Chairs of Bernards Township anniversary celebration quit
Published: Jan 15th, 6:48 AM as Reported in the Bernardsville News
Anniversary celebration moves ahead as signs of friction linger
BERNARDS TWP. – As the township’s 250th Anniversary Task Force prepares to execute this year’s events, it will be doing so without its original chairman and vice chair.
Chairman David Becker and Vice Chair Jaye Barre, who had high profile roles throughout 2009, unexpectedly resigned from the 12-member group last month. Neither would discuss their reasons for quitting, but according to sources, Becker and Barre both clashed with Township Committeewoman Mary Pavlini after the governing body named Pavlini as its new liaison to the group.
Pavlini replaced outgoing Mayor Carolyn Kelly, who, another source said, offered to remain on the task force but was told her services were not needed. Pavlini, contacted Monday, said he couldn’t understand how she could have had differences with Becker and Barre because she didn’t attend her first task force meeting until Thursday, Jan. 7. At that meeting, she was named acting chair. She said Becker resigned for business and personal reasons, and she referred this newspaper to a resignation letter he had sent. She said Barre had yet to submit such a letter.
In Becker’s letter, dated Dec. 22, the North Maple Avenue resident said he was resigning effective Dec. 17. “It’s been a pleasure to serve and I am confident the Task Force is in good hands for next year’s anniversary celebration,” he wrote.
Becker, who has produced the county’s annual “History Weekend” at the Boudinot-Southard-Ross property on North Maple Avenue, wrote that he was also stepping down from the township’s Green Team and Charter Day Committee. “It’s simply time for me to step back and re-evaluate my commitment to municipal activities,” he added. “After also serving on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for three years, it’s best that I focus on my personal and professional life for awhile.”
Mum’s The Word
An inquiry to Becker from this newspaper produced no further insight. In a voice mail response, he said he would talk about “any other topic you would like. I’m not really talking about the 250 task force.”
Barre, contacted by this newspaper, didn’t have much more to say. “It was just time for a change in leadership,” she said. “They were going in a different direction. We felt we had made a significant contribution. David and I took it on together.” Barre, a South Maple Avenue resident who is a director of the Trilogy Repertory Theater, said she would remain involved in the theater’s plans to re-enact the British capture of Revolutionary War Gen. Charles Lee in Basking Ridge next December as part of the yearlong celebration.
Becker and Barre were named to their leadership posts when the committee created the task force last Jan. 27. Minutes of task force meetings indicate that Becker chaired all 10 meetings through November, while Barre attended all but one. “I wish them well,” said Pavlini. “They’ve done a good job.”
Mayor Scott Spitzer, like Pavlini, said Becker’s resignation letter indicated that the departure was for professional reasons. “There are a number of good volunteers like David who choose not to continue,” said Spitzer, whose wife, Toby, serves on the task force. “These things happen, and we continue to get a series of good volunteers who step in to help out.”
As for Kelly’s departure, “the position she had on the task force was in her capacity as mayor, and since she was no longer mayor, the Township Committee discussed it and came up with Mary Pavlini to replace her.” Spitzer, who works in New York and would be unable to attend the group’s 4 p.m. meetings himself, said Pavlini was a logical choice because she is the liaison to the Charter Day Committee.
Asked if Kelly could have been kept on as a private citizen, Spitzer reiterated that Kelly had held the group’s mayoral slot. “But I appreciate Mayor Kelly’s involvement and her vision, since she was instrumental in focusing the town’s attention on the 250th anniversary,” he said. Kelly declined to discuss her offer to stay on the task force. Pavlini said the group’s work has reached the point where most of the events have been planned and scheduled, with the remaining work focused largely on implementation.
Township Historian June Kennedy, a task force member who said she did not know the cause of the resignations, praised Becker and Barre.“The township couldn’t have picked two more perfect people,” she said. “They brought such vivacity and life to the effort. If nothing else, they have put us on the right road, and hopefully they can share in some of the celebration they have helped put together.”
The reporter can be reached at jperry@recordernewspapers.com
