##VIDEO ID:cx_q3fqeW_w## e e e e e e e e e e e e for e for e e e e e [Music] uh apologies for being a few minutes late here um welcome to the August 14th Township of long hill uh committee meeting would everybody please rise and join me in a pledge of allegiance I pledge of to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Megan please take roll or actually read the uh presiding officer well do you want to okay compliance at the open public meetings Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting um specifically the time date and public call and information were included in the meeting that was electronically sent to the EO sentinol Morris Daily Record and posted on the township website the agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www.long Hill nj.gov a public commment perod will be held in the order is listed on the meeting agenda committee man dorsy here committee men valza present Deputy Mayor lavender present mayor P pres uh out of the gate what we're going to do uh we have asked Bob Flynn uh Regional external affairs from JC if I could just interrupt for do you want to make a comment about committee man right you want to do the right out of the gate well no just because we're taking role and he is not here so I just okay uh so committee when Ray uh for personal reasons uh decided to step down and uh he wasn't able to be here this evening so we will uh do the right thing at the next meeting and have a proclamation Etc uh Brendan and I ran together uh back in 2012 uh but his dedication to this town goes far beyond just the township committee uh he's been a volunteer for the Millington fire department for many years and he's held many positions there um he's been on a planning board for a long long time um he's been on various other committees and I'm forgetting one um but in either case Brendan has dedicated a lot of time and a lot of years to this community and I for one and very appreciative of it uh he's been my running mate for the last three or four times so uh Brendan if you're listening uh thank you for your service and thank you [Applause] Megan okay so uh by Flynn from jcpnl uh they've been working for quite some time uh on some improvements this particular one is over in the the Gillette circuit project but that of course would include uh Myersville so hopefully Bob is in fact here I don't Sam nobody's standing up Bob if you wanted to unmute yourself ah there you go I'm sorry shry good evening everybody um for those those that don't know me uh my name is Bob Flynn I've been with Jersey Central now for a little over five years and in the external Affairs Department um I've known guy for quite some time from my previous employment as well um primarily I cover Morris and pic County um but since yol's departure I've actually taken over her whole District so um I am the rep right now for you know any emergencies any outage information or um on a day like today we get to talk about good news um so we have myself here from external affairs with jcpnl and then I also have Jeff panzarella who is our project manager and I believe I may have Evan H here as well Evan is our transmission um or excuse me our supervisor of transmission project management um with First Energy Jersey Central Power and Light so uh we've discussed this a little bit with the mayor um but we wanted to come into a committee meeting to give this pretty significant update um anytime like I said we have a project where we are investing heavily into our circuits um or our communities we always like to tout those and bring those to the customers attention that you know we are aware of our circuits that need Improvement I live in Chester Township I'm actually uh a benefici area one of those high priority circuits that's getting a lot of tree trimming done here in Chester um so this is a a project that's very exciting for us that we get to discuss with you so Jeff I'll turn it over to you unless you'd like Evan to lead off but I will let you describe the project and then um we will hang on and if there's any questions I'll be happy to answer those as well yeah that's not a problem thank you Bob I'm not sure if Evan's on I can't actually see uh the attendees but um I'll run with it and and he can definitely jump in as needed uh so yeah like like Bob was saying these are this is the NJ rip project the New Jersey reliability Improvement program excuse me um and these are some of our high priority circuits about 18 of the lowest performing uh circuits that that we've identified um and these two being right here in Gillette Long Hill uh circuit uh -42 and uh excuse me 4 and 42 and basically what we're doing here um I heard someone mention miles Myersville earlier that's that's the bulk of our work the most consecutive uh part of the project uh you you'll see I'm not sure if you can see the map um online there but uh it run it spans about 10 miles um and there's a lot of oneoff sections pole replacement some equipment up top of up top of those poles um but the most consecutive work like I mentioned just now is Myersville Road from the intersection of about kasaya there's a restaurant uh that runs Northeast towards Chad to Treetop Lan uh so in that section there we'll be replacing every pole of of um uh so probably upwards of of 80 poles uh we're we're increasing from single phase to three phase so basically that means we'll have an increase in energy uh more constant steady power running um and um and uh and some equipment uh up up top as well we have some re closures with with help with um you know if if there's a trouble on the line um it can you you know we'll it'll test and uh make sure that uh you know it'll shut it off and and keep trying to turn it back on unless it's actual trouble and and it just helps us basically you know monitor those things that are happening and and um and uh track things a little bit better um we will be um currently right now we're scheduled to start construction on on August 26 which is a Monday it's up coming up very uh quickly and um hopefully construction will conclude by November 8th which is a Friday um so we're we're you know in that uh process now of going through our contractors and and um you know hopefully we're uh mobilizing to start construction very very shortly thank you I'll can you just touch on this is a i and again I may you Inc correct with the number but this is a 1.2 is that correct price tag yeah yeah we have a budget of about 1.5 uh million on this that's correct that's correct so it's it's you know definitely in you know obviously First Energy and um and more like you know we we mentioned reliability issue and and um uh you know something that we take seriously obviously we have 18 of these as Jeff had mentioned um these are circuits where we are experiencing the most frequent Interruption for customers um so as I said I work for the company almost six years I don't get any special treatment I don't get to call a crew to come help me in Chester when we lose power it's just unfortunate but it's it's where I live and so the target of these 18 are uh historically where we've seen the most Interruption from whether it's tree contact animal contact carple accidents things like that we analyze that data daily um and compile it into a list of our these circuits that we call usually worst performing circuits so they are the ones with the most issues um and these two for Long Hill are the ones that will you know greatly imp to the residents in that area in terms of reliability um we'll we'll see a pretty good uptick obviously barring any major storms like you get a hurricane or things like that or you know boow echo or straight line winds not much you know new equipment can help with 70 M hour winds but um these devices are new technology stronger poles uh some automation as well and um it's something that we are very excited about so we're happy to be here discuss a good project where we're investing in in one of our municipalities and two of our circuits in Long Hill in chadam Township there is a a small portion of chadam Township as well that will receive some of that benefit so so thank you very much for being here tonight anecdotally I can confirm that there there have been some issues over the last several years in the Myersville section and Gillette one I live in Myersville and two I must commend jcpnl the outage map that is on your website has become very uh uh helpful over the the last 10 years certainly since Sandy and I know you guys put a lot of work into that so we know where our outages are and they tend to be in that area can you comment on because we know Long Hill Township is a very treed heavily treed area and I know the project does include some uh tree uh tree work and and I believe you've met with our administrator Randy bar talking about that can you comment on what might be happening or will happen uh regarding vegetation management yeah and and Jeff just chime in because I'm I'm recounting from our conversation so if I misquote you just just Chun them in um but yeah so we are very aware here in New Jersey uh tree trimming and as you're all familiar with we have cycle trimming for our circuits where we go usually four years we'll go and rrim the regrowth that we see over the four years um there are some tree removals with this however again jefff correct me if I'm wrong but I believe we had initially estimated about 144 trees right that would need to be either removed or Trimm that's now down to under 10 if I'm not mistaken is that correct that's correct initially our forestry team was out there and they had estimated and and tagged uh not not physically but we have we have a list of locations of about 144 trees um so what we did was we redesigned Myersville uh just um just the configur duration up top of the pole from our our single to three phase uh so we were able to get that number of 144 down to lower than uh 10 I think we're at about I think we're at about eight so right now our forestry team is out there um getting signatures and working with some of the residents uh to um you know make uh have those removals um you know proceed as as you know construction starts and um every so and essentially what that means too is instead of those you know that really high number of of removals we're just going to be able to trim as needed um just to make sure we're you know we have a clear shot as we uh put the new circuit you know up in the air so thank you all right so actually can I turn it over to the township committee for questions and comments yeah hi um can you am I plugged in hello try Randy oh man sorry all right sorry about that um so you said you're investing like 1.5 million right what what percentage of that is tree removal versus um increasing resiliency I I assume what you're doing is not only trying to prevent outages but being able to switch over quickly and isolate when you do part of the things residents complain about is it takes so long for the power to come back up um is that some of the improvements that you're making and how much of the investment is is being poured into that uh I have I was gonna say Evan Hills on the line he he just PMD me here he said he would take that question Evan's the um he's supervisor of the PMS here in Jersey I'm not sure if we can make him a panelist so he can he can talk I'm on I'm on for some reason as um for some reason I'm listed as MP but I'm not quite certain why um so to answer your question I guess most directly that 1.5 million number is the actual construction cost of the infrastructure and improvements that does not include tree trimming and vegetation nor does that include the capital cost for all of the equipment that we're installing and the materials and nor does that include the engineering cost planning that went to the project so overall the project closer to probably about the two and a half to $3 million Mark when you add everything up the 1.5 is purely just construction cost got it okay and so you know it's it's hard to prevent a squirrel from knocking out a Transformer or something like that but it sounds like what you're doing here is creating resiliency in the infrastructure so that the power is shifted around the faulty component or Pole or whatever is that the right understanding so yeah what we've done is we we're actually splitting these circuits we're we're splitting all the about approximately 1,500 customers on this line into two different circuits and all those circuits are back fed so there's red redundancy and resiliency there um the type of equipment we're installing we'll call them smart smart equipment we're replacing fuses just like a fuse in your home that when when a when a fault occurs the fuse opens we're replacing those dumb type fuses or dumb devices with smart devices like trip Savers and automatic reclosers um some of which are are uh SC enabled so our district communic a center can can communicate and and see in real time what's going on but these smarter devices if a squirrel were to nibble on the line um would would open and then after about 5 Seconds automatically close to try to clear that fault and it would do that up to three times uh if it is truly a fault such as a tree falls on a on a line or or vehicle accident then that recloser does its job and stays open to protect life okay so um so you're getting you're getting quite a few smart devices and upgrades to what's currently out there and those devices are managed can be managed remotely by our district Communication Center got it all right so so the system can heal itself to a certain degree and in the event that it can't then you can pinpoint where the problem is and troubleshoot it a lot a lot quicker absolutely that's great thank you oh uh uh Jeff what's up I have a question real quick uh this might be for Bob too um back in 2019 we provided a list of um Telephone polls that need to be um for the for the lights put LED lights on and your predecessor pretty much dropped the ball on it um we provided the list and nothing's been done since 2019 basically for Valley Road so two questions one can we get that project started again because I know our the town hall employees as well as the DPW employees took a lot of time putting that together and second uh Jeff when you said you're taking down replacing the poles um if there's any traffic like street lights on those poles are they going to be replaced with better or more efficient LED lights and last uh say hi to Nick and Lauren for me I apologize I it cut out a little bit oh the question Jeff I had was when you're you said you were going to replace a bunch of uh telephone poles correct uh yeah we're placing a bunch of distribution polls corre you do replace those poles if they have street lights on them are you going to replace them with more efficient and brighter LED bulbs or lights as far as I can take go ahead EV yeah so U this program does not is not a is not an Energy Efficiency program for lighting that's separate from what we are managing and installing in most cases if those street lights are operational and still have service life in them we're going to transfer those directly over to the new poles uh the the lighting upgrades and and and Energy Efficiency program for lighting is separate from this program neither of us are really familiar with it um but if you need a new contact of of who that would be uh we we can try to track that down for you and that Evan I can I'll I'll handle that portion because that's that's you know municipality's request the Energy Efficiency portion is for you know our contractors TRC and Wan and that is more internal LED lighting the street lighting is still through like local line shops such as my you know Summit or booten where I operate um so to answer the first question yes we can definitely take that back on that sounds like it was a lot of work uh to get that information if you or whoever can send me the email with the if there's a work order number associated with it if you don't have that it's okay if you can just get me the list of lights or the locations that you want to upgrade we'll go through all that data and we can get an order started for that that's no problem um and likewise for you know if if these sections are areas where you do want LED lights you know we can add that onto the list if that is a request so you answer my next question You' be able to get a list of those poles with lights on them eventually so we can decide whether or not we want to put the better more efficient lights on them yeah thank you yeah thank you Jeff no problem yeah Nick oh good we're good yeah I want to thank you uh for hanging out so late uh this is great news uh for Long Hill but especially for the uh folks over in Myersville and and and Gillette because I've come to know many even better than I already knew them and I've come to know others uh who I didn't know previously because they certainly voice their uh opinions to me so I do appreciate it and this is this is great and by the way we didn't talk about timeline thank you for having us allowing us the opportunity B Bob can you talk to timeline I know it's on the report but better coming from you when is it beginning and when and when do you anticipate the project being completed timeline I'm sorry you're cutting out a little bit timeline when is the project beginning and when do you anticipate I know projects like this could could extend sure right now we're anticipating an August 26th uh begin uh or beginning of construction that's that's maybe um that's a Monday coming up a couple weeks from now uh anticipating to be complete uh on Friday November 8th right now that would be great so again thank you and on behalf of the township committee and the residents of long hill we appreciate the work you guys and gals are doing hey any updates any upgrades planned for Sterling anytime soon I'm looking at all my pizons from Sterling out here I I mean I just felt obligated to ask to be fair I think uh Bob you your response and maybe you should respond to that you went down JCP went down X number the the worst performing circuits and and and Gillette and Myersville popped up I believe yeah I missed I missed the first part of the question but yeah that's correct is we we compile it annually the the worst performing and we will proactively go out you know this is a different style of a project but this is we will proactively go out and you know review equipment I recently had one for M ville's you know one of my towns and we did have a section of towns where it's very big tree canopy over uh this neighborhood around a lake where they they had a a record number of animal contacts so that's one where that you know was never on that list entered it the next year because of all the the tree and uh squirrel related outages that we created a blanket order to put animal guards and you know install some new equipment on that circuit that was just something different so it's something we continually do that we monitor the data of where are we seeing the most frequent interruptions and can we prevent them with Treet trimming with new equipment with animal guards Etc um so yeah that is something that we do and the circuits move up and down off that list based upon their interruptions all right thank you and if you could I know you can hop please give um president Jim fake hope my best I know he retired last week I believe it was Jim came in post Sandy uh and we've worked very closely with him and his team throughout uh the year so please give him my best we'll do we'll do thank you all again for having me thank you have a great evening thank you apprciate it okay uh is the president president of the Chamber of Commerce here Gary gakis EXC there he is so Gary's the president of the uh Long Hill Township Chamber of Commerce he has graciously agreed to come in and speak on uh the happenings in town thanks thanks for having me here I don't have anything necessarily prepared this was kind of a impromptu put together and it was all Matt's idea no it wasn't Matt's idea I think guy you expressed some interest and kind of you know you were enthused I guess about some of the newer businesses that were coming to town some of which you might be aware of because they have grand openings that we you know we help them organize and and get the newspaper in front of and stuff but there's plenty of businesses coming to town that don't join the chamber so I don't necessarily know about them um so you know I I I don't know exactly what you want to have happen tonight so I'm just wondering you want me to list the names of the businesses that we've done grand openings for or you want me to tell you about the businesses that have moved to town that haven't joined right at Myersville Circle we know there's the black bow Steakhouse is black bowl is that right and Gary maybe what you could do also is explain how you're organized um how you meet um how you communicate with the members and you mentioned a bunch of businesses that aren't in the Chamber of Commerce maybe you could talk about what they're missing what value they're missing by not belonging to the chamber right so I mean there's there's companies in town like like Starbucks right they're they contribute to things in the town they're like part of the community they they're bringing coffee to National Night Out or lemonade they brought to National Night Out they come to the the uh the tree lighting that we have down in Myersville at the Chamber of Commerce always puts out some pretzels and you guys come out and help heat them up and that's great and and it's a great kind of community event and they bring coffe that but they're not becoming a chamber member I think they would get more out of you know being a chamber member and uh the way we communicate is through email or through a a text exchange we have our recording secretary here uh VI Vicky who uh Victoria who would be somebody we' probably want to add to the list when you send me uh you know some new businesses that want to register uh and knowing about those new businesses coming in which is I really appreciate that when they come to town their process is that they have to register with with the town is that correct they have to do yes so like restaurants have to get like Board of Health approvals they have to get uh sign um sign offs from zoning so yes all new businesses that come into town have to go through planning and zoning and fire and if it's yeah but we don't have a merant license corre per se like towns cor right is there a standard fee that each business has to pay standard no there's not standard no it varies based on large they are and which departments they have to go through and everything like that okay cuz I'm just trying to think of ways that we can add some value to those businesses that are coming saying we're the chamber we can help you with this we can help you with that you just triggered something in my mind Jack is it appropriate can we when a new business comes in and registers per se can we give them the contact information etc for the local chamber sure so I've been doing that I've been anybody that's come in to do like a Board of Health application um the new Turkish restaurant there's a bakery I said do you want me to have the president of the Chamber of Commerce reach out to you about a ribbon cutting joining the Chamber of Commerce everything like that and they've given permission to give out their information so right I I Taco Bell hasn't reached out to me yet though I don't you know so again it's these bigger companies that uh kind of don't even though they're part of the community I don't know how to get them into the chamber so this is more of a dialogue with you guys what can we do to help the chamber you got a mandate that they have to join the chamber no Jack is that legal noely no so I mean I guess making them aware Megan's doing a great job and she's the first line of defense or offense however you want to look at it that you know the chamber exists and we're exists not for just the small companies that are you know uh salons or bakeries or or breweries um which can get bigger and bigger but those those those National Brands but I think they just have some sort of like thing that they don't know that they had to join each municipalities Chamber of Commerce they you know they're they're the big guns I don't I don't know what the answer is so that's why this is kind of more of a conversation a give and take no we can't mandate them to to join but I appreciate all the efforts that Megan does to kind of you know prod them to would you like to have this you know maybe Taco Bell doesn't need a a ribbon cutting and having you guys come in there and eat some free tacos I don't know D people that have at home businesses or have businesses outside of town that do business in or people in town can they join the chamber yeah as a matter of fact we have several there so that that that's one of the things when I was thinking about you know the the company this that you guys have come to to you know there's been a couple hair salons we have XO we have Barts you know we recently had the the opening at the um oaz oaz uh the new uh place which I just went to for lunch today um and and that's great but yeah there's there's a bookkeeper that moved in and or joined the chamber recently there's an accountant that joined there's all these people that you know homebased businesses they're chamber members they get value they can come to the events that we have where we we have some time FaceTime with the public and they should be encouraged to and that's that we communicate them through our our Text Blast or email blast and we have the list of but I don't have a list of all the email addresses of all the businesses to invite them all because they're not necessarily all members but you know they're part of the community so it'd be great if all the businesses would be part of the Chamber of Commerce but some of them don't necessarily see the value and that's why I was getting towards is there some sort of standard fee because to roll you know I talk take it up with the board but if there's some way to roll in one of their expenses into a membership you know that's something we can discuss on our we've talked we've spoken about this in the past the membership in the chamber is it's $100 it's $100 a year so it's very cheap you have many networking events throughout the course of the year it's a good way as you said maybe a national chain like Taco Bell but it's still important for them to meet uh the other businesses town and and and stuff like that so and no I don't know when Taco Bell's opening I I follow Facebook I don't necessarily uh engage uh but uh rumors are bound that the jcpnl has to get them online I don't I don't know you know what we just had them we ask them if they're hungry I I'll text bobai for J we have confirm Jeff thank you yeah okay so it's not nothing to do with the construction office well there was an issue with the PO left supply of power belong to the phone company oh yeah I know that drill you know bureaucracy so it's great and when I see the lights on over there I'll go over and ask them to join you know but as I've done with you know like I said this Matt's question was an excellent one by the way because there's a gentleman in town who approached me and said I I don't have a physical store but he has a business and I I said I'll connect you with the president so okay later tonight you're you know midnight you'll be getting a text from me okay great so Gary if you if you were to if you were to talk to all the business owners that are either planning on joining or aren't and maybe you want to convince them to join would you would you tell them that you have a website would you tell them that you know this is um publicity opportunities at at regular events in town how would you convince those those those businesses to join that's a great question that we have a website that's getting developed now and and all the businesses that are members will be there they'll have their logos on there and and links to their to their web pages and stuff so that's just one place that people can find it I mean if you Google Starbucks you also find Starbucks straight out so you know I don't know if that's enough of a reason for a brand like you know like a Taco Bell or Starbucks to join the chamber but it is another thing that we add so yeah we're developing a website to be able to put out there and put on our on our stuff but I do think it's the it's the it's the township events the the networking opportunities with the community or our own networking things which we've done we've probably done two or three this year um and hope to continue them where we get chamber members together and they're exchanging ideas and and names and and trying to work on things together sometimes anything else any other ideas you got thanks for coming okay I appreciate it I know you you're a very busy uh person uh and you volunteer your time to the chamber so thank you when's the next meeting I know I got an email about it you can announce it I think it's going to be next Wednesday at the uh the firehouse next yep so businesses that want to join and want to find out more about it they should probably come to uh I mean I could put it out to our thing and and and maybe the paper can run a little something that we're having a general meeting but you know hopefully they're they're looking at the paper but I appreciate 7 o00 in mingon fire yeah mingon fire department yeah thanks okay thanks thank you okay thank you Gary okay so uh for those following at home and here in the uh courtroom item number five ordinance Capital ordinance [Music] we had one of our vehicles in a fleet of DPW vehicles um let's just say that no longer can be utilized so the director Gallow and I had discussed the uh various possibilities and we looked at at various options so one of the items that we want to amend is the acquisition of a large dump truck uh we determin that we are able to um refurbish that truck with a dump bu uh mounted to the existing frame um and purchase the uh purchase a pickup truck with plow um that would uh obviously have much more use than a large uh truck with u a dump body but we're able to refurb the large dump truck and get a new pickup truck uh by this amendment um no extra cost in the ordinance thank you Randy any questions for Randy from the hearing none uh looking for a motion so moved second committee man dorsy yes committe man bza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes so second reading is going to be September 4th and I think I don't know if we've already posted it we have posted it yes we have posted it so we're going to move I forget with I guess September 11th the reason we're moving it from September 11th uh to September mber 4th you might be able to figure that one out uh we have a very moving uh remembrance ceremony every September 11th or I should say St Joseph's Shrine uh kindly um does that and I think it's important for the committee to attend that so that's why we're moving it from September 11th to September 4th uh next up ordinance 55-24 first reading amending chapter 29 of the Township's code entitled uniform construction code and construction requirements how would you like to do this I know Jeff thank you for being here this evening this is another one Megan and I discovered that our ordinance provides that you can't get a refund of a construction fee after 45 days right oh that's not permitted by the state rule so we're just taking it out okay pretty pretty straightforward it's just a cleanup any questions thank you for catching that any questions from the committee for Jack all right this is first read Megan would you do your magic please so moved oh she has a deep voice is there a second second mman dorsy Mana yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes I was wondering why you was smiling H ordinance 5 43-24 Second reading this is for adoption establish establish in a construction records clearance certificate supplementing amending chapter 29 of the Township Code entitled uniform construction code and construction requirements Jack maybe you can explain it and I know Jeff kly came here this evening yeah we we've been carrying this ordinance for several meetings because we we we introduced the ordinance that's had been adopted in surrounding towns but Jeff has pointed out that there's an issue uh when somebody wants to buy a house as is and assume liability for outstanding construction permits so we've been carrying it so that we can amend and supplement the ordinance to provide for that uh that possibility thank you uh would the committee like I mean Jeff is here this evening maybe Jeff can give us some color um well again as Jack said uh if someone wanted to buy as is or if there's open permits and they can't meet the time frame that we set out for them to close you're basically tying their hands that they won't be able to close on the house the way the ordinance is written now um there are a few options one is to do a conditional as well as a regular one you can add an extra one as a conditional um we've already not here but in another town just had the people sign an affidavit have it notorized that they're taking over those permits uh either way the new owner whoever it is has to refile building not not a whole thing just a change of ownership because they now are accepting those permits as theirs but again you could do it conditionally or you can do it the way I've done it elsewhere just by having them notorized a letter and we just track it through the construction Department Jeff and as other towns have they amended the ordinance or you've just established that practice they have not they have not and I hate to say it when I brought it up it was figure it out do something that'll work yeah so and honestly sometimes the less ordinance you have the better off you are so so do you recommend we just go that route we adopt this as is and I would probably adopt it as is if you want to put a note in there that says you know if there's an instance the construction official I know it sounds like you're giving a lot of power but it's not that the construction official has the authority to work with the the new owner on how to close out permits but I don't even know if I would do that you know we have not amended in the other towns we have not amended anything and it seems to work we've had so far we've done upwards of 60 of these in two months and we had one that they didn't realize they had to get it and they were closing the next day and obviously that helped them out and a week later the guy had closed out the permits i i i defer of Jeff he's the one that has to carry it out out so I think if it's working in the other towns why don't we try that and if need be we can amend the ordinance does that make sense yep so Jack what what what ramifications does that have on the way this is written on none none none because this is the ordinance pretty much identical to this is what the other towns are doing yes okay like I said if if we run into issues we can we can amend the ordinance accordingly right right if it becomes a problem we could always amend it right you know the idea is not to stop someone from buying a house but you also don't want the person buying the house to all of all of a sudden have something that they're looking at and saying I have an open permit for an addition okay they have to close that and it could be a simple thing but now they're going to be paying taxes on something that might not have been caught and they're not aware of it and I have to say Realtors attorneys they have really been very good in the last I'm going to say within the last 10 years and it's gotten better that they will do their own checking anyway and they want to know because they don't want someone to buy a problem they have to answer for it any other questions Scott no we're good good all right so if I could this is second reading so I'd like to open up thanks Jeff by the way Jeff thank you Jeff uh I'd like to open up the meeting to the public for questions or comments about this ordinance ordinance 5 43-24 sir would you please state your name and your purpose Carrie trakis Sterling 215 High Street um so coming at this from a a practitioner of real estate in town uh in our town specifically we currently only have a a a smoke or fire certification that's required to to uh get a see oh we don't have we had that's that's the Fire official we don't have a right it's already what I'm want to know yeah that's so that's already in place and and that and that includes a a some pump inspector to make sure it's not dumping into the sewer line right um so I want to know now is there something else that does have to be or doesn't have to be kind of confirmed or approved or paid for by the buyer or the seller of a home yeah that just have to confirm that there are no outstanding building permits and as Jeff said if there are and the buyer wants to assume responsibility for those Jeff will allow the buyer to do that by signing a waiver okay but that's not in the ordinance that's something that we're doing outside of the ordinance that's correct but in any event buyers and sellers will have to get a certification that all outstanding construction permits have been satis or all construction permits have been closed okay so to all the other people that are are buying or selling homes in town that aren't here at this meeting and hearing this now they only have the ordinance to guide them on what they need and the ordinance is going to say here's what you got to do and then if you know the secret code you could go talk to Jeff and say can we get a waiver is that is that what I'm hearing well I I think we should make Realtors aware of it it's a very common ordinance I think all surrounding towns have already had it for a number of years uh leld T committee discussed it several years ago and decided not to do it but it's like any ordinance yeah I mean yeah know I mean you always do want permits closed out but yeah there's these these these oneoff occasions where people don't care or they want they need to get it done or it was a surprise at the end of the but but I think it protects buyers because I'm sure you've had instances where 20 years later a buyer goes to sell and finds out there was a perent open from and you know then he's going to be he or she's going to be responsible for something the Predators did I think I think the answer your question I think uh the qu the question is what do they have to do or just go to Jeff and get a waiver they need to get a construction records clearance certificate from the construction code official if for some odity that the the closing is happening too quickly or whatever uh Jeff can grant a waiver doesn't wave them from getting that certificate it gives them more time to get that certificate or if the buyer wants to buy as is they would have to sign an affidavit uh saying saying that and get it notorized yeah so so so the those there's two stops now one is with Don to get the the smoke fire some pump certification and there's another is there a fee to this uh application for uh making sure the permits are closed out in the ordinance it says it will be set by resoltion by the township committee so you haven't revised your um fee schedule so as of right now I guess there's no fee for it that's right okay so it's it's paperwork but there's not another $100 $75 $300 at this point okay stay tuned stay tuned okay yeah we we'll we'll we'll have discussions about that but as of this point no correct me if I'm wrong I mean you can go into sdl Portal right now pull up an address and look and see if there's open permits yeah that's what we do yep it's not as official as reaching into the township and doing Oprah but yeah that's the same thing the Oprah report that you get is the sdl not speaking for the rest of them but maybe I am not anticipating a fee for something that simple okay I will say this they can do a check on the portal um I would say 99% of the time it's correct yeah but when we do a clearance record we physically go we check the P we check our computer you pull up the file physically go to the files and check because sometimes they might have got all finals and knock up a certificate issue you know uh so again part of that is you physically have to check right so so this is will do a physical check as well but it will actually stop all the op requests for stuff like that because they can check the portal they'll file for it to get one and they'll get all that information of what is open or what's not when they get that clear certificate they get a print out of everything that's closed so as a real estate professional Gary this is due diligence so you can assure your buyers that you're you're working on right is I just wanted to understand if there's now there's another form and there's not yet a fee that's was my question and that's what we've established okay all right thanks thank you thank you Gary thank you Gary okay so next up anybody anybody else online oh I'm sorry and a vote and aote Megan j to correct me not yours I'm just helping her out Megan what should I do now is there anybody any other member of the public in the courtroom seeing none uh at home if there's anybody on Zoom that would like to make a public comment please raise your hand now I don't see anyone mayor can I can I have a motion so moved second committee M dorsy committee man verza Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes next up ordinance 547-2421 updating the police department organization chart by eliminating the position of Chief clarifying the duties of the public safety director and the officer in charge and amending chapter 2 of the Township Code entitled Administration so I'll make a brief statement here we have been in consultation uh with the prosecutor's office throughout every permutation of this ordinance and of course uh Consulting with our labor Council uh at this time I'm going to make a motion that we pull this ordinance to be discussed uh to consider our options and uh at at a future date I also want to be clear we we have stated repeatedly throughout this process uh the position of chief of police in Long Hill Township will remain it will be filled uh when we feel it is uh appropriate so anybody who's saying anything different to that um I'm making that statement here and we have made it many times in the past the position of chief of police in Long Hill Township will be filled at the appropriate time so my motion is that we pull this ordinance second call good roll call motion to pull I'm voting against it I'll tell you why I was told I had to be at this meeting because I asked if you want to table till September oh the mic's on isn't it can you hear oh thank sorry I was told I asked if you wanted to pull this thing till September I was told no we're voting on it in August I'm here to vote on it today so I don't want to pull it I want to vote on it this is a final election on this ordinance as is any ordinance would have to be reintroduced something it's not working it is is it it close it's very low yeah I I said this ordinance cannot be voted on in the future it would have to be int reintroduced so it's essentially be dead tonight then correct pulling it we'll kill it tonight for the time being so the motion clear on that though the motion kill this thing the motion I have made is to pull this ordinance and a new ordinance would have to be reintroduced in the future we will remain in consultation with with the prosecutor's office as we have been for I don't know a year uh Scott I I don't know how long it's been um and we we will consider our option in consultation with the prosecutor's office and labor Council okay so there's a motion there's a second roll call vote to pull the ordinance committee men dorsy yes committeeman valza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes okay let's move on and anybody who wants to comment there ask question well really more comment we'll get through the rest of the agenda relatively quickly um so stick around I just don't want the folks at home or those that are in the audience that are here for other reasons uh to have to stay uh for any lengthy conversation right now so ordinance 548-2261 include requirements for maintenance and repair of storm water management systems and I have a nice lengthy note um so we will have to carry this ordinance the public uh sorry the planning board was supposed to have a meeting last night to do Master Plan consistency review on this the only change that we're making to this ordinance is to strike out the $50 fee um however we still have to wait the 35 days that the planning board is allotted um so we will have public hearing second reading and adoption at the September 4th meeting so we'll carry it so can I have a motion to carry the ordinance don't I say that go ahead can I have a motion to carry this ordinance so moved and there'll be no further notice or publication okay September 4th is the date consent agenda whoa second second no is there a second I want second mag committee man dorsy committee man Vala yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Bia yes item number six consent agenda uh there are two that are being added uh resolution 24-21 and I'll read both of these uh resolution 24-21 accepting resignation the resignation of committee when Brendan Ray uh Township Committee Member of the township of long hill and appointing for the remainder of the ter term uh you can say it I can't say ory uh rer Eline how' I do Matt close you're getting better I'm getting better okay first name you know ory's never complained to me only you complain uh and then also resolution 24-22 accepting the resignation of Shawn Brown who has been a great friend to this uh community and um and a great uh officer uh for many years uh he's a accepted a position uh elsewhere so Sean thank you uh you were very instrumental in uh getting the accreditation back uh for the lill Township Police Department along with uh the help who who you asked to help with you etc etc so those two ordinances are being added resolution anybody any uh does anybody have to recuse thems or I like the pull 24-2 217 okay for further discussion right correct all right I don't know what the purpose of this is for we have somebody what well you're gonna pull it to discuss it so let's get through the consent and then we'll vote on that separately fine thank you Megan any others that need to be uh pulled any any recusals so just just a clarification so 24-22 is uh appointing Aubrey to the township committee brendon's Place correct that is correct 222 is accepting Brendan's resignation no no Sean Brown Sean Brown's resignation for Brendon where is Brendan's it's with Aubrey's correct got it okay so 221 is Brendan resigns Aubrey is appointed to the committee that term runs until December 31st that's right right and she will be sworn in at the next Township committee meeting and then 222 is Sean's resignation correct and does that include OEM director Deputy OEM director yes got it uh uh coordinator Deputy OEM coordinator right emergency that's the one we're pulling for a discussion no no Sean ah all right we didn't include that I say we're pulling M pulling y y yep I say all right now that we have that thank you for that uh clarification Deputy Mayor lavender anytime mayor B Okay so looking for uh I want you to be a little bit more sincere when you say that absolutely I'm looking for a motion to approve resolution numbers 24-25 to through 24- 222 we are pulling 24- 217 for further discussion so moved second committee dorsy committe man valza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes Matt fire away yes uh I don't see why we need a deputy Joe Joe Hubert didn't have a deputy he was a civilian employee with a full-time job please I said when Joe Hubert was the uh OEM coordinator I don't believe he had a deputy and he had a full-time job in besides this we have somebody we're paying a lot of money to um that's Shan was on the deputy because he was already on the payroll I know Mr figer is not getting any money but I don't see the need of disappointment we a lot of things are in flux right now and I don't feel like uh it's appropriate now to start getting people to this department when we don't know what's going on going forward I I Echo Matt's sentiments on that one well it's a my response to that is one it's a volunteer position as Matt correctly pointed out I would point out that Ken was the OEM director for a number of years and did a phenomenal job in that intermittently over the last number of years when he stepped down um and Shane da had taken over and then of course Joe uh came came in Ken and his previous employment worked for jcpnl so Ken has always graciously volunteered his time whenever we've had major outages so for me it's just a it's a volunteer position with invaluable experience uh he's going to help anyway uh and it's a volunteer position I I don't honestly understand the uh objection and I would point out the very person I just pointed out Shane da was the deputy to Ken this isn't something that hasn't existed in the past I didn't say it didn't exist in the past I just said I'm not for it right now I didn't say it didn't exist in the past I'm just saying I'm not for it right now under these circumstances right so I have a question where did the recommendation come from ah director peoples came to me and said Ken again graciously offered his time uh and director peoples thought it was a good idea frankly so do I and and Matt so what exactly is your objetive ction to Ken if it not costing us money and it's replacing a position that is now being vacated does it have to do with Ken or does it have to do with something else no it's that's like Sprite told you it had to do with and Vic why are you against it I I I don't just don't think it's the right time why not because we're in flux here with the the whole OEM director there's a bunch of stuff going on here I just don't think it's the time to do a separate separate concerns or whatever this is this is that time of year where like the OEM director sort of you know they're getting ready for the hurricanes and the floods I don't think it's why I don't think it's that important that we discuss it necessarily we vote on it tonight I think we can table it we can table we can table it I'm just I'm just perplexed I mean this is such a minor thing I don't understand the push back against it I mean I didn't understand why it came up but again it just seems kind of crazy I I I will admit put somebody in it was brought to my attention I thought it was a great idea I never expected any conversation on this in opposition so I didn't really socialize it's for the OEM director it is kind of like a it's not the OEM director it's aut director a deputy Deputy the person and there's a lot of moving Parts here and I'm not comfortable voting on it right now plain and simple I think there were a couple of deputies now that I think about it when Ken was the OEM director I think there were a couple of Deputy directors um before Megan time well we do have Joe Hubert as a director c as a deputy right now that's right oh that's actually a good point we already have one so while Joe Hubert would just remain in in in place who I'm very comfortable with until we have further discussion on this matter right I have no problem if you want to have further discussion let's pull 24-27 um I make a motion that we carry it to the next meeting at least maybe the one after all right the second meeting in September if you don't mind Meg again okay so the motion is to carry it to the second meeting in September so that was Deputy Mayor Lavender is there a second well I don't think anybody I have no problem with that okay so Matt seconded all in favor hi hi okay uh committee reports Matt you've been very talkative tonight so we're GNA let you well I do from the DPW Al announced a couple weeks ago Town Hall has been doing it's a great program they're now recycling K cffs so if you have to reuse the coffee K cffs and things like that you don't even have to empty them out you can bring them down to the DPW Lobby and dump as many as you want in there and uh they'll get repurposed so that's all I have thank you Matt we'll jump right over to Vic cuz look he's chopping I got a it's a long one but uh first we'll go with beautification beautification um I don't know if anybody's noticed but we started wrapping the utility boxes I'm sorry wait a minute please oh I think you please Megan didn't say you add it please that looks like the there we go that looks like the portal into Autumn into where Autumn yeah yeah you like walk through that door and you're walking hand in hand with thick into oober I think they look great thus far um I they're not completed yet correct um we're uh the just beginning correct Vic where did they come from people are going to ask right from uh artists and photographers right here in town thank you so that was the one that was installed right out side of town hall and then these will be um coming to the different locations it was just been too hot are there any ferrets on them no no ferrets okay I'm just asking um and look at those oh yeah little birdie talk to me this are beautiful okay all right we'll move on to open space let's go open space is cooking with gas um uh we have a strong committee we're getting things uh we're we're we're P pushing the ball forward towards the goal line we're going to be uh we're opening Communications with the original architect or engineer that uh is designed the Trails um we presented ideas uh to the um the current engineer Joe Vu we're waiting to see if we can get them approved uh you know as far as what we could put in Central Park as far as what type of field uh you know where it would fit can it fit um you know we're going to have a dog park so we have a lot of ideas we're waiting to know what we can do hopefully what we uh suggested will be approved um and we will present to the township committee uh to move forward with it can I ask a question on that and maybe you can go back to uh to Joe and then and maybe at the next meeting come back when we purchase the property across the street we used uh County uh open space funds and local open space funds at the time I believe uh there were about it's a 70 plus acre property at the time there were about eight plus acres I Don't Know Jack if you remember roughly that were buildable whatever you know ball field etc etc as we know with the D probably 30 40 50 years ago all 70 Acres over there might have been buildable and as time has gone on it's become less and less so my question is this is it still 8 Acres buildable and I don't know and if you could ask Joe yeah we're waiting to hear back again we made a pro we we made our proposals we shared our ideas now we're waiting to find out whether or not they are possible and if not he's going to make recommendations as to what we can actually regardless of what we propose putting there the amount of acreage that is buildable that shouldn't matter what we're proposing right the D should be able to answer that question pretty for right if if that has shrunk then then Joe's going to let us know that that you know we what we we can't we no longer have those eight Acres it's now six or whatever or exactly we're going to know but we're we're it we're going to know soon and we're going to be presenting to the township committee so that we can move forward and you know and and get that Central Park project that's great really going it's time will a clock yeah no clock might might okay now no now now GNA have a when you thought you got rid of me here we go he's gonna have a sunnd dial we're GNA the wreck update for August 14th is as follows slide one here all right still time to enjoy Sterling lake we open every day from now until Labor Day our family fund day for members will be held on 824 featuring contests such as the biggest splash contest the sand castle Master marker races sidewalk chalk drawings and much much more pickle ball play at Myersville ball field continues to provide hours of fun and the court is getting a lot lot of use Longo residents can book Court times for free on community pass well hold on a second committee man verza aren't you supposed to say something at the top of that previous slide please please don't it's not on there just let let him think responsibly I see it right there okay I wasn't hit with that one carry on all right all right we got slides three through five mother had some other plans for our National Night Out on August 6th with storms hitting just as the fun was set to start we moved a lot of the activities inside town hall and the library our Emergency Services groups still showed up in force with the help of store manager tati of Starbucks of Gillette we were able to turn lemons into lemonade thank you Starbucks for providing free lemonade and iced coffee to all who attended also thank you to Carney bank and Gary gianakis of wer realtors for coming and sharing lots of great giveaways with the crowd thank you to Laura our face painter and balloon maker she brought lots of smiles the library certainly brought fun showing sing one and sing two for the kids they also hosted a temporary tattoo station a coloring station and provided a backdrop of black paper for indoor chalk drawings thank you to everyone who participated and came out thank you to our County Partners hope 1 and jbws who came a distance to spend the evening with us providing lots of great information a special thank you to our sponsor who made this all possible The wung Hills Regional Municipal Alliance unfortunately some of the events that could only be held outside had to be cancelled however we have rescheduled four flight Rock to Thursday which is tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. in the park please remember this is a free concert again sponsored by whr Ma come out with the family a picnic dinner your Beach Blanket and chairs for a great time with classic rock music from the 60s 7s and 80s also the urban cone ice cream truck will be on hand with delicious ice cream for sale also rescheduled from National Night Out the official fun guys will be meeting everyone on the caner park turf field for a great evening of family relay races again another free family night out thanks to our sponsor W HR ma we hope you'll join us for from 600 p.m. to 9900 p.m. on Friday August 23rd fall field hot fall field hockey hocke res resignation registration is in full swing now go to community pass to register for this great fall program our coaches from Center Court will be back this year to train with our kids Friday September 6th 7:30 p.m. till 9:30 p.m. is the Sterling lake as the Sterling lake dance on the beach Long Hill students in grades 6 through eight are invited to join us for a fun night of dancing on the beach and games there's a $5 admission fee at the gate see the website for more information and permission slip that every participant needs to sign and bring with them please note this is a weather dependent event chaperon are needed please contact the rec department if you can help all right last but not least the moris County Mosquito commissioner will have a display in our lobby you missed a word there I'm I'm sorry you missed a word do you real or it's a sound the abuse continues the Morris County Mosquito commission will have a display in our lobby during the week of September 3rd with lots of information on mosquitoes and ticks with all the rain last week please remember to EMP empty the standing water from pots and buckets and that concludes my Recreation update thank you question on that will they be spraying I have no idea good to know it it doesn't tell me but in either case that was a great update thank you I I thought maybe everybody was going to do the little at the same time get a 10 on delivery I try my best Scott uh nothing here thank you thank you just uh couple of things from the first aid Squad last night the first aid Squad heard a presentation from Dr Bruce Ruck director of the New Jersey Poison Control uh the squad recommends that you visit the New Jersey Poison Control website and learn how to poison proof your home um I'll read the the address for those who can write it down but you can just Google it and it will pop up it's www NJ p i s pi .org and the recommendation comes uh from Captain English and the squad the first aid Squad is still uh in the middle of their fun fundraising year I've said this many times in the past they are 100% volunteer they do an un an unbelievable job 750 uh calls per year and it it kind of remains consistent so basically two two calls a day so if if you are able to please uh donate um uh generously and that's it Randy administrator report yeah mayor I have a couple things uh Public Works uh monthly report for August um over the past month they used 22 tons of asphalt for pothole uh fixes and black top curbing they did four days of processing of styrofoam recycling uh removed a couple trees they did street sweeping throughout the entire town they retrofitted 55 catch basins uh did uh a lot of tree trimming uh they uh actually finished up today with the dumpster enclosure at municipal building in the back um and did uh Township own lawn maintenance obviously and uh Matt already mentioned the K cup recycling so please take advantage of that along with all the other recycling that we have at public working Works including food waste uh styrofoam and uh take a look at our website to uh look at any others um we had a Tac meeting which is the traffic advisory committee meeting yesterday I think it was very productive we had the county in uh traffic engineer and uh her assistant uh we talked uh primarily about two problem areas Northfield and Valley and also the myville Myersville Circle uh so we're going to be doing some um temporary uh hopefully improvements uh on the North Field approaching um going south approaching Valley Road that hopefully will help people with the uh site and the stop sign at Valley Road can you be more specific yeah we're going to be um we and remember the road is uh out the bid for reconstruction so right now um it's a perfect time to put some um paint notifications in the street stop ahead uh a white line maybe on the shoulder uh that that um shows you you're coming to a stop sign and uh wider Stop Bar uh maybe maybe a uh larger crosswalk um for traction and to put uh temporary signs that say well not temporary but signs that say stop ahead um we have one out there now um but we we want to get the more up to-date signs that have will have the reflective uh writing on it did any um did any recommendations come for some of the through traffic on Valley uh because it does approach that intersection very fast is there a warning of that intersection coming up is there any kind of traffic calming that is talked as a possibility well we did discuss the traffic light uh obviously is always a discussion uh with that intersection and has been in past years and I believe it was back in 2004 or five uh there was um enough traffic to Warrant a traffic late at at that time the township committee decided not to move forward with it um even if we move forward today with it uh it's like a three-year process so and traffic lights cost a little more than what I thought they they cost about uh for to do a whole intersection about $600,000 um and we would probably need to take some property also so you know there's much more involved in in doing a trafficly um these these quick fixes if you will um will certainly help uh we'll we'll take a another look at Valley Road itself on the approach and maybe uh you know see if there's uh I don't think there's any signs that say intersection ahead or something like that so maybe that's something we could uh talk with the county about and put up a couple signs there and that's a county road as well and that's what is that 40 m hour or 35 there 40 I think right there it's 40 and how hard is it to reduce the speed limit there I don't have an answer to that that would be a great answer to get I mean I live in that neighborhood that's an uphill stop sign your wheels spin when you try to get out I personally uh recommend my sons and daughters don't go down there turn left and that's on a sunny day um the traffic comes very fast in both both directions on Valley Road uh so I definitely think we should take a look at slowing that speed limit down there if that's something that's possible because I think as you get towards Main Street in Sterling doesn't the speed limit go down there 35 yes correct and uh Sergeant Sutton actually gave us an analysis of all the accidents in there for the last few years and correct me wrong either Vic or Randy he said the majority of them I think almost all of them were caused by driver in attentiveness coming from Northfield Road on the valley road so it was people just not paying attention as they approach the stop sign caused the accidents it wasn't the people on Valley Road well I can tell you being on Valley Road and having lived here for 27 years I'm afraid of that intersection oh it's bad no doubt about it and I I I have several times in all the cars I've owned spun my tires trying to get out there when I see someone appear uh coming up and they're not doing 40 they're doing 50 actually in retrospect think that it might be something to be discussed maybe drop the speed limit on especially I mean it's never as easy as you think though well but Vic think about it we we have all this building going on in the towns around us we are being surrounded by affordable housing and all this building and folks are coming to our stores to shop which is a good thing which is a good thing but with that with that increased traffic flow and you said yourself I heard you lamenting the same thing as well with all the traffic down the other end of town right so I think this is something that if it's possible we ought to look at it one thing we have to be clear on and Randy you did touch upon it about the signs in the county road this is a county road we cannot just even if we wanted to magically put in a sign a process a traffic light 600 Grand they will do a study both for the light and for the reduction of the uh speed limit they've done many studies on Myersville Road for example and each time they've come back um well and in conjunction with the uh Longo police department they said there's no justification for it my only point is we cannot snap our fingers and make that decision we have to we have to start the process right and it's incumbent upon us to start the process fair enough that's it mayor that's it okay um discussion Park Mobile is this something you're working on or actually um I'm going to flip it over to Megan because she's been taking a lead on it so Park Mobile is um oh Park Mobile the parking okay sorry yes it um is the mobile parking app that you can go to a train station and pay for a daily parking pass you guys at the end of last year I believe asked if we would research Standalone um machines or an app or something like that and um CL I and Nancy when she was here and Randy have been researching a few different um applications uh the Millington Standalone machine does have some issues is um DPW director Al Gallo knows um and uh it costs the town money to use this Park Mobile um doesn't cost the town anything to use the only thing I would be asking you guys is if we were to go forward with Park Mobile I would suggest marking spots and painting them and numbering them so on the app you would go in and reserve your parking by number um New Providence apparently is going forward with a sandwich board type um approach uh Colette and I have tried to go there and find the sandwich board and haven't been able to find it what does that mean a sandwich board so they're designated a part in the lot saying that there's a certain amount of spots that they can sell and putting a sandwich board saying this is where you can park in the lot I think it would be more beneficial to Mark the spots but going forward I don't know how many spots you're looking to designate we haven't sold out of any of our uh parking permits since 2020 ironically we sold out of Gillette right before Co hit and then we didn't reimburse anybody um but that was the last time we didn't sell out of Gillette parking permits in 2019 or 2018 and um we sold out of sterling in 2019 but then after that we sold 49 parking passes in 2020 15 in 2021 so it's slowly dwindling and um we sold so far this year for 2024 210 Gillette parking permits out of how many these are just dailies okay and Sterling we've sold 145 and those are $5 permits each day the the issue that we're running into is people that want to park a Gillette Park uh train station at 6:00 in the morning they have to request the daily parking pass the night before because then it has to get accepted by either deal or myself we have to send the payment requests we then have to alert the Police it's it's a very tedious um yeah chadam does it where you you can't park on a daily until after 11 o'clock and you go to the a police station just there um but theirs is a different situation in ours that they don't have enough spots for the demand whereas we apparently have some uh we have open some flexibility and I I use Park Mobile all the time uh when I go into uh New York City I park in Jersey City uh it's great app Quick boom done I used it in in Summit one day recently um it's super easy to use like I said it's not costing no Capital cost at all we don't pay for anything so there's no reason not to I from what I can the only thing is what I'd be asking you guys is how many spots you would want to a lot to each train station if you'd want to get rid of the Standalone machine at Millington and if you wanted to number the spots or do a sandwich board contract wise because we can change depending on demand but Park Mobile is not going to come in there and and go through the expense if all of a sudden next year we go from 50 spots down to 10 spots they that was one of the questions that I asked them and they would be okay they're they're looking more to get all towns on their app as opposed to getting the volume because I said if we're not selling you know 30 passes at Gillette are you guys okay with that and they they said that they and actually that's a silly question now that I replay it in my mind there's no Capital cost really it's just the app it's the signs it's the signs posting saying scan here to download the app and pay the I got you any questions from Megan let's do it Megan you're making a motion I don't think there be an agreement there has yes uh the qpa did agree did um review the agreement so we can have that on the next Township committee meeting September 4th September 4th perfect awesome thank you I appreciate you doing that work old new business oh under new business I like to discuss making the administrator back to the appropriate authori if that I don't know what the process is to go forward with that I don't know what we have to do we be an ordinance okay so we'd have to change the ordinance back to make the administr if we want to go that way correct okay so I'm suggesting that so how do we go about it like what's the well I would hold off I mean we we have to discuss it in I don't think that's something we do independently I don't mean to be rude but we can't hear you in Che seats the mics aren't working too well you can't hear me hear I know you heard [Laughter] me no so I don't know if we need to introduce ordinance I just don't know what I don't remember how we did it in the last time so that's why I'm asking how do we go forward doing this again it's an ordinance okay thank you Jack okay so old new old new nothing all right perfect uh announcements as we had said previously uh the September 11th meeting has been rescheduled to September 4th the reason as I explained earlier St Joseph's Shrine has a remembrance ceremony uh on 911 for those we lost and um it's a wonderful wonderful ceremony if you've never uh attended uh so I uh invite the community and a lot of the uh folks here in the audience to come uh that is on September 11th do we know the time is it 6 I I 7 I think this is something before at 600 and then 7:00 it begins I apologize we'll get it on the uh we'll get it on the website somewhere um that said any announcements Matt anything you have to add no ANC nope Nick Scott none all right so item number 12 meeting is open to the public remarks and statements pertaining to any matter uh please limit your comments to 3 minutes out of respect for those uh who who also might want to speak good evening uh my name is John Russo 18 Donaldson Avenue Rutherford New Jersey Mr mayor council um Deputy Mayor thank you for allowing me a few minutes to speak here tonight I was here on behalf of uh the New Jersey State Association Chiefs of police I am currently the president of that Association um and I was going to ask you to respectfully uh pull that ordinance uh which which you did prior to me speaking so I will uh defer most of my comments but I do just want to mention a few things uh the State Chiefs Association um is here for you um we can help get a chief in place in your department because we believe that that is the proper Way Forward we have no interest in the name of who that's going to be we don't care we we advocate for the position of chief of police because we know it works and unfortunately we see once or twice a year um jurisdictions move towards a director and um we know how it's going to end uh it it just does doesn't work um so we have we actually have a mentoring program uh that the Chiefs provide to your agency uh to your jurisdiction and to your agency um and unlike a private company uh it's free of charge um it it we're not looking to make money off of it we're not looking to charge a jurisdiction we want to see a police chief in your agency and we want to see that Chief be effective it's in our best interest because if you don't have a police chief that's a effective or you have a Police director things kind of go sideways and then we have to end up getting involved with all kinds of uh you know helping with litigation it it just it does not make sense so that offer is out to you um also I'm the chief of the Rutherford Police Department up in Bergen County and I had um the unfortunate experience of living through a civilian police director and it was a terrible experience um what happened to our department what happened to our burrow it became so uh divisive it it was really an embarrassment and it it's a blemish on the history of Rutherford that's never going to go away um and ultimately it became the police department became a topic at every council meeting for several years um the police the lack of police chief the acting uh civilian director uh It ultimately became a topic that swayed an election and your police it shouldn't be that way your Police Department should not be that way right I know when I was growing up there was an infomercial and I don't want to make light of this but it was this Ronco oven and the catchphrase was set it and forget it make your Chief and allow the police department to do do what it does you don't want to have to be dealing with them you I know what you guys have to deal with on a daily basis you don't want to have to deal with the litigation and grievances some of them will be Petty most of them will not be they'll be legitimate but uh grievances litigation neglect that comes with this position um we've seen it time and time time again I remember sitting in the audience as a Rutherford police officer listening to the State Chiefs of police and the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association explained to my mayor and counsel exactly what was going to happen they chose not to listen to them they made the civilian director and everything these associations said came to fruition so again if you need me I'm going to leave my cards up here you can reach out to me uh about the mentoring program if you want to hear more about what happened in Rutherford I'll gladly I live through it I'll gladly explain it but please have the respect and the confidence in your Police Department make a police chief thank you Chief I appreciate thank you chief thank you thank you thank you good evening in the interest of my three minutes I'll read from my prepared statement so I don't miss anything my name is Michael Koski 531 speed Avenue is the professional address 5 Noah Court Hackettstown New Jersey is my residential address as I said my name is Mike crosi the chief of police the Morris Plains Police Department I'm the current chief of the Morris County Police Chiefs Association and and while we haven't addressed the governing body on this topic before I can assure you uh since day one of your thought of moving with the public safety director and chief naga's retirement uh I've been meeting with uh director peoples previously to his appointment um so we have remained interested in this topic I was planning on addressing you this evening on your perceived support of an ordinance eliminating the chief of police and re clarification of roles and responsibilities for the chief and officer in charge my hope now is to guide you in your future discussions and decisions there are numerous successful examples of Public Safety directors abiding by established directives in this state working with their officers in charge yet somehow your public safety director requires additional authority to accomplish his objectives I refer you to the township of Long Hill Police Department assess report prepar by former Chief of Long Hill Police Department Robert ferano which is dated November 21st 2023 which I strongly note was reviewed approved and adopted by your own resolution on January 24th 2024 Mr ferano makes many recommendations but I specifically call your attention to page 47 subsection entitled remain independent Mr ferano in point1 writes appoint an experienced professional law enforcement executive with credentials a factual demonstrated record for leadership organization policy development and succession planning experien to review the MRI recommendations and this very report the candidate selected by your very own action Mr pre peoples must provide successful examples of a mentoring accomplishments and while point one in that report continues on immediately following in point two Mr Mr ferano writes in a very decisive and short statement and I quote after the recommendations have been implemented the mentoring process must be completed for the appointment of a chief of police nowhere nowhere in this 60-page document does Mr ferano Advocate recommend or call for the removal of the chief police position I ask all of you now and why under and who's under recom whose recommendation you are making this assessment additionally the last annual and I emphasize annual written performance evaluations of your Command Staff have not been completed since before 2015 the previously proposed resolution on second reading seeks to redefine the authority of the identified officer in charge however you do not have any recent or objective assessment of lieutenant chamello or Lieutenant Marchesi skills and abilities and you appear to completely dismiss the invaluable and irreplaceable institutional knowledge experience that Alexis Chell and Lieutenant mareski possess our goal is not anti-public safety director our goal is to see that you reappoint a chief of police I strongly urge you to reconsider the course in which you've set yourselves we are here to support you the State Association the County Association your community and the Long Hill Township Police Department thank you for your time thank you Chief thank you [Applause] my name is Frank rerro I'm a lifelong resident of Sterling I'm going to talk about the same topic from a different perspective uh for 33 years I've been employed by a municipality in the county of Union I'm not going to name which because I don't want any misrepresentations and I'm representing the Town toate versus myself as a citizen uh for 29 years of the 33 I've been the Chief Financial Officer of that municipality the municipality has a population of 30,000 people compared to lill townships 8,700 we have 77 sworn officers compared to Long Phil's 34 officers and I bring out these statistics for one reason about the financial side of it we went with the Police director two years ago and during my tenure with municipal government I realized a behavior pattern that when one town does something unique many towns want to follow that pattern believing it's the right thing to do but ego's what they are no one has the ability to stand up and say we've made a mistake and this is not what we thought it was supposed to be everyone protects their decision tries to show you the best foot forward that being said we have one Police director well we learned the lesson of needing a Cleo which is an acronym for a chief law enforcement uh officer and for the benefit of the public I'm sure everybody in this room knows what that is a civilian director the key word being civilian has no police power they can't make arrests uh influence in investigation assign Manpower uh approve or assign permits anything so they need an officer working next to them hand inand all day and that person is directed to disseminate the orders to the rank and file so in effect financially you're paying two people to do the job that a police chief can do independently because he both has all the police powers granted to him by law as well as can be the key administrator working with the administration the mayor and the committee handling the administrative side of the operation so in my town we pay our civilian director $145,000 a year leaving the Cleo out of it it's my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong with the limited access of the information I have for your town you have two people one director one assistant director and it's my understanding the director makes $217,000 and the assistant director makes $130,000 so that $347,000 now needing a team of three people to do the job that one person should be doing now I list the amount of officers and the population but I left out one key component for example planfield a very you know interesting town has 10,000 criminal complaints a year the town I work for has about 800 criminal complaints a year and again it's my understanding Long Hill Township thank God only has 50 to 60 criminal complaints a year so you have a very large police department and they doing an outstanding job I lived here my entire life managed by three people which could be one handling a very minimal amount of you know serious activity now what that $347,000 represents to the average homeowner if you take 347,000 and divide it by the leg the tax levy adopted by this Council for this year's budget of 10,4 646000 that represents three and a qu% of taxes so without these two unnecessary positions managing your Police Department that could to be handled by one every homeowner in this town could save three three and a qu% of their taxes I my entire family still lives in town we own five houses Among Us I speak for them and I'm sure I could you know speculate everyone else we want to pay three and qu% lower than what they're paying it's not all about money as the previous speakers represented there is an ideology that a civilian director will be more loyal to the administration and a police chief will be more loyal to his team and I think there's some truth to that I mean police have a terrible job we all know it they deal with Incredible things on the street on a daily basis under normal conditions and what's been happening lately in the world where social media puts on tremendous amount of pressure on law enforcement as well as both the political and demographic attacks against our law enforcement today they need more support now than ever and that support should come from within and I think the proper place of that support is their leader someone who has worked their way up through the rank and file has spent a significant amount of time on the street so they individually understand what the current team is going through today and I think that's um very serious now I read in your ordinance I think it's section two letter G that part of the duties of the civilian director will be to obtain and maintain State national accreditation for the department now I know one of the tools used to achieve that goal is supplied by a company called lexipol and I believe lexipol was bought out bought out a previous company called Rogers Group now again correct me if I'm wrong but I believe your current director has a principal is a principal owner has a principal stake a principal manager in lexo so I would caution both the town and the individual that he doesn't subject himself to an ethical problem profiting as an employee as and both a vendor of of the township something to ser to consider um I also brought and I'll give to your clerk this is a publication is that a conflict this is a publication issued by a state agency in 2007 very actively and completely listing both the pros and cons of a police chief versus the director again it's an older document but it still stands true it's very thorough and I would uh recommend you meet it thoroughly so if this topic ever comes back up for discussion you're well informed of the situation I think you might have submitted this report to us once before I I not but I just you know in my in my research they preparing to come here today I came across I thought it was significant I read through it it seemed very very comprehensive um you know the the prior Chief naga's situation was brought up today and you know I understand the city had to pay $600,000 as a settlement for you know hostile work environment suit so 600,000 last year another 350,000 this year that's nearly a million dollar that could be spent more wisely to benefit the town in a more direct way to the homeowners I appreciate your time thank you [Applause] good evening everyone uh Frank liberado Heritage Road Millington uh I Concur and agree with everything the pre previous uh guest speakers uh had mentioned um so I won't repeat any of what they said but I'll hit a couple other points you know we're coming up on a 2-year anniversary without a chief it's been a long road uh a lot of money has been expensed you spent money on reports studies and I really thought with Bob F Chief fero's report that was going to be the kind of end all cural handbook to kind of follow and and I do agree about the fact that at no point did it ever mention vacating the Chief's position so I guess my question would be simply where was this sponsored from was this a collaboration with the prosecutor's office or was this something a collaboration amongst all the committee members that decided that this was the time to vacate it and just have the director solely I'm just kind of looking for what the reasoning was maybe there's a valid point that brought this to the resolution where you wanted to push this through you know I'm just trying to understand where you were coming from you know having or witnessed everything that had gone on at least on the public side not on the exec side but you know who was really pushing this was this more from the prosecutor's office was it you know was it Mr pigeon you know how how do we arrive at this I guess is my question if somebody maybe give me some direction I think it's in Mr Fon Honor's report to vacate the Chief's position uh not to vac that's not there your so your question is specifically right how do we arrive at that the chief position I mean I'd love to answer that but I don't know I I can answer it to to the extent that I can say that the town committee never intended to vacate the Chief's position on a permanent basis that it was meant to be temporary I I don't think we can discuss it any further at this point in time because this the the mayor said we are in further talks with the prosecutor's office so was it noted as temporary in there and I missed it or that's just the premise that it was being introduced under it it was in the ordinance that was introduced right initially but not in it actually had Chief vacant that's correct which was the intent then and is the intent now and I think it was also made clear in the Preamble that it was not meant to be a permanent deletion of that POS or removal of that position it was just until such time as the C committee felt it was an appropriate person ready to become Chief I guess you know on the outside looking in and I'm not privy to any of what all of you experience behind the closed doors um but I guess on the outside looking at this it it gives the impression you know it's been two years you work through all the reports it just kind of gives the impression that you know know is there that much that has to be done to get someone to a Chief's Point within our department because it also it appears and don't think it's the wrong way but it actually appears like a no confidence vote from the commission maybe that's not the right word I'm using from the council but when you're looking to vacate something you as anyone as an officer looks to Aspire and at some point they want to be the chief I mean it's something that people go into law enforcement to do some don't want to but when you vacate that position where you sh that position for an unknown period of time I think it kind of takes the wind out of some people's sales it's almost kind of brings morale down I don't think it's a morale booster because now you don't have something necessarily to Aspire to you know unless you had a mentorship program set up in place like was recommended was already running and you had six candidates running through and you're saying listen in two years we're going to pick somebody out of this pool that's in this program but when that kind of information is not out there I don't think it's good for morale just speaking as an individual you know I'm not an officer I'm just a resident you know I'm a first responder but you know you know it would be like uh us vacating a Chief's position in the fire department you know somebody you aspire to do that so I would hope you'll reconsider this down the road hopefully not bring it back for a vote maybe do something different but I think we have plenty of qualified people within this department having grown up here in town and I'm sure with the help of the chief Association you'll get to the right person and we can just move forward I think it's been two years I think it's time we put this to bed and do the right thing thank you thank you Frank thank you Charles Arena witz Millington hereit to Dro I've lived here 43 years based on this proposed ordinance of elimination and chief I read reread the 96 pages written by Chief administrator Robert ferano former Chief when he was hired this committee said this guy is scary smart I reread the whole report it does not say eliminate the chief of police but the interesting thing that's in that report since as the chief uh corsky mentioned since 2016 the two lieutenants didn't have an annual performance review now what does that mean if they needed certain qualities or training to become Chief they should have gotten notice of that since 2016 you have been responsible since November 10th 2022 for the police department did they get reviewed the two lieutenants don't answer it but I'll tell you what I came from an organization a partnership that was up and out and these two Li tenants here that are sitting here tonight with this proposed ordinance that you table just frustrated their careers and motivation and that's not fair to them as a taxpayer and what they've committed to doing in this town so if you're thinking about eliminating the police chief position you better reread the smart gu report on another matter you're proposing a captain in this proposed ordinance for those of you that haven't been in this town that long we eliminated the captain position 11 years ago so when well we we don't have to fill it well if you did that put the police chief back in do your homework and reread the report like I did and I think you'll come to a different conclusion thank you for your time and you got to look in the mirror yourself tonight about these two lieutenants that haven't been evaluated since 2016 that's deplorable thank you for your time thank you thank you Richard dorsy Sterling long life resident I just want to reiterate some things the Chiefs have said uh I have beened law enforcement had 27 years 13 of them were in administration and through those 13 years and even from before that as a sergeant we were mentored to establish and Achieve maybe not to be Chief but to be a better police officer here I believe it's like just mentioned two years no mentoring Bob ferano I read his reports terribly I've worked with Bob as a police chief when he was a police chief when he's administrator he's gone into two towns one town they wanted to demolish the police department again he brought it back in first thing he did is got it up and going and got his police Chiefs going he didn't look for directors he mentored the people that were there the thing when they said mentoring and I've worked with Bob for many years was inferred to me as uh he's done in one other department where he brought in somebody that acted as a mentor plus did the functions of that were non police work and uh 85% I would say is not actually is is getting looking over reports uh mentoring finding the people to do certain things that are qualified to do here and there apparently we haven't been doing that for years here and that's the important part and as a chief said we need a chief of police not a director we're not big enough for that thank you thank you Mr dorsy thank you Commander I swore to myself I was not going to do this Joe far Andino 623 Chestnut Street Sterling New Jersey I said this all before me and Scott had a conversation last night about you know me sitting on a Town Council and I could tell you definitely you don't want me and here's why because remember I said this is Shinola and this ain't bear with me the report written was by the person that was proposed to be the director me personally my money my bet was on Bob ferano peoples came out of nowhere in my book but doesn't matter because it even makes more sense now Lexi Pro Rogers Group MRI um Naga with the radios not working in certain parts of the town he's in charge of the 911 Center and now he's out people's is at Double the rate of almost any other public safety director all I want to say is quid proquo you did a great job guys have a good night thanks Joe Joseph Vada I'm new to the community 65 years uh my question to you none of you you said what's the reason for pulling it tonight I've heard all these excellent statements from residents Chiefs what's the reason for pulling it was it because you were notified by the prosecutor's office that you were going down a bad Road right I too have a little info you were going down a bad Road and they weren't going to honor you were looking to give a civilian employee police Powers almost without the term of police chief right that's not right all right there's competent people to run this department once again you guys are doing what you want to do right without thinking it through and it's it's it's sad for we went through the ngaga situation whatever we're still on the police department four years later you brought in a guy where is director peoples tonight how come he wasn't ordered to be here to answer these questions right again wrong Hill Township so I like numbers and the gentleman in the back I just wanted to answer one thing if I remember correctly you said you work in a in a town and I won't ask you the name of the town that has 30,000 people yes how many officers 77 77 in fact I should have may continue I like numbers just real quick it's my understanding this police publishes an index every year they take your violent and nonviolent crime and they put it through a calculation they put over your population and we're always indexes 2.2 I didn't the name but I'm sorry sorry well 2.3 2.4 I'm proud of it 2.3 2.4 officers per thousand people and that brings us to 72 so we're at 77 based you knew where I was going based on our committee uh our our our community um 34 officers divided by 87 is 3.9 I got to correct you there I got to correct you there and the lieutenants would correct you as well we have 23 we haven't had 34 and I've been in town for 30 years okay I don't know where that number comes from that's good to know but I I was told 34 recently so 23 all right very good good to know anyway I just good to know I just wanted to make sure I I appreciate that that's good and there's some things we can't respond to but that I I I said the beginning my I hear you my was wrong I stand correct it be more there are different crime statistics so I'm not pretending I know uh what's the proper uh but otherwise a very well researched presentation we I we appreciate it I I appreciate that it was um excit on I drive Randy nuts when when you know with numbers I always play we on my head sure sure so you're roughly 2.7 officers per thousand but again in the community where you know the the the crime STS are favorable thank God in part because our I'm sure that's true our police department does an outstanding job and I want to publicly thank him and for the chief thaty here this evening or whatever your titles are first of off thank you for being here I especially appreciate Chief Russo for the things you said and the offer you made and perhaps I can reach out to you and we can uh set up a meeting but to show you what this community thinks about its Police Department on your way home I invite you to drive up Main Avenue uh we put our Blue Line back in a few months back and I don't know and and there may be many other towns I don't know I don't know any other town but our blue line is there and we are very proud of our police department and I thank you publicly for the job you guys and gals do thank you onl if no one else here uh can we go online Maran Nunan has her hand raised please State your address sorry marann I'm just being a nudge this evening um Maran one julette New Jersey good evening good evening um first of all um I want to thank uh Megan um for putting all this work in terms of the park mobile um this is minor compared to the conversations held tonight um but I just want to um it's a forward-looking statement in a thought process with the fact that we um will be assuming quite a few more residents coming down Valley Road specifically Hill Crest um well actually through every one of our um main roads um just just a thought process with Park mobile or a standalone um I see the Gillette station slowly filling up again um and um I just like to make note if someone could start thinking about putting lill Township residents um as uh first come first serve going forward for parking permits now again that this would be dependent once once these buildings go up um but in essence um I lived in chadam and um you know you had the township versus the Bur and all of a sudden I no longer could get a parking permit because I lived in the township fortunately my job I had to be in you know downtown Manhattan at 800 in the morning but there would be six cars rushing to get that last spot so if we could put a little thought process chances are with the amount of units being built in proximity um our train stations are not going to be able to handle it so again just a forward looking type of uh thought process and then I have very generalized question um just after listening to the the whole um content of this meeting what will be the next step going forward regarding will there be another ordinance put out um when would that be would it be you know uh the next meeting and thank you for changing it from 911 um but when can we expect some type of answer sorry so well I'll revert back to what I said the goal all along has been to have a police chief in in in place it it's taken a little bit longer uh than I think we anticipated um for reasons that uh Council has alluded to we can't really go into too many details uh but our goal has been is and remains 100% to have a police chief in place um and I and and chief Russo uh that's why I said maybe I'll I'll reach out to you you know as well-intentioned as we are I don't have the capability or the ability uh somebody once pointed out to me in all my vast Wall Street success whatever gave you the you understood what qualities and characteristics went into uh uh uh you know running a police department and the answer is um none to be honest I I I recognize leadership and I've been in roles and I've appointed people to roles uh but I think this is a unique uh leadership position and uh and so again I really appreciate the offer you made and I intend uh to accept that offer and um just as a not also uh Chief R I just want to make mention that um they did mention that um in terms of the salaries you quoted one of the parties has resigned so you know there's a reduction in those numbers I'm sorry Maran say it again you mentioned that somebody resigned there's a reduction in the numbers well uh uh direct uh deputy director Sean Brown uh resigned well to be fair he he accepted a position elsewhere I honestly don't know that's that's a personal decision on his part uh and and again I thank uh Sean for for the work he did when he was here uh he did tremendous work I just wanted to clarify um f chiefer say purposes you know he quoted um you know I'm a statistical person you know that also uh I just wanted to you know uh qualify and quantify that um you know in terms of the salaries um okay so basically me coming from the outside it seems like there's a lot of diligence that seems to need to be done still um so is there any type of time frame you know where things will progress or um basically just an outline of the steps that we be taken I'm sorry so is the question uh I would I had to ask Randy and for for those in in in the audience is the question is there any time frame for uh the position of police chief being filled correct no not at not at this time okay okay thank so thank you very much uh Maryann yes and thank you thank you Marian can we hold off on uh at home because I see somebody coming to the mic we know you but please State you fair enough uh Craig Tuma 1012 Valley road Gillette New Jersey uh 9 Summit Avenue Gillette as well um my question is is I I I just heard today actually that has stepped down and accepted a different position is it the committee's um position to fill that in before we move forward in moving to uh police chief as uh I don't want to speak for the rest but can the answer is no okay so that $135 goes back $135,000 will go back into the pool and designated Sean worked for what five I honestly don't know the exact number of time days that he worked or something like that but I think we had so your intention is not to fill that position currently until we figure out what's going on with the chief probably won't fill it not to refill it not at all okay is my is my understanding okay and I would agree with that okay thank you thank you Craig nobody I don't see anybody back to online Donna F has her hand raised thank you if you if you wouldn't mind please state your name name and address uh yes it's Donna fuchi um lifelong resident of Sterling uh just got a c a few key things to just mention I mean I agree with everything I've been hearing so far from um the Chiefs and a lot of the residents it it just puzzled me basically why we would even consider at some point not having achieve within I would say the next couple of years because we're going to need one sooner than later we've had so many I I've never known a time and all the time I've lived here that we did not have a chief and many of the Chiefs that we had were well-liked well respected and well known through the community and I think that's an important part of having a chief and the officers in place that we have now especially you know our lieutenants our sergeants these people have worked their way up through the years they've gotten to know this town and they should have an opportunity to Aspire to be Chief if they choose to do so and if it does take a mentoring program I think that's a wonderful idea because as Deputy Mayor lavender I think mentioned earlier we were talking about a different subject but we're talking about being surrounded by affordable housing I've noticed over I'd say this past year in general I'm finding more people coming around I'm going to say fake solicitors because they would come to your door 6 o'clock at night asking you if you needed Roofing or rodent control you never see a truck you never see a paper you never see anything I know in one occas your officers came out because one of the residents did call M um and when the officer told him that you don't have a permit you can't stay it happened to be in front of my house and I was watching as a sedan pulled up and picked up this guy and took off this was no company trust me when I tell you this was no company involved and I think that with affordable housing coming in there will be more people coming into this town there will be more crime and I think that having a police chief is a deterrent it I don't know if it you if you've thought about that or not but I do believe it would be a deterrent for having people come in because this has only happened with like I said within the last year or so and now we've been without a chief for two years and I know you're you know you said um mayor pasera that we're going to get another police chief as we deem this the appropriate time but I don't think we can make too many more years before we do this I don't think it's good for the town I don't think it's good for the the um Department because I think that as it is now I think they are a well oiled unit I don't see as from my standpoint um where there's you know I don't know the problems if there are any within the department but I don't see it I mean the they're they're right on point every time there is an issue um you know I have an older mother I've had them come out I mean these people have always been right on the ball and and I know these people love this town that's why they're in this town and what would possibly I know it's getting wordy but what would possibly want be the incentive for anybody in the future to either join our department or come in from maybe another town and join our department when you don't have the ability to move up to you know a position that you that's highly respected quite frankly um and that's pretty much what I want to say and I'm just hoping you take all that into consideration as you make your decisions going forward thank you Donna Donna thank you I appreciate it and I I think I could say I agree with essentially everything you said so anybody else at home Maran Nunan has her hand raised again Maran I'm going to ask you to be brief because we have people in this audience and uh on on the committee who would like to go home I think sorry it was a mistake well then I'm gonna say good evening Maryann um any anybody else at home anybody else on Zoom would like to make a public comment please raise your hand now I don't see anyone mayor I want to thank the members of uh law enforcement Community what you guys have gone through and gals over the last number of years I I find personally offensive uh and we have stated and I specifically have stated at meetings what's gone on throughout uh this country is inexcusable uh and you've got you guys have and gals have to help us anything we can do in return uh you know as much as we can uh that's why the Blue Line doesn't really do much but it shows you I think how we feel about you so thank you and thank you for being here this evening I know you're here with the absolute right intentions and and and I can assure you that is what we are trying to do we are trying to get to the same place so thank you yes thank you everyone for coming here thank you for your comments your advice and your criticism nothing uh said here tonight will be taken lightly and we are grateful for your attendance thank you everybody thank you second all in favor I good evening everyone e e e e