BERNARDSVILLE – Borough Council members in a split vote Monday agreed to tell Somerset Hills Regional School officials to fund the position of a school resource officer themselves.

The council voted 3-2 on Monday to adopt a resolution in which the borough “strongly recommends that the Board of Education include funding” for the position “in the next fiscal year budget put before the voters in Bernardsville.”

The resolution was approved by Council President Vivian McMillen along with council members Michael Landau and Mikael Salovaara.

“If the school thinks this is a good idea, they should put it to the voters,” said Landau.

But Councilmen Joseph Rossi and Lee Honecker, who opposed the recommendation, disagreed.

Honecker said according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, the district was the only one in the county that did not utilize the services of a resource officer.

He said he favored having Mayor Jay Parsons continue working with the mayors of the other towns served by the regional district - Peapack-Gladstone, Far Hills and Bedminster Township - to reach an agreement to fund the position. Officials have said the post would cost about $100,000 a year.

The resolution approved by the council indicates that having the school finance the position would distribute the costs evenly.

According to the “Resolution Encouraging the Somerset Hills Regional School District To Fund a School Resource Officer,” the position “would likely be a Bernardsville borough police officer, since the high school and the middle school are located in Bernardsville and therefore require that the borough pay between 55 percent and 60 percent of the total cost.”

The resolution said borough officials recommended the district fund the position after “it has proved difficult to develop an equitable and sustainable funding system to allocate the cost of a School Resource Officer among the four constituent municipalities of the Regional District.”

The resolution further said the school district’s funding of the position “would result in a broader voter participation, a more sustainable agreement, and an equitable allocation of the funding, among the four municipalities.”

The issue of having a resource officer at Bernards High School and the Bernardsville Middle School has been a bone of contention for some time between the towns.

Proponents of the position believe it will help fight the use of drugs in the district and provide extra security.

Superintendent of Schools Peter Miller could not be reached Tuesday for comment on the resolution.

 

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