If you hear the sounds of sirens and helicopters next Friday, don’t panic! Robbinsville High School will be hosting a mass casualty drill beginning at 8am. The drill, similar to one run in Ewing back in May, will involve over 100 participants from local, county, state, and private agencies as they simulate a plane crash near the high school with a debris field, a high number of injuries, some fatalities, as well as the elements of collecting and distributing accurate information. According to Mayor Fried, “Since we are home to the Trenton-Robbinsville Airport, this is a scenario that could happen, and we will be ready. I’m proud of our first responders for taking the initiative to organize this.”

A multitude of agencies will be participating in the drill including State Police helicopters, canine units from Robbinsville Police, Fire and EMS, Hightstown EMS, Mercer County’s Office of Emergency Management, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) from Robbinsville and West Windsor and Hamilton.

The drill will also enable Mercer County to test its Mobile Communications Vehicle which is outfitted with a roof-mounted video camera and permits all responders to operate on one frequency, known as interoperability. The vehicle which was acquired in March of this year.

Students from the high schools drama club and other township employees will participle as accident victims.

After working for over a year without a contract, Robbinsville and the firefighter’s union have approved a new five year contract which will go into effect on August 4th. The new contract brings back the 24 hours “on” and 72 hours “off” work schedule in addition to longevity raises. As tax saving measures, firefighters will now contribute 1% of their salary toward health care beginning in 2010 and new firefighters will not be eligible for post-retirement health care benefits. The town council is expected to pass the contract at their August 14 meeting because two council members are out of town this week.

“When the Township assumed control of the Fire District in January 2007, firefighters received a 10 percent pay raise to compensate them for the increase in hours from a 24/72 schedule to one of 24 hours on, 48 hours off.  (Firefighters automatically earned 3 hours at an overtime rate under this schedule, under federal labor rules.)

Under the new contract and schedule, the base salary will remain in effect through the end of 2008, while the automatic overtime ceases. Firefighters will receive a 2 percent raise in 2009, and 3.5 percent raises in 2010 and 2011. Starting in 2010, firefighters will contribute 1 percent of salary toward their health care costs.

The contract includes certain longevity provisions that existed under the former Fire District, but also contains new overtime control measures. For example, a firefighter who calls out sick cannot have that shift count toward overtime during that pay period.”

Robbinsville and Hamilton townships scored a victory against a proposed increase in water rates by Aqua New Jersey Friday when a settlement was reached that will allow the water company to only increase rates by 16.4% versus the original plan’s proposed 28%. Under the original rate increase proposal, the average consumer’s bill would have increased from a yearly $394 to $519, however under the new terms the exact rate was not established.

Robbinsville used a $7500 “contribution” from Matrix Development Corp to hire a lawyer to battle the water company. Matrix Development is the owner of several large warehouses in Robbinsville near the Turnpike, and has a large sprinkler system which would have been greatly impacted by any rate increases.

The settlement also eliminated a proposed distribution system improvement charge that would have permitted the water company to increase rates by up to 5% without having to first get state approval. The offical approval for the rate change was supposed to go before the NJ Board of Public Utilities yesterday.

Source: nj.com

Since Robbinsville doesn’t yet have its own fireworks display for the fourth of July, here’s a list of all the local Independence Day celebrations and a schedule of fireworks shows. Have a safe holiday!

Ewing - July 3 @ 7 p.m.
Armstrong Park: Concert and Fireworks

Ewing - July 4 @ 10 a.m.
Moody Park: Parade (runs from Moody Park to Parkway Ave.)

Hamilton - July 3 @ 7 p.m.
Veterans Park: Musical Performance by the “Fabulous Greaseband” and Fireworks

Trenton - July 3 @ 7:05 p.m.
Waterfront Park: Trenton Thunder vs. Portland Seadogs with Post-Game Fireworks and Auction (for more information, go to trentonthunder.com. Tickets start at $6.)

Princeton - July 4 @ 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Morven Museum and Garden: Exhibition (for more information, go to revolutionaryprinceton.org or historicmorven.org)

Lawrence - July 4 @ 7 p.m.
Rider University: Concert and Fireworks

Mercer County - July 5 @ 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Mercer County Park: 5th Annual Mercer County Freedom Festival, with performances by The Nerds, The Fabulous Soul Cruisers, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and The Dawgs
http://nj.gov/counties/mercer/commissions/pdfs/park_freedomfest.pdf

A black bear cub was reportedly spotted around 6pm yesterday behind Sharon Elementary School walking through Princeton Memorial Park. “Township police said last night the bear had retreated into the woods separating the elementary school and the cemetery near the intersection of Sharon and Gordon roads. Police were patrolling the area as a precaution, but they said the animal did not seem threatening and did not pose any immediate danger to residents.” New Jersey’s bear policy is to leave the bear alone unless is poses a nuisance or threat to public safety. The state Division of Fish and Wildlife has detailed information about black bears, including information for children, on its website at state.nj.us/dep/fgw/bearfacts.htm.

Source: nj.com

Police officers executed a search warrant today at Mercer Professional Health Services located on Corporate Boulevard in Robbinsville, alleging that acts of prostitution had occurred on the premises. During the raid, police interrupted an alleged act of prostitution and made several arrests. Apparently there was a two month investigation into the suspected prostitution which started after police received reports that the business was offering “massages along with other sexual favors.”

Source: nj.com

The town council will hold a public hearing tonight regarding a $1.6 million bond ordinance to aid in buying the 52-acre Van Cleef farm property at the intersection of Robbinsville-Allentown Road and Circle Drive. If approved, the property will be kept undeveloped to help preserve the township’s rural feel. The total cost of purchase will helped by an additional $846,000 in grant money that will come from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres program, and the township’s Open Space Tax Trust Fund, the levy collected from residents who pay 5 cents per $100 of assessed property value for acquiring, developing and maintaining open space.

Source: nj.com

On Saturday, June 14th from 2pm~9:30pm, Robbinsville Township will be holding it’s annual Community Festival at the community park on. Admission is free and there will activities for the whole family to enjoy.

• Kids Play Zone and Amusements
• Games & Contests
• Pony Rides
• Clowns
• Inflatable Rock Climbing Wall
• Temporary Tattoo Booth
• Spin Art
• Trackless Train
• Ice Cream Eating Contests
• Food Court
• Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce Business Fair
• And much more!

At 6pm the The Acoustaholics perform (Classic Rock) and from 7pm-9pm 2U (The World’s 2nd Best U2 Show) performs.

Fireworks begin at 9pm so be sure to get a good seat early.

Note that the rain date is Sunday, June 15th.

The Robbinsville Township Recreation Division is offering discounted tickets for the following theme parks (prices are listed as Robbinsville resident price / Regular price):

Great Adventure - Jackson, NJ
3 Park Season Pass $115.00 / $129.99
Theme Park Season Pass $85.00 / $89.99-99.99
Theme Park - Adult (free safari) $30.00 / $59.99
Hurricane Harbor Only – Adult $26.00 / $34.99

Hershey Park - Hershey, PA
Adult (9-54 yrs) $37.00 / $47.95

Sesame Place - Langhorne, PA
All Admissions $42.00 / $51.02

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom - Allentown, PA
Adult $31.00 / $38.99

Tickets may be purchased at the Robbinsville Township Recreation Division located at 1 Washington Blvd. Suite 14 Monday – Friday, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (609) 918-0002 ext. 120

According to a recent letter sent to Jeanne Fox, the President of the N.J. Board of Utilities, Robbinsville residents have complained about receiving letters from Cablevision of Hamilton which state that unless they convert to digital cable boxes that they will lose several channels. These new cable boxes will come at an additional cost, and customers that refuse to convert to a new box will not only lose channels, but will not see a rate reduction. All this comes while Verizon continues to work on spreading FiOS throughout Robbinsville.

The full text of the letter is:

Jeanne Fox, President
N.J. Board of Public Utilities
2 Gateway Center, 8th floor
Newark, N.J. 07102
Dear President Fox,

In recent days, several Robbinsville residents have contacted my office regarding a letter they received from Cablevision of Hamilton. The letter states that unless residents select to subscribe to the IO package by May 20, 2008, these households will lose several channels without a digital cable box, which must be placed on each television at an additional cost.

The timing of this letter comes as Verizon FiOS service is being installed in some neighborhoods in Robbinsville. Portions of the Township are currently served, while other areas will take longer to receive service due to the presence of underground cable throughout our community. It is hard to predict precisely when the entire Township will have a choice between Cablevision and FiOS. Also, our Township is in the midst of its review of an updated cable TV ordinance, which is being discussed by our Council this evening.

Residents who have contacted us note that if they refuse to sign up for the IO package or the cable box, they will lose channels without a reduction in their monthly bill. They view this action by Cablevision as a back-door rate increase and question how this can be permitted. They note the timing of this action, when some residents have choices but others are still months away from having the options that will ultimately be available to them. The May 20, 2008, deadline strikes both the residents and me as an attempt by Cablevision to grab revenue before the full force of competition begins in Robbinsville.

Our Township was one of the first to support the legislation that promoted customer choice in cable services. I ask that the BPU look into this matter and offer the residents of Robbinsville a full explanation for the timing of this action by Cablevision.

Sincerely,
Dave Fried
Mayor, Robbinsville Township

Source: http://www.robbinsville-twp.org/bpu_cablevision_0508.pdf