Town council will hold meetings on March 13, 21 and 25
Page 4 • Wednesday, March 6, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette
TOWN, from Page 1
town engineering firm Adams,
Rehmann and Heggan (ARH) As-
sociates, council requested ARH
to organize the March 13 meeting,
as well as a seperate meeting be-
tween town officials and the New
Jersey Pinelands Commission on
February 27, during which Vettese
said the Frog Rock site would be
discussed, as well as the potential
methods in which the town can
utilize the acquired land to dis-
charge treated effluent.
In other news, Councilman
Thomas Gribbin requested during
the administration committee re-
port that a second special meeting
will be held on Thursday, March
21 at 6:30 p.m. in town hall. Grib-
bin said all of council will gather
during the closed session meeting
for the interviewing of the final
candidates for the town’s new
public works manager/business
administrator (PWM/BA) follow-
ing the resignation of Jerome Bar-
berio. Gribbin said a hiring will be
announced shortly after the meet-
ing.
In other business, Gribbin spoke
about the ongoing suspension of
New Jersey Transit’s Atlantic City
Rail Line (ACRL), which was
shut down on September 5, 2018
for the installation of federally-
mandated safety equipment
known as “positive train control.”
Gribbin said New Jersey Transit
initially told the public that ACRL
train service would return by De-
cember 31, 2018, yet it is still sus-
pended after nearly six months.
Gribbin invited Hammonton
High School (HHS) graduate and
southern New Jersey resident Nick
Pittman to the meeting to address
the status of the ACRL suspen-
sion, which Pittman has publicly
criticized during the past six
months.
Pittman claimed that a shortage
of train engineers in northern New
Jersey is the actual reason for the
continued suspension of the
ACRL, which he said is not a
valid excuse considering how
many southern New Jersey resi-
dents are being affected by the
lack of train service.
“That is their problem; it has
nothing to do with the residents
and the commuters of South Jer-
sey. We have hundreds of students
and folks with disabilities, and pa-
tients going into these prestigious
hospitals in Philadelphia, that are
going for care. So, they are taking
away a vital means of transporta-
tion for these people,” Pittman
said.
To further stress the urgency of
reopening the ACRL, Gribbin pro-
posed that council draft a letter
signed by Mayor Stephen DiDo-
nato, which will be sent to Cor-
bett, Murphy and New Jersey
Eighth District State Senator
Dawn Marie Addiego. Gribbin’s
motion to recommend that council
draft the letter and have it signed
by DiDonato was seconded by Gi-
ralo and passed unanimously.
[On February 27, New Jersey
Transit announced that service
would resume on May 24. See re-
lated article on Page 1.]
In other business, members of
council reported the following in-
formation during their respective
committee reports:
Administration Committee
(Gribbin): The administration
committee met on February 21
and February 25 to discuss appli-
cations and resumés submitted for
the
town
public
works
manager/business administrator
vacancy.
business
and
Industry
(Sacco): MainStreet Hammon-
ton’s Fourth Annual Food Truck
Festival will be held on Saturday,
June 8. In order to support the fes-
tival, DiDonato asked for a motion
to be made to waive the food truck
inspection fee for vendors who
will be working during the Food
Truck Festival. A motion to waive
the inspection fees was made by
Gribbin, seconded by Sacco and
passed unanimously.
Quality of Life Committee
(Sacco): The annual Hammonton
Lake Cleanup will be held on Sat-
urday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to
noon. Volunteer service credits
will be available to those who par-
ticipate in the cleanup.
The town will be receiving free
native tree seedlings from the state
forest service. The seedlings will
be available in bundles of five as
a part of the Hammonton Environ-
mental Commission’s Arbor Day
activities in April.
The Hammonton Community
Garden, which will open for the
season on Saturday, April 6, still
has plots available for $20 each.
Education Committee (Coun-
cilman Michael Torrissi): During
the Hammonton Board of Educa-
tion’s previous meeting on Febru-
ary 14, it honored the school
district’s 2019 “Teacher of the
Year” award recipients, which in-
cluded Maria Buono Higgins
(HHS), Richard Baker (Hammon-
ton Middle School), Lori Scibilia
(Warren E. Sooy Jr. Elementary
School) and Nereida Rosado
(Hammonton Early Childhood
Education Center).
The board also honored mem-
bers of the United Bowling
League, a bowling program for
special needs students.
The Hammonton Education
Foundation will host its 16th An-
nual “Taste of the Town”
fundraiser in the HHS gymnasium
on Sunday, March 10 from 3 p.m.
to 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults
and $10 for students.
Public Works and Trans-
portation (Councilman Sam
Rodio): Deferred several action
items to the engineer report and
the PWM/BA report.
Water and Sewer (Council-
man Steven Furgione): Deferred
action items to the engineer report.
The water and sewer depart-
ment began replacing water me-
ters in early February and about “a
couple hundred more” still need to
be replaced.
In other news, Barberio gave his
final PWM/BA report before he
leaves his position. Barberio said
that bulky trash removal for the
month of March will take place
during the week of Monday,
March 4 through Friday, March 8,
and brush removal will take place
during the week of Monday,
March 11 through Friday, March
15.
Due to recent heavy winds that
produced several fallen tree
branches, Barberio asked for
council’s approval to forgo issuing
any violations for residents that
have brush on their curb outside of
brush collection week.
A motion to waive curbside
brush violations until Friday,
March 15 was made by Rodio,
seconded by Sacco and passed
unanimously.
Barberio also reported that he
recently sent an email to council
that included a list of projects that
he said he is working towards
completing before leaving his po-
sition as PWM/BA. Barberio con-
cluded his report by reflecting on
the 11 years he spent as a public
servant in Hammonton, first as a
councilman, then as PWM/BA.
“I’m very lucky to look around
each day and see the positive
change that we’ve made together
in the last 11 years. It’s been amaz-
ing. I also want to thank every
councilperson, department head,
employee and volunteer while I
served as an elected councilperson
and as an appointed official,” Bar-
berio said.
DiDonato and each member of
council expressed gratitude for
Barberio and the work he did
throughout his 11 years in town
government.
During the early portion of the
meeting, Barberio was presented
with a plaque honoring him for the
contributions he made to the town
during the completion of numer-
ous projects.
Barberio was accompanied dur-
ing the meeting by members of his
family, including his son, Joseph,
who is a HHS graduate and a cur-
rent student at Drexel University.
Joseph Barberio and his friend,
Samuel Rose, gave a presentation
about their startup business, Win-
ston Securities LLC, which uti-
lizes a combination of audio,
visual and thermal imaging soft-
ware to help police and first re-
sponders rapidly respond to and
See COUNCIL, Page 10