News

The meeting room at Township Hall was filled on Thursday evening, January 11, with Livingston residents and artists from the Riker Hill Art Park who wanted to express their opinions about the future of the county park. The park, a former federal Nike base, was purchased by the county for one dollar in 1973 and turned into an artists’ park. Little has been done to upgrade the park since the artists moved in.
Most of the speakers during the evening agreed with Harvey Meltzer, a resident of Drummond Terrace, who said, “A gem of this nature should be polished and enhanced… but not destroyed.” Noting the park's beauty, Thursday'sspeakers cited the historical significance and the possibility of using the park for educational  purposes. Drainage, noise, and light pollution were among the concerns expressed.

The Livingston Public Library will present “Nutty by Nature” on Thursday evening, January 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the program room.

“Nutty by Nature” is an improv comedy troupe that has been performing in the New Jersey area for over 20 years. It presents family-friendly shows that are based entirely on audience suggestions. In addition to providing material for the show, audience members are encouraged to bring their own “crazy” props that the actors may use during the performance.

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GAVIN'S GUESS was the winner of the contest at the Camuso Display to guess the number of M&Ms in a plastic snowman jar. Four year old Gavin Friedman, son of Marisa and Josh Friedman of Livingston, guessed 4,567. The actual number of M & M’s was 4,686. Guesses ranged from 100 to 8,000. Gavin’s mom said that she asked him to pick the number and she wrote down what he guessed.

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Livingston Boy Scout Troop 16, chartered by St. Philomena Church, held a Court of Honor on Saturday, January 6, to welcome its four new Eagle Scouts. Earning Boy Scouting’s highest rank were Marco Benedetto N. Agbayani, Patrick K. Miller, Mark G. Shaw, and Nicholas Brandon Sheehan.

Marco Benedetto N. Agbayani

Agbayani joined the Boy Scouts 12 years ago, becoming a member of Den 3 of Pack 16 of Livingston. He progressed through the Cub Scout ranks, earning his first rank requirement, the Bobcat Award, and eventually earning the rank of Tiger.

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The Planning Board approved a preliminary and final site plan for Cider Mill Partners to construct 56 stacked townhouses at 40 Old Short Hills Road. Forty-four of the units will rent at market rate and 12 will be rented to low and moderate income residents to help meet the town's COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) requirements.

The rental townhouses will be one, two, and three bedroom units. The property is located on the Old Short Hills Road corridor, at the previous site of Nettie Ochs Cider Mill, and is bordered by West Orange on the eastern side.

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CAMUSO ELVES BEGIN DIGGING OUT: Chief Elf Tom Cooney and several helper elves took advantage of the sunshine and milder temperatures on Tuesday to begin clearing snow from the character bases, workshops and other items in the Camuso Holiday Display. The plan is for the sun to thaw things out a bit, said Cooney, and complete the take-down this weekend. Here, Mike Stolfi braves the cold to clear out the snow from the display.

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PROGRAM KICK-OFF: The Livingston high School girls’ basketball varsity and junior varsity teams met with the Shining Stars special needs sports program on Saturday, January 6, for their third annual basketball clinic. The event, held in the LhS annex gym, initiates the Shining Stars six-week winter basketball program. also encouraging the Shining Stars was Sir Lawrence the Lancer, the Livingston high School mascot, and Barry Schwartz, DJ, who donated his time to play music.

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A snowstorm that featured frigid temperatures and high winds dumped some five inches of snow and brought much of the township to a standstill last Thursday, January 4. According to Department of Public Works (DPW) superintendent Mike Anello, “It was difficult to gauge, because of the high winds, but our best estimate is five inches.”

The high winds produced blizzardlike conditions with greatly reduced visibility, and made plowing more difficult for township crews. “However, all in all, things came out pretty well,” commented Anello.

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As part of the exploration into the possibility of participating in an energy aggregation program, the Livingston Township Council on Monday heard a presentation from Gabel Associates of Highland Park. The company is an energy environmental and public utility consulting firm. The Council had previously heard presentations from another company, Good Energy, which also presented a public forum on the proposed project.

As a result of the Government Energy Aggregation Act, which was passed in the state in 2003, municipalities are allowed to become the “aggregator” of their residents’ energy supply. This allows municipalities to seek bids for cheaper energy rates. Good Energy had concluded that an energy aggregation program could save Livingston households an average of $80 per year.

The Livingston Township Council is expected to appoint a new township manager in the near future. The appointment of Barry R. Lewis Jr. had been on the agenda for Monday evening, January 8; but, the action was postponed due to unexplained “timing issues.” Mayor Ed Meinhardt said on Tuesday that he hopes to have an announcement shortly; however, the Council needs to resolve a “few timing issues.”

Lewis will be the fifth township manager in the municipality since the township-manager form of government was adopted more than 40 years ago. The first manager, Robert H. Harp, was succeeded by Charles J. Tahaney. Upon Tahaney’s retirement, Michele Meade was named town manager and served in the post for 11 years. In 2016, the Council removed Meade. Since that time, deputy township manager Russ Jones has served as acting manager, with the exception of the brief employment of Gregory Bonin, who resigned from the post after serving just one week on the job last summer.