Fast, Loose and Possibly Illegal Funding For A Quick Demolition.
Some Tabernacle committee members and Administrator-Clerk Maryalice Brown may be taking a sleazy and possibly illegal shortcut to fund the quick demolition of Historic Town Hall. it appears they’re trying to grab bond money that was actually intended to fix up and repair Historic Town Hall. To make this deception work, they have to say that demolition is an improvement.
Common sense says that demolition is not an improvement. Would Hartman, Stone or Moore consider the demolition of their homes an improvement? Of course not. The same commonsense reasoning applies to Historic Town Hall.
New Jersey’s construction regulations say the same thing. An “improvement is: “… any constructed element which becomes part of, is placed upon, or is affixed to real estate” (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Section-521-1.4-Definitions-and-abbreviations.pdf). In no way does a demolished building fit into that definition.
The monies raised through Bond Ordinance 2015-10 were approved only for the following specific purposes: “Improvements to Township Buildings, including but not limited to improvements and repairs to Pepper House, Public Works Building, Town Hall, Community Center and Fire House and including expenses incurred in the planning, design and bidding of such services” (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ord.-2015-10.pdf).
Ordinance 2015-10 was never intended to fund demolition. I’ve spoken with committee members who approved it. They said it was passed to fund new carpets, painting, re-design of office space, and things like that. They never intended that it be used for demolition.
That’s what I remember too. The purpose of the bond was only to fund improvements to Historic Town Hall. Demolition is the opposite of improvements and repairs. To allocate these funds for a different purpose, such as demolition, is sleazy.
They can’t use these monies for demolition unless they formally adopt a reappropriation ordinance.
If they really want to use the bond funds for the purpose that they were borrowed for, they would allocate them to the repair and improvement of Historic Town Hall.
Now that Tabernacle has erected a safety fence around Historic Town Hall, we would be better served if the committee joined together, rescinded the resolution (2024-46 ) to demolish Historic Town Hall and rethink the best way forward.
It’s never too late to admit that a mistake was made and to make the right decision. The people of Tabernacle want that building saved.
How Did This Happen?
My husband and I emailed Administrator-Clerk Brown and the committee and asked how they were going to pay for the demolition. Brown responded that “I will endeavor to obtain an answer to your question prior to the meeting” (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3.22.24-Brooks-Email-to-MAB_Committee.pdf).
Clerk Brown should surely know where the money is coming from because her March 25, 2024 agenda includes a resolution to award a bid to demolish Historic Town Hall (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3.25.24-Tab-Twp-Mtg_-Res.-2024-53-Demolition-HTH.pdf).
It seems dishonest to say that she’ll try and find the funding source when she’s already posted the resolution awarding the bid. So, I looked further.
Back in December 2023 my husband OPRA’d all of Tabernacle’s outstanding bonds. I reviewed them to see which could possibly be used to fund demolition. I found the Bond Ordinance 2015-10 audit record (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ord.-2015-10-Audit-Trail.pdf). That bond has over $500,000 left in it. (It’s the source of funds for the rental of the trailers. It looks like a slush fund.) It seems to me that the township would also use 2015-10 to fund the demolition of Historic Town Hall.
WHY RESOLUTION 2024-46 SHOULD BE RESCINDED.
The rush by Mayor Hartman, Deputy Mayor Stone and Committeeman Moore to demolish Historic Town Hall must stop. The resolution to demolish the building must be rescinded. The pending resolution to contract for the demolition should be voted down.
Historic Town Hall is an irreplaceable part of Tabernacle’s history. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. It’s imperative that the committee pause, reconsider and get this decision right.
When they voted at the February 26, meeting to demolish the building, Hartman, Stone and Moore didn’t take the time to ask questions, gather information and make an informed decision. Nor did they follow Tabernacle’s usual practice of waiting for a full committee before taking major votes. Hartman, Stone and Moore voted for the resolution to demolish Historic Town Hall while committeeman Noble McNaughton was absent.
Hartman, Stone and Moore ignored questions and comments from residents and the Tabernacle Historical Society. They even ignored a founding member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, the organization that generously ‘sold’ Town Hall to Tabernacle for $1 in the 1960s.
Hartman, Stone and Moore didn’t recognize any merits of keeping Historic Town Hall. If they mentioned any, which I don’t think they did, they were just lip service, not careful deliberation.
Tabernacle’s 2023 Master Plan
Hartman, Stone and Moore completely ignored Tabernacle’s 2023 Master Plan, even though the committee paid $10,000 dollars to produce it and the Land Development Board (LDB) spent over a year writing it including multiple public discussions and public hearings (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/5.23.2023-Revised-Final-Text-and-Appendices_05.23.23.pdf).
The very first objective of the Masterplan is to “Re-establish Tabernacle Village as a mixed-use community center” Another objective of the Master Plan is to “Preserve and enhance areas with historic/cultural, scenic, and recreational value” (P. 32, 1/6; MP)
These 2023 Master Plan goals are similar to the goals that existed in the 2012 Master Plan. The primary difference is that the 2023 goals are clearer and more precise in their recognition that the village center and Historic Town Hall should not be demolished.
One of the Master Plan’s Principles is: ”To promote the conservation of historic sites and districts….” Demolition of Historic Town Hall obliterates one of Tabernacle’s most important historic structures.
Hartman, Stone and Moore never paused to realize that their decision to demolish Historic Town Hall completely violates Tabernacle’s Master Plan.
Their total failure to consider the Master Plan is disappointing because Mayor Mark Hartman actually sat on the Land Development Board as the Master Plan was developed. The Master Plan was approved on June 7, 2023. Mr. Hartman was absent from the meeting.
Committeeman Sammy Moore preceded Mayor Hartman on the Land Development Board. He knows that Tabernacle should follow its Master Plan. At least, he should know.
Hartman, Stone and Moore also didn’t bother to question Construction Officer Tom Boyd when he made the unreasonable demand that the committee make a decision about Historic Town Hall while he was there at the February 26 meeting.
Boyd later said the committee could make a decision at the March 11, workshop meeting. By the time March 11, arrived, Hartman, Stone and Moore told Clerk Maryalice Brown that they couldn’t attend that meeting. Their absence forced her to cancel it.
Obviously, saving Historic Town Hall has a cost. Pennoni Associates, the township’s engineer, presented two options to save Town Hall (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2.15.24-Pennoni-Rept_Pages-from-2.26.24-Tab-Twp-Agenda.pdf). Hartman, Stone and Moore didn’t evaluate either of them. Stone moved immediately to demolish the building.
The Village Greene Concept Plan.
Hartman, Stone and Moore also didn’t pay any attention to their own Village Greene Concept Plan (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/5.5.2023-Concept-Plan-for-Village-Greene-TABRX22008-VILLAGE-GREENE-Revised-5-5-23.pdf). That plan calls for Historic Town Hall to be fixed, relocated and made the centerpiece of a municipal park. The committee published the Village Greene Plan in 2023. They call it Phase 3 of their municipal facilities project.
When the committee created the Village Greene Plan, they knew that Historic Town Hall required funding. Hartman, Stone and Moore didn’t discuss how Historic Town Hall was part of the Village Greene Plan or how the demolition would affect the Plan.
In September 2021, the township’s architect, Regan-Young, estimated that the cost of rehabilitating Town Hall. They also estimated the annual cost increase (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Town-Hall-Final-Report.pdf ).
Regan-Young didn’t include costs associated with moving the building. Adding them in, as called for in the Village Greene Plan, raises the price close to the township’s engineer’s current estimate of $2,500,000 (https://thetabernaclejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2.15.24-Pennoni-Rept_Pages-from-2.26.24-Tab-Twp-Agenda.pdf).
Hartman, Stone and Moore couldn’t have been surprised at the engineer’s estimate for rehabilitation because it’s similar to the architect’s estimate that they had when they made the Village Greene plan. But, suddenly, at the February 26, meeting, Hartman, Stone and Moore said the cost was too high.
If, for some inexplicable reason, Hartman, Stone and Moore were suddenly shocked to learn that it would cost $2,500,000 to rehabilitate Historic Town Hall, they should have considered the engineer’s option to just make Historic Town Hall safe. That costs only $1,000,000.
That option wouldn’t make the building usable, but it would give Tabernacle a long opportunity to permanently address Historic Town Hall and seek grant funding. There are lots of grants to do this work.
Hartman, Stone and Moore didn’t discuss either option.
Now they know that they can use the $500,000 in Bond 2015-10 to stabilize the building and preserve it.
What Did Hartman, Stone And Moore Expect Of The Village Greene Plan?
Their failure to consider spending even $1,000,000 dollars to save Historic Town Hall begs the question of what Hartman and Moore had in mind for their “Village Greene Plan.” (Deputy Mayor Stone wasn’t in office at the time.)
If they think that total rehabilitation of the building is too expensive, and a minimal fix is also too expensive, how did they imagine that Historic Town Hall would become the centerpiece of the “Village Greene”?
Why did they bother to pay Pennoni Associates to design a plan that makes Historic Town Hall the centerpiece of the “Village Greene Plan” if they never intended to fund it? Why bother to publish the Village Greene Plan on the Tabernacle website and continuously refer to it as “phase 3?
Their inability to consider any of the factors that concern Historic Town Hall is their colossal failure.
It’s Not Too Late To Make The Right Decision.
