By 4-1, Lower Approves Bond to Purchase Assorted Gear

VILLAS — Lower Township Council passed an ordinance by a 4-1 vote Monday approving spending $2.3 million in capital improvements for which $2.1 million in bonds will be issued.
Among items for purchase in the ordinance for the police department: traffic radar units, ballistic vests, rain gear, digital camera and camcorder, mobile recording systems, shotguns, laser printers, desktop computers, hard drive array, Dodge Durango four-wheel drive vehicles and a motorcycle.
Resident Joe Winters said a motorcycle could not be used year-round and was dangerous.
Lower Township Police Chief Edward Donohue replied that Middle Township police have used motorcycles for 20 years and the cycles would allow quicker response time. He said officers would be sent to a two-week training course through Delaware State Police.
Purchases for public works include: body for recycling truck using existing chassis, recycling trucks, Ford F250 pick-up truck, signs and posts, a tub grinder, motor for a dump truck and a computer.
Purchases for the recreation department include: a utility vehicle, copier, various improvements to facilities including resurfacing hockey rink at Mulligan Field and an electronic gate at Bennett’s Crossing recreation area.
Winters questioned the need for an electric gate.
Mayor Walter Craig said the current gate at Bennett’s Crossing was “heavy and jammed.”
Winters suggested fixing the playing fields as the first job.
Council approved a $600,000 bond earlier this year to repair playing fields that collect water as a result of poor quality work from a contractor that has declared bankruptcy.
Craig said bid specifications were being prepared for field repairs.
For municipal hall, items in the ordinance include: various office equipment and a digital recorder for the clerk’s office and office furniture.
Items for public buildings include: garage doors and fire suppression system for public safety building, new gas heaters for maintenance shops, restroom upgrades in municipal hall, heating and air conditioning replacements for the recreation building and Millman Center, roof replacement for the rescue building, Millman Center and construction building/annex.
Councilman Tom Conrad said since the bond ordinance was introduced, department heads cut $109,000 from the capital budget.
Councilman Wayne Mazurek, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said in the last eight months, council bonded $1 million, another $600,000 for Bennett’s Crossing, and was now looking at another $2.3 million for a total nearing $4 million. He said he did not like “credit borrowing.”
“That’s $4 million our kids will be paying back 14 years from now plus the interest, so you are looking at $7 million to $8 million for paybacks,” said Mazurek.
He said he would have preferred to see a 10 percent reduction of the $2.3 million from department heads, amounting to a $235,000 reduction in the capital budget.
Deputy Mayor Robert Nolan said he believed township departments cut 10 to 15 percent. He said the police department cut $72,000 from its budget while public works sliced $29,000 from its budget plus saved $100,000 by reusing a truck chassis.
Nolan said $500,000 was added in for heating and air conditioning system replacements in two buildings, not originally anticipated.
Craig said he had confidence in budget requests from department heads, all of whom were present at the meeting.