BERKELEY – Mayor John Bacchione praised the township Public Works Department for handling Sunday morning’s snowstorm.
“I don’t think a lot of us knew it was going to be as serious as it was,” he said.
The forecast was for just a few inches and it wound up being about six.
“The first plow hit the road at 4:30 a.m. and they’re still plowing today,” he said Monday night.
He reminded residents that roads are plowed in order of how vital they are. The main roads get done first, then the roads that feed into that. The culs-de-sac, of which Berkeley has many, get done last because they are dead ends.
“I ask residents and taxpayers to be patient; we have 271 miles of roads,” he said.
One challenge the plows had was that people had parked their cars in the street, Bacchione noted.
He gave kudos to Public Works Director Shawn Thomas and his staff, and said there was discussion of perhaps investing in different equipment for next year.
Councilman Michael Signorile thanked Thomas for taking calls throughout the night about the storm.
The estimated cost of snow removal was $240,000, Bacchione said.
This discussion was held at the most recent Township Council meeting, where a lot of end-of-year paperwork and housekeeping was done. For example, the governing body approved the companies allowed to tow vehicles, and a junkyard’s annual license was approved.
They requested the Sewerage Authority to turn over surplus funds to the township, and deferred taxes for the Berkeley and Central Regional school districts.
A contract for the mill and overlay of Brookfield Court and Burlington Court, off Castleton Drive, was awarded to Earle Asphalt for $164,713.13
The Bayville Fire Company saw three new applications – Dominick J. Cucciniello, Nocholas G. White, and Michael Nieves – while the Manitou Park Fire Company was joined by Andrew J. Christensen.
The re-organization meeting, when council members who won in November’s election, are sworn in, will be January 1 at 1 p.m. at Town Hall, located at 627 Pinewald-Keswick Road. During this meeting, a new council president is usually named, politicians reflect on the past year and set goals for the new one, and professionals are appointed.
