Welcome to the Home Page
of
Warren Township Mayor
Carolann Garafola
E-Mail: cgarafola@nac.net

As a re-elected official on the Warren Township Committee, and now as Mayor, I will continue to communicate with the residents of Warren, New Jersey. In addition to publishing my home address and telephone number along with a privately supported newsletter, Neighborhood Talk Network, I now provide interested residents with the opportunity to visit my website and to contact me by E-Mail. As I go into my second term in office, I want thank all of those people who have called me, e-mailed me, written notes and supported my efforts to help to make a difference. There is more to be done in our wonderful Township, one of the up and coming semi-rural-suburban communities in the central part of the State of New Jersey. If you are interested in receiving by e-mail a Warren Update on a weekly basis about about our town and what is happening, send me your e-mail address to cgarafola@nac.net
What do we need to do together as we go into the next Century..........?

* We need to acquire for our current residents with septic waste systems, the opportunity to be provided with sewerage treatment facilities in Stage I/II, and V; and we need to develop an overall plan through the Sewerage Authority to help the residents who are here now and have been paying for the upkeep of the Authority and its sewer system.
* We need to keep our Municipal Tax Rate as low as possible by minimizing Bonding of debt; through the implementation of cost-effective measures in all departments and by investigating additional shared services with other municipalities; the continuation of a flat tax rate means that we have actually reduced our budget costs at the Municipal level given the rate of inflation and the reduced amount of aid from the federal and state government.
* We will work with Somerset County to move more quickly on traffic improvement projects done at the major intersection troublespots, particulaly Mt. Bethel/Mt. Horeb and King George Road/Washington Valley Road; and our Traffic Chair has now been placed on the Planning Board to improve communication between Planning Board Officials and Traffic Committee Officials; we now have been reassured by Director Freeholder Denise Coyle and County Engineer Michael Amerosa that a light at Mt.Horeb/Mt.Bethel will become a reality in 2000....much to the chagrin of the naysayers in our community who said it would not happen.
* We must put into place e-mail accessibility to the Municipality and through our Warren Website Page, www.warrennj.org ; and we will be networking many of the departments in order to improve communication between departments and provide information accessibility to our residents.
* We will inventory all Open Space lands through our newly created Open Space Committee in Warren and develop a plan over the next two decades to maintain this open space; and to revisit our Master Plan based on this inventory; our Chairman Richard Weaver has done a great job bringing together a cadre of people who have set up a mission, begun to write policy and will be our In-House Experts on what is available for purchase by Warren Township for Open Space.
* We will work on sharing of information to the public through Township Newsletters and/or press releases; and I will continue to fund my own two-side Neighborhood Talk Network....I have also now started a weekly Warren Update, an e-mail message that goes out to whomever has sent me his or her e-mail address. ...this is just one page of bits and pieces of information and all that needs to happen is for a resident to contact me at cgarafola@nac.net and I will gladly include you.
* We need to keep open and improve lines of communication between Boards, Commissions and the residents; and we need to look at the issue of what is happening with development on the borders surrounding us....Greenbrook has a tremendous amount of development which is dumping water and traffic into Warren; Bernards Township continues to put in housing development along King George Road and traffic comes through our Township as is the same in Watchung; increased population of residents in Watchung shop in Warren, according to NJ Monthly; Bridgewater has a stadium going in....where do the think the traffic will travel along....Route 78, Washington Valley Rd., Mountainview Road

These goals cannot be accomplished by one person. It takes three on the Township Committee to come to agreement and to carry a vote...do the residents of Warren want spot zoning that is out of whack with our present Master Plan....do we want apartments and increased traffic and increased demand on an aging sewer system and impact on the environment as is proposed by Haskell Developers....do the residents want a helter-skelter approach to planning....do our residents want developers coming in, building, taking their money and running....what do we need to do to help those who are here, have supported the growth of schools, the municipality expansion, the building of roads and the improvements all over town. We need to address a number of critical issues during these next years of growth and good economy. I will continue to work at persuading my colleagues at public meetings, however, we need to hear from you, even if it means coming out to Township Meeting, sending letters and organizing your neighborhood to let your voices be heard. Feel free to call, fax, e-mail or write or come out to our township meetings, the first three Thursdays of each month..
Five Major Issues and goals were to:

I.  Keep the lowest possible Tax Rate

Accomplished:
As Finance Chair, I supported a stable tax rate during my first term on the Township while at the same time paying down debt for purchased services and equipment. I sought a stable Municipal tax increase for 1999; and looked at considering a tax cut, but this could only have been done by borrowing money to support our Municipal budget. Our Bond Rating is at a AA Rating. We now have a new courtroom, opened in 1998 and renovated municipal complex to match our new library opened in 1995. We continue to have the third lowest tax rate in Somerset County for 1999.


II. Slow Down Development

Accomplished :
* Voted in support of an Open Space Referendum in 1997 which will bring in $200,000 per year in dedicated money to use to purchase open space for recreation or passive parkland.
* Supported the County to establish a new 150 acre County Park;
* Supported the rezoning of l/2 acre undeveloped land to 1.5 acre zoning;
* Proposed 10 acre zoning for any Assisted Living Facility and this was subsequently adopted in Warren;
* Proposed the need for a Cellular Tower Ordinance to control where they are built and how high they can be and saw this through the adoption of such zoning in Warren;


III. Increase Volunteerism

Accomplished:
Recruited and/or supported for appointment over thirty new members to Boards and Commissions within the township and recruited an appointment to the Regional Sewerage Commission; and set up two Meet the New Residents Township Meetings; ;


IV. Communicate with the Public

Accomplished:
* Established at my own expense the monthly Neighborhood Talk Network newsletter which now has a membership of close to 900 people;
* Published my home address, home telephone number, e-mail address and Fax number for residents to reach me;
* Established my own website; worked with a volunteer to establish a Warren Township Website; and worked with the Township Administrator and the Board of Education to improve technology within the Municipal Complex for residents to communicate;
* Initiated telephone calls to residents to ask the question; "How are we Doing?", particularly when concerns were presented at Township Meetings;


V. Address Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Issues

Accomplished:
* Established an Ad Hoc Traffic Committee which resulted in the designation of a standing committee, Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee;
* Supported the accomplishments of the TPSAC which included consultation from Somerset Alliance for the Future on pedestrian, traffic and bicycle safety; enlistment of the Warren Township Police to continue their successful activities in pedestrian and auto safety management; provided input and pressure through the Township Committee to Somerset County to improve such intersections as Mt. Bethel and Mr. Horeb, Washington Valley Road and Morning Glory, King George Road and Mt. Horeb Road and other roads; recognition of RideWise participant companies; exploration of RideSharing of commuters to the train station; and actively responding to residents' concerns and suggestions.
In addition, I presently sit as an alternate member of: the Sewerage Authority, a regular member of the Traffic Committee; Administration of the Township; Liaison to the Fire Departments and acted as Liaison to the Board of Education and the Library for two years. I will now sit on the Planning Board. We are now beginning the process of a major revision of the Master Plan. That means that there will be public townwide meetings, hearings, a formal survey and a final vote and determination on the outcome of the Master Plan for the next decade.. This process will occur over the next 18 months. This also means that whomever is sitting on the Planning Board in the summer of 2000 will be the leaders who will take the final vote on what happens in those revisions of the Master Plan. I encourage people to come out to the Planning Board Meetings. Listen to what the members say, listen to the questions that are asked and how people vote.

Warren Township Municipal Hall
46 Mountain Blvd, Warren, NJ 07059
Recent Activities at the State Level
Information at the National Level
People to Contact in Warren Township
Township Committee Members can be reached through Mr. Mark Krane, Township Administrator
or Mrs. Pat Czuprewicz, Township Clerk at 908-753-8000
46 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, NJ 07059
Other World Wide Web Sites
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Maintained by Carolann Garafola.
 
Last updated June 1999
 
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