OFF THE AGENDA,

Board

By Bill B onvie

Staff Writer

BASS RIVER—It is not often that the Bass River Township Planning Board draws anything like the kind of overflow crowd that greeted its members on the evening of July 19. Especially when the topic at issue is no longer on the agenda, as local townspeople were made aware in advance of the meeting.

But despite the fact that Eli Blech, a Lakewood-based developer who purchased the century-old Bass River Elementary School building, had asked that his request for a variance “to start interior renovations of prior school classrooms to dormitories” be removed from the agenda for consideration, for now, the residents who packed the New Gretna firehouse in this small rural municipality weren’t about to wait until it was back before the board to let township officials know the

See AGENDA/ Page 8

Spree of Vandalism, Thefts in Medford Lakes Borough

Prompt Residents to Inquire What’s Being Done to Curb It

Residents Assured Incidents

Are Isolated, Not Systematic as Local Recalls Cleaning Up Chards of Glass, Furniture and Fishing Bikes from Lakes

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

MEDFORD LAKES—It is serious enough of a problem to not just dismiss it as a case of “boys being boys” or that it is an early summer thing that happens every year in Medford Lakes Borough.

That is the take of Corey Landante, a resident there who has spent 16 years in the military and achieved the rank of lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard, on purported “vandalism and thefts” that happened in the borough in late spring and early summer, and in the wake of local officials characterizing what happened as a “perfect storm” with a handful of “isolated” incidents that occurred when school was winding down and it not being part of a “systematic” problem, declared, “but nonetheless they are still illegal activities.”

“I know I am one of many cleaning up chards of glass out of the lakes and furniture where our children play,” Landante said. “I am fishing stolen bicycles out of areas of dark water where kids jump in. I am cleaning up, day-after-day, pieces of broken Colony property. For what? To wait for the summer to end and have it happen again next year?”

Landante indicated he was further put out by the fact that Medford Lakes Police Chief Robert Dugan Jr. could not take the

See SPREE/ Page 11

Special Pemberton Meeting for ‘Employee Discipline Matter’ Scheduled as Sources Say It Entails Rec Director Action After Ugly Carnival Dispute Mayor, After Facing Charges He Dropped F-bomb in Exchange with Employee, Says ‘There May Have Been Word Used,’ Defends Use as ‘Freedom of Speech’

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—A special meeting of Pemberton Township Council has been scheduled for 5 p.m. on July 31 “for the purpose of discussing an employee discipline matter,” according to a notice sent to the Pine Barrens Tribune, with this newspaper having learned from sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity for this story, that a job status notification of some sort was sent to the employee in the days that followed a purportedly ugly dispute with the township mayor that reportedly occurred at a carnival. Those sources have also described to this newspaper that the mayor used an untoward word (having reportedly dropped the F-bomb in the process of the exchange with the employee), and after being pressed by this newspaper about the allegations, the mayor replied “there may have been a word used,” going on to vehemently defend his use of the word, pointing to his military background and saying that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution or First Amendment that disallows him from saying it. Using it, he said, amounts to “freedom of speech,” something he fought for while serving in the military.

The employee matter to be discussed, according to sources, involves Nichole Pittman, director of the township’s Recreation Department. She was appointed to the top department position about a year and a half ago, it was described to this newspaper, and has served the department for about 17 years.

The advertisement of the special meeting came just several days after a woman, claiming to be Pittman’s cousin, posted in area social media groups that Pittman received a letter on July 14 stating she is “relieved of duties as Recreation Department director.”

“In order for this wrongful termination to be reversed, four out of five council members have to agree that she should not be fired,” the woman wrote on social media. “If you find it in your heart to support her and all that she has accomplished for our township, please write a letter of character witness to the council members.”

Reaction online has been swift, with the majority of locals offering their support of Pittman, though a few urged caution until “all the facts” can come out about the reason for the action. Still, what was originally believed to be a matter for council discussion in August ultimately has become one necessitating a special meeting.

That being said, as of press time, both the township mayor and business administrator have ruled out any firing in statements made to this newspaper.

Sources told the Pine Barrens Tribune newspaper that the dispute unfolded during the July 8 Pemberton Township Water Carnival.

It was described to this newspaper that a thunderstorm prompted Mayor Jack Tompkins to order vendors setting up for the event to shelter indoors, and that the mayor would not allow anyone to shelter in their vehicles. Upon the storm clearing, Tompkins, according to the sources, began directing vendors where to set up. But Pittman intervened, having already worked out those details, the sources said, contending Pittman is “very organized.”

It led the two to clash, the sources said, describing the dispute was, in part, over Pittman “not backing down to his desires” and unfolded simply because the “mayor didn’t like that she was not listening to him.”

At some point a bit later on, according to the sources, Pittman walked up to Tompkins to ask him a question, and that is when they allege Tompkins asked, “What the f*** do you want?”

The sources allege that the mayor “was very abusive to her.” In describing what happened next, the sources claimed that any employee might become defensive when faced with such a predicament, particularly in a public setting.

“You don’t treat an employee that way,” the one source told this newspaper, while the second contended, “he cursed at her and was berating her.”

It has been told to this newspaper that the two Pemberton officials had also been butting heads over beach signage, with Tompkins purportedly upset over the length of time it was taking to have them placed, but that Pittman “wasn’t defying him,” and that it “just took longer” to get them in place.

Following the weekend carnival, the sources contend, Pittman was presented with a “‘you’re fired’ letter.”

The sources described to this newspaper that Pittman is a beloved figure in town, a township resident who they say has poured her heart and soul into the position, and that “she has never been written up for anything,” is “an amazing woman,” and that she was never even subjected so much as to a performance review.

“He wants to fire everybody!” one of the sources quipped of Tompkins, while another described extreme urgency in having council act to keep Pittman in her position, putting it this way to this newspaper: “the services in place now will disappear,” including the town’s “esteemed Senior Services,” and that residents should take note that it is because over her tenure “she has made them bigger and better than ever.”

Last year’s Christmas tree lighting was the result of Pittman applying to Jersey Central Power and Light for a grant, the second source pointed out, and that such an opportunity would not have been presented to the township without Pittman having the fortitude to apply for the grant.

Tompkins, when reached July 26 for comment on this story, initially told this reporter “I got a feeling why you are calling” and that “you are definitely not going to like my response.” When told of the reason for this reporter’s call, he replied, “I can’t make any comment because it is regarding personnel matters.”

When further pressed for comment, he described being “uncomfortable talking about any of it, to be honest,” and he “has to be careful about an employee’s rights,” but, when the mayor was specifically queried about allegations of his using an untoward word, he broke his silence.

“There may have been a word used,” Tompkins replied. “I served for 20 years in the military and part of that was defending the Constitution, which protects our freedom of speech. And the last time I checked, it didn’t say there were certain words that you couldn’t use.

“… I don’t recall anything in the First Amendment saying certain words weren’t authorized.”

Tompkins then added that one should “forgive me if the words coming out of my mouth offend somebody,” but that it is his “constitutional right, you know?”

The mayor then repeated he couldn’t discuss “employee actions,” and after subsequently being advised that this newspaper was giving him ample time to respond to the allegations made against him out of fairness – he said this: “I want to say something – but I can’t say it. But I will say it!”

“I mean it happens!” Tompkins continued. “If I drop an F-bomb, unfortunately that happens with me sometimes and I am assuming that is the word someone said I said (with Tompkins having not been told by this reporter of the specific word he was alleged to have uttered).”

Then the mayor declared, “You and I have had conversations and I’ve never misled you before.”

‘Progress Continues,’ Southampton Mayor Says, to Have Electrical Unit in LeisureTowne Neighborhood Relocated, But Residents Have Watched Tall Fence Being Built Around It, Giving Way to Angst About True Intent

Height of Fence in Front of Homes Leads to Description That It’s the ‘Berlin Wall’; Adding to Debacle Is Confirmation That Sewage Line Has Been Struck Near Unit

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—“Progress continues,” according to Southampton Township Mayor Michael Mikulski, to have a massive electrical switchbox for a landfill solar array, constructed earlier this year by a solar developer in the middle of a LeisureTowne street, within a townshipowned island, relocated to another place.

But so has the progress continued, since last Friday, July 21, to install a tall brown fence (as of press time surrounded by a chainlink fence) around the nearly 20-foot-long unit, or what one upset resident described as the “Berlin Wall” in a phone call to this newspaper, taking issue with its appearance.

And several LeisureTowne residents, having watched the progress throughout this past week on the fence, which they assume must be costing the solar developer a considerable sum of money to have installed, as well as recent connectivity work by Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G), believe it is progress toward a permanent installation of the electrical unit, and that talk of the unit being possibly moved by both the township and solar firm amounts to them merely being given – at the very least – purported false hope.

While neither the township nor Southampton BEMS, a subsidiary of CEP Renewables, LLC that owns the solar array on BEMS Landfill, have been able to guarantee with absolute certainty that the controversial unit will ultimately be moved (as both the Pinelands Commission and PSE&G must approve any relocation), the fencing and connectivity work for the unit should not be viewed as an indication that the electrical cabinet is a permanent fixture on the Saint David’s Place island, according to a letter written by Steven Gouin, an attorney representing CEP Renewables.

Rather, the continued work by PSE&G is “to satisfy its contractual obligations,” and as for the fence, it “has been on order for some time, and rather than store it on-site, my client felt it best to simply install it, with the understanding that it may need to be removed at some point in the near future,” Gouin told Saint David’s Place residents in a June 30 letter.

“Please understand that my client has directed CS Energy (a contracted-firm) to install the fence only to provide some measure of screening of the facility while we work through these other issues,” Gouin wrote. “Of course, it will be an added cost to remove the fence if that becomes necessary, but our thought is that at least some interim level of screening is better than nothing.”

Between the fence and unit, however, Saint David’s Place resident Sue Hoffman – pointing out that she has no relationship to the township administrator who shares the same last name – described the combination as “this ever-increasing pile of junk here on

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Letter Sent to Medford Manager, from 47 Village Residents, Asks Town to Address ‘Noise, Littering, Intoxication’ Downtown Amid Revitalization Authors of Letter Request ‘Thoughtful Improvements and Proactive Enforcement’, Making Numerous Suggestions So Businesses, Residences Can Continue to Coexist

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

MEDFORD—The recent “heartening” revitalization of Medford Township’s downtown with breweries, entertainment, festivals and food trucks, amid a relaxation of parking standards and an establishment of an open container area in the village, has had the desired effect of drawing large crowds to the municipality’s business district, once suffering economically.

However, that hustle and bustle is said to have now resulted in “some significant issues,” particularly for the residents who also call the village home, with 47 of them (including a couple of the downtown businessowners themselves) having signed a letter to Township Manager Kathy Burger describing how the noise is “negatively impacting our quality of life,” among other things, and suggesting “thoughtful improvements and proactive enforcement” to strike the right balance, so residences and businesses can continue to coexist downtown.

A dozen or so tweaks to planning, enforcement practices and infrastructure, they say, “can assure our growth is successful, sustained and safe for businesses and residents alike.”

The letter was written to Burger on May 1, this newspaper has learned, but was only read into the record at a July 18 Medford Township Council meeting by N. Main Street resident Zachary Wilson after he contended the initial response to it was “ridiculous.”

The letter touched on five specific areas that the residents contend need to be addressed – “safety,” “parking,” “noise and traffic,” “crowding and loitering public danger,” as well as “trash.”

“It is something we have taken very seriously,” said Mayor Charles “Chuck” Watson after the letter was read into the record by Wilson. “We are looking into what we can do and have already done things.”

The Pine Barrens Tribune made several attempts to reach the president (Alex Breaux) and vice president (Abbie Galie) of the organization, Main Street Merchants of Historic Medford Village, which is essentially the business association specific to the downtown, and in response, received an email from Sean Galie, co-proprietor of Lower Forge Brewery with Abbie, with him writing, “Thanks for reaching out, but we don’t have any comment at this time.”

The Main Street Merchants’ website encourages “shop local and support our beautiful Main Street.”

‘Independent’ Safety Study Requested in Wake of Increased Traffic

In pointing out that the township has “added many new businesses, relaxed parking, and created new ordinances to promote downtown revitalization,” and that there are “potentially more businesses to follow,” the residents maintain in the letter that “all of this has increased pedestrian and vehicular traffic.”

Efforts to grow and revitalize the town, they say, should take into consideration “safety at all levels.”

“We recommend that the township conduct an independent study to examine appropriate measures to ensure our town remains a safe place to live and visit,” the residents wrote.

Parked Vehicles Reportedly Curtail Downtown Private Driveway Access

Many of the residents who live in the village have driveways that “exit and enter onto Main Street,” but according to the residents who signed the letter, “on busy days we are unable to exit our driveways safely onto Main Street due to visitors parked immediately adjacent to our curb for our driveways.”

In addition, they contend that “groups of motorcyclists” often park along the curbs that are “clearly marked as ‘no parking zones.’”

The residents are calling on the township to further indicate no parking areas with yellow painted curbs, outline Main Street parking spots with white dividing lines and install “clear parking signage” as well as “no parking signs where needed.”

Addressing the purported parking problem, they say, should include an effort to highlight where one can park in town, including off Broad Street.

That particular street, the residents claim in the letter, contains an appropriate parking lot for visitors, but it “requires regrading and repaving” from Railroad Avenue and Charles Street to the parking lot “to encourage use.”

The residents of the village are also calling on the Medford Township Police Department to conduct “more ticketing and enforcement” when it comes to illegal parking.

Residents of Village Ask for Consideration of Them and Their Families

Several nearby businesses, the residents described, play music outside and offer outdoor seating options to patrons, but the “noise, including from outdoor speakers and amplifiers, especially during events, as well as from crowds of people, can often be heard inside our businesses and homes, negatively impacting our quality of life.”

“We ask you to consider we are raising families adjacent to these businesses,” the letter authors wrote.

They continue that “weekend traffic on and around Main Street” generated from “congestion around breweries, restaurants and shops” has “become dangerous to motorists and pedestrians alike.”

Specifically, they cite instances of pedestrians crossing Main Street in-between street corners, “forcing traffic to stop unexpectedly,” as well as motorcyclists “speeding and popping wheelies as they leave.”

Another consequence of Medford becoming a destination is that Charles Street, according to the residents, is now “sometimes impassible” due to “oversized vehicles parked diagonally in the diagonal spots” and “vehicles not being parked all the way into the parking spots.”

And the inability to “navigate the Rightsof-Way” has caused parking lots to become “new unregulated streets with drivers speeding down residential property lines” to cut through traffic jams.

As the letter authors see it, “potential solutions include, but are not limited to, ensuring proactive enforcement of the noise ordinance, including strict adherence to the allowable decibel levels and cutoff times for the close of business, requiring conversion

See LETTER/ Page 11

Medford Seeks Quote for ‘Assessment’ of Two-Mile Canoe Trail, Blocked by Fallen Trees, and Explores ‘Avenue’ to Fund Cleanup

August Retirement of Township’s Public Works Director Announced as Well as New Monthly Brush Pickup Program; Field Project ‘Stalls’

By D ouglas D. M elegari

Staff Writer

MEDFORD—While it is not yet clear whether Medford Township has secured the permit officials previously claimed was needed from the state to clear the Rancocas Creek of fallen trees, Township Manager Kathy Burger says the municipality is now seeking a quote for an assessment of the situation.

Burger’s July 18 pronouncement followed two consecutive council meetings in which Medford Leas resident and local kayaker Kathleen Roberts called for a pathway to be cleared in the creek to restore the township’s much-advertised “two-mile Medford Canoe Trail” along the Southwest Branch of the “scenic Rancocas Creek,” said to serve as an important connection to the township’s downtown, or historic Medford Village. It also came in the wake of this newspaper’s published report about Roberts’ request.

“Beth Portocalis (the township’s Open Space coordinator as well as executive assistant to the manager) was able to make some contact with a vendor who does it,” Burger revealed. “So, we are looking for a quote right now so they can come down and do an assessment for us … and ride the creek to see what kind of blockage is there, and to see if they can give us some pricing on what the clearing would be.”

The trail head in Medford Park is accessible from Gill Road off Allen Avenue, according to a blog post by Medford resident Kevin Sparkman, and the “most convenient access point” for the trail “is in the park, at the foot of Coates Street, where a playground, picnic facilities and parking close to the launch site are available.”

This newspaper previously reported that among the many locations where the creek is blocked is right at that launch site, and observed on a beautiful summer day, canoes at the site were shelved because of the situation.

The trail, according to Sparkman’s post, ends at a landing at Kirby’s Mill on Church Road. Burger contended back on June 20 that the township has “applied for grants several times”

Seneca Reserve HOA Asks Tabernacle Body to ‘Hold’ Performance Bond on Developer, Citing Dispute Over Purported Shortfall, Retention Basin Township Attorney Recognizes ‘Whole Bunch of Issues at Stake’, Including Land Development Board Escrow Account ‘Shortfall’, Outstanding ‘Punch List’

By D ouglas D. M elegari

Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—The Seneca Reserve

Homeowner’s Association is requesting that the Tabernacle Township Committee put a “hold,” for now, on releasing the performance guarantee with the builder of the development, Rockwell Custom, citing a dispute over an alleged shortfall as well as a retention basin.

Seneca Reserve, with an entryway in the 1400 block of Route 206, is one of two new developments in Tabernacle Township and has a total of 49 units. All those homes were sold as of October 2020, this newspaper has learned.

According to HOA President Mike Broadbent, who appeared at a July 2 Tabernacle committee meeting, Rockwell “turned over the community to residents” back in 2020. He said that Rockwell is “now in the process of transitioning out,” but as it does so, the association purportedly found a “severely deficient reserve account,” with Broadbent claiming there is a shortfall of $57,000.

That shortfall, Broadbent contended, is now placing a “hardship” on the residents, with him further maintaining that the developer has “ignored” requests to meet with the HOA directly to resolve it.

“We are asking that you do not release them from the performance bond,” Broadbent asserted. “We ask for your support, and that you do not release the money back.”

HOA member Rae Voss, who noted she joined the board this past April, contended that “since becoming a community member, the financial structure and security has been very seriously questioned,” alleging that at issue is the way “Rockwell spent HOA money while it had control and access over it.”

The township, in approving the development, she maintained, required an HOA “so as to not create a tax burden” on residents, but the association is “not able” to provide the necessary upkeep and maintenance “with a $57,000 shortfall,” and that should be the reason why the township committee would not want to release Rockwell from the performance bond.

“The $57,000 we are asking for, that is money Rockwell understated in reserve, and it also inappropriately used funds from an operating account they should not have used,” Broadbent alleged. “It should have gone towards a reserve account, based on documents they drafted.”

All of this led Township Solicitor William Burns to reveal that it also “came to my attention, a couple weeks ago, that there was a shortfall with the Land Development Board escrow account,” in addition to outstanding “punch list items.”

Rockwell did not return a message, left through a website submission form, seeking comment on this story. An email address the company had set up specifically for Seneca Reserve queries is apparently no longer working, with this newspaper’s email having not gone through to it. Rockwell now lists Seneca Reserve under a website tab for its “past communities.”

When the Tabernacle Land Development Board gave preliminary approval to Rockwell to develop the 87 acres of land near Route 206 and Flyatt Road back in 2017 with market-rate, single family homes, former township administrator Doug Cramer quipped in regard to a concern about infrastructure, “that is great for the two years that you are responsible for it, but I have to take care of it forever.” Eighteen township residents at that time voiced concerns about the new subdivision.

In addition to the monetary dispute, according to Voss, there has been “water issues” associated with a rear detention basin in the community that has affected “all homeowners of Seneca Reserve.”

Initially, she said, it was not draining and has not received any grant funding for clearing the creek, adding that the municipality has also “tried to work alongside other townships, who are connected to us” in both clearing the creek and to “get funding” for that purpose.

During the July 18 council session, she reported that township “staff is also working on another concept” or “on another avenue to try to get some funding for it, because we have tried for multiple grants and have been turned down each time.”

“But I am not going to talk about it publicly,” said Burger of the specifics of that concept.

When Roberts first raised the issue of the creek on June 7, Mayor Charles “Chuck” Watson responded that he “will ask the manager to have Public Works do some clearing so we can get a pathway through.” On June 18, during a subsequent council session, he denied having ever said that, with Burger maintaining “we have to get funding and a contractor that can do it” and that permitting from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is also required.

It led Roberts to press the mayor as to whether, “Are you in agreement it needs to be done?”

“I think it should be looked into to find out what the costs are, to find out whether we have the funding, and to find out whether we can even get a permit to do it,” responded Watson at the time. “That is my personal opinion.”

Officials have still not yet said why the trail at all, creating a “habitat” and a place for wildlife to “grow.” Ultimately, she contended, Rockwell “came out to repair the basin at the instruction of the township engineer” and “cleared and resanded it,” but “what we still see is it is open to the public and not fenced in all the way around.”

She contended that the lack of fencing presents a “safety issue” in which children can access the area.

Additionally, she maintained that grass growing in the basin was only recently weed whacked by the developer, and by doing that, it “is certainly not going to kill the grass.” Dead trees in the area, she maintained, are yet another concern.

“It concerns me that only just now, after four years, it is starting to function like a normal detention basin,” Voss declared. “… And, if there is a problem, residents of the reserve will not be able to fix it.”

She “implored” the township committee to not only take the “financial aspect” of the situation into consideration, “but also the viability of the HOA.” She also requested that the township engineer walk the community with the board.

“We want to be good, upstanding members of this community,” Voss declared. “We want to raise kids here safely. Those basins are very unsafe. They allow access to children and animals and are providing for a drainage concern. If was not maintained over the years, nor have they explained why the municipal budget doesn’t contain a line item for maintaining the trail, which is promoted in two township brochures.

When Roberts had previously raised that there were two different brochures promoting the canoe trail, officials denied the existence of a second one, but Roberts has since given copies of both of them to this newspaper.

Roberts, last month, told the council that the fact that she has now seen a second brochure, “it says to me this is important to Medford” and “this is how you market it.”

Prior to the July 18 update on the creek, the retirement of a central figure in Medford’s infrastructure and maintenance operations, Richard L. Parks, director of the township’s Public Works Department (formerly Neighborhood Services) as well as Municipal Utilities, was announced.

Parks has held the post since March 2015.

Watson, on July 18, described Parks as responsible for “administering all Public Works activities,” including park and playground maintenance, road maintenance, buildings and grounds, leaf collection, brush collection and solid waste collection. He added that Parks has also provided managerial support to the township’s Water and Sewer Division. Parks, prior to coming to Medford, as the basins fail, it will cost several hundred thousand dollars to fix. And the reality is we are missing $57,000 in reserve.”

Additionally, Voss alleged Rockwell also didn’t file homeowner declarations and covenants with the state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and disputed a purported notion by the developer that it doesn’t have to make any filings.

A question shouted out from the audience during the discussion, “Has anyone been hurt there?”, went unanswered. Back in 2017, one of the 18 residents to question the project had raised a concern about drawings showing that the basin would not have a fence around it, recalling a drowning that had occurred in the township.

While none of the township committee members responded to the Seneca Reserve HOA members on July 2, Burns responded that he will “work with the township engineer to look at the basins” and “we will all coordinate what needs to be done to address the health and safety aspect, if anything.”

“There will be no action tonight, or on July 31 (the next scheduled governing body meeting) to release the safety bond,” Burns vowed. “… We also have to deal with a shortfall in the Land Development Board escrow account. There are a whole bunch of issues at stake.”

Bass River Twp. Officials Offer Fond Recollections of Tommy Williams, Jr., Retired Cop Who Served for Many Years on Local, Regional School Boards Former LEHT Police Detective, Among First COVID Patients to Get Lung Transplant, Is Described as a Passionate, Dedicated Public Servant and ‘Really One of a Kind’

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

Evesham Proposes Raising Property Taxes for First Time Since 2017, Citing Rising Costs and Loss of Revenue Sources, Including Verizon If Approved, Increase Would Cost Average Homeowner an Additional $211 a Year; Economic Relief Expected from Cannabis Retailers, Cell Tower and Solar Farm Leases

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

BASS

RIVER—Bass

D. “Tommy”

River Board of Education President Thomas

Williams, Jr., a retired lieutenant with the Little Egg Harbor Police Department, former longtime member and previous president of the Pinelands Regional Board of Education and an active participant in various local causes and community groups, died on July 19 more than two years after having been one of the first COVID-19 patients to be given what was for a time successful lung-transplant surgery.

The 62-year-old law-enforcement veteran, according to his wife, Maggie, passed away peacefully at his Bass River Township home after having spent his last hours surrounded by his children and sisters. In recent months, she told the Pine Barrens Tribune, he was twice admitted to the hospital for twoweek stays after his body began to reject the transplanted lung, which he was among some half-dozen victims of the Coronavirus to receive at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia (as described by this newspaper in a front-page story on Aug. 5, 2021).

Maggie Williams described her husband as someone who was “passionate about the community and about helping people, and lived a life of public service,” and believed that was reflected in the size of the crowd that attended his funeral, reported to number several hundred, which she described as “a tribute to the man he was and a life well lived.”

When his time came, she added, “he was ready, and was at peace with it … he was tired.”

Williams’ fervent level of dedication to every endeavor in which he became involved, which would occasionally put him at odds with those who didn’t necessarily share his concerns, was summed up by Karl Swanseen, a 2020 township commission candidate and fellow member of the school board.

“Tom was absolutely inspirational, he cared so deeply for our community,” Swanseen told this newspaper. “When I saw him serving on the BOE, knowing the severe medical challenges he was going through, I knew none of us have any excuse for not getting involved. I visited a couple days before he passed, he was literally on his deathbed talking about the history and current events of New Gretna, the town he loved. I will miss him deeply and remember him with a smile.”

Also offering praise for Williams’ contributions to the Bass River community were the three current members of its governing body, Mayor Deborah Buzby-

Cope, Deputy Mayor Louis Bourguignon and Commissioner Nicholas Capriglione. Buzby-Cope, in an email to this newspaper, attested to how Williams had not only been an asset to the Bass River community, but to many of the other municipalities in both Burlington and Southern Ocean counties, recalling how he was “always available when we needed an update on what was going on with the school boards” and who “always had the best interest of the children at heart.”

She also characterized him as someone who possessed “a wealth of knowledge on many subjects that always made for good, in-depth conversations,” and who will be sadly missed.

Bourguignon, when contacted by this newspaper, described Williams as “a great guy” of the kind that simply can’t be replaced.

“Tommy was a doer for the public, and really one of a kind,” he declared, adding that his passing represented the loss of a “real treasure” to the township and Village of New Gretna.

Capriglione, who noted he had worked with Williams for many years on the Pinelands Regional Board of Education, recalled him as a passionate public servant who “always, always put the students’ welfare first,” was “dedicated to their best interests and giving them a quality education” and “never took any short cuts” to achieve that.

“He served the public as an outstanding representative, and will be greatly missed,” the commissioner said.

One member of the community who knew Williams better than most was retired Pinelands Regional Board of Education President Susan Ernst, who said her nickname for him was “Poppa Bear” and provided this newspaper with a particularly moving and personal tribute.

“Like everyone, Tommy had some rough edges,” she recalled. “But mostly, deep down inside, he was a kind, giving person. He took in stray people like others took in stray pets. He gave of himself to friends and strangers alike. I was one of the very fortunate people to have known Tommy and to have been blessed by his friendship. No matter what was going on in his own life, I knew that a single phone call to Poppa Bear would be answered.

“Truthfully, his service was the most heart-wrenching one I have ever attended. Rest, Tommy ... at least until we meet again.”

Williams, a Lakewood native and lifelong area resident, has been described as giving the same kind of dedication to his 32-year

EVESHAM—The average Evesham Township homeowner will pay an additional $17.64 per month in property taxes, or $211.68 annually, under the terms of a proposed new budget, amounting to $45,282,488 in total appropriations, that was introduced at the July 12 township council meeting in a presentation by Chief Financial Officer Alex Davidson.

A resolution authorizing the budget proposal to move forward was approved by four of the five council members, with a fifth, Heather Cooper, abstaining from the vote. Cooper, who has announced her candidacy for the 8th Legislative District Senate seat soon to be vacated by the retirement of Jean Stanfield, later said she wanted to get more “clarification” of the issues involved before participating in a decisive vote in August.

If approved by the governing body at its next meeting, the tax increase, which would be the first imposed by the township since 2017, will generate additional revenues of $4,109,640, Davidson said, but would still be considerably below the maximum property tax cap of $5,304,576 allowed by the state.

“I want to stress to our residents that we’re only increasing taxes so we can provide the services they’ve grown accustomed to and we want to provide them,” said Davidson, before launching into an explanation of the factors necessitating a tax hike, including “numerous cost increases” in such areas as debt service, health insurance, state-mandated pension increases and police salaries, totaling $1,454,000 “that is largely outside the township’s control.”

There have also been declines in both permit and court fees over the past few years, he noted, along with some recent losses in ratables. The primary reduction in the latter category, he noted, was due to a state law that allows a phone utility to stop paying taxes to a municipality once 50 percent of households in that community drop their landline services, which is what has now occurred with Verizon—a factor that has translated into a loss of $17.2 million for the township for 2023.

While Evesham had joined another town in filing a tax appeal over the Verizon exclusion, Davidson said the township had just gotten word it lost that appeal, which will now be heard by the Appellate Division.

“But for right now, it looks like that tax is definitely off the books for this year,” he conceded.

Another $7.1 million loss in ratables this year came from tax relief granted to totally disabled veterans—something the CFO said “we are happy to do but still (has) a financial impact” on the municipality.

“The township has done everything in its power to mitigate any tax increase on an annual basis,” Davidson contended. “Unfortunately, all those tools have been utilized. We don’t have any more options at this time.”

Among such mitigation measures were the elimination of three administrative positions and the auctioning off of surplus assets, including land. Township officials, however, are currently anticipating some new revenue-generating entities that should eventually compensate for the current reductions in the tax base, one of them being the pending opening of a number of legal cannabis retailers, which are expected to serve as “recurring revenue” sources, and another the leasing of an old landfill for a solar farm and a part of the municipal building for a prospective cell tower.

Evesham, Davidson pointed out, also now has a substantial source of ongoing extra revenue in the form of the municipally-owned Indian Spring Country Club, which had “another very strong financial year in 2022,” generating what he termed “a $250,000 golf course dividend to help offset the tax increase.

Praise for the efforts of Davidson and other officials who were involved in the budget process was offered by Councilwoman Patricia Hansen, who asserted that they had faced “a very difficult budget this year and an even more difficult decision to raise taxes,” but said she believed the result “reflects our commitment to meet the community’s increased demand for services, maintenance and protection.”

Also speaking in support of the proposal was Deputy Mayor Eddie Freeman III, who called it “a prudent budget” and “a tough yet responsible decision,” and Councilwoman Ginamarie Espinoza, who pointed out that “we are all feeling the effects of the greatest inflation we have seen in generations and rampant supply chain issues, all stemming from the pandemic,” and that “voting on the budget this year allows us to continue to provide outstanding services that we all expect” and “to ensure that our town continues to be a place that we love to call home.”

But one Evesham resident who got up to speak during the public comment period, Joseph Sereday, had a somewhat different take on the process.

“I want to know why it took until tonight to introduce our township budget,” asserted Sereday, who said that according to the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services, the township had far exceeded the statutory deadlines for budget introduction and adoption. “With our local property tax bills due in less than two weeks, how do you expect residents to be able to responsibly manage and plan their finances without any definitive information about how much they’re going to owe and

August

Aug. 1 Train Rides Through the Woods of New Gretna

Location: Bass River Township

Details: The Woods of New Gretna Park and the New Jersey Shore Live Steam Organization provide train rides for all each Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The small steam locomotives, and other trains, wind their way through the beautiful park. The rides are provided by a group of dedicated volunteers who have revitalized the park and laid out the railroad track, based on the historical Tuckerton Railroad. The volunteers maintain the railroad and walking trails, and are constantly expanding them. Riding the trains is free, but donations are very much appreciated. The train rides are outdoors.

Aug. 23

Deadline July 31

Annual Delaware Park Casino and Horse Racing Trip

Location: Lumberton/Tabernacle Townships (Pick-up Locations)

Details: The Pinelands Young at Heart Senior Club is sponsoring its Annual Delaware Park Casino and Horse Racing Trip on Wednesday, Aug. 23. The price is $35, with $20 back to play at the casino. The first pick-up is at 8:45 a.m., at the Lumberton Plaza, Rt. 38, TD Bank parking lot. The second pick-up is at 9:15 a.m., at the Old Squad Building on Hawkins Rd. in Tabernacle. Enjoy drawings and Bingo games on the trip. Snacks and water are included. Reservations should be made by July 31. For more information, call JoAnn at 609-268-8951.