Deptford council adopted four ordinances at its June 24 work session that include measures on bidder requirements and food truck inspections.
The first ordinance, according to Mayor Paul Medany, amplifies an existing measure that focuses on responsible bidder requirements, meaning when contractors bid on municipal projects. The ordinance would affect only that local – and private – work.
“Responsible bidder requirements is the tweaking of a previous ordinance that we had,” Medany explained. “It fine tunes the responsibility of contractors that are bidding on municipal work.”
Another approved ordinance mandates that inspections of food trucks – specifically their propane tanks – occur approximately one hour prior to events where they are scheduled, a state requirement for municipalities. It followed incidents of propane tank accidents that included a fatal 2014 explosion in Philadelphia.
“For the (Deptford) Bureau of Fire Prevention,” noted Township Manager Thomas Newman Jr., “it helps line everything up for them to require inspection prior to events and things like that.”
“The state came down and said, ‘We have to regulate these things,’ and the state put it back on us,” Medany pointed out. “This allows our fire marshal to go in when we have food truck events to go into the truck and inspect it and ensure all the propane tanks are hooked up correctly and all that stuff.”
One of those events is the food truck festival scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 24, at Deptford Memorial Park, formerly Fasola Park.
One annual ordinance approved by council sets salary ranges for township police officers and employees. Its exact details were not shared.
The last ordinance approved at the council meeting is a unified development measure that permits a section of Route 45 to allow cannabis use. While there will not be a dispensary in the area, according to Medany, the ordinance does portend one for the roadway in the future.
“If we get a deal with somebody, then yeah (there will be one),” the mayor said. “But the first process is allowing it. Then people call us about opening a cannabis store.”
Deptford is currently home to one dispensary, Cannabist Dispensary, on Clements Bridge Road.
The ordinances were passed by all council members, excluding Brandi Leidy and Phil Schocklin, who were absent.
