compliance with the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertisement in the Kate May star and wave on the township website and posted on the bulletin boards of township hall we request anyone wishing to address Council please wait for the mayor to recognize you please state your name and address for the record and please remember all comments must be kept to three minutes or less thank you please stand for pledge lead a moment of silence pledge allegiance to the of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation indivisible jice roll call please council member Conrad here council member Kum here council member Roy here Deputy Mayor Perry here mayor Sipple here I'll go over the agenda for tonight real quick uh we're going to have the O of office for officer danado and officer Gerard they'll be stated of the township address there'll be a f Road Project presentation and once we get to the consent agenda we'll have a public works update from superintendent Gary dougas on this past week of all the different storms we had and various reports from there so this time I'd like to ask the chief chief you and your staff and your officer dinardo please come to the front of the room and councel please join me hey how we doing who's holding the Bible you are okay mayor Frank simple nice to meet you mayor simple hi okay young man you're kind of tall how tall are you 63 63 play basketball yeah you should make some more money playing some basketball but uh Chief you want to kick off the bio please absolutely patrolman Andrew detonado badge number 227 originally from Abington Pennsylvania has rev resided in lower Township for the last eight years he's a 2020 graduate from the Wildwood Catholic High School at 20 years old after being hired by the lower Township Police Department patrolman Dean andado attended the 62nd basic course for special law enforcement officers at the K May County Police Academy December of 2022 and worked as a class two for for the summer of 2023 he then attended the 55th basic course for police officers at the Kate May County Police Academy and graduated as a full-time police officer at 21 years old trowman Donado is very eager to begin his career and continue learning troman ad's mother Carla will be pinning his badge and his father John will be holding the Bible okay thank you thanks Chief any other friends or family members ining the audience they can come up I'm not sure who's here um we're taking pictures so when this is over you connect with the Lacy and she'll send you a picture of the presentation okay so young man if you put your left hand on the Bible raise your right hand please I state your name I Andrew swear to support the Constitution of United States swear to support the constition of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey I bear true Faith bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established to the governments established the United States United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that will Faithfully will faithfully and partially partially and justly perform justly perform all the duties of all the duties of position of police officer position of the police officer for the township of lower for the township of lower Police Department police department according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations young man proud get pictures Chief or what's up oh I'm [Music] sorry using to stick them that's a good vest is it okay now we get some pictures okay all right good job congratulations hey thanks for coming okay okay now he's this is he already did this once already thank you off Dr man how we doing good how all right are you all right how we doing okay good yep patrolman Thomas Gerard badge number 226 is a lifelong resident of lower Township and a 2017 graduate from lower K May Regional High School patrolman Gerard completed special law enforcement officer class one training during his senior year of high school he then attended Rowan University in December of 2022 he was hired by the lower Township Police Department and began his special law enforcement officer class two training upon completion patrolman Gerard continued to work as a class two officer until August of 20123 when he attended the 55th basic course for police officers at the Kate May County Police Academy of which he graduated as a full-time police officer trowman Gerard's Father Tom Gerard will be pinning his badge his mother Daria Gerard will be holding the Bible here we go okay place your left hand in the Bible raise your right hand please I state your name I Thom swear to support the Constitution of the United States swear to support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey I'll bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the position of police officer the position of police officer for the township of lower for the township of Low Police Department police department according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations young man than that you and me both all right here we go you want to get close for the pictures yep does he want to get in the picture okay hey thanks for coming thank you for coming down okay congratulations congratulations thank you thanks Jesus it's like a receiving live man what are you doing there's too many you running for office or something l LT All Right sry bir class all right now I like your share figh on the head too all right I something every day I'm sorry okay chief when you exit the facility we'll start the address L you guys want to hang out for the next hour all right be safe thanks for coming boy never saw some many police officer moved so quick did you okay we'll start the presentation good afternoon today is the state of the township address a briefing councel members of the public and the Press tonight for today I should say this presentation has three parts uh part one is a review of 2023 part two was 2023 snapshot by accomplishments by separate departments and look into 2024 I thank the clerk's office for help put this presentation together and before we start the actually the presentation let's a little bit about lower Township lower town is located to southern tip of New Jersey has the largest yearound population in k m County it's home to roughly 23,000 residents the 32 squ Mile Township is located between the Atlantic Ocean and Del Bay as the best sunsets in state L Del Bay Low Township community was incorporated in 1798 consisting of historic towns including Cold Spring Irma Fishing Creek Villas Diamond beach shore crust SC Landon North Kate May and Town Bank the township is home to the K May County Airport and the K May Lis Ferry it's rich with historic sites including the Fishing Creek School neighor air station Wildwood historic call Spring Village and the Kate Mele house other great attractions are Atlantis a concrete ship from World War I which is has beautiful Landmark at Sunset Beach and coxall Creek Wild Life M area just to mention some are great places to visit and if you want to learn more about these different sites if you go to the township website you click on each site there's right up about each one on the website I'm going to talk about the handful of the 2023 uh administrative actions completed by Council the first one the first resolution uh was an issue with a juvenile curfew we had several residents come in asking for some help from the township to address some kids they said we're kind of causing a nuisance in the neighborhood uh we met with the parents uh the chief of police and manager and members of the council and we actually fixed the problems we had out there that was a good move to reaffirm the and reestablish their juvenile curfew ordinance the second resolution we'll talk about is the is a tax credit that's offered to volunteer firemen there's actually there is a a bill at the state level right now it's floating around it's not approved yet but lower Township passed a resolution to support this bill if it gets approved the municipality has the authority to relieve taxes from 10 to 100% of the property tax for volunteer firemen and also for first a squad members or we'll call them the rescue squad on December 4th last month we approved the share service agreement between the township below and the B and the bur Wild Crest to establish missal Court um the this is no cost to the taxpayers the court started this month January and the employees that are involved with this process the the judge the proc public defender and some administrative staff were given stiens offset the cost of the for theal work schel Landing been working after for traffic common measures for probably the last couple years uh probably soon we'll have the flashing beacons install over there installed it to um allow pans to do the crosswalks without getting hit by a car the last one uh February 5th our next meeting the representative Deputy Commissioner from the New Jersey military veterans affairs will come down to the township to award the township the we value our veterans community word and I'll cover that a little bit more in the presentation in 2023 I'm going to talk about the budget we value our veterans community award drones Higby Beach project and the capital Improvement projects last year for 2023 the council approved uh budget $ 32.2 million plus we value our veterans community award this is this is a big thing for the township it's a lot of work uh we submit the application July of last year and we received notification about a month ago it was approved like I said they'll be here uh next meeting on February 5th to present the award to Township if you look at the slide you'll see two things we did we were name Station Road to Veterans Way that runs between the township H and the library back to the rec center and I believe it was called Station Road years ago because the police station used to be here so was it was actually fitting for us to change it the Veterans Way in addition to that Council passed an ordinance to uh have reserved parket for disabled veterans along with purple heart recipients and this this award is not just those two things there's a whole checklist of 15 benchmarks that the township has to hit to be recognized and received this award and um some are establishing a business with military discounts corly round table for veterans I want to thank the vill's VFW P 54 5343 for help us with these meetings bringing students to the school talk to the teachers and the students bringing bringing family members to the school with veterans hold Memorial and Veterans Day service honor remember P Gore families and there's a few more on this list here but again it was a lot of work and I want to thank the township and Council for moving forward again they'll be here on February 5th to present the award to the township the drones in 2023 or Police Department fully implemented the uer Drone program they expanded the at program by LC 12 new operators and I want to mention this drone the the uh drone program operates under a strict general order from the chville police because it's a sensitive subject have a drone flly around the sky higbe Beach project the New Jersey Division fish and wildlife been working when the upgrades hiby Beach to provide enhanced viewing of a spectacular natural resources this project will visibly open up Pon Creek title and freshwater habitat and provide access for View and Via Bridge Crossing this is a $33 billion project funded by the state and federal government includes observation deck nature trails and overlooks I'll talking to the manager he received word today this projects will probably start this March so it's around the corner this is Phase One of a project uh phase two is not funded but if it gets funded to build an education center out in sunset uh Boulevard I'm going to talk about the 2023 completed Capital Improvement projects infrastructure municipal pool Improvement project milour Center Concrete project the replacement Pavilions at the delas park L Boulevard bathroom project milin Center Ada improvements and reconstruction of Paving and drainage of fire lane Carriage Lane briwood Drive Bal path padlock Lane Timber Lane traway SLE court and a street from wi hicken to Route 109 some of the things I want to highlight in 2023 is that the township had a uh fundraiser on August 1st at the Freeman Douglas Park and that fundraiser was to raise money for a children's assistance fund with which helps uh offset the cost for those um that need help and assistance for their child would be involved with activities in the township uh we raised $3600 at night and part of that right was funded by the K County director Department of Tourism we also have lower Township annual veter state parade 50 in a row we did that parade it was a good turnout our 911 ceremony hosted by a Rememberance ceremony to observe the 22nd of 911 which is held in naval air station Wildwood it was a great event I like to thank Bruce fer who works for the recreation department and also at the Naval Air Station doc Salvador Andy salador for the use of facility it was a good event we'll probably go back there again next year just a couple events we have in the township and I want to mention their fre events the Easter egg home is the Spring Fling we have and the anal trunk Retreat we have we also have the Haunted Trail walk again a free event over 50 volunteers have put this together and we over 1500 residents jojoy the enjoy the Haunted Trail walk the snapshot of the F departments for 2023 Public Safety from the police department they implemented a deputy chief position within the rank structure and sworn in the first ever lower T Police Department deputy chief they implemented the AR program this program partners with mental health uh counselors to together with the police officers so when they respond to an incident that happens to be a mental episode they have a counselor with them lower Township middle dealing to townships in the county to have this program like I mentioned before we extended we extended the uh ATV program by Ling 12 new operators the lower Township courts the lower Township in the bur WildQuest have Venter into share service agreement for the mpal courts and the court now be heard by over Township as as I mentioned before there's no cost to the township for this agreement Public Works they have their fall winter Leaf schedule out there and the Second Sweep will start probably towards the end of January weather permitting to pick up the leaves and branches the Wildwood Avenue reconstruction will be going out to bid with hope of construction star in April 2024 the design to alleviate flooding in the 200 blocks of Francis a cardinal a West Ward Rose Lane and West drumbed are being finalized is plan to award which should be coming the coming weeks the construction of the beach pass in North Cape May and Town Bank session will be going out to bid on January 17th did that go out today mik it went out today thank you the clerk's office as you see they're very busy 95 short-term rental licenses 312 business license over a th000 dog licenses the important thing here is 424 resolutions and 24 ordinances which is a lot of work between the office and our solicor office we'll switch over to the tax assessor's office the number 16, 31300 is in add of ratables uh that's added value of properties in the township so when you add the when you multiply the added value that number with the tax rate you come up to the next number of $198 million 910 um that's the increase that's increased or rable base our rable base right now is more than $3.7 billion tax collector's office they collected over $74 million in taxes and other missible charges the United tax collection rate for 2023 is over 99% as you see lower Township has the most res qualifier for the anchor program and we're always providing assistance here in the township for that and then last B is a list of over taxable properties and non taxable properties in the township treasur office uh big slide here I'm pretty proud to talk about these numbers for 2023 year- end fund balance was more than $9.7 million which mean that's our Surplus like to thank Council the manager and O department heads for making sound financial decisions in 2023 so that number uh is about $1.3 million more than last year last year was the third highest year for Surplus uh this year for 2023 is the highest ever in history of lower Township with a $9.7 million surplus now part of that reason why the Surplus came in so high Council approved an occupancy tax which brought in $737,000 plus we also switched banks last year and allowed us to make more money interest and that brought in close to a half million dollars and we had some money come back from the county amua for recycling program which gave us about a $1.3 million increase from last year's Surplus if you look at the slide you'll see three loans of 24275 uh they're they're loans that we the township lends out for low income yet they have there's a criteria to meet the receive that but they for emergency repairs like you may need a new for something like that uh just for the record the township has over a million dollars of loans currently on the street on June 6th of last year the standard pors upgraded our bond rating from a double A minus to a double A and the last bullet grants received which is really important Sayes a lot of money it's more than $2.5 million and there's a list on the right hand side breakdown of all the grants Emergency Management it's important to remind everybody we have a warming Center locate the seashore community Church on seure road and irit during the winter months and lower test is two Community shelters locate the recreation center and mman Center always ready for emergencies and you see OEM responsible for all those events or listed on this slide plus more plan in zoner office uh you see all the numbers there I do want to mention all board members are all volunteers and both boards are autonomous from the township government they they work on their own uh but we had six use variances 19 site plans 22 subdivisions we swore in three new members this year and we have one vacancy on the Zone board right now the Construction office issued over 1,200 permits another 120 updated permits complet over 4,000 inspections and brought in a grand total of 68,69 in fees code enforcement last year we had 677 complaints we issued 37 summons which is probably around 5% of the complaints that came in we had 510 dogs on the beach we had to respond to for the infractions and it's important we do say that you know we're not looking to give everybody summons everything is a verbal warning a written warning sometimes two or three warnings before summons is issued to a um a resident Recreation you can see all the numbers here how many kids are involved all the various Sports I will say this open play for indoor pickle pickle ball is now available at the lower T direct Center throughout the winter from 9:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. on Wednesday from Fridays it's been a big hit in there a lot of folks go in there take advantage of the opportunity to play some pickle ball going talk about some 2024 Capital Improvement projects most are funded some still have to be funded with the approval from Council the Diamond Beach Park improvements Doug David Douglas Park Improvement project the rooty Park Improvement project Recreation Center playground equipment with Kate M Town Bank path upgrades and improvements the Delware Bay alall extension project reconstruction Ward Avenue we talk about reconstruction we're talking about Mill and Paving and fixing the stormw drainage reconstruction the Bay Drive reconstruction Richwood Avenue stormw GIS mapping project Ohio Avenue Pump Station upgrades Francis Avenue stormw connections project lower T mpal pool house renovation project and DPW facility upgrades again many of these projects are many of them are already funded a lot of these projects we get open space money for or grants are out there uh case in point Diamond Beach I think we have over $800,000 in open space coming in the Wildwood Avenue we have two separate um grants that came in for that project and other grant money for some other projects so for the next Slide the says the goal is 0% increase for missile tech for 2024 consultation with the manager and the CFO today when we introduced the budget in the first Mee of March the budget will come in with a 0% increase so that goal can go away and it's pretty safe to say now we have a 0% increase for the tax for 2024 we have a few miscellaneous items here to talk about the agreement between the drba and the K May County Aviation Sports Complex it's a dome will be going to the airport it's $1.6 billion project it's 880,000 square fet at the house complex will house indoor track soccer field lacrosse field f ball court golf simulators area Jutsu Aries for Jutsu and healthy hard class among other facilities the fire safety office you see how busy they are they had over 1,800 inspections this year 589 business inspections 528 sale inspection where folks are selling their house and other permanent inspections they do a very good job for us and there's a lot of work in that office the last slide is is the engineer report uh not only does he Mark the io's firm is a Township engineer they also work for the planning and zoner board um they had actually went through escco reviews of 35 projects they worked off 11 Capal projects for the township they helped secure six grants and Loan initiatives and the assistant design project for several grants loans mpal projects in the township that's all I have pend any questions anybody have any question the presentation Council all right thank you everybody [Applause] [Music] it out like that we go to okay all right Mr Bergen you want to come up to the podium and do your presentation wherever's going to be doing it yeah it's fine yep mayor council uh my name's John cornick I'm the engineer for the development team Redevelopment of the project this was presented before Council probably about two and a half years ago working with the DDP ever since to continue to work on getting this particular property within the sewer service area for that that location we submitted back in July August the plan for sketch plan review to the township planning board and they recommended us to come back to council just to give you an update on the project go through the changes make sure that everybody's speed as work there so um if you all recall this was named in the area in need of Rehabilitation that developers come in into a Redevelopment plan and that Redevelopment plan allows you to create the Zoning for this new housing project and the housing project if you recall is a 55 year in older community it's a mix of town homes and single family homes and also has an amenity with the pool pickle ball things that uh residents could utilize um the the revisions in general um the County planning board or County engineer comments he wanted one entrance into it a Boulevard entrance so if you recall in the prior plan we had two roads going out to fooling milk uh we're doing a roading as a result of that also into the property the prior application or presented to you was 89 Town Homes we have 102 in this this design we had 152 single family homes where it's been reduced to 112 so we went from 241 units down to 24 and that was a product of working with the D them wanting us to preserve lands behind the Atlantic City Electric easement and not touch that and um just working with them and seeing what they want as the service area in general that's the new layout I sent that over to L Julie earlier in the month and our anticipation is getting into a public comment period with the sewer service area component within the next 60 to 90 days and then we're probably going to be submitting the actual sub preliminary review of the planning board by the end of this month the anticipation of moving this this project forward here to answer any questions you have any comments as to what's going on the project comments is there a low income aspect of this affordable housing so with respect to the affordable housing plan within the the township there's a fair share contribution as a result um so that was what was directed as as part of that project here good thank you right thank you now no no thank you Jo is that microphone is that microphone on yeah that's the last presentation we check yeah I don't see John speaks Lou okay we'll move then to Cent agenda anybody from Council any comments on Cass agenda no comment no comments anybody from the public want to comment on the cend agenda only I see n close the public portion approval of the minutes January 3 2024 resolutions 202 2455 through 202 2464 is there a motion movs I'll make a motion second a motion council member Conrad yes council member Kum yes council member Roy yes Deputy Mayor Perry yes uh mayor s yes we move down to the regular agenda and I ask Mr Gary Douglas to come to the microphone and uh uh brief Council and the recent storms that went through the township please yes good evening so several months ago I know I stood up here um so we'll start with the Roseanne Avenue neighborhood um and I stood up here and we had we did have a malfunction of the system itself um with the chamber in the 200 block building up with the trash rack and you know um blowing the manhole covers off and such um so just to give you an update on that first after talking with engineering manufacturer the pumps and everything that was rectified the trash racks have been taken out of that uh chamber there's a secondary um catch point right before the pumps for the bigger materials our pumps will handle leaves and small bottles plastic bottles and stuff if need be so um so that so as in the recent storms that we have had that um you know we putting down a lot of rainfall in each storm you know abnormally um especially last Tuesday night I believe the 9th the Tuesday night of the 9th um yeah we we had a mess in all areas of the township so there's been some calls with concerns I know some Council have got some calls the manager um and rightfully so so I want to just um you know make it clear so on Roseanne Avenue that the money we spent on that project was was nothing to do with a system breakdown that night um we had a supervisor ride through the area at 1000 p.m. because we we we had crews out all over because of some flooding issues and the area you know seemed to be fine um at about 10:30 we got a Squall of a very heavy downpour and then what it took place was it just you know there's leaves that section is in the current leaf collection area that amount of rain just takes them leaves and when they roll down the curb line and become on top of the drainage inlets it it shuts it off believe me it shuts it off and you know we you know you know we thought maybe it was the pumping system we checked that out we thought the marsh was overflowing cuz that has many years ago um but it was simply the leaves on all them basins believe it or not all at the same time so it was you know took a little bit you know some crews out there got the leaves off the basins it drained fairly quickly once we got to it so um so thinking you know we do have we have a leaf problem in the streets and that's not just in the Roseanne area that's all over you know throughout North K May that night we had several intersections flood out same issue um I don't know what the fix is you know whether it's our leaf collection we try to urge the residents not to rake their leaves into the street other than to the curb line you know that way you know the rainstorms and and you know even if it snows when we're plowing it doesn't affect that area but unfortunately you know when a lot of places when you rake them to the curb line you may be blocking the sidewalk they sit there too long it deadens the uh vegetation uh so I don't know as I you know been talked to Mike and a couple of councilmen we're going to put our heads together and maybe time to come up with a different method whether it's put them in biodegradable bags and do away with the vacuum uh system we got now something to try to keep just that amount of leaves off the street at one time I mean there is prone areas um we just you know every storm we just don't have the means to go out and clean up leaves in them areas you know we may get to a couple of them areas but it's still a Township wide issue with the heavy downpours um other than that area we do have our flooding occurring of course at Francis Avenue which engineering is working on a you know a fix for that to connect it into our Ohio Avenue Pump Station so we're hoping that will come pretty quickly cuz we're pumping every day up there out of that system uh because of the ow Falls 8 ft under the sand and you know so but overall throughout the township if you taking a ride around the groundw is extremely high so we've been getting a lot of calls from residents that have never seen water laying in their yard but it's happening all over it's not strictly villis North K May there spots in Irma um it's just once the water gets there because of the water table it's just not draining as quick as one would think it would or you know it has so uh we're Felding them concerns from the residents who are calling you know um some understand and some just don't want water in their back y but it it is it's not a lot to do with the infrastructure you know we do have some issues in places with undersized piping and you know to help a council with the funds and and management we have been moving forward on those projects so um so that's about where we are okay anybody from Council want add anything or I can say is my house is one of the areas in the Phils that does flood because of the leaves and they just went through the last time was I think two weeks before the storm we had some spot piles it's just coming from yards it's coming from everywhere and once they get on cup uh I've been out there with the metal R trying to clear out those drains and it's that's the only thing that sometimes helps is cuz as you said your people are overwhelmed because you would have to have people stationed almost every storm drain to keep it open and it's just going through and trying to open things up yeah so it so it may you know come down to a different collection method or maybe enforcement with the leaves being Rak into the street I mean I mean we ask to be ra to the curb I guess might be a better way find that you know you rake them to the curb it is the street I can understand that too but we do specify on our leaf and schedule um to not break to not block the flow of the storm water um which is you know can be almost impossible possible but if they're in the street it's hard if you move them out too far then you're impeding into the traffic Lanes but but we will work hard with that I'll work with the manager and uh counsil on what is what is the best method how can we correct this um I I think that uh it's not just a problem that we we have to to conquer ourselves I believe that the residents of the township have to look at this and real ize what's going on and take it upon themselves to make sure that you know when their leaves come down and I I know my my yard you know with the trees there we get a lot of leaves but we can't be putting them in the street and clogging the infrastructure that we're spending a lot of money to correct and and make work properly that uh we can't have it clogged by leaves and it has been a problem for years um I think a lot of people realize that but uh I think the the citizens in the township have to work with us and and help us to uh to alleviate that problem by keeping their leaves on their property and uh not putting them in the street yeah and we and we do when we do meet with some residents you know and they do understand the storm drain issue no the ones that are able and have the means know when that storm's coming they do keep an eye on it and they go out there and they rake them off them themselves but we you know can't ask every resident that do that some are unable to do it a lot of these recent Storms Come overnight you know nobody's going to stay up to watch that uh uh but we're we're doing the best we can and U hopefully we'll come up with a solution hopefully it'll be a team effort between uh the township and the residence and work it out yeah last week Deputy Mayor Perry myself sat down with the manager Mr Douglas and we um pretty much tasked them to come up with some options plan uh and have leaf pickup done differently because it's not working that's all and it may come down to council passing ordinance and code enforcement enforcing with summons uh it's not going to happen overnight but I think it's something we need to look at unfortunately it's cost us too much money of repairing infrastructure so again uh Mr lafy and Mr Douglas going to come up with some options to cancel sometime in a very near future and then we'll have to decide if we want to pass an ordinance to enforce that um their way of doing business in the township so all right thank you car thank you engineer report thank you mayor and councel uh this evening I'll be presenting the engineers report on behalf of delasion Associates and I will be giving an overview of all the capital projects currently underway in the township the first capital project is the Diamond Beach Park improvements um The Diamond be Diamond Beach Park improvements include a new playground equipment pickall courts shade structures and bathrooms uh the bid opening took play place for this and the lowest responsible bidder was Fred M Shone Construction in the amount of 1,299 280 um as the mayor mentioned the cost of construction will be largely offset by funding from the K May County open space Pro program in the amount of $846,000 the project is scheduled to begin Construction in later this month the second capital project is the 2023 NJ do Municipal aid program reconstruction of Wildwood Avenue uh Bay Drive was also added in to this project although they will be bid uh separately so the designs uh for these projects have been complete however we've had to to submit Wildwood Avenue to the NJ do uh for a review process so we're currently waiting to hear back from that that project is also being offset by two NJ do grants totaling over $340,000 so we are geared up ready to bid that project we're just waiting to hear back so hopefully we should get some news from the NJ do shortly and be able to put that out to public bid with construction occurring shortly thereafter the third project the beach access pathway survey and installation so as the mayor mentioned uh the design for the five Timber passs um have been complete and went out to bid today so there's a twoe bid period and after which uh we'll be starting construction construction shortly thereafter with the goal um wrapping up construction prior to Summer 2024 the rotary Community Park Renovations this project is well underway with phase one of two two commencing the site has been cleared all the concrete has been installed and the playground equipment just got delivered so that's starting to be installed this project is largely being funded by a $400,000 njdca Grant which was being utilized for phase one phase two of the project requires more significant Wetlands permits for the njde uh our office has prepared and submitted these permits so we're waiting to hear back on that and once we receive approval we'll get into the design of phase two um and then the construction project number five the bay outfall extension the proposed work for this project includes the extension of various Bayside outfalls to improve drainage our office is currently in the design phase for this project and we're preparing plans to submit um submit plans to obtain the necessary permits Capital project number six the 2024 NJ do Municipal aid program reconstruction of Ridgewood Avenue this project includes the milling and Paving of Ridgewood Avenue from Bayshore Road to the Western end of Ridgewood Avenue that the T Township has been granted a $200,000 grant for this project and the project uh has been surveyed it's currently being base mapped and will be in the design phase shortly Capital project number seven the 2023 stormwater GIS mapping services so as part of the Township's ms4 permit they're required to digitally map all the storm water infrastructure in lower Township um Gary has applied and received a grant for this um it's in the amount of $25,000 um he you you receive part of it and once you submit the map you get the um other part of it so our office has been engaged to help Gary um with this work we've been working together and that project is underway the Francis Avenue storm sewer projects this project includes connecting the existing storm waterer system on Francis Avenue to the existing Pump Station on Ohio Avenue to alleviate flooding on Francis Avenue uh this project is in the design phase uh the rough designs have been completed by our office and our office is working with the township uh to determine the best way to complete this project the Ohio Avenue Pump Station emergency storm SE replacement so this project includes uh the repair of some defunct pipe that connects the drainage B the drainage basin next to Ohio Avenue to the pump station finigan has been engaged to complete this work for the township and we will be starting construction in the uh very near future the final project the David Douglas senior Memorial Park Renovations includes the Reconstruction expansion of the existing parking lot to add new parking a new bathroom building and Associated utilities relocation and um refurbishment of the existing Memorial new side amenities new decorative foot paths and an observation deck our office is currently working with lower Township to prepare a concept plan to be utilized for preliminary funding application to the K May County open space board we will be getting the preliminary application submitted by March 1st which is the cut off for the first round of funding for 2024 our office is also preparing Wetlands permits which are required to eventually construct this project that wraps up my presentation thank you questions yes B Al fals yes we've been talking about this one for a while I know the D slowed everything up with all the different things we have any idea of a date of any type of you know when it's looking like it's going to start we we should be getting permit submitted within the month and then that is between three to six months uh approval timeline at that point we could go out to public bid okay thank you thank you at this time we'll open up the meeting to General Public comments anybody from the public want to come up to council the microphone the add council I ask you please state your name and address Ed shetta 306 Roseanne Avenue obviously you know I'm here um first of all I want to tell you number one uh I'd like to thank Mr Perry because I know he was in very involved in getting that pumping station down there and and all that work done and I appreciate that I appreciate everything everybody's done with that um I also it's not easy for me to come here and complain because a lot of people in this room are good friends of mine and I don't want to be a pain in the neck but I live on Roseanne Avenue and it's important to me um there are a couple things that I'd like to address and it's not critical Gary but but I want to I want to address a couple of things first first of all I think a preemptive approach needs to be taken on on the leaf collection um we had trucks out there the next day picking up leaves and clearing everything up and it was like an army came in that should be done honestly beforehand not after the storm it should be done before the storm this storm was it would I mean Murphy called it a state of emergency it's not like this storm snuck up on us um so that's one thing I would ask that get a preemptive approach um I I know that it's you know it's not easy to do that but uh and I know Manpower is a problem at times but we we didn't have a problem coming in the day after okay so I I you know I think we could do that we could be preemptive um I I had a problem with leaves for a while in my backyard I had a ton of trees behind me thank God they're all gone people have taken them down but I used to pack my leaves up and take them to to the dump and I'm in favor of doing that except I know that not everyone can do it and there's going to come a time when I can't do that so I'm not sure that's the way to go I don't know whether we should find people for moving them out to the street now not putting them in the street again I'm not trying to be critical here I'm just trying to get throw out ideas here if if you don't put them in the street and you put them in your yard two foot of water is going to rush them down to the pumping station anyhow they it's not going to be it's going to cover the storm drains we're not going to we're not going to solve the problem by saving them putting them on the street or not putting them in the street I mean I the problem this to me the situation is get rid of them before the storm if we know a storm's coming particularly I mean yeah there's times it might get a storm that you don't realize is going to come but when you sit in your house and you worry about every little inch that's coming up I mean my flood insurance is outrageous and uh I'm sure other people in that neighborhood their flood insurance is the same thing it's it's ridiculous my house has been flooded a couple times uh every time I talk to the insurance company they want to bring that up that it's been there before so I certainly don't need any more issues of water coming into my house and again to me it's uh we spent a lot of money not we you guys spent a lot of money getting that situation to where it is now that we can can control some of it um I think cleaning up the leaves prior to storms maybe maybe even it needs to be in areas where we flood maybe it needs to be once a month somebody goes through there and and looks at the you know the leaf situation and clears it up but certainly if we can come in the day after a storm and clean up the leaves we can come in the day before a storm and clean up the leades that's that's my feeling all right so I've had my say uh I I feel like listen I I'm not trying to come here and complain but I live there and and the property values are going to go down when people I mean every time I want I think about selling my house which I don't often but I mean it certainly in the back of everyone's mind all I can think about is how many times is this street flooded and how many people know that and and what's going to happen when I want to sell my house U you know and so anyhow I've had much say thank you thank you thank you thank you anybody else hi I'm Joe Thomas from 307 Rosanne and I'd like to congratulate uh all the public workers for the job that they do um they do an excellent job uh except in this case um was a day [Music] late and I just in general um on our street I don't know about the 200 block a majority or a large portion of your um voters are elderly that's a statistical fact uh we have a 92y old a 95y old on our block um if we see a police car either it's followed by an ambulance or a mortician so that um you know finding the elderly for not doing their leaves is not an answer also if the street floods the mortician or the ambulance can get there all right and these are the people most in need of emergency Services um and it would be nice if they could get it when they need it um I think the solution Ed took most of my steam um is a preemptive um strike before the storm certain we had plenty of notice that it was coming uh I hear all these projects uh being proposed in different areas um I understand vary and and the um demands of budget but if I hear all this money being spent in other areas and I realize overtime and budget cost money but if it's spent over here then they got a little bit of gravy to spend on preemptive activity so I would urge Council um to give it a moment of thought what uh because people's lives are at stake right you can't find a river when it's going down your street someone needs help thank you thank you Mr Mr Thomas and Mr shetta have do have legitimate concerns I I just felt it was to get up here when we you know the statements of we were day late or if we can do it the day after so I just feel compelled I need to answer that a little bit so we knew storms were coming and you know it although it seems like okay then we came a day after and we got it done it's not the case there was another storm coming later on in that week so yes being that was the major problem area uh we did get out there the next day and do that but you know to cover every area that floods during a heavy rainstorm you know this meeting might be the residence of Roseanne Avenue and not that we won't go tend to them the next time but you might have the next meeting after that storm it's going to be a different area so I just want to clarify that is not the only area and it wasn't that we didn't know a storm was coming we had crews in that night checking storm drain tops and everything like I said it it came on within 45 minutes with the heavy downpour and that's what it C so the root of the problem is the leaves I don't know what the answer is at this point we we'll work towards that but um so we did divert other priorities or or made that our number one priority after that first storm to go in there so we took away from other projects and stuff we were on because of the upcoming storm the end of that week so I just just wanted to clarify that all right thank [Music] you great flier 1700 Wasington Boulevard North Kate May uh first I want to conr mayor council for the presentation tonight and what you accomplished in the past uh year and the nice thought that you build up a good Revenue Surplus and that in 24 you're looking at a zero tax rate for everybody uh the other thing uh on the leaf thing uh I've seen that one thing I've seen around some areas some people do they have like big I don't know maybe 20 10 by 20 uh like nylon things and they put all the leaves in them and then they tack them down just like you would pitch a tent down and tie it down and I've noticed on some of those places that the uh leaves don't get out of that bad I mean you never know with winds and stuff like that and the ground gets so soaked but I've gone by some of them and they're still tacked down you know the little bit might get out at the end of them but it's like a nylon mesh you've probably seen that before there was just a suggestion especially like in the high areas and all maybe be trial run some people that have leaves and stuff like that you know pass out of some and see if it would would help that way that's that's all i' say thank you again thank you thank you I am uh Larry Shillington I live at uh 320 Rosanne it's on the corner right by where the pump is um going back to the leap I'm going to reiterate that also some of these pile of leaves have sat there for over two months I mean I think we should do a better job earlier getting them out we know they've come down in the fall so you know I kind of propose that uh they should do it maybe once a month especially during the fall you know fall into December and I think if you had it all done by December everything would have been cleaned up you know we would have avoided this and this and I also have another problem I uh Gary put a drain in which we thought would fix the problem uh I got water coming in from the neighbor's yard in our driveway it kind of forms a river right through my yard and we put the drains in there but the drains are a reservoir doesn't go into the main drain so you know I would like that to be corrected as soon as possible it's ruining my yard I'm Los you know it's eroding you know the whole front of my fence so that's all I have to say all right thank you sir thank you and for the record I do want to clarify that the Township's never in a position to find people okay that's the last resort uh if you look at the presentation tonight we had over 600 and so code enforcement infractions in the township and we only issue summons to I think less than 5% of those folks so it's all about verbal warnings just talking to people come up with a solution but we do not want to find nobody in the township it's always the very very very last resort uh but it's pretty evident that we have to come up with some type of plan because um what we're doing right now is is not working so we need to work work on it uh Mr Douglas Mr laf he's going to work on it and come up some recommendations to council and we'll go from there and and decide what course of action to take so yeah okay a few years back I I came to council and asked that uh they try to get the speed limit lowered uh right around on bashore road right around Roseanne Avenue uh I don't know how many of you guys have ever had to come out of that corner but it's difficult it and and in the summertime it's getting almost impossible um it it the speed limit was lower to 35 in a section there uh I I looked at it today uh because honestly I I meant to say this when I was up here before but I looked at it today and and uh the first sign back towards um uh landscape and garden gardening where that area uh it says 40 mph I don't know if that could get changed to 35 because it's not 35 till you almost get to rosean Avenue um and the sign the first sign's not very big the other thing I would like to ask and I don't know whether this is possible or not either um every once in a while I see the police signs out there that that are flashing and and maybe if they could put a sign out there possibly in both directions I don't know but it's saying that that speed limit drops down to 35 there just so people local people become aware of it because honestly not many people are going 35 there they're doing 50 and 55 or or they're at least doing 45 and 50 uh I mean it's it's tough it scares me it scares me and it's particularly scares I have a number of great grandkids that are starting to drive and it coming out of Roseanne Avenue and it makes me nervous as as can be yeah I have great grand kids answer that uh back in I believe 2016 or somewhere thereabouts uh I worked uh hard to get the the speed limit reduced to 35 uh which which we did I don't think it'd be a major problem to reach out to the County engineer and have the signs relocate um to let people know well in advance that you're going to have the speed limit drop I I think Dave I I think if you could do it back at that landscape and go ging you know and have a reasonably decent size sign you know not anything crazy but the normal speed limit sign that would help I don't know if it's going to solve the problem I believe I believe right now it's after the the curve right the curve gate maybe we can get it relocated and also possibly have police um set some radar up out there right and yeah I'm not looking for anybody to get a ticket no but you know you get pulled over right you know maybe the next time you go by there you right maybe not get a ticket but you'll slow down right um I know back where I live where the esur is on on clubhouse in uh Bay Drive the police sit there it's also an area where the speed is 25 people do 40 right you know so the police do sit there so that might be another Avenue that we can reach out and and have the the police there uh also I noticed too as you brought it up at oldmill we have the crosswalk signs that the county put in with the flashing lights um and uh I noticed not many people give the courtesy to the pedestrians to cross there so maybe that's another thing we can we can look out and uh see if we can our Police Department can help us out there too yeah any anything could help I mean that's a tough corner to come out of and and uh in the summertime with Wawa and everything there it's crazy it's a zoo it's really tough my solution is a little bit different than D's um because I thought they were doing all Bay Shore Road at 35 and unfortunately in the Villas they didn't so in front of the senior center it's 45 miles an hour right up to this building it's 45 miles an hour the township has changed Bas Road has changed where people live you look long you're going down Bay sure you see houses everywhere except where the gates and a few other places The Simple Solution is drop the speed limit to 35 all long base you and lower at this point there is we have too many residents and I'm sorry but you have seniors trying to pull out that Senior Center they can't come through here to get to the light they're making lefts there and someone's coming around a curve it's almost blind and they're doing 45 possibly 50 so if we just lowered it everywhere we don't have to worry about it slowing down in North K because they're going be slower anyway I I agree I agree I don't know how much trouble that is but I mean it's definely it's definitely busier than it ever was that's for sure so well thank you work on that anybody else my name is Eileen CH on Evergreen Avenue villis so I just wanted to speak uh just for a second in defense of our Public Works guys um I see what they're doing when I drive around the town I live in the Villa section and we do have a lot of flooding up in this area as well as other areas in the township and our men can only be in so many places at one time if there's an issue going on in North K May that's one thing but there's an issue that we have that's really bad in the villis area as well which was addressed tonight that we are trying to fix that but I know in the days before this the first storm and the second one that our guys are out there cleaning up as much as possible make it going out and draining storm drains making sure they're not blocked f up cleaning off as much as they can and going from one area to another our Lea schedule might not be the best but we do split our zones we have five zones and every year they rotate so not one zone is affected each year exactly the same way where I live I was in zone one this year we didn't have one leaf down yet when our Leaf guys came through they came got our branches but we didn't have any leaves now we do so but we're not going to get picked up again until we're done but so that leaves us a problem that's something that needs to be addressed but that's that we're working on that but to say that that our public works department was a day late I kind of find that offensive when I know that they were out there doing the best that they could in a very large Township they stay on top of it as much as they can and we are proactive I believe that Gary and this crew are proactive as much as they can be with the Manpower that we have and the equipment that we have and I'm grateful for what they do and that's just what I wanted to say so thank you she brings up a very good point because you brought up the other projects I wasn't going to say anything but sense cuz it's I'm not trying to downplay what happened to Roseanne I've been here since the beginning about the Roseanne project get trying to get push it to get it done about all the drainage every project you heard in the Villas about different streets and Al Falls and stuff that's all to alleviate flooding throughout the Villas it's not even doing all the Villas CU as I said my house I'm on the Eastern side there's nothing that's going to be done because it drains to the swamp and the leaves they just come through but the leaves are What's blocking the storm drains and we have to come up with a solution but in mind it's pretty much just a couple neighbors getting out and doing storm drains try to keep the whole neighborhood from going underwater my car um was sitting on the street it's not even on the Main Street that floods it went up to the top of the tires almost flooding and that is a it's back that way but the next street over that totally goes on it's it gets ugly back that way but it's we can't expect anyone to help cuz they're going to areas and right now as they said they're treating rosan as the priority we want to get it all done but sometimes even that's right after they get done going down the street you got people to pull their leaves out afterwards or it's just what's leaves are in the yard it's so few leaves could clog up that one of those drains it's not funny cuz and then you got the suction going and the guys are trying to pull through cuz I've been out there with a rake trying to pull clean off a storm Trin and the suction power of it is you're just you're fighting and you're fighting and then all Wham it goes through I oh no I'm not that's people but they're also going through other areas doing that also then how can they come okay okay I understand it's a whole perception thing and as she said it is a large Township but they weren't even they were pretty much in your area doing it but then they had to come through and because another storm was coming through and they don't want it to [Music] happen so far out the street are I don't want to no no no I agree with you and and I'm I don't want to get M and I don't want to have an arum people but something needs to be done and if it's the lead we got to we got to start picking up do we need to hire more people maybe I don't know but we need hey Ed not he Ed not to jump and interrupt you but we we're recording this meeting so if you want to continue to call please come to the microphone because it's because it's being recorded so we can't have a debate through the room itself well I don't even want to debate no it's but I just I just want to be clear I just want to be clear that this is these are our properties these are our vehicles this is a problem and and I did I I didn't want to bring this up but because I don't want to get in a Tit for Tat but I spoke to an official in Kate May in Frog Hollow they go monthly and clean up the leaves okay now K May is not a small town and it's not as big as the township but you guys know where the I mean I'm sure I'm sure Gary knows where the problems are that they should be a priority uh you know maybe once in a while you don't get to that maybe maybe I don't want to see that but if if we know that the where the problems are they should be the priority before a storm and and I mean I don't I don't think it's too much to ask that I I understand your defense and I don't want to I don't want to bad mouth anybody in public works those guys work hard I mean I was a laborer I know what I know what work is but the simple fact is we have valuable property and all we're asking is that we we're preemptive that we don't I mean watch it I watch I can't say it enough I watch a whole Army of people come the day after the storm and I say to myself I'm like why today why weren't they here yesterday I I mean I'm not again I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus but this is our properties this is important to us this these people have lost their vehicles I've had my house flooded I don't want to I don't want to deal with that and and we spent a lot of money trying to solve this problem if it's the lead problem then we need to get on top of the leaves if we spent all that money to solve this problem and the leaves are the problem we need to get on top of the leaves like I said a little bit ago Ed that myself Deputy Mayor Perry Gary Douglas Mike lafield last week sat down so our game planning plan and come up with this okay so we we all agree we need to do see things differently okay it's not working right now so uh all ask give us some time to come up with some type of plan like I said we sat last week we talked everything you're talking about tonight everybody here we all agree okay we need to make changes okay we're going to make changes we're not there yet though okay look that's all I'm asking for that's why I'm here tonight I'm just I I just I just want to say you know we need to do something we are okay thank you thank you now anybody else I think we right out right now miss Christina Lewis in are back here you want to come to the microphone and say anything okay thank you well close the public portion we'll go to council comments and uh alsoo councilman Conrad first I have nothing else to say tonight it's been a long night and we got a lot to deal with Council Ms yeah I want to put my two cents in on on the Roseanne because I have a dog in the fight of course as you guys know I I live on I have a house on Roseanne and and it is concerning I I I I don't think I've ever seen it it was like a foot to my Foundation that night and uh I you know I I was talking to the guys down the street in the truck and I'm like what's going on he's like the pump's working and and when Scott came over the first thing he did was kick a few leaves off the off the drain and started sucking down so shortly after that I guess he made the call he got guys on the street he was and they were right when I went back I had left to get changed I was soaking wet came back with my dad's old fire boots so I could walk the on the street and the guys were in the street and they were raking the raking it and soon as that soon as they cleared it it you're right it was within 20 minutes it was like it was gone so it is a concern and and obviously raiken raiken into the streets not working and I don't think Rak to the curb is going to work cuz of because of wind so they got to be contained in some way maybe the maybe the the suggestion that the uh was made earlier or the bags it if if they're not contained that they're just going to blow all over and get in any anyway sir come to the microphone come to the microphone please I got a problem with that because there's a lot of old people in that neighborhood and a lot of those old people can't handle doing that type of work you know I hire somebody I get mine cleaned up but then across the street you see all the piles you know with all the leaves even though they're up above the street like you said the wind comes and blows it all over so we we have not made the decision what we're doing yet we're we're still in the early stages trying to figure this out okay so I know but that's what I'm saying if you go that direction you think about it because of the older people in the neighborhood okay okay yep all right all right thank you anything else Kevin no that's it Council Roy I think it pretty much covered all bases okay Deputy Mayor I only I like to reiterate U Mr laf if you could uh get a hold of the County engineer about Bay sure Road there and see what we can yeah I agree with that too yeah because they do people do fly down there uh the only other thing is it's winter it's getting cold um look out for your neighbors your elderly Neighbors in the neighborhood um you know make sure that you're you're keeping your eye on them uh a lot of people uh elderly people use space seaters and things of that nature so just keep an eye on your neighbors and whenever it's here right thank you I just have two items the uh just uh February 5th as a reminder the town should be receiving award from the state we value our veterans and March 4th will be introduction for the budget to council that's all I have is there a motion to adjourn second all in favor