MANCHESTER – Two residents were appointed to voluntary advisory boards during a recent Township Council meeting.
Mayor Robert Arace appointed Phyllis Rehm to the Senior Advisory Council as Alternate 2 and Bob Ippolito to the Mayor’s Veterans Advisory Committee as a member.
Council Vice President James Vaccaro reported during the meeting that he had attended a meeting of the Township’s Senior Advisory Committee where topics such as refundable and non-refundable medical transportation was discussed.
He added that a lock box program was talked about during that meeting. The program involves the addition of 150 lock boxes as well a safety button program for homebound residents.
Vaccaro reminded residents, “if you want any information about any program from Senior Services, please contact them at 732-849-8305.”
Manchester Coordinating Council
Vaccaro spoke about his attendance at the latest Manchester Coordinating Council (MCC) meeting held at the Crestwood Village V Clubhouse that had guest speakers who spoke about the Barnegat Bay, the water shed, the quality of the water, and native plants.
Vaccaro said Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Sharry spoke “about the importance of advance planning for an emergency. That includes all types of emergencies that might occur.”
The official also repeated his request for an update on the status of the township’s 10-year renewable energy master plan “to better prepare for the future” noting state requirements for electric vehicles and the need to add necessary infrastructure to meet those requirements by 2035.
Proclamations Presented
Early in the meeting Mayor Arace presented two proclamations, one that recognized professional municipal clerks’ week across the state and the other for public safety communications workers. Township Clerk Teri Giercyk accepted the former proclamation while Communications Supervisor Stephanie Norton and Senior PST Dom Del Pino received the latter.
April 30 through May 6 was Professional Municipal Clerks Week. Giercyk served as deputy clerk for several years and as of February took over the role of Township Clerk following the retirement of Sabina Martin at the end of January. She is also the township registrar.
“I obtained my RMC in October 2015, obtained my CMC (Certified Municipal Clerk) in February 2020 and am currently working on my MMC (Master Municipal Clerk). I worked at Absecon, Atlantic County from June 2015 to February 2019 as Deputy Municipal Clerk,” Giercyk said.
She served as the Municipal Clerk of Shrewsbury Township, Monmouth County from February 2017 to February 2019. “Those were both part time positions. I started at Manchester in February 2019, and was appointed to Deputy Municipal Clerk in July 2019 when Marie Key retired.”
The proclamation about public communication workers honored those involved in communication services with police, fire and emergency response stating that “a prompt response is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property and in an emergency most people depend on the 911 system and the safety telecommunicator who staffs it.”
“The telecommunicators of the Manchester Police Department have contributed substantially to the protection of this community with the apprehension of criminals, response to fire and the treatment of patients and they constantly exhibit compassion and professionalism during the performance of their duties,” he added. The second full week of April is proclaimed to be National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in the township.
