Mullica, Egg Harbor City Police Merger Off Indefinitely

"I think we'd be foolish not to look into it," Mullica Township Mayor Janet Forman said at the time.

"It doesn't hurt to do the study," Betty Schoenstein, an Egg Harbor City councilwoman, said.

But officials from both municipalities admitted Tuesday that those plans have been put on hold indefinitely.

 "We're still committed to looking into shared services. But in my opinion, studying a police merger is on the back burner right now. It probably won't do a lot to save any money," said Egg Harbor City Mayor Joe Kuehner Jr., adding that an informal study by city officials determined that such a merger would be cost neutral or even cost prohibitive.

"We're not opposed to the idea, and if there is a feasible way to do it, we would," Kuehner said. "But right now, we just don't see the benefit in doing it."

The chiefs from both departments said their 14-officer forces are in need of more officers. Kuehner said merging the departments wouldn't change that.

"At the most, you would go down to having just one chief, but then you would still probably have two captains," he said. "It would probably end up being a wash."

The logistical dilemma of where the combined police department would be located - whether a new building would be needed or if they would use two separate stations - was also a cause for concern, Kuehner said.

Mullica Township Committeewoman Kathy Chasey said she was surprised to hear that Egg Harbor City was no longer interested, but she said it makes sense.

"For something like that to work, it would have to be a town with a large population taking on a smaller town or several towns pooling their resources," Chasey said. "But I don't see where the savings would be for two smaller towns to do this."

Kuehner agreed, saying that a regional police force similar to the dispatching service that the two municipalities currently share with Weymouth and Estell Manor would be more feasible.

The news wasn't surprising to everyone.

"As soon as I read that they appointed a new chief, I knew they were no longer interested," Mullica Township Committeeman Michael St. Amour said of the Jan. 22 swearing in of Egg Harbor City police Chief John McColgan.

Forman said she hasn't received any official, or unofficial, notice from Egg Harbor City that the agreement is dead.

"I think we're always open to new suggestions on how to save money, but I would not push for this," said Forman, adding the expense to perform the study alone was cost prohibitive due to the apparent lack of an upside.

E-mail Robert Spahr: RSpahr@pressofac.com

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