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Politics & Government

Open Space Applications Up for Discussion at Township Committee Meeting

The committee will discuss its bid to purchase open space properties, has an otherwise light agenda.

Note: The article below previews Thursday's Chatham Township Committee meeting, which has since taken place. See here for an update on the governing body's discussion of this open-space issue.

As the Chatham Township Committee holds its bi-monthly meeting on Thursday evening, one of the topics the group will discuss is the application it put in for funds to buy open space properties. The committee requested close to $2.4 million from the county's preservation trust fund for purchasing properties and preserving them as open space.

"We have a public hearing on the open space application that we submitted to the county," said Mayor Nicole Hagner. "It's part of the application process that we have a general public hearing on them, so we have four properties that will be up for public hearing."

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition, Town Clerk Greg LaConte will be officially sworn in as Township Clerk, while Administrator Tom Ciccarone's planned Aug. 1 retirement will be discussed — as will plans to hire him back to that job as of Sept. 1. The measure is meant to let him begin using funds from his pension while still drawing a municipal salary. Officials say it would also save the township about $20,000 a year, as he would be rehired at a lower salary and the township would no longer have to make contributions to that pension.

"We have a lieutenant that is retiring, so we're going to honor him," said Hagner. "He's doing his official oath of office for his promotion to a lieutenant, and we have two other people being sworn in for their new positions."

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

One issue that will not be brought to resolution is the hot topic of the lighting ordinance for Cougar Field. While there may be some residents on hand to speak about the dispute, the committee tries not to make such major decisions during the summer due to the lack of residents around town.

"There's really nothing on the agenda (regarding the lighting ordinance)," said Hagner. "Certainly it's known that the group of residents had sued the township with regard to our lighting ordinance. There is no official discussion on that. Basically they served us with that last week, my attorney might speak to it but officially there's no action on that. We try not to pass any ordinances or policies in the summer because so many town residents can be away. So it's a fairly light agenda."

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