New Township Committee member may be sworn in at Oct. 18 session
By: John Tredrea
Kathy Bird, who resigned from the Hopewell Township Committee after its Sept. 20 meeting, will stay on as a member of the township Planning Board. She was reappointed to the board at the Sept. 20 meeting.
Ms. Bird, a member of the committee for nearly five years, originally planned to resign Sept. 6. She decided to postpone her resignation until the committee had voted on three ordinances that rezoned about three-fourths of the 58-square-mile township. The ordinances were adopted unanimously during the Sept. 20 meeting. Her resignation was effective midnight Sept. 21.
Ms. Bird will continue to serve as a member of the township Planning Board. She was appointed to a Class IV position on the board by Mayor Marylou Ferrara during the Sept. 20 meeting. Prior to her resignation, Ms. Bird was the board’s Class III member. Under the state Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL), a Class III member is also a member of the local governing body, which in this case is the Township Committee.
Now that Ms. Bird has been switched to a Class IV seat, to complete an unexpired term that ends Dec. 31, 2002, the Township Committee will have to pick one of its own members to fill the Class III seat she has left vacant. A majority vote of the committee is necessary to make a Class III appointment. All the other seats on the Planning Board are, under the MLUL, filled by mayoral appointment.
In a letter published in this week’s HVN, Mayor Ferrara, Deputy Mayor Jon Edwards and Township Committee members Robert Higgins and Fran Bartlett said they expect that a new committee member will take the oath of office to replace Ms. Bird during the committee’s Oct. 18 meeting. Under state law, the committee has 30 days, from the date of her resignation, to fill the seat Ms. Bird has left vacant.
In their letter, the members of the committee thanked Ms. Bird for leading "the fight against unbridled development, towards financial accountability in our local government and towards constructive, open discourse. We will greatly miss her on the Township Committee but we are pleased she will continue to serve on the Planning Board."
On the Planning Board now as a Class IV member, Ms. Bird will complete the unexpired term of Sue Repko, who resigned several months ago.

