Six Running for Mount Ephraim Commission Seats; Election Tuesday, May 8

MOUNT EPHRAIM

Work crews were installing decorative street lights along Kings Highway in the borough\’s small business district on Tuesday.

Soon, they\’ll return to put in new sidewalks, curbing, a town clock and a gazebo.

The three candidates running on the Working Together for Progress slate in the May 8 borough election consider the streetscape improvements to be a sign of positive change in the borough and a promise of more to come.

\”We want to continue rebuilding things that haven\’t been touched in 20 years,\” said Mayor Michael Reader, who\’s campaigning for re-election and heads the ticket that includes incumbent Commissioner Suzanne Gaglianone and political newcomer Chuck Mihalik.

The group wants to revamp the borough\’s antiquated sewer system and the commercial corridor along its stretch of the Black Horse Pike.

But Teamwork Improving Mount Ephraim, the opposing three-man slate led by former Mayor Joseph Wolk, believes local elected officials must first focus on budget basics before starting ambitious projects.

He and running mates Andrew Gilmore and Bruce Greenwald, both political neophytes, note the current commission is late in introducing the borough\’s 2007 budget and hasn\’t applied for state extraordinary aid — money given by the state in excess of normal state aid because of extraordinary circumstances — since taking office in 2003. It\’s also had three different chief financial officers within the past year, which Wolk described as \”alarming.\”

\”We want to have stable taxes, implement proper budget practices and file timely for state aid,\” said Wolk, who held borough office from 1987 to 2003, when he lost his re-election bid for a fifth consecutive term. \”I think there is some instability now.\”

Candidates on the competing tickets are vying for three open seats on the borough\’s three-member commission, which governs the approximately 4,500-person community wedged between Gloucester City and Haddon Heights. The borough\’s government is nonpartisan.

The elected positions are low-paying — $3,750 per year for mayor and $3,500 annually for the two commissioners. The three commissioners vote among themselves for who will serve as mayor.