Several weeks ago, the Voorhees Township Committee introduced five bond ordinances totaling a little more than $3.7 million, and at the committee’s April 27 meeting, it approved those ordinances after holding public hearings on each.
The ordinances approved at the meeting include bonds for road improvement projects, improvements to township grounds and buildings, the purchase of vehicles and equipment for the township, as well as the purchase of sewer utility equipment and costs for sewer improvement and money for the installation of traffic signals.
According to Township Administrator Larry Spellman, the bonds come on the heels of the recently passed 2015 municipal budget, which kept municipal property taxes flat, and the ordinances were passed with no issues and no members of the public speaking.
The largest of the bond ordinances passed totaled nearly $1.45 million and was for various township vehicles, including a senior-citizen bus, a street sweeper, a compressed natural gas trash truck, a diesel lawn mower with attachments for the parks department and six police cars.
Another of the larger bond ordinances passed totaled nearly $1.4 million for the township’s five-year road program, which includes improvements to Battery Hill Drive, Hollybrook Way, Barbet Drive, Bronwood Drive, Poplar Avenue, Great Oak Road, Camden Avenue, Laurel Road and Las Brisas Boulevard.
Other ordinances totaled $420,000 for sewer improvements, including the reconstruction of pumps at the Main Street and Evergreen pump stations, and $343,000 for grounds improvements, include grading and drainage improvements to Connolly Park and Rabinowitz Field.
In other news:
• The Voorhees Township Committee approved two resolutions that would continue shared service agreements between the township and the Voorhees Township School District and Eastern Camden County Regional School District in which the Voorhees Township Police Department would continue to perform community policing in and around the school entities.
Spellman said the agreements started several years ago and allow for officers to be present at each of the township’s schools and at Eastern High School as well.
Spellman said the programs have been successful, and he didn’t see a reason why they wouldn’t continue for years to come.
• Committee approved the insertion of about $15,000 into the 2015 budget as revenue as a result of a grant from the NJ Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund.
According to Spellman, the grant is something the township receives every year and is used for the Voorhees Township Police Department to conduct drunk driving enforcement checks and stops throughout the township.
• Committee passed a resolution classifying employees of the township who work for the township 30 or more hours per week as “full-time” employees.
The state-mandated classification would now allow those working for the township 30 or more hours per week to enroll in the New Jersey Health Benefits Program, but according to Spellman, the township does not have part-time employees who averaged 30 or more hours of work per week.
• The next meeting of the Voorhees Township Committee is scheduled for Monday, May 11.
