ARPA funds approved for Puro Clean services

By Dana Casadei

The Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve $28,247 of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to be allocated for disaster cleanup to PuroClean at their meeting on Monday, June 24. 

With this project, PuroClean – which is a disaster relief company – will photograph and catalog each building and asset that is owned and maintained by Bloomfield Township, providing continuity and asset management planning.

They will take a 3D scan of township facilities that will pick up all mechanical equipment, serial numbers and other helpful information that will allow them to better manage the assets in those buildings. 

These scans will be in a place for the team members of the Bloomfield Township Department of Public Works to have access to, where they’ll be able to look at the pictures provided by PuroClean, get the serial number, know the tonnage on the unit, get the part and bring it where it needs to be. These scans will streamline the process currently being done.

This work will be vital too, especially if there is any kind of large-scale disaster. If that were to happen, thanks to the digital library collected and cataloged by PuroClean, the township would be able to use the digital library as a reference for each asset lost, and then restore any damaged or destroyed assets back to their original state after the event.

“This will get us ahead of the game,” said Noah Mehalski, director of public works.

PuroClean also has a relationship with the same insurer Bloomfield Township uses, which will come in handy in case they need any asset information, something they’ll be able to take right from the 3D scan and pay out based on that.

“This one-time cost will get our asset management where it needs to be,” Mehalski said.

Mehalski mentioned that each year there is a facility upgrade and PuroClean will monitor those, then will come in and rescan if there’s a major renovation. They can also come out to scan if there’s new mechanical equipment.

The township has worked with PuroClean the last few years on clean up for local disasters, such as the flooding in the senior center that led to mold; this will be the first time they work with them on this type of pre-disaster asset management and preparation.

Bloomfield Township received $4,407,946.33 from ARPA in total, and has to have it all obligated by the end of December 2024.