At the Plainsboro Township Committee meeting October 26 new Police Chief Guy Armour announced that the police department has scheduled a “hospital meeting” for November to prepare for the opening of the $447 million University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, now just six months away.
As part of the traffic planning for the new hospital, Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis reported that the Plainsboro Fire Company will be putting into place the Opticon traffic light control system that will enable emergency vehicles to change traffic signals in order to cross busy intersections, including those on Route 1.
In other news from the Plainsboro police Officer Martin McElrath, who joined the department in early 2009, was reassigned to the detective bureau, replacing Tom Newbon, who was promoted out of the detective bureau to be a corporal and patrolman.
At the November 9 committee meeting a resolution will be brought forward for the purchase of two new Dodge Chargers for the police department through state contract. Sheehan said the two Chargers, which he expects to be 2012 models, would cost a combined $59,500 but the township will be paying for them in part through outside grant money.
“We will be using $16,000 from the drunk driving enforcement fund to underwrite the cost, therefore we end up at $43,500 as the cost to taxpayers,” Sheehan said.
According to Lieutenant Joseph Duffy the department’s current fleet includes nine Dodge Chargers as well as several Ford Crown Victorias, which are no longer in production.
#b#Snow Planning.#/b# Days before the unusual pre-Halloween snow of October 29 left a few inches on the ground, the Plainsboro Township Committee reviewed an item on the agenda for November 9 which turned out to be timely.
The township is set to award a one-year contract bid of $40,000 to Pave Patrol LLC of Ewing for snow removal services. Sheehan said the township cleared its main streets on Saturday and the contracted company would not be required for tasks that Plainsboro could handle with in-house personnel and equipment.
