Politics & Government

Bernards Receives Grant for Town Hall Generator in Sandy Aftermath

Grant for $142,000 should cover purchase, installation and related costs of new generator, administrator says.

A year to the day after Sandy struck New Jersey, Bernards Township Administrator Bruce McArthur reported to the Township Committee that the township has received a $142,000 state grant that he said should cover the cost of the purchase price and installation of a generator to keep the municipal building completely powered up during another power outage.

"I quite frankly am shocked that we got the grant," McArthur told the committee and public at Tuesday night's meeting.

But McArthur said that Bernards Township, which experienced virtually a 100 percent power outage when the storm passed through the area last Oct. 29, filed an application early requesting a generator, and apparently was the first municipality to ask for a generator. 

Later, municipalities from around the state lined up asking for about $325 million worth of generators, in competition for about $25 million available from the energy allocation initiative from the New Jersey Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, McArthur said.

During Sandy — and also at times during the two other major power outages in 2011, due to Hurricane Sandy and an Oct. 29 snowstorm that year — the municipal building had relied on a hand-me-down generator from the police department, and also "monster" of a generator run on unavailable propane that was powered by a Chrysler slant-six engine, McArthur said.

The generator from the police department provided some electricity at the municipal building at 1 Collyer Lane, but not nearly enough. 

The township had already made plans to purchase a larger generator whether or not it received the state grant, and had awarded a contract for $88,000, lower than expected, to order one.

The township also is spending about $16,000 for a consultant to create specifications for a generator for the historic town hall, at which rewiring must be performed to accommodate the new generator, McArthur said.

The other generator will be moved to the health department, where Mayor Carolyn Gaziano said the department stores such perishable items such as vaccines.

The grant is expected to cover all those costs, lower than originally estimated, McArthur said.

He said that the generator can be installed soon after other renovations are completed on the courtroom and main meeting room at the municipal building. That project could be finished by around Thanksgiving, he said.

Those renovations, which will upgrade technology and also make the room usable as a command center during an emergency, will cost about $300,000.

The cost of that project will not be covered by the grant. The renovations, generator and recent launch of a new "Swiftreach 911" system capable of calling thousands of residents with emergency information during a short period of time, all are part of the township's preparations for future outages and emergencies.


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