Congratulations to Len Morano as he begins another term serving on the Township Committee and Marty Lesella as he starts his first year of service to this community.

As I reflect on this past year, I think about all that occurred in my first year as Committeewoman for Barnegat. When I took the oath of office on January 1 2008, I promised to do my best to represent the residents of Barnegat who chose me to serve in this capacity . I think about the issues that have faced this committee during 2008: Frederick Watts Park and should we bond; new equipment for our police department; tax assessments that had increased dramatically for some of our people as we attempted, through revaluation, to equalize taxes throughout Barnegat; attempting to develop a budget that did not raise taxes; reviewing the defeated school budget; dealing with shoddy construction issues in Mirage, to name a few.ÊThrough all of this, my votes were made after careful consideration of what was best for the township. I again make this promise to the residents of this community, to do what i feel to be in the best interests of the township of Barnegat.

When I drive down to the municipal dock, I feel a sense of pride in what was accomplished through the efforts of our public works department. It does, however, sadden me to see evidence of vandalism in missing caps and solar lights. There are many things that we can all take pride in - our 4th of july concert and fireworks, Community Day, Pirates Day wereÊwonderful events. Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Pearl Harbor ceremonies remind us of the sacrifices made to keep this country safe. The election of Barack Obama and the excitement throughout the world capped two years of exhaustiveÊcampaigning and saw the beginning of a new era.

We are already into the second month of 2009 and I am confident that our current Township committee will live up to its commitment to work together for a better Barnegat. There are difficult days ahead of us as the economy, not only here in the United States but in the world, is in trouble. I promise to work diligently to keep our expenses down in order to control taxes.