Politics & Government
Council Approves Buying New Pumper Truck, Gets Rid of Old Ordinance
Township Council approved purchase of new pumper truck and praised the volunteers of the Cycle for Survival event.
The Livingston Township Council voted Monday night to buy a new pumper truck for the ., get rid of an outdated ordinance that bans Sunday retail sales, and agreed to refinance some bonds.
"The volunteer fire department goes above and beyond in keeping our town and citizens safe. They deserve to have the best equipment," Deputy Mayor Rudy Fernandez said Tuesday.
The council took steps to refinance more than $4 million in bonds and also began the process of eliminating an outdated ordinance prohibiting Sunday retail sales, as well as entered into several shared service agreements with surrounding towns.
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Fernandez explained the township wants to save 3 percent of the bond costs by refinancing.
The council had discovered there was an outdated ordinance from the 1970's prohibiting Sunday retail sales, similar to the Blue Laws in Bergen County.
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"We are just trying to clean things up and get this ordinance off the books," Fernandez commented.
In addition to these actions, the council also approved various resolutions entering into shared service agreements with other towns including Berkeley Heights, Springfield and Madison. One of the shared service areas covered includes animal control.
"We are continuing our goal of looking for shared service agreements in order to save the Livingston taxpayers money, " Fernandez explained.
In his remarks to the council Mayor Stephen A. Santola commended Len and Sandy Goodman and the other volunteers for their successful fundraising event on Saturday, February 11.
The event raised over $342,000 and drew more than 700 participants and 200 volunteers. Fernandez, Santola, Councilman Gary Schneiderman, Borough Attorney Sharon Weiner and Township Manager Michele Meade were just some of the many cyclists pedaling for dollars to raise money for rare cancer research for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
The Goodmans, who helped organize the Livingston Cycle for Survival satellite event, are the parents of , the Cycle for Survival founder. Linn died last summer after a seven-year battle with a rare abdominal cancer.
