[Music] respectful audience okay uh Megan would you please read the statement of the presiding officer in compliance with the open public meetings Act of New Jersey the adequate notice of this meeting specifically the time date and public call and information for including the meeting that was electronically sent to the echo sentinol Mor's 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 comment period will be held in the order is listed on the meeting agenda thank you Megan would everybody please rise and join me in a pledge of allegiance I pled alance to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all please take roll Megan committee man dorsy here committee man Ry is absent tonight committee man verza present Deputy Mayor lavender present mayor Pia thank you do we know if commit M Ray is calling in or he is not he is not calling in okay uh now here here comes I think what every everybody who sits in the middle likes to do we have some proclamations and presentations this evening uh I think Don Yuber is here is he here yes so what did he say yes your honor snarkiness is encouraged all right so let's do the fire uh uh poster contest winners uh so it's the 2024 fire safety posted contest winners we have two uh this is a Statewide uh competition and 100 entries just from Long Hill so I Lord knows how many there were Statewide and once again and I think Don knows this better than me but I think uh we we had some honores last year as well uh but we have two this evening and we have Audrey Tracy and Alina I hopefully I say uh your name correctly bfield bfield and what the uh uh Proclamation say the township of long hill hereby recognizes and congratulates Audrey Tracy on the impressive artwork being displayed in the 2024 New Jersey Fire Prevention calendar and of course it says uh the same for Elina Alina Belfield now are both here tonight yes ah I see them so um let's yes present can we call Don up as well if you wanted to grab their calendar their calendars are you able to put up what there yes you are okay so we we'll come and maybe take a photograph I don't know if uh Nicole is here from the echo if not would somebody be able to take a photograph you can send it to Megan you're gonna do it okay all right here we go so did you want both of them up at the same time it's very small didn't you tell well this is this is the May one this was okay where's the calar so this is Audrey's and Audrey was May yeah we could do that and then [Applause] present that you congratulations [Applause] anybody did you just bring them up all [Applause] right oh wait hold on everyone listening thank you mayor just a moment I know you have a lot of things to cover uh I'll be quick but sincere want to thank everybody for coming out and recognizing our award winners tonight I I want to congratulate not only the award winners but all the students that participated in this fire safety poster contest it's a really important way for lill to get the message out about fire safety as it is for the rest of the state but I'd be remiss not only to thank the award winners and all the participants but also the school board for supporting this program uh the township coun committee for seeing fit to recognize our award winners and bringing this important program to the public and there's one other individual uh his name is Jeff Wanamaker he's not here tonight Jeff has really put wheels on this program for me he's a volunteer firefighter in Sterling he's also a Milburn fire captain but it it's those kind of Volunteers in Long Hill that you don't hear about every day you might see him going to an emergency Jeff and the men and women uh from the volunteer fire company and ambulance Squad that really make this community so much better than it would be without them and I want to acknowledge all of them thank Jeff and thank all you once again for supporting those important emergency responders as well as our law enforcement Personnel thank you again [Applause] gentlemen Don thank you for everything you do sir thanks pleasure and Jeff if you're watching thank you as well okay next up we have the Central Middle School do you have a photograph that you're going to put online back the girls oh you want to do the girls first yes all right I don't have one of is it possible to make that bigger or no it's not possible what is it oh look what I did yeah look what you did aha so it is possible all right so I'm going to read the the names in the order of uh the photograph uh but first I'll I'll say this the Central Middle School girls basketball team went 12-0 in the regular season clenching the division title they scored 634 points over the course of 12 games they then went on to defeat everyone they faced in the playoffs and won the championship game against Bound Brook 5437 they will miss their nine eighth graders okay now I'll read their names and then I'll I'll read that last part so the team photo that you're looking at and if I mispronounce your name please correct me Micah pritzl how about we do pretty good well actually do me a favor hold your applause until we we get through the the entire list Riley Hall Carolyn Connell Katie Rob Robertson Lina St sto I probably I butchered that one do you want me to read this no no that's not one of the assignments of the Deputy man I think I know these girls do you know the girls I do all right so have a have at it go ahead I don't have the paper in front of me well you know them you could just look at them okay here we go Micah pritzl Riley Hall Carolyn Connell Katie Robertson Lena stoer Ellie Clark Mattie faly and Coach Jen blasia uh on the bottom row there we have Selena PUO paig Anthony Amanda shatz Fiona Murphy deer Vander Street and Serena sabatella thank [Applause] you since you know them why don't you come down to the photograph [Applause] okay all right so let's uh all right who's nervous [Laughter] you are always organized [Applause] round so does the deputy mayor know the boys as well I might all right well then you know what I'm going to give it a shot so the Central Middle School boys basketball team this season the Central Middle School boys basketball team had an undefeated season winning 15 games and capturing the Central Jersey athletic association's regular season championship and the Central Jersey Athletic Association tournament Championship so what what do we have that was 15 and0 and then they won almost 30 and0 between the two of them that's unbelievable little round there and we'll give Megan a chance to oh there's no photo all right sorry but but what we'll do is we'll announce the team Simon Anderson Cole air how' we do there a AER all right sorry about that Brady Simo oh my God Christian Peralta Jacob sufin Gavin Lawrence William Fernandez Jeff Connell I see is is that brother sister Johnny Johnny Johnny Connell canel canel canel all right so are they brother sister there we go towns o Timothy Pinto Dion Rivero Gavin Maharaj and Noah Kowski Bowski not bad all right round of applause let's [Applause] go if I ask everybody all the team to come up no no abely and the right there I remember all right round of applause and Coach did [Applause] I [Applause] okay so that was the best part of the evening I mean you guys are welcome to stay for for the whole uh meeting if you'd like thank you thank you congratulations okay give him a [Laughter] chance Jeff Connell your other kid I apologize wait a minute is canel I said it correctly then you could pronounce Johnny right you call him Jeff okay that I got wrong thank you for everything have a good night for having us thank you everybody left don't worry people at home they don't want to hear about townships who was that so next up uh um our attorney is going to give a an overview of the former government here in lill Township so it's the township committee for of government and Jack if I could turn the mic over to you thank you mayor I'm surprised everybody's leaving for this uh tonight I'm going to talk about Township form of government as you know in Long Hill we have a traditional Township form of government we have five Township Comm committee members elected at large as opposed to being elected by Ward like some other forms of government have uh and the mayor is elected by the members of the township committee at the annual reorganization meeting be before discussing the nuts and bolts of Township government I'd like to give some context there are two general categories of municipal government the traditional forms which includes those are the older forms of government and there's no distinction in most of those between an executive and administrative functions and it's us they all have a weak mayor the town committee has the weakest mayor but they all have a fairly weak mayor then in 1950 the legislature adopted the optional Municipal Charter law which is often called the fauler ACT uh which allowed municipalities to modernize the form of government and usually to create a stronger chief executive whether it be a mayor or a manager um and that's done by petition or by referendum and and I'm not going to get into that tonight because I have 10 minutes uh but I just wanted to give that context it's interesting over half of the municipalities in the state are townships and barrows but almost 50% of the state's population lives in 126 faula municipalities and that's primarily because it's cities and larger townships uh Bridgewater paron U places like that uh all of our neighboring towns are traditional forms of government either burrow or Township for the most part um anytime you hear that there's a uh a Township Council that means they have a fauler form of government they probably have a stronger mayor they don't have a Township committee form uh the other traditional forms of government are Burrows and that's the most common form there are 254 of those in the state um they elect six council members and a mayor at large um that mayor is also pretty weak but has a little more power than the township committee mayor uh Township is the second most common there are 242 of those in the state the other forms are City uh town uh there are only eight towns in the state of New Jersey and none of those are exactly alike one of them is botin U and it's a weird form of government botin has I think four Wards and they elect two they used to be olderman but I think they're Council people now um and a mayor uh the interesting thing is the mayor both votes and has the right to veto which I don't really understand but that's the way it works um there's only one Village left uh with a population of 347 people uh the last category is special Charters and one that comes to mind is the township of South Orange Village and they were always a village with a village president and a village Board of Trustees but they didn't qualify for a lot of federal grants because they weren't a Township so they went to the state and the state gave them a special Charter named them the township of Orange Village rather than having a Township committee they still have a village president and a village Board of Trustees now getting down to our form of government in in 1990 the state adopted uh a number of of Municipal sections townships are set forth in njsa 48 col and 63 hyphen one at seek and that lays out the the powers and duties of the the township committee uh first with respect to the mayor and I said it's the weakest form of mayor uh the the mayor and attach committee form a government is really just like a chair of Board of Trustees but he does have certain powers granted to him by General State law uh one being uh the planning board he both appoints all the members except for the class three tent Committee Member and his member the class one member now he can designate somebody to sit for him but regardless the mayor Remains the class one member uh the the design is not really a member of the planning board he's just standing in the shoes of the mayor uh he also appoints with consent uh and is a member of the library Board of Trustees and once again he can also have a designate there the mayor appoints the environmental commission and the chair that's the only one I know of Border commission uh that the mayor appoints the chair as well as the members and then appointments to various other boards commissions and committees with or without consent of the township committee and the last thing is he performs weddings uh so some Mayors enjoy that more than others um under this statute the mayor presides at meetings of the committee and has the right to debate and vote unlike most other Mayors including Burrows uh in Burrows the the mayor only votes in the case of a Thai but also has a veto power which a town committee mayor does not have but as I said that the town Committee Member can move a resolution or an ordinance uh because he's just a member of the committee uh the powers of the Town committee are also set forth in the statute the committee is the legislative body of the municipality it may pass adopt amend and repeal any ordinance or resolution required for the government of the municipality or for any public purpose controls and regulates the finances of the town and raises money by borrowing and Taxation it creates such other offices and positions as it deems necessary um all of those Shall Serve at the term of or pleasure of the township committee except except for the statutory positions uh which I'll describe later the township committee also has the right to investigate any activity of the municipality which we've done on several occasions but you have the right to subpoena and and hold hearings and actually investigate uh and the C committee also has all the executive responsibilities not placed in the mayor which is unusual for basically the legislative body to have executive Authority but that's the way it works in the township committee Township committee Also may adopt an administrative code which is similar to bylaws for a corporation uh we do have a an administrative code uh set forth in the code book um and that restates the major provisions of the township Charter and the manner in which the committee shall perform its duties our our Administrative Code really needs updating uh because over time various procedures and and things have changed so at some point in time we need to look at it the township committee also has the right to appoint various officials the first is the administrator and that's a discretionary position you don't have to have a Township administrator um the position has to be created by ordinance and the township committee can delegate all or a portion of its executive responsibilities to the administrator or ours is somewhere in the middle I would say many of the responsibilities are delegated many are not uh the the administrators serves that the pleasure of the township committee but can only be terminated by a super majority vote and has to be given I think it's 120 days U leate time or either has to be paid or given severance pay what's a super majority uh it would be four four out of five four out of five yes so it's it's not the administrator does not have tenure but there is some protection so he's not subject to the whims of the political wins uh then there are a number of statutory positions with terms of office and tenure they're often referred to as the protective positions and Meg is over there smiling because she's one of them uh the clerk every town has to have a clerk unlike the administrator it's a mandatory position um in the early days in Long Hill we had Township clerks there were clerk administrators that were combined uh but that was many years ago another one is the assessor every uh town has to have an assessor uh but the assessor although he's appointed by the township he really answers to the county tax board sorry uh the same with the tax collector uh while the tax collector's Duties are set forth by Statute he's appointed by the governing body or she's appointed by the governing body but the town has relatively little control over the collector's functions and that's people should understand that's especially true in the case of the assess the TX committee really has no Authority whatsoever over assessments the assessor is a professional he does that if anyone has a quarrel with the assessment they have to file a tax appeal either with the county Mars County tax board or they State Tax Court depending but if someone comes to you and wants to argue about their assessment you can tell them there's nothing you can do about it the assess is really independent uh the same is true with the construction official and subcode officials they all answer to the state as well if there's any disciplinary action taken against any of these employees then it goes to either the county or state depending on the position uh the town can if somebody's has excess excessive absenteeism or something like that but if it's for uh you know incompetence or failure to perform his duties then it has to go to a higher level then there are also statutory boards commissions and committees uh these are uh boards and commissions established by Statute and we can uh create them by ordinance but we don't have any discretion as to the number of members the terms or their powers and duties those are all set forth in the statute examples of that are the planning board uh the board of adjustment the environmental commission uh Emergency Management Library Board of Trustees shade tree commission anything usually anything that's called a board or commission it's a statutory Commission and those boards and commissions all have stated terms and people can't be removed except for cause or ex excessive absences uh the other one which is really not a Township Board is the Board of Education uh in Long Hill we have a type two board which is a separately elected governing body so sometimes residents come before the town committee to complain about school activities or the school budget uh and we really have no nothing to do with a school they're totally independent and they're an elected governing body just like just like the township committee is then they're also advisory committees and and those are created by ordinance so you have a great deal of discretion as to how many members there are what the terms are what their powers and Duties are although you can't delegate to them things that you have to exercise you know you can't can't delegate to them the right to adopt a budget or anything like that they're only advisory they don't have the power to do anything they don't have the power to spend money during the contracts uh and sometimes advisory committees try to do things like that but they really don't have that power um examples of that are the rec committee hpac open space uh those committees are created by ordinance they can be abolished by ordinance all their powers and duties can be changed by ordinance as I say you have a great deal of discretion when it comes to those advisory committees and the last thing are ad hoc committees and ad hoc committees are created by either the mayor or the township committee uh usually with a specific purpose in mind a spe a specific uh goal uh and it usually ends upon completion of that task although it can be extended which we've had a number of over the years um and once again U you know they they can be abolished and you you control those it's really just the statutory commissions that you don't um I know that was fairly superficial but I only had 10 minutes uh does anyone have any questions questions comments I I mean I know it's somewhat unusual um but would it would it be okay if if a member of the public or if somebody at home wants to raise their hand and ask questions of Jack no comments about the former government it's just that as you said I think there more than half Statewide are Township committee or burrow forms of that's correct it gets confusing correct me if I'm wrong while almost all not all Township committee forms of government and borrow form forms of government are directly elected so I know it gets and and as I say places like Bridgewater and parity or Faulk communities they have a strong mayor some have a manager manager Council form of government which is weird to me because basically you're giv the administrator the power of the mayor uh and we've had actually an administrator to come who came from a manager position uh and weren't comfortable just being an administrator because they didn't have all those Powers um but in in in forms of government what we have is probably the vast majority or relative to others absolutely between Burrows and townships and as I say surrounding towns Bernard's Township you know watch burrow Warren Township Bernville burrow uh you know mendum burrow mendum Township almost all the all of our neighbors are tradition to put into perspective there are 564 towns in the state of New Jersey that's correct used to be 566 I know the Princeton's merged yes and I forget which other one uh that would got it to 65 one other one yeah but it doesn't it doesn't matter yeah so nearly 300 are what we are yeah well almost 500 are 254 are barrows and 242 or Township so oh my goodness okay there you go that can't that can't be right no I don't think it is actually no because they're 146 fuler so yeah but I'm pretty sure we're there's about 240 give or take of the 564 or Township committee forms of government just like Long Hill Township we are not unique well we're unique but not by form of government uh does anybody have question oh Pam sure absolutely there's only cities no no no there're only eight towns Town form of government is pretty unusual as I say boton's the only one I know of around or Dover too I think Do's a town and Bon's a town uh no it's just historic how they How would how they were created when they received the original Charters we we would have to go to the state and get a special Charter like South Orange did not that it really matters it's a practical matter whether you call yourself a town or a Township it's really the form of government as they say when South Orange changed to a Township they kept all the trappings of a village just because they that historically they were a village and they wanted to remain a village exactly downtown South orangers is the village and I think a lot of people know but not everybody knows uh Harding used to be part of Long Hill Township and you know and they became a Township and my understanding is they couldn't figure out what the name themselves and so they Nam themselves after the President Harding um there we go what what are we passing one oh okay I'm sorry take one pass it on anybody at home anybody else in the public here present I don't see anyone how about at home Megan anybody on Zoom has a question for attorney pigeon regarding the types of um forms of government please raise your hand I know it's a little confusing but I I you know I it was important I think to point it out I think it was uh uh Scott who was mayor last year he came up with the idea to have maybe guest speakers we chose our esteemed Town Council for the first one but we'll come up with other others and if any member of the public would like to hear from uh the DPW director or etc etc uh I'm sure Al would be uh thrilled to come in and explain what the DPW department does and the responsibilities that go along with it Etc taxes it might be uh one that would be interesting okay thank you thank you Jack great job as always U so now we go to the consent agenda resolutions numbers 24- 075 through 24- 083 uh any resolution that a member of the committee would like to pull for further discussion or any refusals because of conflicts none I hear none all right so looking for a motion to approve uh said resolutions Megan dorsy yes bza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor P yes uh committee reports vix is going to be long so Matt can I start start with you apparently let's see from the fire departments they're both responding to calls so great job ladies and gentlemen I know they were out visiting or in the process of visiting the um suppliers the manufacturer the fire trucks this week to check the status I believe the one of the Sterling new trucks should be here in a month or two so that's good news for them it's good news for the town um keep recycling for the DPW report and now I've been obligated to give a Board of Health Report and there's a program at the burnard township Health Department with Stacy urig presents self-mastery seminar series what is trauma really um there are three different dates there's one on March 21st one on March 6th and another one on April 3rd at the Bernards Township Library um so if you care to uh join go to or I guess call 90824 3069 it's free to the public and it discusses um you get a deeper understanding of trauma and uh don't miss out on this unraveling and complexities of trauma and its implications for individuals and Society Madam clerk you happy you're welcome thank you that's all I have thank you Matt Scott yeah um planning board met last night um chairman Don Richardson and vice chairman uh Tom J we um we're in charge um of note uh several committees and and and uh working assignments uh were handed out toh proceed with work through the new year um that's it thank you and I I know Scott I wasn't able to make the uh fire dinner the other evening I know you graciously attended in my stead as did Vic uh I mean do you want to say a few words yeah no it was uh a lot of fun a good time had by all um great band uh great uh collegiality and uh you know congratulations to uh you know the folks who got their Service Awards um their lifetime achievement awards and uh the uh the installation of the new officers so um you know always a great time and and you know looking forward to it the next time great job Scott and thank you Vic for attending yeah it was a great time um first aid Squad it it sounds like I repeat the same report every month about 60 calls two a day uh they had some days I think Matt you remember you and I were talking it were there was one 24hour period I think they had seven or eight Mutual I mean because they're surrounding towns Etc uh so just a shout out to the the the guys and gals from the first aid Squad uh you guys do a phenomenal job and we really really appreciate it on behalf of the community uh Victor all right are we ready I don't know are we I'm I'm geared up we've got a long one here wrote your cop all right the W update is as follows while this meeting is going on Recreation is running a pack class over at the first aid squad on redc Cross CPR AED training thank you to the Long Hill first aid squad for partnering with us to offer the training Recreation Saturday basketball program will end this weekend we hope that all involved netted a great experience anybody else get anybody get that one yeah all right all right tough prowd here travel basketball playoffs are all are in full swing Long Hill has a number of teams still swishing along in the hunt for a championship title congratulations to our sixth grade girls travel team for winning their division the recreation advisory committee met on two 20 they finalized a recommended list of policies for reserving time on our new pickle ball court coming this spring to the Myersville ball field the committee also began its selection of the six bands for this year's summer concert series the recreation department is in the process of getting these scheduled now spring/summer program was also discussed along with upcoming events and the Recreation advisory committee is always accepting new members looking to volunteer in the community please come have some fun with us contact the Parks and Recreation Department for more information don't forget to register your entries in the winter snow sculpture contest by 3:15 on community pass thank you mother nature for doing your part with some good packing snow this winter becoming a volunteer youth sports coach can be one of the most rewarding experiences are you considering coaching a sports team this spring or soon in the future if so make sure to register your for your ruter safety Clinic training after completing this three-hour class you'll receive certification from Rucker school good for your coaching lifetime Come Share along with others getting ready uh I'm sorry Come Share along with others also getting ready to coach class size is limited so register early this is uh the only time we will we will be offering the class this spring it's on Thursday March 14th 6:30 p.m. through 9:30 p.m. at the old Millington Schoolhouse it is a $45 fee per participant all right all right we are hopping into spring here in Recreation download our free activity packet from the website or stop by Recreation and pick up the packet while you're in there be sure to stop by Recreation and take a guess on how many jelly beans are in the jar winner will be announced at our annual spring egg hunt all right moving on to slide five mark your calendars for the annual egg for the annual spring egg hunt Saturday March 23rd caner park at 10: a.m. sharp rain snow date will be March 30th the egg hunt is for children eight and under there will be a petting zoo and pony rides light Refreshments adult egg and an adult egg hunt sponsored by our Long Hill Chamber of Commerce this is a free event bring your egg hunting baskets and don't forget a very special guest guest with long ears and a fluffy tail will be there to to greet the kids make sure to take advantage of this great photo opportunity just added a spring field hockey game schedule designed to keep our field hockey players in shape to continue in the fall register by 329 on community pass and the fee is $40 per player new this year a spring Women's Tennis League at caner Park this program quickly filled as soon as we put the registration out the wait list is still open for program Subs free to all Long Hill residents the response on this was great and we hope to be able to offer more opportunities like this thank you to the lill resident um I'm sorry thank you to Long Hill residents Heather Gillis and Dena Kupa for bringing this idea forward and organizing the schedule for doubles matches all right last but not least looking for a summer job we have lots of opportunities in the recreation department please check out all the information on the website and apply online by April 1st and that concludes my wreck update thank you everybody that was a great job pronounce all the names that's right was that a you know side jab at me Matt [Laughter] theb all right just big shout out to Lisa and Bill and I know sometimes there are volunteers that help help them out uh for the incredible job they do in the rec department I mean really I mean look at all the programs they have and I would be remiss if I didn't mention two other helpers in the rec department Rebel who you saw his photograph up there and Jagger I I don't know why Jagger's not up there maybe Jagger is in you know in training Rebel gets jealous Rebel gets jealous okay well all right so up now without further Ado Randy bar our administrator thank you may I just have two things uh two announcements um if you have not registered your dogs for uh 2024 do so uh before tomorrow to avoid additional late charges that start on uh March 1st uh if they're not registered by April 1st uh the town issues summonses to those people that have not re-registered their their dogs um another announcement privately owned storm water structures will be getting a letter during the month of June this year as to the responsibilities of reporting to the LGH Hill Township as by April 1st of 2025 this is uh part of the D regulations for under the storm water regulations that's all I have mayor thank you uh so I guess we're up to discussion items I did receive a request from a president and I think I quote correctly for the love of God please don't talk about food trucks for 30 minutes tonight so that said Jack all right I have 10 minutes again I I based on a discussion at the last meeting I made several changes to the food truck ordinance I highlighted them on the copies I sent but I see it didn't come out on the printed copies so I'll just go through those briefly in section four hyen 7.4 a uh before I had listed all the non-residential zones I I deleted all those and just added enumerated in section Lu 1201.1 of the Township Code then going down to paragraph D in that same section uh they can operate between 7:00 a.m. and 10 pm in paragraph e uh we changed it from 200 feet of a brick or mortar retail food establishment building while it is open without the written consent of the operator of the brick and Mort retail food establishment in paragraph f i put uh and a highlight it but I think this required further discussion uh they shall not operate within 500 linear feet of a residential Zone boundary I know there was some discussion to delete that totally um then and down in uh those are really the changes that I made since our last discussion we are we including ice cream trucks we changed the name at your suggestion and I didn't highlight that to what was it called Frozen confection did we did we um include them or we Exempted them U now I know Mr sandal was not happy with that but that's that's yeah I I talked to Dennis yesterday and he felt strongly that we shouldn't exempt them right um second thing and this also came through Mr Sandow um food trucks that purport to sell one kind of item but then freely give out merchandise of value that is more than nominal food merchandise or food merchandise merchandise illegal merchandise well it's legal now oh well they have to be licensed they just can't uh can't sell it off your ice cream truck right or give it away for free with the purchase of $50 ice cream yeah but I don't think that belongs in the food truck ordinance I think it's a criminal violation well it's not just legal right it's worth looking at so I don't know if you were copied on Dennis's email I I did receive several from Mr sandal in fact I made some changes yeah so you probably want to look closely at that okay any any other questions for Jack or comments so this is not an ordinance for in a second approval so no I I'll come back you know I'll come back with one next time we can talk about it if you want to introdu then we can introduce we can make further changes the resident who reached out to me I think is now very happy all right uh yeah that was a quick one okay fee schedule I guess does the public have a copy of this or I mean it looks confusing but it's not really if you take if you look at it uh closely Randy did you want to uh briefly outline it yeah the um we've gotten some concerns with uh mostly about our Towing fees that we are not um we're much lower than surrounding municipalities and our officer in charge uh jimell uh got together the spreadsheet and basically um had long Hills rates compared to four other towns surrounding us Harden Berkeley Heights chadam and Bernard's Township and is making a recommendation based on uh each of these towns at the bottom um well actually I would uh say not at the bottom at the second column of what their what she would suggest the rat should be um she has also at the bottom of this uh did solicitor's permits because uh we found that we are very low compared to other towns and she's also making a recommendation on uh that change also so uh just so that the um everybody is aware the towing fees um are not paid by the town they're paid by the individuals whose vehicles are towed for various reasons uh illegal parking um you know non-registration and uh you know a bunch of other um items including accidents uh so and the solicitors permits obviously those are paid by the uh solicitors so this is not the towing fees are not a revenue generator for the town but it's to keep um towing companies on our list to to tell otherwise they don't if they're not making money they're going somewhere else okay I mean unless I'm missing something the the rates that are recommended here are comparable yeah some of them are remaining the same some are increasing slightly I don't think there's any um you know I looked it over there's nothing drastic uh um regards to any of the Rat so and like I said they're they're in conjunction with the other towns surrounding our area we wouldn't be the lowest we wouldn't be the highest we'd be in the middle and the annual fee while it does look noticeably lower than the other towns with the exception of chadam Township that's just the oneoff so it doesn't really matter am I reading that correctly yeah that's the solicitors permits and and uh green on the bottom yeah yeah that's a solicitors permit so um yeah I'm not I'm not not sure where chat them's coming from but $5 annual fee with a daily registration seems Seems ludicrous to me um I mean $5 wouldn't even cover uh the the application fee I mean the application for somebody to accept it so yeah so it's just an outlier so throw it out and we just look at the others any questions for Randy or comments it looks it looks pretty reasonable so what do we do with this are we having a vote on this no yeah we would have to change the ordinance change a resolution okay is a resolution yeah we'll change the resolution at the next Township comme so we just want to if anybody has any discussion on it or or questions um we want to bring It Forward before we uh put it in well before we memorialize it okay um old new business hearing none announcements uh Matt are you gonna talk about the venison dinner or yeah venison dinner is what March 9th 6 to1 at the uh Sterling Fire Company anybody wants tickets you can go on their website you can email them call them find a person uh associate with the fire department or call them uh so it's a good time the food is great and I suggest everybody go and get your tickets it sells out almost every year any other announcements here uh before we open up the meeting to the public I did mention uh a little hero of mine at the state of the township back in January uh and for those who have followed uh Gracie Line's uh miraculous story um it's challenging and uh anybody who wants to read up on that you can go to withg Grace initiative.org and there's a some events that are coming up uh Etc full disclosure I am on the board of that uh incredible Organization for those who have heard the the history uh Grace and her mom or uh have worked very closely with the federal government uh going back a number of years there are there's $50 million in the federal budget for Pediatric cancer research as a result of the work that graceon uh or have done and there $10 million I actually didn't look at the state budget I'm hopeful uh that it's in I should have looked at that before I came here tonight um but it's always challenging for uh uh when a young person gets uh cancer because the Cure has become uh very favorable but it but what happens is those little bodies suffer as a result uh and their immune systems are compromised effectively for the rest of their lives uh uh So speaking of uh the good news because I I see Megan looking at me like uhoh uh the young uh boy that I mentioned uh Jack I won't mention his last name uh he is now in that protocol where he has to get checked up regularly so his is every three months on February 9th uh he went through and he is still uh in remission uh and that's the genius and the Miracle of those at Memorial Salone kering the power of prayer and the grace of God so anybody in Long Hill that wants to uh add Jack uh he was seven when he he he he he he was uh diagnosed with cancer he is nine now and I would point out this little this little kid he's a black diamond skier now it's just I mean remarkable remarkable never complained never complained not once anyway all right so with that we're going to open up the meeting to the public just a couple of caveats please limit your comments or questions to three minutes if you have questions please get them all out up front we will write them down uh most likely we will be able to answer them uh tonight uh I caution you uh any questions or comments regarding Personnel uh or or personal attacks on anybody we're not going to tolerate that I will shut that down so comments questions please be respectful and and limit your comments or questions to three minutes with that I open it up to the public any online anybody I think pam pam I hate to say this Pam would you mind mentioning your name and your address and speaking to the mic because I I couple of people said they were having trouble at home hearing us I don't know why thanks P sure Pamela oens uh Millington comment I recently found myself in a social situation with two police officers in conversation I asked him the size of their police departments and how many people lived in their townships their Township they responded that there were 30 in their police department and 30,000 people in their Township I told them my Township was approximately 9,000 people with approximately 23 officers they laughed and they said maybe we should come work in your Township I asked them if they had a director of Public Safety they responded no I asked for their opinion about why a Township that's onethird the size of theirs with approximately the same median household income and the same similar crime rate and crimes I was familiar with their Township would hire a director of Public Safety the response that I got was quote so your Township Administration doesn't have to deal with the chief of police I didn't prompt their response they willingly gave it to me and I thought to myself bingo so here we are a past not present a past failed Township administrator and a Township committee which did not identify acknowledge and correct issues in a timely manner now we the taxpayers of long hill Township will be paying for the sins of the past thank you and you know I have to ask you I've always called you Pam should I be calling you Pamela you sure I sign Pamela I'm gonna call you Pamela then you can call me Pam pamel just don't call me Pam never crossed my mind just one not a not an answer or anything like that a comment I hear what saying about the size of the police department and it's something I've opined on from here I think respectfully in the past uh you are right I actually we're a little bit lower in population we're about eight well according to the 2020 census 8,630 I think was the last census approximated yeah no no that's fair that's fair and and so on a relative basis it is true that it appears we have uh a high ratio of police officers uh to population however upon further research I I have to and I don't know what town you're referencing here the interesting thing that's happening and uh uh Maran uh Nunan has commented on this and she's got a very good point because of uh what we know is fair share of housing even though Long Hill doesn't have a lot of uh fair share of housing going up in our Township the surrounding towns as you all know just drive over to Berkeley Heights New Providence watchong War they are getting well let me use the right word they are building a lot and those folks in those four towns especially Warren and Berkeley Heights and watch on all shop at shopright as an example all of them that they come here so the the resultant um possibility of some type of auto accident criminal activity Etc um so I hear what you're saying and it's certainly something we're going to view as everybody knows the mrr report said 28 office I think was 28 uh was the optimal number I don't know it's it's something we will discuss with the uh incoming public safety director uh and frankly it's something we've discussed with every police chief going back at least for the 15 year I've been involved so it's it's a fair conversation I don't know what the right number is I do uh feel comfortable saying I I would should not be lower than 23 uh I hear what those folks are saying but you have to have a certain number uh and and I think our police department does an outstanding job I do as well and they also they they they run programs like d etc etc as everyone knows the schools don't have U uh any sro's uh in there and you know that's something I think we want to discuss and will discuss with the school board I see a member of the school board back there uh personally I think there should be a an a trained armed officer in the schools but that's my opinion uh I don't speak for the township committee and I certainly don't speak for the school board they can speak for themselves but Pamela thank you well you're welcome and and um I did add those numbers just to sort of set the groundwork my biggest concern or what I was most interested in learning from these officers was about the public safety director fair enough um and I would hope that the surrounding towns and you mayor are very good at reaching out to the contiguous towns are also looking at the issue of increasing their popularity their diversity their their travel through whatever um I would hope that we as Long Hill Township don't feel the burden alone for their increases so as we maintain or improve or enlarge our Police Department I think we have the right to expect that of our neighbor and municipalities we're not in this alone they are the ones who are actually experiencing the increases in tax whatever they're going to get by doing these major improvements so we should not be shouldering their their burden Pamela thank you as always for your respectful and uh wellth thought out uh comments thank you thank you Joe farino 623 Chestnut Street Sterling my question is the person or people who are being considered for the new director of Public Safety are they on the board or do they have anything to do with the MRI company am I on um I think Mike peop is uh referenced as a subject matter expert but he's referenced as a subject matter expert in a number of organizations Kalia is another one um obviously lexipol which had purchased the Rogers Group and that's not unusual in the law enforcement field right what um if I recall uh Municipal resources Inc has a list of about 30 or 40 different subject matter experts and Mike's name shows up there is uh Communications so not to be disparaging or anything but from where I come from coincidences for fools it just so happens that the man who's the director is now being the man who's being considered director was on that board also I don't know what time he was on that board though that's what it says now talk about time frames his co-coordinator was sent a letter for his position as the assistant director prior to the town even coming out with the information about having a public safety director I believe the date was around July 14th I don't know what you're talking about elor being sent a letter that if he would consider being the assistant director and look I don't envy you guys for having this position the idea is that the town as far as I can see the anger and frustration comes from these things not being transparent you have no other option to believe that this is not above board Mr pigeon left I wanted to ask him he'll come back he's the attorney I mean all of it may pass muster with the legal ease but to look at it it does not pass the smell test something smells dirty in Long Hill just saying from what my perspective the other thing is the reason why I'm concerned because chances are with this other million dollars being shelled out and my taxes going up every year I may have to leave my home for 33 years because it's not sustainable for me yes it's all about me and my situation sell out all the money you want somebody got to pay for this stuff thank you very much have a good evening thank you Joe thanks Joe good evening Charles Renning withs Millington mayor I've got two comments and six questions let me handle the comment in a couple questions whichever order you'd like we'll write down the questions and we'll answer them in order comment one I do not think it's fiscally responsible for the township committee to spend 1,737 500 of our taxpayer money for the director of Public Safety and executive assistant in a consent agenda resolution without public comment question one and these can go fairly quickly when did we advertise for the public safety director and the executive assistant positions two how many candidates applied for the director of Public Safety and executive position question three and four how many candidates were interviewed for each of the two positions and when were those interviews conducted and who participated in those interviews question five according to the agenda the offer letter to the executive assistant was sent out on January 12th 2024 but the first reading of this position was January 24th and the second reading was on February 14 what is your opinion in our hired resource Consultants opinion of this untimely Behavior question six when will the employment agreement be executed with the director of Public Safety comment two here's a summary of the recent expenditures on the Long Hill Township Police Department MRI study 30,000 ferano contract 250,000 Michael peoples director of Public Safety 5 years 1, 87,500 Shan Brown executive assistant five years 650,000 Chief Naga settlement 600,000 two Lieutenant salary increase a th000 a month or 5 years 120,000 that totals 2,737 7,500 question seven what is the Long Hill taxpayer getting for approximately $2.7 million looking forward to your response to my seven questions do you want to talk about the hiring process Randy since you've conducted it I just I take my direction from the Township committee so uh we talked in executive session and uh moved forward well I would just point out with there are a lot of positions in this Township you don't ad you don't discuss them in public meetings uh and you certainly didn't discuss who the candidates are what I can say on a high level what I can say on a high level going back two years we interviewed and spoke with people to come come in whether it is as a public safety director or as a police chief or we discuss things internally but we're not going to get into uh personel matters you can't it's it's not legal I'm not asking names I'm asking how many applied and who we interviewed and how many we interviewed and who participated that's a basic question I'm not asking anybody's name I'm not sure I I don't know how that work I mean when we hire an administrator when we hire a police officer honestly we've never this discussed how many officers we interviewed uh for a position that we were hiring I recall I recall we talked to about five or six people total y okay I mean so you interviewed five for both positions total no for uh for Police director Andor public safety director for the civilian executive position I'm confused for Mike people's position we interview interviewed about five or six people and that was when over the course of the last 12 months I believe right maybe longer actually yeah I don't two years maybe who who was in the interview process I'm not going to answer that was the our human resource director involved that we Consulting weard um some of this happened before we had him on board and we have had conversations uh with Tom you know regarding our process and the kind of character that we're looking for and I think actually maybe even Tom might have brought us a couple of candidates if I'm not mistaken you want to discuss timing no what about the agreement question six would you like to know when's it going to be executed well it was uh official when we voted and so it's available for oer tomorrow correct Megan so I guess the response to that question the employment agreement has been executed been approved it's been approved I'm sorry it was approved and will be executed right Deputy Mayor does that mean it's going to be available tomorrow for oer if I can get signatures we're not because we we don't we don't execute contracts prior to the governing body voting on agreements well we sent a letter out on January 12th for uh for that's an offer of employment that has nothing to do with the uh agreement for the public safety director it's not a contract so then so then is the letter available offer letter available for oper from January 12th can certainly put an Opa request in and it will be processed it's in okay it'll be processed okay so this employment agreement for the public safety do I open it now or wait for signatures well Oprah has seven business days so if you put it in tomorrow morning it'll start the seven business days come what Monday and then I'm assuming by then we'll have signatures on the contract agreement question seven seven Long Hill taxpayer that's what I wrote down all right what are we getting for 2.7 million well I I don't think that number is accurate one one it's not accurate and I I would just point out I would be thrilled as a taxpayer and mayor if all components of the property tax bill maintain the same annual increase as the municipal budget I think this was necessary and I fully support it and I fully support the individuals that will receive uh the the employment offers or whatever the contract is and I'm hopeful that they sign it and start as soon as possible so is that your response to what we're going to get is for the 2.7 is that suffice I I don't want to I'm not going to discuss the police department I think they do a great job and I think they they're going to have incredible leadership coming in um we're lucky uh I think this Township is blessed uh I in fact I remember you might have been one of them when but certainly there were others who came and said I don't know why we don't know why you don't discuss uh some of what's Happening uh with former police Chiefs Bob ferano and former uh police chief Mike peoples they built a department they're the ones that got us a credited and respect it Statewide well we took that advice we did speak with Bob we did speak with Mike and this is the culmination of those conversations so I fully support it that's what I will say don't get the wrong impression I support the police department in this town I thank you for your time thank you and your question answers to the questions I'm not real pleased with the responses but there's nothing I can do I appreciate that CH thank you here any other member of the public who is present here in the courtroom I'd like to call it something different than a courtroom by the way meeting room in the meeting room here at Town Hall sing none Megan if anybody on Zoom would like to make a public comment please raise your hand now I don't see anyone mayor thank you thank you so uh with that I appreciate everybody who comes to the meetings in public and comments uh I know you put a lot of effort into what your comments are you may not always like the responses uh but that's okay uh that's what public discourse is so with that I think we're retiring to Executive yes we're gonna yeah but you say it Deputy Mayor we're going to retire to Executive session no further action yeah I make a motion to retire to Executive with no further action second all in favor I have a great evening everyone it's on those topics listed in the uh beginning of the agenda oh my go try the best I can