Pavlini is Bernards Mayor, Gaziano is Deputy Mayor

In a brief reorganization of township officials on Tuesday night, 2011's Mayor John Malay wished his successor luck—"and more importantly, better weather."

Last year's Deputy Mayor Mary Pavlini—who with fellow Republican John Carpenter was sworn onto the for a third three-year term—was appointed mayor for 2012, as expected. Township Committeewoman Carolyn Gaziano, on the committee for two years, was appointed deputy mayor for 2012.

The natural disasters during 2011—heavy snows at the start of the year, Tropical Storm Irene in late August and a snowstorm on Oct. 29—will not be forgotten in 2012.

"In 2011, we literally weathered a number of storms and I want to thank our residents for their fortitude and patience as we labored to restore services to the community," Pavlini said in her first speech as this year's mayor.

"As we move into 2012 we will be working hard to learn from our experiences and improve our emergency response," Pavlini said.

One of the additional steps toward looking into the local handling of cleanups and emergencies is the establishment of a new department of public works and engineering subcommittee of township officials, on which Gaziano said she will serve.

Along with seeking to hold JCP&L accountable for lengthy power outages following Irene and the fall snowstorm, the township will work on its own response during such storms, if they occur again this year, Pavlini said.

The township's Office of Emergency Management already has implemented new procedures and the township has set up accounts in social media to make sure the township can communicate with residents via phone, smart phone and the internet as well as by traditional means, the new mayor said.

"I certainly hope that we will not experience severe weather as we did in 2011 for quite some time, but if we do, we want to be ready, and will be," Pavlini said.

In the meantime, the township will work with the state Board of Public Utilities and new state legislators in District 21 to pressure JCP&L to make "substantial improvements in service, repair and communications," she said.

In his speech, Malay emphasized the township's accomplishments of maintaining a triple A bond rating during 2011, keeping the tax levy below the 2005 level and—an event celebrated with a public "bond fire"—retiring the last bond payments that Bernards Township owed in November.

He said the key to financial health was avoiding debt. Both he and Pavlini said costs had been kept down and personnel reduced without cutting services to residents.

In April, the township will merge its emergency dispatch system with that of the county, reducing the number of township employees by almost a dozen, Pavlini said.

Pavlini, beginning her seventh year on the Township Committee, had at that time established the "Green Team" to look at ways of taking environmentally conscious steps in a financially prudent manner. That resulted in Bernards Township achieving "silver status" with the Sustainable Jersey program, said both Malay and Pavlini.

"We are going to continue to lead the way as one of the "greenest" communities int he state," Pavlini said. For example, she said the solar field at the township sewerage authority is up and saving ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars by reducing electricity costs, she said.

Also on Tuesday, appointments of professionals and both appointments and reappointments were made to township boards and commissions. Pavlini said those appointments were made without asking applicants their political party affiliation.