then we're allowed to add in for new construction we're allowed to add in uh $3,700 to that so our total maximum amount that we could raise by taxes is 6,124 and this budget which we're presenting tonight comes in at 5,997 so clearly we're we're way under the levy cap it's 126,000 under it's a good position to be in and we didn't uh we can Bank the difference bank it's not really a a real Bank we're not putting any money in it we're just we're just putting potential uh capacity in that bank so next year we're going to have 126,000 that if we needed to we could raise the Lev we don't plan on it but we could if we needed all right here's the Appropriations cap it was 2 and a half% or the cost of living adjustment whichever is less okay so this year our cost of living adjustment calculates out to $178,000 that's how much we can increase our budget over the prior year it's hardly anything 178,000 so the law says we can increase the cap to 3 and a half% and later on today there's a there's another ordin that you're going to come across which is allowing this 3 and a half% cap cap uh Cola and cap Bank increase so and I I hope to give you some kind of explanation of why why that's good but let's let's dive in two and a half% of the cost of living added onto our Appropriations is 7 million3 300 and we can't add in the new construction you saw that the on the previous side now what's new this year is we added a $650,000 pilot waiver where we had to approach the state and say would you allow us to use 650,000 of what we expect will be pilot money this year to allow us to overcome this this Appropriations deficit and they said yes so we're adding now if assuming that the that the cola ordinance that's coming up later is adopted that will add another 71,000 in for Appropriations so our maximum Appropriations are going to be 8 million 27 however in this budget our Appropriations total 7.75 million which is under the cap but it's over you can see how far over it is from the 2 and a half% allowable right that's why we have to use this pilot waiver we have to overcome this this difference between the um what we're allowed the two and a half% that we're allowed and what we really need so again we get to bank the difference so next year if we find ourselves in this situation we'll be able to tap into this headro this $268,000 headro all right here's where we get to the storytelling part you'll see there's a comparison in general terms very general terms of um sectors within within the general government and what the Appropriations were in 2024 what they were in 2023 you'll see did it go up did it go down what's that difference and you'll see some items in red there this is the part where there were fresh eyes on on the budget and we needed to make some changes to address issues that were coming up and so you'll see under General government in addition to the usual types of things administrator clerk mayor Finance Tax Collector assessor planning board it building and grounds all that stuff there's now Communications coordinator and a community and economic development and we're increasing the budget this year by 210,000 Plus change so what is what is the communications coordinator what is the community and economic development well the coordinator is going to be the person who is um instrumental in getting information out to the to the public uh through through um internet through websites through all of that stuff getting getting the information to go out to the to the public whereas the community and economic development that's going to be the person who is most closely aligned with the development that's going on in town including with the planning board and the Construction office and uh there's some uh Finance component in there too so those are areas that never really had ownership by by anybody and so this budget addresses that tries to give ownership to these particular uh titles and we're going to be looking to fill those positions in the near near term hopefully by mid year I think for both yeah yep okay yeah sure thank you planning board and uh Redevelopment which Falls underneath Economic Development those four divisions aren't being headed up by anybody they're kind of like off in a pasture and they're kind of running out and not all of them have to communicate with one another so what it is is taking those four divisions placing them into a department and hiring somebody who's going to oversee all four divisions so they're not um lose she in a field they're all being brought in together and being able to communicate operate efficiently and effectively and um so and the communications coordinator the best way you can put it is increasing transparency for the municipality thank you mayor you'll see another red line in there um parks recreation Public Works that falls under the the general category of streets and Roads so formerly it was called uh DPW Department of Public works but with Alex's uh role and his credentials uh we're expanding it to be parks recreation and public works you'll see though that there's a there's a um a decrease in the total amount of that budgetary line item it's not because Alex has taken less money right Alex it's because there was a $255,000 grant last year that's built into that uh 2023 total which we don't have this year was for the way finding signs so that's that's why um but we're looking forward to uh Alex's role as uh in Parks and Recreation and and public works and administration too there's a portion of of his salary in in general government also so you'll see you know the additions and subtractions on the on the right hand side uh there was a large increase in public safety which includes the police fire crossing guards Rescue Squad emergency vehicles part of that is a request from the police department for more for more Vehicles which the um finance committee and the administration agreed that it it should be uh increased for that and also we had I just want to point out that last year we used some of our American Rescue plan money to offset some of the salaries which we don't have this year so there's a there's that kind of an increase that figures into this as well there wasn't a whole lot of uh change in in sanitation uh or uh in the in the court and utilities not the increases are not not too big there um Health and Welfare uh this is where Recreation and senior citizens used to be and that moved up to to the parks recreation public works so there's a there's a a large decrease from there as that activity gets gets moved up our debt service you'll see dropped significantly mostly because last year we had used $330,000 for our Capital Improvement fund which serves as a down payment on our bond ordinances this year we we knocked it back by uh over 230,000 um because we and I have a slide on this coming up uh we figure we're going to do about $2 million worth of public improvements Capital Improvements this year Capital Improvement is something that has a useful life of at least five years it's your bigger ticket items um things that that uh you may not have the cash in the bank to buy uh Vehicles equipment that that type of thing um what did I want to point out statutory expenditures so I uh I talked earlier about the the um steps were taken to try and control our health care costs and while we're doing great in in saving money in that section we had a rather large increase in our other insurance this is the uh the liability portion of our of our insurance it's separate from from um Healthcare so a lot of municipalities are are facing large increases in their um in their other insurance because frankly a lot um the insurance companies now are waking up to the fact that hey a lot of a lot of the buildings municipal buildings they haven't been assessed in in in years their values have changed we go to we got to change all that and so the the insurance industry is is kind of um waking up and and hitting us all with bigger bills so while we had a nice savings on the on the health insurance side we had to take a hit on the on the um other insurance side but it Nets out to about a almost a $60,000 increase in the bu budget another way to look at it is in a pie chart so you'll see that uh of all the the Appropriations it's a $99.97 million Municipal budget most of it 40% is made up of salaries as you might expect and in our in our in our business we we serve the public that's what our role is and to have um salar speed 40% of that of that budget that's not so bad there are other service Industries where the salary is a lot higher than 40% you'll see the statutory expenditures in the orange we don't have too much control over that we talked about already um there's that a portion called the reserve for uncollected taxes and that's the green portion so I'll explain that when we get to the uh to the revenue side because that I think it'll make more sense on on that side all right so here's our our budget revenues it's got to equal the 9.97 think of that scale that I talked about before if our expenditures are 9.9 then our our revenues need to be 9.0 so our general revenues which are in the dark blue about 25% of the of the pi over on the right hand side it's about almost two and a half million pilot Revenue in the bright orange I'll come back to to we have Surplus uh 450,000 and then everything else is the amount to be raised by taxes all right so we want that turquoise piece to be as small as possible right we we want our Reliance on taxes on uh just general property taxes to be as small as we can so how do we do that we have to grow the other parts all right Surplus we're kind of limited to how we did in the prior year for how much we can use to balance this year's budget so we're we're looking at our pilot revenues and our general revenues so the general revenues are your fees and and permits Construction office interest those kinds of things that we talked about we're we're we get all the lwh hanging fruit that we can from that and then we start to look at at other things so let's look at the pilot those are payment pilot stands for pay payment in lie of taxes last year that orange slice was about half the size that it was well what made up the other hand well the the turquoise side made up the other hand so as we grow the pilot revenues the amount to be raised is going to get smaller and smaller that's our that's our Our Hope and our goal anyway so this year we're anticipating over a million in Pilot Revenue last year it was less it was it was a substantially less 450,000 so this is money that we're getting from the nil crossings that they're they're absolutely uh being built for that as as we speak and then the new properties that are coming on board 150 North Avenue and down the road here and Bound Brook Road those are going to be coming in as well so but not for the pilot you know that that piece would have been smaller and the turquoise piece would have been large so just a a note here that there's also a statutory portion that goes to the library of almost 300,000 it's called a third of a mill calculation for the operations of the library it's based on the assessed value of all the properties in town so as that number goes up what what the library is to receive uh that also goes up and that is part of the tax bill too all right so how do we determine the tax rate so the tax rate is expressed in terms of a dollar per every $100 of assessed value so the tax rate is equal to the total amount the burrow needs to raise through taxes divided by the total assess value of all taxable property all right that results in a in a basically a percentage we multiply that percentage by the assess value of particular property and that's that's how you determine what the taxes are going to be on the property so let's take a look at a comparison between small um this looks at the total burrow expenditures in 2024 versus 2023 it looks at the revenues then the non- tax revenues and then the difference between them is the amount to be raised by taxes that divided by the net valuation gives us the tax rate so it's a little hard to read because it's so small but we're going from a tax rate of 70 70 cents on the dollar 706 to 640 uh on 64 cents on the on the dollar so we're actually reducing the tax rate by n almost 10% 9 %. why is that well our expenditures increased by almost 5% our revenues also increased by 11% so that difference is not as big as it had been in the past we only need to raise 28,000 in additional uh taxes over the prior year which is very small increase of almost half per. but the big change was in the net valuation we had a 92 million doll say that again 992 million increase in value of all the properties in town one more time 92 million where did that come from that came from the sales that's the assessor is looking at sales how much a a a a house is on the market for and how much it's listed her job is to try and make those things the the value on the house be as close as possible to the market de so she's making these adjustments every year and it's it's our houses are going for sale at at you see it you see what houses are going for so that value it changed $92 million that's why we have that decrease in the tax rate because we had such a big increase in the net valuation so the bottom line is if if your house is assessed at $435,000 last year and this year your taxes will go down $288 pretty awesome right if your house were assessed at $387,000 and stayed the same this year here your taxes will go down $257 well what if your property was valued at 387,000 and now it's valued at 435 because that's what where most of us fall right the value on our on our houses the property value increased so if that's the case that's going to net to an increase of about 50 bucks okay not not so bad right I think and we struggled with that that's that's the number that we're looking for we didn't start out at that number when we first started meeting but it's the number that we that we wound up um everybody feeling equally pissed off about so all right so the tax rate is coming in at at 0 64 it's a decrease of uh 9% doesn't necessarily mean that your tax bill is going to go up or down it depends on how the value of your home changed over time plus our portion is only 26% of your total tax bill We're The Collector for the for the school the county uh County open space the library everybody pays us and then we we distribute it and we have to pay them first so uh remember the reserve for uncollected taxes too what that is is a is a it helps us to be able to collect enough money to pay us after we paid everybody else this will be online tomorrow just in case so so uh let's see I lost my train of thought um the reserve for uncollected taxes so so if we want to collect $100 we have to bill 102 because we're not sure that everybody's going to pay not everybody pays for whatever reason we still have to pay the Board of Ed and the and the county and the library so we have to we have to build in a little bit extra and that's what the reserve for un collected taxes does so any back to this the burrow share is only 26% we have no control over what the board of does we have no control over what the county does the county open space and the the library set is set by the value of properties so we're only controlling that that about a quarter of your of your tax bill and then the other thing that can change is how the how the assessed value of the property changed so that can be why even though the tax rate went down you may pay a little bit more in 2024 all right this slide is meant to show you that to make a 1 cent change in the in the tax rate to go from 64 to 63 or 65 we have to change almost $100,000 in in either um expenditures or Revenue we have to kind of fill that hole so that is not a a small task um trying to get the budget down as as much as we did we were looking at these increments of 93,000 so um that gives you an order of magnitude it's I don't know 93,000 to me it's kind of it's hard to find in our in our budget but we we looked for it where we could in 2024 the average average home was assessed at 435,000 so multiply that 400 35,000 by the 64 and you get about 20 27 almost 28,000 just in in prop in the municipal portion of the property tax so what do you get what do you get for that you divide that that 2700 $2,800 divided by 365 days is about seven 7 and a half 763 per per day and you get public safety when you when you call 911 you want somebody to show up they show up that's that's included in this when you when you when you uh when you're washing dishes and the water's going down the drain you don't want your drain to clog up that's taking care of this public works is out there cleaning the sewers making sure everything is is working we have um some of the other items you can see the the police responded to over 18,000 calls for service in 201 23 we had almost 1,800 inspections done by the building department um the fire and first aid support you you are witnessing the the firehouse that's that's uh like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes here in in 2023 um under community events that's all your your Youth Sports and and uh senior programs movies music plays in the park the the parades all of those things the election on the on government you see elections uh equipment and supplies Vital Statistics uh pet licensing and Public Works street sweeping plowing Winter Rising all of that stuff we expect we expect all that stuff to happen and it's happening for each of us for about seven 763 per day and Alex you you have you added there um about all the all the changes in infrastructure that that we have the culverts that were cleaned out we had ADA compliance sidewalks ramps that were installed and the the 760 ft of sidewalk where was where was that all around that was on on Lin on Lincoln app L we have theorum in the audience please thank you also on Center Street y y okay and then the uh Road repaving just under a mile yes under one mile yeah yeah how many miles do we have all together was about six or seven we're just over half of the miles paved in Den we have about 156 we paved just about eight so okay half of Den's Municipal roads have been paved in less than five years yeah yeah you don't have to drive down the moon anymore all right yes that's true thank you enough about the the operating budget the capital budget then um that's our our plan at this point our plan to tackle the larger ticket items um the ones that have a useful life of at least five years things that we're going to pay for over time we're going to advertise the costs over time so we are appropriating 100,000 towards the capital Improvement fund which is used for the D payment on our our borrowing for these large ticket items so 100,000 divided by 5% you got about $2 million worth of improvements that that we can do and that's what we have planned for this year it's that we're going to authorize debt it it's not going to be a million n because it's gonna that part is going to be offset by some grants that we've received also but the capital plan is is just that it's a it's a it's a plan the council will have several bites at the at the Apple before anything gets done it this plan doesn't appropriate any money or authorize any expenditures it's just a recommendation the bural council uh tonight you're going to see a bond ordinance for Second Street improvements and way finding signs and uh a study of the special improvement district so our your first bite of the apple is whether to introduce the bond ordinance the second B will happen two weeks later when we Rec convene and have the public hearing then it's going to be okay then we have to go out for for bids for a second Street then you get to approve that and and there's these many many steps that you you have to to uh approve uh this plan [Music] through the different uh when the when the um what am I trying to say here when the when the opportunities come up to approve a bond ordinance to have the public public hearing and and and adoption to improve the the bids all of that kind of stuff so again $2 million for Capital Improvements in 2024 and that's not a that's not a small piece of business too um it it takes it takes a while to get streets paved there's a there's a lead time when the engineer has to develop the plans and specs and then it goes has to be approved by the state a lot of different steps but so a $2 million plan is pretty aggressive but we're trying to do our best to get that done all right that does it for me you've heard enough of me we're going to have a link to the web page for the for the full Municipal budget and there's also going to be a calculator in there on the website where you can put in your your uh value from last year and your value from this year and that the um the spreadsheet will tell you approximately what your tax are going to be for the year okay and that that's does it for me thank you thank you Scott thank you to the finance committee Alex Chiron and yourself again Scott for the work that you did to get a responsible budget so thank you okay next up on our agenda is item number five which is Introduction of ordin is uh for those members in the public who generally don't join us at Council meetings uh just really quick in introduction we we uh introduce by a motion and a second it's just reading out of the ordinance and its purpose we may explain a little bit about what it is an introduction means that we don't discuss it we wait within 10 days which usually gets us to our next council meeting so in this case April 15th in which case there'll be a public hearing and AD option we have one ordinance tonight for that which you'll it's actually a good education piece on Civics um so basically we won't be discussing introductions that's not part of it you discuss on public hearing and adoptions of ordinances which are usually within two weeks after the introduced ordinance um you do you can receive the ordinance at our clerk's office Online Library not the library clerk's office and online that is so you can review it before the public hearing and adoption so you can come before councel if you have any questions or comments or statements on such ordinance at that time so we have four this evening uh can I have a motion and a second on ordinance 202 24-7 an ordinance amending chapter 208 peace and good order of the code of the B of dellan to add a new section 2018-4 entitled resident protection move it Sigman second Rios okay um Mr Robertson our legal Council will just do a brief summary of this um Mr Robertson really just a proposed ordinance to add to the peace and good order section of the general Bureau code has to do there's been sort of an upswing in vehicle thefts in the general County area and this adds a section that would prohibit trespassing on private property and driveways with intent to uh linger around vehicles or property the residential areas so that that's what it is that's the intent it adds a layer of support uh to address those type of issues that that they're seeing within the generally with thank you Mr Robertson it correct me if I'm wrong it adds another layer for the municipality to also do its own citation beyond what the state or County would do so uh so much so down to community service so even if the courts at the county level say not a big deal byebye the town can still in its own courts uh summons or site a violation yep and relate to community service or a fee right or 90 days in jail yes okay thank you um roll call Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sig yes and Mr vanderark yes can I have a motion in second on 2014-08 in ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank for calendar year 2024 moveit Sigman second Albertson yes so as I discussed earlier this establishes c bank and uh allows us to exceed the the 2 and half% that the state allows us to increase our budget want to point out that there's a tyo tyos on this and this happened because of the last minute calculation that we going through two three four five the fourth where the number should not be 70,3 should be 71 23970 and then in the section nowain the total amount should not be 245 1051 should be 249 33895 but again thises allow increase in uh yes any uh the coordinates to be introduced should be as amended to reflect uh those changes to the for where as laws and the first now we for clause and those will be modified in the final ordinance that is introduced and published as amended uh the motion to introduce would be as amended in those two sections very good housekeeping Comm a motion a second to for that Sigman second Rios okay roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes time a motion and second on item on ordinance 2024 d nine Sor I was almost skipping a bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements in and by the B of denel appropriating 1,1 125,000 therefore and authorize the issuance of $443,500 bonds or notes of the burrow to finan part of the cost thereof move it sigment second Albertson again this is the fund appropriate funds for uh Second Street phase one wave finding and a feasibility study for special Improvement District of which two of these we receive grants and upward of almost a million dollars so that will be eaten away at that will take away from what we owe on the bond because the grant will go right to it but we have to fund it right up front first a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes okay can I have a motion a second on 202 24-10 an ordinance to amend chapter 54 Police Department of the burough of denel County of middlex state of New Jersey to repeal and replace article three establishment and control and article six promotions with new with a new article three establishment and control and a new article six promotions move Rios second segment uh this is basically as I said uh repealing and replacing uh some ordinances related to the police department the main change Es are the authority over the police department was police committee it's being uh recommended to go to the business administrator so it centralized to one person as well as uh the amendments to it are also well the additions to it actually our um hiring process and how we handle promotions so that's basically the summary of this orance I have a roll call please Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr pchan yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes okay item number six on our agenda is the adoption of coordinates so this is where we have a public hearing and adoption uh after our motion we'll open up to the public after I give a quick summary I have a motion and second on uh ordinance 202 24-6 an ordinance to amend ordinance number 20 uh 20245 authorizing the execution of a RightWay agreement between the burough of denell and Comcast of planfield LLC to permit the installation use and meets of cable television service and telecommunication facilities within public rights of way for purposes of providing cable television and telecommunication Services move it Sigman second Rios so what this is is we're giving Comcast the opportunity to come into dellan to provide internet cable and phone services give uh Optimum Alti a little run for their money uh this has been a year of negotiations uh believe me I know how bad the internet is Dellin we're hoping that uh competition uh makes Optimum lower their rates and provide better services and we hope that Comcast comes in as a quality uh business and provides good Services we also allowed a couple years ago Planet Network to come in for just internet services they're independent uh company um they're looking to raise Capital to start this year early next year so hopefully within the next several years we will have three internet providers in denell so we've been uh if I can say this plainly busting our asses to make sure that this happens um I don't usually Pat myself on the back but I think it sometimes it happens yeah um so we will now open the floor to the public for any comments or questions pertaining solely to 2024 -06 we just asked that you state your name and address and then uh hope you don't have concerns about Comcast coming in okay without hearing any we'll open the floor to council for any comments questions and discussion on this thank you for busting your ass okay so can we take a roll call Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Pon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes we'll say this it's at the BPU now so within 45 days we could be having them coming into denel and building out in 18 to 24 month period so where it is is they'll be starting on the south side of town yes okay don't you don't look for more news on that one item number seven on our agenda are resolutions um Mrs stats if you can read them out and then just give Council and I an opportunity to discuss them or ask questions if we have any sure resolution number 111 is to pay the bills move it Sigman second Albertson Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul Chon no Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vandermark yes resolution number 112 is to approve emergency temporary budget for 2024 move it Rios second Sigman Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number 113 is a resolution to approve a temporary capital budget for 2024 mov Rios second Sigman Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vandermark yes resolution number 114 is to hire Dana Downing as yoga instructor for the spring season for the denell and Recreation Department move it Sigman second Rios Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul johon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number 115 is to hire spring tennis coaching staff for the dellan recreation department move it second Rios Mrs Albert yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes you're a little peppy tonight Mr Joe good night good night SC started off resolution number 116 is to hire DHS athletic coaching staff for recreation department Spring train at a flat Fe move it Sigman second Albertson Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr pchan yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark resolution 117 is to approve an amusement game license for Uncle luig G move it Sigman Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul Chan yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vandermark yes resolution number 118 is authorizing a tax court judgment pursuant to a tax Court of New Jersey tax appeal for 205 North Washington Avenue move it Sigman second Rios Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr paulon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark resolution 119 is authorizing the tax collector to cancel taxes for 150 North Avenue from March 1st 2024 forward through the second quarter of 2025 move it Sigman second Albertson Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul Chon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes Mr vanderark yes resolution number 120 is to award a contract to Joe Fano heating and cooling for a new heating and cooling system in the Mau house move it Sigman second re Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul johon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark resolution number 121 is to amend the burough of dellan amending the contract with Topline construction for the Lincoln Avenue roadway Improvement closeout and change order move it Sigman second Rios Mrs Albertson yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Paul johon yes Mrs Rios yes Mr Sigman yes and Mr vanderark yes good to go okay council president Albertson anything to report this evening yes I do the fire department had uh 10 false alarms Two Fire incidents uh one hazardous materials incident three good intent calls and one EMS assist members attended a pre-plan walkth through of the new apartment building at boundbrook road and warville road latest Firehouse update is the bay bay completion April 19 more to follow the shade tree commission meets on April 10th at 700 pm at the senior Club the the friends of denel Public Library the Open Air Market is having their grand opening on April 21st uh join them for the grand opening as we also feature downtown denan management organizations SW uh spring into Wellness uh come out and enjoy the day uh there'll be Zumba yoga martial arts music and dance presentations and uh it'll be our our awesome V vendors will be there and lots of great food all of the vendor fees go to support the denell public library uh the denell Miss Municipal Alliance will be at spring into Wellness on April 21st come and meet our Suds team which is our stop underage drinking students who work with the elementary school students and some school students in the middle school as well as attend all the community events come and meet them come play the the game show with them and uh get to know a little bit about what we do so for preven and on substance use disorders thank you thank you council president council member Rios anything to report yes uh the jelan public library join us on April 8th at 3:15 for Eclipse viewing at the library or stop by the library to pick up a pair of solar eclipse glasses four glasses are available per household and glasses are available to patrons with current unexpired library cards from dellan or another local library the Children's Program department will offer an intro to Dungeons and Dragons for young patrons grade five and above visit the library online or in person for more information about upcoming events and reoccurring programs Denine parks and wreck last Sunday March 24th Sunday uh dellan Recreation Department held its annual Easter egg hunt at Columbia Park it was a huge success with a huge turnout this year all four hunts took place in the football field and it really worked out well having one hunt at a time the recreation department would like to thank the mayor and councel for all their support of our programs we would also like to thank our fire department rescue squad and police department for all their support thanks to the fire department for escorting the Easter Bunny to the park also we would like to thank the Recreation Commission for all their help in making this event so special lastly thank you to May mayor salento for kicking off the hunt and councilman Rios for helping with getting kids on and off the field smoothly Hometown Heroes we placed an order for six additional banners for the spring they will be hung up downtown in May this brings our total to 104 banners Banners are expected to At Last to last at least 3 years attention seniors on April 8th janilla theater will be H having monthly senior movie Bay at 10:00 a.m. for $5 you get to watch a movie two slices of pizza a small soda and a small popcorn we would like to thank zepos for providing this monthly program Board of Education as mentioned in our last council meeting the Board of Education had its tenative budget presentation on March 12th the next Board of Ed meeting will be May 16th at 7:30 p.m. May 7th will be the public budget here in an adoption so my suggestion is if you have any question questions try to make that May 16th meeting voice your concerns questions and um comments before it is adopted on May 16th lastly have a great day and don't forget to volunteer thank you council member um just really quick to piggy back on the Easter egg hunt it was a great day it was a beautiful day but I do want to personally and give a shout out to Kelly Cedar it was her first uh full event she was running on her own as the recreation program coordinator and I believe she did a fantastic job so you'd be very proud of her in your absence Mr Alex so um she did a great job and she's doing a great job in the office so Applause to her um Alex was on vacation which he it's well deserved um um council member vmar anything to report tonight no report okay thank you Mr uh vand deore council member Lance anything to report for us this evening yes I do so um there's a new light timer for the South Washington n Bridge um that's anticipated this week with the project set to finish by a week's end weather permitting the Madison a bridge currently does not have an electrical connection in place so our contractor has reached out to psng to establish the necessary electrical connection for the lighting um our softball baseball fields around town um are being maintained by DPW and the dellan high school field crew um theyve collaborated to maintain and prepare the fields for school and recreational programs and this partnership between the two departments ensures safe and inviting spaces for students and community members we aim to further streamline our actions to enhance efficiency and Service delivery within the community students students achard and receive a each at the endod students will enter around know for lot of council any issues Council okay task force would like to continue partnership with toost school on May year and with the council consent forward that this is separating I don't hear any issues so consensus offal Monday thise off submission so far so thank you to everyone who help recruit artists and thank you to all the artists and as a reminder that theme is emergency services and are men and women in uniform form sorry firm form uniform yep so right outside on Prospect so I'm looking forward to that I think everybody is um that is it okay council member great coach so please reach out to the recreation department and volunteering I would love some helping all the various Sports this year there you go thank you coach okay council member Coach Joe Paul John there we go one two now batting for here's my report for this evening for the DPW the crew has routinely cleaned a downtown area and all Barrel properties and Parks they repaired potholes around the town so if you see them slow down and get out of the way let them do their work uh they repaired property uh from the sewer main break over the winter worked on the baseball and softball fields as well with I guess council member uh Lance said that they're doing with the but the schools so good teamwork always helps out and usually ends up with better results so so that's good working together uh they picked up branches throughout the town fix McCoy Park uh baseball field fence and remove multiple Fallen trees from the brook by McCoy Park and a reminder the street sweeper is out so the schedule has started and we'll run till September please move all vehicles off the street right before your scheduled day as in the past sweeping mainly occurs on Mondays each week for each section of the burrow but please go on the burrow website for the street sweeping schedule uh parsa is still videoing our sewer Ms on the streets scheduled to be paved in 2024 uh resue Squad still continues to look for volunteers so if you're interested for to volunteer or any information please look at uh look up on their website denell and rescue.org uh because huge things are in their future so please be a part of it and on a personal report I do have some personal news to announce this evening I want to take this time to let everyone know that I decided I'm running for governor okay well it was an April Fool's joke so I had to start off with her somewhere but in all honesty I wanted to let everyone know that I will be submitting my letter of resignation from the council this week and just wanted to take this time to say thank you first off to my wife and my daughters uh for all their support during my adventure here in politics the time and effort they put into this from going door too placing yard signs getting photographed that good old Arizona state flag and the hey rid with friends handing out brochures while jamming out to the song of the lyrics the same boat it's been quite a wild ride so thank you love you guys next I would like to say thank you to the mayor for the hours I have kept you on the phone at all hours of the day from your efforts to try and keep me politically correct because you never know what I will say but most importantly your friendship there is not a person that I know more that is more committed to this town and is truly proud of his Miracle Mile so thank you thank you Joe yes no no no this is you to my fellow council members each of you have helped me from the moment Coach Joe and Terry swept that election and I must say to Terry you not only a great running mate you but you an even better person and one that I fully Endor for her re-election bid this November so go out and vote you're welcome and thank you to Hal Cole and Trina it's been a pleasure working with all of you from our countless meetings functions conventions making sure I was in proper attire to the many laughs and all the memories thank you chrisol I know that you're going to do great great things for this town with the passion and ideas that you bring to the table and wish you and your family nothing but the best as all of you know this can be a thankless job but I believe there is a great team in place that will work hard to ensure a bright future for this town to all department heads the rescue squad the Police Department fire department OEM committee Commish Alex Lauren Kelly everyone that makes this town safe and a great place to be thank you and if the next council member happens to be listening please keep that team mentality because together everyone achieves more so for me that is my final report I'm signing off uh it is back to the sidelines thank you you have a way with words coach okay so so if I may please um going on the theme of coaching you don't have to be a great athlete to be a great friend so thank you for your friendship a pleasure working with you I'm going to miss you okay I'm going to go through my report that I'm going to address you at the end okay okay uh so railroad AB to Grove Street sewer lining project uh due to the inclement inclement weather this week uh clearly the lining project will be delayed to April 88th uh it is expected to take approximately three to five days um just for people to remember this is reining the sewer line that goes underneath the train embankment from uh Grove Street to Railroad Avenue to Madison and basically what that does it strengthens it so you know those transit trains don't crush it uh New Jersey American Water uh Penfield place from uh South Washington Avenue to Maple and then all of Maple Avenue uh we're working on getting quotes to repair damag curbs and updating new ADA compliance sidewalk ramps in that area uh this work will need to be completed before the paving of these streets occur which will be done by New Jersey American water after they do their improvements uh May 19th multi sight cleanup of the Greenbrook uh this is our third year of this multi municipality multi- partner initiative which includes the lower lower Ron Watershed partnership mayor's Alliance for clean Green Brook Waterway and many more uh so please join us at McCoy park at 9:30 a.m. on May 19th to clean up the Greenbrook uh the Greenbrook Brook trash trap uh we expect to hear from the contractor very soon about an approximate delivery date for the trash trap uh the installation is expected to take place this month which is very exciting because it's to get the funds for this grant have been two-year process and the approval from the D and the Fish and Wildlife and well that's bureaucratic red tape for you but we're getting it so that's good news uh denell and volunteer picnic uh day and events uh please join us for Den's First Volunteer Picnic Day on Sunday April 28th 12:00 pm at Columbia Park uh this will give uh committees commission's boards and authorities the opportunity to showcase their agencies and explain to the public about their missions and goals and hopeful encourage more people to sign up and volunteer um additionally uh there's plans for a mayor RL Town Hall called volunteering in dellan for Thursday April 25th at 7M at the Den Senior Center um and then again during the week of April 7th through April 13th um we will conduct a social media campaign for New Jersey local government week showcasing our public employees and various volunteer committees and commissions we should had a resolution on tonight's agenda so can we do a motion to the floor on that you can make a motion okay so I'm going to State it um denell and supporting uh New Jersey local government week uh for the dates of April 7th through 13 uh promoting basically our volunteer committees and commissions and our public employees and thanking that move it Sigman second Albertson all in favor I all in favor I I I any n which by the way all 14 years of my life on Council and being mayor never anyone has voted no I'm paying the bills Mr Mr J okay thank you sorry that's but it's on now so and we'll uh we'll send out a draft resolution to orig Andy if before before I sign it okay uh from our Engineers Klein Place the contractor is still securing a suitable supplier for the pre-cast sanitarian stormw water sewers components of the project uh which has caused a delay in the start of the project um the the ones that were proposed is the pre-cast manholes did not meet the DOT requirements so they're going back to the drawing board uh again that is a project that is funded through a grant to date denel have has that over $7 million in Grants am I right in that since 2020 um that's gone to Road improvements beautification projects and various other infrastructure improvements and other programs uh Lincoln Avenue the remaining work has been completed and close out paperwork was transmitted to the Bur on February 9th uh we received uh the sign njdot change orders from the buau and are processing the grant close out with the njdot uh they begun preparation for the final certifications of costs to obtain final Grant reimbursement from the state so basically no change on that Washington Avenue street lighting project again another NJ doot Grant uh CME is addressing the review comments excuse me received from the New Jersey Department of Transportation order to advance the project to bidding uh the lighting lease agreement and the PO have been forwarded to psng so they can order materials uh the response to the dot comments County submission and shpo submission will be sent in next week by our Engineers uh design improvements to Second Street Phase 1 in North Avenue way finding signage uh will commence upon authorization from the buau first St tonight was getting the bond introduced um the kavanian project in denel station um report for the final TCO has been submitted to the Construction office uh CME is conducting site observations to generate a list of work to be completed or bonded prior to the issuance of the final certificates of occupancy so no change from the last meeting um they're preparing budget figures for improvements at Sanford Avenue and the firehouse parking area so no change since last meeting we're preparing CME is preparing the recy tonage Grant application still um they are in receipt of the njd regarding the railroad Pro railroad cob project and we have been in contact with them with uh regard to what needs to be done to receive final approval for those that don't know what the railroad AB project is that is the project along the railroad embankment by South Avenue it's been 15 years and we are finally closer than we've ever been uh we took the actions of taking taking easement over the commercial property that was refusing to work with us cooperate with us um so now we're in the process of finalizing some permits and uh extending grants and it so but it's it's it's in sight so once that happens full steam ahead and what that will do for the south side and parts of the north side of town immediately around that with flooding I see Prospect a people here it will help immensely um believe me we've been again busting our asses to get that done but New Jersey red tape at it finest um and a disgruntled property owner uh we're scheduled to attend a virtual preconstruction meeting uh with the njdot they actually did attend that with regards to proposed Ada improvements along North Avenue so the NJ doot is coming in and doing all ADA Compliant ramps uh we sent our Engineers into that meeting because we were not personally happy with the design there are areas in the downtown that we feel there should be additional crosswalks cross North Avenue so they went in and on our request and advocated for the town they're also looking to um a few years back through Redevelopment we got enough funds through Community benefit donations to buy uh to install the wraping beacon lights at the intersections in the downtown where there's no red light a traffic signal um so they went in and advocated that that should be a part of this project because why come in do the ADA Compliant ramps where those things are going to be placed so good new well Fair news I don't want to say good news when it comes to the state government Fair news they um said send us what they're we're looking for and they'll get back to us so that's one step forward um uh CME is preparing storm water annual report and updates to the storm water pollution prevention plan as authorized by us um they'll proceed with the remaining remediation work associated with the strip joint site uh which is the should note as the new new Rescue Squad site um it's the boarded up building on brownbrook road and uh hopefully we can get moving on that uh Alex I have one thing for you this evening the flags downtown at the intersections that are basically welcome to denell and Shop Dy live quite a few of them I mean it's they were installed maybe about 15 okay so but let's get the them down because they're nasty looking and so we're looking to replace them but in the meantime the old ones are you know no need to leave Rags up put it that way okay thank you and then last I am going to conclude with councilman thank you for your service to the Bur of dellan our Miracle Mile it's been a great honor and privilege to serve with you I've served with many council members and um by far you've been one of the most entertaining I'll say that and uh which I appreciate because these meetings can be very dull and and uh but you got a beautiful family uh your wife Mrs Paul John Melissa has served uh many years on the Recreation Commission so we applaud you for your service there too um but thank you for being a part of our community the Paul John family and for serving here not many people step up to the plate they rather use social media as a platform to complain so this is where the work gets done and people fail to remember that we're your neighbors too there's no ill intent when we make decisions up here and so you've come here with reason you've approached every decision with thought and care and even though sometimes you voted no and we've disagreed um you did so respectfully and we appreciate that I appreciate that um so I agree with that be about that that's why you're all here together represent year you're here for the Reon to you know you're the voice for the T not the voice for you or the agenda for you and that's what I wanted to just put out did I plan on being here definitely didn't did I enjoy being here surprisingly did um but that's what I just would like to leave with with here as people put you here put your trust you being and to be together this group and stop leaving I'm not hope I get but it's a great group and there huge things especially with someone this young with this much fire why you were doing this at that age I had no idea but God bless you and your wife well thanks to my wife but thank you to all you especially for you like you know I said I was going to go to do this hope the best I can do thanks Joe but we're trying to highlight you right now my friend but anyway again thank you for your service it's been an honor to serve alongside of you I had another thing to say but I completely forgot but thank you for always keeping us on our toes Joe thank you again round of applause okay um there's uh department head meeting um reports sorry not meetings Mr Mosley one more Mosley OEM director coordinator OEM stands for the office of emergency management I thought it's very important that the public know who and what OEM stands for uh there's a couple things um one of my staff members will be attending the V violia cap meeting on Thursday this is a meeting that we always attend every month it basically is a violia is a is a chemical uh Reclamation plant and so it being so close near the uh dellan borderline um we attend that this week's topics is going to be uh terrorism also i' like to say um thank you to Alex Miller and Richard Herbert is it Herbert Herer uh for um preparing the uh the uh pad for our the receipt of our 40 foot container we received it and we automatically started to uh load items in it we had a donation uh from one of our members whose uh company is moving we have we now have in that trailer we have about nine what I would call classroom type of tables long tables as you recall when we tried to do a um a presentation we had to scrape go around scraping for tables now we have our own and chairs uh we got some other items such as we now have a microwave and a uh coffee maker a carrot for our office in case uh you know the we have to convene Chief so yes I'm give you yours back uh also I think it's very important you got to clean it first oh that's true uh also I think it's very important to uh recognize that uh several of our members will be attending taking time out on on the weekend Saturday and Sunday to attend is200 uh some of us are being redipped but it's a uh it will help us to enhance our skills in terms of protecting the town um I think that's it for now okay thank you thank you Homer I remember I was going to say I think and know it's important for me to say it because credits do um your work with us on the rescue squad and keeping tempers and I don't want to say paranoia but calm on certain parties but keeping tempers even let's put it that way and uh helping get that across the line so that's a when you drive through denell and and you see the new Rescue Squad you can know councilman Joe had a great part in that so that's a legacy any other department heads Chief Lieutenant nothing everything good at the clerk legal no okay it nah okay not thanks sir okay well uh item number 10 on our agenda is public comments uh we have the microphone here we ask that you come up state your name address make your comment State your uh State your questions and we're here I didn't you don't need to sign a sheet no exit but thank you so much uh my name is Bianca Aras from uh 384 Prospect Avenue we've admired your Christmas decorations thoroughly no I have two little ones we we thoroughly enjoy them every year um congratulations on your new bundle of joy thank you and um Mikasa sukasa we've always welcomed you guys into our home every year um I have two very starking concerns as of late um I'm not going to get into the whole like public school sector thing because it is what it is um I didn't realize until somebody posted on the whole prek thing that was going on um that there was some sort of an initiative that was open for the prek students um recently that it's not open to all eligible students for prek that are of age three or four year year old students but it's only for 90 students that are eligible to register for for prek uh until somebody posted it on Facebook I think two days ago um and I was going through like the preliminary process of registering my son who is about to be three years old this Saturday um but when I was made aware of that um I started doing some further digging in so I I don't know if that's something that you can maybe bring to light to me because I I didn't know that um well I will state that anything related to prek or K through 12 that is the school district so it's not programming we're too familiar with those are decisions that are made by the Board of Education right I I I mean I can always find out more information right but the best source for you to go to is the next Board of Education meeting which is what date is that is it may or April April 16th well the only reason I'm asking is so April 16th okay because as far as the taxes are concerned with what we're paying that that that's what like I thought like my tax increase was because of that as far as my tax increase was concerned I said okay maybe that that would be due to that so that was my one of the reasons why I thought okay maybe that's because of that well I mean I assume and I'm not I can't speak for the school I can only speak on a assumption um you saw tonight our presentation the average home $50 so that's our side we only take in the taxes and then we write a nice check quarterly to them how much is it about each quarter Scott I saw I saw the presentation to too much right I agree um so and and for me as a homeowner it's kind of concerning because I'm I've been a homeowner for for quite some time and I didn't reap the benefits with my daughter who's now uh 6 years old but then with my son I said okay great I can send him to prek but now I'm like I can't because if it's just 90 students the Assumption I can make and again it's I can't speak firmly on it is I believe they had a they got a grant program to Pilot prek and so I guess with those qualifications or expectations from the school they limit the number of students that are registered that's my assumption okay um I think you would get the best answers at the April 16th Board of Education meeting um I know they are having a $23 tax increase I noted my opinion at the last council meeting I've spoken to some board members and the superintendent they're aware of my position on that um so I would advise if you have a concern over that increase as well as the program I I strongly encourage you to reach out to them via email or best ways like you're here tonight which I AP you for coming here um and talk to them and see what the reason that is again I can reach out don't mind doing it I know you're very as soon as I reach out to you you're always very but I I do think it is important that they see parents and residents at their meetings having questions and stating their concerns okay thank you and um my next question is the um we're we're still coming into a lot of issues with the speeding and it's gotten a lot worse with the noise making on Prospect it's it hasn't got any any better it's actually gotten a lot worse and there still is no patrolling um I mean you I like you said to me your office is here you hear it all the time I hear and there's no patrolling loud cars it's bad and I have seen an unbelievable amount of these I don't know what you call it these illegal like uh motorcycles or what have you that are at 30 35 miles per hour they just get on the the sidewalks on the grass and you know the kids are in front of the houses and it's it's such a safety hazard it's it's really bad but I don't see the cops out at all to patrol or stop these kid these I I mean I don't even know what to what to say about it there's no patrolling on it whatsoever and the cars are just zooming by I've bought an air I mean I don't want to be that one that's sitting outside of her house but if I don't see anybody patrolling or do anything about it you've seen me or you've seen what I've done on Facebook with my posters and my kids and I mean I can't be that one to just be the one to patrol and make something happen about it I think I did enough with the the strips no I and I I respect that you've always stepped up and let your opinions be know right and um but we have the lieutenant here we can bring this back to the Chief and have a conversation something has to be done because it's it's it's really bad and the kids know it the ones that are driving these cars and do they live in the area are you aware if they live in town or are they in the doesn't make a difference just knowing which direction I don't have a camera outside my house because I don't I don't really believe in that level of like oversight um I I'm not sure who who they are but it's constant it's like overnight at all hours it's all night okay I I'm sure everybody else who lives around me can say the same thing I've got on who I mean everybody is a Rami um and the third question I have the peacock the peacock what happened to the in peacock um I have to double check my emails I know I didn't hear back from you or understand the property owner was cited on various matters as long as I know that in terms of the animal in of itself um my understanding was code enforcement showed up he did not see signs so his recommendation is when that when it's like when you see something say something in the moment um so he was not able to observe what you observed at that time although there were other citations I know were done as long as I know he's take if there are things that you see at the time the best is to call the non-emergency line for the police at that or the animal um but in terms of Prospect Avenue we hear you we understand you have a concern I can't speak directly to it because I'm not out every single day to know where they're at but I want to talk with the police department I want to give them the benefit of the doubt I think that's a respectful thing to do and uh we'll have that conversation thank you you want to address it absolutely you didn't hear it just now I did I know the time oh I mean I mean every five minutes like two minutes can I so Lieutenant beers uh Bianca Aras mayor can can I address really quick something about Board of Ed that she had said yes so if you go to their um the gentleman School website under Board of Education if you look at the November 28th minute meetings they had a preschool expansion presentation and the way the lottery picked for the kids well I still recommend you go to the meeting because I think people need to address these things it was based on economic needs and that's how they picked the lottery of the children I in terms of your question per turning pertaining to property with the peacock uh they were issued a uh letter um they Revisited and it looked like the concerns that were brought up it was cleaned up and in terms of the Town they're they're stating that we don't have an ordinance on exotic animals nor does the county so that's something we would have to look into um but I think your qu your concern was more or less the treatment of the animal right yeah okay no you're welcome any other comments or questions from the public please state your name and address microphone is on up front Okay without hearing any we'll close that portion of the meeting and um no other business for this evening can I have a motion a second to adjourn on resolution number 122 move it sigment you like the honors of a seconding all in favor I any Nays still waiting for that okay