As 2018 showed the greater Delaware Valley, winter weather is just as likely to show up toward the end of the season as at the beginning. The calendar has officially flipped to 2019, and Deptford Township is prepared for whatever Mother Nature has in store, whether it’s in January or in March and April.
“We just invested a lot of money in snow plow equipment, so God forbid we don’t want it to snow, (but if it does) we’re ready,” Mayor Paul Medany said.
How ready? For the last three years Deptford Township has had an emergency operations center in place on the second floor of the municipal building and police department offices on Cooper Street.
No matter how bad 2019 gets, weather-wise, Deptford is ready.
“It’s all set up with computers, we have new radios, so if we go offline with our cell phones we can communicate with each other,” Medany said. “So we’re very prepared. We store bottled water. If there’s an ice storm and the power goes out, we’re ready. We have heating centers for folks set up. Hopefully we don’t need any of that.”
In a recent winter storm season, the township used the Deptford Senior Center on Tanyard Road in Sewell.
“So if the power goes out in Bridlewood (Estates), people could go there while their power is out to warm up,” Medany said.
But as the New Year begins, Deptford officials obviously have more on their agenda than winter weather preparation. Medany and the council continue to keep a pulse on the community at large, striving to make improvements big and small to keep the township thriving.
One small (and practical) example? Since the area is increasing with popularity for events throughout the year, the township will be installing a restroom at Fasola Park.
And just as with becoming aware that a restroom is a smart addition, Deptford officials take notes after every event throughout the year (like the recent Trunk or Treat and Tree Lighting nights, for example) and make adjustments accordingly.
“We’re going to re-work, keep reinventing (our events),” Medany said. “You learn things as you’re going on, like bringing more extension cords.”
Medany laughed.
“At the Tree Lighting, the popcorn machine had a line that was 30 people deep and we couldn’t keep up,” he said.
So more popcorn in 2019. … and fewer potholes?
“I just wrote a (report) today for everybody on that,” Medany said. “Even right now with a new pothole machine, there hasn’t been any (issues or complaints); maintenance has been excellent. So things have been going well.”
As always, continuing to balance the budget is a regular area of focus, too.
“Our finances we’ve been working on, we’ve been very stable financially, but we’re working on our budget now, we’ll introduce it in March,” Medany said. “Our bond rating is Double A, we just got re-rated, so that’s great. We’ve got a good fund balance. All of our audits are clean. That’s something we’re working on all year round.”
Medany loves nothing more than seeing all of the township’s departments operating smoothly. He likes to drive around the township during his free time, up and down every street, to make sure there aren’t any problems.
As he looks ahead toward 2019, Medany can only hope every facet of the township runs as effectively as the 2018 leaf collection campaign.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s the best leaf season we’ve ever had, that I can recall and I’ve been the mayor for 13 years, this has been the best. And we invested in new equipment, new leaf machines, and dump trucks, too.”
