West Morris Request for Proposal Ratified by Mendham Boro

The Mendhams united on Monday night and pushed forward a request for proposal (RFP) that is intended to study breaking apart the West Morris Regional School District. The Mendham Borough Mayor and Council ratified their RFP which included additions given to them from Mendham Township.

Mendham Borough Mayor Neil Henry said he spent time discussing the changes sent over by Mendham Township with township Mayor Rick Merkt and Committeeman Rob Strobel.

“I think we’re in sync,” Henry said. “They provided some additions, and I think the additions went a long way to fine tune and sharpen the RFP.”

Henry said everyone was in agreement that they should get as much information as possible from the RFP and that they needed to fine-tune the preamble.

“The only small change I would rework the preamble so it could be more objective,” Henry said.

The Borough council approved the RFP with the additions made by Mendham Township, and the process now shifts to Chester Borough.

“I spoke to Chester Borough Mayor Bob Davis and he has given it to his subcommittee to review. They have not given us feedback yet,” Henry said. “He promised if we ratified it he would look at it and have it ratified at their next meeting.”

The next meeting of the Chester Borough Mayor and Council is July 16.

“This is a process that requires consensus,” Henry said. “This is not about one entity bulldozing through the process.”

Mendham Township Committeeman Rob Strobel said he saw the ratification of the RFP as a positive step.

“I think it’s a very positive step for two communities and hopefully for the school district,” Strobel said.

According to Henry, only Chester Borough and Mendham Township were asked to give feedback because they were the only ones who agreed to fund the study, but Henry was hopeful Chester Township would get involved sooner rather than later.

“The spotlight goes over to Chester. At this point, it is such a good RFP I can’t imagine Chester Township having an issue with it,” Henry said. “I would like to get the approved RFP over to Mayor Cogger.“