By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
FIELDSBORO With his father looking on, the mayor’s son, County Clerk and former Borough Councilman Timothy Tyler, swore in his council replacement at the municipal reorganization meeting last week.
Democratic Councilwoman Amy Telford will complete the three-year term previously held by Mr. Tyler, which will expire at the end of this year. Five council members approved her appointment at the Jan. 14 meeting; Councilman Steve Kafasis was absent.
Mr. Tyler was sworn in to a five-year term as county clerk Jan. 1 at a meeting of the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He has since sworn in members of the Bordentown Township Committee as well as his hometown’s council.
At the Fieldsboro meeting, he swore in incumbent Democrats David Hansell and Harry Brown, who retained their three-year seats in the November 2008 election.
Mr. Hansell was named Borough Council president at the Jan. 14 meeting, with all present council members voting to approve the appointment.
In other business, Mayor Ed “Buddy” Tyler said at the meeting that the borough managed to meet the Council on Affordable Housing’s third-round deadline.
”I don’t think many other towns managed to,” he added. He said Fieldsboro’s COAH obligation this round is four rehabitable units.
The state Department of Community Affairs late last month rejected a request on behalf of municipalities for an emergency meeting to consider an extension of the Dec. 31 deadline for filing affordable housing plans.
In a Dec. 23 letter to the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, DCA Commissioner Joseph Doria Jr. said such an extension would be inconsistent with COAH’s statutory obligations under the Fair Housing Act of 1985.
The borough also approved a draft of a drug-testing policy for municipal employees at the meeting, with all present members voting “yes.” The police force already has a similar policy.
Mayor Tyler said the municipal policy will be used for employees who drive vehicles or are in “sensitive positions.” Fieldsboro will pay for the $28 tests, with penalties ranging from suspension to dismissal.

