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With several new construction projects set to take place in the city next year, a city official has taken steps to bring back a program that would put local residents to work directing traffic around the construction sites.

“The city had a flagman program a number of years ago,” said Council. “When construction projects come online, trained and certified flagmen are used to direct traffic detours. I think it is needed for Asbury Park and I’m working with [City Manager] Jack Kelly and [City Engineer] Joe Cunha to get the program up and running again,” she said.

Quinn said the city would pay workers about $12-$13 an hour, which cuts down on the municipal costs for the project, puts Asbury Park residents to work and frees up the city’s police officers to take care of other police matters.

The flagmen would be considered seasonal part-time workers not eligible for benefits, but would receive time-and-a-half  if they worked in excess of 40 hours during the course of one week, according to a memo sent from City Engineer Joe Cunha to city officials.

During the programs initial run, residents were put to work performing traffic control operations for infrastructure projects in the Central Business District and Springwood Avenue project zones. Construction contracts for each project allotted hours for both police and the trained flagmen to direct traffic at the discretion of the city engineer and contractors, the memo states.

In the next year, several construction projects are set to break ground in the city — the Springwood Avenue redevelopment project and several waterfront area construction projects — which gives the program “great potential,” according to Quinn.

Community activists Duanne Small and Daniel Harris have both been vocal at council meetings in support of the program.

“It is an opportunity for the city to employ local people. Especially the young people in the community that need the opportunity,” said Small. “It also gives the police an opportunity to work closely with the young men and women in the community to build and develop better relationships.”

“It would actually help young men and women in the community who are presently unemployed obtain some meaningful employment at a decent wage,” said Harris. “This would instill pride in the household — when you see mom and dad working, it passes the work ethic down into the family and lets kids know they don’t have to go out into the streets and sell drugs just to put food on the table.”

Police Chief Mark Kinmon is in agreement.

“I think it is an excellent program,” Kinmon said. “It comes with a lot of positives and everybody on the police side is in support of it. I think it is a good thing  for the police department to work alongside people in the community.”

City officials are in the process of figuring out where the money will come from for training and certification, said Quinn.

Training for the previous program was funded through the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Program administered by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the memo states.

“I know John moor is supportive of the program,” Quinn said. “I would hope the other council members would be as well.”

[Photo at top: One of the sites of the Springwood Avenue redevelopment project, which developers are set to break ground on in 2015.]

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