Requests included suggested roads for the township’s next roads program, new township vehicles, police equipment and more.
Mt. Laurel Council used a portion of its meeting this week to listen to leaders of the township’s departments as they presented council with their 2017 capital budget requests.
First was director of municipal services Jerry Mascia, who presented council with the preliminary engineer’s list for the township’s next proposed road program.
Roads included Broadacre Drive, Ark Road, Cemetery Road, Chadbury Road, Boothby Drive, Devonshire Road, Lake Drive, Beach Road, Decatur Drive, Cornwallis Drive, Biddle Way, Ballinger Way, Juniper Drive, Iris Court, Holiday Street, Harvey Place, East Gate Drive, Glenbrook Boulevard, Crawford Place, Telford Lane, Maple Avenue, North Lake Drive, Preamble Drive, Lincoln Drive, Madison Court, Lilian Court, Norwood Road, Leeds Road, Leeds Terrace, Schoolhouse Lane, Union Mill Road, Phillips Road, Beaver Avenue, Greenview Terrace, Parkway Terrace, Falmouth Drive, Emory Lane, White Stone Court, Sheppards Lane and Owens Court.
Acting township manager Meredith Tomczyk said township engineers prepared the list, with priority given to roads in the worst conditions.
However, for the public’s benefit, Tomczyk noted the list was just a suggestion at this point, and the township was not guaranteed to fix all roads listed, as repairs would be subject to funding levels moving forward.
Also for the roads department, Mascia said the township was looking to replace a stake-body truck for picking up white goods, a utility body truck with a crane used for fixing catch basins and an SUV used by the roads supervisor.
Mascia said the vehicles were well beyond their average life.
In addition, Mascia requested a body replacement for a street sweeper where materials collected over its years of service have eaten away at the body, along with two dump bodies to replace the backs of trucks that have been eaten away during sanding and salting operations.
Mascia also requested a 26-foot electric scissor lift to assist with replacing lights at township properties.
“Right now, when one light goes out or a few go out, we have to hire out, and in the meantime you have to wait for them to come out and that makes a safety issue when certain parking lot lights are out or some at the EMS station,” Mascia said.
For the parks department, Mascia also requested a new pickup truck, dump truck and mobile stage for township to replace the township’s 25-year-old stage, which requires six employees to assemble over two days.
“What they have now are stages that basically look like the back of a tractor trailer where one guy pulls it up, you turn the key, and it pops open. It’s self leveling and self centering,” Mascia said.
Following Mascia was Mt. Laurel EMS Chief Joseph Stringfellow, whose requests included the remounting of a 2008 ambulance from a diesel chassis to a gas chassis to save money on fuel and maintenance costs.
Stringfellow also asked for a replacement server for the EMS server that has reached the end of its life, with the EMS saving money by purchasing a new operating system for the server through its status as a non-profit.
Stringfellow also asked for $25,000 to be set aside for portable radios. Stringfellow said services on the county level were switching over to new radios, but at this time, the type of radio or how they might be supplied to departments has not been decided.
“If we have to supplement what they give us for the safety of the personnel that are responding to the scene, then we’ll have money aside,” Stringfellow said.
Following Stringfellow, Police Deputy Chief Steve Riedener presented council with a request to replace two SUVs used by department supervisors.
Riedener said although the vehicles were only from 2013, each had high mileage, as they are used almost continuously at the department, nearly 24 hours a day and every day of the week.
Riedener also requested more rifles and police protective equipment for five to 10 officers who will be part of the county’s new mutual aid team meant to respond to special emergencies.
The final department head to speak at the meeting was Mt. Laurel Office of Emergency Management coordinator Ronald Devlin, who requested a larger trailer to transport emergency equipment and funds for emergency operations center radios and other portable and mobile radios.
