Debbie Varnerin is Chair of the Berkeley Heights Recreation Commission and Resident of Berkeley Heights, NJ

Dipti,

I was disheartened to see your response to John Migues and the Berkeley Heights Community Watch when you ignored my email dated May 15th. As a resident and the Chair of the Recreation Commission am I not important enough, or vocal enough, to warrant the courtesy of a response.

As the Vice President of the BoE why aren’t you requesting a full presentation in public? You’ve had multiple opportunities to do so:

1) You were on the Finance Committee last year when I presented, and you never mentioned presenting to the full board or in public.

2) You were appointed as the Recreation Commission liaison this year and you haven’t attended one single meeting. If you preformed your duty as liaison, you could have asked questions or suggested we go in front of the entire board.

3) You could have responded to my email on May 15th.

Instead, you did nothing and are confused as to why I have presented to the entire board or in public. I have been doing what I am told. Last year I presented to the finance committee because that is what I was asked to do. This year I presented to the athletics committee because that is what I was asked to do. There have been multiple public presentations/discussions on turf project:

1) Table at Winter Walk in 2019

2) Presented findings of public survey to Town Council in 2019

3) Discussed during Recreation Master Plan presentation to Town Council in 2021

4) Public surveys in 2019 and 2020

5) Discussed at public fundraisers and TAPInto articles

6) Presented at Town Council meeting in 2024

As stated, multiple times, this project dates back to 2017 and the property is NOT all the BoE. The Township/Recreation Commission has been maintaining and improving the Lower Columbia area for over 50 years. The area looks beautiful and welcoming because of us not the BoE. We want to continue to make improvements and make it the best, safest area for all community members—mostly importantly the kids of Berkeley Heights. The BoE has not been responsible for the area for over 50 years so I don’t understand why there is pushback. We are only asking for a lease agreement to allow us to apply for grants that are not available to the Board of Education. We already missed out on a $750,000 grant this year don’t make us miss out on more.

Here is my email to you on May 15, 2024:

Here is the crazy property boundaries of Lower Columbia. I think we can all agree something needs to be formalized on who does what where.

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