Borough of Harvey Cedars, Ocean County, NJ
March 2021 Hometown News
*Department of Public Works & Public Property - Commissioner/Mayor Jonathan
Oldham*
March comes in like a lion and rolls out like a lamb. It seems like
yesterday was February first. Where did the month go? We dodged a bullet
on all but one of the snow storms. However, the storms wreaked havoc on
the beaches. We are currently on the beaches everyday with our bulldozer,
loader and skid steer. The Ford tractor, which pulls the beach rake, was
damaged early on and now is at the shop, out of commission. We are working
hard to provide access to all of the street ends. This will be followed
with rebuilding the emergency entrances, handicap walkovers, and we will
end up reinstalling the dune fence. There is a lot of work to be done
before summer.
The team has also been working their way through town cleaning storm
drains. We do this twice a year along with when one becomes clogged with
debris. We have also been called to a number of water leaks. Frozen pipes
along with some underground leaks have taken some of our time as well.
Summer is coming, and while we are finalizing the budget, which will put
the money in place for a number of projects, we are doing preventative
maintenance at the water plants.
We are working hard to get ready for the summer.
*Department of Revenue & Finance – Commissioner Paul Rice*
Greetings! Pre-season beach badges are now on sale. Order forms will be
mailed with water bills or can be found at www.harveycedars.org. We will
also be selling beach badges through the VIPLY app. Preseason badges are
$35 each and the deadline to purchase them is June 15th.
We look forward to having a "normal" summer season this year with concerts
and art/craft shows. The concert line up for the Wednesday night summer
concert series has been finalized and vendors are applying for the craft
shows.
The Harvey Cedars Activity Committee will be hosting our fireworks this
year on Labor Day weekend, Saturday, September 4th. The fireworks are
solely funded by donations, not from your tax dollars. A donation request
will be included in the mailing of water bills. Thank you to those who
have already donated! Every dollar counts.
*Department of Public Safety & Public Affairs – Commissioner/Deputy Mayor
John M. Imperiale*
On behalf of myself and Chief Burnaford we hope everyone weathered February
well and all are healthy, safe, and happy!
Speed Limit on side streets: As you know, the speed limit on W.80th Street
has been lowered to 20 M.P.H. and signage will be up soon. Also, HCPD
Traffic Safety Officers have been working with the Harvey Cedars Borough
Engineer, Frank Little, in an attempt to lower the speed limits on some of
our other side streets, specifically Buckingham Avenue, West Essex Ave and
Cedars Avenue.
Unfortunately, at least for now, upon completion of a traffic study, and
the speed data we provided, it was determined that we cannot lower the
speed limits at this time. As a result, the Chief has indicated that
Officers will conduct high visibility traffic enforcement over the next 6-8
months on these particular streets. During this time, our Traffic Safety
Officers will obtain new data and work with the Borough Engineer to revisit
lowering the speed limits.
Safety on the Boulevard: As we know, safety along Long Beach Boulevard
continues to be a primary focus of the HCPD. The Chief and I met with a
resident on the north end of town to discuss some of these safety issues.
While we work to do everything we can to address these concerns, we
encourage all of our residents to reach out to the Chief or I with any
concerns. We are always willing to personally meet to discuss and listen. A
sub-committee of the Land Use Board is also looking at the issue of
“sidewalks” in Harvey Cedars with the goal of improving both the safety and
the look along the boulevard.
2021 Summer: Beach Operations Chief Randy Townsend continues to prepare for
this upcoming summer season. This preparation includes the Lifeguard in
Training (LIT) Program. We are planning and anticipating a full program
this year. The cost of the program has increased this year from $200 to
$250 to assist with operating expenses. Our LIT program continues to remain
one of the most professionally run programs at the lowest cost to the
participants on LBI.
Previously we have given you the background of Chief Burnaford, Sergeant
Snow, and Sergeant Frazee. This month, we will begin presenting the
background of the rest of the members of the HCPD, in order of seniority,
beginning with Officer Chris Oldham:
Officer Chris Oldham
35 Years Old
Harvey Cedars Police Department, Class 1; June 2009 - August 2009
Harvey Cedars Police Department, Class 2; September 2009 – December 2010
Harvey Cedars Police Department, full-time for 10 Years, January 2011 -
Present
Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Liberty University.
*News from the Long Beach Island Health Department:*
We, the LBI Health Department, have established a clinic on 3/3 that will
be for *eligible long beach island residents only*. This clinic will be
posted on the lbihealth.com webpage where residents will be able to
schedule appointments. Having limited supply, reaching our community is
priority. To date we have already physically registered approximately 150
local resident seniors without internet or computers, email or computer
literacy that contacted our office since the vaccine was available on 1/14.
That outreach will continue as long as necessary. Our physically/medically
homebound population that definitively due to their condition cannot make
it to out are being vaccinated. We are also in regular communication with
local primary care groups for identifying individuals most at risk of
severe risk of covid-19 disease and navigating an opportunity for
vaccination.
The Health Department is very hopeful that the single J & J Covid
immunization will be available soon although, it is unclear as to how the
State is planning to deploy it. They are in favor of having that available
locally should they be able to receive it. The Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson
& Johnson vaccines are all substantially safe & effective vaccines against
Covid-19.
Some Numbers LBIHD To Date 3/1/21
First Moderna Vaccine administered starting 1/06/21
Total Vaccine Doses Administered: 1656
Total Fully Immunized: 486
