The Times They are a Changin’…

I wanted to take a moment to tell our residents that real progress is being made in Buena Vista Township. On March 21st new Digital LED Lights were tested at Michael Debbi Park, and they looked terrific. This offers the newest state-of-the-art lighting and energy savings to our residents using the baseball, softball, and football fields. This $800,000.00 project, approved by Green Acres, as a loan, will put us in a new dimension of lighting that will take us forward for the next 20 years.

The $400,000.00 Buena Vista Township Local Road Program is well underway re-asphalting over a dozen roads throughout the Township including 6th Road in Newtonville. The Township has always had a local road program each year for as long as I can remember. We try to evaluate roads to make living and traveling in Buena Vista Township a little easier. Unfortunately, we have 125 miles of paved roads in our Township and can only do so many each year.

We are in the process of replacing a 1988 Road Grader. It is no longer working and parts are not available. A newer 2008 model is in the bid process which will help to maintain our dirt roads throughout the Township. It will even assist during snow storms.

This year we completed the long overdue Weymouth Road Project after six years of State Road Aid Grant money. The next project we have requested from the State is to help rebuild Chestnut Avenue in East Vineland and we are waiting for approval.

Another project that will begin soon is at our Public Works building on Union Road in East Vineland. The plans are complete, and the funding is in place to remove the old concrete portion of the building which was built in the 1950’s. A modern replacement steel structure will be built on the same footprint that will allow us to store more equipment indoors, have a better work area for repairs, offices, and a meeting room/kitchen area. The funding for this project comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a long-term loan.

The Township also plans on purchasing some new equipment for our Public Works Department that is long overdue. Included are dump trucks and pick-up trucks so that our fleet can stay up-to-date and be able to serve the community better.

It is important that the Township try to maintain our buildings, equipment, parks, and roads, so that we can continue to offer all the services that we do. Please know that a great deal of thought goes into making these decisions. Some of the projects mentioned in this article have been in the planning stages for as long as ten years.

Mayor Chuck Chiarello