recording in progress welcome to the chadam township Committee of February 27th 2024 uh we are returning from executive session proper notice has been given and I'd ask everybody to rise for the flag salute I pledge alance to the flag the United States of America the for stands one nation indivisible withy and justice for all well this is an exciting evening it's always fun to see our police come out and to uh swear and a new officer uh we are we have the honor of swearing in or I I will have the honor of swearing in Colette Murphy uh Colette is currently attending the Essex County Police Academy and will graduate on April 17th prior to being hired by the chadam Township Police Department she was employed as a sheriff's investigator for the Essex County Sheriff's Department Colette was previously employed as an emergency dispatcher for the Floren Park Police Department and as an assistant track and field coach for the Mount St Dominic Academy in Caldwell New Jersey in 2021 coak graduated from Monclair State University with a ba in justice justice studies and a minor in biology tonight she is joined by her father and mother Michael and Claire Murphy and several aunts and uncles so uh do you want to come up with your parents and we will start the swearing in [Music] okay youre I state your name I Colette Murphy do solemnly swear do solemnly swear support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the officer the office of all the duties of the office of police officer police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God [Applause] congratulations C thank you [Applause] than I had to make the joke [Applause] before you all run out I just want to say thank you for all the work I know you guys have been putting in a lot of overtime so I appreciate it thank [Applause] you sure bring yes I'm the annoying Uncle I'm sorry we all got one the fun part I think C is the fun part going to take a minute while the uh everybody wanders out and then we'll start again thank you so congratulations you can leave that open thank you okay we have a couple of uh proclamations this evening I have a proclamation celebrating National nutrition month um I'm just debating if I read the whole thing I think we're going to post the whole thing on the website and I'm just going to focus on uh the proclamation I Stacy Ewald mayor of the township of chadam do hereby Proclaim that the township of chadam together with the mayor's Wellness advisory committee encourages all citizens to celebrate National nutrition month during the month of March and in doing so become more informed about their food choices and nutrition and develop sound eating and physical activity habits in order to achieve optimum optimum health for both today and tomorrow um I definitely encourage people to uh you know take the opportunity to learn more about National nutrition month one of my favorite websites is nutrition fact .org uh but um there's such an important connection between health and nutrition and uh so I encourage our residents to do uh what they can to educate themselves and we also have a proclamation reaffirming the commitment and objective of the chadam township Green Team I Stacy ealt mayor of the township of chadam do hereby Proclaim that the green team of chadam Township is active in the community and advancing sustainable practices and actions including the sustain able Jersey municipal certification program the green team has been and shall continue to be composed of individuals who have demonstrated interest in advancing the efforts of chadam Township to pursue certification through the sustainable Jersey municipal certification program the role of the green team has been and shall continue to be to lead and coordinate the sustainable activities of the community uh and this Proclamation reaffirms our commitment to our Green Team uh along those lines I want to start the evening by thanking the environmental commission and especially chair Jessica Romeo for countless hours spent on working toward reaffirming our Sustainable New Jersey silver certification the first round submission was sent in and there's uh many more hours of work ahead of them to accumulate the information and documentation to support the 350 plus points needed for silver certification um uh this evening in support of those efforts we'll be reaffirming our commitment to the environment uh to our environment and our community through that Proclamation and also through resolutions reaffirming sustainable land use and a resolution reaffirming our green grounds and maintenance policy I also want to thank our Colony advisory committee for putting together a fun schedule of events for the upcoming season it's still a work in progress but they've done a great job and it sounds like we can look forward to another wonderful season of colony pool Colony pool fees are on the agenda uh there's a 5% increase across the board to cover increased costs we're excited the early bird pricing will be available beginning on March 1st and residents can sign up and get ready for the summer 60 degree weather is enticing us and getting us to think that way unfortunately it's going to be 30 in a couple days so much for that um there is a resolution authorizing a Grant application to replace playground equipment at Colony pool uh we've got a lot of capital projects in the wings so we're hoping this funding comes through to help alleviate some of the budget pressure uh and upgrade the equipment at Colony on the agenda we'll also be accepting a bid for The Pedestrian safety and Ada improv improvements project on Fairmount Avenue from Southern uh from Southern all the way to Myersville uh the funds for the Improvement are through the NJ do Grant and we'll look forward to getting that project started uh the last topic I wanted to cover this evening at our last meeting we had our tax assessor talk about the county mandated townwide revaluation which must be implemented in the 2027 tax year I did hear that some residents had difficulty hearing his presentation when they go on YouTube I did not but I just want to make sure our residents kind of are aware of this uh the uh some of the key dates will be listed on the website and information will be provided on the website but uh the bulk of what residents will see will occur in 2026 so that we can be up and running in 2027 um and that's it for me for now okay we did I did the brief version um okay our Township committee reports uh Mr Lois do you want to start sure thank you for covering uh so much what was going on with Colony pool the the pool committee met and um actually twice this month and made several suggestions on rates uh a new promotional poster contest suggestions for the brochure updates and release dates um suggestions for length of service award for our EMS and fire and those who receive what's called loap length of service award program recipients um they have a special promotion at the pool where families can come for the rate of um a a senior couple which is a well it depends on what we end up on here but it looks like uh 162 uh as a regular season rate so that's that's a suggestion um to reach out to losap this year again as we had done in years past but not last year um the full event schedule as was mentioned and spirit wear um and then there is there are some more suggestions one is about um administration of our Facebook page uh in the past the the committee had been able to help in that regard and was helpful um especially on weekends or answering questions in the comments um and you know the suggestion came from the committee that to to allow us again or allow the committee to uh have access in a collaborative way um with that the Facebook page as a administrator there and the final piece of advice um that the committee talked about was a desperate need that we have for more changing room a space more space and changing space and that's related to our youth camp and work family and we we the good news there is that we have that space um but we're not using it so the the suggestion from the pool committee is that we open the bath house above the snack bar which was always the traditional bath house before the new Bath House was built uh those rooms still exist they still you know perfectly fine rooms to change in um I had asked the question because we had met in the fall about that with the our staff and then we had uh raised it again this year and to find out what was going on with that and the suggestion was that we that's going to be handled in a capital allocation session or by the by the finance committee and but that's this is not a problem we have that we need capital for it's a we don't need Capital we have the space we have the room um what what is needed is to clean up that space to make it available for the children that need the space to change and to make the club um better for members because when we have a large youth camp visit we end up with um they they're occupying the bathroom intensely for short periods of time both when they enter and when they exit and so um the pool committee has volunteered to organize volunteers and I know Mrs Roland and Mr McHugh have talked about this during their campaign organiz volunteers to do things collaborative for the town if if that's what's needed to clean out that space just simply so that it's ready for use so it's I don't think it's a capital issue um but it is something that the pool committee sees is Def desperately needed just to clean up what we already have thank you um Mr sh could you uh follow up on that and then if you think it needs to be on a workshop if we can uh yeah thank you um Mr McHugh thank you mayor uh let's start off with the uh open space committee had their first uh meeting on the uh the advisory committee looking and considering a number of uh potentials figuring out some improvement projects if that's a possibility so a lot of thinking cap going on as a result of that first meeting I will move on to the environmental commission and other than the grand level of activity already mentioned and will be ongoing for sustainable Jersey there is one thing to look out for and for everybody to pay attention to and that is come probably in two within two weeks will be the um uh getting to uh the environmental commission and DPW working together on the adopt the drain program so keep your heads up for that there are a thousand over a thousand drains in town and 10 minutes maybe twice a month to keep that flowing uh keep let's keep the water flowing for the various catch basins I will move on to the uh Library um and this another one heads up uh not this weekend but the following weekend uh is the all important annual Friends of the library book sale so get down there uh between the 40,000 titles I'm sure there's something you can find so uh get yourself down there and get your eyes moving and your brain moving and uh uh get some books uh that starts Actually March 9th at Saturday at 9:30 um if uh you are so inclined you can sneak in a little early for uh a little pref fee um at 7:30 in the morning so do please pay attention to that and see the library website uh for any details um and then just uh one or two quick shoutouts uh we do have a retirement of the assistant director down at the library a long uh and very highly productive uh person and that is uh Galina natanson who is retiring and so we'd like to have a public comment uh saying thank you very much for the many years and the many uh uh great uh contributions You' made over many years uh you know when you lose somebody like that uh it's uh it's not easy uh to have a replacement um but the library uh staff and the and the library itself does want to have actually a public as well to our administrator for his particular help because some of the candidates uh organized by his Direction look like some pretty good ones so we may be able to fill that spot eventually uh so thank you Z that's our reports thank you committee women Roland just an update from the Historical Society uh there the improvements to the building uh continue but as Sunday is the first Sunday of the month uh the schoolhouse will be open this weekend so stop by there's a lot of amazing things to check out in there and then a lot of the discussion that we're having at the Historical Society and also as part of mors county is that in just two years it's the 250th birthday of America and Maris county is kind of a a hot spot and a center of activity from the Revolutionary War and what's really interesting is that George Washington spent twice as much time in Morris County than he did in Valley Forge and I think it's going to be a really interesting time in a couple of years for tourism here and a lot of opportunities for people not only to visit um marown but also some of the spots that we have in chadam so we're starting to think about that stuff thank you thank you Deputy Mayor Joy uh a very brief um update um I'm pleased to announce that the rfing of shanike field is complete um so hats off to the administrator Rich Young from DPW and Larry mccan from Recreation as well as others who uh shephered that project along to um a very Speedy completion uh so it's um ready to go for spring uh Athletics and events um and that's it's a big uh it's a big uh project so uh hats off to you all for making that happen and that's it very exciting thank you um and I had a couple of updates I wanted to let residents know uh chattam Maria Chamber of Commerce has a wellness Fair uh this weekend Saturday from 10 to 2 do I have that right I didn't write down I think it's I'm gonna have to check that date of course I didn't write down the date um from 10 to two it's a free Event open to the public includes free health screenings 20 minutes uh sample Fitness classes bowling 25 plus vendors will be there uh I encourage local Township businesses to join and I'll make sure to have that date before the end of the meeting um and they have a lot of great programs um that they're uh that the chamber has a lot of great programs so uh hopefully our Township businesses will uh get involved um it is this Saturday thank you second I'm I'm like why didn't I put the date down um and then the senior center as always has all kinds of G great program so I encourage residents to take advantage of that uh they're doing taichi classes uh and I didn't realize this if you are interested in checking out an exercise class you can try the first one for free to see if you like it before you sign up uh they did start the AARP free tax pep prep program that just started yesterday it's on Mondays you do have to schedule your appointment uh and if you're interested contact the senior center for more information and I think that's it for my reports okay okay so now is the time to open the public hearing of citizens U Mr lante can you read the guidance on the public hearing how to be conducted yes uh members of the public are now welcome to come up to the microphone to address the township committee this is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are not topics scheduled for public hearings tonight those present May step up to the microphone to be heard if you are watching via Zoom you may speak during any of the public comment sessions by following the zoom instructions to raise your hand and the uh Zoom dial in numbers are now on the screen uh whether you are in person or online when you recognized to speak please mind the following procedures please say your name spell your last name and give the name of your street you you do not need to give your street number all public comments will be limited to 3 minutes rather than use any of your time answering questions the township committee will wait until you finish speaking before responding there are two public comment sessions on tonight's agenda each member of the public will be limited to one comment of up to three minutes during each comment period written comments submitted to the Township Clerk before 3 p.m. today will be read during the public comment sessions and we didn't have any so it's a moot point but uh written comments if we had any would be subject to the same guidelines as oral comments duplicative written comments may be summarized rather than read in full according to guidelines issued by the Jersey Division of local government services and these rules will also apply in our later public hearing and um the public hearing on the ordinance and the um the second hearing of citizens thank you so our public hearing is open do we have anybody online uh we do not have any hands raised at this time okay and we didn't have any written comments either thank you any questions from the masses in the audience okay in that in that case I will close the hearing of citizens uh so we're going to move to the uh adoption the public hearing and Adoption of ordinance 224-1 for storm water control uh remind me do we have to do the um uh public hearing first the public hearing first okay so we will open the public hearing for uh this ordinance and no hands raised on Zoom okay and in that case we can close the public hearing uh for uh that ordinance um do I have a motion to adopt 2024 dh1 I'll make such a movement do I have a second second any discussion uh mayor it's worth noting for the record that the planning board opted out of doing a master plan consistency review which they were entitled to do uh they chose not to thank you and that automatically yeah and we're we're at our 35 day window anyway so we're free to um the committee is free to um adopt this if you so choose okay thank you uh and then uh Mr shotti just briefly this is just so residents understand who who weren't uh watching the um Workshop this is uh basically to meet State Standards correct this is the the minimum U the minimum required uh specifications per the DP okay did you have a did you want to say something yeah I just have a point of information actually that's separate from uh it's actually point of information exercise under the rules of this committee that um I received an answer on this ordinance that said this has been previously addressed publicly at least two occasions at township committee meetings and basically declined to answer that was an email that was in response to let's see one two three four five questions that I asked that was a response that I got to one of the questions that I asked which was a declined to answer the answer um to my question was just given but it wasn't given to me via email so when I ask questions via email sometimes I get back this type of a response um this has been previously addressed in public by two occasions by Township committee meetings however if you look at the minutes that were set to adopt tonight you'll see that in the it says here and unless somebody has an objection to the minutes which we'll find out when the the minutes come up it says uh Mr Shi said he also said that there is some latitude given to governing bodies and specifics of the ordinance adopted I was asking about that Latitude so the minutes capture that there was still a question coming from the previous discussion of this that's in the captured minutes so I want to highlight to that to the committee and my question on this my point of information is that this email back to me says the following information is provided in response to questions received about items on this agenda so my my point of information is were these all the questions that were asked so only I asked questions by email of this agenda prior to this meeting oh you can count on the fact that I asked plenty of questions I'm sure you did but I didn't I'm I'm just I'm so my point of information is that were there other questions asked because if they were asked I was not provided uh the answers to those questions or knowledge of those questions however my questions and answers were deemed to uh to be provided to the entire committee yeah my process is very different when I follow up with uh the administrator on things but my my emails and my uh questions have been distributed to the the committee before I have no problem with that because it helps everybody I love it too I love it too but I'm just saying that it she strikes me as odd that I don't receive copies of other answers but answers to my questions get distributed and then selectively answered and then answered in public but not to me but via email so when we consider in the future U you know comments about how many questions I ask whether five is too many questions to ask about an agenda or or other such things that have been asked in the past I I would ask this committee to reflect on that okay can we go to a roll call vote please I mean a a vote Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes okay we have the introduction of the ordinance 20242 flood plane management can I get a uh motion to introduce the ordinance so moved can I get a second second um Mr shotty can you just give us a brief overview of this one managin that really addresses FEA regulations and ures that our flug plane maps are in compliance andbody in that Z thank you thank you um any discussion okay can I get a vote Please Mr Lewis yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes mayor eal yes motion passes and public hearing will be on March 26th and now we are moving to the introduction of the ordance uh ordinance 20243 movie theater inspections M lante could you just give a brief overview of that one yes as was discussed at the workshop meeting the ordinance current ordinance which dates back to 1972 before the state adopted UCC uh the ordinance uh requires a an inspection of by the building inspector of a movie theater before they get their license since UCC Trump's local ordinances under UCC the building inspector can only do an inspection if there is an active permit uh so we can uh do an inspection under building code technically under state law so this ordinance removes that inspection we would still have the uh you know the state mandates that the fire prevention official does an inspection so we would still require or that before issuance of license and then separate from that inspection the health inspector does uh inspections as well on the food aspects for the snack bar which somewhat irrelevant to this license but you we do have two active inspections still going on and we could still do Property Maintenance inspections if if necessary uh so we're just basically doing some housekeeping to conform to statute okay thank you did I do the motion to injurias this one I don't believe so okay can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 20243 so moved can I get a second second okay any discussion go for a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor eal yes uh public hearing on March 26th okay and now on to the consent agenda um um was there did anybody want to pull anything out of the consent agenda for discussion yes I do I have um numbers four five 9 12 14 and 20 that's resolutions 61 62 66 69 71 and 77 okay um and then we also had a resolution that we added that we will discuss later as well which will be 078 2024 just 078 okay thank you okay can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended so moved second and can I get a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and Mary W yes motion passes okay let's move on to 2024 61 resolution solution appointing the administrative assistant okay great thank you um so this position was basically created in 2019 no other it we no other administrator prior to that had administrative assistant in the last 25 years the administrative assistant position has had long periods of vacancy even since its Creation in 2019 and um you know with no ill effects to our Township and I don't feel that this position is necessary U we've operated without it in the past and uh I'm oppos to to you know having um these positions so I'm going to be voting no on this for that reason okay any other comments can I get a vote please we need a motion sorry can I get a motion to approve uh 2024 d61 so moved can I get a second second Mr Lewis no Mr McHugh uh yes Mrs rowand yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and Mary old yes motion passes 2024-25 um the issue that I have is that we have an inadequate shoulder season and I had talked about this in the in workshop and at other times this uh the shoulder season being Cony pool you know it's almost six acres it's almost 2,000 U you know registrants uh annually it it's a it's a big responsibility and there's a lot of offseason work that needs to be done and we've had a problem in the past when we had a seasonal full-time employee doing this work that they that they become especially over a period of time and we hope to have our pool manager for a long period of time over a period of time they become aware that really you know to pick up the ball May 1 or to pick up the ball very close to the summer and then you know to kind of close it up right at the end it it's not enough time there becomes more information more followup with either staff or um and and discussion with um like the the advisory committee with for things like the um uh the events list and whatnot that that the advisory committee is charged with creating they end up having to do in order to do a good job they need to provide more time now we've provided a small amount of time which is 10 hours but that it's really not adequate and you know I'm not I'm I'm not looking to oppose this resolution to appoint the pool manager but we really need to look into this more much more extensively as to what we can do whether there's a formal trading of time because what ends up happening over a period of time is that the the pool manager may be um incentivized to sort of trade time from the summer during the summer uh for time that's not in the summer and so you kind of it becomes a rationalization of of you know a staff member who says well you know I I kind of I went over my 10 hours I really did 30 I really did 50 I I've been doing a lot of thinking I was doing planning in the winter or offseason and so you know instead of putting in 35 40 hours I'm going to be I'm going to be less present at the club and it becomes a u you know a de facto problem um not a dour problem so I'm just raising that to this committee again and I I just uh we we've already had that situation where the the pool committee wanted wants to meet for um and this has been reported and those minutes have been turned over to our staff about the pool committee just wanted to have a safety meeting about the pool you know what what kind of U expectations can we have for the safety drills the search drills some certain things about safety and it's like well you gotta we have to wait till May um so I I I think it's really incumbent on this committee to take a look at that again this role and the sooner we do it the better uh okay so I would ask that the um Recreation committee uh have those discussions about whether or not to expand that role um but any any especially if it's any issues related to questions related to safety should go through our administrator he manages the staff and and given it's a seasonal position especially that's not something uh I mean of course you want the pool manager involved in that discussion but I would expect everything would go through our administrator um does anybody else have any questions or comments regarding this resolution can I get a motion to int to approve so moved and can I get a second second M Council Mr Lewis yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes 202 24-0 66 Colony pool fees okay yep that was mine again and I know that the committee has uh worked on pool fees and there was a a series of questions that I really spent some time thinking about and then the committee helped me think about it too um there series of questions came up in workshop and the committee reaffirmed their Comm commitment to you know to the pricing that we had given which was this flat pricing and what what has been said in the in the workshop is you know don't go to $600 the 606 which is being suggested as a family membership rate for a chadam Township resident makes more sense because there's some percentage increase and that was the reasons for that were given in two ways one was that other clubs prices other pools are you know have prices that end oddly 696 whatever whatever the fee may be and the the problem with that is those specific pools that were given as examples those pools have unfortunately in the previous Summers done so poorly they had to close on Wednesdays these are not models for our Township um and that includes you know I I don't really want to name them right now but th those pools have struggled and I I don't think that modeling your pricing and your promotional Behavior against someone a pool that's closing on Wednesdays can't serve the members for financial reasons is really a good idea um the other reason given was that and I was really admonished for this publicly I was a little shocked honestly that I was admonished for this that um you know prices go up costs go up every year so the so you know should have told the committee should have I should have told the The Colony pool committee that prices need to go up every year but what's interesting to me about that is that the actual reports that we received have shown almost a 30% reduction in salaries and operating costs at Colony pool from last year from from the previous year to last year so from 2022 to 2023 so if we're using the idea that prices are going up then either our reports aren't right or we can't use that reason because prices I'm sorry the operating costs have actually decreased according to the reports that we've received I don't recall receiving that report and that makes absolutely no sense to me so without the benefit of seeing that report that the did you did are you finished well I mean obviously we can pull up that report and but absolutely that's what was reported to us now the fact that the that the prices go down um that you know that costs go down that we should then therefore the membership prices to go down that doesn't carry and that's not what the committee's recommending but the committee is recommending a very modest increase in prices but from the previous year but for early bird to keep it sort of flattish not to be not to be at a at a at an increase that's noticeable and the reason being that we know when Colony Pool Works we know this from experience we know the pool works when it's around 2,000 registrant when it's about 2,000 members the pool doesn't work when you come off that number and when we've been down as well obviously the the pool is a certain size and it needs to have a certain mass of membership in order to work and and that getting there is what drives revenue and we know that increased rates don't lead to increased revenue and I'm sure no one on this deis wants to increase rates just to see Revenue go down but that's what we've seen right so you can increase the rates and not increase the revenue now there's some very specific suggestions from the pool committee about pricing that I think are really make sense one is that this resolution doesn't have a promotion an early bird promotion for guest passes we did very well with guest passes last year and to include that in the early bird makes a lot of sense when people are checking out for the first time it might be the only time that they go to the cash register the only time they're on the website for Colony pool is the first time they go after that they make pay at the gate but when you if you go and there's an early bird promotion and you can add on your guest passes you'll you might do that and we that's what we've seen in the past so you could add on a 20 pack of guest passes and a lot of times those those guest passes will go unused or if even if they are used it's great found revenue for the pool and as you know I've said this many times the family membership's our number one membership our second best membership is guest passes okay so that's a category we want to push and promote so we should promote that in the in the the uh early birg the suggestion here and or what's in this resolution is $28 for the 24 24 season for guest passes we're suggesting the pool committee suggesting $220 right so be $11 a ticket and then as a promotion it's $200 so it' be $20 off for the promotion in the early bir period so in other words increase the actual cost of guest passes in the 20 pack but decrease it just for the early bir it it makes sense because otherwise well anyway it's and it's pricing rationalization again it's not ending things in odd numbers it's making them make sense you're getting about a 10% discount and me members will tend to do that and I think the other thing is these other the other prices that have been suggested makes make a lot of sense I'm happy to read them in does anybody have any comments or questions no I just think that when you made the comparison to the other pools it had really had nothing to do with the fiscal and Financial Health of the pool it was about how if you had a flat number let's say we did have this year $600 for a family membership when we go to increase it next year are we going to go to 605 or 6010 because we want to keep it a flat number or we going to do a percentage it's never going to it's rarely going to land on a flat number so I think that's was the point of the comparison to show that we increase by a percentage across the board it's going to be not a a flat number like a 600 or a 605 or 610 so um I think it makes sense to if we want to offer passes on the website because to your point you know when people fill their shopping cart and then sometimes you you know you can use them or not use them but um I just wanted to make that comparison also for the the reason that we use that comparison it wasn't because it indicates that we're suffering financially that's apples to oranges okay um anybody else yeah uh so Mr lo you referenced a report indicating that um operating expenses had gone down I'd be delighted to take a look at that report as a member of the finance subcommittee one of the things we certainly look at are um you know uh the operating health of colony pool um so I would appreciate if uh you might be able to share that and we would certainly take that into consideration um you know on the matter of you know I bagely recall my memory may may may evade me here but um when we looked at the results of the postseason survey for Colony pool my recollection was that prevailing issues or concerns or complaints um centered more around um uh uh items related to lifeguards and and perhaps other associate matters what I did not see was perhaps complaints that the fees were too expensive or that economics may or may not have been an issue affordability may or may not have been an issue so I'd be curious to know you know you're thinking on why you believe if you lowered rates you know if you reduce fees you'd increase revenues It's A peculiar it's an interesting statement I would love to know a little bit more about your thinking there but I haven't seen any data uh that would suggest that we are precluding possible members from joining by virtue of the price points that we're at uh comparatively speaking I think we're quite competitive and rather friend wallet friendly When taking into consideration with other neighor neighboring pool facilities uh but having said that I mean there are some marketing tactics techniques here which I can appreciate you know the Simplicity of a nice round number I think does have some potential Merit though I wonder if that really is going to move the needle in terms of revenues but as I said I'm very open-minded want to explore how to enhance the operations of of the of the pool um so those are my those are my responses yeah there were a few questions there for me I appreciate those comments and I think they're well thought out um one example I can give to you was of where when you reduce the prices there is an increase in membership is just simply the couple membership if you look at non-resident couple membership the prices were reduced last year for nonresident couple memberships okay and that was a category that increased and in you know so there is examples of it um you know the pool committee's suggested prices it's not like these prices that the pool committee has is suggesting are significantly different Ian you're talking about the pool committee suggesting $600 versus $66 this is it's not that the that the price right it's it's agreed that colony is a great value it's a great value I I would sing sing its Praises it's it is a great value that is what we have though as a um as an attractive point and then I would say also the layout of the pool there there's many attractive points but there's the price point is undeniably very good it does have different offerings than these other things that you're looking at you know other pools that you're looking at so people make different choices it's it's not that oh I think that uh or I think or the pool committee is suggesting that you know the prices need to be drastically lower it's just that last year we raised the rates right and revenue didn't increase and the real problem with that is because when you raise the rates and revenue doesn't increase you know what you're doing you're losing members and then even worse than that and this is where I've been trying to been very vocal is that we've lost um programming so we had no tennis program last year it fell off we had about half the participation in swim team we had much less participation in swim lessons now our argument is that most of that is probably promotion and timing but some of it also had to some of it is also has to do with um uh having a dwindling number of family members right so that's where we saw the you know a movement so and also we don't have all the data right so the pool committee can't do a a deep drill analysis because while we have a revenue number for Family memberships we don't have group sizes and kind of what makes sense is that group SI because registrations haven't changed significantly it kind of makes sense that group size is somehow increased in families so and it can kind of get complicated in the weeds and I don't really want to go there but we don't have the group size right so we have registrant this is the data we have registrant dollar volume we don't have number of groups number of family units to compare with so that well you have a fairly decent proxy would be family memberships absolutely no family memberships is is registrant what we have is registrant we don't have number of family memberships I don't know if that makes sense well you could just look at what people paid and whatever the family membership is is 606 you see how many people paid 606 it that would that would make sense but what the number we have is registrant so you could have five people in your family I could have nine in mine and that's two families we would pay the same rate and what what number we're getting is registering so 5 plus 9 is 14 14 is the number I have to to work with not two right if I had two I could divide out the revenue and I would get exactly to what okay I'm gonna let you drill down on this detail in in your wreck meeting yeah um Mr shotty just to make sure we're clear on this point did Colony expenses go down the budgeted expenses over weather affects how manyard you're have up so it could in some dayss weeks the actual go down budget goes up we can't predict the weather this past summer we had a lot of rain and closures however you know want to make sure that we have adequate Staffing that we've hired enough lifeguards and that we're going to have as many needed to St assuming IDE was situ actual expenditures were less in 2023 it was due to that but not the Appropriations that we planned for full operating well and there's there's a lot of focus on making sure we're fully staffed when it comes to lifeguards I mean we got to make sure safety you know but there was a 30% reduction in salaries and operating costs or nearly and that's operating costs as well the report that we have shows not only a decrease in salaries but it shows a decrease in operating cost and I'm not suggesting might be misallocation that's correct 2022 bu individual who2 budget added a lot of expenses into the open space budget for colon pool they should have been associated with which we made that correction for in 202 got it okay um okay uh you know there's this whole discussion about whether or not you raise the rates the notion of raising rates when I went through the committee's recommended rates versus what Mr shahadi has proposed the numbers were largely the same with the exception of although there were two sets of numbers there was a narrative up top and then there was a grid down below when the numbers didn't match in a few of the cases but uh the exceptions were that the uh there was a Deeper Discount recommended by the committee for uh the early bird um and then otherwise the committee was recommending higher prices in a number of places and I assume it's trying to swing back what any reductions that they felt uh were were given to I guess there were there were the non-resident rates were increased more so but the non-residents represent 37% the resident yes that's true too yes yeah so so I I I'm kind of lost as to why we're having this debate about raising the rates when we're all in agreement The Colony advisory committee the only the only thing is whether or not we would have a Deeper Discount on the early bird um and and it worked for for which just the family okay yeah um and it worked last year and we we had a good uh um membership all right I think we've discussed this enough uh can we get a did did we do did you still need a motion okay can I get a motion to approve uh resolution 20124 d66 so moved I'll second can I get a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes okay uh resolution 20247 local Recreation Improvement grant for Colony pool did we miss one oh no we miss missed one I'm sorry should be committee assignments 069 committee assignments 2024 d69 so we we have um um sorry to interrupt should we have a motion before we have discussion probably yeah okay okay can I get a motion to introduce uh 20240 69 so moved and can I get a second second okay and we are open for discussion okay so um the individual is being suggested to uh join the colony pool advisory committee is is a non-resident of our town and we have a resident applicants so while our ordinances say that they may be non-residents on the um committee and it limits how many non-residents it says it it doesn't say they shall be so I don't understand why we would be choosing a non-resident over a resident um who had applied to be on the committee and for for Colony pool secondly the individual Kathleen plat Ryan who suggested to be uh on the pool committee um in Janu on January 20th of some year when she which is and I bring that up we're not getting into critique of volunteers so be careful with what what you're about to say because we're not critiquing volunteers even volunteers who have made negative online statements about Colony pool and tried to persuade other people to join other pools when asked when asked what pool should you join said some positive things some negative things and and suggested instead that that residents on our community Forum join summit instead of joining Colony pool yeah I'm not worried about that going forward but okay have you finished uh well there's other things I would also say that um our ordinance suggests or not suggests it requires that everyone who's on the pool committee being a paid member I've asked a question about the paid membership of um this of this person and I have gotten no response back so I think we have to at least uh it abide by our our ordinances and know what the you you know what the that this person is a paid member of the pool I mean that's our ordinance is requ if a paid member I'm sorry well I missed the beginning of that what what are you talking about with a paid member of the pool well if you read if you're familiar with our ordinances right I mean you've read our ordinances regarding Colony pool because the colony pool advisory committee must be comprised of paid members so I asked the question do we have is this person and paid member of the pool and and and what's the history of that and I have Reed no response so do you think she's yeah yeah the response was that you don't have that information I don't understand why that's relevant well I would like to know certainly I would assume that being apped doesn't sayic paid that person could PID this year but that person was a paid member so right so I'm what I'm trying to verify is that the person is a paid member for you know and I think goes for history I'm I'm aware of that and I've been pushing for it to be open Mr shotty irrelevant you know it has open the person can't nobody can be a number okay that's why I was asking about the history of paid membership doesn't matter the history not says moving to2 I already just answer question were well I think it does go to their credential as to whether or not they should be appointed as to whether or not they've ever been a member of the pool would somebody on this advisory Comm on this board like to have somebody be on the advisory committee who had never been a member of the pool they were a member I just answered your question they were a member yeah the the person was recommend I mean again I we're not going to get into arguments about uh volunteers I never like to be in a position to turn down anybody who's willing to do work and I did encourage the other person to please participate there's no limit to how many people show up to the meetings there's no limit to how many people help there's no voting uh uh uh privilege that's associated with the committee so I certainly encourage anybody who wants to participate to join the and I don't like to turn anybody away so it was a very difficult decision uh Mrs Ryan has been at Colony for years came highly recommended is an active volunteer in the community and oh by the way has extensive pool management and pool experience and has been at Colony pool for years so I had referrals uh along those lines so I'm going to leave it at that we're not getting into a a a debate about people's qualifications any other questions uh in general about this actually I have a question uh how many what's the percentage of nonresident members at Colony that's about the 30 something 30% third essentially nonresident if if I take that are there are there any um advisory committee members that are non-resident today no in other words a perspective from a non-resident actually might be helpful to your point mark As far as whether it be criticism or suggestion so I'm I'm just asking is is there a uh is is one of your well at least do you have non-residents now uh we did last year and we uh we in uh at least two of our members have previously lived in a predominant place of origin of non-resident members which is Johan and burrow of course yes so so to so it has it does occur and it is it is an input participation and there's not one going for so maybe it's a thank you yeah that I appreciate that because that was part of the decision as well we do have 37% of the revenues coming from uh non-resident members we do have two seats out of the five that are held for non that are available for non-resident members and we did not have any non-resident members on that on that committee thank you okay can we go to a vote Please Mr Lewis as I'm voting on all committee appointments and this whole whole resolution yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes 20247 local Recreation Improvement grant for Colony pool can I get a motion to approve so moved and can I get a second second discussion yes I asked the be to be called out I I I appreciate the uh OPP you know opportunity to obtain a grant for colon pool to make improvements there of course um it's just that reading through the Grant I found several um you know errors of fact um so in scope of services the grant says there is wood chip ground covering around the playground equipment that's going to be replaced and of course there's not it's sand so um It also says there in scope of services it says we'll be installing a safety Service as a a safety surface as well so that would be um I I'm guessing that that's something that is a rubber or a composite product uh safety surface which is something that was suggested at Shunpike or at some point and the issue at Colony pools if you have a rubber or composite surface it's not only be slippery although there is some way to mitigate that I'm sure but the sand would just simply be all over it and a you know substantial problem so really the pool the pool playground equipment needs to be surrounded by sand as it is now I mean that that just makes the most sense um again under the project narrative it says the same thing it says current wood ship ground cover so um I think we need to you know upgrade or update that in this this grant award um also from our our you know our mayor County official statement it just simply I think we can come up with probably a better and if the the pool committee is needed we'll be happy to craft a better comment because it just says I'm aware of support this application as a you know a comment of support and I think we could do better than that to make it seem that the community is behind this um and then finally the application scoring criteria for this grant is 30% 30% of it is the scope of community impact and there's nothing in the grant about Community impact so I think it's I think it's uh you know the numers speak for themselves you have 2,000 roughly 2,000 regist right 1700 or so last year um people using it when we have 4,400 homes in our community it's it's a significantly used place and I think we have some great statistics so one of the criteria is uh projected attendance or use of this facility there's nothing about that in this grant so we really would love to I'd love to see that beefed up in this grants and um the other thing is the demonstration of the applicant's commitment to Recreation which is another 20 points not demonstrated really at all in the Grant application and I think think we have great um great you know examples of that with our master plan recck planning our Capital commitments in the past our future Capital commitments our um our open space use of open space funds to do such great things is to replace all the turf at shanike we we have really committed resources and um you know we can demonstrate a forward-looking plan and I think we we Beed to do that so I think those improvements are desperately needed for this application and from the from the scoring criteria it seems like we would benefit from improvements in those things okay um this vote is whether or not we support submitting the Grant I certainly recommend or suggest that you send over any of your recommendations when is the Grant application due they extended it to April 16 I believe it great yeah well I just made my comments so if you would pass that on I'd appreciate it well certainly where you have specifics that would be helpful if you want to send them over specific statements comments input well it's it's the wood chips it's the safety surface right which needs to be replaced with sand it's the mayor state it needs to be ex and if you could get back to me if you want the colony pool's um advisory committee's input on you know any of these things and then uh statistical data that supports uh that supports usage right which is the grant criteria and then the the final thing is the um commitment to Recreation especially the dollar amounts that we've spent in this community and capital commitments so okay I don't know if I can be more clear than that but I think that's sufficient okay any other comments can we get a vote Please Mr Lo yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes 202 24- 77 green grounds and maintenance policy can I get a motion to uh approve so moved can I get a second second okay open for discussion okay I would love to see our environmental commission or or really this committee even or form a subcommittee to to look at that green grounds and maintenance policy because it seems to to me to sort of ignore the conservation of trees and we have u a really long history in our Township of cutting down trees and then not replacing them on Municipal property where we require it of our you know Township residents when it's their own lot we don't follow through and do the same with um Municipal you know property so my suggestion is not that we should follow it uh oneto one but that we need to make a commitment and this is this policy green grounds and maintenance policy has a lot of aspirational language in it and I think that it would behoove us to put an aspirational language at least um into the conservation of trees and the and tree replacement there's a there's a Greek proverb that says a healthy Society is um marked when old men are willing to plant trees that they'll never sit under the shade of and I really think that's uh something that could be captured into our green grounds and maintenance policy and I think that's uh I see it at Shunpike field I see it at our Compost Facility um I've seen it all over town and I've brought those issues up to this committee and I will continue to but um I'm I'm hoping somebody else would support that adding that to this this uh policy or creating another policy similar um Mr M can you take that back to the environmental commission yes of course we I want to move forward with this uh in as it stands because we can always supplement the environmental commission I don't want to kind of jam language in right now so we'll just ask them if they can revisit that yeah I think you'll get pretty good support that uh Mark and everyone here from the I I didn't realize there was that Missing Link okay so we'll discuss that absolutely and come back thank you can we get a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes and now we have resolution 202478 which is entitled what would that be entitled amending developers agreement amending the developers agreement um can I get a motion to approve so moved can I get a second second uh Mr shotti do you want to just give a brief so uh this resolution clarifies and adds some language related to developers agreement for that part of our and going back number that evolved and have gone up the approvals and pering also resulted into incre costs our engineer legal team and I Havey as as isig and see completion and we want to make that happen as soon as possible so that way costs don't further increase and also so that way meet our obligations our settlement share and to provide affordable memori adding and great thank you uh any discussion okay let's take that to a vote Mr Lois yes Mr mchu yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor ewal yes motion passes okay we're going to open our second hearing of citizens and the same rules apply do we have anyone on Zoom raising their hand we do not have any hands raised okay and we're nice and quiet in the audience so I will close our second hearing of citizens and we don't have need for another executive session so I will uh entertain a motion to adjourn so moved I have a second second all in favor I I I thank you have a good night everyone recording stopped