Mike Moscatiello is named to his second term as mayor of North Hanover.
By: William Wichert
NORTH HANOVER In the upcoming year as the township’s mayor, Mike Moscatiello said he plans to focus on keeping the tax rate stable, pursuing farmland preservation, and redeveloping the commercial area along Sykesville Road.
Now in his second year on the Township Committee, Mr. Moscatiello was named mayor of North Hanover Township at the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting, replacing Lou DeLorenzo as the head of the Republican-led governing body.
"This way I can actively be involved in everybody’s sandbox," said Mr. Moscatiello in a phone interview on Monday. "It may be a little bit more time-consuming, but I can’t think of any other way to serve the residents."
Among his goals for 2005, Mr. Moscatiello said he wants to continue the efforts made by Mr. DeLorenzo to protect farms from residential development through the state’s farmland preservation program. Last year, the township began the preservation process for five farms spanning more than 800 acres.
"Our campaign was all about keeping the township rural, but affordable. We’re gonna stay the course," he said.
The Township Committee is also expected to continue working with the Economic Development Committee to help attract more businesses to a strip mall along Sykesville Road, where six out of the mall’s 15 businesses have shut down since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Moscatiello said.
After the attacks, the federal government closed off Texas Avenue, one of main roads connecting the Sykesville area to the Fort Dix Army Base and Wrightstown, and many customers stopped shopping at the strip mall, officials have said. In 2002, another blow came when the Ames Department Store at the mall shut down due to bankruptcy problems, officials have said.
In recent months, the EDC and the township’s Joint Land Use Board have considered making this strip mall the centerpiece of the overall redevelopment of Sykesville Road.
"We want to have that balance of agriculture, residential, and commercial," said Mr. Moscatiello, who said more businesses are needed to generate enough "ratables" to stabilize the local-purpose tax rate this year. "Our objective is to avoid a tax increase."
After approving a municipal budget last year that did not include a municipal tax increase for the first time in five years, Mr. Moscatiello said the Township Committee also implemented several tax-saving measures.
One measure, he said, involved reconfiguring the phone system at the municipal building from $28,000 for 21 phone lines to $13,000 for six phone lines. Another measure was a 2 percent reduction in the fixed costs of all professional contracts, he said.
Mr. Moscatiello’s previous position as deputy mayor was given to Township Committeeman Bill Tilton, who is also beginning his second year on the committee.
In addition to Mr. DeLorenzo, who is entering the final year of his term, the new Township Committee includes Committeewoman Nancy Morrow, the committee’s only Democrat, who was sworn in at Saturday’s meeting for her fourth term, and Republican Paul Bruni, who took a seat on the dais for the start of his first term.
Mr. Moscatiello is serving as the sub-standard housing commissioner, and Mr. Tilton replaces him as police commissioner.
Mr. DeLorenzo replaces Ms. Morrow as Landfill/Recycling commissioner, and she replaces Mr. Moscatiello as the mobile home commissioner. Mr. Bruni becomes Public Works commissioner.
In a phone interview on Monday, Mr. Bruni said he did not expect to make any major changes in the Public Works Department, but only look to save money.
"I want to use my business experience to trim some fat," said Mr. Bruni, the president and owner of Delaware Valley Spray Service Inc., which his father founded. "Hopefully, we don’t get a lot of snowstorms this year, so we can save the money."
Mr. Bruni said he dedicated his upcoming term to the memory of his mother, Ida Bruni, who served as the first female mayor of North Hanover in 1980.

