[Music] [Music] [Applause] good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order it is February 6 2024 this is the Howell Township Council our regular meeting um I would like to call all attendance 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 councilwoman fiser here councilman gager here councilwoman O'Donnell here Deputy Mayor Nel here mayor Burger pres thank you Mr Clark is there any reason to go into executive session yes we have multiple reasons contract neg iation uh litigation and attorney client okay thank you can I have a motion to go into executive motion to go into executive second councilman Fischer yes councilman gaser yes Council noon yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes good evening everyone thank you for joining us this evening uh it's February 6 2024 it is the Howell Township Council regular meeting meeting we had um an executive at 6: and now we are convening reconvening for our regular meeting at 7: uh roll call please councilwoman Fischer here councilman geser here councilwoman odonnell here Deputy Mayor n down here mayor Burger pres thank you if we could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and for a moment of silence algi to the flag of the United States of America to the which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you may I have a may I have a motion for minutes of December 12 2023 I'll make a motion to approve the Amendments of December 12th 2023 second second thank you councilwoman Fischer yes councilman gajer yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger um I abstained I was absent thank you may I have a motion for January 2nd 2024 reorg minutes I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of January 2nd 2024 a second second thank you Council moon fisher yes councilman gager yes councilwoman O'Donnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger I abstain thank you at this time we have a presentation from the state of New Jersey Green Acres Program for improvements at echol Lake Park hi hi everyone my name is Matt Howard director of Community Development for Howell Township a couple weeks ago our grant consultant Ker's engineering brought to us a unique opportunity uh what is called a jake law uh aspect of a Green Acres Grant um you're going to hear more about the specifics um but we have been working with them to put a proposal together to replace the existing playground at echol Lake um the playground's at end of life um so we are looking to make massive improvements to that Park um and make it a gem even more of a gem for Howell than it is now um you'll hear about the the type of equipment and uh more details um this is a focus of the governing body for howl um it's been very clear that the governing body has charged Administration with improving our open space getting more open space improving our Parks this is a piece of it um we have to chip away at it we have a lot of different parks in different areas of town as we know we had a sports lighting to Soldier Memorial not too long ago um we're also currently under construction under another grant for improvements at Deerwood Park and this is the next step in that so um we're trying to chip away and and improve the quality of life for how um I'll leave it off to klier's engineering we have Kelsey Ritner and Chris gamms here to present that mic works too talk to it hi my name is Kelsey rner I'm a grant writer with Coler engineering and design um and we are going to present on the opportunity to apply for Green Acres funding under Jake's law so uh in meeting the public hearing requirement we had posted a display advertisement published in the Asbury Park Press and the Star Ledger and posted on the Township's website on January 22nd 2024 at least 15 days prior to this meeting the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the proposed project and solicit public comment a quick overview of the Green Acres Program um Jake's law application for inclusive playgrounds is actually open to municipalities starting this year previously it was only available to counties the application deadline is tomorrow February 7th 2024 and standard municipalities are eligible for a 75% matching Grant with a 25% local match an overview of the project location um as uh Matt mentioned it's at echol Lake Park which is block 28 Lots 2 3 and 25 located at 1205 Maxum Southern Road 17.84% include an ada8 accessible floating dock a pavilion building the jungle gym four horseshoe pits a gazebo two asphalt parking lots picnic tables and park benches the township has considered several alternate sites for this project all of which are listed here Soldier Memorial Park was rejected due to the lack of adequate space and the equipment is not at its end of life it will be considered for future Projects dearwood Park rejected for improvements at this park as this park is already in progress equipment is not at the end of life and it will be considered for future projects Pride Park was rejected because it's not Regional enough it's more tucked away and it's not as accessible as echol Lake Park the equipment is not at end of life and it will be considered for future projects Oakland Park was rejected because it didn't have adequate space the equipment is not an end of life and it will be considered for future projects I want to jump in on one point when we say not adequate space we know soier Memorial's got acres and Acres of ball fields there are leasing terms that are limiting space but also tied into the fact that this other equipment is not at end of life we're not looking to take perfectly serviceable and in good condition equipment and take it out of service to replace it um we don't think that's good use of our taxpayer dollars um so when we say that there's not space it's because there's playgrounds already there and we're not looking to remove those there are some site photos here here you can see that there is currently no Ada accessible walkway from the parking lot to the playground which is located next to the Pavilion building the Gazebo and the lake will not be affected by this proposed project and then following are a few pictures of the current equipment that is located at the playground you can see that they are dated and nearing end of life the picnic tables located near the walkway uh for the walking trail will not be affected by the proposed project and now I'm going to turn it over to Chris gammons who's going to discuss the DCA rules for a completely inclusive playground and how this project adheres to those rules good evening so as part of the njdca rules for Jake's law and an inclusive playground um the idea of inclusive has uh different levels of interpretation on how they're being listed and I think initially when um we discussed this grant there was an idea of building a a park next to the current Park that was there and then making improvements to what was there but the nature of Jake's law is not leaving anybody behind including everybody no matter what your abilities are um so following the guidelines I won't bore you with reading through every um you know bullet point here but um you know the idea is to give everybody access and make sure that they feel included in the play on the playground so you don't want to have a dividing line where you have certain capabilities of of higher level using equipment on the right side and then segregated with the line and using other equipment it's about integrating the entire group and having everybody feel like they're there um whether you're in a wheelchair if you have audio or visual issues that you're playing on the same equipment that you know some somebody who has a higher level of um you know capacity to play on these elements so you know Jake law is trying to help improve those and sometimes the law is taken a little too um direct where everything has to be ramp getting to every part of the equipment where in theory that's not what we're trying to do um we're trying to get everybody accessing and feeling like they're using you know that that equipment but also make an attractive Park where everybody wants to come regardless of their level of play um so that you have everybody kind of working in harmony so um you know parts of that um again include audio visual music sound um you know access at ground level um access for wheelchairs your surfaces have to be accessible getting to the park itself the playground has to be accessible so providing a reasonable route to get there um having fencing in um because depending on the level of the disability um and you know you have may have someone who want is tending to run off the playground um so that helps you know keep people within the constraints um of the playground itself um but that is uh an overview of a highlight of some of the rules that we're we're dealing with with Jake's law um move on to the next one and again um this this talks more into parking the surfacing um shading of the park um you know C having a certain percentage of the park having shading available to it um surfacing so that a wheelchair can cross over it um with relative ease um there's different styles of surfacing that can be done in order to accomplish that uh but uh you know Jake's law is making sure that you're hitting all of these marks so that everybody has an equal opportunity to play here uh just continuing this is talking about the fencing and and the play components themselves um and additionally quiet play areas if you have um again there's there's audio and visual so if you have sensitivity to sound there's also quiet play if you want to be off on your own um where there's still visibility in but you have a moment moment where you can have a little bit more passive play um as as well um so you know currently there are there are no inclusive playgrounds within the township um of how and you'd have to go 15.5 miles um approximately to Colts Neck um to Challenger Park um Ada access and the walkway is necessary to get there right now there's a stone pathway which technically wouldn't meet the requirements and um you know so we'd be looking to improve that with a concrete sidewalk um to get you there uh which would be Ada accessible and um the playground uh is nearing the end of its life cycle and it's not providing those kind of opportunities for them inclusive play um as well as the ground level is currently mulch surrounded by Timber ties and um this picture isn't showing it with the snow coverage however in some of the images that we that we have um there is ponding of water and there's some drainage issues so that even when it is uh the weather is right they're they're having some issues with ponding water so playing on there is it can get muddy and can be a little bit difficult um so the project scope um would be to uh construct a completely inclusive Park and part of that may be the equipment um you know and climbing equipment swinging sensory play uh overhead elements uh may may include sensory panels rocking bouncing balancing elements crawl tunnels Bridges ramps some of the things that we were touching on before um all of these are elements that we're looking to include as part of the project scope um the entire playground will consist of a rubberized surface it will have fall protection as well as accessibility to get to those different um pieces it would be um surrounding the entire park inclusive of the Fall zones um you know and the play zones within there and um you know constructing an ADA accessible walkway part of the concept is uh we have two different walkways that we've shown on the concept plan which we'll share later and one of the walkways will just get us there there's an additional walkway as an opportunity to add as an alternate scope which would complete a um a 1/8 mile U Loop so uh it's not a large loop but if someone's going there and their child is playing they'd have the opportunity to get a little exercise and do a continuous um eigh mile Loop without losing visual contact so that felt that that could be something that could be an additional amenity um you know but it might put us a little bit outside of our project budget so we added it as an alternate um uh you know opportunity also the town is aware that the current playground and the equipment was dedicated to a family that used to live in town and they suffered a a Sid's death in their family a little girl had died so we're aware of that and we're making attempts to reach out to the family to let them know of the project of course we plan on continuing that dedication we've actually had some help from some friends here to to help identify the family and where they might have gone they did move out of town I think about 20 years ago um but we are looking to carry that dedication forward with proper signage and a memorial um because we don't want any memory to be forgotten thank thank you for bringing that in because that that is something that we did you know come across in the pictures and we do feel it is important and and something that can be celebrated and you know they started a movement by dedicating the initial one and now we can carry that and bring it to something that you know reaches even further um and allows more people to play and and can really um you know help that so uh this is the the overall um you know concept plan it's a little bit hard to see on on here so we've highlighted the um parking area to the south on the plan it has um existing adaa parking spaces with the curb cut to get up onto the sidewalk however it doesn't have the pathway leading to the back um so on the right side towards the lake um that would be the main access point um that we'd be looking to present on the left side the returning that's the alternate um sidewalk that would complete the 1/8 mile Loop for this park um you you can see within the oval there is uh highlighted uh Square um that's the existing playground so we would be expanding the footprint of that playground um you know almost doubling tripling the size of the existing one uh so that is still you know this is still a concept phase and based on the feedback that we would get from the council and the committee as well as the town themselves on what the final elements are the bigger picture is is is getting the grant money to allow us to do these kind of improvements and you know the scope and the budget would have to remain the same but we could refine the materials to make sure that it really complements the desires of the township as well as the community um to you know to hit all the marks that we need so I think we're flexible in the size of it um and the final Design Elements but um felt like this was a good first take to um to go for the grant itself and to acquire that kind of money um couple pictures here that were presented um for public opinion um again these are just ideas that we're bringing out to the Forefront um it might be slightly confusing because this looks like an aggressive play structure however it does meet um the idea of accessibility inclusive play um this is a multi-level structure um so you have access at the ground level um so somebody in a wheelchair can access multiple Play Elements at the lower levels it you know Jake's law it doesn't mean that you have to be able to access every part of the equipment itself um you have to have access to certain levels of it and you know based on the capabilities and the abilities of the individual they may be able to um surpass that disability to get up to the upper level so it's not about limiting what other people can play it's providing access and easy access to get to ground level play um so these can also be modified you can see at the lower level there is some sensory and audio visual play where you can create music um quiet time certain areas where you can sit underneath and have a little bit more quiet play so there's integrated options to build these up to create more so I know that was one of the comments that came through in some of the imagery that we had presented out there so I wanted to touch on that as we go through some of these images but this is what we call one of the Main Stays the real attraction piece um that would hold and then there would be a a whole host of items around that that would support it and give you alternate types of play um so this was the structure one this is an alternate structure which again um was just brought in for feed back um this is another one of those Mainstay um fixtures again inclusivity you can get upwards of 30 people on the structure which is interesting there's all different levels of play to it um I brought my children to a similar um playground like this and there was um a few people with disabilities that were playing at the lower level and my children didn't want to leave for the day and they're they have high level capabilities and they were up at the top and hanging and playing but there were about 10 kids on the structure and it was something unique because there's no differentiation about the different levels of play everybody was there on one piece so while the structure itself may not be as appealing as some of the other ones it's true to the identity of what Jake law is trying to capture um somebody with a wheelchair can get at that lower level and may have upper level strength and can pull themselves up to the upper levels on this so um again it's not limiting it's allowing access but then allowing the individual to hit their own capabilities on structures um this is this is another one um that's similar um a little bit different in its style of play as well and and the form and the materials where the other one was more of a wood structure this pulls back to the steel structures um what's interesting about these is there's again a level of play where you can have between 30 and 50 kids playing on different portions of these kinds of equipment they're interesting each time you address it or you can come from a different angle there's a different style or piece of play a lot of the elements on it can be interchangeable for other pieces that you can Custom Custom ciz specific to you know the desires of the community to get there um because they don't have these elaborate ramp systems of what I was talking about previously we did U kers designed one of the first Jake law compliant Parks um and it was primarily a ramp system because that's what the law was directing you to do and it you took a ramp and went down a slide and there's a lot of cost associated with that structure this allows us to get a little bit more creative a little bit more elaborate with the pieces and the amenities that are attached to it while limiting some of the cost output um to get a couple more features and that's also why that oval you saw was a little bit larger because we're maximizing the type of equipment that we can buy and maybe get a couple of these pieces instead of just one maybe get two to three pieces that could really support a wide variety of the ranges and again inclusive being able to play with 2 to five and then also 6 to 12 and combining that in in one Park while giv giving them space to allow that kind of play to happen is um you know really how we read that um that grant that law you know what we're trying to promote is inclusivity on all levels um so those are some of the concepts as far as the environmental impacts to this um obviously we have a lake it's a state Open Water um right adjacent to the existing Park itself we have some Wetlands that are hovering um to our uh plan view to the West um within the wooded line it's primarily within the wood line but there are buffers of 50 ft could potentially be assigned to the state Open Water if there are um wetlands found along the perimeter edges we don't see that happening so it shouldn't necessarily have a buffer on the state Open Water side however we've shown that on the plans just in case that comes up um we are in an area that is being maintained as lawn open lawn areas so we don't see it as an issue getting any types of permits to um utilize previously Disturbed areas um to go back to get those permits there's 's also a stream that's out liting um from echol Lake Park um that would have a 300t um reparan buffer on it um and we've also shown those overlays and how that won't impact the development of the site so everything that we're doing is with or that we're proposing uh for improvements would happen within existing uh you know previously Disturbed uh Turf areas that are being maintained that way so we don't see any issues from the environmental impact it would be temporary um during the uh construction process but then revert back to the existing um condition that it's currently sitting in so this just a little bit more on the environmental impact statement and assessments um go to the next one yeah um same thing uh this is just again I think I highlighted most of those and um you know planed weight plant approval and Soil Conservation um soil erosion sediment control um that's that's what we'd be anticipating for that um the program cost and and the request um construction we're we're putting at about 6 159,000 professional fees um 9,380 for a total of 750 um funding request 75% Grant would be 562 500 and the local match um the municipality's responsibility of 25% match at 187,00 um in order to get that uh this was a a high level cost estimate that we put together um again keeping in mind that this is still a concept level and the final equipment um you know would be driven by public commentary and some feedback that we would receive today um and part of the design documentation we could also entertain additional um you know meetings with uh the municipality to really drive to the proper equipment to get us to exactly what the desire is for the space um but these are good placeholders to get us that you know that grant funding to get the application moving um so that we have it set in place to get um what would be a really nice park so this um cost estimate would include the the pathway out um to the to the area the safety surface um the equipment um as well as um you know the remediation of the the turf areas to be disturbed and um an alternate to provide the alternate access route along the outside to give you the 1/8 mile um walking walking surface um schedule wise uh we had some preliminary dates on here uh preliminary assessment report October 2024 complete project design October 2024 obtain permanent approvals January 2025 bidding an award of construction march to April 2025 construction May to July 2025 and submit for final payment August 2025 um you know it's a relatively aggressive of schedule however we feel that um you know with good direction from the municipality um and what we've already put forth we can get these drawings uh moving quickly to to get on schedule to get that built by then and possibly even quicker so hand over to Kelsey regarding the public survey and results yeah uh we had published an online public survey for um solicitation of public comment on some of these improvements um the majority of responses were positive uh we had 210 as of today um and sorry it's a little small for me to read but um the majority of the responses were positive and in support of the project we did ask the public to uh Rank and rate these uh Mainstay structures for the proposed concept um and so we asked them to rate on a scale of one to five five being the most exciting one being the least exciting um the the most popular out of the three that we presented was um this first one here the sensory Dome and that had an average rating of 3.72 the giant lbas was the second most popular at 3.62 and the jungle Dome was a rating of 2.92 and these are all out of 206 responses at the end of the survey we did ask the public if they had any specific play elements that they would like to see included in the proposed project and asked for them to describe them um the majority of the responses 83 This was an optional question um out of 83 responses 22 responses did ask for swings specifically swings for infants parents special needs adults and wheelchair accessible swings uh some responses did ask for Bridges with high walls fencing all the way around which Chris did mention is um a rule from the DCA so that will be included in the concept musical elements small Splash Pad equipment for both young children and toddlers and older children which as Chris mentioned we want this playground to adhere to ages 2 to 5 as well as 6 to 12 a rolling bar slide and wheelchair accessible equipment so and and also as part of that um you know the online survey just you know some of the elements that were here and that were presented for public opinion that we you know circulated it didn't show the full scope and this actually shows some of the additional proposed inclusive play equipment um that may address some of those comments that came through so we were already thinking at that level um you know you can't just have the Mainstay equipment you have to have the additional equipment that goes around it swings was integral and you can see in the middle of the slide here um this is an accessible swing it's got the two typical base style swings that you would have and then it's got the larger circular swing um that would allow for a different style of play with it um there's also we can expand upon that if there's a need to have another set um that has a different access to a different style of the Swing so these can be built out and um a little bit larger there's um the green one in the center top middle um you know we had three of those proposed um they're Spinners you sit on them and you kind of spin around they you can see on the picture to the left um you know that is uh you know somebody who um you know was was within a wheelchair and was utilizing that um so it doesn't limit you know you're you're able to get access it's got plenty of comfortable space around it there was some sensory equipment um that's in the lower middle left um that had musical um play to it it comes with attachments for the the bongo drums basically creating noise creating sound um and then to the right it was the Seesaw um um and that's an inclusive seesaw on one side it allows access to get in the other side it has a backing to it um so there's a couple different styles on the level of accessibility that you'd want um but these were all factored in to use with two of The Main Stays to be surrounded around them so it was more than just the larger picture so these were right in our target range of what we were looking for and I think um you know this if we had this slide it might have addressed some of the comments that had come through there previously so we wanted to show this as well and at this time we'd like to open for public comment and questions so let's take a couple questions if Council has any or public if public comes up uh come up to the microphone uh state your name and address and we'll treat it like normal public comment uh I have a question so the 187,000 how are we paying for that out of our open space thank you no 58 Yellowstone Lan H New Jersey and uh oh am I steing your thunder tried to uh yeah just uh one question um is there anything that would prevent us from putting as other parks in our Township become end of life is there anything that would stop us from making more inclusive for disabled children another playgrounds when the stuff is updated no if this concept takes off and it gets a lot of use that's exactly what we' propose to do we want to do that on a reasonable schedule when that equipment comes end of life or we have an opportunity through grants to do it um so absolutely that would be the goal yeah exactly right this will be proof a concept in a lot of ways because it incorporates certain uh practices within it that we don't have in our Parks right now uh mostly the the pourable foam uh foam for the the bottom structure so we think that that's going to be successful and that'll end up being a model for future like Matt said is as we approach end of life and other Parks we'll look to do the same stuff I've got one quick uh we can apply for this again next year if the so Green Acres will set their terms and as long as it's included yeah there's nothing stopping us from going multiple years yeah thanks I do have a concern Mr novic maybe you want to sit in that chair next to you okay relax um two things I know I know there's a walkway going toward the equipment so would there be another walkway that would be going back to a door where the bathrooms would be located so that is one of the we had um an optional um connection that would lead to the Pavilion and to the bathroom areas as well to get you that that access now I I have not um reviewed if that would be through the back door or through the front door um you'd absolutely have the pathway to get back to the front door but obviously we want to minimize and get the closest Path U especially for Ada um compliance which would be the back door presumably yeah so there it would be about a small 15 to 20 foot attachment to the um uh to the sidewalk which we sh showed as an option and also I noticed that you have some equipment that's wood other equipment that is I presume steel so and in terms of Maintenance would the metal or Steel be a more efficient uh maintenance issue as opposed to any of it that's uh made with wood so I think that you know um the materiality that we showed up there was for precedents to get ideas generated um this is a park that's been celebrated for its kaying and for its fishing um I'm aware that it was degradated and that there was a lot of improvements over the years to get it back to where it is now um so the wood element kind of brings that warm tone into it that may you know some people may have concerns that you know something too flashy or too colorful will you know detract from the lake and you know the beauty of the lake itself so that's more of a nautical feel maybe to pull in some of the woods the woods that they use are T typically like a black locust wood which have very low maintenance to them there's no staining or painting um you know they're treated to last um and to weather so they'll get a weathered gray to them so there would be a low maintenance level from that um standpoint but so Woods would that have durability would also be given a high uh priority yes uh you know it's it would be typical of you know your um your piling um you know wood that you would put in an um a marine type setting so you have a long lifespan to it um I I wouldn't want to mstate what the lifespan that they have on the particular item but if that was a concern we could give you an option of what the wood structures versus the steel structures would have for their their their lifespan I would think that the steel structures um are powder coated so they would have a touchup in a painting element that may happen over time with some fading where the wood element might have a little different where it's weathering and it may have to be um you know spot repaired if there was some kind of shipping from it or some of of course finances also play A Part as we all are aware okay all right thank you the uh you mentioned there are two parks north and south of here uh those two parks do they contain equipment very similar to this we wanted to go take a look at it um the uh the closest park the Colt neck Park um that is mainly a splash pad Park so that one is more utilized in the summertime um and I believe that is the most inclusive element of that Park so this would be uh unique in the area for sure we can definitely get you some precedence though of parks that have inclusive play I I wouldn't say it's particularly the equipment that we're showing um but there are inclusive parks that you could get to to see what some of the equipment are and see what we're trying to create which might be a little bit different um and really um speak to this park itself you know that's what we're looking for at this point we'll open to the public please okay first I want to applaud the township and the council for applying for this grant I think it's very nice and that's what you want to do for the community the first thing you know is the limited parking at echol Lake you got small parking at the Pavilion there and Saturdays you have the flea market and on Sundays you have the residence of Ocean County inundating the parking area that take up the whole park and you're talking about uh people with disabilities the only place they have otherwise to park is the north side and they have a long walk or we'll here you got to wheel them around over to the park and if there's bad weather or something like that they got to wheel yourself all the way back or if you're on crutches or whatever CU all the parking is taken up at the immediate area over there and I'd like to know why you can't use Soldier Field it's a level piece of property there's plenty of area to build on you talk about construction over at echol Lake and that increases the uh cost of it due to to par topography over there so you just built a beautiful field over Soldier Field and construction would be a piece of cake compared to Echo Lake and it's also more centrally located for our Township where as Echo Lake is at the uh South End of the township and one other thing I got is why you a professional fees 90k at 133% where the usual customary fees are 10% in that range so those are my comments I hope uh we get the this equipment and I'll really looking forward to it but I think the township put a tremendous amount of effort into the solders field and I think would be better for the people that have uh physical disabilities to use especially since we're going to put new uh stands over there and bathrooms etc etc as opposed to the additional cost that will cost for construction wise over Leo echol Lake thank you thank you um there's a host of questions I can try to answer a few of those for you um so I'm not going to touch the S Soldier Field one I'll leave that to the municipality to answer reasons why we're selecting that I think we had highlighted a couple reasons why this park in particular made sense in the end of the life cycle for the equipment as far as the Ada AIS um I think that's a very important part to bring up I believe right now there are four spaces um right Central to the front of the parking lot maybe during um you know some of the flea market events they're not being um you know utiliz or maintained as Ada maybe they're getting taken up for other elements but I I do know centrally located right in front of the Pavilion we do have I believe it's four ada8 stalls um at a minimum it's three I think um and they're striped with a curb cut so you would have direct access for those immediate um it may be something that we want to add some more striping um in front there if we're making an accessible Park to you know allow for maybe a few more spaces that would address the maybe um additional uh you know people that would be looking to use the park so I do think that is a you know um a good idea um that was two of the questions uh third I'm trying the cost estimate and the percentage of the cost estimate and the percentage so that is um that is something that is typical of Jake's law um that is the requirement that they allow it to go up to 13% um you know for professional fees um we're also including you know an opportunity in that as I mentioned before of some collaboration with the municipality to get community engagement to figure out what the proper equipment is here um so we're trying to make sure that we have the proper set aside to carry it through if those numbers end up being lower um it's not that the 133% is set that's a maximum that's set so that we're looking to cover all costs to make sure that there aren't unforeseen issues that we would have to deal with but um we would absolutely work to uh make sure we minimize any output from Colliers to ensure that the park itself received as much of the um the Improvement money as possible I have a question Matt I don't know if you if it's feasible or not but could that whole parking area just be Ada and then the other parking lot not we could that might cause some hardships as well I mean we'll definitely take a look at what's required we'll probably go above and beyond that if the real world application is that we don't have enough we could definitely add to it we did just expand the parking on the other side so there is plenty and if it comes to that we could definitely explore that option um but I don't want to leave that as the only option because it's it's not always in use the the park and the parking lot so I want to make sure that you know everyone's got some spaces in terms of the soldier Memorial aspect I agree Soldier Memorial is a great Park it's got great facilities great potential still there is no improvement you can think of that would not go great in Soldier memorial let's be honest a splash pad if you could a football F whatever you think it it would go great there we do have limited space there are three playgrounds there now they are at different ages of their life and right now we have a need at echol Lake to replace this playground and to do something hopefully better and um good for the community does not mean we're not going to do things at Soldier Memorial or all of our other Parks we are trying to spread around the enhancements to make sure every Park is getting the attention it deserves I have one I'm sorry I just going to say uh in the presentation it was mentioned that Soldier where it was rejected because of it didn't qualify but we have discussed something about things in the future there so absolutely you just killed me it'll come [Laughter] back I forgot my question is there anyone else in the public that wants to come up and speak about this I I'm Bob D lard 75 Smith Street I'm also the chairman of the lake restoration and Wildlife Committee in town uh echol lake is our home base our committee as a whole is uh in favor of this proposal I wrote a letter to director Howard I could read it it's wouldn't take me long and just that's our feelings about this uh proposal after review of this proposal through numerous meetings and discussions with our committee and in-person meetings with Township officials the lake restoration committee supports this endeavor the existing playground at this location is in need of replacement this project will be a vast Improvement in a recreation for children of the area as chair of the lake restoration and Wildlife committee I would i' like to express the support of the committee for the Township's Grant application to obtain funding for this Improvement at echol Lake Park the project will include construction of a completely inclusive playground and an ADA accessible walkway from the parking lot to the playground surface these improvements will allow for children of all ages and abilities to enjoy all the amenities that the park has to offer the committee fully supports the Township's initiative to encourage inclusive play maintain the natural beauty of echol Lake Park and improve the quality of life for our residents and visitors on behalf of the lake restoration and Wildlife committee I support the Township's effort in pursuing and funding and respectfully request strong consideration of this Grant application uh just in closing I I'm really proud of my committee for this uh if if if I I handed you a letter last week I don't think we would have got the same result but thanks to the due diligence on their part which I encouraged and they did it they dug deep and deep uh and they finally came out in favor of this I didn't encourage them at all they did this on our own and thanks to our our Township manager and director the uh which we had numerous subcommittee meetings and meeting with Town officials and uh I think it's a good idea and so does the committee and I'm really proud of my committee for taking the extra time that they did to investigate it thank you thanks for your atten thank you personally and professionally I'd like to thank Mr delard for the letter of support we also reached out to um Lisa da from the shade commission and environmental commission they also provided a letter of support as well as two residents it's part of a requirement for the application but everyone jumped at the opportunity to do so um and we thank everyone we know that those letters of support part of the application and and Greenacres is going to look at them for sure but we know internally they mean a lot and uh we're thankful for it and I Echo that it it matters and it's a perfect example of teamwork within the community and I want to thank Mr delard it really was gratifying to work with that committee and the environmental and shade tree committee are great as always so it's really nice to see everybody come together and support of something like this so I think my one last question is that even though for example if we decided no we were going we're going to redo the existing Park is that correct we mentioned that exactly so so that's why this was selected that that equipment is it end of life as it is and it does need to be redone so given the size of the park and the regional nature of it we said this will be a great first test for this Pro a concept that we're going to then later transport over to Soldier Memorial and many of the other parks in town but this great it it was going to be replaced anyway it's a great jumping off point for us so so what I believe I'm hearing is that um what we're basically spending the 180,000 is probably what we would be spending to redo that little area versus now we're spending the 187 and we're getting that much area so I mean in full disclosure it's probably a little bit less than what we're spending now to replace it but exactly we're getting $750,000 worth a playground for 187 uh yeah it's a Hu it's a huge multiplier on it that's it's not exactly dollar for dollar but it's close enough to be well worth applying for the grant because we are going to get a lot more out of it and I will tease that kers is currently helping us with a second grant that may cover our portion or a portion of our portion of this grant um there's no guarantees with grants ever you never know if you're going to get them you put together good applications and you hope that everyone agrees um so it's possible that the 187 number could be covered by another Grant and particularly um Pleasant is a 75 25% split um that's associated with this grant often it's you know an equal um amount that we have to put in but 25% compared to your 75% is very attractive and I do believe like everybody has said it's a good starting point for the rest of the town the rest of the playgrounds and I'm very happy about the Committees that actually took the time to look at this playground globally as opposed to um you know just a park I mean we all realize the need um and certainly an inclusive Park up to the age of 12 is particularly nice because I think that uh we're saying exactly what we all feel we want we want everyone to have the opportunity we want everyone to feel welcomed and more importantly we'd like to have our kids outside enjoying some fresh air so I I see nothing negative with any of this um so I'd like to thank all of the Committees and the administration it was a job well done and presuming that this goes well this evening I think the town of how is a real winner in this in this project thanks interestingly enough you know that was part of what spurred part of the conversation was that there was going to be an improvement to the existing you know playground itself and that structure something of that size or scale today is going to cost that 100 to 130 range just to get that and then you do the you know the safety um fall zone underneath it in Li of The Mulch and you're already over that budget by the time you do just the replacement of the existing park now we're looking at creating a larger Park but more amenities more space and getting that covered for the same cost so the investment that you were thinking you know is going to pay dividends on that side and you know just to comment on what the gentleman came up here and said before that's also why the number that we had placed at 13 was for some of that Community engagement to work with the different um you know community members and and volunteers and different groups to make sure that what eventually gets designed for the space complements all the different efforts I you just walked something would would you work with the school systems on that I mean they might have a lot of that information that they could help you with we we would we would be open to working with anybody that's interested in working as part of it I mean that's the that's the idea of the community engagement is get as many different players as you can and make sure that you're covering all your bases um you know and that uh again it's it's a beautiful amenity to have the lake so we want to support that and that's part of what drives this park so you want to complement it and not you know create something that that you know detracts from it so um including the other um you know schools and what they're missing um um and the type of equipment and styles of equipment that's absolutely something that we'd like to entertain as part of the design process Dave do you want to come up and speak please good evening Betty valz gimble 97 Victory Road um I just wanted to say this sounds like a beautiful idea it really sounds amazing and a child Center um approach when planning um is invaluable as um for our future as a town so that great um I may have missed the um ensuring the safety from the lake that I missed that there's an enclosure um for Jake's law there's a you need a um enclosure of fence that can be a fence or a natural buffer like a hedge um in this scenario specifically because of the lake we would probably be looking to do a fence all the way around um that allows depending on the levels of ability and capabilities in play you're not having to watch every second um worried about somebody running towards the lake okay thank you very much um and I just wanted to say maybe as a future idea we could think of a splash pad for Howell cold snack has it and now it if you want one all right thank you so much thank you so the great comment and we no promises but we are thinking of ways potentially to work on a splash pad it's it it's a tough lift but we're trying to tease our way through it so more to come hopefully just and just another note you know we we are working with the grants team here and you know they're pretty good at what they do and and something that came up that's coming out in a few months that also could roll into this and additional funding for things um is NOAA grant for um uh fishing and access to lakes and kayaking um so that could also be something that could be included as part of this is an inclusive um kayak um you know access point um they they will fund uh I believe it's up to 100,000 um possibly more but um for um accessible access which could also play into accessible parking accessible walkway out to the playground and then potentially having a kayak launch if that was something that was desired by you know the community um just another amenity another piece that could be added on as part of the the pieces as we continue to develop the plans so last call do we have any additional public comments for the the Grant application all right we have one more person coming up hi my name is Sher Rivas I reside at three Hearth Court is this only questions for the Grant application and then there'll be public comment later yeah they'll be separate public comment so um I know I don't believe that the fence cost is is included in the um expenses but I wasn't sure how much the additional cost would be for the fence I didn't break out each individual pieces but the fence would be included as part of the overall cost great um and I just wanted I think this sounds like a a great idea and um happy to see that the town is doing it and I just wanted to acknowledge Matt Howard every time I've watched a meeting or been at a meeting you've always been very professional detailed very clear in your explanations and always answering questions from the community and the way in which you provide information gives me a lot of confidence as a taxpayer that you're working really hard to make sure that we understand what's happening so I want to thank you I appreciate that and I'm glad I hear that I don't talk too much because I think so sometimes thank you so much at this point I'm going to close this session this section of opening session so at this point it's 8:00 Mr Clark is there anything that you want from the council at this point or need no I think we can keep moving forward through the agenda I don't think that we specifically need to vote on it we needed to have for the purposes of the grant to public hearing on it which that objective has been accomplished so uh we can move forward and we're going to submit the grant then yes if you guys would like I think we should I there's a resolution on the agenda tonight we'll vote on it but yeah I think everybody seems in favor of it so we'll keep that on thank you do you have um the professionals have anything more to discuss at this time it's 8:00 I want yeah we can keep moving through okay okay so I guess I will then open up to the general public at this point for the consent agenda so they can go may I have a motion to open thank you so much thank you for your presentation thank youate it I'll make a motion open public comment second you thank you all in favor I I actually like the wooden one myself to be honest with you I liked it better in the setting um is there any resolution that you want to pull out of the consent agenda no may I may I have them we're on uh public comment right now so if any members of the public want to come up for a public comment uh please feel free I don't have anybody on our our little board so first come first serve you could have just stayed up there I know I didn't know uh again my name is Sher revas I reside at three Hearth Court um I attended the January 6th how council meeting and made comments and I did not follow the rules of decorum as um determined by the professionals and the council I was also referred to as aggressive um I am not apolog izing for how I spoke I would like to express to you for on the for the third time that the way that public comments have been handled are not do not doesn't work for the community members how public comments were just handled at the beginning of this meeting Works a topic comes up we ask questions about the topic and they're immediately answered so if you have a follow-up question you can ask the follow-up question it also allows for questions to be answered this will be the third time that I'm asking the town manager when the efficiency study is going to be released to the public that the taxpayers paid for when all public comments get put together in questions it allows for some questions to not be answered I asked last time for the date for when it can be released an explanation for why it hasn't been released the two times I've asked the question has not been answered who decides how the meetings run at that meeting on January 16th uh Mr gazer said I've read every part of the agree oh excuse me um first off I want to say that how this meeting is run is at our discretion not theirs they follow our orders so if the procedure that we follow has been established by us not them I want to make that clear and Miss fiser also said from day one all five of us agreed that we need to bring decorum back to our Township meeting so you I asked who runs the meeting you said you run the meeting this is my third time asking please allow the public to speak and to answer our questions when we ask the questions transparency transparency in government is a fundamental principle that involves openness accountability and honesty key asp ects are access to information sharing information responsiveness and efficiency and in summary transparency is a critical concept for responsible governance impacting democracy economic performance and citizen trust in government it Fosters accountability empowers citizens and contributes to better outcomes for the public what I'm asking for is transparency I'm going to use three examples at that meeting we talked about the waste Transfer SE um waste Transfer Facility we were the we the public were not provided the 12 or 13 page document however Mr gazer said at the meeting I've read every part of the agreement more times than I care to and I completely agree with it and I'm confident that it's the best deal we can get Miss Fischer said for the residents who think we're just seeing this for the first time I can speak for a few of us here for several of us here we've been talking about this for months for months but when it came time to for the public to know about it you could not provide the documents for us to review it and when when the public asked for you to wait one more meeting two weeks it was said that you couldn't wait it had to be approved that night because what if the judge what if he or she decides tomorrow so you've had it for months and we weren't provided it and you voted on it that's lack of transparency the situation with the playground the inclusive playground wonderful wonderful idea the the community was informed on January 22nd that there would be a hearing tonight it's February 6th the application deadline is tomorrow what if I stood here and said something that you hadn't thought of you couldn't change the application and meet the deadline why are we waiting till the day before the application is due to have public hearing and comments even the the paperwork for the for the application says a public hearing does not equal public engagement it's written in bold in the documentation great that something was sent out for people to fill out if you read it it was yes no do do you agree that we should have this type of a yes do you think that this is a good yes so many people made comments about the fence and all of these things that I'm glad to hear are addressed and it sounds wonderful but you didn't give the community the opportunity to tell you things tonight and then be able to put them in the application EMS January 16th meeting the town manager said at the 2 hours and 29 minute Mark of the meeting after there had been public comments many EMS members here in terms of EMS we we are we can't talk about a lot of it but we're in negotiations with the Union representing our EMS we are going out to bid we're always thinking about going out to bid if it benefits the taxpayers so there's the operative issue will it benefit the tax prate payers there's a lot of Matrix built into this it's not just a bottom line balance billing what's going on to be best financially we want to look at things like response time and anything else we might be able to gleam from looking at other towns who have gone out to bid he continues to go on in that meeting Mr gazer Miss fiser I don't know if U Mr nadell you said anything you there's no we are not privatizing where did you hear these rumors and even after the town manager said it you can look on Facebook this Facebook page with the four of you this is this is represented as your Facebook page Mr gazer February 3rd after the meeting we don't know how the irresponsible parties were that started the r has ended thank you that the council and town manager were looking to get rid of first aid absolutely ridiculous time has ended thank thank you and then you went on to call people's names thank you very much your town manager told you he's looking at bids and you didn't know it thank [Applause] you good evening Elaine Taylor from 1055 Maxum Southern Road I'm here representing the farmers advisory this evening and I'm here to ask you to please attend the February 22nd Farmers advisory meeting all of you um it's very important because we are um talking to Administration about ordinances that affect the um farmers in our town and we have well over 300 farmers and um it affects the Lively hoods of many of them and we would like you to be well informed about the ordinances before you vote on them and I think if you were at the meeting you would have a clear understanding because a lot of times um um you know you all have so much to cover all of the time so if you could just set aside a little bit of time to uh come to the meeting we would really appreciate it pardon me time um the time of the meeting it'll probably start at about 6:30 okay uh yes yes it'll be here um it has to do with what events events on uh preserved farms and qualified farms and um rules and regulations for that so if you could make it um we'd really appreciate it okay thank you thank [Applause] you is there anyone else for public comment I will close this portion motion please yes close public thank you second second all in favor I'll start with the last one um we've been working with the pharmac advisory committee uh we had put together some draft ordinances um we know that at this council meeting we've seen some Farmers really pushing uh for some of some special events ordinances right now the landscape of the law the ordinance doesn't allow it the county and the state don't cover it other other than very limited circumstances and uh we put together some ordinances that would um in draft form that would really kind of be the first of the kind in the county at least I've been talking about the county um so we've been working with the pharmers advisory committee um so that there's a mutual understanding of the needs of the farmers as well as a legal landscape as well as liabilities that the township have to take on when they're looking to either approve a new use on a site change the use of a site uh things like that and the the compliance that you need with the municipal land use law last week we had a meeting I believe there was the entire almost the entire Farmers advisory committee in attendance we also have representatives from the county uh it was very fruitful meeting I think it went extremely well um we got to hear concerns from the farmers as well as uh we got to express where we're coming from in terms of um how we're constructing ordinances uh February 22nd we are also doing a similar presentation talking about exactly that both sides of the equation and we're hoping and looking forward to working with them to come up with with an ordinance that works for everyone thank you so I will answer one of uh Mr ras' comments about EMS so I I think there's some confusion there there there's two tiers of EMS in the town and when we were talking we have a professional service that we employ their Township employees uh they deploy out of Wendler Road and there they are paid people so those were the ones I was talking about at that meeting there was a question as to whether or not we were going to go out to bid and whether or not we were going to explore that so I'm going to let the cat out of the bag I'm part of the reason for that bidding first of all we do look to save taxpayers money we do look to establish proper metrics we do look to establish sort of um you know standards that are suitable for the town another one of the reasons we were looking to go out to bid last year was because the other part of our EMS service which is our volunteer First Aid Service there was a question of how we could help them survive and one of the ways that we were exploring helping them survive was to go out into public and bid and to allow them an opportunity to respond to that bid uh at some point it became pretty clear that that was not going to be an option uh so we then pivoted off of that for our volunteer EMS and we've been working with them since then on an agreement where they will be a fully volunteered service they won't be a paid service within themselves anymore and the township will offer support of a variety of levels we have a negotiation tomorrow with them on a new agreement so yeah we we always look to save taxpayers money I want to apologize for that but I do want to clarify that there are multiple layers of EMS within this town one that constitutes Township employees and the other volunteer service um that is made up of the fine men and women over at Hall first aid so Joe just to clarify what you said two separate places did we ever have any plan to get rid of the first aid Squad I don't think we have any plan to get rid of any EMS either our own or how first aid we're we're working with them there I'm not going to go into the the history of it but we are working with them to make sure that they stay a valuable part of this town they have been for a long time I'm aware of that I know there was some controversy last week that was based on my decision and mine alone um but we have uh they have 100% of my attention I think I have 100% of theirs I think we have a cordial relationship we're meeting tomorrow I'm confident that we're going to get an agreement in place and then I would love to go out for beers with them so so we will get it done I mean I'm just bringing it up in case we have somebody else that wants to come up here and say why are you getting rid of the first days Squad Chris we're not we're not on either side of it we're working with the Union to come to an agreement so that our paid employees have uh you know comparable benefits and comparable pay to other squads in the area and are able to come here to work and have an enjoyable life okay all right thanks uh with regard to m is some some of our other questions when were we notified about this grant do we know how long ago honestly we didn't have a lot of lead time uh we couldn't make the the public notice requirements are 15 days for the Grant application we could not make the uh January meeting so obviously we would have like that just the window when it was open correct uh I mean I can't tell you exactly when it opened but when it came to our attention we jumped on it right away um we got the notices in on the website um we would have liked more lead time um that that is why that public survey it did have the option for the comments and a lot of the comments as Miss revas had said have been adjust um have been addressed so the fencing the um types of equipment the swings swings luckily we didn't have to wait till tonight to hear that um we've been talking for the last week and saying make sure it's in the plan and it is yeah I'm looking through my emails uh this just came up because we were notified about that park being in disrepair and we we reached out to the family and then we reached out to Lake restoration this all happened within a month correct so I mean we had to hear from uh some of the people from Lake restoration of what their thoughts were because they're very protective of echol lake so this wasn't something that we had a lot of time to do and and a public hearing without the 15 days automatically is going to disqualify you that public notice is as important as it gets and and rightly so about Lake restoration I mean they do great work and they again are an important part and thank thanks to Bob delard Elizabeth mavich Ed ran all of Howard Belton all of them very helpful uh we are working internally on sort of a Parks plan that you know it'll be a complement to our Capital plan so that we have a handle on so where we are in terms of the lifetime for the parks uh when they're coming up on the wheel for repair replacement what sort of options we have we we want to look out into the future so that you know let's just say come 2026 we don't want to be standing there looking at each other saying what are we going to do at Soldier Memorial we're going to plan for it now and it may include elements like the splash park it may include elements like all of the inclusive materials so the the longer ramp up time we have on that the better able we're we are to save for it and to plan for it and to really engage the public with it too I mean Miss Ras has a point I mean transparency is very important um in something like this I would like to get done and published in enough time to get public comments on we're not acting on anything anytime very soon but I think this more than anything is a great opportunity for public input and just one last thing on that point we've touched on it the way we're compiling the application and the concept plan it we don't we we got feedback on specific equipment but none of that is tied to it the the cost and the location is really tied to the application based on if we had comments tonight universally about something we would have been able to incorporate it so even on the late notice we're continuing to be flexible and two other things I want to make sure you I know we all write down what everybody said could you please cover the efficiency report and I can jump in on that so um we hope to publish it soon right now where um I know I personally requested they go in and make some minor micro changes on grammar and and some very minor technical issues so as soon as they make those changes it gets distributed to the governing body and then it's going to be considered a final draft and we'll be able to publish it and everyone can see it so I'm I'm really hopeful that it's soon it's uh with the uh the study group now um and I'm expecting that to come back shortly so it what we had one and then it went back to be relooked at so will we get the Redlin copy uh you might but the public doesn't the public the only thing that we are going to publish is a finalized version and that's why it's not public yet only a finalized version then becomes public I was just asking for Council just so we could see what the changes are from the first to the second yes and there's going to be two parts of it so there was the original aspect and then we added more uh departments to get looked at so it's a it's a two-part study and they'll both be available at the same time and I will note for the record that unfortunately after the phase two was sort of completed one of the principles of the company passed away and that sort of led to a little bit of unnecessary well it led to a little bit of delay I won't say whether it's unnecessary or not but so here we are it should be available shortly and I will tell you at least on the phase one and phase two part some of the informal Rec recommendations have already been adopted and one of the primary things that we're going to see change soon is the bulk pickup um we've been reconstructing our own drop off yard and we think that between that and the way the scheduling is going to work of it we're going to save approximately 75 to $100,000 a year so Joe one last thing to public commenting and and this is a tough one but we are the people who decide the public commenting the council and we've kicked this around for a while uh we did not want to see public commenting revert back to where it was with the public and members of the council or the professionals fighting with each other up here uh we had discussed maybe doing some things but then we decided to leave it the way it was and if you want to explain a little bit why and yeah so so last year the or the year before there was a formal meeting policy adopted and that sort of sets out the the rules for how the meetings are conducted and one of the rules and the primary rule is that five minutes is the amount of time people get to speak and if we take up their time engaging with them during their five minute period there's no extensions of that that is their five minute chunk and it does everybody a discern service and there are people still at the deis I'm still here we remember a few years back when there was a lot of give and take to put it calmly and mildly between the public and people on the deis and I don't think it was as productive I think this way we get the opportunity to hear people without interruption to digest what they've had to say we can if we need time to answer a question we can go and research it which does a service to the professionals and if people want more in-depth answers they can make appointments they're welcome to come in I I'll schedule appointments with anybody in town who wants to meet I meet with people every day just about so in terms of transparency it's not restricted to public meetings and I'm sure all of you will meet with members of the public as on an as needed basis so the that's why in terms of the public comment time we try and honor the fact that it is a limited part of the meeting and we don't want to take up the time with a lot of back and forth as I I absolutely agree with that I do also see the side where sometimes questions do get missed um and I think that it would be a reasonable request if we responded directly after the person even if they can't ask you another question at least it's right after they completed their dissertation or question and it allow I think it just allows for a little bit more maybe I I get what you're saying and we've tried that in the past and it depends on the engagement that's happening because I know you you've seen them spin out of control pretty quickly so and and we all have and that's why I think it does help to kind of keep uh you know a cmer meeting and little frustrating though we we do miss questions but we do our best to answer them and it may be frustrating but I I do think it works better than it has and to change it you know everybody's welcome to look over the policy and we can amend it but it's going to take a vote and that's what we'll need to [Applause] do and so we don't miss questions I did want to also comment on uh Miss Rivas had uh mentioned about not seeing the litigation settlement agement for the uh resource engineering the the waste transfer station prior to the public Vote or the council vote and uh I want to explain the reason behind that and the reason behind that is because it is a litigation settlement and a lot of things happen in litigation settlements blow up all of the time so it is a disadvantage to the township to reveal contents of a settlement agreement before the Town actually enters into that agreement because things can change up until right before you guys vote on it um so if terms change it gets confusing for different terms to be out there and it could disadvantage Us in litigation you know we could lose leverage so things like that those remain confidential until you vote on it and it it's it's clear case law you know it is very clear that those types of documents are considered draft documents until voted upon as soon as it's voted upon and signed it's a signed agreement if anybody had requested I did get requests the next day after the council meeting we supplied that agreement the following day so there's a reason that it wasn't um supplied and it unfortunately is a legal reason and there there might be some caveats to that that not everybody understands but I I it's not for lack of transparency it's for the professionals to do their ability and do their job to the best extent for the town and the fact that you know it was a settlement agreement that we were talking about for months council members understood the terms of it things were changing in that agreement up until the last week so you know it it wasn't something that was set in stone for a really long time so I I hope people understand that it isn't for a lack of transparency that agreement is available now if anybody wants to request it um but until you vote on it it's considered draft and not available to the public we're good um she's already been up is that okay for her to come up or close yeah public comments closed so I think we're on to the consent agenda items okay I'll ask again does anybody want to pull anything from the uh and vote separately on the consent agenda if no may I have a motion I'm sorry um mayor there is one resolution that requires two names to be inserted which one would that uh uh 75 resolution 75 there is the appointment of two uh employees um which I presume we're going to be putting those names in which one was Mr Palazo and the other one um Caroline Shao Caroline Shao Caroline shfo so do we should we vote on it separately to add the names no they're already in the resolution they're just those are the people that Lou will be the GIF commissioner Caroline will be the alternate yeah just that the public would not have been aware without the backups I just wanted to be clear that's all good okay may I have a motion like to make a motion to accept resolutions r24 d69 through resolution r24 d86 may I have a second second councilwoman fiser yes councilman Gage yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes thank you the consent resolutions pass um ordinance 0241 unfinished business we have a open for public hearing an ordinance of the township of how changing the zoning of certain properties within the township of how to zoning designation Special Economic Development one or S1 and other properties to ar ar help me here agult agricultural rural Estate 6 or AR6 Zone thank you would anybody want to come up to discuss oh as someone's cominging up I'll just give a quick explanation of the ordinance this is resoning a portion of town it's uh pretty much a couple sections but the biggest one is between Oakland Road Route 547 and Victory Road it is taking all the parcels and changing them from s to S1 with the exception of a few Lots on Victory Road so every lot on Victory Road is proposed to um go to A6 zoning which is residential zoning this also does change the Zoning for um the overlay which is at the intersection of Adelphia road squankum yellowbrook road It's currently an A2 overlay with s zoning and this is going to change the S overlay to sed1 Betty valet gimble 97 Victory Road I'd be remiss if I didn't come up here one last time to just thank you I'm here with Victory Road residents fellow how farmers and friends um in support of this ordinance it has been a long road and we appreciate your hard uh work and support the ordinance does support the rural rural character of Victory Road and enriches Howell for the community presid so thank you so [Applause] much good evening Council Lawrence white 15 Runway uh I want to say thanks to the council for this it's very important symbolic thing for the the residents of Victory Road but as my grandma used to say the cows out the barn so we can only hope and pray that we have a wise planning board that will reject the application under the old zoning and that the residents of Victory Road will continue to enjoy their beautiful bucolic Road for years to come as well as the rest of us I drove over here on it tonight so thank you Council I appreciate it thank you than [Applause] you good evening Mar PR2 Castle Court I'm a firm believer that people deserve both credit and blame and I've been up here before in the past and cast blame but tonight I want to give you guys credit I think that adopting this ordinance that's consistent with the master plan and doing so to protect the rural character of Victory Road it was the right thing to do and I know that it took a little courage to do it because of other things that are going on but I really do want to thank all five of you for for doing this because this is this is a really good thing for this town so thank you thank [Applause] you is there anyone else for this ordinance may I have a motion to close motion to close I I have a second second all in favor I can I make the motion to adopt make a motion okay I move to adopt ordinance 241 second second councilwoman Fischer yes councilman gajer yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes thank you the ordinance is adopted ordinance 0 24-02 ordinance amending chapter 131 of the Township Code Emergency Management to be consistent with State Statute may I have a motion to open public motion open public second thank you all in favor I I anyone want to come up and have discuss this I'm not sure are you com oh okay I'm so sorry so I see no one so may I have a motion to close motion to close a second second all in favor um so make motion can I have a motion to adopt o 24-02 councilwoman Fischer yes councilman gaser yes Council no Donnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes thank you the orance is adopted introduction of ordinances there will be no open public hearing for these ordinances 0-24 d03 ordinance of Howell Township authorizing the acceptance by the by the township of a donation of certain real property designated as tax block 355.82 lot 4103 I'd like to I'm sorry no I'm sorry I have a motion I'd like to make a motion to introduce ordinance 24-3 second thank you councilwoman Fischer yes councilman gager yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes thank you the ordinance is properly introduced uh ordinance 24- 04 an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Hell mom mayor I think we were going to pull this one tonight it needed a little retouching oh it wasn't yeah it it it was a last minute uh sorry last minute decision it wasn't okay like right at the beginning of the meeting I'm sorry that's okay that's on us I'll take that back can I have ordinance 0-24 d05 an ordinance setting forth and amending and supplementing the salary range schedule for the salaries of certain officers and employees of the township of Howell I'd like to make a motion to introduce ordinance 24-5 second councilwoman Fisher yes councilman gager yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes thank you the ordinance is properly introduced ordinance 24-6 an or an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Hal Mammoth County amending schedule three of section 3.5 of chapter 7 traffic of the Township Code of the township of how seriously I'd like like to make a motion to introduce ordinance 24-6 thank you second thank you councilman Fisher yes councilman gager yes councilwoman o'donell yes Deputy Mayor Nel yes mayor Burger yes thank you the ordinance is properly introduced okay meeting dates the next regular meeting date will be on February 20th 2024 executive at 6 and regular session would be at 7 um is there any other business want to make a comment before we close please yes I know there you know last meeting there was some controversy regarding our pdms a few days ago some issues with the first aid Squad just want to reiterate to the public the council fully supports our First Responders we support how first aid they're not going anywhere they're here uh the administration is made aware of where they stand in our priority list and let's hope to get these agreements done in place so they can get back to to doing the business they have to do and saving lives out there here here I concur here [Applause] here so at this time very nice after seeing no further business may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting motion to adjourn may I have a second second all in favor I I thank you