October 9, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 15 Borough, schools to share costs of lightning detection The Waldwick Board of Education and the Mayor and Council have agreed to share the costs of installing a lightning detec- tion system in town, but the work won’t be done until next year due to budgetary con- straints. “We are very excited about this. We are committed to it and are thrilled that you are considering going along. It’s a good ven- ture to go into together,” said newly-elected board of education President Dawn Monaco during last week’s mayor and council meet- ing. Under the terms of the proposal now on the table, the board and the town would share equally on the cost of the base unit, about $20,000 total. Each entity would pay 100 percent of the cost of the monitors it installs on its property. Borough Administrator Gary Kratz said the system being considered will have no recurring charges, as the units will be solar-powered. The board would install three: at the Waldwick High/middle school campus, and at Traphagen and Sicomac schools. The town would also install three, two at Borough Park (by the fields and by the playgrounds) and one at Veterans Park. Kratz said the pool would be covered by the high school’s and the Borough Park’s units, since the system has a five-mile radius. Councilman Chuck Farricker said that the system selected should be compatible with Midland Park and other neighboring towns if they have one because coaches and players would be more familiar with procedures. One resident suggested that neighbor- ing towns without a system in place be approached to share the cost of the base unit, since there is service overlap. Alternate side parking suggested for Idalane The Waldwick Police Department is rec- ommending alternate parking for Idalane Street as a means of alleviating traffic prob- lems before and after school hours, and bor- ough officials are asking for resident input before a solution is actually implemented. The one-block street has direct access to the back of the Waldwick High School/middle school complex and is used by parents who want to avoid other traffic when picking up their children. Idalane residents complained to the mayor and council last month that parents park on both sides of their narrow street, block their driveways and then use them as a turn around, since there is no cul-de- sac. The street dead ends at the high school property. Borough Administrator Gary Kratz told the governing body last week that there should be no parking on one side of the street on alternating days; thus the residents would share the burden. Additionally, he (continued on page 25) Lightning detection systems, which can be mounted on schools or other buildings, continuously monitor the atmosphere’s electrostatic energy and evaluate the poten- tial for lightning within a certain radius, providing the necessary alerts with horn blasts followed by flashing strobe lights. Once the system determines that the haz- ardous condition is past, an all-clear signal is sounded and the lights stop flashing. Other systems are monitored remotely and send an e-blast or text message with the warning, but the board of education early on decided they were not interested in this system. Mayor Thomas Giordano said the system would be monitored by the board of education, which would also see to the education of the coaches. Monaco said the board would develop procedures to be fol- lowed once the warning system is opera- tional. School and recreational coaches who use the fields would have to be trained as to when to start getting off the field and where to take the children if an emergency arises. She said the district would prob- ably follow a system similar to that used now for concussion procedures, whereby coaches have to sign off that they are famil- iar with the rules and will follow them. While impending electrical storms can be easy to detect, warning alarms go off even in instances where no signs of a storm are detected on the field. Giordano also said that the police department would have no involvement in clearing people off the fields when an alarm goes off.