Grants obtained for police

PLUMSTED - The federal government's Department of Justice Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program has informed the Township Committee that the Plumsted Police Department has been awarded funds to purchase bulletproof vests. Since 1999, more than 11,900 law enforcement jurisdictions nationwide have participated in the bulletproof vest program, supporting the purchase of an estimated 642,000 vests, according to Mayor Ron Dancer.

The committee has also received a state grant for the purchase of two motorcycles for the police department to access forested areas for law enforcement patrol purposes such as illegal drugs, underage drinking and illegal dumping.

Dancer said Plumsted's preserved forests and woodland areas will no longer be safe havens for criminal activities with the capability of the police department to access the trails in the woods.

In other news, the Township Committee and Land Use Board have saved from future residential development the 6 acres of remaining open space at the corner of the Hawkin Road and Lakewood Road (Route 528) intersection.

The township preservation program has nearly 1,000 acres of farms, forests and open space areas to be added to the more than 3,000 acres already saved from being developed with homes, pending final approvals with landowners and Plumsted's funding partners at the state and county levels.

The Township Committee has appointed, as a result of state grant programs, a professional firm for business retention and attraction purposes, according to Dancer. The JGSC Group is a specialist in business recruitment and is providing Plumsted with two consultant services.

First, the Main Street New Egypt organization was one of eight towns in the state to be selected for the on-site business recruitment assistance from JGSC, whose professional services are valued at $23,700, at no cost to Plumsted since the municipality is the recipient of the state's Main Street grant program.

Second, the committee obtained a $20,000 grant from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to fund a feasibility study by JGSC for establishing a Business Improvement District that would qualify Plumsted for the state's nonlapsing business improvement revolving loan fund within the DCA.

The next regularly scheduled public meeting of the Township Committee will be Nov. 7 at 8 p.m.