As Moorestown takes that final step into 2015, here is a look back at just some of the happenings and changes that came to the township throughout 2014.
BOE
The Moorestown Township Board of Education reorganization meeting took place Jan. 7 at William Allen Elementary School. Familiar faces on the board included re-elected president Don D. Mishler and Kathy Goldenberg, who was also sworn in as vice president. New members to the board were introduced, including Albert Panzarella.
All members seemed eager to not only continue their collective streak of service, but also to reiterate many regulations and upcoming plans. Discussed and finalized were many different initiatives and projects, ranging from pest control to banking services.
A fairly large project to improve various schools structurally and for safety reasons was set to start this year. Garrison Architects was finalized as the company undertaking the project and subsequent projects. Over the course of the next five years, all construction will be closely monitored by the board.
Arthur F. Risden of Comegno Law Group, PC was appointed as the board solicitor. Acting Superintendent Lynn E. Shugars was also assigned as the 2014 board secretary and qualified purchasing agent. Gail Reicheg was assigned as director of personnel.
• Budgeting was the hot topic at the Feb. 18 Moorestown Board of Education meeting. Shugars compared the 2013–2014 budget with budgets from previous years.
The budget for included $406,000 in excess surplus, which decreased by $2.1 million from last year. The board faced a $4 million deficit.
Using a slide presentation, Shugars showed that salaries increase annually, like all costs. Salaries this year will cost $1.4 million, and benefits were to total $906,751.
The past two years, the BOE did not use the undesignated 2 percent balance. There are more funds to be gathered from that portion, also known as banked cap money.
“Banked cap is not a pot of money … it has to be used for specific things,” Shugars said.
Shugars called state aid “usually flat” and mentioned keeping banked cap money for projects and other unknowns that could arise throughout the school year.
To not cut any extracurricular classes and programs, the board gave a preliminary presentation about the idea of a “pay-to-play” program. This program would involve charging parents or students to participate in activities not related to core class schedules.
Theater would be offered at schools during the next school year for an estimate of $40 to $80, and clubs could cost as much as $30. All estimates were presented as per club, per student.
The fees would be annual, so students would only need to pay for extracurricular activities once, most likely at the inception of the school year. The board could make a possible $200,000 off the “pay-to-play” charges, and generate those collected funds back into the school system.
During the meeting, Interim Superintendent Timothy Rehm asked all in attendance to focus on the children as students, more so than taxes or other factors.
“There is no constituency here tonight that is not here because of them,” Rehm said. “You’re all here because you care about education. How we got here right now we should not debate tonight.”
Some positive news presented at the meeting regarded state aid. Though at the board meeting on Feb. 18, the board presentation showed state aid as flat, state aid collected for the 2014–2015 school year totaled $75,000. Though desperately needed due to debt, that could still increase, depending on state grant applications and other processes not yet put forward by the board.
Adoption of the tentative school budget for the upcoming year was discussed at the board of education meeting on March 17. The board gave an estimated tax increase of $141 for the average household in the next year to maintain quality and staffing at the schools.
“The increase in taxes on an average assessed home in Moorestown is somewhere around $141 … for the 2014–15 budget,” Mishler said.
With that increase, the board is expected to collect about $56,318,599.
After being urged to do so by residents, teachers and students at past meetings, the board will also be budgeting to a maximum cap.
• As publicly announced in a settlement agreement following the 2012–13 school year, the board was forced to pay a $165,000 salary to ex-superintendent Brian Betze.
On Tuesday, May 6, the board of education appointed Rehm as permanent superintendent for a three-year term, commencing July 1.
Rehm brought more than 26 years of experience as an educational administrator. His proven excellence in leadership roles made him an obvious candidate for the position, school officials said, and after serving as the interim superintendent since Feb. 5, the board made the decision to appoint him as full-time superintendent.
• The school board is projecting a budget shortfall of $1.17 million for the 2015–2016 school year. As part of a presentation at the Oct. 21 board of education meeting, Shugars said the early projected shortfall is assuming a 2 percent banked cap.
“These are very early, very preliminary numbers, taking our 2014–2015 numbers and projecting them for next year. This is just trying to get a feel as we go into next year of what things look like and where they stand,” Shugars said.
The budget projections are based on assumptions that include expenditures and revenue. The expenditures are the salaries of current staffing, salaries projected or estimated, a 15 percent increase in health benefits, and “other” expenses such as transportation and supplies that were kept the same as the 2014–2015 school year.
The revenues are a 2 percent increase in the tax levy and all other revenues, which were kept the same as the 2014–2015 school year.
In regard to the taxes, for the years 2010–2013, there was no tax increase. In the 2013–2014 school year, there was a 0.4 percent tax increase, and in 2014–2015, there was a 3.8 percent tax increase with the use of banked cap. Because of the previous years without a tax increase, the school district still has some banked cap left, which totals about $1.37 million. To use the banked cap, the school must go up to the full 2 percent allowance first and adopt a formal resolution to have it approved by the county office.
• Three board members were commended for their service with the board at the Dec. 16 BOE meeting. A. Leigh Powell, Christina Zajac and Mishler attended their final public BOE meeting as members. The three are retiring from their services with the board at the end of the year.
Building Excellence Referendum
At the Board of Education meeting on Sept. 16, Robert Garrison Jr. of Garrison Architects gave a presentation on the Building Excellence Referendum, which was to be voted on Tuesday, Sept 30.
The referendum, created by the board, asked local voters in Moorestown to authorize the district to raise funds through the sale of bonds to finance improvements to all six of the district’s school buildings.
According to Garrison, letters were sent to the district in February saying the state would pledge $13.7 million for improvements to all of the district facilities. Garrison, along with a team of architects and some school members, came together to present a long-range facility plan for the 2013 grant program, part of the ROD Grant program, and were approved for the $13.7 million.
The referendum was in two parts. The first question, asked for the approval of work that includes $37.6 million of improvements to aging infrastructures at schools for exterior renovations, interior renovations, HVAC upgrades, and electrical/security and technology upgrades.
Question 2, which could only be considered if Question 1 was approved, asked for an additional $5.2 million of work. This include patching and paving of driveways and parking lots at the schools, cafeteria table replacements at George C. Baker School, carpeting and flooring replacements at UES, theatre improvements and athletic fields improvements.
Ultimately, both questions were approved by Moorestown residents.
On Nov. 18, the school district went out for bonds for the referendum. A bond sale was made with a result of a 3.376 percent interest rate, less than the 5 percent that was originally projected.
As of the Dec. 9 BOE meeting the board has chosen and approved New Road Construction Management as its construction manager and Edwards Engineering Group as its site engineer for the construction and improvements of the referendum.
Moorestown Council
Moorestown Township decided to privatize sanitation services.
Through a contract awarded at the Jan. 27 Moorestown council meeting, Casworth Enterprises Inc. would handle the township’s solid waste removal. Council named cost as the main reason to change services.
Officially approved at meetings throughout February, the council saw trash privatization as a positive action, having no real negative impact on the community.
“About $5,000 per year will be the savings,” finance director Thomas Merchel said.
Council then went one step further, and reinvested a portion of the savings back into the municipal workforce, to ensure Moorestown’s assets are well maintained moving forward. Because of this measure, there will be no public works jobs lost due to privatization of waste removal services.
According to council, trash privatization allows taxpayers to save more than $2.1 million.
• Council approved the 2014 budget at its June 9 meeting and the budget did not come with a tax increase.
The $23.6 million budget included about $16 million that would be raised by taxation. This means a Moorestown resident would pay about $1,800 annually in municipal taxes for a home assessed at $445,300.
• At the July 7 meeting, Kathy Ward, chairperson of Sustainable Moorestown, outlined the possible uses of solar energy in town. The study done by Sustainable Moorestown found solar fields are a possibility in Moorestown, but recommended bringing in a professional engineer to create a proposal for how to move forward.
The discussion at the July 21 meeting revolved around what steps the township would take to begin the process.
While township manager Scott Carew and deputy mayor Stacey Jordan were in agreement to move forward, Councilman Greg Newcomer was hesitant to appoint a new engineer for the study. He was in favor of doing more research internally before seeking external resources; however, he was in favor of looking into the idea of solar energy.
Despite the opposition from Newcomer, the council eventually agreed to bring in Maser Consulting P.A. to present a proposal for the consulting work.
The agreement came after Carew and Jordan assured Newcomer that before the contract would be awarded, the proposal would be looked over by the council in regard to cost.
• The council discussed possible projects at Wesley Bishop Park and Jeff Young Park at its meeting on Aug. 18.
The council voted unanimously to approve a bond ordinance of $150,000 for preliminary work to be done at the parks. While the township will finance the projects, Merchel said the sports clubs that use them will eventually pay for them.
Residents in attendance, however, were hesitant to believe this agreement between the township and clubs.
“I feel that most of the private clubs are deadbeats,” Edwin Begg said.
Begg wasn’t the only resident who voiced an opinion on the matter. Paul Conlow was also leery about making a deal with the clubs.
“There have already been verbal agreements,” Conlow said. “If these agreements were not kept, that makes a difference and should be looked into.”
Mayor Christopher Chiacchio was not so hesitant, though, and felt strongly that the clubs would pay back the money for both projects.
“We’re still working out the payments for the clubs,” Chiacchio said. “We have heard from them that they will definitely honor their agreements.”
• At the Nov. 24 council meeting Carew brought up the potential of Camden Avenue, part of Lenola, as a business district in town. He and councilwoman Victoria Napolitano expressed their desire to create a committee that would work to make Lenola a business district.
Carew said a five-person committee made of himself, Thomas Ford, two council members and one Lenola resident would be appointed and then begin meeting with Mark Remsa, director of the Department of Economic Development and Regional Planning, and the Burlington County Bridge Commission. Then they would look at the current conditions of Lenola, such as layout as well as empty storefronts, vacant lots, parking and traffic.
Once that is completed, they would begin to look at what direction to go and where improvements can be made. When a plan is set, they will bring that to council to get a recommendation. They would also have a meeting with Lenola residents to share the committee’s ideas and hear what ideas residents have. Once a plan is adopted, the township can work with the county to look at funding.
“This is a substantial long-term project, but I think that it is something that we can do that would have a good long-term effect,” Carew said.
“We owe it to our township and to the residents to cultivate all of the business areas,” Napolitano said.
At the Dec. 15 council meeting, the Lenola Advisory Commission made a presentation to the council, bringing up some concerns in need of review. Some of the items included broken and deteriorating curbs on Camden Avenue, unmarked and unprotected bus stops and a bent bus stop sign in front of the McDonalds on Main Street, a rusty mailbox owned by USPS on the corner of Camden Avenue and Lenola and holiday decorations that aren’t working or are in disorder. Jamie Boren, the presenter, suggested making improvements in the most cost-effective way possible. The commission was tasked with reviewing and making recommendations to council on the issues and problems of Lenola citizens.
• On Dec. 15, Chiacchio attended his final meeting as a member after spending four years on council. He was honored for his contributions to the town as well as his time on the council. Chiacchio was elected to council in 2010 and served as deputy mayor in 2013 and mayor in 2014.
Members of council spoke highly of Chiacchio saying things such as “he was an outstanding member of the community” and “it was a great honor to work with you.” Ultimately, all members thanked him for his service.
Strawbridge Lake
The council awarded a contract to Loftus Construction Inc. to fix dams at Strawbridge Lake at its meeting on June 23.
Strawbridge Lake Park offers 70 acres of open space along the lake and is a popular destination for boaters and fishermen.
With the contract, the township would use $66,330 from the Moorestown Open Space, Recreation Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund to begin the repairs. The total amount of the contract awarded to Loftus Construction was $338,230. This will include repairs to Hooten’s Creek Dam, Lower Hooten’s Creek Dam and the Moorestown Dam located at Strawbridge Lake.
The dam repairs and hydrology studies were an effort to keep Strawbridge Lake as the center of the community.
At the Sept. 22 meeting the health, Chester Dawson, chair of the Moorestown Environmental Advisory Committee, spoke about the health of the lake and the ongoing physical, chemical and biological testing taking place there.
Dawson said geese droppings from streams that feed into the lake could be causing the high phosphorous levels, which in turn cause the large amount of weeds, which, along with algae in the lake, can be treated with chemicals.
According to Dawson, light also has trouble penetrating to the bottom of the lake, resulting in low oxygen levels and only bottom-feeding fish such as catfish surviving that far down, which could be the cause of the turbidity problems with the catfish brushing up dirt.
Dawson also said people had often asked him whether the lake would need to be dredged again, and although there were still tests to be conducted, he believed it would not be necessary.
In Dawson’s opinion, he said the lake is not unusual compared to other shallow muddy bottom lakes in Southern New Jersey, but that still doesn’t excuse poor health.
Moving forward, Carew said he wanted to approach improving the lake and park as a whole from a community standpoint, as so many different groups in Moorestown have an interest in the area.
According to Carew, that process would involve meeting with stakeholders and members of various committees and holding public meetings to get input on a potential concept plan to be presented to council.
Trichloropropane in Moorestown’s water
On Oct. 6 it was announced that Moorestown had closed two water wells on Church Street for safety reasons and will get its water from two other sources for now.
Council members said the week before that the unregulated chemical compound trichloropropane was found in March’s water report. As such, they decided to close the water wells for further evaluation.
According to Carew, Public Utilities Director Bill Butler was working with the state Department of Environmental Protection prior to the meeting that the result was brought up. He assured citizens and made sure they knew that there is no maximum contaminate level that is regulated for TCP 1, 2, 3 by the federal or state government. It is also not listed as a carcinogenic, though there is concern that it could be. At the advice of the DEP, the council decided to close the wells so they could be further evaluated and treated.
Jordan addressed accusations that the council hadn’t been taking any action in regard to the water. She said the township started testing its water 18 months ago and quarterly, which is more often than the state requires.
Chaicchio agreed and told citizens they are doing all they can. He also wanted to let people know the levels they received of the TCP 1,2,3 are much lower than the guidelines of the only state with regulations.
“Only one state in the country has guidelines for TCP and that’s Hawaii,” Chiacchio said. “We tested 15 times lower than what is set in their guidelines.”
For now, Butler is working with the DEP on continuing to evaluate treatment options. The DEP has agreed to work with Moorestown to deal with the situation and help with funding.
At the Nov. 10 meeting, Carew gave numbers for the cost and timeframe of treatment options for the TCP 1,2,3. It was estimated that the cost could be between $2 million and $4 million, and it could be 12 to 18 months to get the treatments set up.
At the meeting, Chiacchio suggested the township put out a Request for Proposal for a consultant. Council members Newcomer, Phil Garwood and Napolitano agreed this would be a good option.
The consultant would be asked to evaluate treatment options for eliminating the presence of TCP. The township would go out to bid for a contractor to eliminate the contaminant after the consultant’s evaluation is complete.
Chiacchio also expressed his concern with the timeframe, saying he “would like to see something in place by April or May.”
The township applied for compensation through the state’s Spill Compensation Fund, which provides financial assistance for treatment and cleanup efforts, on June 11. However, NJDEP denied the application because the initial sample was collected in May of last year. Carew said they didn’t know it was too late at the time.
A municipality has 12 months to apply for compensation from the time of initial discovery. The township didn’t apply for the funding immediately because there was no immediate concern over an unregulated contaminant in the water.
Council is looking into various ways of funding with the NJDEP, though Chiacchio said he was told the township could reapply for the funding at the start of next year. Also, if the township finds the source of the TCP in the water supply, and there is someone responsible, it could potentially get compensation from them, according to Township Solicitor Anthony Drollas.
Liquor License Surplus
At the Moorestown Township Council meeting on Oct. 6, Jordan asked that a resolution be made to use the surplus gained by liquor sales for tax relief purposes. She brought mailed fliers made from citizens asking for tax relief to support her cause.
Garwood agreed, liking the idea to keep surplus to help their citizen’s taxes. However, Newcomer didn’t feel it was fair to adopt a resolution that night. He wanted to wait to see what citizens would suggest they do rather than adopt a resolution where citizens wouldn’t have a say.
“I believe it is critical to have town hall meetings where people from the town come in and discuss various things such as the use of the surplus, where we get the ideas from all of the smart people in town. I would say it is a wonderful thing to use it for tax relief, but I think that we should include the town and the town’s people in that decision. I think we should get as much information as we can before we make a decision like this,” Newcomer said.
Jordan felt the citizens were able to not only speak their ideas that night, but had been given months of opportunities to suggest what to do with the budget, including the surplus. Carew concurred with Jordan, saying there were at least 15 meetings that citizens were allowed to attend.
Citizens had their say on the matter. Nancy Newcomer, Edmond George and Robert Zieniuk agreed with Newcomer. They wanted the council to give notice and time for citizens to have their say.
However, other citizens disagreed. Michael Locatell, Kathy Sullivan and Greg Adams felt the decision to adopt a resolution for keeping the surplus money for tax relief purposes was a good idea.
Ultimately, council voted on the resolution to use the money for taxpayer relief that night. The resolution was adopted by most of the council except Newcomer.
However, the issue was not over. At the Dec. 15 meeting it was announced the council will take another vote on how to use the surplus from the sale of liquor licenses. Originally, it had a four-to-one vote to use the surplus for tax relief.
However, there were numerous complaints made that procedures were not followed correctly and there was not adequate notice about the resolution being made that evening.
Jordan said she was assured the procedure was done correctly, but to not seem like they didn’t follow procedure, they will put it up for vote again. Council will have the resolution listed on the Jan. 26 meeting and voted upon then.
Elections
This election season resulted in some new faces as well as some old being elected to council and many new faces to the Board of Education. Jordan ran with a newcomer Manny Delgado for the Republicans while Elizabeth Endres and Edmond M. George ran together representing the Democrats for Township Council.
For Moorestown Township School Board, three seats were open. Voters had to choose between seven candidates: Frank Gilanelli, Maurice Richard Weeks III, Peter Palko, Andrew Roberts, Ann Marie Casinelli, Caryn Shaw and Jack Lance.
On Election Day, Jordan was re-elected to council and she would be joined by Delgado.
According to results from the Burlington County Board of Elections, Jordan received 29.44 percent of the votes and Delgado received 28.37 percent.
George received 20.77 percent of the votes, and Endres received 21.35 percent.
For the Board of Education, Palko, Casinelli and Shaw ended up with the most votes to receive the three seats. Shaw had 20.20 percent of the votes, Palko had 16.63 percent of the votes, and Casinelli had 14.10 percent of the votes.
Town Hall/Library
In 2012, construction for a new Town Hall and library was approved. While the library was not destroyed in the fire that devastated Town Hall seven years ago, the township decided to attach a new library to the Town Hall that was to be built.
It has been nearly seven years since the Moorestown Township Council has met in its own chambers. That ended May 19, when the new Moorestown Town Hall opened its doors for the first time.
“Folks at home, don’t adjust your television,” Chiacchio joked. “We’re not in the IT room anymore. Today is an extraordinary day. This starts a new chapter in the history of Moorestown. The library and town hall will shape the future of this town for generations to come.”
“This building is the result of many hands,” Newcomer said. “The residents, the designers, the township staff and everyone in between have made this a place to serve our children’s children.”
Council thanked the Ragan Design Group, which developed the plans for the building, Greyhawk Construction, which provided project management, and Sambe, which did the construction, for all of their hard work on the project. The final cost of the buildings came to $16.2 million, which included the expenses for the first design and moving costs.
The township received the temporary certificate of occupancy on May 16 for Town Hall, but the official grand opening of the building did not occur until the library was completed, which was July 8.
“To a great extent, these buildings symbolize Moorestown’s confidence and its continuing desire of being an attractive place to live and operate a business,” Moorestown resident Peter Vosbikian said. “Attracting people and businesses to a community begins with exhibiting the confidence to invest in itself.”
At the council meeting on July 7, the discussion centered on what to do with the old library.
Rick Ragan, the township’s consulting architect, presented his findings to the board, outlining the different options available. But, before discussing these possibilities, Ragan described the state of the building and what it would take to bring it up to code. In his estimation, it would cost nearly $3.5 million for the building to meet construction codes, not including any modifications for repurposing the building. The total cost of redesigning the old library could climb to more than $6 million, Ragan estimated.
Another issue with renovating the old library for a new purpose is parking. The parking lot for the new Town Hall and library does not provide enough spaces for retail shopping, office spaces or a police station and courtroom, according to Ragan.
Due to the price and lack of parking, Ragan recommended the library be demolished.
Members of council agreed with Ragan’s assessment, but no action was taken. Since then, no plans have been determined for the old library.
Motto
“Nos Secundus Coniecto Omnia,” the Latin motto engraved on the medallion on the wall of the new Moorestown Library, was supposed to mean “We confirm all things twice.” However questions about the phrase originally arose from a resident translating the motto with Google translate and getting the phrase “we second guess all,” and then bringing the issue to the attention of township officials.
However, there was disagreement of just how unclear or inaccurate the phrase engraved on the library’s wall truly is.
Chiacchio said he doesn’t believe what is written on the wall is inaccurate, just slightly unclear.
While Google does translate the phrase as meaning “we second guess all,” Google translate is not considered an authority on translations.
Chaicchio said many colleges wouldn’t allow their students to use Google for translations, especially in the case of a language such as Latin that doesn’t translate directly into English.
However, Chiacchio said due to the possible ambiguity surrounding the phrase, it will still be changed.
“That’s why we’re changing it,” Chiacchio said. “We didn’t want there to be any doubts.”
Ragan said he would be paying for the fixes at no cost to the township.
“If the letters cannot be seamlessly redone, then the entire medallion would need to be replaced,” Ragan said. “Full replacement would take longer.”
The sardonic nature of the situation, a library translating a phrase to Latin proclaiming it “confirms all things twice,” and then having possible ambiguity in said phrase, has led to stories appearing on various national news websites and social media platforms.
The township ultimately decided to allow Moorestown Schools to create an inspirational motto to replace the existing motto. Schools had until Nov. 7 to submit a motto that was three to eight words in length, written in proper Latin with the translation underneath.
Submissions for the Moorestown Library medallion mottos were reviewed and narrowed to a final eight. Those suggestions were presented to council members for their opinions at the meeting on Dec. 15.
Council members pointed out one option they particularly liked. Ragan said he would bring the phrases to the Library Committee for a final decision before revealing the chosen student and phrase to the public. Ragan said the mottos are not available to the public because they wish to keep them a surprise.
“We would like to honor the selected person and invite the teachers to come in with their class to a council meeting,” Ragan said.
