Aquatic Center Backers Petition Court to Order Special Election

Attorneys for the Berkeley Aquatic Center filed a motion in Union County Superior Court hoping to force Berkeley Heights Township into setting a date for a special election which could pave the way for the center's.  

The township had been ordered by Union County Superior Court Judge Karen M. Cassidy to set a date for an election for residents to weigh in on the BAC's request for a sewer connection for the Warren center, after the Township Council voted against allowing the connection in 2011. 

According to a press release issued by the  which supports the proposed Warren facility, the court's order was issued on Feb. 25, when a township-requested injunction against a petition drive for a vote was denied.

The press release noted Judge Cassidy ordered the township to schedule a special election date within 10 days of the order, in compliance with conditions set forth in the Faulkner Act, but the township hasn't done so. 

"This court decision was the latest in a series of failed attempt by Mayor Bruno and the Township Council to deny Berkeley Heights' residents the vote on a sewer agreement allowing the BAC to connect to the Berkley Heights Sewer Plant and to block a new BAC facility from being built in Warren Township," the press release said. 

In December 2012, weeks after a committee of petitioners on behalf of the BAC submitted more than the requisite amount of signatures required by law to set a special election, the township filed its unsuccessful request for an injunction. 

"Mayor Bruno and the Township Council continue to try to stop or delay this special election. Under his direction the township failed to follow the law and set an election date back in December," said the BAC's Jim Wood. "Then they filed an attempt to get an injunction—which failed. Now, even under a clear and direct order from the court, they choose to remain defiant." 

"Keep in mind that throughout this entire process we've been asking the Mayor and Township Council for an opportunity to sit down and discuss this issue so that maybe we can come to an agreement that would put an end to this costly litigation and forgo the need for a costly special election," Wood said. "Every one of those requests, even one as recently as last week, were denied."