if possible uh so this meeting is called to the provisions of the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was transmitted to the hund Democrat times of Trenton and Star Ledger on December 29 2023 posted on the township website the municipal building bulletin board and filed with the Township Clerk as required by law everyone could please rise for the pledge of allegiance alleg to the flag of the United States of America to for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you uh roll call please Diana Chad B here susanwood here Joseph here mayor here okay we're going to proceed with the approval of the meeting minutes for the April 8th 2024 regular meeting minutes and the ex itive session minutes which we have to approve and hold so if I could have a motion for the April 8th 2024 regular meeting minutes pleas I'll second okay thank you any discussion any discussion okay everyone else okay with the meeting M okay uh everyone who's in approval of the meeting minut please say I I I uh any abstentions okay uh if I could get a motion for the executive session minutes which is approve and hold so move I have a second second okay any discussion on the executive session next okay uh all those in favor please say I I I any extensions okay thank you okay we're going to open up for public comments agenda items only please three minutes per person if you could please use uh the podium in the front any public comments yes sir and if you could please give the clerk your name and whether you're a resident or not R but I'm speaking this evening as president of the Del Township historical society um as the committee members know we've been fortunate enough to get a ground from the committee for many many years $2,000 and I understand the lawyers now uh said that we can't receive that money this year and so that really does put in question whether we can renew the um ready Schoolhouse lease which we took on behalf because the committee couldn't afford to maintain it so I appreciate your call earlier mayor to say that we could look at maybe cost sharing some of the uh expenses that we have incurred from private funds from Historical Society to try and find a way to be able to execute another 5year lease for the r School pass yes so I don't know who is the right person to follow up with on that would be me okay all right well okay thank you you're welcome thank you anyone else uh just resident can you explain to V well I got three questions one is resolution 24103 explain that to me please are you guys writing a letter to the legislature in support of that and if so why are you in support uh we are in support of what the state our state representative had mentioned in his letter um would you like me sure so the New Jersey League of municipalities and all the clerks are in support of the modernization of opro because um commercial entities are using it to um businesses some liit on that they want to um protect some more private resident information for being included in what is given to people for oos um so it's it's and there's some wording changes like there's the uh they want to change like shall to May for um judgments against people paying and then winding up having to pay the lawyer fees so things like that it's just it needs to be tweaked it's been it's become a much bigger um burden on municipalities facilitating the request because it you know people are using it for their their commercial purposes for okay but it's not going to limit like res not not meant for res very unclear no it's actually a good question it's specifically targeting groups that are like using it for data mining and and as as uh Diana said I I know last year there was like a tax company that was asking they was trying to get information so that they could sell it to others so they were get basically getting the municipal clerks to become their employees to gather the information became such a Statewide problem that this legislation is designed to to Target those commercial Enterprises without limiting the public Public Access which is what was really designed for okay all right except that that's there's controversy over whether or not they've accomplish that with this version would agre it's a start it's I mean so when we get to that I think we should pull it out of the um out of the consent agenda um but because there's good things in there but I think there bad things in there too and I don't disagree that there are some good things but I think that there's not some good things as well what do you think is not um again when it sounds simple to move something from shall to may but that means you don't have to comply with it at that point so you know my understanding is there's a little feeling that indeed it's gone too far in the other direction and it needs additional tweaking just fii it already passed and it's at the governor's office um so it's up to the governor at this point anyway um but as I said there's I I don't disagree that it needed fixes it just may have gone too far in the other direction that's what I'm reading okay I guess I'll Trust in my elected officials call on that um 24104 is this like the like our stuff that we'll pull in another garage get we we never know we we do this routinely it's actually a good thing there are companies where you can take your Surplus stuff and you can sell it you get some money back that money goes back into our budget and then we can because I was wondering because we want to clean up the Attic So if there's like a timeline when you're doing this maybe get tiet that's not up there and then I don't know if you're I'm assuming that you'll talk about this at one point but the 24112 the shared services of tax assessor who are we sharing with them with and what's our time allocation oh stt and then are we like we get 80% they get 20% um what was the I can't remember off the top she will work here 100 will come here she's here 100% physically but needs to a lot certain amount of hours to be able to work on stopping business as well she'll move everything here okay all right cool thank you you're welcome yes sir hey guys Mario Russo resident um it's just a few uh DPW items we had our DTA meeting the other day and Justin you guys have been amazing I actually saw peep down there working today and the weed whacking everything look amazing so thank you very much um the things that were brought up in the meeting were um the potholes and like the entrance we just fill up a border people are trying to maneuver through them um there's some weeds coming up on the lower softball field the other three fields are all still fine but lower softball so I don't know if we can talk to True Green or yeah whatever see what they can do there and then um I don't know if we have something like this but um when you go into that Cav area the parking lot some of the people are going up that trail there at the end of it driving up there driving up and just parking like you know and I know parking is tough but I was thinking maybe on like Saturday or Sunday if we could put like a saw horse or something that says no parking and then the coaches can just like move it over on that path so people don't drive up it might be something yeah that was it and then we just leave it on the side questions but thank you everything down there it's really been anything with the uh lower the only thank you guys appreciate it anyone else okay hearing none could I get a motion to close of public comment motion okay all those in favor hi hi okay we're going to move forward with Township committee L on reports uh start with Mr Bower yes um I just want to to call out Mario and DTA and the work that DPW uh did in preparation for opening day um it was very cold day it was raining and it was like almost freezing but you guys had a great turnout and that's the best that I've seen the park look since I've been here and I've been working with the uh program for over eight years uh you guys did an awesome job really cleaning things up um address all safety concerns that you know were raised so really thank you very much for that um the people that just commented over and over about how great the park looked it could have been done without you know you guys bringing the issues forward uh as painful as that can be sometimes you guys did an awesome job of really you know characterizing exactly what need to be addressed and you guys fixed it so thank you very much for that um and then you know just a big shout out to Jess and what you guys are doing for w um the number of events with the um the egg hunt through the paintball which my kid loved by the way it's great uh the duck race and then the yard cell and despite the weather you guys had a lot of people come out and participate so thank you for engaging the community and thank you for what you guys are done thank you uh Mrs um the open space committee um the grant finishing up the Grant That'll have all the trail information I don't know anyone there anticipating that everything should be online and available by next month okay the storm water committee and I'm glad you're here um the storm water committee would like to meet with our engineer at some point and I know Diane was going to setting that up we had two objectives one is to understand um what responsibilities like storm water could assist with in our our um tier a requirements um and the other uh is is a project potential project that we're thinking of down at the down at the um Public Works um so we're kind of like stuck until I mean we well we have been discussing that and I'm going to do a mapping get that together that maybe we can all be yeah so a portion of that um we have we have we have or we will soon have the approved um scope for the mapping for the um essentially there's a map mapping requirement for permit that requires all municipalities to map every facility ditch pipe BS manhole anything that touches storm water has to be done once that's done certainly I'm willing to meet with the storm committee with Justin you know together there's there's a lot of different elements coming uh that are due in years three four and five of the permit that will certainly require storm order committee's U input and feedback um specifically related to addressing um runoff pollution standards and other elements I don't know how familiar familiar familiar you are with the requirements but there's something called a watershed Improvement plan that has to be implemented and that's going to require public stakeholder input of course the public at large as well as storm order committee the environmental commission and any other sort of Township um group or committee that might have a state in those in those uh improvements for commitments that that the state is asking for all municipalities to make um so certainly you know I think we once we have that map in hand then we schedule this meeting to really discuss that and where we can Target efforts you know and of course that singular project I'm not entirely certain scope that you're looking to to achieve at the DPW Yard or I don't know if it's at the police department or sort in that area but we can sort of look at that as well and see if it's something that Public Works can can execute if it's an improvement project right I mean and again we don't want to get into it here but um as I said the storm water committee was put back together after we had the blowout of lower Creek Road and um you know I mean we want to help in any way that we can and as I said we' kind of looked at potential projects we know Stockton has get getting nrcs to help them with a project of R 523 and they've asked us to participate and we're not really sure how we're participating if we're participating if we should so we were just kind of looking for some guidance to get us going so yeah I mean is that the committee's pleasure if you know if we' like to join I don't know if you have standing me we do um it's the the fourth Wednesday of the month 7 or or we actually the environmental commission off offered as well it's possible that we could combine exactly with the environmental commission um and their meetings I mean are the thir wednes thank you third Wednesday so there's kind of a choice third Wednesday fourth Wednesday they're both Wednesdays if those are bad that might work better I think second and fourth Wednesdays I usually have planning board meetings so uh in the evenings so third Wednesday might be better but I'll I'll look at my calendar thank you so that was um storm water open space and then I guess the only other thing and I just mentioned it it wasn't really something that we need to deal with but um I guess if anyone lives being now on the MUA anyone is in the mua's um service area there were a couple of concerns at one point evidently someone must have discharged I don't know some kind of paint or something into the system and that really disrupts kills the bacteria and the system doesn't function so that's not a good thing and um I think they were looking at possibly some kind of notice like who's going to do that and the other thing too is that you're not also supposed to be discharging your s into and that was another concern and and sort of investigating if there's any way to without being intrusive um find ways to not basically without being intrusive without visiting people and they don't want to do that any um I don't know if there's any way to put something on the website perhaps about you know put flushing non waste I we can ask for right like a b like a no list or something yeah I think that would be I I think they should we should work with them to do that as I said I think CU I asked much does it take and I said just just a little bit like a hous hold a few gallons right and it like really messes up the bacteria yeah right and then they have to hope that it CS out and gets flushed out and eventually it's back but that's and the bacteria has to recolonize again so it's not as efficient okay oh then other thing I should say is the um birthday event at the school um um went off and left out the weather held off and it was um a great event a lot of time a lot of effort but the kids I think really appreciated it and had a good time and so did I think everyone who participated as an adult as well great thank you is here I'll be attending the um school year Organization for 100 Central I was just going to reach out to him first cuz it's now that we have an exclusive Delaware Township right of the board so yeah so you you have I do yeah yeah I just thought i' get here but sure yeah I think that's it okay uh so I just have a few things uh the Police Unity Tour rode through town earlier this week uh I believe it was successful once again all the kids uh were outside of the school cheering on all the Riders I was uh pretty shocked about the total number of riders and and the support vehicles that were necessary for the tour um I got stuck behind it twice once in Ringo and then once I tried to get around it really quick and I got stuck up here on Lambert so um anyway it was it was it was well done so uh I hope they had a successful ride and and obviously it was for a good cause um I did want to want to mention that the administrator uh the chief of police and the animal uh human or Humane officer of who's patrolman Murphy we met with the uh we had a meeting a few weeks ago with the New Jersey agricultural Department uh head of animal she was the head of the animal sub subdivision of the of the New Jersey agricultural Department um and essentially she had checked in on the condition of uh down on headquarters Road uh has been there numerous times and she she checks for uh the Humane her definition of Humane conditions for animals including uh their living quarters uh whether they have enough uh food to eat and their uh whether there's sufficient amount of water for them to survive those are the only three tests that are necessary uh for someone to be able to pass under their regulations in order for them to uh be deemed a uh Humane living conditions and she did check in on that and is suggesting that she saw not optimal living living conditions but nothing that would uh throw any red flags lots of food and plenty of water um she also did mention that she does random and regular testing of the AV um the the Aviary population for bird flu and that uh and it's like I said random and regular and she has not seen any indication whatsoever uh that there is any AV Avi flu associated with the population that's there um we did mention uh one of the residents one of the neighbors uh had sent along a picture to us of a dead chicken uh we did provide that to her and she indicated to us that she fully believes that that was probably a fox that got a hold of that particular chicken um and that uh the birds don't necessarily have to be contained in any sort of living quarters they can run freely on the property unfortunately even if that's not the best conditions for them to stay away from predators and hence that's probably what happened with with the chicken that was found along on your um you'll have an opportunity ma'am in a little bit um that's why I'm providing this now so that you can think of your questions and then during open public comment later if you could reserve your questions for that time that would be great um so that's all I had um we're going to be in constant contact with this individual as a matter of fact I try to reach out to her today to see if there was any updates prior to the meeting unfortunately I was unable to get a hold of her today uh but I will speak to her prior to the next meeting and I'll provide an update at that particular time it seems to me like this is the proper individual along with the USDA um however the USDA is not involved to its maximum uh I I believe their their efforts thus far are minimal uh waiting for this potential flock to come and then obviously if if slaughtering ensues there that would be within their jurisdiction and hence they would probably get highly at that particular point in time um it was also confirmed by us that the county uh Board of Health deems this particular issue outside of their jurisdiction so um so that's my update in in response in respect to that particular issue uh so with that being said um we can move forward with uh the administrator's report I I Diane's not feeling well so it's just okay we're just going to do the budget okay um so we're just going to wait until we actually get to that okay got it thank you okay uh we'll move forward with the DPW report uh Justin's with us this evening thanks for coming Justin uh the floor is yours uh so Township maintenance we did this month was uh sort of roadside Mo along Township roads hold asphalt to recycling plant hold 100 yards of wood chips to Res through out Town um removed car parts from Pine Hill for the New Jersey conservation we installed new speed limit signs on Pine Hill Road started replacing some street signs as far as Road shot signs um roads and drainage we regraded and filled potholes on three stone roads in town Pine Hill Hamp Road and Cory road we dug out drainage ditches in seven locations spaning approximately 1500 ft and we started our annual pople replacing program which were about 3/4 of the way through town and so far we've filled 40 tons U of asphalt in those pocks um as far as safety goes we attended our monthly JF safety meeting uh also attended safety training for our right to know and our bloodb pathogens and also did CPR training and that's that thank you I appreciate that I did want to mention to the to the audience um there was a uh I guess it was on the Facebook group I'm trying to remember Josh the title of Josh Goldman's Facebook group um yeah sorry um it's one of the it's either I think it's just Delaware Township uh residence or something along those lines but there was some Communication in there about potholes and I was able to get those over to Justin so if you don't feel like reaching out directly to Justin at the DPW that is sort of a place that people have been using as a repository of any po potholes that they see in the township you can list them there and I will for them along can I say um I know you've been on lamberville headquarters Road actually a while ago however in front of Mr st's property I think a a pipe was replaced within the year and whatever fill that got in there it sunk so there's a really big bump because it it basically subsided and so when you come along there unfortunately there's a big Bo what do you know the address yes [Music] n and roll off you know garbage roll off or anything like that when they go over that bu that R actually uh separates above the chassis Ian luckily hasn't slid back but it what it does it raises above the chassis okay yeah as I said I know they did the pipe work and put in a new pipe but whatever happened it settled and it's not like a really big bump [Music] unfortunately was one theze oh yeahp thank you okay uh we're going to move forward with the budget so uh resolution 2494 uh I'm going to go ahead and the budget by title and so this is the go figure 2024 Municipal budget uh so if we could if I could have a motion to open uh to the public hearing on the proposed 2024 budget please we have to approve the resolution first oh the resolution 24- 94 yes okay so if I could have a motion to approve uh or yes motion to approve resolution 2494 I'll make that motion okay any discussion okay hearing none uh we should do a roll call on this one please Diana David B Chad B yes Susan yes Jose yes yes thank you uh so if I could get a motion now for the public hearing on the proposed 2024 budget second okay uh can I just take all those in favor I okay uh anyone from the public have any comments or questions regarding the uh proposed 2024 budget please come to the podium we're more than happy to answer any questions you may have just um where's the money coming from for fixing up deals uh we don't need that yet this year because we haven't even gone to bid we don't know what the money is and it will be applied to next year's budget if we're able to get that started this year we'll do a bond okay we'll do a bond where the payment would be paid by the open space portion that goes towards the okay but we're still planning on Star yes okay thank you you're welcome any other questions or comments I'll just add so thanks for having me U Laura at from the audit firm bkc work with on the budget this year she did a lot of work though I just kind of hope to put the numbers into the spreadsheet um this a pretty good bu uh we have the amount to be raised for taxations only going up 136,000 seems like a lot but really um for $400,000 home which is the average residential value in Delaware it's equivalent of paying an extra $5 a month for your municipality taxes so chances are if you get your tax bill at then uh middle of the year and you're wondering why it went up so much you probably have to go down to the school and visit them um that's usually where you're going to see the Pikes happening um some of the major Ines that we had and decreases related to um the engineer costs are going up with a lot of different projects are going on especially with the estate mandates that are happening um we had some categories actually going down relating to our planning and our land use salaries um health benefits is going up but this is as a result I'm guess so with public works and police um we are increasing um people there so as a result your help benefit is going to go up in that area um the category for gas is actually going down a little bit because prices haven't been too bad so we were able to kind of keep that down storm water this is a category that you're seeing across all the municipalities in New Jersey they've handed out a lot of Brands but they're also putting a lot of stipulations with things too that we have to start kind of implemented and you probably notice a lot more ordinances happening with that also um and then speaking of improvements and the capital items we're also increasing the amount that we're paying down on some of our old projects that had happened um The Written House Road so we're increasing that another $10,000 this year um our Surplus is looking pretty good this year uh the audit's almost THB we probably have that at your next meeting you'll see that the tax collections are pretty much identical to the prior is great um and yeah that's okay thank you could you say again what was the total increase thisth the total increase for the amount to be raised is 136,000 Penny and a and correct me if I'm wrong but we also had to set aside the funds necessary for the merger between Stockton fire company and um our local fire company in hopes of receiving the grand money back but that had to be part of this so we we kept the donation for stocking the city okay but that's what we're going to use at to pay for that all the expenses incurred with that with that merger they thought that would do that okay great what Stockton had um budgeted for donation and what we budget for okay great thank you any yes sorry again Mario from dtaa Resident um the funds for the dtaa the yearly funds I know there's not a separate line item for that is that through the re's budget or that is okay so we would go to w and let them know yes thank you you're welcome anyone else okay not seeing anyone if uh we could close the we can get a motion to close the public hearing on the proposed 2024 budget second all those in favor I okay I get a motion for uh resolution 24- 95 to adopt the 2024 budget I'll make that motion second uh any discussion Mr B I'll start with you considering this is the budget are you okay with the budget as a stand okay Mr I think as usual I think we're it's good that we have such a good collection so thank our residents and glad that everyone is forunate enough to they keep up with their taxes and thank you guys for being doing a really good job basically on the bud thank you any questions comments no looks great for all your hard work yeah I was just going to mention Dian thank you very much for your hard work and the finance committee for putting the budget together um obviously I'm I'm not a fan of any year in which we have to raise taxes um however this is a minimal raise um and unfortunately just the cost of um having individuals in the town working for us and the uh costs of benefits associated with them are just going up and in order to uh hire the right people um we have to have an attractive benefits package and uh in the past we've tried to you know be on the cheaper side when it comes to salaries um we've always been good on the benefit side but with the salaries and we always found that we essentially got people and folks that um are no longer here um because they didn't do a very good job so in order to compete with some of the larger towns um we had to you know pay the the the going going wage for the job so um unfortunately that ends up with the you know everything going up and so uh I'm happy with the rate that the minimal rate that we had increased in taxes by unfortunately it's just one of those things that happened so um but thank you for the hard work and thank you for your summary on everything um we really appreciate it so we look forward to your the auditor's report I guess we'll see that next month or the month there after hopefully um so thank you for that um with that being said uh I guess we're going to need a a roll call vote please Chad yes yes yes yes thank you uh we'll move on to resolution 24-96 uh which is the local budget ex examination now we essentially we just did that correct so the um local budg every other year the state either reviews your budget and then the years that they're not piing it apart which happened last year then we get to kind of have an easier year push the budget through without the state on us okay so you don't anticipate that reoccurring this year um I think this upcoming year it should be another local examination and then the following year would be okay um fantastic thank you uh so we're voting to allow this to occur is is that essentially what we're doing you're saying that you reviewed it okay I got it got it okay uh so if I could have a motion for resolution 24-96 second okay uh any any [Music] discussion okay seeing none uh roll call please DAV Chad yes Susan yes Joseph yes yes thank you okay we're going to move forward with the introduction thank you very much for your com thank you and hard work uh introduction of ordinance so we have ordinance 20 24-8 and ordinance of the township of Delaware County of hun and state of New Jersey to authorize an expenditure and appropriation from Capital Improvement fund for $1,000,000 for the purchase of public for vehicle SL equipment and accessories um so if we're reading by title so can we introduced it so uh do I need a motion to set the public hearing you need a motion to introduce and then set the thank you so if I could have a motion to introduce or 20248 make a motion second okay any discussion I'm just poting out that there title yeah two typos in the title them already okay okay thank you than that it looks fine this is am d tra right yeah we need we need that particular vehicle for the is this the one that we need for the snow plowing no yeah this will be for salving and snow plowing um the truck we have now the frame is busted out it's inoperable I can't even send someone out it because the frame could literally fall apart on it um okay so this is what when would you say the last time we had to purchase one of these was long time ago uh it was probably 10 years okay and what what would you say the average life expectancy or something like that is uh would probably say 10 years but this particular truck is 22 years old oh it was bought years so no it was lought new but it was bought 22 years ago so I mean it's in rough shape okay um I mean it's a 200 21 or no I'm sorry 2001 okay so it's in pretty bad shap okay thank you you're welcome okay uh so do I set the public hearing now or I go for the vote now we have a motion in a second yes on the introduction we need to have the V okay thank you okay so any further discussion okay roll call vote please yes yes okay so we're going to set the public hearing for June 10th I believe yes 7:30 here thank you okay so we have the public hearing and Adoption of ordinances we're at ordinance uh 202 4-05 in ordinance to amend chapter 315 of the code of Township of Delaware entitled storm water quality to act to to add article what was this again uh 14 thank you tree removal and replacement um so if I could have someone uh give a motion to open for public hearing please still moov second okay all those in favor thank you okay um so public hearing uh could anyone with any comments or questions regarding the 2024 d05 ordinance yes yeah Chuck at the last U meeting of the planning board we discussed some changes to this uhin I wondered if those changes have been fored to the committee and included yes yes yes okay thank you welcome okay I need a motion to close public hearing second okay thank you all those in favor I okay um I did want to mention that we need to pull uh me find where it is here okay uh in this particular ordinance is page five uh section g and it essentially uh stipulates that the approved game management practices as recommended by the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection division of fish and Fish game and Wildlife uh they if they need to take down trees they do not need to notify us and so it is your suggestion that we have that changed uh simply because uh we do want notification uh if they're going to be removing trees in in the township uh so I propose that uh for the uh official vote next meeting that we have G Str from this particular ordinance I'm sorry you're a motion to adopt as amended okay as a minut thank you and what was the g g g exemption G being removed thank you okay do anyone have any discussion uh in respect to uh eliminating uh exemption G Mr B okay thank you okay so if I could have a motion for ordinance 20245 for adoption uh with as amended as amended I'll move by 20245 as second second okay uh roll call please Chad yes yes may yes thank you okay moving on to uh ordinance 24-5 oh I'm sorry ordinance 20 24-6 and ordinance to amend the code of Township Delaware County of hun and state of New Jersey chapter 7 thereof entitled traffic to amend section 7-3 parking schedule 1 of section 7-14 no parking and schedule 4 of section 7-17 time limit marking uh if I could please have a motion to open to public caring okay anyone uh have any comments in respect to ordinance 2024 Sor inor all in favor okay now we'll have public hearing anyone have any questions in regards to the parking ordinance okay hearing none if I could get a motion to close public hearing second all in favor okay if I can get a motion to adopt 24-6 thein okay R call please David Chad yes Susan yes yes yes okay ordinance 202 24- 07 an ordinance in the township of Delaware County of Hunter and state of New Jersey to authorize an expenditure and appropriation from reserve for police vehicle equipment in the amount of $55,000 for the purchase of a police utility Interceptor all-wheel drive and pay accessories okay if I can have a motion for public hearing please second all in favor I okay anyone have any comments in regards to ordinance 2024 D okay hearing none like get a motion to close public hearing all in favor could I get a motion for the adoption of ordinance 20247 move okay any comments okay all uh not all roll call please uh David B Chad B yes Susan yes Joseph yes may yes thank you okay we're on to the consent agenda I I do need to pull resolution 24-1 I'm I'm sorry 24-1 101 uh that simply because we have two uh members that must abstain and we don't have enough uh remaining members and Susan ask that you pull resolution 24103 103 if there's no others it would be a consent agenda motion to adopt resolution 24 97 98 99 100 102 104 5 6 7 108 109 1010 111 112 you want me to read these out loud you don't have to okay uh could I get a motion for the consent agenda some moov second okay any discussion roll call please Chad yes yes Jose yes okay so we're going to uh we're going to table resolution 24- 101 uh so if I could get a motion for resolution 24-13 I'll move 24-13 second second okay discussion I said the governor already has this on his Des so what he does with it I don't know and again I'm not opposed to some of the changes but some of them seem to go in fact I do believe the governor even said something about throwing the baby out with the B water so I think there was a little bit of concern that um definitely I don't think anyone disagrees that it needed updating some of it might have gone a little Beyond where it should have in fact they said there were intersections that disappeared and people didn't really know where they went or why they okay so that's why I had conern understood uh do those concerns prevent you from uh perhaps agreeing to send this letter to the well we're going to vote okay and you know if we decide to send it that works do you have any changes to the letter that you would recommend um I I don't think so okay fair enough any other comments from the committee no okay hearing none uh if we could have a roll call please um David Bond Chad bow yes Susan no Joseph yes yes okay thank you okay we're going to move with on to resolution 24 -113 authorizing payment of Municipal obligations in the amount of 3,828 $298 32 so moved second okay any uh discussion okay roll call please David Bond Chad B yes Susan yes yes yes thank you um there isn't any old business and we are going to table the new business items uh for attorney review uh so that we can have a more in-depth discussion for our next meeting uh which takes us to open uh for public comment so if I could have a motion to open for public comment please so all those in favor thank you uh so folks with any it doesn't have to be Rel related to the agenda uh please come to the podium you have 3 minutes and uh if you can please state your name uh and my name is Jack spew I am a resident of Del Township and I'm on nine lorville headquarters Road and I want to bring up a old matter I guess it's an old matter when ask uh Mr M did the former behind us obtain working per permits he said he's a farmer he give you the definition of a farmer the right to farm to own or operate to the owner or operator of a farm has the right to farm land provide that the own provide that the owner or operator meets the the eligibility status for differential property taxation that's under uh Farmland Act of 1964 right form also states that the produce must be produced in New Jersey produced is defined as grown raised and harvested that product is not harvested in New Jersey it is harvested in Pennsylvania so he does not qualify for a farm as of last week Mr alaro has failed to obtain PA limited liability company to do Interstate business between Pennsylvania and New Jersey so the produce that he's bringing back and forth he is doing illegally we have great concerns of the water supply in our area we have had a problem which we have brought up to the township before on lack of supply and as the management plan shows the well is located in L nc2 area the description of that land structure in the plan is as follows available water at a depth of 60 in Mr Alfaro has been on that Barn for 11 months he has never removed any manure from that facility it is piled behind his barn and there is no cover on that so all the rain that we had last we leashed into the soil and I do believe the township has an obligation to address threats to Public Health I do believe that is a threat to Public Health Mr Mayor committee members and fellow residents I'd like to have your patience for just a second and I would like to play a recording this is a recording that is 112 F feet from the bedroom window this is played at the correct deciel level and this goes on from sunrise to sunset we believe that this is an absolute public nuisance and something that needs to be addressed and yes and he must have 25 boosters back there and it is right on the property line he has 43 Acres but he insists on putting that right where it is one comment oh it's just unbelievable and it is non-stop you can hear it when you come to my driveway from Delaware from lamberville headquarters Road and that is over 400 400 ft away this is 112 ft away so this is a situation that needs to be addressed my question to you and my question from many in the audience is how does a resident request an ordinance how do we go about presenting an ordinance for consideration that would address the problems that we are having with Mr alaro and I know we say oh don't rely on Facebook he is and we see the engineers the people coming to the property we saw the uh Humane woman I'm not saying that right come to the property and walk around and look what's going on now he has Engineers out there he has Consultants out there he is planning on putting a restaurant on that property with a commercial kitchen the only thing that's holding him back is the septic requirement he has got to have a septic requirement to put there he butchers in Pennsylvania he has no septic system there and they have cited him many times but he has not changed and he has not done anything my question to the group how do we make a request and submit an ordinance that's something that the public can do because I can tell you we can write up an incredibly acceptable ordinance to handle the situations that we are in the problem with writing an ordinance is doing the research finding out what's normal what can be done we can do that we can do that and submit that before the board and at the next meeting uh our plans are to have if we are allowed to submit we'll have our Council submit uh a u an ordinance he is an expert in land use we also have an expert in uh right to form we have an expert on agricultural not environmental so we are prepared to do what we need to do so we don't have to listen to chickens we don't have to have we've lost over the fact that oh there's a dead chicken on someone's lawn no there's a dead chicken de bow chicken almost every single morning on uh Karen fers property she asked me to come over one day and she said I've got something on the property I want you to take look at I know you've been a for your whole life I went over and she it was a uh complete um head of a goat a sheep he said she said oh I think that's that must be a young sheep not like a young sheep the teeth were all worn down it was an older sheep that was Butchery and then the carcass was just thrown on aor pile and we have I've got fox tracks and coyote tracks in the mud across my back porch and uh five or 6 days ago there was a coyote that was killed on the side of the road we've never had problems like that prior to this fell arriving he's got thousands of chickens and the phrase acceptable agricultural practices do not suggest that chickens be allowed to run free and I mean that that is from a state official I don't remember who had the conversation the lber who Lisa de lamber from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture so I'm just going to interrupt real quick on that because I had that very same discussion with her and she said it's not the best practice but it's an allowable practice so that's sure so okay yeah as long as make but you have to appreciate how Karen before she can lets her dogs out in the morning she's got to go out do a whole survey of her property to get the dead chickens off understand I have chickens in my garage if I don't keep the door closed there's nothing to stop those chickens from walking right off the property and we keep a hose on our back porch so before we go out there we wash all the chicken droppings off so they don't get tracked in the house this is not acceptable public practice and I would like to see if this Township could take a more aggressive look and more aggressive action on doing what we need to do so we can have a reasonable a reasonably accepted lifestyle here I understand your I understand the predicament you're in I'm more than happy but have your attorney's prepared an ordinance for our attorney's uh review but I can tell you just like we've told you in the last meeting even if we pass that ordinance he's going to hire an attorney and it's just going to be uh deemed a spot ordinance she going to be struck down it's not just we're not the only Township that has that ordinance those ordinances I understand but it's if he gets a decent attorney and they look at these meeting minutes they're going to realize that this ordinance was specifically passed for spot zoning on this individual and the whole thing is just going to fall apart we have to try I I'm more than happy to do that have have your your attorneys prepare that yeah can I ask a question on that so if I understand your comment correctly and I may not five but what you just said says there is nothing we can do period because even though he hasn't fully launched the business that he wants to in this community mhm okay which includes as Jack pointed out indoor outdoor dining FL with the commercial kitchen Curr 7,000 chickens he's got 50 pigs over in in Pennsylvania that he wants to bring here um we don't know that we do know that I mean we do know that and we need I I respect the idea that we don't want to talk about social media although it is 2024 we have an ex-president who owns a social media platform we have every Police Department practically Across America monitoring social media nearly every Federal agency and sub agencies are monitoring social media so to suggest that social media is irrelevant seems odd to me it seems outdated it seems we seem like leites in this world if we're going to ignore what's really going on just because I sit there and say I want to commit a murder doesn't mean that I'm going to get arrested because of that oh I think you would get arrested I bet well how about how about the how how about the students that say I'm planning on going to school the next day and shooting up my class they arrested that's a little different how it's different because it's a school environment like this is but they wouldn't be arrested yes they would be someone would do a wellness check on this particular individual to make sure that they're you know these are just uh empty threats but they would not arrest that individual it's called freedom of speech you're allowed to say what you want he can say what he wants on on social media but it doesn't make he hasn't committed any crimes yet and that's the problem that we're facing he hasn't committed anything that is in violation of any of the existing ordinances or zoning laws in this town and I I I get that my my comment I didn't mean to take us there I guess my comment goes goes back to what Jack said he said I want to introduce an ordinance and your response immediately was any ordinance you you produce even though nothing is being done presently and according to you we get to ignore everything he might have said about what he intends to do here so wait wait wait let me just finish my point why is it relevant then we can just simply say we wanted an ordinance period all right so we now have I'm welcoming you to provide that to the attorney for his consideration and then if he makes a recommendation for us to consider it I'm more than happy to do that I'm just sitting here saying I really think it's going to end up being a waste of your time City V in New Jersey has a a very robust uh sweery or Piggery ordinance consistent with the Right to Farm Act because it's been in place for years and years and years so it's not not as if we're creating out of whole cloth something that doesn't already exist in New Jersey and we asked for the our agricultural subcommittee to put together something that actually covered all livestock including poultry so unfortunately Mr Bond isn't here this evening I know that that committee had met and discussed that I am not privy to the conversation where that ultimately LED and I was hopeful I would get an update this evening on that but he's unfortunately not here because of health reasons so that is going to be delayed I'm going to have a conversation with him obviously when he feels better to see where we stand on that and then perhaps we can move something move forward with something along those lines but just like the last you know the the ordinance that you folks are willing to um draft up and give for to our Township attorney consideration it's going to be deemed spot ordinance no no I'm taking I'm listening to the township I'm listening to the township attorney how can you even make a statement like that you don't even know where we're going to direct our energy and focus on I was talking about the ma'am please ma'am you're not at the podium when it's your turn to talk you can come up here okay okay but so we're working on that aspect and when that happens I am listening to the township attorneys uh conclusion basically saying that's going to be deemed spot zone I'm more than happy to try to pass it but I'm telling you it's not going to give you the relief that you folks are looking for and I guess what I find troubling in that statement is what you're saying is anything he may have said anywhere at any time that he might want to do in the future and any ordinance that we might introduce would automatically be perceived as a spot ordinance strictly at him I don't imagine there hang on one second let me just quick thought I don't imagine that there is any there's many people in this community that want that that with a farm that b six properties of which he's no more than a couple hundred feet in at least four places that want 50 pigs roaming around and if you say well there are no pigs there now great then let's have an ordinance right now because there are no pigs there we have a pig ordinance that the pig ordinance we have is so loose and soft you know sir I I would actually prefer if we kind of follow protocol can you come up tell me who you are whether you're a resident and stay up there and you're running almost over your 3 mon so David her 25 front thank you so yes essentially that's what I that's my stance we are will will to work with you but I'm just I'm trying to set your expectations that whatever we're able to do locally is ultimately going to be defeated if this particular individual hires decent counsel so I mean everybody hires counsel I mean the idea that walking into this defeated seems silly to me who who walks F hands over all weapons I'm just saying set your expectations accordingly okay so I think your best bet frankly is not at the local level the state level is what is has a lot more bite than the township does the USDA has a lot more bite than the township does the county does even though that they're claiming that they don't have jurisdiction gez I don't know why but um I mean there are there have been successful challenges across the country of right to farac Provisions right North Carolina okay which is certainly a state you think of uh farming when you think of North Carolina mhm they modified the Right to Farm Act which was originally written in the 80s in order to protect Farmers from Suburban spraw right which we've now play cast that this is a far and so the three Provisions in the North Carolina right the Farm Act which I'm under the belief that in a right format review would be here in uh hun County would be included include less than a year change in change in farming practices and that you have to be within a half a mile well all the people here that are concerned about that meet all of that criteria Iowa for example another state you don't think of as particularly Suburban friendly also had a number of cases were those they even had a provision where if the homeowner had invested during the course of the time between that that was something that would be considered as well okay I mean Jack just put a fence in January long before Costa beel put that property up for sale but she didn't go up for sale until April okay so I would imagine I don't know what Jack spent on that on that vence but I would imagine it was quite a lot right you know we we have we updated since we've been here remember that farm has been vacant for like 17 years y p I know you did I know Karen's not here but she so she can't speak to it and I don't know about vasy and I don't know about ion and I don't know about the grunts I don't know about everybody else close to that farm but I think all of these issues are extremely relevant okay like I said please have your attorney send along whatever his proposed ordinance is we will have our Council take a look and I'll bring it to the committee I I can promise you I'm willing to do that I'm also promising that we're going to look at the livestock ordinance and as long as the the agricultural subcommittee comes back and says you know what we're okay with this and there is some concern however that these particular ordinances are going to affect actual Farmers that are here in Delaware Township if they're too strictly written it's going to adverse adversely affect our actual Farmers here so we we have to balance that so that is something that this committee is going to have to do take into consideration um but I'm more than happy to do that one last one last question since we've invoked Joe triello here and since he's the one who seems to be saying doesn't matter what you present it's not going to matter it's going to be pered as fot law if Joe can give us a list of the cases that he's relying on to make that argument no what I'm sorry Joe why because you're not my client I don't we are your client you're not we've gone through this before and I do not give my legal advice to you because that is not subject to attor Len I don't think that has Bears any relevance whatsoever sir because I am asking you to provide that to him for our consideration if we vote it it doesn't matter what his opinion is whether it's going to it's going to be deemed spot zoning or not it's up to the state court or whatever Court this gentleman is going to take it up to and they can make that determination I'm more than happy for this committee to go ahead and and enact an ordinance you guys to represent our interests our vision joke I'm not talking to you this is not a legal issue that question was not a legal question yeah if you want to run you want to run for office sir get out of here not here yeah come on that's disrespectful we listen we've G I've given you the answer you're looking for please have the attorney prepare that and get it to our Council okay thank you can I just I just make one comment yeah could you let her speak first and let's keep it to three minutes if you don't mind thank you I'll keep it to um first of all I'd like to comment on your report from the um agriculture um I hope that you're not naive enough to recognize that in state of New Jersey an appointment must be made to order in order to do that okay we actually have a joke in the in our neighbors because we know exactly when an inspection is coming because the night before that inspection it will be like the barn is is lit up like a hanger right so that is a useless inspection okay but just not that's that's something that you need to bring up with the New Jersey agricultural okay so they know that the conditions of the farm what they see are not the condition operating every single day okay I wanted to say that when I when I moved here I probably moved here on a very similar reason that a lot of you all moved here mhm it's beautiful it's peaceful and I remember the day I moved in I sent a text message to my son and I put it a smiling emoji and I said I said Lord I bought a Piece of Heaven A Little Slice of Heaven I wish I could stand here today and tell you I feel that way I don't I I think this is a very unique Community I researched all the surrounding read their Master plans I know that we are unique in the fact that we are in the words of this Township overwhelmingly land Ed and taxed on by the residents and I think that's a very important concept that you need to understand and you need to basically remember that this is this this community is predominantly operating off of the backs of the residents I'm one of them and you are one of them and I do believe that that this whole committee really does understand the situation because you are members of this community i i i part of Hearts really do believe I feel for you folks I'm hopeful that we can find something that will offer you Dice relief and you man relief to the situation but you have to understand that I now live within a half a mile of my house with five Agro businesses okay I'm not here to tell you that I'm against AG business as it was pointed out to you you those forers went to hell when these townships started to approve town houses and developments and all that we understand that and you know what I would say to those forers now look at our pain because it is now flipped and we are the ones ch's been here 40 years right you know now now 60 years 60 years now this this farmer comes in changes the whole use the land use has completely changed and now we're all subject to this and I I I sit here and I I I I I just I can't believe that something cannot be done you know this Township was growing with these five with these five areas of of uh Agro businesses I have a farmer that is increased his farm and now runs 14 16 wheeler trucks down the road at least twice a day at minimum I'm sorry if you could just wrap it up I will wrap it up let everybody else talk so yeah ma'am it's three minutes I just want to finish I've let you go way longer than 3 minutes finish my point okay okay I have that I the other day I was walking my dog down the road and and two of these big wheelers were coming down the road and they of course they couldn't pass because these roads aren't built for that MH they before as I'm sitting there waiting for them to move the day before a woman across the street had an emergency and an ambulance was called I sat there thinking boy look at the number of minutes it's taking this truck to back up so the other one can get down the road right and then you have a winery going and the winery was approved and stamped they can do retail they can do wholesale they can do events they can have music and you know what happens when you open the file there's no impact study all these trucks can go in and out right to farm right to farm answer to everything right to F I didn't write like like the I'm going to address that because listen ma' we got we have to move forward with this I'm more than happy to converse am I can I have somebody's three minutes no you can have mine thank you you're okay okay so now down the road is a Wellness Center brand new Wellness Center they want to put in they advertise on their website y we want to do 100 to 200 people wedding they want to do campgrounds and you have the farm and you have the the farm that you all know and Jack has already addressed and around the corner you have another one that last year those people Cate know very well CL the streets for the whole summer with nonstop cars so my point is this you think the residents are happy no and and the growth rate of this Township has gone from 35% in 1970 to 7 to 18% in 1990 and we do you think we are on the growth rate much lower than that we're negative and you think this is going to keep the residents being happy or do you think the residents are going to comeing to you and say uh tan by way uh I want my taxes lower the taxes from the residents that pay for the services so what's going to happen if if if the residents aren't happppy they want their taxes lower the community gets a reputation that they are uh you know just open to all this like expansion without the consideration of its residents you you made a pledge in your 2022 master plan you said we're going to develop a plan for Agro business this is 2024 you said you were going to protect the safety of this community you committed to you committed to traffic comment you committed to protect the property Equity of its residents and you committed to it's not me it's the planning board ma'am so go to the planning board and tell them they committ to that board I'm here tonight talking so you're talking to the wrong person and you have one more minute it's the wrong person you're you're speaking to the wrong committee ma'am when you're talking about the m master plan the master plan needs to be discussed this is our Township I get that but you're talking about specific I understand that man but I well let me tell you this so you understand the bottom line is if we're not going to be happy and there's no taxation there's no money for all these services that you talked about tonight MH what's going to happen one of two things you raise taxes again and or you provide less Services you think that's going to bring your growth back up you think people are going to want to come to this Township so you sit back and say it's right to farm you hide under the mask of Right to Farm and let me tell you your job is to govern you were put in that chair to govern M so you protect all those things I've said because you better try hard you're not doing a good job okay thank you ma'am right on time okay yes I I only have two seconds and and yeah we can keep it short thank you when when and um on the point of an ordinance we have an ordinance now for pigs but it is 25 pigs and it is very very limited you you you know 25 pigs of one size and then I don't know how many 75 of another but if someone comes in and they start putting 25 pigs against the fence it becomes a problem now here here is the point I wanted to make if there is no ordinance in existence to manage the distance that pig stay away from a residence well then it becomes a problem so then the township says o we want to make it uh 300 ft from the residence those p that got moved in before now are an existing nonconformance and that person can keep on doing that and putting Pig right up against the fence because he was grandfathered in the point I want to make is an ordinance needs to be put in before as you say somebody does something we can't have a we can't address it because nobody has done anything that's the purpose of in orance and I I thank you for dealing with our anger it's okay I mean I wish we could offer something that provides immediate relief unfortunately it's going to take a little bit of time and a majority of the accusations are pure speculation based upon social media and like I had mentioned you we can't do anything unless someone is in violation and thus far according to all the agencies that have been over there he's in compliance he is 100% in compliance now whether or not he fixes these compliant issues before they show up is another subject but we can't change the rules of the state of New Jersey right you have to talk to your legislator that represents you at the state level to say these you know the the fact that the New Jersey agricultural lady can't get in there without an appointment is ridiculous we can't change that I know you can't you it and I appreciate that no that's okay listen we're going to try our best to do everything we can to to provide relief please have your attorney send along whatever you deemed to be the proper ordinance to deal with this I will have him take a look at it and if he deems it worthy of the committee for consideration I have no problem bringing that to the committee and we don't want to come here with lawyers and seem like adversaries we came to get lawyers for a specific reason from your knowledge and from your vast experience could you show us a path and that's what we're asking for we're asking for some direction to show us a path but the part of we can't put an ordinance in until the violation is sorry is backwards we need to put an ordinance in to prevent the violation and again I thank you and I thank the committee for for the patience thank resid too sure I'm on up it's sort of a related topic so Val Tui resident um in relation to this topic I had brought up at the last time about the petting zoo behind me and I wanted the proposed petting zoo and I wondered if this woman from the agriculture U agriculture can stop there because there's there's notil on them she's been there and they met all these tests um they do have they have an automatic water she saw it at at at the facility it doesn't exist on your there's no well there she said there's an automatic water I don't know how they're doing it I I guess I don't know how it's happening but she said there is an automatic water and that even when it gets cold out this automatic water doesn't freeze over so the animals have plenty of water water they have plenty of food and the one thing that she did mention was perhaps some of the um pen the the um structures that are available to them are a little on the small side considering that draft Force that's there she said unfortunately the horse can still get in it and meets the test according to the state of structure the wind blew down yes and she said if that persists as it is and possibly remains as a danger to the animal she's going to require them to remove it okay thank you I'm glad to hear that she been you're welcome anyone else okay I got yes please much less serious one um John President also member of Board of Education I know the auditor didn't anything by it um but when we passed our budget last month taxes went up $8 a month that's correct $5 a month so no pitch Works want to make that okay thank you appreciate it anyone else okay seeing none could I get a motion to close uh public comment okay all those in favor hi hi okay Township committee comments Mr Bower nothing just say that um the seniors are also looking to relocate their meeting space since they meeting at the house as well and I think they've been talking to the Amal church as well okay so I think they may work something out when the time comes after great thank you appreciate that than V okay uh I am good uh so thank you uh if I could get a motion for executive session for the approval of resolution 24114 to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing Personnel matters litigation and subjects falling under attorney client priv privilege the discussion is expected to take approximately 30 minutes action may be taken move all those in favor I I thank you folks have a nice evening