##VIDEO ID:ozwpFBBHAjk## just before you sit down if we could just take a moment silence the B family as well as a couple people U since our last meeting one is Chris meca who was uh one of our code officials uh passed away had a long battle with cancer passed away just the last few days um and then someone else who who's not directly part of our burrow family uh Laura Capelli her daughter uh has been a part of helping out with things here at the the burrow um Laura's mpal court clerk in had Township with the wife of our dear friend Luka and the sister of our our your clerk uh both of them passed away since our last meeting it's just a moment of silence okay thank you the fision Sunshine Law by adop Friday January 10th This Year resolution all regular meeting of the commission this meeting is one of the meetings listed T resolution and copies of the resolution Wei to January 10 F dep okay okay official report the first reading 1788 Amendment chapter 141 9 so this is the first reading of an ordinance to make a zoning change within um uh that applies to the 900 Haden Avenue building um the change that we're making there is is since the new owners have done renovations to it they've done a lot of um had a lot of new tenants a lot of new people coming in and under our zoning ordinance a bunch of them have had to come into the planning board to get site plan approvals because their use was not one of the uses permitted under the ordinance a lot of new businesses different types of businesses then when our ordinance was adopted like 101 15 years ago so we asked our um the town a b planner to take a look at it come up with what uses there have been a few of have been multiples of so that we could revise the ordinance make them committed uses if that seems to be the type of use that's happening there this will now make it be permitted so we don't put a new business through that process um and so that's what this is and it's a more of like an education based business uh is pretty much what it is that's the only one where there's been a repeat business in this a so we've got that um making that change so the public hearing on this will be at our October meeting which is October 7 uh there'll be a public hearing at that time um PA mayor M yesi yes yes with the first reading of ordance 1789 establishing cannabis licensing so this is an ordinance pretty extensive ordinance that deals with licensing of cannabis businesses uh we had earlier approved uh the allowed zoning along basically the Route 130 carer um for um cannabis uses uh we have a couple businesses one actually is pretty far along what was the old egberg Express kind of next to Puda dance studio down there has had a lot of work done there's um they're pretty far along on the construction that should be hopefully it's a retail that's a retail Catabus that should be open soon um um and then another one is at the diner the kinds of Diner um that's not as far along but that's in the in the process so what this does this ordinance establishes and sets up a an annual licensing process uh information they have to supply to US every year it gets renewed uh in the old days it used to be like taxi cabs used to get licensed this way in towns that have liquor licenses this is the process you go through both towns are setting up this um this local license licensing process and so we're doing it to set up here since we're pretty close to getting one actually getting one in the door so the public hearing on this one will be October 7 mayor yes yes com res so this is um the public comment and this is simply for anyone that has any questions comments about any of items on the rest of the agenda if you've got generic public comments that please hold them till the end of the meeting uh but if you have anything specific question or comments or anything about what's on the agenda now's your chance anybody okay uh appointing Emma Tolman as teen librarian for the col of Public Library poting Michael as building sub code official so it'sin Micha as building Redevelopment Bo in 1788 to the planning board for review so this is referring the the plan the Redevelopment plan amendment that were that I talked about with about 900 Haden this is now referring that over to the planning board they take a look at it give us any comments that we have before it gets adopted before we consider it for adoption on October 7 yes authorizing the acceptance of the 2025 safe and secure Grant and this is simply getting free money in the door yes yeah authorizing the read advertising for bids for the cinwood pocket park at Haden Avenue and Wood Avenue and rejecting the BS received on August 29th 2024 so everybody's familiar with the plans for the pocket park over uh across from Ocean First we had a lot of public input in it we went out out the bid on it and uh the bids came in the low bid came in more than double what we were anticipating it would be the higher bid came in quadruple what we were anticipating in the bid so we're rejecting those bids uh those numbers like 550 800 allpar uh were the bids that came in so we're rejecting these bids and then the law lets us go through a process now of negotiation so we're going to begin to look at what what cost a lot if we change from uh this product to this product and we knock the price down and get it closer to where uh we were hoping to spend on so that's the process we're going to be do now I need think that's our long awaited pocket par yes yeah anding a Consulting agreement to Gable Associates Incorporated all theising issu of our request for proposal for Community solar developers so this is a process that started some time again some time ago want to talk about it yeah so this is a somewhat recent there's two there's two um there's two resolutions both dealing with Associates this one uh has to do with the Comm Sol correct yeah so so what it is is the the law allows for um to form essentially subscriber groups to take Vantage of things including the agregation of solar this this specific program is trying to connect to low and moderate income households um whereas I can put solar panels in my roof and reap those benefits a lot of people especially rental housing you know housing don't have that Advantage so this would um Empower G Associates to work put together a program do the Outreach try to develop a solar program that would either TI into existing solar um you know infrastructure or new stuff and um that low moderate income families would have the opportunity to benefit y okay and this is authorizing an RFP so so Gable we're Contracting with this Consultant Group Gable they're going to go put together a request for proposals to try to get solar solar developers that would be interested in doing the pro Che and we get those proposals and we can take a look and see if anything makes sense okay yes oh yes sorry awarding and Consulting agreement to Gable Incorporated authorizing issuance of an RFP with third party electric suppliers to serve a government energy agation program and related actions yeah so been a few years since we F left entered into a contract with Gable and Associates the idea of community energy aggregation um you know essentially we've been installed because we could get numbers that really work was not affordable that um you know in the future they seem to feel that the markets are changing somewhat then we can launch a program yes yes and then not on the agenda um it's the payment bill as presented by the treasurer yes yes Mr Robson i' like to everybody a safe healthy hey school year coming up I personally have entered my last school year as a parent my Comm uh my senior has to be in school at 6:00 am. he reminded me for senior Sunrise um also of note we have Clover Market coming up on the 22nd of September and our Book Festival on yeah just uh Roberts will obviously close with later day thanks to all the staff and and really the community for making it just a fantastic season so thank you for that um just a couple other dates Nation Night Out is the first so that'll be before our next meeting October 1st that will be at Scottish right uh 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. we're supposed to do it during summer little rain got in the way um p on the 28th of September um over 100 F performers All Around Town great day and just a reminder for folks senior free for property tax deadline is October 31st but again and early um that's you know income conditional and you can find out about of stuff there's copies around if you need you don't have to okay um the Reit out process is um kind of rolling through the home inspection property inspections um we're hopeful that um sometime this fall they'll be able to finalize those numbers they'll be getting letters out to uh everyone in uh in the in the burrow every property owner uh one of the things that we we insist of our Ral companies every time we've ever done it is they'll they'll include within that letter an estimate of taxes of what your taxes would be so if for the reval revaluation we've talked about it before but revaluations just do a reassessment of all the properties to get them closer to 100% of value and um the rule of thumb for revaluations are a third of the folks will see their taxes go up a third will see them stay the same the third will see their taxes go down um and that generally is uh whether or not your house has appreciated um more than the average home in town less than the average home in town that's the process that they go through um sorry to say this like about my sixth or seventh of these I've seen it um it's it's we've gotten better at it we got gotten really good at it once you get those letters um you'll have an opportunity to meet with the uh the company that put the value on it informally sit down and go over it uh you then have a more formal appeal period and then you can actually file an appeal with the County Board of Taxation with respect to what that assessment is so there's lots of opportunity for review providing evidence uh it's a it's a weird process it's not one you usually you do naturally because you're going into saying my house really isn't worth what guy next door or the guy across the street might have I don't have this I don't have that he has a much nicer yard I don't have this it's not what we're used to do but that's the process that you can go through people use comtable sales you know all that stuff so that's coming along uh the um the burrow um took delivery of a new fire engine I know that excites everyone but for the folks that I work with here that really excites a whole lot of them um we're doing an old uh fashion in the old days they used to do these when when a company would get a new fire truck they would have what they call a housing ceremony where the members of the um you know back in the day the Volunteer Fire Company would would actually push the fire truck into the station kind of like carrying the bride across the the threshold we're going to have a little bit of a housing ceremony on Saturday want: talk at the police fire station uh my guess is they will not be pushing this in but uh there'll be a little bit of a a symbolic pushing G but that's coming up Saturday that's a really big deal um you can go watch a you know a million dollars of our tax money get rolled into a into a nice Bay of the fir um and I want to Echo um comments about the pool um you know our pool is it's such a great amenity has been that way for a long time we put a bunch of money into it over the years um it really has been been running smoothly because of a lot of people a lot of you know a lot of our kids are lifeguards there kids are running the snack stand there I want to give a special shout out to Nancy oil who um finishing up 28 years at the at the pool and I I I don't say she's finishing her 28th I don't know that it'll be the end because she told me it was the end after 24 and we were able to keep her coming back um but I want to thank all the staff down there it is um it is no small feat to make that go without um without trouble without issues uh having you know a few hundred kids and parents running all over the place excuse me is not the easiest thing U to keep control they've done a great job so that's all we have we're going to open up to the FL whatever issues you have like raise before the commission this is your opportunity to do so y thank go ahead you just give us your name and address for the record thank you my name is Megan West franklin8 107 um just two short questions about um the all in forood referendum um regardless of the outcome of the public vote on September 17 um are you committed to investing the moneyy recently pledged to our schools so in other words if the district is able to purchase good eff still commit to investing that million dollars in change that you had um offered to help our schools in some other way so we we we didn't we never said we were just going to spend the money okay so that's just first we never got the point of have a discussion um the but what we we are listen whatever how whatever happened do it today we thought we were in a Cooperative we thought we were working together before but um we're happy to start talking about what to be done how where what the plan is we're start September 18th no matter how things go okay yeah um sort of before I get to my second question I guess then I have a little bit of a followup question um if the referendum passes would you possibly be willing to do the purchase of Barfield at market value and and then oversee that sort of like transition from school property to way ahead of the game here just way ahead of the game I'd love to have I appreciate you asking those questions it'd be great to have the school board members having asking those questions and have discussions this but we're open to talk about anything we said a proposal we made and sent over to them was to have a discussion and just didn't quite get there um thank you uh just my second question um do you have a plan to address the con of economically disadvantaged kids in one school I I don't I I don't have a plan for it have not been asked to participate in putting together a plan for that but would be happy to yep just name and address hi Rebecca SE 1030 Grant app so in a similar vein of questions um one of the things that one of the Schoolboard members had encouraged a group of AAR parents to do was to come and ask questions publicly which appreciate the opportunity to do so one of the things coming out of the recreation study that happened with the buau previously we' been under the impression there were conversations between the buau and the district about the fields behind the high school and middle school and the role that pilot funding or burrow funding might be able to play in those fields with or without a referendum can you speak to the role the burrow might have played with the district up to today and what may happen if the referendum passes or fails and what the B may be willing to do goad yeah yeah I think that was always our understanding is and our wish is to to work with the school dist I think I can't speak for but I was a little surprised when it was announced that they were going to bond referend including Fields because I thought we were having these conversations so you know it kind of printed stuff part of the reason why we came forward with the idea of say look if it's really if you're back into this day because you have lease and you have to deal with something good shepher that's when we sort of came forward the idea with the idea of then that might open open us up have these conversations and School Board as is their right and I I respect that said look we're this far along we're going to we're going to go and do this and that's that's fine um I'll be voting um so you know what happens after that I think wants to wait and see what happens with that monit because the facts will determine the next steps and I I'm sort of don't have the bandwith to do contingency on all these different things and I just kind of want to see what happens that's yeah I and fields and stuff by the way I threw all four of my kids were in middle school and high school from when they fled that the things straight through to last year um you know they're just they're just it's sad and it's it's sad and I I cooked hot dogs at football games for five years and for the for the marching band and I I you know I saw it was like people dragging cares in there and you know people with grandparents and you know kids deserve better than that um and you know whether it's this referendum something else there needs to be an urgency to to that and listen just to follow on that that that is the reason why a couple years ago we started the Burrows started the breath PL and we met with the school board and said we're doing this and we invite you to be a part of it and we made them part of the steering committee executive committee and we had some meetings with that and we did a we did an event here with public and literally a month or so before I was told that there was a referendum we we were at a meeting with all of them and with a consultant going over it and they didn't say anything to us about what was coming uh and it was done like it was obvious it was done so yes we're more than happy to talk about it we thought we were okay and I just want to just to be clear Megan the question you asked me about the proposal we made we made a proposal because at least what we were hearing and seeing was that good shepherd there was some urgency to not lose Good Shepherd and that's why things were kind of being fast Tred so that's why we made the proposal look we'll we'll go acquire that now we'll go acquire that let's then go through a process okay that that doesn't make as many people feel left down let's go through the process yeah it would have bought time for better communication and and more structure delivery and and more planning in general yeah it it wasn't we didn't come from a mindset of like oh here's a million dollars that'll have fix okay that's not what the goal the goal was how do we how do we engage in a way that well doesn't end up where I got left side right side sitting here pretty clearly can identify who's what you know to there should all this F so yes name addo 194 La side out um in responding to Meg just now I heard you say that me brought up uh the idea of uh the bar buying Barfield and sheering it through kind of the Redevelopment process right um and I heard you say I haven't been asked to do that but in point of fact wasn't that the board's counter proposal to you when they said no to good shepher Auer well no listen the the the the response we got from the UR we were our letter asked to sit and discuss okay to me we went to a meeting and at the meeting we were handed a letter that said no okay that that that's not my expectation of going to a meeting when I go to a meeting I'm thinking we're going to talk just the way answer me well what about this how do that we're going to talk about it we were handed a letter that said no okay and the letter said no and pay for this pay for this pay for this okay it didn't don't treat that I don't feel like at least for me that's like not a serious response we were asked if you would consider buying Barfield in that yeah yeah we were told what we could do after it passed was buy Garfield pay for all the transportation for all the students that would be affected and what was the third there was another thing big number too there was a third thing what was the third thing they for another thing oh yeah so so it's not true to say that oh no no it is absolutely true that's not that is not an answer that is not an answer and listen we've had we've been around for meetings to have a discussion frankly we've had more of a discussion in the last 10 minutes than we have with any member of the board but I just want to because I think I think these are all good good points and stuff like that the the school board elected school board has decided and the district is decided to go forward with a referend and that's that's fine and you know as much as there has been or hasn't been or enough conversations between you know the burrow and the school district you know people can agree on how much is happen but in the end you know and for the municipality itself I don't want to interject myself in the B right like you know you did I did you did well I told you sign the letter with that's well yes stand but but that was to try to open DI and this point all the Wes here and say oh girl what you out there people can look at the facts and and J Juds and you know I don't want to at this point that was that was our chance to to do that and so we made that made that Onre tried to have that conversation they're right and I respect that to say no so now two weeks before I don't want to blow things up one way or another by being here like they have responsibility and that's that's that's what I mean so yes you're absolutely right at that point but once we reach a certain point and that not you know what I mean they have a responsibility they have the right and that's okay that's wrong we're go between the Bri side there's no animosity we're gonna work together regard what Happ don't Lindsay AAR 10:5 Migel Avenue um with regards to the transport um I had heard from Bruce Smith back in January that the district the school district and the burough were working together with regards to Transportation uh he specifically mentioned trolleys that the burrow said to Bruce and the other school board or I know he's not a Schoolboard member sorry to the school board that the Barrow wants troles to take people throughout the town to mayair to the Arts Festival whatever the case may be trolley all around town and that the school board was working with the burrow hand inand to use these trolleys to in this proposal get children to and from school that it would only be for school children the beginning of the day and end of the day and rest of the time it would be run by the burrow uh can you clarify these details I'm not aware no okay thank you sure yes is this sorry mid 904 um so you're a no we know you're a no give a no sign personally but you do realize that your position as mayor is a lot more powerful than like my yes or her no right you recognize absolutely why are you a no um be as I have said a number of times in the in the press and to anybody who wants to talk to me about it because really because the process I think has been more than awful okay it is and and I said this I've said this to the board members as well that if you're you're going to go through no one seems we said this in our letter nobody seems to disagree with the goals nobody disagrees with the goals okay but you can't come out and say we're closing two neighborhood schools on a bond referendum that's the biggest discount has ever done okay and just come out oh with a plan it's done without any Community implant process I can tell you when when I was informed that this referendum was happening probably February this year March okay that was the first I had heard okay I I keep track of these things like I'm really inol I I know a lot of what's going on I'm really aware of things that are going on if that's the first time I heard about it I can guarantee you that it's that the majority of people in this town never heard anything okay and so that's that's where I'm coming from and since then I have talked to a lot of people that were not involved in a process and so that our push our letter everything we sent was let's we'll go take away what we think is the deadline and then let's go through a process we didn't say no we said let's get through a process that's by some time do you do you know the proficiency gaps the achievement gaps of the school I'm aware of everything that's in the PowerPoint presentation that present yes are you okay so you see in this Fe that the testing scores you know that there currently are zero black students that are proficient in English language arts you don't need to go through this you don't need to go through you're not going to sway my vote it's because of the process not those goals it's the processess is worth wasting more time it's more important to have a process than it is to address we didn't have to waste this time it could have been done the right way the first time yeah yeah that's all that's all simple as that listen we held more public meetings to build a police and fire station than there were to close two neighborhood schools did anyone get to vote on that we we no you don't get the vote on it but but no you're right but you know what you know what's really bizarre even though you didn't get a chance to vote we held more public meetings but we didn't have a say yes you did there were lot of people vote you got to vote are we gonna get to vote on the water tower no but you okay than okay listen I I I I love you all okay but like let's not do referend okay this is not because it's a vote there's a vote there's a v okay go ahead we'll go around ke all right but it is School District related go right name and address for the record 126 East Palmer Avenue thank you for the opportunity to speak so when I've asked the past meetings about the impact of pilots on our school district you've repeatedly said the schools get every penny they're entitled to with this comment in mind I filed identical records requests to the Barrow and the school district and I got two very contradictory reports from the school district guid got a reply that there were no records responsive to my request because the schools do not get any money from the pilots in the burrow I received a document that stated that the town has given the school $200,000 a year from 2 2015 to 2023 there was no real detail in document so can you help me understand the discrepancy between these two versions of how Pilots are funding or not funding sure um so first let's talk we'll talk about the dollar amounts and whatever you ask the way room for request and then just generic okay so the the the board the burrow pays the the board 280 a year 280 a year out of the Park View pilot 250 280 $280,000 250 250,000 every year that por is paid over I don't know what your over request was but it's possible like it doesn't come in a check that's labeled like pilot payment or something like I don't know what the request was but they get that they get that every year they have since 1996 okay so so so yes there is pay that are made every year and then just generically the reason why I say Pilots do not affect school funding is because schools put together a budget okay without any regard for the tax base they put together a budget and let's say just as an example the budget is a million dollars they put together that budget for a million dollars and they then they turn that over to our tax department and they are paid every year a million dollars okay if today we were to put half the town under a pilot okay half the town under a pilot the school would get a million dollars the budget they put together is not they don't calculate or figure what the pilot payments are they put together what they need for thorough efficient education million dollars they send us the bill they get paid million dollars okay it doesn't take any out it does mean and we did this back in '96 with Park which is by far the biggest long you ever did is no letting everybody to a huge public outreach program then to tell everybody you're going to pay a little bit more okay you're going to pay a little bit more that's what it does it does not take a nickel out of schools but but it brings out because it brinds up a fundamental question that I don't really hear people asking is is Operation do the schools have enough money to do what they want to to do and that's an entirely right because as long as there's been a c on budgets and 2% a year is Max you can do unless you go after referend all stuff is essentially 2% that's fine you can Max that every year but if your costs are going up 3% a year you capitalize that over several years now we have structural deficit that could be fundamental problem this is one of my great concerns about our school district is do we have a structural Deb and then the question is is you know does that affect academic achievement does it affect the quality of school you know I sent three kids through our Public Schools um I love the school district I'm grateful for the education but I know there are all pars that are so so you know if we if we have sort of backed ourselves into by a 2% cap put in place and Chris Christine right so you know 15 years of maybe our budget growth exceeding our Revenue in we've got a big problem so now that then comes we have a big problem we see that there there's there's problems with student achievement there's disparities all these other and the idea is do because a capital solution $45 million to sort of change what our schools look like is that the best thing to do to serve our F or are we better off looking at structural deficit and operational stuff that could possibly bring our teachers counselors more a lot of things you know I can I can talk about because I've done it more recently the college exploration you know thing for my three children and I think that the counselors do as much as they can but it wasn't a lot but what our parent what my children have are two educated parents who've done a lot of stuff in higher education who have the time have the resources and that so they were okay but is everyone okay I don't know so we we look at this we look at the bond referendum and I look at say 45 million is it going to solve fundamental problem AC chei I sure it's all open because you're in it for 35 years you can't take it back if you increase your operation budget in any year and you say this isn't really working something else is hard you can you can take that back change cannot change the once you go to St St with that money so I think it's a a good question about the budget I just don't see that we're asking the right questions and I'm concerned about structural deficit and what that's do right can I I have two other quick followup thought related related to this issue that speak to the concerns is R about the budget and economic need of our schools so first I want to share as you may know in 2016 the governor of Louisiana enacted a major overhaul of their equivalent of Pilots called it industrial tax and them program his changes to the corporate subsidies program gave local government bodies to school boards the ability to reject the portion of a property tax exemption that would affect their own budgets so corporations had to come before local government a like Boards of education and make the case that they deserve whatever tax exemption they were applying for his changes to the corporate tax handal had a major impact in communities in just one example in West Batman Parish annual funding for the schools increased by $10 million representing 27% of the school budget the school board's entire budget the increase was enough to hire 200 new teachers comprehensive reporting on this is available from the American economic Liberties project though this example is from Louisiana there's an important lesson for New Jersey and for our community if more people are at the table when these corporate tax breaks are being deliberated it may change the outcome and may result in additional funds for our schools so as I've said in the past I believe that the Board of Education should be at the table if we are initiating new pilot agreements and then finally I wanted to State for the record that according to the 2023 budget submitted to the Department of Community Affairs division of local government service the difference between the Barrow pilot bill and what the tax revenue would be if those entities were built in full is over $2 million he recently proposed canceling the school board's referendum to incent of a referendum to pay teachers salaries maybe what needs to be cancelled is the routine practice of handing out tax abatement so we can recover those lost funds and finally fully fund person okay thank you so let me just just want to point this out in the last five six years I think the only pilot we've done has been after we announced that if we did any more pilots we were going to take the a substantial portion of the revenue from that and dedicated to the recreation fields we did that after we met with the school board and told them that we have done one 900 building since we that's been online the Pilot's been doing it we have been segregating that money for use in Recreation Fields up until February of this year we thought that was the plan okay so obviously it's not so we'll have to wait and see later this month what what what happens with a boot where we are hopefully we can all sit down and talk about okay all right anyone else yes your name addj for the record please Rea 916 916 this is my first commission so um you said that you are a person who knows what's going on um we also know that you um publicly support um through uh Financial donations and through a lawn sign the referendum action committee um this organization has distributed printed materials that misrepresent the tax impact of the referendum byting Homes at value with market value they've also claimed and I quote your bond text will be more than these values when the new property assessment is applied um I appreciate um you going through the the basics of the reassessment but are you aware that these method are being spread in the community Through printed Flyers no I'm not um I do have a followup if you have and it's important to me to ask because I'm addressing an allwhite board but members of the referendum action committee have also publicly said that trusting the expertise and experience of District leaders of color who have helped develop the referendum is cized do you agree that leaders of colors leaders of color shouldn't be Trust toity efforts you want me to agree with somebody's statement that you're saying is a bad statement do you agree I I I I I offered no um I no publication of the statement these are statements that are being publicly shared by a group that you publicly support you know this is I don't know that that's the case I honest to God I've done all I can to not be aware of the social media chatter I've not looked at all the political stuff let me finish let me finish let me finish I let you finish okay I have not kept track of all that people are going to get the vote on it they're going to vote I have a position my own position but people are going to get the vote and we'll see where we go from there as community members what should we do when we see misinformation shared through printed materials it's the campaign you're run a campaign that's what you're doing well that campaign has your support and those are associated well listen I've been involv in a lot of campaigns and there's misinformation that happens in those and you just make your arguments and you work to convince people and that's how it goes no one gets no one gets no one gets um uh you know Str up that there's any misinformation and everybody thinks the other guys misinforming so let the voters decide I do want to be clear one thing because the reevaluation is an important thing that we do here and a doubling of the whatever increases the value of your home does not if you went into the calculator in the school district right now I went in there and said okay my house presently wor is valued at $300,000 if it goes up to 600 it will not double your price it will essentially probably be for the the bond will directly be around I want I do want well but I got to speak to everyone I do want to be clear about that because people sometimes don't understand the revaluation process so I just want to be clear is a doubling of the value does not necessarily double your tax as a matter of fact it does not do that there may may go up or down a little bit based on you know where your house is relative to other property and the work that we've done to the condition could go up could go down but essentially it's not fund change so I want to be clear about that I didn't see what's written uh there until someone sent me something to yesterday or today but that that's not the case no no I some emailed T thank yes address yes um May I'd like to ask question with you that you have personally andly invested in the V campaign I think it's reasonable for to ask me about this um before you invested in the vote campaign did you members of that group did I what meet with members of that group I know a few people yeah okay did you meet with anybody on the other side to learn more about why many of your constituents I have met with anyone that has asked to meet with me I have not saw any I have not saw anyone out okay um I also went to the first presentation this did on this and had some feedback on how I thought the plan could be communicated better specific questions that i' like to be addressed um like you I think you said you support the goals of the plan is that right yeah I also support the goals of the plan and so I approached the board with oh hey here's some ideas suggestions here you know there was a for for constituents to ask questions get more of that out in the public discourse um did you do anything like that I sure did okay to the only people that talked to me about it which was Bruce Bruce Smith came and spoke with me and the super came and spoke and I told them both at the time that I thought the process was flawed and this is this is what I would recommend that they do and they said well this is what we're doing I think we I'm guessing most of not all of us in room also read the article kind about the meeting you had with some of the steo members got your proposal and there a dialogue back and forth about that Morgan we have dialogue Morgan was there I I'm asking you because you Haven invested so much personally oh no no you want to know what happened at the meeting what could they tell you if there was a back the dialog meeting there was not a lot of opportunity for dialogue at the meeting I did stay with the group after the meeting was over at for that opportunity to talk with them um more fully um I am not opposed for the record I am not opposed um I strongly disagree with the method and the communication was not done well in any way but um the for me personally the goals are important enough that I can move past the delivery or lack of delivery of information um I don't know I don't appreciate their um saying well we don't have this this and this plan but you guys take care of that without the things that we had already planned to take care of and work with and help with so um being left in the dark on a lot of things as a group but then be expected to pick it up a lot of it is just not well them it's just not at all um but there but the opportunity we presented to go to that meeting and have a discussion and we're met with a television bigger than the meeting with a PowerPoint presentation on it and it wasn't an environment where we were going to have discourse about what's next because they had already decided and handed us a no thank you at the door basically so it wasn't an opportunity for disc sharing um mayor Milly I also was wondering if you could share what else can contributed to the vote not Champion besides the your financial contribution which is on their disclosure report but what and other what other B have you been supporting oh I talked to them talk about elction and talk to them did you connect them with any of the vendors that you know or in the past on your decades no I couldn't tell you what vendors I use on any of mys ever so you didn't I don't know who they are is the same Mail company that you use for your campaigns you didn't know that do you think it's unusual that the mail I'm sorry amoss here brought out your intensive political campaign experience so I'm just wondering if you think some of the things that I like I not running a Lo campaign I am not involved in haven't been to any meetings I people who have asked to speak with me on on any part of this issue I have met with them okay I met with every single person that has asked to me okay you you know you guys are welcome to me too I haven't heard nobody's say yes nobody on the board has asked to talk nobody okay so I don't know what else I can tell you I'm not running a campaign no total coincidence that all their V of well I would think it's the same people that do a lot of political printing yeah yeah it is okay if that's what it is then it is yes sir Mike m 509 D Avenue uh just curious if there is a plan uh if the referendum fails on the 17th for what the bur will do with good shepher building and is there an Avenue to somehow uh Shepherd that no intended into the district's hands if it's a net positive for the community without closing of scho so we don't we don't own the Shepherd School we don't have any contractual rights with shepher schol so what what we know after the reprar I I would hope we're all talking I hope we're all talking however it goes I hope we're all talking thank yes Mr our regular 723 Paris I have a suggestion if the the thing fails the F should still buy the building and turn it into a youth center they would have a k they would have a cafeteria where they use in the summer time to feed the Lesser children that need food during the summertime and you have room that have art room a game room whatever and they can use it after school during summer whatever great suggestion thank you yes we're to appreciate your um support despite the process um so it sounds like there's some problems between you guys and is that true I mean I didn't know about this this is the first time I'm hear sorry do you have why because you're what you're describing here is is serious serious communication issues I I'm job here because I feel I've been at a lot of board meetings and I've never had and I've emailed board members and i' I've shaken them down on the street I never had any communication issues with that we had a meeting in February at the um public safety building about the rec plan right we were all we're all on one committee we're all a steering committee we met with was three four of the board members superintendent Ruth Smith all the St heard the presentation of the of that were all working together we thought we were all on the same page working toward it and then a few weeks later uh Ruth Smith Ruth Smith told me they were doing a referendum and this is what the referendum was and and I suggested can't just come out with this like you got to go through some process here and are you aware research I understand the research listen you can't when when they neighborhoods when you're making that drastic the change this is my opinion when you're making this drastic the change in neighborhoods okay if with the goal that everyone agrees on if you go through some process some dialogue with them I told this to Bruce I think that this could be done I just think you would need to do a lot of meetings and interaction and dialogue with the community that you can't just come out and say this is the cup and you say yes or no to that cup okay that's what I said to him first time he laid it out for me when uh Dr mcdal came up a few weeks later he was showing me his PowerPoint and I said you know Dr McDow that's all fine I get it but listen you can't you need to go through a process so that people don't feel like they're taking something okay get them engaged in the process and that's what my U my that's what my big objection is that's all that's it because I don't think there's the people that came up with this are are education policy researchers there are multiple Ed policy researchers who support the plan there's a lot of that so you think that all of those people who do this for a living them for years are wrong because I didn't say that I didn't say that what I said was just because a bunch of smart people say this is the way to go okay and you're going through it now that's not who has to approve us a community of voter has why am my own opinion no your suggestion to the board was to delay the vote to interrupt the Democratic proc that was your they told us okay all right thank you else okay yes you know what take Lindsay AER again 105 Miguel Avenue um to piggy back on what I believe her name was Erica um what she was saying about the um meetings with the board and you said with that you met with Bruce and Dr McDow and other me board members in February uh Bruce had me over to his house as a representative of the sharp PTA I was the Shar PTA president at the time in January and he specifically said we are working handin hand with the burrow so you're saying that you did not know any of this until February when he had I learned of a referendum was February or March it was yes so why would he tell us your add are you aware add Park these are new um don't need this now um are you aware of the vision 2026 plan the document yes are you aware that the process is laid out in that document no and that it includes you it includes community members I mean I think that the problem here is that the people who are accustomed to being asked were not asked and I think that's the fundamental problem but to say that there was no process is false thank you okay thank you yes sir they for I'm sorry see yeah you're good you're good my name is Denise I live in can County I'm not a Community member in collinswood but um I'm interested in Township meeting so that's why I'm here oh but um I am fascinated by some of your statements one of them revolving around this referendum and if I understand you correctly you are a no vote on this referendum because of lack of is it discussion with you or discussion with the community as a whole no it's it has it is nothing to do with me it is that the the the community has not been engaged in this process and why do you feel that's important God that's paying for it because we're closing because we're closing two neighborhood schools which has never ever been done in this B and it's at a price tag on average home of 600 a year um and I it's the largest Bond referendum we've ever done listen we number of years ago we did a $30 million Bond referendum different process okay Bo work with us we develop that plan together we went through the expansion of the middle school the high school the connection that was all every Elementary School got work that was a plan burrow and board developed together supported together outreached together very different process so that's why it's just a really big boat and I think that we could have we could have eased some of this by changing what how that process went so if are you saying like if you had more Community meetings that more people were involved it would have been a different story for you I do yes oh definitely would okay that was my first question my second question revolves around the Redevelopment areas in the pilot payments in your statement regarding the schools getting their million dollars and they would get the million dollars regardless of the pilots um but it's always been my understanding uh with the pilot payments that businesses pay their pilot payments directly to the community not to nothing goes to the schools so if the communities paid their fair share of money to the schools wouldn't that lessen the tax burden on the residents as far as funding their schools well yes that's what I said earlier the impact is on residents and what they pay not on a School the schools get their million dollar budget no matter what one second what Rob was referring to is really what the issue is the issue with schools with layoffs and it's not just us it's all over the issue with the c the issue is 2% cap the issue is we go through we got we got 2% cap too okay health insurance hasn't gone up 2% in 100 years so living within that c that's what the pro what the issue is and that's the issue with the budget about how to resolve but the million dollars the schools do not get short Changed by a pilot everyone else pays something more okay and the only pilot we've done in the last five six years is one in which we announced before we met with the school board and told them and they were this is a really good idea okay and was that we were going to take the a substantial portion of that and devote it to covering Debt Service to do Fields back behind the high school okay so that was the plan are you guys the Redevelopment entity in Collingswood we are yes okay so what percentage I mean driving here tonight it seems like it's a pretty nice town so just it's your first time driving here to town well okay sort of I don't I don't care come on once or twice so driving through the town I was noticing it seems like a you know pretty nice town so in your opinion what percentage of the town do you feel is dilapidated and requires uh Financial incentives for development going forward you've been ask me 30 years ago but going forward I think the only one that we're trying to offer incentive may be the garage the old gas station up Browning anden not much not a lot so how much of the is area in need of Rehabilitation the whole burrow the entire burrow so how does that Mak sense yes how does that make sense if only one small area you're saying the LA list I appreciate you coming out we're not this Redevelopment whole different thing than Rehabilitation okay okay is the only place you can do long-term pilots on Rehabilitation you can whole different definition I appreciate your your interest to come out come out tonight well in order to do an area in a Redevelopment area it has to be an area in need of Rehabilitation no it doesn't that's just incorrect uh according to local Housing and Redevelopment law you cannot do a study to make an Area Redevelopment area unless it's an area in you reab okay all right that's not correct but thank you thank you for your comments anyone anyone else yes Joe mentioned I'm sorry Jo uh you mentioned and I remember reading about it when you guys did the 900 Hab pilot that you were kind of sequestering the pilot funds into something that that we could use for developing our rep spaces here in town shared with the school um what is what is the that of that F head does it come anything close to the level of investment of this Bond it would be a Debt Service pay be essentially pay a part of the morgage if you will bond you know the bond Deb versus you know a big frontload of lot of money it's only been a pil two years what was what were the plans with that response before that you said that you guys were doing some plans ass School were to like work out with the plan yeah so ultimately in in my mind I think where the conversation is going is we know we have sort of a challenge to to meet the programmatic needs for recreation programs and that the the fields back there they were built a certain way could could provide more use that we can't get at night part and we don't have anywhere else so the idea is we can do things on Sunday we don't have to send uh travel teams play their home things in gamb or other other things so I think the idea specifically was R you know the recreation study in itself was much wi but specific to the relation school that will SCH it so think of it more as a Debt Service it's more something to pay Deb okay we get a 100 bucks out of that we could borrow and is there oper if the some of those funds oh we're Len 18th we're all talking we're still going to be here we're all talking yeah anyone else yes marel David address mar1 um for those of you lived here for a while I've lived here since 83 um and owned a house since 86 uh and worked for the burrow um for a while and zoning and planning been on zoning Bo boards this town was in bad shape you you say now it looks good it does but that's because of the work people who have let our town and the people who live in the town have put towards getting this town in shape bar you was a mess it was a hard you would watch uh the we used to have the you know firehouses right here it's for sale you'd see the the cups and the and the um fire trucks going down cols to the to the apartments we had other apartments which is now um compil it was a mess completely a pit with people living there who was putting their neighborhood termine you have no idea if you haven't been here for a while what is now going on this town is such brother and you need to put it in that light when you look toward what we because it's really a major change thank you anyone else yes um I moved at Colwood in 2018 I haven't lived here as long as you um but I moved here when my son was um starting to move honestly during a tiny house in South Philly and couldn't find places in our neighborhood in South Philly that would have enough space for him to move around um obviously it was a privilege that for move and we landed here um and in the spring of 2018 updated my go registration and I remember there was that was the last for the school right for the field in 2018 and I didn't know anything I I knew very little about col but I knew anything about schools or politics whatever and looking into that and I was raised by my mom was a teacher and a principal for decades in South Jersey so we always go get and inv in schools so I think of course go yeah see what's going on here right and I was so shocked to see that the mayor of my new town was opposed to that investment in schools and didn't make a lot of sense to me and I didn't think too much about it it seemed a little bit like an ego thing between you and the former superintendent was what my impression was reading stories um but then now fast forward six years later and here we are in the same place and so I have to ask there what is your plan when something like what happened at dark this summer where the steps are FL cling and we have 100y old buildings in our district and you keep coming out against investing in our schools so what's your plan for when those problems become more significant sure I'd be happy to be engaged in any plan for anything with respect to school but you are and let me just back no let me let me let me finish let me back up to before you got your because just a couple years before that there was a $30 million a $30 million Bond referendum which I referenced earlier that was done with the board and the bur 30 million biggest at the time ever okay and that referendum was to expand the high school expand the Middle School do the connection do upgrades in all of the neighborhood schools we worked in a process okay fully supported it guess what w pass Okay so really I really object to you saying I'm against investment in the schools okay I do I laid out the reasons on this one would love would have loved to have been engaged in any process at all on this issue for this time okay would have loved to have been and on the last one and not because they need me they don't need me but I think the way the process has gone I think we could have contributed some help okay I to do it in a little better of a way that didn't lead to what we have today okay which is I'm worried on the 18th that everybody's pointing fingers you're yes because of this you're no because of this that's where we're headed okay and that that I think could we could have done some things to help with that yeah I guess the difference is I care about my SP I care alls in town and I think there's people on the other side here right I know many of you kids and we have how to make school better for all of our kids we might disagree on exactly what that means but we work together you keep throwing your weight behind the no vote without any for what your V matters as much as mine so that's why we made the proposal back back in the beginning July right to build in to build what's that only well thank you thank thank the insation that it's all based in ego and that doesn't it's entirely UNF you can have that opinion that's fine ask no no I don't listen I have not been I haven't been we haven't been involved in any of this plan so don't yeah you're okay so on the one hand you're telling me I'm the mayor I should be involved with the plan and on the other hand you're saying I should have nothing to do with the plan so I just want you to know you know how I said to you earlier anyone that has asked to meet with me I've met with them okay soon as a school board member asked me with me a meeting I would have met with them six months ago a year ago we set up meetings and invited them on our public on our program we had meetings we had them all there they were there as part of the plan we were doing this we were all working together right we were all there all together and then we found out about this so we didn't interrupt any process that we were in okay and so to tell me what's my plan afterward my plan the day after this would be meet with the meet with the board and see what we can do to put together a plan together absolutely happy to be a part I app so can I just I can't get five people to agree on dinner any my so think I'm gonna get 14,000 people to agree on anything is just crazy and I think we just all have to understand that like this is how democracy Works can all this is how it works and fr Jim Jim mil really good right I don't matter more we do as do you as does everyone else and you know proportionately some people may have more resources but $275 or whatever it is I'm going to you know run a r a campaign like this is what's important here is going to be you know to to look at the problem right to find the problem and and the solution and then you know fix a solution here's the solution here right solution to thing and say is this the right solution where we should dedicate our res people need to come that agreement in their own minds their own hearts and figure that's it like what's important right now is not Jim mey or Rob lowski Morgan Robinson School Board that by the way question was asked you know what you know what's wrong with your relationship friends on this my friends and my neighbors and I'm so grateful for the work they do because I've done school board work it's hard work and it's thanless work and but but ultimately now we're pass it's about you and what you think is right for this community family individual people have to look at Stu for some people $400 700 it's going to be a lot of money to pay right and I don't want to Discount that for other people it's what's going to happen to be my children you know to to others I'm I'm I'm you know I I think the idea of having cated schools is is important mean things figure it out like but but ultimately it's not about us not about the school Bo it's about you and problem that's out there the solution that's being recommended and is is important that's it that's it that's where we're at there was a hand raised to the back yes address direct uh my name is Dina HRI I also am a h cam County uh resident and traveling to different meetings um I do have to say that I am in awe of your openness and you're willing to talk to your residents here of this of this town I think it's really amazing um with that being said because I am not um no with me not knowing um what is the history of this makeup of this panel are you uh possibly one's a republican one's a Democrat one's a independent like how does this make up it's nonpartisan that's amazing all all three of you is nonpartisan no I'm reg to D the form of government is but the form of government is not Hearts okay that's amazing doesn't we don't run as these or our as a municipal election that is absolutely amazing um like I said I don't know the back story of what's going on but I do have to say as somebody who who is involved in their Township we don't see our leader in meetings and having open dialogue with the people who have vot them in so thank you for a great evening thank you so much okay that's the end of now not even Rob I do actually have a so thank you for pointing out there is there's a structural deficit Bean gave a a presentation all about it it has to do with the money that that the state thinks the burrow is contributing and that and so the state thinks we're contributing more money as a burrow to the schools than we actually are that is not your fault necessarily or any of this it's part of the funding it's the funding formula so there's a massive problem fun it's going on everywhere in in all districts but we do have a structural deficit um which is why like we can't for instance build a whole new school at sharp which is obviously the best plan but we can't do that we don't have money for that um so I guess my question is or my point is that yes we stru that so we would probably need the board and you guys to work together a little bit more to try to solve that issue or to at least you know um help about taxwise or where I know pilot wise like to you know you know that there are pilots where all of the pilot money go in Jersey all of the pilot money goes to schools none of it goes to the girl um so again I think Kate said this but that doesn't change what they get because they're still asking for a million dollars using that as example right it doesn't get them any right they get we ask me I guess that's my point that that I think there there is a structural deficit and it's all the kids and that's why we're in this position and it's not fault Super's fault investigate Chang part of The Proposal we made we'll get to school by some time consider yeah that the um did against that and that's still yeah well you need to have discussion about that um we need to have disc we should have discussion about just all right anything anybody else bil are like well into the game already no man nobody online okay great ahead Jose ucation but not referend related jite um he approved a Canabis business ordinance at the start of the meeting introduced paron you introduced uh that like I've been wondering for a while because I understand that these dispensaries um allow for an additional 2% sales tax I've been wondering how that tax might be used to help our schools Fields Pilots cannabis that plan spoken at at meetings with them okay all right so but right now we don't have anybody set so when we get a Niel in the door we'll then we'll start figuring out okay something thinking this money whereever the Mone come grass or grass all right yeah I good night