It’s finally summer! School has ended and many of you have enjoyed graduations, and have participated in a variety of activities. I’ve had the pleasure to be part of the Basking Ridge Indian Community HOLI celebration and the 35th Municipal Alliance Twilight Challenge. Mayor Janice Fields and I also joined other Township departments at Oak Street School’s community day and provided kindergarten students with information about civic government while sharing information about our nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary.  The hats and early American flag were provided to us courtesy of Ross Farm.

The Township Committee held one June meeting on the 24th. The meeting was preceded by three promotions in the Bernards Township Police Department, including Christopher Baxter to Lieutenant, Philip Jasina to Sergeant, and Dominick Aboosamara to Corporal.  All of them have more than ten years of service in our community, and we are excited to support them in their new leadership roles.  Highlights of the Township Committee’s June 24th meeting included presenting the Pride month resolution, and approving a resolution accepting our Township audit. 

Mayor Janice Fields invited me to present the Pride Month resolution to our recipient organization, the Greater Somerset County YMCA.  During my remarks, I commented that throughout the nearly thirty years of living here, I’ve met residents who identify as part of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and/or are allies of the community.  Like all of us, these individuals want to be respected and valued and have an opportunity to thrive.  The resolution sends a message that we recognize, celebrate and value our LGBTQ+ residents and allies, and recognize and value the Y’s broad and intentional programming in support of the community.  I also reflected that the Bernards Township Committee speaks to the Fabric of Bernards.  This year, similarly, the Washington DC World pride theme is “The Fabric of Freedom.”  Throughout history, people have used fabrics as expressive symbols, to communicate identities, and as forms of resistance. While the LGBTQ+ community faces growing challenges both in the United States and worldwide from those seeking to divide rather than unite, it’s the fabric of our community — through our rich cultures, diverse identities, and backgrounds — that will guide us forward towards a bright and hopeful future.

A priority was reviewing and approving Resolution #2025-0273, “Compliance with N.J.S.A. 40A:5-4, 2024 Annual Report of Audit”.  As background, New Jersey State law requires the governing body of every local unit to have made an annual audit of its books, accounts and financial transactions.  I was supportive of approving the audit as it resulted in no deficiencies, material weaknesses, or instances of non-compliance, which exemplifies where no news is good news. The audit encompasses a significant amount of time from the Township Chief Financial Officer, Sean McCarthy, and his team. This is important, as the Finance Department handles large amounts of public money, and seeks to do so with a priority on doing so with integrity, accountability, transparency, and efficiency.

Two other updates are relative to the  NJ State Development and Redevelopment Plan, and JCPL’s work during heatwaves.

I am a member of the cross-acceptance committee, along with residents John Crane, Nick Cuozzo, Kippy Piedici and township planner Dave Schley. On Tuesday, June 17, I attended a meeting hosted by the NJ Conference of Mayors, on behalf of Mayor Fields, that provided an update on the planning.  Speakers included Walter Lane, NJ Office of Planning Advocacy. Heather Fenyk, Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, and Tom Dallesio, Independent Consultant, and who also worked on the first NJ State plan.  There were several key take aways, including:

• The State plan, which is updating the 2001 plan, is meant to be a guidance document, not an attempt to take away local “home rule.”
• The State Plan is intended to provide strategy on the state’s future growth and development and areas for investment.
• Farmland and Open space should be considered “critical Infrastructure.” Otherwise, one speaker commented, if we continue to deplete our farmlands, we should stop thinking of ourselves as the Garden State.
• Lastly, land use planning and watershed management are crucial in protecting our water resources.

The timeline is to issue a state draft plan in September, followed with six public hearings.  Following these hearings, the target is to adopt the final plan at the December 17th State Planning Commission meeting.

Finally, we are having a heat wave! As the liaison to our utility companies, I spoke with our JCPL relationship manager, Mr. Robert Flynn, regarding power outages in the area.  Mr. Flynn shared that for any outages JCPL experiences throughout the duration of a heat wave, they try to put as many user estimated time of return of service (ETRs) on those orders so customers can appropriately plan. If JCPL crews are out in the field during an outage, and they determine that a transformer is undersized or overloaded, they are increasing the size of the transformers put back up to avoid the issue in the future. 

JCPL keeps crews in rotation until the end of the heat wave/storms.  Outages during heat waves generally take longer to address due to the safety protocols for crews and the frequent water breaks required. Typically, the outage sizes are smaller, however they sometimes end up being lengthier due to the labor intensiveness and the weather the crews are working in.  Important:  For any outages that occur during heatwaves, residents are always encouraged to go to a cooling shelter, including the Bernards Township Library and Town Hall. Also, be sure to sign up for RAVE alerts that can provide emergency/non-emergency information.

Calling all creating designers!  I am the liaison to our Anniversary Committee, and as a reminder we have launched a logo contest for our 250th Anniversary programs. The contest, open to all residents high school age and up, is to create a logo that embodies our participation as a Revolution 250 municipality. More information can be found on the Bernards Township America 250 page.  

In closing, the Township offers a broad array of summer activities. For more information on programs and events, be sure to visit the Bernards.org calendar.

Your Voice Matters! You can contact me with township questions/thoughts/comments at (201) 306-0178, or via email at amccarthy@bernards.org. Please note that any correspondence sent to me will be visible to the full township committee and clerk.