By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Voorhees Sun
The Voorhees Police Department was bolstered last week with the addition of a new police officer, as Vincent Saputo was sworn into the department and will serve as a new officer on the patrol unit.
The new officer was hired because two long-time police officers in the department recently retired, Township administrator Larry Spellman said.
“We lost two officers in December, unfortunately,” Spellman said. “We swore a new officer in the other night and we’ll be hiring and swearing in a new officer in another few weeks.”
On Dec. 31 Lieutenant Frank Bialecki retired from the department after 25 years of dedicated service, Mayor Michael Mignogna said.
On the same day officer Mike Grace also retired after 14 years of dedicated service. Both officers served the township well, he said, and will be missed as the department moves forward.
Current Sergeant Jerry Bonsall was promoted to lieutenant to fill the empty spot left from Bialecki’s retirement, Mignogna said. Bonsall will also be supervising the detective’s unit within the department.
He also welcomed Saputo to the staff and said the officer will be a welcome addition to the police department.
“On behalf of the residents of our community and township committee, I thank them both for their years of commitment to Voorhees and wish them health and happiness in retirement,” he said.
Another officer will likely be sworn in at one of the next few meetings as well, Spellman said, to account for the retirement of Grace. Mignogna said the hiring will likely come in February and will bring the number of police officers to 52.
In other township news:
n The committee approved an ordinance to increase its current year 2010 budget by 3.5 percent, amounting to over $678,000 more than the final appropriations.
It’s something the township does every year, Spellman said, to make sure the township can operate until next year’s budget is crafted and approved by committee.
At the moment Spellman said the township doesn’t think it will need the extra allocations, but it’s important to not be caught flat-footed if something unexpected comes up.
“Right now we don’t think we’ll need that, but we do it every year to just be sure,” he said. “We do it just to be in case. You never know what will happen.”
Any of the funding that is not used from this move will be inserted into the final appropriations for either of the next two budgets.
