funny people come to my house let the uh record reflect that we have reconvene with all members present uh council member John Forte is ABS excused tonight for those who are able please uh rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I ask you remain standing after the pledge to the United States of America to the for stands naice all let's take a moment as we always do to remember uh members of our uh Madison family who have pass over the last few weeks Joyce and ruckles house died on February 15th at age of 76 at her home in Bethlehem Township following a long illness as most of you know that she was the wife of former Madison Mayor Gary ruckle's house she was predeceased by her parents and two brothers William and Thomas she survived by her husband a 54 years Gary and three children Gary Jill and Julie and the respected spouses and by by her brother James her sister Lori and eight grandchildren Joyce for those who know her is known for her ready and cheerful smile her sparkling eyes her caring ways her willingness to help those in need she graduate from belly Ard in 1965 in College of St Elizabeth in 1969 with degree in elementary education after raising her children she went back to school received certifications in accounting and bookkeeping and she embarked on lengthy and successful careers bookkeeper office manager for local businesses she used her accounting skills for volunteer positions including serving treasure and mading community pool for 25 years treasure at B Eagle Christmas fund for 30 years and treasure for the TJ foundation for leukemia cancer AIDS research uh the mad wathon for 20 years and in leure times you love t t dancing which I did not know baking knitting and relaxing on the beach for their family uh a memorial visitation will be um this Friday at bur and core from 1 from 5: until 88 and the memorial mass is uh Saturday at 10:30 at St Vincent those that wish to make donations in her memory uh suggest the family suggested the eagle Christmas fund or the Madison volunteer Ambulance Corp we also remember Joan Boyland longtime Madison resident pass away her home on the 24th with her family by her side at the age of 95 survived by two sons Kevin and Edward two daughters Joan carolan the respective spouses 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren she was predeceased by her husband of 49 years and one brother and one sister she was born in chesher England in 1929 ra raised in chesher during World War II came United States in 47 married her husband Edwin and a couple settled New Jersey City where they raised their family and decided to head out to the BDS in an 82 moved to Madison where they lived ever since he had extensive career as a legal secretary including working with the assignment judge in Ence County and also public division's career Court the retirement volunteered at St Vincent and St Thomas Moore and Joseph riao um uh passed away on February 19th age of 91 pred deceased by his wife for more than 46 years and his brother John Joon survived by his sister Alissa daughters Elizabeth Andrea Shel Monica and the respective spouses spouses leaves nine grandchildren and 12 great grandchild grew up in the Peterson section Elizabeth graduated with highest honors from Notre Dame and continued his education har of law graduating class of 57 married an and shortly after they initially lived in Brooklyn before settling in Madison in 1963 raised her family here resident Madison for 50 years volunteer with the Madison Housing Authority St Mar Church also ran for Madison bur Council if I remember ser me right and then moved to Arizona and just a little bit more information I recognized Joseph diasi at our last meeting was lifelong um Madison resident just wanted to share a little bit of more of his life noted as uh obituary he was 88 when he died born in Madison 1935 graduated B Ard served in the United States Navy right after high school and after being arly discharged from the Navy he began assisting his parents in the family business Central lunch which opened on July 13th 1928 Central lunch was the oldest continually familyowned business in Madison he took over from his parents in 1982 I started visiting there shortly after that he treasured his customers as I can attest to and treat this all like family and his loyal customers they had Central onch for decades passing the tradition on to the children just as I did with our two boys and the last trans transaction on August 2017 was rung up of the same cash register as the first transaction in 1928 after 89 years of count business for those that have breakfast there you know in 1989 there's a whole lot of angels being created because it was a whole lot of buttons be pushed as opposed to way back in the 1920s to get those prices up to $10 and he was just loved by everyone that visited him so let's take a moment to remember Joyce Buck's house Joan and Joseph let us pass our thoughts on the families and friends they leave [Applause] behind thank you a motion for the minutes of February executive minutes of February 12th 2024 move second already discussed all in favor I and a motion for the regular minutes of February 12 2024 so move second I did send a minor correction to uh Liz the uh second clamation that was listed was the incorrect one that's so the final minut is the correct one any other Corrections all in favor I all right welcome all couple things in the last couple weeks um lead Mars formerly known as uh leadership Mars of which I was a 2003 graduate came to Harley Dodge memorial for the local government day this past Thursday and after giving them an overview of Madison they toured building with uh Ray Cody and Liz Osborne stepping in as excellent tour guides uh they were of course very impressed by our beautiful building but also afterwards Shar how impressed they were with our staff friendliness and the uh fact that people really seem to enjoy working in this building and all the staff um steep forward to explain their departments they left not only an understanding local government at the mpal level but also what a well-run town looks like so they had a very productive day and then yesterday I joined members of Girl Scout Troops uh 5083 6272 and 6273 for ribbon cutting for a bench they donated and that was placed in the Park area next to the Museum of Early Trades and crafts the bench came from the botle Caps to benches project uh an outcome of the work they did on world Thinking Day 2023 they collected over 200 lb of caps from various locations including this building um the Y Museum and other locations and after quick little research online I've found out that basically 250 caps per pound so over 50,000 plastic caps were taken out of the uh um stream and out of landfills and turned into a uh beautiful bench a very impressive project and uh I thank the Girl Scouts for doing that and if you're walking through town and need a little rest stop right there you'll see a nice green bench to sit on and one other thing in our recognition last uh uh last meeting for Bob cus there's two things I neglected to mention in his proclamation of my comments and as we have Library Board of Trustees here we forgot to mention his longtime service to the uh Library board trustees that uh that was one of his um passions to support um and in the Pro I noted that Bob and Kathy are a carrying couple and as such they are the first couple to be both recognized as mayor Legacy Heroes so it is uh they are amazing people and lastly I would like to welcome a special guest we have our St San Christian Bronco coming to say hello introduce himself and uh so thank you Mr Mayor and and thank you council members just for a moment um you know we had a redistricting uh last year and uh the redrawing of districts has put Madison I live in Jefferson Township and uh it has put Madison in in our district uh to be very honest with you it's it's it is an honor for me to to represent such a a beautiful and historic borrow such as as Madison you guys live in a beautiful place and um I'm here primarily to just let you all know that I'm I'm I'm available to the town uh I'm available to everyone I'm I'm a firm believer in the old model of the citizen legislator um I'm I've kind of developed a bit of a u reputation as a hardworking candidate I'm I'm I'm out and and about to see everyone and and I've sort of kind of carried that over into hardworking uh legislator um you know TR is a is a tough place um it's a place where you got to have very thick skin and and and be able to to make your arguments as as concise and and uh and heartfelt as possible um I'm here for every single one of the residents of Madison Township um and um I just wanted to to let you guys know that my staff is always waiting and ready to to to deal with whatever you guys need uh handled in Trenton and uh I just thank you for the opportunity to be here thank you for very much for your coming by and uh come back come back again and uh be reaching out my two things right now is Drew forest all right now we move on to uh reports from committees Public Safety Council president range thank you may during the week of February 19th all Department officers is from the police department all Department officers were trained in defensive tactics for police officers which is a training course that is now mandated by the police training commission as part of the police license and guidelines officers train for 4 hours and training included a focus on officer survival and deescalation tactics on February 27th members of the department will take place to will take part in uh coffee shop at Madison High School which is run by their special services students the student resource officer has been invited has been inviting weekly guests to meet and greet with those great special services students on March 15th Madison officers will be taking part in law enforcement night at men and Arena this detail runs from 7 to 9:00 p.m. and is open to the public it is always a great night and visiting police departments are present to tell the public about their department and about themselves and a note tonight uh on one of our new police officers who is currently in week seven at the police academy TJ meter has been selected as squad leader for uh within his Academy class this position is a mid-level leadership position where TJ uh leads his Squad similar to that of a sergeant within the police department so congratulations to TJ and we look forward to him wrapping up the academy in June and from the fire department tonight uh so far this month in for the month of February the fire department has responded to 17 General alarm alarms 21 still alarms 25 investigations 42 medical calls and that's a total of 105 uh calls so far this month uh also Chief wanted to share tonight uh over the last several months the fire department has been working hard in updating hardware and replacing older equipment uh with that which is a little more environment environmentally friend environmentally friendly uh recently we've replaced all of our gasoline generator powered hydraulic rescue tools with battery operated units replace approximately 85% of the lighting at fire headquarters with LED bulbs and updated fixtures replaced six gasoline powered ventilation fans with a combination of electric plug-in fans or battery powered units replaced two gasoline powered chainsaws with battery powered equivalents replaced two gasoline powered rotary saws with uh battery powered saws so that's four total there replaced two gasoline generators powered uh that powered light scene lights with battery light Alternatives added 14 battery powered tools to replace electric tools that ran off the electricity from the apparatus generators replac warning night lights and scene lights on apparatus to LED bulbs to improve efficiency and reduce the waste uh from incandescent bulbs applied window tint in the day room and office windows at head quarters to reduce cooling costs in the summer months and just to note that the new engine 3 uh that we got last year uh does comply with the new EPA clean diesel standards um so that's just a little of highlight of some of the things that fire department's been doing to make Madison a little Greener these days that's all tonight mayor thank you iance bur clerk M erck thank you mayor this evening we'll have our fifth hearing on the budget we have previously discussed Capital Public Work works the electric utility the water utility and the fire department and their new Emergency Medical Services at our last meeting we had our first look at the municipal budget and tonight the council in public will hear from some of our department heads the police department construction Department library and Engineering will be talking about their goals objectives and capital needs for the year two weeks from tonight on March 11th we will have another budget hearing along with the review of our financial strategic planning guidelines and if all goes as well we hope to introduce the official state budget document on March 25th later this evening the council will be asked to approve the bill list which includes over $7.6 million in payments to various vendors and entities this is an unusually large Bill list due to three significant payments the first is a $2.7 million payment to the county for their first quarter taxes along with an additional $69,500 the bill list also includes a payment to the board of education for $3,941 1011 for their monthly share of property taxes and it also includes a payment of 467,000 $467,500 senior freeze program last year should have received their paperwork for this year and residents interested in the program are required to meet certain income and age criteria the tax office expects to have the forms available in the next few weeks residents interested in learning more can visit the tax relief programs page on rosenet.org thank you mayor thank you Public Works and Engineering Mr landrian thank you mayor okay from Public Works following the last snowstorms uh well since the last meeting rather mechanical staff is doing post storm preventive maintenance and repairs on snow plows and salting equipment in regards to sewer Jing it is continuing with the locations reported on social media and the bar website the roads department is patching more potholes and finally the sewer department again responded to more issues at Lorraine Road Pump Station and they're asking residents to remember not to flush wipes floss and other hygiene products down the to toilet from engineering uh a few current projects wellbe facility improvements uh the contract with vnl LLC construction is progressing on schedule for May restart to meet the summer demand other improvements of the building to be completed in the summer McDonald M McDonald and jam Architects will be reviewing submittal and progress payments utility building roof contract with Jo Authority uh that construction is commencing within the next few weeks Helena roomid Architects will be reviewing submittals and progress payments the MRC multi-purpose P courts pickable contractor H Helicon work has been completed erosion along the path needs to be addressed the Memorial Park trails Phase 1 contract with Clark Mahan work is completed reimbursement from the county to be submitted Grant application phase three has been submitted and approved by Mars County scheduling to be coordinated with hazardous tree removal the library interor contract with dascal is reviewing uh dascal reviewing submittal and invoicing Library staff has relocated to a temporary trailer interior demolition con commenced on about November 13th work is progressing well the Museum of Early Trades a contract with a Hara Construction started November 22nd with historic building Architects reviewing submittals and invoicing project nearing completion upcoming projects Mill and overly for 2024 will be done on nolwood Long View and valley roads and that's going to be summer construction the cook Avenue parking lot plant have been revised to reduce sculping cost project has been advertised for rebid bids are due March 28th and finally the Dodge field playground a Grant application has been submitted to Green Acres uh Grant would cover 75% of construction costs okay and then from the Madison environmental commission son to since today marks the thought of the national invasive species Awareness Week the MSC would like to draw residents attention to Common invasive plants that are for sale in New nurseries and should not be purchased even though these spee might be polite in your yard Birds spread their seeds and habitats such as the Drew Forest are disrupted Asian VAR varieties of Wier have been popular a particular problem in the forest barbery shrubs Harbor 10 times more ticks and other shrubs the Bradford pear tree also called calorie pears are being banned in many states due to the negative effects on the forests Main Street has been a aging main Street's aging pear trees that are in the process of being replaced with natives um and then finally and this is if you recall last meeting we had a meeting of the green infrastructure many dedicated volunteers Brave the snowy weather to attend Dr Christopher or's training presentation on the green infrastructure training for Madison on February 17th uh the audience was filled with Community leaders including members of the environmental commission open space commit committee planning and zoning boards as well as the Madison rotary and Garden Club Madison's state-of-the-art training room in the safety complex provided ample room for the 24 participants thank you mayor thank you utilities Mr Howen pis okay thanks mayor hello everybody uh from the water department on February 14th the contractor National metering Services began changing out water meters throughout the town with the hope of getting our entire water metering system online by the end of the year all meters and radio equipment are on hand the contractor is signed and hired and the next and final hurdle is to schedule and actually change the meters it's a big task there's roughly 4,000 water meters that need to be replaced of those nms National metering Services has been given a list of 1100 to start so that we can change meters without interfering with our billing schedule the buau has reached out to those 1100 customers VIA mail and email and nms also sent letters with appointment making instructions specific to each customer's account information as of this date there have been about 100 completed meter changes and 158 additional appointment scheduled more to come on that uh the Water Department continues to work at wellb which is over by John Street even though it's been a little bit slower paced than theyd like to see the there's been some challenges they have done two curb stops they were excavated and repaired I don't know what that is but curb stops dwell had regular maintenance completed and distribution piping repainted our fire hydrant at 62 shike grow was replaced with a new style Muller hydrant in continuation of our hydrant updating program uh crew assisted with monthly monthly samples for water quality testing which the burrow does regularly and the water department has also assisted with salting and snow plowing during the last few snowstorms from the electric Department the department has also been working at wellb performing the electric upgrades consisting of installing new underground primary wire service feed they're installing a pole and construction Hardware they're setting a new 150 KW pad Mount Transformer and disconnecting the old primary feed for demo of old existing Transformers taking out the Old Wire hardware and getting ready for the contractor to install new secondary switch gear they Cruise in town set a new pole on Danford Road and transferred we1 circuit secondary cable and all other Hardware to the new pole uh they are doing line clearance inspection now for this year's tree trimming maintenance which is important around the burrow uh there's a lot of trees that are starting to to encroach on our wires uh that run from our utility poles the department Foreman met with contractors on site at four locations to discuss new high voltage line Construction and upgrades in installations one is a community place in Walnut Street project where our affordable housing is going to be the uh Madison Honda which is next to the Madison Mall apartment right on Main Street and 15 Prospect which is the uh old wer homes that's going to be uh converted into a new building that wer is building over there uh they're discussing pole layout for Police Department camera project Crews have been practicing pole climbing skills at the water light yard as well as high voltage termination work that's something I would want to do pole climbers Crews responded to S several outages one was at the Verizon building on meet Street on February 12th for a bad underground primary cable they replaced a bad pole top Transformer at 135 Main Street on Tuesday February 20th and responded to several residential partial power outage calls the department also continues to work on daily substation inspections new service installs street light repairs markouts tree limbs on lines downline submit submitting new markouts for pole line upgraded new construction and other residential customer concerns so needless to say they are very busy every day and we appreciate all the work they do the last report is an update on the MRC carport project the solar carport project I don't know if any of you saw in the Madison Eagle that we officially notified the community that we're going out to bid back in December the council received an update on the MRC solar carport project and I'm happy to report that the big documents now have been issued with the bid opening scheduled for March 28th and if all goes well then Council will award a contract in April with work hopefully commencing over the summer the winning contractor is required to work in stages so we can hopefully keep a portion of the MRC parking lot open at all times we're going to try and start the project when the spring Sports end in June the carport will generate enough solar energy to power approximately 75 homes in Madison there'll be no tree trimming needed for the project and the car port will generate some much needed shade for those parking at the MRC the project is estimated to cost about $2 million with most of the cost coming from State incentives and federal rebates if all goes well we'll be looking to build additional solar installations on other Municipal properties we want to give a special thanks to Peter freed and the other volunteers that advocated for this project and helped us to get this far thank you mayor thank you and Community Affairs and also if you have health yes thank you mayor uh the next DDC Downtown Development commission meeting will be on Thursday March 21st at 7:15 it's open to the public uh the Madison farm and Artisan Market in 2024 will be on Saturdays from May 25th through December 14th in the Prospect Street parking lot the taste of madis is coming on March 18th at the Madison Hotel tickets are available at two different price points $85 and a VIP ticket at125 the Madison Green and clean day will be on Saturday April 27th from 9 to 2 and the rain date is the 28th of April from the Madison Community Art Center March 1st through 31st rosum the rosee Gallery will feature Multicultural colored viewpoints the multimedia work of Katie truck she has recently been chosen as an artist and residence with Studio space at grounds for sculpture in Hamilton New Jersey the Madison community art center in partnership with the summit Film Society has been a success and on Friday March 1st there will be a showing of The Taste of things at 3: and 7:30 and then on March 9th the documentary naali March 3rd at 3 the New Jersey Jazz Society will feature Lucy winens and all of the calendar information can be found on the Madison Community Art Center website from the Department of Health flu activity continues to be high residents should stay home when they are sick and wash their hands frequently covid levels remain at low levels for Morris County free covid test test kits are available in town hall and in the health department for residents and um our health department is hosting a covid clinic for individuals 12 and over at the Westfield office on Thursday February 29th from 4: to 6 there is a flyer available for more information we distribute that and it's not too late for dog and cat owners to license their pets pet licensing is ongoing through the end of February information can be found online uh and there is a monthly newsletter that's been distributed by the health department and that will be available online as well very much move on to Communications and petitions none received mayor right now we move on to our first of two uh invitations for public comment this one is limited to items are on our agenda discussions or our resolutions that are part of the consent agenda if you wish to uh comment on these you step up to Le turn state your name and address and the agenda item or resolution your addressing if you want to speak on any other topic that will come up later on uh in the meeting and these for the these are the uh resolutions or actually the two items on agenda discussions our community energy plan and also our 2024 Municipal budget hearing department head presentations and these are resolutions you may comment on and for those that are watching at home these will be part of the consent agenda resolution 92 is approving promotion of John Cudi to position of truck driver one in the public works department retroactive January 12th at salary of $ 48,8 resolution 93 is adopting the community energy plan C as um part of New Jersey Board of Public Utilities EP grant program you're about to hear about that resolution 94 is authorized in use of $16,750 from open space Recreation historic preservation trust funds to acquire furniture and fixtures at the Masonic lodge and this includes um historic Cuban mahogany benches and historic uh chandeliers and then resolution 95 is authorized in special event permit to allow use of livsey park by Mr Peter livsey makes sense July 19th 2024 resolution 96 is authorizing use of up to $1,000 plus shipping for the purchase of Weevil to combat invasive uh species at the mar Madison recreation center and this is funded through um ordinance 21 2019 and resolution 97 is uh appointing part-time per DM emergency uh medical technician to the Madison fire department and this is for Bronte Dakota uh resolution 98 is accepting a revical retirement of of uh electric utility um Chief linman Joel Phillips effective May 1st 2024 seems just like yesterday I was playing softball against him resolution 99 is authorizing license application submitted by Tor J satini PTO on March 22nd resolution 100 is adopting revised Deferred Compensation Program with Lincoln National Life Insurance company and Lincoln Financial Group grou resolution 101 is uh approving raffle license for the friends of Madison Public Library for May 4th 2024 and resolution 102 is approving the person-to-person transfer of plary retail consumption license from Madison Market LLC to heartley restaurant LLC is not moving location just uh from one LLC to another anyone wishing to comment on those resolutions or the two agenda items May step up now oh yes take care thanks for coming by y you can watch the rest at home on seeing none I close this part of the meeting and we now move on to our agenda discussions Rachel good evening everyone I'm back to talk about climate action as I often do tonight's presentation should look quite familiar to you all um as we discussed in December the climate action committee has essentially reformatted our climate action recommendations from 2023 in 2024 into what the BPU calls a community energy plan and I'm going to describe the benefits of this plan and adopting it um and tell you a little bit about what's in it but um this should be quite familiar information because these are the same recommendations we've discussed uh last year next slide so as I mentioned in December we participated in the bpu's community energy plan program um the purpose of this is to help communities do basically what Madison did on our own before we adopted this template uh to create a plan for uh lowcost Ren rable energy in their communities we as I mentioned repurposed the recommendations from 2023 and 2024 using the sustainable Jersey template that was put forth by the BPU and once we adopt this community energy plan or C we have an opportunity to apply for Grants to implement the initiatives that are highlighted in the C so this is the first step in being um able to apply to the BPU uh to to take the next step and pursue funding for some of these great initiatives next slide another reason to participate in the C program was that uh we uh received a $10,000 Grant to help us do some planning and Madison you know is uniquely positioned with our own electric utility we proposed in December to use this planning Grant to think about how we can modernize uh the documentation of our elect our electricity grid um and so the uh the study which has was commissioned with this Grant and was prepared by the bur's engineer electric engineering consultant asplin Engineering Services uh is now um appended to the c um it's a nice plan that talks about kind of lays out the benefits of mapping our grid and talks about the phases um for that process talk about that uh at the end of this presentation so these initiatives uh just like Madison's Comm uh uh CL action process are based on the the seven strategies of the New Jersey energy master plan Pathway to 2050 this is a state energy master plan to help reach the goals of reducing our carbon pollution by 80% by 2050 as you all know from last year Madison extrapolated the state goals to create local level goals for Madison and then developed recommendations for how we can reach those goals over the long time frame and then some shorter timeline uh metrics that we can use to to calculate our progress and then Madison's Community energy plan is a little bit more ambitious than the bpu's template because we also include resiliency that is adaptation to climate impacts in our community energy plan we had done so in our previous climate action process and recommendations and we wanted to go the extra mile and include adaptation and resiliency in our c as well and so the two things that we can do in our plan that other municipalities can't are talk about modernizing the grid most towns don't have the opportunity to work on their grid because they um are customers of investor owned utilities and again because we think adaptation to protect the health of our community our environment and our um our Town's prosperity and financial position we we know resiliency is important and so we've included that as well so uh these strategies as I mentioned are based on the New Jersey state energy master plan so uh the initiatives are organized by strategy these should look familiar to you all we have proposed to purchase alternative fuel fuel vehicles which are plugin electric vehicles and Madison for a couple years now has pursued a public campaign to increase adoption of privately owned uh public uh plug-in electric vehicles through our EV Expo and um other programming in town the um initiatives are described in the C in terms of who will take the lead um any perceived obstacles or barriers to the initiative what funding sources would be identified if any and um Community notes and next steps so in the C report you can read for each of these initiatives a kind of a work plan for how to pursue each one next slide strategy 2 accelerate deployment of renewable energy and distributed energy resources Madison is really ambitious in this in this category and so um we had a number of recommendation and recommendations and initiatives for Renewables uh the four that we selected for the C are here as you know as um council member uh har pudas mentioned tonight we are pursuing the the first stage of developing Municipal solar installation with our work at the MRC we want to continue to work on how we can prioritize purchasing uh renewable energy or zero carbon energy for the purchase electricity that we buy from jcpnl and then uh distribute to our Madison customers we want to increase adoption of solar um by uh homeowners and and on private buildings by uh pursuing recommendations from the Doe's Soul smart review of our process for uh permitting and we want to continue to support solar on school and Commercial properties by promoting available programs and reaching out to the Boe which we have started to do strategy three is maximizing Energy Efficiency I know the mayor likes to say that the cheapest dollar we spend on energy is is a dollar we don't spend at all is that something you say I think it is sure yeah it sounds like okay so um a big part of that is updating Energy Efficiency for municipal facilities including this building um and the other five or four major buildings in in the buroughs portfolio that would include for instance weatherization at the DPW garage that window replacement that's going on there and we have been working on implementing a residential Energy Efficiency Outreach campaign a big part of that is the seal power um home energy audits that the buau has partnered with seal power to provide at a low cost to um residents $49 to get your home energy audit next slide strategy for reduce energy consumption and emissions from the building sector is similar to three but um it specifically focuses on both municipal buildings um and and constructing them as model green buildings as in the example of our Walnut Street and Community Place affordable housing project pi pied on the left and we uh created a a new uh initiative 4.5 that's not in the C template but we think it's so important to focus on replacing gas burning equipment in municipal buildings we have talked a little bit about the East Wing renovation and some possible HVAC systems that could be provided there we're looking at the Aging boiler in the DPW garage there's a lot of ways that we can modernize our equipment make them healthier uh and more efficient next slide strategy 5 is unique to Madison because uh unlike most towns completing this plan we have our own electric grid and um utility uh strategy 5.1 really pertains to the report that we commissioned the idea of planning for grid improvements by analyzing our grid and knowing what we have so that we can make sure we maintain a high level of reliability and service for our customers want to track reliability and make sure that as more demand as demand grows on the grid and we add more Renewables um and double potentially double our electricity consumption by 2050 we want to make sure we're not dipping down at all in our service and reliability to our customers by tracking demand side management to balance supply and demand one way to think about that is the time of use rates that have been discussed in the pilot program that um we are uh looking at this year for volunteers to participate in and virtual net metering to support Community solar is a way allowing residents in um including renters that can't install their own residential solar to um participate in a community solar project with um solar panels located on a large building such as a community facility or a commercial property strategy six is about being inclusive and making sure that all residents are included in community energy planning and making sure that we can uh work with existing community serving institutions to make sure that our message about upgrades benefits and um opportunities to take advantage of these programs they're reaching um less served members of the community and um we are not excluding anyone because they are not um aware of the programs or we don't do um we don't make an extra effort to reach out and make sure that information is available to everyone and strategy 8 is our unique resiliency strategy um all three of these um are intended to um protect the built and the natural environment in Madison by managing storm water better incorporating green green infrastructure into our complete streets policy um we want to explore adopting a water conservation ordinance that will take the next step and encourage especially our highest users of water to conserve water and to complete a community equity and divers profile which the first step was taken last summer and I know members of sustainable Madison reported on that to to the this body uh in July of 20123 um there's some additional implementation that'll come next so uh like this item 8.3 and several others we're already pursuing these and we're you know beyond the planning phase and into um initiating next steps so this is a little bit retrospective uh because we're forging ahead on all of these as you know from last year but by documenting them in the C we can take credit for that work and uh as I said pursue grant opportunities next slide this is the electrical grid mapping study that we spoke about in December um I snapshotted the table of contents here but I'll just um mention that this is a great report that as it says here describes the objectives and the benefits of this GIS implementation um what information we hope to get from it and what what new things our utility will be able to do once we know more about the uh connections from our uh Transformers to our individual uh customer accounts or meters and it includes a plan for implementation breaking it down into the data Gathering phase where we'll establish a GIS framework which is the type of software we'll use to capture it and then do that mapping develop a customer tie database that refers to linking the customer meters to the Transformers once we have the data Place there'll be this digit digitization phase where we transform it into a simulation or a digital model of our grid so we can test and see where we need to um strengthen the grid where we're adding EV Chargers uh how can we um Can Can we more quickly understand the impacts of adding solar and uh larger loads across the the grid and then finally once that database is complete we'll use it to study and maintain the grid so it becomes a a working tool um that can rapidly be updated for any changes um and help us predict needs as lead times for equipment grow so the next steps tonight we have resolution 93 to adopt this CP um we'll package up the plan and the resolution and send it off to the BPU um and then that will allow us to pursue these implementation grants uh the BPU in the fall authorized the program to fund a first round of implementation the grants are for up to $250,000 each so not chump change um and we're looking forward to coming back to Council in the next couple months and proposing a couple of priority initiatives from the C that we think are really viable candidates for grant opportunities from the BPU very good questions very thorough any questions or comments Bob I just have a couple of comments one that I think this is a wonderful plan that you've put together here um cuz I was making some notes and what's really remarkable about it and I wish other government agencies had done this is it doesn't mandate it suggests you know I think it recognizes that not everybody can afford to do certain things right now but the home energy orders are going to be a way of showing wait a minute it may cost you a little bit more but you're going to save more in the long run um I also appreciate the fact that you're monitoring the grid because one of the big concerns is if everybody want electric right now how could the grid support it well you're you're doing that right now one question I do have though is in a larger apartment complex where an individual may want an electric car but there's no way to no place to charge it like where I live they've put charges within the complex so if you're a resident there you can just go in what about other apartment buildings in town is there any incentive or any thought about okay yeah you have a parking lot but you really need some charges there any way to incentivize them to maybe do that so the um the what are called investor-owned utilities uh administer a program in the state to help uh landlords and operators and owners of proper multif Family Properties to install Chargers but because we don't pay in to uh uh investor owned utility with What's called the society societal benefits charge Madison up until recently was not eligible to participate in this program one of the things the climate action committee did was petition the the BPU last summer to say hey don't leave Madison behind we're eager to take part in this energy transition can you help us by setting aside some money that would um allow us to participate equitably with the other electric utilities and in this budget year uh the um the BPU did create a program to do exactly what you're describing which is to help subsidize the cost of uh property owners who want to install EV chargers at multif family um properties so I don't think anyone in town has pursued that program I think maybe what we could do is get the details and find out how to publish it in town so that property owners here that operate Apartments know what's available to them yeah and the reason this is kind of close to my heart is I have very close friends that live in Brooklyn and they live in a large apartment complex and they come out here and they say boy we see electric charging spots on this Main Street we would love to get an electric car but I live in a you know a 17 story apartment complex this whole place to charge my car so he's going to be forced to stay with a gas powerered car which all the people there would use and that's where your biggest let's face it that's where most of your pollution is going to come from from you know these larger cities and I'm not only talking about Brooklyn you're talking about let's like Jersey City places like that larger comp apartment complexes where people may want a car but they just can't charge it I think um uh we could reach out to the BPU and have them prepare a summary for us that we could distribute in town I'll be glad to work with you on that thanks thank you good any other questions or Tom microphone solar powered solar powered yeah the blue light is Led too is very efficient thanks Rachel as usual very comprehensive report it's amazing that you guys are so capable to put all this together and you have it all memorized unless there was a teleprompt or somewhere that you were reading off of uh we're really familiar with this material by the way we've been working on it for like two years it's I know thank you you Peter it's ingrained here so a couple of questions so now that the Board of Ed is going to have this massive Capital reconstruction project that I know some of our construction officials are going to participate with too are we going to ask them to have the architect start talking to you Peter whoever is going to really guide them so that we're sure they're doing as much as they can because the energy they consume is still a cost to all the residents and it's going to be hopefully less and we know we're going to sell them green electricity and they're going to put solar hopefully on their roofs I know we haven't gone that extensively yet to push them on that they they pre last year that we got signals from the Board of Ed that they were more uh inclined or open to do a carport type uh construction which would you know be a separate project than the than the the capital work on the buildings uh so uh and we have made presentations to them about how you can do a PPA or power purchase agreement that would there's over 800 schools in New Jersey that have solar panels and the reason they do it is not it's it's to save money right this is like a win-win um there is a new representative to sustainable Madison on the bard of Ed who is really Keen to see how the uh existing referendum can um incorporate some forward thinking along those lines so I I do think the Board of Ed is working hard to rapidly deliver on the referendum you know scope now that it's been adopted and so they certainly uh have their hands full but we've gotten some good signs that they're open to uh making sure that the choices they make that are going to be part of the capital plan for you know decades to come are efficient choices so we'll keep pursuing that okay I would like to see Madison are on our side the the buau since we've already gone through the process and learned everything that we need pretty much need to know to move forward we have this very uh competent Consulting Group we need to actually get the Board of Ed to step up and use them Y and if we have to help them I think it makes sense because we're saving money for the whole community at the end of the day tala has done some studies for them good which have been shared with the Board of Ed to say yeah you know what's holding you back and uh I I know that um they certainly have their hands full right now but we'll be you know persistent and and hopefully uh find a uh willing partner there okay okay and one other suggestion I have uh with the energy audits that we're doing to uh you know reach out to the community and let them know they have it we we do have a program with our electric utility where if you make a certain income or less you get a rebate so maybe those people would qualify for the energy audit and we would subsidize it that's a great idea if we could do that I don't know how many homes will qualify but at the end of the day you know that's our goal is to get in everybody's home that's why we're we built this new state-of-the-art energy efficient uh affordable housing development on Walnut for the same reason so it's just a suggestion to think about that's a great idea for outreach okay thank you thanks Tom thank you any other comments great great job so this is resolution 93 that's listed on consent to uh confirm Now we move on to our uh budget hearing department heads presentations here just jump right in and start with presentation all right hi good evening everyone and thank you for the time to provide you with some of the highlights of the building Department's 2023 accomplishments and share some of the 2024 going to we do that all right that's all right 24 projects and goals as as you can see this the this slide she gives the numbers of last year versus the year before uh the're very similar with the with the most notable exception is the increase in inspections some of the larger jobs take more attention and more time um one item I would like to note is the uh the increased use of the portal that affords us a little bit more time for the staff and uh and and the residents they can schedule their inspections at off hours uh frees up staff to uh handle permitting and and cosos and things that take a little bit C uh next slide please here's a summary of some of the accomplishments of 2023 most of you are probably most of them as you can see the number of uh cosos that are required out of the last year's uh permitting was 110 and like I said there's a fair amount of time that goes into creating these documents which rather correct and legal next slide please so looking forward to 2024 um one of the items I'm proud to uh say that we've completed is the ivy that's that building there it was a 245 unit apartment building over in chadam um the fact that this is done kind of clears up things for Madison's we know we've got a fair amount coming down uh councilman har and P has pointed out quite a few of them the uh the apartments the Walnut Street uh projects so we've got that to look forward to the year um operating budgets same as the year before um managed to uh we continue to operate under the cost of the the permits that we bring in so we're still running in the black we've also been able to allocate some funds towards the uh the the state mandated electronic plan review that'll be coming down the pipe um any year now that's been on the paper it's been on the books for about two years but that'll free up it should clean up some of the paperwork uh increase plan review time reduce paper um Less storage all positives there that really sums it up for the building department that's too exciting see that thanks R I just want to highlight again the the great work of getting the sdl portal rocking and rolling for our residents I think the use of technology to reduce friction there and as you pointed out free up time is something that um many units within the burough could could take a page out of so I appreciate you um doing that and I think last year I made a similar comment saying I'm really excited that you guys are doing it so I'm really excited that um it it came to fruition um and I'm as a member of the planning board even more excited to see the um the electronic file review and plan review and being able to get some of that out of the paper and the massive you know sheets that we're all trying to go through looking forward to um so so that's great so so thanks for being an advocate and embracing kind of those new technologies thank you and you as you can see the public is enjoying it too right I mean that's that's a significant increase in usage micone microphone yeah just going to leave it on there you go inappropriate sorry so the ivy took a lot of your Department's time it was it only Madison that supervised the construction and signed off of The Ivy oh absolutely yeah yeah so you and make and make and the rest of the gang it's uh wow it's huge undertaking there's a lot of that you don't see on the on the um administrative side ladies handle a lot of phone calls other questions about scheduling sure how many people work in the department there R there's nine nine people now four four on the field and five in the office five in the field five and now the big projects for this year are like the Madison Mall Madison we're looking at the Madison mall we're looking at uh Walnut Street the mosque is under construction there's there's quite quite a bit I was supposed to have a meeting with uh the wer project okay yep I saw that there's already meetings between the electric utility yeah so there's some complicated things to come come there it's great thanks Russ Rachel I just have a technical question I'm wondering what triggers the requirement for obtaining a certificate of occupancy what is I'm what triggers what is the requirement for obtaining a certificate of occupancy whenever you create new space in addition a new house so anytime you add floor area you have to get a CFO that reflects not obviously just the new space but the scope of the entire building so all of the projects you listed there including you know garages and and stuff like that trigger the CFO requirement that's correct and it we're we're working with a number of different departments as well we work very closely with engineering and Zoning um all the as part of a CO thanks all right thank you great job thank you all us and I understand this was your day off this is how you wrapped up your day off I'll thank you for coming in sure chief good evening everyone I would like to thank the uh governing body and the burough Administration for allowing me to present this budget tonight um and give you a quick overview of the uh police department as [Music] well as you'll see uh our table of organization this shows the line of authority from the chief down um the uh Department size have has stayed consistent with past years we have a couple new additions uh this year that uh filled vacancies if you see on the bottom we have both officers meter and rendone that are currently in the police academy and um patrolman Lake he's on patrol squad D he's uh in field training and we actually just hired a um a dispatcher to Fil A vacancy uh actually started last week so um he's currently in in training right now so we are at full staff next slide um annual uh statistics um a couple of uh a note I know we're pressed for time um I'll highlight several if you see on the second one down uh arrests are up 30% and again that stems mostly from motor vehicle stops officers being proactive on the street in the neighborhoods and um a lot of actually which I'll touch on a little bit later from uh stolen motor vehicle cases that we uh that we solved and attempted uh car thefts next slide so again uh I just touched on it you'll see motor vehicle thefts and burglary to Motor Vehicles are both are both down 30% actually Mars county is the only county in the state that um had a showed a decrease of uh 20 8% of uh motor vehicle theft so I think we're we're definitely as a county and Madison doing our part in um in combating and and and working on um on the auto theft and uh issue next slide um couple of note you'll see overtime over time's up a tad bit uh on the bottom we have had several vacancies that um obviously we had to cover with overtime we have an officer who's currently on military leave and is uh deployed out uh overseas and um we had several officers that were out on on leave because of of additions to their families births so um that drove up the overtime a bit next slide several goals um I have a lot here but um we tend to We tend to do our part and Tackle uh tackle a lot each year um several several to note is to continue to bolster our school security by adding to the uh school resource officer unit um we have one spot that um will'll be advertising hopefully advertising for shortly which is uh fully funded by the Board of Ed um we are in the process of restarting our crime prevention uh unit where officers are are going to be trained to uh provide home security inspections and Burglar Alarm assessments and that really is a response to to the residential burglary epidemic M vehicle theft uh epidemic that we've been seeing so um yeah we found a need to to start up that unit again uh continuing to uh to grow our alpr program um you know we are several years ago we saw the issue of Motor Vehicle theft really coming uh coming to our area we we started a uh alpr program went countywide um it was spearheaded here in Madison I think you you you've heard me uh talk about it um in the past but um continue to add to additional sites in town and again it's become an invaluable tool to combat this auto theft uh that we're seeing Statewide um I didn't note it on I don't think I not it on here but uh we have two hybrid Patrol vehicles that were we're looking to get um take reception of so those are on order right now and um I was just talking to Mr freed about it but um hopefully um getting a grant to uh place a solar car port behind uh behind headquarters so and again that hopefully that would be funded by the BPU Grant um Department wide training uh our department takes part in increased training year in and uh year in and year out um um one notable uh training class that I had all officers take and in the process of taking is the uh mental health special needs and deescalation training uh as I'll speak with a little bit further we're uh we're adopting a a mental health program to have uh it's called the arrive program to uh have a um he a social worker uh arrive on these calls with our with our officers so you know the more training that we'll get to handle these calls will uh will assist us uh you know day in and day out community outreach um as everyone here knows we're pretty visible in the community um each year we focus on strengthening our partnership with the community uh National Night Out is probably our biggest event and um dun a cop at bot Hill day everyone seems to like that so um we put the new guys in in the dunk tank though I'm not going in but um so as you see we have a lot of stuff that we uh continuously uh continuously do the newest one actually is basketball at the Y something as simple as our officers just playing basketball with uh on a Friday night with um just kids from town so just to build that relationship to humanize us 2023 accomplishments um up on the top we successfully passed the uh Department of re accreditation um as I mentioned before we uh we're implementing the arrive program and I'll just touch on it real quick I know it's been mentioned many times but uh this is several years in the making um what arrive stands for is alternate alternate responses to reduce instances of violent violence and escalation and again as I said it just pairs police officers responding on crisis calls with a uh with a mental health professional and again this program is fully funded by uh the department of hum Human Services we'll have a social worker in-house at the police department uh on a rotating basis we share it with three other towns uh marst toown Mars Township and Mars Plains and it's really cutting edge stuff uh we're one of the first in the county uh to do this and we go live with it on Monday so again um it's really big for us for the town I appreciate the support that the governing body and Administration has given us uh with this program and uh along with my officers who are fully supportive of this program I think it's really going to um help the residents in town and and be uh noticeable next slide these are our our uh our budget accounts just list um all the different ones that we work out of and then last one is capital um our focus is to continue to upgrade the uh cameras and uh the security features within the department and around town um that's slated for for this year and also technology upgrades which include um recording and video equipment in in our interview rooms in the first and second floor and those were original for when we moved in the building so those are we found a need to uh to upgrade them obviously I think that's all I have very good so about okay we'll go to first then Eric okay first I want to commend you on that arrive program having responded with your officers when I was on the squat to several of them those are the most challenging if not the most challenging type of a medical call say that you could go on on so that is wonderful but what I've noticed of late is the way is the way people drive much more aggressive you know the minute a light turns around the horn you go in a parking lot that you know I'll say it like this they drive like maniacs and Madison was never like that does the your department have any plans for let's say addressing that like if you see somebody act driving aggressively in town or getting on their horn when the light just changed is there anything that could be done about that yeah I mean we um we get traffic complaints um daily uh the the mayor's on most of the email so so he knows um you know we do have uh we we do have daily tasks for for each officer uh for each Squad set forth by division commanders down to the uh sergeants to the officers so they have um places of enforcement um daily that they that they have to address and then whenever we get new complaints as we we've gotten today and last week um good you know we uh we address those um immediately good thank you nice um Chief I just want to thank you for kind of the proactive approach that you guys have taken on um the auto theft piece and and the burglar piece it's you know obviously we want those numbers to be zero but I think Madison has really taken a Forward Thinking approach to the alpr programs and and now restarting some of our other like home safety inspection programs um that has positioned us in a way that word got out on the street pretty quickly that Madison was not the place that you wanted to come and try to do this stuff because our officers will be on you when you come into town uh for this so I I I thank you and and the whole department for for dealing with that um and the leadership you've taken on in in the county kind of task force around Auto thefts as well um I also want to thank you for your Creative Vision for um getting the staff or the department fully staffed um you know 2023 we we spent a lot of time down officers as as represented in the overtime numbers um um but through your suggestions and and the ability to kind of change how we or who we hire and how we hire um we're able to get fully staffed and some great candidates like TJ who's killing it at the Academy right now so you know I just thank you for kind of always thinking outside the box and not just sitting around going oh this is the way we solve crime right that's the way we did it last year it's the way we'll do it this year we're really Forward Thinking so I mean I I I appreciate that and I think um one of the the the biggest things that we we all did here in this room was uh look at the hiring ordinance and um see that you know uh it needed a minor tweak to attract our local uh candidates to uh you know people that we invest in and you know that have a vested interest in in the town from this area so you know thanks to everyone here I'm getting that done Tom so great presentation great job I think the town feels safer than ever so keep it up how many license play readers do we have now um you're not supposed to we have enough are you not supposed to okay how many you going to buy um $25,000 up there was it 50 yeah we're looking at a couple more just a couple other locations that were on a uh that were on the list from several years ago to secure you know that we feel will secure the perimeter of town and you know I I think the residents are pretty cognizant now too of being safer how they control their home whether it's their cars and locking their doors I see a lot of uh homes now that have these the ring devices or some kind of digital uh surveillance cameras in front of their homes and I think a couple times it might have even helped yeah I mean I think I think that definitely plays a part I think and you know um another thing that plays a part is just the the the omnipresence of you know Mark Patrol units in the residential neighborhoods you know at all hours of the day especially during the target times which you know can be day shift night shift but definitely hitting you know those residential areas and being visible now mes to see in a year or however long you want to take to have some statistics statistics on the arrive program to see how many we made our first referral today actually before it took uh yeah yeah so um it's uh you know it's I think it's going to be big I think we're going to see um the results quick from it um you know with the social worker being on site and able to you know when we're not getting calls for emotionally disturbed uh individuals or people in mental crisis they're able to perform that follow-up work with people that you know have have had issues in the past that we want to refer them to so I think it's going to I think it's going to be big and also I maybe you guys have already thought about this and have a plan there's a lot of uh Community groups that also offer some Outreach for different situations of mental health yeah we you know we utilize hope one um you know with the county for uh for different um you know um you know crisis calls and and family issues we have project pride in town so there's there's definitely other uh agencies that we uh we've been referring to sure that's great thanks chief for all the effort there to get that done Rachel thanks Chief I just want to say that um you know based on the accomplishments and the objectives you've outlined I want to commend you for your leadership over the last couple years the philosophy that you've brought to the department um I feel like has really set a high bar and a great tone and I want to thank you for bringing that Vision to life over uh you know since you've been in this role thank you thank you very much we don't need to add much more than everything that's been said great presentation Chief and I just want to remind those in the audience and those watching at home that we provide quite a bit of information on the sides we asked our department heads to hit on the highlights but these will all be posted on roset so you can go into the details everything and for those that are wondering whether it's going to be on the final exam or not but we do throw out some lingo once in a while and uh Tom alluded to it but alpr is automatic License Plate Reader so we so on understand but it's one of the steps a quick um you tell me again what what was the decrease in Mars County uh Mars County had a 28% decrease that's thought according to prosecutor Carol that's what I wrote down I didn't believe myself but it's impressive we're the only county in the state that had a uh had a decrease and and Madison is leading the way I understand that we y yeah yeah we're um we definitely are you know we're we're heavily invested in it we're um uh you know involved with the uh auto theft task force that we've been uh that we've been um hosting here in town and in the surrounding agencies so uh with surrounding town so it's definitely a coordinated uh effort with our surrounding agencies and you know now countywide so yeah yeah like another reminder of a success of not just how you run things in town but how you work with others in the neighboring area because we're not going to survive on our own we survive by working together yeah I mean we're we're we're on the phone talking communicating text messaging you know all day so we're trying to trying out new things and just bouncing off other uh other agencies other Chiefs cuz I you know I don't have all the answers so and nether today all right great thank you very much thank you [Music] all welcome good evening mayor Conley members of the council it's a pleasure to speak to you about the library tonight can everybody hear me um next slide please okay construction pretty much dominated our operations in 2023 as we first anticipated it then actively prepared for it and finally began the actual project in November we were very pleased to be able to maintain normal services for most of the year with a closure of less than 2 weeks to set up our temporary mini library in the chase room and our offices in the trailer in fact Digital Services and programming continued uninterrupted throughout that process even with these disruptions we made significant gains in digital and non-traditional circulation as well as in some reading participation next slide please as the chart shows we've seen a shift over time to the balance of non-digital versus digital circulation this had been evident for a while but has become more pronounced in recent years and what began as a shift necessitated by the pandemic then reversed itself a little bit in 2022 with the return of near normal foot traffic resumed its trajectory in 2023 this increase in digital circulation is a growing Trend seen in all libraries um but that doesn't mean that non-digital materials are not still popular they they still maintain their popularity uh as you can see programming and Patron registration have shown steady gains over the last two years a study by Library Journal a few years ago showed that the average Library registration nationally is about a third of the residents of Any Given town but Madison's registration is closer to 2/3 which indicates the value that the library provides to our residents next slide please construction is proceeding well and pretty much on schedule as of now we hope to be back in the building by the Fall which is exciting uh we do plan to replace much of our furniture eventually with as many of the new items in place for our reopening as possible uh but we may need to phas some VI for budgetary reasons strategic planning will be a big priority in 2024 as the completion of our construction project represents the full realization of our existing strategic plan this will help us to meet the evolving needs of the community through both operational and aspirational goals and to connect our patrons with the programs services and collections they need to meet their own goals and you know our board Treasurer Dave L will discuss the financial RS all right um this CH summarizes sort of the overriding budget considerations for 2024 prominent is that the 1/3 Mill statutory Library appropriation for 2024 increased by $ 21,11 this is based on the change in the ma in Madison's equalized property valuation which is established by the say we're told what the answer is we were also advised that the $100,000 annual electric subsidy that we have been receiving from the burrow will not be granted in 2024 and at the same time that we formulated first formulated the budget in September the equity and income markets were down substantially from their 2011 highs 2021 highs and so we felt it was not financially responsible to increase our endowment contribution for 2024 we will obviously have construction related Capital expenses in 2024 and Lynn will discuss them at the end of our presentation I'm going to talk about the operating budget next chart provides a high level view of our operating expenses for 2024 for as compared to 2023 Personnel expenses are of course by far our greatest expense 71% of our budget these include salaries retirement benefits health and insurance benefits and Social Security payments we show an increase of $2,882 in 2024 over 2023 the 2023 budget value for these expenses which is an increase of about 1.6% note also we did not budget for the library's 2024 main assessment of $6,6 192 in 2023 although we did in fact end up paying it out of our projected Surplus in November for 2023 we have in fact budgeted to pay an estimated 2025 a main assessment of 65,00 ,000 in 2024 next part operating income some of this we've already discussed um the bur support line which you see up there is the roset rep uh the burrow support roset represents the pass through payments the library receives in order to make payments to NJ Edge for the Burrow's internet access it also includes the uh maintenance cost for the backup generator that supports Rose net this expense as you will not has decreased dramatically for 2024 and that's thanks to the negotiating skills of the buroughs Jim Sanderson we' negotiated a much less expensive NJ Edge contract going forward beginning of last June our variable support includes addition to the support we get from the friends of the Madison Public Library other gifts and grants increases and interest on our bank balance um if you have any more questions if you have any questions uh I will be standing up here but Lynn will discuss the construction Bud okay um our construction project has been funded through a variety of sources including a sizable State Grant and a significant contribution by the burrow of Madison first for the resurfacing of the library's roof and now for the interior Renovations as you can see the friends of the library have also contributed generously and the library's Foundation mli uh will add significantly to the funding as well finally the library itself has planned carefully for this project as you can see from the chart setting aside funds for Capital improvement over a period of many years uh next slide please so the total scope and cost of our project exceeds the part of it that is Grant funded and this was intended on our part we were advised um to at after our first application failed we were advised with our second application to limit the request in order to increase the probability that our application would be approved and it was it was very good advice we we did succeed the state Grant covers the abatement work replacement of sings and lighting and the Ada modifications to the front entrance and the lobby restrooms the library is funding all the remaining work beyond the scope of the grant this includes the creation of new study rooms a conference room and a team room extensive upgrades to the electric wiring and data cabling to provide access throughout the space as well as new carpeting and new furniture thank you so much for your time tonight uh we'd be happy to answer any questions you might thank you just a couple things on the uh Capital Improvements it's my understand Library Chads have have had to rethink their whole uh renovation so that shows you know how good planning has worked in Madison theirs was far more involved and also involved Two Towns trying to put things together but I I know there's still probably for substantial amount for both the chadels to make that happen so um the key to this grant was understanding the state's priorities they made them very clear and in our second application it's exactly what we stuck to yep like any other Grant if they don't follow the rules you're not going to get anything y um the other thing just as a pointed background on 100,000 uh electric subsidy I think it was goes way back ancient history because I think it was on the council at the time um at that time we did not charge any any burrow inp for their electricity which certainly did not encourage efficiency and other things and so we shifted to charging each department and library for electricity and to ease it at the time we covered the cost of electricity it was the idea that if you did Saving um Energy savings it would go to your bottom line but you know this has run for uh you know decade and a half plus and so you know time to shift on to the the mill rate which has been going up when the mill rate goes up the burrow doesn't get more money it just shifts it just adjusts our tax rate but the good thing is when a bill rate goes up Revenue to the library goes up Tom microphone yes fines for overdue books to fines for uh oh my gosh yeah we definitely fund the budget that way um I have to be honest I don't know the answer to that right I would assume the library is one most visited places in town it's probably the most well that wouldn't count the school district the schools of course far but leaving out schools yes I would think the lary probably has a very high rate foot track and and the programs and the the things you offer the community are very creative I remember correctly you offer tickets if people want to go to the museum yes you get free access to watch streaming media which is just as being a library member yes and we pay for that Library does pay for that for the community so I I think it's something that needs to be promoted more I really don't think enough of the community realizes how generous the library is and and the benefits that they can get from looking online or visiting library and especially once the place is renovated it it's going to be so inviting for a a bunch different reasons for meeting rooms like you said not just pick out pick out a book we hope so we hope it's much more than just books yeah yeah I think you will be and the Museum passes are funded bys the friends of the M ho black we're very very fortunate to have supp yeah that was $100,000 that they did I read that line $100,000 Shu G us 48,000 something like I'll yes yes that's a lot of our programming and our extra programming special offerings and I know you have a very very intelligent board which makes a big difference between Tom and Dave and everybody else who helps our may you still there you still sit on the board too uh actually morning burn is to over for you okay that's that's good that's lateral move thank you thank you very much I I'm sorry I just wanted I just wanted to compliment you both and and all of the library and Leadership because in addition to your your normal jobs running and the logistics for construction planning it and then living through it is just more than doubling your work or so it must seem so it seems to me so I just want to um acknowledge that this is a such a major undertaking seeing these photos which are the first I've seen giving us a hint of the transformation that's taking place and I just want to um commend your stiiven in making this happen seeing it through and I can't wait to see the building reopen so thank you for your hard work to get us there thank you contract the architect that's project thank you ly thank you thank you very much and just since you mentioned the friends I'm assuming that the raffle that we're approving here for May 14 May 4th is is a night of you at the annual benefit so people should put that on the calendar so they can support the library through the friends of the library all right right and next Dennis evening mayor council happy to be presenting and representing the engineering and land use departments this evening uh stared with our 2023 accomplishments um the road work we completed the green Avenue pedestrian Safety project as well as Road resurfacing um both of which were largely supported by do grants we continue to work with the complete streets committee on traffic safety issues and identifying where modest improvements can be undertaken um but might be significant when it comes to Public Safety and continue to do emergency construction work working with the Department of Public Works um for instance water braks or sanitary sewer issues um to get that work completed expeditiously and our planning documents so far this for 2023 were the Memorial Park phase three um Trail not that we skipped phase two we completed phase one we had a an application to the uh Community Mars County Trail grant program for phase two and they were not supportive of it because of its location near Spring at Spring Garden Brook so we retracted that and we proed with phase three which they have approved continuing with the 2023 accompl accomplishments uh with the buildings Parks and Recreation programs you can see there the multi-purpose Court which was discussed previously one of the ones I would like to point out is the Dodge playground which we're applying to Green Acres or have applied to Green Acres uh through the Jake law grant program which is for a fully accessible uh playground improvements uh that was not available to municipalities uh the first go round but late last year they made it available and thearrow jumped on it because we really W virtually shovel ready U so we are hopeful that that Grant will be approved and it's a significant Grant 75% of the construction cost which would be north of $500,000 for that project conjunction with a cdbg grant that we also got of a $690,000 overall project cost about $650,000 could be covered by grants very excited and pleased about that and you see the water sewer and Electric System projects that we have been involved with uh the MRC solar carport um being one of the large probably the largest project that's estimated at about 2 million dollar I think we discussed that previously tonight that is out to bid and the bids are due March 28th and lastly you can see the land use services and summary of of the applications and the meetings um other criteria you know that we've reported on our land use and planning and zoning board work for 2024 the department goals fairly consistent with our prior years goals uh Public public construction projects of course we'll have another Mill in overlay uh funded by the do partially funded by the do um we continue to support and monitor private construction and third-party um projects as well psng gas replacement through the burrow has been one of the more disruptive I guess um but it's a necessary upgrade and it's it's good that they've chosen and are staying in Madison to complete the upgrade to High Press gas Mains we have our complete and green streets procedures uh utility development land use boards and zoning ordinance initiatives on the zoning ordinance um the most recent revision was to comply with the state's mandate for stormw control uh revisions as well as some local Madison driven uh revisions to the storm water control organ slide please capital projects this year include as I've mentioned uh the 2024 Road resurfacing which is for uh nolwood Long View and Valley which will be on another slide as well and I'm sure the mayor and are excited to see the cook Avenue parking lot that project has been redesigned to try to reduce costs reduce the scope and reduce the costs that is also out forbid and that's also due on March 28th we're hoping for a good bid this time around it's an important project and a much needed project which incorporates some green infrastructure as well and as I mentioned Memorial Park Trail phase three that project has been approved and we're working with the Department of Public Works to make sure that we coordinate with the removal of any dead dying or threatening trees that are local to that portion of them so they don't incur any unneeded risks so the the only to clarify the only tree removal are dead dying most likely ash trees that uh all familiar with the emerald ash come down anyway right correct man no trees need to be removed to construct the trail but if local to if they're close they've been identified and they they should be removed at this time this slide depicts the work at wellb and has one of the most exciting photographs I think we can share from the engineering department nothing a concrete slab with plastic pipes yep doesn't get much better than that that's the location of the um Transformer Pad that's the Transformer that's going to be installed as part of wellbe upgrades and this slide depicts the improvements to cook Avenue parking lot as well as the stre three streets that are included in our resurfacing program this year again funded largely by the dot hook Avenue parking light is not funded by the dot unfortunately in our Park and Recreation projects this depicts the phase three raail in Memorial Park as well as as a rendering of the new playground at fully accessible playground at Dodge field we have a Green Acres Grant as well as a community development block grant to support that project and that was my presentation this evening I'd be happy to uh take any questions from the questions or comments for a thorough presentation covered of obviously we covered a lot of the uh Capital things back in December which we've already uh right appropriated money for but another busy year so uh thank you for your leadership and presentation thank you thank you that's what you get for going last anyone's done y thank you councel yep and you were at least 10 minutes shorter than Bob Vogal no all right again uh for those watching at home all these slides will be posted on roset so you can go in depth with that uh with the presentations and uh we now move on to ordinance for hearing which we have none tonight ordinance 9 2024 which was introduced our last meeting has a hearing schedule for March 11th and so now we move on to our second of uh invitations public comment M this is when the public May comment on any topic any anyone wish to comment please step forward being none I close this part of the meeting and we move on to introduction ordinances will the clerk please read the uh statement the ordinance schedu for first reading has a hearing date set for March the 11th 2024 will be posted in the uh published in the Madison Eagle posted on the bulletin board made available to members of the public requesting copies I call up ordinance 10 that 2024 for first reading ask the clerk to read set ordinance by title ordinance of the burrow of Madison appropriating $5,250 from the general Capital Improvement fund for funding um for funding to purchase uh secure smart electric KNX company key boxes mayor I move ordinance 10- 2024 second this is part of the capital budget and um for those that are not familiar KNX boxes are lock boxes that are on uh typically on buildings right now I think we rely on an actual key and this would shift it to an electronic and far more secure system any other discussion all call vote please miss HCK yes Mr landan yes Mr range yes Mr harn pis yes Hanahan yes consent agenda resolution will the clerk please read the statement consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion any resolution requiring expenditure is supported by a certification of availability of funds any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all resolutions will be reflected and full in the minutes mayor I move the consent agenda resolutions uh R 92- 2024 through r102 d224 second any discussion or any need to be pulled roll call vote please mrck yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harm pudas yes but I'm abstaining from resolution 102 2024 and Miss Hanan yes all right there is no unfinished business approval of vouchers will the clerk please read the total from the current fund 7,1 19,568 3 from the general Capital fund 9,989 198 the electric operating fund $484,500 $1,384 even from the water operating fund $ 33,35 67 and from the trust $586,500 ,5 5624 mayor I move approval of the address second any discussion roll call vote please M HCK yes Mr anderin yes Mr range yes Mr harm pus yes Miss Hanahan yes there is no new business and uh motion to adjourn all in favor I thank you very much well done