[Music] good evening welcome to the H Township council meeting to call this meeting to order and read the statement this meeting is being held in accordance with public law 1975 chapter 231 open public meetings act adequate notice has been provided in the manner prescribed by law this agenda is complete to the extent known and formal action will be taken begin with a roll call councilwoman Fischer here councilman gager here councilman Nell here Deputy Mayor odonnell present and mayor Burger is absent let's stand and do the Pledge of Allegiance should we wait until after of course after executive my my understanding is we have an executive session may we have the reasons on the record please that's correct May we have uh several matters to discuss involving litigation Personnel uh we have a contract to discuss and attorney client thank you may I have a motion to go into executive session I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution 23-46 second please second councilman Fischer yes councilman gajer yes councilman Nell yes Deputy Mayor oon yes we stand in executive session okay good evening I'd like to reconvene the regularly scheduled meeting of the H Township Council roll call please councilman fiser here Council geser here councilman Nel here Deputy Mayor odonnell here and mayor Burger is absent this evening thank you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance late IED Al to flag of the United States America stand na individual andice for all I would ask that you remain standing for a moment of prayer um thank we pray for peace in this world we pray for peace in our community for everyone's health and well-being for a nice holiday season and a better New Year thank you okay our first order of business is we have a proclamation actually two proclamations would Council please join us at the uh down below uh this evening we're very happy that we can honor uh our DPW Department we have a proclamation for director Paul noello and one also for Steven for various things that have happened uh in our community passive things the archery uh making our Trails uh nicer for our community and the state of New Jersey has honored our DPW uh from the different members of the state of New Jersey and their dpws so we're extremely proud uh Stephen would you like to come [Applause] up going to read the proclam honoring Steven Rosen whereas Steven Rosen has been employed by how Township Department of Public Works as a custodian since 2002 and is whereas Steve always takes great pride in his work and displays a cheerful and helpful attitude and whereas always willing to go above and beyond there have been countless times when a problem arises after hours and Steve's assistance has saved the day and whereas Steve has been selected as the winner of the New Jersey chapter of the American public works Association employee award for 2023 and where Steve's dedication to his job his and his Pleasant and positive demeanor are recognized and greatly appreciated by his supervisors and co-workers therefore the governing body of how Township hereby honor Steven rosenke for winning the 2023 New Jersey apwa employee award and recognize his hard work and dedication to Howell Township [Applause] we also had a lovely luncheon uh last week honoring Steven and our DPW department so um our guest of honors certainly did us proud Sten when I first started working for how Township um it was George gavette and H schel that welcomed me to the town ship and their exact words were welcome to the family it's been an honor and privilege of to serve Howell Township and consider them as family I commend the council for all the hard work that they had done throughout the years and I I as an employee can recognize that they are working their goals and their community and family are just as important and they look forward not just serving the community but they do care about their employees and I thank them thank [Applause] you don't so how Township actually received two awards from the state which is it was exceptional we actually stood out we were definitely the largest group um the second award is the New Jersey chapter of the American public worship Association project of the Year award that went to Howell Township for Passive outdoor recreation project um with this award we'd like to honor Paul navello who is the director of our Public Works who is regrettably retiring next month um so we're going to ask Steve to accept this award on on their behalf uh so whereas Paul noell has served as director of the Hallow Township Department of Public Works since 2017 and whereas Paul is being recognized today for his extensive work in winning and and really spearing The Public Works project of the Year awarded by the New Jersey chapter of the American public works Association and is whereas the project entitled how Township passive outdoor recreation project promotes passive outdoor recreation such as hiking biking kaying fishing and archery encouraging residents to get out and enjoy over 2,000 acres of preserved open space whereas some highlights of the project include a dozen signs fabricated and installed by tpw identifying and describing the specific tracks of open space and featuring QR codes for additional information DPW installed three trail cameras that download Wildlife photos to the township website DPW collaborated with a local organization to reconstruct an outdoor archery range that had been unused and neglected for over a decade the road division constructed o constructed over 1 and a half miles of biking and hiking trails the trails will eventually become part of the state's capital toos Trail initiative DPW cleared and constructed an access area to make Lake Louise more accessible DPW contracted to have two ADA Compliant kayak launches installed one at Sparrow Lake and the other one at echol Lake how Township held an outdoor expo to promote these activities that can now be enjoyed on the Township's open space whereas the use of these improvements was immediate and the benefits are far-reaching vandalism has diminished or disappeared in some of the project areas due to increased use whereas H Township's passive outdoor recreation project has been a great success due to the hard work of multiple divisions of the Department of Public Works and particularly to the director Paul nello now therefore uh the governing body of how Township does hereby honor Paul noell for his work on the passive outdoor recreation project and winning the 2023 njwa Public Works project of the Year award Steve you're going to accept this correct on put it on his desk thank you thank you and again we couldn't be proud of our DPW uh there's never a time that if we haven't come up with an idea that they're not coming up with an idea Administration and they follow through with this and everyone that lives in h Township has the benefit of all of the passive Recreation and other things that DP DPW has done uh as Paul leaves us we know we're in good hands with Brian Greenfield and we look forward to another prosperous year with all of the activities so thank you thank you very much thank [Applause] you again a hearty thank you to all those that were involved and participating through the time period that these projects were finished and I can assure you that I hear very positive things from the town uh residents concerning these so again thank you uh this will bring us up to accepting the minutes of October 24th 2023 executive and regular is there a motion to accept motion to accept minute second thank you councilman fiser obstain councilman gajer yes councilman Nell yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you okay now we'll go on to reports from our uh Department officials and Mr Clark however you would like to have the reports given I get any okay we're computer upd right now so we're getting with the meeting but we are having difficulty with our YouTube stream so he said it'll be about 10 minutes we be to take a res yeah unfortunately we're having some difficulty with our uh streaming abilities from it so they've asked for us to give them 10 minutes so that they can rectify the problem so those people at home can enjoy the meeting as well so if you'd bear with us for a short time we would appreciate it so if we just a quick motion to recess motion go to recess second all in favor I all right so probably about 10 minutes or so that's reasonable thank you all right I'd like to reconvene the meeting can we have a roll call please here councilman gager here councilman n here Deputy Mayor Odon here mayor Burger is absent at the moment thank you and moving on to reports of the township officials do I have any reports so very quickly I want to remind everybody um first we're having our Gingerbread House contest so people can come to town hall take a look at them and cast their vote for their favorite uh the deck the howls holiday decorating contest runs December 8th through December 17th you can get the score sheet online uh there's QR code that you can scan and enter your favorites our uh tree lighting will be this coming Sunday December 17th from 4327 the Holiday Market will be held prior to that um I also want to recognize not only Steve Rosen wi's efforts this past week but those of uh Alison G Steven fetcher uh knowledge mayor berer reached out to me councilman nadell um uh councilwoman fiser councilman gazer Deputy Mayor everybody to make sure that because the date of the market fell after Hanukkah that we had a proper um ceremony for that so you know as soon as we moved it Stephen was able to reach out and get a ceremony in place so I think we're going to make that part of our tradition to have it uh at the beginning of Hanukkah every year it seemed to work out well and I'm I'm glad that we were able to do it so uh that's basically it thank you nothing anything else uh just a quick update uh we how Township is now the proud owner of the Cornerstone property we closed last week uh we're in the process of recording instruments uh the next steps are we are going to be trying to seek some sort of reimbursement from both uh Green Acres and uh uh what in Mammoth County yes so that's that process of reimbursement is going to take quite some time they're going to need a lot of documents and proofs but it is in the works and that sounds like an excellent plan thank you right I'd like to open the hearing of the citizens for public comments each person shall give their name and address to the clerk the council should be addressed as a collective body and not as indiv individual members each person shall have one turn to address the council and comments shall not exceed a total of 5 minutes speaker shall be notified when their time has run and no time extension shall be permitted okay our first speaker that's listed is Joanne is it diio please come forward you would share your address with us I appreciate it uh yes that's a 10 station place right um microphone oh I'm sorry 10 station please um my uh qu I basically have questions regarding the resource engineering um project and I I read that at tonight's meeting um particulars would be divulged to us as to exactly what the operation is going to consist of of and other details on the project so I want to know if we'll have a chance to comment or ask questions after that presentation is made yes uh and actually we're not discussing it this evening there's been other specifics and information that the manager was gathering so we we are still working to finalize so as you may or may not know resource engineering uh originally had applied for an amendment to the County's Waste Management plan um they wound up in litigation with the county over it we intervened in that lawsuit and they are working with us on a settlement the settlement's not complete yet so there's not going to be any discussion of it tonight we we anticipate um having something probably for the second meeting in January but we will make sure that that uh that everybody has noticed about it uh if we're able to settle the litigation with them uh we anticipate having them here with it uh to give a presentation on it and yeah we would expect people to be able to ask questions and to get a full sort of explanation of exactly what it's going to mean in terms of um you know operations processing uh you know benefits to the community stuff like that so thank you okay would anybody be able to have any input pre- settlement like anything uh you can send in something but typically we don't work on settlements uh you know we don't include citizens on the settlement team because it's a privileged communication amongst ourselves and the attorneys so okay so is the settlement in approval or I'm misunderstanding it like I don't the settlement to the extent it's not finalized yet there's still terms and conditions that are being negotiated so no it's not up for approval it will be up for approval assuming we're able to reach uh you know an agreement about everything and I would think that that would be in January um but it's not finalized yet we don't have full agreement on all all conditions that would be after a presentation and uh questions from the public questions and answers okay perfect so then I'll I'll keep my eye out for that I had just read in the Howell times that yes that was but I guess things changed so all right okay thank you very much thank you the next uh uh Mrs dexel mayor I would like to reserve my comment for one of the ordinances okay very good thank you thank you and lastly we have Miss Joan [Applause] Osborne good good evening Jan good evening you just share your address publicly 28 Bron Street Howell New Jersey thank you um I wanted to address the farmers market which uh Mr Clark already had mentioned that it's going to be this Sunday and um thank the executives on in the town and and the um Council for adopting the change of the date uh given the weather forecast and we had changed it kind of early and there was a a little bit of an outcry about that wait and see what's going to happen but as it turned out it was the right decision because Sunday was terrible weather um we expect really good weather this Sunday so we hope everyone comes out for the market portion as well as the tree lighting um and I also just wanted to um again uh I I wish Paul Noella was here I didn't know he was getting an award tonight but I do understand he's retiring in January um you know I'm surprised not to see him here because in the past four years in my work with the environmental commission with shade tree with the farmers Market uh with a project that we did for the organic garden he's everywhere he's everywhere and he's always help he's at a dinner tonight okay and he had another commitment otherwise he he would have been here right so yeah um he was sad that he couldn't make it believe me yeah and I'm sad that he's leaving us and I wish that you know that wasn't the case if there's anything you can do to get him to stay um because he's been tremendously helpful to us but to him with those sentiments I'm sure he'd certainly appreciate it I know he's worked closely with you in the past so yes so we will miss thank you Joe I want to thank you for all the work you do for the farmers market you know going here and witnessing it it's a lot it it's appreciated enjoy do it is there anyone else from the public that I one you want to come up okay like all keep trying take your time Mrs dixel I may be 84 but I'm keep I keep trying okay I'm not ready to throw in the tow yet okay my I'm addressing the council I'm also addressing the manager uh thank you for the Hanukah lighting um I'm glad when I called in the morning they got it together real fast but I I I did call the township the day after I want to tell you for next year it's going to be very different Christmas day is also the same day as the first light of Hanukkah so you can light the do Christmas Day by all means for our Christian neighbors Hanukkah can be the 26th it's also Quanza so you can have one big celebration Christmas Hanukkah K Quanza sounds like a plan on the 26th Administration already has all everything cooking that's because I you know I looked it up on the calendar the next day and what I'm going to do I would I have your recipe for cranberry salad so I'm going to make a giant bucket of it for everybody it it's good thank you two Sun kiss label oranges with the skin two apples with the skin put put it in the food process grind it up grind up a bag of berries put some sugar and some raisins in it and go thank you Mel anyone else would like to address any other concerns please feel free come right on up just ask for your name and address you want to go first go ahead hello hey Ben NOA 58 East Yellowstone Lane and Hal I just want to wish everybody Happy New Year Christmas Hana the whole bit I know you guys got a tough job to do but you guys better get your stuff together for 2024 I mean I'm really dismayed tonight all these people come out in the cold and sit here on a you're in and you're worried about a video for people sitting home in a nice warm house on their couch waiting for you guys to deliberate it's not right you better change things for the common year and take care of the people that do come out to these meetings and I think you're going to have to do something with this mayor on important issues and a lot of meetings she's not showing up for whatever reason it it could be valid that's fine but over the years that we've been living here we've had Mayors come out here all the time never miss a meeting all right so I wish you take that into account in this Comon Year and I wish you good luck thank you thank you Mr novic Sir good evening Mark pry to Castle Court I don't have any recipes but that that one sounds really good um I actually think that it's pretty cool that you guys uh live stream the council meeting to the public at home and actually I would encourage you to even go even further and live stream the uh the planning board and zoning board meetings as well if you had the opportunity since the technology exists in the room that's something maybe you guys could explore in the future um I I wanted to talk about two things the the resolution for the Alti settlement uh that talked about $11 million and and also offering um free Broadband for uh three years to One commercial business I was just hoping maybe the administration could just expand on how much of that $ 11 million might uh become in a howl for some infrastructure upgrades because I know people often talk about you know how you know Verizon's the best optimum's the worst or vice versa whatever it is you know there's always complaints about service so it's nice to see that there's possibly some money coming to the town how much and uh which is the commercial business that's going to get the one gigabyte of broadband free for three years or is there like an application process for that or have you guys decided um the other thing was that um uh I know that brick is H has a Citizens advisory committee I shared it on social media uh about uh they put together assistance advisory committee that um works with the township officials on identifying pieces of property to preserve with open space funds and I I know that you know with January coming up when you guys make your appointments to the various committees and boards that maybe you guys would talk with the administration about maybe putting together a a committee like that that brick has and um you know and having that you know the residents uh be a part of you know that the process of identifying some parcels and you know making recommendations to council then you guys could decide you know what would be a good you know property to try to acquire what wouldn't you know the reasons why and and let the public be kind of you know part of that process thank you anything else those are my comments thank you thank you y I will take the Liberty to say that the uh Farmers preservation committee uh worked very closely with Matt Howard and the county for exactly that reason finding Parcels to preserve and then going through the process when it's appropriate um to obtain properties and I think I've even said it is a long process however that doesn't deter us so the farmers preservation Committee in fact has been doing that uh for for quite some time uh difficult sometimes to find property owners that would like to preserve their property uh instead of selling it um of course it's a very personal thing for most Farmers but I can assure you that that process is occurring um Mr Clark could you address the old T situation so I'll have Miss Harney address that um in terms of the citizens advisory committee it's we will look to to implement something like that we'll have to discuss it amongst ourselves and you know see what uh see what we can do obviously um there's Big Town there's a lot to do and it always helps you know many hands make light work so uh you know that's something that we can think about in the new year uh Mr novic I apologize the that we had a uh technical issue with one of the computers that controls our streaming uh it decided to pick our meeting as the time when it was going to update so if you've ever been there and you turn on a computer and you have to sit through that sort of interminable period that's exactly what happened so going forward uh we will make sure that the computers are checked and rechecked and update uh you know in the morning of the meetings so anyone else from the public that' like to come up to speak well I'm I'm going to comment on the the Altis settlement so just so everybody's aware what's going on with that it was a litigation between Altis and actually the njbpu um we acted along with uh several other municipalities as an intervenor into the litigation we were granted special status to kind of come in and make demands um so we us together with a a handful of other municipalities I believe Robinsville was in there um Middletown might have been um we were able to sit in on the negotiations to allow certain Provisions in the settlement and the resolution to benefit our own municipality um as to Mr pes's question about the amount going to uh the town I don't have that information off the top of my head but I will go and look for you I have your contact information so I'll be able to uh contact you about that as well as the specific business getting that uh extra gigabyte so hopefully we can provide you that answer thank you Caitlyn was there anyone else from the public that wanted to come up and speak everyone to say something I just want to add something about the uh internet in case you don't understand uh I taught Advanced Electronics communication for years one of my uh former students is the lead Verizon engineer for 5G and if you don't know it already uh why internet and wired TV is uh going everything is going to be Wireless and it's all going to be through 5G you see it a little bit now with Verizon and T-Mobile where you can get a box in your house that will bring the signal in wirelessly and transmitt it throughout your house as the signals get stronger and more Towers go up there won't be any more FiOS there won't be any more hardwire ired internet so when I hear people say to me why can't we get FiOS in our neighborhood the question is going to be is because Verizon is looking to Go Wireless so that that's where we're at too one other thing about the open space one of the things that I learned in dealing with Matt and Joe about open space and we look at properties and where people come to us and say why can't this be open space Why Can't This be open space I didn't realize how severe the penalty was when we take a property out of open space because something happened like it was an emergency and we needed that plot of land now we have to replace it what's the ratio approximately depending on the type of diversion you're doing so you're talking about uh Recreation output space that's encumbered by Green Acres it could be anywhere from 2 to 3 to one or upwards of 27 40 to1 yeah so if we take an acre out of open space because we needed it for something very important we're going to have to replace it with pretty good siiz parcel sure and so to key off that too I'll give you a quick explanation of the diversion process so basically you you apply to D we're we're taking this land off of our Rossi and you know we will put this land on our Rossi they they review it and they say well that's not enough land that you're putting back on we want more land and we say well what's that based on well we want more land and so you work with them and then it goes to the State House Commission which is a meeting in Tron that happens so infrequently it's almost a remarkable event and what is even more remarkable is if the State House committee approves your diversion so it is almost impossible to get a diversion approved it doesn't typically happen so it's very difficult once you have something on the Rossy it is very difficult to get something off and if you willfully use that land and you do something with it that's inconsistent with the purposes of Green Acres then you're going to get hammered and that's when you start talking about anywhere from 20 30 40 to 1 so you use an acre of land willfully and improperly you better find 40 acres to put in really quick um so that's why we might seem like we move at a snail's pace but there's a reason for it we're very very careful about it um so yeah I know we've discussed this because we actually have Township land that we own that people would love to see go into that but we're holding it just for that well and on that note too each case is a little different so obviously the referendum passed in November we're excited to have some additional funds at our disposal so we could aggressively Market uh you know purchases but you know each one's a little different we could go and buy Acres upon Acres of woods and wetlands right now but they're they're Wetlands will do that there's uh some Farm pieces that are already preserved but up for sale we could we could purchase them but again they're preserved so we're trying to strike the balance between obviously not taking too much properties off of future tax rolls I mean there's there's a purpose to them there but also um limiting development in the right areas so if there's you know a property ripe for the taking that could maybe house four or five houses maybe six seven or more we want to take a look at that and see if we can maybe grab it with that said that land has Extra Value because it has development potential so that extra scent on the referendum that we were able to get is going to be pivotal and us being you know in the in the market for those properties um because you are buying development rights away and those Parcels are a lot more expensive but that's your bang for your buck if you want to limit development those are the parcels we need to Target and we we think we're in a better position to do so yeah and and I will say thank you to the voters for having the vision to approve the referendum I mean it is going to be a huge help for us thank you very much thanks it's an excellent explanation I'm sorry was there anyone else from the public that wanted to speak seeing none can I have a motion to close public please motion to close second all in favor I I okay so we will move along to the resolutions so that begins with R23 369 may I motion for that up to and including anything that pleases the council okay so we're going to go up to R23 d400 motion to approve R23 369 up to and including R23 400 second thank you roll call please councilman fiser yes councilman gager yes councilman Nel yes Deputy Mayor oono yes thank you the consent resolutions pass I would like to go back for a moment and take reports from the elected officials anyone have something that they would like to report this evening no councilman Mell anything not this time councilwoman Fisher um just what we started the meeting with the proclamation acknowledging the uh the two awards for our DPW um Deputy Mayor Donal and I were lucky enough to attend the luncheon and just so people realize it was a state award it wasn't a county it was for the whole state of New Jersey and the fact that how Township got picked for two Awards there was no other Township that that had that so and to kind of piggyback on what Joon said to acknowledge Paul Nella and he definitely would have been here tonight but he had another engagement um he did a great job he's the kind of guy when you first meet him you feel like you've known him your whole life that's the effect he had on me um I like that cousin or or neighbor that you you've known forever um and just did great work uh great guy great personality um I haven't met I met Brian once but I I haven't gotten to know him yet and uh if if he was trained by Paul I'm sure he's going to do a great job as well but just to acknowledge Paul and Steve another we got to meet Stephen and have lunch with him just a great guy great great employee for the township so thank you and just to expand on thank you very much to Paul but I also want to point out you know the projects were something that were done you know and I I know that the entire Council was in favor of all of them this it does highlight some of the use of our open space I don't know if anybody's taken time to visit the the how Township web page to take a look at some of the wildlife cams uh but it's it's pretty fun to see what's going on out there um and some of the parks and that we're just getting started I mean again to go back to what I was saying we the referendum did pass we have a lot of plans there's going to be a lot coming up in the new year so you there's there's even more to be had absolutely um we look forward to Brian Greenfield coming in and we're all very sure that he's going to slide into that position uh as he's already been there he know some of the projects that uh are in the works for next year so rest assured there's more wonderful things to come for hell Township I would like to take the opportunity uh right now to um wish my father his 101st birthday on Thursday um we're very lucky that he's still with us there's he has six children I'm the youngest of the six all of us are still here to enjoy him so although he's in Virginia I have someone taping this to send it to him I promised him I would get his name out there around the uh the township that he lived in for 50 years uh secondly I would like to make note thank you thank you we're very proud of him I also would like to make note that uh in 2012 Rosco cavalo uh retired from the hell Township Police Department chief storo has advised us that in November he had a critical accident uh we want to wish he and his family uh the best wishes we wish him a very speedy recovery uh he after he had retired he became the chief security officer for our court so um we certainly hope that things will move along well for him and that he will be back to work so did want to make note of this um I am told that it was an incredibly serious accident so um we wish him the very best and God bless and also I had gone to both budget hearings in town when we had them I guess it was about a week ago there were preliminary hearings uh and I was very happy to go um because a couple of things had come to light for me and something that had been brought up was uh some concern about our CEOs for rentals and inspections on an annual basis that may rotate with the dates of the co but as this is being talked about um I want and I didn't there wasn't a question an answer you know from the audience during the budget hearings as they were preliminary but I would like to speak to it now so that council is aware um and thinking about it that this looks like a massive amount of work um to incorporate into the department so I didn't know if there was thoughts of an employee to do this um you know are we're looking additional monies into that budget to accomplish this because this is something that I know count Council has been very eager to get you know get it put together and make sure that it's uh being done you know cosos um most importantly are a safety mechanism for those people that live within that home you know so um Mr Howard did could you share any thoughts with us tonight or is this too early in the game sure no um if there's one thing that council's put me on it's to get our rentals under control um it's been a slow gradual process but I think we're making Headway I mean code enforcement I I've reported in the past some of the numbers um we're three four times ahead of the pace of what we've done in enforcement in the past mostly on the housing and Rental side because things get so out of control and then you get them under control and then you leave for a day and they get out of control again so we've been kicking around some ideas to try and figure out how to really keep things under control um what one of the ideas is to uh instead of having what what we have right now is registration requirement every year for rentals it's happening now it's really between November and February every rental has to register it's an administrative requirement but we know who the landlords are we know who the tenants are and we get that registration process the second thing for rental is the co that is at the time of new tenants or change of ownership um so sometimes we don't get into rentals for two three 5 10 15 years as long as the same tenant is there we'll never go back in um so there could be deteriorating conditions more often not these days there's changes of tendency without notice um so um one idea that we're kicking around is doing an annual inspection on the CO as well um that would allow us to go into the properties to do a CO inspection every year instead of having long gaps we would be able to double check the tency status at that time make sure there's no over occupancy and unfortunately it's been happening a lot but make sure there's no illegal construction a lot of times we issue the co and a week later we have complaint that heavy Duty Lumber is being moved in and rooms are being added and rooms are being sectioned off so if we do an inspection every year yes somebody could take apart the construction and put it back realistically we're going to catch it uh realistically we're going to have um a presence that is going to be a lot harder to do some of these you know massive uh illegal operations that are happening um to do that is another 1,200 rentals so 1,200 inspections with re inspections compliance administrative requirements we're looking at easily two inspectors and I can't necessarily say that I wouldn't need more administrative help either um so there is definitely a budget uh hit there um we're also looking at residential resale uh cosos that is something that has been gone from the township for since I've been here I think over a decade um I think the times have changed and with quick sales cash sales things happening quicker than anybody could keep up on again there's a benefit to the residents to the neighborhood and if uh there could be inspections done at that time again checking for illegal work or just work done without permits uh basements being finished decks being built things that may not be safe um that need to be inspected and again it's another opportunity for us to get a baseline as to the condition of a property and see how that changes over time um we think those two initiatives um could really uh kind of kind of get really good control over some of the issues we're having so those have both been brought up with the administration um and uh we're talking about the the cost impacts and the impacts to the taxpayer on on those right so and that's mat just ke off uh uh key on an important point so we we've been talking about a lot of that over this past year and it's great you know we realize we're going to need extra staff we're going to need extra people we have these unfunded mandates that have been sort of put down on our plate by the state which includes the the lead paint inspections we also have the landlord Insurance inspections they're required by state law to have insurance uh but what we're supposed to be doing is collecting the declaration page on the policy uh early on when this passed in 2022 we took a look at it and we said we have so many um rentals that we're going to need to hire an extra person more or less to process that why should all of the citizens pay for that you know the landlord should be responsible for taking care of these requirements that apply to the rentals that they're making so much money off of so we're working on a suite of ordinances for introduction in January uh that includes some of the co materials that that Matt was talking about it'll also include the landlord Insurance requirement um so that way we can attach a cost to it that's B born as part of the rental itself the residential resale Co is very important because you'd have to be deaf to not have heard all year the concerns about uh the tencies in town so it gives us a snapshot at a moment in time at the transfer of that property what's going on inside of it and then a rental Co assuming it turns into a rental gives us a yearly snapshot of what is going on in there and it gives us a lot more control over for it so and which is an important thing um so that's basically where we are with it uh there is going to be a cost attached to it we're working out the fee structure so that it's not uh you know an overloaded cost for landlords but a fair cost that allows them to pay their share of it uh while not burdening the taxpayers and allowing us to properly staff for it thank you and and I do appreciate the proactive thought of attaching that cost to the landlord um taxpayers you know we we go to taxpayers myself all of us included for everything that has to be done but when someone is a landlord that should be part of the responsibility of a landlord you know within his purview of what he's doing so as soon as you have your ducks in a row if you will I guess that will be coming through in the next budget and in the interim you know what ever you can get in I I know that it's really difficult to do every Co in January it would be ridiculous you know you would need somebody two or three people just doing that in January so doing it on the uh anniversary it makes perfect sense and it also allows somebody to do the job effectively so and it may seem like we go to snail space at times but the entire the entire building is extremely hardworking uh the building department my department uh code enforcement extremely hard workking working and we had two seats added in the budget one for an admin one for an inspector I just got my last inspector seat filled less than a month ago and we're in training so we're fully staffed for the first time but we're still in trainings and there's a lot of new new faces there so we're almost there but all of these unfunded mandates that have come out like the lead Bas pain the abandoned property registry they're good for the town and they definitely serve a purpose but we don't want to rush into them we don't want to get start a program that we can't properly function with and that we can't properly perform so um we are being a little cautious in our timing um what will come out of these inspections will be a lot more permits that people need to write their work so we want to make sure that we're fully staffed in the building department there's a lot of Ripple effects and we're just we're cautious about going too much too fast so um that's why it might seem like it takes a little while but we think that's necessary and Council appreciates the fact that you're approaching this in a a reasonable fashion and more so approaching it so that I know you've heard a lot of comments from us uh concerning the co so we're happy to help support this and what whatever way we can thank you and I think that's all that I have so let's move on to the ordinances and we'll begin with ordinance 23 excuse me Deputy Mayor we have the resolutions R 23401 through R 2345 I think we should vote on that yes thank you roll call please I need a motion we had a motion a second did we no they're separate motion to approve R 2341 up to an including R 2345 second please councilman Fischer yes councilman gaser yes councilman Nel yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you the resolution's passed I'm moving right along here thank you right now let's move on to our ordinances uh ordinance 2335 an ordinance of the T of how supplementing chapter 188 article 10 zones adding new section 188 77.1 entitled Highway development 1 South HD 1 s Zone thank you one moment please anyone from the public that wishes to address this ordinance please come forward seeing none and just as a quick overview this is uh an ordinance creating a new zone for Highway development 1's s uh it's really referring to the south end of uh town so it's from Lanes Mill Road South all properties facing uh and fronting on Route 9 right now those are zoned HD1 uh we're rezoning to HD1 s mostly matches the uh permitted uses uh conditional uses of the HD1 Zone with a few additions like banquet exp Exposition uh facilities but it matches uh offices retail restaurants entertainment uses indoor Recreation and all things that uh are in the HD1 thank you with that explanation does anyone have a comment or a question on this particular ordinance seeing none may have a motion to close motion to close public second all in favor I I I have a motion please make a motion to adopt 0 23-35 second councilwoman fiser yes councilman gager yes councilman yes Deputy Mayor O'Donnell yes thank you the ordinance is adopted thank you ordinance 2336 and ordinance of the town of of Howell amending chapter 188 article 10 zoning amending section you just uh created which is HD1 South is there any commentary from the public on this particular ordinance if so please come forward seeing none may have a motion to close public motion to close public thank you second all in favor I motion to approve motion to approve o 2336 thank you second councilman fiser yes councilman gayer yes councilman Nel yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you ordinance is adopted thank you ordinance 23 37 an ordinance of the town of Howell changing the zoning of certain properties within the township of how to zoning designation Highway development 1s HD 1s Zone thank you any information from Administration on this so we created the HD 1s Zone we added it to the list this is actually resoning all of those Parcels that front Route 9 South of Lan Mill Road uh into the HD1 s Zone thank you any comments or questions from the public on this particular ordinance seeing none may have a motion to close public motion to close public thank you second thank you all in favor I I motion to approve I move to adopt ordinance 23 38 377 I'm sorry yes ordinance 2337 thank you is there a second second thank you councilman Fischer yes councilman gazer yes councilman Nal yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you the ordinance is adopted our next ordinance ordinance 2338 an ordinance of the T of Howell changing the zoning of certain properties within the tant of Howell to zoning designation Special Economic Development 1 SD s-1 Zone thank you any further information from Mr Howard uh there's currently a Zone uh south central portion of town that has uh Parcels on Oakland Road County Route 547 Victory Road it's currently zoned SD Special Economic Development this ordinance would change all of those lots uh to sed1 thank you is there any public comment or question on this particular ordinance if so please come forward hello I'm good thank you your name and address if you don't mind my name is Betty valet gimal 97 Victory Road okay I would like to address the council regarding Victory Road please and I'm speaking on behalf of Victory Road residents myself um first off um our last meeting I just wanted to make sure that everyone was clear that we know and understand the warehouse application is grandf bothered and won't be affected by any zoning changes we have been fight excuse me we have been fighting this for over a year so we are beyond the basics tonight we're requesting the council vote no to ordinance 02338 which recommends the S1 and yes to the ordinance that was proposed in the 02344 which recommends AR6 uh this would be consistent with the rural character of Victory Road Mr how stated at the previous meeting that there is Storage maintenance manufacturing and concrete manufacturing on Victory Road this statement is incorrect the desanti concrete manufacturing has not produced concrete since approximately 2007 now it is being used as a staging site for an electric company with two trailers and parked trucks also a steel rebar assembling not a factory not manufacturing steel at all and recently we've just seen a third company utilizing it as a staging area for equipment no manufacturing the Atlantic Auto Body Shop is on the corner of 547 in Victory also A6 Mr Howard mentioned two other businesses on Victory Road there's a vehicle wrapping business which is operating out of a residence on AR6 not sure that that's supposed to be happening the other is a young man who likes to Tinker with cars so this is not a business again A Class 2 on an AR6 because I'm a very visual person I thought um it was helpful for me to create the S Zone and color code you can see that the green the solid green is Farms the purple is residential this is Victory Road in Black here just to give it so Victory Road is in uh the black line there the brown is the New Jersey natural gas plant the Orange is existing the green with the striping is preserved Township and County property and the blue striping is the church I did not continue on the opposite side of Oak Glenn because there are farms and Residential Properties on the opposite side so as you can see and I can give this to you if you would like to see it closer a 6 is the right fit for Victory Road you bring absolutely Diane would you oh maybe could just pass it around if you don't mind absolutely thank you I was able to obtain the block and lots from the mammoth County um and then then also partnered with the how Township tax maps you do this yourself oh no that's that's actually a blow up of the Howell Township tax map oh that yes I thank you I'm sorry it's the educator in me thank you was there any other commentary that you wanted to make um just you know again as you can see there's so much green and so much of the purple and AR6 is the right fit for Victory Road that's an an excellent visual aid I we thank you for that of course you're welcome as they said I needed it myself because uh some of the comments that were made I I just was like no this can't be so thank I'm sure you saw the uh ordinances that were going to be introduced at the previous meeting yes so those are all going to be happening at our next meeting in January just due to this that it can't carry over from one year to the next okay I just wasn't sure if it those will to be introduced at the next meeting so an ordinance can be introduced and it must be passed or rejected in the same calendar year which would prohibit the ordinances being introduced tonight but then we wouldn't be able to vote for them in a timely fashion uh you know if we did it at the next meeting rather so in January we'll be re readdressing but right so so does this make that like from here until January if you were to approve this temporarily sed1 or are we tossing this all together will I'm not I'm not voting for you I'm just that I would I would love to that vote will occur shortly right so there there's not been a vote on this particular ordinance so and no predecision on it so I think you should take the comments of the public and then you can deliberate afterwards when there's a motion to approve you can have your discussion on the motion and then take a vote Yes or no right right thank you do you have any other questions for me no I think we're we're clear thank you thank you I appreciate that was there anyone else that wanted to speak to this particular thank you do I have a motion to close public motion to close public a second second all in favor I I I'd like to respond to a couple items so absolutely um I apologize if there's any misunderstanding with my comments last meeting I've never talked about this zoning change for just victory road so when I listed a number of uses I'm talking about all the parcels in the S1 Zone all the parcels that are going to be impacted by this and there are warehousing there is a concrete manufacturing there is other uses so I think that list if I wasn't clear last mean it's possible but obviously my intention talk about the entire zoning not just Victory Road um vehicle wrapping um I don't know of that so if you'd like to talk to me after the meeting give me an address we can have code enforcement look at that I encourage you to do so if you come up at a council meeting tell me about in legal use I really should look into it so please just let me know um those are the comments I have thank you Mr Howard um may I have a motion on this ordinance uh motion to vote on ordinance 02338 second second thank you is there a discussion so it's not just the motion to vote um I think there should be a decision right now may if you're going to approve or deny I would suggest a motion to approve the ordinance and if you are not going to vote in favor of the ordinance then you would be a no vote and it you know it has to pass by a majority of council so uh if we get at least two no votes then the ordinance cannot pass so I would suggest recasting the motion as a motion to approve ordinance 02338 we can have a second on the motion and then we can open it up to council for discussion on the motion very good motion to approve 0 23-38 may have a second second now you can there's discussion on the motion is there any discussion on this particular ordinance I have none are you prepared to vote okay may we have a roll call please Council M fiser no councilman gajer no councilman Nell no Deputy Mayor odonnell no thank you the ordinance is not adopted thank you next we have ordinance 2339 an ordinance amending chapter 188 land use Article 1 title purpose definition section 4 entitled definitions and rules of general applicability of the revised ordinances of the township of how thank you is there any information from Administration on this particular ordinance uh the ordinance updates two definitions uh we take the banquet facility that's already in the ordinance we had some language for an Exhibition Center which includes business corporate events expositions trade shows um there has been some attempts to open nightclubs with that type of use we've expressly prohibited that uh also Flex space um we also just included language uh that includes trade contractor businesses so there's some zones that don't permit that outright um but we want to make sure the flexx use includes it because that's really what it's intended for that electrician plumber uh HVAC guy that you know needs a garage space in some office thank you thank you for that information like to open this to the public anyone wishing to speak on ordinance 2339 please do so now good evening mayor councel Barbara dixel 628 Patza Victoria freeold New Jersey I I would like to ask for an explanation of this ordinance for what banquet facilities mean and who would be affected by it okay so the definition of a banquet facility uh is a building or portion thereof for rent for public which has a principal intended use of holding meetings receptions parties Banquets dinners lunches breakfasts and other Gatherings of people whether food is prepared and sold on site for profit or not that is the existing definition of banquet the exhibition uh addition that we're pro proposing for this ordinance uh also States this use includes professional business corporate events expositions trade shows and excludes concerts nightclubs paperhead or door entry type events thank you Mr Howard which companies or Apostles in Howell will be directly affected by this ordinance this is a definition so any or uh any zone that includes this as a permitted use would then have it as a permitted use or conditional use there is no specific parcel there is no specific um area that this is generally focused on with this ordinance so no individual parcel is going to be directly affected this wasn't made for one individual parcel of land or this is in h Township that would be spot zoning and it is illegal so no all right uh thank you very much thank you thank you by adding things to the definition and into the zoning we're hoping to attract businesses to howl I mean this is a use that we hear is potentially could take vacant Properties or abandoned properties and put them into use thank you Mr Howard is anyone else uh wish to speak to ordinance 2339 seeing no one can I have a motion to close public please motion to close public second all in favor I I may I have a motion on the ordinance please motion to adopt ordinance 23-39 second Council fiser yes councilman gajer yes councilman Nal yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you the ordinance is adopted thank you ordinance 2340 an ordinance of the township of Howell supplementing chapter 188 article 11 conditional uses adding section 188 9811 entitled Flex space thank you is there any additional information Administration would like to share uh this ordinance lists conditions uh for a flex space use uh this use is permitted in some zones but is a conditional use in others uh when it is a conditional use it would have a proposed development would have to meet these conditions that dictates board jurisdiction if an applicant comes in and they can meet all the conditions that are listed in the ordinance it would be treated as a permitted use and go to the planning board for site plan approval if they cannot meet all the conditions it would get a D3 use variance would have to go for the zoning to the zoning board also to get site plan approval um so that those conditions are being listed in the ordinance thank you for the clarification is there a motion on this ordinance to either approve or reject open for public oh I'm s I'm very sorry like don't open to the public anyone wishing to speak ordinance 2340 please come forward thank you I have a motion to close motion to close second all in favor I I now is there an a motion to adopt or reject ordinance 2340 motion to adopt o 234 thank you second councilwoman fiser yes councilman gager yes councilman Nel yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you the ordinance is adopted thank you next ordinance is 2341 an ordinance of the tanp of Howell supplementing chapter 188 article 10 zones supplementing and modifying sections 188-191 S1 Zone and 18879 point2 S2 Zone to include Flex Spas as a conditional use thank you I'd like to open to the the public anyone wishing to speak to ordinance 2341 please come up and I'll just add very quickly this is uh adding Flex space as a conditional use in the sed1 and S2 [Applause] zones thank you Mr Howard anyone wishing to speak seeing none I'd like a motion to close public motion to close public second thank you all in favor I I I have a motion motion to adopt ordinance 2341 thank you thank you councilwoman fiser yes councilman gaser yes councilman Nel yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you the orance is adopted next we have 20 ordinance 23-42 an ordinance of the township of Howell updating schedule two bulk and dimensional requirements for non-residential zones to include Highway development one SA hd-1 s Zone thank you is there any additional information from Administration so we created the HD1 South Zone we added it to the list we put Parcels into the Zone um we also needed to give it bulk standards by bulk standards I mean the setbacks impervious coverage limits things like that so we've added uh that to the table uh the schedule 2 um and uh list the bulk and dimensional standards for the HD1 s Zone thank you i' like to open this ordinance to the public anyone from the public wishing to speak to zero uh ordinance 2342 please come forward seeing none may have a motion to close to public motion to close public second all in favor I may I have a motion on ordinance 2342 please motion to adopt ordinance 23-42 second councilwoman fiser yes councilman gajer yes councilman Nel yes Deputy Mayor odonnell yes thank you the ordinance is adopted thank you very much uh this evening we have no introduction to ordinances uh as the end of the year is closing out I would like to say that our next regular council meeting will be held on January 2nd 2024 at 5:00 it'll be our reorganization meeting uh we hope everyone can attend just one quick comment um yes you did mention there's no introductions and we talked about it before I just want to be clear those ordinances that were uh proposed to be introduced in November they will be reintroduced not at reorg we don't do regular business uh but the second meeting in January so that would in January obviously okay uh thank you uh Council like to wish everyone a a blessed in a safe holiday season um we thank you very much for taking your time out in December we know it's a very busy time uh if you had any comments that you wanted to speak to to Administration after the meeting please feel free to do so again be safe and enjoy the rest of the year we will see you in January motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all in favor I thank you