Dear Community Friends,
I recently met with Mantua’s most famous and quietest resident, “Pot Man” to film Mayor’s Message #21. Kathy and Lisa Pontelandolfo have brought him to life at Ponte’s Point located at the intersection of Main Street and Mt. Royal Road for many years.
Look for this fun video in the next few days on our social media platforms, and learn more about the history of “Pot Man” and the two ladies who work behind the scenes to keep him thriving for our entire community to enjoy.
A main priority during my tenure as your mayor has been to continually enhance communication, and in essence provide improved transparency with factual based information to better serve and keep our community informed. A history of all my mayoral weekly updates and videos can be viewed at mantuatownship.com/mayors-message.
Memorial Day honors and mourns those military personnel who lost their lives while defending our country. We ask that you take some time from your holiday weekend to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our nation’s freedoms. Our Memorial Day Ceremony is scheduled for Monday, May 27. The parade itself will start at 8:45 a.m. at the intersection of Mantua and Marian Avenues in Wenonah. The parade will conclude at the Mantua Municipal Building on Main Street with the service beginning at about 10:30 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial.
Like many of you, I find it very disturbing to have pushy solicitors hounding me at the most inopportune times. I’ve been alerted to fairly recent activity in one neighborhood where the alleged solicitor’s behavior was intolerable and not acceptable. To help protect our residents and to control door-to-door solicitation, we passed an ordinance specific to this back in 2019.
As per Township Ordinance No. 17-2019, our residents have the opportunity to stop solicitors from showing up at their front door steps. The “Do Not Knock” Ordinance gives residents the opportunity to prohibit solicitors and vendors from approaching their home.
To register for this program and obtain a “Do Not Knock” decal, you can obtain an application on-line through our website at mantuatownship.com or at the clerk’s office in the municipal building on Main Street. Please also be aware that all solicitors within our municipality must have an authorized permit from our township and have it on their person when going door-to-door.
On Saturday, May 18, Deputy Mayor Scirrotto and I participated and helped to kick-off the Third Annual Car Show for the Veterans sponsored by VFW District 13.
It was a dreary day at Chestnut Branch Park, but it didn’t deter VFW District 13 from forging ahead with another great event to honor our beloved Veterans. It’s always a distinct privilege to support our veteran programs and events, and it’s always gratifying to help with the mayor’s award at this car show.
The MTPD has continued its efforts to maintain a high level of training and professionalism. In order to accomplish this, our police officers are constantly attending new training programs. I’d like to commend the following officers who recently completed various courses to improve their knowledge and skill sets.
Corporals Adam Hasselman and Bruce Shaw recently graduated from the front line supervisors school. Det./Sgt. Robert Layton and Det. Jeff Krieger both attended training on electronic investigations. Lt. Drew Hayes, Lt. Brian Hauss and Sgt. Brian Crispin completed a work zone safety webinar. Patrol Officers Joseph Craig and Matthew Germscheid completed a class on search and seizure, traffic stops and K9 case law updates.
We have entered into a shared service agreement with East Greenwich Township to use their public works equipment on an as needed basis. As part of this agreement, we will be using their street sweeper. You may have noticed the sweeper around our community during the past week or two. Our public works department has been sweeping our municipal roadways now, and will do it again during the fall season.
Upcoming township meetings and events:
- Friday, May 31 at 8 p.m.: Movie in the Park (“Migration”) at Chestnut Branch.
- Primary Election Day is Tuesday, June 4: polls open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m.
On behalf of Deputy Mayor Pete Scirrotto and 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
