good evening and welcome to the township of Bedminster this is the township committee's regularly scheduled meeting for May 20th 2024 20th what I say did you say 24th no 20th Oh I thought 20th 2024 oh 2024 sorry I'll recognize that we have a quum of Township committee here in person committee man Stevenson committee man hickey committee woman Fernandez committee woman moresi has an excused absence M Ray may we please have the open public meetings act statement yes mayor adequate notice of this meeting of the township committee was sent to The Courier News Somerville Bernville news whiy and to all subscribers and posted the Township Municipal Building on January 5th 2024 great thanks please join me in standing for the pledge of aliance I to the of the United States of America to the stands one nation God indice this is the time of the meeting we open up um microphone and zoom for public comments any member of public wishes to make a comment ask a question guarantees on answers now's your opportunity to do so I see one hand being raised Mr red you have to come on up oh no get to the microphone state your name Street good evening everyone my name is Michael Rhoden I live on spener Lane in plugman New Jersey hi okay you know we all know why I'm here or do we dog park dog park dog park so uh quick notes you know we got some trees planted last year it was fantastic uh I worry about the trees today because you know they they got planted uh really didn't get watered we dependent on WEA we're still depending on whether they are actually you know growing but I I I just want to know do we have a watering plan for those trees do we have a weeding plan for those trees right now they are protected by a small piece of uh fencing which is fine but you know I I I don't know really whether or not that uh it's an issue to protect the trees at their stage that adult and go up and pee on them because you know dog pee is full of nitrates I think trees love nitrates I mean I really don't know I'm not a scientist but you know I I've noticed trees that get peed on grow a lot better than trees that don't get peed on in my experience so you know in the do Park we have the trees and I I I would really like to see a a a program that's going to take care of the trees you know whether it's me that I go there and put 150 g water uh container in the back of my vehicle and a little pump and go out there and water them we not I mean what is what is the process for these trees are we supposed to be watering do we need to weed them I they they've got grass growing around them now in their little 4 foot pen that's you know G two feet tall hi Gina how are you feel like I'm blocked here uh anyway you know I I I would be more than you know welcome to help in this endeavor uh I I want to see those trees grow I've grown trees in my neighborhood which is a a multif family neighborhood and I I've planted trees I've grown trees I've ordered those trees and they are now perfect little specimens that I sit on my deck and look at I'd like to see these because I I plan to stay in place here one way or another in Bedminster because I want to AG here so we got watering weeding protection at the park there we need to do something with the first gate hinge right now it's starting to wear through we you you took care of I'm sorry I'm addressing Kevin right now but you took care of the secondary hinge and with little welded nut all that kind of stuff it's rusting it needs grease or whatever and now but the the first hinge is now doing the same thing eating into the uh the hinger and and in that area right there there's puddling at the entrance there's a lot of puddling the the surface is lower what I'm talking about is today's maintenance of the park not tomorrow's promise of pet fresh Mr Mayor you were really thrilled about pet fresh I have not heard anything about PR fresh pets since then there has been no sub committee that was going to happen for the dog park just before press fresh pass and that got cancelled and yeah uh I'm just I'm at a loss as to where the township is going because I have no control over that and I'm looking to you to tell me what your plans are so at the gate you you you have a a hinge failure replacement problem right now you have puddling at the entrance at that entrance also every winter the snow gets plowed it gets dumped at the far end of the handicap parking spots and at the far end of the handicap parking spots is's a pile of gravel there's gravel all through the handicap parking spots I really wouldn't want to be a handicapped person that has to depend on a walker getting out moving across that surface that gravel's there it could be used to level out the entrance really the entrance really needs to be a concrete entrance I don't know what your intentions are with the dog park but you know a dog park typically has a concrete pad at the entrance that keeps it stabilized the handicapped park parking there you know it's it's not right over by the the new bathrooms the the uh composing bathrooms there is a handicap parking spot I certainly wouldn't want to park over there you wouldn't believe the silt that's there if it's at all damp you're going to get out you're going to fall in your ass when you get out of your car and that's a handicapped parking spot bathrooms I was a little surprised to hear that the Department of Public Works has been assigned cleaning the bathrooms the newly designed bathrooms over there that's not their job cleaning bathrooms really who cleans the bathrooms here Town Hall you know are they done one C Friday I don't think so they're probably done every day uh that that really Gina thank you for that information that that really was you know it's not their job it it's really you know a clean and and from what I understand reading about those bathrooms is they do have to be pumped I mean they're going to composite the crap but they still have to be pumped of liquids I they don't drain liquids do they Kevin yes okay okay trees we love the trees um uh there's an issue with trees in the township all around I I I come down the road and on the right hand side just past Portland which is basically a state piece of property there's probably about 20 trees that were planted in there if you go there and you look probably 40% of them are dying uh they don't get watered how do we how do we provide for this I it's not Department of Public Works responsibility how does the township provide for that how does the township provide for watering the trees in the park um burnt Mills Road lost a bunch of trees last year that were just cut down their gone because they they weren't watered we're supposedly a tree friendly Township how do we do something to protect our trees Mr Roden as I said at the beginning of public comments you have the opportunity to give comments and you have the opportunity to ask questions but you don't get a guarantee you don't get a guarantee on answers but Kevin to the and let me just turn to Kevin from gpw to the extent you are able to answer any of those questions you can do so if you can get closer to a microphone abolutely yes all right Mr rodent so let's go with the trees and the watering schedule we've had one of the wetest springs on season it's fantastic so there's no need to Mother Nature to take care of that I correct um if there is a need to we have bags like we did for the uh Christmas tree in front of the jph our holiday tree we did in front of the jph um so if it needs bags and it calls for that we put bags out we I have a big tote full of them and they'll refill the bag and Solly water in um as for the enclosures I spoke to Whit Parker who is the township Street Guru my opinion I trust him and uh two weeks ago and I asked him about the enclosures myself or maybe it was last week and he said that he still thinks they should go this entire year with the enclosur okay so and and which which day job is as a Forester so so Ro I'm going to trust Whit Parker on on Tree Management I I do but the question also becomes you know how do the weeds that are growing in that thing those how do trees grow with weeds around them we'll have to uh is something Kevin that was that was my parlay question for Whit was can I take the fence down and weed back and not have to put the fence back um so when we have the opportunity we'll take the fence down we'll trim everything and then the fence will be replaced back in place um gate hinge I'll have my crew look at as well as the puddles for the entrance um and we'll look at the gravel at the handicap area we can build that off tomorrow uh bathroom cleanings we actually currently clean the bathrooms at the Art Association uh restrooms Mondays and Fridays Mondays when they are in so that has water so we winterize that so during the season we clean that Mondays and Fridays when we do garbage this will just be part of our normal routine for uh for cleaning so Mondays and Fridays we'll be cleaning the bathrooms we figured they're very high use on the weekends all of our parks so Mondays and Fridays has always been the best schedule um as for the pumping maintenance those bathrooms are set for 60 uses a day on average based off of that every two to three years the liquids need to be pumped really um and then the solids about the same so I'm sorry uh it's maybe annually the liquids the solids are two to three years and uh with that we have a maintenance agreement with clevis who did the uh who built the units and then we'll be maintaining them to make sure that they're operating properly uh the trees that were burnt that were cut down bur's Park some of them were part of the state program when the state changed the ramp for 22A 287 North to 206 South they cut down a bunch of trees to change that ramp so we had trees planted in multiple areas with that I believe there was a two or threee maintenance contract that the statement responsible for with water so the trees did not Thrive and or no didn't live yes we did cut those down uh but that was a state program the state plan they needed somewhere to put trees the township allowed them to put trees on their property if they didn't Thrive they didn't Thrive but there was a maintenance plan with that you but they died after the twoyear yes yeah it was post the the maintenance agreement so if you walk from Burt Mills Park to the first Bridge there heading towards River Road on the hiken bike path you'll see there's cutouts on the right side and on the left hand side uh where trees were planted um a lot of those to thrive and they were out there and they had to water them they had the weed around them they had to prune them it was all part of the made its way similar with 202 North off 287 North that entire area there that's part of those trees were installed as part of that program so I mean you know how do how do we protect those trees going forward now that the two-year guarantee maintenance is over that you know it yes we have a had a very great spring very great a very wet spring very wet uh end of winter a lot of flooding a lot of water uh the the dog park has a natural level of water but certain areas don't um it it's State Property there so you know you're kind of like not really uh obligated or allowed to water those trees yeah it's something that would have to be reached out to I imagine deep re to or the do since it was their project and and ask them to do yeah I I I love trees I think this whole I think we uh I think we that comes loud and clear that you like trees or love trees any further questions comments from the public there will be open comments on the uh lease agreement for yes there will be there will be a public hearing on the two ordinances sorry to sorry to bother me there you're not bothering Mr Roden that's what public comment opportunity is for we have two sets of meeting minutes to approve tonight that's April 15 20124 closed session and the May 6 2024 regular Township committee meeting any comments or questions regarding those minutes that have not otherwise been provided to M Ray seeing none take a motion to approve the minutes so second all in favor I thank you we have one two three four five Kermit and Raffles to go through versus an annual seasonal Farm Market permit for flounder Brewing at the bedm farmers market May 25 through December 7 2024 a social Fair permit to benefit Ashton Brewing compy company on June 1 2024 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Essex hor truck at pton Farm Golf Club an on premise merchandise raffle to benefit Freedom House Inc on July 15 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 700 p.m. at fidler's elbow Country Club and on premise 5050 Raffles to benit Freedom House Inc on July 15 2024 at 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at fitler El and a golf contest raffle to benefit Freedom House Inc on July 15 2024 9 am to 7 pm at fers elbow country CL any questions or comments regarding those Hermits and Raffles seeing none take a motion to approve so moved second all in favor I I thank you monthly report discussion by SubCom committee chair committee Stevenson thank you mayor good evening everybody um with respect to DPW um we continue to work on the fields keeping them trimmed in line for the sports activities uh prepping for the Farmers Market opening of the season um and still working on roadside mowing that's the season for that now um we're working with our environmental commission to set up uh some cameras parks to try to give us a better sense of what's happening there um and then we've got our standby generator project that is moving along so all's looking good on that I don't know if Kevin you got anything specific but in general that project looks like it's it's on um on Pace um uh historic preservation there was a last minute ad um to meetings that we got together last month or last week I should say and went smoothly appreciate everybody's efforts to try to get together with the applicant that's all I got good thank you Comm hick thank you mayor good evening all Board of Health there was no meeting this past month because there were no applications mayor did you want me to do library yes please okay Library just the Highlight was that there's a plan for a kids story walk um which is targeted for uh sometime in July it will involve stations that will be arranged around the perimeter of the libraries community garden and basically the kids go from station to St ation learn a little bit about reading follow a story and it's you know decid it's designed to get the younger kids out there and excited about reading so it's pretty creative idea for customer engagement Library plans to uh bring the show on the road to other community events throughout the year provide this one successful so that's what they're ging up for that was about to highlight the meeting mayor that's all I got thank you committee woman Fernandez thank you mayor um just a quick update on Rec Camp administer currently has over 130 campers campers registered for each week which is great uh 15 of the afternoon camps are at Max Capacity uh all the camp staff's been hired employment packets were mailed out it's like Camp is right around the corner um adult indoor volleyball which was held School here in Bedminster on Tuesday nights wraps up tomorrow um and then adult sand volleyball will continue at plugman Park it'll be on Wednesdays um starting in June 5th the soccer clinics are finishing up this Thursday and multisports camps um will be offered this summer on Saturdays for ages two and a half to six year olds for little guys and um Bedminster Burnville and pack Gladstone Recreation departments once again we'll be holding a basketball league for boys in fifth three eighth grades um and uh the burnard's High basketball coach will run the summer league which is exciting and kind of bring the kids up and then uh each team will have 10 regular season games and one playoff game and tomorrow is our recck meeting so I'll have more updates after that great so from my perspective uh Farmers Market starts up um this Saturday and continues all the way through December into December so uh you know where the SAT where Saturday is going to be um more Farms than we've uh had before more vendors than we've had before and we've got some returning farms and returning Bedminster participation so great to see all the details regarding Farmer Market issue in press released uh Robin sent out and I believe may also be on the website luse board uh luse board uh last week there was a zoning board approval for a use variance once again it was a zoning board board of adjustment matter Comm commitment hicky and I were not eligible for it um was approved 5 to2 and it permits a two family home in the village neighborhood Zone on New lington Road right across the street or pretty much maybe FL di across the street from where uh Ben S Pizza is um I know it's uh caused some consternation among folks uh board is independent those board members can make their own decisions may not necessarily be the decisions uh that the township committee agrees with uh but they took an application uh went through uh two three nights of the hearings two nights at least two at least two and then there was one that was rescheduled uh because issue with the esies um really it's really all I have to say about uh that variance um there are a few planning board matters coming up that committee man hickey and I will be out boards and those are coming up in June So at their next meeting we'll be reporting on that progress is Ray may we please have the administrators report yes mayor um as I reported our last meeting uh Bedminster Town chet on behalf of um several communities involved in the uh Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee we submitted a Grant application uh to Congressman kean's office I did find out from his legislative Aid we should find out this week which is this we projects Yep this week on which projects are going to move forward um do local aid grant we're going to be applying uh spoke to director Kevin Murray and Township engineer Paul Ferrero and we will be submitted an application on July one for some of the roadways up in the hills um I've been working on a Somerset County Film commission as you know the film ready initiative I put together an agreement and an ordinance and um an application process uh which I do need to send over to attorney Bardo for review and um we'll probably hopefully be able to introduce that at our next meeting and um count is looking for poll workers obviously for the upcoming primaries that are going to be held on Tuesday June 4th they pay $300 a day and then um mayor on uh May 14th we attended the ad committee meeting and um just in the process that we discussed some of the grants available to property owners and um just an overview of the Township's Farmland preservation efforts to date and last but not least um we submitted the county OEM coup plan and which is the uh continuation of operations uh during the elections and that's been approved by the sun County um oh and that concludes my report right you know I should have mentioned the EG U the EG meeting so uh Comm M hickey and I attended that meeting we thought that was going to be relatively quick I think it's about almost two not quite two hour it's about hour 40 or so um there are some irons in the fire we're hopeful that they come to fruition and certainly get some updates and some of them are pretty important properties and um hopeful that they come through uh both on Farmland uh preservation and open space preservation Chief bring you back up to the microphone and um any updates we can talk about uh the administrative report I know we discussed earlier uh your traffic meeting regarding plotter SCH will be next week so probably no updates maybe some additional data gathering this Thursday turn it to you oh was is Thursday Thursday yes I don't have any new information from the community policing uh from last meeting but all of our programs are listed on our website if anybody wants any more information they can take a look and if they have questions they can certainly call us great okay thank you introduction of ordinances we have none to introd tonight however we do have two ordinances for public hearing and I'll take a motion to open the public hearing for ordinance number 2024 004 move second all in favor I thank you so ordinance number 20244 this amends the property maintenance ordinance um right now the property maintenance ordinance applies to the Village neighborhood zone so that's both in plugman and in bedminister Village what is not captured by the current property maintenance zone is the section of flamin along Route 202 206 uh which is zoned s that's the senior citizen housing Zone and that's going to be uh um puckman Park Senior Community so that Frontage the buildings that are in that complex would also be subject to the same Property Maintenance requirements that appli to the rest of the village John just going to turn to you if uh a little more detail if there's any more detail to provide summarized it May or the committee in the past has looked to make sure that the properties in the VN Village neighborhood zone are are up to standards uh befitting the community in in the area we had one property which was recently remediated I I drove bias uh today on my waiting any belly to get a sandwich and I told that the LA was cut properly finally um and I drove by another particular uh area on the way back that will be subject to this new ordinance and uh the standards uh that have worked for us previously okay any questions comments from Township committee open up for public comment so public comment is related to the ordinance any members of the public wishing to make a comment on the or proposed ordinance 202 24004 so n take a motion to close the public hearing so second all in favor I and I'll take a motion to approve ordinance number 20244 so moved second roll call vote Please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hickey hi Miss Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs hi thank you take motion to open the public hearing for ordinance number 2 24005 so moved second all in favor I I thank you so ordinance 20245 the Jacobus Vander house is coming to um the end of its current lease term with Bedminster so as folks may know Bedminster owns the jacovis Vander house you lease it to Friends of the choba SP house to operate and maintain uh facilities there that includes the furniture the fixtures the installations the museum installations the art installations and to operate programming at the Chota span fous we've had some discussions with the board of the jbh friends um regard in the lease extension there's no chance that we will get through those negotiations before the lease would otherwise expire um so we asked John blardo and administrative Ray to put together an ordinance for a temporary extension of the lease give us about five six months um to continue negotiations with the friends of J BH board and to participating uh finalizing a uh an extension of the lease and from our side we're going be talking to to Kevin in DPW to see how it's operating with Neil from Wreck uh certainly take input from both um Gina from Rec committee and from from Doug from as our DPW on and his preservation uh for the comments that you guys have so we can make sure that when we get into the meat of the real negotiations um that will putting the operations first and the expectations of the township committee embedded and also hearing from uh the choba sander board as to what their expectations are and to finalize that we've had what 20 Robin was it 20 years under this current lease 25 25 years under this current lease so there's Lessons Learned for both parties and so when we enter into the next lease we want to make sure that we've Incorporated any of those Lessons Learned you can embed them in the in the rooms so all we're doing with this uh is is we're just doing a temporary extension John anything that I miss if you want to give any more details about when the lease actually um expires maybe Robin you know that June 24th June 24th that's a guess okay that's and this is getting us to what September what the date was 21st October October 21st October okay four month October 21st there it is a lease is an interest in real property we have to extend it by ordinance rather than resolution and the necessity to introduce uh and public on war so questions or comments regarding from the township committee regarding the extension of the current lease through October 21st no no open the public hearing for public comment any members of the public wishing to make a comment on the pending ordinance please come on up to the microphone state your name and street address Michael Rhoden Spencer Lane welome in New Jersey in New Jersey Mr Roden I'm quite intrigued uh on the lease extension only because did a little research and the we did see the trailer get removed this past year uh I believe you were personally involved in that my wife said that you were there like you know hours after it was literally removed uh and you know I I looked at the diagram that's on um on the jbh website if I can keep that for you thank you now it's not my concern so much as the lease extension I it it's to the purpose of the lease extension and that is in a sense negotiations uh when you look at that particular drawing it seems to be in Conflict although for some reason every time I go on to the Bedminster website to pick up some sort of uh detail that the the drawings do not scale I mean you look at that you you can't read what the letter says you blow it up you certainly can't read what the lettering says I I don't know what that issue is whether I have to just you know do an Oprah and request that specific piece of information to get better detail on it but it does appear to be in conflict with the the township plans for that area of the park whether whether it's roadways whether it's the community garden or whatever what really I'm asking for at this point is that their presentations be done in public not private that when they're negotiating their lease that what they're asking for of you of the property that it's not just something that you know and agree to in a public meeting it's what's out there for the public to understand and I I I really believe whatever they negotiate to you such as that drawing whatever the new drawing is be brought here be posted it up be legible that everybody understands what they're what they're looking for and understand what the Township's looking for because they're two different things as far as I can tell at this point that's it thank you thank you Mr Roden any further questions or comments seeing none take a motion to close the public hearing on ordinance number 2024 005 so Mo second and I'll take a motion to approve ordinance number 20245 so moved second roll call vote Please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hickley I miss Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs I thank you thank you we have one two three four items on the consent agenda these are items of a routine nature however Township committee members may pull one or all or some of them offer individual consideration seeing none take a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda so move second roll call vote again please Mr Stenson hi Mr hicky hi Miss Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs hi thank you I we just one quick note that ordinance number 22470 authorized the hiring of a new police officer so hopefully that police officer will be starting May 28th May 28th thank you Chief we have two resolutions for individual consideration first is resolution 202 24073 resolution Awards a contract to visual Computer Solutions Inc doing business as jobs for blue this is for police off duty scheduling invoicing and collection Services Chief Robin anyone want to just um I know we we've heard about this before but just give us a little summary of what jobs for blue is yeah it's a service um that is going to take over the uh scheduling of the ra Duty jobs and in addition to they uh they'll do the billing and the invoicing so it's going to take a lot of work um from our employees and uh it's basically it's kind of the standard in the industry W we're kind of one of the only departments that still do this stuff inhouse so and the the in-house services that um we've been doing that's that's run through Allison or is that is that run through your office or Alison takes care of it Department the checks and does the transmittals well the scheduling is done one of our sergeants and he doesn't get compensated for it and he's getting calls 24 hours a day seven days a week so this is going to be a benefit okay so this is this is going to take some burden off uh the police department both Administration and um uniformed officers and without cost of the township there's no cost of the township okay so and those costs are just run through the the utilities actually pay the 8% on top of our normal off duty thing okay and once again um Chief you had said that we were one of the few communities that actually has not been doing um this Outside Agency and this will put us essentially in line with other um itions okay questions or comments uh regarding the contract award to uh jobs for blue seeing none take motion to approve resolution 2024 073 so move second roll call vote Please Mr Stevenson hi Mr hickley I miss Fernandez hi and mayor Jacobs hi thank you hey so may our next item I just want to let in it's a two-part item Andrew kazinski is here our auditor to talk about our audit and then we'll wrap it into the budget if that's okay with you sure Andrew microphone is yours wonderful okay so prior to the meeting I uh handed everyone out up on the de your yearbooks as I call them um you sign I did he did that I checked to see that bud didn't sign then andad Andrew that this is actually Andrew's and it is um but more importantly in the inside cover I left all of you a one-page summary of the important facts in this giant book um so I'm just going to go through a couple of quick points uh on on how the financials for the year panned out um we're going to start in our current fund which is basically our operations we had revenues of 41 million that included $1.8 million of fund balance that was anticipated uh we had expenditures of $38 million so our current fund balance increased from 9,1 15,000 in 20122 by a, 85,000 to about 10,1 100,000 at the end of 2023 uh we kept on experiencing really great tax collection rates we were at 99.2 one again which is fantastic love to see that that means that you know late notices are going out everything's running clean through the tax collector's office which is really great um just a couple notes really quick on your debt we continue to pay down $94,700 of bond anticipation notes this year uh actually kind of seg Wang because we're doing both of them anyway tonight we're actually going to pay another $94,700 in 2024's budget as well um we're we're paying off a little bit more than we have to but that's good because it's reducing our exposure to the interest rates so you know interest rates have been volatile we're lucky that we're kind of evening out a little bit through the markets you know but overall we're paying our way down which is great we also have our Green Acres loan uh we paid down $114,000 of principal on the Green Acres loan this year uh the last payment of the Green Acres loan will be in the first half of 20128 so just a couple more years and that goes away um our store Utility Fund uh had a had a good year as well this year we had a million dollars of revenues uh which of which $246,000 was fund balance which was anticipated and we had $680,000 of expenditures so what that means is that we had about a $98,000 increase in the store utility so we went from 1,988 th000 in 2022 to 2, 86,000 at the end of 200 uh 22 202 um just to note uh every year we have the recommendation included in the audit with the segregation of Duties um it's a very common recommendation I know I tell you all this every year very difficult to make it go away I know we've had the conversation about it multiple times um but basically due to budgetary restrictions we don't see a real good way to get rid of that at this time um again very common nothing for you to be worried about um there are mitigating controls that are in place to ensure that nothing happens but it's still something that we have to note within our audit um given the circumstance uh but new for this year we actually did run a slight deficit in the animal control account so just so you're all aware it was only $571 it wasn't a big amount um partially due to the the change in the amount for the prepaids and how that works through the financials and we also had a slight bump in our expenditures related to animal control so that taken into account caused us to run into a deficit position normally that would have been raised in your 24 budget due to the timing of the introduction and the audit we didn't include it in the 24 budget so it has to go into the 2025 budget even if Animal Control isn't running a deficit as of the end of 2025 or 2024 I'm sorry so it's just uh it's just required that it goes in there um moving on to your management suggestions um they're very long and very detailed so I gave you a very brief version of what it says it's a lot of you know accounting language and whereas so forth and so on um but you'll see there Improvement authorizations we just have uh a couple of old outstanding Improvement authorizations we've talked to Debbie about this um she's reviewing them we're going to clean them up we're going to get them off again it's nothing to worry about just when those start to age significantly we want to make sure that they're still valid and if they're not we return those funds to the funding source or sometimes we cancel them out and we move them to fund another Ord do you know the amount of those um outstanding Improvement authorizations it's in the Bible it's in it's in there it's in there yeah um so there's a there's a schedule about probably about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way back it's called the C5 um is that on two page page yes it's two pages um so when you go into there you're going to see that there's um a couple of them really that go back to 2016 with balances um a lot of them are smaller value overall when you add them up they start to become a little bit more significant so again discussing it with debie she said yeah it is it is time to to revisit those take a look at them and get them out um nothing that rises to the level of a recommendation obviously just something that's good housekeeping as it were okay and I see some of these are are um expenditures that are going to happen yes so those will probably those will just continue to stay and um usually if it's the last couple years see you know there's some equipment purchases and and I think that goes back to both look like police and DPW need to go through them yeah okay and again if if the need is no longer there we recommend cleaning them up and returning the funds to wherever they had had originally come from um the second one of the management suggestions is gby number 101 basically all that this is is concerning the accumulated absences and how that works and just have the attorney review and make sure that you're in compliance which as far as we know you are so it's just something that we put out it's in all of our audits this year uh you know that there's always a couple of these the next one's the same thing that we like to give heads up just so nothing comes as surprise um and again this last one this has been in here now for gez going on how long did the pandemic start 20 years ago now few days feels so so I mean it's it's just giving you the heads up make sure to keep everything on file they're coming out they're doing their audits of you know the programs and how money was spent and everything everything that we've seen obviously you have no problems here um you know and and and just to educate everyone out there in the public so a lot of the covid funding the co programs Co Financial incentives for municipalities uh came with um requirements that the money be spent in certain tranches approved tranches um and those funds are subject to Federal audit and so what Andrew is talking about is document that we spent whatever covid relief funds came to municipality and those funds were spent in the appropriate bucket trunch activities items whatever they are we've gone through multiple budget meetings regarding those expenditures and documenting compliance but still another recommendation and it's in the book so there there hopefully that's an explanation a little more detail of to uh why Andrew is making that recommendation yeah and just just to write your tail Coates a little bit on that um we already know that in our 20124 budget we've taken the last part of our uh American Rescue plan money and we're using that in in this 2024 budget so it just has to be fully expended by the end of 2026 so to be fully expended and has to be spent on the right type of stuff it's got to be encumbered by the end of 24 and fully out the door by so and and just so everyone knows that before we uh pursued any of those expenditures Robin did reach out to the authorizing agencies and asked them for some details and I know Andrew you've been doing this with your other chanels as well so we've had multiple um we call confirmation that what we were doing and our process was consistent with those requirements so if we are audited we think we're in good shape absolutely yep um and just to take a moment as I always like to do uh really want to thank your staff here they really do a wonderful job I know James is new but you know from from Debbie to Robin everyone just anything that we need we get quickly accurate information um Debbie is uh very diligent and and very attention to detail oriented so really makes everything a lot easier when that's the case I have to tell you great that's great to hear we s of Love uh love hearing that about Deb and Robin and James and um Andrew we also appreciate you giving us the advice to make sure that bed and Sir stays on straight and narrow so thank you for all your references you thank you okay Robin so are we now ready to um sure now do we have to read this into the record I Judy made us do that I was never quite sure if that's something that we needed to do only with the intruction oh yeah yeah yeah yeah that's because that's the introduction page so we have to read this or don't we don't have to don't have to read this okay good okay so resolution 2024 074 this authorizes the adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget I know is it here fine is it here or is it up on there I didn't know if we wanted to do it I I hadn't seen it I hadn't seen it yet that's okay so I would like to just that's fine Andrew you so I I don't think any of the C committee members saw it so I think well it may we can hold it for the June meeting this way we can authorize it tonight and then if there's any questions or comments that we have on the presentation we can give it to you for public dissemination I'm brief if you'd like okay so Andrew let's let's go with you it's just a couple of quick points on the budget for this year um so there's two caps the appropriation cap and the tax levy cap uh this budget is in compliance with both of those caps were $24,000 below the appropriation cap and $445,000 below the tax levy cap um which just a just a comment on that that's phenomenal that's it shows it shows all the work and thought that goes into that that's that's really good um we're a self- review year this year so there's there was no State review so the next time that we we will be subject to that will be in 2026 is budget year um we had a uh very very modest increase in in a lot of budget lines and we actually had some cuts um a lot of work goes into putting this budget together for those in the room that don't know um several meetings and it's it's great to see uh the way that we don't just look at this year's budget we look at next year and the following year and we plann things out and a lot of work goes into that and I really do have to commend and the governing body uh Robin Debbie in and and your department heads and all the work that goes into that um because it's why the town runs so well it really is um I had mentioned it before that we're continuing to pay down our our bands uh we have another $94,700 in there and we have about $155,000 for the uh Green Acres that'll get paid down this year um we're we're still putting money into our Capital Improv fund which is great because that us the ability to maintain our infrastructure and and to have good quality um facilities uh that are kept up to date and and operating properly um and again just my last point is I just want to you know commend the the governing body and all of your department heads on all of the work that really does go into this thank you Andrew This was um certainly a particular uh particularly uh um difficult year we had more meetings went through more meetings than certainly I recall on budget and um multiple iterations of both uh capital and operating budget for 2024 so love and thank you for all that work that went into it and Andrew just as you mentioned the department heads and James uh were at all the meetings uh with us and there were many of those meetings so I do uh Echo your sentiments that thank you to all the hard work that Bedminster staff put into together this uh 2024 budget being Shi so uh what I'd like Township committee members to do is to go over over the next um really it's next week and a half or two weeks um to look at Robin's overview and if there's comments or questions uh that you want to expand upon um then we can certainly ask Robin to do that um so Robin are we now ready we're ready okay so once we don't have to read this uh all these words into the record which I believe we've done before um so I'll take a motion to approve resolution 2024 074 the adoption of 2024 Municipal budget so moved second call please Mr Stevenson I Mr hiy I M hi hi thank you once again thank everyone for their hard work in getting us to this point take motion to approve the bill list pending review of individual invoices second all in favor well it's a roll call roll call sorry hi hi and Jacob I new business any member of Township committee have anything to put on for new business discussion seeing none old business we'll start with um dot improvements I know there's been uh discussion not just on the lamington road 206 uh crosswalk but also the 202 206 burnt Mills so um still that's a conversation with do um Chief I take it we've got no further updates from Meredith I do not have any updates from from dot or Meredith um on that subject so the last communication I believe she said her team was in transitioning or changing so I don't even know how long that was yeah so it's it's it's you know we'll just keep pushing and then and we'll certainly mention um hopefully by now they know what they want to do or how they can extend uh pedestrian cross time at lamington so hopefully it's not too much of a lift than Andrew um on the burnt Mills crosswalk as well utilities Comm hickey thank you mayor uh a couple updates first off and all te the fiber build is continuing n Crest uh due to be completed hopefully around sometime the end of May I also received word last week that pending internal executive approval the next four neighborhoods to be built out will be Fieldstone Long Meadow Mayfield and Village Green so that's what that's right that's that's big it's big those are substantial those are big development exactly exactly so again that is subject to their own internal review Capital allocation approval but that should be pending within the next couple weeks so I'll follow up and report on that once they get their internal approvals in line um Comcast we normally don't talk too much about Comcast but they have the cable franchise agreement in Western bedminister un Unfortunately they don't serve all of it meaning there are folks in Pottersville or folks in the Black River Road area that have very limited internet options we know for for the uh for the camera can't pick them up but we have many members of pel Volunteer Fire Company in the back of the room and as you're talking about uh the service out there there's a lot of heads noding agreement yes so I did reach out to Comcast and ask them to conduct a study to see if they might consider expanding their service area uh cable companies typically assess these opportunities by analyzing the numberers number of homes passed P SED not past so uh working with one of our local residents we've given them address level detail of all the homes in that general area uh so it's all going to come down to the economics but uh they Reed the data very appreciative of it and uh they'll determine now whether or not they can make the investment and expand the service area so more to follow on that one and Jean does that include both tkes fa and the Bedminster side so there's the service issues on both sides of the river okay and obviously they'll consider that in terms of the homes veteran tub as well depending on where the circuit comes in from but we gave him the Bedminster data great all right uh just quick update on New Jersey American Water just want to make mention that Kent Taylor the supervisor who has been overseeing all of the New Jersey American Water construction projects here in Bedminster is retiring in July he worked at New Jersey American Water for 44 years he was always a guy who would pick pick up the phone whenever there was a problem or an emergency and he made sure that things got done so he was both an ally of an advocate for Bedminster and will be sorely missed Miss Ray and I will be meeting with his replacement in early June we will also work with our Municipal Lea on at that time to resolve the call center issues that have been misdirecting New Jersey American Water customers to Bedminster water Mary you didn't know you were in charge of Waterworks I think it's between ventner and Marvin Gardens little Monopoly joke sorry uh so we'll uh we'll detail the outcome of that meeting uh at a follow on meeting and that's all I've got okay um PS yes so Kevin if you can just get back to the microphone um so on utilities uh psng um well Kevin has an update on the psng work on Old Stonehouse Road that's correct cor I finally got the markup request for PSC G their window for instruction I believe was early May through middle of June maybe late June um so what that is that allows them to break ground during that time frame so I haven't gotten a confirmation for a timeline uh communication with psg's been sparce at best uh in regards to the project we have here as well as their expansion on alas but it seems like everything's moving forward I spoke to to Brian wild he was very happy when I told him that I I got the markout request so hopefully I would say by end of July project will be hopefully ground broken and by end of summer it should be completed I'm not sure how long the construction project was I believe it was two to four weeks was the original but the way everything and that's going to be both up here and an old ston house that's just the Old Stone House just Old Stone House yes we here found a friend at PSG and they uh open to exp the project okay and so how quickly do you anticipate going from the psng extension on Old Stonehouse to then Paving old ston housee uh we did not anticipate the pav and push that off a year that'll be following yeah just we push that off I believe we put that in next year's budget okay anticipation which there was funding from American Water um that we have as a mder from the project from our GRE in regards to ski hill as well so we just doing our part okay all right thank you Kevin uh so that that's covers utilities uh pluck in Park Housing Doug John anything that you could discuss publicly no not subject to a new ordinance subject to a new ordinance that was that's so has a new SM on it that's a very poignant update Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee um we were scheduled to have a meeting last week uh the concept was that there'd be uh a number of the Mayors were going to be down at the New Jersey conf Mayors uh some of them some of the Mayors were down there others weren't so we've pushed off our next meeting uh to early June so we'll be reporting on that after we have the next meeting but there are some updates we can talk about um you know I don't remember um where Pete pack bladstone is I know they introduced I think they introduced and approved they're adopted so they adopted Bridgewater I believe introduced no June they're introducing June 8 they're introducing June 8th so two meetings to introduce uh that similar ordinance um and Rob and you already gave the update on the discussions with Congressman Kane's office um so we uh continue to make uh those public safety issues um a priority and it's it's great to see that we have consistency among our surrounding communities as well we do not have an executive session tonight so we'll go through Township committee comments and then we will adjourn for the evening Comm Stevenson thank you mayor good evening again everybody um just wanted to say thank you to Andrew for his nice comments about the budget and the hard work that went into it um and there was a lot of work and it was a lot of meetings and a lot of discussion and I thank you all U for your effets for Our Heroes and and uh friends in 63 to the north you should know that the budget this year does include a full uh funding of tender they they they know that you know and for the folks that are out there uh watching you know these are Big Ticket items coming down on us uh from both of our fire departments so what we did was we called in the experts we called in DCA and asked them to come in and evaluate our infrastructure and and tell us you know what do we need here because obviously we want to make sure that our First Responders have the devices that they have you know that they need to protect themselves protect the public but we don't want to double down and have duplication especially at these numbers and um the feedback is that yes this tender is absolutely essential and and we went ahead and we funded it and we know we've got more funding coming down the pike but it's just a a doubling down and showing of our commitment to communities or Big Ticket items like I said but it's necessary and we've got to do it so thank you for working with us and kicking the cown road so to speak as we got to this point and working with what you have and and hopefully you know we're meeting you in kind and we'll get this uh new apparatus in town but thank you everybody thank you commit man hick I can't top that mayor just again to say thank you to Andrew to Robin James to Debbie all our volunteers who were our guides with us and helped us through the process we appreciate your time your efforts I think we came to a good place especially when we started capital budget a and went through the alphabet and wound up at Z yeah robably wanted to stop at y but we made it to Z didn't we but no thank thank you everybody for all your efforts we got to the right place mayor that's all I have thank you committing woman Fernandez just yes dito to everything they said thank you for everything and yeah that was was a big project and it's nice to see this yes all that hard work in a big binder put on a refrigerat so I I do want to thank once again uh the folks from po Volunteer Fire Company uh for officers and the chief uh for coming out here tonight um as they often do when their budget issues are before us and um they didn't say anything volunteer anything but uh we certainly appreciate them coming out and uh you know I I did get a text from Tony tanelli earlier thanking Township committee for uh supporting the purchase of the tender from TI Volunteer Fire Company so uh thank you guys for everything you do volunteer is in the name of the fire company and we know how important it is to keep you properly equipped the Memorial Day Parade um is Monday Memorial Day morning we'll be gathering shortly before 10 o'clock we'll have both uh fire companies um leading the charge as well as um our Hills bedminister for s Squad and certainly we'll have representation from the fire I'm sorry the police department as well um so hope everyone who naked shows up once again great event which in March down 202 to Far Hills and uh we do we have sash assistance yeah do do we have sash assistance okay binder clip safety pins Staples whatever St gun stable guns nailing for some of us yes and and Kevin there will be hot dogs this year I believe so hot dogs and lemonade lemonade okay excellent all right so whatever your hot dog consumption uh rate is for the year uh now is the best time of the year to uh partake it's at the fairgrounds in uh in Far Hills at the end for the parade so thank you everyone who helps put that together with that it is 808 second motion to adjourn so all in favor what was that was that I second and I I did a second and an i all right thank you and good night good night good night I'm GNA summon my innermost Joey