MIDDLE TOWNSHIP FIRE DISTRICT #2

June 19, 2025

Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Robert W. Zimmerman. Mr. Zimmerman
stated that notice had been given to the Herald Newspapers, the official paper and is posted on
the bulletin board of the Middle Township Municipal Hall as required by P.L. 1975, c231, the
Sunshine Law.
Roll call was taken with commissioners Robert W. Zimmerman, Conrad J. Johnson, Jenifer D.
Sill, and Jean M. Zimmerman present. Also present were Rio Grande Fire Chief Jim Belles,
Danielle and Nick Adkins, and Bob Sweeten. James G. Neill, Fire Official Dan DeSimone, Richard
Braslow, Attorney and Leon Costello, Ford Scott CPA were absent.
COMMUNICATION: none at this time
OLD BUSINESS: none at this time
NEW BUSINESS: it was brought to Robert Zimmerman’s attention that there was an error in the
April minutes regarding the comment, “the fire district had given $35,000.00 to the fire
company towards the renovations of the meeting room and that the money was not spent on
the project.” It should have said . . . “the fire district had given $35,000.00 to the fire company
towards a project (energy savings electrical upgrades) and not one cent was spent on the
project.”
Robert Zimmerman and Jenifer Sill think the 2024 Audit is completed since their bill has been
submitted. They will contact Leon Costello to find out if it is completed.
Bob Sweeten, Fire Apparatus Coordinator, reported: on May 27 th , quint 72 was dropped off at
Lee’s Emergency Equipment in Tuckerton and picked the truck up on June 12 th . He forwarded
the two repair bills to Middle Township Claims Coordinator who said that we can pay the two
(2) $1,000.00 deductibles to Lee’s and she will work with JIF to make sure the balances get paid.
*on June 13 th , the crosslay netting was replaced on both sides of the quint. The netting was
purchased from Syntex Industries for a total of $272.01. *on June 19 th , Bob spoke with John
Miller from Shop 1 Apparatus regarding the air conditioning on the quint. John will come to the
building and check it out. John thinks he knows where the problem is and will have to take the
cab apart which will be down time for the truck. Bob asked the commissioners if they were in
favor of getting the ac repaired which they were, depending on the cost, but to a point. He did
not have an estimate at the time. Conrad Johnson and Robert both thought there should be a
cap for the cost, possibly $5,000.00. Bob will try and get an estimate and then let us know.

*Bob spoke with Chief Belles regarding a skid unit for one of our trucks. *Both chiefs’ vehicles
will be serviced with the chief’s vehicle being done on Monday. He said the rest of the vehicles
are good at this time and he will keep a check on them. The big trucks’ service was skipped last
year. Bob asked Barry to wait on servicing them while the quint was out of service so we don’t
have another truck out of service for the day. Also expecting to get the cafs on the tanker fixed
since Barry has the part. Bob asked Barry to also wait on fixing this while the quint was away for
the same reason. The squad has its original battery and will be needing replacement and also
has its original tires due for replacement in 2028 . The quint is due for tires. Tanker battery is
due 2028 and had new tires last year.
Bob Sweeten, LOSAP Coordinator, reported it was done.
CHIEF’S REPORT: 186 fire calls; annual PMs have been done on the Hurst tools on the tanker,
Amkus tools on the squad and the in-house air compressor; *quint is back in service after being
out of service for two (2) weeks for repairs but is now looking at getting the air conditioning
fixed; *Rich Sweeten will be doing in-house jaws training to some cars out back in the grass lot
near the shed area with approximately 12 members. Chief Jim Belles had a conversation with
Robert Zimmerman on using the fire district’s lot for the jaws training. *Water rescue training
at Garden Lake Park last drill night put on by three (3) Wildwood Fire Company firefighters. Jim
said that there seemed to be a lot more guys interested in this training and may purchase some
additional equipment in the near future. *Chief had a long conversation with MSA about the
replacement batteries for the SCBA that were promised for delivery in February. Jim threatened
to have an attorney get involved but that was the last thing MSA wanted to do. They promised
to ship them right to us bypassing the salesman and they arrived at 4pm this afternoon.
FIRE BUREAU: none at this time
TREASURER’S REPORT: Robert W. Zimmerman read the bills, motion by resolution to pay the
bills by Jenifer Sill, second Conrad J. Johnson, of $48,126.97. Chief Belles asked how much
money was in the penalty account. Jenifer Sill answered that there was approximately
$20,000.00 in the dedicated penalty account and that is the money that is able to be used to
support the fire company. Motion carried.

Jean Zimmerman, Secretary