “this project has not been started” (meaning at least seven months went by in which the bridge could have possibly been still opened to some through traffic), having informed Brickley that one resident “wants me to pressure the county for information on the work to be completed,” in addition to wanting her to “withhold tax payments until the work is complete.”

Levinsky, in a Jan. 24 email to this newspaper, confirmed that “construction on the bridge replacement” started in August 2022. He added that “continued non-compliance prompted the county engineer to close the bridge to all vehicles in the interest of public safety” prior to that time that the work commenced, and while he acknowledged “that decision extended the closure period,” he maintained (and also emphasized in a phone call before sending the emailed responses) “the span would have closed eventually regardless once replacement work commenced, and the county expects it will be finished in early spring.”

Still, more than eight months ultimately went by prior to the replacement work having commenced.

In a Nov. 29, 2022, email from a local resident, sent to both the county Roads and Bridges Department, and copied to Burger and Medford Township Mayor Charles “Chuck” Watson, a resident of a “nearby development” describes having “seen the impact on local traffic and businesses.”

“The traffic increase on the streets through many of the housing developments, especially

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reportedly paid for the four-acre property.

Up to that point, however, the transaction was mired in a series of convoluted legal arguments, reflected during the course of an initial hearing in Dow’s courtroom in November (of which a recording was made available to the Pine Barrens Tribune) when an attorney arguing the case for the school board, Stephen J. Edelstein, of the Weiner Law Group, could be heard characterizing the plaintiff’s argument as “what seems to me to be a bit of the bizarro world,” while Christopher DiFrancia, the Tuckerton-based lawyer representing Blech, acknowledged to the judge that, “It’s hard to understand exactly what is happening in this case.”

The uncertainty over the status of the sale was also evident in a discussion that took place at the Jan. 9 meeting of the Bass River Township Board of Commissioners, whose members, while not being directly involved, complained about the township taxpayers having to be responsible for maintaining the building “so mold doesn’t get in there” and that it was “paying a lot of money for something that’s not being used.”

“We’re out of it as far as the legality but are in it as far as paying out of our pocket,” noted Commissioner Nicholas Capriglione. “We were hoping to give these folks their money back – we were looking at a large decrease in taxes from the sale. But they’ve just been dragging this out and the taxpayer is having to pay all this extra money for no reason.”

Those concerns were aired just two days before Dow issued her order denying the plaintiff the relief he sought.

“This has been a long time in coming,”

noted Bass River School Board President Thomas D. “Tommy” Williams, Jr., when contacted by this newspaper about the reported resolution. “With the impending closing, the Board of Education will now be able to build a 2023-24 budget that will not include utilities, maintenance or insurance for a building that is now closed, which will result in a significant savings to the taxpayer.”

The budget that will be created once the sale is completed, he added, will now depend on the cost-per-pupil contract that the Bass River School District arrives at with the Little Egg Harbor district for both regular and special ed students.

The legal dispute over the elementary school sale ostensibly centered mainly around accusations that the defendant had failed to allow for an inspection to be conducted for a certificate of occupancy, or CO, to be issued on a timely basis, and to maintain the property in its original “as seen” condition, with new “environmental” issues having allegedly arisen in the time between the March 11, 2022, when the auction of the building concluded, and Aug. 25, the date when the title transfer was to have taken place.

Responding to those charges, Edelstein, in summing up the school board’s position, maintained that “the entire structure of this transaction from day one is that it should be an as-is where-it-is sale” involving no conditions such as a requirement for a CO.

To counter that argument, the complaint cited a letter from a paralegal in DiFrancia’s office asking Little Egg Harbor Township Housing and Bulkhead Inspector Rodney Tozer whether a CO is required for a commercial sale in Bass River Township (for which Little Egg Harbor is also responsible) to which Tozer replies, “Yes.” However, Little Egg Harbor Township Administrator Rodney R. Haines, who was said to be the official overseeing

such procedures, told this newspaper that while the matter was still being reviewed, “it appears an inspection is not required under our shared services agreement as a condition of sale.”

But questions as to whether the school board had violated terms of the sale weren’t the only issues raised by the plaintiff. There were also allegations made in Blech’s complaint that the board was reluctant to sell the property to him once it found out he was an Orthodox Jew from Lakewood, which is a largely ethnic enclave with a distinctly different culture than that of the community surrounding the property at issue, out of concern over what he intended to do with it.

According to the legal brief filed by Blech’s counsel, it was alleged “the defendant’s actions follow a pattern of stonewalling and attempts … to stop plaintiff from proceeding with the sale that started immediately after plaintiff was announced as the winning bidder,” when “township officials and community members began raising the prospect of (his) intention for the use of the premises by Jewish people.”

Initially it maintained, “the defendant canceled the motion to approve the sale to plaintiff and only once (after) plaintiff’s attorney notified them that it would be a civil rights violation to not approve the sale to plaintiff because he is an Orthodox Jew and from Lakewood did the Defendant schedule the motion.”

When asked whether he wished to comment on that allegation, Williams said it should be referred to the board’s legal firm, which declined to offer a response.

But according to the minutes of the April 25, 2022, special board meeting at which the sale was formally approved, when a local resident asked a question regarding sale of the building, the board attorney at the

time was quick to point out “that it is not appropriate for questions to be asked of Mr. Blech in public session, and it is not a question for the board as to what will be done with the school,” inasmuch as “the use of the building is of no concern to the board,” which had “no right to ask Mr. Blech what his plans for it are.” When asked why the sale of the building had not been put to a referendum to the townspeople to see what they wanted done with it, the attorney explained that public buildings are not sold by referendum, they are sold by auction.

Prior to the filing of the lawsuit, however, Blech, during a telephone interview with this newspaper (whose subsequent calls he has not returned), responded to a query about what his plans were for the facility by noting that “it‘s set up to be a school” and that “from a real-estate standpoint … the natural use of the property is educational.” But he added that “we have our ears open for other opportunities,” and that he had bought other properties from municipalities and utilized them “for commercial purposes that were not necessarily religious.”

Blech’s sentiments on that occasion regarding his relations with the Bass River community were also considerably more conciliatory than the claims of bias made in his subsequent brief.

“From my conversations with locals, I found people to be reasonable to work with and I reach out to everyone,” he declared. “I would point to all the precedents throughout the state of New Jersey that we all do well and work together toward the common good. We’re a tolerant society and we typically don’t differentiate between one’s religious creed or race.”

Blech further maintained that “We’re looking to work in a very amenable and friendly fashion,” and that he was “looking to do something nice with it.”

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari Former Bass River Elementary School.

Some of the emails that were provided to this newspaper

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Birchwood, has become significant,” the resident advised the officials. “Since many Medford residents walk, jog and run these narrow streets, it has also become a safety issue. As for the local businesses, many like the Medford Bagel Shop have been impacted due to change in residents’ commutes.”

A call and message sent to the Medford Bagel Shop was not returned by press time, but another area businessman, who wished to remain anonymous, told this newspaper that “we are seeing, on average, about a 35 percent decrease from last year’s sales.

That decrease in sales, the anonymous business owner added, has led the proprietor to decrease hours of availability, and hold off on the hiring of seasonal employees.

He also called the situation “very confusing for a lot of people on Jackson Road” due to a sign having been posted (at the intersection of Stokes and Jackson roads) that says, “road

PINELANDS

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not ballpark round numbers of what might be spent.”

Two other members of the township committee – Ronald Heston and former Mayor Jim Young – also offered their own takes on both the equity and the effects of such hikes.

Calling the requests “out of line with reality,” Heston maintained that while they might be considered reasonable if the utility was losing money, the company does make a profit, “so this proposed large increase is indeed not warranted.”

“I hope the BPU looks very close at their financial report,” he asserted. “If they were doing major water line replacements, I could understand an increase, but they are not.”

Heston also characterized the requested hike for fire hydrant maintenance of more than $300 per hydrant as an attempted “money grab by the water company,” since in his opinion “flushing out the water lines twice a year” should be considered part of its service to the community they serve, since the hydrants are used perhaps no more than three times a year.

Young was one of several residents who called for the current requests for an increase to simply be rejected.

“People can’t afford this, and I wish you

closed,” causing a lot of traffic to not realize the road is “only partially closed,” having the adverse impact where “they (the motorists) don’t normally come down this road.”

Another business contacted for this story, however, claimed there hadn’t been an impact to his business, but believed it was because he offers “specialty goods” that people will strive to seek out.

But that being said, James B. Jefferson, the proprietor of two Jackson Road-based businesses, Medford Core Personal Training and Life Essential Massage, told this newspaper that the bridge closure “has cost us more than 30 percent of our gross revenue.” Between his two businesses, Jefferson added, he has lost “at least $100,000.”

“Number one, the roadblocks at the end of each portion of Jackson Road, at both (access points of) County Route 541 and Tuckerton Road,” he said of the reason for the drop in business. “There are signs that say, ‘seek an alternate route,’ and there is no drive-by traffic here. Usually, we have thousands of cars go by, but no cars are going

would just say ‘no’ this time to the Pinelands Water Company,” he told the judge, alluding to previous raises in rates that it has been granted. “I have a small business. I can’t go to my customers and say I’m raising your rates.”

Rather than doing so because it has a monopoly, he contended, the company should be looking for ways to cut costs instead.

Others who spoke concurred that the requests were unwarranted and merited no consideration, some implying that they were really intended as a subterfuge to ensure that less draconian increases would be approved without any debate.

One such commentator, Daniel Lacy, who called the requests “absolutely insane,” maintained that the companies (which are a subsidiaries of Middlesex Water Company) should not be granted “an increase of any kind,” which is “exactly what they’re looking for now.”

“We shouldn’t give them anything – they don’t deserve it and don’t need it,” Lacy contended.

Sharing in that sentiment was Carol Urmson, a 25-year LeisureTowne resident who described herself as widowed, retired and living on Social Security, and not a big water user.

“I hope you will have a heart and not give them a raise at all,” she told the state officials presiding over the hearing.

Urmson said if the rate hikes were to be

by right now.”

Jefferson explained the county’s taking nearly two-years to fix a 10-foot bridge span, which he contended was really a dam as far as he is concerned that passes water through a pipe for two lakes, “is unacceptable and unprofessional.”

“And they just don’t care,” he said repeatedly in an interview with this newspaper, faulting the county for the debacle, more than anyone else (in fact, Jefferson was of the belief that if the township was in charge of the project, it would have been done by now).

Brickley, on March 22, 2022, confirmed in an email that the “repair design” had been completed to allow for the ordering of materials, but noted “work will require the relocation of several public utilities.”

“Utility notifications have been made and (we are) waiting for response to coordinate the relocation work,” he wrote.

While as late as May 2022 Brickley stated in an email that the county was making “good progress” with the utilities, and expressed his optimism the project would be completed by late summer 2022, in a Nov. 29, 2022 follow-up email, a county assistant engineer responded to a resident that Verizon still had to “move their lines so that the foundation installation can be completed.”

“From there, the county crews will install concrete caps on the new foundation, followed by the installation of a glue-laminated timber deck,” the assistant engineer added. “The remaining work will be roadway items, such as paving the new bridge/approaches and guide rail installation.”

Levinsky, this past week, told this newspaper that Verizon “completed their relocation” in the first week of January of this year. PSE&G and Comcast, he confirmed, completed their portion of the relocation work in the fall.

The High Voltage Proximity Act, Levinsky, explained, prevents work from occurring within certain clearances around electric transmission lines.

“County construction crews were able to complete about 55 percent of the sheet and timber pile installation on the new bridge before they were required to demobilize to wait for the utility companies to relocate their transmission lines,” he added. “… Now that all utility lines have been safely

granted, “I don’t know what I’ll do and most of my neighbors don’t know what they’re going to do,” adding that the last increase given to the company was supposedly “going to take care of the infrastructure,” but she hadn’t since observed any such changes.

Deborah Massey, currently the acting president of the LeisureTowne Board of Trustees, said she thought that, based on past history, the request seemed like a “bait and switch” proposition in which an “astronomical increase is initially proposed, the community becomes alarmed,” and the amount eventually approved is considerably smaller, resulting in people being “relieved that it’s less than what was proposed – but it’s still an increase.”

Another retiree, Kathy Henson, the current treasurer of the LeisureTowne board who recalled how “we had this big dream that we were going to be able to live on what we retired with,” ventured that the decision on whether to approve the rate hikes would set a precedent.

“If this goes through, what’s next?” she asked.

She then predicted that “we’ll be sitting in this room going after the electric company, the cable company and every other company will be coming down the pike after it.”

“So, like they say, the buck has to stop here,” Henson declared.

Concurring with those views was LeisureTowne resident Steven Supernak, who said he is 67 years old and didn’t think

relocated, work on the bridge piles and deck has resumed. Once that work is completed, the bridge will be repaved, and a new guardrail will be installed.”

But Jefferson claimed he had observed that construction had paused “in late summer,” and when he spoke to the head county engineer, he was told “when they (the workers) were driving steel supports in the ground, the machine was getting too close to the wires, and it would be illegal to continue to operate.”

“So, obviously they didn’t know where their machine can work,” Jefferson contended. “Obviously, they ceased, and then contacted Verizon to have them move the wires because they are not allowed to touch them.”

While Jefferson said he learned PSE&G moved their wires “right away,” Verizon, he contended, “dragged their feet” until “two weeks ago when my wife and I saw Verizon trucks moving the wires.”

The version of events Jefferson provided to this newspaper about the utilities is the same one he posted online, noting he had even gone as far as to contact 3rd District Rep. Andy Kim’s office for assistance (though Jefferson recognized the bridge is the responsibility of the county and Jackson Road is a county road).

As for the circumstances surrounding Verizon, Levinsky, when queried, maintained that “Verizon started relocation work at the bridge on Nov. 16 and completed its work by the first week in January.” He did not, however, address why it took the utility so long to complete the process.

A message left with a handful Verizon spokespeople was not returned as of this newspaper’s press time.

“If weather conditions remain favorable, the county anticipates the bridge work will be finished by early spring,” Levinsky added. “However, the utility companies will need to return the utility lines back to their original locations before the bridge reopens.”

Jefferson also questioned in the interview why the bridge, “rebuilt” after a 2004 flood, only lasted some “15 years” and asked, “Who built it wrong?” and “Why aren’t they being held responsible?”, maintained that fellow

See BRIDGE/ Page 9

he had ever seen a rate increase even a tenth that size.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s a slap in the face,” he declared. “I would ask your honor to just deny this motion.”

Some of those who spoke chose to focus on the quality of the water being supplied by Pinelands and what they described as a less-then-engaged response to service complaints, such as meters that hadn’t be read or connected, resulting in unexpectedly high bills, even without the proposed increases.

Citing an example of such “gross mismanagement and poor customer service,” LeisureTowne resident Susan Stinson told of her attempts to help out her neighbor, who’s 98 years old and blind, after the latter received a quarterly bill of $958, as opposed to the bills of $200-$250 she was accustomed to receiving. Stinson said that after numerous attempts to contact the company, she finally got a representative whose advice was to “call a plumber, since she evidently has a leak somewhere.”

After further attempts to deal with the company, Stinson said, she was told by a representative that the high bill was the result of a new meter having been installed after two years of estimated readings for water and sewer use, and that the matter could be resolved by having the neighbor pay $80 in additional monthly installments for

Document Provided

STANFIELD

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do to help people, and he genuinely is that kind of person.”

When asked by this newspaper what achievements in either of her elected jobs she took the greatest pride in, Stanfield said it was the things she managed to accomplish on behalf of individual constituents who later took the time to make her aware of how “either myself or someone in my office was able to help them with something worthwhile.”

“As I said, I’m not into the political process,” she declared. “It is not fun and gets discouraging sometimes when you’re campaigning. But when I could help people – that’s what kind of keeps you going, just knowing that you are making a difference for someone.”

In response to another question as to what, if anything, she would go back and change if she could in her career, she answered, “I’m not really sure. Nothing jumps out at me. I’m not saying I did everything perfectly. But life is a process of learning – a work in progress.”

Stanfield also responded to more philosophical questions about how she would like to see society’s current political and law-enforcement issues resolved.

Where the political picture is concerned, she said, “I think we need to just slow down and talk to each other, and restore civility.”

“I’ve always been able to work with people with different viewpoints than I have,” she declared. “We could always find common ground. We all kind of want the same things, but we have to work together more and listen to each other and see where we can all agree.”

As for what kinds of reforms might help restore confidence in both the equity and effectiveness of the law-enforcement community, the former sheriff said she thought some of those already enacted state-and countywide, with which she is most familiar, would be good examples.

“We have police chiefs who have really embraced community policing and the idea that we need to have transparency,” she contended, adding that at least in Burlington County, a lot of policies have been achieved that the nation would do well to follow. “We have so many things in place in New Jersey to make sure things are done fairly and justly. I am all about that. I think it is important for the community to respect law enforcement, and that is why when I was sheriff, we did so many community programs.

“I think, right now, the single thing we can do to make law enforcement better going forward is to start appreciating police officers and sheriff’s officers and law enforcement officials again. Because if we don’t, if we keep demeaning the profession, we’re not going to get good people to sign on—and assuming the cops are bad, good people aren’t going to want to be police officers. We need to make them feel appreciated again, to be able to recruit good people who want to make a difference and want to help, to sign up and do this very difficult thing.”

Finally, asked if there was anything else that she would like her constituents to know, Stanfield replied, “I would just like to thank people for trusting me.”

(Continued from Page 8)

a year, which she could ill afford, and that failure to do so would result in the woman’s water being shut off.

Other speakers described tap water they have found to be unusable, either due to exceptionally high levels of chlorine or apparent contaminants.

“The quality of the drinking water is not great,” contended Hampton Lakes resident Lila Myer, who said that she has to have a filtration system in her refrigerator because the chlorine smell is so strong, it is very difficult to tolerate at times.

“It’s not drinkable,” was how another LeisureTowne homeowner, Dorothy Bartolino, described the water supplied by Pinelands. “People have to have filters in their refrigerator or buy bottled water. We don’t even give it to our pets.”

Bartolino then told of deposits of “slime and black gunk” in the aerators of her kitchen and bathroom faucets, and “circles of slime that build up in the toilets and the

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(Continued from Page 8)

business owners he has talked to are all “aggravated” over the closure “going on two years,” declaring that the “Sanibel Causeway [washed out in the fall of last year in Florida from Hurricane Ian storm surge] was built in two weeks, and you guys had well over week to fix a ‘dam.’”

“So, obviously it is not important to them,” he further declared, adding that he believes there has to be “more compassion for people, especially those who live in the developments here that have more traffic, with people

“Through all these years it was an honor, and maybe it sounds kind of trite to say, but it truly, truly was a privilege to have served my entire adult life and very meaningful for me to be able to make a difference for people,” Stanfield said. “I have met and worked with so many wonderful people along the way.”

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tubs, maintaining that “it can’t be healthy – and at times the chlorine smell and taste is so overwhelming it can burn your eyes.”

After complaining to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and getting no response, she said she called the water company, an employee of which her called her back an hour later, instructing her to “take a pitcher of the water and put in your refrigerator and wait until the smell dissipates, and then you can drink it.”

“Sorry, this is not water that is to be used for human consumption, especially at the price we pay for it,” she declared.

In a similar vein, Evelyn “Evie” Doherty, of LeisureTowne, noted that “we do not drink the water because there is rust in my bathtub and a brown film in the toilet.” Doherty also maintained that she had lost confidence in the water company, asking that the rate request to be denied and “a new docket and hearing” be provided based on the submission of more accurate financial information.

Or, as Meyers put it, “It is time for us to say enough is enough.”

trying to walk dogs, and the kids being out there. There are repair trucks, commercial trucks, and other people zooming through the middle of neighborhoods that shouldn’t have cars going this fast.”

Jefferson, in pointing that in the Old Testament of the Bible, Nehemiah built a wall around Jerusalem in 52 days, quipped, “but Burlington County can’t get a 10-foot dam span done in two years.” He added that while he will survive what’s happened, it will take him “several years to recover” from the financial losses, again demanding someone “be held responsible.”

“It doesn’t really matter to them,” he asserted. “It is like on the back burner, fixing that bridge – they don’t care.”

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