By SHANNON CAULFIELD
The Marlton Sun
Here’s a look at some of the issues that made news in Marlton in 2012.
July
Evesham Township Council approved a contract to privatize the lawn mowing services in the township for $271,750 a year to All Green Turf Management Corporation out of Blackwood.
Currently, the turf company mows in Gloucester Township, the Cherry Hill School District and the Gloucester Township School District.
The company will mow the township’s lawns 13 times a year.
For the contract to pass, nine parks department employees were terminated.
“I have stated before that I will not raise property taxes,” Brown said. “Our goal should not be to maintain the status quo, but to lower property taxes for our residents in the township.”
A time capsule containing memories of years passed was unearthed in Evesham Township.
It was forgotten in the corners of the now demolished 125 E. Main Street, until a history buff patrolman remembered its location.
The Evesham Township Police Department force notified department Quartermaster Nick Matteo that a time capsule might have been buried in the cornerstone of the building in the late 60s.
Matteo was an officer of the very new Evesham Township Police Department in 1966 and had been on hand for the time capsule ceremony on Dec. 31, 1966. In 1966, he was one of seven police officers on the force.
“When he mentioned the possibility of the time capsule, I immediately remembered that it was true. I hadn’t thought about it in years until the patrolman told me about it,” Matteo said. “We jumped into one of our cars and ran up to the foreman of the construction site and told him that there was a capsule buried in the cornerstone of the building.”
Discovered in the capsule were two issues of the Evesham Township News, an issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer, two watches, a letter from Councilman Harry Porch, a Bible, an American flag, and several old photographs.
“Being a lifelong resident and seeing where we’ve come from to what we are today is amazing, it’s unbelievable,” Matteo said. “It’s only been 46 years, but it’s just amazing.”
August
National Night Out came to Evehsam Township this August.
“The event was spread out before, and this year we decided to put it all together and make it the true first National Night Out,” said Barry Fitzgerald, co-chair of Evesham NNO. “We decided to get the community together and have a great night,” said Fitzgerald.
The township was awarded a $250,000 grant through the urlington County Freeholders and the Municipal Park Development Assistance Program.
The third round of approvals totaled $5 million, with money going to each of the 28 towns that applied for the rehabilitation funds.
“We knew the grants were out there, and we had the plan to rebuild and refurbish our premier children’s playground,” Cromie said.
The playground set for improvement, Memorial Park is located on Tuckerton Road, is approximately 20 years old and in dire need of repair.
“We hope for next spring for it to be opened up again,” said Nancy Jamanow, director of Community Development.
Evesham Township employee contracts were negotiated.
The township successfully negotiated new contracts for the workers, encompassing medical, prescription care and an employee rise.
“Our contracts got officially ratified by the union,” said Brown. “It was a long process that will benefit both the workers and the taxpayers.”
The employees had been working off a contract previously expired in 2010, and the township has since been in negotiations.
“This is going forward over the next few years, and the goal is to not raise taxes,” Brown said.
The Church of St. Joan of Arc’s held its 43rd annual carnival at the end of August.
“Some people came every night of the week to eat, and some gave up vacation to work here. The committee plans all year long for this event,” said Monsignor Richard LaVerghetta.
The volunteers cover approximately 700 shifts over six days and are approached in April to begin planning. Additionally, volunteers construct necessary structures for the carnival’s operation.
“For 43 years the people of Marlton have been ending their summer by coming together and celebrating. It’s an important part of our parish, it’s an important part of our community,” said LaVerghetta.
September
The Marlton Lakes Triathlon held its 12th annual race to kick off the month of September. The athletes faced a quarter-mile swim, an 11-mile bike ride
and a 3.1-mile run to finish the course.
“It’s always been the same weekend every year. The local community loves it,” said triathlon organizer Chuck Sellers.
The money collected from the race will be donated locally, according to Sellers. Approximately $4,000 of the money raised will be donated to the Marlton Lakes Community Association, and a donation of $1,000 will be made to local Boy Scout troops who attended the event and volunteered their time to help out.
Cromie, recommended to reject the golf course bids to continue to save the township money.
“There were two bids that came in, Billy Casper Golf, which bid $300,000 for a seven-year lease and that would just be rental payments to us for the golf course, but not the catering. The second was Atlantic Golf Management, and they bid $310,000 for the same, no catering,” said Cromie. The proposal is to bring the golf course operations in-house to save $81,000, the management fee currently being paid by the township.
“We’re going to try and do everything we can to decrease expenses and increase revenue,” said Cromie.
October
In an attempt to generate revenue for the Evesham Township School District, the board of education approved a contract for Advantage3.
Advantage3, a marketing company based in Milburn, will be facilitating the program through web and school bus ads.
The initial cost of the program will be $8,000 for both the buses and online presence. From there, the district will collect 51 percent revenue from the online ads and 61 percent from ads displayed on the outside of the school buses.
“Any money we spend, we’ll get back in revenue,” said Dennis Nettleton, the district’s business administrator.
The 26th annual Harvest Festival returned to Marlton’s Main Street.
The festival drew 31,000 people for the crafts, food and family activities, according to Student, an organizer and member of Evesham Celebrations Foundation.
“Events like Harvest Fest demonstrate the vitality of the Main Street corridor and support our improvements on Main Street,” said Student. “This was a first for the Evesham Celebrations Foundation, an all-volunteer group. We run the Taste of Evesham, the July 4th parade, the Mayor’s Cup 5k, fireworks at Cherokee, Bike Evesham, scholarships at Cherokee and the parent group of the Team Evesham Township cycling team, which has raised more than $120,000 this year for charities.”
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno visited Marlton’s Main Street firehouse to dedicate a piece of the World Trade Center in a ceremony at the end of October.
The steel piece, weighing approximately 1,700 pounds, will be displayed in front of the firehouse for residents and visitors of Main Street to see, touch and remember.
Marlton maintains a strong connection to the terrorist at- tacks. Late Marlton resident Leroy Homer was co-piloting Flight 93 on Sept. 11.
Hurricane Sandy’s damage did not stop at the New Jersey coastline. Evesham residents dealt with downed trees and wires throughout the township. Evesham Township police, fire, EMS and public works personnel responded to more than 100 calls for service with many reports of downed wires, trees and flooding that was investigated, handled or passed along to the proper agencies on Oct. 29, according to Evesham Police’s Facebook page.
According to Lt. Walt Miller, there were no reports of major incidents in Evesham Township, or loss of life.
November
Despite the damage Hurricane Sandy created along much of the East Coast, elections were still held as planned.
On Nov. 6, residents elected Marlton Township Council Republican candidates Bob DiEnna and Ken D’Andrea for a four-year term.
D’Andrea received 10,202 votes from Evesham residents, and DiEnna received 9,516 votes.
“I feel honored, humbled, and, yet, excited to be given the opportunity to serve the residents of this great township,” said D’Andrea. “To be entrusted with the daily operations and the
future direction of Evesham Township is a tremendous responsibility that I feel fortunate to accept.”
Evesham residents responded to the call for help from towns severely affected by Hurricane Sandy. Residents quickly came together through Evesham’s Towns Helping Towns, and collected seven truckloads of donated items.
Brown and Student partnered to create Towns Helping Towns, a donation drive that benefitted approximately 250,000 residents in Jersey City and 6,000 residents in Belmar.
Fourteen locations around Evesham collected blankets, coats, gloves, scarves, baby formula, diapers, hand sanitizer, flashlights with D cell batteries, granola bars and breakfast bars, juice boxes, bleach and work gloves.
Marlton is planning to move forward with redevelopment of shopping areas around the township.
Properties in the area, including Olga’s Diner, K-Mart, the old AMC theatre, the Staples shop- ping center and the old Sears building have raised concern within the township.
“We’ve had some businesses go out of business in town. Here we are in a blossoming community, and we have some commercial residents who don’t believe they need to keep up with standards we set for residents and new applicants,” said Brown. “Meanwhile, not only are some of our first-class businesses upgrading, they’re going to get better tenants to get better revenue, and in turn, get better tax revenue for us.”
What’s to come
After the holidays, we’ll to look forward to what the 2013 brings to Evesham.
