Washington Township Council passes resolution for LESO program, discusses upcoming events at recent council meeting
By Krista Cerminaro
At the Washington Township Council meeting on Wednesday, April 11, council approved five resolutions, including three that would award contracts for roadway improvements and a resolution for police to participate in the Law Enforcement Support Office program, a requirement to enable the department to buy surplus equipment from the government.
One resident inquired about additional costs related to further training, or hiring additional officers or specialized officers.
“That program that exists with the government surplus, that is a program where you have to have a resolution to acquire equipment — they’re not purchasing equipment. For example, that particular program, they’ve acquired a H1 Humvee — there was no cost to obtain the vehicle. They didn’t actually purchase it, there was no monies to buy it from the government. There is a contractual obligation that if they decide to get rid of that vehicle, it has to go back to the government. They were also able to obtain military-grade scopes and sights for rifles,” business administrator Jason Gonter said. “They’ve been able to obtain a bunch of different equipment.”
According to Gonter, the program refers to the 1033 program, which transfers excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies and legally requires the Department of Defense to make equipment items available to local law enforcement.
Gonter also noted the SWAT team has a member who is already trained in operating the equipment.
Additionally, council approved a resolution awarding a three-year renewal contract for Omni Recycling. The resolution stated those who were taking the township’s recycling are now charging, as a result of the overseas vendor refusing to accept recycling.
Council also announced a handful of upcoming events throughout the township, including “Earth Month” events, the Washington Township High School Food Truck Festival to benefit Project Graduation and the Fourth of July parade.
Council Vice President Sean Longfellow said in lieu of Earth Day, the environmental commission would be hosting a variety of events throughout the month.
“The largest event scheduled right now [for] the public is April 22 [at] 12:30 — we will be opening the community garden at Washington Lake Park, so I encourage you all to come out,” he said.
Longfellow noted plots are still available for purchase at the garden for $20.
In preparation for the Independence Day parade, Councilmember Angela Donato noted the setup will be the same as last year and members on the parade committee will be reappointed.
Donato also reported WTHS will host the Food Truck Festival on Saturday, April 21, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Council also adopted ordinance 007–2018, adding a no parking area to the entire frontage of Hurffville-Cross Keys Road of an area being developed, and introduced ordinance 009–2018, which seeks to extend the commercial industrial zoning designation to encompass the entire property of 268 Hurffville-Cross Keys Road.
Solicitor Stuart Platt explained the ordinance is just extending the zone line on a piece of property that is partially zone-rural — which is residential — and partially zone-commercial industrial.
“When a governing body makes a zone change, or in this case, a boundary line change on the zone, that is not application specific — it just allows whatever is allowed in the commercial industrial zone. A developer can apply for any of the uses permitted in that zone for the entire property,” Platt said. “If somebody wants to apply for whatever the uses are under commercial industrial, then they’d have to go to the planning board or zoning board, depending upon the nature of the application.”
A planning board meeting will be held on April 17, and the public hearing and final adoption for ordinance 009–2018 will take place at the meeting on May 9.
The full meeting agenda can be found on www.twp.washington.nj.us.
