What Happened to Committeeman McNaughton’s Suggestion to Reuse Old Town Hall?
In my last post, I reported that at the March 27, 2023 meeting, Committeeman Noble McNaughton suggested that the committee re-use old town hall for a community center. This re-purposing would replace a proposed new community center in the new municipal complex.
Mr. McNaughton’s comments followed Deputy Mayor Hartman’s motion to approve the municipal complex plans as they were drawn. McNaughton’s suggestion was part of his broader comment that there were many outstanding issues that needed to be addressed before the overall plans could be finalized.
This is what I wrote in my last post:
In the discussion of the motion [to approve the plans as they were drawn], Committeeman McNaughton commented that the committee should explore the idea of eliminating the proposed community center from the new building. He suggested that the community center be located at old Town Hall and re-purpose this historic building.
Finally, a committee member was willing to discuss an idea in public. Deputy Mayor Hartman’s motion to approve the plans died without a second.
April 24, Township Meeting
At the April 24, committee meeting, the March 27, 2023 minutes were on the agenda for approval. Committeeman McNaughton said that the March 27, minutes didn’t include his comments about re-using old town hall. After discussion, he voted to approve the March 27 minutes if his suggestion to re-use old town hall was included. The clerk added them and the official minutes are now posted on the township website.
Deputy Mayor Hartman’s failed motion to approve the plans was also left out of the March 27, meeting minutes. It wasn’t added at the April 24, meeting.
What are Township Minutes?
Minutes are the official record of what happens at a meeting. At a minimum, according to the New Jersey Clerk’s Association, “The minutes should reflect the actions taken and the discussion at a meeting so that a member of the public could understand what occurred.”
In order for a member of the public to understand what happened at the March 27, 2023, its minutes should contain the following:
1. Deputy Mayor Harman’s motion to approve the municipal complex plans.
2. The failure of Mr. Hartman’s motion for lack of a second.
3. The discussion to look into using old town hall as a community center instead of building a new one at the new municipal complex.
4. The decision to schedule a discussion about using old town hall as a community center at the workshop meeting of May 8, 2023.
Tabernacle’s Intentionally Wrong Minutes
I learned long ago that minutes are often laundered, slanted or intentionally wrong.
One notorious example is the minutes of the committee’s December 13, 2021 executive session meeting. Those minutes still report that the committee discussed “…allow[ing] residents to start to rent out the Public Safety Building….” The problem is that there’s no building in Tabernacle named the “Public Safety Building.”
For over a year, the committee refused to clarify which building they talked about. Eventually, after repeated questions, Committeeman Sunbury revealed that they discussed the old TRS building on Hawkin Road. The committee refuses to correct the official minutes. Instead, they remain wrong, intentionally.
The Omission
It’s hard to imagine that an ordinary mistake caused the omission of the discussion about using old town hall as the community center. Too much happened at the March 27, 2023 meeting for this to have been a mistake.
1. The discussion about putting the community center in old town hall lasted almost 10 minutes; way longer than most committee discussions.
2. The detailed discussion got into a rough comparison of the square footage available in old town hall; and even into the space requirements for restrooms.
3. Construction Officer Tom Boyd preliminarily addressed the feasibility of the idea, saying that, off the cuff, the two alternatives were an ‘apples to apples’ comparison.
4. All of the committee members agreed that they should explore the option.
5. Clerk Maryalice Brown took the lead in scheduling further discussion at the May 8, workshop meeting.
It’s inconceivable, that Clerk Maryalice Brown accidentally left off this subject in the minutes after all of the time and effort that the committee and its clerk put into it.
Why Would Clerk Maryalice Brown Leave Out Such Important Information?
Supposedly, the township clerk is independent. She should accurately report what happens at each township meeting. That’s part of her $132,000 part-time job as municipal clerk. But it seems clear that someone didn’t want the idea of the community center in old town hall to be in the official record.
As I’ve said before, it always looked like the committee wanted to build an all-inclusive municipal complex on the flag lot on Carranza Road. They didn’t really consider other options. By excluding the examination of the re-use of old town hall, they’re still not considering other options.
What Becomes of Old Town Hall?
Over the last 12-18 months, my husband and I repeatedly asked what the committee plans to do with old town hall and the old municipal site. The committee’s only answer is the vague plan the “Village Greene” in middle english, a period well before the founding of Tabernacle. Aside from the inappropriate name, the Village Greene plan shows very little thought about how to re-use the building and the property.
Residents need only look at the old TRS building on Hawkin Road to see what happens when the committee can’t decide what to do with a public building. The committee has been dithering for years about whether to sell the TRS building or rebuild it. In the meantime, it decays while taxpayers pay to heat and minimally maintain it.
