Mayor Mignogna reflects on 2016 in Voorhees
As we welcome 2017, we should take one last moment to reflect on 2016:
· The Virtua Medical Campus celebrated its fifth anniversary in May and continues to be an “economic magnet” for the Route 73 corridor. Samaritan Center at Voorhees opened its multi-million dollar facility. The “Medical Mile” continues to generate jobs and significant tax revenue for our community.
· The Voorhees Town Center continues to be a hub of activity. This year, the Township partnered with the owners of the Town Center to host a week long Fall Festival which included a beer garden, live music, Thriller Night and our Halloween Festival. Our Holiday Parade welcoming Santa Claus to Voorhees was bigger than ever. Our “Restaurant Row” continues to thrive with Iron Hill Brewery, Elena Wu, Burger 21, Rodizio Grill, Catelli Duo and Friendly’s. The announced closing of Macy’s was not unexpected since Macy’s is closing 100 stores all over the country, including the one at Moorestown Mall. We will continue to work with the owner of the Town Center, Camden County and the State to make sure this space is occupied and put to good use.
· Voorhees’ five-year road program continued with the repaving of Kresson Road, Echelon Road, Centennial Boulevard, Woodhurst Drive, Brookstone Drive, Arcadia Drive and Peregrine Drive.
· Improvements were made to the Township infrastructure. With a $100,000 federal grant, sidewalks were installed on Kresson Road from the Rabinowitz Baseball Complex to School Lane.With a $192,000 New Jersey Department of Transportation grant, we extended the bike paths from Lippincott Drive to Victor Boulevard so that our bike paths now connect E.T. Hamilton School and Eastern High School.The intersection of Centennial Boulevard and Egg Harbor Road was redesigned and rebuilt to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. The Sturbridge Lakes sewer pump station was rebuilt. With a $25,000 grant, new swings were installed at the Sandpiper and Green Ridge playgrounds, and the circuit course was improved at Connolly Park. Playground equipment was installed at Hale Park with county grants. The tennis courts and basketball courts at Lake Villa Playground were resurfaced as were the Sheppard Road basketball courts. The entrance to Stafford Woods trail and disc golf course was widened and handicapped parking was added. We partnered with the Voorhees Middle School Trailblazers to create “Viking Trail.”
· Voorhees continued to work to protect our environment. In 2016, our residents recycled 3,000 tons of municipal waste, saving $196,000 in disposal fees. We continued our use of Compressed Natural Gas trash trucks which emit 30% less greenhouse gases and make 90% less noise than traditional diesel trucks. The Township continued a partnership with the residents along Kirkwood Lake to hasten the clean-up of the lake by DEP and improve the quality of life in and around the lake. On Nov. 16 at the League of Municipalities in Atlantic City, I was proud to accept the “Silver Certification” from Sustainable Jersey on behalf of our “Green Team” and Sustainable Voorhees. This is the highest level of sustainability that can be achieved.
· The Township Committee worked hard to reduce spending and control costs. There are 23 less full-time employees than in 2009. Voorhees engaged in sensible shared services programs with Eastern Regional High School, the Voorhees Township Schools, Gibbsboro, Laurel Springs, Brooklawn, Pine Valley, Stratford and Camden County. We continued our programs of side-arm trash collection and single stream recycling collection, allowing our manpower to be used more efficiently. We again partnered with an energy company to buy utilities directly from the provider, saving approximately $125,000 per year. Our CNG trucks saved the Township approximately $35,000 a year in fuel costs. A fuel tank was installed at the Department of Public Works dispenses both gas and diesel fuel, saving the Township approximately $25,000 per year.
· Over the last two years, Voorhees has received $3,100,000 in Federal, State and County grants.
· We took steps to maintain and improve public safety and keep our families safe by hiring five additional police officers. We again partnered with the schools to place a police officer in every school during the entire school day, helping ensure our children’s safety. All of our police officers were again equipped with body cameras for their protection and the protection of our residents. We continued our Safe Exchange Zone, DNA Home Asset Program, the NextDoor app, the E-Ticketing System, Project Medicine Drop, Kids I.D., the Anonymous Crime Tip Line, Nixle, the Safe Cam Program, the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Program and had our 3rd Annual Junior Police Academy. New public safety initiatives included our First Adult Police Academy, the purchase of an animal chip reader to help locate lost pets and upgrading of the police website to allow vacation checks and police reports to be requested online.
· Based on numerous requests from residents and our full time firefighters, including their union, the Township Committee initiated an investigation of the Voorhees Township Fire Department to determine whether it would be in the best interests of our residents to merge that independent body into the Township.
· In an effort to make our community safer by reducing incidents of drunk driving, Voorhees again partnered with Evesham for our Voorhees/Evesham Saves Lives Program. Through contributions from private donations, free Uber rides are provided to Voorhees and Evesham residents from participating establishments in both Townships from 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. No tax dollars are used for the program. Since its inception, over 2,000 free rides have been provided to get residents home safely.
· The Township Committee continued to make local government more efficient, accessible and transparent. We hired an IT Director, created a new website, created an App and continued on Facebook and Twitter. The Township is also now on Instagram.
· In cooperation with our Economic Development Committee, we improved our Shop Voorhees Property Tax Reward Program, which allows a portion or your normal purchasing dollars spent on goods and services in Voorhees to be applied toward your property tax bill, thereby reducing your taxes at the end of the tax year. We now have 54 businesses participating in the program which has led to over $200,000 in tax credits for our residents.
· Director of Public Safety Michelle Nocito organized a car show which was held on April 30 to raise funds for the Voorhees Township Police Foundation.
· On May 5, our Economic Development Committee sponsored its first Small Business and Home Based Networking Symposium to support local businesses by sharing ideas and issues.
· The 13th Annual Summer Series at Connolly Park was bigger and better than ever and included tributes to Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Jimmy Buffet and our Movie in the Park.
· On Aug. 2, our second “National Night Out” was held. This year, in order to encourage more residents to attend, the event was held at both Kresson School and Osage School. The event was sponsored by the Voorhees Township Police Department and included members of our Fire Department, EMS, the Domestic Violence Task Force, the VBA and Safe Kids New Jersey.
· On Oct. 1, the Voorhees Township Citizens Cultural and Diversity Advisory Committee sponsored “International Day 2016” at Eastern Regional High School. The event included international foods and multicultural displays to celebrate and embrace our community’s diversity. This year, the Committee, along with its Foundation, donated funds to our Police Department to purchase a K-9 protective vest.
· On Oct. 24, 38 heroes were added to the Veterans Wall of Honor in Town Hall. The Wall now honors 334 such heroes with Voorhees ties who bravely served our country. The Wall will be an ongoing tribute to our veterans and names will be added every year. Voorhees will never forget.
Thank you to the many volunteers who sit on our Township’s boards, committees and commissions.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of serving as your Mayor in 2016. I will again embrace the honor in 2017. On behalf of the Voorhees Township Committee, we look forward to another successful year.
** The Voorhees Breakfast Rotary Club will be holding its annual Voorhees Township Community Service Awards Dinner on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Mansion, 3000 Main Street, Voorhees. At the event the Voorhees Breakfast Rotary Club will honor their Community Service Award recipients for 2016, including the Voorhees Business of the Year, the Voorhees Citizen of the Year, the Voorhees First Responder of the Year and the Voorhees Selfless Student of the Year. For more information and to purchase tickets go to www.Voorheesbreakfastrotary.org.
