Mayor Craig Wilkie highlighted the achievements of the past year while Jerry Sandusky was elected president and David Woolston was selected as vice present of the Florence Township Council during the annual reorganization meeting for the year 2019.
During the reorganization meeting that was held on Jan. 2, Sandusky and Woolston were elected by an unanimous decision from Mayor Wilkie and the council members. Sandusky and Woolston are joined on the council by Theodore Lovenduski, Paul Ostrander and Frank Baldorossi.
Sandusky replaced Ostrander as president and Woolston will succeed Sandusky’s former seat as vice president.
Once the elections of the president and vice president were competed, Mayor Wilkie provided the meeting attendees with a visual presentation and discussion of Florence Township’s most notable achievements throughout 2018.
Starting off with some of the most prominent accomplishments from the township police department’s efforts to serve the community and initiate further outreach, Wilkie pointed out the department’s increase in officers and their transparency to the public.
“We have more police officers today than we had in 2011. When the economy tanked in 2008-2009, there was a freeze. We had to get due with what we had to do,” Wilkie said. “Today, we have more police officers in order to provide some more services.
“Getting the police, children and the community to know them in friendly situations, so when there are times of enforcement, it’s a much easier process.”
Another key point from Wilkie’s presentation was a focus on the status of Florence’s recreational and youth sports programs, which included a reintroduction of a tennis program for the area.
According to township officials, the enrollment numbers for recreational programs have 275 youths participating in basketball, 128 in baseball, 96 in softball, 216 in soccer, 65 in field hockey, 128 in football and cheer leading, and 85 in tennis.
Wilkie also said that 2018 was a notable year for multiple projects involving the roadways in the township.
Along with improvements to many streets under the township’s 2018 Road Program, multiple traffic- calming and pedestrian safety improvements were installed throughout the area such as a roundabout roadway along Cedar Lane and Railroad Avenue, as well as anticipated plans to install push-button crosswalks among other projects, according to township officials.
“It’s one thing that when something becomes old, then it’s new again – we continue to improve,” Wilkie said.
Wilkie discussed several parks and recreational enhancements as well, which included taking a rundown lot and turning into a community garden, township clean-up projects, re-pavement and improvements to the basketball courts on Railroad Avenue as well as anticipated plans to construct and improve areas for future use in association with the Burlington County Park Grant.
“We take the money and utilize it back into the community, trying to improve the quality of life for everybody,” Wilkie said.
Not only did the township work to improve their facilities and recreational areas this year, multiple notable figures were associated with Florence this year.
World famous filmmaker Ken Burns’ visit to the Roebling Museum in September, Louis Borbi writing a book about the history of Roebling and former Roebling resident, Heath Fillmyer, who made his Major League Baseball debut for the Kansas City Royals in June.