Berkeley Heights' playground camp serves 300 to 350 children on a typical summer day. The volunteer board responsible for overseeing that camp has been missing three of its seven members since late 2025 — and this week, residents showed up to a Township Council meeting demanding to know why, along with why two separate government inspectors showed up at the camp within four days of each other.

Former recreation commissioner Ed Gallitelli laid out the timeline for the council: then-chair Deb Varnerin resigned in October 2025 (she's since been hired by the township in a part-time recreation role), PAL liaison Doug Caruso resigned in December, and Christine Gertzma's term expired that same month after a decade of service. Three residents applied to fill those seats — Steve Hughes in December, Phil Burroughs and Ryan Larson in early 2026 — and none has been appointed.

Appointments rest with the mayor, not the council. Council President John Foster told residents the council "cannot do something that is outside our purview." But commission member Mark Dahn pushed back, noting council members appeared to still be in contact with the mayor's office. Gallitelli said he emailed the mayor, administrator, council and commission on July 1, asking that the seats be filled before the commission's July 2 meeting — and got back only that the mayor was out of town.

Union County officials made an unannounced visit to the camp on July 10, which Gallitelli said followed an anonymous complaint. A state health official followed with a similar visit on July 14, asking about child-safety and food-safety practices. Commission member Ed Kingsley said both visits traced back to an anonymous letter listing 20 alleged violations, though he said what investigators actually found amounted to minor cleanup items. "It's just the timing of the double team and the anonymous letter that was submitted to both organizations," Kingsley told the council.

Business Administrator Liza Viana said the township didn't even know about the county inspection until a commission member mentioned it roughly a week later. Councilwoman Margaret Illis noted the visit fell under an existing shared-services inspection contract with the county that already includes unannounced checks, pointing to a similar surprise inspection she'd witnessed at a town block party.

Gallitelli described the vacancies, a stalled dissolution ordinance, and the inspections together as an effort to undermine the Recreation Department. Viana disputed that characterization directly, saying the council had no advance knowledge of the inspections and accusing Gallitelli of misleading the public.

This confrontation follows the council's unanimous June 30 vote to table Ordinance 2026-15, after roughly three and a half hours of public opposition. That ordinance would have dissolved the Recreation Commission entirely, replacing it with a township-run Recreation Department and a volunteer advisory committee. The township said in a June 29 statement that the change would shift oversight to the township government without eliminating any programs, trust fund protections, or employees. Commission member Mark Dahn said the commission had voted to promote Associate Recreation Director Carolyn George, but her proposed title didn't exist in the township's job classifications — and under the ordinance, that promotion was contingent on the commission being dissolved. Resident Michelle Phillippi, a 16-year town resident with three kids in the district, urged the council to abandon the dissolution plan for good and give George a director title with back pay.

The Recreation Commission meets July 28 in the craft room at the municipal building, where Commissioner Mike D'Aquila said he expects the inspection matter to come up for discussion.