As part of a formality following its new shared services agreement with Helmetta for animal control, the Township Committee will be voting on Wednesday, May 11, on a change to the kennel services.
The agreement would approve Helmetta’s change from using its current kennel provider to its own facility, which it had been constructing. The new facility opened on May 6.
“They’ve completed their own facility, so this is just basically the change over from the provider to their own,” said Mayor Peter Cantu. “That was always envisioned as the way it would go.”
The Township Committee approved the agreement with Helmetta in December. Under the agreement, the township will pay $18,000 — a savings over its prior agreement with West Windsor, which cost the township $65,000.
The agreement took effect on January 1, at the beginning of the new year. Under the agreement, Helmetta officials respond to Plainsboro for “sick, attacking, or abnormally acting wildlife. They also respond to domestic animals who are attacking or threatening public safety.
Under the agreement, Helmetta will also respond in incidents involving an arrest or incapacitated person accompanied by an animal — whether it is at a residence or vehicle — and move the animal to the appropriate shelter.
Helmetta, another Middlesex County town, is approximately 15 minutes from Plainsboro.
The fact that Helmetta was in the process of constructing its own kennel was a main factor in the lower cost to Plainsboro. At the time of the decision, Plainsboro Police Chief Richard Furda said that Helmetta was in the process of building its own animal shelter that is scheduled to be completed by April — a factor that contributed to the lower cost to Plainsboro under the agreement. Until that facility is up and running, rescued animals would be brought Blumig Kennel in East Brunswick.
At the time, residents who supported animal control officer Bettina Roed, who was later terminated when West Windsor entered an agreement with East Windsor for animal control services, questioned the conditions at Blumig as well as the quality that would be provided by Helmetta’s animal control officers. But Furda told them that the agreement that was up for approval carried the same requirements as the one with West Windsor — that rescued animals be held for a mandatory period of seven days.
The agreement with Helmetta was the beginning of a chain of events leading to Roed’s termination. West Windsor officials said that when Plainsboro pulled out of the agreement, they looked into options. The ultimate decision was to enter into the agreement with West Windsor, estimated to save West Windsor about $40,000 in the first year.
Roed’s supporters protested the measures in both Plainsboro and West Windsor. Since then, Trenton-based attorney Walter Bliss has filed a lawsuit in West Windsor to meet the 45-day statute of limitations as a precautionary measure to protect his client, he told the West Windsor Township Council last month.
To protect the township against one portion of the lawsuit, however, West Windsor Councilman Charles Morgan has asked the council to take another vote on Monday, May 9, to reaffirm the township’s position on the shared services agreement with East Windsor.
