Council approves measure to hire three new police officers
By Christina Whittington, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — After months of heavily debated topics at Borough Council meetings, most notably, the long-term aftermath of Hurricane Irene and the future of Borough Hall, the Oct. 1 session brought forth upbeat happenings.
Barbara Jones, chairwoman of the Hightstown Environmental Commission, announced Hightstown was a 2012 recipient of a $10,000 Sustainable Jersey Project grant.
Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities in New Jersey that want to go green, save money and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term, according to the organization.
”Working with the (Hightstown) Housing Authority, we created a stormwater runoff demonstration site at the Housing Authority,” Ms. Jones said of the grant proposal.
According to Ms. Jones, the demonstration site included rain gardens, rain barrels and vegetative swales.
”We put in for a $10,000 grant from Sustainable Jersey, and on Sept. 28 we were awarded the grant.” Ms. Jones continued, “It is very prestigious because there is only $200,000 to give to all the municipalities in the state, and we got $10,000 of that.”
Ms. Jones also announced that because of the Environmental Commission’s efforts with the borough’s stormwater runoff ordinance, it was the recipient of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions annual award for “a perfect example of the scope a commission can achieve with enthusiastic volunteers.”
Ms. Jones said Joan McGee, policy specialist for the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed, submitted the Environmental Commission’s name and project to ANJEC.
”She was so proud of us,” Ms. Jones said. “We are a model with our ordinance. Other communities want to model their stormwater runoff ordinance off of Hightstown so that’s a pretty neat thing.”
Next to speak at last week’s meeting was Keith LePrevost, executive director of the Hightstown Housing Authority and a member of the Environmental Commission.
”Just to give you some background on the stormwater ordinance, we felt it was important right from the start, and at the Housing Authority, taking a look at the property, (were) compelled to do something there because it is a small site,” Mr. LePrevost said.
Mr. LePrevost indicated the Housing Authority property consists of about 3 acres, which, between buildings and pavement, covers about 62,000 square feet of impervious ground.
”If you think of a 1-inch rainfall, that is going to equal 37,000 gallons of water running off of just the Housing Authority,” Mr. LePrevost said in reference to the 3-acre lot. “I thought that it would be an ideal solution when this grant opportunity came up to try to address some of that.”
According to Mr. LePrevost, the Housing Authority location is unique because it is an existing site.
One of the solutions for the Housing Authority is the development of a rain garden in one of the yards, utilizing one of the largest buildings on the site.
”There are 13 downspouts on this building, and we are going to pipe all of them into a central location in a rain garden,” he said. “That one project will take about 4,000 gallons of water in a 1-inch rainfall out of the storm sewers, out of the gutters, out of Rocky Brook and recharge it back into the ground.”
Another solution for the site is the installation of rain barrels and drainage systems at the office building of the Housing Authority.
According to Mr. LePrevost, this is in an effort to recharge the ground in the area and keep the water from running into storm drains.
When completed, “we will be able to take between 4,000 to 5,000 gallons from a 1-inch rainfall event and recharge that back into the ground and keep that from running off,” Mr. LePrevost said.
By utilizing these solutions, the Housing Authority would be able to take about 12 percent of the current runoff and reduce it, he said. Mr. LePrevost also said the board of the Housing Authority is thrilled by this concept and is looking at ways to expand it.
Some future plans include new landscaping of certain areas, taking existing downspouts that normally would drain down the sidewalks and the street and putting them in the ground and building and designing systems to put that water and recharge the areas around it, using that water to irrigate during dry times. Installation of pervious pavement is also another future plan.
”This is just a start for us. This will be an ongoing project that will probably go for three to four years,” Mr. LePrevost said.
He added, “I want to thank the town, the council and the Planning Board for working with us on the stormwater grant and on the stormwater ordinance because all of these (groups) worked together to help us to get this, to get this money and get this project going.”
Mayor Steven Kirson said, “The Environmental Commission is very active and happens to be a great representation of the borough and what volunteers mean to the borough and how effective they are. And, we thank you very much for your efforts. You produced something very phenomenal.”
In other news, the council authorized hiring three new full-time police officers. The resolution passed 5-0 with Councilman Robert Thibault abstaining.
The salary for the new hires will be $45,000 per year, per officer. One of the officers will be replacing Patrolman David Chenoweth, who is retiring at the end of 2012. Officer Chenoweth’s yearly salary is $98,000.
Police Director James LeTellier said that while overtime has been tremendously high, the hiring of the new officers should be able to reduce 90 percent of that.
Mr. LeTellier recommended the new officers be sworn in at the next council meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15.

