Assemblyman Joseph Danielsen (D-Middlesex/Somerset) released the following statement on the Friday evening fire that gutted the commercial building in Franklin Township where his legislative office and a number of other businesses were located:
“The fire in our building was a horrible event, especially for the doctors and patients and the businesses that also use the building and can’t easily rebuild.
“Our staff is thankful that no one was seriously injured. We also want to note our gratitude for the brave firefighters and medical responders in our state who performed a valiant job.
“The community should know that our staff will be available and working, albeit location yet unknown, but available via phone and email.
“We are not considering ourselves homeless. Rather we are now mobile. Until we settle in a location that can accommodate visitors, we will operate in a mobile fashion. This will include setting up temporary operations at potential locations such as libraries, civic centers and churches. If needed, we will come to you.
“To achieve our goal with the new dynamics of our predicament, we will change how we do business, including working on weekends and extending business hours into the evening. Our mindset is that this is more of an adversity to the residents of the community than it is to us, and our job is to minimize that adversity by delivering our services at the same level as before the fire.
“We are meeting with the Office of Legislative Services to begin coordinating a new location, and our entire staff will be holding a late night Monday meeting to begin the planning process to move forward. During our period of transition, I encourage people to use email to communicate with us at AsmDanielsen@njleg.org or phone 732-247-3999.
I expect an announcement of a new office location will be in the very near future.”