welcome to the Blairstown Township committee meeting for March 27th 2024 can we have an opening roll call Christen Mr Lance here Mr lman here Mr Mur here Mr orot here mayor Mor here can we all please rise and salute the flag flag the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the open public meeting act PL 1975 CH 231 setting forth the time date place and purpose of this public meeting through a legal notice published in the New Jersey Herald Andor The Express Times following the Township's annual reorganization meeting at which the 2024 meeting schedule was ad opted good evening Full House I like this this is nice um I guess everyone's here for a different thing I see some people here for for uh probably what we'd like to start the evening off with um and I will call forward um Chief Johnson if you could come up that's so uh Chief Johnson was uh the boss of a woman we have here in the audience tonight who she left us she left us to take it easy and retire and it was very very sad to see you go Lisa I think um we have some highlights of your career you I'll go down there you can on with the highlights okay well Lisa um began her career as a registered nurse and worked for various medical facilities including St Claire's of Denville from 1986 to 2000 in June of 2000 Le Lisa started her 911 dispatch for the town of botin Morris County until January of 2009 and in 2009 Lees were hired by the Blairstown Police Department as a police clerk her roles include a notary police matron and office of emergency management and assistant administrator and on behalf of the committee we are terribly going to miss you and we thank you very much for your years of service thank you Lisa I hand that over to you thank you thank you congratulations thank you very much this has been can you read it service recognition award in grateful recognition to Lisa whitel of your many years of outstanding service and dedication to the township of Blairstown thank you very much yeah thank you everybody I'm going to miss everyone um you're almost 16 years working very hard with the police department over the years uh they've been like a family to me and uh I've got some good news I've got a grandchild coming soon their first child in September so there's a lot of good things on the horizon for us a lot of luck to the new girl Nicole please welcome her okay thanks Lisa thank you thank you to Lisa's family for joining her tonight you got a great family I uh I've had the pleasure of uh dealing with each member of her family in some capacity and should I get a Qui photo of all of them with her absolutely everyone can we can we have all of the officers come up sorry I'm wasting everybody I'm in between don't need I'm in there no Walter wal I'll edit it later Thank you Lisa thank you family for coming congratulations Lisa take it easy for the rest of us thank you absolutely up next um we've got a um a presentation from Jennifer Korea kral from Warren County Land preservation committee are you hi hi so you're going to start out over there yeah that's also yours yeah okay I'm just taking over whatever you got that you have the floor thank you I appreciate thank you very much for for having me here today uh again my name is Jen I work for the Department of land preservation I'm the park naturalist there uh so my job is basically to do Environmental Education so it's a job true um but today what I'm going to be talking about is the commissioner's conservation challenge that was issued um beginning of uh January this year um so let me just bring this all up can everybody hear her yes hey of course you're Let's Make a Deal mik thank you work it was on see from your computer you to you have a very quiet patient audience don't worry I do we're just waiting for your password to pop just all right so um essentially uh what I'm going to be talking about today is the commissioner's conservation challenge which which is going to be done through the National Wildlife Federation um and so is all about attracting native animals into your yard native Wildlife um and we're also going to tell you how you can make your particular habitat your home area um a nationally certified um habitat for wildlife all right so first things first um we want to talk about um how the National Wildlife Federation actually started um they were founded in in 1936 and they're one of the oldest and largest of the wildlife conservation organizations in the United States so they're really important resource they work to protect all the large animals and the small animals um and they do that by protecting habitat that is required for them in order to survive so when we talk about Wildlife it's not just the large feather furry kind it's also smaller kind like our insects um so we also want to make sure that we're encouraging our insect species and provide quality habitat for them uh since 1973 the National Wildlife Federation has been inspiring people to guarden um in their own homes um especially by using native plant throughout the area um so you might wonder how does a garden help to contribute to wildlife in your own me in your own home and um it's very easy because plants are really the foundation when it comes to all of wildlife so when we think about Wildlife um all Wildlife need you know certain things in order to survive plants being the main foundational component component of that and we're going to talk about the different ways that plants can help um in an ecosystem all right and this includes our Urban and Suburban so you can go even on a very small scale like in small container garden all sorts of things to be able to um create a habitat that's friendly for our Wildlife um so insects are the next level um and they are critical level of the food web so plants are the foundation insects are the next step because a lot of things eat our insects and consume our insects so when we encourage our insects to come into our plants and into our area then we encourage natural Wildlife to come in and consume those insects in fact 90% of the insects that rely on plants can only survive on the plants though that are native to our area and native to our region if they evolve with that so that's why it's important to plant native species um so is everybody kind of familiar with n native versus non-native species all right yeah so you probably have even more familiar honestly with the invasive non-native species not all things that are nonnative become invasive um but a lot of them do and some a lot of them um have been put in our yard because we originally felt like oh this is great this is a deer deterrent we don't have to worry about deer coming around um uh but they actually turned out to be very harmful to the overall health of our and quality of our environment because they don't allow a lot of our native species to grow so um native plants are adapted to local soils um they are great choices for your landscape because they again uh they are adapted to the regional precipitation of the area so therefore you may not have to water them after they've been established in your garden you may not have to worry about watering them or and you can conserve that uh they're pretty hearty and resilient again once they're they're established in your yard and again of course they support wild uh so one example of native versus non-native is o trees um in our area or oat trees in general um if you've ever read any of Doug T's books he wrote um uh Nature's Best hope um and he talks about how oak trees in particular can support so much Native Wildlife um in fact oak trees can support over 557 species of different caterpillars of moth or butterfly species um and because of this this also provides food then for our song birds and other things like that um so when you compare that to Ginko trees which a lot of people like to plant um and they support zero species of caterpillers um so that's true for a lot of our non-native Wildlife or non native plants rather so that's why it's important to make sure that uh we're planting in uh a healthy ecosystem that supports our Wildlife um so Wildlife need native plants um and the AC of planting for a purpose is the definition of gardening um so you can have a say in what is growing in your own Gardens and in your own yards um so everybody loves our birds and butterflies um talk about what Wildlife means so we want to encourage those right everybody loves to see the wildlife of the birds and the butterflies and everything like that but there's also the the noo pretty kind of stuff going on um including you know maybe a damel fly even though this is a beautiful damel fly our gr tree frogs or tree fr frogs in general um are great animals to have again frogs will eat the insects that are coming into your yard and so it's a whole Universal food web it's one all right and then we might even find some stuff that you know we don't like encouraging but are really essential um so for example snakes and wasps um so snakes they eat a lot of the rodents that are around here so I know a lot of people are fearful of them understandable um but they really have a strong and important part of our ecosystem um and so if you don't like rodents in your home then you might want to encourage snakes in Europe all right so it kind of goes full circle um and then wasps in general yes yes they can you know sting and things like that but they're also Predators for those um insects that you don't want in your garden all right um and then there's a species that are ucent but these can be deterred um through like behavioral changes on our own um so that includes like for example raccoons that they're in your in your yard or your area making sure that you're putting out same thing with bears we all know this if you put your garbage out the morning of instead of the night before um not leaving out dog or cat food or anything like that um which would be attractive to raccoons and bears and other things as for deer there's a lot of stuff on the market now that you can spray your garden with that can actually help the deer um it's called deer out in particular which is um a great resource to be able to try to deter the deer consuming all those Cs and then even Predators so again the whole circle we encourage these uh we obviously don't have road runners here in New Jersey but we do have Hawks um and Hawks in general you know will e that that you don't want necessarily in your yard either um so there's this whole circle of life that we want to encourage in our own yards because a lot of times when we don't have those properties we have these big vast properties without a whole any any type of um plants whatsoever it's just grass from field to field that's like an empty space that these insects and pollinators have to transverse to get to the next place um so that's a lot of energy that they have to use and then you don't have as many surviving and making it through to the Next Generation all right and people love it too how many of you like to just simply go outside go for a walk along the pville rail trail or any of the the great places that are in fler town in particular um but in Warren County in general we have so much Beauty around us um so I think it's really something to be encouraged so what the national wildlife habitat um involves is that your wildlife habitat needs to have four criterias or meet four criterias is Food Water cover and places to raise their G and if you beat those four criteria then your habitat your own home which I think I'm sure many of you already have um can actually um be certified as a national uh Wildlife Federation habitat gardening habitat and it's uh we'll talk about a little bit later about how you can do that so Blitz are about food we'll talk briefly about different foods so a lot of people like to put out bird feeders great that's wonderful but actually plants that produce their own fruits um and seeds make a better resource of food for our our animals um especially like our bird species I have a cherry tree in my backyard that I had a bear climbing up one year and it just kept scooping up all the cherries off the tree um it was pretty funny um we named him Cherry he like cherries um but feeding them bird seed is a great thing um by all means but definitely um it's more of a supplemental more like their dessert kind of thing um other Foods again are um you know uh pine trees other uh foods that can Pro produce um berries all those things are really great resources for wildlife and then of course those nectar producing plants um like our bbom our Bergamot um our our Cardinal Flowers things like that are great resources for our after feeding animals um like our hummingbird moth and our hummingbird itself all right um sap suckers other ways that that plants produce food um if you've ever seen we don't have red belly sap suckers here but we do have yellow belly sap suckers here um sounds like an insult I know um but yellow belly sap suckers will drill holes in the trees if you've ever seen holes drilled in the tree they look like a straight line it's actually meant to for the sap to come running down and all the insects come and they're attracted to it and so in addition to looking up the sap the yellow belly sap sucker eats the insects that are attracted to it so it works too cold for them um and some of them are host plants for a lot of species so there are certain animals or insects that can only live on specific PLS um and as mentioned before it's all part of that food chain you know so if you attract insects and you attract birds you attract bir Birds you track bigger birds or you track other Wildlife um so it works in tful and it's like a domino effect on each other so 96% of backyard birds rely on invertebrates for to feed their young so this is a really important fact and a lot of times these animals don't go very far from where their home is so if you have a blubird box in your backyard that's fantastic but you want to make sure that they have enough food to be able to provide for their babies um because not only do they need it for themselves and they need it for their babies um so they're constantly going out but they don't go very far from the Nets they can't um so it's really important for them to stay nice and lo too so if you already have that habitat established that's fantastic um some other food for wildlife again the circle of life we have all these animals that are consuming other things that might be attracted to your yard and once you've created that and have these food webs the the feeders can just be supplemental if you do put a feeder up you might also be attracting other Hawks and things like that because they see these um feeders up and they know that it's a reliable source for their uh these birds to come and they eat small birds so that's something that you RIS to um providing so if you provide Shrubbery and Native Shrubbery and things like that and fruits and stuff like that then they can possibly go and get seek shelter as oppos to being out in the open on bir all right again we talked about this but trying not to to feed our wildli in another way this is not what we mean when we take the our Wildlife by providing them with food from like cans of P or anything like that um same thing with Bears um and squirrels there's not very many squirrel gr beers out there next up is water for wildlife um so this could be as simple as um a bird bath um but if you have a water source near your house so some of us maybe live near the Palm still that counts you know um some of us you may be live some near some other type of body of water or have some type of bond all that counts as water portions for wild life um one thing you can do too is if you're worried about mosquitoes every five days every five to seven days just drain out your water from your bir bath and that it takes 5 to seven days for the mosquito Lara to have hat and produce um so it's um it would be important to just kind of drain that out there's also little discs that you can put in if you have like a pond in your yard or something that can actually deter the um mosquitoes from going into your ponds and it doesn't cost a whole lot and it doesn't affect the other wallet so again there's different ways you can create different different border for wildlife habitats simple bird baths um if you've ever seen let me just go back real quick if you ever seen our hummingbird we have the ruby throated hummingbird that comes around this time of year um if you've ever watered your garden and you had a hummingbird come by sometimes they'll like kind of do this undulating thing um in attraction to the water moving so if you can get one of those bird feeders that actually has like a little rter spout um they love that they love just kind of going through the water mist and just kind of um again um other animals are attracted to the water um so we have our great tree frogs that will start to hear trilling soon and our Sprint keepers are already calling quite a bit um also insect likees water um so we have fees that are attracted and we can put little small stones so all this town as will some typ water while Ono controls um so don't purchase um or don't release things into the wild though um so sometimes our bullfrogs we have bullfrog species they're native here but out in the western part of the United States people release bullfrog hat Pooles and they're becoming invasive all right so um it it can be great to maybe control maybe the mosquitoes in your little Pond or something like that but never release anything in your pond you never know what you're going to get as far as that's concerned all right Now cover for wildlife um we have a lot of great resources again all the plants that you plant can provide some type of cover for a wildlife um so and it can help them to either for a predator to go after a prey or for a prey to hide from a predator so it works both ways um so cover can be plants it can be evergreen trees um anything likes in densely uh populated like this like providing cover of fruit plants is a really great way um to the Garden in your backyard uh many species will visit uh more readily especially if there's a border of cover uh again against a forest border uh this is a Wood Thrush we start to hear these uh Birds later on in the spring usually made birs the last couple years I have it uh documented and they have a beautiful beautiful call but I've been hearing left we left of them because we don't have um that border against the forest that they need in order to so there's not that kind of habitat for them so providing that habitat can really replenish a lot of species um same thing with our salamander species like our NES if even just down trees down logs are fantastic sources of cover for a lot of our Wildlife same thing um if you want to just even just do a little brush pile somewhere again um we had this once at an old place that I used to work at in Fox F came in and it was super cute to watch them play around in the area for sure um you could even provide them you can't see the if you can see the toad that's in this particular picture all right um he's kind of hidden and little camouflage and that's all good stuff like leaing the leaves we say every fall um because a lot of wildlife will make use of those leaves um that are done same thing with uh a new trend is the insect Hotel um so a lot of times we can have diverse insect hotels and different things to make use of them this one in the middle here speciic so that's really cool um and then roting boxes or or bird boxes um these roting boxes in particular are good for in the winter time for Birds when they wanted just kind of hudle up and keep warm um they keep it down here because the warm air rises so it keeps them warmer down here but if you had a regular nesting box C would be higher up and it's um one way that we've actually really helped replenish the population of f bird and then finally uh places to raise their young um I had the privilege of actually seeing uh our next door neighbor had the pated wood peckers in the C tree cavity right next door and it was it was super amazing to see uh these large birds um just nesting right there in our own uh backyard um plants also provide other places for animals to raise again so a lot of times especially around June we'll start to hear you know the reports that there's been this banded Pawn or something uh banded bunnies a lot of times the mothers will leave their young in order to forge for themselves and then come back to be their baby um so they haven't been left alone they've been left alone to just be safe um it's safer to keep leave them alone than it would be for them to stay with them all right um so again cavity nesters are great ways um so they don't if you don't have like a lot of trees in your area providing them with ouses or bat boxes and things like that all good things to help um for animals and again this was one of our our success stories is by providing uber boxes they were able to make a tremendous comeback because their numbers were on the decline for a while there um and they've made a tremendous comeback since that and then um other other animals that we want to be able to raise or young um wasten insects believe it or not because we they are pollinators that's how we get more uh plants um so we need all these animals so providing them with homes and resources um to lay their eggs a lot of uh bees will actually plug their their eggs inside there and then fill it with a bunch of pollen grains and things like that and that's how they will provide food for their young and they'll over winter in there and then they will hatch they'll be able to consume it and exit out the chamber um and it's a great place to make sure that they have that next Generation uh providing mud even which we have a lot of around here but providing mud for those birds like our Robin species BB species that use it for their nck um and then of course bath houses all the bats in New Jersey are what we call infectable they only eat insects so one bat can eat up to like a thousand insects in an hour so it's really important to keep our bat population healthy they have been on thein because of things like white new fungus um but they're really great thing to have so if you have are inclined to do so um having a bath house on your property is a great thing to have um don't put it on AE because Predators can climb the tree and get up in there and grab the animals while they're trying to Bru during the day but otherwise if you put it on the side of the house or if you could put it on a post in the middle of your yard that's fantastic uh talking a little bit real quickly about Monarch species monarch caterpillars um are severely on the decline um they have this huge W commute they go through several Generations but they have to make all these stops to um lay their eggs um on various milking plants so um so unlike most insects that mons are completely migratory they will go all the way down to Mexico to over winter there and then they have to make their transer through just several generations to get all the way back here uh which is pretty impressive um but yeah they're they're numers one on the decline because of um the of habitat they don't have those milkweed plant spots to stop off and to lay their egg so milked gets a bad reputation um it because it has weed in the name honestly and so but milked is really a beautiful plant there's several milked species that are native to our area um and I highly encourage if you're going to plant anything really plant miled um milked is the only thing that monor butterflies will use in order to lay their eggs and consume it what happens is monar caterpillars um will be laid on the milk plant they'll consume the leaves of the milk which is fantastic and then they become poisonous as adults so those form of prus they'll become poisonous as adults um and that's why they're that bright orange color so it's the way their defense mechanism their way of protecting themselves against predators um so if you would if you ate something that made you really sick you wouldn't want to eat it again right um so that's what is is for a lot butter so any type of milked we have several different species of milked here uh common milked over here um in the middle here um our orange milked plants so we have a lot of different types of milked and I highly encourage you if they going to plant anything plant healthy for sure and then there's sustainable gardening so this is what I was talking about before about having these animals in this wild like having to go across these vast areas it's almost desert because there's nothing as far as the I can see that would be promising for any type of wildlife in this particular area um and so because of that they lose steam they lose energy and they don't have anything to be able to replenish that with and they die off and that's why we're having a lot of species dying off is because we don't have anything uh for for miles at of time sometimes sometimes uh so that's why just putting even just a small portion of that area into some type of habitat family gardening um would be essential and be so dramatically like for a lot of wild um so to become Wildlife had certified your home workplace Farm School University apartment rooftop park or place of wor they're all eligible for this um so your own home anything like that we're very close to to get becoming certified what the Commissioners want to do is they want to make it so we're the first County in New Jersey that is nationally Wildlife certified uh Federation certified for guarding for wildlife so because of that um we really are encouraging people schools are free so if you work for a school of any kind um I'm sure a lot of our schools are qualified for this um and you get a CL you can get all sorts of CER um and it's just really a beneficial thing it's educational it's wonderful for our kids to see um us trying to encourage our wild um so you can go online it's a very easy step easy step process to go through the whole process and you just check off a couple things couple boxes and um you are able to Cy your habitat I did it myself in my own yard and it was very easy process they also sell native plant as well so that's something that um looking too if you sign up for the national wild Federation habitat um wild habitat then you can get on certainly um that's about it so I thank you for your time I try to keep it as short as possible um um but I want to thank you all and if you have any questions we have resources available as well and the code can SC code thank you thank you thank you by the way let me let me point out not only is Jen County naturist she's a Blair toown resident thank you very much I mean we do live in a very unique environment here uh to New Jersey I should say and we have the ability to uh to provide these environments for uh for insects and animals alike it's uh learned a couple things there and I actually I would love to to find out where to get some of those plants because you go to a big box store and they have the same plants in everyone you never see I have milkweed but where do you get milked well that the the another problem with some of those big box stores is they use Mic types and other chemic um to insect which defeat the purpose yeah planting them so you're bringing home a plant that insects aren't going to like it right exactly um so unfortunately that's why there's very few that actually use native plants that are local that don't use any chemicals whatever wild Bridge plants um which is a waren County uh plant distribution in place um they they only do Native so there is no regulation that tells our nurseries not to distribute like things like Japanese Barberry or other um so it's just mostly on education I have plenty of that I these Barian oh yeah plenty yeah someone's idea of a of a garden border at some point in our history but yeah I well also it it right thank you very much thanks thank you all right what do we have next Henry Dole talking about lown Pride 2024 and my presentation is now say hello oh well um you're getting the hand I can hear you I can just speak loud speak loud that works okay um I did anyway um but I'm just here again to um once again Ask the town to do our flag Rising Pride um the only uh it was very successful last year with the additions and the change that we've made and we're going to continue in that direction by repeating those things um the only real addition that we wanted to do is one of the complaints that I heard from a lot of people is unless you know where to look for us you can't really find us but despite how much promotion we do on social media and stuff like that so we actually wanted to um we were going to buy a banner and we wanted to have commission to put it up on 94 um there's they typically do a banner for um the 4th of July for uh all of the different events in town so to allow other people and bring business to Blair's town we wanted to have people who were passing through or even residents who are not don't or out that Tex to be able to know the events they're going normally at the intersection of Hope Road 94 the banners go up there it is a county it's a state road so the state does come through and take stuff down from time to time uh but normally they leave they leave banners alone right there for for the duration of the as long as it's not out there too long no we're only going to we were going to put it up uh two weeks before location by H that's ours to to the traffic PL where did a hard so if you're going towards new right there yeah normally um the bers go up right by Buck Hill right at the end of that's the most frequently travel intersection of that portion of the town you can go for it but like I said it's a state highway so if nobody asked us for permission and just yeah they just do it don't okay and didn't if the state's feeling uh clean one day they take everything down and and but normally there they leave things alone yeah cuz this year um this year is going to be our fourth annual and then going into um next year we're going find we're going to have five years of during this event so believe it I was pleasantly surprised uh that I was able to do this kind of passion project I really I wanted to create the environment that I didn't see in VAR Town growing up cuz I grew up here and have lived here my my entirety of my life so I wanted to be able to create that kind of environment that I didn't really have that representation of people like me here I think you've done a good job and the event grows every year we get more people coming out it's it's really nice is thank you do we have do we have a date on it yet um it's going to be June 1st if in fact get taken down if you go to the DPW Li they you should keep them there so if it is disappearing go up there and probably have yeah they don't throw them out they just take them down like I said most of the time those banns stay there for yeah sometimes too long yeah sometimes after the event no one takes him there I'm going to on my all right but thank you very much thank you than now my side all right now we're up to the real meat of the ACT public comment or public comment section uh we uh we do have a timer now I think I can use it correctly you have 45 minutes no good five minutes there you go uh any uh any public comment as we uh move through the evening come on up you're the first contestant shiel is fine hold on I'm I'm going to start and I should preface your your Spiel as saying that we're we're probably on the same page at this point okay all right we brought oh I'm just I'm just terrified of Casey that's all just just bring him I'll say yes to anything he told you he told you doesn't need any help good evening my name is Geraldine Cole my address is 151 still I am the President of North War football program and I'm here tonight to revisit the grant for the red upgrades and re explanation of the extreme need and updating items at Walnut Valley Field such as the septic and other pluming items associated last month there was talk about the grant being used towards a purchase of bathroom trailers while I do think they are great to have this is not ideal for our situation and it's just a Band-Aid for our lger issue our septic is in dire need of repair or replacement we currently use up to three portons in addition to attempting to use the bathrooms in the concession s and the smell is absolutely atrocious by the end of the we typically start the day with the bathrooms open and by the end of the second game we need to close them due to the bathroom issues this can be from not flushing constant flushing packing up nonstop running urinals toilets Etc he creates a mess so we lock it by the third game the smell from the cyons are so strong you could smell them by the concession stand no matter where we move them and by the end of the evening you can smell them all the way out to the field and they are absolutely Beyond capacity this is why I don't feel the trailers are going to or the trailers are going to have the same exact issue that we currently have we would need multiple trailers with multiple toilets to get through since they also have a tank which has a maximum capacity once it's full full we also have to use a bottle of water that we bring in because the sink will also not drain if we let the bathrooms go too long right now we do not use a sink in the concession for any type of dumping for example if I make something that I boil water for I to carry the pot out to another holding pot that we dump later when it's not hot and I can transport it home to disposal I try to avoid this at all Coss doing the dishes at the end of the evening is an absolute Nightmare and the concession is a massive part of our program so we try to make do but these issues aren't going away the remedy is extremely overdo we cannot function if we do not have that concession sand we have had a huge jump in numbers in just the past 2 years and I truly believe it's because the parents love to see the pride we have in our program and the pride at w Valley we have to keep making sure our facilities are clean and most importantly sanitary for the kids and the families I know there was a discussion as well about a holding tank but the unknown of how fast it will fill and the cost of having the tank pumped could be more costly in the end for a aseptic system that's working properly this is so needed and I urge all of you to support our kids and our program and go the septic route thank you very much for your time and all the time and effort you have put into our community you make me hungry when you talk about that I've got I mean there's nothing like a septic conversation get my stomach growling anyone else here for the same topic tonight all right do you want to say anything because or or you could you could listen to me for a sec and maybe I could save you that the uh so I spoke with our Township engineer Dennis and um he spoke at length with Karen and we um we do realize that in order to go for this grant get the most out of it maximize uh the grant um we need to go in with a pretty big number you can't just say we we want the whole thing and we're just going to use that CU they want to see that you have some skin in the game um matching exactly matching funds are at least something that we're going to contribute toward it so and uh I I talked with him at length about well the the the trailer thing kind of went out the window immediately after last meeting thought about it I think it's a great idea for some of our other uh events that we held uh at syamore field and uh things like that Fourth of July maybe at that Footbridge Park but probably not the best when you the the thing that scared me was the Thousand flushes or something in in a weekend that's that's something that we could barely contain with portable units now and that failing system that's down there um so it was the um it was the opinion of our engineer that we do go for the grant this year the grant um probably won't cover what we're going to need down there it's it's going to be a pretty extensive system not like something you would just put in your backyard it's it's got to be something that handles you're not flushing the toilet a thousand times a weekend in your house so it has to be something that's it's going to cost money um oh I'm out of time um but um so he said that what we should do it was his advice that we' go through with with going for the grant uh and using what's going to use a good portion of what we receive will be the planning uh the permitting and uh really the the the general design of that system specific for that holding tank they they would say no to in a heartbeat um you don't know if the holding tank as you said is going to fill up on a Saturday night and we're we're done and everyone has said it's it's just it's not it's not a good idea um so uh it was his advice to um go forward with it get as much as we can we may not be able to build it this year we may just be in the design and planning and um uh bidding phase this year to see who can do it he doesn't know an exact price of what it would cost but it was it was his advice to to go through get as much as we can and and start to design out a septic system for for that facility um the other thing is we're in this for the long game right so sometimes it didn't get broken overnight it's been in band shape for many many years it's not either so the investment of community we able to sit back and say get something that's properly committed properly designed um in the right place at the right time U that's what we have here one of the discussions that I asked um the engineer also is that you know we have a beautiful facility over at Sy and that building is donated and that sep doesn't really seem to have the great difficulties that we do have but again there's the age and there's the use and and all the other different factors that affect that but um I think the whole thing is the commitment is made to be able to that infrastructure investment in place this year um as far as that we're not paying anything for it uh in general we're going to have to put up seed money we're going to have to put up some kind of furn money that's expected for a lot of these Grant programs um what I'm told is that um it's a really really popular program that this particular Grant is we're going to get something we might not get 100% of what we asked for but um I'm very very grateful that that Grant programs like this are out there because again this is something that's badly new and I'm I'm really grateful to see that there's better support for it at this point so thank you Brian put the air back in my tires okay um so that being said uh if anyone else wants to comment on that you I mean we get it we get it now I honestly the the the volume of use was probably greater than than anything we had uh imagine so we sure come on up you kind of have to come up I go over there it's still the same give us your name and and address if you could my is years you looked at that fi I just want to let you know that I think I'm the best witness in that field that particular area because my bedroom be right there and those light Shin my and I watched it for years and years and I think the same Fe there so I just ask you please make sure that whatever you do if you could please exp it a little bit because these everybody said there's to do is but we just need to help these parents I see the generation go from when I was young here kids my and go to thank you sure okay um one of the things that we've been discussing um amongst you know several of us is the use of Jon Farm um and later on you he be talk about J Farm we talk about it now um we are definitely looking at taking down the building and if you look at that property um our deputy mayor has been having a lot of M brought in to make a little bit of the scenic area but when you look at it and the size of it it's a tremendous tremendous asset for us as a community to not only put football field in there I look cross field and at baseball field plenty parking the biggest problem that you have as a football aside from the S is your parking which is is horrendous um so you know we've been sitting on Jones Park for many many years and I know that as as his parents especially a football parent you know we all play chip in and do as much as we can but I think we can do a lot with Jones Park in the future and I think you're going to see some really really good things for that in the future but it's my wish that it becomes a football Feld cross to public um so to spend you know a couple hundred, for a septic system you know at the baale field I don't I'm I'm I'm close to it I I think that money would be better spent and saved up by using for Jones field because I think we can do so much more there and give a really nice uh kind of piece with the municipality where you know for many many generations to come and be able to use that field it's the only property in the state of New Jersey where D and municipality own property together and for many many years it's been underutilized there's done anything with it other than having the aircrafts out there aircrafts so you know that's what I would like to see and you know as a as a committee I'm sure we're going to talk about it a lot more but U it would be know a several year progression you're talking about seing systems gring lighting you know concession stands it's a big Endeavor but uh there's something on the last day to constantly pour money into that small facility that has so many bad issues to it doesn't make sense so that's just sense and you know hopefully as a public can think about May if I could Echo sure Charlie saying some of you were here at the last meeting and the fact that we're going to develop the Jones Farm for recreational fields and they'll be very Premier Fields with lots of parking the fact that we're going to do that was part of our reasoning in talking about the mobile bathrooms um there's something and and the mobile bathrooms by the way if we the grant would have been in place for The Fall season the septic system that that they're proposing which will probably happen but the septics isn't being proposed you know won't happen for a year maybe two years so uh you know I know there's been some a lot of talk about you know that we're not doing anything we have a we have a big plan for recreation up here and we're trying to do the right things and move forward so please anyone with any questions please talk to us separately or or ask more questions of the committee but we have we have U come on up if you want what's the on well we're taking we're taking the barns down right now we just finished up a 20-year contract with the state it would it would be it would be a couple year you know mind you you plant a field if you plant a Playing Fields you're not going to use them that year you they got to sit uh for whatever a year or two so it's we have to plan down the road and we have to start now to get it done they've been sitting there for 20 years I mean the model airplane guys have been there or the RC airplane guys have been there um for a number of years we have really good property that we bought for open space and Recreation and we haven't used it it's just been sitting idle for 20 years and the same way with the meadow with the farm Meadow Park down by the Dairy Queen um there's going to be Walk we're going to have walking trails there in concert with with the the farmers hayfields and we're going to have parking there also that will be overflow parking for war Valleyfield so there's a lot of moving pieces to this whole thing and we're trying to make everything fit but if if we get I I just I have a hard time committing as Charlie committing to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for a septic system that that is just designed for very very high use for very short periods of time I mean it's bad enough if somebody if anybody's bought or sold a house recently that you have to upgrade your sepic and you're spending 40 Grand or something that's bad enough but to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a septic system that's only used sporadically it's really really tough to to swallow that even if even if the state is going to provide some of the grant money for that well that's where the mobile bathrooms would to be you know that's so here here's my which we could use on other properties as needed too by now my argument Walter is this um Walnut Valley Field is our let's equated to the car we drive it's the car it's our daily driver it's how we get back and forth to work every day we need to have something stable there while we build out this this other facility so we need to take care of what we have first we need to fix what we our our you know our daily use thing before we can I'm not fighting you I'm I'm just giving some more background about what we're doing I think that these ideas are wonderful I think I hope to see one day needs something now he needs something now but even that you know the Jones I'm all for that that's wonderful and I don't know if you guys are aware but like with cros they play over a j private you know right where the thing is so they're going to need a place to play so that's fantastic it's fantastic for football too but as we all know right even the high school you don't play on the game field right so even W the valley I would love when that happens H it's going to take years and that's great I think it's a wonderful plan I'm very happy with that I love hearing it but it's it would be great to have as our practice here now I get it it's going to be Overkill at that point but we can use it for scrimmages like it could still be a very it's an asset for our program 10 years from now you know what I mean so I think that I think that's great but the second thing too is in order the one thing right now that I would say and again you know being part of a football program for many years years um I know how beat up the fields yet so there's nothing that would prude you from using Jones Farm now this upcoming you know fall season for that's good know um you know gr it's going to take a little bit of mowing but we definitely use that for practice so right now that would at least save you you know to have a nice feel yeah and the thing so we use JD's Fields right now but it's privately owned so we are very much at the mercy right we don't know when that go is going to drop so that was going to be something that I had approach I I believe now your Recreation yeah well I was going to try to get with you because again that's an extended thing it's not like D or need right now but that's great to know too because that is a big um jar I talk about that often it's a it's a scary thing for us because if they come in and ask us for a hefty rental fee to use those fields we can't do it you know so I appreciate knowing that that's also possibility we have a lot of property to use I appreciate that in fact in fact we want to do some improvements to the mcgreen field lacrosse it's mostly just lacrosse though right but that field we need to Wi it's not a great field obviously but everybody's using forever but that field really should have been great and better from day one well we have our flaggers he's one of our flag coaches we have he's going to be our head flag coach we used that last year was our first year MRE and it worked great I mean it was wonderful for the little guys because it's tucked in you know that's the other thing with J it's a terrible parking lot to have the kids crossing with the bar and you know 94 is there what's going to stop a car from coming through that brush you know it's it's a really it's great for now but it's it is scary you know so that was wonderful for them to me that's part of the greatest evidence that anybody could give is that there are the fact that you have to be on a private field at the mercy of whether you can or cannot go there or w somebody's going to come and turn around and say oh you know we're going to start to charge you rent or something like that there is a need for more Fields there is a need for better Fields there is a need for facilities and so even if um and I mean I would also argue that in in the whole scene of things right um there really aren't sports that are going to be played in December January or February it's an outdoor month so for the months that that um are available to be able to use that those will be months that they're they're used that's when those Sports occur so um even if you don't use it 12 months out of the year there's not many parks you're going to use 12 months out of the year except maybe the pal skill uh Trail you know as far as parks to be a to play and whatever else um so I think that uh again the the development over a matter of time like my kids are grown right there uh but I was really happy when when uh we built U is it Pioneer Park no um Patriots Park we built Patriots park near young enough to use that it was built quickly um it takes time to develop a u uh a sports complex that a town can use I am all for that I think it's going to be a wonderful thing to be able to um have the Synergy of a huge parking lot with one field in this direction One field in another Direction especially like even if you don't have kids like to recognize the back in a place where um there's Recreation that's that's happening and opportunities for kids to be able to do things keeps the property values high within the town it keeps the opportunities um for people to have a you know greater quality of life joiners of people who are in Affinity groups whether it be a sport whether it be a you know another group that's using the field for a big purpose again there's so many opportunities once that's built and it's going to take some time it's going to be wonderful but for right now we do need something all right front row okay sorry fman so real quick um I think it's a great idea to go and goe to Jones Park because I I respectfully disagree that the W won't be utilized BL we can put an ice hockey rink in there um especially look one of the few like we could capitalize on that and bring ice hockey and bir we close enough to Mor County schools that we could really work towards that um that said if you look at Warren County and I'm wondering if there's a way that we could join the Jones Park project with our high school our high school field is atrocious and embarrassing um we are the we are the only High School other than developer a that does not have turf that does not have an actual announcer stadium and it's not defa the school if you look at taxes less than 1% of your property tax goes to the high school so and less than 1% goes to the elementary school so when we look at all the money and everything else is there a way we can join and the high school capitalize also and work together because if we could get the high school really next even that the younger F could also play and get something in capitalized and come together as a community and Jo in the school and our community together I think we could have a lot look at waren Hills exactly look at even fils for what they're doing you know and I I come from a Morris County District where I teach but the idea Morris County Schools come out here to North war and they see our fields and there's a lot of our field hockey program will not play any District that is on grass and half of our field hockey field over there at high school is a softball field so we want to be competitive and as a community member and as a tax we want to be competitive both ways and we want to draw people into our community and that means we need to capitalize on academics and Athletics and we need to have everything to offer so I think that one of the best ways I agree I think going for with Jones Park and as much as it breaks my heart my son is a football player you know Real playing ref and then high school and my brother everything else I come from that I think it's we got to look forward we can't keep putting a bandage on an old issue and hope that the patchwork is going to together while we bleed on that car that we're trying to you know fix the engine on our everyday car we're trying to fix the engine on hoping to save up for you know the the mer so but my think is I would love to see if there's a way we can get Council and North Warren to work together and see if we can kind of come together and maybe between both Dynamics we could Fast Track and go L quier I'm sorry did you say that in your opinion less than 1% of our tax go to the gr school and less than so when I talked about tax collector 86 go to the elementary school and point I believe was Point M do not quote me on those but when I called and ask so when you look at your property tax I don't have to quote you great much much more than 1% I think she 88 9 that what happens is when you when you look at your property tax bill you see Co tax but that also includes your state colleges that also includes your county colleges that includes your tax schools that includes a whole host of things so when you talk to our tax collector and you ask how much money of your of my tax dollar how much percentage of my bill is going to Blair Elementary for North waren Regional it is both of them are less than 1% just so Happ Ken is a tax collector AB I'm Sor I would say upwards of 40% upwards of 40% goes to the school I I understand why you think that because it's per Penny it's less than one penny however per per value of $100 correct is that it's a great in excess of 40% I would say 50% it's roughly onethird of your tax bill goes to the county one3 of the tax bill goes to the high school one3 of the tax bill goes to the elementary school and a little bit comes to the municipality well a fair amount goes to the state as well don't forget we our state colle it's true we do collect for everybody that's true and unfortunately we're at Mercy of what they decide to give us back both the school and also the but yeah I understand what you're saying okay any other public comments seeing that close you knew you're going to hurt what do you got for us Chuck come on up you bringing Hank with you yeah I'll bring all right did we're supposed to have four I know you you want us have we had four up until about 2:00 and it's the fault of SE Hall oh well they're in the NIT and our friend Joe and then that failed after I'm also a SE H I grew up in South um I just wanted to I don't um Chuck Walsh Cal Road Columbia tank tank Aus 21 Walnut Valley Road here in down Township I just wanted to basically close the discussion we've had over the last couple of meetings about the the goder letter and such um I think at this point pretty much and I know I talked to Chris beforeand and it doesn't appear that we're going to be able to get a copy of that if we I actually just the oh okay um if we if we do great I I'd say given the amount of time that's uh now transpired since the initial weather back in January I guess it was that it doesn't look like anything's come out of it that's the letter to Steve Garder of amtr basically proposing to putation and over which as has been pointed out in the um article in the um Brio the um that that Blair's now might be in a sense at risk I think that is pretty much over with now we we didn't really know what the process was at that time I think at this point given um it would it would seem from AMX perspective it would seem to make sense that they they would not want to basically um fiddle with the what is basically been studied and what really looks like I say set in stone but pretty much is um pretty much I think what we're going to have in terms of the stop here in Blair Town um I think for reasonably speaking Amtrak would really be opening up a can of worms to go and um maybe even considered to have an additional stop or you know get into the oh will replace the the stop with another stop that type thing there's 68 other corridors at this point throughout 46 states that are basically in the same situation so if you do it here it opens the door to that happening in other places so I think Amtrak is probably not going to touch the that's about it I think that's I think that is you know bu of fingers that that issue is probably over with probably good to maybe because he still maybe got a copy of letter but I think because of the answer would basically no um and I think one thing I say about the the article one more thing is that I wish they that Alex ton just mentioned in that I said something to the effect that no news is good news that really the answer was no there was no response by Mr G to um Congressman got I think that means you know we're not going to make any change that's that's that's really about it I think that's you know at this point you know hopefully things can stady the way they are right now and things will progress it's quiet there hasn't really much been much um activity I can really report on but um I suspect that that will be forom okay in your experience what's the next uh communication from hire well they're going through three steps every all the the 69 orders are now all in Step One Step One is basically where you put your team together although the Scranton New York City quar has one huge advantages that they've done the study which is going to be the a vast majority of what's going to be part of what is called a service development plan which is step two basically and then step three is basically the um final engineering for the the project and then construction and that's where the big money comes in so we don't have a timeline F FR could R Administration not given any kind of timeline as to how when step two is going to occur step three but this these corridors will be moving independently of each other so it's not like everybody moves two or once probably a very small number we're told that the scanton quor is either number in the top five or the top three of those being considered but that's all we know at this point what does that mean in terms of time well they're saying potentially one to two years for additional study and then 3 years of construction that puts us the end of 2028 personally I think that's a bit optimistic but we'll see we'll see after our last I told you I was going to be talking to Congressman Kan right after I did a few days later I happened I knew he was going to be somewhere I was and we had a good discussion about it and he's conversing about the whole issue he knows he gets it and he understands you know got go heimer's kind of ownership of of the issue too and you know obviously representing this District you know representing the whole rail line for the most part uh prior to uh Congressman King coming in but we had a good conversation about it he understands that you know the bureaucrat issues of trying to make changes in the in when you're in that um first category and and he was amenable to anybody having discussions with him and and seeing what he could do but you know if if he's not if he's not on that committee and he's you know he didn't hold that much hope either that that we're going to be able to divert a train station from Andover to blown sorry no to to stop to to not have a stop an end over but have a stop here so there is or both I believe that there is going to be a stomp in Handover but it'll be a New Jersey Transit stop as to an Amtrak stop whereas blown will have an Amtrak stop which also could be a New Jersey Transit stop if you wanted to some point yes the process is is you know so glacial and convoluted that I applaud you for being involved in it so long for so long CH well it seems like we're getting to the point where we're actually starting to see things happen obviously so uh but yeah it's been it's been a long time and and it's an amazing story so but um thank you for all your support certainly um and um we'll keep at this you know we're um we're at the point we're he we I think we're going to we might to do this excellent thank you you got a go clap out you can just leave it down there just in okay now unless we have any further comment yeah we do we do you got you got to come up here I'm going to make you come up and I'm I'm going to make you use that that microphone too a lot louder great okay guys uh Taylor Casey 22 Partridge dve so um really quickly I just want to follow up I really appreciate you guys Ming forward with pushing the rec Grant towards the study but I just want to just clarify a little bit something I'm curious about so as we know we're going to do a study now it's going to eat up this entire gr nothing's going to happen here totally understand that if they come back and this study shows that it's going to cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this where does that put us does that put us in this room again next year arguing about the same thing because I think that that's what's going to happen so in order to be proactive about this and the realities of um you know I think Jones field is a great idea I think it's wonderful I think it's a long way down the road I also know at the high school we are we are working on a field it's a $3.5 million project and we don't have any money for that we have a private not a private we have an Education Foundation that is currently working on that for us to start the project we need $250,000 to do a study like it's it's big stuff it takes a long time I don't think you guys have $3.5 million for a field down there it's going to be a very long process we've been working on this foundation for two years and don't have anything done yet and that's not without work volunteer work so I gu my question is how do we be proactive now to ensure that this grant money that is going for this study and figuring out this subject is it wasted what do we do the community as you know this program we they do so much fundraising we do so much we will do anything you are on our side we're on your side we all want to help each other for the same common good no matter what walut valley will always be utilized because it mean something to a lot of people in this town I have spent the past 15 18 years on on that field I watched my cousins play on that field my children play on that field that means a lot to this town it's never going to be unutilized so I don't find putting money there wasteful I just want to know that I want some piece of Mind knowing that we are going to do this we're going to get this and then we're not going to be in oh we don't have that money so this Project's done we do need a solution now we don't need a temporary solution we in a long time so I guess that I'm just curious like I mean I know we can't prict the future but what does that look like I I I I know some of you don't want to done the month down there which I totally understand but how do we how do we figure this out how do we not waste this Grand money Grand money is precious and there is a lot more out there to be found as a lot of you know and especially for recreation keeping our children in sports off the streets is huge that's what we need to be doing so I gu that I just want to follow up with I'm grateful that we're going to go in hopefully the direction of using the money but I just don't want to see it instead don't to get wasted so um I'm really really grateful to hear your passion on it because it's important and I think that we get to a point where everybody really needs to hear that and I'm so on on the uh YouTube because it comes up that U there are people who will sit back and perhaps who one that maybe it's not that popular thing but I I truly believe that we have more than one sport who wants that we have more than one time of year who wants that here um again you support us we support you it is a huge source of fundraising the more that you're able to raise by being able to to work there to to serve people who want to eat anyway right like I I don't have anybody playing on that field anymore but I still go down for bur every once for while um it's wonderful but I will say this that um tonight we're going to be introducing our budget um we won't be able to answer a lot of questions about it but one of the things in the budget is we're looking to increase our open space funds um so that we have money things like seed money for those studies or money for matching funds or the opportunity to be able to say look we have some skin in the game yes we're applying for uh um for grant for for Grants but the whole point is uh nothing is free in this world and if we are able to actually say look we're putting our money where our mouth is we're going to pay this um some of what you talked about we do know what the costs are some of it we have no idea could be I mean I'm not going to say the sky is the limit but um it was quoted to us that it's not going to be $100,000 it's likely to be closer to two um when that happens we start to look at things like the D permit fees we look get um soil tests and the other things that have to happen before and all that investigation cost money it can't just be done by you know Uncle down the road have to have paid professionals to do so rate anytime that you're spending State funds there's a a going rate that comes up it's not like you can you know hire somebody sorry um so that's important too so when we look at that um I can't claim how the committee will vote but what I will say is if our engineer is continuing to to uh progress with uh the numbers to put that grand application together and that grand application is successful um largely we know it's going to be an excess of 100,000 um just between the permits and the fees and uh the testing um I'm all i' say you know it's worth it i' say it's worth uh again it's writing or wrong that's been in place for a long time and again I can't tell you what those numbers will be I understand why some people it's good money after that I understand why people would say that but what I will say is this it's a grand opportunity um it doesn't be we going at all if we it's something that's worth doing it's worth doing well it's worth doing properly it's worth doing over stage of time um I can't tell you we're not going to have the same argument in year but I believe that uh the wisdom to do it is there uh the agreement of everybody is that it's going to be expensive how expensive we will know more after we get some of those tests done and get some of that information back what I want to tell you again is we're looking to increase our space taxs in to accomplish these things that might not be a popular opinion there might be people who say against that and they're entitled to it I understand people I understand people that really just don't have the money uh to put forth something like that but when you look in theend benefits our community so greatly um recognize that that cost and that's why it ends up that we look to increase something um I could be on Facebook tomorrow and everyone will say that lady she wants to spend her money but I'll tell you what I'll be the first one to go out and ask you for money too exactly and that's such a good point too and for those who don't know I started on the school board Bo and the president and so much of what we've been doing lately too is calling on our community we have a tremendous Community here so I also don't want you guys to see a number and think hey you know if you only have 60 I can get you another 10 if you need it there are people in this audience who can get you that money they have already poured money into facilities that we didn't have to do I took over the youth cheerleading program three or four years ago now we had equipment ruins because we didn't have storage we don't have a facility like everybody else we share and whatnot we replace all of that we didn't come to the town and ask them to do that I we fundraised money to make all these things happen there are people in this town who are willing to help so just like people come here and they call on you call on us there's no better Ally for you guys especially the group of people that are running these these programs we just want to help you know I understand how fakeless it is to sit up there I do it I get it and I'm very grateful that you guys do it but I just hope especially in this situation that you don't see high numbers and you I understand that we raise taxes at the school often and you nor we typically always take the highest percentage we can I have gotten emails I have gotten people don't like that but it is for the greater good and um I just uh really appreciate you guys thinking about this and I just hope that you always keep that in your mind to call on us that we call on you Taylor let me assure you this is how it's going to work this if this committee which we are going to very shortly support the application and and and and put it in for this recreational Grant and we receive the grant money once we get on that path to doing this we're going to do it okay and and you have a very solid committee up here everyone's pushing in the same direction it's going to happen and uh if it takes us two years well believe me but keep the same people up here then okay um I might but uh you know we may not we have to hold ourc we have to hold our know and spend money sometimes and we get it but we're all supportive of the everybody up here is supportive of the recreation program and nobody should go away thinking it'll be hard so thinking New Opportunities Conant with the results of the tests we might be pleasantly surprised that we don't have to that's another thing okay we have a motion to support the resolution to actually 20243 she's ready I would like resolution 202 2435 because um this was this is in support of the um Blairstown applying for this Recreation Improvement Grant so I move that we pass that resolution of support I'll second roll call please Chris Mrs Lance why yes Mr lman yes Mr Mur Mr orov Mayor Morad yes all yes we haven't even gotten out of public comment yet I don't want you to leave oh and Taylor someday we're going to come to the high school and ask for something too so keep that in we do it they do it all the time our meetings are boring now come with me we have presentations we learn about bath houses we do a lot of stuff here you guys plant milk weed that's that's the takeway pl have a lot of mil in my yard I really do and I never cut it down I always go around it been doing that my mother taught me that when I was a little kid all right 9:00 we only have one third of this agenda no no I I think I think we don't have a curfew here I had my dinner already I am on vacation mode Let's go do we have any other public comments before I use this and close the public comment section we have no okay there we go no it's not we just last last I to have it in my cof just in Cas we agre to if you'd like that you could have a Cofe of oh Brian a fire call couldn't even get him out of here are you coming back you going to hang out for a while you we're not keeping you here trust me all right um our department had reports for the month of February we got Blairstown ambulance cor North Warren EMS Blair toown fire department Hose Company Numero Uno Department of Public Works Police Department tax collector Township Clerk B and abandoned properties we will uh talk about each one individually in our committee uh reports toward the end we have a motion to accept the February department head reports all in favor I allos all right they are accepted uh we've got uh couple of ordinances um our public hearing and Adoption of 24 20241 an ordinance amending chapter 142 of the code of the township of Blair Blairstown entitled Parks and Recreation areas is this for the uh no killing the snakes okay it was something that we had to do because we had it in our in our ordinances saying you could kill dangerous venomous snakes and it's just the D called us and said you need to change that y this is a public what do you not seeing any discussion on this from the committee all right seeing none we'll open it up to the public any public discussion on 20241 I I bet Jen could talk 10 or 15 minutes on snakes why we shouldn't be killing snakes yeah but it's really interesting that that there are these old laws on the book and and they're slowly going through them and the state found this for us and said can't do that part of the the freshwater storm water right it's just part of our be it's part of that I think okay we only have exactly all right well that was our public comment any public comments seeing none we will move to adopt do we have a motion motion for approval a roll call please Christen Mrs Lance yes Mr lman yes Mr Mur Mr or mayor Mor yes on to an introduction of 20242 an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank um committee person Lance would you like to just do a little high level overview this is required for us to introduce and adopt so we can do our budget so um what a c bank is it says this is how much we may increase the taxes um whether we need it whether we don't need it um it gets taken away if we don't use it and that means that next year we can't have it back that's what a cap is so um like it or not like it we stuck with it so that's what that is um in order for us to be able to introduce we have to have that first so it's required okay do we have a motion to introduce second all in favor I all vote okay on to 2020 403 an ordinance amending chapter 184 of the code of the township of Blairstown entitled vehicles and traffic Walter do you want to take this has been a long time coming U this is this is to make the uh parking lot uh in the village One Way um right across from the theater across from the healthy store that that it's an unnamed alley actually um we're we're going to make it one way and we're also going to do diagonal parking in cuz when you pull in there and pull in perpendicular it's a terrible it's a terrible situation so uh we're we're going to do that this we have to do by ordinance so this is the first reading of that ordinance if there's any public comment could be next meeting and it'll be a one overdue and it's better to pull in and come out Bale Street anyway you pull up into Main Street you can't really see to the left that well if cars are parked there anyway so yeah oh yeah so motion for uh adoption so introduction is that our introduction or is this it's an introduction okay uh okay we've got a motion and a second uh we have an all in favor all opposed okay excellent yeah that was uh that was something we probably should have done when we did the one way but uh and it'll get rid of an unsightly oneway sign on Main Street as well on the uh the wall over there our consent agenda tonight uh we have seven items are there any we want to uh examine or vote on uh separately I'll read through them 202 441 our self-examination of our budget resolution 202442 authorization to execute the statement of consent of treatment works approval application 202443 Governor's Council on alcoholism and drug abuse 2024 44 resolution of the township of blown endorsement in support of the state of New Jersey Department of Transportation project of support for Route 94 bridge over the jacksonburg creek and that will take uh I don't know if we'll see a see that before we see the railroad that's going to take a while for us as well on the same fall of 2028 which would certainly be spring of 2029 yeah that bridge is uh 90 something years old 93 years old uh 20 2445 resolution of the uh Township of Blairstown County of Warren state of New Jersey appointing judge of the Blairstown Township Municipal Court the court administrator prosecutor and public defender uh 2024 46 the 2023 tonnage Grant application for our Recycling and 2024 47 approving vouchers and claims any comments on any one of the consent agenda items time no someone has an objection pass and I'll second it uh we have a motion that we shall pass them together do we have a motion to approve appr Mo roll call please Chris Mrs Lance yes Mr lman yes Mr Mr or mayor yes all right we're up to this our budget introduction um we uh the public is just seeing this for the first time no we will be seeing it after this they'll be seeing it that right that's what I'm saying right they'll be seeing it for the first time that's right uh we had a a budget meeting uh last week that uh the public was invited to it was good to see everyone out I'm saying that for for the record there was I I think Jessica was answer asked a question on Facebook or something about could she get copies of this prior to the meeting and this this is the time when after this after we adopt it then then it becomes available to the public um I asked for a high level overview we we got a great um a great overview from our auditor um from uh from from John money uh during the the budget meeting um you said you could give us a little uh just a little synopsis of what he said just some very very basic highlights so um when we look at the budget portion that's inside that cap you know that cap that we just agreed to have the 2023 cap budget was 3,612 57 61 12,574 um this year's has only gone up by $66,000 which is only a 1.8 36% increase which is wonderful because when you start to look at what that is um we are able to put up to 2% and we're not exercising all that so that's positive um the other thing is even within this increase it includes uh something that they're contractually obligated to do which is the pension increase we don't have any control over what that's going to be and so that's even included in this so that's pretty amazing um the other thing is we're retiring some Debt Service this year um the principal pay down is 535,000 and the interest pay was 122,000 so when we start to look at that um to have that built in again we are obligated to do that but it's it's a grp number it's on schedule with what was planned um our bond that we have right now when we when we our last fund um when we I guess we refinanced it to put that in common language that goes until 2032 but we're on schedule with the pay down to that so that's another positive thing um in this budget we also have 440,000 uh devoted to Rose 990,000 devoted to police DPW equipment 80,000 and capital fund increase of 135,000 so um all of these really really great and needed things are happening in this budget um and part of it is because we have a fantastic uh tax collector so I'm just going to say that right there our reserve for uncollected taxes is $680,000 the reason for that is because uh Carrie wac wonderful lady that she is her collection rate is at 98.48% which is among the highest in the county um we'll take it we'll take it because she's doing a great job because she's doing a great job that means that our Reserve is reduced even from last year so that's another um as far as the water operating budget we had a desire to be able to put that uh circumstance in as best uh possible uh Finance as we could um we have to offset some improvements and some professional costs for that uh we just need to get it in a good enough order that it's going to be able to be sold at some point we don't want to have to it's not our area of expertise to be able to run that but we're running because everybody needs C drinking water um the additional water rents are supposed to increase this year by 30,000 and um that just works out great now what I want to say is we talked about before that we are increasing the open space tax by 1.7 C we're able to increase it uh by 2% we don't by 2 cents we don't need that 2 cents but we want 1.7 of it um that is in my mind better than raising somebody's taxes first of all um it has strings attached it's only going to go towards some very very particular things um open space historic preservation and Recreation again all quality of life improvements for what we want to do in the town to build a a wonderful place to and recreate um so there's more but these are the highlights that I want to be able to give you again all of these numbers will be available to you tomorrow but the other thing is that um it takes a lot of time to put together those numbers and to be able to juggle them and be able to put them in some kind of a perspective of how you want to build the town and how you want it to run and how you want to be able to provide services continuous Services good Services um the employees in the town work so hard to be able to make sure that they have a work and that they have the opportunity to um run things properly um we don't cut corners on everything but we are pretty careful with our pennies you know um when it comes to that um we don't live the waste of the place we don't um anyway these are all good things and um we'll be able to discuss them with much greater deta at at the at the public hearing the next meeting uh our CFO and our auditor will be here to field questions and give their over their overvie of the budget also so that's a very good meeting to attend I know some of the folks that are here today were at the budget Workshop meeting held on a Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago and I think uh obviously a lot of the questions were addressed there because they weren't brought up tonight so that's a good thing okay that being said um any other discussion on the uh introduction budg tonight new all right uh well then uh we like a motion to introduce the uh 2024 budget Happ someone find out sub commit I am proud to introduce it and I'll second it and all in favor Chris I do we need a roll call no we just need allv okay hi hi you like I think it I think Itor let me call out all your I to hear it again Mrs Lance yes Mr lman yes Mr M Mr Mayor yes that something nice about that all right unfinished business Jones Farm did we speak enough about the Jones Farm I talked to Donald the other day U he's looking at 7 to 10 days to through together so again very optimistic this is our Georgia guy that's wants to take the to take it down so just Wai and and um once that happens there uh we'll be there'll be some com combination of the DBW and maybe some other professional help taking down the uh block and and uh morar and uh cement parts of the barn which will be stockpiled and crushed and we're trying to Eric and I are trying to work this out so we actually use some of the Jones Farm Barn for the underlayment that we need to for Partridge GL as we rebuild that road so we really like to kind of make that closure just keep the keep the material in town and and uh a lot cheaper if we brush it ourselves it's a lot cheaper so we believe in recycling here that's how you keep that budget in check too uh our sample storm water ordinance anything to up okay uh Recreation brand update you guys already uh already beat that beat that to the ground uh our 2024 election polling location I'm just keeping that the agend so we can keep reminding people it will be at blown Hose Company number one all districts voting in one place at the firehouse and I can I can tell you one place that that's going to be prominently displayed when the time comes because I our new digital sign up everyone in town will will know where the poing place is on he just wants you wants you to know if you missed it on the way in the new digital sign is in place not JCP jcpnl has Le to yeah there's going to there's a little bit of a learning curve but we do have to hook up the power to it first uh it's all trenched it's all ready and it's up yeah we have a cuted thing with JCP and Atlanta come and do their thing and put a meter we're going to we're going to vote on whose face is going up on it first it's it's high resolution so we could we could definitely do some great things with it and we will uh yeah the ear our early election 2024 early election so just again I'm just putting it on the agenda so everyone knows early voting is done here this year again the primary is going to start May 29th through June 2nd um and that's early lady here at that extremely long Rine and that's and that's that that Segways right into all the other stuff you try dumping on us that should begin from the township CL event will be held on May 11 there's a fire on the table and screening email will be May 28th um through June 1st vouchers have not been passed out yet once they're available they will also be at the T and I will have no Pro my that's right we're knocking you off the agenda new business are Blairstown enhancement committee Footbridge so I I know you guys don't fa but that's for C it's for um the state it said it's for um to raise aess and okay so it's a new event and I didn't want to say yes because ofes were june30 yes are they calling it anything right now no well we all want the skate park question please is that also the skateboard and outdoor arts and train stop train station just want to make sure you go the arts and arts part project yes thank you for that dire all right any discussion on this or can we uh motion for approval go all all these it's for the it's for the betterment of their par um so they're having um police coverage is needed by the ABC it says I don't mind POS I'll out it's kind of hard to Poli yeah I'll reach out with them we have yeah yeah we can we hold on that keep that on there the next one is also a new application facility used to use the Pavilion up uh sorry foot bridge for um the cross country and that is September 23rd that is September 13th oh sept I'm sorry September 13th it'll kind of coincide with PRI the 13 they they're not requiring any outside possibly first aid Squad but I think that that's more just if there's an injury okay well good for them looking ahead um yeah I I I don't see any I don't see any problem any other problem no do we need an approval motion motion for approval second all in favor I all oppos okay all right that's September 13 He good uh Blairstown host company membership application Fabio F dos Santos and Clarence Ryan II yeah okay um well they've already been vetted by uh by company number one um would make motion app I'll second that motion all in favor I all opposed all right good to see two more members yeah absolutely that is like the fastest growing volunteer organization in town it's it's really good to see what's happening there uh any corespondence this week no sir Township attorney is was a little sicker than you and uh you're waving your time Committee Member Lance what do you have left for us you really have you did the whole meeting hav you I Willow to do that I know um but I I would like to um request that um uh committee Romans might conern speaking about the um meeting that we had with regard to um seniors my okay great so the only thing that I have to say is I want to talk to you about L's toown forth we would like to once again hold an event um in uh Footbridge park for the 4th of July and we would like to BL that's like saying no to apple pie I'm going to tell you yeah but I still need to do that um we've already sent out a as responsibly as possible our requests for fundraising and that's on a rolling basis we do have sponsors that we that typically give um and we have a few movement that we requesting this year so we shall see but I still need the blessing of the committee so can I ask for that approval can we have a motion for the 4th of July festivities all in favor all oppos thank you I yeld the rest of my time can't wait to see everyone there uh Committee Member Lan yeah quickly uh after our budget meeting was that two weeks ago uh we Karen and I sat with rain and uh Joan thank you uh we talked about adding some additional senior events um came up with some good suggestions and U asked them to investigate a little bit further come up with some doll mounts and find out where we can best excellent two people we got to take care of this town seniors and the kids you middle-aged people are just you think he's middleaged who midd he's yeah he's still middle she's not walking with a K yet watch it uh you're you're all done down there Eric yes all right Committee Member Mur all right from the police department uh they'll be conducting an AC shooter drill in the New Jersey State Police teams unit and hope bar Spring B in elementary school that's the first week of April so when you see all the police activity at the school please don't get excited it's just a drone we're doing an act um officer AR resign just completed very refresh course and chief also wanted to say that they are in the process of gathering a volley a volleyball team for the North Regional high schools for the health and wellness skeld day the team will be composed of officers and students help play other teams from County schools and police departments the field day is set for May 3rd 6: p.m. High School um the chief also wanted to thank the quilting for cause um out there many donations and does of quilts and more uh the quilts are the back patol cars are used for anything conflicted to car trashes that cold homeless person whatever it may be um so the chief definitely wanted to express his thanks to them for foring that and the last thing is raccoon tested positive for Rus in the first week of March of sen Road um after an attack they actually bu bit um another St attack from hiker Water Gap National Park so basically the you say people be aware of the surroundings while outside watch your pets um also it's raccoon breeding season so you may be out there today and it doesn't affected but I would also um add to that that we are winding down in March there's probably many people that still have to have vaccinated and license so please do so um the fact that we have rabies this close to us andity you got to protect your animals which hly protect the residents and last thing is on February 29 the police department help the warrior watch and many emergency services welome two marines and Palmer ofad cor Keith s so uh that's where the police G control I talked to oneor tonight and he is thrill the death to be part of this community um has actually nothing to add um everything is going very well um so if you ever need him just please reach out the last thing is the planning board uh we intervie we had a subcommittee to interview several candidates for municipal planner um it's going to end up coming we have some recommendations the land board and recommend uh who we think would be best suited for our municipality that it's going to come back to us as as a governing committee as to what we can afford to spend and what we want to do with it but if you look at social media you'll see many comments on there and people say the incident we just Ted the warehouse you why aren't we thinking ahead why aren't we planning ahead and I would suggest to you that we really are and uh it's just the the government process tends to be very slow so um I would recommend that as we move forward if you hear us want to spend some money on the planner which in my opinion wasn't very much it's definitely going to on community and that's all that thank you sir deputy mayor or thank you mayor U first thing I want to get out of the way uh Bob Law just for his satisfaction of rery um wanted us to to assure them that we're going to be contributing $3,000 to the fireworks this year and everyone's we need to do that by resolution if You' like it's going to be the budget anyway because we're spending money if like to okay I'll make that motion roll call please Chris this is to to $3,000 $3,000 on the fs Mrs Lance yes Mr lman Mr Mur Mr orot Mayor Mor yes hey thank you the second item I have is there is a request from uh and this is Rec going back to little Le um the group that is involved in uh working on the field at Wen Valley wanted our permission to go down there and makeing group to the field and I really have a hard time even entertaining asking permission to make the fields better it's like just make the fields better like we told you guys many times but but probably need to do and we as a as a as a procedural thing we need to do it so U they provide the necessary insurance and all that and and that's a really good crew that the little league uh the dads or whatever the whole crew that gets involved in that they do a great job I think we saw I think you might have seen them out there changing all the uh probably mostly Casey masonary science science I saw that and U sore Park probably down field but U bigger Greener sh but they do a nice job keeping the side and that's very important I mean we it's great that the that the community businesses are involved in supporting the teams the team don't come to us for hardly any money really and that's why we can't get really excited about you know taking a hard line on septics but but um everybody does a good job and it's really nice to see they they maintain everything they uh we you know we they have their own equipment they keep stored that it really works out well and uh we' B over backers for those guys so let me just ask for a motion from the committee to allow a little leak to improve their field so move I'll second that all in favor all opposed okay um as many of you may have noticed on the way in I I discussed a little bit earlier the digital sign is finally in place and um it'll be it'll be a couple of weeks before we actually have any messages up on there I bet but we're getting there getting close um message up this say coming soon yeah we have to do that we're going to get little how do I get Casey put what on it jro uh you'll have to you'll have to buy a septic system you're buy uh Charlie Charlie Mur alluded to the to the fact that we're going to be hiring a planner on the land use board to review our master plan and particularly um we're probably going to engage the planner to do the ire master plan because the price that of the person would going to hire was reasonable um but and we're going to do that it'll be over the course of two years so I I'm firmly uh of the opinion that the money we have in the budget this year is good to get them started and we'll budget some more next year um to finish it up and the planners work like that's how it's it's a long process U but we do need to protect our our our areas um and make sure we've got everything done correctly as far as the uh uh the industrial Zone and some of the commercial zones and even even maybe more importantly the state is is coming up with some new guidelines U Co doesn't exist anymore the Council on affordable housing but the but the state the governor is coming in with some new ideas about what kind of affordable housing commitment each municipality should have we're going to really need a planner to that understands what what that means to a town our size that doesn't have the uh uh infrastructure of sewers and things like that to do any kind of high density thing but still comply to some extent and we do have some obviously affordable units that we designate but that's going to be very important and a big part of what the planner going to be doing for us and the last thing I'm going to talk about U as as part of our budget that we're going that we introduced tonight and we'll be passing uh next month is our Capital 5-year Road plan for Road improvements um since I got on this committee uh over 3 years AG we've been extremely aggressive in doing Road improvements U and uh this year is no exception 2024 we're going to be doing overlays on the entirety of Partridge Glenn uh which is a lot of homes involved in that and that's been sitting there for about 30 years it kind of it's in bad shape we're going to be doing Lambert Road um and in fact my DBW guys have already been doing the drains and the inlets and getting them set um for for the over you know that's going to be a lot of rebuilding that Road's going to that's going to be a Mill inl and pull out a lot of the the underlayment of the U the base and maybe some of the the uh the Quarry process underneath but we do get that's a state Grant project so really Lambert Road and by the way we're doing Gro Road at the same time going into the high school we like the high school um so we're going to so when we get no cuz we're going to go to high school for something someday said that three times I know I just want to make it clear but um between the state Grant and we're using the co relief money that we had left really the improvements of Lambert Road are pretty much going to be at at no cost to us it's not so that actually going to work out okay so in So based on that we're also doing Rob road that there that that another little section yeah right there um Centerville Road and West View we're going to do West View Drive West View Terrace whatever that is that development we're going to do that road that's overlay then when it comes to oil and ship we're going to be doing Frontage Road we did part of it a couple of years ago we promised them we would come back and and do some uh oil and ship and leveling we we need to go there with some leveling so we're going to spend 100 Grand almost 100 Grand there we're going to be doing oil chip on Cook Road that's off of mud Pond and mingle Road that's that's pretty minor six grand and then uh that section of Union brick from which they call Pierce Pierce Corner section from 521 down to uh where Union brick starts so so we're doing you know again another very aggressive Road program one of these days I'm going to make up a really good overlay where that we can put up on the screen and usually I have pictures up there to show all the roads that have been done in the last four years you know and we're we're in really good shape with with the road infrastructure hardly get any complaints about roads no maybe some water damage you know running off but we've done a really fantastic job of roads over the past three years that's pretty much all I have there thank you sir um I don't have much just our uh February uh fire report from play toown uh host company number one only 19 calls for service in February uh 12 in Blairstown three in Hardwick two in freeling heisen one in Nolton and one in still water so they had a pretty good uh pretty good month for them and not having to uh take themselves away from their families that much uh in attending every one of the uh every one of the blairtown host company number one um meetings watching the growth of that organization over the past 3 4 years is just amazing that uh we have to keep adding tables on to the meeting uh room it it just grows and grows and you don't see a lot of volunteer organizations growing like that uh I think um getting out of Co helped a lot but I just think this town in particular is full of people that want to get out and help and they want to give of themselves and it's really really nice to see if uh I I I we're up to about in in any given meeting now over 30 people 32 people yeah showing up for those meetings it's and we've got we've got Junior Firefighters and as we saw here tonight we've got two new um folks coming out we're getting really we're recruiting really good talent we're getting folks that uh one firefighter is what Jersey City Newark and he's he's a he's a full-time nework firefighter and in his off hours he was just looking to fight some fires you know something to do this is the kind of folks that we're getting to volunteer for us and your town is in such good hands uh when when tragedy strikes because of those volunteers makes me very proud to see uh I have nothing else uh on my list here because um my favorite word begins with an a do we have a motion to adjourn so movei my time to a motion to I don't know what time you're talking about Bob but uh did you did you have anything for us Bob no I'll say okay thanks M thanks the puppet show was really a dramatic uh we had a we had a motion in a second all right we're out of here thank you very much yes