Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Gloucester Township Police get their armored rescue vehicle.
As expected, Gloucester Township Council on Monday approved a resolution authorizing township officials to enter into a contract to purchase an armored rescue vehicle for the Police Department. The measure was approved as part of Council's consent agenda. The vote was unanimous. The township will pay Lenco Industries Inc. $277,986 for the bulletproof police vehicle. Councilman Dan Hutchison defended the controversial vehicle purchase at the conclusion of Monday's meeting. "We as a Council, we as a town owe it to our officers to give them every tool that they can possibly have to possibly prevent one of them from being killed," he said. "It is so worth it to purchase this vehicle." Pittsfield, MA-based Lenco was the lone company to bid for …
Monday, February 18, 2013
The lone bid for the bulletproof rescue vehicle for Gloucester Township Police Department was unsealed Wednesday morning.
Friday, February 15, 2013
It's the armored rescue vehicle that's been getting all the attention, but Gloucester Township Council approved several other vehicle purchases Monday night.
Township Council approved the purchase of four vehicles Monday night at a cost of nearly $200,000. The vehicles are identified in three separate resolutions as an E-350 van for $23,236.51, a 2013 passenger van for $23,670 and two 3-yard dump trucks with plow-and-spreader packages for a total of $152,956. The township is buying the two vans from Mall Chevrolet and the two dump trucks from Flemington Ford. The vehicle purchases were approved as part of Council's consent agenda. The vehicles are being purchased under state contract—a process which allows municipalities to avoid going out to bid for specific equipment and usually brings the lowest possible price. The four vehicle purchases flew under the radar, as the public's interest as it …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Gloucester Township received only one bid for the bulletproof police vehicle.
Gloucester Township officials on Wednesday opened the lone bid received for a contract to provide the Police Department with an armored rescue vehicle. The bid from Pittsfield, MA-based Lenco came in at $277,986, Clerk Rosemary DiJosie said. It was unsealed in Council chambers at the Chews Landing Road municipal building. It is expected the Township Council will vote to award the contract to Lenco at its Feb. 25 meeting. Gloucester Township Police Deputy Chief David Harkins on Monday noted the vehicle is similar to those used by "an armored car driver...that we see at banks every day." "It's a truck that's built on a Ford F-550 body. The difference is the materials it's made out of are the only thing that's tested and assured to stop …
The bids will be unsealed at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Township officials will unseal bids for the armored rescue vehicle requested by the Police Department on Wednesday, Feb. 13. Township Council authorized the cancellation of a total of $550,000 of unused capital improvement funds, dating back to 2007, at its Jan. 28 meeting. The township will use a portion of the canceled capital funds, which date as far back as 2007, to pay for the armored rescue vehicle. It will also use funds from drug forfeitures, officials have said. The vehicle will cost about $250,000, according to Business Administrator Tom Cardis. The Clerk's Office is scheduled to unseal the bids at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Clerk Rosemary DiJosie said. The bid event is open to the public. Cardis said Tuesday he expects Council will move…
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Officials defend the seemingly imminent purchase of the armored rescue vehicle in the face of criticism over the price tag.
Gloucester Township Council on Monday paved the way for the purchase of a $250,000 armored rescue vehicle for the Police Department. But not before some residents, concerned by the vehicle's cost, questioned why the township Police Department doesn't just push for greater access to the Camden County Sheriff's Department armored rescue vehicle. "The vehicle that the county has, we used to be able to go pick it up and use it, but they changed that," Deputy Police Chief David Harkins told Valleybrook resident Darren Gladden early in the meeting. "We're not allowed to do that. We have to wait for a sheriff's officer to respond with it." The county's armored rescue vehicle is parked either at the Lakeland complex, which is in Gloucester …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gloucester Township Council next meets on Monday, Jan. 14.
Gloucester Township Council met on Monday, Jan. 7 for its first work session of 2013. Its next public-action meeting will be held on Monday, Jan. 14. Here are five things to keep an eye on from Council in the coming days and weeks: 1. Council will vote on an ordinance on first reading at its Jan. 14 meeting that would allow the township to increase its 2013 spending budget by 3.5 percent as compared to 2012. That amounts to an appropriations increase of $1,806,217.20 over the 2012 budget. Any amount from that 3.5 percent increase deemed not necessary for the 2013 spending plan can be carried forward to 2014 or 2015 as an exception to the state's 2 percent year-to-year budget appropriations cap. 2. Council appears poised to purchase an …
Lauren Burgoon
3:13 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Is there a reason everyone on here can't act like adults and refrain from calling each other names? Cut it out. more ›