Area residents came out in force July 9, when consultant Brian Valentino, left, described the preliminary findings of his police-consolidation analysis.
Round two of discussions about a proposal to merge the police departments of Fair Haven, Little Silver and Rumson has been scheduled for Aug. 18, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre reports on his blog today.
By that time, a consultant’s final report on the proposal should be complete and available for public review, writes Halfacre, who has pledged to make it widely available.
He writes:
This report is supposed to be available prior to the meeting, so that it can be debated on its merits, not on speculation of what it might or might not contain.
Hard copies will be available at borough hall, and Fair Haven will post the report on its website. Needless to say, redbankgreen plans to do the same.
The first session, on July 9, drew a standing-room crowd to Little Silver and turned out to be a rather contentious affair, with some residents demanding that any consolidation plan be put up for referendum and others raising concerns about emergency response times and cost savings.
The police chiefs of the three towns also voiced opposition to provisions in the first of several stages under which the workability of a merger would be tested.
Here’s an executive summary of the report that Brian Valentino of Patriot Consulting Group presented at the July 9 pubic hearing: Download executive_summary_two_river_police_study_group.doc
The Aug. 18 meeting is scheduled for 7p at the Knollwood School on Hance Avenue, a far larger venue than Little Silver’s council chambers, where the first meeting was held.
