HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Former mayor urges committee from using cellphones during public meetings

By Frank Mustac, Contributor
A former Hopewell Township mayor recently urged members of the current governing body to refrain from using their smartphones during public hearings., Former Mayor Jim Burd addressed his contemporaries during the Jan. 23 Township Committee meeting, suggesting that elected officials leave their devices with Township Administrator Paul Pogorzelski prior to each meeting., “If there is an emergency, he can give you that information,” he said during the meeting’s public comment portion., Mr. Burd had been elected to two three-year terms on the township committee from 2008 to 2014. He served as the township’s mayor from January 2011 until he resigned in 2013 for health reasons., The former mayor suggested that phones could be returned to committee members after their official duties during public meetings were done., Late last year, Mr. Burd made a similar suggestion before the committee., When asked whether that issue could be addressed at future committee meetings, Mayor Kevin Kuchinski said the governing body would take it under consideration., “So we heard your request last year. We will bring that up when we have that discussion,” Mayor Kuchinski told Mr. Burd. “I expect it will at one of our February meetings,”, There are two committee meetings scheduled in February – one on Feb. 6 and the other on Feb. 27., Deputy Mayor Julie Blake told Mr. Burd that smart phones are a “helpful tool” and that restricting committee members from using their phone’s calendar feature, for example, while sitting at the dais would be a handicap., “It’s a nice point that you bring up, but I’ve seen it used in other ways,” Mr. Burd said., In other news, the Township Committee officially accepted a donation of labor services to install a roof on the historic one-room Harts Corner Schoolhouse., The committee approved the introduction of an ordinance on Jan. 23 to receive the donation from business owner and professional roofer Michael Wyckoff of Wyckoff Roofing to replace the roof on the municipality-owned building, according to language in the ordinance document., State statute “requires that a municipality provide for the acceptance of service made by gift or donation through an ordinance,” reads language in the document., Some of the roof work has already been completed, Mr. Pogorzelski, the township administrator, said., “It looks awesome,” he said., In other news, Mr. Pogorzelski, during his report to the committee suggested that a master plan be created for Woolsey Park., The 167-acre property, previously known as Alliger Park, was acquired by Hopewell Township in 1998. It currently contains a veteran’s memorial, a 9-11 memorial, hiking trails and a natural water feature called Woolsey Brook., “We are getting a lot of requests for use of Woolsey Park. Everybody likes it. It’s a good location,” Mr. Pogorzelski said. “The trouble is it has some operational difficulties – traffic flow, things like that.”, “One of things I’m working on right now is to get together with emergency services and the health department to talk about what works and what doesn’t work – what might be desirable from a traffic flow standpoint and a health department standpoint,” Mr. Pogorzelski said., Once a plan is worked out, he said, the park would be open to recreation groups and organizations., “It’s a great piece of property and we can really do some neat things there,” Mr. Pogorzelski said., “I do see it as one of our major assets,” Committeewoman Vanessa Sandom said. “We should be able to make use of it and actually generate some revenue from it, if we could.”, In other news, Mayor Kuchinski announced that work on the Carter Road bridge has been completed., “It was reopened at 10 am on Jan. 23,” the mayor said., Construction work to replace of the bridge on Carter Road (Route 569) over Shipetaukin Creek in nearby Lawrence Township was started in April 2016. The bridge was closed to through traffic while work was being performed., Officially known as Bridge No. 543.7 on Carter Road, the structure is between Route 206 and Van Kirk Road. The new bridge has two 12-foot-wide travel lanes, two 7-foot-wide shoulders and sidewalk along the west side.