MANCHESTER – As the cost of electricity continually increases, members of the governing body said they have been working on ways to reduce this cost for residents.
Councilman James Vaccaro spoke about the importance of the township having a 10-year energy master plan. Such a plan would encompass alternate energy uses such as wind, geothermal, and more use of solar energy applications.
“For example, they have solar cells that rotate with the sun, solar roofing products, solar, wind and small generators that provide power for lighting of parking lots, recreation areas as utilized in Vancouver and elsewhere,” Vaccaro added.
Vaccaro said that General Motors reported that by 2035 at the latest, “they will convert most of their fleet to electric, thus we must begin a plan of high-speed electric battery recharging stations providing us a source of additional revenue for the township that would be generated from these charging stations.”
Related to that subject Business Administrator Donna Markulic provided an update on the township’s solar initiative. “We got an energy consultant through the Aces Plus program and we met with them and went around to the various sites and we learned a lot. We are having an issue with finding suitable locations.”
The administrator added, “the parking lot canopies are not as cost effective and if you were just going out to bid on parking lot canopies you wouldn’t get anyone. It costs too much money to build the structures. Roofs are very specific pitches and the material that the roof has to be made of.”
“We can’t use our township Town Hall building and we are hoping we can use the garage out on Route 70 and finally any open space that we thought we might be able to use. You can’t use anything that is deemed Green Acres,” she added.
“Even if it is not funded by Green Acres, if it is on the Green Acres list, we can’t use it. I’m not saying we are done but we are struggling,” Markulic said.
Appointments And Contracts
During this same meeting, Christopher Dasti of Dasti and Associates was appointed as the special counsel, and a shared services agreement was approved with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Fatal Accident Support Team (FAST). The township also accepted future charges for a traffic light installed by the county on the intersection of Route 571 and Ridgeway Boulevard.
An affordability assistance grant was authorized for two affordable housing units. Both units are located at Birchwood in Whiting. They were approved as was the disposition of vehicles one of which is a 2006 Pontiac which has over 100,000 miles on it.
The Township Council also authorized a contract award to Garden State Labs for water and sewer utility lab testing services.
Also approved was an emergency procurement for repairs for the western water plant in the township, in the amount of $84.985. Township Clerk Sabina Martin said this was “for an accident that occurred nearby that damaged our system. We are tracking it for the insurance so as to recoup from the accident that caused the damage.”
Council President Wallis added, “right now we have people sitting out there 24/7 as it has to be monitored manually so we need to get it repaired.”
