For the first time in more than 13 years, Mt. Laurel will have a new tax assessor. The committee introduced Robert Sweeney at its monthly meeting on Sept. 9.
Terri Paglione, who served as the township’s tax assessor since the days of Y2K being a threat, began working in the same position in the city of Camden Aug. 1. She officially left Mt. Laurel in mid-July. Since then, the township had been conducting interviews for a replacement.
“After an exhaustive search, we found a candidate we felt great about in Robert,” township manager Maureen Mitchell said.
Sweeney comes to Mt. Laurel after working in Pequannock Township in North Jersey. He also served on the zoning board while in Pequannock.
In other news
• The council voted to approve its continued participation in the state’s Safe and Secure Communities Program. The township applied in January, but with the state being on a different fiscal schedule, the money is not added to the budget until later in the year.
The Safe and Secure Communities Program, enacted into law in 1993, is designed to provide municipalities with funding to add law enforcement personnel vital to effective police operations and other crime-related strategies as warranted by the needs of the community. The program allows for the funding of additional officers or funding of law enforcement support personnel, which would free up officers for direct law enforcement activities. Currently, there are approximately 160 municipalities receiving funds for 345 officers and 13 non-police support staff. According to Mitchell, Mt. Laurel has been a part of the program since 1998.
• The township planning and zoning boards approved a fifth Wawa convenience store to be constructed within Mt. Laurel, this one with a gas station at the intersection Route 38 and Marter Avenue. The 5,585-square-foot market, to be built adjacent to Martin’s Liquors, will be open 24 hours a day and will employ 10 people per shift. The gas station will have eight stations with 16 pumps. Of the site’s 6.5 acres, 4.5 acres are in Mt. Laurel and 1.92 are in Moorestown. Variances were granted to allow Wawa to sell both food and gasoline, as well for a façade sign to be 66 square feet instead of 40, for a freestanding sign to be 50.8 square feet instead of 36, and for slight changes in the allowance for directional signs.
