[0:02] Delanco Township Committee special

[0:04] meeting of August 31st, 2026 beginning

[0:07] at 7:00 p.m. at the Delanco Township

[0:09] Municipal Building, 770 Coopertown Road,

[0:12] Delanco, New Jersey.

[0:15] » Time?

[0:17] 7:00.

[0:18] » It is 7:00. We are

[0:21] recording and we are live.

[0:23] » Thank you.

[0:24] I'd like to welcome you to the special

[0:26] Township Committee meeting on August

[0:28] 31st, 2026.

[0:31] May have a roll call, please?

[0:32] » Mr. McFadden.

[0:33] » Here.

[0:34] » Mr. O'Leary.

[0:34] » Here.

[0:35] » Miss DeCesari is absent. Miss

[0:36] Fitzpatrick.

[0:37] » Here.

[0:38] » Uh also present, Mrs. Russell, our

[0:40] Municipal Clerk, Mrs. Hart, our Deputy

[0:44] Municipal Clerk, and um Mr. Reinhold,

[0:47] our Township Solicitor. Uh please join

[0:49] me in a flag salute.

[0:53] I pledge allegiance

[0:54] » To the flag of the United States of

[0:57] America, and to the republic for which

[0:59] it stands, one nation under God,

[1:03] indivisible, with liberty and justice

[1:05] for all.

[1:10] » Hot bed, would you please read the

[1:12] sunshine statement?

[1:14] » Please be advised that proper notice of

[1:15] this meeting has been given in

[1:16] compliance with the Open Public Meetings

[1:18] Act in the following manner. Notice of

[1:20] special meeting is posted on the

[1:21] official website of the Township of

[1:22] Delanco on August 20th, 2026 and posted

[1:26] on the official bulletin board of the

[1:27] Township of Delanco.

[1:29] Live stream statement. This meeting of

[1:31] the Delanco Township Committee may be

[1:32] transmitted via live stream on YouTube

[1:34] video. The streaming of the meeting is

[1:36] not intended to be relied upon as formal

[1:38] public access under Open Public Meetings

[1:40] Act, and if the technology is disrupted

[1:42] for any reason, the Township meeting

[1:44] will proceed in person as an official

[1:46] meeting in accord with the official

[1:48] notice. Please silence your cell phones

[1:50] and refer to the rules governing public

[1:52] comment attached to this agenda.

[1:54] » Thank you.

[1:55] Uh meeting is open to the now for

[1:58] comments and questions regarding agenda

[2:00] items only.

[2:04] Uh, there being no

[2:06] comments or concerns from the public,

[2:08] I'll close this portion of the meeting

[2:09] to the public. Um,

[2:13] Beth, do you want to explain the

[2:14] appointment process that we're going to

[2:16] do?

[2:16] » Yes, Mayor.

[2:18] So, as

[2:19] all of you know, or many of you know, we

[2:21] did receive a letter, um, of resignation

[2:23] from Mr. Bartlett on August 10th, um,

[2:26] resigning his position on Township

[2:28] Committee. That started the calendar,

[2:30] um, rolling because, um, I was

[2:34] um, he was nominated as a Republican.

[2:37] The Republican Municipal Committee is

[2:39] the one that suggests the nominees to

[2:42] fill the vacancy, and that vacancy will

[2:44] be filled until the November 3rd

[2:46] election is certified. Um, there was

[2:48] going to be an election. There are two

[2:50] people who will be running in November,

[2:52] and they will, uh, fill the seat.

[2:54] Whoever runs wins will fill the seat

[2:56] until December 31st, 2027, which is when

[2:59] Mr. Bartlett's, um,

[3:01] current, uh,

[3:02] term was going to be up. So, the

[3:04] calendar starts clicking on August 10th.

[3:07] There are 15 days for the Municipal uh,

[3:10] Republican Committee to suggest three

[3:12] nominees, which they did. Um, the

[3:14] governing body then has 15 days to,

[3:18] uh, to nominate one of those nominees

[3:21] and and to appoint them. If for some

[3:23] reason tonight, they do not appoint

[3:25] someone, a statement will go back to the

[3:28] Republican Municipal Committee, and they

[3:30] will make one nomination of the the

[3:33] three that they have already given, and

[3:35] that person will be certified to fill

[3:38] the seat until the November election.

[3:41] Um, if for some reason they do not give

[3:43] us, um,

[3:44] a nomination again, then the governing

[3:47] body will then fill the the seat with

[3:50] any Republican.

[3:51] So, that is and they and it's 15-day

[3:54] increments. So, there will be 60 days

[3:56] from the occurrence, someone will be

[3:58] filled in that seat until the November

[4:01] election is certified.

[4:03] » Now, Mayor, do you or any of the

[4:05] committee members have any questions on

[4:06] the process?

[4:08] » Nope.

[4:08] » Any questions, Mayor?

[4:09] » No, I'm good.

[4:11] » Okay. So, right now we are um at a um

[4:16] ready to do an appointment to fill the

[4:18] committee vacancy until the

[4:20] certification of results of the November

[4:22] 3rd, 2026 elect- election.

[4:26] Is there a nomination to make a uh

[4:29] appointment?

[4:31] » I nominate Kim Jenkins.

[4:34] » Uh second?

[4:36] » I'll second it.

[4:38] » I'll second that, Ben.

[4:39] » Okay.

[4:41] » To appoint Kim Jenkins.

[4:43] And we'll have a roll call.

[4:45] » Mr. McFadden.

[4:46] » Yes.

[4:47] » Mr. O'Malley.

[4:48] » Abstain.

[4:48] » Ms. Fitzpatrick.

[4:50] » Yes.

[4:52] » All right. So, as the uh this

[4:55] the vote requires three affirmative

[4:57] votes um to appoint. So, as we did not

[5:01] receive that, the three votes, um that

[5:03] motion does not carry.

[5:05] So, this is where we will reach out. Um

[5:07] I'll reach out on behalf of the

[5:08] committee to let the Republican

[5:10] Municipal Committee know that we did not

[5:12] appoint someone this evening. And the

[5:15] process will will continue. Um

[5:18] I don't expect that we'll have another

[5:20] special meeting. The The process will

[5:23] continue at the September 14th

[5:25] » Right. So, it will um

[5:29] the Republican Party will have to send

[5:30] in their nomination, and then that

[5:33] person will actually be certified at our

[5:36] uh sworn in at our September 14th

[5:38] meeting.

[5:39] » Yes.

[5:39] » Okay.

[5:40] All right.

[5:41] » I just want to note that um

[5:44] if that is received in advance, that

[5:46] person can be sworn in outside of the

[5:49] meeting.

[5:49] » Oh, good.

[5:50] » So, the intended of the statute is to

[5:53] fill the seat as soon as possible.

[5:55] » Okay.

[5:56] Thanks.

[5:56] » So, if we get notification, you can go

[5:58] ahead and have them sworn in, and they

[6:01] can start assuming the function, get up

[6:03] to speed, and then

[6:05] um you can do a ceremonial one at the

[6:07] next meeting, but it it can have taken

[6:09] place earlier.

[6:10] » Okay, great. Thank you.

[6:13] Okay, meeting is now open to the public

[6:15] for comments and questions, general

[6:17] session two.

[6:23] Ask.

[6:26] » Harold Klingler, 509 Buttonwood Street.

[6:29] I was uh just wondering

[6:32] uh

[6:33] I I see we have a Republican Committee

[6:37] and a Democratic Committee,

[6:40] and that's normally

[6:42] who's up here and who is represented,

[6:44] and who makes decisions.

[6:46] Just wondering, is there a such thing as

[6:49] a independent committee?

[6:51] » Uh not to my knowledge. I mean, there

[6:53] certainly could be um in the future, but

[6:57] to my knowledge, for as long as I have

[7:00] been

[7:01] a resident of Delanco,

[7:04] um there's only been two parties in town

[7:08] that actually

[7:10] would run for an office. And um

[7:13] I'd like to say, and I think I would

[7:15] speak for everyone sitting up here that

[7:17] even though a certain party um

[7:20] supports you in the election, that

[7:24] the

[7:25] the Township Committee represents the

[7:27] people of this town, not a political

[7:29] party.

[7:31] And we take into consideration

[7:34] everything that the residents bring

[7:36] before us,

[7:38] so that we can make the best decision

[7:41] for the town.

[7:43] Uh I don't like to think that one party

[7:46] runs this town. It's

[7:49] this township committee works as a

[7:52] cohesive group to make the best

[7:54] decisions for this town and I think

[7:57] we've worked very well through the years

[8:00] regardless of what party has been in

[8:02] charge or

[8:04] when I say in charge has

[8:06] more if there's three Republicans or

[8:08] three Democrats, it it really hasn't

[8:10] mattered. I think we've always worked

[8:12] for the residents for the best um for

[8:14] the best result.

[8:17] » Right.

[8:17] And and I don't disagree with anything

[8:20] that you said there.

[8:22] I was just wondering uh

[8:26] what the process is. Does Does somebody

[8:28] just go, "Well, I'm starting an

[8:31] independent committee?"

[8:33] » You would probably ask the county clerk

[8:34] since they take care of all that

[8:36] election process. I would have no idea.

[8:38] » Take county back to the county.

[8:40] » Yeah, I don't I don't know. It's not

[8:42] like we would do it here on the township

[8:44] committee.

[8:45] » Oh, okay.

[8:46] All right.

[8:47] Uh and then one more question and that

[8:49] is uh

[8:53] uh

[8:54] I guess the question that that

[8:56] I've brought up

[8:58] in the past uh but for some reason we

[9:01] never have

[9:03] the

[9:04] uh

[9:06] township engineer

[9:08] and the township solicitor. It's very

[9:11] rare that they're both here at the same

[9:12] time.

[9:13] » They're usually both here at the first

[9:15] meeting of the month.

[9:17] » Is that when they're both here?

[9:18] » Yes.

[9:19] » Okay. So, I'll I'll wait for that.

[9:22] » Okay.

[9:22] » All right, thank you.

[9:23] » All right, thanks, Ken.

[9:25] Anyone else?

[9:29] Ken?

[9:29] » I have a question.

[9:30] » Come forward.

[9:32] Please.

[9:34] » Tim Kishler, 12 Powers Court. I just

[9:36] have a a question about the the

[9:38] election.

[9:39] Um so

[9:41] this is a Republican who's

[9:44] going to fill the vacancy.

[9:46] Um

[9:47] could you vote for this person if you

[9:49] chose to as cuz you're done?

[9:51] » I abstained.

[9:52] » I understand, but it doesn't

[9:54] » Uh yes.

[9:55] » It doesn't have to be just Republicans

[9:56] voting.

[9:57] » No.

[9:57] » Exactly.

[9:58] » That Okay. One, maybe two other

[10:00] questions. Um I couldn't catch the name

[10:02] of the person and it probably doesn't

[10:04] make any difference now who that person

[10:06] is, but the person that's appointed

[10:09] can that person or is that person then

[10:12] running in November? Do you know who's

[10:14] running?

[10:14] » Yes.

[10:15] » If So, once an appointment is made,

[10:19] it doesn't technically under the law

[10:20] have to be the same person that ends up

[10:23] running for the seat.

[10:25] It's up to the party to make that

[10:26] determination.

[10:28] Um

[10:29] » Okay, maybe you misunderstood my

[10:30] question.

[10:31] Are they allowed to run? In certain

[10:33] elections nationwide, a placeholder

[10:36] cannot run.

[10:37] » Yeah, I thought you were

[10:38] were asking me if the person who was

[10:40] voted on tonight is going to be a

[10:41] candidate. My answer is only to address

[10:44] that.

[10:44] » Oh, I see.

[10:45] » It can be or it can't be. It's not

[10:47] mandated one way or the other. But they

[10:48] are allowed to run, yes.

[10:50] » Okay. That's it. Thanks.

[10:52] » Thanks, Tim.

[10:52] » And usually that is what happens.

[10:54] » Yeah.

[10:54] » Usually that is what happens.

[10:56] » That's appointed then runs.

[10:57] » Okay.

[10:59] » Anyone else?

[11:02] Okay, I'll close this portion of the

[11:03] meeting to the public.

[11:05] Uh does anyone from Township Committee

[11:07] have any comments or questions,

[11:10] concerns?

[11:11] » Nothing at this time.

[11:12] » Okay.

[11:14] A motion to adjourn?

[11:16] » I'll make a motion.

[11:17] » Second.

[11:20] » Roll call.

[11:21] All in favor.

[11:22] » Aye.

[11:23] » Aye.

[11:24] » Aye.

[11:25] » Thank you. Thank you for coming out.

[11:32] » Come on.

Delanco Township Special Committee Meeting - 08312026

Transcript