to order Madame clerk in accordance to the open p meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this budget hearing of the Franklin countship Council was made as required indicating that this budget hearing would take place remotely via Zoom at 7M on Monday March 11 2024 if we could all say the PGE of Allegiance you don't necessarily need to stand I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands a nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay Madam cler please scoll the rooll coun andaron here councilwoman FR La here councilman Kazi here may Kramer here councilman on jaka Deputy Mayor pnik president although I can't turn my video on Council Dean councilman vasella councilman right councilman basella there he is he looks like he's present he may be having trouble answering yeah can't talk as he's sorry I'm here okay good can you hear me yes okay sorry thank you so this is a budget meeting um and some people may be wondering why we're doing it by Zoom it's actually easier for counil to have rather than a laptop a large computer uh screen and in front of them uh so we can look at the budget numbers more easily so uh I decided Well I came up with the idea of it and I found other council members agreed with it uh but you can blame me if you don't like it uh and just is my defense in the 20 years I've been involved the only people I've known to come to a budget meeting are myself and Bill Connell so I didn't think we would be oh and the and the Press so I didn't think we would be putting anyone out so um first we have public discussion do we have a motions open to the public so Mo second moves in second and all in favor say I I I those oppos say may motion is carried um so you can speak about anything in relation to government this is a budget meeting we'd appreciate it if you keep it to the budget however um uh it's your freedom to uh speak about anything related to government all right Mr Mayor anybody from the public wishing to speak we ask that you use the reaction button at the bottom of your screen and raise hand a feature you would like to speak if you're dialed in by phone you can use the star nine to raise your hand and then when you're done star nine to lower your hand again if you want to speak we ask to use the raise hand feature which is under the reaction icon at the bottom Mr Mayor I do not see anybody indicating they would like to speak at this time no one from the public I make a motion to close the public session second moved in seconded all in favor say I I say nay I'm looking oppose say nay okay public session is closed Mr born Locker it's your meeting I guess we're starting with Planning and Zoning thank you Mr Mayor can you hear me fine yes I had something pop up on my screen I wanted to make sure it was still functioning properly so we we're going to go slightly out of the order that was originally provided as Mr Healey has a uh another commitment so uh Mark I'm going to start with um your planning board budget which should be I'm hoping it's p there we go I got it it's page 11 of the PDF so the first budget is planning board it's on your screen now uh for all who are participating um Mr Healey's budget um was at $186,250 for the 2023 budget and is proposed at $186,250 for this year um with a a slight change in um lines 027 and 028 um with $50,000 more being added to Legal Services which is line 27 and $50,000 less being uh uh requested under professional consultant and specialized services Mark if you'd like to explain I think we know why the legal service is up we're dealing with a number of different issues related to Warehouse litigation um with the planning board and zoning board however the the $50,000 decrease was from $100,000 that that was the line for the planning study and traffic study correct yes which which uh has has started and and we should be U getting underway um in the next month or so uh we are proposing another 50,000 this year just in case there are uh a need for any follow-up studies or ancillary studies associated with that so we are proposing to keep a little bit of um a budget for potential Consulting Services okay does anyone have a question on that budget okay the next bud for Mr Healey will be a historic commission AG 13 quite sure why it's not sharing it but try it again there we go okay so the historic uh commission budget generally does not spend their full budget um Mark if you could tell us why there's $1,000 budgeted for uh other contractual items in the historic budget well the main reason why that's in there is for um educational opportunities there are sometimes some uh historic conferences that some of the members of the historic commission uh go to um so they could be educated um to serve uh on the commission okay and is there is there educational classes for the new members of the historic commission when they're named there's not a requirement but there are some again some conferences they go to from time to time related to Historic preservation councilman EMB Barrison I think you were gonna say something yeah I sit on that as the Lea on and I know some people have taken or some seminars and I'm surprised that they didn't put in for reimbursement and they were they were always asking for more courses to attend but I'm surprised there's no reimbursement so I guess they must be just paying it out a pocket and not submitting reimbursements and that's all they would need to do okay so we can stop on the historic if there are no other questions on historic before I take it down okay okay the next one will be engineering which now falls under the department of land use of which Mr Healey is responsible and here is the engineering budget the engineering budget in 20203 was at 141,142 45 with a small amount small adjustment of $750 reduced in the printing and binding and an increase of 750 in uniform allowance um that would be for the UN the clothing for the field uh inspectors for the engineering department are there any questions on the engineering budget so would we need any uh engineering expert testimony uh because of the lawsuits do we expect anything that that if there is if that is the case then uh um certainly that we would be they would be hired as expert Witnesses through the township attorney's office would not anticipate them at this particular point to be honest in calendar year 24 having that need that come would that expense come under engineering or legal it would probably come under legal because they would be expert Witnesses in a trial okay and and you know and we should understand that while there's $133,900 for professional consultant and specialized Services which is in fact the the Township's portion of the township engineering costs with CMA um that's the the contract cost the bulk of the money that that is um paid to CME for Engineering Services is for escrow work done for the planning board zoning board and and any inspection work that they do in the field that's charged as escrow for new development are we good okay you're good okay okay Mark that's your last is there any other ones I'm I'm oh environmental commission I'm sorry you're muted Mark Bob's right environmental environmental environmental commission was budgeted at 11,200 in 2023 and there's an increase up to 12,650 um and the environmental commission exhausted and and this is this reflects an increase in the environmental commission for a slight increase in the contract for the sustainability consultant uh that provides um work provides work for the environmental commission that would be T Kenyan Bob in um U preparing for this I I looked at um I'd asked Tara back in October to provide the breakdown for the for their potential budget um in that email I noticed she references resolution 35723 and she references a an amount of 15,000 and that's what I thought and that's why I was wondering why the department request was at 111 talk to you about it later that would have been my mistake so if if I I think I think that well right and that that that should that should reflect an increase of actually um another 39 yeah 3900 which would bring it up to 16,550 now the increase Mark in other miscellaneous items are you familiar the reason why that is the case yeah well they they cited a few things um the the the usual plaques for the annual environmental stewardship Awards educational opportunities for environmental Commissioners so that's similar to um that the historic commission that we just spoke about and then uh the last item is signage and promotional items for events signage for adopt a drain film series supplies and refreshments public information session needs Etc okay as well as an Jack does for the um New Jersey Association of environmental commissions yes the environmental commission has become much more uh active over the last say year and a half two years so I certainly understand why they now need some funding to do the things that they're looking to do um C council member pnik does that sound about right the 15,000 no 1500 1500 for oh yeah yeah I I'm sure that there's been discussion at the enironment environmental it's hard for me to know how much a sound a sign is or what have you but I think it's more than they've had which would be they'd be very happy okay very good are there any other questions about the environmental commission budget and we'll make that adjustment to the copy Kathy if you're taking notes that should be that should be reflected as 15,000 not 111 Mark I think that completes all of yours does it not it does and thanks to everybody for letting me cut in line thanks Raven Bob I made that adjustment thank you it took me a minute to unmute sorry that's okay no problem thank you so much and have a good evening Mark okay so I believe Mr Mayor our next budget will be HR yes that would be our HR Director Raven Williams good evening everyone good evening good evening and the HR budget again is proposed at 138,000 the same number as it was uh budgeted at for 2023 there's some some transfers of money from one line to another that that don't amount to a great deal of money $100 here $100 there $1,000 there 1,600 it it in the end this the budget was kept flat actually I take that back it was decreased by $235 um there's a number of obviously the HR department budgets for including the employee assistance program um medical expenses including physicals for um new hires as well as uh new hires in the police department psychological exams and and what have you and the wellness program for the township and also a significant amount of money for Education and Training for not only the uh the management coaching program but other Education and Training programs for employees throughout the course of the year so are there any questions on the HR budget same done okay thank you Raven see you morning thank you all right have a good evening bye bye Municipal Court thank you I'm just doing a little housekeeping on my uh files here that I'm working off of the next would be Kayla Martinez for Municipal Court good evening I'm getting your screen up there Kayla bear with me there we go okay so the Municipal Court under the uh Court Administration of Kayla Martinez is a budget that's proposed at $3 32,100 a $200 decrease in 2023 4 from 2023 um it it again has some movement of of money from one line to another to better adjust for um the needs of the court so my question is it looks like we've never done postage for the municipal court I would think the court would need to have postage expenses I I think that the postage that's generally used by the Municipal Court Mr Mayor has budgeted in the main uh purchasing budget that we'll speak about in a couple budget okay some some I don't think that there's a whole lot of FedEx and UPS charges the postage and express charges for some departments including things like the the collector's office so the collector and assessor budget postage separately from the general postage in general Administration okay so are there any questions on the requested budget for the court nope NOP good okay thank you Kayla quick one for you yes thank you guys have a good evening you too bye bye too collector of Revenue collector of Revenue thank you mayor uh and that would be Rosanna guz there she is Ros I'm going to put your budget up in a second once I find it here there we go okay so the collector's budget is proposed at $ 22,370 and increase of $257 um from 2023 with all of that in conferences and meetings Rosanna could you explain why there's an increase in conferences and meetings for your uh for you and your staff can you hear me yes okay all right um so those are mainly for the classes um even though I'm seeing an educational and training uh line but it's mainly for the Ruckers classes which is in read there so that's that's for the The Collector classes for your staff so that they can get C yes I should have added in in that line rather than conference and meting which we can adjust that's yeah yeah so it's just moving but it it is in the tab its section as Ruckers yeah it is it is under the main tab right okay so we were G we're given the opportunity classes are offered by Ruckers University and that um we have several employees who are seeking their uh collector certification through Ruckers um in the collector's office are there any other questions on the collector's budget so that's uh that's really nearly doubled from uh last year's yeah um and we have newer employees who are now seeking the classes new hires that haven't had any of the classes um it you know Rosanna was hired as a collector when we hired her um Tiff in the collector's office was a uh an account clerk she's now the deputy collector because she was able to uh to take the courses and become certified as a collector and that's what we're offering for the other employees as well okay okay and see here mayor you you there's Printing and binding but again the your your uh post postage is also included in the general postage Rosanna um tax is and the waters in the water budget the waters in the water utility right okay okay any other questions for our collector okay thank you thank you we see you morning have a great night take care by uh tax assessor assessor thank you he's really the access assessor he is the assessor and his budget says assessor not tax assessor correct mayor um right so tonight we have uh Mr Carabelli our assessor um and Carol rajevic who is our um deputy assessor and uh some or or most of you probably don't know Carol because Carol was brought on to the staff several months ago to replace Carl eie who retired after about 38 years with the township so Carol is our new deputy assessor and she's in the office um every day so um the Assessor's budget has some and I'm going to I'm going to address some things that that might seem somewhat vague here um the Assessor's budget is proposed at $13,250 which is a decrease of $400 but I wanted to talk about one particular line that will need to have some corrections I spoke with both Carol and Rick this morning about this line 077 that I just highlighted which is called telecommunication fax email internet and it shows a $3,000 increase but really that's not a $3,000 increase in uh telecommunication costs there is a request for a new piece of software and I I'll let Rick and um Carol explain it U Rick yeah um good evening mayor and councel uh we we've been following I guess for over five years now there's been an outfit that came was uh putting together uh software that would assist an assessor uh and doing quite a few things the things that would be of uh relevance to us is uh finding a comparable sales data which could assist us in our annual reassessment program uh my predecessor a number of years ago I think around 2007 or 2008 put together uh a program uh uh where we could collate uh data and then uh I I know that some of the council people and in particular the mayor are familiar with this we've we've uh demonstrated the program uh several times at public meetings but this uh program is much more advanced and takes uh the data collection to a new level the other thing that the that the uh program would help us with is uh in in uh working with comparable sales searches to help defend um County tax appeals uh at the tax board level um it's a $3,000 you know one annual uh fee uh we'd like to at least try it one time like I said we've been F following it for a number of years car Carol actually has experience with the program uh through another office prior to coming to Franklin uh and we both agreed uh that something that we wanted to put in the budget uh this year uh I tried to calculate how much time we could save uh and I trying to say well you know so many hours but we'll actually save days of time and research uh especially with the annual Assessment program uh keeping in mind that we have a number of residential districts throughout town that all have to be analyzed and uh again some of the council members are familiar with that that process so it's rather time consuming uh and this is a way to Short Circuit that and uh we're asking that it be the program be considered uh in uh in this year's budget thank you and you're saying that it's going to be more accurate so you're uh assessments will be more accurate and easier to defend them well I don't I don't uh I I'd like the believe mayor that our that our assessments are accurate uh what we're looking at is uh uh saving probably quite a bit of time uh and putting the uh annual reassessment program together I know Carol was first exposed to it this year being a new being a new deputy and um uh I could tell you she spent weeks on it as did her predecessor uh hopefully this program would expedite that uh and it's also uh beneficial when a taxpayer comes in and says to us and again mayor I I know particularly that you've you've been exposed to this as well you know how did you get to that number uh if we could sit down and put some data into a program and get the answers within a matter of minutes I think that's pretty convincing to a taxpayer as well Rick did you try it out in the last assessment we all received the bills uh was there any trial period or trial uh use of that software for this cycle I I've been monitoring uh that software uh I've they've came they've come in and demonstrated it to us at least two occasions uh I'm also president of the merer County Board of Taxation we've uh looked at it uh for our assessors uh in Mercer I don't know if any of them are on board with it yet but I think they've reached the point now uh where they have a nice product that it's it's worth at least uh venturing into Eric one question good evening first of all uh is this just one time expenditure or is going to be annual it's an it's an annual expenditure uh keep in mind that the data has to be fresh for our assessments to be accurate so it isn't something we could buy at one time and it's good for a number of years uh at the end of the at the end of the uh sampling period for the uh sales data then then the old data is no good so they're they're constantly inputting that and that's where a lot of the uh time and effort goes Rick is there a future on that software uh for the public uh maybe could look at their assessment is is there a view that that provides for the public or it's only strictly internal there there's um well there's two parts to any any Assessment program and that's uh set up by the state there's what what's referred to is the mod for side and that's basically the assessment history and that would go to all 23,000 properties the other side is is refer the acronym is Kama computer assistant Mass appraising and that side is considered a work in progress so uh it's not available to the public uh so portions and answer to your questions portions of what this program does uh are available oh okay good I would think that could avoid many calls to the office well it we're going to get the in all cander we're going to get the calls but it makes it easier to explain our position okay anyone else Rick I just have one question this is so we've talked about Residential Properties is this software also useful in commercial uh appraisals and appeals uh no because commercial yeah it's just it's it's a different um the the courts have taken a different look at non-residential properties Bob and and uh it's it's a whole different ball game at that level uh it's almost um the the the uh the uh assessment is too um particular to the property it's not like one shoe fits all where you can say this is similar to this that and the other thing the courts have always steered away from that uh there's different approaches that that that they view that are not available in any program to be honest with you that I'm a that I'm aware of okay thank you so Rick would it be safe to say that you're would us utilize this software as a tool to help you calculate the individual residential assessments absolutely okay that that's ticket yeah that's that's exactly um you know it's what we're doing now I don't want to I don't want make you think that uh or make any anyone think that we're you know short short changing the process it's the same process this is just a better way to to help you yeah it's it's a new mous trp I think that we should allow him to to purchase the tool agree okay absolutely thank you but he did like I said you know Rick and Carol did include it in their budget it's just they didn't have a line in their budget for that type of software so we'll just have to make an adjustment to the actual budget workbook and uh and included in the uh in the budget once we get to that point in this process and that will increase it by 3,000 no it's it's already here councilwoman um that they actually so there was actually some cutting in their budget in other lines to reduce down where they actually show a reduction of $400 and that includes this $3,000 in the budget already in the in the propos got it thank you anyone else on the the assessor so before we go on the fact that he got new software reminded me during Planning and Zoning should we have been discussing that uh aerial uh photography software that the councilman and Barrison you and I saw at uh I I I believe and I and and I'll ask him to jump in I believe that's included in the it budget yes we are on a trial program right now but we've included that in the it budget okay we'll get to that then okay thank you so next is purchasing okay let me try to get my screen back the way it's supposed to be here and stop sharing this okay okay I'm sorry purchasing mayor yes page seven on the PDF thank you purchasing Cindy Ballinger our purchasing agent I believe is with us are you here Cindy I am okay so our purchasing budget includes many things that are utilized across all of the uh departments um and it is at [Music] $13,900 which is an increase of $3,700 um you'll notice that this is one of those budgets that gets spent nearly to the 100% Mark and uh one of the biggest things and showing a $3,700 increase which reflects on the bottom of the total expenses is postage Mr Mayor which you raised earlier and as we all know postage rates were increased by the United States Parcel Service Postal Service I'm sorry not parcel postal um and this increase is reflected on line 22 in Cindy's proposed budget and are there any questions for Cindy on the purchasing Department budget n that seems to be the only increase that's it yep so if there are no other questions Recreation I'm sorry what was that mayor Recreation would be next okay thank you I'll just G to stop sharing here again thank you Cindy okayy thank you have a good see you tomorrow morning oh yeah bye bye okay get some of this out of the way okay Mr only Jaa if you would you're speaking you were muted so for the recreation department we have acting director Wendy white good evening everybody there she is and Wendy will be talking about the recreation budget which um for the types of of items in this budget fund both the recreation department at the senior community center as well as the youth center um for a variety of things that uh are included in this type of budget there's a number of other programmatic things that are funded through um fees collected from participants that then are uh kept in the recreation trust until they're expended to fund further programmatic expenses so the budget for the recreation Department ISO is proposed that got put my glasses on again those numbers look small $15,500 which is a decrease of $345 from the 2023 budget the recreation department and the youth center both function in great part from uh fee based programs to fund existing you know the current programming and future programs as well Bob I have a question on I'm looking at the actual for 20 uh 23 is that through the first three quarters or is it's only through the first three quarters correct Council okay okay any questions here nope all right thank you [Music] Wendy good night night construction well do we want to go over the senior Transportation oh yes I'm sorry that's okay I can handle senior Transportation if Wendy is gone let me just do that I just need to bring that up thank you mayor I also will bring up later uh another budget that uh was inadvertently skipped that I can handle as well so senior transportation is a contract with Somerset County to provide the bus driver and maintenance on uh the the bus that we own they operate our bus and they maintain our bus and for that we pay Somerset County through a contract uh this year is $92,400 38 which should work out to exactly a 2% increase over 2023 is budget of 9,611 so an increase of 3588 Somerset County increases that contract annually at a rate of 2% Bob this is only for seniors this is just the senior transportation bus correct is that a scoot is that a scoot bus Bob no it's not the scoot bus scoot is Somerset County Office of Transportation Scot this is our senior transportation bus where our seniors to either be brought to the senior center or they can also arrange for transportation for things like doctor's appointments within five miles of uh of Franklin Township or they can also utilize that transportation to go to the grocery store and is it uh available 247 or is it no absolutely not business hours Monday through Friday okay y not the holidays right no business when when the county is open okay by okay okay so that is transportation on that note Bob what would happen if somebody needs with the weekend they have just to do it themselves or they have race that's correct okay is the next one construction code construction code correct [Music] mayor that's on page 14 apparently I closed it out accidentally so now I have to open it again bear with me okay so tonight we have with us our construction official Barry Wilbur Barry mayor yes good evening mayor and councel good evening Barry so the construction code budget is proposed at $391,500 increase that $1,000 is included in printing and binding um my my assumption is that um we have an increase in construction forms Barry that's correct the cost of printing those forms Scott Ro so that would be for all of the different permit application forms and what have you yes so the state doesn't pay for those for us correct no they don't pay for those they they we do have contractors who print their own forms off of the dca's website and we're seeing more of those come in which helps to reduce our costs okay are we trying to go more online that is online yes no but are are we aren't we trying to go for online submissions to paper oh the the state has been trying to do online submissions plan reviews uh things like that they've been trying I I think they started about five years ago and they keep putting it off so we don't have permission to do it yet no we don't have permission to do that yet because I get ads all the time for software that I'll do it uh yes okay okay any other questions for Barry tonight if not thank you Barry you're welcome it page 15 okay we'll start with the it uh op uh operating budget so let me just clear some things up here okay we'll also do the it capital budget tonight so we can follow that with uh after we're done with this one so the it budget's a big one the it budget is currently proposed at $49,100 n95 increase that 83 uh of that that of that increase $ 839956 1895 increase in line 138 which is software licensing so I will let Mr McQueen who's been helping me run this meeting explain his uh budget yeah the the big increase is the software licensing and again across the board we're seeing prices go up about 10% per soft Ware we also have um uh one of the contracts that we have for the vehicle tracking software which is the GPS software for all the municipal vehicles and Municipal plows that was a five-year agreement that came du um this year so that is a substantial portion of that 84 895 was that increase now Bob was there any increase so obviously one of the other things that that has become um somewhat costly and uh but also very much needed is um costs related to cyber security and and uh u m maintaining the security on our on our network is that included in these costs as well yeah that's correct we we have added some modules as um the the cyber security guidelines have changed um so we our manager program um which is mandated for cyber security purposes and our uh other software which does patch management so that's definitely in here which were new cost okay are there any questions on the the uh we'll call the operating budget for the IT department when is the uh is that going to be happening every year Bob uh this uh substantial increase or we are good for the next uh cycle four years five years or whatever that might be I believe um it's not going to fluctuate like it did the one big thing was the was the GPS software um which was a fiveyear agreement that came down I am doing that yearly so that we're not hit with a big cost it was not a substantial savings moving it out to the year program um and then the other issue was our Office 365 with Microsoft that term was up and was renewed this year and that one up so we should be pretty good moving forward so one of the things that I'll just add you know because the The Joint Insurance Fund gets involved with cyber security and we are a a our uh cyber insurance is through the joint Insurance Fund and uh what the GIF now has required of all of the member gifs not only in in the Central Jersey GIF for which we're a member but all of the GIFs that are within the the municipal excess liability GIF is to meet certain standards for cyber security related to network protection and if we don't meet those standards there's an Inc inreasing um deductible up to a a a uh a point where we would we could be uninsured for that risk we are not and we are not in a in a position currently that we have to be concerned about that um but the this is a this is a very frequent conversation I'm on the cyber security task force for the GIF we we dis we actually have a meeting coming up to discuss the protocols going forward for 2024 um and the and the requirements that all municipalities will have to meet you know as a member of a gif any any Municipal risk that any Town um is is any risk that is in another town is a risk for us as well because we are um insured by a joint Insurance Fund so we have to continue to maintain this standard for uh network security to avoid uh things like um Ransom demands from you know malware takeovers of our Network which you know we have not dealt with this other towns have it can cost a tremendous amount of money we want to continue to maintain our insurance which means we have to continue to maintain our uh or network protections and security costs are not something that we can skip on and they're going to continue to go up and up and up no and and and and the cost just continue to rise because technology advances and unfortunately the bad people um get better at doing what they do as well and that means we have to keep the door shut all the time yes yeah and and to be honest with you it is also why vendors or other software costs are going up because they constantly have to rewrite their software to be more secure so that it isn't hackable um as best they can so that's driving cyber security cost are driving across the board software cost up right so part of the budget will never go down I don't think so councilwoman I don't think I ever will anticipate software licensing going down nope NOP nope so Bob you have an update on the the other question mayor asked about the mapping software is that somewhere in here that's that's included in that line councilman yes that's where this that's where it will be all right the reason why we included it then we then and M much of the software applications in the town are included in the it budget as opposed to to different departments having applications and that's why um Mr McQueen instant messaged me while we were talking about the Assessor's request for that software saying that it should be in his budget and I agreed with him so when we move that money for the assessor software it'll go to the it budget given the fact that the IT department controls all of the software installations on all of our Hardware we include all of that the only place where you'll see um software costs in a budget is the police department um and so there's a shared cost for the town management software sdl across a couple different departments to include the water department and the construction Department who uses it the most but for this particular uh application it is a GIS function the the the software that that we were talking about that the mayor was discussing and obviously we have a GIS technician who does all of our mapping work that works in the IT department so he'll probably use it more than anyone so okay so that's that budget the next budget would be Mr McQueen's capital budget oh okay so this is a capital budget that also for it purpos purposes includes the water capital for it as well as the open space capital for it um Bob you want me to go down here and obviously the yellow column is 2024 this is um the the fifth year of a fiveyear plan for it capital and next year it'll be the fourth year of a fiveyear plan as we continue to move forward but Bob do you want to just I I can scroll when you tell me to scroll and you can explain what the costs are associated uh on on your budget here for Capital yeah I mean typical the computer replacement at the top that's all computers um servers printers iPads that comes out of capital um police departments looking at a new ID system to replace their current outdated system um the uh point of sale is to replace the cash registers that we are currently in the you know 1980s that we use in the Clark office and in um the collectors um so that is what that budget is for to replace those with a point of s system can I can I ask a question on that Bob uh I found out that we don't accept credit card for uh the tax the the water department is that is that being upgraded can we do not take credit card in person if they play through the portal they're welcome to pay with a credit card or electronic funds transfer we do not take them at the window oh even for permits other issues just not for the Bill I'm talking about a builder comes in and wants to pay for yeah we don't take any in-person credit card fees right now but is it available uh remotely and can they do it online not the water not the water bills but other service fees and stuff no it is not available the only thing if they if they go to the kios and pay their water bill or tax they can do an EFT or credit card to do them they're the only two correct me if I'm wrong Bob they're the only two that we take um online none of other other than the municipal the Municipal Court takes them for uh fine payments but that's through the state of New Jersey correct is there a reason why we don't allow that that seems like a convenient way to uh pay fees for the people um I'm just curious why we've had some discussion on it there is some accounting stuff because every Department goes into their own general fund and then they would have to transfer to the main fund at the end of the month um we have been Bob and I have had conversations about this and it is something that we're looking at it's just not in this year's budget yet and and if we do it in all honesty there has to be you know the credit card fees there's certain laws in New Jersey about how much you can charge back and then is the town going to absorb those fees so that's where there's some discussion between Council and and and Bob's office that needs to happen to give us guidance on the direction we need to go we're not allowed to pass the fees on unless it's a an online transaction so and in you know so when someone comes in councilman and they're building a a large building and the fees are significant uh for that the the permits in the Construction office um because obviously the fees are based on the cost of the work that's being done um it that when you add another three and a half% of the credit card fee that something that the town would have to eat if we took credit cards in person that's the primary reason why it hasn't been done at this point and we're not allowed to pass on on the fees unless it's an online transaction I can't tell you why that is the law but that's the law so we could technically we could say credit cards transaction would only be online that could be done where and that's what we're trying to figure out a way to do across the different departments that accept fees it's it's you know there's a number of departments that accept uh fees for either permits or or other items so that that's the thing that we're trying to figure out how all of that can play out yeah I I I bring it out only because uh um Hillsboro allows that and uh our uh departments don't so so I was just curious why that is the case and I think that'll be a con convenience for the public if you make it available online so we can pass on the fees so I we can continue to to to explore and I'll contact the administrator and Hillsboro and find out how they're doing it there all right okay so then you have 10,000 here yep video surveillance upgrades um there's been a couple incidences outside the property that haven't been covered on video so it's really adding some additional cameras to cover some angles that haven't been covered in the past um there's some modifications to community resource Bureau for the police department um getting card access on the doors upstairs they can utilize office area upstairs which currently they don't have data upstairs so we need to do some work to make that building um usable in on all levels um the municipal Wan upgrades we are finishing a project that um is going to be more resilient um and get the network in better shape um so that's where that difference comes in what a redundancy so that if we lose internet connection in one building we fail over to a secondary site we also need to upgrade the guest Wi-Fi within the buildings because now it's just not we don't have enough bandwidth within the buildings to handle the guest Wi-Fi um so it's really just it's a failover system and it's part of the disaster recovery plan okay um that's the that's the same thing those two fees there the door card access replacement of Public Safety they've had some additional doors they're requesting C access to um so they can better track um who's going in and out of those doors and provide better security um digital signage um I know we've brought this up before I'm coming down in price just trying to make it more user friendly for people to come in the building they constantly come in the back door stand and don't know where they want to go so we're trying to do some signage for that um we have some licensing available that really would minimize the cost if we were able to get this and buy the player and the and the screen that we would need for it you don't like you don't like my signs printed out on 8 and a half by 11 paper on your door anymore okay I can seem to follow them but we do have a lot of people get lost um and then the MDM software that is our mobile device management and we are adding more mobile devices we have more iPads and stuff and laptops going out that we really have the ability this software where this program allows us to remote wipe those devices in the event that they were lost or stolen to prevent and keep our data secure so we have to increase because we have had more devices added and we are currently um at our maximum so we need to add to that program um phone replacement um we're continuing to do that we had a number of phones that were end of life they're only passing the maximum our computers plug into the back of the phone so we have a VoIP over it Network or VoIP Network so it's voice over IP the phone then supplies Internet to the computer a number of our phones are only supplying 10 Meg which is causing very slow computers for the users because they're outdated it's now 100 Meg so we're in the process of replacing those phones and upgrading most of them are within the police department as well and then um the large conference room that um just creating a better recording solution up there for meeting broadcast and recordings to get better clarity thank you uh the gra I thought you might like that one mayor although the last one hasn't hasn't been that bad but it could stand some improvement thank you wait can you go back to 39 you skip that one because there's nothing budgeted in this year oh that means it's working or we acknowledge it'll never work that's the that's the cameras for broadcasting in the council chambers it was budgeted last year we have been trying to get proposals on the system replacement and we're still I actually have a call on Thursday with the vendor to look at this so it was budgeted last year we didn't spend the money it's probably going to happen this year because we've been trying to get quotes on it okay thank you you're welcome all right um the granicus opro software that is um a request of the clerk's office um it is going to vastly reduce the the amount of time they're spending on Oprah request and make a public portal which is really good um trying to see the video surveillance upgrade again Outdoors outdoor PD they're requesting additional cameras and then fire and the circle um right by the circle by the fire entrance um office redesign I do have in here um we did acquire an additional staff member two years who's basically sitting underneath of a counter in our office because we do not have space in our office for an additional person so um we've been in talk with public works and Bob about uh trying to allocate some more office space and redesign to make it more us or friendly for our employees because they're really on top of each other and we lost a lot of storage so we have stuff literally all over the place um the VMware um that is a server upgrade that we're looking looking to do we're currently on a Microsoft version of virtual servers we're looking to upgrade those they are end of life we did have a pretty significant um crash last year that took us um some time to recover from the virtual machines we were able to do it because we have a good uh backup Network um but we need to upgrade those machines the Pam tool which is privilege access management that is a cyber requirement that is one of the insurance requirements that we have The Institute um across the board uh portable cellular device that is so that we can have provide internet access such at such events such as uh Franklin day at the township tent right now we scramble to do stuff off of our hotspots on phones it's just not good so this device kind of sets up a hotspot for a common area it's a portable Wi-Fi device that you can take out can also be used by the public safety if they had a situation and they're out remote and needed Wi-Fi access they could take this out at worksoft cellular network question for you how how many devices is that how many devices is that the portable s what are we purchasing a good it is it is one device that has multiple antennas so it's kind of like a portable cell tower so it's going to receive cell signal and it's going to be be able to broadcast out to people would be able to connect to it for I mean obviously you're not going to get 100 people connecting to it but you're going to be able to get you know 20 to 40 to 50 uh connections to it why do we need that because we do events like Franklin day and we have no internet access and they do the construction amnesty program and they do tax lookups and we have no way without doing hotspots on phones which is really spotty and it's not fast to provide that service to the residents got it and and it can also be used by the police department in an emergency to be able to provide a cellular hotspot for um what if there's doing a field search in an area that has four cellular coverage this is something that can provide cellular service for our Emergency Services as well so a secure secure network not open to public right just it would be it would be a closed Network and then we would set it up for the employees to connect into it when needed makes sense doesn't it need the Internet or something to work work cellular you need a cell server cell signal to make cell signal it's like the data it's like a data Big Data hub for the for the phones connecting devell Tower it will boost the cellular signal so if you're in an area that has low cell signal as long as this device gets it it will boost that signal to make it more usable booster does it have an antenna that goes up high or something it's a box with a antenna that screws onto the side of this box so it's really kind of like a it's a ruggedized case the components sit in it um similar to the modems that are in the police cars that provide access for all of their stuff it's the same type type of thing but just portable for people to be able to connect into okay I was just wondering like if in certain like Bob said in dead zones if there was an outage but if there's a dead zone then you you don't even have anything to pick up an amplify that yeah that's that's correct you're you're absolutely right I thought like maybe there was like an internet connections like fire hydrant All Around Town even though there's not fire hydrant I was saying the same thing Ed oh Okay C crb modification EOC y That's the Emergency Operations Center uh there was an incident this past year with a suspicious package drop off of Public Safety which caused an evacuation they realized we need to have a secondary Emergency Operations Center site so they're requesting money to modify so that we would be able to move operations down to the community resource Bureau for them to uh operate as the Emergency Operations Center a onetime cost correct correct y um so we say it's a one we say it's a one-time cost mayor but as you know whenever you buy equipment yeah you only need to upgraded but it's a one-time cost now but five years from now that equipment may be end of life and we have the budget for it again sure yeah yep all right the next two items are uh fire prevention that for additional vehicles and fire inspection c s that they're going to be getting um I believe that Bob if I'm not mistaken that's an in so I'll talk about I I'll touch on this so when we so when we do somebody needs to mute I got it um so um at when we do the fire prevention budget at the next uh heing we'll have a discussion about um a request from fire District number one to increase Staffing of our fire prevention department to increase the number of fire prevention inspectors available uh during the daytime for uh additional firefighting uh capabilities um this equipment not and and not the the portable radios and the mobile radios and we'll also talk about Vehicles when we do the general C capital budget until such time as a an agreement is reached if an agreement is reached between the township and the fire district um these will go unpurchased but we need to include them in the budget should that uh agreement go through um what you should know here is that if it does go through um the the the initial discussions are that these costs would be borne um it by reimbursement uh by the fire district not by the township but we would need to include them in our budget because we would need to purchase them and then get reimbursed okay money and money out money yeah money and money out exactly and then the last item is uh request from Recreation for a portable speaker system which I believe is primarily to be used at the Gazebo yes so that's the general it capital the next line and and we can discuss this here or we can discuss this when uh Carl Hal is here to talk about the the general water Capital um but Bob you you can probably cover the there's only two things here and I I think you can probably cover them tonight Bob I have a question uh is there uh any line item any place to possibly uh clean up that engineering department office uh there's so as that councilman has nothing to do with this budget here okay not not in this one in general there's nothing in here so we can digitize for example that there there already is uh that's already part of a budget that you've already the the uh um what's the word I'm looking for Bob McQueen um laser laser laser piece right we're working on digitizing them and we have started that process this year we did code enforcement last year we're starting on planning zoning and Engineering this year um unfortunately the stuff you see in their offices is the recent document we're cleaning out the archives which are all old storage rooms and they just took about to two truckloads of documents away about a month ago to digitize them this is a multi-year project that it's not something that gets done in one year okay all right the water budget um the 35,000 is anything for water computer printer servers that go to them gets built to the water side of things then the skada server rebuild um we had a um a number of skus servers failed during a lightning strike and they were non-recoverable we needed to rebuild them so we're working um that that process is to build those servers back up and update so for those of you who don't know skada and we can certainly we'll talk about it again at the next budget hearing with with Carl how but the skada system is what controls and monitors all of our water system the pump stations the valves that and and interconnects with the other uh providers of water to our system so it it it obviously is a very important part of the utility so I don't know the technology is there a way to when these are reinstalled to make them survive a lightning strike or is that we we are taking yes yes to answer that yes I have taken and made sure that there are redundancy on these backups on these um to try to prevent any of that from the future happening okay and the last is an additional $50,000 for cameras in our parks in open space based on requests from the open space advisory committee Trails committee and and uh um this is just a a project that is ongoing as we continue to secure uh certain areas of our parks and open space parking areas Bob how many cameras we're talking about and also one question I have is that monitoring done in house or we pay another company to no we don't pay no it's monitored by the police department we have our own 24hour a day 7day a week monitoring company and not all cameras are monitored but these cameras are recorded not necessarily monitored 24 hours and how many cameras we're talking about Bob So currently we have an open space and and let see one two three So currently there's three parts that that have cameras two two two and a third and a third that's a project right now from last year yeah and this so this is not only the cameras but also the backend equipment for them because there's the work involved for the electric to get it to the camera or if they don't have electric they're cellular it could be solar it depends on the location for the application um what the cost associated with it is for instance the camera out at the John cide open space property is cellular and solar because there is no uh fiber optic cable to connect to in proximity to where the camera is in the parking area for that open space property and there's also no electric so that was a very expensive camera to install in fact I think that that that camera and all of the related equipment today would probably be about half of the money that we're currently looking in this year's budget so so Bob as you know the crime rate the BR and everything has gone up and the C I've heard so many people saying that how come Township not putting it cameras at the entrances to various uh you know uh communities is that that would not that would not be this money correct yeah this is open space trust money specifically related to parks in open space right okay very good thank you so this includes the one uh that monitors the trash cans too right Bob the one that monitors the trash cans I'm not sure what you mean councilman yeah sensors that tell us that they're full oh no that's that's the big belly garbage can that's what you mean this that's not under the the park and open space security cameras that's budgeted separately in the the open space capital budget that we'll talk about at the next um the next meeting oh okay all right the next budget meeting that's that's handled by T Kenyon and and Carl have that budget if there that but that's that's it out of the trust obviously but in in a different budget got it okay so any questions on Mr McQueen's capital budget the the new s tower the portable cell tower can be used at the Gazebo as well because we it would yes it would be able to be used there as well right okay good okay all right well I would say good night Bob but you can't leave uh no thank you guys you're not allowed to leave um so which one is next Mr Mayor you me okay I can do that one left I think every and I have I have a couple to do so well you have the clerk's office too so um I will bring up my budget first I like that we have our own security monitoring uh yes all right so the township manager budget is proposed at um put my glasses on so I can see what I said $289,600 which is a $5,000 increase over last year's $284,950 with all $5,000 included in office supplies what we have found is like everything else um the the cost associated with office supplies which also includes all of the uh printer toner um for the township uh all of our Township uh computer printer toner cartridges are funded out of this line in the budget um that uh there has been a significant increase in our office supplies and as you see um this budget is um a year to date of 1231 we were slightly over at 10.49% uh and so I've asked for $45,000 in in that line of my budget um the largest portion of my budget as most of you know is line 107 which is the Township's emergency contingency budget of $240,000 um we always hope that we don't have to spend that money um but it's there in the event that we have an emergency and and need to uh provide funding or for those items that come up during the course of the year that were not anticipated and not budgeted in other department budgets this money can be utilized for that purpose as well and generally that's when there's an item that um Council during the course of the Year realizes that we need and this is where it's funded from so that is the manager's budget are there any questions on that one well I I commend you for not using the manager budget it appears year-over-year I'm a very frugal and and stingy person council member that do we do we think it needs to be that number or do we feel yes it absolutely needs to be that money that sorry the his on that council member is used to be that each department had their own um contingency fund and we saved money by going to this uh method and I I I actually agree with it because right now um you notice most a lot of these uh budgets were flat and we all know about the inflation that's been going on so I was going to actually ask to increase this contingency budget this year but the fact that we only spent 177% last year I don't think we need to increase it no I think we're okay where it's at if you recall mayor when I first took over as Township manager it was at $280,000 and we decreased it by $40,000 and and over the last know that was after several years of me being manager we brought it down to 280 I think 240 is is a comfortable number it's also it it's used for things uh so so you understand it's used for things like when the sprinkler system failed in the senior center and had to be repaired on an emergency basis we were able to provide the full funding for that repair while we waited for the insurance uh pay adjusters to do all of their work and to receive the insurance payments for the damage so and we also use this money when we when we initially had other the lightning strike on the radio tower at the police station when we need money quickly because it's under a miscellaneous line we can use it for that purpose even if it means that we're going to get reimbursed by insurance companies at a later date that's one of another reason to have it there okay and it's overall like 1% of the overall budget or something um well the the overall budget's about I don't know we don't know what the overall budget would be but it's it's uh $240,000 would be about third of a percent third of a perent yeah exactly third okay and it all goes back to Surplus that we don't use it all goes back we don't use correct okay so stop that one and the next one I have for you mayor is economic development economic development is a is a function of the Township under the township manager's office um the economic development budget is proposed and and and please don't follow this difference between 24 and 23 because there really was only $110,000 budgeted in this line it it's it's not a $100,000 difference I think there's a formula error there um the uh Economic Development budget is $15,500 which is the same budget um from last year um the other contractual was previously had been $110,000 in calendar year 2022 um we've moved that $100,000 out of this budget and into the planning budget and that is the money that was funding the uh the planning reexamination of the bi Zone and the traffic study um and we've also now this budget remove the monies that were previously included for books and Publications um there there are no books and Publications to purchase this year um and the conferences and meetings and professional association dues uh professional association dues covers the cost of the Somerset County Business Partnership and the Frankle Township Chamber of Commerce fees and the conference and meetings are for Mr dominc to attend conferences and meetings um so this budget is at $15,500 so Bob we no longer have that consultant on retainer right we do not that's correct and what about the fees for the uh Asian Chamber of Commerce the African-American those come out of the HR department budget okay okay and then the only other one that was forgotten but I'm certainly capable of handling it is the prosecutor budget way up which is ordinarily we do this under the court but I can certainly handle this so the calendar year budget for calendar year budget for 2024 is at $86,900 that's an increase of $10,900 $ um over the 2023 budget the increas is strictly for the pay for our three prosecutors there's the the township prosecutor the township uh associate prosecutor and the uh perdm alternate prosecutor um and this was as a result of a a uh a recommendation for an increase in their fees they had not received increase as you see I believe the last increase was in 2019 or 2018 uh certainly not in 2011 22 or 23 as shown on this spreadsheet so that was an increase uh the $10,900 to be shared by the three prosecutors that served the municipal court and we came to that decision by looking at neighboring towns and matching what they're paying that is correct okay okay and so I believe that completes the manager's budgets and now we have the clerk budgets correct yes okay I'm just going to clean up some stuff here Clerk's budgets okay first budget for the clerk will be the clerk Madam Clerk here okay so the 2024 calendar year budget proposal for the clerk's office is $ 48,2 um which is a decrease of$ 38,1 143 so anarie I'll let you explain why there's a big giant decrease in your budget that's because last year um we had um the recodification project in it and this year we we don't so that's why we're all and that was $38,000 last year so that that $38,000 reduction um is and then there's some shuffling of of amounts through the the uh the budget lines what's the 38,000 reduction I'm sorry I couldn't hear what's so we we we are Rec codifying all of the municipal code and that was a $38,000 one time uh project that was budgeted in last year's operating budget in two sentences explained for the public what we've codifying is Amry you want to do it want me to do it I'll do it it's reviewing the municipal code and updating to make sure that all the state statutes that are in it are correct um it's actually we're changing our code book to um being gender neutral um and it's updating fees and updating things that have that should have been updated and haven't been like changing taking police chief out of the budget and putting public safety director things like that right and it also does things like when we have Municipal ordinances that are no longer valid because of a change in in state law this is an opportunity to remove all of those things that should no longer be in our code and do it as one one action by Township Council as opposed to hundreds of ordinance amendments um it it's it's a recommended uh process that we're going through right now actually any other questions on this one why is legal advertising going down uh well it's because without doing as many remote ads that we used to do cost like $200 a piece if you if you notice mayor it was 10,525 in 21 but it jumped up in 22 and then it's back down in 23 and that was because I believe that in 2020 um we were short and and there was I mean you can see we were short in 21 because of the the advertising cost related to doing a virtual meeting H okay we also no longer advertise the the large tax sales because our pilot program uh was accepted by the state as a permanent program for online tax sales you don't have to put the big giant ad in anymore no okay all right so that's that one and then anarie has more than one might want to turn turn around you're gonna all your buds gonna go to your head the next one is elections it was budgeted at $37,000 last year and it's budgeted at $37,000 this year it was also so pretty close to fully expended last year any questions on the elections budget not a whole lot we can do there not a whole lot we can do there is right where's the where's the budget for the training of the uh the election U Personnel po workers yeah at the county level oh we don't pay for that okay we don't don't pay for that and then the last one is the Council budget yes you have your own budget and that budget is proposed at 2,347 which is a slight decrease of $99 there's a $1500 decrease in Education and Training uh but a $500 increase in conferences and meetings uh a $100 decrease in other contractual and $191 increase in professional association dues so I don't there were there was some difficulty in the travel expense last year I I remember councilman Udin had to put some money out from her pocket is is that going to be I everything out of my pocket Ron I didn't get any reimbursement right can can we fix that somehow here well I guess we would talk about what type of travel are you talking about K oh that's going out of state this is the aapi conferences out of town yeah we would need to increase the budget because what we have under conferences and meetings the majority of the is the lead right I think these are some national level aapa conferences that are coming up um that I think we would like to include in the budget well that's the beauty of these hearings that is if you direct us to put more money in that budget then you can direct us to put more money in the budget now rather than when we have a budget document that we're about to introduce so there's if we're talking about air travel we're talking about a minimum of $500 there's nine of us so you're talking about $4,500 plus Hotel expenses is that something we want to do do we does our public expect us to go on these kinds of trips I I I think we there's not I think we can plan for it not necessarily have to use it um I think we should plan for it as uh our councilman at large uh says even though we may not use it at least we have it budgeted uh so that we can all see it I'd like there to be a cap on per person so in other words someone doesn't take a $3,000 trip and others take no trip yeah we should take a a cup on we should have a cup so that all of us can share it well there's one way in if we put something in the oh go ahead I it say we put something in there we can come up with a system of how to equity distribute it like we could also put something in there and tell people every other year they have the ability to use it they have to let us know by a certain time but I mean Bob could come up with the system we could just put in a dollar amount and then figure out what counil did you just say Bob could come up with a system yeah survey survey all the other towns and this this is a decision of council not the manager you if you're if you're looking to budget for out ofate travel I think that that's something that you all need to decide as to what you feel is appropriate for your for your your fellow me council members I would feel I'm saying we can set the number but as far as the process goes or anything else what is the trend in the past 3 four years I mean have we had I'm looking at 21 1 and 22 and 23 I see the same number well we've not got any never included it never I wanted to ask Bob what is the policy for the staff do they have limits on their so so if if the training is deemed as uh relevant to their position the only gen generally the only out ofate travel in the time that I have been the township manager has been for advanced training classes for police officers that are held out of state most of the time those training courses are are minimal in cost but there's the travel associated with them and I believe that um for there's there's some out of state conferences for anmie um as part of her uh her National Organization so there are there's travel for out of state for those two purposes that that I'm aware of during my time as manager I that that I don't recall any out ofate travel for well no I take that back construction the construction official has traveled out of state in the past for his National Organization our previous construction official so I so I think we can probably add on the conferences meeting uh and I think we can amend that uh to set travel and put some uh you know maybe couple of thousand there and we can take turns in doing that over the years excuse me just to add I couldn't get my mute button undone for any staff traveling out of state with the exception of Philadelphia or New York City there needs to be a resolution put in and approved by Council in order to approve that travel also yeah and I know we've done that for amarie it's been all our consider yeah every time there's out of state travel and what Kathy saying is she's correct if they travel to Pennsylvania or New York generally they don't stay so we don't count that it's when they're lodging overnight I mean even if they even if you drive to California which we wouldn't we wouldn't ordinarily see happen we there's still a resolution of council for out of state of St how about DC travel Kathy it would be the same thing no absolutely DC travel would get a resolution of councel without a doubt yeah we did a resolution Bob for the police yeah Bob you're already it's we're writing the policy right here with all this I'm not writing the Poli the policy [Laughter] it just it seems something some things are a budget consideration it's a dollar amount and other things are a policy consideration which is going to figure out what the process is we could talk about the process now but this is a budget hearing so the question is are people supportive of adding a dollar amount if so what I heard the the mayor I said Governor the mayor recommended like $4,500 that seems fine we don't have to use it if that's okay we put it in there and then we'll figure out a system 4500 was just for airfare for if all nine of us did it I'm not that was not a recommended value well I I think know what it says is that we can plug in a number and then we can worry about the details at a later time well I think if we plug in a high enough number so that no matter what it covers everything I think we'll be um foolish to come up with a a $2,000 number and then all of a sudden realized we put ourselves in a box because we need to spend more than that on the individual you see so so I think we should we should kill ourselves but in 21 years of me going to Council meetings 14 of which on Council no one has ever done this I don't know that we need to cover all contingencies but this could be that year well I just don't want to spend the money I mean if we want if we want maybe we could do it that we pay the fee for the conference but the council person is responsible for travel and lodging no that doesn't even sound right so mayor you know that doesn't sound right no I go to a meeting and you've got lodging you know you got to pay for the lodging you know you have to pay for the food so to say we'll do airfare only or Transportation only um it could be cost prohibitive I mean we've managed all these years without it happening I I would suggest call just leave it as is and when the when it comes to the uh travel and uh you know instead of having two three people to go if it's really must to go and then one person can go or two people can go based on the budget we have and then the next year we can adjust it accordingly more people can go so so my question is how come uh councilwoman Udin had to put the bill personally and it was not reimbursed and we we have money left over have they said we didn't have enough money left over right that's what I it could also be you know you could also choose like do I go to that or do I go to League of municipalities you may not do both so like if we think of a per person stipend or per person you know professional development education for each council member then people can use them in different ways but you might not be able to do everything right if everyone goes to Le there's no money left to do anything else that's why there's no money there Bob yes I'm sorry uh if if by chance you have to spend the money and it's going to be over what we have could your funds be expended to cover that in your contingency budget well I mean so it could be I don't know that it was ever intended for that purpose I I think that so so I think I'm not the one that thinks I don't dictate We're Not Gonna use the contingency for travel I think you know just live at it why don't we just you know put maybe $5,000 in this budget and then what if it gets used up it gets used up but one individual or by all that is have recommendations on the policy I don't know that we need to discuss it now but I you know ahead no we're going to we need a policy if we're going to figure out a dollar amount well let's talk about admin let's talk about it in our admin meeting on Thursday okay yeah have some I have some experience from like when I worked in the schools and you know we might want some transparency with the council to weigh in and you know maximums and different sorts of things based on the GSA there's a lot of different pieces that you can do to you know address that someone's not doing it every year and no one El and someone else isn't able to do it right and you know but if folks are supportive with $5,000 that seems like a cover some folks to go and that's never happened before that seems like a reasonable number I'd just like to draw your attention to 042 and how much has been budgeted in 20122 and 2023 it went unexpended in both years and that's the education and training line and so that was reduced to 1,800 this year because Council has not been attending courses that cost money not conferences but courses for educational purposes 75 negative one negative 175 I'm not quite sure why parentheses mean that it got it got money put in not got someone taught a course who taught it I was just saying that Bob I just this weekend I took the budget and uh you know conf or not conference training was $75 so I have a ask here so can I know we don't have it here I'm looking for it um we don't have anywhere we I see Printing and binding but in terms of like the council um merch merch or anything like that we don't have any official um budgeting here to have like uniforms or anything like that right no we're all just purchasing on our own based on the logo but I know we're showing a saving of 1500 here on Education and Training are we able to add that for the nine of us to get um consistent like Merchant and that's for everyone else it's an open discussion I I mean I just know that we don't we didn't have it last year we didn't have it the year before that but it's just something that again it's never been done that way I've them myself yeah what does that sorry just as as with you the embroider clothes that we have that has the town seal on it and our our Rank and our name we pay for those ourselves right right I just was wondering if we to add that because it's something that just to make it consistent across all of us I don't have any right that's why I was you know I was because I didn't buy it just because I wear regular clothes right but I was just saying that to be consistent across right um like some of us have one one purchased it on our own um you know we see Town people have it right the council I would I mean maybe if someone wanted to name tag that they could use magnetically on anything they're wearing that would seem reasonable I think if we start buying clothing and embroidering it for folks like I I do think it looks nice and it's a choice but I'm not sure we're required in our Council positions to wear a uniform of any kind um it it would be a personal choice and paid for with personal funds I also think you know campaign funds can cover a lot of these things too um for folks that fundrais independent I don't know the uniform piece we don't really have uniforms like some of our staff do and I think it becomes a little confusing to it's almost like a clothing allowance with a name on it so let me P of put this in context you guys don't know about some of the things I've I know that are coming uh or maybe you've you've had heard a little bit about it the um medical cost for employees is going way up um am I correct in saying a million dollars oh no um uh about two and a half million dollar okay so that's G to have to be passed on or we're going to take it out of our Surplus we're going to be raising taxes probably more than we have in five or six years might not be the best time to be adding travel expenses and clothing expenses we're behind on our p i mean i didn't know this information but you're you're stating an now so yeah well I'm I as everyone knows I dig into the budget early and deep and I know what's coming and there's no shame on anyone for not knowing that I go I do I ask a lot of questions I spend a a lot of time in the council CH or at the municipal building so it might be a good time to hold back I agree I don't know that like a conference is a place to hold back in that if you can go there and learn something that could help you save money somewhere or do something more efficiently or inspire a change that will help people in the Community Education is always a really good thing to do um and invest in in some way but that being said the fact that the education line hasn't been used it's compelling you know yeah I think I'm with the head on this I look at the bottom line on the expenses we have never used what is what was allocated uh and I think as long as there's flexibility in um moving um money from one line item to the other uh I'm not sure this is an unreasonable discussion because if you look at the last year uh 22 we spent less than 50% and the year before maybe it's it's about the same and this year we are not running at the same rate um as even yeah it's not not running maybe slightly higher than the Run rate in 22 but we never used up all the money so I I think even if you agree that there's a flexibility in moving the line items within our overall budget I think we can accommodate these sball requests that come in once in a while but we have that flexibility no I don't think so I think that's that's the point I think councilman Udin was told last year that there's no budget money but I see that we there's plenty of money within uh our overall budget but there's no flexibility in moving the line item no during the course of a budget year you can only utilize funds appropriate to that particular budget line until transfers are permitted by state law and transfers are not permitted until November so Bob if if any of us to spend the money and uh so we have the opportunity to submit it in November for reimbursement after after that transfer no no okay reimbursements are not the appropriate way to allocate funds from a municipal budget the appropriate way is to know that you're going to spend the money generate a requisition and purchase order in advance of the spending and then pay for it after the service or or in this case what a the education or conference or whatever it is is done that that's the appropriate way to spend Municipal money can can we collapse 41 and 42 in row 32 and 33 can you say I don't if these are State categories or some sort of other they are State categories okay yeah so I think the question really is do we do we want to add any money to the conference meeting budget that could come from the Education and Training budget um or or not just leave it the way it is it seems like some people want to add money to the conferences and meetings and if so how much 99 would make it no change help us 2.5 million in um medical expenses and other things that are higher so just it's about choices so what I'm sorry I couldn't follow what you're suggesting I was saying if we just did $99 more in line in line item 41 line 32 that would make this section no increase or decrease I would I would suggest that look at line item number 29 that was 66% actual maybe we can reduce that by 2,000 and then add that 2,000 to the conference and meeting the other so line item 29 is on your screen right now okay there are things that have to so that I I know this sounds silly but these are items that get budgeted annually and at a at a figure and it sounds like something that shouldn't necessarily be in a in the Council budget but there's there's these rents and I'll let anarie explain them to you we have to pay rent for certain things and it also we have to budget in this budget the amount anticipated for money in Money out on the weddings performed by the mayor and Deputy Mayor this is that that the fact that it's there at a higher number than was actually spent in calendar year 2023 if there's more weddings in 2024 than there were in 2023 we have to have the amount of money budgeted in that line so you can't use other contractual but is isn't that reimbursed by the fees that we charge it doesn't matter you have to have an appropriation to match the revenue yeah so you have to have that number there this is the difference between a municipal budget and a home budget it it's taken me years to still not understand it but so we have to anticipate what the revenues will be from the what from the weddings so that we have it as an appropriation and a revenue on and on either side of the ledge just the way you have to do Municipal budgeting got it it's kind of like we have like forecast versus actuals we're just putting an estimate number just to that's all okay makes sense I mean I have no idea how many people are goingon to get married this year so I have and and that money that's received has to be matched on the appropriation side because that money goes out either get paid to do it or in the case of the mayor a donation to Second Chance for animals and there'll be a revenue line matching it correct yes exactly yeah like I said it's like we have a shared service agreement with the Board of Education all right we do all of the mechanical work on all of their vehicle Fleet there's a revenue appropriate there's a a a number on the revenue side which is what we get from the Board of Education to pay for it and then there's a number on the appropriation side to pay for all the stuff in the end it should equal zero but you have to have it on both sides yeah I guess if everybody agrees I'm okay to keep the uh the budget flat and just add that 909 to the uh conference and meeting 909 what is 909 that's let's add that so we stay flat one person at a time what is it the difference between the 23 and 24 budgets is a decrease of $99 it's the far right column oh okay so keep that flat right and add that to line 41 oh well I'm not gonna then it'll be a zero other you know it'll come out Z zero no net income or expense no change and that'll give us $99 in flexibility in conferences and meetings and that line was already increased by $500 this year yeah so that would be increased by $1,449 our budget will be just will be minus 100 be 909 I was looking at the 809 okay [Music] 909 uh I'm not going to get in the way of that you sure and it would still be not spending 100% of the budgeted money anyways at the end of the year and then I think admin we we can talk about what the process might look like and kind of get some guidance out and get some reactions so I think that'd be good okay okay let's move on sh we're done I think I think our budget took the longest time here it did your budget took the longest Beyond theal smallest of all you're welcome all right well I guess we had our discussion have a good night everyone we need toj you need to adjourn motion second all in favor say I I I we are adjourned be well Franklin thank you