Cherry Hill Township Council approved the receipt of more than $22,000 in grant money for the Cherry Hill Police Department as well as the purchase of a new, multi-use truck.
Cherry Hill Township Council approved a number of resolutions to help fund the police department at last Monday’s meeting.
Council approved two resolutions inserting special items of revenue into the Fiscal Year 2018 budget. The first resolution was for the insertion of $11,346.59 the police department received from the New Jersey Body Armor Replacement Fund.
The funds go toward the replacement of body armor for the department. Police body armor has a life expectancy of approximately five years before it needs to be replaced. Police Chief William Monaghan said the department replaces the body armor in phases, with replacement occurring in offsetting years.
The second resolution inserted $10,967.43 into the budget for funds received from the state’s Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund. Monaghan said the funds are used to increase patrols to allow for drunk driving enforcement.
The police department will also be adding a new, multi-use truck to its fleet of vehicles in the near future. Council approved a resolution to utilize a state contract for the purchase of a new 2018 Ford F-150 for the police department.
“The vehicle is primarily going to be used for community policing events,” Monaghan said. “Secondary purpose, it’ll be outfitted with spotlights in the back. It’ll be used for drunk driving enforcement checkpoints as well as for any major accidents we have on the highway.”
The police department also plans to use the truck for equipment retrieval during winter storms. Funding for the purchase of the truck will come from state confiscated funds as well as funds available from the department’s Fiscal Year 2014 and 2016 Drunk Driving Enforcement grants.
In other news:
• Council approved a pair of resolutions establishing shared services agreements with the Cherry Hill Board of Education.
The first allows the school district to staff on-duty Cherry Hill police officers to supplement the school officers at larger events.
“We staff certain board of education events, mainly football games, if they can’t get enough of their school police to volunteer, it’s supplemented with on-duty Cherry Hill police officers,” Monaghan said.
The second agreement allows the district to use public works’ personnel and equipment when needed. In both shared service agreements, the school district pays a set rate to the township for use of personnel. In the public works’ shared service agreement, the district also pays an hourly rate for use of any equipment.
The shared services agree to provide police service will last one year, while the public works shared services agreement will run for two years.
• Council approved a resolution appointing TD Bank as the financial institution providing general banking services for the township. The contract will run from Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2020.
• The next Cherry Hill Township Council meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the N. John Amato Council Chambers at Town Hall.
