Oceanport is looking into shared services agreements with neighboring towns including shared court facilities, public works and police dispatch.
At the Feb. 5 regular meeting, the Borough Council unanimously passed a resolution to apply for a grant to fund a study of shared public works services with West Long Branch.
“We really don’t have any background on public works until a study occurs,” Mayor Michael Mahon said. “So we want to jointly apply with the West Long Branch council, which is seeking authorization this week, as well as to apply for a share grant to conduct a study and see what a Public Works Department would look like that would serve both municipalities.”
The resolution allows the borough to apply for grant monies that would go toward funding the study.
A shared public works facility is one of a few different shared services that the township is weighing.
“I spoke with representatives in the governor’s office to set up a conference call to discuss with us and the borough of Sea Bright and Monmouth County and West Long Branch to look at many of the opportunities here for financial incentives that may or may not be provided under any scenarios that we have,” Mahon said. “Specifically with Sea Bright, which is looking at their court system … they need accommodations in rather short order. Their facility is substandard and they are looking to relocate in a short time.”
He said that a solution could be a move to Oceanport.
“They are seeking to relocate their support system to here in the borough of Oceanport,” Mahon said. “We are working on an interlocal agreement for our court administrator to work as Sea Bright’s.”
If something is going to be done, it needs to be done soon, he said.
“The details of that are coming together, and it’s going to be quick,” Mahon said. “The council had previously given consent for discussions for this with a different neighbor, but with the timing of Sea Bright, we are going to need to act quickly.”
Mahon said that the downside would be that the borough hall would be open an additional day.
“It would be another day that this facility is used … this room in particular,” Mahon said. “It will be of no expense to the borough, as it’s a day that the room would not normally be used, as they are hosting their court in this room. For our court administrator, her time will be shared with Sea Bright.”
He said the borough is looking at neighboring municipalities, which are sharing facilities for some services.
“There are a variety of solutions out there for what could be done,” Mahon said. “There’s a model already in place with West Long Branch for using the courts in Ocean Township.”
Borough Clerk Kimberly Jungfer said that there are varying models throughout the state.
“There’s a more similar model in Belmar with Lake Como as [to] what we could do with Sea Bright,” Jungfer said. “They are not only sharing space but they are sharing personnel. That would be beneficial to the administrator personally, because if she needs some time off, she can take that week vacation and have someone qualified to take over, which she can’t right now.”
The mayor said that the specifics of such an agreement are being looked into.
“We are setting up a meeting with our state representatives to look at what reimbursement applies or how much money we would need and get information,” Mahon said. He added that the council would take action on that shared service at their next meeting on Feb. 19.
Also in the mayor’s announcements, he talked about a proposal to share police dispatch services with neighboring towns.
“We are going to be looking to set up a meeting between representatives in public safety, the mayor’s office and the police chiefs of both Oceanport and West Long Branch,” Mahon said.
Added to the agenda and unanimously voted for at the meeting was an agreement to participate in a commodity resale system with Long Branch for the purchase of unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel for use in municipal vehicles and equipment.
According to Jungfer, the resale program would begin once the borough is in need of fuel after its tanks run low.
Contact Jamie Romm at [email protected].