Squads request first-responder vehicles
By: Marisa Maldonado
EAST WINDSOR The Township Council indicated this week that it will approve the purchase of two new vehicles for the township’s two volunteer rescue squads.
The squads have requested that the first-responder vehicles be included in the township’s annual capital budget, which has yet to be approved.
Council members agreed at their Tuesday meeting that the vehicles would represent a good investment in the squads. Both East Windsor Rescue Squad District 1 and District 2 currently use vehicles almost a decade old.
"I would support inclusion of each of those," Mayor Janice Mironov said at the meeting. "It’s a piece of critical equipment, and I think it’s timely."
Michael Quinn, chief of the District 1 squad, has estimated the cost of a vehicle at $60,000. Mayor Mironov and Township Manager Alan Fisher said Tuesday that exact costs will be known after both squads do more homework on the potential purchases.
Chief Quinn previously explained that his squad has been using a backup vehicle available to both squads for first response since its 1995 vehicle was damaged in an October accident. Kevin Hood, chief of the District 2 squad, has said his eight-year-old vehicle has several mechanical and electrical problems.
First-responder vehicles, which are stocked with multiple pieces of medical equipment, are the first to report to the scene of an emergency. [vmo: could be cut: ]District 1 volunteers who are on call take the vehicles home so they can respond more quickly to an emergency, Chief Quinn has said.
The township plans to allot between $1 million and $2 million for next year’s capital budget. The figure recommended by Mr. Fisher is $1.4 million.
The council most likely will not include a $60,000 expenditure to repave the Police Department parking lot in the budget, Mayor Mironov said. The area around the Municipal Building is more in need of curbs and sidewalks, which would cost about $55,000, council members agreed.
But the council should approve a Breathalyzer for the Police Department, as well as about 30 weapons for officers, Mayor Mironov said Wednesday.
[vmo: first optional ending: ]The council also discussed necessary road improvements, in preparation for an application to the 2006 Municipal Assistance Program, a program in which the county will pay for labor to repair roads if a municipality pays for the supplies.
Council members suggested several roads in need of improvement including Cedarville Street and Hankins Road, both of which the mayor said need repaving. The list also included a stretch of Dutch Neck Road and Morrison Avenue, which both need new curbs.
The township also will ask Mercer County to consider repairing two county roads: Monmouth Road, which also needs repaving, and Probasco Road, where a wooden bridge at the border of Mercer and Monmouth counties often creaks due to loose boards.
Mayor Mironov said the township has been asking the county for several years to repair the bridge.

