S.R. to decide if police will move to trailers
Department will relocate during
renovations
The South River Borough Council is expected to agree tonight to house the Police Department temporarily in trailers.
Last week, Councilman Tele Koukourdelis said the borough would likely house police and the municipal court in three trailers in a parking lot of the former Lincoln School, located at the corners of Prospect and Williams streets.
At the council’s agenda meeting Monday night, the governing body agreed to go ahead with the vote for tonight’s meeting which is scheduled for 7:30 at the War Memorial Building, Main Street.
The borough has already allocated $150,000 toward the move as part of the borough’s $2.3 million renovation plan for the Main Street police station.
Court and police records will be stored inside the Lincoln School, Koukourdelis added.
During the renovation work, court sessions may be conducted in Sayreville.
If approved, the borough would pay Sayreville $200 per session for full-time use of the court and police holding cells.
Sayreville already has an interlocal agreement with South Amboy which allows South Amboy to use courts and office space in Sayreville for a small fee.
At Sayreville’s Borough Council agenda meeting Monday night, the council agreed to allow South River use of its facilities.
South River will still have to sign the agreement, according to Sayreville Business Administrator Joseph D’Arco.
The borough had been looking into temporarily housing the police and court system in the former middle school on Thomas Street. However, those plans prompted employees and residents to voice concerns over possible asbestos and lead paint contamination.
Koukourdelis said that although there may be asbestos and lead paint within the structure, the hazards are not as great as some may think.
Koukourdelis also said the borough is currently negotiating with East Brunswick to use a channel on its police communications tower instead of relocating the borough’s tower.
East Brunswick has a larger tower than the borough and testing conducted inside of Willett Manor, which lies on the edge of South River, showed that signals could be clearly transmitted.
The borough is investigating purchasing equipment from Motorola that could be used if the agreement is approved, Koukourdelis said.
The council will still have to go out for bids for the trailers.
Bids will also have to be awarded for water and sewer hookup, Mayor Robert Szegeti said.