Last night’s Medford council reorganization meeting brought a new face and a new voice to the mayor’s seat.
Chris Buoni was chosen as the mayor of Medford Township for 2014. He takes the place of Frank Czekay. Chuck Watson filled the deputy mayor’s seat.
Buoni discussed how he does have different views and a different voice than the two previous mayors, Czekay and Randy Pace. However, he said that a different voice is a good thing.
“One of the great things as we go through the next few years is that you’re going to see a lot of different faces and hear a lot of different voices up here,” Buoni said.
Buoni set out a list of expectations for residents to expect of him as mayor. Information, access and empathy were the three main aspects that he wanted to express to the township. All of them revolve around open communication, something that Buoni said he is a big proponent of.
“What the mayor really is, is the voice and the face of council,” he said.
As the gavel was turned over from Czekay to Buoni, both of them spoke of the changes Medford has made in the past year and where the township is going in 2014.
The biggest topic Czekay touched on was the township’s ability to close their budget deficit and keep municipal taxes flat in 2013.
“We started off in 2013 with a budget deficit,” Czekay said. “But we went to adopt our budget on time, in accordance with government guidelines, and we had no local tax increase last year.”
“It was a sort of a turning point here in Medford,” Buoni said about 2013. “We’re definitely not out of the woods yet, but it was the difference between facing a sort of calamity, and then having to find out what normal is. We’re working on that.”
In Other News:
• During council’s regular meeting following the reorganization, township manager Chris Schultz responded to a few complaints he received about snow removal after a storm that hit on Jan. 2 and 3.
Schultz said that he received an email that compared Medford to Evesham Township, which has less road miles to plow and almost four times as many employees.
The township has only 10 public works employees in their labor pool to remove snow. While all employees were working as the storm started, Schultz said that over the weekend, they had to send people home for rest.
The township plows the main roads first before working its way to secondary and collector roads and finally, residential roads.
The township roads weren’t the only issue during the storm. Schultz said the county roads weren’t any better.
“The biggest problem wasn’t just with Medford,” Schultz said. “The county roads were terrible.”
One solution to Medford’s snow problem was looking at pre-treatment options. Schultz said that the township has not pre-treated in the past, but is getting information together on possibly purchasing brine and equipment to pre-treat. If the township can do that, they may be able to pre-treat the roads that will be plowed last, according to Schultz.
Schultz also said he received complaints that the public works yard was not taking trash prior to the storm. He explained that the yard cannot do that when they are preparing for snow.
“Our priority is snow removal and getting ready for these winter storms,” Schultz said.
• Schultz also gave an update on the township’s leaf program. He said the public works staff is currently 75 percent through zone four. The township still has to reach zones five and one before cycling through other zones if there is time. Schultz said the recent snow has slowed down the leaf pickup process.
• The next Medford Township council meeting is on Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Public Safety Building.
