LAKEHURST – Police Chief Matthew Kline, Mayor Harry Robbins and the members of Council reluctantly accepted the resignation of three police officers during a recent Borough Council meeting.
Officers William Bowers, Jacob Scholling and Anthony D’Angelo recently resigned seeking employment elsewhere.
“I am reluctant to approve the resignations of the three officers,” Council President Steven Oglesby said.
Chief Kline told The Manchester Times that they were full time officers and that this temporarily would leave the department with eight full time officers.
During the evening the governing body passed a resolution appointing Vance Anthony Pelino as a police officer. Chief Kline said that the department normally stands at a dozen officers.
Meanwhile, the council discussed the ordinances that the police enforce.
Councilwoman Patricia Hodges, speaking in her role as a member of the Ordinance Committee, said the committee was focusing on code enforcement and police. “We have some of the changes made that the code enforcement officer was looking for and Chief Kline is going through all the police regulations.”
The councilwoman noted that ordinances weren’t set in stone. “They are a living document and each are used to basically run the borough and if changes need to be made we need to know about them and the people who are enforcing those ordinances on a daily basis should let us know if there is something that needs to be revised.”
“They can always be changed,” Mayor Robbins said.
“We don’t want anyone to say I can’t do my job because of an ordinance,” Councilwoman Hodges remarked.
In other news, the mayor and council approved resolutions for a professional services contract for engineering for a stormwater management plan and stormwater control ordinance and a professional services contract for engineering services for a stormwater pollution plan.
An agreement with Manchester Township was also approved to provide municipal court services during the meeting.
Ordinances concerning housing and property maintenance and revising general ordinances of the borough entitled traffic were also approved.
An ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the borough regarding towing fees was also passed. Another ordinance revising general ordinances of Lakehurst concerning parks, lakes and recreation areas was also approved.
Smoking At The Lake
A resident questioned the specifics of an ordinance that called for a prohibition of smoking on all publicly owned property and if they could smoke their cigar inside their own vehicle if parked in the public parking lot of Horicon Lake.
Mayor Robbins responded that few people who would smoke in their car would roll their windows up. “You can smoke just not on Lakehurst owned public property and not at the lake, even in a car. The majority of people wouldn’t keep their windows down.”
“I should have the right to smoke in my own car. It is your own enclosed area. It isn’t like you are sitting at a bench or around the park,” resident Bruce Morrison said.
“That is a no-smoking zone. It is a park. You might sit in your car with the windows all up smoking and taking in all that smoke but the majority of people are going to have their windows down and the smoke is going to leave the vehicle and there you are,” the mayor replied.
Lakehurst Borough officials are looking to restore their faded signs at Horicon Lake. (Photo by Bob Vosseller)
“You can’t sit there at the lake at this time of year if you want to smoke a cigarette and you can’t do that at the park,” the resident added.
Mayor Robbins said, “I enjoy a good cigar to but we all have to live by what is passed.”
Officials briefly discussed the indentation at 6 Union Avenue, the site across the street from Borough Hall, where a building was torn down due to its deterioration. The hole, or indentation, has since been filled in.
It was noted recently that the borough was seeking lifeguards for the lake in anticipation of the summer season.
Councilman James Davis noted that the Borough Board of Education would be holding an open house of the Lakehurst Elementary School on May 25. He also noted that this year’s car show was in progress that would be held on the grounds at the school.
He said due to an incident that occurred last year, when a tent stake accidentally punctured an irrigation line, he’d be getting out the word that no stakes were to be put into the ground this year.
The borough is looking to revamp its faded signage at the lake in the near future and this year’s borough budget is set to be introduced in April.
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