Police, fire departments may be housed together

By GREG KENNELTY

Staff Writer

Borough officials are considering a new building to house both the Sea Bright Police Department and Sea Bright Fire and Rescue after additional damage was found last week at police headquarters.

Borough Administrator Joseph Verruni said during the Borough Councils Dec. 11 workshop meeting that problems were found during initial work to prepare for mold remediation at 1099 Ocean Ave.

As a result of the police moving out of their building to begin the mold remediation, Chief [John] Sorrentino removed the lockers and everything from the police building to a temporary structure, and it revealed certain problems with the police building. There were lateral cracks, Verruni said.

Mold that was discovered at police headquarters in March was the result of floodwaters from superstorm Sandy and leaks from the buildings windows and roof.

The police force is currently housed in a trailer set up in the municipal lot next to the current firehouse, Councilman Marc Leckstein said. Police vehicles are being parked nearby in front of the vacant headquarters.

Councilman James LoBiondo III said the recently discovered cracks create almost an inch of separation in the wall of the former locker room toward the back of headquarters.

It is a lot worse than we initially thought, he said, adding that an engineers report indicated that it was not cost-beneficial to fix the building.

Verruni said the Police Department will move into the temporary firehouse structure that is being installed on the driveway of the Sea Bright Fire and Rescue headquarters, which was also damaged during the 2012 superstorm.

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Police, fire departments may be housed together