Since publishing the last BTDC Beat, the BTDC has been busy! What a whirlwind of awesome activity the past several weeks ushered in.
Memorial Day Weekend kicked off the excitement with a strong presence at the Liberty Corner Memorial Day parade, where the BTDC marched with a great group (and largest to date) of Democratic supporters and residents. They were led by Township Committee candidates Brett Hodges and John Tompkins, who laid wreaths in the Liberty Corner memorial triangle at the parade’s conclusion.
Leading into the June primary elections, we hosted gubernatorial candidate, and sitting congresswoman, Mikie Sherrill for an intimate and informative visit on Saturday, May 31. Mikie shared her insights on the current state of politics and what winning the governor’s seat in New Jersey means for our community, the national picture and democracy in general.
And she wasn’t the only politico spending time with the BTDC! On June 7, DNC Chair Ken Martin and a whole host of local, state and congressional candidates participated in a community canvass that launched from BTDC Campaign Chair, Sara Nichols’ home in downtown Liberty Corner. Other dignitaries attending the event included LD21 candidates Andrew McCurdy and Vincent Kearney, SCDC Chair Peg Schaffer, Commissioner Melonie Marano and many others. CD7 candidate Rebecca Bennett also attended the event.
The fun didn’t end there. In between all the action, members of the BTDC enjoyed a bowling night together, and celebrated Holi at a great – and colorful! – gathering with our local Indian community.
The No Kings Protests on June 13 also presented a great opportunity for local Dems to gather and get fired up.
Finally, the Hodges Tompkins campaign had their first meet and greet at Washington House on June 25.
The BTDC is proud to introduce its new treasurer, Sima Guven, who is no stranger to politics or spreadsheets. Sima is assuming the role after Fred Douglis successfully managed the books for many years running. A hearty thanks to Fred for his work!
Like many members of our community, Sima became interested in making a difference via local politics with Trump’s first election. She has lived in town for ten years with her husband and twin daughters, and in addition to serving as a district rep, she acted as treasurer for Jessica Simpson-Cook’s township committee campaign in 2022.
Sima has lived a life steeped in democratic values. “When I was young, my grandmother was a volunteer in her Democratic party and did so much work to help the poor,” said Guven. “In honor of my grandmother, I wanted to do my part to help foster my values and ideals for a democratic nation. I could no longer sit on the sidelines.”
Sima’s father served as Bureau Chief of Hurriyet, a prominent Turkish newspaper. She was always very proud of the free press and work her father did. And she believed the world around her would remain progressive, modern and dictator free. Born in England, and attending boarding school in France, Sima was familiar with the plight of young Persians fleeing Iran when the Shah’s regime fell in the late 1970s, never imagining such societies could hold, never mind become more commonplace.
Attending college and earning a degree in Economics from Barnard College, Sima recalls reading The Handmaid’s Tale as an undergrad and thinking, “This is sort of silly and would never happen in our modern era.” The irony of those feelings is not lost on her now. Sima went on to get her MBA from Cornell and enjoyed a career in banking and media. She currently serves as CFO at Eskare, Inc., an engineering consulting firm she co-founded.
The Guvens enjoy living in Bernards Township and being part of a small, warm community. As Sima becomes more involved with the BTDC she has hopes for the organization to flourish and for our downtown to become more dynamic. She says, “I wish we had more social activity, more places to go here. There is such a thing as good development that could include more restaurants and retail, more activities for all residents.”
Welcome to the Executive Committee, Sima! Thank you for helping to further democratic values locally.
Bernards Township’s very own Elizabeth Graner was sworn in as Somerset County’s newly appointed Commissioner on June 24, 2025.
Former Commissioner Doug Singleterry was required to resign following his appointment to the state judiciary on Monday, June 2, 2025. This triggered a special election by the Somerset County Democratic Committee. At the time of the vote, there was one other candidate, Daryl Eisenberg Knegten, who then decided to voice her support for Ms. Graner. Thus, a vote by acclamation was held and all present voted for Ms. Graner.
Graner, a Basking Ridge resident, has been an English teacher at Rahway Public Schools since 2001 and sat on the Somerset County Board of Taxation from 2022-2025. She previously served on Somerset County’s Commission on the Status of Women and is also a graduate of the County’s Leadership program, Leadership Somerset.
Liz served as Chair of the Bernards Township Democratic Committee from 2020-2023 and is still a county committee member of the BTDC.
Read more about Liz's appointment here. Congratulations, Liz!
– Nancy D'Andrea
It’s finally summer! School has ended and many of you have enjoyed graduations, and have participated in a variety of activities. I’ve had the pleasure to be part of the Basking Ridge Indian Community HOLI celebration and the 35th Municipal Alliance Twilight Challenge. Mayor Janice Fields and I also joined other Township departments at Oak Street School’s community day and provided kindergarten students with information about civic government while sharing information about our nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary. The hats and early American flag were provided to us courtesy of Ross Farm.
The Township Committee held one June meeting on the 24th. The meeting was preceded by three promotions in the Bernards Township Police Department, including Christopher Baxter to Lieutenant, Philip Jasina to Sergeant, and Dominick Aboosamara to Corporal. All of them have more than ten years of service in our community, and we are excited to support them in their new leadership roles. Highlights of the Township Committee’s June 24th meeting included presenting the Pride Month resolution, and approving a resolution accepting our Township audit.
Mayor Janice Fields invited me to present the Pride Month resolution to our recipient organization, the Greater Somerset County YMCA. During my remarks, I commented that throughout the nearly thirty years of living here, I’ve met residents who identify as part of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and/or are allies of the community. Like all of us, these individuals want to be respected and valued and have an opportunity to thrive. The resolution sends a message that we recognize, celebrate and value our LGBTQ+ residents and allies, and recognize and value the Y’s broad and intentional programming in support of the community. I also reflected that the Bernards Township Committee speaks to the Fabric of Bernards. This year, similarly, the Washington DC World pride theme is “The Fabric of Freedom.” Throughout history, people have used fabrics as expressive symbols, to communicate identities, and as forms of resistance. While the LGBTQ+ community faces growing challenges both in the United States and worldwide from those seeking to divide rather than unite, it’s the fabric of our community — through our rich cultures, diverse identities, and backgrounds — that will guide us forward towards a bright and hopeful future.
A priority was reviewing and approving Resolution #2025-0273, “Compliance with N.J.S.A. 40A:5-4, 2024 Annual Report of Audit”. As background, New Jersey State law requires the governing body of every local unit to have made an annual audit of its books, accounts and financial transactions. I was supportive of approving the audit as it resulted in no deficiencies, material weaknesses, or instances of non-compliance, which exemplifies where no news is good news. The audit encompasses a significant amount of time from the Township Chief Financial Officer, Sean McCarthy, and his team. This is important, as the Finance Department handles large amounts of public money, and seeks to do so with a priority on doing so with integrity, accountability, transparency, and efficiency.
I am a member of the cross-acceptance committee, along with residents John Crane, Nick Cuozzo, Kippy Piedici and township planner Dave Schley. On Tuesday, June 17, I attended a meeting hosted by the NJ Conference of Mayors, on behalf of Mayor Fields, that provided an update on the planning. Speakers included Walter Lane, NJ Office of Planning Advocacy. Heather Fenyk, Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, and Tom Dallesio, Independent Consultant, and who also worked on the first NJ State plan. There were several key take aways, including:
The State plan, which is updating the 2001 plan, is meant to be a guidance document, not an attempt to take away local “home rule.”
The State Plan is intended to provide strategy on the state’s future growth and development and areas for investment.
Farmland and Open space should be considered “critical Infrastructure.” Otherwise, one speaker commented, if we continue to deplete our farmlands, we should stop thinking of ourselves as the Garden State.
Lastly, land use planning and watershed management are crucial in protecting our water resources.
The timeline is to issue a state draft plan in September, followed with six public hearings. Following these hearings, the target is to adopt the final plan at the December 17th State Planning Commission meeting.
Finally, we are having a heat wave! As the liaison to our utility companies, I spoke with our JCPL relationship manager, Mr. Robert Flynn, regarding power outages in the area. Mr. Flynn shared that for any outages JCPL experiences throughout the duration of a heat wave, they try to put as many user estimated time of return of service (ETRs) on those orders so customers can appropriately plan. If JCPL crews are out in the field during an outage, and they determine that a transformer is undersized or overloaded, they are increasing the size of the transformers put back up to avoid the issue in the future.
JCPL keeps crews in rotation until the end of the heat wave/storms.Outages during heat waves generally take longer to address due to the safety protocols for crews and the frequent water breaks required. Typically, the outage sizes are smaller, however they sometimes end up being lengthier due to the labor intensiveness and the weather the crews are working in.Important: For any outages that occur during heatwaves, residents are always encouraged to go to a cooling shelter, including the Bernards Township Library and Town Hall. Also, be sure to sign up for RAVE alerts that can provide emergency/non-emergency information.
Calling all creating designers! I am the liaison to our Anniversary Committee, and as a reminder we have launched a logo contest for our 250th Anniversary programs. The contest, open to all residents high school age and up, is to create a logo that embodies our participation as a Revolution 250 municipality. More information can be found on the Bernards Township America 250 page.
In closing, the Township offers a broad array of summer activities. For more information on programs and events, be sure to visit the Bernards.org calendar.
Your Voice Matters! You can contact me with township questions/thoughts/comments at (201) 306-0178, or via email at amccarthy@bernards.org. Please note that any correspondence sent to me will be visible to the full township committee and clerk.
