Decisions may be made after March 8
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
The public discussion of a proposed teen center for Hopewell Valley is expected to continue at the March 8 Hopewell Township Committee meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Building, Route 546 and Scotch Road.
At Monday night’s committee meeting, in response to questions from Committeewoman Vanessa Sandom and township resident Billie Moore, Mayor Michael Markulec indicated that, notwithstanding any impressions anyone may have garnered from talk about the center at the Feb. 1 Pennington Borough Council meeting, no final decisions have been made by township officials on how to proceed with the matter.
The mayor said decisions about the center may be made after the March 8 meeting, during which the committee plans to confer with the township’s Youth Advisory Board on the center. The board is made up of Central High School students and supports a teen center.
Discussed by Mr. Markulec (the committee’s liaison to the Youth Advisory Board) and the Youth Advisory Board at a recent Pennington Council meeting was a proposal to house the teen center in a small vacant building on a 13-acre tract owned by Capital Health (CHS) in northwest Pennington. That proposal needs Pennington Planning Board approval.
In response to questions from Ms. Sandom and Ms. Moore, Township Attorney Steve Goodell said Monday night that, the state Open Public Meetings Act was not violated by the presence of Mr. Markulec, Deputy Mayor Jim Burd and Committeewoman Kim Johnson at the Pennington Council meeting.
The issue came up because the presence of three members of the five-member committee constitutes a quorum.
Mr. Goodell said there was no violation because the three members who went did not sit together or speak with one another.
The three members who went are Republicans. Ms. Sandom, who is a Democrat, said she did not know other members were planning to attend the Pennington Council meeting to discuss the teen center.
Asked if John Murphy knew about it — he also is a Democrat and was not at Monday night’s meeting — Ms. Sandom replied: “I don’t know.”