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First Responders Topic of Discussion at South Amboy Business Meeting

By: Joseph L. Kuchie

firstrespondersSOUTH AMBOY – South Amboy’s First Responders were included in a number of agenda items at last week’s city business meeting.

The biggest discussion came on a last minute addition to the agenda, which was the purchase of a new $82,000 vehicle for the Office of Emergency Management. The purchase of this new truck is in addition to the purchase of a new Chevy Tahoe vehicle for the South Amboy Fire Department, both of which were in the capital budget plan for this year.

The O.E.M. truck purchase came at the recommendation of OEM Coordinator Mark Herdman. The truck has pulling capability, can store the city’s emergency equipment, and will allow the city to be self-contained and not rely on the county to bring their OEM vehicles in case of emergency.

The new Chevy Tahoe also approved at the business meeting will serve as a Chief’s vehicle for the Fire Department. Currently the city has four Chief vehicles, but one is no longer in service, one will be sold, and one will be scrapped due to mold and leaks.

The city will also be auctioning one of their surplus fire trucks on GovDeals, a liquidity service website that allows other buys to auction on different government items. The website allows the city to set the minimum bid for the truck.

In addition to purchasing two vehicles, the city also reviewed three applications for membership to the Enterprise Snorkel Fire Department. No comments or pushback was given by the council.

It was also announced that the South Amboy Police Department will contract with the East Brunswick to allow their officers to train at their training facility. The current facility used by SAPD is currently in the footprint of the new ferry project and will be going away once construction begins.

City Chief Financial Officer Angel Albanese announced that the city will soon begin the process of updating their internal computer technology and software. This will include both hardware and software updates for emergency services over the next three years, which will improve workflow and allow the city to remove computers that date back to 2010.

Albanese reviewed most of the agenda items while Business Administrator Camille Tooker was on vacation. All members of the council were in attendance for the meeting.

The next city council meeting will be held on August 17th at 7 p.m.

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