Taxes

For the third time in three years, schools Superintendent Edward Seto has suggested privatizing the district’s paraprofessionals. Seto made his latest suggestion at the Board of Education’s Dec. 12 meeting. The board will discuss the proposal at its Dec. 19 meeting, board president Julia Presley said in an email. The district’s roughly 125 paraprofessionals – teacher’s aides – serve mainly …

The former assistant principal of Elizabeth Avenue Elementary School was going to be fired had he not resigned on Dec. 8, according to the district schools Superintendent. John Norton notified the district on Dec. 8 that he would be resigning his position for “personal reasons,” and sent in a  letter stating the same on Dec. 9, district spokeswoman Mary Clark …

Resolutions to buy nine RADAR units for township police cars and a dump truck with a plow were approved at the Dec. 11 Township Council meeting. The council also voted to award bids for HVAC maintenance and repairs for township buildings, extend its current snow plowing contract and increases in two attorneys’ retainers at the meeting. The nine RADAR units …

A proposed design for new historic village identification signs was shot down Dec. 3 by the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission. The commission gave Tiffany Delaney, the township’s special projects coordinator, a new set of guidelines for what chairman Andrew Burian said he hoped would be a more “elegant” design. The original plan, approved in October by the Open Space Advisory …

Township residents who want to learn how to cross-country ski – and use the course available at Spooky Book Golf Course – can do so from 1:30 – 3 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Environmental Education Center, 190 Lord Stirling Rd., Basking Ridge. The course will be taught by a naturalist and is geared to skiers aged 10 years and …

The township and the Franklin-Somerset First Aid Squad are on the verge of a deal over two ambulances, but some details still have to be worked out. Township Council members at the Nov. 26 council meeting seemed amenable to the idea of selling two 1990s-era ambulances to the squad for $4,000 each. The only sticking point is who would pay …

The township Ethics Board was officially dissolved at the Township Council Dec. 10 meeting, by a vote of 6-2. Voting for the motion to move the board’s duties to the state Department of Community Affairs’ Local Finance Board were Council members James Vassanella (Ward 5), Ted Chase (Ward 1), Brian Regan (At-Large), Phil Kramer (Ward 3), Rajiv Prasad (At-Large) and …

The Township Council Nov. 26 voted to buy a new Dodge Durango for the Department of Fire Prevention and lease copiers for the finance and animal control departments. The 2014 Durango is needed by the Fire Prevention department because of the addition of a new fire inspector, according to a memo from Township Clerk Ann Marie McCarthy. The truck, including …

New Brunswick should “ante up” if the township has to do any additional water supply testing in the wake of charges that the neighboring city’s former water department operator falsified three year’s worth of water tests. That was the word Nov. 26 from Township Councilman Brian Regan (At-Large) and Mayor Brian Levine after the council was told of a possible …

Deep divisions among groups of members and a feeling of overall failure permeate the 2013 self-evaluations completed earlier this year by the Board of Education members. “We are so fractured we cannot function,” one board member commented. “Plus, we are forcing the administration to spend time and money on board related in fighting (sic). My biggest failure as a board …