LAKEHURST – A new officer has joined the ranks of the borough’s police department. Anthony F. Florio was sworn in during a recent Borough Council meeting.
Borough Attorney Ian M. Goldman administered the oath of office to the new officer. His girlfriend Melanie Buckley pinned his badge during the ceremony. His brother Jacob Florio held the Bible as he was sworn in. Family and friends were in the audience observing the ceremony.
Police Chief Matt Kline told The Manchester Times that “Anthony worked in Lakehurst as a Class II Officer since October of 2020 and prior to that he worked in Point Pleasant Beach for a year. The Lakehurst Police Department currently has 15 sworn officers to include one Class I Officer, two Class II Officers, one School resource officer.”
The chief added that a dozen regular officers include “one sergeant, one lieutenant, one detective and myself (Chief).”
“The uniforms look very sharp,” Councilwoman Bernadette Dugan remarked as the new officer shook hands with each member of the governing body after being sworn in.
Lifeguards Needed
Councilman Robert McCarthy stressed that once again, the borough was in need of lifeguards to service Horicon Lake this summer season and urged anyone interested to contact Borough Hall. “We’re good for the holiday weekend.”
Chief Kline informed The Manchester Times later in the week that he was pleased to announce “we just hired a lifeguard as of today and he should be starting this weekend.”
Staffing
Business matters included a resolution that reappointed Maryanne Capasso as municipal clerk, Gregory P. McGuckin was designated as the Borough’s prosecutor and Mark Visinski was hired as a temporary 90-day public works laborer.
Councilman McCarthy noted that the Board of Education had recently held an emergency meeting to discuss the hiring of a new business administrator in the wake of a leave of absence by Barry Parliman who was set to retire shortly and is experiencing health problems.
Revising manuals and granting liquor license renewals
Council officials also voted to revise the 2021 Personnel Policies & Procedure Manual and Employee Handbook. Also authorized was the purchase of electricity supply services for public use on an online auction website.
Liquor licenses were also renewed for Hangar 21, Italy’s Best Pizzeria, Best Liquors, Fleet Reserve Association Branch 124, Carlos and Sons LLC., and Boemio’s Market LLC.
Street Light Still Out
Council President Steven Oglesby noted that a street light was still out on Church Street. “I contacted JCP&L about the light being out two weeks ago, nothing has happened.”
Capasso said she had also reached out to the power company about the matter.
Repaving And Garbage
Dugan said that “Orange Street will be repaved soon all the way to Division Street. They (Ocean County) are still working on sidewalks and curbs. We have been looking forward to this.”
Councilman Jim Davis, who is the liaison to Public Works, noted a problem with the older of the borough’s two garbage trucks. He said that while both vehicles were in service, the older vehicle, used for recycling purposes only, “was experiencing some problems with the transmission.”
“We had the transmission serviced and found no metal shards or anything that looked like damage. They hooked it up to a computer and reprogrammed the ECM so the transmission was talking to the motor as it was supposed to,” Davis added.
“It worked all day yesterday and part of today and then it stopped,” Davis said noting that the prior problem had returned. Both vehicles have considerable hours of use, he added.
Davis said, “this one is just used for recycling. At this point we talked to Beachwood who seems to be involved in a rent-own program. We will be reaching out to them so we can come to the table with some options as opposed to buying a new one. We’re trying to find some solutions.”
Spotted Lantern Flies
Oglesby brought up the concerns of the State’s Agriculture Department who were warning residents of New Jersey about “being infested with spotted lantern flies. They are definitely in a lot of sweet sap trees like maples.”
“Right now, they are in the crawling phase…the simplest solution is a soap and water solution. You spray them. Alcohol will also kill them. What you don’t want to do is cut down your plants and put them in a mulch pile because that won’t get rid of them,” the council president said, noting he had problems with them on his own property.
He recommended everyone take a look at what is on their plants. “Cherry trees seem to be immune but we’ve seen them on a lot of bushes. You walk down Lake Street by the lake and you’ll see hundreds of them on the plants.”
Councilwoman Patricia Hodges asked how big the larva was.
“Very small. I have pictures if anyone wants to see them. If we all do it, it will help,” Oglesby said regarding responding to the issue as a community.
