Springfield Township Planning Board elects Jeff Tiger chair, names planners and staff

Jeff Tiger was elected chairman of the Springfield Township Planning Board at the board's Jan. 12 reorganization meeting.

The board opened nominations for 2026 leadership and, after a roll-call vote, voted to install Jeff Tiger as chair and Aaron Lauer as vice chair. "Today is my 20th year on the plan board," Tiger said after the vote, adding he was "excited" about the year ahead.

The board also completed a slate of appointments that will shape how development applications are reviewed. Members approved the nomination of Matt (board) Tavveris as board attorney and nominated Bruce Bergen as the conflict/alternate board attorney should the primary attorney have a conflict. The board voted to appoint two firms — Harbor Consultants and CME — as board planners, with the chair and the board engineer to decide on which planner to use per application. Mike Disco was approved as the board engineer. Jennifer Law was confirmed as board secretary, and the director of engineering was designated to serve as assistant board secretary when the secretary is unavailable.

Members discussed the township's public-notice process and confirmed that the Local Source would be the board's local newspaper while the Star-Ledger would serve as a backup for immediate notices; several members noted the township plans to transition to online noticing on March 1, 2026 and will revisit the newspaper designation then.

Why it matters: the appointments establish who will advise the board on legal and technical matters and which firms will prepare and review planning reports. Those choices affect how project applications are staffed and reviewed in the coming year. The board also adopted an attendance policy reminder, set 2026 meeting dates and confirmed subcommittee memberships.

The board closed the reorganizational business and moved on to regular agenda items later in the meeting.