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Frank Spatola is New Mayor

Frank R. Spatola, Jr. of Vineland Avenue in Deerfield Township was elected by his fellow Township Committee members as Mayor at the Township’s annual government reorganization meeting held on Jan. 6.
 

Spatola, a life-long resident of the Township, was appointed to the Township Committee here in 2008 to fill the unexpired term of the late Charlotte Brago and was elected to a three-year term in 2008. Spatola served on the township school board for six years in the 1980s and two years on the zoning board. He is a graduate of Cumberland County College, where he earned an associate's degree in math science. He and his wife Barbara have two children now in their 20s. He owns Spatola Builders, a local construction company.
 

John Stanzione of Morton Avenue in Rosenhayn began his 13th year on the Township Committee as he was sworn in to a new three-year term after winning re-election in November. Stanzione has served as Deputy Mayor and Mayor during his years of service on the Township Committee.
 

Carol Musso of Rosenhayn, who served as Mayor in 2009 and who has served many years of the Committee, was selected as Deputy Mayor. She received a plaque from new Mayor Spatola in thanks for her service as Mayor. The other two members of the Township Committee are Keith Lauermann and Cosmo Laurella.
 

Spatola thanked the people of the Township for giving him the opportunity to serve on the Township Committee saying, “I sincerely appreciate all the residents, family members and friends who are attending tonight and as I have always said, the ideas, comments and participation of the public are important at all of our meetings.”

He added, “I appreciate the support of the Township Committee and the cooperation and mutual respect we have as we work together as a team to make Deerfield Township the great community that it is.”
 

Among the dozens of appointments made at the meeting were: Karen Seifrit, Administrator and Registrar of Vital Statistics; Michael Testa, Solicitor; Karabashian and Eddington Planning Group, Township Planner, Fralinger Engineering, Township Engineer and The Bank as Official Bank and Depository.
 

About 75 people attended and joined the Committee for refreshments in the Charlotte Brago Senior Center immediately following the meeting.
 

Municipal Judge John Casarow, Jr., right, administers the oath of office to Deerfield Township’s new Mayor, Frank R. Spatola, Jr., second from right, as his wife, Barbara, holds the bible. Also pictured are his son Frank R. Spatola, III, daughter Lindsey and his mother Rose.

Deerfield Township Committeeman John Stanzione, left, takes the oath of office for his fifth 3-year term on the Committee from Judge John Casarow as his granddaughter, Isabella, looks on.
 

Carol Musso is sworn in as Deputy Mayor at Deerfield Township’s reorganization meeting. Holding the bible are Dominick and Taylor Speranza.
 

Deerfield Township Committee, Clerk and Solicitor for 2010 – left to right, John Stanzione, Carol Musso, Deputy Mayor, Frank Spatola, Mayor, Cosmo Laurella, Karen Seifrit, Clerk, Keith Lauermann and Michael Testa, Solicitor.

Keith Lauerman, Jr., center, who led the flag salute at Deerfield Township’s Reorganization meeting, is pictured with his father Township Committeeman Keith Lauermann and his mother, Deana.

Township Government Reorganizes for 2009

The Deerfield Township Committee held its annual reorganization meeting on January 7 in Rosenhayn which included the oaths of office for two newly elected committee members and the re-election of its Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Frank Spatola, Jr., who was appointed to the Township Committee in spring of 2008 to fill the post of the late Charlotte Brago, was elected in November and Keith Lauermann, who ran for election for the first time in November 2008, were sworn in as Township Committee Members by municipal judge John Casarow.

Committeewoman Carol Musso, who served as Mayor in 2008, was re-elected by the Committee to serve as Mayor for 2009. Another veteran Township Committee member, Cosmo Laurella, was re-elected by the Committee to serve as Deputy Mayor. Committeeman John Stanzione continues his term on the Township Committee.
 

Mayor Musso congratulated Committeemen Spatola and Lauermann and Deputy Mayor Laurella. “I also thank the Committee for their confidence in me by re-electing me as mayor, said Musso. She changed a tradition here in Deerfield by asking our all the other members of the Committee to address the public instead of only the mayor at reorganization especially since there are two newly elected Committee members.

 
Laurella thanked the Committee for appointing him as Deputy Mayor. “I want to dedicate the year 2009 to two former Township Committee people who served the Township very well and who passed away this year, Past Mayors Louis Pizzo and Charlotte Brago.” He expressed his hope that 2009 is not only better for Deerfield Township but for the State and the entire United States.
 

Newly elected Committeeman Lauermann said, “I thank the residents for trusting in me and voting for me. I will do the best I can as a Township Committeeman because everything I do will be for the benefit of the residents and what’s best for the Township and not for me personally.”  Lauermann thanked Jerry Weber, who ran for election this year but fell short of election for the comments in the paper while he was running his campaign and wished everyone well in the new year.

Committeeman Spatola began his remarks by asking God to bless the Country, State and the Township. He commented, “this is not his Township but everyone’s Township. It belongs to everyone who lives here and who voted. I thank everyone for their support in the election.”  “I take the position as a Committeeman seriously and I hope that the Township will fight and win some battles on behalf of its residents and fight hard even if not all of them can be won.”
 

Committeeman Stanzione welcomed the new Committeemen and congratulated Mayor Musso and Deputy Mayor Laurella. “I hope that we keep the Committee working together well in 2009 to help our residents and to keep the township moving forward.”
 

There were many appointments approved by the Committee to reorganize the local government for 2009 including Karen Seifrit’s re-appointment as Township Administrator, Registrar of Vital Statistics, Dog Registrar and Municipal Improvement Search Officer.
 

Other appointments included Ruth Moynihan, Chief Financial Officer; Michael Testa, Township Solicitor, Carol McAllister of Bowman and Company, Registered Municipal Accountant; Robert D. Fischer, Municipal Prosecutor; Michael Laurella, Animal Control Officer; John Myers, Recycling Coordinator and Environmental Control Officer and Lorene Thompson, Senior Center Coordinator.
 

The following appointments were made to the Land Use Board: John Barbagello, Carol Musso, Cosmo J. Laurella, Samuel D’Agostino, Frank Campagna, Larry April and Jerry Weber.
 

Recreation Committee members appointed were Jill Travis, Carol Halter, Melody Chaplin, Betty Ann Mosely and Tina Truitt, Recreation Secretary,
 

The Township Committee established its subcommittees for 2009. Musso will chair the Public Information and the Emergency Management committees. She will be vice chair of the Recreation committee.
 

Laurella will chair the Roads, Street Lights and Sanitary Landfill and the Finance and Insurance committees. He will be vice chair of the Public Information and the Public Safety, Fire and Rescue committees.
 

Lauermann will chair the Dog Control Committee. He will be vice chair of the Public Buildings and Grounds and the Roads, Street Lights and Sanitary Landfill committees.
 

Spatola will chair the Personnel and Administration and the Public Buildings and Grounds committees. He will serve as vice chair of the Dog Control committee.
 

Stanzione will chair the Public Safety, Fire and Rescue and the Recreation committees. He will serve as vice chair of the Personnel and Administration and the Finance and Insurance committees.
 

The Township Committee named The Bank as the official depository of Township funds and The News of Cumberland County, formerly the Bridgeton News as the official newspaper.
 

The Township Committee meetings are open to the public and were set for the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 7 pm with the exception of August and November when there will be no third Wednesday meetings. Meetings will be held in the Deerfield Township Municipal Building, Louis Pizzo Community Room, on Landis Avenue in Rosenhayn.
 

For more township information call the municipal building at 856-455-3200.
 

Pictured from left to right are the D.T.S. Student Council officers: Cebreice Edwards: Vice President, Edenise Garcia: President, Brooke Travis: Treasurer, Mrs. Lisa Trexler: advisor, and Heidi Helriegel: Corresponding Secretary. Missing from the picture is Giavanna Visconti: Recording Secretary.

Deerfield Township School is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its opening this school year. As part of the celebration second grade teachers Eileen Morris and Laura DiPrima collected baby pictures from each staff member, scanned them and put of a display entitled “50 Years of Great Educators.” Students and staff have been asked to identify each baby. It seems like only yesterday that this school opened, putting all Deerfield k-8 students in one building for the first time.

The celebration continues this year.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded the township a $137,200 grant to resurface Maple Street between Morton Avenue and Kenyon Avenue.
"We hope (the grant) will cover the entire project," said Committeeman John Stanzione after Wednesday night's township committee meeting.
Maple Street's cut is part of $78.75 million in transportation grants to 372 municipalities that Governor Corzine's office announced in a press release Nov. 14.

The release heralds the grants as "a move that will create jobs and help keep property taxes in check." "Rebuilding the state's infrastructure, from roads to bridges to mass transit, is going to be central to both getting us out of the recession and positioning New Jersey to take advantage when the economy recovers," Corzine is quoted as saying in the release. The DOT supplies 75% of the grant funds upon awarding a contract and 25% when the project is finished.
 

The township committee also approved a list of 12 Carmel Volunteer Fire Company members qualifying for monetary benefits based on years of active service for 2007. The Length of Service Awards Program (LOSAP) provides income benefits to volunteer responders like firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMT's) for investment options of the recipient's choice. These may include investments like mutual funds or annuities.

Aside from official business, Deputy Mayor Cosmo Laurella sought to dispel the belief among some residents, he said, that the township's annual Harvest Festival is funded with taxpayer money from the township. "It does not cost township taxpayers a cent," he said.
The township recreation committee generates money for the event from various fundraisers.
 

After two and a half years in a kind of exodus, Starbound Gymnastics Academy has found a place to settle again.
Starbound staff spent Tuesday afternoon in their new facility on Landis Avenue in Deerfield Townsihp, next to Parvin's Mill Flowers, assembling equipment. "We're ecstatic about moving back to this area, where our clientele is from," said co-owner Amy Middlekauff.

The setup was just beginning to take shape Tuesday, with all the trappings of a gymnastics training facility stacked or lined up throughout. Mats of every type and size were piled high. Bars, horses and springboards - frightening prospects to a non-gymnast - had yet to be placed. The owners and staff hope to open the facility Jan. 5, Middlekauff said.

She said Starbound has about 200 clients. An additional 50, she said, seek to come back now that the academy is back in town.
On June 1, 2006, lightning struck an electrical box at the academy's former location off Route 77, in Upper Deerfield, and the building was totaled. Starbound eventually set up temporary shop in facilities owned by Stanker & Galetto, Inc., at Millville Airport.
 

But that was too far away for some customers, Middlekauff said.
Incorporated in 1995, Starbound trains kids 18 months and older in gymnastic skills. It also offers classes in tumbling and cheerleading.
It has 12 staff members, Middlekauff said, instructors who are safety certified by the United States Association for Gymnastics.
They are also current or ex-gymnasts themselves, she added.
 

Corrine Wright is a 1985-86 alum of the U.S. national team and a former Division I competitor at the University of Georgia.
She has worked for Starbound for about a year now, she said.
"I've worked for a lot of people, and it feels much more like family here," Wright said.
 

Setting up anew was also something new to her.  "This is the first time I've ever helped build a gym," Wright said. Starbound offers field trips and other recreational activities for children. Some groups involved are Girl Scout troops and home schooling students, said co-owner Lisa Battavio. The variety of activities reflects the staff's theory that gymnastics reaches into lots of areas.
"We feel this is a real valuable sport," Battavio said.
"It comes over to more aspects of life than people imagine."
 

Kids learn much about dedication and physical fitness, Battavio said. She added that they also make new friends and achieve a degree of socialization. Starbound also has three rental properties the owners hope to offer for dance instruction.But the owners and staff are thankful enough to be home in a new building. "We want to thank everybody for their support over the past two and half years," Battavio said.

She's especially grateful to contractor Leigh Marcello of Vineland-based Trimark Building Contractors, who has readied the academy's new building."He has worked above and beyond to help make this facility a reality," Battavio said.
 

Speakers at the tribute included Mayor John Stanzione, Deputy Mayor Cosmo Laurella, Township Committee members Carol Musso and Laura Pizzo, Congressman Frank LoBiondo, Cumberland County Freeholders Douglas Rainear and Mary Gruccio, former Township Committeeman Anthony Stanzione, Charlotte Brago and Tina Bidic.

The ceremony included ribbon cuttings and unveiling of signs for the Charlotte Brago Senior Center and the Louis Pizzo, Sr. Community Room, dedication of photo collages for the two rooms honoring Mrs. Brago and Mr. Pizzo, dedication of an honor roll of those who served on the Township Committee from 1897  to 2007 and fellowship and refreshments.

Both honorees were joined at the ceremony by many family members and friends.