HAMILTON  —  The mayor of the township has taken another step to reform the practices of the township in the wake of the scandal that ousted her predecessor.

Yaede, in the second press conference of her administration, unveiled a three-part reform of the town’s ethics programs involving ethics training, gifts policy and repealing the town’s ethics board in favor of a state one. She said the changes will not cost the township any additional money.

“This program will again reassure the residents of Hamilton that our government is sound and we can move forward,” she said.

Yaede said she will ask the council to end the town’s current ethics board, which has not heard any cases in the five years it has existed. In addition, the board has lapsed in the past few years. She said the township will now fall under the purview of the State Local Finance Board, which is part of the Department of Community Affairs.

“It’s very important to me to remove the politics from the process,”  she said.

Full story to come later.