The MANCHESTER Times Vol. 28 - No. 24
In This Week’s Edition
BREAKING NEWS @
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
DISTRICTS RECEIVE PRESCHOOL EXPANSION AID
By Bob Vosseller OCEAN COUNTY – Manchester, Plumsted and Eagleswood are three of the 27 school districts that will receive preschool expansion aid to expand access to high-quality preschool programs. Governor Phil Murphy and the Department of Education recently announced that more than $26 million was allotted in the 2022-2023 school year.
The funding was allocated in the FY2023 Budget and ensures that nearly 2,150 additional threeand four-year-old children will have access to a preschool classroom by increasing New Jersey’s preschool seats to nearly 70,000. Locally, only three Ocean County districts received aid. They are: • Eagleswood - $527,448
Neighbors Of Proposed Park Worry About Traffic
Community News Pages 11-13
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 20
Page 23
Classifieds Pages 28
–Photos By Bob Vosseller Ocean County Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Mary Jane Bavais holds a map as Ridgeway Park Project Director Joseph Pirozek shows park plans to residents. By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER – Traffic was a big con-
cern of residents at a forum regarding a proposed Ocean County
park located at 3623 Ridgeway Road. The park will occupy land on
both sides of Ridgeway Boulevard, spanning (Park - See Page 4)
Base Expands Solar, Energy Saving Projects
By Bob Vosseller LAKEHURST – The Joint Base (JBMDL) and the fi rm Ameresco recently announced a new partnership to complete a $140 million infrastructure and energy resilience project. As part of the federal government’s Climate Smart Building Initiative, Ameresco will install a solar facility,
a battery energy storage system, microgrid controls and 90,000 smart LED light fixture retrofits. This project is one of Ameresco’s largest federal solar projects and the overall renewable solutions will ensure that the military base will have uninterrupted access to power to maintain critical opera-
tions and generate more than $4.7 million in annual energy savings. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Energy executed a comprehensive $92 million second phase designed to add more onsite solar power, energy efficiency measures, and infrastructure upgrades to an initial $48 million task order issued in
2021 for on-site solar generation. The project will both s u p p o r t J B M D L’s goals to enhance their mission through energy assurance and advance the Climate Smart Building Initiative. This is a federal government program, announced earlier this month, focused on leveraging energy per-
Quinn Hopping Funeral Home BURIALS | ENTOMBMENTS | CREMATIONS PRE-PLANNING without OBLIGATION Sara G. Toland, Manager • N.J. Lic. No. 4906
26 Mule Road, Toms River | 732-240-3800 | Quinn-HoppingFH.com
• Manchester - $3,076,056 • Plumsted - $700,648 “We know that providing children with access to preschool programs creates short and long term educational and economic benefits for families,” Murphy said. “When we invest in preschool education, we also invest in our youth (Preschool - See Page 7)
Candidates Spar Over Hours Of Mayor’s Aide
jerseyshoreonline.com
Inside The Law
September 24, 2022
formance contracting to achieve emission reduction and accelerate the clean energy transition. Ameresco has served as an energy services provider to JBMDL for more than 10 years, completing an initial ESPC project at the base in 2012 and supporting operations and
By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER – A few awkward moments punctuated what was a rather slow-moving Township Council meeting last week when mayoral contender Robert Arace accused the mayor’s confidential aide of clocking into work while not on township property. Arace directed his questions toward Mayor Robert Hudak at the close of the September 12 meeting noting that Jesse Estlow had not been on municipal complex property when he utilized a township app to clock in for work. Business Administrator Brandon Umba interrupted the mayor’s response during the session saying such commentary was inappropriate until a Rice notice involving the employee was issued. He further explained to The Manchester Times that “a public body is required to send out a Rice notice any time it has placed on its agenda any matters involving the employment, appointment, termination of employment, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation of the performance of, promotion, or disciplining of any specific prospective public officer or employee or current public officer or employee employed or appointed by the public body.” Citing the regulations, Umba said, “this also goes for any matter that is brought to the public body in a meeting.” The public body cannot comment because the employee has not been issued a RICE notice. Arace released the following statement a few days after the council meeting accusing the mayor of “willful ignorance in the face of (Candidates - See Page 5)
(Base - See Page 7)
DIRECT CREMATION $1895 Includes: arrangement conference, removal from place of death, alternative container Batesville ccbmdfc, transfer to crematory, crematory fee
“We are dedicated to exceeding expectations and delivering a standard of service that is 100% guaranteed.”