this meeting is now called to order welcome to the township council meeting Monday February 26 2024 after the slag flute uh salute please remain standing in honor of Deacon Joseph Cisco a longtime resident of Little Falls who in internal rest was a deacon at Holy Angels a member of the Knights of Columbus chaplain of the fire department and a recently chaplain of the police department all rise Council please leave us in the UN States the repblic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all you may be seated Madam clerk please read the statement of public notice take notice that adequate notice that this meeting has been provided in accordance with njsa 10 4-8 and njsa 10 4-10 as follows notice that the meeting was promply posted on Municipal Building L 225 Main Street Little Falls New Jersey on January 4th 2024 copy of North Jord on addition a copy of the notice was filed to the office of the Township Clerk on said the link and the telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at www. nj.com electronic Provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting thank you at this time please call the rooll council member pres council member Murphy counc preser pres pres if there's no object uh objection I'd like to take both M um minutes from the meeting of January 22nd and February 12th have a motion so moved moved by Council Murphy second by councilwoman haetz this is a roll call for the meeting minutes of January 22nd February 12th please call the RO council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member hin yes council member V Sherry yesc yes mayor Damiano the floor is yours thank you council president before we begin the budget presentation this evening I would like to provide everybody here with just some brief updates of things that are happening around town uh first next week the inter or beginning next week the intersection of Main Street and Stevens AV is going to have some detour uh as well as some uh major and substantial work being done it is intended that March 8th the entire intersection will be shut down for the duration of the day between school hours uh the reason is because the new traffic light is going to be installed in the intersection and the completion of the streetcape is going to take place uh once the new light is installed the old one will be removed and all of the slabs of concrete will be removed and the entire area will be completed with the streetscape that we have intended to have installed in that area so while we will have some uh detours in the area next week we are hoping that that will be the end of it in that area related to the streetscape and we will be able to finally enjoy the beauty of the new streetcape uh from you know both ends where it starts without this uh Missing Piece in the middle so we're excited about that next is on tonight's agenda the council may have noticed that we have a cdbg grant being applied for as resolution f for an application to pay County for a cdbg grant uh for Clarence app and as we have been doing we have been utilizing cdbg funds to redo a number of the roadways and streets in the area uh in that particular area of town this application will be for a request for funding from the county for cdbg funds to make the complete streets improvements the Clarence ad which will include Belgium Block as well as resurfacing of the roadway um next is anyone who may have driven by Wilmore Park this weekend for the past few days may have noticed that there was some Machinery staged there and anybody who drove past today may have noticed that there has been a removal and demolition of all of the current existing or I should say previously existing playground equipment in the park uh I met with the council members there this morning as the work was kicking off uh already by 9:00 a.m. almost all of the uh old playground equipment was down they were moving it into dumpsters as they begin to redo the entirety of Wilmore Park so we're very excited for what Wilmore Park will be looking like uh in the next couple of months they are anticipating this being somewhere between an 8 to 10 week uh process we are hoping that by the middle of April the entire park will be completed if not sooner and we're very excited to see what it will be like once it is completed um last but not least the noise ordinance this Council a couple of weeks ago uh introduced a and adopted a noise ordinance that was intended to assist the victims of the flood uh in making repairs to their home and allowing them to begin working on Saturday and Sundays so that they can try to get their their houses back in order uh what I am proposing that this Council consider is that effective potentially May 1st let's give them a couple of months to complete that process and effective May 1 or sometime around then whenever the council deems appropriate that we introduce a new noise ordinance that mirrors that of the prior one that prohibits work on Sundays and allows work to begin an hour later on Saturdays than this current noise ordinance so that uh the people throughout the rest of town can go back to having uh peace if they are if there's work being done in their neighborhoods and areas now uh and I would propose that the council introduce and adopt uh a new noise ordinance that mirrors that of the recently approved noise ordinance prior to this revision of it that was recently adopted um and are there any questions with respect to the what's being composed there mayor can you just discuss what this CVG Grant is absolutely it's a Community Development block grant uh we have used very similar grants uh along many of the streets uh in the Sak section of town to put Belgium Block and repave the roadways we have been receiving between 90 and most recently $100,000 a year from pay County to offset the costs associated with installing Belgian block and repaving Road RS uh it covers a majority of the cost that it these projects tend to be uh if not you know almost all of it uh so we have been uh fortunate to be receiving these grants to make improvements to our neighboring roadways uh while while it coming uh with a grant so there is a limited uh area of town that these grants can be utilized in majority of them are on the west side of Route 23 with some of them on the east side of Route 23 uh and we have been utilizing these grants to make these improvements at almost no cost to taxpayers here in Middle Falls thank you mayor all right next I have my uh budget presentation this is only the uh brief budget presentation uh at next meetings we will have the more formal presentations that will be on March 11th uh but to kick this off and get this one going I'm going to attempt to share and all right this is the 2024 budget presentation to the township Council it is February 26 2022 as we begin here this evening Just A Brief Review and summary of the 2024 current fund budget uh the current Municipal Appropriations are 11, 27,886 our reserve for unselected taxes is $800,000 debt Serv service is at 2,721 124 salaries total 9,274 three budget Revenue totals 9,286 28,6 180 which leaves the amount to be raised by taxes at 4,295 732 which is actually a decrease from last year's total budget and we'll be down by about $30,000 in total to Little Falls taxpayers regarding the uh Little Falls and libraries portions of the budget and in just Little Falls alone uh we are down about $110,000 in the amount to be raised by by taxes which leaves us in a very strong financial position uh so that that that is some good news as we go into this year's budget presentation as far as the local Municipal tax rate the 2024 budget is 8 $ 84,836 7,733 uh we anticipate that once the state completes its final calculations that this figure may actually increase which would leave us even further under the Caps that we are not allowed to exceed so that again we are in a very strong financial position here in Little Falls uh in 2023 the assessed value of municipality was one uh 1 Bill 547 m555 300 and in 2024 the assessed value is 1 b538 M 373,000 and that leaves the municipal projected tax rate at 93 cents and in 2023 the municipal actual tax rate was 93 you'll know that there's no change in the tax points per $100 of assessed valuation over the 2023 tax rate and the 2024 average home in the township was $394,000 for purposes of just an example here a home in Little Falls that is assessed at $400,000 would have paid $3,724 in 2023 and in 2024 they will be paying $3,716 and again this is in the local Municipal portion of your taxes paid here which is actually a decrease of $8 for the 2024 tax year so we will have a slight tax decrease in the Little Falls portion of the tax rate this year here in Little Falls in 2022 the fund balance was three billion 3,770 067 in 2023 the fund balance anticipated was $2,278 th000 and in 2023 the remaining was 1,492 67 in 2024 the fund balance was 4,185 268 in 2024 the fund balance anticipated was $2,800,000 and in 2024 the money remaining is 1,385 2 68 now to get through some of the budget highlights our library taxes are up $77,900 n in 2024 and Appropriations have been set to reflect salary increases between 2 and 2.75% perspectively the collective bargaining agreements have been settled with the PBA the teamsters and the International Association of EMTs and negotiations are continuing with the fmba public safety te telecommunicators here in town as we move further the Public Employee Retirement System the PS system has a cost to reflect uh on average per employee of $1,863 and there are are no changes in the administrative positions in 2024 as far as police salaries have been incorporated into the 2024 budget in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement at a 2% increase and the police and fire pension costs reflect cost per officer of $ 46,2 18280 we will continue with our vehicle acquisition program for the police where we'll continue to purchase two new police cars in 2024 and you'll see here that this year Insurance costs are up $112,000 over last year uh this is a figure that continues to increase uh substantially and exponentially every single year something that we need to include and continue to U include in our budget as we project moving forward as far as pfrs pension costs they have increased by $1,873 PRS pension cost increased $ 49,3 157 and in 2024 debt service costs are up from last year $156,500 in a three-week period one in late 2023 and one in early 2024 and the total cost to respond to and ensure the safety of every body in that neighborhood as well as clean up after the floods this is for both floods was $125,000 often times what municipalities will do is wait until the following budget year to include that in a budget as an emergency appropriation and pay for that over a number of years moving forward uh fortunately we are in such a strong financial position here in Little Falls uh that we are able to include all $125,000 in this year's budget for both the 2023 and 202 24 floods uh and still maintain no tax increase in fact a slight tax decrease here in Little Falls uh so again fortunately because of the strong financial position that we're in uh there will be no major implication to the taxpayers here in Little Falls and it's not something that we're going to defer uh and kick down the road we are going to just incorporate this into this year's budget uh and and ensure that these expenses are just paid immediately as far as capital budget uh it is provided to the governing body which addresses the needs of the Township's infrastructure and Equipment requirements once the council reviews these requests and authorizes the funding ordinances will continue to make INF infrastructure improvements needed in the township as far as the schedule for the formal budget the introduction will be on March 11th 2024 following a more in-depth and thorough presentation and the public hearing and adoption will take place on April 8th 20 24 and I thank everyone for joining for the budget presentation this evening does the council have any questions regarding the budget at this time mayor can you um as the as you presented tonight the library has an increase of 77,000 if I was listening to you I'd be like oh Council and and the mayor is very generous to give the library 77,000 can you explain how that application formula works sure it it is a Formula based uh and there's a calculation that goes into calculating the budget for the library they are the the way the library here in little it's not just simply that like the schools where they request an amount and that amount is paid to them uh it is purely formula based and that is how that computation came to be and that would be I think it's a three-year situation like it's not every year correct it gets it gets reviewed and increased or decreased every three years okay thank you man Council Patel thank you council president um so there are a few upcoming events um that the city of cpon Health Department is putting on the first one is March 4th where you can go to their satellite so all of these events are going to be at their satellite office which is on 207 Parker Avenue in clipon on March 4th between 1: and 3M you could walk in for a free blood pressure and glucose screening on March 5th they're going to have their hope one van parked outside where you can walk up and obtain support and referrals for substance use disorders and mental illnesses that's going to be again March 5th from 10: to 2: p.m. and then on March 14th they have free eye screenings again at the Clifton satellite office from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. um anyone can reach out to me if they want additional information or want me to assist in making appointments and then finally on Friday March 8th at the Clifton Health Department um between 10 and 12 they are providing free foot screening so again all of these are open to little false residents and I encourage everyone you know to make use of all the services that are being provided that is all I have thank you councilwoman haets thank thank council president um just some Library updates um tonight and every uh fourth Monday of the month uh the library now has a garden club would spring right around the corner if you feel like you have a green thumb or would like a green thumb you can um attend the Garden Club uh 6:30 and they have it's for levels all levels of experience and all ages um they're also continuing continuing their delivery service um the deliveries are on Monday and you must have a library card uh they'll deliver straight to your door and uh tomorrow there is a New York speaker series it's back uh tomorrow is the great ballparks of New York by historian Peter Las kwit um he is beloved at the library for his speaker series so if you haven't been able to catch it you should try to catch it tomorrow night uh the farmers market registration is going strong we already have over full-time vendors and more part-time vendors um if you are an artist and vendor and are interested in uh coming to the farmers market you can email us at LF Farmers Market LF nj.com and lastly as the mayor mentioned earlier uh the contractors broke ground this morning on Wilmore Park uh thank you to my fellow council members and the mayor uh for coming to the groundbreaking and hopefully everything will be done by Spring and we'll be enjoying a nice new park that's all I have thank you um question on the park are trees going to be removed um trees are not set to be uh removed as of now of course if anything happens while the contractors are there they find any problems with the roots or any problems with the health of the trees that can always be reconsidered but at this time the trees that are in Wilmore Park will be staying thank you councilman V Cherry thanks council president uh just a couple things for me one is next Saturday uh March 9th 5:00 pm at Wilmore Road Park we're going to have our first um ever Ramadan lighting ceremony I have a meeting tomorrow night just to fine-tune all the details for the program that we're going to have take place on the 9th um I'm just grateful for a number of residents that reached out and have been working with me behind the scenes to plan stuff because we are going to have some activities for everybody we're going to have some food trucks and other things um it should be a nice night and it's a new tradition that you know we're going to look to have for years to come uh lastly I just want to take a moment I know we had a moment a silence earlier for Deacon Joe um just want to send my thoughts and prayers of course to his wife Phyllis and his daughter Jen as well as his two uh grandsons I've known Joe a long time you know he was someone that U you know being involved in the church but also he was a councilman for eight years and he was a teacher and a principal to my uh two younger brothers at donbosco and for a long time lived on Hopson AV next door to my uncle so he was a great guy he was the chaplain for the fire department for a long time we just had a ceremony recently where he became the police chaplain as well and anytime he needed something Joe was always there whether it was the Memorial Day services or 911 I always got the text he kiddo let me know what you need from me and I'll be there um he was just a really good person and lifelong resident and again you know my thoughts and prayers are with his family thank you thank you councilman Murphy thank you council president I do have one major thing to report on tonight the calendars are in they do exist we weren't lying this whole time um they pretty much were delivered last week and the week before that um if you did not receive a calendar I know the post office does have some stragglers in some of the apartment buildings there were some mixup so they should be getting delivered this week U if you don't receive them you could stop down at the rec center uh Monday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 5:00 P PM or 5:30 p.m I believe and then on Fridays uh 9:00 am to 1 o'clock pm. I just really seriously want to thank councilwoman hablitz for help on this she was an amazing part of getting this this done and as well as assistant ba um since drone I know want to rip our heads off at some point to this but hopefully next year this is a lot smoother got our bumps out we can iron out all the Kinks and uh get on to uh get on to the rest of the work that we have to do um secondly I just want to thank the mayor for the budget presentation tonight look forward to working with council president on getting this out and uh looks like it's going to be a good budget this year I know we had some preliminary talks on it already uh lastly I just want to express my condolences to the family of uh Deacon Joe Cisco uh he really was an intrical intricate part to our fire department and police department um I've known him as long as I've been on the department for probably around 15 years he was always there for us uh he was just great anytime we had a major incident he was there it was just it was just warming to see him on scene and you felt okay when he was there so he's definitely going to be missed I just want to express my condolences again to his family and uh that's all I have council president thank you thank you councilman Murphy as you heard the council Murphy say we've been in some discussions about the capital expenditures how that works as the council reviews the requests of capital expenditures by the mayor and staff and we'll go back and forth with I'll go back and forth with each council member and ask their opinions on these expenditures for instance uh our street program is a half million dollar capital expenditure whether or not the council wants to keep that in or leave it out these are items that we go through and go back and forth on and come to a final number and and an allocation for each one um and I'm glad to say it's been a very good process and we're very close to uh having that done probably this week councilman Murphy and myself who serve on the finance committee we'll go over the budget and uh meet with Mr kushia and then meet with the mayor and we'll pick that up and see where we go with the items that the mayor has presented tonight in the budget on March 15 we're going to hold our annual St Patrick's Day uh party with the seniors um that's going to be at the Civic Center from 12: to 3 there's nothing like corn beef there some mustard and sauerkraut gluten-free um not gluten-free the fattiest corn beef I could find it is unfortunately during Lent uh so I guess we're going to have to have some pasta which to fill those people that don't want to eat me unfortunately there's never a great time to hold these events so it kind of falls into that category on March 27th Dr Jack Zuckerman is GNA be running a seminar on knes at the Civic Center Pizza will be supplied and that's at 12 o'clock for those who want to attend please reach out to me my number is in the flyer assembly Al baras from the 40th District is coming out with some a bill uh regarding uh stolen cars and which has been an issue in the state of New Jersey and also uh home invasions uh a221 and s947 increases the degree of the crime for unlawful taking of Motor Vehicles upgrades to third degree crime the unlawful taking operating and or exercise of control over a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner this now would be punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine up to $155,000 or both um also the upgrades to Burly residents the crime to a second degree requires mandatory period of of parole ineligibility if a resident was occupied at the time of the offense so I'm going to pass this on to the chief for him to review it um I think unfortunately um cars are targeted uh in this state so I'm happy to hear that our legislators are working to trying to for tail that the senior freeze we have age 65 or older on December 31st 2022 or receive Social Security disability payments on December 31st 2022 or also on December 31st 2023 own and live in their own home on a lease site or mobile home manufactured or owned since December 31st 2019 pay all year 2022 property taxes by June 1st 2023 and all your 2023 property taxes by June 1st 2024 annual income uh has was 150,000 or less in 2022 or $163,000 or less in 2023 so those that want to apply please do so it's a very good program if you're entitled I suggest that you do it it um our hometown hero Banner program is going well I would suggest uh mayor and the council if it's okay that we put a flyer when you send out your tax bill um to the residents uh for that program Memorial days coming up and we'd like to see some uh additional veterans get those that information out uh I'll also take the the show on the road and I'll go see the American Legion I'll get in touch with her Brickle the commander and go talk to those uh veterans in the American Legion to also explain the program Mr cron would you like to talk about the Swift funding that we've had some residents uh apply for I think we had nine home homeowners apply has partnered with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in something called a swift map program uh mapping the acronym for mitigation assistance program this a program that is supported by FEMA and what it does is identify homes like the ones that were unfortunately affected by the two devastating floods in our community and what FEMA does is provide Federal funding uh to homes in these flood plain areas and residents who are interested in raising their homes so this is a great opportunity for some of our citizens and some of our homeowners uh in town to get this assistance and preventing this from happening again if there's another flood so we have nine homes currently that were reviewed by FEMA out of the nine we have three who are currently participating in this program and these homes were basically affected in the Lewis and William streets areas of thank you is there any questions to that councilor wsel do you have anything for disc governing body this evening uh just uh very short council president uh there is legislation pending in Trenton uh which is going to significantly change the manner and means in which affordable housing is set for all of our municipalities in the State uh if you all remember about 10 years ago New Jersey Supreme Court declared Coop basically to be a nonfunctioning entity that was the state agency that for years set the affordable housing uh obligations for each municipality uh administrations had either ignored it or uh basically effectively defunded it or failed to appoint people to it so uh the court had declared it defunct and then the courts took over the process of declaring uh the affordable housing obligations for each municipality and you may remember uh many years ago at this point uh Little Falls went through that process through a declaratory judgment action which Set uh forth the uh affordable housing obligations for the township and the matter uh eventually came to a settlement which uh prevented Builders from filing what's known as a builder remedy and instead having them to live within the the confines of the ordinances that you passed designating where affordable housing should be we're now coming up onto the next round and the state legislature has uh put forth this bill it's known as A4 it has a senate number I don't know that number off top of my head but A4 is easy to remember uh which basically uh removes it from the courts again but sets up some tribunal of retired judges and professional planners and other such people uh who we don't know who they are who they will be and they were going to set the standard for uh affordable housing obligations and then uh the municipality has the opportunity to uh fight those numbers or contest those numbers the whole system is really very uh fungible at this point there's a lot of uh lack of clarity as to how it's going to operate it's supposed to operate on a very strict timeline which is quite frankly almost unworkable uh I know that myself and other members of the minicipal Law Bar uh have all uh been watching this and have made made um commentary upon it uh it was approved in the State Assembly recently uh and is now gone over to the state senate it's uh scheduled it has not been scheduled to be heard by the Senate budget committee yet but that's where it's sitting at this point and eventually it will come out of that committee for the Senate vote and I would just uh ask the uh Council uh just something to be aware of going forward because obviously once that bill if that Bill gets approved uh we are going to have to uh proceed forward uh with uh choices by this uh municipality as to its affordable housing obligations in the next 10 10e round remember these are 10e rounds so you had 2015 now you're coming up on 2025 uh and that's where all of this is coming down but as uh updates come from that I will certainly let you know but it's within next couple months it's likely to come to a head right but Council so the M the what the what this town has done in other municipalities where they designated where the affordable living could be are you saying this new law would wash that out or is that in years to come well you have to remember that each round sets a new number okay because there's not with the whole system I you get into a 45-minute discussion but basically your your your number never really gets set odd infinitum into the future it's always a moving Target depending on certain Trends and um uh projections for each municipality um and uh so what will happen in this round regardless if A4 comes into place or not there's going to be an obligation for round this is round three there's round four okay so you had round one round two round three so you either met those obligations in those rounds or they just kind of pushed up into round four so now what you didn't do in the prior round is now known as unmet need in the next round as opposed to perspective need in the new round basically it's just revising uh the numbers and we had uh and and for those of you who were on uh council at the time remember uh you know we had a very uh good uh settlement last time it was worked on very hard by uh my predecessors uh Leslie London from McManaman Scotland who did a very uh nice job and worked well with uh the special Master assigned uh Mr Burgess so uh but I that system is May fundamentally change in the next round which means that we have to um I have to keep an eye on it and I will keep you informed of it as well as Administration and the mayor we greatly appreciate you bringing that to the Forefront you know we're only 2.8 square miles so um changes like that could be a devastating blow to this community uh so thank you for bringing that information forward have a motion to open to the public for agenda items so move move by councilman Cherry second by councilman habets Voice vote all those in favor all those opposed motion carries Miss Madam clerk anyone wishing to address the Town Council May to the council president preferred if you give your name an address for the record comments are to be limited to three minutes however however appropriate you may be granted additional time and the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have join the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will Cee the members of the public that wish to provide comment and council president will recognize them in order members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand members of the public who have joined the meeting we the zoom application must click the reactions icon and the raise hand icon once the process is complete we will return to the regular order of business thank you the floor is now open m uh Kusha anyone in the chat room that like to come before us seeing no one come before us in the council chambers can have a motion to close moov by councilman V Cherry second second by councilman Murphy all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries c a motion to approve the consent agenda moved by councilman Murphy second by councilwoman haets this is a roll call for the consent agenda Madam clerk yes Murphy yesc member H yes counc member V yes council president SCA yes have a motion open the meeting for General uh for public and general matters so move moved by councilman Venter second by councilman haetz all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries Madame clerk anyone wishing to address the to council mces the council president it is preferred if you give name and address for the record comments are to be limited to three minutes however appropriate may be granted additional time and the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who join the meeting virtually inide to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will pee the members of the public that to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order members of the public who have join the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves in Star N9 to raise their hand members of the public who join the meeting via the zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete return to the regular order business thank you the floor is now open Mr Kush anyone in the chat room seeing no one come before for us in the council chambers can have a motion to close the public so move move by councilman vent Cherry second second by councilman habblet all those in favor I all those opposed that motion carries at this time can I have a motion to adjourn this meeting move by Council councilman Murphy second by councilwoman haetz all those in favor I all those opposed I want to thank the staff for assisting and putting on this meeting this meeting is now adjourned