Friends of Jacob Vander House Plead for Lease Renewal After Township Raises Board-appointment Requirement

Yolanda Sillo, president of the Friends of Jacob Vander House, told the Bedminster Township Committee on April 21 that the nonprofit had been notified its lease would not be extended and pleaded for a renewal so its volunteer-run programs could continue.

"We received notice that our lease will not be extended and will end April 30th," Sillo said, urging the committee to grant an extension and a lease renewal to allow the group to keep running school programs, the Field of Honor and other historical events.

The request came amid disagreement over a lease provision that would recognize township appointments to the house's board. Sillo said the group had expected an easy renewal after years of collaboration and that communication with township staff had been "limited, delayed, and requests for calls ignored." She also cautioned that imposing government control into the nonprofit's bylaws could appear "unseemly and inappropriate."

A township staff member, John (identified in the meeting as a town staff member), told the committee the draft lease reflects conversations dating to a July meeting and said the township's position is that "the tenant cannot have the power to veto township committee appointments"; the lease limits township committee-appointed trustees to one-third of the board, the staff member said.

Committeewoman Moreski said she hoped the lease issue could be resolved because the Jacob Vander House programming was important to the town. Committee discussion described the ongoing talks as a governance and lease negotiation matter rather than a change in the township's support for programming.

The committee later went into an executive session that the agenda labeled as property acquisition (described at the meeting as a farmland preservation easement) and returned saying no formal action would follow that closed discussion. The committee did not take an immediate public vote on the Jacob Vander House lease at the April 21 meeting; next procedural steps were not specified on the public record.

The transcript notes the lease notice set an April 30 end date; committee members said the lease in the township's possession is consistent with prior conversations but that a single governance provision remained the sticking point. The committee did not adopt a new lease or set a public follow-up date during the meeting.