JACKSON – Carl Book, Peter Maher, James Hurley and Nino Borrelli will continue to serve on the Jackson Zoning Board of Adjustment.
A zoning board hears applications that have been filed by individuals and entities that are requesting variances from municipal regulations where certain types of land developments and property improvements are proposed. The zoning board operates under the guidelines of the state Municipal Land Use Law.
During a meeting on June 23, council President Alexander Sauickie, Vice President Andrew Kern, Councilman Ken Bressi, Councilman Martin Flemming and Councilman Stephen Chisholm voted to reappoint Book, Maher, Hurley and Borrelli.
Book, Maher and Hurley will serve four-year terms as regular members of the zoning board. Borrelli will remain on the board as Alternate No. 2 and will serve a two-year term.
“I would like to thank all those individuals. They are all volunteers who are just looking out for the town. Thank you for your service to the town,” Sauickie said.
Borrelli thanked the members of the governing body for the opportunity to continue serving on the zoning board.
“I want to thank you for the opportunity to continue to do that. I love serving and volunteering here in town,” he said.
In other business, council members authorized a shared services agreement between the township and the Jackson School District Board of Education.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Jackson Police Department will provide two School Resource Officers (SRO) to the school district during the 2020-21 academic year.
The board will pay compensation for the SROs in the amount of $87,957 per SRO per school year, for a total of $175,914 from Sept. 3, 2020 through June 18, 2021.
According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, “an SRO is a specially-trained sworn police officer who is assigned full-time to protect the children, staff and property in New Jersey’s public schools. The mandatory training they receive ensures they are adequately prepared to face challenges that are unique to the school climate, and to handle them appropriately.”
A 2014 NJSBA School Security Task Force report stated that an SRO “can provide a critical safety factor and valuable counseling and support services for students. Therefore, the employment of SROs is the ‘preferred’ model for a law enforcement presence in a school building.”