Building is over 30 years old and used to store salt.
By:Eve Collins
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP The Township Committee has approved spending $75,000 to repair the Public Works garage, which needs one of its walls and part of its roof replaced.
The garage is attached to the Derby Firehouse on Crosswicks Road. It is more than 30 years old and is used to store salt and sand that is spread on the roads during the winter months.
A wall of the garage is structurally unsafe because the material stored there has been eating away at it over the years, said Public Works Director John Harney.
The recommendation from Mr. Harney is to replace the wall and part of the roof of the building. The Township Committee gave the department authorization to go out to bid on the project.
The unit also houses communication equipment essential to the Police Department. The equipment is kept in the garage because of the cold temperatures there, even in the summer months, said Lt. Frank Nucera of the Police Department. Cool temperatures provide better working conditions for the equipment, he said.
If the garage were to collapse and the equipment damaged, communication between officers in the department would be cut off, said Lt. Nucera.
Lt. Nucera said it would not be too expensive to move the communication equipment out of the garage while the structure is being repaired. Lt. Nucera and Mr. Harney will work together to determine what will be done with the equipment once the garage is repaired.
The Township Committee also spoke with Lt. Nucera and Mr. Harney about making streets throughout the township emergency snow routes. The two will prepare a list of eligible streets for a future committee meeting.
The idea stems from problems public works employees had during last week’s snowstorm, officials said. Snow removal would have been easier, said Mayor George Chidley, had residents moved their cars while workers plowed the streets.
Lt. Nucera presented ordinances to the committee to be used as models for Township Solicitor Greg Sullivan to create an ordinance for the township, and the designated streets will be added to the measure.
Once passed, the ordinance would require residents who park their cars in front of their homes on main thoroughfares to move their cars temporarily to side streets during snow removal, officials said.
The Township Committee also voted to extend its temporary budget until the end of May. Officials said extra funds needed to be discussed in light of the recent snowstorm and subsequent snow removal.
Township Administrator John Mason said there was an increase of $20,000 for salary and wages and another $20,000 for salt and sand for the roads in the public works portion of the temporary budget.
Mr. Mason said appropriations for other items had been increased, but those increases were not significant.
Township officials are still working on the 2003 budget, so there are no specific amounts available yet, he said. Last year’s budget was approximately $6 million, and this year’s is expected to be in that neighborhood, he said. The budget is expected to be adopted by the end of May.

