good evening welcome to the March 18th 2024 Township committee meeting held at 700 p.m at Municipal Building here at 770 Cooper Town Road in Delano can I have a roll call please Miss Fitzpatrick here Mr olap here miss Seuss here Mr Templeton here Mr Bartlett here also president Mr Schwab our Township administrator Mrs Russell our Deputy municipal clerk uh lieutenant waren from the police department and Miss mcfaden Administrative Assistant uh please rise for the flag salute I to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible andice all we have the sunshine statement please please be advised that proper not 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 too um Ray Weber 22 ships way uh some of our residents have received a letter from Delano 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 Delco coun who signed it I don't have the copy of the shade tree commission I think probably oh yeah so know anything about it we don't know anything Richard you don't about 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 or the sidewalk be the responsibility of the homeowners well that's correct that's the that is correct I know the ordinance now anybody want we're trying to get rid of the trees in there because the trees are dying because with their problems they're lifting up the streets already we have on Pennington on new Boulevard they LIF roots are lifting the tree streets up already and on Bennington they're heading towards the storm SE Mike do you know anything storm do you know anything as Le on Mike anything about it this is brought up before the previous T being I brought it up and I told not the letter the the letter the letter trees could you bring a letter or send a letter to us I'll get a copy of the letter right yeah and I'd probably if it is from the shry commission I would also suggest coming out to the uh next sha 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 uh 7 p.m. with that the trees going in there the trees are currently heading towards the storm SS that we currently have a new landing on couple of spots we've had the townships had problems with these tree roots before going in storm sters and some of the other areas if' had replace the whole street out there over on the other side of brington Avenue there we're going to have to replace it because the storm show was clogged with tree roots and Harry said a couple months ago that they going have to replace the entire storm SE for that street because of the clay type pipes the new pipes that they're probably going to put in are made out of concrete probably that's what they normally use for storm seers they come in 7 foot length sometimes PVC yeah some oh yeah I would think I would think PVC may be but um so have you brought any of this up to sha Tre at all these issues I talked to John Brown oh okay and he says he's never heard a damn thing about it pardon me okay so anyway you use normally use concrete 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's by concrete most people use the concrete because it's the cheapest thing after just like anything else tree roots go for whatever they'll break through anything and everything here 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 because our rehab in the house and my good conscious I couldn't leave that house looking like that with the concrete which lifted up so people say trees roots go oh they'll go around or whatever both they go through Cinder Block they'll go through Stone they'll go through anything right we've seen it so that's that's the reason why I'm saying what happens is pled trees and Street run out into the streets and stuff you're going to have more problems this time it's 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 language 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 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 supposed to be a list I thought you were working 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 as far as that Letter's concerned come next Wednesday night and also uh you have my email can you do the way to scan can you scan me a copy of that yeah certainly I'd like a cop be great okay I'll make sure everybody gets it and stuff good yeah definitely appreciate that Ray next thing is sometime hopefully in the May time I was talking to tenant Warren here ear uh we were wondering of having the from from the township committee and the police department come back out to Landing like they've done in the past sure I'd be happy to come same and uh 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 as I said we haven't finalized it yet but it looks like it's hopefully make time okay okay sounds good all right thank you very much thank you R Mr mcneel Mike mcneel 726 Pennsylvania Avenue um I just to 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 mayor Bartlett for writing to our state legislators to uh to highlight and to voice his pleasure with the the proposed a Cuts allocated to the district thank you for advocating for our kids and um I was very uh pleased and encouraged to see that we got a response from your uh Singleton's office it sounds like you know maybe there's some hope there that uh that uh that that'll be undone and that uh you know we'll get some of the aid that this District desperately needs so thank you um and uh hopefully things get 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 sorry oh you come up no problem my name is BR 800 pania 828 Pennsylvania last name Sid 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 lot to that what's the exact question application we have anything over 10,000 stated in the code upon the street RV no RV overnight nothing over it really doesn't say anything about private on your property on your like what you own on the street or in the driv driveway driveway yeah driveway driveway is that something that I mean because I've myself have 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 having in their driveway you mean and the code enforcement 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 that were getting 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 prior 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 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 trying to do that it's just a parking situation there's nothing nothing we have to talk more to the code enforcement officer on that um but if he's citing you for running Park oh you can't park on the grass I we don't have any 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 to cover this we haven't discussed changing any codes that I'm aware of that's my question is is that do we need to is that what you're suggesting I don't i' suggest that you know this is a you know as far as I'm concerned a pretty blue color town you know in my particular there's been no complaints by anybody anywhere around me whether it be Pennsylvania Laurel we have a very good reputation with my all my neighbors so I'm just you know trying to clarify because it kind of like a touching though I think the last time we de this was September 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 there was a problem with it which we've changed do you have a letter that that you received on this or yeah I do you have it there on yeah so what were you what was the designation like can you re like was the vehicle oversized or was it commercial 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 I've seen that's the first I've heard tow truck mentioned nothing so it's parked in the street or parked in your yard or park my yard on your driveway I've seen it I think this went to last year any advantage or something yeah I seen it and you were noticed about it m for what um well it just keeps keeps referencing 10 or 11-10 dm7 which is Provisions to run a home business if I was 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 a one front that's not I'm not asking that is your business registered to your house so why are you parking a commercial truck on your property then live there and just like you know a couple other companies in town sometimes we can get a call any time and I leave I do the call and I come back well we've 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 in the D but that's when the question is because the the if you look in the parking code just specifically states on the street nothing you know the Street's not way per it's off street it's off the street that's that's really I don't have the code here in front of me but I what I could certainly do is look at the code and a for clarification on the code to be more clear we did get the back you said you got the letter back yeah 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 send a letter to the serve the Township from what I understood we serve the township and asked them to clarify the code say maybe maybe in more detail Cod so when we received it back I just have a copy of what we received I'm not sure did anybody sign see yeah can we see your what you received this this was just an email who's it from not can you bring it up please yeah let's take a look we're we're grasping at smoke here that's not us that's do you have a lawyer that's who it came from this Melanie Schroeder she isn't from Delano Township she's not our councel is she your councel no she's from from my gu 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 understand okay okay 29 she's um citing section 10 yeah 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 maybe you should leave it Brett because 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 side of town 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 yeah the 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 we have to go on the on 20th yeah okay oh which that's Wednesday this week this Wednesday this Wednesday Wednesday okay judge all right yeah the I think the Judge could probably clarify section of the code as well and do Ed ran the code enforcement officer will be on there as well yeah okay but we we'll certainly look at that in advance as well all right thank you thank you thanks so he's going to all right anyone else hard yes all right we will close this uh session to the public we'll go to comments and reports uh starting with Mr Schwab oh thank you um number one later on you'll see the introduction of the 2024 budget so I'm 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 time table will depend on them this year hopefully they will have reviewed it and any changes we need to make we'll have it keep that schedule up um let 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 sweep so that's a good thing to have happen and that should be delivered and on the street in the next two or 3 weeks because the vendor does have it in stock and if 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 an 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 uh 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 out to 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 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 Fern's idea this school m 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 the quarter of the new roof quarter of the new roof right I think it was $2 million we're trying to be creative yeah so we need to come up with uh U Mike if you know of a 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 is we're 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 passed that on and I don't know what he does or doesn't do so sort of in there all you can do is say that doesn't qualify or something but you I'll be happy to put whatever you tell me to write down I wouldn't just include this school I would include something else too couple couple things include some ideas yeah goad okay all right that's all I have that's all all right thank you Richard uh I got to throw this out get it off my chest oh yeah go ahead the state's taking all this money away from our schools here's a chance to put money back into our 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 know I'm going to take care of my kids so right yeah right it's just that if we have the opportunity to put three projects if we can pick three projects for this 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 I supect money for the schools not what they're looking for they're not they're not we can ask I think that'll be ignored though but I understand about mun project it's a hard pill to swallow when you say oh our school just lost 450,000 but let's put in for a new park you know like it's just the thing is is that they'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 exactly 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 but I thank you I just think it's ridiculous that they're coming to do this now when 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 know doesn't make sense go to the schools for heaven's sakes give them the money they need it's not it's not even just Delano it's so many different schools obviously that's what we care about here but it's just it's just mind- bobbling it 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 right 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 for this month as of today uh there were 474 calls of service with a total of 243 calls for the year 59 motor vehicle stops 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 the department so I believe within the next week or two we should be able to get everything put back in place um everything I was put all over the place just to make accommodations for the construction so um we're up and up and running ready to go now good 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 clerk'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 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 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 uh I've got a report tonight thank you okay short and sweet uh Mr that uh not in order but uh I've got a few things uh no ditto no ditto you did that last week you remember I that was that was funny that was epic very good uh Burlington County uh planning board uh they had a uh Land Development uh review reol uh resolution to update their uh 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 where houses and they talked about that but again it's not a county issue as it is a um 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 uh the county has is input going into the roadway um 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 had that uh let's 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 and things like that uh the businesses could apply for and let's see had of the library met uh sad news there is 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 uh being on the library board that's wow he's on the history board if I'm not mistaken as well right uh his obligations that he has for Wednesday Wednesday night that we had the history board meeting he's still able to attend so that has not interfered a great guy yes he is he's the treasurer went to school with one uh let's see and oh uh we did our budget meeting and let's see another thing in there I think oh we 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 f Miss L Patrick yes I do have a report um daa Del Riv uh registration for the spring Sports which includes baseball t-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 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 the library I just wanted to add that the library T 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 wind chime uh event where you will 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 Mar March 5th at the site uh he will be working with Steve lenon 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 ukulele band entertained us with music from the 40s and 50s and uh they were kind of 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 Dobbins and we're gonna 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 man holes 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 collar 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 operators's report is on file and um Tom fining gave me uh this sample of this is 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 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'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 updates 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 the 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 the 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 we had quite a few people out 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 do but he's not from he's not from Delo no so I thought had lot of toys to share in 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 riverline 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 maner 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 the safety of crossing and wait until that top red light is out out before you decide to cross because sometimes the South band Train will come and right after that the northb 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 big 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 striped 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 and 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 they they should have put the striping in like it was think of is it wasn't regulated with wise the have two lanes there and they couldn't that's the only thing I can we did before it was two lanes before and it was marked that way at one time and when they redid Road surfacing anyway it's a disaster and I'm anxious to see how they're going to me think about it though corrected it's not our town it's state road so they're going to have to figure that out yeah and it was a state I dealt with and that that traffic is going be backed up to Chick-fil-A yep it's terrible it's it's absolutely terrible but anyway that's 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 go back into one lane and it's going to go right into the shoulder and they didn't want our input cu the why would they want input from people who are actually here that's crazy the the issue the meeting the original meeting that I had with them the issue was they needed to um do something thing with the traffic that was backed up and going through that Jug Handle so they weren't listening obviously they striped oh my God I so Color Me surprised it doesn't make any sense cuz most jug handles have two links yeah always historically that's always been two since it's always been two lanes they just needed to stripe it two lanes just a show that you turn here and you go straight was mention to it was mentioned to them and they didn't simple yeah so we'll see hopefully could be a simple fix again all right thank you all right Miss Seuss okay I lived here for the past two weeks so I know what you mean here for two weeks 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 uh RLS better known they uh have their application in for two more phases of I think they 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 just 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 concerns with the noise because it is a freezer facility um the noise of the The Outdoor Equipment in 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 residence 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 Bays if you're not going to have increased traffic well we don't know if we're going to have increased traffic 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 violations 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 out 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 we 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 you're 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 concerns I had with uh some of the parks and also talk 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 are 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 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 yep 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 day all right thank you Caroline thanks um I'll just say ditto no uh well you were there from I 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 uh 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 response to our code enforcement officer could have easily been taken care of so just in short just don't ignore letters you get 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 carollyn reported uh I've had discussions with Harry uh regarding the flooding issue over the bridge in River side and there's some more communication to come on that matter 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 seain 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 ER 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 mcneel 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 uh 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 get the message out to them and that's all of the township committee reports can I say one more thing oh sure why not thank you um when I was speaking with Harry over at the bab Ruth 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 haven't 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 good do we need a motion for that b does that include uh that part of Hickory Street too uh it would be the whole complex yeah the whole complex 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 Maple I think pretty much yeah much the park property we're only talking about the park property just be the actual property itself 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 but actually cracked or something yeah it's still a hot mess that's the ray had mentioned but that's the section no one have objections and I will ask Harry to give us 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 drier doesn't hurt to get a proposal yes that should be free yeah the proposal cost the proposal should be free it cost to do the work right to do his work to do his work the too work yes the too work okay you were going to ask about oh yes I actually wrote that 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 Force 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 out that application and execute that uh so it's 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 prescribe burn it's called right all in favor I thank just one for the record in case we all burn down you yeah he's the one who requested it right hear it come back to us you know I thought that was something we have we have to sign it as the mun IP ality and then they'll submit the form to someone did make a motion in a second I make the motion all right so and we Town burns down like Chicago did and you know bite your tongue Mike 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 are 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 NOP you good Mike you're good I'm good y all right ordinance uh 2024-25 governing rental property first reading by title only and set public hearing date for April 15th at 7 p.m. resolution 2020 4- 58 authorizing the purchase of a 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 and use of a street sweeper resolution disposal of out of service office equipment payment of bills current fund $123,800 24 20 720 20 what I say 50 oh okay 72074 30s Capital fund $1,444 Housing Trust $315 approval of minutes for January 22nd and January 23rd meetings approval of business licenses 202 24-1 through 202 24-15 we have a motion for approval of the consent agenda so moved second motion by Kate second by Fern uh roll call please miss Fitz pater yes Mr olette yes Miss Seuss yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Barlett yes right introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget that's Richard Richard do you have anything well just uh 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 uh 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 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 is only 2 cents or less 1.81 % increase and that the average residential property increas is $38.75 was also 1.18 1.81% so uh we're able to do a lot of things uh for a very low increase and we listed 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 otherwi wise and their costs 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 be totally in the current fund have the open space trust fund uh accumulate most for future Parks appropriate uh Acquisitions and improvements rather than operations employee health in Insurance increases due to increased rates but we also have more people that will 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 oneand it goes up but then we get it back in the next couple years so that's a quick summary of it and uh the township committee 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 uh look at the website if you want details so now we basically need your authorization to introduce the budget and uh Bev and Rob will get all the information and get up to the state this week all right thank you Richard and nice job getting this budget prepared yes thank you 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 uh roll call please Miss Fitzpatrick yes Mr olette yes Miss Seuss yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Bartlett yes uh correspondents 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 15th 2024 at 7 p.m. and authorize publication of set budget as required by law right so if you don't make it by title only then that 45 page state document has to be read word for word oh yeah title only please want to make sure you did that right thank you B thank you thank you Richard for an excellent job you were going to read that the whole 45 page right I would be happy to do so sure you don't get paid by the word anymore sorry any correspondence 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 in your agenda packets thank you be 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 don't yeah thats up I mean the only thing is come on up Ray I'm sorry oh Caroline did that sorry that Caroline me Matt we've all been working on that issue 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 the rers were going across on our side and stuff last Saturday night around 4:00 Saturday night 3:30 qu 4 there was nothing out at Cooper Town Road at the traffic this week the bridge wasn't closed like two days ago like two days ago Saturday last week last week last week oh yeah last week it was open sorry Saturday week ago yeah there wasn't anything out there for and when I went all the way down and then I had to go all the way back around and God forbid if there's a medical emergency or something yeah I guess I guess who usually puts that out Matt the fire department or the police which what he said coopertown Road you mean Cooper Street Cooper Town Cooper town and Burlington the problem with that I thought Chief might have brought up to you guys before the officers aren't just sitting there all day long waiting for that sign to be put out so they're running PS so they can only get out there to put it up when it's feasible and then the issue though is there have been times where Bridge was closed they were told they need to put the signs on by the time they got out there to put the sign out they were told that the bridge was open yeah so now they were going back and forth like basically playing tag with the tie so but a lot of times it just a matter of them clearing their calls or service that they on and then once they're clear they'll go and they'll 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 I mean you saw that oh I know that I'm sing out the alert Matt's been the one closing the bridge Riverside hasn't even been paying attention Matt'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 put it out there see it but that's I mean as czy it's it's crazy and what happens too is when that bridge is closed that turn turn lane it's wor it's wor it's like Warr it's all back to to yeah you're not kidding I know yeah and there was an accident right along that area from that mhm we ask too um Central communicate what happens more often than not as well the Riverside officers they W putting it out on radio all the time that the bridge Come Close CU it flood they were calling the Central and at that time Central wasn't advising us right it was until the residents said hey bridge is flooded again and we go we look and say yeah it is and we were call over radio toide yeah we know we're where but no one said it yeah yeah I that's the other that's communication it's got to happen better because I mean being retired from EMS God forbid I'm is the esses especially if you're in Riverside or whatever you got to come through or whatever and that bridge is 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 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 Joe that's what the is the issue that's the issue talk to 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 talk to John 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 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 going back up the man yep that's exactly what the issue is you put the check Val in there you got cover El the problem and to Lieutenant Warren's Point uh we did have that issue in January with the lack of communication from that and I had reached out as the Township's Emergency Management coordinator to the Bridge Commission and we finally got the circle of communication 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 inste putting out the social media notifications the uh alert sents 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 a Band-Aid on the problem right but we're we're keeping on this this is it's not not only inconvenient to ass soul 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 need to be Sol thank you thank you R thank you R need to be the squeaky wheel 100% 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 at the peak of it is supposed to be midafternoon on Monday and if people look directly at it they could damage their eyes so from a public safety perspective I guess we should definitely do that guess we do that 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 blast 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 right Carolyn and fern all in favor I I thank you very much for coming out thank you thank you was riveting sorry [Laughter] riveting you are new yeah what's riveting about before that Wasing that was that was for my time