By Matthew Liebross, Special Writer
There has been much to restore throughout New Jersey since Hurricane Irene struck back in August of 2011, including Borough Hall.
Many local buildings and landmarks were destroyed in the storm all along the coast and Hightstown was no different.
Among the casualties was Hightstown’s Borough Hall, which has remained closed since the tropical storm.
According to previous articles published in the Herald, the matter has been subject to much controversy for quite sometime.
While it began as a debate of whether to move it to a new location, the matter was decided that the building would remain at its current location downtown.
Much time has passed since this decision occurred, yet no progress has been made in the restoration of Borough Hall.
Last November, a committee was formed to investigate the lack of development.
The objective was to examine what the hold up was, trying to figure out why it has taken almost three years for construction to occur.
At Monday’s Hightstown’s Borough Council Meeting, council members passed an ordinance, which will disband the committee.
The vote, however, was not unanimous, with two council members voting not to the disband the panel.
Council members in favor of dissolving the committee said they were concerned due to the lack of progress shown.
They said they have seen no improvement since the committee was formed and, at their request, the council members have received documents displaying the lack of progress.
During the meeting, several Hightstown citizens voiced their doubts on how the committee and the Borough Hall situation, in general, has been handled thus far.
”It’s an embarrassment,” one frustrated citizen said, “It’s time we stopped spending money foolishly, but now, what is our plan moving forward?”
Other residents held similar beliefs regarding Borough Hall, seeing the loss of the investigation committee as a step backward rather than forward.
”We know the investigation has been lacking, but that doesn’t mean we can just sweep the problem under the rug,” another resident, irate with how the proceedings have developed, commented. “It’s necessary to know what happened so this problem can be avoided in the future.”
Council members did not have a response for what the next step in the development of Borough Hall will be.
At the moment, it seems that no resolution is in sight.

