Dear Community Friends,
With the summer winding down, we’re preparing for the reopening of Mantua Schools and for our children to return to the classroom. Safety is always paramount, and having police officers staffed at each school in town is a priority. At this past Monday’s township committee meeting, we authorized a shared service agreement with the local school district to again provide school resource officers during the entire school day for our K through 6 district.
Also at this meeting, we had the distinct honor of promoting well deserved officers to ranking positions, and hiring new officers to fully staff our police department. Robert Layton was promoted to the rank of sergeant and will head-up our detective bureau. Bruce Shaw and Stephen Wolfsgruber were both sworn-in as newly minted corporals of our patrol division. We also administered the oath of office to four new police officers who will fill vacancies in the department resulting from attrition. Matthew Germscheid, Joseph Craig, Jacob Jewett and Arthur Ettore all come to our township with prior policing experience, proven track records and are expected to hit the ground running.
As previously mentioned, a group of petitioners submitted the required number of signatures to the township administration building for review in order to have a GCL (Gloucester Camden Line) question on the ballot for this General Election on Nov. 7, 2023. The signatures were in-fact verified by our township administrator, Jennica Bileci. At our meeting Monday, the Township Committee passed a resolution requesting and authorizing the Gloucester County Clerk to place the non-binding question on the ballot. Please understand that this is non -binding, and will just ascertain a pulse of our community on this topic. It will not determine the fate of this project, as this is not within the control or jurisdiction of our municipality or the governing body. The ballot question will read, “Do you support the construction of the proposed Glassboro-Camden Line light rail transit system?”
A resident of our township came before the Township Committee at Monday’s meeting, and requested that we consider changing our current township code as it pertains to raising chickens in residential neighborhoods. Our current ordinance defines chickens as “livestock” and only makes this permissible on farm land of five acres or greater. A few surrounding communities have adopted fairly recent local legislation for pilot programs. These programs allow for residential chicken coops under specific outlined parameters, with regular monitoring, and during a designated trial period. We’ll take a methodical approach to this consideration, and will evaluate the various options and the pros and cons. In the end, the township committee will do what’s in the best interest of our community as a whole.
The final thing that we would like to report from the recent township committee meeting is the adoption of three ordinances which approved funding for capital equipment and improvements and road construction, etc. A new senior bus; the installation of rubberized playground surfaces and fencing and a diesel mower for Chestnut Branch Park; along with HVAC improvements and necessary police department equipment are some of the items approved for purchase.
We’d like to congratulate resident Gregory Shast for being appointed to our Land Use Board. Mr. Shast is extremely knowledgeable and brings with him prior volunteer service from a neighboring community.
As a friendly reminder, please do not place plastic bags, poop bags or any non-recyclables in the blue recycling carts situated at your house, your neighbors house, or at one of our parks, etc. Please understand that recycling buckets are strictly for recyclables, and the black trash carts are for trash.
Upcoming Township Meetings and Events:
- Thursday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. is the next Veterans Commission Meeting at the Township Building
- Patriot Day Ceremony is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 11 at 8:30 a.m. at the Place of Reflection at Chestnut Branch Park.
- Bonsal Blues Band Concert is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7:00 p.m. at McCarson Park (Rain date is Sept. 20).
- Senior Dinner at the Community Center is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 6 pm.
- Saturday, Aug. 26 is the next Convenience Center Drop Off at our Public Works facility between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Have a great week, and God bless our wonderful community of families and friends.
On behalf of Deputy Mayor Pete Scirrotto, myself and the entire township committee – we look forward to continuing our service with honesty, integrity and trustful leadership.
Respectfully,
Mayor Robert T. Zimmerman, MAS
