TAPinto Berkeley Heights continues our "Catch up with Mayor Angie Devanney" series. In the June 18 edition, Mayor Devanney talks TAPinto Editor Bobbie Peer about the Union County Infrastructure Grant, Westside Drainage project, the Township's 2021 Moody's bond rating and more.
"The bond rating narrative was very complimentary of what we've been doing in 2019 and 2020," said Mayor Angie Devanney. "In terms of just putting funding aside from various reserves, in terms of our tax collection rate last year. Our surplus was the highest that it's been in five years, just really making sure that we are financially planning for the future, whether it's two years, five years, 10 years, or 20 years." Click here for related article on the bond rating.
More Township updates:
- $12,000 has been allocated for maintenance work at Bicentennial 9/11 Park located on Park Avenue.
- Historic Society hired a historic architect for Littel-Lord Homestead. "This is the first step," said Devanney. "The Council approved hiring a historical architect, that's going to start to do some planning work on the exterior of the farm house. It is extremely expensive, as most people can imagine, to restore a home like Littel-Lord, because of exterior issues, interior issues, there's a significant amount of structural problems. But we're going to chip away at it little by little." Click here to donate to the restoration efforts of the Littel-Lord Farmstead; efforts are being spearheaded by the Historical Committee and Historical Society.
- Berkeley Heights received a $62,000 Union County Infrastructure Grant to install drainage on Glenside Avenue. There's a significant amount of icing that occurs on Glenside Avenue during the winter. "That's a result of small springs that crop up, given where we live, our topography, our soil, all those good things that make Berkeley Heights Berkeley Heights. So the project is really a drainage project, taking those springs and redirecting them into some piping and into the basins where the water should flow," said Devanney.
- West Side Drainage Project: The Council allocated $100,000 in FY 2021 for engineering work. "We're very committed, I'm very committed to this project," said Devanney. "And Liza Viana, our Business Administrator, has written a couple of different packets for federal appropriations. One, Congressman Malinowski is spearheading. And he has prioritized Berkeley Heights and this project as one of 10 of his priorities. And we've also sent a request for a federal appropriation on to Senator Booker's office as well. So we are looking under every rock and every pot for any kind of funding. ...So it's ongoing, but it's moving forward in the right direction. And hopefully, the residents are seeing that there is action and hopefully a solution."
Click here to watch the entire video interview on TAP.