##VIDEO ID:1dLU6cV46Ns## all right hi everyone good evening thanks for coming out uh August 26th uh nice time of the year right a little quieter maybe no seems like it've been busy busy August um okay I'm going to read the statement of compliance with the Sunshine Law this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings act and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law specifically the annual notice was emailed to the West tic Tribune and the Star Ledger on January 2nd 2024 and the 48 hour notice was emailed to the West essics Tribune and the Star Ledger on July 22nd 2024 the agenda and resolutions for the meeting are available on www. Livingston nj.org certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of personnel Andor other matters as outlined in the Sunshine Law decisions made and or discussed in closed session closed session will be known to the public at a later time notice to members of the governing body and Township staff any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purposes of Township business and any Communications are subject to the open public records act to the extent possible this evening's Township of a Livingston council meeting will be live streamed via Facebook at www.fb.com Livingston townshipnj questions or comments will also be accepted by emailing live comments Livingston nj.org by 4M on the day of the meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in a Livingston code section 2-15 uh Carolyn roll call thank you mayor council member bubani here council member Vieira present council member Klein is absent tonight Deputy Mayor mehard here mayor Anthony here uh if we could all stand for a moment of silence and then the Pledge of Allegiance is Eileen fisherman here Essex County updates seeing none okay now mayor can I just make yeah sure of course I just want to apologize to everybody in the audience and to my fellow Council people up here in case I have to stand up once or twice during the meeting um I unfortunately have a terrible back I cannot sit very long so I apologize uh to those if you see me get up and uh just stand up for a second it's not anything I said then no okay all right thank you thank you Dey okay so we have a few uh on the proclamations and presentations um a few I'm mostly reading from a plaque so will go a little out of order to make sure we get to uh the ones that uh thank you so much for coming in tonight so the first one um that we have people here for is uh number three Township of Livingston AARP ageef friendly Community designation uh this is quite an honor uh Jen you want to come up now and sure we have a both these microphones work over yep that's great yeah we have Corin and natana is here and the one and only Jen Walker is here as well yeah come on up you want to is it on is it on it's on can I give a shout out to our amazing sound guy all right so just can I do you want me give a little bit of background a little bit of background on this program all right so in 2000 I'm Jen Walker by the way I'm the recreation director and director of senior services for the township and in 2019 which if you remember was the beginning of a horrible horrible time 19 was still good well 19 was still good but you know the beginning it was like all right but the beginning of a horrible horrible time we were uh we had done a lot of work with the grata foundation and which does um work for our active older adults and our seniors in the state of New Jersey and as a part of that process we were awarded and given the designation from AARP on the state level as an age friendly Community there was a lot I'm not going to bore you with the details but a ton of work went into that and as a part of that there was a strategic plan that was put together the council had approved it through ordinance and um we spent the team spent the next five years working on that strategic plan um Karen spearheaded that first it was Liliana bran quino who who who got the first designation and then Karin and natana have spearheaded it over the past five years and the the probably the biggest um achievement of that is that it really wasn't a fivey year they gave us five years but really they accomplished five years and about two and a half because of covid and all of that so uh they did an absolutely amazing job they continue to do amazing work with our active older adults at the community center if you haven't been over to our community center we have programs from 8 in the morning till 10 at night for our seniors and they're running seven days a week and we are packed every day of the week but uh career leads up the program and Nat assisted her with this so unbelievably proud of them and uh we were awarded the designation for an additional five years because of the work they did so congratulations yes I just want would you want to read it go for it this is this is from AARP we did not make this this is uh yours uh Township of Livingston New Jersey a member in the good standing of the AARP network of ageef friendly state stes and communities has successfully completed a cycle of improvement and is recognized for its age-friendly leadership achievements and continuing commitment toward being a liable Community for people of all ages 2024 congratulations thank you thank you and I just want to thank the council for all of your support this wouldn't been easy without all the support from you from Barry Adam Russ and the whole Township so thank you you thank you Chen uh have I seen you you've given presentation at the league of municipalities on age friendly yes and I was taking pictures remember I sent you those pictures yeah it's tremendous that was years ago that was after 19 first designation yes we LEP so my point is the league of municipalities is what 565 Towns New Jersey and you're educating public officials other other uh public employees the great work that you all do thank you Natan thank you K uh let me just we have one too so we're going to give you a citation to this one just says the mayor and the township council members are pleased to announce that Livingston has been renewed as an AARP age friendly Community for five more years and proud that the Livingston Community is being recognized for its age-friendly leadership achievements and continuing commitment toward being a Liv livable Community for people of all ages thanks to the E efforts of recreation and senior service employees Karin judge natana Pelle and supervised by director Jen Walker so congratulations [Applause] I than [Applause] than all right great we do have uh someone here for duchan which is World duchan awareness uh day which is September 7th is coming up we have our next meeting on uh September 9th so we wanted to do this uh here today and I wanted to let uh councilman bani say a few words about this thanks thank you mayor um this is really an important uh next step or a big step that the township has um and the council has kindly agreed to do uh it is a rare disease it is a disease that um has a lot of pain for the families but also exemplifies the courage and uh and brave and and brave uh character it brings it out of the families the beautiful part of this whole story this entire story is you know I got a call one day from a young a school Age kid from town and you're going to meet see her very very soon that's an daan and the D family it's all it's it's a family affair and they are they were really looking through and you know trying to see you know what else what is the next step what is the next challenge um you know that that we can try and help with um and they stumbled into and I won't sh take any of her Thunder sharing her story but the moment she recognized that this is something that is rare and something can be very um you know we can help them uh she just rolled up sleeves and kudos to the parents as well being amazingly supportive parents so so Anushka you're right here Maha and sanjiv uh excellent job there and mayor um that's the family I just want to back to you thank you for all your work thank you we're going to um if you want to stay seated for a second I just want I apologize because I didn't get to you you are above on the list I think we should read this whole Proclamation so everyone learns as much about it as possible and as much awareness so why don't we um there's about eight lines here but we'll take a line two two lines so Kon you want to start us off and sure thank you mayor y do you have it one sec I'll get here here here okay all right so this is going to be a proclamation as uh the mayor said uh it reads whereas Duan muscular destrophy it's called Duan small you know the the abbreviation is DMD very famously known as DMD or INF famously is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed in childhood affecting approximately one in every 5,000 live uh male birds it's specific to male birds each year and whereas the Duan Gene is found in the X chromosome it primarily affects boys however it occurs across all races and cultures and yes y okay where is Duan where Jan results in Progressive loss of strength and is caused by a mutation in the gene that inodes for nodes for I can't read my own hand disten because disten is absent the muscle cells are easily damaged the progressive muscles weakness leads to Serious medical problems particularly issues relating to the heart lung and people with do Shane typically live into their late 20s and keep going or yes where do yes where duchan can be passed from parent to child but approximately 35% of cases occur because of a random spontaneous mutation in other words it can affect anyone although there are Medical Treatments that may help slow its progression there is currently no cure for duchan and whereas whereas because it is a rare disease one of our greatest tools in the fight to end Duan is Raising awareness and whereas on September 7th 2024 the e8th world duain awareness day will take place duain organizations around the world will raise awareness for all people living with duan's muscular distrophy and whereas Livingston residents Anushka and her family have made it their mission to raise awareness of this debilitating disease and in honor of their friends son Michael tchenko who was diagnosed three years ago and is now 6 years old and Michael James gagle gagley Oni 28 years old living with Duan and on behalf and in support of all those affected by DMD it is now there my honor as Al Anthony and the council members of the township of Livingston County of Essex state of New Jersey do here Proclaim September 7th 2024 as World duchan awareness day so thank [Applause] you hi everyone I'm Anushka and dis dear esteemed mayor respected C Town Council Members and my dear neighbors thank you for Gathering here today as we come together to mark an important occasion the proclamation of duchan muscular distrophy Awareness Day in our town duchan muscular distrophy or DMD is a rare and devastating genetic disorder that affects thousands of young boys and their families across the world it is a condition that slowly robs them of their muscle strength making everyday activities increasingly challenging and eventually impossible despite the advances in medicine and research DMD remains without a cure being 100% fatal as a community it is our responsibility to support those who are living with DMD to stand with their community and to raise awareness which will eventually help us find a cure by proclaiming DMD awareness day we are doing more than just recognizing a cause we are committing to action education and advocacy I Anushka daan have seen the detrimental cruelty that this disease brings upon patients and their families and it pains me that there is no cure yet I hope to do my part on this issue by making a change in my local community my end goal is to hopefully get newborn screening in the New Jersey state one day which would help families get get the care they deserve early on why is this important because awareness leads to more education and that eventually leads to change when we raise awareness about DMD we help to shine a light on the struggles that these boys and in their families face every day we Foster early diagnosis by educating individuals which can lead to better management of the condition we push for more research which brings us closer to new treatments technology and hopefully one day a cure and we Foster a sense of solidarity showing those affected by DMD that they are not alone they have a community behind them which can have a huge impact on their mental health as well this Proclamation is a symbol of our Town's commitment to making a difference it is a statement that we care that we are paying attention and that we will continue to support the fight against duchan muscular distrophy but more so it is a call for action for all of us to educate ourselves to advocate for those affected and to contribute in whatever ways we can to the cause let this day remind us of the importance of compassion of community and of the impact we can have when we come together for a common purpose together we can make a difference in the lives of those with Duan muscular distrophy and together we can move closer to a future where D MD is no longer a threat to our loved ones thank you all the coun have a few words um I want to um take this m moment to honor the true heroes of this battle the moms and dads uh that embodies strength courage and unconditional love we have limka zavi with us today she uh she lives in watching and uh her son is uh 12 years old who is affected with Duan and to many moms my friend ayuna who is watching us live uh on Facebook as well as uh suzan who could not be with us today um I've written a short poem um in every moment they stand strong in every morning's early light a battle starts though out of sight moms and dads with hearts so wide facing duain they will not hide from lifting out of bed each day to helping dress in every way they tie the shoes they brush the hair with tender hands and endless care every step is watched with [Applause] pride yet fear and Hope walkside by side they brace for faults for every slip a Constant Guard they dare not skip meals are shared with gentle hands feeding strength their daily plans yet worry fills each simple task of what the future dares to ask night time comes but rest is rare with every breath they are always there turning shifting through the night in every moment they fight the fight today we honor we embrace is the ones who meet each day with Grace like Lia and many others for in their arms through Trails long their love their light it Carries [Applause] On One hi my name is Luma Jai um I'm from Wang um my son is 12 and A2 now he was diagnosed at 3 and A2 so I just want to say thank you so much because I am a big advocate for uh Duan mascara distopy I go to Congress I do state funding I advocate I aware I do awareness funding research um it's really nice to see the support of community um to raise awareness it is a rare disease and my son is defying the odds um you know you usually lose the ability to walk between 8 and 10 uh you lose the ability to use your upper body by the time you're a teenager and usually it is a fatal disease because your heart and lungs are affected my son is 12 and a half walking well he is independent he's been in three different clinical trials and he actually is a Pioneer and a warrior of the first gene therapy for Duan muscular disty that was approved by the FDA in June of 2023 so he is Paving the way for the Next Generation so when one family gets diagnosed they can they won't say to the family member just go home and love your son that's what we were told um now families have options they have eight approved therapies for Duan muscular dropy now no cure yet but they do have treatments so there is a lot of Hope um and it's families like them that really give us that support so I just want to thank the Council of Livingston the mayor all of you guys for being that support for us thank you thank you so much appreciate you coming in and sharing your story and everything you're doing to make a difference in the world that's amazing thank you so much and we we do have uh what we read the uh the proclamation here and if you'd like we could um try to build awareness we have the the local paper here and anything we could do so appreciated said aess is the only yeah that's that's amazing that's a great what's going on right now thank you all right so here you want to get a picture [Music] here e e e e all right we have the president of a of New Jersey a Donado come on up yeah oh no that's all right we come on up you I want you yeah how are you nice I'm well thank you thanks yes we went over I apologize for being late but South Livingston Avenue was completely closed and the detours were not were not clear clear but first of all we wanted to commend Livingston for completing their network age friendly uh State and community plan it's a fiveyear cycle and by submitting their progress report which highlights the extent of the age friendly work that they have completed by being part of this network Livingston has made a commitment to identifying and addressing the needs of its aging population creating a more inclusive and accessible community and what's important about that I was a municipal manager for 40 years I understand a changing demographics and by the year 2030 there will be more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 18 and we all want to be able to age in place and live comfortably so the fact that Livingston has addressed this issue is important and we want to thank you very very much oh that's great thank you very much thank you Chen do you want to get another photo with Donado a [Laughter] doover yeah you want to come down that's all right come on down back there yeah uh Mr ala brings up a good point um we we've had uh I we gave out our fifth and coming up our sixth um centenarian I know octen centenarian 100y old year old we have so many in town on a percent J and in this country on a percentage keep yeah healthier so that's probably a testament to this crew right here [Applause] thank you very much pleasure than okay now we have uh a very special person in town um that um in the same type of like we've done this uh before we had uh uh Naisha she was going and representing uh future Business Leaders she went down to Orlando we had her in about a couple months ago we have another terrific uh we have a town resident doing something outside the town and I we wanted to bring it to everyone's attention because it's such a a marvelous uh concert that's going to happen uh and I want to read a tiny bit about this so this is uh let's see it's it's Young Jin young Jin uh a pipa Solon soloist and I want to mention that the Livingston Chinese Association LCA in collaboration with the Chinese musicians association of North America that C- na is hosting a special concert to celebrate the mid Autumn Festival on September 15th at Drew University starting at 3 p.m. Yang jyn a Livingston resident and mother of three children in our Public Schools is the founder and president of C- Na and a leading pipa Sol soloist the concert will feature an impressive lineup of musicians including a renowned composer and professor at Brown University a celebrated eru Master did I say that right U master who has performed with yoyo Ma and President Biden the first VI violinist of the Cleveland Orchestra and a Grammy winning performer an award winning pipa virtuoso an educator from the University of Delaware a globally acclaimed guzen virtuoso a distinguished pianist and educator from the Manhattan School of Music a decorated Mezo soprano known for both Chinese and Western Opera a pioneering percussionist and top Chinese youth in America and a highly respected jazz pianist and composer from Princeton University young Jin young Jin has made a significant impact on her community through her leadership of the flying strings youth Ensemble which performs at libraries senior homes Multicultural School celebrations and aapi Livingston events music has a unique power to unite people and this concert represents a wonderful opportunity to bring our community together it will showcase we right now we're showcasing the township support for our local artist and highlight how music connects and strengthens our Community um if you'd we're also at this concert I believe uh the cultural Ates from Chinese Consulate General in New York will be there Mayors from Summit and Milbourne will be there I know we've been invited as a council um thank you so much uh and we we uh this underscores the significance of the event and the potential for Meaningful Community engagement so with that I'd like to bring up uh young Jin and and you want to talk a little bit about the concert [Applause] sure good evening my name is yanin from 187 North Livingston Avenue yeah I want to take a a moment to extend my Heartfield gratitude to Mayor Anthony uh the city uh the Town Council the Livingston Chinese Association and all the wonderful residents of Livingston as a president and uh founder of the Chinese musition association of North America a nonprofit organization our mission is to connect musicians and audiences worldwide fing cross culture collaboration through music since our family moved from Pittsburgh in 202 too the support we received from the livon community has been incredible as the mayor mentioned yeah activi uh participated in many community art AR activities and uh uh our students like flying stream youth Ensemble which has enriched our town with performances at uh yeah libraries in your homes like mayor mentioned yeah we're also very grateful uh to special thanks to uh Temple Beth Shalom we have a Lunar New Year celebration there and our student have a a summer camp there so they're so nice um and uh okay this uh program we're celebrating the mid Autumn festival and the establishment of the Chinese musicians Association of North America and we have three concerts two in Princeton the September 14th and uh uh one in Jew University on Sunday uh September 15 3 p.m. okay so well very welcome every everybody can come to enjoy our music so and yeah the event will future many highly esteemed musicians include the youngest uh percussionist future on Broadway and uh yeah among others there artists will be traveled from across the country makes this event truly exceptional I have left some flyers yeah at the back please feel free to take one and scan a QR code for more information I sincerely hope to see you there and uh once again thank you for all your support thank you so much thank you thank you you young you want to get it is doing e [Applause] that's great always always great to hear what Livingston residents are doing when they especially when there's such of uh breath of uh you have a lot of people coming there and it's going to be great and keep up the great work thanks all right we have now we are down to oh we have national uh prep preer month preparedness um okay you want to help me read this guys you want to Kate you want to take the first Ed take the second take the third yeah yep all right it's National preparedness preparedness month and we want to we're just going to read this Proclamation there's no one to accept it here uh but it is this month and we want everyone to be prepared you'll hear a little bit more about it in two seconds about what it's about no absolutely thank you mayor the national preparedness month whereas emergency preparedness is the shared responsibility of the entire nation and every Community every business and every individual has a role to play in preparing for emergency and whereas National preparedness month provides an opportunity to highlight the importance of emergency prep preparedness and and encourages all Americans to take steps to be better prepared for emergencies in their homes businesses schools and whereas federal state and local officials and the private sector are working to deter uh prevent and respond to all types of emergencies these activities along with active American communities contribute to a level of national preparedness that is critical to securing our homeland and whereas National preparedness month is a nationwide coordinated effort that allows Americans to learn more about ways to prepare for all types of emergencies from natural disasters to potential terrorist attacks and whereas the US Department of Homeland Security and the American Red Cross urge all Americans to take time during the month of September to get an emergency supply kit make a family emergency plan be informed about different threats and their appropriate responses and get involved in preparing their Community now therefore I Alfred M Anthony mayor of Township of Livingston hereby proclaims September 2024 to be National preparedness month for the township of Livingston I call upon the people of Livingston to recognize the importance of preparing for potential emergencies and to observe this month with appropriate events activities and preparedness programs information on emergency preparedness is available on the township website www. Livingston nj.org so those are good words for all of us to live by thanks for everyone who uh just gets ready for an emergency or or anything even if the lights go out a generator whatever just to be ready for those type of events okay so now we are up to the approval of the minutes like can make a motion to approval of the minutes for the July 29 2024 regular conference meeting minuts as well as the 20 July 29 2024 Clos session meeting minutes I'll second it second uh any opposed all in favor I okay thank you guys all right we are now up to ordinance 1724 to exceed the municipal budget appropriation um Barry do we do this or do you want to do do you do the PowerPoint now what uh well the you can do this because this is something we have to do prior to the introduction or the adoption of the bud in the public hearing uh but you recall we introduce an ordinance that we do second reading this is a second reading it's an ordinance we do each year the state authorizes Us by ordinance to exceed the municipal Appropriations cap uh we're not exceeding the cap but it builds you a cushion in the event sort of a rainy day fund in future years if you need it so this would just be to open the hearing on the second reading here correct yes okay is there a motion on that motion open the hearing I'll second it okay uh is there a roll call for that no may all no okay any opposed no okay so now the uh hearing on the second uh reading of 17- 2024 is now open like to make a motion to close second all any opposed no all in favor okay motion to adopt motion to adopt second okay council member bubani yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor Minard yes mayor Anthony yes okay Carol we're up to resolution 24-1 196a uh yes mayor this is the time for the public hearing on the municipal budget for 2024 as approved on July 29th 2024 by mayor in Township Council the budget was advertised as required on August 8th 2024 together with notice of hearing for this time printed copies have been made available to the public during the past week mayor I have a resolution 24- 196a regarding the reading of the budget by title only and make a motion to move the resolution for adoption I second that motion council member BB Tani yes Viara yes kleene is absent Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes before opening this hearing I wish to outline the procedure each person Desiring to be heard will rise and give his or her name and if they are resident their address before speaking I will recognize one speaker at a time address all questions to the chair where NE where necessary they will be referred to individual individual members of the township Council Municipal officials or advisors questions must be confined solely to the municipal budget amendment before us the introduced budget school or County matters are not proper subject s of this hearing and will not be discussed or answered here tonight I now make a motion to open the public hearing on the municipal budget for 2024 I second the motion okay mayor generally this would be prior to in case there was questions about the presentation that I would make the presentation do it now okay sure so um as we do every year we just try and give the highlights and and walk through some some of the key points of the budget um and in advance of doing that uh I do want to note there is a slight Amendment to the budget which was in the package um uh involved initially uh just reallocating certain amounts to certain places in the budget on based on state review um and uh an increase in the pension contribution based on some retroactive payments for uh a police contract that had been settled um I would like to certainly recognize our CFO an coochie uh not only for working with the state reviewer to work us through all those Pro issues and we we got our approval today to uh to move forward and adopt the budget um but more importantly and for um all of her hard work not only with the budget but year and year out and in helping us um get to the position that we're in fiscally which I'm going to touch upon so no further Ado the first slide we always um bring up is just where does your tax dollar go everybody writes a tax uh check they bring it in they mail it wherever we collect it uh but I think it's important for everyone to know that for every dollar we collect um 60.3% of it goes to the school 18.9% goes to the county uh we receive we the municipality for our operations receive 18.3% 1.7% goes to the county and it's just under 1% at 8% uh goes to uh what's called the reserve for uncollected taxes um I I would note this we'll put this whole PowerPoint on the website just so you don't have to take pictures of every slide but if you'd like to you're certainly welcome to uh but it will be on the website um so along those lines I think it it's important because people I think they get a tax bill and they wonder you know why is it so high whatever issues they have so um again the school gets 60.3% of it that is entirely based on the uh budget approved by the Board of Education and the mayor and Council and uh my staff and myself we don't have any role in that similarly the Essex County Board of Commissioners approves their budget and the County taxes the 18.9% uh Library taxes are established by State Statute which are based on a certain percentage of the assessed overall assessed value uh so that that's a formula that represents 1.5% of the total uh what I touched upon the reserve for uncollected taxes which is just under 1% of your bill is also set by Statute there's a formula it's mandatory it covers the fact that while we collect the taxes and are obligated to pay the board of bed and the county 100% of their money not everybody's going to pay so it will be a shortfall that's what the reserve is for again nothing we have any control over so at at the end of the day uh the Town Council uh based on the the budget presented um only approves and controls the Municipal Taxes representing 18.3% of the total bill tax bill so with that in mind um again reiterate the council only approves the Municipal Taxes in Municipal tax rate uh in 2023 and and when I get to the next slide you'll see we I focused on 2023 because not all the 2024 uh rates were available from other towns and I wanted to do a comparative analysis just see how do how are we doing in terms of our budgeting our efficiency uh and what services we deliver for our taxpayers for what dollars they pay um so in Livingston last year the average assessed home was $712,000 39 our Municipal tax rate uh again the only portion that the mayor and Council have control over was 43.1 cents per $100 of valuation uh so when you apply that to the average assess home the Municipal Taxes again only the municipal portion not the county or the school uh in Livingston were $370 and what I'll show on the next slide is that in 2023 our Municipal tax rate was the second lowest of all 22 municipalities in Essex County and the overall tax rate including County and school was the sixth lowest in the county uh and what that means means is if you had the same value of home if you had a $712,000 home in all these other communities every single one of them but one you would pay higher Municipal Taxes so that's what this chart shows and I know there's a lot of data on there so it's maybe a little bit hard to see uh you know on the screens there um but what you'll see is North Caldwell burrow and give them credit shout out they have slightly lower they're 39.4 cents uh but our Municipal tax rate per $100 of valuation comes in second lowest in the county and a decent bit above everyone else um so you'll see on a 70 72123 assist home if you go down that Center column um whoops I'm kind of new on this uh pointer um this column is if you had the same assessed value home in any of these communities this is what your Municipal Taxes alone would be and to the far right then it does the math to say how much more you'd be paying on the same value house in any of these in Municipal Taxes and it was quite frankly kind of eye openening um when you look at it uh right up the street in rosand for example if you had the same home instead of paying $3,110 in Municipal Taxes you'd be paying $448 so $1,300 more uh you look at Monclair um you'd be paying $596 or $2,851 more more so um I think it's something that we all collectively should be very proud of and hopefully the the residents um will be happy about uh and again it's a credit to uh the mayor and counsil in the first instance and the direction they give and the importance they press you know put upon uh delivering services and being efficient and then uh on my end it's it's it's a credit to the entire Team all the department heads CFO the entire finance department um next question is so where do we get our money from um to fund all of our operations and as you can see still 62% um is uh Municipal Taxes uh we have surplus funds that we use and then replenish that is 6.2% and I'm not going to read the entire list but there are uh Library taxes is separate it's separate by Statute uh we get roughly 5% in state aid uh we've gotten some now some agreements with pilots and the community service fee from Barnabas hospitals a little under 4% our construction fees fees permits and license grants interest on our taxes Etc so that's where our money comes from and and I'll kind of tie into this later um how do we spend your money um this breaks down and again the chart will be on the website where people can probably read some of these small numbers better um but the by far the largest expenditure at 30% of our overall budget is Public Safety which is police and fire emergency dispatch uh 8 to the first aid Squad um nearly a third of all our money goes to that and and I think what's critical to understand here is then the next one is is 16% is capital projects that's your road projects um buying equipment cars trucks um Parks preserving you know buying land doing things um Public Works uh which you know maintains all the properties the buildings plows the roads uh maintains all the parks and all those things is another 12% so just those three alone represent 58% or nearly 60% of the overall budget and the rest is is spread out there uh but overall I just think we do a very efficient job and you know certainly I think most would agree that those first three items that are 60% are absolute non-negotiable mandatory um the 2024 budget we continue which is our same sort of mission and direction from the council is maintaining current levels of service and Staffing levels and and if you know wherever we can to improve services uh the budget does budget for all or agreed Union contracts uh we did see some increase pension insurance and statutory costs significant um which are pass throughs from the state the insurance company Etc uh but this budget does accommodate for those uh this budget also provides an additional half million dollar in capital Improvement fund which is a down payment and that's largely uh because of the the pending uh DPW garage project uh the result is a municipal tax rate increase at 2.61% uh on the average assessed home that equates to $85.50 for the year which is about $7 a month um in in terms of what drove the budget and and we seem to see this every year uh there were six items that really stood out that drove most of the increase uh our Public Works salary and wages uh we settled a Union contract with him we had previously had a contract that was set some time ago uh and the result was we became underpaying for the market but it was Union contract we were Bound by it um with the increase in the uh statutory minimum wage with the increase in in inflation uh we we found ourselves short-handed we were not able to uh either find uh Public Works employees laborers Etc or retain them so we did settle that contract that allowed us to return back to full Staffing and hire a bunch of uh new employees and and we're back in business uh Health Department saling wage went up by 130,000 but that was not really an increase in expenses but we we had the benefit of three or four years of having a federal covid money that helped offset our health department costs but those have now since been exhausted and we now have to uh go back to paying the the full health department so it's not really an increase per se it's just an increase because we don't have those grants uh employee Group Health went up 7% just under $300,000 uh stary expenses that I referred to before including our pension Social Security and other items uh went up 12% or 600,000 Capital Improvement fund that I alluded to for the DPW garage principally uh we budgeted an additional half million dollar and finally the reserve for uncollected taxes which I referred to earlier uh went up um pretty significantly and that's a direct result we transitioned off what was uh the previous practice was an Accelerated Tax sale it had a couple of effects of um one being somewhat your Conan on taxpayers you could be like a month behind in your taxes and get the tax sale uh and residents were not happy about it um it kind of artificially got us money sooner I think it was done years ago but we were successfully able to to transition off of it this um appropriation went up but it's uh offset uh by a new revenue of delinquent taxes because if people don't pay then we get them the next year and we get interest Etc so and the significance is those six items alone uh account for 3.27 eight million of the overall increase those six items went up in in aggregate at 22% the entire budget only went up 3.8 million so everything else in the entire budget only went up 1.25% or or a half million dollars so um it it kind of demonstrates how certain things some of which were uh you know choices we made which was to budget additional funding for um the epw but the majority of which are things that are kind of outside our control bills that we get from the state Etc um fiscal condition this say uh probably the slide I'm most proud of and again um another shout out to to uh not only anochi our CFO but our bond Council our financial advisors um we ended 2023 our Surplus balance increased another $1.4 million or almost 14% year-over-year so at the end of 2022 in our fund balance which is essentially our bank account uh we had 10.2 million and that grew up to 11.6 million which is the highest fund balance in at least in the last 16 years that's as far back as I went looking and I wasn't anywhere close um the fund balance and I'm I'm I'm very proud of this and I think the whole team and the mayor and Council should be proud our fund balance has more than doubled in the last five years uh was around five million in 2018 and it's gone up tenfold in the just in the last 10 years we only had 1.1 million um and the importance of that is one you have the funding available but equally important it has a significant impact uh when we get rated by credit rating agencies when we go to borrow money and the rating that you get is directly relates to the interest rate you get the higher rated you are the better interest rate you get the less interest you pay um so I'm I'm extremely uh proud uh as we all should be that our rating in part because of this increased fund balance but also in part of a number of all the efforts are restructuring debt and some of the the the sort of proactive steps we've taken um had our now we saw our bond rating increase to double A Plus with what's called a positive outlook so we're one step away from being AAA rated which would be um I think a real feather in the cap for for the entire Community um and then lastly and this is what I alluded to in the other slide and I I've included Library taxes the other slide in terms of where those the money come from um in basically in the last 5 years I got here in 2018 uh we used to taxes property taxes accounted for 79% of our money to pay for our operations and by um I think working more efficiently by developing alternative residue sources by getting Buy in from the department heads uh to see what they can do to to increase revenues in their departments um other agreements uh we've been able to reduce that to only 67% comes from property taxes uh which every little bit helps but that means now 12% of our budget that we used to get from taxpayers we now get from other sources uh our capital budget um again this year includes additional funding for the new DPW facility and hence the increase in the down payment um it can you know continues to cover all our standards of of road projects Street projects vehicles and equipment for Public Work storm water drainage uh our computers our networks uh water Capital everybody's aware of we have had and continue to have significant expenditures for the pfas water remediation projects that are ongoing um water main installation repairs production well improvements um sewer Capital we continue to fund and upgrade our our plant to make it more efficient um as well as buying vehicles and equipment for both of the utilities um and then sort of in summary on the the water sewer and pool are what are called self-liquidating utilities so they have separate budgets they're not funded At All by tax dollars instead they're funded by the fees that are collected either for your water bill your sewer bill or pool membership um these budgets all maintain the levels service in all utilities and and fund operational upgrades um Capital funding for needed Improvement is has been done um it is important to point out and and we've pointed this out now for a year or two um the these budgets we were able to get by uh in part because we had surplus funds in those utilities um but with the increased cost and particularly The increased Debt Service because of the bfas and some of the capital repairs um we we will be looking at uh reviewing our rates and we'll have to make some adjustments on our rate we'll try and do it in the way I I will say this our rates continue to be on the low side of surrounding communities but um the uh sewer and pool are they previously got the American Rescue plan which was Co funding those are going away or have largely gone away um so that that's another reason um and and again the pool budget only operates Hanes again because Northland is is not suitable so that's it and uh overall I think just a good budget again thank you to the mayor and Council for all their support Direction um and and all being on the same page of what our goals are which are to provide outstanding Services uh create a great Community to live in while doing so and you know as efficiently as possible and being fiscally responsible you know generating our Surplus balance getting the good Bond ratings and and again a huge shout out to an Kier CFO and her whole team as well as our all professionals so with that thank you bear all right Barry have you ever gotten a pause after a bu excellent work thank you um are we up to member three we have a public hearing public hear public hearing's open mayor okay public he on the budget I think you already opened it yeah you already open I see any motion to CL any questions on the budget comments motion to close no motion to close right I I think I go with this right observing no further questions from the floor I will entertain a motion to close the hearing mayor I move that the hearing be closed nice second did someone second it Kon I second it are you member one who's saying mayor mayor I offer a resolution to amend the intro to to amend the introduced 2024 budget of the township of Livingston I second a motion I request that the clerk read the amended 2024 budget resolution thank you Maya this is resolution 24-1 196b resolution to amend the budget whereas the local Municipal budget for the year 2024 was approved on the 18th day of July 2024 and whereas the public hearing on said budget had been held as advertized and where it is desired to amend set approved budget now therefore be it resolved by the governing bud of the township olivon County of Essex the following amendments to the approved budget of 2024 be made summary of revenues amount to be raised by taxes for support of Municipal budget a local tax for municipal purposes including reserve for uncollected taxes it went from n uh 38,2 19852 to 38,3 32,9 3329 total amount to be raised by taxes for support of Municipal budget went from 41,600 so therefore total gen General revenues went from 61,62 5397 to 61,7 19,6 678 in regards to Appropriations in under total General Appropriations the general Appropriations the summary of Appropriations uh total General Appropriations for municipal purposes within caps went from 4,977 49832171 operations exclud included from caps other operations went from 5,456 63077 to 5,284 58275 Total operations excluded from caps went from 6, 71,7 4656 to 6,529 6985 Capital Improvements went from 900,000 to 1, 610,000 even Municipal debt service went from 9,931 16550 to 8,383 65.5 reserve for uncollected taxes went from 2,934 12869 to 2,947 9777 total General Appropriations went from 61,62 5397 to 61,7 19,6 167 and8 in regards to the dedicated pool utility budget senior programs went from 31 million 31 milon excuse me $3,229 64 to Z sports clinic went from0 to $ 31,2 2964 the capital budget uh went for improvement to Wells went from $8 million even to $2.6 million even be it further resolved that a surfy copy of this resolution to be uploaded to the fast system for the director of the dlgs that's the director of local government services for her certification of the 2024 local Municipal budget so amended thank you Carolyn I offer the forgoing resolution the 2024 budget as amended and move it for adoption I second the motion uh before we do a roll call anyone have any comments on the budget gon comments you're good okay um yeah I think we do it here no this is the second meting okay you have a budget Deputy Mayor yeah this is the second I have I have uh some comments okay great thank you Michael thanks I I just want to congratulate Barry and his his staff um for this amazing budget but who I really want to congratulate is an coochie our our CFO and the last couple years that you've been here you've done such an amazing job in uh in in keeping uh our budget as flat as possible look at everything that we do in this town with just um about 18.3% of uh a Homeowner's uh taxes you know what they don't a lot of our homeowners they don't see the school they don't see the county what they see is the police the fire the public works the street cleaning that's what they say and that's what we're here for and that's the only thing that we're here for is that 18.3% and you keep it so flat it's amazing and what many people don't realize is that before the town is able to keep one cent of um of a person's uh property taxes the township of Livingston has to pay the school board and the county 100% of what it's due so you know what they get paid before we even see one dime and we're just you know Barry again all your employees all all the uh the town workers congratulations on such an amazing budget this year thank you thank you Michael yes I'll just follow up so first of all Barry thank you very much for everything you do and an you know kudos to you and to your whole department you've done a great job last few years and uh we certainly appreciate that uh just to follow up what councilman Vieira said about the dollars um it also should go noted uh I was on one of the bullet points uh Barry's presentation about the reserve for uncollected taxes uh for that so when people don't pay us our taxes we still have to pay out the uh Board of Education and the county all their dollars and the one thing that Barry didn't put in and we we know we talked about it is uh for tax rebates um we don't have a chance we pay back full 100% of the tax rebates without having the chance to claw back from the Board of Education and we claw back I think five cents of every dollar from the county so there's a lot of money that goes on uh here that we don't have a chance to really uh to use even though we collect it all as councilman Vieira said so it is amazing uh how our budget how much we stretch our budget with 18 18.3 cents of every dollar that comes in and paying all the Professionals in this building and all the other buildings as well who deserve a lot of Applause and kudos for everything that they do for this town as well so I just I think it's a great budget and I compliment uh both of you and all your staff as well for putting this together thank you mayor can I can I just one more absolutely second Deputy Mayor and councilman VI's comments I just want to highlight the one other thing that we all saw today two things actually we are the second on the list meaning only one other town has higher rates than us I think that's a that's something to be lower I mean lower is thank you we don't want to be second from the highest better than us we'll go for highest next apologies lower lower than us um and this the other part which is really to take home is we had the services we just talked about at the beginning of the the meeting how much the services we have on Senior Center on all of the community services all of that really gets through from all the services you know from the from the budget that we have so again kudos to you an and to to Barry and the entire staff and great job thank you kayen yeah Barry an awesome job Adam Russ everyone involved in the budget the department heads uh for being reasonable um flexible uh helping you sharpen your pencils I know it's it's a collaborative effort but uh a lot of kudos to you an and uh and Barry and Adam and Russ um I just I I'm amazed I'm glad you got Applause as you were reading this tonight Barry um there's one page here where this budget it maintains the current levels of service and Staffing levels when when everything goes up and everything gets crazy we've left we've left uh levels of service as good or better um that's so important you've allowed for budgets for Union contracts for increased pensions um Insurance uh Capital Improvements the W uh DPW garage excellent long awaited project thanks so much for all your hard work and getting it in the budget um and to do all that with um what is it $713 extra a month like I know one year you said it was like a cup of Starbucks which Starbucks may be up to $7 and 13 cents for a cup of coffee uh a month so just that's amazing and also I just wanted to say yeah Kon we're the second lowest thank you for pointing that out Michael thank you for your comments Ed thank you for comments the um the other one was oh with the um increased fund balance and debt refinancing have resulted in the Township's Bond rating being raised from AA a AA a plus with positive outlook one step away from Triple A I mean that's that's just amazing and your the balance has gone Barry when you started what was it about a million oh your mic put your mic on this is good stuff put your mic on yeah I'm sorry no I I I said I think at the end of 17 when I got here was 3 point something okay and we've brought it up and I went back just 10 years to take a look at 10 years was only 1.1 million 10 years ago which is and now kind of scary to think you were operating on that much Sur plus but yeah yeah now it's 11.6 I64 yeah 11,614 188 which is the highest fund balance in the last 16 years at least probably ever but I I got sick of looking I kept going back right it wasn't tremendous job I mean if this was our State of the Union Address the state of Livingston is strong right I mean it's just it's tremendous and well thanks to your hard work and thanks to the council just approving budget after budget and and also uh you know doing some work up here decisions what to leave in what to leave out uh I think that's a rock and roll song uh deadlines and commitments what to leave been what to leave out great song um but anyway thank you so much so we are up to did we all vote Yes or we're just coming we need a roll call okay great Carolyn Council batani yes Viera yes Deputy Mar orhard proudly vote Yes mayor Anthony yes the 2024 amended budget is adopted so thank you guys thank you all right we are yeah and [Applause] fantastic all right we are now up to public comment on agenda items only May I'll make a motion to open the public portion of on agenda items only thank you Michael second it great any oppos no okay hi chess hi Mr Mayor Justin Alper 56 and first place few quick items uh Essex County updates another meeting where uh Essex County representative doesn't show up to read from the website we ought to reverse the lines of control Council ought to send their own Envoy to the count to the Essex County meetings along with the other Western Essex communities reverse the lines of control take control of the county we are not subjects of the county the county should be uh controlled by the several localities um ordinance 2224 amending uh regulating u-turns I think we last talked uh uh Madonna and foxcraft um you know those lend themselves to u-turns and perhaps we can change that ordinance uh so it's only during school hours or busy hours or something but the way those two are set up they're really um you know there are times where it just makes sense to make urn I'm not sure that this ordinance makes sense with respect to those two streets um oh I guess there's final hearings on that so there's another hearing on the salary ordinance so I I'll table that uh the introducted introduced ordinances 2424 for a long-term tax exemption uh authorizing uh 45 Urban Partners I have an article here from uh November from M Santa who's not here anymore but it showed that we had agreed to 210 units and I thought we lopped off the fifth Story and yet this ordinance shows 226 units and five stories so welcome opportunity to bring the uh developer up here to give us exact numbers of what's going on there and explain how this went up from 210 to 26 and how we're back at 5 and uh certainly appreciate your leadership Mr Mayor because at your inauguration this year you said that you were going to uh you know be very wary of these long-term tax exemptions and there's good reason to do so uh we also have elements of Leverage that we can use uh if we're going to use it there are elements of Leverage that we can use to reclaim the real property over the course of time so it's not held in perpetuity or it's not transferred in perpetuity to an outside entity uh we can also regulate the rates of return with respect to ordinance uh no I really have nothing to say about car wash as I take that back um for the consent agenda with respect to 24200 also involving 45 Partners this also references 226 units and five stories please Mr Mayor would you pull this from the consent agenda so that uh we can have a discussion about what's actually going on there um Justin was that 200 you were saying That's 22 24200 yes okay and actually it's just for introduction so you're not having a separate hearing right oh that's it's resolution yeah U-turn is separate salary ordinance is separate okay introduction so we'll discuss that over the course of time uh with respect to the uh Pilots uh but please pull 24200 so we know exactly what the metrics are there and uh let's take a very very hard look at a text exception thank you Mr Mayor great thank you Justin anyone else on agenda items i' like to make a motion to close a public portion on agenda items only second what's yeah Justin I I agree with you on uh that on the uh the long-term tax exemption uh we received a packet uh late last week it's got about 72 to 80 Pages it has 12 different articles in it has exhibits a through F and um I I believe I have uh another council member who needs more time to review that even to introduce it is that correct yeah I think it's it's a it's a long uh uh long document and uh a lot of numbers I think it needs more time to review it can we make that document public bar is that a public document the applications in the packet if it's being voted you check you can count the pages for me it's well over 70 and Exhibits with 12 different articles which we received late last week in August so yeah I'm not I think it would be irresponsible even to introduce that with the with the opportunity not to vote on it a second time thank you sir thank you okay so any other comments on public agenda items all right we're now up to uh oh did we close that okay thanks all right passage of ordinances Carolyn uh and I think I believe we're pulling 23 24 um Kon you had asked for some information on that do you want that's correct mayor uh I asked for benchmarks I asked for comparisons I asked for the uh clear differences of not Max and Main limits but from where to where so it's more transparency I asked for those numbers I think we don't have those so it's better to May given that the public hearing was scheduled for tonight I suggest a motion to table and and reschedule the public hearing okay so doesn't have to be republished and reintroduced great exactly what you just said do I have a I don't know I mean I don't know how the vot's going to go but you can entertain it it's a mo say it again a a motion to table ordinance 23-22 24 I have a motion to table or 23 2024 salary ordinance is there a second second second okay any discussion okay they need a Ral mayor council member bani yes via yes Deputy Mayor Reinhardt yes mayor Anthony yes with the public hearing will be well uh we're we're tbling it so I guess we'll go to the next meeting in September 9th September 9th yeah if you want to go then I do you think you that'll give you enough time to get the information as long as I have county has information you want to go to the 23rd then would that be better is there a time uh crunch on that I'm okay with that table to September 9th there be no further notice of this public hearing this is your notice if you're here tonight for this public hearing it'll be it's been AJ September 9th okay great thanks uh do you have some okay count uh let's see 18-h 2024 orance 18-202 24 amending chapter 170 Article 19 storm water control of the township land use code okay I'll make a motion to open a public uh hearing second thank you Michael second any opposed no any uh anyone commenting on motion to close the public hearing second okay roll motion to adapt adopt motion to adopt motion to adopt second second great thank you council member BB Tomy yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes this is ordinance 19- 2024 appropriation of 2.75 million for improvements of water utility system I'll make a motion to open the public hearing second seeing none motion to close second motion to adopt second council member BB Tani yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes ordinance 202024 appropriation of 4 million for improvements to sewer utility system motion open the public hearing second motion to close public hearing second motion to adopt second I can't write fast enough cat remember T they're quick yes Viera yes Deputy Mayor mehard yes mayor Anthony yes ordinance 21-2024 appropriation of 6,4 45,000 for various improvements motion open the public hearing second I'm giving giving them a couple seconds I'll second motion to close second motion to move second the quickest draw and council member BB Tani yes Piera yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes ordinance 22 -224 amending chapter 29 regulating u-turns on certain streets Longacre Drive motion open public comments second oh got a comment hi Mr Mayor Justin Albert 56 Amherst Place um you know often times Madonna and fox crof they are desolate when school is out and whatnot or you're dropping off for one thing or another uh Fox cross has that turnaround where you make the right to go up the hill to uh the uh school board and it is a good place to turn around rather than driving around the block Madonna also you're driving you're dropping off at the gym and to continue to go straight uh you have to make a few lefts and a few rights and it sometimes it just makes sense to turn around and I'm not sure how we got to this point with these two streets but perhaps there ought to be some sort of time limitation and when you're there on off hours uh there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to turn around there we're still a small town uh those two streets uh makes a lot of sense to turn around thank you Mr Mayor thank you Mr Albert I think I'll I'll insert one comment here um this first of all this 22 2024 this ordinance only talks about Longacre it is introducing long acre and Long Acre only other streets have already been in the uh in the adopted state for no u-turns or regulating u-turns um the comment I have is for this is really the partnership with our residents people who live nearby have real concerns uh we had a Township Council plus School Board of Education Plus the residents a committee formed uh police study happened uh Township special services came in it was a thought through decision it was a thought through process uh a very important one because again uh people who are directly impacted are involved in this process so I think uh mayor I think this is I would be wholeheartedly supporting this that you'll be supporting yes and you noted that the addition is Long Acre and there was a committee on that and and Barry thank you for making the police officers available close the public heing before we make comments yeah I would just to Echo I think counc but this ordinance was motivated and solely directed to Longacre it is in a section that lists those two streets I think uh Mr Albert raises a point I I wouldn't use that point in any way to hold up doing this one uh but I can certainly have the Traffic Division look at the streets that he mention see if they could be I understand what he means because if you're going that way on Madonna you're going all the way out U but would say you know don't let that hold up this to get long Acres problem solved but certainly we can look into that sure and thank you for fighting that Barry I think one of the opportunities we're going to get to is our vision uh zero policy the action plan the complete Street these are the exact areas of focus and conversations where if there are concerns should be talked about and should be addressed if there are you know Solutions possible this exactly where we come and I hear all the time uh streets needs to hey uh a crosswalk is required or you know uh a light is required in a certain Road all of those conversations that includes County that includes our services Township all of that and I think those are the opportunities uh this only belongs to longer thank you mayor motion to close the public uh hearing Mr second Kon second all right uh any post no roll call motion Mo to adopt motion to adopt second council member Bai yes viea yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes this is ordinance 23-22 the salary ordinance which is now tabled to September 9th 2024 um you want me to go ahead with the introduction for ordinance 25 252 ordinance 25-2 24 amending chapter 17-3 and adding chapter 17-8 D conditional uses car washes like to move it on first reading I'll second it nope council member bubani yes Vieira yes Deputy Mayor mhart yes mayor Anthony yes and this will have a final hearing public hearing on September 23rd 2024 great all right so we didn't put that the 9th we put that the 23rd does that go okay great all right consent agenda for Resolutions all matters listed within asct are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the council and will be approved by one motion they will there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body so request in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its nor sequence on the agenda as part of the general orders is there anyone who wants anyone removed well we're removing 24200 on the remaining three does anyone want those pulled for separate comment no okay so Caroline you want to read those three together uh resolution um well there's the consent agenda and then there's resolution 24-1 198 appointment of Steven horn to Zoning Board in resolution 24-1 199 authorized in 2024 age friendly Grant application and division zero last one well the the last one you're pulling off the no we're pulling yeah thank you 24 200 designating 45 Partners I'm sorry I have the wrong old agend resolution 24-21 Vision zero Grand application for Safe Streets and roads I got you great um motion to approve motion to approve the three second any oppos Ral council member bani yes Viara yes kleene uh sorry he's absent Deputy Mayor mhart I'm rattled yes mayor Anthony um okay so the resolution that you pulled is 24200 move to open the meetings a public portion on any subject was P from the agenda that that resolution what's that it was from the resol agenda or was aull from the consent agenda was for discussion and um separate Vote or is a pull from the agenda the the resolutions on the Redevelopment agreement agenda yeah are you are you going to move it or you going to yeah I don't know if you wanted comment or you want me to so that resolution is to approve the Redevelopment agreement again it's for the same project but is unrelated to the um financial application um it's it's a Redevelopment agreement we have on we have development agreement on virtually every project um if if there's I didn't know if you were going to vote on that tonight or if you want to uh pair that up with the other one either way yeah I think I said pair it up with the other one so so you pull it off the agenda not just off the consent agenda yeah because that that's where was confusion was okay thank you counselor Ed you want to open up the public okay I'll second it I'll second it hi Mr Mayor thank you just hi Mr Mayor Justin Alper 56 Amherst Place uh three items one the development on vulker uh that looks like it has stopped that was a bad development to start with with if it's not moving forward let's go after the completion Bond let's condemn the property let's restore the property to a park area or something it does not make did not make sense to build high density housing back there it's still does not make sense it looks like it does not make sense to the developers now either it looks like the vulker property uh development does not make sense to developers now either let's move to condemn it two in the uh Clos session earlier today you all discussed the Mall property please let us know what is going on where is it where are our points of Leverage what are we doing going forward against whom are we negotiating uh where's the money coming from what's going to happen there uh will we avoid the same mistakes that we made with Town Center are there creative things that we could do there to uh set the standard for other communities to follow welcome that conversation please let us know three with respect to 45 South Livingston Avenue the numbers are wrong in the ordinances that you pulled so please you know the developer was actually here and he walked out he chose not to say anything um there was a huge outcry last year we all remember it a lot of people a lot of angry people and to see the numbers come back like this perhaps it was a mistake but it it does not seem right um and when it comes to that pilot uh we have to be very very wary there are points of Leverage that we have uh if they really want the Pilot We want to make sure that we have a right of first refusal to grab the real property back uh so that the post capitalization value of rental units doesn't float outside entities but is actually appreciated by the people who actually live in apartments that are affordable two the uh justice department just moved against the big landlords for using software this was last week I don't have it in front of me uh for using sof software that was uh violated antitrust principles when we talk about market rate Apartments we're not talking about Market rates we're talking about rigged rates and we ought to be doing an assessment of all of our landlords in our community and find out if they were using that software and uh the concentration of real wealth in the rental rental market is a fundamental mistake and it's a mistake that we have been making for years at this point it's an opportunity for Livingston to take a leadership position we need better control over our tax policy the flat rate taxes don't work and we could discuss that at length another time and we also need better control over our banking policy defensive Banking and offensive banking thank you for your time Mr Mayor anything else Justin I apologize for talking um sure it was only 15 seconds um you know uh the the budget we have professionals who are running the budget and they put together a good budget in future years we want to take a look at some of those outside budget items including the county how much are we spending and how much are we getting back uh how many what percentage of the county jobs do we have do we have our Pratap portion coming back to us same thing on the school side it's our biggest budget item if we're going to have Community Schools we want the community in the schools how many of those jobs above and below the line belong to people outside the community and belong to people inside the community this Council May 15 seconds I think has passed thank you wow thank you for your time Mr Deputy [Music] Mayor motion to close public comment second if I since since it's Clos just for the record uh the the project on pic Avenue was not something if you remember since you have a great memory on a lot of other stuff we sat here for we sat in Zoom for I'm going to probably say about three months worth of meetings none of us really wanted this project either nine months eight or nine months okay and we none of us wanted it was one of these projects that was thrown down our throats by what happened with the fair share housing and so and so and so excuse me your your part of the meeting is over to speak and the other part about it is that when you're talking about uh fair share housing and I've said it many times we have an assembly woman right now in Livingston who votes on Fair Share housing those questions that you're talking about should really be should talk to her about it not us we we don't have Mr oper you're out of order please let let I have passed on all your emails that you've asked me to pass it to her but but I I but I believe Excuse excuse me so I also believe that you since you have everybody else's email address in the state of New Jersey I'm surprised that you're not addressing the emails to her directly your and copying us because you are responsible for this we are not responsible we are we are doing mayor mayor I have a question and maybe Barry can help us you know what we need to educate uh our community on what pilots are we have to do some sort of presentation because a lot of people in this town have believed the people who said Pilots are bad okay the only thing about bad about a pilot is the name of a pilot payment in Le of taxes you know if you look at today's budget Pilots lower everyday Property Owners taxes and you know what there you know Pilots are not bad Pilots are good for a town uh it's good for a school system the Board of Education attorney had said Pilots what did they say dep or a grand slam win win win excuse me he said win win win winwin win I think there was another meeting where he said it was a grand slam so you know what Barry we need to educate whether we do some sort of um of presentation or something and let the residents know uh what pilots are and we don't need to come up with a box and put balls and boxes and everything else because that confuses people we just need to set them straight of what pilots are and we really do a bad job at at promoting ourselves and that's something that we really need to to do thank you thank you thank you mayor thank you Michael uh anyone else on that no I don't uh know if you want me to address uh the issue but it was raised several times and there may be people watching who may or may not watch the next meeting as it relates to no on U 45 South Livingston and the number of units so the Redevelopment plan uh after negotiation it started at 300 and something 280 whatever we eventually uh at the last meeting I think that you referred to um that the focus was at that time on the number of Market units and eventually the Redevelopment plan brought the number of market rate units down to 195 there was always going to be affordable housing units it was originally contemplated uh that there was an opportunity to do special needs housing off site over in connection with the Spectrum School uh however the plan always did allow that if that couldn't happen then those units the affordable units would be at 45 South Livingston um unfortunately uh that opportunity in part because Spectrum isn't really in the support of housing um but also I would say this the state um develop division on developmental disabilities when they reviewed the two different locations they had a strong preference for this location because of its walkability um so the the current plan um would would be to incorporate those but again that was always authorized under the Redevelopment plan there was always that number of UNS it was a question of which ones were going to be here and we're going to some be offsite um but I would say this when they elected to bring when that didn't pan out and they had to come back on site they were still obligated to and will still have to comply with all the same bulk setbacks step Downs Heights all the other things so they will have to get creative in their space making uh I don't believe there's a fifth Story meong the height but the height hasn't changed corre they did not increase the height they did not increase this there had been significant concessions in um in connection with lowering the total number of units and the marker rate units uh where they stepped back considerably from the rear of the property in recognition of those residents they're still having to live with that and they're just having to fit the units in but um resolution now I I I'll review that and if that carried over then that would be an error and I'll make sure that gets corrected you up to uh reports of Township officials I'm sorry I do have one more thing Barry maybe you can find out about um the project on um vulker Lane and maybe you can get a little detail on that because I know they have stopped working it it it would be it would be interesting to know I know they've stopped I've heard a couple of things myself I don't say here public why but I would be interesting if you could maybe find out for the next meeting yeah no well I I can tell you I mean I can look into it further but I do know they they ran into an issue with the the positioning the Foundation the developer is still very actively involved there's a question of whether they would have to return to the planning board for an amendment um it was uh I think ultimately they had two course two ways to go one was to remove something and redo it um or the other was to go for an amendment my understanding is they have opted to go uh to take out what was put in the wrong location and reinstall it and and they should be back actively underway they've not walked away from the project great thank you for bringing that up thank you Barry uh okay so an take a Victory lap some budget I'm like so relieved now thank you so much for approving the budget and being so supportive of us and um Council M Viera thank you for bringing that up about the pilots because you're absolutely right and because of a lot of the the negotiations and settling things with the hospital we wouldn't be in this position in fund balance and hopefully y we can explain what it really means to have a pilot because either you would have zero taxes or you're going to have or you're going to have Revenue it's zero or nothing or Revenue I'm sure Barry will clear that up next time thank you nothing at this time um well probably done enough talking for tonight just one update for the public um you as you're all aware we are in the midst of our design build process for DPW uh I got the email confirmation that all is done the RFQ will be um published tomorrow uh we have a timeline now in place uh that that the uh up to two up to six and at minimum of two uh responding firms will be qualified they will then submit proposals uh there's a timeline in place where at the last meeting the second meeting in October um we will uh anticipate then having a recommendation from the the committee um and and that'll involve interviewing all the candidates of which I think uh the mayor and councilman batani are on that committee uh so those those interviews will be scheduled if they haven't already um with the the goal then we would award the contract at the second meeting in October uh and and would anticipate at that point the uh the contractor I think will be anxious to get in and do some of the site work and stuff before the winter so we should be uh certainly underway this year great thank you Barry long awaited uh Russ nothing today great thanks Russ uh Jared uh thank you mayor just one brief report um the township had its fairness hearing on its amended settlement agreement um that uh fairness hearing was adjourned uh when the Bottle King sought to intervene and assert itself in the litigation um they never did uh we had our fairness hearing on August 8th 2024 the court deemed our settlement agreement to be fair um Mark our compliance hearing will be February 5th 2025 to give us time to implement those changes uh in the settlement agreement J did you say February 5th 25th sorry February 5th 2025 um and the idea behind that was um there's some ordinances that will need to be passed by this governing body and we wanted to give time in case those ordinances weren't introduced until next year great thank you jar thanks for all your hard work on that too thank you mayor appreciate it Carolyn nothing for me tonight thank you all right Kon sure thanks mayor I think I'll start with a couple of shoutouts um one is what we saw this morning the team from syls we saw Ron barbella here as well there is there is a whole lot of services in town DPW first aid uh fire we have we are as we are approaching in uh the Labor Day weekend we had a tremendous season uh full of activities at all of all our facilities whether it's as SP as indoor rooms for seniors to meet or other events to happen I remember it was a fantastic day for Israel flag celebration it was there as well as here and then of course you look at the oval and everywhere else all of our services they just do a tremendous job I think that is commandable and I just wanted to recognize them here and a round of applause for them um one once again U an and uh Barry and the team great job on the budget and keeping the numbers uh very reasonably low uh given the environment we are in with the prices going up we are we are able to manage that so that's that's great um and then uh as I as I recall last few weeks of uh of festivities there was a ton of uh celebrations in town enjoyed a very good India Fest and India Day Parade the flag flag raising so so great work all across I think um that's where I would end mayor um but on a high note great thank you Kane uh Michael thank you mayor um I want to thank the uh New Jersey Department of Transportation um I know the last uh oh it's been a while and um Council MC Klein myself Barry um Russ uh Janette Hardy we were actually preparing for a meeting to um with the State Department of Transportation to talk about putting sidewalks on Route 10 and um just as we were starting to prepare our PowerPoint presentation because it was going to be a u a zoom call uh bar received a a letter that uh said that they were actually planning to put sidewalks uh from the it's a little bit before the circle but the circle up to oakner Parkway uh which is great not sure about East Side yet we'll we'll deal with that uh if we have to but uh it's great that the state had listened to us and thanks Barry and um and everybody who had uh um done work to get uh the state convinced to do that uh the second thing is I do want to also thank the uh State Department of Transportation especially U meredi ham and um I had talked to her a couple times uh as everybody knows my pet project is a Livingston Circle and the cleanliness over over there and uh for the last couple months there's been a couple dead trees over there uh that have fallen and uh if you notice in driveby they've been removed uh and this it's been cleaned up a little bit more so I just want to again thank the Department of Transportation thanks mayor that's all I have for tonight mayor I apologize it's it's it's March 5th not February 5th I apologize March 5th okay great thank you uh Deputy May sure so since Jared just talked about that I I just wanted to give a shout out so Jared the reason why we got to this uh March whatever date you just mentioned to us is because of all the hard work you and your firm did to get us there you've guided us over the last 18 months in a great Direction and uh I just want to know how appreciate that we are for the work that you've done and how you've guided this community in this town so we thank you very much for that thank you that um I also want to just follow up on what councilman bhani said about all the work that uh Ron Jen all the teams that you just mentioned do they all do it and it's all part of our 18.3 cents of every dollar of taxes that we collect so I think that just goes to a kudos to what what you just said and all the other services that we offer as well for one more time for 18.3 cents of every dollar collected so shout out to everybody um who works for the town and finally I had a really interesting about 10 days ago two weeks ago um I think I had my wife sent me to Kings because we didn't have coffee and at 7:15 in the morning I was walking out and there was Nick santonelli loading up all the food that Kings had left over from the night before that they were going to throw out and he was on his third trip from Kings to New York New Jersey at 7:30 in the morning uh to delivering food to those less fortunate and I'm going to tell you if that doesn't strike a chord about ni who Nick is what Livingston helping neighbors does and the town that we live in I think there's nothing else better said just a real shout out to that it's something that really stuck in my mind at 7:15 in the morning so thank you thank you deputy mayor uh thank you again an and the budget team uh really appreciated um I I said it before I think uh if it was the state of the Town Livingston is strong the state is it it we're we're in great shape thanks to all your hard work uh Adam we mentioning a lot would bar thank you so much also for all the calls I've been getting whether it's storms uh problems in town and you're right on it and I I really appreciate that getting back to the residents and um and honestly trying to help them out that's important for our position the town's position so thank you so much on that um I thank uh Jen and her team on the age friendly one more time that's so nice to hear and that we're awarded in in Grants are being uh we're just being recertified uh all that stuff is fantastic and um I think everyone else the India flag you mentioned it right great event uh f fabulous um and I'm going to wrap it up I think uh which one M the mall property no no that was something that it would eventually be public right yeah be yeah once there will be a public session on on our next round on obligations once once we have a better understanding yeah thanks for reminding me but it was not tonight it is somewhere out there um okay so thank you uh thank you for everything and uh great budget thanks appreciate it we're going back for around the table uh conference but we'll be quick right