Delano Township committee meeting of March 18th 2024 beginning at 700 p.m. at the Delano Township Municipal Building 770 coopertown Road Delano New Jersey full yeah that's what they were saying and good we are recording all [Music] right good evening welcome to the March 18th 2024 Township committee meeting held at 7 p.m at Municipal Building here at 770 Cooper Town Road in Delano can I have a roll call please Miss Fitzpatrick here Mr olette here miss Seuss here Mr Templeton here Mr Bartlett here also present Mr Schwab our Township administrator Mrs Russell our Deputy municipal clerk uh Lieutenant Warren from the police department and Miss mcfaden Administrative Assistant uh please rise for the flag salute I to flag of the United States of America and to the na indivisible thece for he the sunshine statement please please be advised that proper notice of this meeting has been given in compliance with the open public meetings act in the following manner written notice has been mailed to the Burlington County Times and Courier Post and published in the January 4th 2024 editions written notice has been posted on the official bulletin board of the township of Delano at least 48 hours prior to the meeting and the live stream statement this meeting of the Delano Township committee may be transmitted via live stream on YouTube video The streaming of the meeting is not intended to be relied upon as formal Public Access under opma and if the technology is disrupted for any reason the township meeting will proceed in person as an official meeting in accordance with the official notice thank you uh meeting is now open to the public for any comments and questions this is session number one if you have a comment or question please approach the podium and give your name and address for the record Ray um Ray Weber 22 ship way uh some of our residents have received a letter from Delo Township stating that they want to plant trees between the curb and the sidewalk where there are no trees currently is that true what who's who was it um who was letter from from who signed it I don't have the copy of the sh commission I think oh yeah so it wasn't us know anything about it we don't know anything that Richard don't uh the reason why I'm asking that is because the trees we count the according to what the letter States is that the trees when they're planted the if there's any problem with the Curve the sidewalk the responsibility of the homeowners well that's correct abut correct where I know the ordinance now anybody want we're trying to get rid of the trees in there because the trees are dying because they problems they're lifting up the streets already we have on pton on new Bard LIF rout are lifting the street streets up already and on pton they're heading towards the storm s Mike do you anything storm do you know anything El Le on Mike anything about it this was brought up before the previous council meeting I brought it up and I told not the letter the letter the letter could you bring a letter or send a letter to us I'll get a copy of the letter right yeah and i' pro if it is from the shade Tre commission I would also suggest coming out to the uh next sh Tre commission meeting and bringing any concerns then um Mike do you know when that is oh let's see here that would be Wednesday the 27th yep just saw that so next Wednesday night at 700 p.m. um with that the trees going in there the trees are currently heading towards the storm SS so we currently have a new Landing double spots we've had the township had problems with these tree roots before going storm seers and some of the other areas we' got to replace the whole street out there over the other side of BR Avenue there we're going to have to replace it because the storm show was cl with tree and Harry said a couple months ago that they don't have replace the entire storm show for that street of the clay type Pips the new pipes they probably going to put in made out of concrete probably that's what they normally use for storm sers mhm com 7t length sometimes PVC yeah sometime yeah I would think I would think PBC may be but um so have you brought any of this up to shry at all these issues I talk to John Brown oh okay and he says he's never heard of D in about me okay so anyway you use normally use pipe when they're putting that in there's three ways of connecting those pipes together one is by gasket one is by silicone and the other one is by concrete most people use the concrete because it's a cheap thing Happ just like everything else tree roots go for whatever don't break through anything and everything you got to get to water I've seen it go through cinder block lifting up a corner of a property lifted up 3 in and the tree was only there for 30 years I cut down the tree I dug out the thing prod do we have in the house and my good conscience I couldn't leave that house looking like that with the concrete was lifted up so people say trees roots go go go around or whatever both they go through Cinder Block they'll go through Stone they'll go through anything right they we've seen it um so that's that's re why I'm saying what happens to PL trees and with the trees run out in the streets and stuff you're going to have more problems this count going to be having to replace more storm sers more often and then in 30 years you're going to have the same damn problem 40 years the same problem in Newton's landage and stuff so that's something that the township should be looking at so I would suggest that you take pictures of some of these areas that you're talking talking about and take them to the shade tree commission as well and um you may want to talk to John Fenimore and ask him to take a look at some of the areas as well wasn't there supposed to be a list sent to them from you guys supp list youing that was for the sidewalks okay that is just for the sidewalks and they have that list they have that list okay but this is this is just as important so if you could do that Ray yeah but yeah as far as that letter is concerned I come next Wednesday night and also uh you have my email can you do you have a way to scan can you scan me a copy of that I'd like to that be great yeah okay I'll make sure everybody gets it and stuff okay yeah I definitely appreciate that R next thing is sometime hopefully in the may I was talking toen Warren here ear uh we're wondering of having the from T committee and the police department back like they've done in the past sure I'd be happy to come same i' be happy to you know answer any questions and stuff absolutely just give me the date I'll be glad to be there yeah and stuff I know and stuff like that so said we haven't finalized it yet but it looks like make time okay okay sounds good all right thank you very much thank you Mr mcneel Mike mcneel 726 Pennsylvania Avenue um I just wanted to speak just um as parent um and as a uh member of the community not as a member of the school board um and I wanted to thank uh M Bartlett for writing to our state legislators to uh to highlight and to voice this pleasure will be the proposed 8 Cuts allocated to the district thank you for advocating for our kids and uh I was very uh pleased and encouraged to see that we got a response from Senator uh Singleton's office it sounds like you know maybe there's some hope there that uh that uh that that'll beone and that uh you know we'll get some of the that this District desperately needs so thank you um and uh hopefully things will be better one can only home both Mike thank you thanks Mike anyone else all right uh we'll close this portion of the uh public comments there'll be another session later on oh you come up no problem my name is Brett 800 Pennsylvania 828 name last name s okay um I just came today to try to clarify some of the parking issues that I guess maybe the township could be having with the size of the vehicles um I see in the code that it really doesn't give much information on the size of the vehicle other than on the street not so much as off street so that's kind of why I here today what's the exact question we have anything over 10,000 stated in the code off upon the street RV no RV over nothing it really doesn't say anything about private on your property on your what you own on the street or in the driveway yeah driveway driveway yeah driveway driveway is that something that I mean I myself had some issues with it I know there's a lot of other people in the town that are experiencing the same thing what they have in their driveway you mean and the code of forcement official is questioning whether you have a boat or an RV or commercial commercial vehicle truck yeah yeah yeah so I mean my my question is is that a lot of the um the letters beginning are very inconsistent and they don't really make sense so if you actually had acial a charge or something that a letter that came coding like St stating a certain code or something yeah yeah and but the problem is is it's um it's it's not in the code and now the new one that we got is just it's just it's it's it's referencing language for like Provisions for a home run business try to do that it's just a parking situation there nothing nothing we have to talk more to the code enforcement officer on that um but if he's citing you for oh you can't park on the grass we don't have any park on the grass I don't have any access to Grass okay I would suggest you reach out to Ed Rano um my question is on the parking code is this something that is going to be new or they looking to amend the parking code we have been discussed changing any codes that I'm aware of my question is that do we need to is that what you're suggesting that you know this is a you know as far as I say a pretty blue color town you know in my case particular there's been no complaints by anybody anywhere around me whether it be Pennsylvania Laurel any other very good reputation with my all my neighbors so I'm just you know trying to clarify because it kind is like a touching love I think the last time we de this was September right quiet and it went to court then didn't it it did and what was the result from the court the result was we had an issue with um one of our listings there was a problem with it which we've changed do you have a letter that that you received on this or I yeah I do you have it there yeah so what were you what was the designation like can you re like was the vehicle oversized or was it commercial or I don't have I can't I don't understand what you're talking about or what the problem is it's a residential property and he has two big tow trucks parked out there yeah okay that's the first I've heard tow truck mentioned okay nothing so it's parked in the street or parked in your yard or Park the on your driveway I've seen it I this went to last year any advantage or something yeah I seen it and you noticed about it mhm for what um well it just keeps keeps referencing 10 or 110- 10- M7 which is Provisions to run a home business I to come and ask the township if I could legally register and I guess have a variance this would be one of the stipulations that okay you can do this but you know lighting can't exceed this you need so many parking spaces and one being nothing over for a one truck that's not I'm not asking for that is your business registered to your house so why are you parking a commercial truck on your property and just like you know a couple other companies in town sometimes we can get a call at night time and I leave you come back well we cited other homeowners because you can't park tractor trailers in your yard either or tractor trailer on the street overnight it's the same same concept you can't have commercial vehicles over a certain amount of weight parked on your in your ve in your driveway on personal property it's in the that's my question is cuz the the if you look in the parking f it just specifically states on the street nothing you know the streets not we per it's off street it's off the street I don't have the code here in front of me but I what I could certainly do is look at the code and for clarification only to be more clear it back said you got the letter back yeah from from the township and what did the letter say who was it from um I'm not sure who sent the letter back that wasn't me that sent that out so you receive you sent a letter to the serve the Township from what I understood we sered the township and asked them to clarify the code says this maybe maybe in more detail so when we received it back set a copy of what we received I'm not sure did anybody sign yeah can we see what you receed this was just email who's it from can you bring it up please yeah let's take a look we're grasping it smoke here he two that's not us that's do you have a lawyer that's who we came from this Melanie Schroeder she isn't from from Del Lano Township she's not our counsel is she your councel no she's from from my yes okay so your attorney is sending you this so I guess this is what they receive back which is just a clarification of the code okay so the township sent your attorney this clarification of the code is that what I'm getting I'm understanding okay okay 29 she's um citing section that's nothing to do with the zoning which is chapter 110 of the zoning ordinance so you'd be looking for chapter 110 yeah we'll have to we'll have to talk with Ed and get some clarification I'm going to return this to you because this should be attorney client privilege communication between your attorney and you so um we could certainly talk to Ed and our code enforcement staff and get back with you I assume we have your phone number on file here somewhere I guess maybe you should leave it Brett cuz you have a neighbor that has a a commercial do you have a neighbor that has a a commercial vehicle too that or a vehicle that has writing on it down on Pennsylvania Avenue I think there's another there's a lot of them around and the whole side of town there yeah yeah that's my question was is you know if that street parking applies to the to the the property as well that was really my question the street the that street parking ordinance is strictly for the street there's another section of the ordinance for what is on your actual property okay but uh we'll certainly look at that more and get back with you on that okay yeah well the reason for me coming was we have to go on 20th yeah okay that's Wednesday this we this Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday okay judge yeah the I think the Judge could probably clarify yeah of the code as well and do Ed ran the code enforcement officer will be on there as well we we'll certainly look at that in advance as well all right thank you thanks so he's going all right anyone else s yes all right we will close this uh session to the public we go to comments and reports uh starting with Mr Schwab oh thank you uh um number one later on you'll see the introduction of the 2024 budget so just noting we're getting to the end of that and the public hearing will be on April 15th we do have to send it up to the state so the timetable will depend on them this year hopefully they will have reviewed it and any changes we need to make we'll have it to keep that schedule up um see you also have on your agenda the authorization to purchase a new street sweeper as well as a shared service agreement with the city of Beverly to use to reimburse us for 40% of that and to share that street sweeper so that's a good thing to have happen and that should be delivered and on the street in the next two or three weeks because the vendor does have it in stock and all goes well we can get that rolling that's good um and the other thing is that uh rather than call it uh correspondence because it came to me as an uh email from Senator single's office I passed on to you same things we've had in Prior years uh where they're asking if there's any projects that we want Senator to ask for special uh funding we did one for last year and our process is that everybody supposed to submit me as a central Clearing House ideas I can put the numbers with them I could put that together send it back Dr everybody make sure all everything that everybody wants is listed and then we send it out to Senator Singleton then he can decide what he wants to do I'll even randomize the order that I put them on put it in and uh so that what everybody anybody wants to put in I'll put it in so get some it's due April 5th but if you those who haven't yet get your ideas to me I'll put it together put some numbers together get it back to everybody so they can look make sure uh they're satisfied with how their idea shows up and we'll see what happens unless anybody has any other ideas that's the plan I like Burn's idea this school MH I I wonder if it would have to be named as a c specific project for the school because it's a project so just to ask for $350,000 for the school we need to we need to name something new roof there you go towards the new roof quarter of the new roof quarter of the new roof right I million we're trying to be creative yeah so we need to come up with uh um Mike if you know of a specific project at the school that they need help with the roof is going to be a couple million but um is there something else or a specific um educational program or something okay good and then get some information to us so that we can include that in our wish list Jo yeah good yeah what they're suggesting were spending send one to three small to midsize budget items Max 350,000 each for his review so I always assumed it was for some physical item rather than program but all I can do is read what he sent and I don't know what you know we just pass that on and I don't know what he does or doesn't do so s all you can do is say that doesn't qualify or something but you be happy to put whatever you tell me to write down I wouldn't just include the school I would include something else too FL some ideas yeah okay all right that's all I have that's all all right thank you Richard uh say I'll get it off my chest oh go ahead the state's taking all this money away from our school here's a chance to put money back into her schools instead of I don't know guess if I was doing my budget at home and I had something important uh as far as education versus uh putting a chiping putt in my yard you I'm going to take care of my kids so right yeah that's it right it's just that if we have the opportunity to put three projects if we can pick three projects for the school that would be good but not just one right yeah you have to and but my question is why are they doing this why did why didn't they just put it in the budget for the schools give them the money I I I don't iting the money for the schools is not what they're looking for they're not we can ask I think that'll be ignored though but I understand it's a hard to swallow and you say oh our school just lost 450,000 but let's put in for a new park you know like it's just yeah but the thing is is that'll make a point they'll make a point they're not asking us to support the schools the school needs to ask for them to support the schools exctly but I I mean we could still include it but I think we need to include two other things and maybe they can all be school projects okay um but I mean interesting I would definitely put three things out there they're asking us for I would do it um but I I just think it's ridiculous that they're coming to do this now and they just did the budgets and they're taking money away from the school and they're asking the township hey what's your wish list you doesn't make sense go to the schools for heaven sakes give them the money they need and it's not it's not even just the Lano it's so different obviously that's what we care about here but it's just it's just mind bobbling really is it's crazy it's not fair that's for sure that's certainly an understatement absolutely all right we'll go to uh department heads starting with Lieutenant Warren uh for this month so far there were nine police cases uh with a total of 41 for the year uh there were 55 Motor Vehicle violations issued with a total of 166 for the year uh for this month as of today uh the 474 calls of service with a total of 2043 calls for the year 59 Motor Vehicles stopped for the month as of today with a total of 318 uh for the year as far as uh departmentally finally construction has been completed within the department so I believe within the next week or two we should be able to get everything put back in place um everything Al was put all over place just to make accommodations for the construction so um we're up and up and running ready to go now okay that's about it we'll be ready to start the next project there to mess it up all right thank you lieutenant uh let's see John's not here Bev anything from the click's office um just a reminder that the yard sale will be coming up on Saturday April 27th um we have started to receive calls from residents who want to be placed on the map um the deadline for that is April 19th I believe which is a Friday um and again the shredding and community cleanup days will be Saturday uh 5:4 um shredding here at the municipal building and the community cleanup over Public Works um and that's been so any of the stuff you don't sell at uh yard sale day bring it here the next weekend and we'll toss it out for you bring it right here all right that's the idea I got plenty so uh get that dumpster ready all right uh Township committee reports uh start to my right Mr uh Templeton please uh I've got no report tonight thank you okay short and sweet uh Mr that uh not in order but uh got a few things no ditto no ditto did that last week you remember that was that was fun that was epic very good uh burington County uh planning board uh they had a a uh Land Development uh review re uh resolution to update their U guidelines uh from 1989 I think was the was what they were dealing with and uh so they upgraded the rules and uh there was good feedback I guess as far as uh situations that pton and Browns Mills are having out there in warehouses and he talked about that but again it's not a county issue as it is a uh zoning in Township and State issue is what they came across with um so they said folks come to the county and because they're on County Roads that it's uh that the county should have jurisdiction and be able to have some input in there and the only thing that they the county has is input going into the roadway uh but they don't have jurisdiction as far as uh a warehouse or what goes on the property kind of what we're dealing with here yeah uh so they have that uh see then there was a session there's three-part session on a small business uh Association uh that was put together I guess uh by Andy Kim and uh there were grants in things like that uh the businesses could apply for let's see had of Library met uh sad news there uh Ron Naylor who's been on the library board for 37 years uh had uh put in his resignation for personal reasons uh that he has to take care of so he would not be able to participate in the uh board meetings monthly and so that he felt that he needed to step down about 37 years on being on the library board it's wow he's also with the history board from not mistaken as well right yes uh his obligations that he has for Wednesday the Wednesday night that we have the history board meeting he's still able to attend so that has not interfered yes he is treas went to school uh let's see and oh uh we did our budget meeting and let's see another thing in there I think oh uh oh the history board uh session and Kate can probably elaborate a little bit more on that but we had that this past Saturday and we had a real good turnout so okay that's all I have thank you thank you for Miss Patrick yes I do have a report um daa Del Riv uh registration for the spring Sports which includes baseball te- ball softball I had indicated last um at our last meeting that it was extended till March 8th I still have not received the final registration numbers but I'll report them at the next meeting uh field cleanups were held for this month for West Avenue Field of Dreams and Wamsley uh opening day for spring Sports is April 13th and will be held in Delano this year at the West Avenue field at 9:30 the basketball program is winding down and their banquet is scheduled for March 27th at Riverside High um they will be offering CPR and AED training and certification in April and May and their next meeting is March 26th here at 7:30 um in the library I just wanted to add that the Library te is this Saturday at 11:00 and tickets are $20 per person and you can actually pay at the door and they're having a tin can wi chime uh event where you'll actually bring your tin cans and you're going to make a wind Chim and they're very creative so if it sounds silly go I made a really neat thing for Valentine's Day so um the library offers a lot of nice programs for us um I met out at the Field of Dreams for the maintenance contract with our new contractor Jim McHugh on March 5th at the site uh he will be working with Steve Lennon Harry Fox John fenmore and Recreation to be updated on the field application timing of the wells the sprinkler heads and schedules for the field usage we're looking forward to um Jim working on the field maintenance uh seniors met on March 12th the South Jersey cele Dan entertained us with music from the 40s and 50s and uh they were kind enough to provide lyrics to the song so we all sang along it was a great time one of the members of the band is a resident from Newton's Landing maner Seer he's also a member of the Riverside String Band so our next meeting is April 9th at doin and we're goingon to have a pizza party and somebody will be a speaker on sayings like different sayings what their meaning is so that should be interesting the Sewer Authority met on March 12th here in person the trunk line project has progressed the balance of the work to be completed will be lining the manholes and insert actually installing filter in inserts and this should be completed in the next week or two on 989 coopertown Road um we're working with the County engineer to complete the C around the manhole uh Styx we're waiting for D to approve their discharge so right now they're not discharging their waste into our system uh change order was approved by resolution for Vortex uh and this is regarding the um the trunk line project which resulted in a savings of a little over $23,000 The Pump Station rehab will be underway within the next month or two the operator's report is on file and um Tom fining gave me uh this sample of this is what the resin when they this is the completed product that has gone in our sewer line um this goes in they tried to explain to me I know I'm not an engineer or anything but it goes in the other way and it turns itself around so it goes in it goes inside out and this is what the inside looks like after it it's done so uh they told me be sure to keep it sealed it has a slight odor so uh and wait till sewage starts flowing through so I I haven't opened it so anyway that's that's the sewer project that's uh almost complete so that yeah it's almost complete so uh Carolyn and I met with Scott Taylor and members of recreation to revisit the Waterfront Park and the Babe Ruth basketball court plans and up dates and changes were discussed and um let's see what else I have here uh attended the recreation meeting the flower show trip on March 6 was enjoyed by all who attended uh facility usage was discussed Easter egg hunt is this Saturday uh March 23rd at 12:45 p.m. at the Field of Dreams uh the condition of the fields at bab Ruth and West Avenue were discussed plans for van the Vine Street Park will be Revisited and the Memorial Day parade this year will be starting at West Avenue because there's more space at West Avenue to have all the entities line up for the pre and it'll be nice for the people at that end of town to see the beginning I attended the open house on Saturday as Fern had indicated as an associate member of the history board and it was really nice to see uh some of the residents and Friends uh that I know I actually saw a couple people that I went to high school with um and who went all through grade school here in Delano with me it was really nice to see them uh so I enjoyed being able to be here and to explain the displays because I really know a lot about the history in town and uh it's it's a nice event it we had quite a few people there and I met John Burke who has his display out there what an interesting gentleman um he he really talked about a lot of his family history but you know Fern he told me he never actually lived in Delano parts of his family did but he's not from he not from no so I thought had a lot of toys to share inan artif and of course the Board of Ed meeting is this Wednesday but um I wanted to share something uh at a at a recent OEM meeting one of the items we talked about was the um the lights at the rail the the river line and uh maner Seer was here at that meeting and uh he explained how he his car almost got hit we've had a couple accidents there because people are trying to get through when that's changing from one to the other so mancer God bless him he wrote a letter an article for the um New the Newton's news new town and for Newton's Landing about about the safety of crossing and wait until that top red light is out before you decide to cross because sometimes the southbound train will come and right after that the Northbound will come and you can get caught in the middle so there's a nice article here I asked him if I could have this printed in the Beverly B so I'm waiting to hear from him but I thought that was interesting and then um to top off my weekend um New Jersey do had emailed me that they were going to do the striping at The Jug Handle and what a disaster that turned out to be I met with them in March and so we thought the result would be they would stripe two lanes one to go straight and one to turn left so what they did instead they stried one lane so you're in one lane and then you have a choice of turning left or going straight so I wrote to them Friday I got four emails back that they were out of the office four people out of the six that I met with uh and I haven't heard anything today about what they did because they've just made matters worse for backing up traffic and I don't know what engineer did that job but there was no common sense use I mean I understand what they were trying to do stop people from the left lane going straight at the same time but they really didn't use any well they could have divided it they should have put the striping in like think of is it wasn't regulated with wise to have two lanes there and they couldn't that's the only thing we did before it was two lanes before and it was marked that way at one time when they redid Road surfacing anyway it's a disaster and I'm anxious to see how they're going to me you think about it though correct it's not our tent and it's a state road so they're going to have to figure that out yeah and it was a state dealt with and that that traffic be backed up to Chick-fil-A y it's terrible it's it's absolutely terrible but anyway that's so that's the end of my report yeah that's exactly what I said to the chief in my email uh when he sent that out that all this is going to do is exacerbate the issue because it's just everyone back into one lane it's going to go right into the shoulder and they didn't want our cu the why would they want input from people who are actually here that's crazy the the issue the meting the original meeting that I had with them the issue was they needed to um do something with the traffic that was backed up and going through that Jug Handle so they weren't listening obviously they strip oh my God so col me surprised it doesn't make any sense cuz most jug handles have two Ls yeah but always work that's always been since it's always been two lanes they just needed to stripe it to it's a show that you turn here and go straight metion was mention to them and they didn't so hope could be a simple fix again all right thank you all right Miss Seuss okay I have lived here for the past two weeks so I know what you mean I feel like I've been here every day for two weeks yeah yeah all right March 5th I attended the joint land news board meeting there was one application stanker and galletto RLS better known they uh have their application in for two more phases of I think their eight phase plan we've known about this for years they're finally ready to move forward with two more buildings basically it's going to be the same size as what they have now because completing it it's going to be duplicate on the other side they're but the article says they're quadrupling the size that's like the long longterm plan right now I think they're just doubling the size so anyway we talked about the concerned with the noise because it is a freezer facility um the noise of the The Outdoor Equipment and they didn't think it was going to be an issue that there's been a study before and we know I think Mike was there he talked about the concerns of the residents since it is in a residential and Industrial Zone and they assured us it wasn't being wasn't going to be an issue um that they would try to do any sound barriers uh that they could as a good neighbor I also express my concern because they're adding a whole another loading dock of I think 20 different bays and I said okay so what's that going to do for the truck traffic oh well it's not going to change I said then why do you need to expand your facility and add 20 more Baye if you're not going to have increased traffic well we don't know if we're going to have increased traff so there really wasn't an answer on that anyway the end result was we did approve their application so we'll keep an eye on that um March 12th I attended the budget session here we finalized our budget uh as you know we'll be introducing that tonight right March 13th I uh attended the code enforcement meeting with myself um Richard Ed from code enforcement and Matt we went over all the outstanding violation violations um in detail kind of where everything stand and the processes of how we're handling that who's in court the uh the list gets longer every every month I feel like every time we meet which is good because our code enforcement is staying on top of you know these items and making our town clean trying to clean up the town March 14th was the recreation planning meeting that Kate spoke about we sat down with the planners and members of recreation to go over all the park plans in detail kind of where we stand with things where we want to go the timelines uh to get things moving um on the grant project from the basketball court so that's going to be getting started shortly um now the seaw wall is going to be installed fingers crossed this summer uh we want to get the park plan for the Waterfront Park moving so we can uh get that planned out um that evening we did have our Recreation meeting as Kate spoke about I was there to listen to some field request usage and of course the Easter egg hunt is the Saturday so make sure you guys come out for that be there at 12:45 any later than that they won't be able to participate um the next day on the 15th I met with Harry out at the Babe Ruth Park and at waterf from Park just to kind of go over um some conc concerns I had with uh some of the parks and also talked to him about the access road at the Field of Dreams how that's going to be paved um and how I'm concerned with the Speeders that already go down that access road and maybe putting in some speed bumps and he was surprised it actually hadn't been brought up before so he was going to uh get some ideas on cost and present that to the committee as well it is kind of a safety hazard to just have that roadway there and people flying up and down with kids around so I thought that was something that uh should be brought up March 18th that's today right yep I think yeah that's today sure is and you're here right now I'm here we had earlier this afternoon we had our public work subcommittee meeting um with Mr Fen and Moore and Richard and Matt and myself our first one just to kind of talk about the uh try to get a better understanding of our Public Works processes and why we do things the way we do um maybe kind of go over some uh um planning as far as the parks and the facilities and kind of get an idea of how things work I'm kind of you know this is only my second year doing this so I'd like to understand you know the processes in all the different departments so uh that's kind of where we stand with that it was a good meeting and uh look forward to Future meetings to talk about Public Works stuff because that's kind of what runs our town right Y and um that's it that brings us to tonight so anything you've done tonight that you need to report on since you've been here every doing all right thank you Caroline thanks um I'll just say ditto no uh well you were there for most I feel like I was I attended a meeting with our it committee last Tuesday to go through all the various required upgrades in the building the new wi-fi system should be installed shortly and the other items are in the works uh last Tuesday we held our last budget Workshop Workshop session which I along with the other Township committee meeting committee members I can't speak anymore attended uh last Wednesday as Carolyn reported I attended our code enforcement meeting with our code enforcement officer um we went through all the other open violations and on that topic I'd like to strongly encourage our residents if you get a violation just address it if it isn't addressed you end up in court and if you fail to show up to court you get a warrant issued and no one wants that uh unfortunately there's been warrants issued by the judge for simple things that a respons to our code enforcement officer could have easily been taken care of so just in short just don't ignore letters you get in the mail and just get things addressed uh last Thursday night I stopped by our rec commission meeting and uh looking forward to that Easter egg hunt and I hear the bunny's going to be there yes so all the uh children and some adults will be happy to see the bunny as well uh I attended our Public Works meeting this afternoon as Carolyn reported uh I've had discussions with Harry uh regarding the flooding issue over the bridge in Riverside and there's some more communication to come on that matter uh I've had various Communications with residents on various topics over the last few weeks and it's always good to hear from residents whether it's good bad or anywhere in the middle uh I've watched the sewer relining project over the last month and I'd like to say despite some hiccups at the beginning they really did a nice job I've probably had a better view than most with it since they were literally working in my yard and I had a big 6-in hose running across my front yard since the sewer main easement runs through it so um they did a nice job so two thumbs up to Vortex ERI and the Sewer Authority for getting this done in a timely manner and thanks to the police department for supporting them on that as well uh let's see and finally as Mr McNeil mentioned before I wrote a letter to Senator single uh Singleton assemblyman Conway and assemblywoman Murphy last week in regards to the state aid Cuts I did reply I receive a reply from Senator Singleton that they're taking steps to address the issue and nothing back from uh Conway or Murphy yet and I encourage all residents to reach out to all three of them they need to hear from everyone that we simply won't stand for this so just reach out to them send them an email send them a letter carry your pigeon I don't care just you know get the message out to them and that's all of the township committee reports can I say one more thing oh sure why thank you um when I was speaking with Harry over at the Babu Park um I addressed my concerns about the baseball field flooding and how it gets flooded there with some normal rain and uh it's stays wet for a couple days so the fields are unusable um he had mentioned that we really have done anything with that Park since he's been on and since he'll be out there doing the topography study for the um B the basketball courts he has to do the elevations for the pathway and whatnot he said it would um make sense if he did the topography study of the field at the same time since he's going to be there um it would be most cost effective and wouldn't be that much more of an additional cost so I just wanted to get the committee's approval to ask him for a quote to add that on the topography study for the field I don't see any harm in getting a quote no me either I do we need a motion for that there does that include uh that part of Hickory Street too U it would be the whole complex yeah the whole comp yeah it would be the whole complex at that point because that road uh not only the intersection but I guess going from there up to just about ail I think pretty much yeah Prett much property we're only talking about it would just be the actual property Road they know what the road issue is it needs a new pipe in there which I think has been okay since they cleared it out we haven't had many actually cracked or something yeah it's still a hot mess that's the ray had mentioned but that's the section no objections and I will ask Harry gives a proposal what it would cost for him to do the appropriate Topo so that he could then make recommendations on how to keep that little dryer doesn't to get a proposal yes that should be free yeah the proposal cost proposal should be free how much it cost to do the work right to do his work to do his work to work yes to work okay you to ask oh yes actually work out here I couldn't read my chicken scrap so thanks for the reminder Rich uh we did talk uh I thought we did a motion on this already uh Rich thinks we didn't but I'll go with his thought we talked about it we didn't actually do the motion the um forest fire service wants to go out to Hawke Island to burn the underbrush like they did over at Cooper town and we need to fill up that application and execute that uh so I just need a motion so we could go ahead and do that authorized authorize the application motion to authorize the application so move second what Richard said Thank you a motion by Kate second by Burns is called right all in favor I I just one for the record in case we all burn sign yeah he's the one who requested it so right yeah request come back to us yeah I thought that was something we have we have to sign it as a municipality and then they'll submit the form to someone did make a motion in a second yeah I make the motion all right so burns down like Chicago did Richard bite your tongue Mike and Kate I didn't sign off on that all right thank you very much and let's go to the consent agenda consent agenda items considered to be routine and will be enacted with a single motion any item requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all consent agenda items will be reflected in full in the minutes does anyone have any questions on any items on the consent agenda or need anything pulled no no bur you good Mike you're good I'm good y all right ordinance uh 2024-25 governing rental property first reading by by title only and set public hearing date for April 15th at 700 p.m. resolution 2024 58 authorizing the purchase of the street sweeper from Northeast sweepers and rentals under a sourcewell Cooperative purchasing contract in accordance with njsa 40a col 11-1 Etc resolution 2024 d59 authorizing execution of shared services agreement with the city of Beverly for the purchase use of a street sweeper resolution 2024-25 10817 payroll $15,750 24 20 720 20 what' I say 50 oh okay 720 and. 74 30 Capital fund $1,444 5050 Housing Trust $315 approval of minutes for January 22nd and January 23rd meetings approval of business licenses 2024-25 we have a motion for approval of the consent agenda you moved second motion by Kate second by Fern uh roll call please Miss Fitzpatrick yes Mr olette yes Miss Seuss yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Bartlett yes introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget that's Richard Richard do you have anything well just U briefly uh we have uh budget message with the spreadsheet by the end of the week we'll have all the hundreds of pages of detail on the website to everybody uh we're trying to get this introduced so that we can send all the information up to the state this year we are State reviewed every third year and hopefully they'll allow us to uh have the public hearing on April 15th so we can get it adopted and then we can start doing the projects that we want to do the key thing I put all the numbers at the beginning because there's a number of items both the Appropriations expenditures and the revenues and the assessed valuations which are the ratables all those things have gone up significantly but one offsets the other so we end up with a tax rate that only 2 cents or less 1.81% increase and that the average residential property increases $38.75 off 1.18 1.81% so uh we're able to do a lot of things uh for a very low increase and we list of the major changes dealing with the ratables the fund balance uh that's on the revenue side Appropriations uh the uh salaries the things that we're spending on our employees on we have a lot of turnover both in retirements and otherwise and their cost to uh uh cover the increased responsibilities of our growing Township uh there was a policy decision to have the operating costs for our Parks the totally in the current fund have the open space trust fund uh accumulate most for future Parks appropriate uh Acquisitions and Improvement rather than operations employee health in Insurance increases due to increase rates but we also have more people that we'll be covering and uh we have a reserve for uncollected taxes that has to go up every year that's to cover those who do not pay their taxes but later on we get it back as a payment for delinquent taxes with interest so uh on the one hand it goes up but then we get it back in the next couple of years so that's a quick summary of it and uh the township Comm you spent a lot of time going over this stuff so hopefully if there's any questions between now and the 15th you'll let any of us know and look at the website if you want details so now we basically need your authorization to introduce the budget and u b and Rob will get all the information and get up to sh this week all right thank you Richard and nice job getting this budget prepared yes thank yes yes so uh resolution 2024 61 resolution introducing the 2024 Municipal budget and set public hearing for April 15th 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the municipal building 770 coopertown Road Delano New Jersey can I have a motion please so moved second motion By Carolyn second by Kate rall please Miss Fitzpatrick yes Mr olette yes Miss Seuss yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Bartlett yes uh correspondence um one thing just to clarify that was to adopt resolution 202 2461 introducing the 2024 Municipal budget by title only and to set public hearing for April 15 2024 at 7 p.m. and authorize publication of said budget as required by law so if you don't make it by title only then that 45 page state document has to be red word for word oh yeah title only 100% please want make sure you did that right thank you Bill thank you thank you Richard an excellent job pleas you were going to read the the whole 45 pages right I would be happy to do so sure you don't get paid by the word anymore so any correspondents um we do have one uh matter of correspondence from our tax collector Jennifer delaval uh she submitted her report of receipts and dispersements for the year ending December 31st 2023 and also the tax collector's report for the year ending December 31st 2023 and that is in your agenda packets thank you be and thank you Jennifer all right uh meeting is now open for the public for any comments or questions this is session number two if you have any comments or questions approach the podium name and address for the record Ray anything else Bridge yeah that up I mean thing come on up Ray sorry oh Carolyn did thator Caroline me Matt we've all been working on that 22 ships the I noticed last Saturday night the bridge was closed but there was no sign out here at coopertown Road there was there was the going across being firers were going across on our side and stuff last Saturday night around 4:00 satday night 3:30 4 4 there was nothing out down Road at the traffic this weekend the bridge wasn't closed yeah like two days ago like two days ago Saturday last week last week last week oh yeah last week it was open Saturday week ago yeah there wasn't anything out there before and when I on all the way down and then I had to go all the way back around and God forbid if there's in medical emergency or something yeah I guess I who usually puts that out Matt the fire department or the police what he said Cooper Town Road you mean Cooper Street Cooper Town Cooper and Burlington traff the problem with that I thought Chief might have brought up to you before the officers aren't just sitting there all day long waiting for that sign to be put out so they're rning BS so they can only get out there to put up when it's feasible and then the issue though is there's been times where Bridge was closed they didn't were told any put the signs on by the time they got out there to put the sign on they were told that the bridge was open yeah so now and they were going back and forth like B playing tag with the tie so but a lot of times just matter of they're clearing their qu service that they on and then once they're clear they'll go and put it out but the last couple the last month or so it's been an issue with the bridge saying that the bridge is closed and then it's open Ian you saw that oh I know that I'm sing out the alerts yeah Matt's been the one closing the bridge Riverside hasn't even been paying attention that's the one oh my God it's flooded we have to close the bridge and he put the sign out yeah I picked up the sign from public works on Saturday and put it out there that's I mean crazy it's crazy and what happens too is when that bridge is closed that ter it's worse it's worse know War back yeah you're not kidding I know yeah and there was an accident right along that area from that mhm we to Central what happens more often than that as well the rde officers they weren't putting it out on radio all the time that the bridge close FL they were call Central and then at time Central wasn't advising us right it was until the resident said hey bridge is blooded again we go over say yeah it is and we would call over radio side yeah we know we're where but no one said it yeah yeah I had that's the other that's that's communication it's got to happen better because uh I mean me being retired from EMS got for B I'm this for the especially if you're in side or whatever you got to come through or whatever not Bridge it out you're talking 10 15 minute Loop well everyone's welcome to write a letter to the Bridge Commission and to the County Commissioners we've all personally contacted them but every resident yeah make a phone call write a letter send an email noise helps uh and this is going to get worse every high tide for the next couple decades is going to be shutting down the bridge and people need to speak up and make some noise five of us have made some noise and it's gone into the wherever this is a family show so I don't want to say okay but please our engineer has come up with a pretty Common Sense solution unfortunately the County engineer wants to argue with us and say no it's not going to work the water comes right up through those storm drains it's put a check valve on it go talk to talk to Jo that's what the issue is that's the issue that's talk because we we've been in touch with the county every year for the last three years regarding that issue and it's a recommendation from our engineer and they don't think that that will work or they don't plan to do it so John should give Joe a call I'll to John yeah we we actually had a um a zoom myself U mayor Kimble from Riverside we had it with uh Senator Singleton who actually did reach out to Joe and we heard back that Joe said no the solution won't work and there was no explanation given and Mr Fox is reaching back out to Joe to find out why you if it's not working we'd like to know why it it worked perfectly here at the end of Hickory Street you put the check valve on there it holds the water back when during high tide obviously if the rain's coming down the water won't be able to drain out but you have the same issue currently so that's not an issue and 90% of the issues with the flooding of the road is when it's not raining so it's a 90% solution back up man yep that's exactly what the issue is put the check you got cover yeah and to Lieutenant Warren's Point uh we did have that issue in January with the lack of communication from them and I had reached out as the Township's Emergency Management coordinator to the Bridge Commission and we finally got the circle of communication uh done correctly where Riverside calls Central Central notifies The Bridge Commission to shut it down and Central and either Central or Riverside officers are notifying them over the radio and then our Sergeant is notifying OEM and we're sending out the alerts and making sure everything is done instead putting out the social media notifications the uh alert sense notes sign up for them if you don't have them yet um I'll give you information on that but we're trying to work on get the solution done um they did um say senator Singleton did get from Mr Brickley that they were going to put some Advanced flood notifications up and signage that's respectfully abandoned on the problem right we're we're keeping honest this is not not only inconvenient to us all but much more than inconvenience the public safety issue like you said ambulances fire trucks police going back and forth for Mutual Aid and it's it needs to be solved thank you thank you Ray thank you Ray you need to be the squeaky wheel 100% I wanted to ask are you going to post anything on the township website about solar eclipse on April 8th uh I believe that we're supposed to get like a 90% uh totality and the peak of it is supposed to be midafternoon on Monday and if people look directly at it they could Dage their eyes so from a public safety perspective I guess we should definitely do that do put it on social too absolutely I will close my eyes on April 8th don't look into the sun ever so we need to do an email GL on that I guess yeah we could certainly do that all right very good any other comments not we'll close this portion of uh the comments and questions to the public and I don't think we need another uh executive session no no all right have a motion for adjournment so moved second Carolyn and fern all in favor I I thank you very much for coming out thank you thank you was riveting [Laughter] riveting yeah what's riveting about I know know thank you [Music] oh yeah um I I don't have the uh location but um D Del R our Sports Association they're going to be doing um that the beginning here they're going to be offering CPR and a training certification in April and May so they have a meeting the 26th so when I get that information I'll email you he doesn't have thanks for coming see you Wednesday can't wait yeah really exactly yeah I'll let you know okay did you understand the gutter thing well we have to uh we we budgeted 5,000 anyway I knew it was going to be more than 44 so um Aaron's going to write the check in the township will reimburse you this way he doesn't have to weit so Richard's with he was out I said how do you go out there where's that where's is she is this her house she wow and she's moving work oh thank we're going to do a on the exact dat doing one