Belmar Council Discusses Purchasing First Aid Building

BELMAR—During its meeting on May 4, the Belmar borough council discussed the possibility of buying the building that formerly was the home of the Belmar First Aid Squad, which was the oldest volunteer first-aid squad in the country, dating back to 1927.

The First Aid Squad ceased operations on March 31 due to lack of funding and other operational issues. The building is currently listed for sale, and the First Aid Squad is currently accepting bids for the building and property, located on the corner of 9th Avenue and D Street.

According to Mayor Mark Walsifer, building a new first aid building would most likely cost more than buying the current building, so he feels that is something that the borough should look into.

“I talked to our police chief and fire administrator and all our professionals, and even to build a build like that on borough property somewhere would cost a lot of money,” Mayor Walsifer said.

Councilman Tom Carvelli asked about the asking price for the property. The mayor responded by saying that they would get an appraisal done and that he would ask borough attorney Jerry Dasti to start the negotiating process with the First Aid Squad.

“I still think that the whole piece of property is valuable to public safety concerns in the borough,” Mayor Walsifer said.

Councilman Thomas Brennan asked about how the borough would pay for the property through either a bond or some other municipal funds.

“Is it something that would impact the taxpayers directly, or is this something that we could find the money for, depending on the price?” Brennan asked.

Mayor Walsifer responded by saying that while he doesn’t want to saddle the borough with more debt, he feels that the property is worth to Belmar, even if it means getting a bond.

“The last thing I want to do is get into more debt, but the problem is this building is before us now, so if it's knocked down and sold to developers and some houses built on it, we would never have the opportunity to do it,” Mayor Walsifer said.

“We would probably have to do a long-term bond to purchase it,” the mayor added.

The council all agreed with the mayor that looking into the potential price of purchasing the property was worth looking at, so Mayor Walsifer said he would have the borough attorney start the process.

“Depending on the price, I think that most Belmar citizens would like to see the building kept,” Councilman Brennan said.