CRANBURY: Committee adopts incentive ordinance

By Nicole M. Wells, Special Writer
CRANBURY — The Township Committee voted 3-0 to adopt an ordinance that would create a volunteer incentive program for fire company and first aid squad members at its meeting Monday night.
According to Township Clerk Kathleen Cunningham, Committeeman Dan Mulligan was absent from the meeting and Committeeman Jay Taylor left early.
Mr. Taylor is a member of Cranbury Volunteer Fire Company and would have had to abstain from the vote had he not recused himself.
According to a copy of the text, ordinance 11-14-12 will supplement the township code by creating a new section "to recognize the personal commitment of time, energy and expertise of the responders" and "to encourage members to respond to as many calls as possible."
It will do this by providing for a financial incentive program to encourage volunteering for the fire company and first aid squad, both of which are all-volunteer organizations.
"The fire department came to us early in the year and said that they were concerned about their ability to recruit sufficient additional personnel in order to maintain a volunteer fire department and the first aid squad had the same issue," Mayor Susan Goetz said, after the first reading of the ordinance on Nov. 24. "So they were looking for some help from us to provide incentives."
Fire Chief Michael Kervan said that he, along with the fire company’s president and the chief of the first aid squad, took a look at what other towns were doing with incentive programs when they were designing Cranbury’s.
"We’re hoping that this is going to be another way to get people to participate in these organizations," he said. "If it brings even a couple more members, it’ll be worth it."
Mr. Kervan also said that the cost of the incentive program is cheaper for the town than hiring a full-time fire department.
According to the ordinance, the program will be funded annually by a maximum of $10,000, which will be split between the Fire Company and the first aid squad.
A $10,000 line item was included in the budget at the beginning of this year to fund the program, Mayor Goetz said.
Each organization will be responsible for distributing the township appropriation to its members in a manner that encourages them to respond to calls and that is in strict accordance with its own rules and bylaws, the ordinance states.
Each organization is also free to raise additional funds from other sources to supplement the township appropriation.
The ordinance states that no member will be allowed to receive more than $500 of the township appropriation in any one-year.
An accounting will be made by the organization to the Township Administrator no more than 30 days after the distribution of the township appropriation, detailing the member’s name, amount received, method for determining the distribution of funds and certification that the person is a volunteer.
According to the ordinance, this accounting is a prerequisite for the organization to receive the township appropriation the following year.
The ordinance was introduced by a 3-0 vote at the Nov. 24 meeting.
No one from the Cranbury First Aid Squad was available for comment as of press time.