February 17, 2012 Municipal Matters

Overnight Parking

The topic of overnight parking will be open for public discussion at the April 10 regular Commissioners meeting at 7:30, in the court room on the first floor of Borough Hall. The public is encouraged to attend and share viewpoints, concerns and ideas on the topic.

Presidents’ Day

Borough offices will be closed on Monday, February 20 in observance of Presidents’ Day. The Information Center and the Public Library will be open.

Monday’s trash and recycling collection will be postponed to Tuesday, as shown in the Community Calendar. Emergency services will be provided around-the-clock, as usual.

Haddonfield “Branch” Managers

You may have spotted Haddonfield’s newest volunteer group—the Haddonfield Branch Managers—on the streets of Haddonfield recently, furthering their training in pruning and tending to Haddonfield’s street trees, under the watchful guidance of the Haddonfield Shade Tree Commission and Public Works Department. This group of 18 people who received classroom training with the support of the Haddonfield Adult School, have committed to participate in at least two of four half-day sessions of hand-on training in pruning and caring for the town’s street trees. When fully trained, the Branch Managers, with the direct supervision of the Shade Tree Commission, will work on scheduled weekends throughout the town to help ensure the vitality of Haddonfield’s green street canopy. Mayor Tish Colombi declared the Branch Managers “one more example of how the people of Haddonfield are the reason this is such a great town to live in.” The Shade Tree Commission will be announcing the formation of additional Branch Manager classes in coming months.

Ordinance Update

The Commissioners authorized a number of resolutions, including:

an annual general event permit for several groups to sponsor Haddonfield events;
an application to apply for state recycling grant;
authorization to release bonds for asphalt street patching and miscellaneous concrete replacement as well as for street sweeping services and for leaf collection services;
authorization for a municipal alliance grant in conjunction with the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse;
the release of two performance bonds including for the repaving of Centre Street; and for repairs needed for the Euclid Avenue Pump Station Project;
and a change order for the Grove Street & Elm Street Bypass Improvements Project.

New Parking Regulations for Kings Highway

The Haddonfield Board of Commissioners adopted new parking regulations for Kings Highway that prohibit parking on Kings Highway, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., from Grove Street to the Port Authority Transit Corp. Bridge. The regulations further prohibit parking on the south side of Kings Highway East from 88 feet west of the curb line of Haddon Avenue to Mechanic Street from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Water and Sewer Rates

The Haddonfield Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance to increase the water and sewer rates in the borough 5 cents per thousand gallons for water usage, and 5 cents per thousand gallons of water used for sewer service. It will raise the rate to $4.90 for water and $2.35 for sewer per thousand gallons. The ordinance was approved on first reading and a public hearing and final vote will be held at the meeting of Feb 28th.

Please Lock Your Doors

Due to a recent increase of residential burglaries in Haddonfield, Police Chief John Banning and Director of Public Safety Ed Borden are urging residents to keep their doors and windows secured at all times. The Police have recorded an increase in burglary activity for the month of January and continuing into February, 2012. Many of the burglarized homes were entered when force was used to pry the windows open and gain entry. Most of the burglaries have taken place during the day and evening hours with jewelry, cash and electronics being the primary items taken. At this time Police have some leads, but are not limiting their scope of possible suspects to any one group or individual. The Police are also not excluding any part of town as a possible target. For more information and tips on keeping safe and burglary prevention visit this link:

http://sj.sunne.ws/2012/02/09/lock-your-doors-please-haddonfield/

February is Black History Month

The Commissioners would like to remind everyone that February is Black History Month.

Get Ready for Our Next Shredding Event!

Start saving those personal and confidential documents that are just not safe to simply throw away – Haddonfield’s next FREE shredding event is scheduled for Saturday, October 6, 2012 at One Centennial Square from 9 a.m. to Noon

Sign up to Receive Reminders, Alerts and More Via E-Mail

Residents are reminded to sign up to receive important e-mail notices, reminders, and alerts from the Borough. This system can be used to alert those who are registered to impending deadlines (for the payment of taxes, pet license fee, etc.), and to public safety situations. To sign up, visit www.haddonfieldnj.org and look for a box titled” E-news from the Borough”.