Year in Review
By: Vanessa S. Holt
July 1
Mansfield Township Clerk Judith Lawrence and five other municipal employees resigned.
The North Hanover Township Committee voted to use $425,000 from the surplus account to keep the municipal tax rate stable.
July 8
In a letter to all Mansfield residents, Mayor Patrick DeLorenzo answered the allegations made by a group of five residents seeking to remove him from office through a recall election by stating the residents’ statements were "false, misleading and childish."
Mansfield Township unveiled plans for a sewer system to be built in a subdivision bounded by Oak Lynn Drive and Columbus Road.
July 15
A bank account set up by a former Township Committee for North Hanover’s annual PumpkinFest 10 years ago came under the scrutiny of the current committee after auditors questioned the purpose of the account..
Eastern Organic Resources composting facility in Springfield tried new odor-controlling methods in response to residents’ continued complaints.
July 22
The Fieldsboro Borough Council dismissed its suspended police lieutenant, John McElwee, after eight months of administrative difficulties.
After being threatened with residential development, a 300-acre farm located off Jacobstown-Arneytown and Paulson roads in North Hanover could become a part of the state’s farmland preservation program.
July 29
Fieldsboro’s embattled police lieutenant, John McElwee, who was fired two weeks previously, sued the borough to get his job back.
The new $26.3 million Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School prepared to open its doors to the public for the first time during the week of Aug. 16.
After working for the municipal government for more than 10 years, Mansfield Township Committeeman John Bereczki officially resigned.
Aug. 5
Faced with cracking driveways, some residents from the Homestead development called on Mansfield Township officials to enact an ordinance to protect them against what they viewed as poor workmanship.
The Burlington County freeholders voted to reverse their previous decision that had allowed a local composting facility to expand its operations in the future without first holding public hearings following odor complaints from Springfield Township.
Formal application for the Williams/Transco gas pipeline project was filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Bordentown Township send a letter stating the company did not clearly demonstrate the project’s environmental impact on the surrounding community.
Aug. 19
The Mansfield Township Committee selected LaVerne Cholewa, a resident of the adult community in Four Seasons at Mapleton, to act as an interim replacement for John Bereczki, the township committeeman who resigned in July.
The Mansfield Township Committee dismissed the idea of asking voters in November to approve two special taxes for the construction of a new firehouse and farmland preservation.
Aug. 26
North Hanover Township Committee members voted on the introduction of an ordinance that would increase the fee a resident must pay to use the township-owned waste facility from $25 to $85 each year.
The Union Fire Company in Chesterfield Township considered a plan to hire three full-time firefighter/EMTs by early 2005.
North Hanover Township Committee voted to place a referendum question on the November ballot, asking voters to pay more open space taxes for farmland preservation.
Sept. 2
Two Mansfield Township committeemen, including Patrick DeLorenzo, who served as mayor, resigned their offices, making them the second and third resignations from the committee in two months.
Mansfield Township Committee scheduled to vote on an ordinance that set new standards for the construction of residential driveways, but Homestead residents who requested the ordinance were still battling with the developer over repairing their cracked driveways.
Sept. 9
Mansfield Mayor Patrick DeLorenzo changed his resignation date from Sept. 1 to Sept. 14, preventing his seat from being up for public election in November.
A group of North Hanover residents, business owners and government officials hoped to attract a large chain store to a more than 40-year-old strip mall on Sykesville Road as part of the overall revitalization effort in the area.
Sept. 16
County Democrats filed a lawsuit to force a special election for former Mansfield Mayor Patrick DeLorenzo’s vacant Township Committee seat.
Nine months into the year, the three remaining members of the Mansfield Township Committee unanimously voted to adopt the long-awaited 2004 budget, approving a 20-cent increase in the local purpose tax rate.
Family, friends coped with the death of Bordentown Regional High School soccer coach, Mike Aguilar, who died on Sept. 12 at the age of 48.
Sept. 23
A state Superior Court judge ordered special election to be held on Nov. 2 to fill the unexpired term of former Mansfield Mayor Patrick DeLorenzo.
Delaware River flooding caused by Hurricane Ivan damaged a dock and boathouse in Bordentown City and Florence.
Local residents and officials went door to door to register voters by Oct. 4, the state’s deadline to register for the Nov. 2 election.
Sept. 30
Marking the ninth resignation within Mansfield Township in three months, Chief Financial Officer Michael Lenz said he was leaving his post.
A state law that placed increased spending restrictions on school districts came under attack by local school officials who participated in a recent survey that demonstrated the harmful financial effects of the legislation.
Compiled by editorial assistant Ashley Caudill.

