The Lawrence Township Council has approved a $1.4 million bond ordinance to pay for the purchase of an electric vehicle (EV) trash truck, a new street sweeper and assorted other equipment for the police and fire departments and the Department of Public Works.
Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski said the bond ordinance is a capital funding mechanism – not a purchase order. The items are included in the capital budget of the 2024 municipal budget, which was approved by the Township Council earlier this year.
The bond ordinance earmarks $549,000 for the EV trash truck, the street sweeper, additional trash carts and a pickup truck with a snow plow for the Department of Public Works.
It also provides funds for a variable message board, a generator for the Lawrence Township Police/Municipal Court building and a fence to surround the police department at the rear of the building as well as sets aside $142,925 to pay for various computer and office equipment to include police and non-police computer equipment, such as software and Wi-Fi upgrades.
There is money in the bond ordinance to pay for body-worn and vehicle cameras for the Lawrence Township Police Department, plus personal protective equipment, turn-out gear, self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and Knox boxes for the Lawrence Township Fire Department.
A Knox box is mounted on the outside wall of a building. It holds the keys to the building, allowing firefighters and emergency responders to quickly unlock the building to gain entry in an emergency if there is no one to let them inside.
Assorted communications equipment for the Lawrence Township police and fire departments is included in the bond ordinance, such as fire service radios and pagers, and a police computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.
Finally, the bond ordinance allocates $150,000 toward the purchase of a ladder truck and a tanker with a pump for the Lawrence Township Fire Department. Money is being set aside over several years to buy the fire trucks, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
