07/13/04

SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD GRANT SOUGHT

Responding to the recent gun safety challenges in New Castle, Chief McDerby is working on a $11,000 grant from the US Dept. of Justice to assist the PD effort to work with our community and juveniles about gun safety and the distribution of gun locks. The money will be used for materials and development of the program. A meeting will be held within the next 2 weeks to learn the result. Thank you, Chief, for your leadership and attention to this. For more information, please call Chief McDerby at 322-9800 or email at KMcDerby@newcastlepd.state.de.us

PARKS “PARTNERSHIP” UP & RUNNING

Council passed a resolution recently establishing the creation of the “Friends of New Castle Parks & Beautification Donor Program” as a way of creating a public private partnership with the community for funding and development of the Citywide park system. A similar approach was used successfully last year in the development of the Dobbinsville Park. Driven by safety and insurance requirements, many of the dangerous park equipment have been removed recently. A committee has been formed with members of the Beautification Committee, Tree Commission, Public Service Department, Councilman Padmalingam and citizens to launch a formal program. If you would like to help us rebuild our Park system, please volunteer your time, money and energy to this exciting project by contacting Councilman Padmalingam at 325-9060 or snoborder17@aol.com or Public Services Director, Jim Weldin at 322-9813 or email at jimweldin@newcastlecity.org.

INSURANCE COSTS LOWERED

Council voted to authorize the Admin Dept. to solicit bids for the City-wide insurance recently and several companies responded. Working closely with our insurance broker, Bob Briggs of IFS, this process led to a complete re-evaluation of our City liability and a reduction in the premiums compared to this year’s costs. The underwriter and broker cited a major shift in cooperation with loss control requirements and the enrollment of in the State’s Workplace Safety Program. Two of the improvements made were the installation of a wharf fence and the removal of unsafe park equipment. With this bid and contract concluded, all contracted services have been put to a competitive bid with the last 3 years. Finance/HR Director, Marian Delaney, HR coordinator, David Skupien and Councilwoman Gen Miller were involved with this effort and we thank you for help. For more information about the insurance, please call Marian Delaney at 322-9811 or email mdelaney113@newcastlecity.org or Councilwoman Miller at 322-9801 or millercattails@aol.com

DNREC- DEPT OF AG GRANT AWARDED

Public Services Director, Jim Weldin brought a DNREC- Dept of Agriculture Tree and Storm Drain survey grant opportunity to Council and the Tree Commission recently. A $20,000 grant has now been awarded to the City to conduct a GIS (Geographic Information System) to catalog and identify the species and health of street trees and open space trees and to make recommendations on maintenance. The second use of this study will be to catalog Citywide storm water drain locations, age of drains and repair information. GIS is a computer mapping system for recording pictures, locations, and information. We have used this to catalog the MSC utility poles and other systems in the City. The ultimate goal is to use the information to plan and manage both tree plantings and storm drain infrastructure to improve storm water management within the City. Meetings with the Department of Agriculture, Tree Commission and the Public Services Director are forth coming. For more information, please call Public Services Director, Jim Weldin at 322-9813 or email at jimweldin@newcastlecity.org.

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