By Jenn Lucas Staff Writer
INTO A TRADITION
Pemberton Council Claims Mayor is Refusing to Pay Stipend to Two Employees, Jeopardizing Housing Program
Stalemate Between Council, Mayor Only Intensifies Further, Reportedly Threatens Return of Water Carnival, Shopping Center Revitalization Project
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—The stalemate between Pemberton Township Council and Mayor Jack Tompkins, who reportedly has now returned from an overseas trip, has only intensified this past week, allegedly leaving the municipality without an approved fiscal year municipal budget and two township employees in the crosshairs of a payment dispute, and as members of council maintained, also threatens to derail the administration of a home rehabilitation program that those employees are assigned to lead.
MEDFORD—When a fire company is 210 years old, naturally there are members who are no longer alive.
Though they may be gone, thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group of local firefighters, they will never be forgotten.
The same can be said for any veteran, retired police officer or ladies auxiliary
member, as the group will not rest until every site is checked and doubled checked, and those who dedicated their lives to service are recognized ahead of Memorial Day.
“We want to make sure we get it right,” Medford Fire Chief Robert Dovi said. “The right theater they served in, based on the right timeframe, so we honor them correctly.”
Armed with 100 red fire department flags and 500 American flags, men and women
from the Medford Fire Department canvass area cemeteries every year around this time, as they have done since 1978, according to Medford firefighter Dave Rambo.
The group places fresh flags in markers on gravesites, while removing any tattered old ones. The markers indicate where the deceased served or what war they may have fought in, according to Rambo. If the
Additionally, members of council contended the return of the township Water Carnival this year and a long-awaited project to revitalize the Browns Mills Shopping Center into Pemberton Commons are in jeopardy.
“I arrived here today with Matt (Councilman Matthew Bianchini) and the mayor was leaving as we were coming in and he just smirked and said, ‘You guys have a nice night,’” alleged Councilman Harry Harper of what transpired just prior to the council’s latest May 7 meeting.
Photo By Jenn Lucas
Medford firefighter Dave Rambo, right,
Evesham Council Approves 2025 Budget Calling for Annual Tax Hike of $70 on Average Home, a Modest Request Next to School District’s This Year’s Figure Comes with Two ‘Firsts’—Responsibility for Expense of School Resource Officer and Cannabis Sales as a Source of Revenue
By Bi LL B onvie Staff Writer
EVESHAM—The Evesham Township Council unanimously adopted a 2025 budget of $28,439,189 to be raised by taxation for municipal purposes at its May 7 meeting, resulting in an annual property tax increase of $70.21, or $5.85 monthly, on “the average homeowner” in the township, according to a 2025 PowerPoint budget presentation.
The township also estimates that additional revenues for the year will amount to $19,686,810 for a total of $48,126,000 in revenues. The 2025 figure does not include an additional $3,192,272 set aside for an “Open Space, Recreation, Farmland, And Historic Preservation Trust Fund Levy, but does for the first time include taxes on cannabis sale proceeds amounting to an approximate total of $135,000.
One of the newest features in this year’s municipal budget is the full funding of a school resource officer, a responsibility previously shared with the Evesham School District, which Councilman Joseph Fisicaro, Jr., a former school board member, characterized as “being proper, responsible partners” and “making sure that in perpetuity our children are safe.”
In other respects, however, the budgets for the municipality and the school district are entirely separate, with the latter calling for a 25.41 percent hike of $910 per year in property taxes, the result of the district being an estimated $15 million “below adequacy,” due largely to massive cuts in state aid over the past six years, which still must be approved by the state.
The strict line of division that exists under state law was one emphasized by Councilwoman Heather Cooper, who noted that “local municipalities cannot allocate funds to school districts to cover budget shortfalls” and that the latter “have operated independently since 2008, per the Title 18 statute, otherwise known as the School Funding Reform Act, where they are their own taxing authority and manage their own budgets without relying on municipal funds.”
The councilwoman further pointed out that “there are mechanisms in place where we as a municipality and the school district can collaborate,” such as shared services and agreements related to public safety, as well as grant partnerships.
“But we cannot simply transfer general funds to a school district to cover deficits,” she asserted, adding, “It is just not responsible government.”
Cooper also characterized the current municipal budget as “not a one-time event,” but rather “a continuous process of planning, forecasting, and review” involving “a conservative and strategic approach” that will not only serve as a financial guide for this year ahead, but “a foundation for a long investment into Evesham’s future.”
In comments preceding the budget vote, Mayor Jaclyn “Jackie” Veasy made a point of the fact that “this is the first year that we are able to recognize cannabis as an income here,” and “were able to allocate that funding to help the community this year, which is also helping to offset things like us taking on the School Resource Officers (SROs) in
our schools and making sure that we are providing safety.”
The township’s budget presentation anticipates that capital budget spending for assets expected to last five years will amount to $5,376,000 for general capital improvements, including $3,000,000 for roads, $1,005,000 for facility improvements and $1,371,000 for vehicles and equipment, 11,000,000 for open space/general improvements, and $725,000 for improvements and equipment at Indian Spring Golf Course.
Also addressed in the presentation is the question of why a tax increase is necessary, which it contends is “to maintain the level of services residents have come to expect such as snow removal, trash and bulk pickup, maintenance of parks and recreational facilities, road maintenance and police and public safety.”
Among the many cost factors it claims have contributed to the need for such an increase are pensions, workers’ compensation and liability insurance, debt service, police salaries, non-union and contractual salary increases, health insurance, and “increased costs of everyday goods and services (otherwise known as inflation).“
Items listed in a township press release as being covered by this year’s municipal budget and capital budgets include new police vehicles and equipment, along with police department facility improvements; upgrades to the tennis and basketball courts at Memorial Field; a Dek Hockey installation (which is played on a smooth plastic surface) at Evesboro Downs; improvements to the entrance and elevator at the Gibson House Community Center, proposed renovations to the historic Thomas and Mary Evans House at 123 S. Elmwood Rd. to allow it to remain a viable location for arts programs; lighting upgrades for Main Street and Kings Grant Drive/Crown Royal Parkway, and preliminary engineering for an artificial turf field at the Memorial Sports Complex.
Of particular concern to a number of attendees at the meeting was the fate of the Evans House at 123 S. Elmwood Rd., a
Well Testing at Two Shamong Twp. Homes Reportedly Finds
PFOA, PFOS Levels Above Permissible State Testing Threshold
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
SHAMONG—A couple of wells in Shamong Township have tested positive for amounts of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) that exceed the state’s permissible testing threshold. According to a technical fact sheet from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PFOA and PFOS are “two contaminants” that are part of a larger group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), and have been released to the environment through industrial manufacturing and through use and disposal of PFAS-containing products.
The “toxicity, mobility and bioaccumulation potential” of PFOS and PFOA, which are “human-made compounds that do not occur naturally in the environment,” according to the fact sheet, result in “potential adverse effects on the environment and human health.”
Among those effects, the EPA notes, are that human epidemiological studies have found associations between PFOA exposure and high cholesterol, increased liver enzymes, decreased vaccination response, thyroid disorders, pregnancy-induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia, as well as testicular and kidney cancers.
Such studies also found associations between PFOS exposure and high cholesterol and adverse reproductive and developmental effects, the EPA said.
Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato, after announcing the well testing findings during a May 6 Shamong Township
Committee session as part of a Burlington County Health Department report, maintained “the testing requirements have dropped as far as how much” of the chemicals are permissible, before pointing out the state has some of the “most stringent” guidelines in the nation.
“They freak people out, but it is like the levels are very low to trigger these warnings,” contended Deputy Mayor Brian Woods.
According to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for PFOA is 0.014 μg/L, while for PFOS it is 0.013 μg/L.
That is compared to 0.3 μg/L and 0.6 μg/L, respectively, in Texas.
New Jersey’s standards for MCL were last amended in June 2020.
It was not said what the values were that were found in the Shamong tests.
“The letter the township received from the Burlington County Health Department does not provide the values requested, nor the identify specific properties,” this newspaper was later told by a township official. “This information is not kept at the township level.”
Committeeman Dave Diamond asked where the chemicals were detected, if there is any indication the findings are representative of a larger “pocket” and if officials know “where it is coming from.”
“We have had that occur with lead in the past, but these are different areas,” Onorato answered. “So, that is something that my office looks at when we get these reports in.
See SHAMONG/ Page 6
Washington’s New Municipal Budget Reflects $280K in Funding Given to Local School District; Green Bank Rd. Reopens to Traffic New 15 mph Speed Limit to Be Applied to Municipal Part of River Road in Lower Bank, from Lower Bank Bridge to Road’s Southeasterly Terminus
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
WASHINGTON—A municipal budget of $1,427,102 has been adopted by the Washington Township Committee during its May 6 regular session.
A major highlight is that the township is giving the local school district, which has been contending with state financial aid cuts, $280,000 this year for their budget, even though the school district and municipality are two separate entities.
The hope is that the municipal help will prevent the need for any major hike in local school district taxes, as was seen a couple years ago to fill a budget shortfall.
It was pointed out to this newspaper that 25 percent of the municipal budget goes to the county and 75 percent to the schools.
“75 percent of your taxes go to that school board,” is how Deputy Mayor Daniel James would put it during the latest committee meeting.
Yet, according to James, at a recent school board meeting pertaining to the school budget, he and Committeewoman Jeanne Fox-Ford “were the only two people there.”
“My point being is that is your main tax,” declared James, before asking, “Shouldn’t the township residents pay a little more attention to it, and be a little more proactive?”
On the municipal side, Washington has no
local purpose tax.
Another highlight of the municipal budget is that, according to the auditor, overall spending is up $46,000.
Still, total general appropriations in the municipal budget are down from $1,577,220.94 last year.
During a public hearing on the municipal budget, one resident asked about an increase in the trash line item, and was told it is the result of a contractual increase with the hauler, as was outlined in a previously agreed to Request for Proposal (RFP).
A resident also thanked Mayor C. Leigh Gadd, Jr., and the rest of the committee for their continued support of the Lower and Green Bank Fire Companies, as well as the Green Bank Ambulance Squad.
Passing on second reading was an ordinance lowering the speed limit on a stretch of River Road in the Lower Bank section of the municipality, and as a correction to this newspaper’s previous story, a new 15-mph speed limit will apply only to the *townshipowned portion, from the Lower Bank Bridge to its southeasterly terminus,* not the entire length.
The speed limit is being lowered on the township stretch from 25 mph.
The saga over the closure of a smaller bridge on Green Bank Road in Atlantic County is
See FUNDING/ Page 11
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
WOODLAND—A some $1.8 million municipal budget for Woodland Township has been adopted without any objections from the public.
The Woodland Township Committee adopted the budget during its regular May 7 session that was described by both Mayor William “Billy” DeGroff and Township Auditor David McNally as a “flat budget.” (It is actually some $8,000 less than last year’s budget.)
McNally also pointed out that there is “no local purpose tax increase.”
The auditor noted that the township’s fund balance “was up in 2024” by about $300,000, “which allowed you to increase” the amount spent on capital items “and not raise taxes.” $264,760 in the budget is allotted for capital improvements.
A handout provided to the public showed general revenues supporting the budget, including $299,400 from anticipated surplus, $1,011,797 in anticipated miscellaneous revenues, $70,000 in receipts from delinquent taxes, with the amount to be raised by taxation for municipal purposes $450,846.
Two hours prior to the May regular session of the governing body, the committee convened a special meeting to hold a quarterly meeting with the commanding officers of the Woodland Volunteer Fire and EMS Company – mostly held behind closed doors. Attendees included Fire Chief Shawn Viscardi.
“The meeting was very productive,” declared DeGroff, further noting, “everything looks good in moving forward.”
As part of that closed-door meeting, officials were to discuss “finances” and a long-sought project to erect a communications tower for the fire company, which this newspaper reported a few weeks ago is said to have been revitalized after a three-year hiatus.
During the regular meeting, Burns reported he just held a conversation with Tower North and “the project is moving forward despite some rumors to the contrary.”
There was also round of applause given from those in attendance, coming after Viscardi announced a member had “passed his EMT” classes during the past week – a major milestone for a company whose future at one time had looked uncertain.
A replacement tender for one involved in
a firehouse crash “is being built,” the chief reported, while noting another truck was damaged in responding to a wildfire, but he remarked, “good thing we don’t have that truck no more.”
Meanwhile, a company ambulance is “old and getting tired,” Viscardi reported.
Burns’ second pronouncement of the evening was that a dilapidated property in the Lebanon Lakes section of the municipality that officials had planned to seek court intervention on following persistent complaints from resident Lisa Sabatini about its condition has now “gone up to settlement and has closed.”
“The ownership has transferred,” Burns declared. “The new owner looks forward to remedying that property forthwith (immediately, without delay).”
Sabatini inquired if the new owners “have a certain amount of time to address the issue,” to which Township Administrator and Clerk Maryalice Brown replied that officials were “waiting for the settlement to go through” before sending the new owner any violations. However, she recounted a “verbal” conversation with the new owner in which “he did assure me that they were going to get right on it.”
In response to another question from Sabatini asking about who is the new owner, Brown said it is an LLC.
DeGroff reported on continuing issues with “out-of-towners” dumping at the township Transfer Station, calling on officials to get “stickers” to residents that they can place on their vehicles indicating their residency to dump personnel. He also suggested possibly requiring individuals to show a driver’s license.
Resident Anne Dunfee, however, observed “we do, every year, get a sticker for the dump with a tax bill, and you are supposed to keep that (sticker) in the back of your truck or car, or whatever you take, so there is a system in place.”
But Dunfee described that the “main reason” she was attending and speaking out at the committee meeting is because of “the potholes on Prince Street.”
“They are deep,” she declared.
Brown and DeGroff indicated there was an arrangement in place with neighboring Tabernacle Township to have them come in
Former Provisional Business Administrator for Pemberton Twp. Charged with Making ‘Terroristic Threats’ After Facebook Post Township
Attorney Says Municipality Is Now Seeking Restraining Order
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—Former provisional Pemberton Township business administrator
Richard “Richie” E. Wright, Jr., has been charged with “Terroristic Threats – Threat to Commit Crime of Violence,” purportedly in connection with a social media posting last month that had led residents to call for a police officer to be assigned to council chambers during the legislative body’s scheduled sessions.
Additionally, Township Solicitor Jerry Dasti announced during a May 7 Pemberton Township Council session that “we were authorized, and directed, to file suit against our former business administrator, Mr. Wright, for the three weeks or so that he was here, and asked the judge for a temporary restraining order so that he would stop coming to the building, and stop, in my words, harassing a lot of the township employees, telling him that he is firing them.”
Dasti did not say who had directed him to file the suit.
This newspaper previously reported that on April 14, police were contacted by residents about a social media posting that Police Chief Jonathan Glass ultimately deemed “concerning.”
It was authored by a social media account identifying as Wright.
“I’m going to go live and burn it down!,” it was stated in the posting, which appeared in a local Facebook group, contending that what would be shown would amount to a “great idea for my content.”
A second account, using a somewhat different name, but also identifying as Wright, described that he would be hosting a “special edition” of “RescueMe, New Jersey,” contending he would be “shooting” in Pemberton Township on “the day and evening of your next township council meeting,” with the word shooting put in quotes.
The posting then listed “targets,” though that word was not put in quotes, listing “mayor, former BA, QPA, former mayor and Dan Dewey,” among other things. (Dewey is a township councilman.)
Residents subsequently expressed reservations about attending the April 16 session, and during the session, detailed concerns that they had for the safety of the councilmembers.
Glass had denied to this reporter, a few days
after the April 16 meeting, that arrests were made or charges had been filed in the matter, but maintained, “We definitely followed up with it,” and, “I don’t want you to think that there was no action whatsoever,” but he would not say what happened to the poster.
But this newspaper learned from Wright last week, in returning a phone call that he placed to this newspaper the day prior to Dasti’s announcement, that he has now been charged with what he described as “criminal harassment charges.”
Wright requested to be interviewed for his side of the story to be put out there, contending the charges are already “public info.”
Wright told this newspaper that a captain of the police department signed off on a summons containing the charge, ordering him to appear, and that the case, because of an obvious conflict should it be heard in municipal court, has been transferred to Burlington County Superior Court.
A hearing, he maintained, is scheduled for “late this month.”
A check of municipal court case jackets found that Wright had been charged with what is known as offense “2C:12-3A,” or “Terroristic Threats – Threat to Commit Crime of Violence,” with an “offense date” listed of April 14 in the New Jersey Courts portal.
Dasti, meanwhile, in referencing the complaint to seek a restraining order, said that what was posted on Facebook “about shooting” had amounted to “some very disturbing things.”
“We filed the complaint, and the order to show cause is going to be heard tomorrow by the judge,” Dasti told May 7 council meeting attendees. “So, hopefully, the judge will approve the temporary restraints, and we'll let everyone know.”
This newspaper, as of its deadline time, however, could not locate the complaint in the court system database. Dasti’s office, however, provided, just as this newspaper’s presses were about to roll on the morning of May 15, what the township intends to serve on Wright.
“We have not been able to serve these documents on Mr. Wright because we cannot verify where he is now living,” this newspaper was told in an accompanying letter from Dasti. “I believe that is the reason that the Court refused to sign the restraining order, but has
‘Less Activity’ Reported at Shamong Residence Under Scrutiny for Alleged Zoning Issues, Disturbances as Well as Drug Activity
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
SHAMONG—“Less activity,” according to Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce, has been observed over the last couple of weeks at a Woodgate Drive property that has attracted much attention over reports of various alleged disturbances, and being the purported source of people appearing “whacked-out” (or under the influence of drugs) in adjacent streets and woods.
Serving as an indication of there being less activity is that unlike a handful of preceding Shamong Township Committee meetings, the governing body’s May 6 session saw no complaints from the public.
That is probably attributed, in part, to what Red Lion Barracks New Jersey State Police “Trooper Curran” described during the latest committee session, or that he is “continuously doing property checks, in addition to everyone else on the squad,” at the Woodgate Drive residence in question.
It has been a “continuous rotation” of property checks, according to Curran, “during the mornings, evenings, and at night.”
Curran maintained to the governing body that he himself has “been there like 30 times,” and that it is documented that Troopers, “easily, within the last two months” have been to the neighborhood “over a hundred times.”
“It has never been at the same time,” he said of the patrols. “Obviously, we don’t want to always be there at the same time,” Curran said.
During a previous April committee session, Red Lion Barracks Commanding Officer Lt. Edward Long spoke of his order for Troopers to be “out there constantly.” He recognized residents wanted “results,” but pointed to postponed, pending court hearings entailing the situation, but noted “there are other things in the works” to bring about relief in the interim.
There are two separate court cases –
WOODLAND
(Continued from Page 4)
and use their pothole repair machine, and she “did speak to Tabernacle and they are a little busy with their schedule right now.”
“Prince Street is on that list,” said Brown, acknowledging she has received phone calls
hearings for which have been continually delayed. One case involves summonses for alleged zoning violations at the property, with Di Croce pointing out a hearing for that one has now been rescheduled to May 20.
“And we still have open violations for alleged zoning violations that are also pending,” Di Croce pointed out.
Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato pointed out that the township’s zoning official is “a little concerned” that any plea deal could “wash our zoning violations to the side” in favor of “going for the heavier things.”
She described “a lot of work” being put in by township officials to uphold the zoning laws on the property in question “and if we lose that in a deal that goes on at the court level, which we have no control over, it will be very frustrating.”
Curran at one point recognized awareness of “farm equipment” on the property in question “that has moved, hasn’t been there, and comes back and forth,” but noted that he does not believe it has violated any ordinances.
Among the other allegations previously reported by residents and the mayor (who previously attributed the appearance of people being whacked out in the neighborhood to suspected use of tranq) is that vehicles are suspiciously coming and going from the area, and that vehicles would sometimes park down the street and then the occupants would walk to the home in question.
“I have been seeing no issues as of late,” Curran declared.
Di Croce, however, reported that “one evening last week, I did see a few characters hanging around there.”
“So, hopefully, we are going to get that nipped in the bud and get that problem solved for our neighbors there,” declared Di Croce, with Curran telling the governing body that Troopers “will stay” in the area “until then.”
about the potholes. “I also have to order patch; we are out of patch.”
DeGroff suggested use of “cold patch” in the interim, with Viscardi pointing out it can be purchased at a store such as Lowes.
“Do you know if Home Depot has it?” asked Brown, pointing out the municipality has an account there, to which Viscardi responded, “They both have it,” and Deputy Mayor Mark Herndon said, “They all have it.”
More Details Shared on Planned ‘Southern Regional
Along PSE&G Right-of-Way, Expected to Span
By D ougL as D. M e L egari Staff Writer
SHAMONG—A few more details are emerging on a planned biking and hiking trail spanning at least three local municipalities, which is expected to traverse at least part of an area with PSE&G transmission towers and lines, or a PSE&G right-of-way.
The planned trail project was previously disclosed by Southampton Township Administrator Brandon Umba when Southampton officials were pressed for a solution to speeding on Hawkin(s) Road.
The transmission lines cross over Hawkin(s) Road, with Umba pointing to the trail as a possible solution to concerns over pedestrian safety.
Now, Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce has disclosed the project’s name: “Southern Regional Trails,” with Shamong Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato detailing that there was a call held recently over the project between Shamong, Southampton and Tabernacle officials along with officials from the Department of Resource Conservation and Taylor Design Group.
“They are trying to connect our end of the state with a lot of trails that are up in Camden County,” Onorato said.
The intent of the project is to provide “more access off-road” in which “people can walk and bike.”
As for how far along the project is
Trails’ Project
Several Municipalities
currently, Onorato described “this is the first step of probably a thousand,” noting “they have got financing to do and plans to set.”
Shamong, according to Onorato, raised concerns on the call that “some of the areas between us and Medford look like some wetlands.”
Another concern Shamong presented is the already “high, illegal-use of ATVs and motorcycles in that area, along Packenah Trail.”
Onorato said that those behind the project would “readdress” the presented concerns, including providing for additional signage.
Di Croce noted the project will complement the work Shamong has been doing to try to get “bike trails” along Grassy Lake Road “for kids to be able to ride their bikes back and forth to school.”
“This, I think, would be a great thing to give people another opportunity, another place where they could go out and exercise,” Di Croce said.
According to the Shamong administrator, “if they get everything done that they want to do, it’ll be about 50 miles that they are adding between all this area.”
“So, it is a big chunk of work that they are doing,” she declared. “It’ll be nice for the residents.”
Resurfacing Planned for Route 206 in Shamong Township
SHAMONG—Road resurfacing is planned for a stretch of Route 206 in Shamong Township, officials proclaimed during a May 6 Shamong Township Committee session.
Mayor Michael Di Croce described receiving a communication from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) that “we will be repaving Route 206 with a three-quarter inch overlay, known as an ultra-thin friction course, rumble strip” and that the project will also include striping, from Park Avenue to Willow Grove Road.
A construction timeframe of May 13
MEMORIAL
(Continued from Page 1)
markers are damaged, the group replaces them, taking the old ones home and repairing them themselves, getting them back in the rotation for next year.
Locating the former Medford Fire Department members and placing the bright red flag into the marker is the top priority of the team, according to Jay Merefield, whose father, past Chief Butch Merefield, began the project more than 40 years ago. This was the first year the team did the flags without him, as he passed in February, Merefield said. His son, Chase, was there by his side, also having done the flags with his family for many years.
“When you do it so long you get an idea of where they are at,” Merefield said. “I know they are back here somewhere.”
He may not have been there physically with them, but it was still his hand drawn maps that helped guide the group through the rows of gravestones to the firefighters buried there. The maps are just really a backup, according to Rambo, who said they pretty much know where the flags need to go from years of doing it.
It is not just about putting flags in markers, though, it is about keeping the spirits of these men alive. As Merefield would yell out a name he flagged, sometimes someone would recant a story or memory about the person.
Sometimes jokes of “I know he didn’t move on us,” or “He couldn’t have gone far” made it feel like the deceased were there, part of the conservations.
If a Medford Fire Department firefighter is buried in a different town, the group will head there to properly honor them as well, Rambo said.
If they are buried out of state, they’ll ship a marker and flag to their family.
“We go everywhere,” he said.
SHAMONG
(Continued from Page 3)
We actually had two reports within a month of each other, and they were not logistically on top of each other.”
Onorato added that testing is required when one goes to sell their home and that is what “kicks these in,” or the reports from the Health Department.
Mayor Michael Di Croce, in somewhat of a departure from the comments of Onorato and Woods, declared that he believed the findings were “important enough” to “warrant” an email blast to residents.
“Let people know that this is a concern, and that way they at least can have a heads up and
through Aug. 29 was set, according to the mayor, but Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato noted that “they don’t know exactly when they’re coming out.”
“It’ll make the road, I think, safer,” maintained Di Croce of the project.
It was also pointed out that Burlington County is doing resurfacing of Tuckerton Road “100 feet from Route 206 up to Oakshade Road.”
As of the May 6 committee session, Onorato observed that the mark outs were already completed.
It is a dying tradition, Rambo said, as most departments don’t have the manpower to do it. Even in this small group, two members have around 50 years of service each in the department, so David Ballinger, a 55-year-old member, said it is good the junior firefighters are taking an interest. The firefighters also took on the role the VFW used to play, in placing the American flags on veterans’ graves.
While Merefield and Rambo focused mostly on the firefighters, the other five walked the rows looking for markers. Along the way, it feels like you get to know the people, according to Gabby Hanover, a junior firefighter.
Taking a break, the group was sharing stories of interesting graves they came across, from a couple married 65 years buried together to a few men who fought in the Civil War. There are even some Revolutionary War graves in the older part of the cemetery, according to Dovi.
When the job is finished, the flags brighten the cemetery, welcoming those who come to visit loved ones and bringing a smile to their face, according to Rambo. The real reason the group does this, according to junior firefighter Erik Mcdermott, is to keep the spirit of the men and women alive.
put a filter on,” Di Croce further asserted.
Onorato responded by pointing out residents “should know” that this only has involved “two houses” and “it is not the whole township.”
“Everybody should be concerned,” the township administrator acknowledged, but both Di Croce and Onorato concurred “we don’t want to panic everybody,” to which the mayor said “good communication” would avert a panic.
Onorato noted that she reached out to the Board of Health for guidance and was told while “it depends on what type of filtration system” one has, “most of them will take care of these chemicals.”
And “if there is a larger presence of them,” homeowners “would probably be able to qualify for some aid.”
Photo By Jenn Lucas Junior firefighters Chase Merefield and Erik Mcdermott pull a wagon full of American flags.
(Continued from Page 1)
What it meant was that the seats at the administration desk in council chambers were empty for now a third consecutive council meeting.
“We are left in the lurch with no explanations,” maintained Harper of Tompkins not appearing at council meetings.
Tompkins has not attended a council session since a tenant of the township-owned shopping center, “Mr. Elly,” proprietor of Elly Premium Laundry, experienced a medical episode during a March 5 council meeting after the proprietor protested his receiving an eviction notice, and not obtaining approval to purchase the vacant Browns Mills Emergency Squad building to relocate his business, suggesting it was retaliatory in nature and casting blame on the mayor.
Immediately following the episode, Tompkins departed the council meeting while all five councilmembers went on to lambast him, calling on him to resign.
During a council meeting that followed, on April 2, the public body formally called on Tompkins to resign in settling a lawsuit brought by the township Recreation Director Nichole Pittman, alleging harassment and retaliation entailing the mayor.
Drawing the ire of council, in particular, this time was what was reportedly not on the “bill’s list” or “payment of vouchers” for May 7 – stipend payments for reportedly two employees in the Community Development Office to administer an “Affordable Housing Plan,” which is said to provide residents with payments “to help improve your homes and lifestyles” if they meet eligibility requirements.
The program at issue, according to Township Attorney Jerry Dasti, does not involve tax money, rather “money paid by developers throughout the years,” in which they paid a “percentage of the assessed value of what they are building,” which was put into a fund that has grown to about $1.5 million.
“The law requires that 20 percent of these funds (or some $300,000) be used for administration – professional planner fees, my fees and the fees for the required liaison and administrative agent,” Dasti said. “The council has appointed those two people as the liaison and administrative agent to handle these funds.”
Some $20,000 per house, “secured by a note, which is a 10-year loan,” is estimated to be available to residents through the program to be used for rehabilitation, Dasti said, so long as the house is not put up for sale during
that period.
And “with government funds,” there is “paperwork involved,” and that is “what these people,” or the assigned liaison and administrative agent, “do.”
“And you can imagine the people who will want to be filing these types of forms,” Dasti pointed out. “And these are the people who are going to have to process them over and above what they normally do, over and above the hours that they normally spend here.”
Payments for the liaison and administrative agent’s work, Dasti maintained, “have not been sent to the CFO (Chief Financial Officer Candice Pennewell) for processing – those vouchers, which were approved by the council.”
Dasti said “per our statute,” the “council appoints the people” and “indicates the amount of compensation,” and “that is in the ordinance we adopted two or three meetings ago.”
Both the liaison and administrative agent “as far as I know, are doing the work,” Dasti asserted, “but are not getting paid.”
“That is where we are,” Dasti contended. “That is why it is not on the bill’s list.”
The payment dispute was brought to the forefront by Council President Joshua Ward, who declared, “I have a really big problem with the person who is not here tonight!”
“When you refuse to pay employees of the township for work that they are conducting on the township’s time, and after the council had passed an ordinance to pay said employees, then council is going to take issue with that!” Ward further declared.
Ward ultimately identified the person who is allegedly “refusing to pay those employees” as “Mr. Mayor.”
“Council approves the payment of all vouchers in the township, not you!” asserted Ward in apparent hopes that the mayor was watching the meeting remotely via livestreaming.
Ward described how state law requires that anyone who “works above and beyond” their regularly assigned hours is to be paid “overtime, or you pay a stipend for the additional work that they are going to do.”
According to Councilman Perry Doyle, Jr., “these two employees have agreed to work diligently at these jobs to get this money that is sitting in an account, out to you to be used by you for your homes, and we are able to pay these individuals with this money so that it doesn’t cost the taxpayers any extra money out of your pockets to pay these employees to get this money to you, and this is the money that is being refused to be given to these employees.”
Doyle called the purported refusal to pay out the money to the employees a “slap in the face to the residents.”
“And the fact that the man can’t even show up here to answer questions that I am sure you would have for him in regard to this, that is another slap in the residents’ faces,”
Doyle asserted.
Bianchini called Tompkins, who has been confronted with a number of legal filings, a “buffoon,” maintaining that the mayor has already cost the township some $100,000 in legal fees.
“It makes me pretty damn angry, and it should make you angry too, because it is impacting our entire township!” Bianchini declared.
Harper charged that Tompkins is “paying certain people” via the same measure, and “certain people, for whatever reason, he decided not to pay.”
“As I told the solicitor earlier, this borders on criminal acts,” alleged Harper, questioning why the state has “turned a blind eye to this,” or not yet stepped in after being reportedly alerted to the ongoing purported situation in the township.
What is unclear as of this newspaper’s press time is whether the program has been temporarily suspended in the wake of the employees reportedly not receiving payment. While Dasti said that the two employees at issue, as far as he knew, are doing the work, but not getting paid, Ward remarked, “just so everybody knows – everybody who is waiting for an affordable housing payment in this township, it is now being held up by the mayor, not council, ladies and gentlemen.”
Pemberton officials did not say whether they have filed any complaint(s) with the New Jersey Department of Labor (NJDOL) in regard to the compensation dispute.
The state Department of Community Affairs (DCA), as previously reported by this newspaper, set an April 30 budget adoption deadline for state municipalities. A Local Finance Notice, in providing that deadline, adds a stipulation “or the date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body.”
A municipal budget, however, yet again, was not presented to Pemberton Council for its approval during its May 7 session, with the council alleging at its previous meeting that the budget has been ready for months, but Tompkins is refusing to allow it to be seen by the councilmembers.
“I just wanted to let everybody know, again, the mayor is in violation of New Jersey statute because council still has not received a budget,” declared Ward during the May 7 council meeting. “It has been 30 days’ past.”
It will take at least two council meetings for a budget to be approved, as a second reading and public hearing is required.
At the start of the council meeting, Browns Mills Improvement Association (BMIA) President Marti Graf Wenger spoke of her excitement for the planned Water Carnival on July 12 at 6 p.m.
“We have just registered our float at the BMIA and also a table for amazing t-shirts, which I’m wearing one right now,” she said. “So, plan your family barbecue for that day, because nothing says summer like grilling meat while enjoying fireworks and cheering on your favorite float as it passes by.”
But Ward, at the end of the council meeting in remarking about the lack of a budget, asserted, “just so everybody knows, if we don’t get a budget soon, we might not have a Water Carnival.”
The remark stunned Graf-Wenger, who was previously told there would be a carnival this year after hearing a report that there might not be one because of a lack of funding.
When Graf-Wenger expressed dismay over such a possibility, Ward told her, “I am hoping not, but I hope we get a budget, and I hope we get it approved.”
Lisa Ryan, a spokeswoman for the DCA, when asked about what any potential penalty would be for Pemberton, or a town in general, missing the budget adoption deadline, initially responded by providing the Local Finance Notice, which specifies, “Counties and municipalities that fail to timely adopt their budgets risk imposition of statutory penalties, up to and including a $25-per-day fine for governing body members who willfully fail or refuse to comply with a final order of the Director. N.J.S.A. 40A:4-84.”
Ryan was then asked by this newspaper, given the alleged circumstances at issue in Pemberton, if such penalties would be potentially assessed to both the mayor and council, or whether there would be a factfinding hearing to determine fault.
“In a Faulkner Act form of government, whereby the mayor is the executive officer who is required to present a budget to the governing body for consideration and introduction, and that action is not done by the prescribed deadline, then the mayor would receive a letter from the Division of Local Government Services and a potential fine under N.J.S.A. 40A:4-84,” Ryan answered. “If the mayor submits the budget to the governing body and the governing body as a whole, or a majority of the governing body choose not to introduce for whatever reason, then the governing body members who choose not to introduce would receive letters.”
Municipalities set temporary budgets at the beginning of each calendar year, and this newspaper sought to find out from township
See MAYOR/ Page 8
MAYOR
(Continued from Page 7)
officials if that is due to expire anytime soon.
“The temporary budget is done at the beginning of the year and that is to allow the township to run until a final budget is adopted, and it will be updated periodically until the final budget is adopted,” is how Township Clerk Amy Cosnoski answered this newspaper’s question. “The CFO prepares the temporary budget resolutions and gives them to me to put on an agenda as needed, and she will confer with department heads regarding expenses and what is needed, so she knows what to put on the temporary budget resolution.”
When asked if the mayor would have anything to do with the setting of a temporary budget, Cosnoski replied, “I don’t believe so, unless she consults with him as to what is to be put on the temporary budget.”
She could not say whether any such consultation has been or will be done.
The township clerk further acknowledged,
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240-year-old brick structure that was acquired 50 years ago by the township, rededicated in 2000 as the nonprofit Center for the Arts in Southern New Jersey, and used for that purpose ever since.
“If renovations are to be made on this beautiful historic building, a respectful recognition of the center’s well-established ties with Evesham means foremost that the
“There is a mechanism to keep the doors open if the council does approve those temporary budget resolutions that are presented to them.“
Not mentioned during the May 7 meeting, but a factor in what is playing out, is that the township still does not have an acting business administrator or permanent business administrator in place.
This newspaper asked Ryan if there was a deadline to fill the position.
“There is no law that requires a municipality to appoint an acting or permanent business administrator within a certain time period,” the DCA spokeswoman responded.
Ward also claimed during the May 7 session “we still have not received a salary ordinance for 2025, and we are halfway through the year.”
Following up on that claim was Harper, who contended “people who should be having their annual raises, aren’t getting their annual raises,” and Doyle who maintained there is a “lack of respect for our employees.”
“Your annual salary increase – that is the way we tell you, from what we see over the past year, that you are doing a good job, and
center would return to the same space,” said Colette Mcgarrity, a Cherokee High School teacher who said she had enrolled her daughter at the recommendation of one of her students. “In the interim, between the facility’s improvements and the resumption of art classes at the present Evans Building, I humbly suggest the Gibson House be seriously considered for the center’s place of relocation in the short term and practically speaking, if necessary, even permanently.”
Several of the center’s students also came forward to offer praise for the creative freedom and convivial environment it has
we are not able to do that for our employees,” Doyle declared.
According to Doyle, “we are not the quote, unquote, ‘the bad guys here,’” rather “we’d love to approve it.”
“All you got to do is put it in front of us,” Doyle contended. “The amount of disrespect that has been shown to our employees is hurting this town.”
Doyle, who raised the possibility that expiring contracts may not get easily renewed, including for the township police force, recognized at one point, in being “transparent,” that what is happening in Pemberton is “just not positive right now.”
Dasti, in a report to council, proclaimed, “we anticipate closing and selling the shopping center area to New Horizons, the buyer, within the next 30 days.”
But Harper, at the end of the meeting, in pointing out Mr. Elly’s daughter and son-inlaw were in attendance at the May 7 session, asserted, “I am going to tell you they are going to sue, if on June 1, we say, ‘get out.’”
“That project is going to be tied up, and you
provided them and to express concerns about whether the arts program would be permitted to continue at the Evans House or at another suitable location if that proves to be not a viable option.
Among the facility’s most ardent supporters was a 12-year-old who described the center as “an environment where everyone is kind and caring,” and who told the council, “If you will allow the center to move back in after the renovations are made, it would be greatly appreciated by many people.”
Another described the center as being “more than just a place for art classes,” but
know, again, not to rain on anybody’s parade, but New Horizons is liable to bail out if they get held up, and it is nobody’s fault, but the mayor’s,” Harper said.
Harper went on to charge that Tompkins “could have negotiated a deal” with Mr. Elly to obtain the former squad building “over six months ago,” and it could have resulted in a “couple hundred thousand dollars in our general fund to help pay lawsuits” as well as a “refurbished building on the main drag and somebody paying taxes.”
“It is just little things like that – yeah he just doesn’t care,” maintained Harper, before Bianchini, in returning to the payment dispute, in recognizing that the township employees often stay beyond their scheduled 4:30 p.m. departure time to ensure their municipal work gets completed, asserted, “if Tompkins is listening, resign already, will you – your employees don’t want you here, the people don’t want you in that seat anymore … just go … go away!”
Tompkins did not return a message seeking comment on this story, as of press time.
as “a community full of wonderfully creative and immensely talented people of all ages.” In his subsequent monthly report to the council, Acting Township Manager Kevin Rijs said he had been in touch with the center’s executive director, Ann Macready, and had requested “a scheduling of what it is that any of the instructors are looking to have moving forward after August, so that if we have space we could look to accommodate them.” But Rijs said he would need from them such information as maximum student numbers, times and schedules of classes.
See BUDGET/ Page 9
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Later in the meeting, Cooper said she wished to address “the students that came tonight for the arts and commend them for their efforts as well.”
“It takes courage to speak your truth about what is important to you,” she declared. “And let me be clear that this mayor and council support you wholeheartedly.”
Cooper then suggested holding a potential community meeting with the students and the staff of the arts center “so we can solve the problem together,” adding that such meetings over the last six years have gotten things done “based on what the residents say they need and what they want.”
“So please know when people say things like ‘we are getting rid of, taking away (things),’ that is not the intention,” the councilwoman contended, adding that she extended “an apology for whoever created that message because that message was false,” and Rijs “has been trying to mitigate the rhetoric if you will and to set the record straight.”
Cooper also pointed out that “we have expanded funding for the arts in our budget as well, in case that was not acknowledged tonight.”
In another facilities-related matter, Township Clerk Rebecca Andrews reported that two township buildings would no longer
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be available to serve as polling places, the first being the Gibson House at 535 E. Main St., which has been used as an early-voting location, and the second the Kettle Run Fire Station, which will now be staffed on a 24hour basis due to an increased risk of wildfires in the southern part of the township.
The Blue Barn recreational facility at 1004 Tuckerton Rd. was recently approved as a new early-voting site by the Burlington County Board of Elections, Andrews noted, with new polling locations now under consideration for the two voting districts that used the fire station in the past.
In addition, she said, it is possible that the latter decision “may also have an impact on other voting districts and polling locations,” which the Clerk’s Office plans to publicize as soon as the information becomes available, including on the township website.
Acting Police Chief Thomas Reinholt, in his monthly report, thanked the mayor and council for the adoption of his department’s proposed 2025 budget, which he said would “allow us to be able to both do operational and capital improvements to our facilities, our equipment and our technology,” and to highlight recent donations it received, approved through resolutions, that have further enhanced its ability to protect the public.
One such donation, he said, came from the local Police Foundation, which provided the department with another
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automated license plate reader, as well as uniforms and equipment for future officer candidates attending junior police academies.
Another, from the Marlton Elks Trailblazers Committee, of individual rescue tools for all the officers in the department, “will provide one more tool in the event that we have to make forced entry to a vehicle before fire department personnel arrive.”
But the biggest contribution in this area came in the form of a grant from OUR Rescue (whose mission is to rescue children from sex trafficking), of Graykey, Axiom software equipment and a one-year license valued at more than $10,000, which Reinholt pointed out his department has been awarded for the second year in a row, making it the only lawenforcement agency in Burlington County, other than the County Prosecutor’s Office, to have such equipment at its disposal.
“In the year we have had the software, we have analyzed 40 devices, 17 of those involved child sexual abuse material, as well as luring, sexual assault, firearm offenses, burglary, theft, shoplifting, robbery, and arson investigations,” the chief noted. “So, for us to be able to have our own technology in-house and our own trained technicians to be able to utilize the software to extract data from cellular and other digital devices is priceless.”
During the public comment period, Michael Thompson, of Woodhollow Drive, raised concerns about the hefty hike in
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property taxes approved by the school district, which still must get a green light from the state.
Thompson posed two questions, the first being whether there was “a long-term plan to work with the school board to try to fix the problems that we are currently having,” as he claimed other municipalities are attempting to do.
Thompson also wanted to know if Evesham officials were seeking a way to “kind of put a cap on the increase that the school board just made,” which he said a lot of local residents can’t afford to pay, calling it “crazy” to increase property taxes “from $800 to $1,500 in one year.”
“N.J.S.A. Statute 40A clarifies how municipalities can allocate funds as it relates to school districts,” Cooper responded. “Title 18 statute, the School Funding Reform Act from 2008, does discuss at length how municipalities manage their own budget, their own funds separate from the school, and we do not have the legislative or policy ability to cap school budgets.”
Veasy added “we cannot just directly give them funding to help support their budget,” in talking about the school district, adding, “It is not our role to do that” and “it is not our role to say they can or cannot raise the taxes.”
“They (the school board) are a duly-elected board to make that decision,” Veasy declared. “We are a duly-elected board to make our decisions with the municipal budget.”
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made the matter returnable before the Court,” pointing to another date for a scheduled court proceeding.
According to Dasti on May 7, “copies of the documents” were sent to “all the employees of the town because a few of them were, understandably, looking over their shoulder, a little worried.”
The day before Dasti’s announcement, Wright maintained that the summons was “more retaliation,” and that he is being “called
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now over – with Gadd reporting repairs to the “bridge are now complete.”
He attributed what had been a delay in reopening the bridge to “a lot of issues with the utilities getting things done in a timely fashion” versus the “actual contractor.”
“That still doesn’t excuse all the other problems that we had trying to get information, however, at least it is done,” Gadd declared.
Township Engineer Kevin Dixon reported
out” because of his having exposed alleged wrongdoing in the municipal government in the days that had followed his rather public termination around Jan. 1.
When Wright was asked if he condones violence or was suggesting violence by having used the word “shooting” in the postings, which he admitted to this reporter that he had made, he responded that “shooting live” is a “common vernacular in the film industry.”
Wright then pointed to options on Facebook where one can “shoot reels” and “go live.”
“When you are shooting videos on Facebook, you go live,” he maintained.
Wright wanted those who are accusing him of having suggested violence in the postings
that the township this time around has received “a legitimate quote on the paving of the parking lot,” which may possibly allow the township to finally move forward with its long-planned project to expand and improve the municipal parking lot.
Dixon intends to prepare an action item for the committee’s June meeting “if the committee sort of decides to go that way.”
“It would be a big step forward,” according to Dixon, noting it would account for a “major portion of the parking lot project.”
Dixon noted “we are working on Old Church Road coming up very shortly,” with Phase III of an improvement project approved
to show, “Where is anything that said ‘gun?’”
The former provisional business administrator told this newspaper he had been mentioning the names of former officials in online postings “all along,” or since his termination, contending he has a right to do so under the First Amendment, but the “only thing I did different was that I started posting on a Browns Mills Uncensored page.”
Wright then questioned “how on Earth” people had interpreted what he wrote as suggesting violence.
“They must not have read my other posts,” he contended, claiming they were “linked” together, in which users could see he was “shooting live” from the Tropicana, on one
in November 2024 and a contract signed in March. It led James to point out “they are in the process of upgrading the telephone poles” on the road, work that also reportedly includes adding a transformer “because of the power that is going to need to go to the emergency tower.”
In regard to planned work to the Washington Township Senior Center, which Gadd acknowledged has been “forever dragging,” he proclaimed that “price quotes” from a “few different contractors” should be “finalized” in the “next few weeks.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get that thing done before it gets too far in the summer so that it can start
occasion, for instance, and “doing nature and other fun stuff.”
Wright, however, conceded that he sometimes does “get carried away” and that “every now and then I throw a dart out there.” He also made mention of recent treatments for mental health, acknowledging he had another stay at a mental health facility following an encounter with police outside of the township.
But Wright spoke of his belief and concern that “people are putting their thumbs on the scale” for his having spoken out.
Wright, in emphasizing he believes what is happening to him is more retaliation, asked, “Where is the state?”
being used again for when we need it,” Gadd declared.
Gadd also had a message for residents who utilize a recycling dumpster that has been observed to be “constantly full”: “just because it is full, when we get down there, we don’t need to throw everything all over the ground, and that is what is happening.”
“We are not getting it emptied enough as it is, but then people go down there, see that it is full, and throw their stuff all over the ground, and that is not acceptable,” Gadd added. “So, hopefully, we can come up with a better solution and get it emptied on a more regular basis to prevent that.”
