SP Council to Approve Shared Services Grant Tonight

The Scotch Plains Township Council will advance its shared services initiative with Fanwood during its council meeting Tuesday night.

Township Manager Christopher Marion said Monday that the council will pass a resolution to approve the Sharing Available Resources Efficiently (SHARE) Grant that is being used to pay Dan Mason of Jersey Professional Management, the consultant who is leading the study.

“This is the mechanics of getting him paid,” Marion said.

Distributed by the Department of Community Affairs, the SHARE Program Regional Coordination Grants offer state financial assistance to help local government units and/or public service non-profit organizations study, develop, and implement new shared and regional services.

Scotch Plains and Fanwood are receiving $48,000 from the grant.

Mason, who is president of the Cranford-based Jersey Professional Management, isn’t new to helping Scotch Plains and Fanwood with shared services. For the past 9 ½ years, he has directed members of both towns as they’ve met on a Shared Services Coordinating Council with the Board of Education.

The new study takes shared services a step further, examining the following departments to see where there's room to combine services: police, fire and ambulance, public works, recreation, municipal court, tax assessor, tax collector, finance, zoning and planning, building codes, recycling, trash, and the municipal building themselves.

The council will meet at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers of the municipal building.