Mayor Holds First of Several Brown Bag Lunches

Mayor Scott Spitzer met with five residents and Deputy Mayor John Malay on Saturday for the first of the mayor's "brown bag lunches."

The idea for the lunches was announced during Spitzer's inauguration speech to the town on Jan. 4 as part of one of his six new initiatives for Bernards in 2010.

The mayor's lunch consisted of a turkey wrap, an apple, water and some cookies. He also correctly predicted, "The press are all here and they are going to snitch on me for bringing the cookies."

A few shared cookies with residents aside, the mayor started by talking about his wellness campaign in 2010. Spitzer said each member of the Township Committee will lead some kind of health activity that will be open for anyone to participate in for free. The first activity will be a Zumba® workout class with Township Committee member Carolyn Gaziano on Feb. 13 from 11 a.m. to noon at the Riverwalk YMCA facility. The mayor will lead a health hike later in the year at the newly purchased Sons of Liberty Park.

The mayor and residents also spent time talking about preserving open space in the township. Spitzer recapped the township's recently negotiated conservation easement on the English Woodlot that will give the public access to passive recreation on the historic property.

"Every time you drive to The Hills and back you will see substantial expanses that the township has [worked to] preserve," Spitzer said. "Open space is good for our residents, and it's good for the long term in our property values as well."

Other discussion topics ranged from the township's plans to celebrate it's 250th anniversary, voting processes with the school budget, volunteer efforts of the town and of course Millington Quarry.

After a question from one of the residents, Spitzer said that he "rarely [has] a discussion that doesn't involve the quarry."

The quarry operators sued the township over a "no fill" ordinance that was passed due to safety concerns over the fill being used. The case has since been moved out of litigation and into mediation by a judge, but few sessions have occurred, largely because of the large number of people involved in the operation on the quarry's end, according to the mayor.

Still, Spitzer told the residents gathered that he wouldn't characterize the situation as anything less than a success. The mayor said the town's two goals have been to stop any more fill from being brought in, and to get the quarry operators to test the site.

Both goals have been met to some degree. No fill has been brought into the site since Sept. 9, 2008, and some testing has been done on the facility. The hold up now is that the quarry operators did not test the site to the level and extent that was required by the state, which the township would still like to see done.

The mayor said he intends to hold more brown bag lunches, with the dates to be announced shortly.