Brauchle wins 2024 Municipal Coordinator Award

The New Jersey Clean Communities Council (NJCCC) presented Diane Brauchle, the Clean Communities coordinator in Frankford, with its 2024 Municipal Coordinator Award.

She received the award last month during the second annual New Jersey Sustainability in Motion Conference in Atlantic City.

New Jersey Clean Communities is the statewide, comprehensive litter-abatement program. It is managed by the state Department of Educational Protection (DEP), Department of Treasury and NJCCC.

New Jersey Clean Communities co-created the Adopt-A-Beach program with the DEP to clean waterways and protect natural resources. It also co-created the Adopt-A-Highway program with the state Department of Transportation to reduce litter on highways.

Brauchle is a certified Clean Communities coordinator; she took classes at Rutgers as well as several seminars to obtain the certification.

She has been the coordinator in Frankford since 2013 and has won various awards, including Excellence in Education in 2015, an education award in 2017 and thr Stewardship of Public Lands Award in 2019.

This was the first time that Brauchle been honored for the entire program she coordinated in Frankford.

“As the Clean Communities coordinator, I try to think outside the box throughout the year by not only getting our message across by educating those in our community but also by bringing people together,” she said.

Brauchle also is the deputy municipal clerk, Board of Health secretary and a certified recycling professional.

She explained that at a seminar she attended recently, someone suggested that she submit her work in Frankford to the NJCCC to see if it would qualify for any awards.

“The nominations are open to all township coordinators in the state of New Jersey as well as organizations who go above and beyond to help bring the plight of the Clean Communities program to the forefront,” she said.

At the beginning of this year, she submitted her program and was notified in February that she was the recipient of the 2024 award. The awards committee consists of county and municipal Clean Communities coordinators throughout New Jersey.

JoAnn Gemenden, the NJCCC’s executive director, presented the award to Brauchle as part of the New Jersey Clean Communities Awards ceremony last month in Atlantic City.

Gemenden said there were 16 different award categories.

“Her (Brauchle’s) program included different aspects of Clean Communities - cleanup, education and outreach - and was a model that other towns could replicate,” she added..

The Frankford Township Clean Communities program tries to educate residents about the reduction of single-use plastics and the bag ban, which became effective in May 2022.

Every year on Earth Day, it partners with the Greater Culver Lake Watershed Association to provide materials for a cleanup of Culver Lake and Lake Owassa in Frankford.

It also has partnered with Christine Dunbar of the Foodshed Alliance to annually clean up the Paulinskill River.

Skylands Stadium was used to get the word out about the legislation banning distribution of single-use plastic bags. Frankford partnered with the Sussex County Miners minor league baseball team and the stadium for Frankford Township Night Out, with discounted tickets offered to residents. The first 300 attendees received a reusable shopping bag.

In March and April 2022, township officials went to various stores in Frankford to discuss alternatives for packaging and bagging.

The New Jersey State Fair/Sussex County Farm and Horse Show is held in Augusta, a section of Frankford, every August. During the fair last year, a Kids Day was held under the performing arts tent with child-friendly community organizations attending.

A Clean Communities grant funded a performance and talk about the program and how to volunteer in the municipality. Children received coloring books and crayons. More than 3,000 people went in and out of the tent during that event.

For information about New Jersey Clean Communities, go online to njclean.org