NEWS RELEASE
Salem County Board of Chosen Freeholders
94 Market Street. Salem, N.J. 08079
CONTACT: Deborah Turner-Fox, Clerk of the Board/Administrator
Carl Wentzell, Director of Emergency Services
September 18, 2003
Salem County Offices Open For Business on Friday
Salem County offices will be open for business as usual tomorrow. Employees will be reporting to work at their normal time, unless they have been designated as essential personnel for emergency response and have already been put on a modified work schedule.
The State of Emergency that has been declared by the Governor’s Office has enabled Salem County to seek assistance from other agencies that might be needed; no travel ban has been put into effect.
County personnel have been busy preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Isabel since Monday of this week. Daily conference calls have provided essential information to all parties. Even as of Thursday afternoon, county personnel had already responded to a few minor situations, which were attributed to the storm and essential county operations were placed on a 24 hour a day work schedule. Equipment and personnel remain staged and ready to respond to any request from municipalities or county residents.
Carl Wentzell, Salem County’s Director of Emergency Services, says his team has been busy communicating to the municipal Office’s of Emergency Management, The Municipal Clerks & elected officials, the National Guard, Conectiv, and the New Jersey State Police to insure that all efforts here in Salem County are well coordinated. "It is great to see such diverse resources come together for a common purpose," stated Wentzell.
Freeholder Director Jack Kugler, who also is Salem County’s Emergency Management Coordinator, stated "employees have been urged to use great care when traveling to and from work and moving around the county for emergency response efforts. We all need to exercise caution and be smart in our travels, but we need to be available to meet our community’s needs throughout the duration of this storm. With the county’s primary responsibility being to provide essential services to our municipalities and community residents, all of our employees stand ready to assist in what ever ways they can."
County Residents are reminded that the Field House at Salem Community College will open at 6:00 pm Thursday evening for evacuations that may be necessary as a result of the high winds and heavy rains that will accompany this storm. Flood in low-lying areas is expected to worsen in the county as the tides rise over the next 12-24 hours.