By Jane Cope, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: January 17, 1986Former Delran Township administrator Robert M. Boyles 3d was sentenced yesterday to a four-year prison term after being convicted of death by auto for a collision that killed a Greek Cypriot college student in April.
Burlington County Superior Court Judge Cornelius P. Sullivan sentenced Boyles in the death of Nicolaos C. Nicolaou, 24. Boyles' car collided with Nicolaou's as the township official drove the wrong way on Route 130. Boyles was on his way home from an afternoon with other Delran officials after they had spent the day visiting bars in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
"It's Mr. Boyles' wish not to appeal," said Boyles' attorney, John Wherry, who added that Boyles had expressed a desire to serve his sentence and begin rebuilding his life. Boyles was found guilty of death by auto in November.
Boyles probably will serve about a year of the four-year term, Sullivan said.
"You were a high public official, and this makes you visible," Sullivan said in sentencing Boyles. "It was in connection with your public duties that you were intoxicated."
On April 19, Boyles attended a morning meeting in Trenton with Assemblyman Thomas P. Foy (D., Burlington), Delran Mayor Richard J. Knight, Delran Councilman William L. Smock and township engineer John Gillan. After the meeting, which concluded between noon and 1 p.m., the five men stopped at four bars before splitting up about 7 p.m.
Boyles struck the Toyota that Nicolaou was driving about a mile from Delran's Municipal Building, where he had worked as administrator for more than two years. Nicolaou, a Rutgers University computer-science major, was on his way to meet his fiancee, Dodie Skwara, at her home in Willingboro.
A pathologists' report submitted during the trial indicated that Boyles drank the equivalent of 19 bottles of beer during the hours before the fatal collision. A breath test administered two hours after the accident showed Boyles' blood-alcohol level at 0.16. Drivers in New Jersey are considered legally drunk when the test registers 0.10.
Wherry had asked the judge not to give in to public pressure and impose a harsh sentence on Boyles because he was a public servant.
"For one-half of his life, he has dedicated himself to service in his community," Wherry said. "His life has been ruined by this. It's not just to punish a man because he has devoted his life to public service."
After the sentencing, Wherry said he believed that the four-year term was imposed because Boyles was a "visible public figure."
Prosecutor Gregg Shivers said he was happy with Boyles' four-year prison sentence, which Shivers had requested. "This is not an 18-year-old defendant coming from a fraternity party," Shivers said before the sentencing. ''Imprisonment is necessary for the safety of the public."
The packed courtroom included members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, who attended Boyles' trial in the fall. A tearful Skwara sat next to Mike Papaioannou, who had been Nicolaou's roommate. The two men had grown up in the same village of Pathos in northern Cyprus.
Papaioannou said Nicolaou's family had not recovered from the shock of their eldest son's death. According to Cypriot custom, Nicolaou would have cared for his parents in their old age, Papaioannou said. Now, following another custom, he said, Nicolaou's mother will wear black for the rest of her life.
Boyles, who was suspended from his job after the collision, was replaced as township administrator by Matthew Watkins.
Reached at the Municipal Building after the sentencing, Mayor Knight said: "My sympathies go to Bob and his family and to the family of the man who died."
Boyles, who had also served as an aide to Trenton Mayor Arthur Holland, was convicted of drunken driving in Cumberland County in 1982.
Delran Considers A Ban On Explosives Storage
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1986-02-27/news/26088833_1_storage-explosives-weapons-cacheBy Tony A. Frasca, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: February 27, 1986The Delran Township council last night voted 5-0, with one abstention, to give tentative approval to an ordinance prohibiting the storage of ''destructive devices, explosives and weapons" in storage facilities within the township.
The council is seeking to prevent incidents such as last month's discovery of a weapons cache, including explosives and Soviet-made submachine guns, at a self-storage facility on Route 130. New Jersey State Police discovered the arsenal while investigating leads from a drug arrest made in Winslow Township.
Councilman Richard Ritzie said he abstained from the vote because of concerns that the law, as drafted, could be interpreted too broadly.
"As it stands now, this ordinance includes the house as a storage facility. I will object to that if it does," Ritzie said.
Additional concerns over the legality of the ordinance were raised by township solicitor Tom Foy, who said the ordinance would have to be amended to protect the rights of private citizens, while also ensuring that such an arsenal could not be stored on private property through a loophole in the law.
"From a legal standpoint, there is a very fine line we have to walk. The problem is, if the law defines only public storage facilities, the constitutional question is why we're only picking on public establishments.
"Also, we will have to change the definition of storage facility to protect personal property," Foy said.
Foy said that the ordinance, which calls for up to a $1,000 fine, imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both, was tentative and would not be enacted without public comment and proper revision.
A public hearing and possible final vote are scheduled for March 26.
It's The Year Of The Big Squeeze
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150910202321/http://articles.philly.com/1986-03-02/news/26083319_1_insurance-costs-municipal-budgets-higher-deductiblesBy S.A. Paolantonio, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: March 02, 1986In Burlington Township, it has meant that those municipal workers who retire will not be replaced.
In Edgewater Park, it has meant a tougher stance in contract negotiations with unionized employees, including police.
And it has meant that Delran will not be hiring more road work crews; that Mount Holly's badly needed police department expansion will be delayed another year, and that Cinnaminson's new public safety and public works projects will be put on hold.
Throughout Burlington County, as in the rest of the nation, skyrocketing landfill and insurance costs are strangling 1986 municipal budgets, leaving a trail of financially strapped programs, some staff reductions and unprecedented tax increases.
In some municipalities, the numbers are staggering. In Cinnaminson, insurance costs will triple while the township will get only a fifth of the umbrella liability coverage it had last year. In Burlington Township, the cost of dumping trash could go up as much as 228 percent.
"Right now, we're just holding on," said Burlington Township Mayor Joseph D. Foy.
But this it is not just a story of municipal officials struggling to make ends meet. As budget planners put the finishing touches on 1986 spending plans - budgets must be passed by April 22 - municipalities are moving to head off what some officials already are calling a crisis.
Larger communities, such as Medford Township, have turned to self- insurance, joining with other municipalities to cover their insurance needs but agreeing to pay the higher deductibles those policies carry. Others are dipping into carefully guarded budget surpluses to pay the excess costs this year, hoping not to mortgage the future.
Most municipalities, however, simply have no budgetary acrobatics left. For them, the excess costs mean just one thing: raising taxes.
"In the end, there's nothing you can do but pay," said Medford Lakes Councilman William G. Gaffney.
In tiny Delanco Township, administrator Jeff Hatcher said ballooning landfill costs, which will be about four times higher this year, and the steady rise of insurance costs could mean the community's first tax increase in four years.
Hatcher said township officials consider themselves lucky that the outcome has not been worse.
"It's been a series of some tough choices," he said.
Westampton Township will be faced with back-to-back tax increases - 25 percent this year, after more than 30 percent last year - and the township did not add a single new program this year, according to clerk Donna Ryan.
Both landfill and insurance costs will double, and self-insurance is out of the question, she said.
"We don't have enough money to consider it," she said. So, the only relief comes in taxes. When the private Hampton Psychiatric Center is finished next year, that will help, she said.
Medford Lakes also will be raising taxes. But that may not be enough.
In the last six months, community leaders and longtime residents have been debating what many of them considered unthinkable - perhaps unspeakable - just two years ago: the possibility of merging many services, including the police department, with the surrounding Medford Township.
Up until now, the two communities have limited their cooperation to the sharing of equipment. But some people in Medford Lakes have advocated merging the school systems and studying a proposal for making the two towns one municipality - an idea that makes some people in Medford Lakes uneasy. And makes others squirm.
"Oh, we'll survive," said Gaffney. "Medford Lakes won't lose their identity. I can guarantee you that."
Thus, while most communities promised that the shock of doubling and tripling landfill and insurance costs could be absorbed by tax increases without sacrificing services, others were beginning to wonder how long it would be until the problem threatened their very survival.
To help cope with the pressures on their budgets, many municipal officials in South Jersey attended a planning seminar last week in Freehold, Monmouth County, sponsored by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. Others are venting their frustration in Trenton and Washington, where discussion of reform of the insurance industry and liability law is an annual exercise.
But at this point, municipal officials say the federal and state governments are only making things worse.
Some of the larger municipalities, such as Willingboro Township, are worried about the cumulative effect of the Reagan administration's promise to eliminate federal revenue-sharing and the continued retention by the state of a larger portion of the revenue raised by the gross-receipts tax.
Under the state's Municipal Purposes Tax Assistance Fund, a mechanism of the gross-receipts tax, municipalities last year received $60 million. This year, only $30 million is budgeted for municipalities.
Coupled with runaway insurance and landfill expenses, the loss of that revenue could make this year's painful budget decisions next year's nightmares, according to several local officials.
"The problem we've really had is the erosion of state aid," said Willingboro manager John D. Tegley.
In addition, Tegley said, he is already braced for higher insurance premiums in the spring. They tripled last year.
"We'll be back out in the insurance market in April and May," he said. ''We've left $40,000 for more increases." After that, he said, no one is predicting the future.
It is precisely the intangible nature of this year's budget mess that has municipal officials wondering out loud. Budget planners said it was relatively easy to sell tax increases to voters when they could see the results. A new police car, new street lights, an extra day of garbage pick-up, a refurbished baseball diamond could justify a tax hike, they said.
But the current demand for tax dollars, several officials said, is mired in two parts of the budget that municipalities have taken for granted for years. For even though L&D Landfill is asking state regulators for a five-fold increase in its fees, garbage will still be collected. And when a municipality's insurance coverage is discontinued, no one notices until there is a lawsuit.
"We've been through this before with utility costs and fuel oil," said Medford Township manager Richard W. Deaney. "But it's more an unidentified loss of service this time. You try not to let it have an impact on services, but, over the years, you're going to see diminishing services. And our tax rate is going up more than we would like it."
*In Medford Lakes, Bette Shinske has her hands full. As acting borough manager, she has replaced John A. Weaver Jr., a man who for 22 years ran things quietly and capably in this tiny borough of about 5,500 people. But Weaver, who retired Dec. 31, never faced anything like this:
* Municipal liability insurance going from $79,977 in 1985 to $120,000 budgeted for 1986, and
* Trash disposal costs going from $55,444 last year to $179,000 in 1986, if the state Board of Public Utilities approves a 304 percent increase requested by the L&D Landfill that would raise fees to $27.90 from $6.90 for each cubic yard of trash dumped.
"It's a beaut of a budget," said Shinske, who is receiving some community-spirited assistance from Weaver. "But every municipality is faced with this. It's tragic."
In the summer, the New Hampshire Insurance Co., which carried Medford Lakes' liability insurance for more than two years, canceled the coverage without giving a reason. After losing a court battle with the company, the borough returned to its previous insurer, Insurance Company of North America, but not without a huge increase in premiums and the exclusion of pollution coverage.
Gaffney, a borough councilman and an insurance underwriter, said the cancellation and the subsequent exclusion of pollution coverage may be linked to the borough's court fight with neighboring Medford several years ago. Medford Lakes' sewer discharge, high in nitrates, was causing excessive green algae in Birchwood Lakes in Medford.
Arthur Pletz, a branch manager for New Hampshire Insurance, said in a telephone interview Thursday that all company contracts were confidential and ''it's certainly not something I can discuss over the phone."
In an out-of-court settlement, Gaffney said, Medford Township was paid $50,000 and $45,000 was paid for attorneys' fees. The entire bill was footed by the Insurance Company of North America, he said. It is possible that New Hampshire Insurance knew about that settlement when it decided to cancel Medford Lakes' policy, he said.
Through the fight to keep the borough insured, Gaffney said, he made several appeals to state regulators, but he said he believed that he was snubbed.
"We got no help from anyone," he said. "The bottom line was the hell with Medford Lakes. Work it out on your own."
Medford Lakes' insurance problems illustrate an issue facing municipalities across the state and the nation.
According to Harvey Seymour, editor of the Insurance Information Institute's newsletter in New York City, municipal insurance in 1985 became one of nine of the worst insurance policies for commercial companies to write. The nine are: pollution risks, liquor liability, day-care centers, medical malpractice, excess liability coverage ($50 million and up), asbestos removal from schools, commercial fishing boats, commercial trucking and municipal liability.
As the list grows, the problem with getting adequate insurance is attracting the attention of Congress. Insurance costs, at $300 billion each year, now make up the third-largest category of expense for Americans, trailing only food and housing costs and exceeding personal income taxes and health care costs.
Last month, the House subcommittee on commerce, transportation and tourism, which oversees the insurance industry and is chaired by U.S. Rep. James J. Florio (D., N.J.), held hearings in Washington on the burgeoning insurance crisis.
According to testimony given by the National League of Cities, the problem is two-fold: Insurance companies have sold too many high-risk policies as a way of raising money for investments, a practice known as cash-flow underwriting, and there have been an unusually high number of liability lawsuits.
The majority of civil lawsuits are filed in state courts. Between 1978 and 1983, a record 12 million cases were filed in the United States, according to the Insurance Information Institute. From 1940 to 1982, civil lawsuits in federal courts increased almost sixfold, from 35,000 to 206,000. In 1984, one private civil lawsuit was filed for every 15 Americans. The number of lawsuits filed against public officials has doubled since 1982.
The size of the damage awards are also up. In 1962, there was only one municipal liability case in the nation in which a jury awarded $1 million. In 1983, there were 360 cases involving jury awards of that amount, 13 times as many as in 1975. The current average award against U.S. cities jumped from $230,000 in 1982 to $2 million in 1985.
In Delran, where insurance costs will double this year, officials are bracing for the outcome of a claim made by the family of a 24-year-old college student who was killed in the spring. The student was killed when his car was hit by a town-owned Ford LTD driven by township administrator Robert M. Boyles 3d, who was convicted this year of death by auto and sentenced to a four-year prison term.
But until the claim by the victim's family has been resolved, either in court or out, Mayor Richard J. Knight said he does not know what effect it will have on the town's insurance costs.
According to data supplied by the insurance industry to the state insurance commissioner, the increase in revenue from premiums on commercial multi-peril insurance, which includes municipal liability, is not keeping pace with the money companies are paying out in claims.
In 1982, premiums totaled $333 million and claims totaled $205 million. In 1983, premiums were $343 million and claims were $229 million. In 1984, premiums rose to $398 million, and claims jumped to $325 million.
Many lawmakers believe that much of the insurance industry's problem is self-inflicted.
Florio said, "While our court system is not beyond improvement, I don't think anyone seriously disputes that the problem has multiple causes, including the practices of the insurance industry itself."
One of those practices is called cash-flow underwriting.
In the early 1980s, encouraged by high interest rates, say congressional subcommittee aides, insurers relied on investment income, rather than on earnings from underwriting, for positive year-end performances. To get cash to invest, they lowered premiums to attract new business, even though those premiums could not justify the risks.
But when interest rates dropped in recent years, cash-flow underwriting crumbled.
From the losses of both claims and cash-flow underwriting, the industry has taken a number of steps to minimize the damage, including restricting new business, reducing coverage (particularly for environmental and long-range risks), establishing higher deductibles, boosting premiums, and reducing the scope, amount and duration of coverage, the aides say.
But as the industry has moved to minimize its losses, municipalities and state regulators have scrambled for coverage.
Insurance needs for municipalities include property, personal injury, vehicle insurance for both public works and the police department, and insurance to cover disasters, known as excess insurance.
As of today, about 30 percent of the state's 567 municipalities have no excess liability coverage, and most that do have it have inadequate levels of coverage, according to William Dressel, executive director of the league of municipalities.
The state is debating several options to ease the problem. Gov. Kean already has exempted insurance from the 5 percent cap on the annual growth of municipal budgets. This week, the Legislature is expected to hear two proposals: One would cap municipal liability awards at $500,000 per person and $1 million per occurrence, a proposal likely to raise opposition from the state's legal community, and the other would institute a state insurance pool, joined by municipalities at reduced premiums, to cover all claims over $500,000.
But in the meantime, municipalities are feeling the crunch. And Edgewater Park Mayor John Snively does not like it one bit.
Snively is in the middle of salary negotiations with his 13-member police force, six office workers and three crossing guards, all of whom have been working without a contract since December.
The mayor said he has been put into the unseemly position of having to place insurance and landfill costs ahead of manpower needs. And how, he has been asking himself lately, does he sell that to the township?
"You're always careful on the negotiations of a contract," he said. "But now you're put into a position where you have to be stingy on a contract."
Township officials, he said, decided not to cut services but would have liked to add more money to a recreation field renovation project. No way, said the mayor. Not this year.
Taking A Look At Communities' Proposed Budgets
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1986-03-02/news/26084128_1_municipal-budgets-state-mandated-cap-municipal-officialsBy Daniel LeDuc, Inquirer Staff Writer (Inquirer staff writers Charlie Frush, David Iams, Susan Levine and S.A. Paolantonio and correspondents Nicole Brodeur and Nancy Phillips contributed to this report.)
Posted: March 02, 1986From Cinnaminson to Tabernacle and from Burlington to Shamong, the tune is the same. Municipal officials are singing the insurance-costs-too-much blues.
In virtually every municipality in Burlington County, skyrocketing insurance rates are undermining municipal budgets and attempts at financial planning, leaving officials wondering what will happen next.
Moreover, many municipalities are finding that while costs are increasing, insurance protection is decreasing.
"You pay more for less, that's the crazy thing about it," said Cinnaminson administrator John Ostrowski.
Cinnaminson is paying about $110,000 more for insurance this year and losing $4 million in liability protection, a drop from $5 million to $1 million.
"That's not a lot for a township today," said Ostrowski.
Some municipalities have turned to self-insurance. Medford Township adopted the program last year.
Delran is studying the idea now. And Cinnaminson also is considering it.
"The interest is rising now," said Cinnaminson Deputy Mayor M. Madeleine Koszyk.
Further complicating the insurance-cost crunch have been escalating landfill costs and plummeting federal revenue-sharing allotments.
Most municipal officials in Burlington County said all those factors have made 1986 a very difficult year.
And, added Ostrowski, "It's going to get worse, it's not going to get better."
Here is a community-by-community breakdown of what is happening with municipal budgets:
BEVERLY. Anticipated pay raises are enough to push Beverly's budget over the state-mandated cap of a 5 percent increase in spending, leaving city officials saying that they will have to put the budget to a referendum.
Mayor Frank Costello said that an $18,000 increase in police salaries and a $13,000 increase in part-time employees' salaries have pushed the city over the limit, which is about $28,000.
"What we're going to do at the next meeting is determine whether we can cut down any of the areas to get under the cap," Costello said. "If not, we're going to request a referendum."
The council will meet later this month to try to reduce spending.
Compounding the problem is an increase in landfill costs from $63,000 last year to $83,000 and an increase in insurance rates from $51,500 to $76,000.
Beverly has taken budgets to the voters twice before, and the budgets failed both times, requiring the City Council to cut the budgets to get them under the cap.
BURLINGTON CITY. In Burlington City, officials plan to keep the budget low enough so that no local property tax is imposed, following a tradition dating to when the city was founded.
About 90 percent of the city's budget is financed with money from the state's gross-receipts tax on Public Service Electric & Gas Co.'s generating station on the city's riverbank.
But while officials do not plan to implement a property tax, that does not mean that costs are not escalating.
Mayor Herman Costello said that he anticipated an increase from the 1985 $6.02 million budget but that he was not sure how much because estimates for 1986 expenses were still being tabulated.
The city already knows that landfill costs are expected to increase from $165,000 last year to $184,000 this year. Insurance premiums may actually decrease from $563,000 to $560,000.
But the decrease is misleading.
Burlington City was hit last year with the rising insurance rates that many municipalities are facing this year. Last year, the city's premiums had increased to $563,000 from $400,000.
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP. In the topsy-turvy world of insurance rates, municipal managers have been reeling from the skyrocketing costs. When Burlington Township administrator Kevin McLernon was asked if enough money had been budgeted for insurance in 1986, he answered, "We hope so."
Burlington is anticipating a 23 percent increase in insurance costs from $592,850 to $729,910.
That is the largest dollar increase in the budget, which is increasing from $6.81 million to $7.45 million.
But that is not all: Landfill costs are expected to increase 228 percent, from $50,000 to $194,000.
Despite all this, the township's tax rate will actually decrease one cent from 22 cents per $100 of assessed property value because of a $12 million increase in ratables, said Mayor Joseph Foy.
CINNAMINSON. In Cinnaminson, township leaders are getting "less bang for their buck."
Insurance coverage costs more, and Cinnaminson is getting less protection, said administrator John Ostrowski.
Last year, the township paid $211,000 in insurance premiums for $5 million in liability protection. This year, premiums are expected to cost $331,371, Ostrowski said, and the protection will be for only $1 million.
Moreover, Cinnaminson used to receive about $20,000 back from its insurance carrier each year from investments on some of the premiums that the township paid, Ostrowski said. This year, the insurance company will keep that money.
Last year, Cinnaminson's budget was $3.49 million. This year's budget, introduced last week, would be $3.6 million, with the bulk of the increase for insurance premiums. A four-cent hike in the tax rate has been proposed, which would raise the rate to 16 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The insurance premiums have been exempted from the budget cap placed on municipalities this year.
"That's a godsend," Ostrowski said. "Without this, this year I don't think the town could have balanced a budget."
DELANCO. In Delanco, township officials are expecting a tax increase of 14 cents per $100 of assessed property value to help finance the proposed $2.25 million budget.
The tax rate would be $1.98 for each $100.
The proposed budget is $208,000 more than the 1985 budget.
A good chunk of the increase is for landfill costs, which have risen from $2.40 per cubic yards to $9.75. For Delanco, which generates 8,200 cubic yards of trash annually, that means an increase from $19,680 to $79,950.
Another big increase is in insurance rates, which have jumped about $22,000 from last year's premium of $105,752.
DELRAN. Landfill rates and insurance premiums have jolted the Delran budget. With those expenses exempt from the state-mandated cap, however, the overall budget will stay under the cap, said Mayor Richard Knight.
Rates at the L&D Landfill are expected to increase by 37 percent under a renegotiated contract, to $319,000 in 1986. And that is only an estimate. The township's contract with L&D expires in June, and township officials said they may have to use an emergency appropriation to meet the new rates when they come up.
Delran's insurance costs have risen from $185,993 to $241,423. Knight said he was so worried about the rising costs that he wants Delran to consider self-insurance. Under that plan, the township, perhaps joining with several others, would build up a reserve pool of money and be responsible for its own liabilities.
Adding to these expenses is another dilemma: State aid from the municipal- purpose tax was cut by $40,000, down to only $20,000 for 1986.
With no end to this in sight, Knight said he is keeping a wary eye on 1987.
"Suffice to say," he said in his annual budget address, "that 1987 will be a tough budget year."
EASTAMPTON. As with so many other communities, Eastampton is facing increases in trash disposal and insurance costs. Most of the bulk of the budget will be for those expenses.
Insurance will cost $85,472 in 1986. That is an increase of $17,472 over last year and $31,897 over 1984. "We're having a hard time," said Mayor Marie Potter. She said several insurance firms used to seek the town's business, but now Eastampton is lucky to get a single company interested.
Added to those increases are escalating landfill costs. In 1986, $109,170 is budgeted for the landfill. Last year, it was $85,500. In 1984, it was only $61,000.
Potter said that a 3-cent tax increase was proposed for this year. That would make the rate 31 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Last year, the town underwent a re-evaluation, which raised property values.
EDGEWATER PARK. In the budget that Edgewater Park officials have proposed for this year, rising insurance and landfill costs make up the bulk of the $168,132 increase.
The 1986 budget of $2,183,618 is expected to be approved later this month. It requires a tax increase of 13 cents, making the rate 63 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The township's costs for trash disposal have doubled, with $220,652 appropriated for this year.
When the budget was being prepared, Edgewater Park officials expected their insurance costs to rise from $68,000 to $105,000. Since the budget was completed, however, the insurance bills have come in at $115,000.
That is not all.
On Feb. 1, the township's insurance carrier refused to renew Edgewater Park's "umbrella" insurance policy, which provided protection from large liability claims.
"We have our agent looking everywhere to get us an umbrella policy," said township administrator D. Robert Heal.
HAINESPORT. Hainesport's contract with Interstate Waste Removal Inc. in Trenton, the township's trash hauler, ran out last month, and municipal officials have budgeted $38,659 for the service for this year.
They also expect insurance rates to nearly double, from $58,989 to $100,880.
A final budget for 1986 has not been introduced.
LUMBERTON. In Lumberton, officials are close-mouthed about the budget, and understandably so. They likely will leave their single-digit, 9-cent property tax behind forever, said Mayor Donald Bryan.
Officials plan to introduce the budget tomorrow.
Even with last year's $2.1 million budget - an 8 percent increase over 1984 - township officials managed to keep the tax rate at 9 cents.
The township is struggling with insurance costs, little surplus money, less-than-expected revenues because of a postponed residential development and some other miscellaneous, yet expensive, items such as new fire department suits and a planner to work with the state affordable housing council.
MEDFORD LAKES. Usually, in most communities, the big expense is paying employees more and buying new equipment. For Medford Lakes, like so many other municipalities this year, those concerns are being talked about in the past tense.
"Our main problem is not salaries or equipment, it's landfills and insurance," said Councilman William G. Gaffney.
Last year, the borough's budget was $1.5 million. The 1986 budget is still being prepared, but Medford Lakes is already anticipating big increases in those two areas.
Insurance costs are expected to increase from $80,000 to $120,000. Landfill costs will probably rise by $100,000 - from $40,000 to $140,000.
The increases mean that Medford Lakes' plans to replace street signs is on hold now, Gaffney said. He said the borough's road resurfacing program would have to be cut back.
"We'll survive," Gaffney said. "But it's going to cost the taxpayers."
MEDFORD TOWNSHIP. Insurance got to be so expensive in Medford that the township started insuring itself.
Last year, the township paid about $80,000 for workers' compensation and general liability protection into an insurance trust account. Under the self- insurance plan, Medford has $1 million protection, with a $40,000 deductible. The township is not sure how much it will have to pay for self- insurance this year.
While Medford is protecting itself from escalating insurance rates, the township is still facing landfill increases.
The landfill fees would increase about a quarter of a million dollars, from $523,792 last year to a projected $763,494.
The proposed total budget for this year is $8.3 million, more than $1 million over 1985. A 4-cent tax increase is anticipated, which would more than double the current rate of 3.835 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
MOUNT HOLLY. A $70,000 jump in insurance premiums has led township officials to re-think their spending plans this year.
The premiums have increased from $161,456 to $230,084.
While Mayor James B. Smith said he did not anticipate any cut in township services to keep overall costs down, he said the increases have made township officials keep a tight hold on purse strings on some small items.
For example, he said, Mount Holly will only spend $4,000 for tree removal and maintenance instead of the $5,000 that the township had wanted to spend.
"It's mostly these small items that are annoying items to residents that get shortchanged," Smith said.
But the high insurance costs also mean that the township cannot expand some services it wants to. The township would like to hire more police officers, for example, but does not have the money to do it.
The overall budget proposed in Mount Holly this year is $3.4 million, an increase of $300,000 over last year's budget. Township administrator Barry Larson said a tax increase was not anticipated.
NEW HANOVER. Officials in New Hanover Township are uncertain how much their insurance premiums will increase when the policies become due in August.
Township administrator James Nash has projected about a 25 percent increase for the premiums in the proposed $1.1 million budget, from $40,000 to $50,000. Nash also said that landfill costs would probably increase 40 percent, from $25,000 to $35,000.
Despite the rising costs, Nash said no tax increase is expected. Most property values in the rural township increased substantially during a recent re-evaluation. Nash anticipates the additional revenues from that alone at more than $3 million.
PALMYRA. In Palmyra, borough administrator Rudolph Creyaufmiller said he is anticipating an increase of $1,000 a month in landfill costs. The tentative borough budget calls for $15,000 for the landfill, compared with $3,000 in 1985.
"They're astronomical," Creyaufmiller said of the landfill expenses, a sentiment echoed by many other municipal officials.
But the even-bigger expense in Palmrya has been insurance.
In 1985, Palmyra spent $101,000 for $500,000 in basic liability coverage and $1 million in "umbrella coverage," which covered liability beyond the basic coverage.
This year, however, that same coverage would cost $141,000, Creyaufmiller said. So township officials have opted to buy only $1 million in basic liability coverage and drop the "umbrella" coverage. And that will still cost $126,000.
"It was the lesser of two evils," Creyaufmiller said.
While the final budget for 1986 has not been completed, he predicted that a tax increase would be needed to cover the rising costs, but he would not say how much.
PEMBERTON BOROUGH. Borough officials anticipate a 9-cent increase in the current tax rate of $2.59 per $100 of assessed property value to help pay for a $399,600 budget in 1986, according to Ed Kaelin, the borough clerk. He said insurance costs were expected to double this year but was unable to provide estimates.
PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP. Township officials said they were expecting about a 20 percent increase in insurance costs in Pemberton Township, with premiums in 1986 costing $505,840. Further budget information will not be available until this week. The budget is to be introduced on March 14.
RIVERSIDE. Like so many other communities, Riverside's skyrocketing insurance premiums and landfill rates have affected spending in other areas of the 1986 budget.
Most of the $130,800 increase in the budget is for insurance costs that have risen by $53,320 to $123,329 this year and for landfill costs, which have risen by $27,090 to $88,000.
All those increases mean that Riverside will not be spending what it would like in areas such as recreation, public works and the police department.
Township administrator William Ruehmling describes the spending plans for those areas as only "reasonable increases."
The total $2,079,600 budget for 1986 will require a 3-cent tax hike, raising the rate to 30.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
RIVERTON. The budget is still being prepared in Riverton, but borough officials already know what so many other municipalities are finding out: Landfill rates and insurance premiums are wreaking havoc with their spending plans.
Council finance committee chairwoman Anna Cannon said the borough was planning an increase of about 40 percent for insurance premiums, from $39,300 last year to $55,000 in 1986.
Landfill expenses at L&D Landfill, where the borough sends its trash, also are expected to rise because the landfill's owners are asking the state to approve a large rate hike.
While those large increases are exempt from the cap placed on municipal budgets, they still have to be paid.
"The cap is an artificial thing," said Riverton Mayor David Styer. "If an amount has to be spent, it's going to come out of the taxpayer's dollar."
SHAMONG. Shamong is one of the half-dozen communities in Burlington County in which residents pay no local property taxes.
Most of the township's budget is financed through surplus money in the township coffers. Another large chunk of money comes from state taxes on utility companies, a portion of which is turned over to municipalities. And still more money is generated by investments of township savings.
Shamong keeps its budget low by having only two full-time employees, no police department, few streetlights and few other municipal services.
But while the township does all it can to keep expenses down, it cannot control rising insurance and landfill costs.
Mayor Fred Ott said those escalating costs were worrying Shamong officials, who felt hopeless because there was little they could do to keep the lid on them.
Shamong is projecting a 30 percent increase in insurance rates, from $23,000 last year to $30,000 in 1986.
While that appears modest compared with some municipalities, it is sizable considering that Shamong's overall budget proposed for 1986 is only $688,339. That is up about $150,000 over last year.
Still, Shamong is more fortunate than many communities in that the bulk of its increase is not for the uncontrollable budget items such as insurance, but for a new municipal garage and road work.
SOUTHAMPTON. Like Shamong, Southampton does not have a local property tax.
And because of cuts in spending in some areas, township officials do not plan any increase in spending in 1986. They have proposed a $2.06 million budget, most of which would be financed by surplus money built up by investments.
Unlike many communities, Southampton anticipates only a modest increase in insurance costs, from $63,000 to $65,000.
Although landfill costs are increasing, the township has made several cuts in spending.
SPRINGFIELD. The 12 percent increase in the proposed Springfield Township budget for 1986 is necessary because of higher insurance costs and trash removal fees, officials said.
The tentative $909,428 spending plan would increase the local tax rate by 16 cents to 29 cents - more than double the 1985 rate.
Township Committeeman Martin Poinsett said trash removal costs have more than doubled, from $55,000 to $100,000.
TABERNACLE. Most of the increase in the Tabernacle budget this year will be because of increased insurance premiums, said township treasurer Lorraine Schmierer.
Insurance premiums have increased more than 30 percent, from $73,691 to $99,000.
The overall budget increased from $1,463,157 last year to $1,485,361 in 1986. The proposed budget will require a 3-cent tax increase, raising the local property tax rate to 16 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
WESTAMPTON. The Westampton Township Committee has just introduced a $1.9 million budget, up from $1.6 million in 1985.
The biggest increases come from insurance costs, which have risen from $35,000 to $78,000, and from trash-disposal costs, which have doubled to $160,000.
The budget, as proposed, would require a 9.5-cent tax increase, raising the rate to 50 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
But township officials say the tax hike is necessary and that the budget is as tight as it can get.
"There is just no way to we can cut anything else," said Mayor Marilyn Rand.
WILLINGBORO. The Willingboro Township Council still is working on a $10.05 million budget for 1986, up from $9.31 million in 1985.
It is the first year for the budget to top $10 million in Burlington County's largest community.
As now planned, the budget would require an 11-cent tax increase; the current tax rate is 74.25 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The biggest increases follow the strain of so many communities. Insurance costs are expected to rise from $302,421 to $388,340. Landfill costs also are escalating from $1.019 million to $1.165 million.
Willingboro also is planning to beef up its police department by adding three or four more patrol officers.
The township also plans to add personnel to the library and recreation department, requiring a $176,000 budget increase.
About $4.6 million of the budget is expected to be raised from property taxes. The remainder will come from various licenses, fees and state and federal aid.
WOODLAND. The 1986 Woodland Township budget is still being prepared. Mayor John Bowker said that he anticipated the usual increase in expenses this year with insurance premiums and electric rates each rising about 15 percent.
He said landfill costs would probably double to $40,000 in 1986.
WRIGHTSTOWN. Although Wrighstown's budget would increase only $2,000 this year, from $339,000 to $341,000, the amount needed to be raised by taxation would be increased.
That increase is from $45,300 to $62,200.
"The taxes will go up this year," said borough auditor Ralph Dreby. ''Some of that is obviously due to the fact that federal revenue sharing is down, and the town did not have as much surplus this year as last, so the amount to be raised by taxes has actually increased."
The local tax rate is expected to go from 24.8 cents per $100 of assessed property value to 33 cents.
Wrightstown also is facing increases in insurance and landfill costs.
Driven By High Premiums, Towns View Self-insurance
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1986-03-19/news/26083745_1_claims-history-insurance-program-medfordBy Daniel LeDuc, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: March 19, 1986While two dozen Burlington County communities contemplate insuring themselves to stave off escalating premiums, one township has begun a self- insurance program and another has begun an active study of a similar plan.
Medford began insuring itself for almost everything, from vehicles to liability (fire protection is the only exception), when the township discovered last year that its liability protection was not going to be renewed.
"It was cost-effective," township manager Richard Deaney said of the self-insurance. "But we really didn't have a renewal option." In effect, Medford had no choice but to insure itself.
Many municipalities, such as Burlington City, are finding themselves in similar positions. Premiums are escalating, leading some communities to make cutbacks in other areas of spending to hold down their budgets.
In Burlington City, premiums are expected to be about $560,000 this year. In Delran, costs for insurance will be $241,423, up from $185,993 last year.
And municipal officials have decided enough is enough.
"What we're asking you to do is to join together with Delran in the forming of a (self-insurance) program," Delran Mayor Richard Knight told municipal representatives at a meeting last week. The invitation got a friendly reception, and most of the communities are beginning to consider joining a pool.
In such a group plan, the communities would contribute annually to a fund that would be used to pay claims, with the reserve carried over into following years. A liability policy for large claims would be purchased with the group's money, but the plan calls for the reserves to build up and eventually eliminate the need for the policy.
Medford has not entered into a pool with other communities, instead working with a company that specializes in self-insurance policies. Deaney said he would want to know more about the claims history of municipalities entering a group plan before he would allow Medford to join. In effect, the communities would be forming their own insurance company, and he said he would not want Medford to assume the burden of a township or borough that had a record of high claims filed against it.
Most of the municipal officials considering the pool said at last week's meeting that they wanted to study their own histories before entering any group insurance plan.
Burlington City Mayor Herman Costello said he favored such a group plan.
"I've been supporting piggy-back insurance for a long time," Costello said. "It's been proven you can save money."
A consultant now is reviewing the insurance history of his city, which has some of the highest insurance costs in Burlington County.
The high costs are the result of the city including its water and sewer system under one insurance policy and because of a high number of workmen's compensation claims against Burlington City in 1983 and 1984, said Doug Ayrer, city treasurer.
"If we don't save money on (self-insurance), I'll be a surprised man," Costello said.
Other communities have experienced savings with self-insurance, but Medford's Deaney said it was too early to tell if that would be the case with his township.
So far, claims have been less than costs, but Deaney said he was worried about a high claim against the town draining their finances. A large fund, accumulated over several years of savings, is required to ensure that a community is not bankrupted by a staggering claim.
Medford's fund, having just begun, is nowhere near where the township wants it to be, Deaney said.
Moreover, Deaney said, he is not so sure he likes self-insurance and the administration of a business separate from running a municipal government.
"We don't want to be in the insurance business," he said.
But with rates not likely to be going down soon, he said, it is a business he may have to get used to.
3 Incumbents Unchallenged For Delran Council
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151221134428/http://articles.philly.com/1986-05-04/news/26050811_1_tax-rate-township-council-incumbentsBy Nicole Brodeur, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: May 04, 1986With three incumbent councilmen running unopposed and not a hint of any write-in campaign, the May 13 nonpartisan election in Delran Township appears to be a quiet one.
In some respects, that is not a surprise. The three incumbents - Andrew Ritzie, William Smock and Patrick Tinney - although elected on nonpartisan tickets, are part of an all-Democrat, five-member council. Mayor Richard Knight also is a Democrat.
But the fact that no one has filed to run against the three incumbents is a surprise and somewhat of a disappointment for one of them.
"I really don't know why no one else is running," said Smock. "I was somewhat surprised. I expected a lot of people to run. I've always been one of those competitive types."
Both Ritzie and Tinney said the lack of challengers was an indication that residents believe Delran was practicing the policies of "good government."
Smock, 49, a computer salesman, has lived in the township for 14 years. Before his election to the Township Council in 1982, he served on the school board for three years, two of them as president. He represents the Third Ward, which encompasses a part of Millside Heights and Tenby Chase.
In light of recent federal and state revenue cuts, Smock said the township must become "more frugal" in its program planning and operations.
He added, however, that the township still intends to repair roads and storm sewers in Delran's older sections, which have been neglected for 20 years.
And, he said, over the next three or four years, the township also will seek to reduce service costs by regionalizing its police and fire departments with neighboring townships.
Smock said the council would work to keep the tax rate stabilized by seeking to attract commercial businesses to the township, which is only 49 percent developed. He said continued commercial development would stabilize the tax rate and increase services, which in turn would keep residents in the township.
"There are people here who are looking to the next big thing in life . . . retirement," Smock said. "It's no big secret that we have a lot of senior citizens staying in the older part of the town. For the most part, most of the people who moved in here 14 years ago are still there."
Ritzie said: "The whole idea is that the residents can withstand a low to moderate tax rate every year, but it's a slow process to keep it that way. I'd rather anticipate the problem and do something about it than hit the residents with a 20-cent tax increase."
Ritzie, 41, owns a computer-programming business and joined the council in July 1984 to fill the unexpired term of then-newly elected Mayor Knight. Four months later, he was elected to complete the mayor's unexpired, two-year term representing the Second Ward, encompassing the Pancost, Bridgeboro, Swedes Run and Moorbridge sections and portions of Millside and Tenby Chase. Before his appointment to the council, Ritzie served one year on the school board.
Ritzie said his objectives were to examine a long-term program for repairing street and storm sewers and to plan for the construction of a larger firehouse to replace the one on Bridgeboro Road. He, too, would like to see the regionalization of township services, especially fire services, because the call for new volunteers is rarely answered.
As the newest council member, Ritzie said he is working to make himself known and that Delran residents are starting to respond to him and call him with their problems.
"Although no one always agrees with what we do, we have made ourselves very available," Ritzie said of the council. "The residents may not agree with what we do, but they know why we did it."
Tinney, 37, a health education teacher at Palmyra High School, has served on the council since 1978 and, for two years, has been the council's appointee to the township's Recreation Advisory Committee. He represents the First Ward: Riverside Park, Cambridge and Delcrest.
"Basically, we are trying to be very responsive," he said. "There are no great, overriding issues in the township. People seem happy."
Tinney said he would like to see the township develop economically with ''clean ratables," such as high-technology industries and stores along Route 130 that do not generate a lot of traffic.
He said he also would like to answer the need for more athletic fields in the township, "but not just those for kids."
"We are just starting to get into more passive recreation. People who live and work in the township want to spend their leisure time here, too," he said.
Despite what appears to be his inevitable election, Tinney said he would continue to make himself available to residents by making door-to-door rounds in his ward.
Smith Slate Falls In Mt. Holly Vote
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151222151805/http://articles.philly.com/1986-05-14/news/26050935_1_top-vote-getter-final-vote-smith-slateBy David Iams, S.A. Paolantonio and Nicole Brodeur, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: May 14, 1986After one term in office, the Mount Holly Township Council led by Mayor James B. Smith was swept out of office yesterday by a ratio of almost 3 to 1.
Although officially nonpartisan, the election was clearly a landslide victory for the predominantly Republican slate led by John Madden, who received 1,441 votes, compared with Smith's 576.
The top vote-getter on Smith's Democratic slate, Deputy Mayor Fred King, received only 585 votes, while the low person on Madden's ticket, Jose S. Sosa, got 1,382.
"The results are difficult to believe," Smith said last night. "It's totally incomprehensible that we could lose by that type of margin."
Madden said the results showed that the voters wanted Mount Holly ''governed as a council, not as a one-man show."
During the campaign, Madden had said that Smith assumed more authority than called for by the township's "weak mayor" form of government, in which voters elect a council, which then chooses a mayor.
Four years ago, Smith achieved a similar sweep when he upset the entrenched administration of Joseph D. Weber, although the results in that election were closer. In that race, Smith polled 1,502 votes, Weber 977.
A total of 2,126 ballots were cast yesterday, less than half of the township's 4,900 registered voters. Voters were asked to vote for five of the 11 candidates on the ballot: five on Smith's slate, five on Madden's and independent Kent R. Pipes, who finished last.
The final vote totals were: Eugene Stafford, 1,618 votes; Raymond Hoaglund, 1,447; Madden, 1,441; Laurie Sheppard, 1,407; Sosa, 1,382.
Also, King received 585; Angela Davenport, 584; Smith, 576; Jerome Sweeney, 570; Eric B. Johnson, 486; Pipes, 331.
Meanwhile, in Medford Lakes, R. Stanley DuBrul, 41, won his first four-year term on the borough council, joining incumbents Michael Levinsky, 43, and John P. Gaitens, 61, who has been mayor for eight of the last 10 years.
Gaitens, who works for Northville Industries, was the top vote-getter, polling 690 residents. Levinsky, who was elected to a second four-year term, received 688 votes. And DuBrul, an engineer for Stone & Webster in Cherry Hill, finished third with 676 votes.
Joseph Maggelet, 36, a combat-systems test project manager at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, lost with 424 votes.
"We're very happy to have Mr. DuBrul on council with us," said Gaitens, who has been a borough resident for 24 years.
DuBrul said he would take a systematic approach to attacking some of the critical issues facing the borough, particularly the strained budget.
Medford Lakes, a former resort community with 5,100 residents and 21 lakes on a swatch of land about one square mile, has no new ratables available and increased demands on its finances, especially skyrocketing landfill and insurance costs.
In Delran Township, incumbent Councilmen Andrew Ritzie, William Smock and Patrick Tinney eased into four-year council terms last night in an unopposed election.
Smock, 49, received 48 votes from the residents he represents in Ward Three, which encompasses a part of Millside Heights and Tenby Chase. A computer salesman, Smock has lived in the township for 14 years and has served on the council since 1982.
Ritzie, 41, received 90 votes from residents in Ward Two, which encompasses the Pancost, Bridgeboro, Swedes Run and Moorbridge sections and portions of Millside and Tenby Chase. Ritzie owns a computer-programming business and joined the council in July 1984 to fill the unexpired term of then-newly elected Mayor Richard Knight. Four months later, he was elected to complete the mayor's unexpired, two-year term.
Tinney, 37, received 100 votes from residents in Ward One, which encompasses Riverside Park, Cambridge and Delcrest. A health education teacher at Palmyra High School, Tinney has served on the council since 1978 and, for two years, has been the council's appointee to the township's Recreation Advisory Committee.
Although elected on nonpartisan tickets, the three will remain part of an all-Democrat, five-member council. Knight also is a Democrat.
Towns Plan To Join Forces For Do-it-yourself Insurance
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1986-12-03/news/26066895_1_insurance-pools-premiums-umbrella-policyBy Charlie Frush, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: December 03, 1986By next Wednesday, a group of Burlington County municipalities hopes to discover whether self-insurance could work for its members.
On that day, delegates from 10 to 12 interested communities expect to select a plan administrator at a meeting in Delran Township's municipal building, where they have been gathering for months to try and turn the idea into reality.
A plan administrator would analyze the audit (insurance) histories of the interested communities and produce projected costs: the bottom line.
Before a community could join the pool, it would have to submit a five-year insurance-history audit. As of last month, 10 communities had completed such audits, although the degree of their interest ranged from hot to tepid.
Those 10 were Burlington City and the townships of Delanco, Delran, Eastampton, Edgewater Park, Evesham, Florence, Maple Shade, Moorestown and Pemberton. Mount Holly and Cinnaminson were interested, but had not submitted audits.
A meteoric rise in insurance premiums is driving municipalities into self- insurance pools, and three already exist in the state, with others in the formative stages.
The self-insurance concept seems agreeable, Delanco Township administrator Jeff Hatcher said, but his community, like others, wants to see the numbers before it participates.
Delanco's case is typical. In 1984, the township paid $33,091 for all insurance premiums. By 1985, that was $56,424, and for this year, it's an estimated $87,800.
That includes workmen's compensation; commercial auto; real and personal property; general liability; police professional liability; public officials liability; a valuable-papers policy; an equipment floater, and an umbrella policy.
And Delanco is typical of other communities in another way: Not only are insurance companies laying on heavy premiums, but, in some cases, they won't even sell the coverage or are very reluctant to do so.
The 1986 Delanco insurance-cost figure, for instance, Hatcher said, "is what we have budgeted." He didn't know the actual cost because the township's umbrella policy ran out at the end of August and, Hatcher said, "should have been renewed in September, and so far we have not gotten a reply as to whether they're going to renew. We've been sending letters off to the (state) commissioner of insurance."
The failure of insurance companies to renew so-called umbrella policies - covering claims for $1 million and up - is why pools have suddenly become a hot issue.
"I think that's why a lot of communities are looking" at self-insurance, Hatcher said. "There is just no justification" for premium costs based on actual claims experience, he said.
Gerald D. Mingin, township administrator in Eastampton, is a strong advocate of self-insurance.
"We support it in concept 100 percent," he said. "However, we are not going to commit the township to fund it until an administrator is selected and works up our projected assessment. We want to wait and see if there are significant savings."
Eastampton's own figures indicate there could be.
"Our total premium for 1981-85 was $135,077," Mingin said. The insurance company paid $33,316 in claims and placed $3,590 in claims reserve. "The net unexpended premium was $98,571 that they pocketed," Mingin said.
Last year's figures were even more dramatic. Eastampton paid $60,000 in premiums. The carrier paid $1,200 in claims.
The history of the three New Jersey self-insurance pools in existence indicates considerable savings would be realized by the Burlington County pool - enough to make one worthwhile.
Ray Blumenthal, administrator of River Vale in Bergen County as well as of the Bergen County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, told Burlington County delegates at a Nov. 7 meeting that the effect of an insurance pool "is profound. The premiums for all (of River Vale's) insurance have gone up less than 30 percent since the fund started" two years ago.
"Towns will be banging on your door" to join, Blumenthal said. "Ten months ago, we placed a moratorium on (Bergen's) fund," precluding the addition of more members.
"This is the core group," said Delran administrator Matthew H. Watkins at the November meeting. "We are not mailing out (information) to any other community."
Fourteen communities launched the Bergen County self-insurance pool on Jan. 1, 1985, Blumenthal said, the month "all the non-renewal notices went out" from insurance companies to municipalities, setting off panic. He said there were now 29 communities in the pool.
Blumenthal said a pool had its best chance of succeeding if member communities had similar characteristics.
"All our towns are similiar," he said. "None are over 15,000 population. None have paid fire departments. None of them have over 125 employees, nor a budget of more than $8 million." The large communities, Blumenthal said, ''should be insuring themselves."
Delran administrator Watkins said that "from an initial review of the (Burlington County) audits, I think we have a big enough fund," but noted, ''The audit doesn't necessarily commit or exclude you."
Four professional firms responded when the consortium asked for audit studies prior to picking a plan administrator, Watkins said. One firm wanted payment up front and probably will not be considered, he added.
"We (will) select one to put together a feasibility study and go around to the various councils and sell it to them," Watkins said. "That's the point where you're in or out."
Dave Grubb, now a special deputy commissioner in the state Department of Insurance and the first chairman of the executive board of the Bergen pool, said legal start-up for a pool is not complex.
"Each individual municipality would have to pass an ordinance or resolution under the regulation promulgated by the Department of Insurance jointly with the Division of Community Affairs," Grubb said.
The resolution would have to include acceptance of the by-laws of the fund; authorization of execution for an indemnity and trust agreement with the fund, and specification of the length of time the community would be in the fund and in what lines of coverage it would be participating, Grubb said.
Local Governments Adjust To Life After Revenue-sharing
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151222005620/http://articles.philly.com/1986-12-15/news/26069618_1_local-budgets-tax-money-federal-budget-deficitBy Bridgett M. Davis, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: December 15, 1986It paid for street lights in Upper Darby Township, kept the police force in Delran Township, N.J., on the payroll, and provided fire hydrants in Rockledge Borough in Montgomery County.
It provided treatment for mental patients in Camden County and paid hospital employees' salaries in Burlington County. In Montgomery County it supported programs ranging from ambulance service to prison work-release.
Now it's gone.
Revenue-sharing, born in 1972 under the Nixon administration, died in October, a victim of efforts to reduce the federal budget deficit. In its lifetime, it provided $83 billion to local governments, and with its death, many area municipalities are, in the words of Delran Township Treasurer Lou Kaniecki, "robbing Peter to pay Paul."
Of 11 local municipalities surveyed about their budgets for the coming year, only three were certain they would not raise taxes. Nine expected higher taxes, elimination of programs, reduced personnel or hiring freezes.
In 1984, the National Association of Counties surveyed what might happen to local budgets the following year without revenue-sharing.
The survey concluded that ending the program could force Pennsylvania counties to raise property taxes an average of 15 percent or reduce services by an equivalent amount. In New Jersey, a 5.5 percent average property-tax increase or equivalent service cut was predicted. No such study was made for 1986.
The idea behind revenue-sharing was that local officials knew best how tax money should be spent for their governments.
It was an idea that had support from both political parties, said Earl Baker, chairman of the Chester County commissioners and of the state Republican Party, but with the pressures to reduce the federal deficit, its $4.5 billion annual cost made it "the type of program targeted for the chopping block."
Baker, who once headed the tax and finance committee of the National Association of Counties, is philosophical about the end of the program.
"Perhaps it's better for us as local officials to fix our gaze on local solutions," he said. "Far too often we've looked to Washington. We shouldn't put all our eggs into one basket. We have to, in essence, grow up and out of this dependency on federal money."
The chairman of the Bucks County commissioners, Carl Fonash, sharply disagrees.
"It was probably the most productive program the federal government had," he said, citing revenue-sharing's low overhead: One-tenth of 1 percent of the program's funds were used for administration costs.
"When you compare the way we use our money in front of the people," Fonash added, "they slop more money down there in Washington in a week that nobody knows about than the whole constituency of the United States has received through revenue-sharing in a year."
Most local governments have used revenue-sharing funds for their operating budgets, holding down property-tax increases by paying for salaries, capital projects, welfare programs and other services. Many townships and boroughs used the funds for public safety, because police salaries usually take up the largest chunk of small-town budgets.
"When revenue-sharing was initially authorized," said Susan White, legislative aide for the National Association of Counties, "it was used predominantly for infrastructure like roads and highways. As we saw a decline in state and federal spending in human services, we saw a shift in the use of that money to fill in the gaps."
Local officials say that dealing with the end of revenue-sharing will be made more difficult by federal mandates requiring additional expenditures in areas such as pollution control and social services. Some see it as a clear shift of the tax burden from the federal to the local levels. In addition, some states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, place limits, called ''caps," on local property taxes.
In Bucks County, commissioners prepared for the loss of $3 million in revenue-sharing funds by imposing a hiring freeze and eliminating 125 jobs ranging from clerical to top management in areas such as the health department, the planning commission and the prison system.
"There's less jobs to do the same work," Fonash said. "That means either less work (gets done) or (it takes) more time to do it.
"Security was sacrosanct within the prison system, so we tried to look at peripheral jobs and cut away at those functions."
In New Castle County, Del., the $6 million lost in revenue-sharing has made 1987 budget negotiations "the most difficult . . . that the county has faced in the last 17 or 20 years," according to Dennis Rochford, chief administrative officer.
To regroup, the county plans to impose an 18-month hiring freeze. It has also contracted out maintenance of two golf courses and grass-cutting in its parks. Still, the county faces an $8 million to $9 million shortfall, and a tax increase is expected. Officials also have appealed to the state for increased financial assistance.
Revenue-sharing funds had been declining in recent years - from $218.1 million in fiscal 1985 in Pennsylvania to $192 million in fiscal 1986, for example - and some local governments had been preparing for the program's demise.
In Delaware County, the $3.26 million received from revenue-sharing went to the county's SEPTA contributions. That helped offset the county's major expenditure - disposal of solid wastes.
According to the vice president of the county council, Edwin B. Erickson, the county has recently purchased a landfill to reduce contracting costs, started an aluminum-recycling program, and awarded a contract for a trash-to- steam plant. Since 1985, the county has also eliminated 100 government positions through early retirement and attrition, Erickson said.
Despite those cost-cutting measures, he said, the county's 1987 budget will include a property-tax increase of more than $6 for each $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Wilmington, which lost $2.3 million, anticipated the cut by raising taxes by 15 percent last year. The tax increase created a surplus that will be used to pay fire and police salaries once covered by revenue-sharing funds.
And in Burlington County, the Board of Freeholders is seeking state grants to fund operations once covered by $2.3 million in revenue-sharing. Bradford S. Smith, director of the board, said he was hopeful that increased property- tax revenues brought in by rapid development in the county would make a tax increase unnecessary.
In urban areas such as Philadelphia, which lack the expanding tax base of some suburban areas, the loss of revenue-sharing funds hits particularly hard. A cut of $45 million in revenue-sharing will "have a significant and major impact" on the city, Mayor Goode said in an interview. "Increased revenues through taxes will be an absolute last resort," he said.
"Cities are really, really scrambling," said Sharon Stabinski research and policy development coordinator of the Pennsylvania League of Municipalities. "They had problems in prior years. . . . Now that revenue- sharing's been cut, you're really in a nightmare."
For Upper Dublin Township in Montgomery County, the loss of $181,000 was directly responsible for the township's new earned-income tax of 50 cents on every $100 earned, said finance director Martha Perego.
In Burlington County's Delran Township - population 14,811 - the loss for the 1987 budget of $60,000 in revenue-sharing funds has brought a tightening of the end-of-the-year purse strings.
"We have to put the public works people on limited overtime to pick up the leaves," said the township's treasurer, Lou Kaniecki. "We have to be stingy, because it's all we could afford."
Some local officials expect that another aid program will be created to replace revenue-sharing. As a sign of continued interest in the program, they cite efforts in Harrisburg - so far unsuccessful - to revive a statewide $132 million revenue-sharing package.
In the meantime, said Delaware County's Erickson, "we might as well make the best of the situation. The money's gone."
Parties Play Nonpartisan Politics
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150915054817/http://articles.philly.com/1987-02-01/news/26179910_1_nonpartisan-politics-nonpartisan-elections-nonpartisan-campaignsBy S.A. Paolantonio, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: February 01, 1987Last month, Democrats in Haddon Township held a series of meetings to plan the unseating of longtime Republican Mayor William G. Rohrer in May.
In 1986, Gloucester Township Mayor Ann Mullen, a Democrat, ran for re- election against Republican Frank Senatore.
Sounds like business as usual, except for one thing. Both municipalities hold elections in May under nonpartisan forms of government. Yet in both cases, partisan politics - Democrats versus Republicans - was really what it was all about.
Nine of Camden County's 37 municipalities are governed on a nonpartisan basis under New Jersey state law. In those communities, Title 40 prohibits candidates from using party affiliation. Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Libertarian - those political labels are prohibited by law.
Usually, voters going to the polls on the second Tuesday in May will see ballots garnished with slogans. In 1983, for instance, Rohrer's Republicans used "Continued Honest Government, Performance, not Promises."
But in many cases, under a cloak of nonpartisan names, the political parties support, organize and finance these nonpartisan campaigns. Critics say that is a deceptive way to run elections.
"Truly, in my mind, nonpartisan is nothing but semantics; it's a misnomer, and it's obsolete," said Cherry Hill resident Harold Pearl, a Republican.
Last year, Pearl helped organize a ballot referendum that changed Cherry Hill's nonpartisan elections to partisan in November. Although Pearl said he did not intend it, the referendum turned into a mini-campaign, pitting Democrats and Republicans on each side of the issue.
The incumbent Democratic administration, led by Mayor Maria Barnaby Greenwald, campaigned to keep the status quo. The Republicans pushed for a change and won.
For years, nominally nonpartisan municipalities such as Cherry Hill have been significantly influenced by entrenched party politics.
In the traditionally Democratic urban politics of Camden, elections are held in May under the nonpartisan form of government. However, Camden's mayor - whether it has been George E. Brunner, Angelo J. Errichetti or Melvin R. Primas Jr. - has always been a power broker in the county Democratic organization. And the city political organizations help select candidates for every municipal election, including the school board, party officials say.
The tiny nonpartisan Borough of Mount Ephraim also has seen what political influence can do. William Bradford, a letter carrier for 29 years, ran as an independent for mayor in 1979. He lost by seven votes. Four years later, with Republican backing, Bradford was elected mayor.
In the May 1986 nonpartisan elections in Gloucester Township, both sides were accused of providing political support.
Senatore circulated a four-page brochure with a photograph of him shaking hands with Gov. Kean. Inside was a photo of county Republican Freeholder Michael J. DiPiero with Township Council candidates Joseph Tortoreto and Barbara Lazzaro. On the bottom of the back page, the brochure said, "Paid for by N.J.R.S.C.," New Jersey Republican State Committee.
"The state Republican Party did give us some money, the same as the Democrats helped Ann Mullen," Senatore said.
Like most incumbents who benefit from the system in place, Mullen praised the nonpartisan campaigns in the spring and the elections in May.
"When you get to the local level," she said, "people don't look at party politics. They just want to know who gets the job done." Mullen, who became mayor in 1979, said that whatever political influence occurred during a campaign was erased during the governing process.
"I have never received pressure from the upper echelon of the party as to who should get what job or who should be appointed," Mullen said.
Under the laws governing nonpartisan elections, there is nothing illegal about soliciting financial or organizational support from a political party. Candidates just cannot use the party name on the ballot.
However, critics of the nonpartisan system say that a voter entering the booth sees only the slogan, not the political backing of the candidate. That was not the intent of the legislature when it initiated nonpartisan forms of government 76 years ago, critics say.
*
As of November, 91 of the state's 567 municipalities were using some form of nonpartisan government.
In Camden County, nine municipalities have nonpartisan elections: Audubon Borough, Camden City, Collingswood, Gloucester Township, Haddon Township, Haddonfield, Mount Ephraim, Pine Valley and Tavistock. There are none in Gloucester County and six in Burlington County: Bass River, Bordentown City, Delran, Evesham, Medford Lakes and Mount Holly. Camden City, Evesham, Haddon Township and Mount Ephraim have elections this May.
Last year, Cherry Hill and Berlin Township voters approved a referendum to change to partisan elections in November. Audubon defeated a similar measure.
Many critics of the May nonpartisan elections say that besides being a ruse for the real political systems, the extra elections are an added taxpayer expense - a very attractive argument to financially strapped municipalities. In Cherry Hill, the change to one election in November will save $45,000, according to township officials.
Cherry Hill Democrats contended that the change in the election date was a political ploy by the Republicans to gain control of three more municipalities. All three communities - Cherry Hill, Berlin and Audubon - are Democratic-controlled and fall within the Sixth District, the stronghold of state Sen. Lee B. Laskin, (R., Camden).
But Republicans in Cherry Hill said the referendums were initiated by an active Democrat in Berlin and by an independent in Audubon.
The fear of outside political influence in local government is one reason why nonpartisan communities have been slow to change, officials said.
The nonpartisan form of government in New Jersey was modeled after a system adopted by municipalities in the South and Southwest in the late 19th century. Those municipalities were trying to avoid the pitfalls of "boss" politics, as practiced in New York, Chicago and Boston.
In 1911, the New Jersey Legislature passed the Walsh Act. It was designed to eradicate the political corruption that plagued the state's larger cities, according to Seth Benjamin of the New Jersey County and Municipal Government Study Commission. The Faulkner Act, another reform measure, passed in 1950, also has provisions for nonpartisan government.
In 1951, Haddon Township adopted the nonpartisan provisions of the Walsh Act, which also is known as the commission form of government. Rohrer was elected mayor that year. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Rohrer enjoyed bipartisan support. Although the Democrats have a slight voter enrollment edge, Rohrer remains in power.
But in 1983, the Democrats, under the banner "New Directions for Haddon Township," put together an opposition slate headed by township native Charles DiPietropolo. Rohrer won, but the election was close. This year, the Democrats think they have their best shot at beating Rohrer, who is 77.
The partisan connections in the township elections go further than Rohrer. His running mates, Gerald J. DeFelicis and Richard C. Hardenbergh, are both longtime Republicans. Hardenbergh, who has been on the township Board of Commissioners since 1964, was chairman of the county Republican Committee during the 1970s. DeFelicis is still a member of the county Republican Committee and has a $20,800-a-year job as confidential aide to Republican Freeholder DiPiero.
Nick Laurito, who ran against the Rohrer slate in 1983, is a member of the county Democratic Committee. Florence Black, the Haddon Township clerk, is a member of the county Republican Committee. So the political ties extend both ways.
But both political parties in the nonpartisan battle in Haddon Township say the current system works and see no reason to change it.
"Nonpartisan is the form of government, not the way you get elected," said DeFelicis. In the May elections, he added, township issues and candidates are not clouded by state and national concerns. A popular president or governor is not on the top of the ticket to influence the outcome.
"I like it because it keeps the issues local," agreed DiPietropolo. In addition, he said, the nonpartisan elections are not deceiving because ''people are not voting for the Democratic or Republican Parties as a whole. . . . On a local level, I believe it serves a very useful purpose."
Budgets '87: Why Many Are Worrying
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150919051211/http://articles.philly.com/1987-02-08/news/26179690_1_high-tax-increases-budget-state-aidBy Rose Simmons, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: February 08, 1987John F. Mason's dreams of improving Pemberton Township are summed up in a 5-inch-thick file he keeps in a bottom drawer of his desk.
The file is where Mason, the township's manager, keeps a stack of memorandums and notes on the projects he would like to see undertaken.
As he did last year, Mason has written into the township's annual budget the projects he deems most valuable. And, once again, Mason might have to return those projects to the file for lack of funding.
"Each year I start budget time with the hope that something new, some new service for the residents, will get funded," said Mason, who has been township manager since October 1985. "But four to five months into the budget, reality sets in."
That reality is the uncertain level of funding from other governmental sources, on which the township relied last year for 35 percent of its revenue. Mason said that as a result of the loss of $285,000 from the federal revenue- sharing program, which the Reagan administration eliminated this year to lower the deficit, he and township officials might find it impossible to maintain current services without a local tax increase.
It is a worry that administrators across South Jersey share, especially since Gov. Kean made it clear in his 1987-88 budget - which was released Jan. 31 - that the lost federal money would not be restored through new state aid.
Kean also has not increased funding for a municipal-aid program that he halved last year, reducing its allocation to $30 million from $60 million. As a result, local officials said they were prepared to do significant belt- tightening, an option more palatable to elected officials than are high tax increases.
As a result, there will be no updated computer system for Cinnaminson; no expansion of services, such as snow removal, for Mount Laurel, and no filling of job vacancies in Delran.
Many local officials said they hoped the state would allow them to exclude big-ticket expenses - such as solid-waste costs and increased insurance premiums - from budget ceilings.
The ceilings, enacted 10 years ago to protect property owners, prevent local governments from increasing their annual budgets at a rate exceeding the rise in the Consumer Price Index. This year, the index went up 3.5 percent. To help ease the loss of federal funding, however, the legislature will allow municipalities to raise their budgets by 5 percent this year.
Mason and several other municipal officials said they were particularly frustrated by the numerous blank spaces in their budgets. Administrators can't fill in the spaces or draw a bottom line on their budgets until the state tells them what expenses are included under the ceilings and how much state aid they can expect, Mason said.
Traditionally, the state does not issue budget guidelines to municipalities until Gov. Kean presents his budget to the legislature, said Richard Keevey, the deputy state budget director.
"Every level of government has a lack of certitude," Keevey said. "The state has a similar problem with the federal government. I think the local officials may be uttering more frustration at not having more money."
Since January, local governments have been operating under temporary budgets. State law requires that they adopt new budgets by March 31. To meet the deadline, administrators and financial directors usually prepare several budget versions, hoping that one of them comes close to having the numbers the state will allow, one South Jersey administrator said.
"Those of us who have no shame approach this time with hysteria, and those of us with an image to uphold won't admit to it," said Faneen Murray- Cieslinski, administrator for Mount Laurel Township.
This is the crazy time in the five-month budget season. It is a time when local administrators and budget directors spend long hours over computerized accounting sheets and in long meetings with township officials and auditors, Murray-Cieslinski said.
"Last year, we had to recalculate our budget four to five times while the state went through several versions of what was inside or outside the cap," she said. "That wears on you."
One problem is that the state and local governments are on different budget cycles, Keevey said. The state's fiscal year begins July 1, while county and municipal governments start their budget year in January. The cycles were created years ago, and changes would require legislative action, he said.
Although local school boards start their budget year in July, they must adopt a budget by Feb. 9 to have it ready for the voters by April, said George Drozdowski, business administrator for the Mount Holly Township public schools.
"So, that means from Feb. 2 to Feb. 9, we'll be burning the midnight oil to fill in the blank spaces," he added.
For most local governments, the budget process starts in October with requests from department heads. The requests are melded into a single package and reviewed for any signs of overspending, said Matthew U. Watkins, the township administrator in Delran. The budget season usually ends in March with an emotional public hearing before residents protesting cuts in services or increases in taxes, he said.
With revenue expected to decline, Watkins said, Delran officials may again be forced to increase property taxes, as may many of their counterparts in municipalities that depended heavily on federal aid.
Delran's property tax is 44 cents per $100 of equalized property value.
Because the state has not issued budget guidelines, Watkins said, he could not determine how much of an increase might be needed.
"This is another one of the frustrations," he said. "Because we can't adopt our budgets until a third of our budget year is over, we're always playing catch-up."
The delay increases the anxiety for department heads and employees concerned about the sacrifices local officials will make to avoid angering residents by imposing a big tax increase, said Mason, the township manager in Pemberton.
"That's the most unpleasant part of the process - you have to make some hard decisions," he said.
While local officials are making those decisions, it is the administrators who often must soothe the worries of employees and managers, he said. Last year, Mason said, he had to sign pink slips for six township workers. Only one was later re-employed, he said.
Township managers often must check their own disappointment when they see their requests removed from the budget, said John Ostrowski, the township manager in Cinnaminson.
Moreover, the problems of administrators don't end when the budgets are signed by township officials, said Sadie Johnson, treasurer and acting township manager in Willingboro. In fact, some of the biggest problems occur when residents receive their tax bills, she said.
"That's when you get the phone ringing off the hook with people complaining about the tax increase," she said.
Most of the complaining is about other taxes - levies for the county, schools and libraries - that local governments are required to collect, said Murray-Cieslinski, the Mount Laurel administrator.
"Because we send out the bill, they think we're keeping all the taxes," she said. "But there are moments when you enjoy this time - like when you manage to educate a taxpayer on the realities of the tax bill and you see a light go on."
Delran Acts On Parking Complaints
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1987-08-27/news/26168488_1_parking-ordinance-visitor-parking-residentsBy Pat Quigley, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: August 27, 1987Delran residents of Second, Third, Chestnut, Front, Main and Brown Streets may soon see something unusual in front of their homes - places to park their cars.
An ordinance approved by the Township Council last night limits parking on sections of those streets to residents of the area. Decals for cars showing that they belong to residents will be sold for $7 by the township. Each resident of the area also will receive two visitor parking permits.
Residents have complained during the last four months that employees of MacMillan Publishing Co. Inc., a firm on Brown Street, were parking in all the available spaces in front of their homes.
Solicitor Thomas Foy said some residents could not find parking places in front of their homes because of the employees. A number of residents in the area have no driveways.
Barbara Farley, attorney for MacMillan, said the ordinance discriminated against the company, Delran residents living outside the area and non-township residents.
"We are obviously opposed to the parking ordinance as it stands," Farley said. "It is obviously aimed at MacMillan. I know the reason for it. I think MacMillan has gone a long way to resolve the problem. In essence, what this ordinance will do is make it (the area) a private parking lot."
Although MacMillan supplies parking lots for its employees, Farley said she did not know whether enough spaces were provided for all employees and visitors.
Farley declined to make any additional comment after the meeting. Two township officials said they did not know how many employees work at MacMillan.
Although Farley said the situation had improved recently, several residents disagreed.
"If your house is in the immediate vicinity, if it hasn't improved in front of your house, it hasn't improved," said George Zitzler, a 15-year Chestnut Street resident who does not have a driveway.
Earl L. Bozarth, 69; Was Former Mayor Of Delran
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150923190638/http://articles.philly.com/1987-09-29/news/26207561_1_funeral-mayor-vfw-postBy Lou Misselhorn, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: September 29, 1987Earl L. Bozarth, 69, of Delran, a former township official and businessman, died Saturday at Memorial Hospital of Burlington County, Mount Holly.
Mr. Bozarth served on the Township Council between 1962 and 1970, serving as appointed mayor for two years during that period. He also was a member of the Road Department committee.
A lifelong resident of South Jersey, Mr. Bozarth was born in Delanco and lived in Delran for the last 47 years. He owned two businesses, Bozarth Trucking and Bozarth Fuel, both in Delran.
Mr. Bozarth was a World War II veteran and served as a chief warrant officer with the Army. He was a member of VFW Post No. 3020 and the Riverside Lodge No. 187 of the Free and Accepted Masons. He also was a member of the Scottish Rite Consistory of Collingswood.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth Longfield Bozarth; a son, Municipal Judge Bennett E. of Marlton; two grandchildren; a brother, Lee of Riverton, and two sisters, Joan Headman of Edgewater Park and Faye Hoelz of Riverside.
A viewing will be held at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the Chadwick Memorial Home, 154 Webster St., Riverside. A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be at Odd Fellows Cemetery, Burlington.
Delran Set To Vote On Code Enforcing Property Upkeep
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1988-04-20/news/26253669_1_property-maintenance-property-upkeep-property-maintenanceBy Charlie Frush, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: April 20, 1988The township council will vote on final passage of Delran's first property- maintenance code in its regularly scheduled meeting at 8 p.m. next Wednesday in the municipal building.
The ordinance attempts to solve what township administrator Matthew Watkins called "an ongoing problem with certain things that people complained about, such as junk cars, junk in yards and high grass."
The township has received regular complaints about unsightly land and buildings, he said.
"Some people do not take care of their property," he said. "We're trying to make Delran a nice place to live and we need something more than a loosely written ordinance, something to provide enforcement power."
Until now, Delran has attempted to manage property maintenance with the use of "nuisance laws," Watkins said. "We used to rely on sending residents letters asking them to clean up their property and they pretty much did that.
"Now, the informal letters are just not cutting it. The informal manner in which we tried to abate the problems does not work any longer."
The proposed Delran ordinance is patterned in part on ordinances in other communities and on advice from attorneys, Watkins said.
"There is nothing in these provisions that are unusual from other property-maintenance codes," he said. "We are not being any more strict than other communities that have property maintenance ordinances.
"Even with the new law, we are always going to try to work things out informally," Watkins said. "We are going to try to make sure the people have an opportunity to clean it up. We're not going to go in heavy-handed.
"I think some people are worried that we are going to go around and say, 'Paint your house.' We are going to go very slowly at first. We have to have time to get everything set up and find out our problems," he continued.
"This ordinance is looking to correct the habitual violator of property- maintenance codes. It's not a situation where we are going to go through the township and cite everybody in town that has the least little thing wrong or where we are going to cause any anguish to residents. The intent of council is to keep from harming anyone, especially senior citizens. We're going after the problem people, people that have had habitual problems that do not respond to continual requests to clean up or abate the problem."
Under the proposed ordinance, violators who do not clean up their properties after being issued a summons by the township code enforcement official face fines of up to $100 for a first violation and up to $250 for a second. For a third violation, the penalties can be up to $500 in fines and 90 days in county jail.
The proposed ordinance states that:
* Driveways must be kept in good repair and properly maintained, free of litter and debris. Bent and leaning signposts must be replaced or straightened.
* Parking of motor vehicles except on paved or gravel driveways is prohibited except in emergency situations not exceeding 24 hours.
* Lawns, hedges and bushes may not be allowed to overgrow and become unsightly.
* The exterior of all structures must be maintained free of broken glass, loose shingles, crumbling stone or brick and excessive peeling paint.
* Abandoned iceboxes, refrigerators, heaters, television sets and other major appliances are not permitted to be kept on the exterior of the premises.
* Vehicles, including boats or trailers, that have been junked, abandoned, dismantled or that are in a state of visible disrepair may not be kept more than two weeks if they are visible from others' properties.
And forget about aiming your snowblower's chute toward the street or sidewalk. The ordinance would ban residents from removing snow or ice from their own property and placing it on sidewalks, streets or fire hydrants.
The ordinance would take effect within 10 days after passage, or on May 7 if it is passed at next Wednesday's meeting.
Watkins said the township council had been considering introducing such an ordinance since last summer. Township clerk Bernadette Porreca also said the council had considered such an ordinance at least once before, about 10 years ago.
Elections In 3 Towns Tomorrow Posts At Stake Are Nonpartisan
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1988-05-09/news/26260962_1_incumbents-campaign-manager-challengersBy Scott Brodeur and Ray Rinaldi, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: May 09, 1988Voters tomorrow will choose officials in nonpartisan elections in Gloucester Township, Bass River Township and Delran.
In Gloucester Township, two slates of five candidates are trading insults in a campaign for control of the seven-member council.
Bass River voters will choose three Township Committee members from a field of four candidates. In Delran, the mayor and two Township Council members are running unopposed.
The Gloucester Township race pits the five incumbents, who call themselves the Good Government Team, against the New Team for Gloucester Township Taxpayers. The incumbents are all Democrats. The challengers are a mixture of Democrats, Republicans and independents.
Four of the five seats up for grabs in Gloucester Township are for four- year terms. The fifth race will determine who will assmue the two-year unexpired term of Aaron Alexander, who resigned earlier this year for health reasons.
The Good Government Team is led by the council president, Nicholas F. Trabosh, a lawyer who has served 12 years on the council.
Trabosh is joined by Gabriel G. Busa, owner of a floor-covering company; John "Jay" McGinniss, a master plumber, and Elizabeth Dougherty, a homemaker. Each has served six years on the council.
Samuel M. Siler, a teacher of data processing and industrial arts, is the slate's candidate for the unexpired two-year term. Siler was appointed by the council as the interim replacement in February.
The New Team for Gloucester Township Taxpayers comprises Daniel J. Pisko Jr., an operations manager for a condominium complex; Ethel "Dolly" Tames, a real estate agent; James H. King, a construction worker, and Anne DiCarlo, a shop operator. They are challenging the incumbents to four-year terms.
David M. Welsh, a former county employee who is now self-employed, is contending for the two-year unexpired term.
Frederick F. Fitchett, the campaign manager for the challengers, has complained throughout the campaign that the incumbents have thrown around too much weight at taxpayers' expense.
For instance, Fitchett said, the incumbents questioned the legitimacy of the challengers' nominating petitions in March because some of the signatures did not include middle initials. He called the challenge "ridiculous."
Fitchett also questioned the timing of the township's quarterly newsletter, which was mailed to residents last week. The cover of the color pamphlet, which is financed by taxes, includes a photograph of the five incumbents above a story praising the council for a budget cut.
"These are the types of things we've been up against all along," Fitchett said. "We don't think the taxpayers should have to put up with this any longer. It's a disgrace."
Trabosh, speaking for the incumbents, has complained about "a dirty campaign" run by the challengers, and he questions their experience.
"They have started so many unfounded rumors throughout this campaign, and they've waited until the end of the election so we wouldn't be able to address their silly accusations," Trabosh said.
"Usually in a campaign, there are some issues your opponents have that you could still consider if you get elected," Trabosh said. "But I haven't heard anything positive from them. Instead, they've been going around making things up to try to make us look bad."
In Bass River, where political parties have traditionally kept clear from running slates under ostensibly nonpartisan labels, the contest for three Township Committee seats is between a Republican county committeewoman on one side and the slate of a township school board member and two incumbents on the other.
Running on a ticket together are incumbents T. Richard Bethea, 39, a self- employed computer consultant; George McGeoch, 41, a union pipefitter, and Woodley Shuff, 41, a union electrician who is a member of the Bass River Board of Education.
Their sole opponent is Helen Hazard, 46, a Bass River secretary who is a member of the Pinelands Regional Board of Education, the Burlington County Mosquito Extermination Commission and the Republican County Committee.
Delran voters have little choice - the mayor and two Township Council members, all Democrats, are unopposed in their re-election bids.
Richard J. Knight, 42, a senior account executive for AT&T Co., is seeking his second four-year term as mayor. Mary Ann Rivell, 44, an administrative assistant to Assemblyman Thomas P. Foy (D., Burlington-Camden), and Walter Schultz, 54, shift supervisor for Rohm & Hass Co. in Bristol, Pa., are both running for their second four-year terms.
The Delran council has five members.
Polls for the three elections are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Federation Strives To Help Democrats And Women
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150919071057/http://articles.philly.com/1988-07-31/news/26236626_1_democratic-women-democratic-candidates-democratic-partyBy Ray Rinaldi, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: July 31, 1988For the Democratic Party and women in Burlington County, the last decade in politics has been a long one.
The party has been on the outs in county government for more than 10 years, and the GOP continues to have a solid hold on every countywide elected office. And women, who make up 53 percent of the county's population, hold fewer than 15 percent of county and municipal offices.
The statistics can be discouraging for members of each group and downright disturbing for members of both. Men and Republicans are entrenched in Burlington County, and those involved know that turning around the situation would require a Herculean effort.
Enter the Burlington County Federation of Democratic Women - a group whose goal is to improve the unenviable political position of both its party and gender.
Hoping to ride the coattails of high Democratic spirits that dominated prime-time television during the recent party convention in Atlanta, the group is launching an effort to increase its political role - and its dwindling membership.
At a meeting Monday night, the group members - seven women and one man - met to discuss the federation's future. Seated around a table in the back room of the Londonshire House Restaurant in Burlington City, the eight determined members drank coffee and discussed strategy.
The group basked in the afterglow of what it considered a successful convention, engaged in some lively criticism of the Republicans and talked earnestly about doing more for Democratic candidates.
"We have to address ourselves to working every day, not just at election time," said member Dorothy Zeichner. "We have to talk about raising money and backing candidates all year long."
A major topic of discussion, and one of the group's main goals, is to inspire more women to take part in the election process and to run for political office.
"We encourage equal and full participation in every level of government and in the party structure," said Mary Ann Rivell, a Delran councilwoman and a member of the group.
Federation members believe their group is an ideal forum for those - especially women - looking for a way to get involved in government.
Though their unofficial platform concentrates heavily on issues important to women, such as child care, education and pay equity, the group says it represents the interests of all Democrats.
To attract new members, the federation is considering a direct-mail campaign aimed at registered Democrats throughout the county and a word-of- mouth outreach program. The intent, the members say, is to let people know they exist.
Though small in numbers, members say, the group plays a major role in the party's effort to get Democrats elected in the county's 40 municipalities.
"Democrats can't get elected without the work of the federation," said Zeichner. "We stuff the envelopes, make the calls and pound on the doors."
Federation members said they plan to be even more active in the coming election. Several have pledged to work for Democratic Freeholder candidate Mary Anne Reinhart. A group-sponsored fund-raising dinner for Reinhart and her running mate, Paul Stephenson is in the works.
The group knows all too well the work cut out for it in getting Democrats elected in such a conservative county, but members say, they will do their best to match the more-recognized and better-funded Republicans.
"What they have in money, we have in manpower," said Zeichner. "We do the work for free - we have to."
Some Openings For Clerks Are Going Begging
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150918143030/http://articles.philly.com/1988-07-31/news/26238601_1_municipal-clerks-association-deputy-clerk-secretaryBy William H. Sokolic, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: July 31, 1988Wanted. Administrator/Clerk. Delanco Township, population 4,000, budget $1.4 million annually. Exp. desired in finances, budget preparation, personnel, municipal management. Salary commensurate with experience.
The help wanted sign has been up since April.
So far, five applicants have been interviewed for the job, according to Roseann Lameiras, deputy clerk.
The winning candidate will: supervise each department; help prepare the annual budget; hire and fire personnel; write the agendas and take the minutes for all township meetings; handle contract and grant negotiations, and see that the ship of state runs on an even keel.
All this for a salary between $27,000 and $32,000.
Delanco is not the only municipality in Burlington County with a vacancy. Edgewater Park has been seeking a clerk since mid-June, and Pemberton Township is close to naming a new administrator after a six-month search.
Most of the 567 municipalities in New Jersey are governed by part-time elected officials. Without clerks, administrators or managers, it's unlikely that any municipality could function very long in the increasingly complex world of local government.
State statutes make it mandatory for each municipality to have a clerk. But not every town has an administrator or a manager. Some have administrators and clerks. Some have managers and clerks.
Some, such as Delanco, have administrators who double as clerks. And Burlington City has a clerk who is an administrator without title.
Confusing, isn't it?
The oldest position, of course, is that of clerk. In the simplest form, clerks are part secretary, part bookkeeper. To many the term conjures up the image of Mary, the elderly spinster who works the register at Woolworth's.
In reality, the clerk is the central nervous system of most of the smaller municipalities, said attorney Michael Pane, a specialist in municipal government.
Salaries - and duties - vary widely, even within Burlington County. As clerk in Burlington City, David Vechesky will be paid $42,300 in 1988. But his duties make him a defacto administrator: purchasing agent, personnel officer, as well as secretary to the governing body.
On the other hand, Virginia Freck, from Springfield Township, will earn $11,200 this year. Although she is involved with purchasing and the budget to an extent, she said she has no authority in hiring of personnel or in contract negotiations.
Regardless of the specific duties, clerks have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders today, said Ron Nunnenkamp, clerk for Winslow Township and second vice president of the Municipal Clerks Association of New Jersey.
"The trend is to professionalize the community. There are more people to look after."
In order to facilitate the trend, clerks are required to seek state certification. Certification is awarded by way of an examination given by the Department of Community Affairs. Clerks are eligible for the examination after completing five courses and a three-year term. The courses, Nunnenkamp said, cover elections, financial administration, records management, and advanced duties of municipal clerks.
More and more, municipalities are turning to dual titles - administrators/ clerks - especially those experiencing rapid growth, but not yet large enough to afford both.
Delanco is an example. So is Lumberton Township. Patricia Goldy, who has both titles in Lumberton said the addition of the title "administrator" is more honorary than any reflection of her duties. It makes the township look more professional, she said. "I was doing all this without the dual title."
The advantage of retaining the clerkship is obvious: Tenure.
Clerks in New Jersey are given tenure after serving in one municipality for five consecutive years. The position - hence the salary - is protected by law, Goldy said. Administrators, and managers, are at the mercy of the governing body, be it the mayor or council.
That's why those who carry dual titles receive the bulk of their salary as clerks. In Westampton, for example, Donna Ryan is paid $22,700 as clerk, and only $5,000 as administrator.
Without question, the most powerful of the three municipal positions is that of manager.
In historical terms, managers are relative newcomers, an outgrowth of the passage of the Faulkner Act in 1950. The act refined the workings of municipal governments, making them more accountable to the complexities of larger municipalities, according to Seth Benjamin, a research associate for the County and Municipal Government Study Commission.
The Faulkner Act gave municipalities the option of having a strong council or a strong mayor. In the former, known as the Council-Manager form, the mayor is appointed from within the governing body, or in a few cases, elected directly by the people. The council is the policy-making body, with little authority granted to the mayor.
Under this form, day to day operations are handled by managers. In terms of power, "he's equated with the mayor," Benjamin said.
In the Mayor-Council form, the mayor sets the policy for the administration, Benjamin said. To carry out the daily routines, the mayor hires an administrator, under his authority, he added.
To put it simply, "the manager is the chief executive of the municipality," said Michael Pane. "He has the power to hire and fire. That is the critical distinction between an administrator and a manager."
Roseann Lameiras has been minding the store in Delanco since Jeff Hatcher left for a similar position in Florence Township. Will she apply for the administrator/clerk job?
No way, she said.
"I hope they find someone soon. I've been doing all the work," she said. It's complex, it's confusing, "and I haven't even gotten to the hard parts."
MUNICIPAL SCORECARD
At times, it seems you need a glossary to know what the different forms of government are:
COUNCIL/MANAGER: governed by strong elected council, with manager handling daily operations. A mayor is generally appointed from among the council members, but may also be elected.
SPECIAL CHARTER: holdover from days in the late 1880s when the legislature issued charters for the governing of each municipality. Today, same as city form.
MAYOR/COUNCIL: governed by a strong mayor and a council. Daily operations handled by administrator under mayor's authority.
1923 MANAGER: precursor of Council/Manager form. Today, synonymous with that form.
TOWNSHIP: governed by elected committee. May or may not have administrator.
BOROUGH: same as township.
CITY: same as township.
CLERKS, ADMINISTRATORS, MANAGERS: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE
Below is a breakdown of the positions of municipal clerk and municipal administrator in our coverage area in Burlington County.
Included are dates of appointments and 1988 salaries.
Administrative positions are determined by the form of government a municipality has. Council-manager governments must have managers; administrators must exist in mayor-council governments. But municipalities with borough, township and city forms of governments may also hire administrators. In any case, every municipality must have a clerk.
BEVERLY
1985 population: 2,800
form of government: special charter
clerk: Bert Murphy
- appointed: 1986
- salary: $6,300*, part time
BURLINGTON CITY
1985 population: 10,400
clerk: David Vechesky
- appointed: 1974
- salary: $42,300*
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP
1985 population: 11,686
form of government: mayor-council
administrator: Kevin J. McLernon
- appointed: 1980
- salary: $48,300
clerk: Hugh J. McElwee
- appointed: 1970
- salary: $34,000
CINNAMINSON
1985 population: 15,700
clerk: Grace Campbell
- appointed: 1988
- salary: $21,000
administrator: John M. Ostrowski
- appointed: 1984
- salary: $49,000
DELANCO
1985 population: 3,600
form of government: township
clerk: vacant since April 1988
administrator: vacant since April 1988
DELRAN
1985 population: 14,400
clerk: Bernadette Porreca
- appointed: 1972
- salary: $22,100
administrator: Matthew U. Watkins
- salary: $36,600
EASTAMPTON
1985 population: 3,800
form of government: council-manager
clerk: Joy Weiler
- salary: $17,500
manager: Richard A. Brook
- appointed: 1987
- salary: $37,000
EDGEWATER PARK
1985 population: 9,200
clerk: vacant as of June, 1988
administrator: Paul Guidry
- salary: $35,000
HAINESPORT
1985 population: 3,300
clerk: Mary Jane Jones
- salary: $13,200
LUMBERTON
1985 population: 5,200
clerk: Patricia A. Goldy
- appointed: 1982
- salary: $31,500
administrator: Patricia A. Goldy
- salary: $4,000
MEDFORD TOWNSHIP
1985 population: 19,800
clerk: Jean K. Lobach
- salary: $23,000
manager: Richard W. Deaney
- salary: $68,000
MEDFORD LAKES
1985 population: 4,900
form of government: 1923 manager
clerk-manager: Judson Moore Jr.
- salary: $37,100
MOUNT HOLLY
1985 population: 10,800
clerk: Joan L. Boas
- appointed: 1983
- salary: $25,000
manager: Alan Feit
- salary: $38,500
NEW HANOVER
1985 population: 15,200
clerk: John Keller, Jr.
- salary: $12,000
administrator: James J. Nash
- appointed: 1967
- salary: none - part time
PALMYRA
1985 population: 7,100
form of government: borough
clerk: Grace A. Carr
- appointed: 1978
- salary: $18,100
administrator: Rudy K. Creyaufmiller
- appointed: 1981
- salary: $34,400
PEMBERTON BOROUGH
1985 population: 1,100
clerk: Edward V. Kaelin Jr.
- appointed: 1985
- salary: $3,700
PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP
1985 population: 31,000
clerk: Charlotte C. Newhart
- salary (1987): $30,500
administrator: vacant
RIVERSIDE
1985 population: 7,900
clerk: Michael F. Chiaccio
- appointed: 1960
- salary: $20,000
administrator: Gary F. LaVenia
- salary: $36,000
RIVERTON
1985 population: 2,900
clerk: Anna May Whitelock
- appointed: 1958
- salary: $13,500
SHAMONG
clerk: Lynn Heinhold
- appointed: 1971
- salary: $6,900 part time
SOUTHAMPTON
1985 population: 9,000
clerk: Patricia Conner
- salary: $11,300
SPRINGFIELD
clerk: Virginia L. Freck
- salary: $11,200
TABERNACLE
1985 population: 6,800
clerk: Richard C. Haines
- salary: $4,700 part time
administrator: Lorraine Schmeierer
- salary: $27,000
WESTAMPTON
1985 population: 4,800
clerk: Donna Ryan
- salary: $22,700
administrator: Donna Ryan
- salary: $5,000
WILLINGBORO
1985 population: 38,800
clerk: Lenore Stern
- appointed: 1976
- salary: $33,600
manager: Sadie L. Johnson
- salary: $55,000
WOODLAND
1985 population: 2,000
clerk: Carol Cobb
- appointed: 1973
- salary: $14,900
WRIGHTSTOWN
1985 population: 3,200
clerk: Sandra Savaria
- salary: $7,300 part time
* includes positions other than clerk
James J. Maher Sr., 69, Former Mayor Of Delran
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150910112119/http://articles.philly.com/1989-10-26/news/26116842_1_mayor-committee-duties-navy-veteranBy Rebecca Barnard, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: October 26, 1989James J. Maher Sr., 69, former mayor of Delran, died Monday at Zurbrugg Hospital in Riverside.
A member of the Delran Township Committee from 1957 until 1962, Mr. Maher was elected mayor by the committee for two one-year terms. The young township had not yet built a municipal building or police station, and the Police Department was run from Mr. Maher's front porch as part of his committee duties.
He also served on the Delran Planning Board and the Democratic County Committee.
Mr. Maher worked as a maintenance planner at the Public Service Electric & Gas Co. generating plant in Burlington for more than 33 years before retiring nine years ago. He was a former welding teacher at the Burlington County Vocational School.
He was past president of the Delran Fire Company Number 2, a New Jersey Exempt Fireman and was a former member of the Delran Emergency Squad.
Mr. Maher was born in Philadelphia and lived in Camden before moving to Delran 46 years ago, when he married Mildred Marshall. He was a Navy veteran of World War II and a member of St. Peter's Church of Riverside and the church Ushers Association.
Survivors include his wife; two sons, James J. Jr. and Robert; three daughters, Christine Etsell, Jane and Joan, all of Delran; six grandchildren, and a brother.
Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at Sweeney Funeral Home, 337 Bridgeboro St., Riverside. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at St. Peter's Church, 102 Middleton St., Riverside, with burial in the church cemetery.
A Rare Contest In Delran - For Council Seat
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151222045229/http://articles.philly.com/1990-05-06/news/25886785_1_first-ward-school-board-member-electionBy Joseph N. DiStefano, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: May 06, 1990On Tuesday, Delran's dominant Democratic organization will face its first contested regular election in at least eight years. Voters will choose Township Council members for all three ward seats on the nominally nonpartisan body.
Second Ward Councilman Andrew Ritzie, 45, and Third Ward Councilman William Smock, 53, are running unopposed, just as they did in 1986. But in the First Ward, incumbent Madeleine Horchak again faces Henry Shinn, whom she defeated, 52 percent to 39 percent, in a special election to fill the seat last fall.
"I was really surprised at how well I did last year," Shinn said. "If people really liked the way Delran is being run, we wouldn't have had such a big turnout." More than 750 First Ward residents cast ballots in 1989, compared with 100 in 1986.
"When I sat down and looked at the numbers, I said to myself, 'Somebody wants something to change,' " Shinn said.
Horchak, 54, a homemaker and community activist, and Shinn, 29, a machinist and volunteer fireman, both said they were committed to maintaining services in the First Ward, which covers Cambridge, Riverside Park, Hunters Glen and adjoining neighborhoods, all of which are north of Route 130. Development has shifted to newer neighborhoods south of Route 130.
"You really have to fight to get your share," said Horchak, a former school board member who said she first ran for office "to serve my side of the highway."
Shinn said the First Ward had already lost ground to subdivisions such as Millbridge and Tenby Chase. "We're neglected," he said. "This is a very old section. . . . When Delran expanded on the other side of the highway, being newer homes, more expensive homes, they leaned towards putting all the services there. It's time we start getting our share."
Shinn denounced what he called "dust bowl" conditions in playing fields and some streets in his ward. "Our representatives haven't been doing their jobs," he said. "I can do better."
"He's a nice young kid," Horchak said of Shinn. "Last fall after the election I urged him to get involved, start with a committee somewhere. Sometimes it's really necessary to pay your dues."
Horchak said she had helped ensure maintenance of the Brown Street athletic field and was fighting to get improvements for the Faunce Street field. She said she also had responded to neighbors' concerns about noise and air pollution from tractor-trailers idling on the streets around Macmillan Publishing.
"I pushed for the ordinance that bans parking on Third Street for trucks," she said. With the help of her husband, a tractor-trailer driver, Horchak said she had met Macmillan officials, drivers and residents to find mutually acceptable solutions.
Both candidates also are pitching housing issues. Horchak, a member of the council's Substandard Housing Committee, which will begin meeting in May, said she supported the council's efforts to slow low-income and condominium development until state formulas for assigning maintenance costs were worked out. Shinn has a plan to establish rent control for senior citizens.
While Horchak has Democratic support, Shinn said he was "more of a Republican." Shinn said he was a populist rather than a party man, and he was not concerned that as an anti-organization council member he could be frozen out by a hostile majority.
"I'm definitely an underdog," Shinn said. "But if you get enough people around you, and let them know you're not working for a tight little machine, but for everybody . . . you can get things done. I say we need a lot of new blood."
Neither side is taking the First Ward for granted; both candidates said they planned to visit every home in the ward.
The candidates are running for four-year terms. Delran's mayor and two at- large council members will not be up for election until 1992. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
3 Newcomers Elected To Posts In Delran And Madford Lakes
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1990-05-13/news/25889204_1_council-veteran-unexpired-term-special-electionBy Karen Weintraub, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: May 13, 1990Several new faces will appear on the Medford Lakes Borough Council and the Delran Township Council in July after three newcomers earned council seats in nonpartisan elections Tuesday.
A newcomer upset an incumbent for a four-year term for the First Ward council seat in Delran, and two newcomers were elected to four-year terms in the Medford Lakes at-large council.
Henry A. Shinn, 29, a volunteer firefighter and machinist, defeated Madeline Horchak, a community activist and homemaker, by a vote of 237 to 223. Shinn had competed against Horchak for the council seat in a special election last November, after Horchak was appointed to complete an unexpired term in January 1989.
Before the election Shinn said he wanted to try again for the seat because of his strong showing in November. Shinn received 39 percent of the vote in November to Horchak's 50 percent, proving to him, he said, that "somebody wants something to change."
In his campaign, Shinn supported the passage of rent-control laws protecting senior citizens, improving the condition of local playing fields and reinstituting twice-a-week trash pickup, which had been cut back for financial reasons this year. Shinn praised the 1990 municipal budget drawn up by the present council members.
Shinn will be the only member on the nominally nonpartisan council who is not actively endorsed by the Democratic Party - a position which could make him an outsider on many issues.
"It'll probably be four against one," he said, adding that he did not know where conflicts could arise. "I really don't know all their stances. Until I get in, get my hands dirty . . . and find out exactly where they stand - then I can work to either (smooth out the differences) or try to back up my stance."
Shinn will join the council at its annual reorganization meeting, scheduled for the first week in July.
Incumbents Andrew Ritzie and William Smock were uncontested in their bids for re-election in the Second and Third Wards, respectively.
In Medford Lakes, two newcomers and an incumbent were elected by force of their personalities, according to Borough Manager Judson Moore Jr., who said there were no real issues in the contest.
Sixteen-year council veteran John P. Gaitens, an executive for an environmental firm, inched ahead of C. Philip Murray Jr., a tax planner and business consultant, by 67 votes. Gaitens received 569 votes to Murray's 502 to win a two-year seat on the council.
Michael Keating and David D. Wasson emerged victorious in the contest for two available four-year terms.
Keating, a member of the Borough Planning Board and an engineer for General Electric Co. in Moorestown, was the top vote-getter with 549 votes. Wasson, vice president of Eckenhoff Buick Inc. of Moorestown, was second with 448 votes.
The other candidates in order of votes received were: Sherrie Marzi, 376; Dominick J. Paradise, 258; Charles J. Turner, 236; and Fred W. Luttrell, 194.
Gaitens, Keating and Wasson will be sworn into office at the council's reorganization meeting, July 1.
Tough Times Lead Delran To Change Tax Sale To July 17
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1991-07-07/news/25783494_1_tax-sale-property-tax-delinquent-taxpayersBy Gordon Mayer, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: July 07, 1991Economic hard times and the budget crunch are forcing Delran to put more pressure on delinquent taxpayers by advancing the date of its annual tax sale, Township Administrator Jeff Hatcher said.
Delinquent taxpayers in Delran this year have 2 1/2 months less to pay up or face collection of their taxes plus interest because of a change in state law, Hatcher said.
Delran's tax sale, where investors bid to "buy" the amount of property tax that delinquent property owners owe for the privilege of collecting up to 20 percent interest, will come July 17 this year.
Traditionally, the sale date falls early in October, so delinquent taxpayers will now have less time to make their payments, Hatcher said. A state law changed the earliest allowable sale date from July 1 to April 1.
Warning residents to pay on time is the main object of moving up the sale date, Hatcher said, although the tax sale should help cash flow as well.
Because investors pay right away for their purchases, he added, the money flows straight into the township coffers. But income from the sale of delinquent tax certificates is already included in the budget, he said.
Far more property owners failed to pay their 1990 taxes than in 1989. Last year, the owners of only 52 lots on the tax rolls were delinquent, whereas this year, owners of 76 lots failed to pay their taxes, Hatcher said.
The times justified the date change, Delran Mayor Richard Knight said. He said advancing the permissible date of the sale had been necessary, even though the change removed a protection for property owners, who sometimes pay their property tax more than six months after it is due but before the tax sale. These residents will now be forced either to pay in a shorter grace period or pay interest on their property tax.
The investor actually pays the tax for the delinquent property owner, receiving a tax certificate in return, said Randy Ware of Moorestown, a real estate appraiser who invests in such certificates. The township returns the tax money plus interest to the investor after the property owner has paid, Ware said. After two years, the investor can foreclose if the debt remains unpaid.
The tax sale is held in an auction format, with the tax certificate going to whoever bids the lowest rate of interest on the property. The bidding starts at 18 percent, the legal maximum, Ware said, but for amounts of more than $200, the holder of the lien can tack on 2 percent.
Most Community Budgets Kept On Hold Towns Cannot Set Tax Rates Without Ok
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150921044719/http://articles.philly.com/1991-07-07/news/25784820_1_budgets-public-hearing-tax-billsBy Charlie Frush, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: July 07, 1991More than 60 percent of Burlington County's 40 communities were still awaiting final state certification of their budgets last week, but there seemed to be no panic in municipal officialdom.
It remains to be seen just how nervous they will get in the next eight days if their budgets still have not been approved or certified.
The state has not certified budgets for 26 communities in the county. Six of them have not yet adopted budgets. Without all approvals, no municipality can strike a tax rate.
Traditionally, July 15 is the latest day municipalities mail out tax bills if they expect taxpayers to come up with third-quarter payments due Aug. 1.
The entire budget process has been delayed this year. More than half the state's communities applied for discretionary tax-relief funds - money diverted from the Quality Education Act (QEA) - and last week, almost three quarters of them were waiting for state approval of those funds. Other municipal budgets were late because the state supplied them with erroneous budget-increase cap figures.
Officials in some of the six communities that have not adopted budgets saw no need to borrow from banks on TANs - tax anticipation notes - to cover shortfalls. Surpluses should tide them over in the short term until new tax revenues start flowing, even though cash reservoirs are low this year because the depressed economy has hurt tax collections.
Paul E. Thomas, manager-clerk and chief financial officer, explained the situation in Medford Lakes, one community that had not adopted a budget. (The others were Delran, Palmyra, Riverton, Tabernacle and Wrightstown.)
"The state had given us the wrong cap number, and we had to reduce the budget . . . and amend it. That was submitted to the DCA (state Department of Community Affairs) for approval. As things stand, we plan to conduct a public hearing on the amendment" on Thursday, Thomas said. If the DCA has approved it by then, the budget will be adopted then.
In the meantime, Thomas wields a nervous pen when he picks up the borough's check register.
"Bills come in every day, and sometimes it's difficult to make decisions about paying bills when you don't know if you're going to have a budget to pay them," he said. "The state is very quick to remind finance officers that if they overspend appropriations, they can be fined and their license taken away. If I lose my license, I've lost my job."
Riverton's budget was delayed and amended to include additional court revenues, and there will be a second and final reading and a public hearing Thursday, according to Bruce M. Gunn, council president.
"We don't know if the tax bills are going to be delayed going out," he said. "We hope to get them out as soon as the budget's adopted."
The borough has no contingency plan, Gunn said. He said it would consider one if the state did not certify the budget in time.
Tax rates for individual municipalities are struck by County Tax Administrator Sam Paglione, but not until the whole budget approval process is completed.
Under the process, municipalities must introduce a budget, send it to the state for approval, get it back and hold a public hearing and adopt it, then have the state certify it. Only then can the tax rate be established.
Through Wednesday, the budgets of only 14 Burlington County communities had been certified - Bordentown and Burlington cities; Delanco, Edgewater Park, Hainesport, Mansfield, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, New Hanover, Shamong, Springfield and Willingboro Townships, and Fieldsboro and Pemberton Boroughs.
Even after getting final approvals, further delays are entailed because almost all communities farm out the printing of their tax bills to private vendors.
Cinnaminson is an exception. It prints them in-house with its own computer program.
Cinnaminson adopted its amended budget June 19 and shipped it to Trenton. ''A couple of days after that, they called and asked for two more copies," said John Ostrowski, township administrator. Eight days after sending it off, Ostrowski called asking when it would be certified. No answer yet.
Of the 567 municipalities in the state, the budgets of only 148 had been certified by the end of the business day Monday.
"More than 300 towns made applications for discretionary (QEA) funds," said Jay Johnston, public information officer for the Division of Community Affairs. "And we are not going to be certifying them until those awards (approvals) are made."
Authority to award the funds is left to the director of the DCA's Local Government Services. "We expect those awards to be made this week," Johnston said Tuesday.
"They say they are putting (the budget certifications) out as fast as they can," said Paglione. "Everybody is just sitting on edge of their seat."
Paglione said he had alerted municipal assessors, tax collectors and managers to be on call. "Some are on vacation, but they're ready to come back at a minute's notice."
Towns To Use State Funding To Reduce Taxes
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150919105502/http://articles.philly.com/1991-07-25/news/25783386_1_state-aid-tax-rate-state-fundingBy Dave Urbanski, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: July 25, 1991Officials in financially strapped South Jersey municipalities that have been promised a share of $30 million for property-tax relief said they will use the money to reduce local taxes.
But some community officials are concerned that the same state aid may not be available next year.
The state Department of Community Affairs announced last week that New Jersey's 81 neediest municipalities will share $30 million in additional state aid from a discretionary fund that was budgeted in March as part of the $360 million Quality Education Act package for property-tax relief.
The discretionary fund was set aside for suburban communities that would have a difficult time "holding the line" on their 1991 local tax rate, said Jay Johnston, spokesman for the department.
The towns receiving the additional state aid already were granted a share of the $305 million in Quality Education Act funds to be distributed to New Jersey towns, Johnson said.
He said towns should begin receiving their shares within a month.
Woodbury was promised $265,633 from the discretionary fund, which should lower its 1991 tax rate from $1.53 to $1.42 per $100 of assessed property value, clerk administrator Fred Bayer said.
But, Bayer said, the state's granting QEA aid is like "robbing Peter to pay Paul," because next year's local tax rates will increase to pre-QEA levels unless sufficient aid is available next year, he said.
Bayer said the state is trying to "create a good public relations image" with the QEA aid because 1991 is an election year for many legislators. In addition to the promise of $265,633 from the discretionary fund, Woodbury was told it would get $305,000 from the initial QEA aid infusion.
Glassboro was promised $714,976 from the "first shot" of QEA aid in June, said Warren Layton, Glassboro's assistant to the mayor. But when Glassboro officials learned they could apply for a share of the $30 million in extra aid, Layton said the borough applied for $380,000.
However, Glassboro is slated to receive only $155,000 of the $30 million discretionary fund. Layton said the $155,000 in aid will be enough to reduce Glassboro's 1991 tax rate from 82 cents to 79 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
"We were hoping to get more," said Layton, who oversees Glassboro's municipal budget. "But we're thankful to even get ($155,000)."
Delran Township in Burlington County was promised $780,660 from the discretionary QEA aid, and is among the communities promised the most aid.
"We were thrilled with the amount we received," said Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher, adding that Delran applied for $788,100 - very close to the amount the township actually was promised.
Hatcher said concerns that state aid may not be available next year are legitimate, although Hatcher said he was told by the Department of Local Government Services that the property-tax relief program would be "ongoing and permanent."
"Most of our budgetary difficulties came as a result of one poor fiscal year in 1990," Hatcher said, in which a $1.2 million budget surplus was wiped out because of a 5 percent drop in the local tax collection rate.
The borough of Lindenwold was promised $29,198 from QEA discretionary funds, one of the smallest amounts in South Jersey.
"I'm surprised we got anything at all," said Bonnie Jackson, borough treasurer. "We're very happy with whatever we get."
Even with the comparatively small amount of aid, Lindenwold will be able to reduce its 1991 tax rate by 1 cent over last year, from $1.07 to $1.06 per $100 of assessed property value, Jackson said.
Lindenwold is expected to receive about $800,000 from the first infusion of state QEA aid, she said, and still came out at a zero increase in the local tax rate. When the opportunity for more aid came, Jackson said she thought, ''if even we get a penny (decrease), that's something."
Municipalities To Trenton: No, You Go First This Time
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150911233405/http://articles.philly.com/1992-03-15/news/26017978_1_state-aid-municipal-budgets-tax-rateBy Josh Zimmer, SPECIAL TO THE INQUIRER
Posted: March 15, 1992In ratifying a $2.7 million 1991-92 municipal budget on time last year, Edgewater Park officials believe they played by the rules and got hit by the book.
They had just adopted a budget when rules changes at the state level forced them to alter their final figures to reflect those changes. Specifically, Edgewater Park allotted surplus money to maintain the tax rate, but then learned that the state mandated that its supplemental aid could be used only for tax relief and not to replenish the surplus fund.
Municipalities statewide complained about the difficulty of producing local budget figures without knowing in advance how much state aid would be available and how it could be spent.
So this year, Edgewater Park will not even introduce its budget by the legal adoption date, Friday. Neither will Delran. Both communities instead are waiting for state officials to adopt a budget and release the figures on state aid to municipalities.
After receiving $700,000 in property-tax relief in 1991, Delran officials were overjoyed, but now they are concerned with budgetary logistics. According to Township Administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher, "If you introduced a budget Feb. 10 (the scheduled introduction date), you have a 99 percent chance of knowing you'll have to amend it."
Hatcher said the state had recently informed municipalities of new potential reimbursements - for pension plans and the state health benefits program - in addition to the usual education and property-tax aid.
The approaches of Delran and Edgewater Park are not unusual. The state Division of Local Government Services, which processes all local budgets, reported earlier this month that only 100 or so of New Jersey's 567 municipalities had turned in budgets.
In this area, however, Beverly and Delanco will soon be sending their proposed 1992-93 budgets to the state.
Paul Guidry, Edgewater Park's town administrator, said, "We already know what our figures are. Basically, we would like to know what the state is going to send down so we can make some determination of the tax rate we're going to strike for this year."
The township was financially healthy after last year's miscue, "but we could have been much better off."
Local Government Services is urgently encouraging municipalities to adopt their budgets on time. Director Barry Skokowski was featured at a seminar last week, according to Hatcher, and emphasized that the state wanted to see all the budgets by the deadline.
Local Government Services recognizes the bind caused by the unwieldy state budgetary process. "We bend with the wind," said spokesman Jay Johnston, who acknowledged that municipal budgets could not be approved by the state until the level of state aid was confirmed.
However, "we are telling towns to anticipate the amount of aid that you had last year. We can review them to make sure they comply with the cap law." It restricts most spending increases to 4.5 percent.
"Then," when Trenton has adopted a 1992-93 fiscal year budget and the aid to municipalities is determined, Johnston said, "we can roll these budgets out of here."
Beverly's proposed $1,351,750 budget will represent less than a 1 percent increase, if accepted at the March 24 public hearing. Assuming this year's level of state aid, the proposal anticipates a 5-cent municipal tax increase that would bring the rate to $1.14 per $100 assessment, Mayor Frank Costello said.
Beverly's average assessment is $60,000, which makes its taxes Burlington County's fourth-lowest, he added.
Delanco Township Administrator Roseann M. Lameiras said she heeded state warnings regarding possible penalties for late filing and introduced a $1,861,937 budget, a 9 percent increase over 1991-92.
3-way Delran Race Focuses On Change
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151222021840/http://articles.philly.com/1992-05-03/news/26014825_1_mayoral-candidates-sewerage-authority-contributionsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: May 03, 1992Delran's municipal administration faces more potential change this year than at any time in the last eight as the campaign heats up for the May 12 mayoral and council elections.
Residents will be voting in one of Burlington County's four nonpartisan elections, and Mayor Richard J. Knight, 46, an eight-year incumbent who ran unopposed in 1988, faces two challengers. They are Jon S. Hewko, 38, a maverick Sewerage Authority member who refuses to accept campaign contributions from professionals and hopes to capitalize on voter discontent over authority operations, and Tom DiLauro, 50, Republican Town Committee chairman, who also refuses contributions from professionals such as engineers, lawyers and accountants doing business with the township.
On Knight's ticket are Councilman Walter J. Shultz, 58, a factory foreman and only council incumbent, and Republican Joseph M. Otto, 47, assistant vice president at CoreStates Bank and Ethics Commission chairman. Knight and Shultz are Democrats, although no candidate is identified by party on the ballot.
Hewko, a Democrat, is running alone, while DiLauro is joined by Anthony Ogozalek Jr., 22, a marketing major at Seton Hall University, and Eileen McGonigle, 46, a homemaker. Councilwoman Mary Ann Rivell's decision not to run has left her seat up for grabs.
A central issue of the campaign is the Sewerage Authority, whose 42 percent rate increase was rescinded last month under a public protest led by Brian McDermott, head of the Delran Citizens for Responsible Government.
First-time mayoral candidates Hewko and DiLauro have sought McDermott's support, but he has refused it, preferring to focus on working against Knight and his running mates.
Although the authority rescinded the rate increase, Knight has become inextricably linked with what critics call a wasteful authority.
"I think it was politically motivated," Knight said. "I think the Sewerage Authority became a sounding board for McDermott and other discontented people who could not tell me who to run with me."
The reference concerns Otto, the Republican. McDermott is a member of the Delran Democratic Committee.
All three mayoral candidates enter the race with different levels of professional and governmental experience.
Knight is president of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors. A senior account executive with AT&T; in Philadelphia, he counts his experience as mayor and the two years before that as councilman as his greatest asset. His campaign slogan is "Delran Proud."
He said his administration had worked to provide affordable housing; had stabilized the tax rates, which have not risen the last two years, and had remained open to the people.
A decade in office, he said, "has given me the opportunity to interact with people on all levels of government . . . and understand government, what it can be and what it can't be."
Hewko and DiLauro insist that Knight has let taxes increase during his tenure and has not run an open government.
Hewko, who several years ago opposed a recycling drop-off center on Hartford Road, said Knight had "lost touch with his constituency."
"If you look at where he's got his (campaign) money, it's from the professionals of the world," Hewko said.
Hewko and DiLauro have made the Sewerage Authority controversy an integral part of their campaigns.
Hewko, often the lone dissenting vote on the authority, supports dissolving the body and contracting with a private firm that would run the township's wastewater treatment plant, scheduled to undergo a $10 million expansion. DiLauro wants the current members to resign so he can appoint new people.
Both candidates support restoring twice-weekly trash pickup, which Knight's administration eliminated to save money as recycling got under way. In addition, they favor more township-sponsored youth activities and criticize the lack of a community center.
DiLauro proposes eliminating health insurance for the mayor and council members - an estimated $45,000 savings. He also would require that unused retail space be filled before allowing new developments and would appoint a Blue Ribbon Task Force of business and community leaders to recommend a more efficient government.
Knight Is Turned Out In Delran Election
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1992-05-13/news/26011423_1_clean-campaign-election-officials-matesBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: May 13, 1992Delran Mayor Richard Knight, who ran unopposed during his last campaign in 1988, lost his office last night to Thomas DiLauro, the local Republican chairman, who hammered at the administration's tax record throughout this spring's nonpartisan campaign.
"Not only did people want a change, I think we ran an honest, clean campaign and we presented a platform that people accepted," DiLauro said after his acceptance speech at the Polish-American Club in Delran last night.
DiLauro and his two running mates won resoundingly over Knight's slate in a clean sweep. Election officials said the turnout was the largest since 1976 for a local election.
Knight was unavailable for comment.
"Nobody knew what a Republican was in this town. We took it back," DiLauro said, although the election is officially nonpartisan. He has lived in Delran for about two years.
One of DiLauro's running mates is Republican: Anthony Ogozalek Jr., a 22- year-old graduate of Seton Hall University. The other, Eileen McGonigle, a 46-year-old homemaker and first-time candidate, is a Democrat.
During the campaign, Knight's two opponents tapped into widespread discontent, insisting that taxes have increased during Knight's administration and that his administration was at least partly to blame for a 42 percent increase in Delran's water-usage tax. The increase was rescinded in April because of powerful local opposition.
DiLauro, 50, works in Conrail's finance department. He advocated eliminating health benefits for township board appointees and establishing a recycling program for plastics.
Knight's running mates were Councilman Walter J. Shultz and Joseph M. Otto, chairman of the township's ethics commission. Knight and Shultz are Democrats. Otto is a Republican.
Jon S. Hewko, 38, a registered Democrat and maverick member of the local sewage authority, trailed far behind in the race for mayor.
Delran Mayoral Vote Outcome Is Same In Recount
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150922141918/http://articles.philly.com/1992-06-18/news/26032218_1_mayoral-race-third-place-candidate-council-electionsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: June 18, 1992A recount conducted last week by the County Board of Elections confirmed Tom DiLauro's victory in the Delran's mayoral race.
DiLauro and Mayor Richard J. Knight received the same number of votes as were recorded on May 12, while third-place candidate Jon Hewko lost one vote, an election board supervisor said Monday. DiLauro had 1,152 votes, Knight 1,032 and Hewko 712.
"I wasn't surprised at all," DiLauro said Monday. "I've never seen an election turned around with 120 votes. I can't even see why he (Knight) called for a recount."
Knight served two four-year terms. DiLauro will be sworn in on July 1.
Knight said Sunday that disappointed supporters had urged him to seek a recount. Although not optimistic that the results would be changed, Knight said, he agreed to the filing of a petition with Superior Court because he wanted to dispel lingering doubts that poll workers had not accurately read the machines.
In the council elections, both members of DiLauro's team won landslide victories over Knight's running mates.
They Want A Fence, But Run Into Wall
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151018141713/http://articles.philly.com/1992-06-25/news/26032576_1_property-line-new-fence-part-time-zoning-officerBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: June 25, 1992Ron and Janice Clawges never imagined that replacing an old fence on their corner property at Tenby Chase Drive and Sharrow Vale Road in Delran would be such a hassle. Many neighbors had done it.
By April, they had plunked down $700 for 216 feet of six-foot high, weather-resistant wood, leaving a balance of $2,342, they said. They plan to replace an existing rotting fence that is five feet from the property line with a new one having a 10-foot setback.
"We feel we should be able to improve our property," Janice Clawges said. ''It (the old fence) is one eyesore to the neighborhood."
But they ran head-on into the local zoning ordinance, which states that fences on corner properties must obey a 25-foot setback and be no higher than three feet. The regulation was designed to avoid obstructions to the vision of cars waiting at or approaching intersections.
At 25 feet, the Clawgeses' new fence would almost abut their house. It was determined by measurements that a fence 10 feet from the property line would allow cars at least 150 feet of visibility.
Since April, the Clawgeses said they have spoken to several public officials and explored nearly all the bureaucratic avenues, none of which has brought satisfaction. At one point, they contacted an attorney.
Adding to the bureaucratic maze, the May 12 municipal elections left Delran with a new mayor and township council, making it more difficult to challenge the ordinance until the new administration takes over July 1. Current members of the council, the body responsible for adopting or changing ordinances, did say Wednesday that they will include the challenge on a list of pending matters.
In the meantime, the couple has rejected applying for a variance with the Zoning Board of Adjustments because the $450 processing fee did not guarantee success.
They said their frustration had been further piqued at what they claim is selective enforcement, which officials acknowledge has occurred in Delran zoning cases.
"I think a case can be made that there has been," Mayor Richard J. Knight said while repeating an observation that Delran's part-time zoning officer, Tom Cappetti, does not have time to enforce the ordinance alone.
The Clawgeses hit their first roadblock on April 22, when their contractor applied for a permit, costing $30, they said. Building Inspector Don McMahon then told them the plan was non-conforming.
Angered, they scouted the neighborhood one evening and wrote down the addresses of 51 corner properties that they believed were in violation of the ordinance. They presented the list a few days later to Cappetti, who indicated, they said, that all of them had permits or variances. Cappetti could not be reached for comment.
The Clawgeses were told to apply for a variance and notify all their neighbors living within 200 feet of their plans.
But when the Clawgeses' list was verified by Inspections Office clerk Thelma Espenschied, it showed that just two properties had received variances. Ten others had permits, but for what purpose was left undetermined, Espenschied said.
"If a majority of the people had obtained permits and variances, then I would have paid (for one)," Ron Clawges said bitterly.
A neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, was similarly turned off by the process six years ago, she said Wednesday. Wishing to install a fence, she made her own survey, bypassed the ordinance and advised the Clawgeses to ignore it, too.
"I tried to do the right thing," but "if you look around, every property in Tenby Chase has done what they wanted," she said. "To have them give you grief? After paying all those taxes, I'm going to lose my property for my kids?"
Because the inspections office's files date back only to 1985, it remains unclear whether old fences like the Clawgeses' original had received permits before adoption of the present ordinance in 1979, Espenschied said. Those with permits would be grandfathered.
"The site plans showed existing fences that go back before the ordinance," she said. "Whether they have permits or not, I'm not sure."
A search predating 1979 would require wading through the cumbersome archives, she said.
Meanwhile, the Clawgeses still have the money they had saved up and a rickety fence.
"I'm willing to spend it (the money)," Ron Clawges said. "Now I can't."
A Delran Option: New Bills, Old Rates State Still Hasn't Returned Budget. Township Hopes Non-binding Bills Will Stall Cash Flow Problem.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150915141620/http://articles.philly.com/1992-07-16/news/26026213_1_tax-bills-tax-rate-tax-anticipation-noteBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: July 16, 1992Within a week, Delran Township residents will face a taxpaying twist.
And with it, Delran officials are predicting public aggravation.
Residents should begin receiving non-binding tax bills based on last year's tax rate to reflect the local cash flow problems caused by the state's delay in returning certified budgets to municipalities.
The Department of Community Affairs has not given a firm date for releasing the budgets, and without firm figures, municipalities cannot legally issue the tax billings that usually arrive in June, Township Auditor Steve Ryan said. Ordinarily, by mid-August, Delran would expect to receive about $1.95 million in third-quarter taxes, Ryan said.
Residents are essentially being asked to make a goodwill gesture that will allow the township to avoid the immediate issue of a $2 million tax anticipation note with high interest payments, Ryan said.
"We're hopeful that they'll respond positively to it," Ryan said. "The taxes won't go up as a result of this. Hopefully, this will take care of the (cash flow) problem."
In a July 1 letter, the community affairs department indicated - following a review by the deputy attorney general - that local governments could adopt the stopgap measure. The township council opted for it at a July 8 work session.
Any portion of the estimated bill that residents pay will be credited against the actual third-quarter bill, Ryan said, but there is no guarantee that the new tax bills won't be higher than last year's.
Township Administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher said that the township would be fortunate if the real tax bills would be sent out by mid-August.
Delran not only has its own payments in mind. By law, municipalities also collect county, local school and local fire department bills.
Delanco, facing a similar money crunch on a smaller scale, has also decided to issue estimated tax bills, township administratior Roseann Lameiras said Tuesday. She said the township expected to collect less than the $540,000 it had collected by mid-August last year.
Edgewater Park faces less dire cash flow problems, but Paul Guidry, township administrator, said the council would also be considering the move. Guidry did not know the estimated revenue shortfall. Residents will eventually receive their yearly billings, according to Ryan, who said the payment schedules would eventually return to normal.
Ryan said a realistic collection rate under the estimated tax is 15 percent. Mortgage companies, which often collect taxes for many homeowners with their mortgage payments, might be reluctant to pay a non-standard bill, he said.
The Delran Township Council decided against issuing a tax anticipation note because, despite guaranteeing an influx of funds while avoiding the extra paperwork, interest payments would have reached $18,000 to $20,000 for a $2 million note, Ryan said.
But the expected low collection means that Delran would eventually have to issue one anyway because a 15 percent collection would garner just $300,000, leaving the township with an estimated $1.7 million shortfall, Ryan said. But by that time, the municipal budgets are expected to be approved.
Problems? Call Delran's New Hotline
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1992-08-02/news/25989618_1_new-hotline-local-government-problemsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: August 02, 1992Delran residents with nagging questions for their local government need no longer wait for office hours.
They can call a hotline number - 461-3341 - after hours, Mayor Tom DiLauro told the council July 25. The move fulfills one of his campaign promises.
"The reason is to give the opportunity to residents to be able to register a complaint or report a problem after regular business hours," said DiLauro, who took office on July 1 after defeating eight-year incumbent Richard J. Knight.
The hotline is hooked up to Township Administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher's phone. An answering machine will field calls when he is not at work. DiLauro said that he will receive all messages but that Hatcher will attempt to resolve as many problems as he can during the day.
The mayor did not have to seek the council's approval for the move, but Councilman William Smock said he approved of it anyway because it would increase residents' access to government.
Slam-dunking Is In Danger In Delran The Township, Wary Of Lawsuits, Wants To Ban Roadside Hoops.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1992-09-17/news/26024836_1_hoops-streetside-ordinanceBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: September 17, 1992Eighth grader Jason Stieg of Delran, a varsity basketball player at Moorestown Friends School, credited practice at a hoop outside his home for his performance breakthrough last season.
"I just started in the fifth grade," said Stieg. "I wasn't that good, and last year, I made varsity. I don't think I could have made it if I couldn't practice every day."
Spending about $200, Stieg's parents had planted a basketball pole and backboard in the strip of lawn at the edge of the road. Like scores of other township families who have installed similar backboards, they thought they were providing Jason with an innocent form of recreation.
Delran certainly isn't Philadelphia, where the streets buzz with the rhythms of basketball games played around makeshift hoops. But practicing for a team, playing an impromptu game or even enjoying a bit of lazy streetside shooting is in jeopardy in Delran as the township prepares an ordinance that would forbid the streetside hoops and require owners to remove existing ones within 90 days.
As written, the ordinance, which carries a $500 fine or a 90-day stint in the county jail for non-compliance, would extend to any structure that overhangs a street, alley or public right of way.
Although no one from the police chief down to council members could recall any injuries related to the streetside hoops, the council not waiting for the worst to happen because of the threat of liability.
The ordinance will be introduced at Wednesday's meeting. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28, after which the five-member council will vote on ratifying the ordinance.
"That's going to be a hot potato," said Council Vice President William Smock, but he added that the ordinance was likely to be approved.
"If a person gets injured playing basketball in a car way, we are liable," Smock said.
Councilwoman Eileen McGonigle initiated the discussion with council, responding to what she said were safety concerns expressed by several of her neighbors in Tenby Chase.
"The point is, there were some vans in the way, and you can't see the children," McGonigle said. "The point was made that some of them (the poles) were broken by (trash and public works) trucks. It was something that was there and needed to be brought out."
Township Administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher then presented the council with information from an attorney with Delran's insurance carrier that said townships were liable if mishaps, such as car accidents, occurred around a streetside hoop.
On a drive through Delran, Smock said he counted 92 such hoops. Most of them, he said, were located on side roads.
Twice in recent years, once when a youngster injured his eye playing baseball and another time when a man fell off a set of bleachers, the township has been sued and forced to compensate those injured on public property.
But the ordinance takes safety and liability a little too seriously for residents who own their own hoops.
"I have four kids plus the neighborhood kids," said one Diane Drive resident who constructed his equipment by using a discarded gas main for a pole. "The playground is far away, and you can't keep an eye on them," said the man, who declined to give his name.
"Big Brother," he said of the township ordinance.
"It will be a real annoyance more than anything if we have to take it down," said Jason Stieg's mother, Carol.
One alternative, placing hoops on driveways, is less than ideal because of their slope.
"It really stinks, because I can't put it in the driveway," Jason Stieg said.
To Delran Youths, Halloween Curfew Is Simply Ghoulish What Do They Really Fear? Not Getting Enough Candy By 8 P.m. On Mischief Night, The Curfew Will Be 10.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1992-10-18/news/25998559_1_curfew-trick-or-treaters-youthsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: October 18, 1992The decision didn't make sense to this group of Delran youngsters ages 10 to 13 - seasoned trick-or-treaters every one of them.
Acting on advice from Police Chief Art Saul, the Delran Township Council has advanced the Mischief Night curfew to 10 p.m. and prohibited trick-or- treating on Halloween after 8 p.m.
Worried because those quintessential celebrations of the young fall on Friday and Saturday nights this year, Saul insisted the police needed an enforcement tool to crack down on youngsters interested in flauting the law. Normally, the township's curfews are midnight on weekends and 10 other nights.
News of the 8 p.m. limit on Halloween fell like a bomb. What can even the most ambitious youngster accomplish by then?
Jeff Olivo, 10, protested the restriction "because you don't get enough candy. I (always) stay out till 10 p.m."
"That's the corniest thing in the world," 11-year-old Victor Veston added. "A lot of people might not be home" at the earlier hours.
The youngsters, interviewed during a pickup football game, said their schoolmates already knew about the ordinance. Who could be surprised after a bunch of grownups had just manacled their evening of adventure?
Saul called the curfew ordinance "a tool. You can use it if you need it."
According to him, Mischief Nights have been especially fertile ground for disorderly conduct, though rambunctiousness has declined the last several years because parents have cracked down on troublemakers.
Enacting curfews hardly makes Delran a pariah. Many other South Jersey municipalities often enforce them on an ad hoc basis. Saul said many municipalities also had Mischief Night and Halloween curfews.
One of his chief hopes was that the curfew might help prevent older youths from harassing younger trick-or-treaters. The youngsters interviewed said that had never happened to them, but they cited a long list of typical Mischief Night behavior that supported Saul's contentions on at least one point.
The list ranged from throwing eggs, breaking pumpkins, ringing doorbells and soaping cars to stealing flowers, stuffing tailpipes, slashing tires and breaking windows.
Victor Veston said that the headlights on his grandfather's car were smashed last year and that the inside was sprayed with plastic string.
"All the old people, they can't handle this," he said.
In fact, the youths couldn't understand why the 8 p.m. curfew wasn't applied to Mischief Night and the 10 p.m. curfew pegged to Halloween.
Saul said a football game on Mischief Night at the high school, which should attract a large crowd of youngsters, would have made an early curfew impractical then. And, he said, the 8 p.m. limit on trick-or-treating Oct. 31 gives youngsters plenty of time to collect candy.
The youngest trick-or-treaters have the least to lose because they are often escorted earlier in the day by parents and older siblings, like the ones playing football on an unusually warm fall day.
Frank Scazzuso usually takes his 8-year-old sister door-to-door and then goes out himself. Now by the time they finish, he said, it might not be worth going out anymore.
Fisherman Succeed Only Too Well In Getting Lake Rules On Agenda The Delran Proposal Would Ban Not Only Remote-control Boats, But Anglers' Electric Motors As Well.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1992-10-22/news/26000253_1_toy-boats-fishermen-fishing-linesBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: October 22, 1992DELRAN — Swedes Lake, a popular fishing hole, has become the unlikely setting for a lively turf war and a peace treaty that stands to please nobody.
Fishermen, who in August requested a ban on a small contingent of noisy, radio-operated, fuel-powered, remote-control boats, are befuddled over the ordinance that the Township Council has finally proposed. It prohibits not only the toy boats from the 45-acre lake, but also their own quiet electric outboard motors they use for fishing.
They are organizing a minor fishermen's insurgency to protest the proposed ordinance, which will be introduced on Wednesday. The council, in order to avoid controversies involving power-driven boats, came up with an ordinance that permits only muscle power - canoes and rowboats.
"Just for a few people running their powered boats, I think they're (the council members) eliminating a lot of people from using the lake," said Percy Muetz, a lakeside resident and avid fisherman who has complained about the remote-control boats for two years.
The boats Muetz refers to are models of speedboats up to three feet in length that can zoom around the lake at speeds of about 40 m.p.h. Fishermen complain that the little boats befoul fishing lines and scare fish.
Now, Muetz is fighting against the ordinance, spreading word of the proposal among members of local fishing clubs in hopes that many will protest at the meeting.
Swedes Lake, which runs from Second to Fifth Streets on the west side of the township, is the site of a former sand-and-gravel operation. It attracts a crowd of fishermen that grows large on weekends and holidays. Many are retirees fishing for large-mouth bass and catfish.
"I have seen as many as 19 boats on the lake at one time using electric motors," Muetz said.
The real problem is the remote-control boat operators who scare away the fish and are rude to the fishermen, Muetz said.
"The complaint is, while people are fishing off the banks, they are running (the boats) in front of them," he said.
Robert Tool, a Delran resident who began building and running his own remote-control boats last year, has a different view.
"It's blown way out of proportion" by the fishermen, he said. "They think they own the lake. This is what irritates me."
Tool, skeptical that his fellow hobbyists were as inconsiderate as some fishermen made them out to be, said he tried to be courteous to the fishermen by not running his boat near them or their fishing lines.
There is an ordinance in Delran that bans all power-driven crafts, but it was ambiguous and has gone unenforced, said Councilman Anthony Ogozalek. That opened the way for remote-control boats.
The new ordinance would simply specify that electric motors are included in the ban contained in the exitsing ordinance, according to Ogozalek. As the council's representative to the township's Marine Affairs Advisory Committee, he spent the last several months trying to work out a satisfactory arrangement for the fishermen.
The Marine Committee proposed banning the much-louder remote-control boats powered by fuel while allowing electric motors on both fishing and remote- control boats.
To Ogozalek's frustration, the council didn't buy the idea.
"There are certain nuisance things you don't get into," Council Vice President William Smock said. "They (the fishermen) think they own it (the lake). They don't."
Lakefront residents have fought previous battles with fishermen, including one eight to 10 years ago that eventually kept the fishermen from casting off lines from the residents' lakefront private properties. Some are watching the current controversy with amusement.
"They (electric motors) make no noise," Pat Rossi said.
The fuel-powered remote-control boats, by contrast, are extremely loud, but Eileen Jordan said their operators rarely use the lake, and, when they do, it is usually for about an hour. She showed little enthusiasm for banning them. Charles Hurd agreed.
"I think they should be open to everybody," because the lake was designated a Green Acres property in 1973, he said. He called the proposed ordinance "kind of silly."
The Township Council could adopt the ordinance next month after a public hearing.
With a tinge of bitterness, Tool said there would be a certain justice in banning both groups from the lake.
"It's gotten to the point where I can't go over there and relax," he said. "So I don't care."
Delran Basketball Fans Win Big In Joust Over Street-side Baskets
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151018092639/http://articles.philly.com/1992-10-29/news/26001072_1_hoops-private-streets-council-membersBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: October 29, 1992DELRAN — Showing some street smarts, the Township Council performed its version of the fast break last night for the blacktop crowd.
Council members rejected placing a ban on street-side basketball hoops, installed by private citizens, after spirited public opposition during the second reading of the ordinance.
About 50 residents attended the meeting.
Council was ready to pass the proposed ban - or table it until Dec. 16 - over residents' protests. But they were dissuaded after a last-minute tongue-lashing by Councilman Andrew Ritzie.
"I oppose this," said Ritzie. "I do feel it's important for parents to supervise their (children) on private streets."
He called the motion to table "a cop-out."
"We're all here tonight. You have to look your constituents in the face," Ritzie said.
Ritzie concurred with residents who said the township was overreacting to liability concerns should a child get hurt near one of the township's estimated 92 street-side hoops. In addition, residents complained that there were not enough township recreational facilities to compensate for their loss.
Most of the opposition came from residents of the township's Temby Chase neighborhood, where most of the hoops are located. If the ordinance had passed, they would have had to remove the baskets at their own expense or face fines or a 90-day jail term.
Police Officer Leonard Mongo, a Temby Chase resident himself, criticized the proposed ban during the debate of the second reading. "I've never answered a call where a kid got hurt (near one of the hoops)," said Mongo, who installed one himself three years ago.
Council vice president William Smock and council president Henry Shinn joined Ritzie in opposing the measure, though they had spoken in favor of it during the second reading. Councilwoman Eileen McGonigle, who first raised the issue, voted for the proposal. Councilman Anthony Ogozalek Jr. abstained.
Longtime Delran Homeowner Nails Down A Neighborly Victory The Decision Is Final: Tom Freynick's Embattled Shed Prevails, To The Delight Of Many Neighbors.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1992-12-27/news/25995402_1_zoning-board-property-values-power-sawsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: December 27, 1992DELRAN — For self-employed carpenter Tom Freynick, the best news out of the last Zoning Board of Appeals meeting was that his life was back to normal.
In front of 25 neighbors who praised him for being a good neighbor and improving his Arch Street property, the zoning board ruled that Freynick was not running a business out of his backyard shed, which would be illegal under the township's amended 1979 ordinance.
He can keep on running the power saws inside - the ones he has been using for 15 years to prepare woodwork for on-site jobs.
"Thank God it's over," Freynick said. "After two years, I can get back to living again."
That includes working as a carpenter without worrying that he might be forced out of business.
Freynick's troubles began after Alexander Oros 3d moved into a house across the street from him in October 1990. No one had ever objected to the shed, the noise and the light coming from it, or the appearance of his yard. Oros cited all of it in complaining that Freynick had created an eyesore that was dragging down property values.
The shed was also being used to run a business, Oros said.
However, the outpouring of neighborhood support for Freynick Dec. 17 left little doubt that Oros was virtually alone in his mini-crusade. He was backed by his father, Alexander Oros Jr. But his grandfather, Alexander Oros Sr., who also lives across the street from Freynick, would not.
"He's only trying to make money to pay his taxes," Oros Sr. said of Freynick. "He's made a big improvement in the property. You couldn't have a nicer neighbor."
Thomas Cappetti, the township's zoning code official, inspected the property in November 1990 and determined that Freynick was not running a business there.
Cappetti's report did criticize the appearance of the yard. Freynick moved a pickup truck off the property and spent $350 on a new fence at the rear of the shed and $950 on other improvements.
Oros 3d pressed for more.
Freynick took his case to the Township Council on June 10.
He said he felt harassed. And he added that if operating the power saws inside the shed constituted running a business, he wanted the operation grandfathered because home businesses were permitted under the previous ordinance.
Freynick has been using the shed since 1977.
On Dec. 17, after shelling out $400 for a variance application and more in attorney's fees, Freynick found himself in front of the board.
His wife came. Two brothers came. His father was there.
They saw him win.
The board ruled that preparing items for on-site work was a permitted use of residential property.
George E. Hulse, attorney for Oros 3d, said the board was misinterpreting the ordinance.
"The man rips lumber, fixes doors" in the shed, Hulse said. "Just because they're ultimately going to be installed doesn't mean it's not a commercial use.
"It's obvious that public opinion and emotion was on the side of Mr. Freynick," he added. "I think that had something to do with the board's decision, as is not unusual at all. I don't mean that as an indictment of the board."
Hulse said his client planned no further action.
Richard Smith, one of nine neighbors who spoke up for Freynick at the hearing, approached him and shook his hand.
"They never should even have gone through all this nonsense," Smith said.
More than 20 supporters sat through nearly four hours of testimony. At the end, about 11:15 p.m., Oros 3d declined to comment.
But Freynick had this to say: "I've got a great bunch of neighbors."
Delran's Mayor May Face Probe
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151225190257/http://articles.philly.com/1993-03-25/news/25948941_1_plow-blizzard-cost-sandBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: March 25, 1993DELRAN — The township's Ethical Standards Board is expected to investigate accusations that Mayor Thomas DiLauro misused his power and wasted taxpayers' money by instructing the Public Works Department to plow out his townhouse complex during this month's blizzard.
"The best thing is to go to an impartial body," Councilman Andrew Ritzie said after a heated argument during last night's council meeting.
No date has been set for the ethics board to convene. Township Clerk Bernadette Porreca said the six-member body, which was set up as a consequence of the 1991 Ethics Law, had never met.
The accusations are political, according to DiLauro.
Last year, DiLauro became Delran's first Republican mayor in at least eight years. His accusers, John Myers and Alan Ashinoff, are active in the local Democratic Party.
DiLauro began fending off the angry charges shortly after praising the Public Works Department for going "over and above" its regular task of clearing and sanding public roads only.
DiLauro lives in Mill Run Commons, an complex of 29 townhouses off Route 130 North on Suburban Drive. Myers and Ashinoff said that on March 15, the Monday following the blizzard, they saw township employees plow Suburban Drive and lay sand where the roadway meets several entrances at Heritage Square, a shopping complex adjacent to Suburban Drive.
Mill Run Commons residents, like residents of condominium complexes, are not entitled to have their roads plowed by public employees.
"I think you misused your authority as mayor of the township, and I think you should be called on it," said Myers before about 15 other residents.
Cleaning up after the blizzard cost the Public Works Department $17,000, Council President Henry Shinn said.
DiLauro denied asking the department to plow Suburban Drive, but acknowledged that he had asked the employees to sand the entrances. He said many older people lived in the adult community and, in case of snow-related illnesses, emergency vehicles would find it difficult to enter the complex.
"They did not plow," DiLauro said. "They put sand on the entrances. It had been plowed the night before by a private concern. We have the bill."
Residents Say Mayor Is Using Scare Tactics Those Who Brought The Mayor Under Investigation By The Ethics Board Are Being Probed By Dilauro.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1993-05-26/news/25962382_1_ethics-board-private-investigator-township-residentsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: May 26, 1993DELRAN — Township residents, whose complaints prompted an ethics investigation of Mayor Tom DiLauro, now accuse him of using intimidation tactics by sending a private investigator to question them.
"It's a real sad scenario when you try to make a mayor accountable and you get a goddamn investigation shoved in your face," said John Myers, one of the complainants. "I'm not going to back off."
For nearly two months, the township Ethical Standards Board has been examining complaints by Myers and two others that DiLauro ordered the Public Works Department to plow the townhouse complex where he lives - Mill Run Commons off Route 130 North - on March 14 and 15. The workers cleared snow left by the big blizzard that ended March 13.
Myers, Allan J. Ashinoff and Donna Melchiorre said DiLauro abused his power for personal benefit while other residents of Delran struggled to shovel away the deluge. DiLauro, a Republican who was swept into office last May, said the charges are false and political, the work of his local Democratic enemies.
In response, the mayor and his attorney are saying they have the legal right to pursue their own investigation. Because the board has refused to supply them with all of its investigation records, they have no choice but to gather their own information, said Frederick F. Fitchett, who is also chairman of the Camden County Republican Party.
On the evening of May 17, Myers and Ashinoff were each visited by a private investigator - they described him differently - who carried a card from TMK Associates in Cherry Hill.
Myers and Ashinoff said they were asked to name the race of the public works employees who were operating the plow at Mill Run Commons.
Said DiLauro: "Those people are upset that I'm doing anything to defend myself. The only reason they're intimidated is they're afraid they might get caught in a lie."
DiLauro charged that the ethics board's chairman, Joseph Otto, who lost a race for council against his slate last May, is seeking political revenge and should "remove himself from the board."
The board's attorney, John Harrington, was fired by DiLauro as township solicitor. He "hates me so much (he) won't even say hi to my wife and me at a public function," said the mayor.
Said Otto: "I have no problem in acting as chairman of the ethics board. The mayor's rights will be upheld. It's very unfortunate he thinks that way."
The ethics board is convening for the first time since being established under the 1991 state and township ethics laws. Any public official accused of ethics violations has the right to counsel. If DiLauro is cleared, the township would be responsible for his defense bills, including those of the private investigator, Fitchett said.
If found guilty, the board could fine him between $100 and $500.
The members, selected by the Township Council, are Otto, Joe Chinnici, the Rev. Donald Rolfs, Joseph Walsh, Pat Ronayne and Charlotte Boellman.
Otto and Harrington have so far interviewed Myers, Ashinoff and Melchiorre, who are all members of the Delran Democratic Club. Otto said they have also interviewed Public Works Department Superintendent Ed Bart, three department employees and Township Administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher.
Those interviews took place in early April, but Otto said Harrington has been unable to schedule a meeting with DiLauro. So far, Fitchett and Harrington have each canceled at least one interview but in a letter to Fitchett last week, Otto set an interview deadline of Saturday.
"I think ample time has been given for the mayor to respond," Otto said. ''If we can't come to a meeting by the 29th, the ethics board will conclude its investigation."
At that time, the board will meet in public to decide if the charges have enough substance to justify a complaint and arranging a public hearing, Otto said.
Bart, who was approached by DiLauro's investigator on May 12, said he referred all questions to his lawyer and also advised his employees not to talk.
"I don't think it's right that he came here to ask me questions. Not at work and not on township time," Bart said. "He ain't intimidating me."
Prosecutor Agrees To Probe Charge Against Delran Mayor Mayor Dilauro Calls Allegation He Ordered The Township To Plow His Townhouses A "Vendetta."
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150919104040/http://articles.philly.com/1993-06-24/news/25974521_1_ethics-board-private-investigator-vendettaBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: June 24, 1993DELRAN — Mayor Tom DiLauro, who says an investigation by the township ethics board into his conduct during the March blizzard is a political vendetta against him, believes he has just won a tactical victory in the nearly three-month- long probe.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office has granted his request to open an investigation into the allegation that the first-term mayor ordered Ed Bart, the superintendent of public works, to send three department employees to plow his townhouse complex, Mill Run Commons, on March 13, 14 and 15, after the blizzard.
"I asked to take it out of the hands of these people," DiLauro said, referring to Joseph Otto, chairman of the township Ethical Standards Board, and the board's solicitor, John Harrington. "Put it in the hands of the prosecutor. They're qualified to do it."
DiLauro, who hired a private investigator to question some of the people - including two witnesses - interviewed in April by Otto and Harrington, charged that both men were simply looking for political revenge.
Otto, a Republican like the mayor, ran on a slate that lost to DiLauro's slate in last May's nonpartisan election. DiLauro says Otto wants to run again for the Township Council in November, to fill a vacancy created by the death of a council member.
Harrington, who had been township solicitor under the previous Democrat- dominated administration, was fired by the council at DiLauro's urging after DiLauro became mayor in July.
Otto criticized the mayor's request for an outside investigation, saying it ''doesn't make sense. It's not warranted. He indicated I did it (because) I have some vendetta against him because I lost the election. But that's ridiculous."
Gary Daniels, chief of investigations in the prosecutor's office, confirmed DiLauro's request came by letter but said, "Our investigation was primarily prompted by the facts and circumstances we became aware of via the newspapers."
He said his office had begun subpoenaing the ethics board's paperwork and would eventually speak with DiLauro.
The prosecutor's office will not, however, grant DiLauro's request for a counter-investigation into Otto's and Harrington's conduct as the board's investigators, Daniels said. "We're simply limiting our investigation to criminal allegations."
If the prosecutor's office finds the allegations are factual, DiLauro could be in violation of state criminal laws, Daniels said. On the other hand, the ethics board could, at most, levy a $500 fine.
Otto and Harrington have interviewed eight people - the three complainants, three Public Works Department employees and two witnesses to the alleged plowing, Bart and Township Administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher.
DiLauro said he was hoping the ethics board would halt its proceedings pending any findings by the prosecutor's office, but that may not happen.
On Monday, the board found that the allegations against the mayor were not ''frivolous" and that it could proceed with a public hearing.
At the hearing, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 2, members would take sworn testimony from several people. They would include DiLauro, who was angry at not being interviewed before Monday's meeting. DiLauro will address the ethics board before the public hearing, at a meeting scheduled for Monday.
Frederick F. Fitchett, DiLauro's attorney and chairman of the Camden County Republican Party, said he would try to obtain the same Ethics Board documents the prosecutor's office is subpoenaing.
"I think the key to defending any client is having all the information," Fitchett said.
Ethics Hearing Due On Mayor Of Delran
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150926202850/http://articles.philly.com/1993-06-29/news/25971305_1_ethics-board-ethics-hearing-township-probeBy Louise Harbach, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: June 29, 1993DELRAN — Three months after township officials were told that the mayor had ordered the Public Works Department to plow out the driveways of the townhouse complex where he lives, the township's Ethical Standards Board heard what Mayor Tom DiLauro had to say.
And after the four of six members present read DiLauro's written statement in a 20-minute closed session last night, the four voted unanimously that the allegations had merit and that a full hearing on the matter is warranted. They set the hearing for Aug. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the township municipal building.
"We shall introduce witnesses and evidence that will prove that the charges are erroneous," said Frederick Fitchett, DiLauro's Haddon Heights attorney. "My client will be exonerated."
DiLauro has been accused of ordering Ed Bart, the township's superintendent of public works, to send three department employees to plow out his townhouse complex, Mill Run Commons, on March 13, 14 and 15 after the big blizzard.
The ethics board is headed by Joseph Otto, who ran on a slate that lost to DiLauro's slate in the May 1992 nonpartisan election. DiLauro alleges - and Otto denies - that the township probe was politically motivated. Otto is running in November for the seat left open by the death of Councilman William Smock.
Lorraine Schmierer, a Delran resident and former mayor who serves as Tabernacle's township administrator, criticized the ethics board for agreeing to hear the matter because "it gave too many appearances of conflict of interest." She said the state Local Finance Board in Trenton would have been a more appropriate body to conduct such a hearing.
In addition to the township investigation, DiLauro, in his first-term as mayor, faces an investigation into the matter by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.
But the county investigation is one that DiLauro said he welcomed and had even requested. The prosecutor's office, however, has not granted DiLauro's request for a counter-investigation into Otto's conduct.
The solicitor for the ethics board is John Harrington, who had been the township solicitor until he was fired at DiLauro's urging after DiLauro became mayor last July.
Delran Approves Salary Scale For Its Employees
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1993-07-29/news/25978907_1_salary-scale-jif-police-salariesBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: July 29, 1993DELRAN — The Township Council last night adopted a salary scale establishing minimum and maximum salaries for about 55 township employees, including members of the township's police force.
The police salaries reflect a recently ratified contract for officers with the rank of sergeant and below, whose three-year contract grants them annual pay raises of 5 percent. The contract runs until January 1996.
Police Chief Arthur Saul will be paid $53,380, and the department's four lieutenants will receive $48,496 each. Business administrator Jeffrey S. Hatcher will earn $54,282 annually, and public works superintendent Ed Bart will get $42,292.
In other action, the council approved an overhaul of the township's ordinance book, bringing it up to date with current township and state laws. The overhaul will cost $12,000, and the new book, which, for the first time, will feature a long-desired table of contents, should be available to residents in two months.
Some of the ordinances in the old book never were removed even though they were made obsolete by the subsequent adoption of new ordinances.
The council also renewed its contract with the 13-member Burlington County Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), which Hatcher said has saved the township tens of thousands of dollars since Delran joined in 1991. JIF is a pool in which member municipalities combine finances to purchase insurance coverage, including workers' compensation, at a cheaper group rate. Hatcher said Delran would pay about $190,000 to the fund this year, compared with $211,000 it was paying for less coverage before entering the JIF.
The township also renewed its membership in the Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund, which provides about 260 municipalities in New Jersey with coverage in case of expensive liability cases.
Do Ethics Boards Hurt More Than Help? In Delran, An Investigation Of The Mayor Has Prompted Him To Challenge The Investigators' Own Ethics.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150929132659/http://articles.philly.com/1993-08-09/news/25969300_1_state-ethics-law-ethics-boards-local-ethics-panelsBy Josh Zimmer, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: August 09, 1993DELRAN — The township ethics board has spent $3,500 so far investigating whether Mayor Tom DiLauro abused his powers by getting a township snow-removal crew to plow his townhouse complex after the March blizzard.
And, board chairman Joseph Otto acknowledged, the total still does not cover some items, including DiLauro's legal expenses if he is cleared.
The inquiry is on hold now, as the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office looks at the same allegations. But when it's all over, if DiLauro is found remiss by the ethics board, he may be fined no more than $500.
That's not the only thing some people in the township are finding wrong with the inquiry. It galls some - DiLauro most of all - that among those sitting in judgment over him is Otto, a former political opponent, and that the board's solicitor is the same man who was fired from his post as township solicitor at DiLauro's behest.
Ed McCool, executive director of New Jersey Common Cause, which helped revise the state ethics law, said that while he was not familiar with the case in Delran, he was surprised that Otto had not excused himself from the inquiry.
The inquiry, said Councilman Andrew Ritzie, an occasional critic of DiLauro's, is failing at its most important task: It does not appear to be impartial. "I think it would be better served if it was outside the town," he said.
"Outside" would mean the Local Finance Board of the state's Department of Community Affairs, which has handled 85 such cases since a 1991 law sought to encourage the establishment of local ethics panels by giving them subpoena powers.
But so far, only about 40 of the state's 567 municipalities have set up an ethics board or told the state they plan to establish one, said Jay Johnston, spokesman for the Department of Community Affairs.
In South Jersey, according to Johnston, only the following municipalities have formed ethics boards: Delran, Lumberton, Mansfield, Moorestown, Mount Holly, New Hanover and Willingboro in Burlington County, and Voorhees and West Deptford in Camden County. There are none in Gloucester County, he said.
One of the most active, other than Delran's, has been the ethics panel in Voorhees. Since it was founded in 1987, it has issued conflict-of-interest strictures against several township officials.
"I think certainly the community has to be made aware, people have to feel that there's some kind of watchdog that knows these things are being handled properly," said Rabbi Richard A. Levine, chairman of the Voorhees Ethics Board.
Few ethics boards, it appears, resemble Voorhees'.
"We've had some questions asked of us, but just informally," said Loretta Taylor, chairwoman of the panel in Moorestown. "It's getting to be one of the more popular committees, because nothing happens."
Said Johnston of the state Department of Community Affairs:
"The practical reality has been, when faced with issues of expense or politics . . . municipalities (have decided) not to (create) a local ethics board," Johnston said. "By default, the state became the ethics board for more than 90 percent."
That would have been fine as far as DiLauro is concerned.
"I think it should be in the state where it's unbiased . . . and there's not the opportunity for people to take out their political vendettas," he said.
DiLauro has acknowledged calling the public works crews to plow and sand the entrances to his Mill Run Commons townhouse complex, but he said he did that because some of the residents are elderly. The streets inside the complex were plowed by a private contractor, he said.
While DiLauro has nothing but praise for the ethics board's other five members - Joseph Chinnici, the Rev. Donald Rolfs, Joseph Walsh, Charlotte Boellman and Patricia Ronayne - he has said repeatedly that Otto and board solicitor John Harrington are conducting a political vendetta against him.
Otto was on a slate that lost to one led by DiLauro in the township's nonpartisan elections for mayor and council in May. He is a candidate again for an open council seat. Once DiLauro, a Republican like Otto, became mayor, the council at his urging removed Harrington as township solicitor.
Otto has repeatedly said he holds no grudge against DiLauro and sees no reason to excuse himself from the inquiry. He calls a local ethics board a necessity. Harrington, too, has said his role in the inquiry is not improper.
"I think the board's actions to date . . . have been excellent," Otto said. "That process has to be available to the residents of Delran."
The ethics board ruled in June that the charges against DiLauro were not ''frivolous" and thus a public hearing could be arranged. Originally scheduled for last Monday, the hearing was put off at the request of the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, which is conducting a criminal investigation into the complaint.
If criminal charges are filed, the ethics board probably would drop the matter, said Harrington.
There is one change that Otto would want in the way the ethics board works: He said he would like the Township Committee to consider restructuring the system of fines so the board can regain its expenses.
John Myers, one of three people who complained to the ethics board about DiLauro's conduct during the blizzard, said that the board has been fair but that the township would be better off having the state handle its ethical questions because of the cost.
The local process, he said, works in favor of the accused and penalizes residents who try to hold officials accountable for their actions, pointing out that he was questioned by a private investigator hired by DiLauro's attorney.
"There's a provision for him (DiLauro) to have representation, there's no limit on cost," Myers said. "There's nothing for the complainant, the backbone of the town. It's a shame."
'You Haven't Heard The Last Of This' The Prosecutor Cleared Delran's Mayor In A Snow-cleanup Probe. But Critics Were Still Heaping On Scorn.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1993-10-06/news/25935474_1_ethics-board-ethics-code-public-works-employeesBy Lynnette Khalfani, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: October 06, 1993DELRAN — Mayor Thomas DiLauro may have been cleared of criminal allegations that he abused his power during snow cleanup during the blizzard in March, but angry residents and the township's ethics board say he shouldn't celebrate just yet.
"I know what I saw, Mr. Mayor," said Donna Melchiorre, who was interviewed by the prosecutor's office and told investigators that she saw public works employees removing snow at the mayor's Mill Run Commons townhouse complex during the blizzard. "You haven't heard the last of this."
She commented after DiLauro called a news conference at which he released copies of a letter from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office stating that the office found "no wrongdoing" in its investigation.
Complaints from some of the town's residents also prompted an inquiry by the Delran Ethical Standards Board.
Melchiorre was among some of the complainants who continued to accuse the mayor of ethical improprieties, angrily confronting him at the news conference.
"What the prosecutor's office is inferring is that I was not telling the truth, the other complainants were not telling the truth and that the public works employees out there were not telling the truth. Apparently, the whole world is not telling the truth but Mayor Delauro is," Melchiorre said.
She said she planned to write a letter to county officials protesting the prosecutor's findings.
"If this is how it works, then when it snows this winter I want my driveway plowed, too, because I'm paying taxes, lot of taxes," she said.
Allan J. Ashinoff, another resident who told county officials that he witnessed work crews at DiLauro's complex, said the prosecutor's findings didn't change his views that DiLauro acted improperly.
"As far as ethics, I still feel there was some wrongdoing," Ashinoff said.
DiLauro, a Republican, called the investigation a "personal vendetta" against him by his political enemies.
The complainants are all members of the Delran Democratic Club. The head of the town's ethics board, Joseph Otto, ran unsuccessfully for a Township Council seat on a slate that lost to DiLauro's slate in 1992. Also, the solicitor for the ethics board, John Harrington, was fired by the township at DiLauro's urging after DiLauro became mayor.
Otto dismissed as "ridiculous" DiLauro's contention that the ethics panel's inquiry is politically motivated.
He said any further inquiry by the board will depend on the county's specific conclusions. As of late yesterday, Otto said he had still not seen the findings clearing DiLauro.
"If they're saying only that criminal intent didn't exist, then obviously the process may continue, but that would be up to the entire board to decide," Otto said.
"The board felt all along that there was not criminal intent. But we do believe that there was a possible violation of the ethics code," he said.
DiLauro said if the town's ethics board continues its investigation, he will request that the state take over the matter. He also announced that if the board would drop the matter, he would pay his own attorney fees.
So far, the investigation has cost the township about $3,500. Should DiLauro be cleared by the ethics panel, the town would also have to pay the mayor's legal expenses.
If DiLauro is found to have violated ethics codes, he could be fined between $100 and $500.
Delran Ethics Board Sends Dilauro Flap To State Panel
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1993-11-16/news/25948620_1_ethics-board-ethics-panel-state-panelBy Laurent Sacharoff, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: November 16, 1993DELRAN — The Delran Ethical Standards Board, wrestling with the issue of whether the mayor and its own former chairman violated ethics laws, last night voted to put the matter before a state panel to avoid further divisiveness and expense for the town.
Residents have fought for months over whether Mayor Thomas DiLauro misused his power and ordered town crews to plow his condominium driveway during a blizzard in March.
A complaint was brought against DiLauro. He subsequently filed a complaint against Joseph Otto, who was chairman of the ethics panel until Joseph Walsh replaced him in a routine reorganization vote last night.
The three residents who originally lodged the complaints against the mayor said they felt betrayed by the board's decision because they had wanted it to settle the matter. Allan Ashinoff, Donna Melchiorre and John Myers noted that the vote merely endorsed a course that the Township Council had recommended months earlier.
The board's decision, with Otto abstaining, sends the matter to the state Local Finance Board.
"Why didn't you just shove this off on the state to start?" Ashinoff asked.
The three also complained that residents would have to travel to Trenton to hear proceedings on the matter.
But John Harrington, solicitor for the ethics board, predicted that if the Local Finance Board found evidence to pursue the matter, it would appoint an administrative law judge to the case. The judge then could hold hearings in Delran, or at least someplace closer than Trenton, Harrington said.
Gary Daniels, chief of investigation for the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, determined last month that DiLauro had broken no state law in the plowing episode.
Board May Dismantle Delran Ethics Panel Township Council Is Set To Start The Action Tonight - 6 Months After The Board Started Its First Case.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1993-11-23/news/25947925_1_ethics-board-ethics-code-first-caseBy Laurent Sacharoff, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: November 23, 1993DELRAN — Six months after it began investigating its first case - a controversial probe of the mayor - the Delran Ethical Standards Board is facing extinction.
Township Council members are scheduled to begin dismantling the board at their meeting tonight.
"In theory, an ethics board is a very good idea," said Anthony Ogozalek Jr., council president. "But in reality, it's costly and it gives a field for political and personal divisiveness."
The board appeared to clear the way for its dissolution when it voted last week to hand over to the state the only two cases before it: the investigation of Mayor Thomas DiLauro and his counter-accusation against former board chairman Joseph Otto.
The complaint that DiLauro violated Delran's ethics law by allegedly ordering town crews to plow snow during a March blizzard from a driveway in the townhouse complex where he lives will now be resolved by the Local Finance Board of the state's Department of Community Affairs.
DiLauro, in turn, accused Otto, who lost a council race this month, of political motives in pursuing the investigation. Otto has denied the charge.
Last month, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office cleared DiLauro of violating state ethics laws in the incident. The Local Finance Board is expected to rule on whether Delran's ethics code was violated.
For some, sending the issue to the state comes as a welcome end to months of bitter debate. For those who brought the original complaint, it seems a betrayal.
"I don't think when you took this on, you thought it would be easy," John Myers told the ethics board as it decided Nov. 15 to hand the issue off to the state. Myers was one of three people who said they had seen town crews plowing snow from DiLauro's townhouse complex.
"By its nature, the board looks into divisive issues," he said, "and for it to be shuffled off . . . "
Ogozalek said he expected many to speak tonight against disbanding the board. But he said that since the board has no cases before it, he would vote to repeal the ordinance that created it in 1989.
The ethics board held secret discussions Nov. 15 before deciding to go to the state. After the meeting, ethics board chairman Joseph Walsh declined comment on why the discussions were held in secret or on the board's future.
But when the board emerged from behind closed doors to vote, Walsh did summarize the discussion, saying controversy and cost had motivated its decision.
The ethics board has already spent about $3,500. That could have risen to between $15,000 and $20,000 if the proceedings had continued in Delran, according to DiLauro's attorney, Frederick Fitchett 3d.
The state's Local Finance Board has handled 85 local ethics cases since a 1991 law sought to encourage the establishment of local ethics panels by giving them subpoena powers.
Delran's Ethics Board Abolished By Council The First Case Involved The Mayor. Due To Its Cost And Divisiveness, The Probe Was Given To The State.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1993-12-23/news/25940957_1_ethics-board-ethics-violation-local-ethicsBy Laurent Sacharoff, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: December 23, 1993DELRAN — From now on, any township official suspected of an ethics violation will have to answer to a higher authority: the State of New Jersey.
Last night, the Township Council voted unanimously to abolish the municipal Ethical Standards Board, an action that reinstates the state as the arbiter of ethical issues involving local officials. That had been the arrangement until 1989, when the Delran council decided it would be preferable to have a local ethics board.
Ironically, it was the first cases brought before the ethics board last summer that paved the way for its demise.
Two months ago, citing the cost of the probe and town divisiveness, the ethics board handed off the case of a controversial investigation into whether Mayor Thomas DiLauro abused his power, as well as a related second case, to the state to resolve. That action seemed to influence the council into seriously considering the abolition of the ethics panel.
The ethics board has acknowledged spending at least $3,500 on the cases, primarily in legal fees. Frederick Fitchett 3d, DiLauro's attorney, said that figure easily could have risen to the $20,000 range if the proceedings had remained under the jurisdiction of the local Ethical Standards Board.
Jay Johnston, a spokesman for the state Department of Consumer Affairs, said the time period for the state to rule on ethical matters is about six months - meaning that the Delran cases probably won't be decided for at least another half a year.
At issue in Delran is whether DiLauro violated administrative laws of ethics when, during the blizzard last March, township crews plowed and sanded the internal driveway of the townhouse complex where he lives.
The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office exonerated DiLauro of violating any criminal laws in October. However, the specter of administrative violations remains.
In addition to the accusation against DiLauro, the state also is considering DiLauro's subsequent allegation that the former chairman of Delran's ethics board, Joseph Otto, pursued the case against DiLauro to help get himself elected to the council in November.
Otto, who lost the election, denies the charge.
Before last night, there were 44 local ethics boards in New Jersey, although not all of them were operating, according to Johnston.
In 1991, a state law created a framework for municipalities to create their own ethics boards. Johnston said state officials were surprised that more municipalities did not move to create their own ethics panels.
"The reality has been that the majority of those towns and counties that have looked at it have said that it incurs a cost (the towns) are not willing to bear," Johnston said.
Taxes, Spending Are The Big Issues In Three Elections The Races Are In Delran, Medford Lakes And Mount Holly. Candidates Are Making Similar Pledges.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151016201857/http://articles.philly.com/1994-05-01/news/25829759_1_municipal-building-school-board-member-electionBy Tom Avril, Louise Harbach and Laurent Sacharoff, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENTS
Posted: May 01, 1994Residents in Delran, Medford Lakes and Mount Holly go to the polls next week to pick municipal officials in nonpartisan elections, and in all three towns voters are hearing pledges to hold the line on taxes and spending.
"Every community I know of is being pinched financially," said Donald J. Hory, a computer firm executive who is among three candidates vying for two four-year terms on the Borough Council in Medford Lakes.
The community of about 5,000 residents is struggling to cope with a stagnant tax base, lack of commercial properties and decreased state aid. The local-purpose tax rate is projected to rise 6 cents, to 60.6 cents, for 1994, meaning the owner of a house assessed at the borough's average of $155,600 would pay $943, up $93 from last year.
Those besides Hory who are seeking election are Gary A. Miller and incumbent David D. Wasson, now the mayor. Councilman Michael Keating is not seeking re-election to the three-member council.
All of the candidates want to cut costs by sharing services with other municipalities and with the school district.
"I think all of us agree that we have to look for innovative ways to cut expenses while seeking more aid from Trenton," said Wasson, vice president for a Moorestown car dealership.
"People here take a real interest in local affairs, and the voter turnout is traditionally high," said Miller, a human services administrator for Burlington County.
*Delran residents have been asked to spend $19 million on two capital projects this year, and the election to fill three of the five council seats could decide whether they will be asked to spend millions more on a municipal building.
"Everyone acknowledges the present building needs repair," said Mary Diane Duff, president of March Realty in Cinnaminson, who is running for a four-year term in the First Ward. If elected, she said, she would choose between buying a new building and fixing the old one, whichever is cheaper. According to one estimate, fixing and expanding the present building would cost $2 million. Estimates vary on other alternatives.
The Delran School District won voter approval in January for a $7.8 million intermediate school, and the township sewerage authority is spending $11 million to improve the system.
Sewer bills rose 62 percent this year, and that increase was particularly difficult for senior citizens on fixed incomes, Duff said.
Gerald Savidge, 38, a business owner who opposes Duff in the First Ward, said he was a "non-politician" who last ran for anything in the eighth grade. He said he would favor buying a new municipal building "at the right price."
Robert Sheeran, who is running in the Second Ward, pointed to his record of budget-tightening as a school board member - including privatizing busing and janitorial services - as proof he would be tough with the municipal budget.
Joseph Holland, 56, also running in the Second Ward, stressed his 39 years of experience in finance as a corporate secretary, and added that as a former director of streets and public safety in Edgewater Park, he could see that Delran needs a better plan for reconstructing streets with drainage problems.
Kenneth Mortimer, 53, a buyer for Martin Marietta in Moorestown, said he was running in the Second Ward because the township's "lack of coordinated planning" had hit residents with several expenditures in the same year. As for the municipal building, he said, "I think I'd like to postpone it and look at all the alternatives."
Brian McDermott, an insurance agent, is also running in the Second Ward. He was not available for comment, but in 1992 he led a campaign that forced a reduction in a proposed sewer rate increase from 42 percent to 25 percent.
James Wujcik, a bank vice president who is the only incumbent running, said his 16 years in business and industry should gain him votes in the Third Ward. He said he favored buying a new municipal building - "if the price is right" - rather than spending an estimated $500,000 simply to bring the old building up to code without solving the chronic space problems of the Police Department.
Barbara Gallagher, running against Wujcik, said: "I'm not a politician. I'm a Delran resident who loves Delran - I've lived here for 21 years." She said voters aren't solely interested in tough talk on taxes, noting that residents have backed school budgets because the district is run well.
In Mount Holly, the issue on the lips of all five candidates is one that residents bring up at virtually every council meeting: the growing number of tax-exempt properties.
As the county seat, the township is home to a large number of tax-exempt government and social-service agencies, which account for nearly 28 percent of the town's property value.
That increases the burden on Mount Holly homeowners, who last year paid 69.3 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation in local-purpose taxes, the second-highest rate in the county behind Willingboro's 84.3 cents.
Candidates say the high number of social-service agencies also leads to a high crime rate. All five feel the problem could be improved by stricter enforcement of zoning ordinances and by seeking donations from nonprofit groups.
There are two slates of two candidates and one solo office-seeker running for two four-year terms on the five-member council.
Incumbent Dorothy P. Guzzo is running with former Councilman Gary Wilson, while Robert Byham and Jules Thiessen are running together. Jason Huf is running by himself.
Wilson, 43, owns Wilson's Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning in Mount Holly. He ran unsuccessfully for council in May 1992 after temporarily filling an unexpired term. Among his civic contributions, he lists past service with the Police Department, the Zoning Board and the Historic Preservation Commission.
Guzzo, 35, is a historic-site planner for the Division of Parks and Forestry at the state Department of Environmental Protection and Energy. She was elected to the council in November 1992. Among her achievements, she lists her work on the committee to find a new township manager, the cleanup of Island Creek Park, and her work to seek Green Acres funds for Monroe Street Park.
Byham, 34, is a Mount Laurel police officer and a captain of the America Emergency Squad in Mount Holly. Byham, a former chairman of the Planning Board, said his experience as a police officer would help the town crack down on crime.
Thiessen, 36, is a regional sales manager for AnalytiKEM, an environmental- testing laboratory in Cherry Hill. He serves on the Planning Board and the local neighborhood watch, and is vice chairman of the local branch of the Rancocas Conservancy environmental group. Byham and Thiessen are supported by Councilmen James Logan 3d and Glynn Eckart.
Huf, 21, is a stocker at the Wal-Mart in Burlington Township, and was on the Mount Holly Parks and Recreation Committee from 1991 through 1993. He criticized the current administration for not curbing taxes, and advocated stepping up police foot patrols downtown.
Special Downtown District Rejected Haddonfield's District Bid Was Turned Down By A 2-1 Ratio. Incumbent Mayors In Newark And Trenton Got New Terms.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160103080650/http://articles.philly.com/1994-05-11/news/25827442_1_tax-issue-business-tax-incumbent-mayorsBy Maureen Fitzgerald and Judy Baehr, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENTS Inquirer correspondents Tom Avril and Josh Zimmer contributed to this article
Posted: May 11, 1994Voters in Haddonfield turned down a Special Improvement District yesterday by a 2-to-1 ratio to the disappointment of the borough's commissioners and many business people, who had campaigned vigorously for a new tax on commercial properties to enhance and promote the downtown.
In other elections across the state, incumbent Newark Mayor Sharpe James appeared to be headed for re-election against three challengers in the state's largest city. His closest competitor was Ras Baraka, the son of poet and activist Amiri Baraka.
In Trenton, incumbent Mayor Doug Palmer defeated opponent Betty Holland, wife of the late Mayor Art Holland, for a four-year term.
In other South Jersey nonpartisan races, Gloucester Township Mayor Sandra A. Love and her slate of candidates were returned to office and an incumbent councilwoman was defeated in Mount Holly.
In Haddonfield, nearly 42 percent of registered voters turned out for the SID question, a remarkable turnout for a single issue referendum according to local politicians.
"What happened tonight just points out that the people and not the comissioners should decide these issues," said Charles Todd, a Haddonfield accountant who was instrumental in getting the SID referendum question on the ballot.
"We've been telling them for the past three years that the people were against this. The vote proved we just don't need a business tax in Haddonfield," he said.
"Obviously, the voters have spoken," said Haddonfield Mayor John J. Tarditi. "In a Democratic process you have to listen to the people and the people have said they did not want a Special Improvement District," he said.
"I hope we can put our differences behind us and join again tomorrow as a united busineess community," he said.
Commissioner Letitia G. Colombi believes the issue came down to taxes.
"I think the buzzword was taxes, especially for senior citizens," she said. "SID was presented as a tax issue. Even though I feel it was not accurate, people believed it."
Since the referendum was rejected, the concept of a Special Improvement District cannot be brought before the borough commission for three years.
In other elections yesterday:
DELRAN
Incumbent James Wujcik retained his seat in the Third Ward, beating challenger Barbara Gallagher. He will be joined by newcomers Gerald Savidge, who beat Mary Diane Duff in the First Ward, and Brian McDermott in the Second Ward.
Other Second Ward candidates were Joseph Holland, Kenneth Mortimer and Robert Sheeran.
During the campaign, candidates differed as to whether the township should replace the aging municipal building or repair it, at a cost of up to $2 million. Wujcik, who was elected in November 1993 to fill an unexpired term, favors a new building "if the price is right."
GLOUCESTER TWP.
Mayor Sandra A. Love, the sister-in-law of recently deceased Gloucester Township Mayor Ann A. Mullen, won a resounding victory yesterday by a ratio of 2-1.
Love, 48, who replaced Mullen on the ballot last month, led the "Good Government Team" to victory with similar margins.
"Victory is bittersweet," Love told about 150 cheering supporters at a victory rally at the Democratic Club Headquarters, "but I really feel Ann was looking over us tonight.
Also elected to council terms were incumbent Council President Samuel M. Siler, Councilwoman Helen Albright, Councilman George Humes. They defeated mayoral candidate Stephen Iatarola and council candidates Carol Fabietti, Arthur Knapp and David Ragonese.
"I thought I was going to win this," said Iatarola. "The sympathy vote had to help them out tremendously. I thought wwe had a great plan, people I guess didn't get the message."
MEDFORD LAKES
In a race for two seats on the three-member borough council, David Wasson was re-elected to a second four-year term and newcomer Gary Miller was also elected to a four-year council term. Wasson, currently the mayor, and Miller, director of human services for Burlington County, defeated newcomer Donald Hory.
MOUNT HOLLY
Incumbent Councilwoman Dorothy Guzzo failed to capture one of the two available four-year terms after a campaign marked by accusations of sign- stealing.
Robert Byham garnered the most votes in the five-person race, followed by running mate Jules Thiessen. They will both serve four-year terms on the council.
Byham, 34, is a Mount Laurel police officer. One of his campaign promises was to use his expertise to help the Mount Holly police department crack down on crime.
He and Thiessen, 36, pledged to seek a solution to limit the number of tax- exempt groups in the township - a pledge that was uttered by all five candidates. Nearly 28 percent of the town's property value is tax-exempt, and partly as a result, it has the highest combined tax rate in the county, at $3.29 per $100 of assessed valuation.
Before the election, campaign workers for Guzzo and Wilson publicly accused the Byham-Thiessen ticket of stealing dozens of Guzzo-Wilson signs, but Wilson was gracious in defeat.
"I'm not going to blame it on anything like that," he said. "The voters voted the way they wanted to." Guzzo did not return a phone call seeking comment, but campaign workers said she would not seek a recount because she would not want to split the ticket.
Byham angrily denied the sign-stealing accusation, calling it "dirty campaigning," but said now is the time to "shake hands and mend the fence."
PINE VALLEY
In Pine Valley, all three candidates were elected to four-yearm terms. The commissioners are John R. Ott Jr., Leonard V. Fox and Clayton N. Eastlack Jr.
Delran Council To Pick A Temporary Mayor After A Flap Over A Bogus Handicapped-parking Sticker, Mayor Thomas Dilauro Has Resigned.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1997-05-09/news/25564561_1_handicapped-parking-sticker-new-mayor-temporary-mayorBy Gwendolyn Crump, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: May 09, 1997DELRAN — Following the abrupt resignation of Mayor Thomas DiLauro over a counterfeit handicapped-parking sticker, the Township's Council president yesterday announced that a temporary mayor would be chosen by council within the next month and a half, to serve until a new mayor can be elected in November.
Council president Brian McDermott said that council members at the May 21 township meeting would discuss nominees to replace DiLauro, who resigned on Wednesday following revelations that he had used a fake sticker, allegedly to park at his workplace in Philadelphia.
McDermott said council would select a resident to begin serving as mayor the day after DiLauro's resignation takes effect on June 30. In the November election, a new mayor will be chosen to serve the remaining three years of DiLauro's term.
McDermott called DiLauro's resignation unfortunate but added it was ``the appropriate action following the embarrassment of the township.''
DiLauro's alleged use of the sticker was revealed after a television news crew videotaped him in Philadelphia getting into his 1996 Mercury Villager, which bore the sticker. The Mercury is registered in New Jersey.
Last month DiLauro relinquished the counterfeit handicapped-parking sticker to state police. DiLauro is not disabled.
Angry residents had repeatedly called the township office to complain after the news segment about handicapped parking violators aired on a Philadelphia TV station two weeks ago. Last week a group of handicapped protesters gathered outside the Delran Municipal Building calling for DiLauro's resignation and/or apology.
DiLauro offered to volunteer his time with the Burlington County Special Olympics, and said he would participate in the ``dunk tank'' during Delran Appreciation Day.
But that did not appease his critics. DiLauro, a Republican elected in 1992, resigned via letter Wednesday night. The statement was read by councilman Jim Wujcik.
In his letter, DiLauro wrote: ``I made an error, but some members of the community could not find it in their hearts to forgive me.'' He said he endured humiliation and constant hammering from Pamela Reid, director of Resources for Independent Living, a Mount Laurel-based group that monitors handicapped issues.
Reid said yesterday that her organization ``never intended to be adversarial.''
``All we wanted was accountability,'' Reid said. ``Now the healing process can begin.''
Resident Jon Hewko had been prepared to circulate a petition at the Wednesday meeting requesting DiLauro's ouster.
``I'm glad he has stepped down,'' Hewko said yesterday. ``He put a black eye on Delran.''
McDermott said the township would investigate DiLauro for ethics violations. Council tabled a resolution that would have denounced DiLauro publicly.
According to New Jersey State Police, DiLauro used the sticker to park near the Conrail office at 20th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. State police had been contacted by a news team from WPVI-TV (Channel 6) that was reporting on people who park illegally in spaces for the handicapped. State police said DiLauro turned in the counterfeit sticker to investigators on April 9.
New Jersey State Police did not charge DiLauro because the alleged violation was in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia police and the city Parking Authority did not bring charges against DiLauro because they did not catch him in the act, state police said.
The sticker had a registration number that police said was traced to a Toms River woman who still had the original.
DiLauro told investigators that the sticker was handmade, but he did not say who made it, how he obtained it, or how long he had been using it, state police said.
Last month, the state Local Finance Board found DiLauro guilty of violating an ethics law for ordering municipal employees to plow and sand the parking lot of his condominium complex during a snowstorm in 1993. He was ordered to pay a $100 fine.
The latest allegation is especially troubling to some residents, as Delran was sued in 1994 by a handicapped man who contended that the municipality discriminated against people with disabilities because the Municipal Building was inaccessible and the township did not have curb cuts on streets. Delran and the man settled the case for $10,500 last year.
The township is building another municipal building that will exceed the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
``Perhaps this situation will make us all more sensitive to the needs of the handicapped,'' McDermott said.
Delran Residents, Still Seeing Red, Look To A New Day - And Mayor On Appreciation Day, Little Is Shown For The Embattled Dilauro.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1997-05-19/news/25564370_1_disabled-residents-interim-mayor-township-officeBy Gwendolyn Crump, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: May 19, 1997DELRAN — For some participants, Saturday's Delran Appreciation Day was just another festival of games, food and parades. For others, it marked the beginning of a community's healing itself.
``The residents really needed a positive day like this,'' Township Council President Brian McDermott said. ``Hopefully, as a community, we can put what has happened behind us and move on.''
Earlier this month, Mayor Thomas DiLauro resigned, effective June 30, after news reports that he had used a counterfeit handicapped-parking sticker at his workplace in Philadelphia.
Council will name an interim mayor the day after the resignation takes effect. In November, voters will elect a mayor to serve the remaining three years of the term.
DiLauro's use of the sticker was revealed when a television news crew videotaped him getting into his 1996 Mercury Villager, which bore the sticker. The Mercury is registered in New Jersey. Last month, DiLauro, who is not disabled, relinquished the sticker to state police.
Residents repeatedly called the township office to complain after the news segment about handicapped-parking violators aired on WPVI-TV (Channel 6) last month. Protesters gathered outside the Delran Municipal Building and called for DiLauro's resignation and apology.
DiLauro apologized for the incident, offered to volunteer his time to the Burlington County Special Olympics, and promised to participate in the ``dunk tank'' during Delran Appreciation Day. That did little to appease his critics. The Republican mayor, elected in 1992, resigned via letter at the May 7 council meeting.
Wrote DiLauro: ``I made an error, but some members of the community could not find it in their hearts to forgive me.''
Saturday, it seemed time still had not healed the wounds.
``If he had been in the parade, I would have booed him,'' resident Dan Pollak, 37, said at the festival. ``What he did was inappropriate, and his offering to be dunked to make amends was a joke.''
Pamela Reid, director of Resources for Independent Living, a Mount Laurel-based group that monitors issues of interest to the handicapped, set up an information booth at the festival. Her group was instrumental in DiLauro's ouster.
``All we wanted was accountability,'' Reid said. ``Now the healing process can begin.''
Some members of the community disagreed.
``What he did was wrong, and he admitted it,'' said Paul Jackson, pastor of Calvary Temple Assembly of God. ``But I am afraid that the town has run someone out of office who really did care about this community.''
Still others saw the township as permanently scarred.
``He made Delran look bad,'' Sharri Bodnar, 44, said. ``He should have resigned a long time ago.''
The controversy was not the first involving Delran and its disabled residents. In 1994, William Caruso sued the township, contending that it discriminated against people with disabilities because the Municipal Building was inaccessible and the streets did not have curb cuts.
The case was settled for $10,500 last year, and the township is building a municipal building that is to exceed the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
DiLauro, meanwhile, has known other troubles while in office. Last month, the state Local Finance Board found him guilty of having violated an ethics law by ordering municipal employees to plow and sand his condominium complex's parking lot during a snowstorm in 1993. He was fined $100.
Delran To Pick Mayor Who May Stay For A While The Town Has Had Four Mayors Since May 1997. The Winner Of Tuesday's Election Should Serve Until 2000.
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1998-10-30/news/25760169_1_mayor-nonpartisan-election-supporter-of-light-railBy David Cho, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: October 30, 1998DELRAN — The job with the highest turnover rate over the past 18 months in the municipal government has been, in fact, mayor, town officials say.
Since May 1997, Delran has had four mayors: One resigned after he was caught using a counterfeit handicapped-parking sticker on his car; another resigned to become a police officer; a third was appointed as an interim by the Township Council; and the current mayor, the 78-year-old Albert Fynan, said he will not seek reelection.
With Fynan stepping down, three candidates are vying for the office that will be decided in a nonpartisan election on Tuesday.
The winner would complete the four-year term of Thomas DiLauro, who resigned after the handicapped-parking fiasco. The term will end in May 2000. Council members said the high turnover rate of mayors has not affected day-to-day operations, but they added they would be relieved once a sense of permanence is brought back to the office.
While the election will be nonpartisan, each candidate has political leanings. Candidate Kenny Johnson Jr. received substantial financial contributions from the Delran Republican Party, while opponent Randall Stevens is backed by the town's Democratic Party. A third candidate, Kenneth Mortimer, is a registered Republican, but said he did not receive any contributions from his party.
``Anybody who really follows the election knows who's who,'' said Stevens, 38, a truck driver. ``A guy should be elected on his merits, on what he's done and what he believes in, not just by party labels, but I guess that's a pipe dream.''
Stevens' decision to run for mayor developed out of his fight against the $450 million South Jersey light-rail project, which he said is wrongly supported by businesses and towns along the Delaware River.
This is the second time Stevens is running a campaign; he has never held public office. In May, he ran for Township Council but lost to Johnson, a popular retired police officer.
Johnson, 58, who is a supporter of light rail, is running on a platform of helping the community's senior citizens and, like his opponents, pledges to avoid increases in local taxes. He said that as mayor, he would try to build a community center that would be open to all members of the community, particularly for the elderly.
``I've always thought the town is need of leadership,'' Johnson said. ``Because I'm retired, I will have the time to devote and do the job. Even though technically it's a part-time job, you can't do it if you can't really devote yourself - if you work another job and then try to be mayor.''
Mortimer, 57, who is on the sales staff of Lockheed Martin, also ran in May's Township Council elections, but lost to incumbent Councilman Bryan McDermott, who was backed by the Republican Party.
``In this town, the major need is for preservation of open space and to keep the local purpose tax down by vying for federal, state and county grants,'' Mortimer said.
J. Kenneth Johnston Jr., mayor of Delran
Source: http://articles.philly.com/1999-12-09/news/25479799_1_township-officials-police-officer-special-election and https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16879757/john_kenneth_johnston_jr_19401999/By Lauren Mayk and S. Joseph Hagenmayer INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Posted: December 9, 1999DELRAN — Mayor John Kenneth Johnston Jr., 59, who devoted 27 years to police work in this middle-class township before his election, died of a heart attack yesterday at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-University Medical Center/Cherry Hill.
Considered a down-to-earth public servant, Mr. Johnston became mayor in November 1998 in a special special election, just five months after he was elected to the Township Council. Earlier in the year, he retired retired as a township patrolman.
Mr. Johnston, a Republican, retained a common touch after becoming becoming mayor, Township Administrator Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher said yesterday.
"Sometimes when people come into office, they develop some sort of attitude or an ego," Hatcher said. "Kenny never had any of that."
It wasn't unusual unusual to find Mr. Johnston in his constituents' kitchens or bathrooms, bathrooms, fixing their' plumbing. He put a high priority on helping neighbors, friends and colleagues in any way he could, friends said.
"Kenny was a regular guy," said Township Council President Bert Hermansky, who will serve as acting acting mayor for 30 days under township guidelines. "He'd give you the shirt off his back and do anything for you."
As mayor, Mr. Johnston took a special interest in recreational facilities, township officials said. He was hoping to build ice hockey rinks, Hermansky said.
"He said he was tired of seeing our kids go play in Cinnaminson and Riverside," Hermansky said. "He wanted to give something to them."
Several years ago, Mr. Johnston was named officer of the year by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, family members said.
Mr. Johnston was active in Fraternal Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 2, which he served as vice president, said Police Chief Arthur Saul, who worked with Mr. Johnston during his years as a police officer.
After becoming mayor, Mr. Johnston still stopped by the Police Department to chat with officers, Saul said.
Delran Police Sgt. John Kenneth Johnston 3d said his father had been "a very caring and giving person. I think he felt that he could improve the town" by getting involved involved in government.
Born in Riverside, Mr. Johnston was a 1958 graduate of Riverside High School, where he played football.
He was a member of Loyal Order of the Moose Lodge 279 in Riverside, the Riverside Masonic Lodge, the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Delran, and the Polish American Civic Club in Delran.
He liked to hunt and fish.
In addition to his son, he is survived survived by his wife of 40 years, Carol A. Henry Johnston; another son, Michael D.; a daughter, Carol A. Gabrieli; five grandchildren; his mother, Mildred; and a sister.
Friends may call between 6 and 9 p.m. tomorrow and after 9 a.m. Saturday at the Weber Funeral Home, 112 Broad St., Riverton, where a funeral funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. Burial will be in Lakeview Memorial Memorial Park, Cinnaminson.
Memorial donations may be made to the Delran Emergency Squad, Chester Avenue, Delran, N.J. 08075.
Delran Seeking A Mayor - Again Communication And Parks Top The List Of Issues For The Current Candidates. The Township Has Filled The Post Six Times Since 1996.
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160103212804/http://articles.philly.com/2000-04-30/news/25590559_1_regular-election-council-members-council-seatsBy Lauren Mayk, INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
Posted: April 30, 2000DELRAN — It hardly seems like news to say that residents here will be getting a new mayor after the May 9 municipal elections.
Since the last regular election in 1996, six men have held the post - and one of them has served twice.
Thomas DiLauro, who was elected to a second term in 1996, resigned after he was caught using a counterfeit handicapped parking sticker on his car. Council President Gerald Savidge took his place briefly until Anthony Ogozalek Jr. was appointed to serve until a special election was held. Ogozalek won that election but decided a few months later that he would rather work for Delran than run Delran and left office to take a job as a patrolman for the township. Albert Fynan, the current mayor, was appointed to fill the slot until a special election was held. Kenneth Johnston Jr. won that election and served until his death last winter, when Council President Bert Hermansky stepped in until the council appointed Fynan to serve again until the regular election on May 9.
"It would be laughable," said mayoral candidate Gary Catrambone, if it weren't for Johnston's death due to a heart attack.
Catrambone is running with council candidates Patricia Kunasz and Michael Chinnici on a platform of, among other things, communication with residents and a townshipwide plan for a central recreation area with an intergenerational focus and open space preservation. None of the three longtime Delran residents has held office in the township.
They are challenging current council member Joe Stellwag for mayor and current Council President Hermansky and Planning Board Chair Ken Mortimer for council seats. Stellwag and his slate of candidates are running on what they say is already a successful administration in the township and a five-point plan to control property taxes that involves forming a committee with representatives from the local school board, fire commissioners and sewerage authority to share services.
Catrambone, 42, said he got involved in township politics when someone dropped a flyer at his house about abolishing the Delran Sewerage Authority. In discussions on that issue, Catrambone said he found council members and authority members reluctant to talk and unwilling to disseminate information.
Increasing that communication through interactive Web sites and discussions with residents is high on his agenda.
"Everybody doesn't feel like it's 'our Delran,' " he said.
Stellwag said the council has tried to smooth over any tension between the sewerage authority and residents.
The townshipwide recreation plan that Catrambone's slate proposes, Stellwag said, is similar to a plan that was voted down by residents several years ago. Instead of trying to create one central park, council members have been concentrating on fixing up numerous neighborhood parks and adding hockey rinks and playgrounds around the township, he said.
"We're taking one park at a time and upgrading the whole park," he said.
Lauren Mayk's e-mail address is lmayk@phillynews.com
Delran mayor took big contribution: While pushing for an ordinance that would ban township contractors from contributing more than $300 to municipal candidates, the newly elected mayor in Delran appointed a firm whose employees had given his campaign far more.
Source: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/local/20080708_Delran_mayor_took_big_contribution.htmlBy Maya Rao
Posted: Jul 8, 2008While pushing for an ordinance that would ban township contractors from contributing more than $300 to municipal candidates, the newly elected mayor in Delran appointed a firm whose employees had given his campaign far more.
In one of his first acts as mayor, Ken Paris last week appointed Gregory Valesi of CME Associates - a firm whose employees contributed $5,000 to Paris and his running mates - as township engineer.
In an interview, Paris said he didn't know about the donations, which amounted to the third highest of any contributing firm.
"It really didn't come into play," Paris said. "I felt that CME was one of the most qualified [firms]. . . . If I was so excited about the $5,000 that they donated to my campaign, I could have appointed them on every engineering position."
A week after his election in May, Paris announced he was proposing the "toughest pay-to-play ordinance in Delran's history, sending a clear message that business as usual is over."
After the announcement, he submitted a model ordinance for the township solicitor to review, but the proposal was put on hold until the new elected officials were sworn in, he said. On Wednesday, Paris again broached the pay-to-play ordinance at a work session and said he had submitted a proposal to the new solicitor.
The mayor said he wanted the matter to be put on the agenda within a month, though he was unsure if it would happen because the new council will be busy.
The ordinance, which is all but sure to pass, would allow Delran to join 75 municipalities across the state that have enacted pay-to-play regulations.
Michael Chinnici, a former councilman who lost the mayoral race to Paris, said of the contract: "That's a little hypocritical, wouldn't you say?"
He added: "If you're going to enact it, and that's what you want, well, then, my thought is you should abide by it as you're trying to get it enacted."
CME, which did not contribute to the campaign, was appointed as the township's special projects engineer, and several other planning and zoning engineer appointments are pending.
On March 11, five employees of CME, including Valesi, each wrote $1,000 checks for Paris - then the only Democrat on the council - and his running mates, John Moran and Gary Catrambone, who were vying for seats on council.
Running on a reform agenda, they won all three positions by wide margins on May 13, toppling Republicans' longtime control.
Because Chinnici's term was up, the five-member council last week appointed Thomas Morrow, a Democrat, to his spot.
The council voted to approve Paris' appointments, which the mayor said were also reviewed with the input of residents. CME will receive $125 per hour, the same rate as Pennoni Associates, an engineering firm used by the previous Republican administration.
Valesi, of CME's Howell office, did not respond to requests for comment.
The pay-to-play ban would preclude firms that do business with the township from contributing more than $300 to local political party committees and $500 to county political parties. The township would ban contractors who violate the ordinance from receiving no-bid contracts for four years, according to Paris.
Mark Macey, a Republican councilman, called Paris a "huge hypocrite" but said, "In all honesty, the hypocrisy of Ken appointing these people - it models what [the Republicans] have done in the past."
He said he supported the ban as a way to clean up local politics, calling the amount of money that both sides had spent on the recent election "a pretty good indication of how far astray the political system is in the state of New Jersey."
The election was extraordinary because Republicans spent $113,622.31 - more than twice the amount of their opponents - on a township with fewer than 10,000 registered voters. The Burlington County Republican Committee financed nearly a third of the campaign.
"In one year, I'm going to be evaluating all of [the contractors], and believe me, I don't care who they are, if I'm not satisfied with the work they've done, I will make a recommendation to council to remove them if they have to," Paris said. "Nobody has any favor over the other."
He added: "The ordinance wasn't in effect. When it is in effect, I will abide by whatever we put forth."
Contact staff writer Maya Rao at 856-779-3220 or mrao@phillynews.com
Pay-to-play reform a partisan game: As the minority party in the New Jersey Legislature, Republicans have complained that Democrats are not serious about enacting pay-to-play reform at the state level.
Source: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/local/20080916_Pay-to-play_reform_a_partisan_game.htmlBy Maya Rao
Posted: Sep 16, 2008As the minority party in the New Jersey Legislature, Republicans have complained that Democrats are not serious about enacting pay-to-play reform at the state level.
In Burlington County, however, the roles are reversed, with the Democratic minority agitating for tougher restrictions on the practice.
The Democrats are hoping to break the Republicans' decades-long lock on most municipalities and the county government. So far, their efforts at pushing pay-to-play reform - the curbing of a practice in which campaign contributors receive government contracts - have had varying degrees of success.
In Cinnaminson, the most recent site of the pay-to-play wars, a group that included two Democratic candidates for the all-Republican township committee recently circulated a petition to put the issue of tougher campaign contribution limits for contractors on the ballot as a referendum question. They gathered close to 400 signatures.
Township Republicans scoffed at the proposal to limit contractors to contributing $300 to municipal candidates and municipal party committees, and $500 to county party committees, among other restrictions.
"Any candidate that grabs this and tries to describe this as being reform, I think it shows they have a real lack of understanding of how limited candidates already are in what they can and can't receive in contributions," said Cinnaminson Township Committeeman Anthony Minniti, a Republican.
Republicans pointed to an existing law that requires Cinnaminson to follow a "fair and open" contract-awarding process by bidding out contracts over $17,500.
Government still has plenty of discretion in such cases because under state law, professional services contracts don't have to go to the lowest bidder. Election records show that township engineer Remington & Vernick Engineers recently contributed $5,200, the legal limit, to Minniti and Mayor William "Ben" Young's campaigns. Parker McCay, which does legal work for the township, donated $750 this year.
Republicans made their opponents an offer: Neither would take any contributions from professionals or unions. The Democrats declined. Then, late last month, the township solicitor told the challengers that the township-committee form of government does not allow such referendum questions to be placed on the ballot by petition.
"I think ultimately, the taxpayers pay the price for the politically appointed jobs," said Linda Lamb, a Democrat who led the effort and also serves on the township school board.
Such calls for change are not uncommon from political outsiders.
"This seems to me certainly a central New Jersey issue, and the people who kind of benefit from pay-to-play are the 'in' people from both parties," said Richard Lau, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "So the 'out' party, wherever you are, is the one who's going to . . . oppose it."
Democrats have had better luck in Delran, where they won two council seats and the mayor's office in a May election. An ordinance similar to the Cinnaminson proposal received a first reading by the Township Council in August and is likely to be adopted this month, said Mayor Ken Paris, a Democrat who led the effort.
Republican Councilman Mark Macey supports the pay-to-play ban, calling the $158,149.67 spent on the election by both sides - nearly three-quarters of it by the GOP - to win offices that only pay between $2,200 and $2,500 apiece "sick."
But, he said, "as much as Cinnaminson is looking for reform, and as much as Delran is passing the strictest thing we can, there's a way around every one of these."
Paris, for his part, appointed a partner of CME Associates as the township engineer in July while he was championing the change, after the partner and others from the company gave his campaign $5,000. He said he did not know that the company - which gave a half-million dollars of contributions statewide in 2007, mostly to Democrats - was a contributor, and that many other recently appointed professionals did not donate.
Evesham enacted a strict ban in 2007 after three Democrats were elected to the Township Council that May.
But the 4-1 Democratic council quickly drew criticism for approving contracts to campaign contributors, as their Republican predecessors had, shortly before passing the ordinance. Since then, two municipal contractors gave money to a political action committee that the township's since-resigned solicitor said were not permitted. And municipal contractors have donated close to $10,000 to the county freeholder campaign of one of the Democratic council members, Chris Brown, and his running mate, Shamong Committeewoman Mary Anne Reinhart.
Now, Brown, also deputy mayor, has joined Reinhart in a bid for seats on the county's all-Republican Board of Freeholders to push for the county to adopt a similar pay-to-play ordinance.
"The reason why they're giving money toward my campaign is because they want a fair and level playing field," said Brown. "The playing field is completely unbalanced. You have the same contractors giving hundreds of thousand of dollars to the county GOP."
Last year in Mount Laurel, Tracy Riley, the lone Democrat on the Township Council, proposed pay-to-play restrictions. Republicans were unreceptive when the matter was debated at a council work session, saying the township already had an ordinance barring officeholders from accepting gifts from municipal contractors.
Riley now says pay-to-play reform is just one prong of government accountability and transparency, but Republicans in Mount Laurel and elsewhere say municipal pay-to-play bans will divert contractors' money to state party committees or political action committees, obscuring the fund-raising process.
And Macey worries that Delran's ordinance has a hole because it only bans the awarding of contracts to professionals who contributed to municipal candidates within the last year, though Delran doesn't have elections every year.
Another problem with the Democrats' proposals, some Republicans say, is hypocrisy.
"They say one thing but do another," said Layton. "The hypocrisy in all this should be outrageous to voters."
But Democrats say the Republicans simply don't want to change a system that has enabled their longtime reign. Public records show that Layton's Republican committee and the GOP county candidates, Freeholders Aubrey Fenton and Stacey Jordan and county clerk candidate Gary Woodend, have raised more than $130,000 from county contractors this year. The Republicans also help fund their campaigns most years by taking out loans partly backed by employees of county contractors.
In Cinnaminson, Democrats still want pay-to-play reform on their platform.
"I don't know that it's dead in the water yet," said Lamb. "It's still kind of swimming there. I'm trying to keep it afloat."
Contact staff writer Maya Rao at (856)779-3220 or mrao@phillynews.com
Delran referendum to consider moving municipal elections to fall: Delran residents will vote this fall on whether to move their municipal elections from May to November, the Township Council decided last night.
Source: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/local/20090812_Delran_referendum_to_consider_moving_municipal_elections_to_fall.htmlBy Maya Rao
Posted: Aug 12, 2009Delran residents will vote this fall on whether to move their municipal elections from May to November, the Township Council decided last night.
Delran is among about 80 New Jersey towns with nonpartisan municipal races. Local candidates are not identified by party affiliation on the ballot and elections are held in May, rather than alongside county, state, and national races in the fall.
In a meeting yesterday, the Township Council voted to create a November referendum question about switching to partisan elections. The change to November elections would save the municipality money and increase voter participation, officials said.
Councilman Mark Macey said in an interview that he preferred the nonpartisan May elections because they focused on issues exclusive to Delran.
But, besides the problem of low voter turnout, he said, "we can no longer afford the luxury of having a May election because of how much it costs the township in extra money every year."
There has been concern in some New Jersey communities that a steady parade of fire commission, school board, nonpartisan, primary, and general elections confines turnout at the voting booth to groups of people passionate about a single race.
While counties foot the bill for November municipal elections, towns that hold nonpartisan elections generally pay for the voting equipment, ballots, poll workers, and other expenses themselves. In Delran, officials expect to save up to $40,000 by converting to partisan elections.
Legislative proposals that address the issue have stalled in recent years.
Whether to consolidate election dates "is a legitimate question to pose to the voters," said William Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities.
Officials in nonpartisan municipalities Bordentown City, Haddonfield, and Audubon say they do not plan to change. The towns have just three commissioners and hold May elections every four years, making potential savings less of an issue.
But a measure similar to Delran's was approved recently in Evesham, where the cost of holding nonpartisan elections every other year can run $50,000, and the last, three months ago, saw a voter turnout of just 13.3 percent.
Evesham's Democratic-controlled Township Council in June approved putting the question on the November ballot, but newly elected Republican Deputy Mayor Joe Howarth presented an ordinance that would repeal the Democrats' measure. Howarth's ordinance was voted down at a raucous meeting two weeks ago, but the Township Council has opted not to revisit the proposal.
Howarth said in an interview that the switch would force the elections to become more political. "Important things that might come up in town are jumbled in November. People are limited: If you're not backed by a political party, you can't get involved," he said.
In truth, candidates in nonpartisan towns commonly receive backing from political parties. Howarth and his running mates, council members Kurt Croft and Debbie Hackman, received donations from Republican political-action committees. Evesham Mayor Randy Brown and Councilman John McKenna, both Democrats, received substantial campaign cash from sources affiliated with their party in 2007.
Both slates have paid a company that uses technology to help get out the vote. Efforts to get voters to the polls are key in the off-season elections, when residents are less motivated.
The ballot referendum has been less controversial in Delran, where the Township Council is governed 3-2 by Democrats and the mayor, Ken Paris, also is a Democrat. Paris and Councilmen John Moran and Gary Catrambone made the issue part of their 2008 campaign as running mates.
"I think everybody knows that there's Democrats and Republicans [in nonpartisan towns], and I think for $40,000 it's something that we can change without much of a drastic situation in the town," Paris said.
Contact staff writer Maya Rao at 856-779-3220 or mrao@phillynews.com.
Delran ushers in new political era
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20110103/NEWS/301039750By JEANNIE O’SULLIVAN
Posted: Jan 3, 2011DELRAN - With the new year comes a new era in politics here.
After Sunday's reorganization, the Township Council is all Democratic for the first time since 1990 and includes the first woman to serve on the governing body in more than a decade, said Councilman Gary Catrambone.
"You get new blood, you get new enthusiasm and a new energy. You get a different perspective," said Catrambone, who was named township council's vice president during the reorganization.
Recently unseated Congressman John Adler, D-3rd of Cherry Hill, swore in incumbent Ward 2 Councilman Thomas Morrow, who was appointed township council president, and Patty Kolodi, who will represent Ward 3. Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr., D-7th of Delanco, swore in Ward 1 Councilman Mike Schwartz, a newcomer who defeated Republican incumbent Anthony Ogozalek Sr. in November.
Morrow and Kolodi defeated Republicans Harry R. Fox and Pauline Gebhardt, respectively, in November.
Kolodi, a teacher at Delran High School, is the first woman to serve on Township Council since 2000, when Annette Karwacki was appointed to fill an unexpired term, Catrambone said.
In addition to Mayor Ken Paris and at-large Councilman John Moran, attendees included Burlington County Freeholder Mary Anne Reinhardt, former Democratic Councilwoman Mary Ann Rivell, and former Councilman Mark Macey, a Republican who did not seek re-election in November.
Catrambone estimated that roughly 100 people turned out for the reorganization, which took place at the municipal building on Chester Avenue at 1 p.m. Sunday.
"All of our supporters showed up to revel in our victory," he said.
Appointments included: Adam Brent as the township's public defender, Dean Buono as prosecutor, Robert Marrone as auditor, John Wisniewski as tax and labor attorney and Parker McCay as the township's bond law firm. Planning board, zoning board and recreational advisory committee members also were appointed.
The township council also has changed the starting time of its three monthly meetings from 7 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.
Goals for 2011 include the first phase of transforming the former Myers Farm into a recreational facility, stepping up street paving in the township and securing a piece of land to make a turn lane at Conrow and Hartford roads, an intersection prone to heavy traffic congestion, said Catrambone.
But the first order of business will be tackling the tax-cap burdened 2011 budget, a task Catrambone said will "keep them busy."
Before the Township Council switched to a partisan governing body last year, elections took place in May and officials took office in July - a timeframe that afforded freshmen politicians a breather before tackling their first budget.
"You had a couple of months to get your feet wet and then deal with the budget," said Catrambone. "It's not easy."
Staff writer Jeannie O'Sullivan can be reached at 609-871-8068, josullivan@phillyBurbs.com or twitter.com/JeannieOSulliva.
Delran proposes modest tax hike
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20110311/NEWS/303119593By Todd McHale
Posted: Mar 11, 2011DELRAN - The township's proposed $15.68 million budget would raise taxes about $35 for the average homeowner.
If adopted by the Township Council next month, the spending plan would increase the tax rate by 1.5 cents, from 66.9 cents to 68.4 cents, per $100 of assessed property value. The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $234,500 would pay $1,603.98 in local purpose taxes, an increase of $35.17 from last year.
Council President Tom Morrow said he was pleased with how the budget process went.
"I'm happy that we were able to keep all of our services and have no layoffs," Morrow said. "I'm really satisfied that we are able to come in under the (state-mandated 2 percent tax levy) cap."
He credited his fellow council members, the mayor, the township administrator and the department heads for their efforts to keep spending in check.
"We worked really hard the last three years to get where we are at now," Morrow said.
Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher said the budget is the result of multiple years of work and reduction in manpower, including six public works employees and one police officer through attrition.
Hatcher said the township has not been replacing employees who leave their jobs unless the positions are statutorily mandated.
The increase in this year's budget is a result of higher pension costs and police salaries, according to Hatcher.
"The majority of the line items either stayed flat or reduced," he said.
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. April 26 at the municipal building on Chester Avenue.
Todd McHale can be reached at 609-871-8163 and tmchale@phillyBurbs.com
Follow Todd on Twitter at twitter.com/toddmchale
Delran adopts budget, loses councilman
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20110428/NEWS/304289690By Todd McHale
Posted: Apr 28, 2011DELRAN - The municipal budget is done, and so is a Township Council member.
Councilman John Moran announced that Tuesday's meeting would be his last.
"Sometimes life gets in the way," Moran said. "I've got other responsibilities - other responsibilities that I need to take care of."
He was elected to a four-year term in 2008.
Mayor Ken Paris said Moran's contribution would be missed.
"He's one of the strongest people I know," Paris said. "He really cares about the residents of Delran."
Deputy Mayor Tom Morrow said Moran never lost sight of whom he was serving.
"He's passionate. He's a true advocate for Delran taxpayers," Morrow said.
Moran was elected when the township was nonpartisan, so the council will be responsible for selecting a replacement to fill his seat until November.
Councilman Gary Catrambone said the governing body will create a subcommittee to find a candidate and hopefully appoint someone in the coming weeks.
Whoever is chosen will need to run in November's election to serve out the unexpired term and seek re-election for a full term in November 2012.
Before Moran's resignation, the council adopted a $15.68 million municipal budget that calls for about a $35 tax hike for the average homeowner.
The spending plan raises the tax rate 1.5 cents, from 66.9 cents to 68.4 cents, per $100 of assessed property value.
The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $234,500 will pay $1,603.98 in local purpose taxes annually, an increase of $35.17 from last year's bill.
Paris credited municipal staff and employees for keeping spending down.
"The department heads did a fantastic job to get their budgets where they needed to be," he said. "Hats off to all the workers in this town."
Todd McHale can be reached at 609-871-8163 or tmchale@phillyBurbs.com
Follow Todd on Twitter at twitter.com/toddmchale
Delran council names new member
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20110519/NEWS/305199634By Todd McHale
Posted: May 19, 2011DELRAN - Despite objections from the mayor about the selection process, the Township Council named a new member of the governing body at a special meeting Tuesday.
Gina Reed, 55, was appointed to fill the seat left vacant when John Moran stepped down last month.
"I think it's great," Reed said Wednesday. "I was very excited when they told me.
"I've always had a sense of participation in my community, and what better way to do that than serving on the council."
Reed has served on a number of boards and committees since she moved to town 10 years ago.
Most recently, she was chairwoman of the environmental advisory agency and an alternate member of the defunct Delran Sewerage Authority, and she helped organize the parade and celebration for Olympic gold medalist Carli Lloyd in 2008.
Reed, who is a regional manager for a New York insurance company, also is vice chairwoman of the Delran Democratic Committee.
But she believes she can do more.
"It's my time to step in and help my community," said Reed, who will need to run for election in November to serve out the unexpired term and seek re-election for a full term in November 2012.
Councilman Gary Catrambone said Reed was the perfect person for the job.
"She's a natural choice," Catrambone said. "She brings an energy and dedication to the township that I'm sure she will bring to the council."
Mayor Ken Paris said he appreciated all Reed has done for the community, but he didn't believe the council was transparent with the appointment.
"I think this was decided behind closed doors," he said.
The mayor and all five council members are Democrats.
Rather than politicize the appointment, Paris said the council should have selected the most qualified candidate.
He said the other candidate, Randy Belin, who is a director of urban programs for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, was a better fit.
"He's been involved with municipalities for 20 years," Paris said.
"Don't get me wrong, I like Gina. Gina is a great person," he added. "Unfortunately, I believe it was predetermined that Gina was the choice."
Belin thanked the council at Tuesday's meeting.
"It's an honor for me to even be considered for this opportunity," he said.
But Belin also said he was disappointed.
"I think I do have a unique perspective that could benefit this community," he said.
Catrambone and council President Tom Morrow said they liked Belin but did not know him as well as Reed.
"Gina has been a part of the team for years," Catrambone said, referring to her work on election campaigns for him and other council members, and her work in the township.
Morrow said he hopes Belin's skills can still be used in the community.
"I'd like to see you on the Planning Board," he said.
Todd McHale can be reached at 609-871-8163 or tmchale@phillyBurbs.com
Follow Todd on Twitter at twitter.com/toddmchale
Delran residents should attend council meetings
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20110819/OPINION/308199769Posted: Aug 19, 2011
I recently have been to a Delran Council work meeting, and the Business Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher welcomed me to look over the audit to show me where the missing or misplaced monies from the defunct Delran Sewerage Authority went.
DSA has been used. The Council still says that the funds have been misplaced and not used for something wrong. I have gone over the audit and there is something wrong. I would like to ask if there are any residents with an accounting background available to assist me in finding the truth and asking the appropriate questions about the audit. You can find information about the audit at delrantownship.org. You can also get the minutes of all the meetings at the same site -- a little late, about two months. They say they must approve the minutes before the public can read them, but what is said at the meeting is said at that time, and I guess if they must be corrected, well, we all must wait.
They could issue the minutes with a preliminary identification, but we must be transparent, eh?
When asked about the funding of new roads in Delran versus the tax hike, especially its impact on senior citizens, council preferred the roads. Our infrastructure must be dealt with and all council members concurred.
They don't get it. The economic uncertainty we live in is getting worse, not better. What is happening in our world? Is what was bad now good and what was good now bad? The roads that they propose to re-do are not that bad that we couldn't wait a few years for times to get better and not force a tax increase on us all.
Maybe it's the pay-to-play money they will miss. Whenever I ask a questions in a meeting, it gets quiet.
If you drive over to Yansick Street and Moreland Terrace, just off Fairview Street, you will find six speed humps installed on the streets they are resurfacing.The reason, they say, is to curb high school kids from speeding home from school. I asked them why the police are not involved in patroling the area at that time and the response was that they cannot do that. I asked why not and they response was they say it can't be. I came back with "get rid of the police cars and hire 20 more patrolmen who can walk the beat in our neighborhoods and protect those who pay them." It would be cost-effective. Pay people instead of buying cars.
The next Township Council meeting is Aug. 23. Come and see what is going on. They are spending $2.2 million on a property to put in more ball fields and I suspect that costs are going to top out at about $10 million before it is over -- lights, track, stadium with seats, etc. What do they do for the bright students of our township? Council will use the term grant -- we are getting a grant. Well, for Council's information, we the taxpayers pay no matter where the grant comes from -- county, state or federal. We paid the tax. Nothing is free.
Don McCabe
Delran
Delran swears in a new member to the governing body
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20111123/NEWS/311239671Posted: Nov 23, 2011
DELRAN -- The Township Council has a new member.
Pat Pomeranz was sworn in as councilwoman by state Sen. Diane Allen, R-7th of Edgewater Park, during council's meeting Tuesday night.
Pomeranz won the seat in the Nov. 8 election when she defeated incumbent Gina Reed for a one-year unexpired term on the governing body. Reed had been appointed to fill the seat left vacant in April when former Councilman John Moran stepped down.
The election marked the first time in several years that a Republican-backed candidate managed to win a seat on the five-member council.
Republicans from throughout Burlington County and dozens of supporters attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Pomeranz thanked her supporters and vowed to do the best job she could for the township.
"It's my privilege to serve on council and work for the residents of the township," Pomeranz said.
Delran looks to reduce feral cat colonies in town
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20111128/NEWS/311289744By Todd McHale
Posted: Nov 28, 2011DELRAN -- Feeding stray cats in town could turn costly for residents.
The Township Council has introduced an ordinance to make it illegal to feed feral cats on any property owned by the municipality.
Violators could face a $300 fine if the council adopts the ordinance next month.
"We've got some cat colonies in the neighborhoods and on the township's Green Acres properties. We've got to get it under control," council President Tom Morrow said.
Officials do not plan to rid the area of all stray cats. Instead, they want to enter into a program designed to control the population.
The township plans to join a growing list of municipalities taking part in the Burlington County Feral Cat Initiative, which started about six years ago.
The nonprofit organization based in Shamong operates a trap, neuter and return program. Other participants include Beverly, Lumberton, Shamong, Southampton, Springfield, Tabernacle and Woodland. Mount Holly also is considering joining.
The council must pass an ordinance that acknowledges a problem with feral cats and puts in place measures for the initiative to monitor and manage the colonies.
"This is the most humane way to solve the problem," Morrow said of the trap, neuter and release program. "This will eventually shrink the colonies."
While still in the planning stages, the township hopes to enlist some volunteers to be the caregivers of the feral cats, including trapping them and taking them to a veterinarian for neutering and shots. The cats will also be microchipped and have a portion of their ears clipped. Known as ear-tipping, the procedure involves cutting off about a quarter inch of the tip of the left ear and is the universal sign of a neutered feral cat.
Once the ordinance is in place, the township will be eligible for grants to pay for veterinarian bills, according to Morrow.
He said he does not foresee any residents being fined for feeding stray cats, but the township solicitor suggested that the provision was needed to allow for enforcement of the ordinance.
The council will hold a public hearing on the feral cat ordinance at 7:15 p.m. Dec. 27 at the municipal building at 900 Chester Ave.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran puts limits on public comments
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20120203/NEWS/302039765By Todd McHale
Posted: Feb 3, 2012DELRAN -- Tick, tock, tick, tock...
The clock will be officially running as speakers make comments at Township Council meetings.
Five minutes will be the limit for each person.
While the governing body already has an unwritten rule to limit speakers to five minutes, it intends to formalize the policy with a resolution.
"I refuse to have our meetings hijacked by folks who have an agenda," council President Gary Catrambone said.
Catrambone said recent grandstanding and redundant questions by some residents led the council to institute the formal restriction.
Mayor Ken Paris said he agreed that something needed to be done.
"We need to keep composure and stay the course in the meeting," Paris said after the council's work session Wednesday night.
The measure comes on the heels of a resident being escorted out of the council's meeting last week by police after he refused to stop questioning members during the public comment.
Lifelong resident William Pfeffer said he just wanted the council to answer questions concerning a bond ordinance and the former sewerage authority's finances.
"The next thing I know, there are two police officers telling me it's time to go," Pfeffer said. "I did nothing to warrant the police to be called. There was no hostility.
"This is absurd. It's authoritative rule," he continued. "This is the kind of stuff that happens in Russia, Syria, and these countries run by dictators. This is America."
Pfeffer said he believes council members get upset when residents bring up issues they don't want to address.
"They get testy," he said. "They look for a way out."
Officials disagreed.
"Five minutes is a long time," Catrambone said. "If we feel we need more time for discussion, we will extend it."
Officials said Pfeffer had enough time to make his point.
"It was beyond fair," Catrambone said of Pfeffer's allotted time.
Councilman Tom Morrow said the five-minute limit is needed to ensure more people are able to speak.
"It's a way to give everyone a fair chance to get up and speak," Morrow said.
The council is expected to vote on the resolution at its Feb. 28 meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the municipal building on Chester Avenue.
Several municipalities have similar time-limit policies regarding public comment. The Willingboro Board of Education actually has a clock with a buzzer that goes off after four minutes.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Time limit is unfair
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20120205/OPINION/302059845Posted: Feb 5, 2012
Ah, yes, the gang of 5 + 2 have decided that during the public portion of Delran Township Council meetings, residents are not worthy of more than five minutes of time to ask their questions.
Sound familiar? Ironically, it happened to me at a prior public meeting where they (the solicitor, with the blessings of the council) censored me while I attempted to ask relevant questions concerning taxpayers.
I call this little charade of theirs "Beat the Clock," reminiscent of a 1950s television game show where contestants are given a few minutes to complete different tasks in an effort to beat the clock.
Delran taxpayers, I call on you to step up to the plate, make an attempt to attend some of these meetings, and let your voices be heard. You will be surprised at how the gang of 5 + 2 are spending your tax dollars -- tax dollars they don't even have yet.
But back to "Beat the Clock." While I was asking very pointed questions of council members as to their propensity to spend tax dollars they don't have, along with other questions affecting the taxpayers of Delran, once again I was censored.
While attempting to ask these questions, I was abruptly interrupted by the solicitor (a new one), who informed me, "Your five minutes are up" -- in effect, censoring me as a taxpaying resident.
Well, one might say, "He must have created a scene!" No, that's not the case. Instead, my questions were put forth to the council in a civil manner with absolutely no hostility.
I inquired of this solicitor as to who imposed the so-called five-minute rule, as it is nowhere to be found in the state Open Public Meetings Act. His response was, "We decided."
I attempted to appeal to the council to allow me to continue, but guess what? Instead, they called out the troops, and while standing before council, I was approached by two police officers and instructed to leave the meeting.
Now, if I were living in Russia, Iran, Syria or any other country ruled by a dictator, I could understand this type of Gestapo-like action. But this is America, the freest country on earth. Our Constitution guarantees it -- freedom of speech, freedom of expression, etc. -- without the fear of some form of retribution.
I must go back to a time when a majority of Democrats began to control the Delran council. It is now apparent that at approximately the same time, authoritarian rule also began creeping into Delran politics and is now in full swing. Dictatorship comes to mind.
I ask you, the taxpayers of Delran, to make every attempt to attend a few of these meetings. They are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. Get involved, please, for the continued ways of tax and spend by this council cannot stand. These policies will sooner or later lead to severe consequences for those residents who will no longer be able to afford to live in this beautiful town of ours.
William Pfeffer
Delran
The Vent
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20120207/OPINION/302079653Posted: Feb 7, 2012
Residents of Delran, wake up. Our town is changing and not for the better. Dictators in charge. Better pay attention. Time for a change.
Michael, Delran
Delran waits to formalize public comment limits
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20120301/NEWS/303019654By Todd McHale
Posted: Mar 1, 2012Township Council members had intended to vote on a plan to formally institute a five-minute time limit on speakers.
DELRAN -- Resident William Pfeffer returned to speak at Tuesday's Township Council meeting, but this time he checked his watch before he began.
Pfeffer's removal by police officers from a meeting in January led to a plan by the council to formally institute a five-minute time limit on speakers.
On Tuesday, council members had intended to vote on the measure, but then put their decision on hold for a month so they can take a closer look at the proposed resolution.
"We're in no hurry," Council President Gary Catrambone said. "We've got a policy in place. All we were doing is putting it in writing."
While the governing body already has an unwritten rule to limit speakers to five minutes, it planned to formalize the policy after the incident involving Pfeffer, who had refused to stop questioning council members during the public comment.
Pfeffer said he just wanted answers concerning a bond ordinance and the former sewerage authority's finances.
He seemed suspicious of the council's motives.
"I believe it's a convenient way of the council to silence the taxpayers," Pfeffer said. "To cut them off after one or two questions is not right."
Catrambone said that's not the case.
"We've been very, very lenient with the policy," he said.
With limits in place, Catrambone said more residents will have a chance to speak and meetings won't get bogged down by one or two people.
"The policy is such that we keep (the meeting) moving," he said.
The council reserves the right to extend a resident's time, if warranted, he noted.
Former Councilman Anthony Ogozalek Sr. said in all the years he served, the governing body never tried to silence anyone by using a time limit.
He recalled a discussion years ago during which Catrambone said he would be willing to hold council meetings until midnight to allow everyone a chance to speak.
"Is my time up?" Ogozalek asked after a few minutes Tuesday.
"No, take your time, Oggie," Catrambone responded with a laugh.
After the meeting, Catrambone said he believes the controversy is much ado about nothing.
"It's not a big deal," he said. "They're making it sound like we're trying to usurp their ability to speak. The policy was in place last week, last year and this week, and you see how it went."
Nearly everyone who spoke Tuesday exceeded the five-minute time limit.
The council plans to vote on the resolution at its March 27 meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.
"We just wanted to put it in writing, so if we ever have to remove somebody again, we have the policy in writing," Catrambone said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran introduces budget that reduces spending
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20120312/NEWS/303129780By Todd McHale
Posted: Mar 12, 2012DELRAN -- The township has introduced its annual budget, which calls for an overall reduction in spending.
The $15.6 million budget decreases spending by about $54,000 and also reduces the amount to be raised by taxation by $204,500 from the previous year, according to officials.
"I'm elated," Mayor Ken Paris said. "It's something that I've been striving for since I got into office."
Paris credited the staff and Township Council for putting together the spending plan.
"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work," he said. "We had a three-year plan to work on the cost average and to try to move it down to the baseline, and we were successful."
If the budget is approved at the council's meeting later this month, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $209,400 would pay $1,560 in local purpose taxes. Last year, prior to a communitywide reassessment, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $234,500 paid $1,601 in annual taxes.
The proposed tax rate this year is 74.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Last year's rate, before the reassessment, was 68.4 cents per $100.
The municipality was able to cut spending after years of work and a reduction in manpower through attrition, Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher said
"We've gone from 19 people in public works to 14 and went from 32 to 30 police officers," Hatcher said.
Also, the mayor has called for a 5 percent reduction in budgets from all the department heads, he said.
Council President Gary Catrambone applauded the efforts of those involved in the budget.
"The council relies on leaders like Mayor Paris and Jeff Hatcher to take the scalpel to the budget and get rid of any excess spending. They've done a great job every year, but this is the best," Catrambone said. "They certainly make our jobs easier. They were forced to make difficult decisions, but the result is worth it."
The council will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. April 24 at the municipal building on Chester Avenue.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran approves municipal budget
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20120426/NEWS/304269671By Todd McHale
Posted: Apr 26, 2012DELRAN -- A hearing on the 2012-13 municipal budget drew mixed reactions from residents at Tuesday's Township Council meeting.
The adopted $15.6 million spending plan calls for a reduction in overall spending by $54,000 and trims the amount to be raised by taxation by $204,500 from the previous year, Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher said.
"I'm very, very proud of where we are with this budget," Mayor Ken Paris said. "It took several years to get where we're at. And we didn't have to lay anyone off. I give a lot of credit to the administration as well as all the township employees."
The local purpose tax rate will be 74.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Last year's rate, before a reassessment, was 68.4 cents per $100.
The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $209,400 will pay $1,560 in local purpose taxes annually.
Last year, before a communitywide reassessment, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $234,500 paid $1,601 annually in taxes.
The township not only has been able to keep spending down, but also has managed to maintain all municipal services and continue to make improvements in the community, Councilman Tom Morrow said.
"We've been able to do that as we've made major infrastructure (and) road improvements," Morrow said.
While he agreed that some cuts in recent years have been unpopular, Morrow believes the payoff was worth it, given the number of municipalities in Burlington County that have reduced services and staff.
The township was able to cut spending after years of work and a reduction in manpower through attrition, Hatcher said.
Also, the mayor called for a 5 percent reduction in budgets from all department heads.
Over the last few years, the Public Works Department has shrunk from 19 employees to 14, and the Police Department went from 32 to 30 officers.
Despite the cutbacks, some residents believed the council needed to do more to control spending.
"You're robbing Peter to pay Paul," William Pfeffer said of the township's use of surplus money. "You've raised taxes every year. Don't tell me you've done a good job."
Resident Don McCabe believes the township needs to slash benefits, such as the amount an employee can collect for unused sick time.
"We have to cut this kind of stuff," McCabe said.
He also questioned why the township spends $3.4 million in salaries and wages for the police.
Hatcher said the line item for the Police Department includes pay for 30 officers and four clerical workers along with overtime costs.
"That's an awful lot of money," McCabe said.
Some residents said they appreciated officials' efforts.
Joe LaMonica said he's grown tired of hearing all the negative comments.
"I just want to commend you for all the work you've done on this budget," LaMonica said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Help for feral cats in Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20121011/NEWS/310119716Posted: Oct 11, 2012
DELRAN -- The Burlington County Feral Cat Initiative, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to humanely reduce the feral/stray cat population, is offering free TNR (trap/neuter/release), including vaccinations, microchipping and ear-tipping for feral/stray cats in the township.
The initiative also is seeking colony caretakers and volunteers. The program is approved by Delran Township and endorsed by the Burlington County Board of Freeholders and Burlington County Health Department.
For more information, 609-268-2878.
Politics heating up in Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20121017/NEWS/310179756By Todd McHale
Posted: Oct 17, 2012DELRAN -- Vandalism and thefts appear to be going on this election season in the township.
Both Democrats and Republicans running for mayor and Township Council seats voiced their frustrations Tuesday about some of the tactics being used.
The animosity over the last few days has led the campaigns of both parties to file complaints with the police related to the theft and vandalism of signs.
"We had to do what we've got to do. We don't have a lot of money, so we can't afford to be replacing signs all the time," said Councilwoman Patricia Pomeranz, who is running for mayor.
The campaign for the Republican mayoral candidate and her running mates, Ronald Taylor and John Gazaway, who are seeking council seats, accused Democratic Councilman Mike Schwartz of stealing signs from two properties on Chester Avenue on Oct. 10.
The Republicans said Schwartz removed the signs and refused to give them back. They also indicated that Mayor Ken Paris was there when the thefts occurred.
"It's just childish politics. We're just trying to run a campaign based on the issues," said Robert Rambow, the Delran GOP Club chairman and the campaign manager for Pomeranz, Taylor and Gazaway.
Schwartz said he took down the signs only after the property owners asked that he do so.
"I don't want her signs," he said of Pomeranz's campaign signs.
Schwartz noted that he's not even running this year and has nothing against any of the candidates.
"It's just a shame," he said. "I thought I was helping someone out."
The incident occurred when he visited the Chester Avenue resident, whom Schwartz said he's helped out from time to time.
"She lives around the corner from me," he said. "I thought I was doing the right thing."
The other resident down the street asked that Schwartz also remove signs.
Afterward, Schwartz said he made arrangements to have the signs dropped off on Pomeranz's porch.
"I don't know what happened to them then," he said. "If she wants me to pay for the four signs, I will."
Mayor Ken Paris said he was in the area talking to residents with his running mate, Lona Pangia, but knew nothing about the signs.
"I wasn't part of any of it," he said. "I would never get involved in something like that. I don't play that game."
Paris said he was called over to the residence that night while campaigning to talk to the elderly resident about a sidewalk issue.
"I'm getting tired of this childish stuff," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Democratic campaign of Paris, Pangia and Council President Gary Catrambone filed its own complaint about hundreds of the candidates' signs in the Millside and Swedes Run neighborhoods being vandalized.
"Two hundred of our signs were cut," Paris said. "I'm embarrassed that people act this way in town."
Pomeranz agreed and would like for people to leave the signs alone.
"I just want it to stop. It's crazy," she said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale.
It may not be a successful year in Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130110/NEWS/301109569Posted: Jan 10, 2013
Let's clear up something in last Sunday's paper that quoted Delran Mayor Ken Paris as saying Delran lowered taxes in 2012. It is not phenomenal to lower taxes by taking $2.5 million from surplus to do so when that money could have been used to help the people in the flood area of town known as Riverside Park.
Also, why doesn't the mayor conduct a forensic audit to find the $5 million from the Sewage Authority takeover? Why won't he show the residents where it went? I offered to pay for an audit, but the mayor has refused. Why?
I also filed a complaint with the Election Board against the mayor for electioneering in the municipal building on Election Day.
There is no sorority here. It is real life on the Township Council, and I look forward to Lona Pagia's claim to help the people of Riverside Park.
If Paris cares for the people and council, where is it? Words are only words. Where is the proof?
The preserved open space is a sham. The township paying $750,000 for 3.5 acres is no deal for open space or for taxpayers, and $6 million for a sports complex? Wow. Our grandchildren will still be paying for that because it's a $20 million bond (meaning on credit for 20 years).
A successful year? I don't think so.
Don McCabe
Delran
County and state races begin to shape up as Dems announce candidates
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130310/NEWS/303109774By Danielle Camilli
Posted: Mar 10, 2013MOUNT LAUREL -- The Burlington County Democratic Committee has chosen its slate of candidates who will challenge the Republican incumbents for county offices in November.
James Kostoplis of Bordentown Township will run for sheriff, Nancy Youngkin of Medford will seek the office of clerk, and Reva Foster of Willingboro will run for a seat on the Burlington County Board of Freeholders, committee Chairman Joseph Andl announced Friday.
The freeholder race, which will pit Foster against Director Joseph Donnelly of Cinnaminson, is expected to be hotly contested as control of the five-member board -- and county government -- is at stake. Donnelly is seeking his third elected term.
The Democrats have not controlled county government in more than 25 years. Andl said they are looking to build on the momentum from November's victories of Aimee Belgard and Joanne Schwartz, who now serve on the freeholder board with Republicans Donnelly, Deputy Director Leah Arter of Moorestown and Joseph Howarth of Evesham.
While the Democrats' slate has some candidates with name recognition in key towns, the party could have an uphill battle fighting the possible coattail gains of Gov. Chris Christie at the top of the GOP ticket this fall.
Foster, a veteran who served in the Air Force, has worked for nearly 20 years as director of the Willingboro Township Senior Center and now is executive director of Community Affairs, Department on Aging and Veterans Affairs, handling the day-to-day operations of the senior center and programs.
"It has been an honor working with our residents every day, and I look forward to bringing my experiences to the campaign trail to continue fighting for the taxpayers of Burlington County," said Foster, who is also president of the Willingboro chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Kostoplis, who has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement and operations management, will try to unseat Sheriff Jean Stanfield of Westampton, an attorney who has held the post since 2001. During his time as a police lieutenant in Hamilton, Mercer County, he reorganized the Megan's Law unit and investigated major crimes, officials said.
Kostoplis also is a fire commissioner for the township's Fire District No. 2
"There is nothing more important than protecting our residents and maintaining the public safety of our communities," he said. "We need a sheriff that will be more pro-active, seeking to implement and expand the use of technology so that we better use resources and improve the way we provide public safety to the residents."
Youngkin will face off against Clerk Tim Tyler of Fieldsboro, who is seeking a second term. She is a community volunteer who initiated the revitalization of the Medford Democratic Club last year, but lost her Township Council bid last November.
Youngkin, a hairstylist, is also an active parent volunteer with the township elementary and middle schools, officials said.
"We need to take a closer look at how we provide services to the taxpayers and identify further areas for savings," she said. "The office of the clerk is at the heart of serving many of our residents, and by modernizing our operations and enhancing the use of technology, we can provide more timely and cost-effective services."
Burlington County Republican Committee Chairman Bill Layton said Friday that his party will meet Thursday to officially nominate its candidates for county and state offices.
"We're really excited about the candidacies of freeholder Director Joe Donnelly, Sheriff Jean Stanfield and Clerk Tim Tyler," Layton said. "We've spent the last six years cutting taxes and spending, and are the only county in the state to have cut the tax levy five years in a row. We're proud of our record, and we're looking forward to the election in November."
Also on the Democratic ticket is Delran Councilman Gary Catrambone, who will try to unseat longtime Republican incumbent Diane Allen in the 7th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate.
Catrambone is vice president of marketing for Aklero Risk Analytics and the owner of the disc jockey service Catrambone Entertainment Co. He has served on the Delran council since 2006.
He will be considered a long shot to unseat Allen. The former Philadelphia television news anchor has spent 17 years in the Legislature, the last 15 in the Senate.
Burlington County's only two Democratic legislators, Herb Conaway Jr. of Delanco and Troy Singleton of Palmyra, will seek re-election to their 7th District Assembly seats.
The county GOP has not yet chosen candidates to challenge the two incumbents.
The 7th District is made up largely of Burlington County's Delaware River towns and Willingboro, plus Burlington Township, Moorestown and Mount Laurel.
The Democrats have not decided on candidates to run for 8th District seats, now held by Republican Sen. Dawn Marie Addiego of Evesham and Assemblymen Scott Rudder of Medford and Chris Brown of Evesham.
The 8th District is made up largely of the county towns of Eastampton, Evesham, Hainesport, Lumberton, Mansfield, Medford, Medford Lakes, Mount Holly, Pemberton Borough, Pemberton Township, Southampton and Westampton, plus small parts of Camden and Atlantic counties.
Danielle Camilli: 609-267-7586; email: dcamilli@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @dcamilli
Underdog Democrat hopes to unseat Allen in 7th District
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130321/NEWS/303219709By David Levinsky
Posted: Mar 21, 2013
DELRAN -- Gary Catrambone is used to wearing many hats. He's a Delran councilman, a small-business owner and a marketing executive.
Now add 7th Legislative District candidate for the New Jersey Senate to the list.
Catrambone has his work cut out for him, though, because he will be trying to unseat Republican incumbent Diane Allen of Edgewater Park. The former television news anchor has spent the better part of two decades representing the district in Trenton. During her tenure, Allen has dominated every 7th District opponent she's faced.
A Delran councilman since 2006, Catrambone said he is unfazed by Allen's name and history.
"I've never backed away from a good fight. I'm a persistent guy, and I've got a great message," he said. "I love a challenge."
He said that he decided to run for Senate, in large part, to address regional issues such as Delaware River and Rancocas Creek flooding and the pedestrian dangers on Route 130, and that his goal is to represent the district without political considerations.
"My style of governing is that every vote I make is based on what's best for the community," Catrambone said. "That's my primary objective on every vote."
A self-described "technology geek," Catrambone said he wants to use websites and social media to increase residents' access to lawmakers and increase transparency within state government, much as he has done in Delran, where he founded Delran.net, a website that published meeting schedules and minutes.
"I started going to meetings in 1998 because I wanted to know what was going on in my community. At one point, I realized there was no township website. If I missed a meeting, I had to buy the minutes for 25 cents a page. I remember thinking, 'This is something that's not right,' so I started my own community website and posted (meeting minutes) online," he said.
Since being elected to local office, Catrambone said he's also learned to use social media to communicate with residents and find out about their concerns. He said the day after Superstorm Sandy hit, he spent close to six hours answering questions and relaying information on Facebook.
"The way I look at it, I'm just a neighborhood guy who has access to information. So why not share it?" he said.
In addition to increasing transparency, Catrambone said he wants to bring a local government perspective to the Legislature. He said that experience is needed on such issues as shared services and state aid because decisions made by the governor and lawmakers often have massive impacts on local towns and taxpayers.
"You get a unique perspective in local office," he said.
Catrambone said that his experiences as the owner of an entertainment business and an online clothing retail operation have taught him to be careful with every dollar he earns, and that he brings that same scrutiny to government spending.
He noted that Delran has saved taxpayer money during his tenure on the council by moving the municipal election from May to November and by eliminating the Delran Sewerage Authority.
"I spend (tax money) like it's my money, because it really is. It's my money and my neighbors' money, too. And as a small-business owner, I know money comes in ebbs and flows. When things are tight, you can't spend. That's how I approach things," he said.
Of course, he'll have to win the election first -- no easy feat given Allen's track record, to say nothing of the presence of a certain Republican governor at the top of the GOP column.
According to the latest statewide poll, Gov. Chris Christie's approval ratings remain sky high, at 66 percent.
"Fortunately, I'm not running against him," Catrambone said about Christie's likely impact on voters. "What I do find interesting though is that (Christie's) poll numbers rocketed up when the hurricane happened and he threw politics aside and did his job. That's my thing. The residents in Delran saw that, and now I want to get that message to the rest of our communities."
Catrambone has been endorsed by the Burlington County Democratic Committee, but he must still win the June primary. No other candidates yet are challenging for the 7th District seat. The filing deadline is April 1. The district is made up largely of Burlington County's Delaware River towns plus Moorestown and Mount Laurel.
Allen said she respects anyone, regardless of party, who is willing to run for office.
"It takes a lot for anyone to make that decision to run for office. No matter what party they are, people should be thanked for being willing to take that on," she said. "It's not an easy thing for anyone."
Allen isn't taking re-election for granted. In fact, she held a campaign fundraiser Monday night that brought in $65,000. However, she said her attention has remained focused on representing the district.
"We've had a full schedule in the Senate with a lot of things we're working on," she said. "I'm certainly preparing for a campaign, but we haven't really focused on it yet."
David Levinsky: 609-871-8154; email: dlevinsky@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @davidlevinsky
Delran proposes budget that includes tax increase
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130328/NEWS/303289741By Todd McHale
Posted: Mar 28, 2013DELRAN -- The average homeowner would pay about $23 more in local purposes taxes to support the municipal budget.
The recently introduced $15.7 million spending plan would raise the local purpose tax rate by 1.1 cents, from 74.5 cents to 75.6 cents, per $100 of assessed property value.
"I'm very happy on where we are with the budget," Mayor Ken Paris said. "We've worked very hard to get it where it is today. We've cut as much as we can cut."
The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $209,630 would pay $1,584.80 in taxes, an increase of $23.05 from last year's bill.
Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher attributed most of this year's increase to higher police pensions, the reserve for uncollected taxes and debt service costs, along with $50,000 set aside to fight a tax appeal by New Jersey American Water Co., which has a water processing plant in the township.
"There's a lot at stake," Hatcher said of the tax appeal, which could mean millions in lost revenue if the litigation doesn't go the township's way.
While officials said they would have liked to have created a budget without a tax increase, economic conditions did not allow it.
"All the costs are going up, and state aid has remained flat, so we've got to make up the difference," Township Council President Gary Catrambone said.
The budget maintains all municipal services and plans no layoffs.
"We're already short-staffed," Paris said. "We can't cut any more employees."
Even though the public hearing on the budget isn't until next month, one resident, William Pfeffer, asked at Tuesday's meeting why the township did not use surplus to fix the ongoing flooding problems in the Riverside Park neighborhood.
Paris said that the township is doing what it can and will continue to seek grant money, but that it cannot afford to spend millions without some financial assistance from state or federal agencies.
"It could increase everyone's tax bill by $500," Paris said.
The public hearing on the budget will be at 7 p.m. April 23 at the municipal building.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com;Twitter: @toddmchale
Councilman is not ready for state Senate
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130401/NEWS/304019740Posted: Apr 1, 2013
Councilman Gary Catrambone hopes to unseat Sen. Diane Allen, D-7th of Edgewater Park. As a Delran councilman since 2006, he has had plenty of time to address issues such as Delaware River and Rancocas Creek flooding in Delran. His main reaction to the flooding in Delran was that we must get a grant to cover the cost to fix it.
Catrambone used $2.5 million to get re-elected in lieu of using that money to help those distressed people in the Riverside Park area. He lowered taxes by $20, which was washed out by another $85 tax increase for kindergarten expenses in the school system. A recent Burlington County Times article stated that taxes will go up another $125 in Delran. And the people in the park area are still wet.
Catrambone said, "I spend tax money like it's my money, because it really is. It's my money and my neighbors' money." I wish he would have thought about that when Delran paid $750,000 to buy 3½ acres on Fairview Street, which was not a good deal for taxpayers. Catrambone also was quoted as saying, "When things are tight, you can't spend." Well, how about the $6 million Delran spent for a sports complex where costs will eventually be in the $20 million-plus range, including a yearly cost to maintain it and electric bills to pay forever? Our taxes are going to keep going up under Catrambone's rule. Our grandkids will have to pay off this debt/spending.
Catrambone had his chance in Delran when disaster struck the people in the park, and he did nothing. We don't need that kind of help. We need someone who will do something for the people, not have an agenda, and who will spend the money wisely. He is not in the same league as Gov. Chris Christie or Sen. Diane Allen.
Catrambone also manages the township's so-called website, which publishes meeting schedules and minutes. The minutes take three months to get on the site, when it is operating -- it has been down for about eight months already. The Supreme Court has ruled that minutes of any public meeting must be obtainable within two weeks of a meeting. This has never happened.
Catrambone stated that he saved taxpayers money by eliminating the Delran Sewerage Authority, but until there is a forensic audit of what happened there, he did not save money. There are still millions of dollars unaccounted for.
Don McCabe
Delran
Tea party slate to challenge GOP organization candidates in primary
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130402/NEWS/304029712By staff reports
Posted: Apr 2, 2013
New Jersey's typically lackluster primary election could have some drama this June as a slate of tea party-backed Republicans have filed to challenge the Burlington County GOP's endorsed candidates for state Assembly and county offices.
A total of six tea party candidates filed Monday to challenge the party-endorsed Republicans. Monday was the filing deadline for the June 4 primary.
In the Assembly, Joe Siano of Burlington City and Constance Hare Murray of Moorestown have filed to challenge the Burlington County Republican Committee's endorsed candidates, Jeffrey Bansz of Moorestown and Anthony Ogozalek of Delran in the 7th Legislative District. Scott Fay of Medford and Gary Jacques of Westampton, will challenge incumbent Assemblyman Chris Brown and newcomer Maria Rodriguez Gregg of Evesham in the 8th Legislative District.
Gregg was selected by the county GOP last week to run in place of incumbent Scott Rudder, who announced he would not seek re-election in order to focus on his job and family.
In the county races, Steve Silver of Medford will challenge incumbent Freeholder Joseph Donnelly of Cinnaminson and Bill Moore of Edgewater Park will challenge incumbent Sheriff Jean Stanfield of Westampton.
The slate will not field candidates to challenge the GOP's two incumbent state senators, Diane Allen, R-7th of Edgewater Park, and Dawn Marie Addiego, R-8th of Evesham, or county Clerk Tim Tyler of Fieldsboro.
All six challengers are members of the West Jersey Tea Party, the county's largest tea party group, and will be featured in the same column on the GOP ballot as Atlantic County attorney Seth Grossman, who is mounting a long-shot challenge against incumbent Gov. Chris Christie.
Bill Haney, president of the West Jersey Tea Party, said the group decided to field its own slate of candidates due to dissatisfaction with those selected by the county organization.
"We believe they have abandoned their conservative principles," he said, citing Assembly votes supporting new gun control measures as one example.
Stanfield also has organized a gun buyback event in Burlington County that Haney said has angered some Second Amendment supporters.
He said all six of the tea party candidates have promised to be staunch supporters of Second Amendment rights.
The tea party challenge will be the first contested GOP primary at the county level since 2011, and the most serious challenge to the party since 2008, when splinter group of Republicans challenged the organization's candidates for two seats on the county Board of Freeholders and the office of county clerk.
The GOP party-backed candidates wound up as landslide winners.
Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton said he expects the same result this time around.
"I don't expect it to be any different. We've tried to work with Bill Haney and his group, and I'm sure after the (primary) election is over we'll continue to do so," he said. "With Chris Christie at the top of the ticket and our (candidates') record of controlling taxes and reducing the size of government, I feel confident that our candidates will be well positioned for the general election."
Haney said he likes his group's chances, even with history and Christie's popularity against them. He said the group is better organized and has a larger base of support than previous maverick Republican slates.
"Historically, it's impossible to upset the incumbent party candidates, but we think there's enough of a groundswell and enough dissatisfaction with the way the county organization is run and selects candidates to make the difference," he said, adding that informing voters about their positions and philosophies would be key.
"Obviously I can't speak for the entire Republican party, but those folks who see Chris Christie's name and vote straight down the party line are not as well-informed as they should be," Haney said.
On the Democratic ballot, there will be no primary contests for legislative or county offices. In the 7th District, Delran Councilman Gary Catrambone filed to run for state Senate as did incumbent Assemblymen Herb Conaway Jr. of Delanco and Troy Singleton of Palmyra.
In the 8th District, Javier Vasquez of Medford will run uncontested in the Democratic primary for state Senate, and Robert McGowan of Medford Lakes and Ava Markey of Evesham will run uncontested for the party's nomination for two Assembly seats.
In the county races, Reva Foster of Willingboro will run uncontested in the primary for county freeholder, as will James Kostoplis of Bordentown Township for sheriff and Nancy Youngkin of Medford for county clerk.
In addition to those filings, dozens of candidates filed petitions to run for local offices in Burlington County's towns. The only contested primaries on the local level appear to be in North Hanover, Southampton and Willingboro.
The following is a list of available filings. Bass River, Bordentown City Medford Lakes and Mount Holly do not have primaries because they are nonpartisan towns. Burlington Township, Delran, Eastampton, Evesham, Mount Laurel, Moorestown, Pemberton Township and Springfield have no municipal seats up for election this year:
Beverly
Democratic nomination for one four-year term on the City Council: Luis Crespo.
Republican nomination for one four-year term on the City Council: Mark Schwedes.
Bordentown Township
Democratic nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Richard Simpson
Republican nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Michael Dauber and Richard Carson.
Burlington City
Democratic nominations for four four-year terms on the City Council: Barry Conaway for Ward 1, Jeanette Mercuri for Ward 2, Helen Hatala for Ward 3 and Ila Marie Lollar for Ward 4.
Republican nominations for four four-year terms on the City Council: Thomas J. Swan for Ward 2 and Danny M. Kiple for Ward 4.
Republican nominations for Wards 1 and 3: no petitions were filed.
Burlington Township
There is no municipal election this year.
Chesterfield
Democratic nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: No petitions were filed.
Republican nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Barry W. Hawley and Alexander M. Robotin.
Cinnaminson
Democratic nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Matthew Paterno
Republican nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Delanco
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: Keith Letizio
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: Kate Fitzpatrick and William Dillenbeck
Delran
There is no municipal election this year.
Eastampton
There is no municipal election this year.
Edgewater Park
Democratic nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: William A. Belgard
Republican nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Michael A. Schultz.
Evesham
There is no municipal election this year.
Fieldsboro
Democratic nominations for one four-year term as Mayor: David Hansell.
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Borough Council: Elizabeth Marsh.
Republican nominations for one four-year term as mayor: No petitions were filed.
Florence
No information was available.
Hainesport
Democratic nominations for two three-year seats on the Township Committee: Patricia Macken and Jim Moran
Republican candidates for two three-year seats on the Township Committee: William Boettcher III and Bruce MacLahlan
Lumberton
Democratic nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Greg Foster
Republican nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: J. Michael Dinneen
Mansfield
Democratic nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: No petitions were filed.
Republican nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Sean Gable.
Maple Shade
No information was available.
Medford
No information was available.
Moorestown
There is no municipal election this year.
Mount Holly
There is no municipal election this year.
Mount Laurel
There is no municipal election this year.
New Hanover
No information was available.
North Hanover
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: No petitions filed.
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: Deborah Butler, James R. Durr and Christine Germann
Palmyra
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Borough Council: David Dorworth and Gina Ragomo Tait
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Borough Council: No petitions filed
Pemberton Borough
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Council: No petitions filed.
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Council: Bonnie Haines and Stacy Stockton
Pemberton Township
There is no municipal election this year.
Riverside
Democratic nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Richard G. Horton
Republican nomination for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Robert R. Prisco
Riverton
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Borough Council: No petitions filed.
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Borough Council: Armand Butch Bianchini and Suzanne Cairns Wells
Shamong
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: No petitions filed
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: Michael S. Di Croce and Timothy L. Gimbel
Southampton
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: No petitions filed
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: Carolyn C. Budd, James W. Klein, Elizabeth H. Rossell and Latham Tiver
Springfield
There is no municipal election.
Tabernacle
Democratic nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: No petitions filed
Republican nominations for two three-year terms on the Township Committee: Stephen Lee IV and Joseph Yates
Washington
No information was available.
Westampton
Democratic nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: Carolyn V. Chang
Republican nominations for one three-year term on the Township Committee: John Anderson
Democratic nominations for one two-year unexpired term on the Township Committee: Robert Thorpe
Republican nominations for one two-year unexpired term on the Township Committee: Gilbert Gehin-Scott Jr.
Willingboro
Democratic nominations for two four-year terms on the Township Council: Nathaniel Anderson, Chris Walker, Jeffrey Ramsey and Ken Gordon
Republican nomination for two four-year seats on the Township Council: No petitions filed
Woodland
No information was available.
Wrightstown
No information was available.
Staff writers Chris Bishop, Danielle Camilli, Kristen Coppock, Rose Krebs, David Levinsky, Todd McHale, Jeannie O'Sullivan and Mark Zimmaro compiled this report.
Not ready for Catrambone in state Senate
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130424/NEWS/304249659Posted: Apr 24, 2013
In response to the letter to the editor of April 3 from Andrew Guzik, it is time to set the record straight. Don McCabe is not bitter. He is just trying to bring issues to the attention of Delran residents. McCabe attends more meetings than 98 percent of the residents of Delran.
Having been on the Delran Township Council in 2011-12, I can attest to the fact that most residents come to a meeting only when there is something that is directly affecting them, and only them. McCabe, on the other hand, has spoken about the flooding in Riverside Park (he doesn't live there), the closing of the shooting range (of which he is not a member), the abolishing of the sewer authority, helping the historical society get money it is entitled to from the open space funds by ordinance, and many other topics.
Why? Not because he is bitter, but because he cares. He can get a bit carried away at times, but I call that passion and compassion, something more people should be demonstrating.
Guzik asked, "Why haven't past council members addressed the problem?" Where has he been? Once elected in 2011, I immediately got in touch with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. They came to Delran, met with residents, and prepared a report that was submitted to the council in February 2012, a report that was never reviewed or discussed by Mayor Ken Paris or council President Gary Catrambone. Every time the issue was brought up by McCabe or Bill Pfeffer, they were accused of doing so only for political reasons.
One thing is for sure, it was about politics, but it was the politics of Paris and Catrambone. Neither ever put one ounce of support behind what I was trying to do to help the residents of Riverside Park. God forbid the lone Republican would get any recognition for trying to resolve the flooding issue; after all, it was an election year. Now that the election is over, Catrambone is taking credit for soliciting the help of the Army Corps. If you want the truth about how he treated the residents of Riverside Park, you only have to go knock on their doors and they will be happy to tell you.
Then there is the issue of abolishing the sewer authority. Why was that such a great idea? I have yet to figure that out. Once the authority was abolished, we were told they would save more than $90,000 a year. Wages went from $581,360 in 2011 to $693,045 in 2013, and expenses are up more than $150,000. Where are the savings?
Sewer rates went up 40 percent, and the mayor and council members who ran for re-election stated they would reduce our sewer rates. Has anyone seen a sewer rate deduction? They couldn't even get the bills out on time for 2013.
Delran taxes are up this year. Last year, taxes were down due to the use of $2.7 million from the surplus, not because anyone cut spending.
Catrambone boasts that he is a "technology geek," yet the website can no longer send out alerts, and you have to find meeting minutes under "elected officials." He claims he believes in transparency, yet the newest minutes posted are dated Feb. 26.
Catrambone for state Senate? I think not. I can't recall one original idea from him during my time on the council or in the two years prior. If you really want to make an informed decision, read the minutes of last year's meetings. Don't be fooled by Catrambone and his politics.
Pat Pomeranz
Delran
Delran to host mental health expo next week
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130517/NEWS/305179724By Todd McHale
Posted: May 17, 2013DELRAN -- Mental illness affects tens of millions, yet only a fraction seek help, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Organizers of the township's first Mental Health Expo would like that to change.
"Mental illness isn't something to hide from," said Township Councilwoman Lona Pangia, who helped organize the expo, slated for Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the municipal building on Chester Avenue.
The expo will feature videos and speakers who will educate the public on the different types of mental disorders and answer any questions or concerns. In addition, a variety of local and county agencies and organizations will offer information about services available to those in need.
"It's mostly to allow people to see what services are out there," Pangia said. "If we can help just one person, we've done our job."
She joined forces with Geri Gonzaga to put the expo together.
"As a clinical therapist, I understand the importance of mental health awareness and knowing how to access services," Gonzaga said.
The township resident, who is a school social worker and runs a practice in Medford, said it's refreshing that a municipality would hold such an event.
"This is the first time I've heard of a town doing something like this," Gonzaga said. "Typically, any type of mental health expo is for professionals. It's wonderful that the township is putting on the expo for the community."
Given the recent tragedies across the country of late, she believes now is the time for the township to give people a place to turn for help.
"It's OK if you need to talk to someone," Gonzaga said.
Council President Gary Catrambone agreed.
"Seeking mental health help has carried a stigma with it for many years and often hidden by individuals and families," Catrambone said. "It is time to break down those barriers and find the services that will help."
Twin Oaks, Catholic Charities, Providence House, the Burlington County Office on Aging and a number of health and wellness organizations and support groups have already signed on.
Any organization that would like to participate in the expo should call Pangia at 856-255-5685.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran shoots down beer garden proposal
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20130826/NEWS/308269801By Todd McHale
Posted: Aug 26, 2013
DELRAN -- A beer garden proposed for the annual Delran Day has been shot down.
The township considered an offer by a local bar owner to liven up the event with some adult beverages, but in the end, the governing body didn't think it was worth the trouble or appropriate.
"My concern is you get people who get lit up, then all of the sudden we start having issues," Township Councilman Tom Morrow said. "Even the carnivals have the issues with security, and the church also has the issues. They get lit up there, and that's my concern."
Township officials were frankly surprised that its neighbor to the north, Edgewater Park, received approval from the Burlington County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund to host one a week earlier.
The township's annual event will be held Sept. 29 on the grounds of Holy Cross High School off Chester Avenue from noon to 4 p.m.
Edgewater Park's Community Day is planned for Sept. 22 at Memorial Field on Cooper Street.
Previously, the JIF didn't want anything to do with beer gardens, according to Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher.
Joint insurance funds allow public entities in New Jersey to collectively pool their resources to insure for property, liability and worker's compensation coverage. Currently, more than 26 municipalities are members of the fund in Burlington County.
Given the liability and security concerns, Hatcher said he didn't think the JIF approved of alcohol being served at a municipal-sponsored event.
"I was surprised," he said, especially after the first response the JIF gave the township about the beer garden proposal. "I was originally told no. And then when the Edgewater Park thing was brought up, I called them and told them, 'You've got something going on in this town.' And they said, 'Well, yeah, if you do it this way, we don't like it, but we'll allow for it.'"
But the joint insurance fund wasn't pleased with having beer flowing at an event that's insured by the municipality.
"The JIF is not in love with the idea," Hatcher said, but it agreed as long as the municipality met some conditions.
"No. 1: Edgewater Park is not advertising a beer garden -- at all," Hatcher said. "They're going to have it, but apparently they're not advertising it. That's what I've been told."
Another condition was that the vendor would need to provide its own insurance coverage and have its employees serve the alcohol.
Burlington County JIF spokeswoman Melissa Ollendike said even though it doesn't track the number of towns that offer beer gardens at their events, the fund does have a policy regarding such venues.
"It must be a function that is customary and incidental to the municipality, and must follow all state and local laws and regulations governing the dispensing of alcohol," Ollendike said.
Beer tents planned for the Edgewater Park Community Day will be operated by employees of the 45th Street Pub.
The pub's proprietor, Nick Manousos, who also owns Throwbacks Bar and Grill in Delran, offered to set up a stand in Delran, too.
"We've talked about it in the past as a way to raise money for the Delran Business Association's scholarship fund," said Manousos, who is a member of the nonprofit organization. "Obviously, we wouldn't raise money from the beer sales because it's going to the students. But we felt we could raise some money from the food sales."
While Manousos hoped the council would accept his offer to incorporate a beer garden into Delran's event, he said he's not upset that the governing body decided against it.
"I'm not in a position to argue with the council," he said.
Besides, the profit margin isn't that great, considering the costs of setting up a designated area for the garden and supplying security and employees to serve the beer, according to Manousos.
"It's a lot of effort," he said. "But if they wanted to do it, we could do it. Holy Cross is OK with it."
Members of the Township Council still seemed leery about giving the green light.
Councilman Mike Schwartz said he would rather not have a beer garden at the township event.
"I think it kind of taints the family atmosphere," Schwartz said.
Others agreed.
"The concern I have with it is this has always been a family event type thing," Morrow said. "You have rides now for kiddies. I'm not real comfortable with alcohol being served in that event."
Edgewater Park officials did not respond to calls for comment Friday.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran gears up for ‘Trunk or Treat’
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20131002/NEWS/310029654By Todd McHale
Posted: Oct 2, 2013
DELRAN -- Billed as a safer alternative than going door-to-door on Halloween, the township plans to host its first "Trunk or Treat" for younger children in the community.
The event will be from 2 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Delran Community Park on Hartford Road.
Residents will fill their car trunks with goodies to hand out to youngsters.
"As a parent of younger children, I see this as a safe, easy way to trick-or-treat without worrying about speeding cars or crossing the street," said Township Councilwoman Lona Pangia, who organized the event. "Kids can trick-or-treat from car to car, and parents can enjoy watching all the kids in their costumes."
The event also will feature a parade as well as costume, scarecrow and decorated car contests, with prizes awarded to the winners. Calvary Church will provide games.
Admission is free. Tickets are limited to township residents and are available at the municipal clerk's office on Chester Avenue.
Councilman Mike Schwartz said he is looking forward to seeing residents come out.
"There's nothing better than bringing together the community, and the new 'Trick or Trunk' event does just that," he said.
Council President Gary Catrambone agreed.
"We are continuing to explore new ways to nurture the community spirit here in Delran, and this event is the latest event that does that," he said. "Parents and children can decorate both themselves and their vehicles to enjoy trick-or-treating in a controlled environment. I am looking forward to watching the kids share a great time in our new Community Park."
Participants should arrive at 1:30 p.m. to set up in advance of the event. The gates to the park will be closed at 2 to ensure that all vehicles will be parked as the children move around them.
"This is just a free event to get the families together," Pangia said. "We're hoping to have 300 to 400 kids."
Organizers ask that only children age 10 and younger trick-or-treat. Older children are welcome to help pass out candy or assist the younger kids in walking around and collecting their treats. For those with peanut allergies, a number of designated stops will be set up.
For more information, visit www.DelranTownship.org or www.Facebook.com/DelransEvents.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Split decision in 7th District
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20131101/NEWS/311019681Posted: Nov 1, 2013
Registered voters in New Jersey's 7th Legislative District, which since 2011 has included Beverly, Bordentown City, Bordentown Township, Burlington City, Burlington Township, Cinnaminson, Delanco, Delran, Edgewater Park, Fieldsboro, Florence, Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Palmyra, Riverside, Riverton and Willingboro, will have some difficult decisions to make when they choose who will represent them in Trenton.
We were impressed by all of the candidates and their knowledge of the issues.
Longtime Republican Sen. Diane Allen of Edgewater Park is being challenged by Democrat Gary Catrambone of Delran.
While Catrambone is enthusiastic, Allen, who has served the district since 1995, is a force to be reckoned with. Allen is a fiscal conservative, but remains a centrist on many social issues. She has supported environmental causes as well as women's and children's issues. We believe Allen's moderate voice will help her garner support for her common-sense proposals.
We endorse Republican Diane Allen for state Senate.
In the state Assembly, newcomers Jeff Banasz of Moorestown and Anthony Ogozalek of Delran face Democratic veteran Herb Conaway of Delanco and freshman Troy Singleton of Palmyra. Conaway, a physician, has served in the Legislature since 1997. He has criticized Gov. Chris Christie on the state's lack of funding for AIDS patients and supported a number of important measures, including medical marijuana for children, but we believe it may be time for a change.
We recognize his lack of state experience, but Ogozalek has the energy and enthusiasm to overcome that. As a former police officer, owner of his own law firm and local politician, he has been in the trenches and has a proven ability to switch gears when necessary.
While Singleton's time in the Assembly has been brief, he has a record of getting results, particularly with his work on a package of common-sense gun legislation and enacting the New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act, which will help streamline the state's economic-development tax-incentive programs.
We endorse Republican Anthony Ogozalek and Democrat Troy Singleton for Assembly.
Delran selects winner of house decorating competition
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20131223/NEWS/312239758By Todd McHale
Posted: Dec 23, 2013DELRAN -- They may not be on Clark Griswold's level yet, but a local family's Christmas display was enough to win best in town.
The Larson family's efforts landed them the top spot in the township's first Holiday House Decorating Competition.
"I think it's amazing," Rose Larson said. "We've been doing this for years. We love Christmas."
As a way to boost everyone's holiday spirit, the township decided to put on the competition this year. The township accepted nominations starting Thanksgiving and last week a group of volunteer judges selected the champion based on first impression, creativity, uniqueness, best use of lights and overall presentation.
"I think it was a nice touch and it adds some excitement for the holidays," Mayor Ken Paris said of the competition. "It's nice to see the residents get involved. I think they like the competition."
He added that he wasn't that surprised that the Larsons won given how well they decorate their home on Navy Drive for Christmas.
"They really get into it," Paris said. "The really love it."
Although, the victory didn't come without a lot of work, stringing and fixing lights, dragging out the huge Santa Claus inflatable, nativity scene and all the other decorations.
"We start putting it up in the beginning of November and turn it on at Thanksgiving," Larson said of her husband Dave and four children. "We put in five or six full days working on it."
But for the Larsons, it's a labor of love.
"We've been doing it for more than 25 years," Dave Larson said. "It takes time but we really like Christmas, it gets people into the spirit of the holiday. People even ask us if we're going to do it this year."
And time and time again, the Larsons transform their lawn into a winter wonderland complete with snowmen, Christmas trees, wreaths, along with a Grinch, Homer Simpson and a huge Scooby Doo, donning a Santa hat. The family even has a snowman with an electronic Christmas Day countdown sign.
"We just put out what we like," Rose Larson said.
Councilwoman Lona Pangia organized the competition.
"Driving through town and finding homes decorated and twinkling is a favorite pastime for my family as it is for many in our town," Pangia said. "Creating this competition for our residents is a chance to showcase the best of Delran."
Eleven homes entered this year, but officials expect that the competition will grow in the future. In addition to bragging rights, the Larsons received a sign that notes that they are Delran's 2013 Holiday House winner.
"For our first year and having minimal amount of time to put it all together, I think it went great," Pangia said.
Given the holiday decorations that some homes display, Dave Larson said he was surprised to win.
"I think there's a lot of houses that do a good job decorating," he said.
Regardless, his wife said the victory definitely made her husband's holiday. And right on time family and friends gathered last weekend to watch "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," the comedy starring Chevy Chase, who wires the family's entire house with lights.
"We're the Griswolds," Rose Carson said with a laugh.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran council at odds over who runs the show
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140116/NEWS/301169572By Todd McHale
Posted: Jan 16, 2014
DELRAN -- A power play or just a check for activities out of bounds of the township's insurance coverage appears to be at the center of a clash between local officials.
At issue is what individual or organization should be in charge of events sanctioned by the municipality.
Mayor Ken Paris and Township Councilwoman Patty Kolodi believe the Delran Recreation Advisory Committee should take the lead, while Councilwoman Lona Pangia counters that events she dreamed up should not fall under that umbrella.
"I think there's been some confusion and some conflict over the role of the RAC versus other organizations that do events in town," Kolodi said.
While the main focus of the nine-member advisory committee has been to oversee the parks and grounds and issue permits for use of the athletic fields, she said the organization has also been the host of a number of holiday and other events for years.
"That's not what our law says," Pangia said. "Our law says they are an advisory committee to the mayor and administrator, and from time to time they would put in their opinions for recreational policy, programs and activities. It doesn't say they would be running them at all."
Since taking office last January, Pangia has spearheaded a number of events, including a kids expo, mental health expo, trunk or treat, holiday house decoration contest and farmers market, and she also convinced a mobile mammogram van to come to town.
Pangia questioned the need to have a poorly attended advisory committee take over.
"I run great events. I don't understand what the big deal is," she said.
The problem is that without insurance coverage, the township could be held liable if something happens, according to Paris and Kolodi.
"When events run outside the township guidelines, insurance is an issue," Kolodi said. "It has been an issue. We don't have a volunteer insurance policy. If we have volunteers doing events townwide, we would need a volunteer insurance policy. And that will cost money."
The mayor said that's not going to happen under his watch.
"Volunteer group events will not be township events," Paris said. "They can't be because they're not covered."
Township Solicitor Douglas Long said the bottom line is that once the council approves an event, it's up to the administration to delegate who runs the show.
"The bones of this government is that when Lona brings an idea to have an event, it's the council's decision whether it gets sanctioned or not," Long said. "Once it's a township event, it shifts from council to the administration."
But that could change, if the council so chooses, according to officials.
"I guess we have to decide the direction we want to follow," Kolodi said. "Do we want to be in the business of sponsoring and sanctioning events, or do we want to give RAC and other groups the option to provide these activities?"
Whatever decision, she said individual groups will need to get their own insurance, or the council will need to figure a way to foot the bill for volunteers.
Pangia said she spoke to the administrator and thought insurance coverage had been worked out.
"Volunteers are not covered unless they are trained and acknowledged by the township," Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher said.
He said no matter the organization or individual, more coverage may be needed since the Burlington County Joint Insurance Fund does not offer it.
"Just to be clear, if we're going to have volunteers running programs, we're going to have to get volunteer insurance," Hatcher said.
Kolodi did make the point of complimenting all the community's events.
"I just would like all of us to work together and to have an understanding, so at these meetings it's not conflict, it's not tension," she said.
Pangia said she doesn't understand how an advisory committee has "morphed into taking over activities.
"Maybe they need to be brought back on track, that the RAC is an advisory committee, and maybe another committee needs to set up separately that would be a civic and events committee," she said.
The council will make the final call.
Council President Gary Catrambone said the members plan to discuss the matter during a work session at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the municipal building.
"What we're trying to do is eliminate any power play," Catrambone said. "This is kind of exploratory. All we want to do is make sure we're doing it right."
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Differences won’t stop upcoming events in Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140129/NEWS/301299556By Todd McHale
Posted: Jan 29, 2014
DELRAN -- A disagreement with governing body members will not slow a councilwoman's pursuit to bring activities to the community.
First, a mammogram van will roll into town Feb. 13, followed by the second annual Delran Kids Expo on Feb. 24, according to Township Councilwoman Lona Pangia, who organized the events.
"I lost my beloved grandmother to breast cancer," said Pangia, who contacted AtlantiCare to request that it bring the van to the municipal building. "My grandmother was an inspiration in my life and was my biggest supporter. One of the ways I remember her is by reminding people about the importance of early detection."
The February happenings come in the wake of questions raised earlier this month about the role volunteers should play in community events on municipal property, insurance liability, and who should head the efforts.
Councilwoman Patty Kolodi said historically the Recreation Advisory Committee has taken the lead in such activities. Pangia indicated that she's proved she can run the events effectively.
"I am an extremely active, community-oriented person, and I want to see great events flourish in Delran," Pangia said. "Up until I was elected, there wasn't a stay-at-home mom on council that wanted to put these types of events together. So it certainly is uncharted territory."
Since the meeting, the two members have spoken and expect to have further public discussions on the matter, Pangia said.
"We'll be discussing it over the next few meetings," she said. "I'm confident we'll find some common ground."
In the meantime, the events are scheduled to go on.
The AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's RNS Mobile Digital Mammography Van offers screenings in about 30 minutes. Most forms of insurance are accepted, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Appointments are recommended and can be made by calling AtlantiCare at 800-246-2404.
"The mammogram van is a great service for all women, whether they are insured or not," Pangia said. "It's our best effort to make getting a mammogram as easy and convenient as possible."
A couple of weeks later, she and volunteers will host the Kids Expo.
"This will be a chance to showcase the wonderful things here in town for our children to participate in," Pangia said.
Nonprofit and children-oriented businesses, such as athletic clubs, youth groups, karate schools, mom's clubs and summer camps, interested in taking part in the Feb. 24 event, which will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the municipal building on Chester Avenue, should contact Pangia at Lona@LonaPangia.com or visit www.DelranTownship.org for a copy of the vendor application.
Because of space limitations, first preference will be given to township-based organizations.
Council President Gary Catrambone urged residents to take part.
"Municipalities throughout this nation are promoting 'buy local' programs. This is exactly what Delran should be encouraging," he said.
On Tuesday night, the council put the liability issue to rest by agreeing to purchase volunteers' insurance, which will cost the township less than $500, according to Pangia.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Vendor fee hike may come in time for the holidays in Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140218/NEWS/302189528By Todd McHale
Posted: Feb 18, 2014DELRAN -- Santa's helpers may need to buck up next holiday season if they plan to set up shop in town.
A free ride for Christmas tree vendors appears to be coming to an end.
"We don't charge the guys who sell Christmas trees out in the parking lot of Target and such, but they're business owners, just like anyone else coming in," Township Councilman Tom Morrow said.
Morrow brought the matter to the governing body last week after learning that the vendors don't have to pay for a mercantile license, as required of every other business in the municipality.
"In the six years I've been on council, I've never seen a mercantile license for Christmas tree (sales)," Morrow said Tuesday. "It's only fair they are held accountable, too."
An annual mercantile license in the township costs from $100 for a recreational-outdoor facility to $150 for a service station with fuel only to $200 for an auto sales business.
"It's a yearly fee, but it's based on square footage," Township Clerk Jamey Eggers said. "They get a zoning permit, which the other businesses don't get."
The zoning permit costs $25 and allows Christmas tree vendors to operate in any parking lot in town.
Given the extent of the sales they generate, Morrow believes seasonal businesses should have to pay more.
He said he's not looking to be a Grinch or even require the Boy Scouts or other nonprofits to pay a fee, just businesses that roll into town and cash in over the holidays.
"Our community supports their business when they're here," Morrow said. "They make good money, and that's OK. But it's only fair to our local businesses that sell Christmas trees to require (the vendors) to get a mercantile license, even if it's a seasonal one."
The council agreed and asked officials to find out how much other municipalities charge in fees.
As it turns out, Morrow may have been onto something. After looking into it, Eggers said Tuesday she found out the municipality used to require vendors to get a mercantile license that was pro-rated for the months they were in operation.
Officials plan to discuss the issue in the coming months and will need to decide if they want to reinstitute the fee for seasonal businesses.
Whatever the cost is, Morrow is confident the vendors will return in time for the holidays.
"The small amount of money, $50 or $60 or whatever the council agrees to set it at, I don't think anyone is going to give up that prime spot along Route 130," he said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran proposes to keep taxes stable in muncipal budget
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140310/NEWS/303109597By Todd McHale
Posted: Mar 10, 2014DELRAN -- Property owners would pay the same tax amount as last year to support the proposed 2014 municipal budget.
The $15.7 million spending plan calls for no increase to the local purpose tax rate. The rate would remain at 75.6 cents, per $100 of assessed property value.
Under the proposed budget, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $209,642 would continue to pay $1,584.89 in local taxes.
"We're excited at where we are at, especially in today's economy and the increases in costs we've had this winter," Mayor Ken Paris said. "In this economy we have to keep taxes stable if we want people to be able to afford to live in Delran."
Township officials credited the tax stability to measures taken over the last few years.
"It's been a gradual process," Township Administrator Jeffery Hatcher said. "It's a whole bunch of little things and fortunately we haven't been hit with the big things such as tax appeals that some towns have experienced."
To keep the losses to a minimum the township reassessed property values twice after the housing market plummeted. By doing so, the township didn't sustain millions of dollars in losses that other municipalities sustained when the housing bubble burst.
Over the last few years, Hatcher said the township has reduced the staff in Public Works by three positions and two in the Police Department through attrition and made a couple office positions part time.
The budget does call for a $200,000 increase in the township's road improvements plan and another $20,000 for salt.
Township Council President Gary Catrambone said he's pleased that the governing body was able to introduce a budget that has no tax increase and expands the road project as well.
The council will hold a public hearing on the budget April 1 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building on Chester Avenue.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran budget calls for ‘zero increase’
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140402/NEWS/304029577By Todd McHale
Posted: Apr 2, 2014DELRAN -- No new taxes.
At least when it comes to local purpose taxes this year.
And officials couldn't be more proud.
"It's an accomplishment," Mayor Ken Paris said, minutes after the Township Council adopted a $15.7 million municipal budget Tuesday.
The spending plan calls for the tax rate to remain at 75.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The owner of a home assessed at the township average will continue to pay $1,584.89 annually.
All the hard work by the mayor, administration and staff paid off, Council President Gary Catrambone said.
"We are proud to say we have a zero increase this year," he said.
The township managed to be in this position after it instituted a number of tax-stabilizing measures in recent years, including a reduction in the workforce and reassessment of property values as the housing market began to slide. The move spared the municipality from millions of dollars in losses in property tax appeals.
"Towns are in trouble because they've been hit by a number of reassessment claims, which always hurt the town and only benefit the individual," Catrambone said.
When property owners successfully appeal their property taxes, the town is required to not only reimburse the municipal taxes, but also the portion collected for all other taxing entities, too.
The township also was able to save money over the last few years by reducing staff in the Public Works Department by three positions and in the Police Department by two positions through attrition and making a couple of office jobs part time.
Economic conditions led the town to make do with less, according to officials.
And Paris said everyone stepped up and did their part.
"The workers and administration knew, with the economy we had, to do the best we could, and they've done fantastic," he said. "I'm proud of them, because it's a sense of accomplishment."
But officials also warned that the future may not be as pleasant.
"The bad news next year is going to be a little more of a challenge," Paris said. "With all the cuts we've done, there isn't any more fat left. We've cut all the wasteful spending we could."
To deal with that, officials will look for more shared-services opportunities, along with bringing in more revenue sources and businesses.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran reaches deal on recreation committee’s role
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140707/NEWS/307079734By Todd McHale
Posted: Jul 7, 2014DELRAN -- After months of debate that led to some spirited discussions, the Township Council has come to terms on the responsibilities of the Recreation Advisory Committee.
"There were some questions and concerns about what exactly the role was and how that role had evolved over the course of time," Council President Gary Catrambone said.
Not any longer.
The council last week formally amended the municipal code to clarify the role and duties of the nine-member committee and enacted rules to ensure that volunteers involved with township events are properly insured.
With the adoption of the measure, the committee, whose members are appointed by the mayor, will be responsible for approving and authorizing all civic and recreational events held on municipal property. All events will be subject to approval by the council.
"The (committee) oversees the use of the fields, primarily," Catrambone said. "They have some events that they host and stage -- for instance, the Christmas tree lighting, Easter egg hunt, the summer camps for the kids -- so they oversee them directly. Other events in town they would just issue the permits for them."
Beyond that, he said the committee is responsible for keeping track of the field schedules.
The council dived into the matter in January after governing body members disagreed about who should be in charge of events held on township property.
Councilwoman Lona Pangia questioned why events she had dreamed up should fall under the Recreation Advisory Committee's purview.
Since taking office in 2013, Pangia has spearheaded several events, including a Kids Expo, Mental Health Expo, Trunk or Treat, Holiday House Decoration Contest and farmers market, and managed to convince a mobile mammogram van to visit the community.
"I came into the council with the ambition of adding new events, and the projects were supposed to be able to be passed on to different organizations," Pangia said.
But when Mayor Ken Paris and Councilwoman Patty Kolodi suggested that the recreation committee take charge of all the events, Pangia disagreed.
"It took a lot of back and forth over the table," Pangia said. "Even though we are all in the same political party, it doesn't mean we always have the same agreements."
Eventually, council members came up with a plan that will allow the advisory board and Pangia to continue their efforts.
"I think it's going to be a positive for the town," Kolodi said. "It helped clarify some things and the role of the RAC."
Paris said the issue took too long to sort out but he was glad to see a resolution, which spells out the duties and responsibilities of the Recreation Advisory Committee, which has been serving the community for more than two decades.
"Hopefully everybody can follow the ordinance, and hopefully this will be the end of it," he said.
The measure was long overdue, according to Pangia.
"Our ordinance was old. It was outdated. It wasn't current. And it needed a fresh coat of paint on it," she said.
"We were able to work things through and talk things through, so I'm very happy with it."
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran councilwoman takes strides for fitness
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20140728/NEWS/307289697By Todd McHale
Posted: Jul 28, 2014
DELRAN -- Councilwoman Lona Pangia knew there were others who enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood.
"I noticed so many friends on Facebook that were out walking, running at the gym or wishing they had a friend to run with that day," Pangia said.
And she was no different.
"I felt like I was in the same boat," Pangia said. "I would post a picture of something I liked on my run and friends would comment that they would have come along with me."
So the member of the governing body decided to create a program to bring everyone together for some fun and fitness.
The "Get Fit With Your Councilwoman" walking campaign kicked off earlier this month and will continue every Wednesday night.
The brisk 2-mile walk goes through a different neighborhood in town each week.
"I think it's good to be out, be fit and meet new neighbors," Pangia said.
Township employee Joanne Fenimore figured the walk would be an ideal way to accomplish a personal goal.
"I came out because I wanted to start exercising," Fenimore said. "I tried it in on my own and it just didn't work."
Staying motivated to exercise seems to be a lot easier with a group, she continued.
For others, the walking campaign seemed like a good way to meet others.
Resident Cindy Marrazzo said she enjoys the walk and hopes even more will join.
"Everybody is very friendly," Marrazzo said. "It's a great group. It's been growing.
"Each week I'm meeting more and more people."
Regardless of the reason, Pangia hopes that the walking campaign will spread and benefit others.
"With the obesity rates in the nation it's always important to have a fun fitness activity," Pangia said.
And the number of walkers continues to climb every week.
"I think it's going great," Pangia said. "We're getting more people. We're getting new people every week and just continue to grow."
For more information about the walk and the next location www.facebook.com/DelransEvents or email lona@lonapangia.com.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Impairment makes Delran candidate a better leader
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20141022/NEWS/310229612Posted: Oct 22, 2014
Apparently, Delran politicians are willing to stoop to new lows to win elections. In Ward 1, they are campaigning against Councilman Mike Schwartz and making his disability an issue.
Schwartz is legally blind, although he does have enough vision to be able to read and see people in close proximity. But this politician is telling people on the campaign trail that Schwartz's impairment has made him unable to perform his duties on the council.
The truth is the exact opposite.
Schwartz's impairment has made him more focused, more detail-oriented, and more willing to listen to his constituents. Many historians have said Franklin Roosevelt became a better leader when he lost the use of his legs, because it compelled him to listen more to those he was serving. Schwartz is the same way.
Some Delran politicians don't think so. They should be ashamed; not just for making Schwartz's impairment an issue, but for even thinking those of us with handicaps are unfit to serve the public. What kind of country do you think this is?
Nicole O'Connor
Delran
Delran councilwoman starts up fitness walks again
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150405/NEWS/304059716By Todd McHale
Posted: Apr 5, 2015DELRAN -- Need some inspiration or maybe just an exercise partner? A member of the governing body may have the answer.
"Get Fit With Your Councilwoman" kicks off at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Conrow Park off Conrow Road.
The walking campaign, dreamed up by Councilwoman Lona Pangia last year, encourages residents to come together for a brisk 2-mile walk every week.
"It started off with just a few friends and township employees, but it became so popular that it grew to about 30 people," Pangia said.
Pangia, a self-described "health nut," started the program after several friends indicated that they would be interested in exercising with her.
"I would post a picture on Facebook of something I liked on my run or walk, and friends would comment that they would have come along with me," she said.
So she figured, why not bring everyone together, which led to the start of "Get Fit With Your Councilwoman."
Throughout the summer, the group gathered on Wednesday nights to walk around different neighborhoods.
While not a township-sanctioned activity, the walks proved to be a healthy alternative to sitting at home at night, and beneficial to Pangia not just for health reasons.
"I met so many people," she said. "We were even able to help some of them with a problem they had but didn't want to come speak at a formal council meeting."
The councilwoman urges residents to join in.
For more information or to find out the location of future walks, visit www.facebook.com/DelransEvents, or email lona@lonapangia.com.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran adopts $15.5 million municipal budget
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150409/NEWS/304099522By Todd McHale
Posted: Apr 9, 2015DELRAN -- The average homeowner can expect a modest hike in local purpose taxes to support the 2015 municipal budget.
The Township Council adopted the $15.5 million spending plan during its meeting Tuesday night.
Even though expenditures are down from last year's budget, Council President Gary Catrambone said the township needed to raise taxes due to a number of higher costs incurred by the municipality.
With adoption of the budget, the local purpose tax rate will rise by one cent from 75.6 to 76.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
Under the budget, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $209,676 will pay $1,606.11 in local purpose taxes, an increase of $20.96 from last year's bill.
"That's a manageable number," Catrambone said. "We've always said that 'we would always keep (taxes) stable. There would be no $200 or $300 increases for property tax.' And at $22, approximately, for the year we felt that was manageable as we could make it without keeping it at zero. Our hope is to have a zero again next year."
The tax increase can be traced to higher health care costs, debt service costs along with a hike in the amount of money spent to keep the roads clear during winter.
Mayor Ken Paris said all the municipal services will be maintained and no layoffs are expected with this budget.
He went on to thank township employees, management and administration for keeping the township in such a good financial footing.
"I'm very satisfied of where we are with the budget," Paris said. "I feel we are fiscally sound. We have a stable surplus."
The mayor credited the municipality's creation of a three-year cost average and other cost-cutting measures implemented in recent years with keeping local taxes stable.
"Now we're in such a good situation it's allowing us to have the finances to be able to do capital improvements in the future," Paris said.
"It's like a balancing act. You need to keep up with your infrastructure as well."
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran may curb unsafe fundraising activities
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150506/NEWS/305069664By Todd McHale
Posted: May 6, 2015DELRAN -- Overzealous fundraisers soon may risk being shut down by local law enforcement if they venture too close to the road.
The Township Council has introduced an ordinance to further regulate fundraising activities and give the Police Department the authority to crack down on some unsafe practices.
The change is being made to ensure the public's safety, council President Gary Catrambone said.
"What was happening when (organizations) hold fundraisers, especially at the jug handle at Route 130 and Haines Mill Road, they tend to kind of creep out and end up near the highway," Catrambone said. "And with texting and distracted driving, we've always felt that was a potential for disaster."
To eliminate the risk, the council proposed amending the local code to enable police to intervene if participants do not comply with terms of the required registration of an event.
"When they register, they're given notice they can't go onto the street," Catrambone said.
"If you don't have a sign, then go on the sidewalk. It's bad enough they're on a highway on the sidewalk, standing all day, but you can't spill into the street," he said.
If adopted next month, the measure would be in force throughout the town.
While council members credited area businesses and other entities for allowing fundraising activities to take place on their properties, they felt they needed to take some precautionary measures to prevent any accidents.
"If they're having a flower sale at the Fire Department, that's fine, but we don't want the kids running in the street holding the signs, or adults for that matter," Catrambone said. "That's what it was really addressing, behavior that was unsafe."
The council will hold a public hearing on the proposed code change at its June 2 meeting, at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Mayors Wellness Campaign comes to Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150511/NEWS/305119714By Todd McHale
Posted: May 11, 2015DELRAN -- For those who want to get healthy, Mayor Ken Paris is on board.
The town leader has joined the Mayors Wellness Campaign, a new effort to help New Jersey communities get on the path to active living and healthier lifestyles.
The campaign is an initiative by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, in partnership with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, with an aim to give local leaders the tools to develop and implement active-living programs in their communities.
"I am pleased to work with the Mayors Wellness Campaign to get our community exercising more, eating properly, and living healthier, more active lifestyles," Paris said. "I am excited by the prospect of employing new programs in Delran to make a difference."
The campaign is designed to increase opportunities for residents to participate in daily physical activity, with a long-term goal of reducing personal and health care costs linked to obesity.
More than half of the state's 566 municipalities are participating in the campaign, and are working hard to decrease obesity rates and increase the overall health of their communities.
"We are delighted to have Mayor Paris and Delran join the (campaign)," said David Knowlton, president and CEO of the institute.
Given the statistics, Knowlton said the commitment to get healthier couldn't come soon enough.
"It was alarming to me, when I heard that the Centers for Disease Control recently concluded that the next generation of Americans may very well be the first in our lifetime to be less healthy than the generation which preceded it," he said. "We worked for many months to put together the kind of coalition that just might have an impact here in New Jersey."
The mayor agreed.
"I'm excited about working with the MWC to implement a comprehensive program of outreach, education and technical assistance activities to combat obesity and inactivity issues for all our residents," Paris said. "By identifying existing programs and assessing our community needs, we can then shape our own plan for community health."
The public is invited to join the mayor along with members of the township's Green Team to formally kick off the campaign with the signing of a proclamation to get fit, followed by a community walk on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Peter Vermes Soccer Field on Tenby Chase Drive.
For more information, visit the campaign's website, www.mayorswellnesscampaign.org.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran mayor kicks off Health and Wellness Campaign
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150513/NEWS/305139643Posted: May 13, 2015
Delran Mayor Ken Paris kicked off the Mayor's Health and Wellness Campaign on Wednesday at the Peter Vermes soccer field. The township event included a community walk, information about health and wellness programs and a prize drawing.
The mayor signed a proclamation to encourage residents to take actions to improve their overall health and Commit to Get Fit.
New Delran ordinance will make fundraisers street-smart
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150612/NEWS/306129742By Todd McHale
Posted: Jun 12, 2015DELRAN -- Fundraisers who venture into the streets to solicit or collect donations can expect a visit by local law enforcement.
A new law that will go into effect later this month prohibits the practice and gives the police the authority to shut down the fundraising activities of any violators.
The change was necessary given the dangers the practice poses to school-age children who hold fundraisers along busy roads in town, Township Council President Gary Catrambone said.
"This is strictly a public safety issue," Catrambone said of the ordinance, which was adopted by the council to amend the municipal code and further regulate fundraising activities.
"If they're acting in an unsafe manner, we had to give the police some mechanism in order to protect them from being overzealous in trying to raise money," Catrambone said.
The new ordinance, which must wait 20 days after publication in the newspaper, becomes official on June 29.
The measure is aimed at raising awareness about pedestrian safety, especially along Route 130, Councilwoman Lona Pangia said.
"We've had so many pedestrian accidents," Pangia said of the six-lane highway that cuts through town.
For the last five years, Route 130 through Burlington County has been designated as the state's deadliest road for pedestrians by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit group that advocates for transportation improvements in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
While council members credited those involved in raising money for various causes, they decided to act after witnessing some overenthusiastic youngsters trying to drum up business make their way into the street near the corner of Route 130 and Haines Mill Road.
"If you step off the curb to collect a dollar, you don't know who is paying attention," Pangia said. "You don't know if that person is paying attention to all the other cars around. It's just a safety measure."
Organizers will now be required to agree to the restrictions and consequences of violating the rules when they come in for a permit for a fundraising event.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran bans hoops in the street, but opts not to enforce it
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150629/NEWS/306299757By Todd McHale
Posted: Jun 29, 2015DELRAN -- A local law prohibiting street-side basketball hoops may be in effect, but no one wants to be a spoilsport.
The hoops, an annoyance to some because of the potential safety hazards, noise and other disruptions they generate in a neighborhood, and technically illegal to be on a street or right of way, have been granted a stay by the Township Council.
"In the past, councils have chosen to be undecided to enforce this ordinance when it pertains to basketball equipment in the street or in the right of way, which would be on the curbside," council President Gary Catrambone said.
The issue comes up every few years, and officials consistently side with the kids.
"Obviously, we don't want them setting one up on Haines Mill Road. But I don't see a problem with them being on a neighborhood street," Catrambone said.
The latest round of discussions arose last week after Councilman Mike Schwartz asked the Police Department to look into the matter at the request of a resident.
"I think (the resident) was concerned about the safety of the kids," Schwartz said.
The municipality does have an ordinance prohibiting obstructions in the street, but police Chief Alfonso Parente Jr. acknowledged that officers rarely ask residents to move the hoops.
Typically, the police intervene only when the nets are set up too close to an intersection or if the road needs to be cleared for snow removal, according to Parente.
He said he couldn't find any reports of youngsters being hit by vehicles or sustaining serious injuries related to basketball goals in the street.
A number of communities in Burlington County and across the country have wrestled with the issue over the years, leading some municipalities to impose bans to restrict basketball goals from being rolled onto the street. Many towns require that they be kept on residents' properties.
But given the lack of incidents, local officials don't see a need to cry foul.
"I trust the Police Department's discretion," Schwartz said.
Besides, the old standby warning that has been used by generations of kids seems to work fine.
"Somebody yells, 'Car!' and everybody stops, gets out of the way, and (resumes play) once it passes," Catrambone said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163;
email: tmchale@calkins.com;
Twitter: @toddmchale
Longtime Delran clerk takes over husband’s job
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150709/NEWS/307099688By Todd McHale
Posted: Jul 9, 2015DELRAN -- After two decades of municipal service here and elsewhere, coupled with years of working alongside her husband, a longtime clerk is getting a shot at a top post.
Karen Davis has been appointed the municipality's tax assessor.
"I'm excited," Davis said. "This is something I've been working toward for a long time."
The Township Council confirmed the mayor's appointment of Davis this week to take over the position, which has been held for several years by Tom Davis, who is retiring from municipal work to focus on a private business.
Mayor Ken Paris said the municipality had advertised the open position but found that the best candidate was already working in-house.
"I feel she definitely has the qualifications," Paris said. "She's worked with Tom a long time, and she's familiar with everything in regards to the tax assessor position in the town and the residents."
Even though the mayor had pushed for an anti-nepotism policy when he served as a councilman in 2007, he believes Davis makes the most sense.
"Normally, I don't appoint family members to (township) positions, but she was the best choice to be had," Paris said. "She's been here a long time. She's very familiar with our whole system, and I look forward to having her being successful in Delran."
He said Davis will have big shoes to fill.
"Tom Davis was probably one of the best assessors in the county, if not the state," Paris said. "In our town, he came up with the recommendation to do a reassessment of our homes when we needed to, when the economy was struggling. It was perfect timing, and that's why we did so well."
On Thursday, the new assessor downplayed the family connection, stressing that she is prepared to take on the challenges.
"I look forward to it," Karen Davis said. "I really like this town."
Davis, who has a real estate license, has worked for the municipality since 1995 and served a stint as tax assessor in Palmyra.
Township Administrator Jeffrey Hatcher said the change will save the municipality money since Davis will be doing both the clerk and assessor's jobs in the tax office.
She will earn a combined $47,000 salary for the two part-time positions.
Along with Delran, Davis will take over the tax assessor positions held by her husband in Magnolia and Somerdale, Camden County.
In other news, the council approved the appointment of Cherry Hill attorney Adam Malamut as the municipal prosecutor. He replaces Dean Buono, an Evesham attorney who served as prosecutor for several municipalities in Burlington County before being confirmed as a state administrative law judge at the end of June.
Township officials praised Buono for his service.
"He did a fantastic job," Paris said. "I know the police were very happy with him, and I wish him the best in his future endeavor."
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Clock running on portable storage containers in Delran
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150713/NEWS/307139765By Todd McHale
Posted: Jul 13, 2015DELRAN -- Property owners who keep portable storage units, industrial trash bins or similar containers on their land after their permits expire could be fined and forced to pay for the removal and storage of the containers under an ordinance the township council is considering.
"What we're trying to do is to keep the PODS from being there forever," council President Gary Catrambone said. "They're temporary portable storage."
To ensure the containers don't become a permanent fixture, the governing body wants to amend the township code to clarify the penalties for exceeding the time granted on the permit, he said.
Delran issues permits for storage and other containers for 30 days, with the option of renewing the permit for another 30 days, according to Township Administrator Jeffery Hatcher.
After the permit expires, the township would notify the owner in writing of the violation and give the owner 10 days to remove the container. If it isn't removed, the township would remove it and put it in storage -- all at the owner's expenses. The owner also would be subject to a fine of between $100 and $250 a day, officials said.
The issue came to light after officials learned some storage units have been on properties for months -- and even longer.
"There are people who would keep them for an inordinate amount of time," Catrambone said. "I don't know how they can afford that, but frankly it's like putting a storeroom next to your house. The problem is that all your neighbors get to look at that every morning when they come out of their door."
While township officials said they understand the containers can be ideal, especially during home renovations, residents need to be aware of the impact they can have on the neighborhood.
"Certainly, (they) serve a useful purpose, but they're not meant to be permanent storage and you keep it there forever," Catrambone said. "It's not a shed."
The council will hold a public hearing on the ordinance during its 7 p.m. Aug. 4 meeting at the municipal building. The council expects to vote on the measure after the hearing, officials said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Amended Delran ordinance will address storage containers
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20150806/NEWS/308069709By Todd McHale
Posted: Aug 6, 2015DELRAN -- Portable storage containers kept on properties for too long will shortly result in fines for homeowners and possible removal by the municipality.
In a matter of days, a change in the local code will go into effect that penalizes property owners who exceed the time allowed for the placement of a storage or roll-off container, POD or trash bin.
The measure, approved by the Township Council, calls for property owners to be issued fines that will increase daily, along with the risk of removal of any storage container that remains in place beyond the limits granted by permit.
The governing body had to address the issue after learning that some containers seemed to be more permanent than temporary, Council President Gary Catrambone said.
"Those are temporary storage known under a number of names, PODS or (PACK)-RATs or whatever, and people were getting them and keeping them out for years," Catrambone said. "It's unfortunate the neighbors have to see it every day."
While the municipality allows for residents to use storage units as long as the homeowner gets a permit, it doesn't want them to be permanent fixtures.
"Unfortunately, they're pretty unsightly," Catrambone said. "They're not intended to be a shed or an addition to your house. They are intended to be a temporary solution for storage."
To stop the practice, officials decided to amend the local code and clarify the penalties for exceeding the time granted on a permit or an extension for the unit.
Violations would mean property owners could face fines between $100 and $250. Each day will be considered a separate violation under the ordinance.
If any storage container or trash bin exceeds the expiration of the permit, the township will notify the owner in writing. If the violation is not corrected within 10 days after the written notice is sent, the container may be removed and stored by the township, which will include additional charges beyond the fines, at the owner's expense.
Currently, permits for storage bins and other containers on private property are issued by the municipality for 30 days and can be renewed for up to 30 days, according to Township Administrator Jeffery Hatcher.
"If you're running late, you get an extension. But you just can't have it open-ended, keep it forever," Catrambone said.
With the adoption of the measure, the change will go into effect 20 days after the ordinance is publicized in a local newspaper.
Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran mayor comes under fire for alleged ethical lapses
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20160512/NEWS/305129706By David Levinsky and Todd McHale
Posted: May 12, 2016
DELRAN -- The mayor is being accused of ethical lapses and abuse of power.
On the heels of an ethics complaint filed last month for failing to report earnings from a now-defunct political action committee, Mayor Ken Paris is facing allegations that he enlisted the help of the police to convince a resident to take down negative comments about him posted on social media.
And now a fellow member of the governing body is calling for Paris to step down and is requesting an investigation by Burlington County and state law enforcement authorities.
"This is quite simple," Councilman Michael Schwartz said. "Mayor Paris has one question to answer: Did he or did he not contact the Delran Police Department and ask them to reach out to a local resident to remove a Facebook post that contained a negative opinion of him? If the answer is anything but an absolute no, the mayor needs to resign immediately. This would constitute a gross abuse of power and would be contrary to all things that make this country great."
Paris denied using the police and called the accusations politically motivated.
"It's election time, and there's a lot of mudslinging," said Paris, who is in a Democratic primary battle against Councilwoman Lona Pangia for a four-year term as mayor. "This is what happens when we're actually making sure we're keeping taxes in line. We have a zero tax increase, have a tremendous surplus, and we're doing a lot of roads, getting grants, and we're doing a lot of great things in town.
"The only way the opposition can actually take us off course is this kind of stuff. This is the one thing they can try to throw at (me). There's nothing there. Like I said, it's an election year."
The mayor went on to deny the abuse-of-power allegations surrounding the post on Facebook.
"To be honest, I didn't use the police," Paris said.
Resident Lucy Horton found that hard to believe, after getting a call from a Delran police sergeant Tuesday night after posting her online comments.
"Mayor Ken Paris is a bully," Horton wrote, saying he confronted Pangia outside a court hearing. She claimed the mayor "tried to verbally intimidate (Pangia)."
The post called Paris' alleged behavior "at best unprofessional and unethical."
"THIS is who our real mayor is. The one who intimidates his opponents and spreads false, personal rumors in a pitiful attempt to keep his position as a career politician."
According to Horton, the sergeant told her that Paris was requesting that she immediately take down the post or he would file a harassment complaint against her.
"I didn't think I did anything wrong," she said. "I never got a call from a police officer before, so I was a little surprised by that. And then I thought about it, and I realized I wasn't surprised, because this is what Ken Paris does."
Horton said the police officer was nice, but she declined to delete her Facebook post and continues to question the mayor's actions.
"It seems like an abuse of power," she said. "If you've got a complaint against me, you can't just go to the police station and have them call me."
The controversy comes just weeks after another resident filed an ethics complaint against Paris for failing to report income on his 2015 financial disclosure statement from a PAC.
The complaint was filed April 27 by resident Dottie Taylor with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs' Division of Local Government Services and accused him of failing to list income he received for work he performed for a now-defunct PAC with ties to a Gloucester County law firm that has performed legal work for the township.
Taylor is the wife of Ron Taylor, a former Republican candidate for Delran Council.
The Initiate Civic Empowerment PAC, also known as ICE PAC, paid Paris $5,200 for unspecified "volunteering services" he performed in 2014, according to the PAC's quarterly campaign finance reports filed with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
As an elected official, Paris is required to report on his financial disclosure statement the source of any income over $2,000, as well as any fees or honorariums having an aggregate amount exceeding $250 for personal appearances, speeches or writing, or gifts exceeding $400.
Paris listed Delran Township, Burlington County College and his wife's employer, the Evesham Board of Education, as his family's sole sources of income over $2,000.
The statement does not require that officials disclose how much income they receive from the specific sources.
Officials found guilty of an ethics violation by the Local Finance Board are subject to fines of between $100 and $500, as well as possible disciplinary action, such as suspension, demotion or removal.
The ICE PAC was created in July 2012 to "support Democratic parties and candidates in N.J.," according to paperwork on file with the commission.
The PAC's original officers were Doug Long and Albert Marmero, founding partners of Long, Marmero & Associates, a Woodbury law firm that has served as the town's solicitor since 2009. The appointment is made by the mayor under advice and consent of the Township Council.
The firm was paid $126,637 by the township in 2015, according to a disclosure report on file with the ELEC.
Long, who served as a Democratic freeholder in Cumberland County from 2013 to 2015, originally was named chairman of the PAC but was replaced a day later by Omarey Williams, a Pittsgrove resident who listed Long, Marmero & Associates as his employer on a report filed with the ELEC.
Marmero served as the PAC's treasurer until August 2014, when he was replaced.
The PAC ceased to operate in November 2014, according to paperwork filed with the ELEC.
Paris previously acknowledged his work for the ICE PAC in an August 2014 Burlington County Times story. He said he performed research for the committee, mostly related to election statistics. He said he couldn't recall who hired him and knew of no connection between the PAC and law firm.
On Thursday, the mayor said the complaint is also related to the election.
"Unfortunately, they have their group of friends trying to stir up stuff," he said. "There's nothing of substance. Like I said, they're trying any which way to replace the existing governing body. Unfortunately, that's how they try and unseat you, by bashing you."
But Schwartz believes the mayor went too far.
"Using the Police Department to silence opposition should be the last act any elected official gets to perform," he said.
Todd McHale: 609-871-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran officials learn new details of controversy, decline further investigation
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20160525/NEWS/305259678By Todd McHale
Posted: May 25, 2016
DELRAN -- In light of new revelations concerning abuse-of-power allegations leveled against the mayor, the Township Council shot down a colleague's request for an investigation.
After a lengthy discussion at the council's work session Tuesday night, including new evidence and advice from the solicitor, a majority of the council rejected any further legal review of allegations that Mayor Ken Paris enlisted the help of the police to try to convince a resident to take down negative comments about him posted on social media, or face harassment charges.
The decision came after police Chief Alfonso Parente Jr. revealed new details about the matter, which arose after a verbal confrontation earlier this month between Paris and Councilwoman Lona Pangia, who are running against each other in the Democratic primary for a four-year term as mayor.
"According to Sgt. (James) Mitchell, the mayor never asked him to make the phone call," Parente said. "It's something that's done sometimes. He took it upon himself to try and mediate the situation and try not to have people go to court over something that may be minor."
Prior to the chief speaking out, the council had a spirited debate on the controversy.
"This is our employee and our mayor," Pangia said. "Why did all of the sudden one police officer find (resident) Lucy Horton's post and go after her? There are residents that post stuff about you and I, and everybody else around this table, about things that they would like done or not done and criticize us in any manner. It is not our job to turn around and have the police execute orders against a resident."
Council President Gary Catrambone said that's unfair, since little is known about how everything played out.
"None of us were there, and I certainly wasn't there when any conversations between the mayor and the police (occurred)," Catrambone said.
Paris and Councilman Michael Schwartz, who called for the mayor's resignation and sent a letter to county and state law enforcement authorities requesting an investigation when he learned the resident was contacted by the police, did not attend Tuesday's meeting.
Township Solicitor Douglas Long advised Pangia and the council to let the process work itself out.
"I think you can save a lot of money by having the (county) Prosecutor's Office investigate it, instead of spending taxpayers' dollars," Long said. "Because you're going to spend a lot of money. And I think what's going to ultimately happen, because it happens all the time during election season, it's a he-said-she-said. You're campaigning against each other."
Pangia said it goes beyond the election.
"This is not about winning," she said. "It's about an abuse-of-power allegation."
On Wednesday, Paris reiterated that he believes the whole thing is politically motivated.
"My reaction has been consistent all along. The truth comes out when someone relies on gimmicks for their campaign," he said. "When you build a foundation on lies and deceit, then you have no foundation at all. Our foundation has been built on a proven track record of lower taxes, the elimination of wasteful spending, and A-plus service to our residents."
Earlier in the day, Pangia said she would be contacting the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and U.S. Attorney's Office to look into the issue.
"In what country is it appropriate for a sitting mayor to call a police officer, who is his employee, to discuss stifling a resident's right to free speech?" she said. "The mayor's insistence on playing semantics to defend his actions is frightening, because it does not change the facts."
She also questioned Parente's account.
"With all due respect to the chief, he is an appointee of the mayor, and his statement that the officer acted on his own just does not cut it," Pangia said. "The fact remains the mayor purposefully contacted the police after his running mate informed the resident that the mayor was going to be getting the police involved."
Todd McHale: 609-871-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran mayoral candidate clears up issue with election documents
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20160531/NEWS/305319770By Todd McHale
Posted: May 31, 2016
DELRAN -- A complaint filed against a candidate for mayor over alleged redacted information submitted to the state appears to be resolved.
The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission acknowledged Tuesday that a report submitted by Township Councilwoman Lona Pangia, who is running for mayor, was complete and did not have any entries crossed out, and that rather the likely issue was a dark highlighter.
"The report doesn't have redacted information," Pangia said. "When the campaign treasurer was doing the report, she was highlighting where items go. It's my understanding that when the report was scanned by ELEC, it didn't scan well."
Pangia is facing off against incumbent Ken Paris for a four-year term as mayor in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.
However, a Camden County resident is requesting an investigation by the ELEC into the campaign contributions and expenditures listed in Pangia's report.
Heather Greico, of Lindenwold, pointed out that there are numerous redactions in Pangia's report that made it difficult to comprehend.
"If this information is required to be reported, why is the candidate submitting a report which redacts this information?" Greico said in the complaint. "If the form is not completed correctly, I am not sure if this meets the requirements of (state law)."
She also stated that a campaign flier had been sent out but that no report of the expense was listed.
"I am asking ELEC to conduct an investigation why the form contains redacted information, inconsistent with the reporting requirements of ELEC, and if the candidate failed to properly disclose all expenditures," Greico said.
Pangia's campaign agreed to send in an "unhighlighted" version of the report that could be scanned into the ELEC's system, but did find it odd that it was singled out.
"I certainly am not sure why this person filed a complaint, but being a person that believes in transparency in government, I am glad the person took the due diligence to check that ELEC board and those that report to it are in compliance," Pangia said.
As for the flier expenditure, she said the campaign didn't receive an invoice until days after it submitted the 29-day pre-election report on May 8.
Greico did not return a call for further comments on the matter.
Todd McHale: 609-871-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran’s contentious Democratic primary nearing end
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/article/20160605/NEWS/306059566By Todd McHale
Posted: Jun 5, 2016DELRAN -- A not-so-cordial primary race among local Democrats is reaching the finish line, with voters having the last say.
On Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to decide from six Democratic candidates vying for the opportunity to run against Republicans in November for three open seats on the Township Council.
The contest features two slates of candidates, with Mayor Ken Paris, Council President Gary Catrambone and 19-year-old Tyler Burrell facing off against Councilwoman Lona Pangia and newcomers Jim Thomas and Lou Vega.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"I want to see Delran continue to move in a positive direction," said Paris, who is battling Pangia for the party nomination for a four-year term as mayor. "Keeping the town financially healthy, municipal taxes low, continued improvements with infrastructure (roads, walks etc.), and continue our great success in the pursuit of county and state grants."
Although Paris and Pangia are fellow members of the governing body, the primary has been quite contentious, with accusations of wrongdoing by both.
"I believe that our mayor isn't making good decisions for our community," Pangia said. "My goal is to reduce the municipal tax burden through shared services, increased grant funding, and a fair distribution of the excessive municipal and sewer surpluses that are nearly seven times more than neighboring towns."
Beyond the mayor's post, two at-large council seats are up, with Catrambone and Burrell pitted against Thomas and Vega.
Catrambone, a two-term member, believes there's more work to do.
"After eight years of seeing the real impact of our decisions, I realized that the job was not done," he said. "While the decisions can be made quickly, the execution requires an enduring diligence."
Even though some may disagree with a number of the decisions made over the years, Catrambone said his and the mayor's records speak for themselves.
"Now, suddenly, our opponents are trying to paint us as something else," Catrambone said. "Quite frankly, the only change here is that there is no longer a concept of teamwork. The mayor and I have worked with a number of council members, both Republican and Democratic, and have always found common ground. That is just not happening with some of the current members."
Vega and Thomas said they would like to see a more inclusive council and find ways to reduce some of the burden put on taxpayers and local utility ratepayers.
"Among issues to address is to analyze and find ways to better balance our tax-dollar applications, (such as the) sewer surplus," Vega said.
He said his experience as a purchasing manager, engineer and as vice president of the Zoning Board will be an asset if he's elected.
"The goal is to represent constituents in a manner that may currently be underemphasized by obtaining optimal value for tax dollars, maximizing opportunities to build relationships at community events," Vega said.
While younger than most candidates, Burrell said he's ready to serve.
"No one in Delran has ever been more enthusiastic about serving the residents than myself," he said.
The 2014 Delran High School graduate, who just finished his studies at Rowan College at Burlington County and will be attending Rowan University in the fall to major in business management, remains committed to serving the town he grew up in.
"I want to give back to the community I love and make a difference for the seniors who have done so much for all of us and inspire the kids who will take Delran to new heights," Burrell said.
In addition to keeping taxes stable and maintaining municipal services, Burrell said he looks forward to serving with Paris and Catrambone.
The mayor and Pangia said they believe they have the winning ticket, with exceptional running mates.
"Gary and Tyler are highly intelligent, highly motivated public servants who don't care about politics and drama," Paris said. "They are committed to making this community better, and I couldn't ask for better people to represent me and my family on the Delran Council."
Pangia shared her admiration for Thomas and Vega.
"When I was looking for running mates, I wanted to find two people that would show the diversity of our town and come from different backgrounds," she said. "I feel like I found that with Jim and Lou. Jim is the negotiator, and Lou is the peacekeeper. We make an excellent team with very different backgrounds, but bringing pride and integrity back to Delran is our common goal."
There have been allegations of the mayor using the police to tell a resident to remove a negative post about him on social media or risk harassment charges, and of Pangia filing a redacted campaign finance report to the state. But both appear to be unfounded.
The police chief has since said a sergeant, on his own volition, made the call in an attempt to mediate the situation between Paris and the resident, not at the request or direction of the mayor.
And the New Jersey Law Enforcement Commission indicated that a dark highlighter led to the issue with Pangia's campaign, which was found to be in order.
Todd McHale: 609-871-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale
Delran Democrats battle ends up in Superior Court
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180504/delran-democrats-battle-ends-up-in-superior-courtBy Todd McHale
Posted: May 4, 2018A lawsuit filed by a former Delran councilman against the township and county clerk over the candidate's eligibility to run for office.
DELRAN — A rejected and then accepted petition filed by a candidate running for a seat on the Township Council has led to legal action by a former member of the municipality’s governing body.
Michael Bohn has filed a lawsuit in Burlington County Superior Court against the township, municipal clerk, township council and the Burlington County clerk, citing that they should not have approved another Democratic candidate Tim Weir’s petition.
“I want him off the ballot,” Bohn said. “He doesn’t deserve to be on the ballot, and the council did everything they could to get him back on the ballot. His petition is defective.”
Bohn, who served out an unexpired term on the council from 2000 to 2002, pointed out that the township’s municipal clerk last month deemed Weir’s petition to run for the Ward 1 seat on the council in the Democratic primary on June 5 as defective for not having the required 22 signatures from registered voters in town.
While state law mandates candidates running for office in a municipality or any ward to get at least 25 signatures, the measure does allow for fewer based on votes cast in a previous election.
In those cases, a candidate must get at least 5 percent of the total votes cast by voters of the political party during the preceding primary election for the state’s General Assembly.
After looking into the matter, Evan Crook of Capehart Scatchard noted in a letter to Superior Court Judge John Harrington, who is presiding of the case filed on April 3, that the local municipal clerk had made a mistake and that the number of requisite signatures should have been 14 since 264 votes were cast in Ward 1 in the last primary for the General Assembly.
Township officials declined to discuss the matter due to pending litigation. The county clerk and Weir could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Regardless, Bohn stands firm on his position and believes that local officials were determined to get Weir on the ballot even though he didn’t have enough signatures.
While Bohn said on Thursday that he didn’t have a problem with Weir and was told “he’s a nice guy.
“It’s the township and (Council President) Gary Catrambone I have a problem with,” Bohn said.
He added that he worked closely with Catrambone for years in getting local Democrats elected into public office in the town that was once a Republican stronghold but the relationship has seemed to sour when he decided to get into this race.
Meanwhile, the case will be back in Superior Court in Mount Holly on Monday at 10:30 a.m.
“If we don’t make some kind of a settlement in the next couple days I’m just going forward with it,” Bohn said of the lawsuit.
He said he just wants a fair shot at serving the community and representing the ward he’s been well known in for decades.
Delran Democratic primary set with dismissal of lawsuit
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180508/delran-democratic-primary-set-with-dismissal-of-lawsuitBy Todd McHale
Posted: May 8, 2018Former Delran councilman's lawsuit thrown out, leading to contested primary in June.
DELRAN — A mix up on a candidate’s eligibility to run for a seat on the local governing body was enough to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the township and Burlington County officials.
Former member of the Township Council Michael Bohn, who is running for Ward 1 in the Democratic primary on June 5, brought litigation last month after being told that another candidate Tim Weir’s petition was defective due to not having enough signatures.
Turns out, a mistake in the requisite number of signatures needed to run for office in town warranted Weir’s name to be on the ballot and led to the lawsuit being dismissed by Burlington County Superior Court Judge John Harrington on Monday.
“I’m disappointed,” Bohn said. “The county gave the township clerk the wrong numbers, and that’s where I got my numbers from. It’s 14 (signatures) not 22.”
Even though state law requires candidates running for office in a municipality or any ward to get at least 25 signatures, the legislation does allow for fewer based on vote counts in a previous election.
In those cases, a candidate must get at least 5 percent of the total votes cast by voters of the political party during the preceding primary election for the state’s General Assembly.
And after a closer look, Delran had 264 votes in the last primary, which meant that a candidate would need 14 signatures from registered voters in town to be eligible.
Council President Gary Catrambone said it all came down to a simple mistake in the numbers.
“Apparently, there was some error with the information sent by the county to the Delran municipal clerk resulting in confusion and ultimately in the lawsuit,” Catrambone said.
He added that he’s pleased that the judge’s ruling will allow for voters to make the choice on who should represent them.
“I look forward to the primary and seeing the best candidate on the ballot for the general election in November,” Catrambone said.
Despite the ruling, Bohn, who served on the council from 2000 to 2002, isn’t discouraged.
“I did what I thought was right,” Bohn said as he continues to campaign.
“I’m going to go full steam,” he said.
Weir could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Delran mayor’s ethics called into question
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180515/delran-mayors-ethics-called-into-questionBy David Levinsky and Todd McHale
Posted: May 15, 2018
Delran officials are at odds over the mayor's connection with a real estate broker.
DELRAN — There's division within the township's government over Mayor Ken Paris' ties to a business associate who worked as a consultant for a developer interested in building an age-restricted community in the township.
The Township Council has decided to seek an attorney to investigate Paris’ relationship with Jeff Lucas, a real estate broker who represented the developers of the proposed Stellwag Farms project on Hartford Road while sharing an interest with Paris in a limited liability company.
Along with the council's call for an investigation, an anonymous complaint was sent to the New Jersey State Ethics Commission over Paris and Lucas’ connection, according to a source who provided the newspaper with a copy. It’s unclear if the commission has referred the matter to the state Department of Community Affairs' Local Government Services office, which handles ethics matters involving local officials.
A spokeswoman for the DCA could not confirm or deny the receipt of any specific complaint.
Paris, a Democrat who has served as mayor since 2008, described the council’s move as a “political witch hunt” instigated by council President Gary Catrambone to make the mayor’s post available.
“This is because I haven’t been beat at the polls, and this is the only way the council president can try to beat me,” Paris said during a council meeting last month after he recused himself from participating in the Stellwag Farms project.
Paris said he believes Catrambone is trying to pressure him into resigning so he can run for mayor. He said he plans to serve the remainder of his term.
“Threats will not affect me or my family. I have been through a lot serving as mayor. I never played the political game, and I don’t put up with political pressure," Paris said Friday.
Catrambone responded that the council is protecting the interests of the town and its residents.
“The council’s core responsibility is to protect the interests of taxpayers of Delran, and we the council acted to do exactly that,” he said. “I find it unfortunate that anyone would interject politics into a situation investigating any possibility of abuse of the residents."
It’s unclear when Paris disclosed his shared business with Lucas to the council, or if it constitutes a conflict for him to participate in discussions about the project, which plans for 82 senior homes on the former farm.
Lucas, a longtime real estate broker in the region who is now director of business development for Rose Commercial Real Estate, was a consultant on the project and served as the developer’s representative during council meetings in 2014, 2015 and 2016, according to council meeting minutes.
Lucas also testified for the developer during at least one township Planning Board meeting in November 2015, according to available meeting minutes.
As mayor, Paris does not typically vote on resolutions or ordinances. However, he can participate in discussions at meetings and could be called upon to break a tie vote.
State Department of Treasury records show that Lucas was one of three member/managers of Hadley House LLC in 2014, the limited liability company that owns and operates Ott’s Voorhees Tavern in Camden County.
Paris was not listed as a member/manager of the LLC when it was formed in 2014, but a 2017 resolution approved by Voorhees' municipal government concerning the company’s liquor license for the restaurant specified that he and his wife, June, each own a 3.5 percent stake, along with Lucas, who owns a 7 percent share.
Paris’ 2017 financial disclosure statement also specified that he had an interest in Hadley House LLC, although it was not listed as a source of income for him or his family members.
While Hadley House LLC has no known interest in the Stellwag Farms project, Lucas' interest in the company prompted some council members to vote in favor of preparing a request for qualifications from outside attorneys for a possible ethics investigation during the April 24 meeting.
Paris confirmed Friday that he and his wife each have a 3.5 percent interest in Hadley House. He insisted that he disclosed the relationship to former Solicitor Doug Long, who assured him there was no conflict when the project was first discussed.
Long was a founding partner of Long, Marmero and Associates, but is no longer with the firm or counsel for Delran. The firm has been renamed Grace, Marmero and Associates, and Jim Grace has taken on the job as Delran’s primary attorney. Long could not be reached for comment Friday.
Paris said that he received an email on April 18 from the township’s attorney, identified as Brian Shotts, indicating no conflict existed, but that five days later another attorney from the firm — whom the mayor later identified as Grace — gave a conflicting opinion.
“A different associate of the firm contradicted what I was told all along,” he said.
Despite maintaining no conflict, Paris recused himself from future discussions about the Stellwag Farms project during the April 24 meeting.
“The record should be clear that I fully disclosed all relevant facts to the township solicitor and was told I had no conflict of interest. And I relied upon that," he said at the meeting.
Earlier this month, Paris asked the council to approve his request to remove Grace, Marmero and Associates as solicitor and appoint Moorestown attorney Ted Rosenberg. The council rejected the request.
Reached Friday, Grace, a partner with the Gloucester County law firm and Delran's primary counsel in recent weeks, declined to comment on the mayor’s request or the controversy surrounding the Stellwag Farms project.
Lucas also declined to comment or specify if he is still involved with Stellwag or a partner with Paris at Hadley House LLC.
Democratic Councilman Michael Schwartz was the lone member who voted in favor of removing Grace, Marmero, saying the disputes have resulted in “all kinds of chaos.”
“You have a lawyer the mayor doesn’t have any trust in and I don’t have any trust in, which is why I wanted to go in that direction in replacing them,” Schwartz said.
While he admitted to often not getting along with Paris, Schwartz said an ethics investigation is not warranted.
“I don’t know why we would spend extra money to conduct an investigation,” he said. “If they have evidence, turn it over to the state.”
Schwartz said Paris should have disclosed he was a minority shareholder in an unrelated business venture with Lucas, but he doesn’t believe that poses a conflict.
“It’s not like they’re business partners,” he said. “They’re both minority shareholders in the company, and it’s completely unrelated to construction or land development. It’s a bar.”
Delran alleged ethical violations still under scrutinity
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180529/delran-alleged-ethical-violations-still-under-scrutinityBy Todd McHale
Posted: May 29, 2018Delran governing body seeks the state to weigh in on potential conflict of interest by mayor.
DELRAN — A plan to hire an attorney to investigate possible ethics violations by the mayor was tabled by the Township Council, but the issue has not been dropped.
Instead, the governing body directed the township’s attorney to draft a submission to be sent to the state Division of Local Government Services asking the agency to look into the matter.
At issue is Mayor Ken Paris’ business ties with Jeff Lucas, a real estate broker who represented the developer of a proposed senior housing development at the Stellwag Farms property on Hartford Road while also sharing an interest with the mayor in a limited liability company that owns Ott’s Voorhees Tavern in Camden County.
Paris has said he was told by the town’s former solicitor Doug Long that his business connection to Lucas was not a conflict, but he has since recused himself from participating in any discussions about the Stellwag Farms development project because the firm now serving as the township solicitor, Grace, Marmero and Associates, gave him two different opinions on the matter.
It’s unclear when Paris disclosed his shared business with Lucas to the council, or if it constitutes a conflict for him to participate in discussions about the project, which plans for 82 senior homes on the former farm.
During a council meeting Tuesday, Councilman Daniel O’Connell said he believed an attorney was needed to give a legal opinion about alleged conflict.
“We didn’t know what we had, and an attorney could tell us if in fact there was something there or if there is nothing there," O’Connell said. "And if there was nothing there it ends. It’s over.”
Earlier this month, Paris asked the council to approve his request to remove Grace, Marmero and Associates as solicitor and appoint Moorestown attorney Ted Rosenberg. The council rejected the request.
The mayor said on Thursday he’s “troubled by the fact that Grace, Marmero (and Associates) is the one who is being tasked by the council to write a report to send to (Local Government Services), when members of that firm were involved in advising me that there was no actual conflict of interest.”
Regardless, the issue has caused a rift between the Paris and Council President Gary Catrambone, with Paris claiming the fellow Democrat wants to replace him as mayor. Catrambone has denied the allegation.
When the the request for qualifications became public, the council members didn’t see a need to spend money on an attorney. O’Connell said the whole matter seemed to be a no-win situation.
“What it would seem to me we were damned if we do and damned if we didn’t,” O’Connell said of hiring an attorney to investigate the mayor. “If we had information and didn’t take action on it we could have been accused of sitting on it in order to protect another member of the governing body here in town.”
Once the township attorney drafts a submission for the New Jersey State Ethics Commission to evaluate the case, the council will need to approve it before it’s sent to Local Government Services. The agency falls under the umbrella of the state Department of Community Affairs and is responsible for ethics matters involving municipalities and their leaders.
The decision comes after an anonymous complaint was sent to the commission about Paris' connection to Lucas. It’s unclear if the commission has referred the matter to the state Department of Community Affairs' Local Government Services office, which handles ethics matters involving local officials.
A spokeswoman for the DCA could not confirm or deny the receipt of any specific complaint.
Paris said he also planned to contact the division to ask for their opinion.
“At this point, I want to end this ridiculousness as soon as possible, so I, myself am going to contact DCA for an opinion/investigation into this matter. In the end it will show that I acted properly.”
Staff writer David Levinsky contributed to this report.
State board fines Delran mayor for ethics violations related to work with political action committee
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180625/state-board-fines-delran-mayor-for-ethics-violations-related-to-work-with-political-action-committeeBy David Levinsky
Posted: Jun 25, 2018
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board issued two notices of violation earlier this month against Mayor Ken Paris, finding that his work for the Initiate Civic Empowerment PAC in 2014 was a conflict and that the mayor failed to report his income from the committee on his financial disclosure form.
DELRAN — Mayor Ken Paris’ past work for a now defunct political action committee with ties to the law firm that represents the township was a conflict of interest and ethics violation, according to the state agency charged with investigating local ethics matters.
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board issued two notices of violation earlier this month against the third-term mayor, finding that his work for the Initiate Civic Empowerment PAC, also known as ICE PAC, in 2014 was a conflict and that the mayor failed to report his income from the committee on his financial disclosure form.
Paris, who has the right to appeal the board’s findings to an administrative law court, faces fines of $100 each for each violation.
Reached Monday, Paris said he plans to appeal the board's finding, saying he was advised by the town's solicitor at the time that there was "nothing improper" about him working for the PAC.
The violation notices stem from Paris’ work with the ICE PAC, which paid the mayor $5,200 for unspecified 'volunteering services' he performed in 2014, according to the PAC's quarterly campaign finance reports filed with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
The ICE PAC was created in July 2012 to “support Democratic parties and candidates in N.J.,” according to paperwork on file with the commission. The PAC's original officers were Doug Long and Albert Marmero, founding partners of Long, Marmero & Associates, a Woodbury law firm that has served as the town's solicitor since 2009.
The firm has been renamed Grace, Marmero & Associates and Long is no longer a managing partner with the firm. He also no longer serves as Delran’s solicitor.
The PAC ceased to operate in November 2014, according to paperwork filed with the ELEC.
Paris previously acknowledged his work for the ICE PAC in an August 2014 Burlington County Times story. He said he performed research for the committee, mostly related to election statistics. He said he couldn't recall who hired him and knew of no connection between the PAC and law firm.
The violation notices were published by John Paff, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, on his website, njrandomgovt.blogspot.com/.
Paff and Libertarian Party filed the ethics complaints in September 2014.
In the June 14 violation notices, the Local Finance Board, which is charged with enforcing state ethics laws involving municipal officials, indicated the allegations in the complaint were deemed “not frivolous” based upon “a reasonable factual basis” and that the agency’s subsequent investigation into the matter concluded that Paris’ employment with the PAC controlled by officers of the law firm was “in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest.”
The agency also determined that Paris violated state ethics law by failing to report his $5,200 income from the PAC on his 2015 financial disclosure form.
As an elected official, Paris is required to report on his financial disclosure statement the source of any income over $2,000, as well as any fees or honorariums having an aggregate amount exceeding $250 for personal appearances, speeches or writing, or gifts exceeding $400.
The two fines levied against Paris amount to the minimum penalty for ethics violations. The agency is authorized to issue fines up to $500, as well as take other possible disciplinary actions, such as suspension, demotion or removal.
The latter disciplinary actions are considered extremely rare.
While Paris’ work with the ICE PAC dates back four years ago, the Democrat’s business dealings have again garnered controversy this year after it was revealed he has business ties with Jeff Lucas, a real estate broker who represented the developer of a proposed senior housing development at the Stellwag Farms property on Hartford Road also while sharing an interest with the mayor in a limited liability company that owns Ott’s Voorhees Tavern in Camden County.
Paris has said he was told by Long that his business connection to Lucas was not a conflict, but he has since recused himself from participating in any discussions about the Stellwag Farms development project because lawyers from Grace, Marmero & Associates, have given him two different opinions on the matter.
It’s unclear when Paris disclosed his shared business with Lucas to the council, or if it constitutes a conflict for him to participate in discussions about the project, which plans for 82 senior homes on the former farm.
Paris has since tried to remove Grace, Marmero as the town’s solicitor, but has been blocked by the Township Council, which must consent on professional appointments by the mayor.
The Township Council also is considering whether to submit an ethics complaint about the mayor’s business connection to Lucas to the Local Finance Board to determine if it posed a conflict.
Paris said Monday that while he plans to appeal the Finance Board's findings, that the case provides another reason for the town to seek new legal representation.
"This situation motivates me more to appoint a new solicitor as it is evident that we need competent legal representation and receive opinions which are correct," he said. "I would not have taken a job with ICE PAC, if I was informed by Mr. Long or anyone from Long/Marmero at the time that it would violate local ethics laws."
Delran changes legal representation after sudden resignation
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20180628/delran-changes-legal-representation-after-sudden-resignationBy David Levinsky
Posted: Jun 28, 2018Stuart Platt and his Stratford-based firm Platt & Riso was appointed as the town’s interim solicitor Tuesday during the Township Council’s work session meeting after the surprise resignation of attorney Doug Long and his firm, Grace Marmero and Associates.
DELRAN — The township’s government has named a new interim solicitor after the Gloucester County law firm that had represented it for close to 10 years resigned due to the mayor’s push to replace them.
Stuart Platt and his Stratford-based firm Platt & Riso was appointed as the town’s interim solicitor Tuesday during the Township Council’s work session meeting after the surprise resignation of attorney Doug Long and his firm, Grace Marmero and Associates.
Grace Marmero, formerly known as Long Marmero and Associates, had served as solicitor to the town since 2009, but had recently drawn criticism from Mayor Ken Paris, who has blamed the firm for ethics controversies surrounding his past employment and business dealings.
The mayor had pushed to replace the firm as the town’s solicitor for the past two months but had been blocked by the council, which must approve any professional appointments.
Long, who is a founding partner, announced the firm’s resignation during solicitor’s comments at Tuesday’s meeting, saying the firm appreciated being able to serve the town and its government for so long but that its status as solicitor had become a distraction for the local government.
“It’s clear the mayor doesn’t want our firm as solicitor, and — with all due respect to council and I appreciate your vote of confidence and appreciate you wanting us to stay on — we really are the mayor’s selection and I have to respect that,” Long said. “We want to make sure the mayor has legal counsel he wants, and it’s not us.”
Paris, who attended and participated in the meeting, said the announcement caught him off guard, but that he appreciated the firm being willing to voluntarily step aside.
“It’s unfortunate we ran into some situations that I guess ... there was a misdirection and misinterpretation and (the advice) you provided me it resulted in some issues that affected my reputation and the council’s.”
Earlier this month the Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board issued two notices to the mayor notifying him that he was found in violation of state ethics law for working for a political action committee in 2014 that had ties to the law firm.
The PAC, known as the Initiate Civic Empowerment PAC, or ICE PAC, was created in 2012 and its original officers were the law firm’s two founding partners, Long and Albert Marmero. The PAC’s mailing address also was the same as the Woodbury-based law firm.
The Local Finance Board, which is responsible for investigating ethics matters involving municipal government and officials, found Paris’ work for the PAC was a conflict of interest and that he failed to report his income on his financial disclosure form.
Paris was fined $100 for each violation but has said he plans to appeal the finance board’s findings to an administrative law judge. He also has said he was advised by Long at the time that there was “nothing improper” about him working for the PAC.
More ethics questions emerged this year when it was revealed that Paris has business ties with Jeff Lucas, a real estate broker who represented the developer of a proposed senior housing development at the Stellwag Farms property on Hartford Road while sharing an interest with the mayor in a limited liability company that owns Ott’s Voorhees Tavern in Camden County.
Paris has said he was told by Long that his business connection to Lucas was not a conflict, but he has since recused himself from participating in any discussions about the Stellwag Farms development project because lawyers from Grace, Marmero & Associates, have given him two different opinions on the matter.
It’s unclear when Paris disclosed his shared business with Lucas to the council, or if it constitutes a conflict for him to participate in discussions about the project, which plans for 82 senior homes on the former farm.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Long said he believes the advice provided by himself and the firm has been “spot on” but that the firm was willing to step aside because of the mayor’s distrust and the distraction it has caused.
The firm, which will remain the township's affordable housing counsel, was paid $163,231 by the township last year, according to recent filings with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
“We’re invited guests and we appreciate the privilege of serving, but if our firm is becoming a distraction, we don’t want that,” Long said, adding later that Platt’s appointment as interim solicitor would be legal and that he would serve the town well.
Platt is currently contracted as the town’s labor attorney and earned $13,867 from the township in that role last year. According to records with ELEC, the firm also served as solicitor in several South Jersey towns last year, including Stratford, Audubon, Franklin, Haddon Township, and was planning board attorney for Evesham, Willingboro and Voorhees.
“(Platt’s) a fabulous solicitor. He’ll do a great job, no doubt,” Long said.
Platt’s appointment as solicitor is temporary until the mayor receives responses to a request for qualifications his administration must issue for all interested firms. If Platt responds to that RFQ, his firm will be eligible to be appointed for the remainder of the year, officials said.
Paris said he was very comfortable appointing Platt on an interim basis.
“He’s very knowledgeable and I feel very comfortable going with Stu as the interim,” he said.
The council also endorsed Platt’s temporary appointment, with some members describing his appointment as “logical” and a way out of the standoff between the mayor and council over the solicitor’s post.
“I am hopeful that the appointment of a new interim attorney, and the eventual appointment to take us to the end of the year, will have a positive impact on the work environment for the staff and management of the township,” Council President Gary Catrambone said in a statement.
Editorial: Things that make you go hmmm ...
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/opinion/20180629/editorial-things-that-make-you-go-hmmm-Posted: Jun 29, 2018
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs' Local Finance Board has fined Delran Mayor Ken Paris for two ethics violations.
We hope residents are paying close attention, because this involves the people making critical decisions about the future of their town.
The board cited Paris' 2014 work for the Initiate Civic Empowerment political action committee as well as his failure to report the income he received from the PAC.
As an elected official, the mayor must report any income over $2,000 on a financial disclosure statement.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the state, the committee paid Paris $5,200 for unspecified "volunteering services." Paris said the township solicitor at the time, Doug Long, advised him that there was "nothing improper" about working for the PAC while serving as mayor.
Hmmm. Then why not disclose the income?
Also of note: When the PAC was formed in 2012 to help support Democratic parties and candidates in New Jersey, Long was one of its officers.
The mayor's more recent dealings also have raised ethics questions.
Earlier this year, it was disclosed that Paris has a business relationship with Jeff Lucas, a real estate broker who represented a developer seeking to build in Delran. The proposed site of the 82-unit senior housing development is the former Stellwag Farm, just across Hartford Road from Ott's Tavern, which is owned by a limited liability company in which the mayor has a shared interest, along with Lucas.
Paris said he was told, again by Long, that the business connection to Lucas was not a conflict.
Like Mom always said, if you have to ask ...
Paris said that he would not have taken the job with the PAC if he was informed it violated ethics laws, and that he's received conflicting legal advice about his involvement with Lucas. He has recused himself from any discussions about the development project. That's good.
Long is no longer the township solicitor — also good — but his old law firm was still representing Delran until this week.
The Township Council is still considering whether to submit an ethics complaint to the state board about the mayor's association with Lucas. And Paris plans to appeal the Local Finance Board's findings.
Let the board do its thing, but it is Delran residents who will ultimately decide whether the mayor is the victim of more poor legal advice or has once again tread beyond the state's ethical boundaries.
Letters to the Editor for July 20
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/opinion/20180720/letters-to-editor-for-july-20Posted: Jul 20, 2018
Delran Democrats are spend-crazy
The Democrats in power in Delran have collectively destroyed a once-dignified community.
How did we as taxpayers allow the Township Council to spend millions over the years on nonessential items, such as the "Field of Dreams" sports complex off Hartford Road? Also, in excess of $850,000 was spent for a paltry 3 acres adjacent to Fairview Street to build three homes. A then-councilman's property backs up to this small piece.
Out-of-control spending for nonessential items continues to this day — all geared to garner votes. Their gimmick of repeating "no tax increase again" is just an attention-getting scheme.
Bonding money to balance the budget is insane, and the degree of irresponsibility to taxpayers has become obscene. Our bond rating, according to Moody's, has been downgraded several times, making it more expensive to borrow money. The foreboding debt our township finds itself responsible for cannot be sustained. I hope every taxpayer demands that the council cease all nonessential spending.
If taxpayers are as concerned as I am with this council's spending habits, I suggest logging onto Delran.org and reviewing meeting minutes from as far back as possible. One will find a multitude of nonessential projects approved by Democratic councils.
More than ever, we need people who really understand the meaning of fiscal responsibility. How many more residents will it take to walk away from their homes? If this occurs, substantial property taxes will be lost, adding to our significant debt.
I call on those who are truly interested in returning Delran to the model community it once was to become involved and run for council and oust these spend-crazy Democrats.
William Pfeffer
Delran
Guest Opinion: A letter to Delran Mayor Ken Paris
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/opinion/20181022/guest-opinion-letter-to-delran-mayor-ken-parisBy Lucy Horton
Posted: Oct 22, 2018I debated writing this letter because, as the residents of Delran are aware, the last time I publicly expressed my opinion of you, a police officer called my home. I ultimately decided that now is not the time to sit quietly by while you continue to act on your own interests and attack your 2016 running mates, simply to shift the focus from your own behavior and documented wrongdoings.
Now, more than ever, we must think globally and act locally, as many of us are tired of the same old politics and deceit.
For those keeping score, you have several ethics violations against you, including but not limited to a major conflict of interest while hiding a business relationship with a developer in current negotiations with the Township Council, and a formal charge and fine for an ethical lapse involving the former municipal attorney.
All of this is in addition to your general behavior during town meetings, at which you frequently raise your voice and interrupt council members who are trying to be heard, get the facts, and defend themselves against your baseless attacks.
You ran on a platform of transparency, yet continually act to hide and dissemble. Like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, you point fingers at council members in a pathetic attempt to hide from your own behavior, all the while with cookie crumbs still on your face. Your boss and wife speak for you at meetings in an attempt to attack your fellow elected officials, some of whom are the only ones actually serving our town. Your wife even called residents "bullies." Isn't that interesting? While I am never quite able to define irony, I know it when I see it.
Politics is an ugly business, and we need strong, dedicated, generous people to serve. That's why we vote and put our trust in people who we believe have our best interests at heart and are willing to do the work for us. You clearly exhibit none of the qualities the people of Delran deserve in a mayor.
Instead, you are a detriment to the town and its people. I know I speak for many when I say you lost our respect and trust long ago. If you put half the effort into supporting the town and the citizens who voted for you as you do attempting to discredit council members to avoid your own allegations, you could accomplish a lot of positive things. Sadly, you don't seem to have time for us.
For these reasons, I am requesting that you resign as mayor so that someone else can step up and serve our residents the way they deserve.
Lucy Horton is a resident of Delran.
Delran’s backyard-chicken pilot program poised to become permanent
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20190710/delrans-backyard-chicken-pilot-program-poised-to-become-permanentBy Lisa Broadt
Posted: Jul 10, 2019
The township received no complaints during its two-year trial run, according to officials.
DELRAN — After a successful two-year pilot program, the township granted permanent approval for backyard chickens Tuesday night.
The township established its backyard-chicken pilot program in May 2017 at the request of a number of residents, and since then the township has received no complaints, according to Gary Catrambone, township council president.
“The response ... was really smoother than any of us could have anticipated. There were literally zero issues with the program,” Catrambone said Tuesday. “There were no incidences where people were not complying with (township) guidelines.”
He said participation was slight — only six chicken licenses were issued, according to Municipal Clerk Jamey Eggers — but those who got involved were very dedicated.
“Most people don’t realize that caring for chickens is not quick and easy but a little more complicated. From what I understand it’s a considerable amount of work,” Catrambone said. “But the people who participated seem to love it and did a good job with it.”
Delran’s 2017 pilot program came about at a time when many Burlington County municipalities were fully embracing backyard chickens and other initiatives aimed at environmental sustainability.
The township took a more cautious approach however, establishing a chicken advisory board to explore the possibility of allowing chickens in residential areas and requiring training classes for those interested in participating.
The township also solicited advice from Camden County Chickens manager Gwenne Baile, also known as “The Chicken Lady of South Jersey.” Baile already had assisted eight other New Jersey towns in implementing a backyard-chicken program.
Delran’s final backyard-chicken ordinance contains a few small changes from the pilot-program regulations, according to Eggers.
For one, the number of approved chickens would double from four to eight per household. The ordinance also would allow chickens to be confined in smaller spaces. Previously 3 square feet were required per chicken, but under the new ordinance 2 square feet would be required.
When the pilot was enacted, the township approved a maximum of 20 licenses, but with the final ordinance, the township would allow an unlimited number of licenses, according to Eggers.
For the most part, though, the program will remain the same: Chicken enclosures must be at least 5 feet from the property line, chickens cannot be slaughtered in the township, roosters are prohibited and backyard-chicken eggs are for personal use, not for sale.
Delran Mayor Ken Paris, Lumberton Committeeman Sean Earlen won’t seek re-election
Source: https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20200331/delran-mayor-ken-paris-lumberton-committeeman-sean-earlen-wonrsquot-seek-re-electionBy David Levinsky
Posted: Mar 31, 2020Two longtime municipal leaders in Burlington County have decided not to seek re-election.
Delran Mayor Ken Paris and Lumberton Committeeman Sean Earlen both chose not to file to run in the upcoming primary election.
Paris's announcement was not a surprise. He had previously indicated he might not run for a new term after becoming embroiled in ethics flaps in 2018. The Democrat has served over 13 years on the township's government, including more than a decade as the town's separately elected mayor.
Reached Tuesday, Paris said he was most proud of the success he had "keeping taxes in line, bringing in new businesses and always being there for the residents."
"I was very proud to say I was not a political puppet and I did not allow myself to be controlled by a political machine," Paris said, adding that he believes the local government's best years were when a mix of Democrats and Republicans were on the governing body.
Paris was cited with ethics violations by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Local Finance Board in 2018 for working for a political action committee in 2014 that had ties to the law firm that was representing the township at the time and for failing to report the income on his financial disclosure form.
He called the accusation a "political ploy" and said the board's decision was overturned on appeal.
In 2018 it was also revealed that Paris has business ties with Jeff Lucas, a real estate broker who represented the developer of a proposed senior housing development at the Stellwag Farms property on Hartford Road while sharing an interest with the mayor in a limited liability company that owns Ott's Voorhees Tavern in Camden County.
Paris has said he was told by the town's attorney that his business connection to Lucas was not a conflict, but he wound up recusing himself from participating in any discussions about the Stellwag Farms.
The mayor has described allegations that his relationship with Lucas was a conflict as a "political witch hunt" instigated by council President Gary Catrambone to make the mayor's post available.
Neither controversy influenced his decision to step away from local government, he said.
"It takes a toll my family and 14 years is long enough in politics," he said. "It's time for a change for the township ... I gave it my best and I was there for the right reasons. Hopefully Delran will continue in that direction."
Catrambone, who has served on council for the last 12 years, filed to run for mayor this year and will run unopposed in the Democratic primary.
"I had the honor to lead several groups of councilpersons over the years to bring about (development of the) Community Park, the preservation of open space and most importantly, keeping taxes stable." Catrambone said in a statement announcing his campaign for mayor. "Now, I would like to be more involved with the administrative side of the township to leverage my experience to work with the administrator to further improve the efficiency of the departments."
He will be joined on the Democratic ballot by incumbent Tyler Burrell, who will run for a new term, and Lynn Jeney, a former school board member.
Republican Mike Piper has filed to run for mayor, and fellow Republicans Patricia Pomeranz and Joseph Joyce III filed for seats on Township Council.
Earlen, a Republican, has served on Lumberton Township Committee since 2011 and spent three years as the town's appointed mayor. He is also chairman of the Burlington County Republican Committee and the county's appointee to the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, where he also previously served as chair.
In a statement, Earlen said serving Lumberton was a "love and passion" but that it was time for him to focus on new challenges.
"As a community, our top priority right now is the safety and health of our families and children. Like many of you, this has been a time to reflect," he said in an emailed statement to residents. "When I set out on the journey to run for local office nine years ago, I set some very high goals for our township. It is with great pride that together, we accomplished them all. I am honored to have served as Lumberton's mayor for three years, and proud of all the accomplishments of the entire Township Committee over the last nine years."
Republican Mark Miller has filed to run for Earlen's seat and will be joined by incumbent Republican James Dwyer, who will seek a second three-year term.
Gina LaPlaca, Lumberton's Democratic municipal chair, and Terrance Benson will run unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Benson ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the committee in 2017 with Democrat Kendra Hatfield. The two were narrowly defeated by Earlen and Dwyer.
LaPlaca is best known for her campaign for a seat representing the 8th Legislative District in the New Jersey Assembly. She and her running-mate Mark Natale lost a close race to Republican incumbent Ryan Peters and former county Sheriff Jean Stanfield.
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