About LocalWhy
Bernards' public record, explained
LocalWhy explains what Bernards Township, New Jersey decides and why, from the record itself: ordinances, resolutions, budgets, court filings, notices, minutes and meeting video. It follows the decisions residents care about across the township, issue by issue.
What LocalWhy is
LocalWhy is a non-partisan publisher. It does not take sides on what the township should decide, endorse candidates, or act for any party to a hearing or lawsuit. It sets out what was decided, what each side argued, and what happens next, with a source on every claim. This site does not solicit donations of any kind.
Reach LocalWhy at info@localwhy.org. Corrections are welcome and are made on the record.
How Bernards is governed
Bernards has the township form of government: a five-member Township Committee, elected at large in partisan elections for staggered three-year terms, holds the township’s legislative and executive powers. Each January the Committee chooses a Mayor from among its members. Two seats are on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot.
At its Jan. 6, 2026 reorganization the Committee chose Ana Duarte McCarthy as Mayor, 5–0, and John Tompkins as Deputy Mayor; the other members are Jennifer L. Asay, Brett Hodges and Andrew J. McNally. Pasquale Monaco is Township Administrator and Christine V. Kieffer is Municipal Clerk, as the reorganization minutes and the township’s Committee page record.
The Committee meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday after the first Monday, in the Warren Craft Meeting Room at the Municipal Building, 1 Collyer Lane, Basking Ridge, with two public comment periods of five minutes per speaker. Land-use applications go to the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Sewer service is run by the separate Bernards Township Sewerage Authority, fire and rescue by the volunteer Basking Ridge and Liberty Corner companies, and the schools by the Bernards Township Board of Education.
Meetings are streamed and archived on the township’s YouTube channel. Agendas and minutes are posted on its meeting-documents pages, and since March 1, 2026 its legal notices on the public-notices bulletin board.
The budget and the tax bill
The 2026 general tax rate in Bernards is 1.661 per $100 of assessed value, by the Somerset County Board of Taxation’s 2026 Abstract of Ratables: 1.077 for the Bernards Township School District, 0.275 for the County, 0.030 for county open space, 0.033 for the township library and 0.246 for the township’s own budget. The Township Committee sets the municipal budget and the library levy.
The Committee adopted the $49.77 million 2026 municipal budget 5–0 on April 28, 2026. The township reports no municipal debt and pays for capital work in cash. The budget, step by step.
What is open now
Four of the issues in motion. Every issue is on its own page.
The former Lord Stirling School
Hearing continues Dec. 8On Nov. 11, 2025 the Township Committee voted 3–2 to have the Planning Board study whether the former Lord Stirling School at 99 Lord Stirling Road and the lot at 25 Sherwood Drive are an area in need of redevelopment, without eminent domain. The Board opened its hearing on Oct. 20, 2026 and carried it to Dec. 8, the township’s recording shows; it has not voted.
The Fourth Round housing plan
Certified April 2026Bernards’ 2025–2035 obligation is 24 homes to rehabilitate and 198 new affordable homes. The court certified the township’s plan in April 2026, with protection from builder’s-remedy suits through June 30, 2035; Ridge Oak IV’s 29 senior units won site plan approval in May 2026.
Allen Road pedestrian safety
Engineering studies under wayAfter a resident died after being struck by a car on Allen Road in October 2025, residents spoke about Allen Road 17 times at four Township Committee meetings. Allen Road is a county road (CR 652); the Mayor said in January 2026 that county and township engineering studies were under way.
131 Morristown Road townhouses
Vote fell short Oct. 28131 Morristown Rd LLC asked the Zoning Board for use and floor-area variances to replace an office complex on Route 202 with 125 age-restricted townhouses. On Oct. 28, 2026 the motion to approve drew four votes to three, the township’s recording shows; a use variance needs five. The Board’s written resolution is still to come.
How we cover Bernards
Every page rests on the record: the minutes of the Township Committee, Planning Board and Zoning Board, the township’s notices, ordinances and resolutions, court filings, and the county, state and federal records behind them. Where the record is silent or conflicts, we say so rather than fill the gap. Where only a newspaper has reported something, we name the paper. Where the township has not yet posted a meeting’s minutes, the page says so, and any outcome taken from the township’s recording is marked as such.
We publish every public fact in the record, in election season as at any other time. When we report how members voted we give the whole roll call, and where members disagreed on the record we give each side’s stated reason. We do not assign credit or blame.
How to get involved
- 01
Show up. The Township Committee meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday after the first Monday; the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment also meet at 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 1 Collyer Lane. Dates move, so check the township's Board Meetings calendar before you go. Public comment is your right, and it is on the record.
- 02
Read the primary sources. Our meeting summaries and the township documents are in one place so you do not have to take our word for anything.
- 03
Get the updates. We send a short note when something actually happens — a vote, a filing, a hearing date. Not more often than that.
- 04
Tell us what we got wrong or missed. A date, a vote, a document that should be here. Write to info@localwhy.org.
Stay with the story
The decisions are made in public meetings you can attend.