The self-appointed Consolidation Commission opened and closed their meeting in short order on Tuesday, March 6th when vice-chairman, Rich James, announced that the pending RFP seeking a consultant to study a possible municipal merger of Merchantville and Cherry Hill had run into a roadblock. Cherry Hill Township wants several legal questions answered about possible sponsorship of the RFP before they will move forward. The meeting schedule has been suspended until those questions are answered by the DCA.
During the third meeting, attended by two commissioners from Cherry Hill and five commissioners from Merchantville, two more panelist resignations were announced. Elliot Stomel replaced Pat McCargo, a Cherry Hill commissioner appointed at the prior meeting, and Dan Fiedler replaced George Wilkinson from Merchantville. There has been a turnover of three commission members over the course of the first three meetings and the commission chairman has presided at only one. Current commissioners now include Anthony Perno, Rick James, Kathy Birmingham, Rosemari Hicks and Dan Feidler from Merchantville and, Seth Klukoff, Roger Dennis, Bernie Platt, Tom Yarnall and Elliot Stomel from Cherry Hill.