By Eric San Juan
Each month, the Community Connection reports on local news that impacts residents in and around Berkeley’s senior communities. As we look ahead to 2025, we also look back to what took place in 2024. What follows are the five biggest stories we covered in 2024. These are not necessarily the five biggest local stories overall – some news is outside our scope – just those that appeared in our pages and that we felt had or will have the greatest impact on Berkeley’s retirees.
Bacchione Becomes Mayor, Amato a State Senator
There was a major leadership change in Berkeley in 2024, when former Mayor Carmen Amato ascended to a State Senate position, and former Councilman John Bacchione became mayor.
Winning by a landslide margin, Amato joined Assemblyman Brian Rumpf and Stafford Township Mayor Gregory Myhre to become part of the 9th District legislative team, replacing longtime Senator Christopher Connors.
“Each vote was a testament to your belief in a brighter future,” Amato said on Facebook.
After an attempt to run for town council in 1999, Amato began his political career on the Berkeley Township Board of Education in 2000, and later won a seat on the Central Regional Board of Education.
In 2005, he defeated former councilman Peter J. Mustardo to join the town council. Then, in 2012, he ran for mayor and won, a position he has held since.
In addition to his history in office, Amato has worked with the Ocean County Board of Health and the Ocean County Utilities Authority.
Amato now represents most of the Ocean County shore region from Bay Head in the north through Long Beach Island in the south, and portions of the county from Manchester and Berkeley Townships in the north to Tuckerton and Little Egg in the south.
Meanwhile, Bacchione now sits in the mayor’s office. Re-elected along with him were Councilmen Thomas Grosse and Keith Buscio. Douglas Bowens joins them as a new member of the town council. All won by large margins.
Bacchione has three decades behind him as a veteran of the mortgage industry. He has been an elected official in Berkeley since 2009. He served on the Berkeley Township Board of Education from 2009 to 2011, then, in 2012 he was elected to the town council, where he has served since, often with a focus on finance.
New Hangar Coming to Miller Airpark
A $300,000 federal grant will help bring a new hangar to Ocean County Airport, better known locally as the Robert J. Miller Air Park. The funding comes as part of the federal Airport Infrastructure Grant program. Congressman Chris Smith helped push for the grant to be approved.
Known colloquially as Miller Airpark, the airport covers 822 acres off Route 530 aka Pinewald-Keswick Road, on the south side of the Holiday City and Silver Ridge Park communities. It is located in Berkeley Township, with portions of the site in Lacey Township.
Ocean County Commissioner Joseph Vicari said the expansion is needed because demand for the airport is growing – and that, he said, is vital to the county.
In addition to private planes, corporate jets, and emergency services, include the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, Civil Air Patrol, Ocean Air Support Squadron, and others all use space at the airport.
The project to build the new hangar is expected to take about two years. The hangar will be able to accommodate slightly larger aircraft than the five already on the site. Some aircraft owners have already inquired about space.
In 2022, there were roughly 38,550 operations in and out of the airport, or 106 per day. Roughly 64 aircraft are based out of the facility.
Bill Would Punish Financial Scams Aimed at the Elderly
Because scammers target the elderly to the tune of more than $3.4 billion a year, according to the FBI’s 2023 Elder Fraud Report, local lawmakers Amato, Rumpf, and Myhre co-sponsored bipartisan bills in the state senate and assembly that would toughen penalties for those who target the elderly, and enact law protections specifically geared towards protecting older New Jerseyans.
The senate bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support – it was co-sponsored by Democrat Troy Singleton, among others – while the assembly version of the bill was in the Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee as this article went to press.
Amato and the team’s proposal is aimed at protecting those who are most vulnerable, specifically “any person who is 60 years of age or older and is suffering from either a disease or infirmity associated with advanced age, or a mental disease.”
“State law should absolutely be strengthened to crack down on criminals who deliberately prey on seniors to scam them out of their money or possessions,” they wrote.
Their proposed legislation would make exploiting the elderly for less than $200 punishable by up to 18 months in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, and enact penalties of three to five years in prison, a fine of up to $15,000, or both, for amounts of up to $75,000. These would be considered fourth and third degree crimes, respectively.
Thefts of over $75,000 would retain their current penalties: second degree crimes punishable with five to 10 years in prison, fines up to $150,000, or both.
Berkeley’s Solar Array Has Been Constructed
Berkeley’s oft-discussed solar array went into operation in 2024. The project brings to close the story of the old Berkeley Township Landfill and begins a new story for the site.
The 10 megawatt solar field is located on 40 acres behind the town’s Public Works yard on Pinewald-Keswick Road. The landfill there operated on the site until 1974, when it was closed but never capped.
The array will deliver solar energy to up to 1,800 homes in the area. Berkeley residents are able to opt-in to purchasing energy via the array, with 51 percent of them set to be low to moderate income households. Doing so is completely optional. It also won’t impact how residents pay their bills, either, because their energy will still be delivered via JCP&L lines and their bills are still paid JCP&L.
The arrangement comes courtesy of the state’s Community Solar Pilot Program, which allows homeowners to “participate in a solar energy project that is remotely located from their property.”
Through the Community Solar Pilot Program, homeowners can sign up for a solar energy program and receive rates comparable to homeowners with panels on their home, despite not actually hosting or owning panels themselves. This means those who may not otherwise be able to afford solar power will be able to do so. It’s part of an effort to increase the adoption of renewable energy sources throughout the state.
Long-Awaited Veteran’s Clinic Opens in Toms River, Expanding Veterans Services
After years of waiting, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) opened its new, modern clinic in Toms River in October.
The new clinic boasts a 68,000-square-foot facility with an outpatient clinic for veterans, parking for 480, and more. It is located near Seacourt Pavilion in Toms River, off Hooper Avenue, and will be part of a much larger complex that will include a new building for the Ocean County Board of Social Services and the county's own Veterans Service Bureau.
The new clinic is double the size of the James J. Howard Outpatient Clinic in Brick, which saw upwards of 12,000 patients a year before being closed last month.
The clinic’s services include standard primary health care, as well as dental care, mental health counseling, physical therapy, and health services geared towards female veterans. It is just one of 10 such facilities in the state, with the next closest in Tinton Falls.
With over 40,000 veterans living here, Ocean County has by far the most veterans of any county in the state. There are another 30,000 living in nearby Monmouth County. This makes the new VA clinic a vital resource for countless men and women in the area who have served.
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