Cranford Looks to Hire Firm to Secure Funds for Flood Mitigation

Written by Nicole Bitette and Craig McCarthy

Come September, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will present a recommendation for the South Mountain Retention Dam project that aims to reduce flooding in Cranford and nearby towns, but in the meantime the Township is looking for a firm to help them secure the funds to move the project forward.

The Governor’s Office recently announced $300,000 is available for these types of projects, Mayor Tom Hannen said at Monday's workshop meeting. In this case, for the South Mountain Regional Detentional Dam project, which would reduce water elevations in the Rahway River watershed.

The next step by the Township would be to join neighboring towns from the Mayors Council Rahway River Watershed Flood Control group in hiring the lobbying firm, Winning Strategies, to lobby in Washington D.C. to secure the funds for the project. Currently, Springfield and Union have signed off to hire the firm, with Millburn and Rahway possibly next, Hannen said.

However, Millburn Mayor Sandra Haimoff told Patch she and the town were hesitant about hiring a lobbying firm before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' recommendation. 

"Well find out what they recommend in the next few weeks so why rush?" Haimoff said. 

She explained, there are many proposed plans to help flood mitigation all along the Rahway Watershed, some of which target municipalities further down the watershed, requiring townships fund projects to alleviate local flooding. "We might need the money we have or get for our township's flooding," Haimoff said. "The whole process is extremely slow so we really must know exactly what we are lobbying for before we lobby."

Using Winning Strategies would cost Cranford about $9,000 for the year (after it is divided among the other towns), but the township could choose to terminate the relationship at anytime if they felt it was not a success.

Committeeman Kevin Campbell said it would definitely be money well spent to hire the firm when comparing the cost-benefit analysis of what the firm would cost the Township to what damage from future storms could cost.

Winning Strategies previously lobbied for the dune replacement project in Long Beach Island, where they were able to secure the funds to move the project forward.