Manchester Council Approves Whiting First Aid Building Purchase

MANCHESTER, NJ — The Manchester Township Council approved the purchase of the Whiting First Aid Squad building on Monday night.

The $500,000 purchase will give the township a place to house the town's ambulances and be a permanent satellite location for township services on the western side of town, officials said.

"This will be a very significant factor for the health and well being on the west side of town," Mayor Ken Palmer said.

The creation last year of the township's paid emergency medical response services has helped reduce response times to 7-1/2 minutes, and having a permanent location should reduce those times further, he said.

In addition to housing township ambulances, Palmer said the building will be renovated to include office space and the plan is to provide a place where residents can drop off property tax payments, sewer and water payments, and other items.

Palmer thanked the Whiting First Aid for selling the building, and thanked both the Whiting and Manchester first aid squads for their nearly 40 years of volunteer service to township residents.

The move to providing paid emergency medical services "put you out of business," Palmer said. "It was a difficult decision. It was a hard decision but it was the right one. The time has come that we need to provide our emergency services in a different way."

"Thank you to all of those folks for their dedicated service," he said. "This will be a huge addition to the town and I am looking forward to seeing it move forward."

Click here to get Patch email notifications, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Manchester Patch on Facebook.