what good evening and welcome to the February 20th 2024 council meeting of Clark Township Madame clerk would you please call the rooll when you're ready councilman hund here councilman masella here councilman Manti is absent councilman oconor here councilman Smith here councilman tol here council president albanes here this time I'd like everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence I pledge alance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all this meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to the starled Union County Hawk Union County local source and tapen to Clark by posting such annual meeting scheduled on the bulletin board and Town Hall reserve for such announcements the official website of the township and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken at this meeting thank you madam clerk at this time we're going to move on to Communications from the mayor and the reports of Township officers we'll start with the mayor Mr Mayor thank you madam president good even evening members of council ladies and gentlemen very quick report tonight like to thank the DPW for last two snow events and an excellent job in plowing our community I do uh want to just note that it's part of their job and I expect that out of them but we have a lot of young guys and over the last two or three years we really haven't had much snow so this is like really the first test they're getting and the first one was kind of wet and heavy which is more difficult this one was about 8 in as a powder and it makes it a lot easier so I thank you uh for the DPW and their guys doing a great job out there and getting our streets done very very quickly speaking of DPW outside of the uh gates to our yard there is to the right a area with free firewood if you'd like to take it it's a grabing go do not bring a saw do not split it there the pieces are not cut up into small pieces to be split you'd have to do some of that at home but nonetheless it's free and it's there and you're more than willing to have it uh also would like to report a few weeks ago I posted on Facebook that our PD with the Union County prosecutor's task force have been out in Clark out in the evening this is a multi-jurisdiction task force that Clark is a part of to prevent home Breakin and car thefts but with that withstanding there's a lot of people out on the street doing their job the only problem is is that they can't be on every block at every minute so keep your lights on at night out on the front lawn and porch if you could keep your eyes open anything suspicious please report it immediately that concludes my report for tonight thank you thank you mayor bonor so this time we'll move on to uh council member uh reports uh councilman Steve hun we'll start with you thank you madam president I have the Clark Police Department report for January of 2024 we saw a total of 2,690 calls for services included including but not limited to to arrive mental health requests excuse me 164 ambulance requests five fire department requests 11 motor vehicle and residential lockouts 75 alarm calls 70 motor vehicle accidents 37 shoplifting and theft 11 fraud and identity theft 153 were 911 calls and 1,822 were miscellaneous calls there was a total of 22 arrests in including would not limited to 12 for shoplifting two for DUI and five for warrants the youth Bureau handle a total of 16 cases including but not limited to one arrest for weapons two for bias incident one for harassment three for offenses against the family and two for CDs 15 were in-house disposition and that concludes my report thank you thank you councilman hunt we'll move on to Council mazarella when you're ready yes thank you Madame President this is my DPW report for this evening uh February 24th that's this Saturday is our electric drop uh drop off weather permitting of course um it will be held between 900 a.m. to 1: p.m. at the Public Works facility there will be no electronic drop off for March please make note of that um March is going to be very busy month for us bulky and Appliance pickups start March 4th please email DPW hour clark.com for all appointments and they are required uh a week before your scheduled pickup spring cleanup begins on or about March 18th again weather permitting uh please refrain from putting out yard waste until March 16th root mulch will be available starting in April um we have as the mayor had said we have started a free wood program located outside the DPW facility pickups is available Monday through Saturday 700 a.m. to 7 p.m. it's a load to go as the mayor has said please no chainsaws log splitters they are prohibited wood will be replenished as it becomes available please last thing uh a cry from our DPW Department especially they've been called out to a lot of sore backups please ladies and gentlemen don't put sanitary wipes in your um in your in your toilet bowl uh because they are creating very severe issues in the sore lines they get snagged and then it causes a backup and it will affect your neighborhood or your homes home so please be uh be aware of this no wipes in the pipes please um and email DPW hour.com for more info or visit www.car.com for a schedule of all our pickups in our programs thank you that's the excit of my my report thank you councilman mazarella councilman Conor thank you very much from the finance committee the budget item scheduled for discussion tonight will be pulled from the agenda this decision comes following a recent development from the state's local Finance board which has implications for our budget planning on Friday February 16th the local Finance board made a significant determination regarding the calculation of expenditures exempt from the cap under njsa 44-45 do3d they have the authority to Grant exceptions under extraordinary circumstances that lead to the unexpected increases in essential service expenditures for the single budget year during the meeting the local Finance board unanimously approved exceptions to the appropriation cap for the 2024 budget year these exceptions pertain to several critical budgetary items including garbage collection and Disposal recycling costs liability insurance encompassing cyber security Property and Casualty Workers Compensation Insurance the division of local government services will soon issue isue a local Finance notice outlining the process for municipalities to calculate these exemptions given this development we will need to rework our budget to account for these changes mandated by the local Finance board we understand this may require adjustments to our initial plans but ensure compliance with state regulations is Paramount as such I will be making a motion to remove item number three from the agenda thank you that's from the finance committee from the Clark volunteer emergency Squad uh recent Squad activities in January the squad has been busy bringing on four new probationary members and two additional daytime Personnel we held our annual length of service and installation officer brunch call volume there were 127 calls in January with three Mutual Aid two rilway one scotch planes this does not include any calls that were dispatched to and canceled on total hours responding to calls is approximately 956 man hours this does not include any hours those members are on duty when there are no calls year-to dat call volume 127 regarding membership for those who would like to assist the squad but may not have the time to do the memt training we are accepting applications for people who are interested in becoming drivers for the ambulance must be 18 years of age with a clear driving record the squad will be reaching out to Rising seniors uh Juniors excuse me in local high schools for a relaunch of our Cadet program anyone interested can email us at membership Clark .org and of course they continue to service the community we'll be offering a baby safe class in April open to all who would like to see and practice choking CPR demos and safety tips for parents and grandparents the squad hosted two blood drives in January and is looking to expand the number each month as the need for blood is increasing our next one is Friday January 23rd we are asking for people to consider coming in to donate respectfully submitted Lorie Sheldon trustee and as you heard councilman manetti is not here so he asked if I read the fire Department report which I will do now in the month of January the Clark far Department responded to 41 calls the calls include but are not limited to numerous odors and alarm calls uh two calls were for Mutual aid from other towns and two calls were for motor vehicle related incidents I want to thank all the residents that cleared fire hydrants in front of their homes during the last two storms as always I would like to thank the members of the Clark volunteer fire department for their hard work and dedication in keeping our own town safe and welcome Patrick and Jean to the Clark fire department that concludes the fire department report thank you thank you councilman OK Conor councilman Smith thank you Madame President from the recreation and pool report from Ralph bonardo the spring classes registration opens March 1st uh everything is online all the information regarding classes or you could always stop down at his office registration for the Clark community pool also begins March first it is the 50th anniversary of the pool so Ralph and the managers of the pool have plans for a summer long celebration from Memorial Day through Labor Day weekend and on Saturday March 23rd is the annual Easter egg hunt which is from 12: to 2 pm. at the Brewer rec center and it is rain or shine that's all I have this evening thank you thank you councilman Smith councilman tol thank you madam president from the Clark Environmental commission they shall have their annual meeting this Wednesday tomorrow February the 21st at 700 p.m. in room 30 also known as the history room in the buau municipal building at 430 Westfield Avenue Clark the topic of discussion will be the Clark resi anyone who's interested in joining it's open to the public please join us we'll have a nice conversation with Cy being served this is from the desk of Mark Hayden the chairman of the environmental commission thank you madam president thank you councilman tall at this time I'd like to give a few reports first um I serve as a representative for the township on the Community Development block grants um the committee that I serve on the subcommittee is public improvements and we met on February 1st and February 8th the township had applied for $25,000 and I'm pleased to say that the committee was in agreement to recommend to the general committee um at their meeting on Thursday for full um uh to provide full funding for that request so I'm very happy about that we'll be using that for um sidewalk improvements we've had curb cut contributions made over recent years um just want to remind all the citizens don't forget about the um citizens guide it's available online and also you can obtain a copy if you need to um lots of information about what streets to park park on when there's snow and you should not park on designated streets as well as other information on um different ways to um how to make tax payments relief programs recycling for your Zone I know that's always a little confusing when the new year starts so please check out the resident guide and finally I'd like to give my report from the director of the library Megan kolic um Library usage in January had a total of 6,970 visitors and recorded 7,822 website visits don't forget at the library they have Museum passes available for families um which were donated by the friends of the library so we thank them and I hope you'll take advantage of that also um Library had a huge um I call it huge but if you borrow it it's it's pretty huge it's a telescope um and you can use that there's training on it Etc um for the telescope and as well as other equipment that's available at the library as far as events coming up this Thursday February 22nd at 6 PM they'll have a cozy hot cocoa night for all the citizens to join in a fun events so you'll be able to make your own cocoa with toppings and and various other things so try to we're starting to shake off the winter looking forward to Spring that might be an event you'd want to consider also on this Saturday February 24th 9:30 to 5: each child that checks out a book will um get a raffle ticket for Barnes & Noble gift card and uh that's for babies um through grade five so if you have a baby that you read books to you can get a raffle ticket as well as through grade five and I'm pleased to tell you they'll have a a also a show that day this Thursday February 24th eyes of the wild animal show um so if you want to take your child to the library or see some live animal um please check that out uh and you'll learn about some unique animals U on February 28th next Wednesday at 11:00 am they'll have a discussion on heart health with Dr tratenberg and um he'll be providing evidence-based insights and practical strategies for optimizing your heart health um emphasizing lifestyle choices that you might want to consider for early detection and also uh for Stress Management um in April on April 8th is the eclipse of the um and to celebrate that the library is going to have all space themed programs during the month of March so stay tuned and if you um attend one of the programs you'll obtain a uh an eclipse glass which will enable you to watch the eclipse um so that's for every registration and also there'll be if you have a library card they'll distribute them as well March 25th to April 5th so don't don't don't look up at the eclipse without those glasses that's what I can tell you um and uh try to get that early that concludes my report on the library at this time we're going to move on to Madam president yes may just for one second I forgot yes it was only right in front of me so I'm sorry uh police report motor vehicle stops for the month were 250 56 radar details and nine enforcement details thank you very much for that thank you and thank you for the additional um monitoring on Featherbed Lane I had a complaint from citizens on that street especially at the after school time around 4:30 cars are probably going 35 to 45 so I did see the um police there and appreciate that as well um at this time we're going to move on to the um ordinances Appropriations and claims and introduce introduction of proposed ordinances so Madame clerk turn it over to you president uh our first ordinance is number 24-4 ordinance of the mayor and Council of the township of Clark County of Union New Jersey adopting that Redevelopment plan titled Redevelopment plan block 77 Lots 2 and four uh also known as 175 and 181 Westfield Avenue Township of Clark Union County New Jersey all these items were discussed at our Workshop but I'm just going to ask Mr ol would you like to make a comment on this one yeah um so again this is the property that's right across the street from the Dunkin Donuts and it's that old house on the corner and the building next to it so what they're going to do is merge the two pieces of property and use that as a area in need of Redevelopment um they haven't used that house for a number number of years and you know the criteria for an area in need Redevelopment as was you know uh detailed in the report that everybody has um it meets that criteria and that's why we're asking the council to designate it as an area in need of Redevelopment thank you very much um do I have a motion yes I'll move it do I have a second I'll second that okay any other questions from the council any discussion no U Madam clerk will you call the role on this councilman Hy yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes this will go to the planning board for their March meeting and if they um approve that it is in um compliance with the master plan then the public hearing on this ordinance will be March 18th thank you next ordinance is 24-5 an ordinance requiring the township to share pilot payments with the Clark Board of Education I'd like to move that I'll second that please thank you uh any discussion any questions um so this is again as the mayor um when they put the pilot in originally the mayor uh said that the school will not be negatively affected from a revenue standpoint so this is something that we're putting in place to make the school whole so they will not be losing any Revenue associated with the um pilot program the you know again it was back and forth we are as far as we could tell the only Community doing anything like this um and you know it took a little bit longer than we would like we just wanted to make sure we got the wording right from a legal perspective mam president May too um it's the Rob Robin Peter to pay Paul if we would have took all the revenue from the new pilot programs and left the school without any of their money what are we doing it's still one checkbook one tax dollar everybody's budget gets paid County school and um municipality so we're doing this to keep the school whole to make sure they can keep continue to provide efficient aough education for their children and in the meantime we have gained some money in our uh Revenue extreme by having this pilot program so thank you very much thank you so just to comment on that the township is not required to um share the tax dollars with the schools um only 5% is required to be sent to the county and the rest of the Redevelopment payments would go to the township but as the ba said probably the only town in the state that's doing that so we're very happy to do that based on what the mayor just summarized um it's it's makes sense to do it um at this time Madam clerk would you call the role councilman Hy yes councilman masella yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes this ordinance will have its public hearing on March 18th okay at this time we'll move on to payment of claims councilman OK Conor thank you I have reviewed the bill for the month holding $233,350 189 thank you thank you at this time we'll move on to Citizens hearing on the agenda each person addressing the council shall State their name and address to the clerk and all remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed five minutes in duration so this is regarding citizens hearing on the agenda is there anyone who wishes to come up and discuss any items on the agenda items on the agenda at this point for the items on the agenda if you're going to talk about an agenda item we'll have the general discussion later questions on the agenda questions on the agenda yes Bill Caruso 7 School Street Clark this proposed ordinance 244 at which you're you're proposing a Redevelopment plan could you please tell me exactly where this is you're you're where where is this where is building Madam president like I said when I was describing can't hear you Jim I have to be louder um I'm yelling so I don't want to yell um but can you hear me now is it near the drugstore across from the Dunkin Donuts across from Dunkin Donuts yes across from the Dunkin Donuts it's the medical building and the um house next to it that's in a state of disrepair got it okay I was just curious where it was thank you okay um okay anyone else wishing to come forward for items on the agenda seeing no one I'd like a motion to close this portion of the meeting I'll move that thank you councilman hun thank you councilman tol okay we're going to move on to to the resolution um sorry yes sorry all in favor thank you okay at this time we'll move on to resolutions Madam clerk uh first resolution is the 2024 Municipal budget Madam clerk I'm sorry um Madam president I would like to make a motion to remove that from the agenda as discussed in my finance report thank you do I have a second I'll second that thank you C councilman hund okay as as uh councilman OK Conor discussed Le the uh divisional local government services local Finance board made changes in the requirements for the budget and they will be addressed as soon as we get the new forms um therefore we are postponing the budget introduction and removing it from the agenda um Madam clerk when you're ready for the roll call yes councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes thank you uh number four is authorizing emergency temporary Appropriations for the current fund do I have a motion I'd like to move that please thank you do I have a second I'll second that thank you any any questions on that okay this is related to the temporary budget um Madam clerk can I have a roll call councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number five is authorizing emergency temporary Appropriations for the sewer utility okay similar to we have a separate utility so similar to the current fund we are going to um authorize an emergency temporary appropriation until the final budget is passed at this time do I have a motion Council I'll move it thank you councilman mazarella that please thank you councilman hund um Madame clerk when you're ready would you call the rooll councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number six is authorizing emergency temporary Appropriations for the pool utility I'll make a motion on that thank you councilman Smith do you have a second I'd like to second that please thank you councilman OK Conor okay this is similar to the other two uh the current fund and the sewer utility do you have a roll call councilman hund yes councilman masera yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number seven is appointing Patrick Clark Barnes and Jean Roman as members of the Clark volunteer fire department okay at this time I'd like a motion I'll move that please thank you councilman oconor do I have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith um obviously at the workshop we're all thrilled to have some new volunteers on the volunteer fire department so we welcome that and um at this time we'll any other comments we'll have a roll call Madam clerk when you're ready councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number eight is Award of a non-fair and open contract to topology for professional planning Services GIS zoning map in an amount not to exceeded $10,750 Mr over do you have some comments so this is um we're going to have an interactive map of our zoning it will also give you the flood planes and elevations so this will help out a lot of the residents from having to contact the Construction office or you know even before they have discussions with a builder and meeting with a surveyor this it's not going to be 100% but it's 98% of what they need so this is another thing that will help the residents within the town um you know be available and actually I was talking to our um our engineer today and he's there's a residence that he was looking at and he said he could really abuse this so um you know hopefully you approve it so he he can use it going forward that's great news um do I have a motion Council I'll move it thank you councilman Smith do you have a second second that please thank you councilman H hun um Madame clerk when you're ready please call the rooll councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman toll yes council president albanes yes okay number nine is authorizing the health officer to enter into an agreement with Atlantic health system for health education services and one bone density screening event in an amount not to exceed $1,170 funded by the New Jersey Association of County and City Health officers Grant and pending out adoption of the 2024 Municipal budget yeah so this is um you know standard we do it every year we're required to have um Health training in addition this year um the recreation director and our health officer met with some of the seniors and saw what you know asking them what they thought was interesting they wanted to have tested so this year we're also adding the bone density testing um for the residents okay so we hope citizens will take advantage of the bone density testing that will be um advertised we don't have a date yet for that do we this point we're just voting on it so you got to approve me spending the money first yes um so we will keep you informed of that um do you have a motion I'll move it thank you councilman mazarella do I have a second second thank you councilman toll okay Madam clerk when you're ready would you cause call the rooll councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman OK Conor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes okay number 10 is authorizing the health officer and Township Clerk to enter into an agreement between the township of Clark and the City of Elizabeth division of Health STD clinic yeah so um again this is every year we do need to um we need someone here um for sexually transmitted diseases and we contract with the city of Elizabeth to help us out with this thank you do I have a motion I'll move it thank you Council Mella do I have a second I'll move that second thank you councilman tol Madam clerk when you're ready would you call councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman toll yes council president albanes yes number 11 is Council acting as the pool utility authorizing and directing the council president as the chairperson of the pool utility to enter into pool employment contracts for the positions of manager and assistant managers okay so each year for the pool we have have to enter contracts so here we're acting as the uh pool utility do I have a motion I'll move that thank you councilman Smith do have a second please thank you councilman hund when you're ready Madam clerk councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number 12 is authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to refund $200 in fees paid by the Township's two constables due to the elimination of the position by the state legislature okay the state changed the rules and we no longer have constables but these individuals who were the constables paid the money so we're giving the money back to them uh since they are no longer serving as a constable um do I have a motion I'd like to move that please thank you councilman oconor do I have a second I'll second that please thank you councilman hund Madame clerk councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes 13 is authorizing submission of an application for a $100,000 Grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to renovate the bathrooms and the recreation department and authorizing the mayor and business administrator to execute the agreement to obtain the funds I'd like to move that thank you do I have a second second that please okay thank you councilman hund um Mr ol do you want to make some additional comments this is great news this is additional work that we want to do to the recreation department as everybody who's ever used a recreation department the bathrooms down there need uh an upgrade to say the least um they're small especially in the men's room and we're going to take advantage of a grant to um you know hopefully get the money to you know replace you know some of the fixtures expand it and you know have a a whole different layout so I'm sure everybody who uses the recreation department especially for some of those tournaments you know it it is tight and you know this this is another instance where we're taking advantage of state grants County grants to offset our cost of you know living and you know improving the township at the same time yes it's excellent uh Grant do I have uh we already have the motion in second Madam clerk when you're ready councilman hund yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number 14 is authorizing submission of a strategic plan for the Clark Municipal Alliance grant for fiscal year 20125 in the amount of $1 13,194 thank you Council toll do I have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith um when you're ready we can call the role Madam clerk councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes number 15 is authorizing the provision of a grant pursuant to the Township of Clark affordability assistance program for the tenants of the following affordable housing units 1025 ritton Road Unit 209 and 1025 Raritan Road Unit 210 uh do I have a motion Council I'll move that please thank you councilman oconor do you have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith um roll call when you're ready Madam clerk councilman hunt yes councilman mazarella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman tol yes council president albanes yes okay at this time we're going to move on to consent agenda resolutions okay the first resolution is authorizing the tax collector to apply sewer account balance adjustments as credit in the amount of $880 17 is authorizing the tax collector to refund over payment of taxes in the amount of $266 eight 18 is authorizing the tax collector to make the proper adjustments for 100% property tax exemption of Block 33 lot 6.01 qualifier c003 in accordance with a directive from the US Department of Veterans Affairs thank you do I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda I'll move that Madam president thank you councilman toll do I have a second I'll second that thank you councilman Smith roll call when you're ready councilman hunt yes councilman masella yes councilman oconor yes councilman Smith yes councilman toll yes council president albanes yes this time we um Madam clerk do we have any new business on the calendar there is no new business okay thank you um at this time I'd like to open the meeting up to public comments each person addressing the council should give their name and address to the clerk or remark shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration is there anyone wishing to come forward good evening nice to see everyone again g a i l Al deari you want me to spell that please be as and boy can you hear me is it on Buton is it is it is green light on there it's on okay green light is on yeah okay b as in boy a l d for David a SS a r r e thank you do you need to address too yes please okay 69 Reynolds Avenue whiy New Jersey 07 981 thank you so mayor Jim council members nice to see everyone again and thank you for letting me speak I am the feline coordinator for wise animal rescue as some of you already know and I was involved in September 22nd in helping to adopt an ordinance um which I would like to refresh everyone's memory that may be listening the purpose of this article is to create and Implement a community cap program in the township of Clark for the purpose of reducing excuse me the population of feral and free roaming cats benefiting the public health improving the quality of life for residents and ensuring the Humane treatment of community cats I would like to update you as to what we've been doing um some of the work you look at the screens you can see it um we've been quite busy um on Florence Drive alone we have to date done 20 cats spayed neutered and vaccinated we have one to one one more to go he's still out there we have now by the basic population how they produce um we have avoided this summer over 60 cats on Florence Drive we have only had to return seven back outside we were able to work with partner shelters and get these cats and kittens so we didn't have to put them at noru Main where they might get lost because they're very busy down there and we only had to charge Clark for six of the cats um the rest some of the residents kicked in and the money that I did raise last summer um covered all of the cost till now um um we do have some caretakers and people that have volunteered to help me it was invaluable since I do live a little bit far away uh Scott and Carrie Cartier Nelly storts who's here and Nancy tasos who helped me to fund raise with the money last summer uh there is one cat that you may see up here they've disappeared there he is this is big red uh we did have to do surgery on him so we uh the caretaker observed that he had an eye problem he was recaptured um and wise animal rescue and thanking Clark uh for adopting this um TNR program decided to do our community outreach program we paid for the surgery for him which was rather expensive and um he had inverted eyelashes so every time he moved his eye all the eyelashes would scrape his eye causing ulcerations and eventually blindness we couldn't leave him out like that so wise animal rescue did pay for that and we are I'm going to plug it now we're fundraising for the costs to recoup some of the cost it's going to be on March 5th you're all invited it is a Zumba evening and it's in Lake hawaa which is basically where wise animal rescue is um located we are an all home Foster based group but our base is in Lake Katha it's going to be a 25 Crescent Drive or four volunteers Court both are correct depending on your GPS I'm going to leave that with Elizabeth so if anyone in Clark would like to participate and come you can either work out or hang out with us we're going to have some refreshments and I'm going to bring there's Mulligan is big red and I am going to um be bringing big red so everyone can see um the cat that was us um helped and um where we're trying to bring the money back um I would like to say that we still do need volunteers um I've had wonderful response for some of the residents that were here so really helped out a lot we still need funding so I encourage companies or individuals if they can donate some money to please do it this is an invaluable community service and um we still need some Fosters some of the kittens we were able to turn around that did not have to go back outside um I really encourage any of the companies listening to perhaps donate to this very good cause and I do ask the residents if they are feeding stray cats to please contact the city I would be happy to give give my phone number out and um if you feed you must fix because you're just making this problem worse and it's just going against everything we're trying to do so please don't feed stray cats if you're not willing to help fix them um I can help organize that um I've lent out um to some of the residents here my equipment showed them how to use it and it's been just a fantastic turnout um I hope this can continue I'm happy to help and um thank you so much thank you we appreciate it come up to the um and you can give us your name and address and Nelly stars um 312 New York Avenue in Clark um I don't know if you saw one of those pictures up there I was one of the ones who were I caught 12 kittens myself in my backyard um but one of the pictures actually showed um a few of the cats and mice so I'm seeing an uptick I've been here in 30 years and the mice that these cats have been killing is incredible so I have never actually I've never really seen mice in my house or around my house and I don't know if you could see it but it showed um an orange cat literally having a mouse in front of it and I'm seeing more and more so these cats are actually helping take care of that problem because I'm finding dead mice all over my yard in my neighbor's yard so just wanted yeah if I could jump in for one second um you know that's one of the things we spoke to Gail about when she was doing this and you know the feeding of the animals that's why it's a separate you know specific time that you could feed it you got to pull the food away so there's no food laying out there for the mice the rats the raccoons any other animal to eat so you know that's why this this program works well on both sides not only to keep the road in population down but also to keep um you know the cats you know healthy and safer so it it's why I wanted to that's what we do to take of them but I wanted you to understand they're helping us thank you just want to put in for the record that the person that spoke before her spoke for 12 minutes put that on your record good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Bill Caruso School Street hold on one second hold on one second Madam clerk you're keeping the time correct I I am Mr cruso I'm keeping the time um Clark is keeping the time bisaro spoke from 8 Miss bisaro spoke from 808 to 88:13 which is exactly five minutes I timed it I could disagree with you but that's I timed it my name is Bill Caruso I live in seven School Street if you recall I came to the last council meeting and I made a request that the council seriously consider proposing an ordinance for term limits I know some of you may decide not to run again for some reason or other or maybe you felt you've been here too long and with all the confusion that's happening in the township o clock concerning the executive office over there and you people are under a cloud also with some of the things that have occurred now I'm not saying you're guilty or innocent I'm not proposing that all all I'm saying is for the good and Welfare this town we should have term limits no mayor should be in office 24 years now want to make this quite clear for the first eight years that he was in office he did a good job did some nice things clar moved forward it's a safe town and clean town but after that seems like everything went downhill people were never asking any questions things were happening I don't know how true some of the allegations are against him but I was shocked to read that in the newspapers I hope for his sake he could defend himself but I'm asking you for the good and Welfare of this town put in an ordinance limiting the council and the the mayor to serve two terms that's it and then they go out of office our fathers that created America never intended to people have a career in politics that's why we have so much trouble in Washington we have guys that are 90 years old who don't even know who they are some of them are running for president and it concerns everyone all of us us we have to start thinking this is probably going to be the most important election of your life I don't know if you realize it there are people who want to turn this country into a Russian style government but we all grew up knowing that isn't the way it is I want to qu I went to Korea to fight for our country and risk my life and was wounded I did it because I believe in America I believe in honesty but I can't believe in today's day you can't even ask a neighbor what part party he belongs to you can't sit at a table with a bunch of people and talk politics people are so aggravated they're at each other's throats that's the Trump error hate hate you can't talk when I sat up there I sat up there with some great Republicans and we work together and we got things done we never jumped at each other's throats this is getting disgusting I'm asking you people do the right thing we need term limits in Washington we need turn limits in this town we need turnover we need fresh young people I hope the people out there that are listening and watching this program understand why I'm doing it I'm not doing it to punish Republicans Or democrats it's for all the good and Welfare of everybody get in get out do your good thing for the town and leave and people will be proud of you now you could create history by doing this and I know under the fol in irq I'm doing a lot of research on this that you guys can do it now who would have the moral coverage to introduce such an ordinance and I'm going to see if somebody would second it up there and see if we can get it done and you can walk away with your head high knowing you did the moral thing for the people of clar that's all I'm not after anybody I'm not I'm not doing this politically if I was 40 years old I might be doing it politically but I'm way over my time I did my service to the township of clar I'm happy I love the town I'm not out to hurt anybody in clar please I want just to have a meeting and talk about this we need dis ordinance we need to have term limits we can't allow administrative people to be in 24 years that's what causes corruption that's what happens after a while you think you could do anything it's like a dictatorship guy will come up to say do this for me y I'll take care of it don't worry nobody I have a question one minute remaining I think it's disgusting please give that every consideration okay thank you good night good evening Frank MOS 12 Kennedy Drive Clark New Jersey um couple of things right so to Dale for TNR work 20 tasks on Florence Drive wow wow I never realized how much of an issue that was so thank you greatly appreciate it um also great to see fire department adding several members it's a great thing and hopefully we get more and and kudos to the town for applying for a grant from New Jersey for the bathrooms um at the recreation center I went to a Union County Commissioner meeting uh several weeks ago they had several items on the agenda regarding Township of Clark properties uh and they were doing something very similar uh seeking money from the state D an's grants to upgrade uh the parks uh specifically rway River Park that playground Oakridge they're doing some work around there in terms of demo and also War ano Park so it's glad glad to see that we're doing that and if there's opportunities to uh support our playgrounds and so way that's great I think one question I had on pilots and I think some of it's been addressed the payments in Li of taxes right what wasn't clear was why to change now and when I read the ordinance it's specific to Walnut developers uh there may be other uh pilot agreements uh and will we do something similar so for example CubeSmart which has no kids uh I could probably argue very strongly that 95% of the money should go Comm Municipal budget but the schools also need money um Walnut has children for certain so it' be interesting to see how this approach is going one One Pilot agreement or all or what's the thought process there going forward maybe I'm not very conversent in how things work right changing the topic there are about $10 million worth of emergency Appropriations um not quite sure I understand all that uh it may just be paperwork bookkeeping but when you add it up towards to three it's about 10 million why do we doing that now and does it really matter does the money come from anywhere other than the normal Pathways and how do we plan for those um wrap up uh DPW great job uh snow plowing done a wonderful job in fact when we had that Tuesday snowstorm uh the first storm on Tuesday they plowed eaten Place curb to curb three times in the morning before they touch anything else and I was scratching my head and saying why um and then Davy contractor a subcontractor for PS was helping to cut down some of the Dead ash trees over power wires and they worked through that snow they kept it clean they did everything great job so great job in general great job in working in those types of conditions with a contractor that benefits us the township and I observed them filling numerous potholes today so uh thank you DPW and everybody else great jobs couple of questions hi Martha kamacha s Riverside Drive Clark I have been watching the town committee meetings I was very sick for three years as most of you know and lately I'll be honest I've been here 30 years I'm disgusted with the way people talk to Our Town Council and to our mayor Our Town Council I remember the days of the previous mayor um wasn't happy I have seen nothing but good come out of our mayor and our Council and everything that most people know I've been around with Girl Scouts and boy scouts for 30 plus years in this town I volunteer wholeheartedly anytime I can our councilmen and Council women volunteer their time these are not careers for them sitting up here they have their own careers everybody in this everybody has their own career most of your time that you donate is for kids and sports and the library and I know you do karate and we have coaches sitting up here and I just can't believe and I am extremely disgusted of the way people get up and talk to you and I I knew there was a meeting tonight and for those of you who think and want to continue to say bad things about our mayor 15 years ago I remember getting a phone call at 5:30 in the morning from Quick Check telling me my daughter was in crisis and I needed to get there and who did I find sitting on the floor on the ground in the cold nobody but may Sal on a Corso I don't think people were walking by them and he he sat there with her and he calmed her down and she ended up out of Crisis and I mean to this day I'm grateful I grateful I mean she could have ended up you know cutting herself or you know anything could have happened but I think you're all doing a wonderful job and excuse me but the hell with term limits you guys stay there as long as you want thank you thank you hello Mary semler 56 Congo way good evening um I have a couple of well I have a couple of questions but the first question I have is about pilot um I was um at the workshop meeting and the mayor um did explain some about the pilot uh program and how we collect the funds going to the municipality 5% I believe goes to the county and we are sharing some percentage with the school so uh not knowing too much about it but having heard it mentioned here several times I'd like to know if somebody can just explain to me how is it decided that when there is a development in the town that that development is going to fall under the pilot program as opposed to a program where it's going to be regular ratables and assessed for taxes so can somebody here explain that to us okay question that okay well thank you okay so the other thing um I I just wanted to go on the record I know I hope that we're trying to be transparent here I know um everyone here has their uh feelings about what the mayor has done and what the council has done and um you know over the past couple of years there has certainly been some very negative disturbing and upsetting and embarrassing things that have gone on about our within our it's it's our town it's not my town or your town it's all of us so I think you know we need to know this is an election year and and for myself and I think the rest of the residents um I've not heard a lot before the AG's investigation came out um there really was uh nothing that wanted to no one wanted to really speak about the investigation the allegations and things like that since that time now our town is under a civil rights investigation so we have official misconduct and now we have a civil rights investigation as I understand it that's having to do with the police department so my question is here tonight for the it's an election year some of you are up for re-election I know the mayor is um up for reelection um have any of you publicly or privately and I'll I'll go down the line here ask that the mayor step down from his position so that we can move forward as a town and try to gain some of our integrity back that that we seem to have had here at one time but really seemed to be suffering at a uh loss for that so councilman tol have you asked okay so has any okay so has anybody here asked publicly or privately to the mayor that he Ste down from his position position um no that's really all I wanted to make I just thought it would be good for the residents of our town to know where you stand okay so we know where you stand thank you permit anyone to make their comments and then we have a opportunity to respond in full um as far as the comment and question regarding pilot for example this evening we discussed this new Redevelopment agreement and as the clerk had stated what the process is is that this then goes to the planning board and the state has a list of about 10 key items they look at to determine if the area where they want to do this Redevelopment and have a pilot uh it will be considered an area in need of Redevelopment the ba explained the condition of those properties it's an eyesore blemish on the town we'd like to get at Redevelopment the Redevelopment process gives the developer an opportunity to invest because they're going to not pay the standard tax rate they're going to get lower taxes they're going to make a payment to the town in Le of tax so they're not going to get the regular tax rate that a commercial entity or private entity would have well it wouldn't be private it would be commercial so we're going to to wait the planning board makes their decision once they make their decision and they let the administration know it's an area in need of Redevelopment then we'll pursue the Redevelopment and then the township can put in place a pilot agreement um it doesn't affect the developer at all whether the township gives the money to the schools the township is taking their money and saying here's your share what you would have gotten so hopefully that answered that question I don't know if the mayor or RBA want to make a comment on pilot that's good okay um the emergency appropriation that Frank asked about so after you when you start the year in government you have to start with a temporary budget unlike Private Industry and and also the fire department for example they have to submit their budget by November 1st for the calendar year but townships do not they must go on a temporary budget and the state says you get 26 and a quarter per of your last year budget when you start the year so on the first reorganization meeting of the year the township gets 26 and a qu% to spend at this time we're not introducing the temporary we're we're we can't pass or introduce our regular budget so we need a temporary emergency budget to sustain us until our budget process is finished and we move ahead there are certain expenses that are paid earlier in the year in April the township has to pay its full pension liability which is a very large amount it's not spread throughout the year so that's one of the big payments that's coming up they have other big EXP expenses that come early in the year such as liability insurance the insurance companies don't wait they don't you don't pay over 12 months okay so hopefully that explains why we have an emergency appropriation um remed to close the public portion of the meeting before I respond to these questions do you have a motion to close the public portion move thank you do I have a second I'll second all in favor I thank you um well at this point I have some other comments but I'll wait until um it's my turn to speak we'll go on to um mayor councel and professional comments thank you madam president um I'd like to thank Martha very much for your comments tonight Martha very nice to you and you've been a great volunteer to our community um the givers always give and the takers always got something to say and uh we do app appreciate it the people out there know the work that we collaboratively done meeting the citizens for a lot of the programs there's a lot of people not a lot there's a couple of people I should say if you really watch it a couple two three that have a lot to say that have absolutely no stitch in the fiber of this community whatsoever but they want to run the town they want to run the town but whether to answer the lady from Conger way whether I seek reelection or I don't I will promise to this community one thing anything in my power to keep Republicans elected on this Das and keep this town running the right way I would do whether I'm here or out there because we certainly don't need some of the stuff that I saw up here name calling babies can't get over things it is the way it is what I do will be decided on March 25th when our petitions you'll probably have a petition in ma'am if I'm thinking right you might have a petition in and we'll see where it goes from there uh Mr Caruso came up in a very uh nice conversation tonight for a change and mentioned about term limits and I know people get to change their mind we all do right sometimes people change their mind from day to day but I can quote you in October of 2020 when he stood right here at this microphone and said I'm urging this town to reelect this mayor and this Council it's in the public record don't believe me go read it but he might have change his mind between now and then that's okay he's allowed to do that but Martha I know there's a lot of great people like you out there do a lot for this town each and every day which gives us the energy to come here take some abuse along the line it's not much because for every one of them I guarantee you I could put 25 behind them that says differently guarantee you guarantee you and November will definitely show that so thank you very much that concludes my report for this month and uh have a safe rest of the month thank you thank you Mr Mayor uh councilman hund sure thank you m excuse me Madam president um to the one comment of whether you know each one of us spoke with the mayor or not Mr Mayor and I had lengthy conversations regarding the situation at at hand and um I did not ask for him to step down but we discussed it but I did not ask him to do that so to answer your question for myself um I can't you know we all speak for our own selves and what we've done uh so that's where I stand on that I want to congratulate the new fire fire department members there's two there and also the emergency Squad members for people there it's very um necessary to have those individuals volunteer their time as you can hear from my report and from councilman o Conor's report we have a lot of things going on in this town when it comes to emergencies I have over 2,000 police calls on average well over 2,000 police calls on average for the police Department that they respond to so adding new people to that is fantastic and I just want to congratulate those two there and also thank the police department for the continued due diligence with radar traps and policing the entire town their nightly ride arounds with their lights on I'm assuming results are still the same I see them every every night on my block whether it's once twice and sometimes three times on the weekends so I'm hoping everyone else sees them as much as I do um I don't get preferential treatment I'm just saying I see them a lot on my street um so thank you to the the entire police department stay safe and and keep our Our Town safe as well that concludes my reports thank you thank you councilman hunt councilman mazarella yes thank you I have a couple of comments um first off I have known our mayor for many many years um I have not asked him to step down and I will not ask him to step down that is his own discretion to do if he if he cares to do this we are up here running the township business and I think we're doing a pretty good job of that and will continue to keep you in mind and all our residents in mind when we deliberate and make any decision that will affect our residents pocketbook and their quality of life with that um I want to move on to a couple of other comments if I may um uh as some of you know I am Clark's uh representative to the Rory Valley Sage Authority and commissioner uh for the storage Authority we are looking for an engineer um we've been out on the street we're trying to acquire that individual and it's very very hard in today's world um it's it's a rather in intensive position of that that individual would support our executive director and our whole uh inner process and our projects and initiatives that the seage authority is doing and overseeing all of our Consultants so we're looking for an engineer um if anyone is interested please go on our website www. Rory valys sewage authority.com look at the requirements that we would need for that individual and if somebody is inclined to want to put an application in please absolutely do it's a rather good position for the storage Authority and we are all of the Commissioners we are a major um sorage Authority uh Regional sorage Authority in New Jersey we Encompass 11 communities so it's a rather large um uh surage Authority so if you know of anyone that may be interested please don't hesitate to go online see what the requirements are put an application give me a call um and um I'll tell you how to proceed so um hopefully we'll will find somebody uh and as I said we're looking for somebody that is willing to work and uh support our executive director and our whole entire process um at the at the storage Authority uh finally um please ladies and gentlemen lock your doors at all times as I've said every month uh in your vehicles and your residence uh we don't want to have any break-ins um so keep your doors locked at all times and if you see something or if you hear something don't hesitate to call our Police Department they're not going to get annoyed at you they're going to respond as quickly as possible and they do each and every call that goes to the police department they respond quickly to ensure your safety and well-being so please don't hesitate to call them and until next month be well safe and God bless thank you thank you Council masella councilman o Conor thank you very much Mr may I have a question um I got some calls from residents around the reservoir that had asked about the uh Flags they've seen some Flags out do you have any insight yes engineering purposes for the dredging of the reservoir and I'm going to also say probably um to get some um engineering for the um Recreation you know to know where the boundaries and guidelines are for the recreation aspect that can and should be happening up there along with the dredging that's going on thank you okay I'd also like to congratulate the two new members of the Clark volunteer fire department and as you know from my past discussions volunteerism is huge in this town uh my dad volunteered on the fire department I volunteer with coaching a lot of people up here I know mayor s has I know hun and um councilman Smith have been involved very heavily in Youth Sports um it takes a lot of time it's not easy but it's very rewarding and what I'm happy to see is a lot of Clark residents who grew up in this town like myself and like the mayor who have been benefited from in town coaches have gone on to be coaches and that's happening again with the younger generation they're they're coming up again and they're giving back to the community so um you know our forefathers definitely set a good standard for us so thank you to the volunteers with regard to the question that was asked before I don't recall the mayor being convicted of anything um so I don't understand where the question comes from so thank you thank you councilman oconor councilman Smith thank you council president um this past weekend the Clark travel basketball tournament uh began with 191 teams from all over the state from as far as South as point Pleasant burrow and teams came from as far north as Sparta uh we played about 133 games over this past weekend and we'll have about 150 games uh starting Thursday night through Sunday and uh we do the calculation that's about 10 15,000 people per weekend that come through our building come through our town uh I know I was at manise I was at tarantellis and I was at beastro over the weekend and they all saw uh additional business than they usually did so it does bring a lot of uh I guess economic Financial impact to the town so I want to thank the administration I'm a board member of the Clark travel basketball so I want to thank the Administration direct department for allowing us to use the facility uh for the three- weekend tournament uh it's a great tournament for our children uh in Clark uh and they it's it's a fun fun event and uh it's a lot of Life lifelong memories that uh the kidss get to see see and be a part of so again I just want to thank the administration on that and that's all I have this evening thank you thank you councilman Smith councilman toll thank you madam president I'm going to start off with a sort of a response because that question was coming to me from the resident in the audience um when that issue broke first thing I talked to was to my attorney and the second was I did speak to the mayor at the our executive meeting and I said to him you're going on tv36 and explaining to the citizens of Clark what happened the very next day the mayor was on explaining to the citizens of what happened since all that time and tonight I'm still under direction from my attorney to speak about that matter it was not a personal opinion off the record I wasn't happy about any of it I was very saddened this community deserves nothing but the best and I'm not going to give opinion to Pro or con but he this community deserves the very best and that's all I can say on the issue because we're still under legal it's ridiculous what happens sad now GNA piggyback to two comments and two questions I support term limits that's me but you know something term limits are done not by a politician or a piece of paper it's done by on November the 5th 2024 that's when the residents will go to the ballot and they Place their vote and what direction they want this community to go to it's called an election process the Democratic process will be heard in this town as it been done for all the years since 1864 when this town no nobody could nobody in this room can say who was the first mayor elected to Clark who was the first mayor Clark Robert a Russell wow I can give you an old historical note the point is democracy was started then and will continue beyond our terms that's why I've got some people who were lived in the past and who just left us people from our own Community we know okay Richard Harvey van Heist a 40-year resident of Clark retired army National Guardsman a 20 27-year veteran and retired Union Township Police Department a union police officer lived in Clark all these years our deepest condolences to his wife Andrea daughter Kim and her family Dolores Esposito hon Dolores was the ther's daughter beloved daughter of Clark's own Pete Esposito Clark D grew up on the esposo Family Farm of massen Hill Road now Esposito Park you spent your entire life in Clark as a farmer's daughter working every day helping Dad out on his crops to just make a living D just passed away there was her and her sister Francis who was known as DD and Fifi that was their nicknames in town if you knew them sweet people worked hard every day and gave back to the community s balani 25 year resident of Clark s was always be remembered as the election day guy the Republican worker the Democrats had Pat Brandt and then Sal L they went to the polls took and got the election results and brought them back to the clerk's office he I know could talk hours about these two wonderful people who gave back to the Democratic process not for themselves if they got a stien that' be fine but they were worked hard all those years giving back to the community for the election process it wasn't political it was just out of a labor of love for the two wonderful people and I honored Pat brand when she passed a few months back because I grew up with the family these are people who cared let's continue anarie Taron a longtime resident Clark member of San Agnes church and the grand centurions to her five Sons John Thomas Richard James and Daniel our deepest condolence to un lust your mom meline urbanovich loving mother of Charlotte and Joe orbovich Clark PD part Public Works retired Linda da longtime Clark resident a member of the Clark American Legion Post 328 and Clark deutser Club to her family Brian Daly children Ray and Christine Christina daily our deepest condolences Wallace Storia a lifetime clarite a friend to all to his father oswal Doria a friend of mine brothers Sam and Joe our deepest sympathies for your loss Christopher Canada Chris Canada was a young man he served as the prosecutor for the township of Clark from 2001 to 2009 he gave his he grew up in town when I was a kid growing up in Clark Chris Canada was the kid who found the tune tombstone in his backyard he lived on Armstrong Drive they were playing in the backyard him and his brother and they came across an old Tombstone from the colonial period it was a DeCamp family back then they built they buried the family members on the farm things go through and then the developers came in they never they just covered over the stone but it was in the local newspapers and Chris became a media star from that we used to tease him at school about it again Chris served his community gave his time and his efforts to make sure the legal process was carried out we will Miss Chris at a very young age and our condolences to his beloved wife Deborah Sons Alex and Robert Chris shall be missed he was a good man I'm not going to go in labor on two questions up but this town is better than what we are and we have to work hard if you don't believe in politics or you don't believe in Republican or Democrat it doesn't matter Clark comes first always if you want to question me I'll only gladly what I can do because this when you're working in government government has so many legal anal that just pulls you you got to be careful what you say or you got to end up in court and it stinks with that said wishing everyone a healthy and happy the end of February it's a leap year we'll see you next month and God bless the cat ladies and Frank I love when you come up when you ask questions you have every right to do that and I I appreciate because Frank and I have been trying to work on documenting the traffic flow along Skyline Kennedy military terrorists we're trying to make a better Clark thank you thank you councilman tol um so to address some of the points that came up this evening um as far as the Civil Rights investigation I guess that was indicated by the Attorney General's office but I'm not aware of anything any actions taken so I guess you can contact them if you want they have the answer we do not we're not aware of one I did not ask the mayor to step down I support the mayor I've known him for 30 years so um that's where I stand on that that I do not support term limits and I would not support an ordinance for term limits um from the time I was 18 I I believe people have voting rights worked at the polls all all up through my college years till I got a job in a in a full-time profession um people should come out and vote it's a shame that in this country we're so used to Freedom we take it for granted well if you want a voice if you want to come out and run go ahead that's what you need to do um go Caruso was on Council he knows how many years and in other had other duties in government I never heard him support term limits and as the mayor pointed out just recently a few years ago come up and you know praise the council and the mayor and supported us um as far as all the coach is up here uh councilman OK Conor just gave me a little he's like oh I forgot to mention um yes you've been doing karate in the town for 24 years uh since 2010 past 14 years I've been teaching karate I'm a second degree black belt um not to Pat myself on the back but we would welcome citizens to come and join our martial arts school it's an international school has seven different martial arts influences and it's probably the only oldest um sport that's been involved in the recreation department we've been there since 1986 uh which happens to be the year I moved here I wish I knew about it then um on a positive note I want to say uh congratulations and welcome again to our two new fire volunteers that is what makes the town great and uh thank you Martha for all your comments this evening I know you've volunteered over the years see you at the Library all the time um volunteer uh you know with the scouts over the years and just been very outspoken um supporter of the town I think that covers it all for me so I'm going to move on to our business administrator okay um just we've been talking a lot about um you know Automation and things I just want to give the residents and the council some numbers um to date we have online that is 18 about 1,800 dog licenses uh a little over 200 cat licenses uh 290 restaurant inspections reporter concern 270 uh garage sales 290 and bulky pickup a little over 400 request these are things that you used to have to call or stop in for you know I know a lot of people who have done their um dog license cat licenses know that whole process so we we're moving the town forward so we can you know become more efficient and you know make it easier you don't have to get there on a certain day to um you know to uh process a transaction um just to add to um Council president's comments just so uh people know I mean approximately 6 million of that 9 million comes out of you know a couple of lines right so health benefits a million police a million6 um roads 335 recycling 200,000 uh the Municipal Library 200,000 uh pensions around 2.6 million between the two of them Social Security $200,000 so it's not like we are spending money on things that you know uh you know we we don't need these are are critical aspects um um another question that has come to me is the where's the money for the rent coming from for the first month's rent I did explain this originally I'm just bringing it up again um these are fees that are paid um when people do construction um to the house so it's not coming out of the township budget it is actually coming out of the um construction fees so there's a fee that's associated with this and then we're using that to pay the first month's rent um the questions on Pilots so you know there's a you know as the mayor said there is going to be no pilot that's going to lose money throughout this process right for you know the school is not going to lose money so whatever they're paying they're paying so we don't know what the the only live pilot we have right now is Walnut Avenue I mean there's a pilot agreement but as everybody knows pilot in in Le of taxes is based on revenue and until there's Revenue there's no calculation we do an upfront calculation based on their estimates for year one but then we true that up at year two so we will get you know some money um and and the also the pilots help us with you know affordable housing I mean we have a a requirement if you know some of these residents had to have you know affordable housing it will make some of those properties economically um disadvantaged and probably would not be able to build it so you know it's a win-win we we keep more of the money we also have uh our affordable housing or we start um you know closing some of the Gap in our affordable housing and you know throughout this process you know the uh the contractor the developer you know actually um build something that they wouldn't have built if it wasn't based on Revenue um yeah and just on the civil rights investigation we have not been contacted our attorneys have not been contacted uh don't know what the the story is but you know we there if we can't respond to something we can't respond to something I think that's it Angel could can I add one more thing the project over on walmut Avenue if that was a regular taxable property okay the township would really be the ones are losing right now we have gained an enormous Revenue Source from that property and our school has gotten the same money that they got prior to this development as I explained at the executive session this has been going on since discussion since 1996 when I first got involved in government we collect the taxes for the county and school board and of course for Clark when there is a tax appeal all the money comes out of the Municipal budget this is Clark's opportunity to win quite frankly I welcome Pilots because it'll give us a chance to recoup some of our money and it's our professional thought process that's why it's so important who you elect so important our professional thought processing between myself the administrator in this council is to not hurt our school district because that would be Robin Peter to pay Paul we need our school district they're very sound on the board of education fiscally sound people they really are their increases are minimal like our increases are minimal there's years we didn't have any increases very hard to do it's very hard to do in this state but at the end of the day we keep the school whole and the township wins because we paid millions and millions of dollars off on tax appeals in my 28 years in government that I've seen come through our door millions and millions of dollars so this is a way that Clark's going to win by the way if anybody's counting that development on Walnut Avenue is completely rented and people say wonderful things about it it looks nice from the street I have not been in one personally but people that are there tell me they're very beautiful units so as much as I'm against the high density development and I truly am and always will be and have been at least if we're going to have to swallow it I'd like to see a unit like that that's built on Walnut I think it looks pretty good from the street it's bringing good Revenue into Clark and the people that are there seem very happy so thank you very much thank you mayor and what it reminds me that some of these project take take many years spend far beyond two terms of office when you look at what's G on here look at the whole shopping center that's here in town with Whole Food and all the other businesses that are there that's not like the typical strip mall you see in other towns I'm very proud of what this town has done with that and how things were determined and settled that that's a wonderful beautiful shopping center and um I I hope it's doing well I know that I spend quite a bit of money over there so um but I want to get back to uh one final comment before I go on to the clerk I forgot to mention thank you so so much Gail and and uh the other young lady here uh who came out regarding what you're doing with the cats and just to remind the citizens if you're into Zumba March 5th go to Lake hawaa 25 Crescent Drive um I know that I contacted the township because I had a complaint on Fulton Street and maybe I'll catch up with you afterwards on that what's happening with that um before I called the health officer again um Madam Clerk yes thank you madam president I just would like to recognize and thank Bobby Dante behind the camera tonight uh it's his first time on his own uh our main cameraman was unable to make it tonight and Bobby stepped up and I think he did an excellent job thank you well thank you for sharing that yes good job Bobby um especially the cat pictures I don't know how you all coordinated that but you had your own little slideshow during your presentation at this time I'd like ask ask to uh adjourn the meeting thank you councilman tol thank you councilman hun all in favor I meeting adjourned