ready that's all right good evening in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act beby set a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board in town hall and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at Town Hall at 7M on Tuesday November 21st 2023 meeting details and the draft agenda were also posted on our Township website please all stand to salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all roll call vote Please Mr here M purpose here M herey mayor here may here thank you thank you may have a motion to approve the agenda so may I have a second second all those in favor I any opposed may I have a motion to approve the October 17th 2023 Township committee minutes so move may have a second all those in favor no yes I any opposed any extensions okay we are going to go to reports Mr vanak why don't we start with you this evening since you're out in the Nether world do you have any um any reports for us so I'm last thing I'm waiting on is the finance report uh from our CFO um which I haven't received yet but I'll receive it probably next week and I'll report it next week then and before we go anywhere I'd like to welcome uh Ben and Frank to the TC meeting or and to the to the TC congratulations to both of them and uh good fight on the other two members uh Bruce and char thank you thank you Deputy Mayor Miss puus do you have any reports for us this evening I do the Essex Street two-way traffic concept plan review is on November 30th uh 7M is Thursday at Milburn Town Hall in this room and it's also going to have a zoom component so um if you can't make it to the meeting and it's going to be we're they're going to review the concept plan and then we're breaking out Alex into small smaller groups to that that is the intention to be able to to to have more intimate discussion with particular sections of the two-way concept yes great so um please let everyone know that that's happening and please participate this afternoon um Annette and I met with graham pedo our planner and we discussed we discussed the process of the HBC and kind of what the town just went through uh the past couple months and Graham was telling us about different ways that we could change that process to include more public participation just so that we can't end up in the same place again so we have invited him to the next meeting to be under new business to discuss different ways that that public participation process can be included Ed into the ordinance and just start that discussion it we won't have time this year to introduce anything a new ordinance or anything it will be um if we decide as a community to go down that route it'll be in 2024 but I just wanted to let you know that that conversation is taking place and at the next uh on the 5ifth Graham will be here to further explain uh different ways that he's seen ordinances written to have more public participation and also to have to make sure that the HPC is in better communication also with the TC uh congratulations to Ben and Frank I think it was a landslide Victory and a very clear mandate from the town onto um the priorities of 2024 and what the town wants to see happen and I just want to to let you all know that we have been meeting and working and specifically discussing three new committees just to let the the public know one being um on the affordable housing uh uh committee and we talked about this uh with this group as well I think that um what we know is that people want to be involved in this process and they want to have a voice and they want to do more than just um hear about the decisions that have been made after the fact they want to be included in the decision making process so hopefully that committee will will do just that and uh we'll be discussing it more and we'll see it in 2024 um finance and I believe that we've discuss this I don't know which which TCS discuss this but having residents in involved in the financial um in the finance committee so that too will be coming on board and last the um discussion about nonpartisan I know that we I think it was last year that we discussed the charter commission and um we're also going to have a committee that will focus on bringing that referendum to the public so I think it's really exciting so if you are interested in participating in any of those three please reach out to the TC and and let us know and that is it for now thank Mr call just briefly um the friends of the library asked me to advise everybody that they're holding a the 42nd annual chess tournament on Saturday uh December 2nd at the library pre-registration is underway the tournament is open to Residents and non-residents Age 5 to 14 um if you register in advance it's discounted to $20 registration forms are available in the library and on the website um if you wait till the day of the tournament it goes up to $25 it's been a very popular event so they're expecting a large turnout last year they had oh sorry last year they had 64 um 64 players is playing on 32 boards for the tournament so it's kids age 5 to 14 anything else that's it Mr mil uh thank you so um reporting for uh the Sid this Saturday is small business Saturday in Milburn Short Hills uh social media campaign has begun which will continue through giving Tuesday uh there will be live entertainment from 12: to 3 The Manhattan carolers will be singing throughout the downtown crazy Kevin will be in holl holiday Forum entertaining and visiting businesses on Morris Turnpike and DJ Jason will be playing holiday music on upper Milburn Avenue so come by shop dine and enjoy the day and get into the holiday spirit the uh winter Villages are returning this year they were extremely successful last year um so come by for s'mores holiday music and check out the igloo uh we will that will be taking place December 2nd and 3D and then again on the 9th and 10th we have sold out of igloo sponsorships but we're still looking for event and signature sponsors for more information you could just go on to explore milb bursh hills.org under winter Villages free parking starts on Thanksgiving until January 2nd including the municipal lots and meters time limits still apply and will be enforced and um make sure to take advantage and Shop local this holiday season um and steveen amand are here tonight uh to talk about the budget in a little bit and uh that's all I have thank you Mr may I do not have a report thank you very much Mr McDonald um just briefly uh a reminder to residents of town hall will be closed on uh Thursday and Friday and that there will be no garbage or recycling pickup on Thursday uh just want to announce that uh for our residents in zone 6 uh that have had to deal with their uh Thrice a week pickup uh this year that uh that will be uh discontinued starting the new year in 2024 as I had indicated previously uh they will go back to their normal uh collection schedule uh for zone six um and we are going to announce a makeup day on recycling pickup um because of the holiday following um Christmas and New Year following on the same day I I believe it's going to be December 30th but obviously we will communicate that to uh to the public to make sure that everybody's aware of that makeup recycling day when what zone does that in one I believe yes um so Zone one would then be on December 30th which is which is a Saturday but but I think uh I I believe it's a Saturday um you know but uh sure that they have something in between you know two weeks of not getting picked up that's all the reports I [Music] have the rec department met and I was at that meeting they're still talking heavily about trying to find uh space to put in cricket pitches so stay tuned for that and working with the schools on that um it's all for me Mr McDonald do you want to talk about the special report on best practices please [Music] the township has submitted its best practices survey um it was due on November 3D uh we have to uh discuss that at the next available meeting which is today uh November 21st um the township scored a 41 out of 42 uh some of that is because some of the point some of the questions are scored one some are half um but anything above 29 uh in the best practices survey make sure no state aid is withheld uh just to indicate the two that we have uh two questions that we said no to uh and just want the committee and the public to be aware that there are uh some core competencies and best practices that are not applicable to us as well U but the two that we vot we we we said no to uh were regarding uh shity bonding um it's now necessary to provide at a higher level this is something that will be addressed to the GIF uh who currently does our bonding for for the tax collector and uh CFO and other uh positions that hold money um they will uh but that so that one will be addressed early in 2024 um the other that we said no to uh it says that you know has your municipality established by ordinance an anti-nepotism policy we do not have an ordinance on the books but it is part of our policy manual um regarding nepotism so we uh we said no to that uh there are a variety of UN surveys uh questions in in the best practices um one of the ones that uh does need our more immediate attention as I had indicated the to Committee in an email is regarding the lead lead uh lead based paint um inspections uh we were working with the fire department as well as the health department uh to provide those inspections for any of the uh rental properties that are pre-1978 I believe um and so uh that is something that you will see come to fruition early on in the new year as well so uh that is the best practice to survey and again the main point being you scored well enough not to have any state aid with with help so can we can we uh set as a goal to put together an anti-theism ordinance for 2024 since it's going to it's not going to go away from the best practices we have the policy might as well have an ordinance that reflects the policy I think that's more than reasonable yes are there any other comments the committee in regards to this resolution 23-28 I have a motion to approve resolution 23-28 so moved may I have a second second roll call votes Please Mr yes M brus yes M Romano yes Deputy Mayor Vana Deputy Mayor vanaya mayor Lins yes thank you he's on mute Deputy Mayor you're on mute [Music] by we have a presentation this evening from the paper mill Playhouse representatives from paper mill Playhouse attendance to present to us Mr STS good evening good evening thank you mayor miggins uh Township committee members good even evening and members of the Milburn Township community my name is Mike STS I'm the executive director of paper mill Playhouse I'm here tonight on behalf of Mark kovi our producing artistic director and our Board of Trustees and staff to share some plans for the future of paper mill Playhouse and to ask the township to support these plans with a capital investment for 85 years paper mill playhouse has been Central to the economic social and cultural well-being of this community as new Jersey's largest producing theater and one of the largest in the country its core Community extends from the local and Regional area to the New York metropolitan area and Beyond each year more than 175,000 people attend Papermill Productions our recent soldout production of The Great Gatsby attracted audience members from every state in the country except Montana and South Dakota and 23 countries including the United Kingdom Mexico Japan Brazil Sweden and Australia This Is Not Unusual for Paper Mill building off its steady track record of artistic and financial success over the past 15 years and through the extensive networking capabilities of the theater's highly respected and experienced management paper mill has also begun to achieve International reach through strategic collaborations with other renowned theater companies producers and Facilities as demonstrated by our multi-production alliance with with Disney theatrical our recent collaboration with the OD company of South Korea and Partnerships with respected production production companies from Across the Nation Papermill playhouse has become a sought-after venue and partner for the highest quality musical theater projects in addition to its mainstage programming paper mill playhous impacts nearly 40,000 students each year with transformative education programs that are a pillar of our nonprofit mission papill recognizes as a core value the responsibility to ensure that all children have access to theater's lifechanging opportunities regardless of economic physical or mental challenges demand for musical theater classes and Afterschool learning opportunities led to the first expansion of paper mill into the downtown Milburn core with the creation of Papermill Studios at 20 Main Street in 2020 the the Paper Mill Center for music IAL theater education is currently in the planning stages and will result hopefully in a further expansion of paper mill into the downtown area paper mill Playhouse is the economic engine of downtown Milburn a recent economic impact study consulted by econ uh conducted by EC consult Solutions of Princeton in 2021 confirmed that Papermill play house is an Irreplaceable contributor to the economic health and stability of the downtown court that study revealed that paper Mill's annual impact on the local Milburn economy is $21 million annually and almost 37 million to the state of New Jersey the theater employs more than 540 full and part-time staff generating an array of jobs to support the local County and state economies and further bolstering activity and revenue for the downtown Milburn restaurants and businesses regularly patronized by the theaters Workforce many people in the community will recall the financial challenges paper mill experienced in 2008 when it nearly had to close its doors there's no question that the actions taken by the township to save paper mill from its then Financial challenges resulted in one of the most successful turnarounds in the history of the American regional theater today we are coming back to the Township from a position of strength and vitality but with an equal measure of urgency The prominent role that the township played in 2008 cannot be overstated nor can the enormous return the township has received from that $9 million investment it is our Ardent hope that that the township of Melbourne will once again play a significant role in securing the future of one of its most critically important and valued Community assets the greatest weakness for the viability and future growth of Papermill Playhouse is the physical condition of the existing facility and the campus where we operate when compared to Pure theaters across the theat across the country paper Mill's physical plant is severely inadequate is costly to maintain and does not meet the needs of a 21st century entertainment facility much of paper Mill's physical plant is functionally obsolete the oldest part of the building dates back to the 1930s and the rest of the building was rebuilt after a fire destroyed most of it in 1980 bathroom circulation spaces Lobby areas exterior Pathways drop off areas safety railings are all in a state of obsolescence and deterioration Building Systems are highly inefficient and costly to maintain and the facility is not in compliance with Ada code requirements and cannot be brought up to code in its current condition there are life safety issues that pose serious liability CH challenges for both Paper Mill and its landlord the township failing retaining well walls on the west side of the facility and parking lots B and C continually create black ice sheeting hazards that are a threat to patrons a deterior deteriorating retaining wall on the raway rivers side of the facility has been assessed by multiple thirdparty engineers and has been determined to be at risk for structural issues there are groundwater penetration concerns during High rainfall events that continue to plague the facility and regularly cause flooding in the orchestra pit and boiler room areas there is inadequate Lighting in the parking lots for the safety of the public and our staff these concerns pose liability risk to both Paper Mill and the township and will only become worse over time in order to capitalize on our current successes and ensure the long-term health of the theater and the township P playhouse has embarked on a facilities renovation project that will bring its physical plant well into the 21st century the renovation project is not a want it is a need key elements in the renovation are upgrades to the buildings and grounds that will greatly improve Life Safety functionality ADA compliance and Aesthetics all of which will culminate in a welcoming new modern facility that offers fresh contemporary openness and energy while honoring and celebrating the long and vibrant history of the paper mill campus over the past several years paper mill has engaged an extensive internal and external planning discussions with our Board of Trustees third-party Consultants local stakeholders Municipal staff the Milbourne historic preservation committee County Representatives State officials the njd and a multitude of other local and state agencies with jurisdictional interest we have taken all necessary steps to ensure the feasibility of the project and to study and evaluate all site related issues relevant to execution of the renovation work as a reminder paper leases the building and property from the township however we are responsible for its General upkeep in 2018 paper mill began the process of upgrading its facilities with a $2.5 million renovation of the auditorium which had fallen into complete disrepair if you have been to the theater over the past five years you will have noticed the beautiful upgrades which include new seats Carpeting and interior finishes that have made the entire space elegant and comfortable with improved Acoustics and increased accessibility for PE for people with disabilities in 2022 and 2023 we upgraded our stage technology transitioning our Lighting systems from analog to digital and incandescent to LED we upgraded our automation technology for moving scenery this project was an investment of $1.5 million now we are launching the next ACT campaign to fund a $40 million project that includes the following components that will be completed in phases a complete renovation of the front of house including the lobbies bathrooms Milling spaces box office and concessions creating an accessible welcoming welcoming and vastly improved Patron experience refurbishment to the back of house facilities that accommodate our dressing rooms offices and support facilities upgrades to the entire campus including new lighting signage safety features repairs to the retaining walls in our parking lots and along the river and mitigation of underground water issues an expansion of the Carriage House restaurant to include a function room and upgrades to the kitchen a relocation and rebuilding of the beautiful facade of the theater onto the south side of the Carriage House creating a new gateway to the paper mill campus on the site previously owned by a private homeowner adjacent to to the theater which Papermill purchased earlier this year and eventually a new education center ideally located in downtown Milburn within walking distance of the theater to date we have raised $21.4 million towards the $40 million cost the state of New Jersey has made a commitment of 3.75 million and the remaining 17.6 million has been raised with private philanthropy primarily from the paper mill Board of Trustees today we are coming to the Milburn Township committee to make an investment in the building and property it owns of $7.5 million less than 19% of the overall cost the balance will be raised in the next ACT Capital Campaign which we plan to announce to the general public in 2024 we have developed a detailed schedule and intend to execute the project in phases starting in the summer of 2024 with the back of house refurbishments and the Carriage House expansion once completed we will proceed with the front of house renovations over a 14-month period starting in the summer of 20125 all project Renovations will occur while we're while we are still in production and we're developing a plan to create a safe experience for our staff and patrons while under construction we view it as an imperative to not close down for season given the significant activity Papermill generates for local restaurants and businesses in order to address and mitigate the immediate liability issues limit the impact to downtown businesses and meet our critical path schedule we must begin work immediately following the current season in the early summer of 2024 to date paper mill has expended more than $4 million of its own Financial Resources towards design engineering and preconstruction activities at this juncture however paper mill cannot responsibly continue expending funds and allocating resources without a formal and binding commitment by the township without such a commitment paper mill is unable to make critical scheduling decisions proceed intelligently with necessary Financial modeling plan for the continuation of design into the construction drawing phase or make informed decisions related to the trajectory of the entitlement process and approvals furthermore without a clearly defined path forward paper mill is unable to begin planning for the required operation and logistical accommod accommodations for theater operations that must occur during the construction phase paper mill seeks a funding commitment from the township that will allow the project to move forward as scheduled the Township's investment would specifically cover the cost of acquiring 20 Brookside Drive allowing for the consolidation of the relevant Parcels of of land under single ownership by the township 20 Brookside is the property that we recently purchased uh it will pay for the rebuilding of the historic facade of the pl of of the playhouse on the south side of the Carriage House pay for the repair of the retaining walls and drainage mitigation in par at parking lots BNC the repair of the raway river retaining wall and mitigation of underground penetration water penetration issues under the existing building and for the cost of new lighting and all parking lots utilized by by the playhouse for furthermore we request agreement by the township to amend our lease in order to allow the management of the theater to functionally conduct its business as a theater producer and educate and educator including but not limited to revision of the maintenance and repairs provisions of the lease reduction of or release from lease payments and revision of the approval of work Provisions the governing body of Milburn recognized the critical value of paper mill to the economic and social health of the community and region in 2008 when it provided crucial assistance to the theater by purchasing the land and property that investment has paid off exponentially for the township now with proven management a fully committed and invested Board of Trustees and consistent artistic financial and educational success as the standard this Tony Award award-winning State Theater of New Jersey is in need of the Township's support to ensure the crucial and necessary physical plant improvements that will allow Papermill to meet 21st century facility requirements compete in the industry and continue its success for decades to come I'd like to share with you just a few renderings of the papermilk uh theater in campus to give you a taste of what we're planning we're going to start with the current view of paper mill um actually it's the view as of about 3 months ago it's down there to the left yeah as you approach paper mill from uh on along a Brookside Drive from the downtown area what you have seen in the past is this white house um and that's the property that paper mill acquired uh it was personally owned and operated as a parking lot we purchased it last uh uh February and and already we've demolished the house but that has been the view of Paper Mill and the approach to Paper Mill uh for decades the next photograph shows a rendering of what we envision our plan is to essentially extrude the facade of the theater and stretch it across our Plaza and Courtyard to the other side of the carriage house and may get the view of paper mill as you're approaching the campus from the downtown area and you can see that replacing the facade is a new glass entryway that allows you to see inside the theater and see the activity that is taking place there um the entire uh lobby area will be raised five or six feet creating an accessible entryway into the theater which we currently do not have uh through a ramping system that you see sort of right in the middle of the courtyard um one of our objectives as I just stated is accessibility this plan also calls for the uh expansion of the carriage house and so we won't touch the oldest part of the carriage house which is an historic part of our our property but the newer part what's called The Orange Room will be demolished and uh recreated with the small house that you see with the facade um if you can move to the second uh this is again what the approach will be from the downtown area it's the iconic view of paper mill that you see on uh posters in in any of the history books on Milburn and paper mill and we think that this uh along with all of the other improvements that we're planning to make on the campus uh through all of the parking lots that we own will be beautified we'll be safe we'll be accessible and we'll be a representative of really the work that we produce on our stage every year uh the The Outdoor Experience will start to match that um and finally we have one rendering of the Interior um don't glue yourself to any of the colors this is just uh to show you spatially what we're looking at is a two-story Lobby um with a grand staircase with a lot of circulation space which we currently do not have will be safer uh the lines will be reduced or not in each other's way um we will have new state-of-the-art concessions box office and Merchandising opportunity ities and it truly will be a wonderful uh change for uh not only paper playoffs but for the community we'll be doubling the size of our restrooms uh which is something we hear from our audience all the time uh that we do not have adequate restroom facilities um this is a very exciting project and as I said earlier we've raised a considerable amount of money and our true hope is that the township will participate in this project as well thank you Mr stot does anyone have any questions for Mr STS his purose I just a question about the study that was done they you were referencing the economic impact study yeah so did paper mill do that study on their own yes we commissioned it in anticipation of our Capital campaign got it okay Mr I don't have any questions are they increasing the size of the C no uh the uh interior of the auditorium was renovated in 2018 we have about 1150 seats and we're not going to be adding more seats in fact none of the renovation will take place in the auditorium itself because it's been recently done so it's everything that surrounds it the lobbies the backup and so on so my I guess my question is the things that you're asking the town to do and I took a few notes a lot of it sounds like it's some structural items that must be fixed whether it's a ret retaining walls or lighting for safety or um retaining walls retaining walls the move moving of the facade um and definitely acquiring 20 Brookside which it doesn't make sense for two entities to own those properties that are adjacent to each other and because the Carriage House expansion will go into the other property it makes sense for the township to or Papermill to own all of it but it it really makes sense I think for the township to own all of it um we view that the the the Township's participation um in helping to uh take care of some of the safety issues the retaining walls the lighting and things like that will both help paper but also the township right now we're we're both liable to any issues that might arise uh from the faulty retaining walls from inadequate light trip and fall accidents and so as our landlord and the owner of the property we do feel like these are uh items that need to be addressed and if we were to segment any part of of of the budget for our Township assistance we felt that those would be the areas that made the most sense awesome how's it looking for Fiddler on the Roof looking looking very good looking very good thank you I have a question in terms of process and kind of I I know that we're not this isn't going to come before we're not going to do an ordinance this year there's no or is there I mean I think that depends on you know um at this point we are depending on the township committee's direction we are looking at whether that is a possibility or not okay um but but certainly um I just want to point one other thing with that request is that the township has um currently a reserve um that had set up uh with regard to Paper Mill of one point and currently has $1.2 million so while uh Mr stots had given that number of 7.5 it is actually um any any request would you know we have 1.2 available currently so so it would be 6.3 in correct and can you just explain that reserve for everybody came from yeah so prior to um my my predecessor when the paper mill purchase took place at had set up a reserve for uh the rents that were received by the municipality from paper mill um and had that money put into a reserve um back in 2021 we had changed that to uh bring that rent in as a budget line item into the budget so The the Reserve is currently no longer being funded by those Rents It is a part of the budget um the operating budget of the township on the revenue side and and Alex uh that that budget or that fund balance that that is 1.2 million I think it was close to a little bit over than that it is about $100,000 that we get rent from the paper mill Playhouse a year and over a period of time 10 to 15 years we did not not spend that money we just continue to keep saving it and now we wanted to put that back into the regular budget item so we don't have to keep raising taxes and use that money toward wors the regular budget U now what I hear is $7.5 million basically 75 years worth of rent uh that they want and they also want some relief on the rent so I'm I I'm not understanding the finances of paper mill play house I understand it's a great thing in town uh we don't even want to spend $100,000 for our downtown Improvement and we keep talking about that now uh $7.5 million investment in it where State uh New Jersey state is only giving 3.5 so I'm I I have gotten the this uh this slideshow from them I I am actually still not able to understand why the township is on a hook for so much of money we we can't even spend a couple million dollars in our building yet I mean we are looking at spending that much but it just behooves me how much money that that Papermill Playhouse needed it's $40 million project that they are trying to do after they've spend a few million dollars already but they have their business plan which is good but asking C of money 7.5 it just kind of seems a lot to me thank you Deputy Mayor you want to answer that just well I don't I don't necessarily want to answer that unless there's specific question about what Mr vanak had stated but um I um I just wanted to speak back to the process is that certainly if the committee um you know hears his presentation they wish to assist in the way that Mr STS described um understanding that I mean to a certain degree any investment would be also an investment in our own property um that um that we can look into whether that can be accomplished uh in the remainder of this year or whether that is something that is uh something that would be taken up early in the in the new year so one of the thing I think it's really important and I know that um Mike or Mr stop Mike Mike is fine I know that I had spoken to Mike about this about reaching out to Ben and Frank I think it's really important that they weigh in on this decision we have a meeting with them on Monday night great yeah well I thank you for coming Mr stots and um thank you for your presentation might there be a way for us to get it because maybe it could be something we could throw up on on our website at least to try and show people talk to what we're talking about right that's another great if we could if we could have something that we could you know let the township people who follow us on um we could put it up there and say Hey listen look at what the paper Mill's doing I'm sure the 40,000 students that are seen there yearly or the 175,000 people that come through your doors um would be interested in something like that yes we uh we can certainly provide something uh in the short term over the next several months we will plan on going more public with our entire plan we haven't really shared it with our audience base and so on yet um and we will be starting a more formal Capital campaign but absolutely uh we can start to share some of this uh with the township and I think just a part of that is is being able to give our residents an opportunity to to weigh in on this and to say you know how they feel about it because it is such a big ask understand relative to the you thank you thank you for coming all right thank you [Music] slide them down are annual reports that just came [Music] okay it's that time folks public comment one invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector and clearly state your name and whether you are a Milbourne resident Andor property or business owner please do not provide your full address seeing our meetings are recorded and are readily available to the public for the convenience of our community there is a remote option if you called in and would like to comment please press star six now if you're attending by computer or electronic device please click the raise hand button and be sure your video is on when you comment all members of the public wishing to speak will be put into the queue to address the committee to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session you will be prompted when there is 30 seconds remaining a reminder that this is not a time for dialogue or to debate a matter and this is a time during our business meeting for the public to offer their comments after the conclusion of public comment period And if they wish to professionals and committee members May respond to comments made by the public members of the public are welcome to contact the township or Township committee at any time outside of our business meetings for requests for information or with questions a reminder we're all neighbors and personal attacks are strongly discouraged I will now open the public comment period hi Ben Stoler uh mbird resident and I guess Township committee elect uh thank you guys uh for tonight um I want to address affordable uh the affordable housing the nine Main Street project uh it's my understanding that on December 5th we will be going in front of the judge with a uh with the uh Redevelopment agreement and it's actually due that night uh where I'd like to humbly request uh per the November 7th election where the residents overwhelmingly elected a path forward uh to oppose the N9 Main Street which is what Frank and I ran on uh I would like to revisit the last Township committee for someone to put forth a motion to make the judge aware of what has transpired here in Milburn Short Hills and push forward a discussion between our fair share housing attorney or Municipal attorney whomever the best person is uh to discuss that with the attorney and uh in light of uh the election uh second um I want to congratulate Alex on the best practices that's nice score there um and then meeting with a couple of the constituents in town and such I had a question regarding the cricket uh the fields at tbj uh that we had just leased are those going to be available throughout the summer and can those be used for Cricket one of the comments I got from uh quite a few of uh the the cricket players was that we don't need a professional Stadium Cricket field that those fields would work quite nicely for Cricket in the interm of some other larger plan so I just wanted to question if uh those would be available thank you appreciate you thank you um good evening my name is Jeffrey Feld I live in the poet section again everyone have a healthy and happy Thanksgiving holiday um tonight I think we have to put this in historical context besides the election occurred two weeks ago we also had to consider what happened yesterday with the attorney general with Clark with the mayor um I think I sent you today the complaint that was filed criminal complaint filed against the mayor plus like the 42-page report that was issued by the Attorney General as to uh events that occurred in um Clark I urge you and tell the public that on Monday there will be a case management conference in a declaratory judgment action at two o'clock that I think the link to that open public meeting should be posted that the public can watch to see what happens um we talked about the best practices inventory there were some other questions that were that were posted on this year about the um there was about to Sid there was questions for the first time for surveys about the C and about how many districts it serves and also they're talking about Capital budgeting and this ties into I'm trying to do this on this slide from the presentation that we just had from Papermill that we're talking about a capital expenditure that's be bonded and I think this is such an the amount that I really think the public has to be involved I don't know if it's warrants a referendum but I there has to be explanation as to because I know it is an economic engine and later tonight we had to start talking about priorities I think my personal opinion I rather fund the paper mill than the acquisition of 22 West uh East Willow and those are things that we had to talk about because when you look at the best practices they're talking about when you do your Capital budgeting what are you talking about we're talking about the concept of participatory budgeting um there's a on your resolution today is a $440,000 change order for the municipal attorney I say no I think we had to reserve our claims against the attorney if you look about this last year how much bad advice that we get as to the local applicability of the local lands uh and Building Law whether you had needed an ordinance to change the commercial Solid Waste when I was standing up there it took months and how much we've CH got charge and looking at nine Main Street how much have we spent trying to negotiate that deal um to the calendar year s budget I think there's more information that you need to look at I think you need a comparison of what the budgets have been in the last two three years it's not there it's not given to the public you look at the best practices remember there's litigation as to the validity of the appointed expanded five district sit in the past if you read the best practices it looks like each district is supposed to have its own separate Sid and there needs to be a comparative of the cost administration because of the liquidation um finally there's about a Grant application and I think that might have been response to this flyer where they talk about the $200,000 that you're going for a grant application but it says it's for East Willow but for here it said it was to move the Department of Public Works and I think we need to understand the um which is truthful this statement or the statement that you're going to be doing today for Grant application again everyone enjoying the holidays thank you Mr phel hi J Morelli uh resident um I'd like to start by thanking all the committee members for all that you do to serve this community I'd also like to thank uh and commend all the candidates that ran in the November elections and congratulate Ben and Frank as part of their Victory as part of the campaigning there were a lot of good suggestions from both sets of candidates with ideas for increasing public participation and it's great to hear that some of those have already been discussed I'd also like to thank all the candidates that signed up to be gunson candidates um I do have one question tonight um and this goes back to uh the wreck uh element that was being done uh in the master plan and the update that um Gra PTO uh was leading um I know back in the beginning of the year we had a lot of public sessions opportunities for people to give input I know questionnaires went out um has that work been completed uh it has and has it been published no okay thank you I haven't missed it okay thank you um so that's good to hear um and uh committee woman prus mentioned several groups that were being formed um I'll put my hand up to volunteer to be part of the charter study group um I'm not sure if there's a formal form to fill out for that or if you're just taking volunteers at the podium but I'll put my uh hat in the ring for that one and with that I just want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and again thank you for all you do good evening my name is Renee paparan I'm a South Mountain resident and I just want to first of all congratulate Ben and Frank on a well-run campaign good win and for all of the residents if the township could please publicize as much as you can that polystyrene packing polystyrene is not recyclable curbs side A lot of people are going to be buying gifts and I've been picking it out on my dog walks from my neighbors people just don't get it the plastic film not recyclable the lawn signs which I started a collection for with the backing of uh Ben and Frank mostly not recyclable nor are the stands not our facility just doesn't handle it theoretically just about every material is recyclable but not every recycling facility is equipped to handle it so if we can make a more concerted effort to inform people which I know is difficult but that that packing poly styrene that is going to be in many people's curds side recycling doesn't belong there what's going to happen is it's going to they're going to pick it up and people therefore think that it is being recycled that a problem that's a problem that should be addressed and it has been in the past Alex I know with Jesse with you we've tried but it's easier to just pick it up but what happens is it is residual it's called residual at the waste management plant and it goes to landfill in Pennsylvania okay not recycled will not be recycled but we have a wonderful wonderful place a collection that most townships do not have right in our DPW Yard all you have to do is bring your polystyrene or with your neighbors somebody collect it I've certainly done it for my neighborhood and just bring it there it'll be recycled it's really the better thing to do and it will help reduce plastic waste and Milburn really has to get on board with this it is significant I know a lot of people don't want to be Inc convenience but too bad thank you uh Richie cyber I just want to congratulate Ben and Frank um for the slaughter that took place on November 7th they said it couldn't be done that's my closing line conratulations Jean Pastak resident um I just want to say congratulations to the voters of Milburn uh for educating themselves about what the issues impacting this town are and selecting leaders that are committed to seeing through the vision they presented to our residents in their platform behind Ben and Frank was a unified diverse team of people who worked on and for the campaign that resulted in Victory for mbour we are Republicans Democrats Independents Milbourne and Short Hills residents were from cultural and religious backgrounds from around the world we worked well together against the odds really hard and most importantly we worked for vote for Milbourne to make it happen Ben and Frank of course stepped up and put their lives on hold for all of us to run like you all have and we appreciate that very much some people in this room Renee Richie Jeff Chaz Christine Leah and many not here Jerry Eric Mike Becker Laura Tom Kathy Ted Richard Nick Dave Tara Diane Scott Joanna we way Jack many members of the Chinese American Community sujoy Aditi benali Kumar saraj Karam gav Vata theat sh Shala and many many more people from all across our community it really was inspiring I have to be honest it makes me almost want to cry thinking about it I truly hope that both the victors and opponents past and future elected representatives listen and hear what our community has said resoundingly please work together for the benefit of us all help to solve the enormous problems we face and set an example for the future I know we're all ready to do that and we hope that all of you are too and that includes sheru who's in the room as well let's put our acrimony aside and let's try and work together as far as the agenda I have to say I agree with Ben uh regarding the postponement of nine Main Street uh development agreement this is what the community wants and has said very clearly please do this for the constituents that you represent paper mill is a fabulous asset that we own and should grow and invest Tara is spoton the public should have a say and also be asked to help to raise funds and look at private Public Partnerships and so much more to make that the best it can be uh 22 Willow is seems to be rushed I don't think there's a need to do that there are many possibilities for the use of that space and it would be great if we all had a chance with the new team to look at that um and and likewise the Sid budget and the Sid structure it should really be examined closely as as it's been discussed so much this past uh couple of years U thank you thank you we'll wait for Mr Charlie then to the pH Bambara Milburn resident for 27 years um couple of things uh just wanted to set the record straight I I wrote a letter to the editor of tap into uh it was somewhat critical of dredging the Taylor Park Pond uh I want to apologize to Mr McDonald for uh maybe some misunderstanding I I just don't think there's any value in that project as a flood mitigation I have volunteered to be on the flood mitigation committee myself I think I can contribute to it greatly and I hope I'm considered uh but uh I I understand dredging the the debris from the storms that that's important uh second thing I wanted to bring up whatever happens to our River Walk I mean in uh in 2020 uh there was a uh uh Consultants uh Perkins Eastman were hired you know a significant amount of of money was spent developing a plan with information sessions and input from the town uh and there were many potentially many good things to come from that but one of the things I particularly look forward to is a nice Riverwalk connecting Taylor Park and the and the uh paper mill Playhouse so if we're talking about the paper mill Playhouse maybe that's one way to help promote that also but you know I hope that project isn't dead I haven't read about it so I don't I don't know what's happening and that's all I have thank you and thank you again for your service thank you congratulations to all the candidates that ran I'm sorry I just wanted to say that really quickly um I'm really happy and I'm really happy that Ben and Frank are going to be sitting on this stas and contributing to this town um I'm just contacting you guys I sent you all an email and this is something that while it's my issue it's actually important for other people in this room to understand sort of what goes on within the township um with engineering on land grading issues and how can it affect your real estate value so right now I have a bunch of trees that are very close to the property line a lot of them are quite old and uh I just inadvertently noticed my NE my neighbor I was talking to him he was telling me he's doing some regrading nothing major and then I decided to look at the plans in the town which everybody has right to do and I went down and noticed it four feet off of some of my tree trunks there's you know a five foot dredge hole with a you know a drainage pipe and some D big Lawn Lawn drains Etc and then also um there's going to be a sale which you know like basically disrupts um the first 18 Ines or so of you know the soil and so if anybody understands trees the way that Stacy and Tom do who are very very talented and support tree preservation this town we have we have a tree preservation committee Etc that's supposed to be really important except for I don't really understand the purpose of it when we don't follow our own rules because every arborist has come to my house and I I take care of all my trees I spend quite a bit of money and I really care about the existence of them has told me if you if you you dig within the first 10 18 inches which is what's going to happen across all of my property and actually two of my neighbors properties which they're not even aware of because no one advises people um my trees will die they're not going to die in the first year they'll die in two years three years maybe the next people that live there I have no idea but they will die and you can ask Stacy that in fact she told me and I quote I mean not exact quote but she told me that the property that they built up a 15ot grade next to my property which I personally think is not like legit it but that that's what killed a big oak on my neighbor's property so and that that Oak wasn't even um Disturbed within the um drip line and so one of the things that's interesting is I have trees with drip lines that are almost 60 feet in diameter so or 30 foot radius I mean we're talking four feet off the trunk so I don't understand how this can happen and when I send and try to collaborate with the town and just bring up my concerns which clearly engineering hasn't even gone out and seen this property in rainstorm and I can tell you that where they're putting the drainage in the Swale it's not going to work um it's just kind of it's just really irresponsible and it's disappointing to me because you know these are native species trees or Oaks not all of them are there's like one Maple that's an invasive species and I just I'm really really just disappointed and I did copy you guys all in the email I have hired Council I plan on fighting it um it's just it's not acceptable it's not acceptable and by the way you can sue for damages um cut somebody's tree roots on their property and you kill the tree that way you've actually damaged their property so I'm just I hope that I'm hoping that the environmental Commission in this Township the tree preservation commission and the staff are directed to look at trees when they're looking they didn't even have the person Casey and Keller didn't even have my trees or any of the neighbors trees listed on their plants it seemed kind of invasive to me um I'm it so I just to share that thank you so much I hope you'll help me good evening I'm Adam Stone milour high school graduate class of 2004 and I'm the son of Nancy and David from Nancy and David fine Jewels donor of the clock tower on Maine and Ence I'm here to tonight to discuss uh Steve gorillo the executive director of the Sid or the consultant of urban solutions group which ever one it is uh he says he's full-time according to his LinkedIn with the Sid and then refers to the Sid as his client on his brand new website which was just launched a few weeks ago so is he being built for the office space that he's using here in town hall uh the prior Aid the dmda was paying rent but now we have a consultant using Town Hall office space so is 100% of his time being spent in this building uh Milbourne related is he printing things using internet for for business Consulting uh Amanda is a Township employee and she's making less than half of Steve why should a consultant be paid more than twice as much uh than a than a salaried employee of the Town a dedicated employee of the Town um this Sid was supposed to be self sustaining by grants that was the idea um and this was supposed to be uh B being able to get funded on its own activities which is not going to happen if you look at the budget uh Steve has formed relationships with other uh uh organizations claro Ventures he's involved with in in Central Jersey where he's kind of based out of um you know what's going on is he claiming his office his home office as deduction uh you know is he actually saving the town money I don't quite think so it seems more like he's gaming the system so you know this is basically wage theft uh on the town's dollar and uh he just launched this new website for himself his consultancy um his wife is affiliated with that consultancy uh the Sid is listed as a client of that is the Sid his full-time job or is it just a client can't have it both ways especially while Manda is an employee so you know as he builds his consultancy how will this affect his focus on the town the prior said failed since most of the budget was bloated admin costs and this is far worse sure as the town urbanizes maybe Urban solution group intends to expand its role in the town which equals more fees charged and more manpower to Outsource his work to Township payroll employees the Sid is supposed to be a nonprofit yet it's sure is a profit Center for Mr gorillo uh He's listed on the to website above a yet he seems to be the only elected non-elected official listed as a consultant uh yet is in the staff section so is he a staff or a consultant I'm not quite sure that distinction is not clear he has $109,000 salary I appreciate the extra time thank you very much hurry up Mr Stone and that's what's budgeted but how many of these other expenses and light items are are being we being double build for uh if he places an installation a public uh art display is that part of his salary bud or are we being double build for that on the side as part of the r programs there is no way this will run at a $3,000 Surplus and so I thank you Mr St thank you your point is made thank you sir I think we have people online thank you good evening Perry erso 514 Milburn Avenue Short Hills hope you could see my little sign regarding resolution 23-27 270 the 24 Sid budget I strongly urge this body to either table this resolution or resend the Sid please take into consideration the following 2020 both then Deputy Mayor Eglo and former mayor committee woman burin reasons why they voted no to the Sid Mary mcnett's reason why no to the Sid both now mayor and Deputy Mayor ran on the promise not to use taxpayers trust fund Monies to fund the Sid CM Beres agreed and publicly stated no taxation without representation number one has this body received a written opinion on the validity of the appointed expanded five district SID number two how can this body vote to approve or deny 24 Sid budget when the supporting documents are not in the agenda packet number three has this body been provided an adequate Sid budget comparison from surrounding municipalities or are you relying solely on a public comments number four prior to consideration does this body have knowledge of a five-year executive executive director contract and a two-year marketing director contract has been entered does number five does this body have knowledge of who is responsible for drafting these contracts number six on October 9th 23 the Sid meeting it was publicly stated that the administrative salaries have reached to 61% of the budget have this body actually validated and verified this comment number seven has this body been provided with grants and sponsorship performance report number eight has this body reviewed to date the calendar year 2023 Sid expenditures and has there been invoices and receipts for backup number nine our professionals Andor Administration granted stipend number 10 executive director stated that he wears many hats which supports his attendance to the recent League of municipalities considering he's not employed by the township and is contracted as a consultant should he have participated in the recent events a executive director is a board member of Vice chairman at the new J New York City digital media center since June 2022 B executive director is a board member at the downtown New Jersey since January 23 C executive director is a board member at Milburn Shor Hills chamers of Commerce since September 20 23 according to exhibit a within the professional service agreement the executive director is to provide at least 40 hours of service of work product how can anyone adequately provide service will all the other have in my opinion perhaps this explains why I have not yet received my Oprah response due by today according to his email however I have contacted multiple municipalities over the B past few weeks and I have received an immediate response without being required through Oprah thank you Miss Stone I mean so sorry Miss Stone to add I'm I just want to add why thank you so much stones in the queue know I know I saw her name I hi I'm sorry I had to unmute myself um that this is Nancy Stone hi can you hear me okay hi everybody I want to congratulate Ben and Frank on their Landslide Victory I also want to thank n Nancy excuse me one second you have to have your face on darling Oh hey hold on one second then thank you okay hi oh there you are hi I'm in the Holy Land of boar Rand okay so I wanted to just say uh congratulations to Ben and Frank for their Landslide victory I also want to thank Maggie for her service and I also want to thank sanjie for his service and uh being so gracious for congratulating the candidates this evening I wanted to also uh talk against the I adamantly opposed the TC approving the Sid budget this evening it is ironic that I was the one who asked the TC member at the time Jackie lieberberg to approve the budget that I was that I was presenting at the time with David sorin and now Jackie is asking to approve a budget far worse than I asked her for to approve I also made the commitment to Jackie that if I was not able to see any type of benefit to the community that I would make a motion to end it and I honored that commitment because I found it to be a waste of money that was primarily being used for administrative costs and it was not economically benefiting the downtown community and it only benefits part of the community the downtown I posted this on the Milbourne politics page that Steve gorilla was very very arrogant at the last Sid meeting he is wrong not to mention again very arrogant the past dmda served the downtown Milburn Community for over 25 years it ended it did not fail for the same reason this Sid should end 62 % of the $250,000 budget goes to salaries 50% of the executive director salary which is Steve Gilla salary is being paid for by the resident taxes legal fees and operating costs take up even more of the budget would leaves which leaves very little for the business community that primarily serves the downtown watch Steve gilla's arrogance of the Sid meeting the last Sid meeting which I was hoping to post when it was uploaded that the previous Sid failed again it was not shut down because of not enough money it was not enough money going into the business Community which is the same thing that's happening now if the chamber was not able to raise funds for the Winter Walk extravaganza the trees could have been lit up from a donation from Steve gilla's Consulting business which he has built and collected from the town at least $200,000 many respectable businesses and Property Owners serve the previous boards and for him to insult the longstanding business Community with his arrogance is shameful my husband served on the Milburn chamber and the dmda boards as well as many other longtime volunteers that are still and now serving on the Milbourne chamber board to answer gorilla's question who owns the clock the town does we donated it to the town with great pride and pleasure and are happy that the Milbourne chamber chose the site to light up the entrance to the downtown this December 2nd it was given with a full heart and intended for public use as a gathering place for the community you're out of time no problem I hope you vote against the budget thank you thank you one more Mr car [Laughter] we can we can see you miss Feld okay I just need the green light you're you're great well F thank you so first I want to thank you again since I'm here on Zoom uh for for reinstating Zoom Maggie and the rest of the group it's so helpful on a night when you just can't get yourself together to leave the house um so thank you again it means a lot this so I have two other things and then that's it the second thing is I'd like to invite everybody to um come to the Milbourne Public Library to see the exhibit that my art teacher has mounted he was granted permission to display his artwork on the first floor you know where the art gallery is in the library and he's a very gifted and talented longtime artist in the state of New Jersey and most recently I invited him to go to Greenwood Gardens this summer and he did a bunch of paintings of Greenwood and one of them is hanging in the library it's really beautiful he's a wonderful teacher his name is Mark deos and I just invite you all to go enjoy his work um the other thing I wanted to say was um I'm also going to put in my plea for all of you to hold off on the action that you are supposed to be taking on December 5th regarding N9 Main Street I do feel that with a new board conf configuration a new committee configuration um and all the people that voted in favor of having a change in the direction of nine main street that all of us constituents of this Township uh would be very grateful if you just waited till January to complete the action thank you everybody have a great holiday season and thank you all for your service whether we agree or disagree it's a very hard job to sit up there and do all that work and I appreciate it at all times thank you thank you Mrs Feld come on down Mr Carlin on you're the next contestant right why not new the new price is right I just wanted to say um um bber is the landlord for of course uh the playhouse and you have 88 violations one way or the other you need to have to fix the violations or suffer the consequences and when Mr R says well the money is may not be there well if you have a tragedy you could spend much more than $7.5 million in attorney fees no less as you know getting a good attorney I'm only kidding you what I'm no no all seriousness though uh if someone pass if if wall falls down and if there's a tragedy and we can't get people there it could be very very bad and you're the landlord and if you own a home and if there's a tragedy it's bad Code Compliance DCA Department of Community Affairs you familiar who they are I believe and they have the jurisdiction they could close the place down and we did that shouldn't be closed down so in all honesty I believe you have to take some action whether it's $7.5 million whatever you have to bring the building up to code I'm a compliance nerd I don't unfortunately for the last 50 years even today I had thank you very very much uh in well battalion chief was there uh this afternoon within 3 hours the building was back into compliance I'm making I believe the paperwork has to be done correctly it's difficult the statutes in New Jersey are abominable I don't know what that means but they're terrible and because whoever is writing them they attorneys and it's very very difficult for anyone to read to understand exactly what the rules and regulations are but everyone I wish they would very very Happy Thanksgiving and I'm up to time but you know please stay safe and thank you thank you Mr Carlin and thank you thank you thank you everyone is there anybody else okay can't have to show their face if somebody who is on an iPhone wishes to speak you need to change your name and your face is going to need to be seen so if you can do that that's terrific if not then we can't have you speak Zoom might end a few people out Zoom is on to get back in sorry no you're doing a great job Crystal thank you that's a good idea see who it is that's a good idea iPhone with your hand raise you're muted okay who are we speaking with hi this is Dominique erso how are you I don't know why it wasn't working for me but thank you so much for giving me that courtesy good evening everyone my question tonight is why is the ordinance to amend ordinance 25 61-20 not within tonight's agenda packet and also why are the bylaws being in my opinion manipulated to correct wrongdoing and shortfalls thank you so much have a good night and Happy Thanksgiving thank you missa okay I will now close public comment period why don't we start Mr vanay do you have anything you'd like to respond to from the public comment period sure mayor uh on two things one is uh first thanks for giving me the chance to talk um most of the people have spoken about including Mr Al last participant in the hall about being compant to Ada I'm all for being compliant to Ada in the town hall at paper Playhouse even at Milbourne and short train station so yes we must do that I'm all for it spending 7.5 million when we are against even 50 or $100,000 on S budget that I just can't understand one is trying to get the business in keep the vacancy low and the other one is saying that they are getting the people in just for the restaurant well we don't have to just keep looking for the restaurant only we have to keep looking for the entire downtown and when when the rent was adhered to it was adhered to to the building now we can keep fixing that building for sure as a landlord but taking the rent of it's equalent to 75 years of rent and they are talking about $40 million project so that is where again it's just my thought process other people can say yes and I really like M R's idea on getting residents involved and what they feel and what they say last TC meeting I had actually held off U on making the motion for nine main street because I wanted to do it more close to the date uh so judge doesn't come back and and tell us what to do because we still have two months but I I am completely on board because there are two TC members who are coming in new and all this time they've been saying that they will not let 75 M or sorry nine main streets happen and we have not done anything before the election happened and after the election happened I'm all for it I if if it's allowed legally I'm make a motion now to push that voting out to January or request to the judge to push the voting out to January so the new TC member can vote for it can I get a second do we have a second yeah we'll second it Miss pupus will second that motion roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus yes Miss Romano yes Deputy Mayor vayak yes mayor megin yes thank you thank you so much uh Mr stard for bringing this up again and let's hope for the best and hope for the best of the township as well that's all mayor thank you thank you Deputy Mayor um Miss puus do you have any comments that you'd like to respond to I do and I one less thing to say now well then the about the cricket pitch at so the TVJ they lease fields from the township we least their field I was gonna speak to it great a the case management conference can we get that information out on our website for the public to see um Alex can you explain that $200 $200,000 Grant toward 22 Willow and how maybe how that whole because it you know we talked about this and it was news to me when it came and can you explain that to the community are you gonna do that right now when you just uh the process of the open space wreck element if you could just speak to that and how where that's going to go um Mr moral so we're talking about doing a nonpartisan a committee on to advance a nonpartisan referendum I'm not sure that it's going to be a charter commission so I just want to clarify that that there are different Avenues to get to that same um outcome and the yeah well I I thought Township had to be Township form of government had to be par no it does not that's that the case okay I stand correct they have to be no I think I I can speak to it a little bit great I'm I'm not 100% familiar but I can speak to awesome um to Renee I think that it would be amazing if you did a little video that we could all share because what you just got up and said that's see it would see it well I guess all of us would see it but I think I do think that you came up even if you just click edited what you just talked about it it could go far and we could I don't know anyway just want to say that and then lastly um to Charlie who brought up the vision plan we haven't discussed that in a while and I know that that was um that was a process that not everybody agreed with how it was done or the outcomes but it it there was a lot of public participation done in that process and I think that's something that as a community we can revisit again to look at and see you know is there anything there that we want to talk about moving forward so I just want to thank you for bringing that up again and um that's it I'm thank you Mr C yeah I just going to bring up that to the Downtown Vision commission I frankly thought that was a victim of CO as you said it was done in 20120 and then other things happened that took presidence but certainly it's worth bringing up again we did spend a lot of money on it and 170 did it was it yeah it's still on the website so everybody can still VI and some things came out of it and some discussions but there's it's more it was wonderful Miss Romano anything um I just want to add uh to the record there are 33 letters here of support from our uh business owners and uh merchants in support of the Sid explore Milburn and Stephen Amanda M sir your turn sir so uh just really quickly to speak to the wreck element uh of the master plan uh that work is complete that will be posted the website it's currently going to be posted in two locations one is the rec department page as well as the planning board page uh the next step in this process um is to have a discussion at the planning board meeting um I've been waiting on verification of which meeting that will be at whether it's going to be December uh 6th or the uh December 20th meeting uh once we have that information we'll put a news feed on the website uh so that people are aware of that and and and the doents that go along with it um the lease agreement with uh T temp B Jeran um is on the agenda tonight actually as the second reading uh in public hearing that lease as it currently States is not necessarily going to be used for um Cricket um it's going to be used in the spring and the fall months that we need to uh release some pressure from other locations um that's not to say like again that the future of this lease agreement can't be you know continue to evolve but for the time being the way that we it was negotiated was that we would be utilizing that for um practices um of of recre uh uh programs um I know that the the rec commission is still looking at uh the placement of a cricket pitch um whether that's even a place where it can be used um um you know uh both you know be put out there as a cricket pitch and utilized and then brought back in and things like that but for right now just to be clear on tbj that is not um a part of the lease agreement it is for um uh wck programs and practices it's only for three months in the fall and three months in the um three months in the uh Alex that is the ticket pitch Rec commission and other people were thinking of putting that temporary until we figure out a solid solution in the old sh part correct that is that is what Curr being discussed it's a temporary one until we figure out the per Solutions yes thank you um the uh 22 East Willow um that was a uh so this was a back when 22 East well was first being discussed um we were approached by uh assembly mcken um say Hey you know is there anything that you want um uh to potentially you know receive funding through the budget the state budget from um kind of threw it out there you know thinking nothing more of it and then eventually in uh late September early October got an award um letter stating that the township received 200,000 then we had to go through a whole process with the the um with the sage Grant Pro uh program and then put it on the agenda tonight for $200,000 for the acquisition of that property so that's theoretically sorry to interrupt but if we don't get that property for whatever reason because there's other pieces do we still get that 200,000 no it is specifically tied to that yes what about the usage of that as it said in the flyer it talked about um moving DPW side if we using different so no that that is okay so and that was actually part of the conversation that we were trying to figure because that wasn't our intent right and in there in in the award it says uh senior center community center so the usage is fine correct yes um is there anything else I was just the nonpartisan oh yes thank you um so as I understand it currently which is again I've just been doing a a limited research on this is that there are um two processes that uh a municipality can go through um in order to uh change the form of government one is a pass an ordinance to establish a charter commission study which would then be put on the ballot in November the other is what's called a direct petition method um which is uh again seeking the residents of the township to um uh petition for the change of form of government which would then be put on the ballot for no am so those those are the two methods and there's there's still a lot of you know sort of understanding to have about it but but those are the the uh two that are uh established in the statute but they're both change of government they are correct and to to your point Mr Mor I was just saying that Charter commission might not be the only you're correct but but to to your point that that um that the CH like change of form of government to nonpar would be a change of from a Township committee form to another form right but nonpartisan is not a form of government nonpartisan is no but I think you have to move to a fer form of government well there are a bunch of different forms but yes there's really only three yeah that apply to but then there's then there's right and there's several within the the falconer act so yeah there there's there's a lot to it um and certainly uh but just speaking of methods those are the two methods right both require a vote both require a vote in November correct well no not just no they both don't require vote in November well the charter commission study requires a vote for the Comm Charter commission members and then another uh vote after the charter commission is complete but not not mandated November you just said in November the direct petition that's not required from the to be to be continued to be continued and we were going to talk about this as a community and get more information so we're we're Gathering Mr Mr f I so that is that that again there's a lot to be lot to be [Music] done all right I do not have a report but I'd like to join in congratulating the new members of the township committee all right here we go folks we are going to the township committee we'll now consider consent agenda resolutions are there any comments from the committee in regards to any items listed on the sent agenda may have a motion to approve resolution 23- 259 through resolution 23268 which are list sorry I have one quick question I'm so sorry but the um the bimetric survey when is that do we have a timeline for that um yes immediately so it'll it'll it'll continue to happen as long as the weather permits and the reservoir hasn't Frozen Okay so and like I guess my point is when are we going to get that information back how long it it should probably take about a month to to do that work okay sorry all right may have a motion to approve resolution 23259 through resolution 23- 268 which are listed on the consent agenda may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus yes Miss Romano yes Deputy Mayor vanay yes mayor miggins yes thank you thank you now we on resolution 23- 269 are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 23- 269 authorization of a change order to professional service agreement for our Township attorney Mar Falon I just say why don't you explain it yes so um Mr uh mari's contract with the township is uh not to exceed of $450,000 we have um reached uh the 80% uh threshold we don't anticipate um going very far over the 450 but projected on average cost per month um we do expect to to exceed the 450 so that's why the authorization for an additional $40,000 questions to approve resolution 23269 so mov may have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus yes Miss Romano yes Deputy Mayor vayak yes mayor miggins yes thank you okay we now are at the Milbourne CHT Hills business organization 2023 budget introduction 23- 270 it's tonight is Introduction approve and set the public hearing for the 2 24 Milbourne CH Hills business organization budget parentheses explore Milbourne Short Hills and the public hearing will be held December 19th 2023 at 7M so Mr gorilla good evening mayor members of the committee H congratulations to uh Ben and Frank and and congratulations to Bruce and CH for their uh their campaign uh this evening I am presenting the proposed budget for FL Milburn Short Hills which is the special improvement district for the town this budget as well as a comparison of 2023 budget was formally approved after public comment uh at our 2020 um at our 2023 annual meeting in October each of you has been provided with a copy of this 2024 Vision plan as well as this budget so at this time I've combined both the vision plan and the budget into my remarks 2023 was an exceptionally successful year for explore and the town the commercial vacancy rate was reduced to a record low is 3% we welcome 29 new businesses we also anticipate another 15 businesses to open in 2024 with additional spaces to open a current development sites in the downtown we hosted new Forums on social media website development and search engine optimization we launched three new events Restaurant Week biz for kids and fall into Milburn Short Hills we secured a public art Grant from mic County which led to five new projects throughout the city as well as the creation of a public Art Trail on our website we hosted 35 musical acts and 15 open streets programs in the main street closure and we also recently installed new parking and welcome signage on upper Milburn Avenue in partnership with the township uh advancing the budget tonight allows us as a community to invest in a strong local commercial sector a healthy Sid helps to support new and exising businesses reduce vacancies promote Community engagement Drive foot traffic plan for beautifications and increase commercial property tax Reven Revenue stable commercial districts also increase residential property values which leads to additional tax revenue to maintain and expand Municipal Services put simply an investment in the Sid is an investment in all Milburn Short Hills as you know our budget is funded through a special assessment on the properties within the city and for the third consecutive year we are proposing an assessment of 204,000 this is shown in the Box in the top of the budget page which you all have in front of you and there is a copy on the desktop if you wanted to pull it up additional income is derived from a $55,000 Township contribution of my compensation is required by the establishing ordinance and anticipated 29,000 an outside grants and sponsorships and anticipated 7 7,800 from Essex County for public art programming and 21,000 from clean communities via the township which will include a street cleaning pilot program the total budget is 317,000 with a reserve of 20,000 which results in a total spendable budget of 297,000 no it's it's the PDF of the Excel sheet that's in that folder yep that second one in the lower box on the page that was there a second ago uh I've detailed our 2024 expenses so starting with Staffing I have a contract in place for 110,111 which is the same as my 2023 cont compensation so there's no change there we've also approved as a board a contract valued at $60,000 for mandad Dean which is an increase of $117,000 in 2023 her new contract will increase her hours from 25 per week to 37 and her hourly rate will remain the same this totals $170,000 in Staffing please keep in mind that both Amanda and I are consultants and we don't receive any benefits or medical benefits or retirement out of the budget additionally it's important to consider that my role is not necessarily Quantified on the expenses Side Of The Ledger as most of my work is focused on business advocacy and of course the organizational management of the nonprofit uh I do serve on the me as a member of the Township's development Review Committee and the parking ad hoc committee I work with Alex McDonald on a number of projects related to signage quality of life and maintenance issues I assist property owners and tenants to address various issues including real estate availability project planning permitting signage trash collection and more I also handle all of our grant writing I manage the annual audit process I oversee all financial and administrative compliance and I manage the overall operations of the 501c3 nonprofit in addition to compensation we also have other costs which are shown thank you in the Professional Services and operation line that includes $15,000 for Legal Services 6,000 for our audit and tax filing which is required by law and 8,000 for technology and general operating uh there is a new expense for board training in the amount of $1,000 with the assumption that we'll have several new board members next year who will need training on nonprofit operations we intend to spend approximately $84,000 on stakeholder facing programs and services including events marketing live music streetscaping and business education we plan to generate 29,000 in sponsorships uh thanks to Amanda's additional hours which will help her pursue more sponsorships and for my time to pursue more grants if if we meet our goals we'll be investing almost $112,000 more in 2024 towards those Services than in 2023 some of those specific Services include uh founding Day restaurant Week girls night out and live music educational programs will focus on social media point of sale improvements business security we actually just hosted a session with the police department this week flood insurance combating inflation and various njeda programs including their free website design program with multiple businesses in the city have already accessed we'll develop a new social media campaigns and we'll strategize methods to engage our growing Chinese and Indian communities we will again clean and mold 50 tree pits and manage our 30 plus Planters throughout the town finally our Essex County public art Grant is broken out as a separate portion on the bottom of that budget due to reporting requirements and it's budgeted uh at an estimated 11,800 between grants and our required matching funds if we are awarded a different amount than this that line will be amended um so coming full Circle as you can sort of see at the bottom of that um our total spendable budget is 297,000 20,000 is set aside every year as a reserve um and so we will have a total budget of 317,000 and with that I'm happy to answer any of your questions M Mano do you have any questions do what where did that packet of 36 letters in support of the sidco from um I mean why haven't we seen those because I just got them to so okay but I guess my question is for Steve then like why where where did those letters come from and why haven't we received them and when did you receive them and how are they solicited so I sent uh emails out to number of businesses that we work with and asked them to offer their support for our budget as it directly benefits them that's the point right their stakeholders yeah um and so they've been sending them to me over the last two or three days and I only I was receiving them up to 5:00 today okay um I have I have a lot of questions but can I can we Circle back to me can I just organize my thoughts that's okay so I can ask the question in the meantime go ahead Mr B so Steve if I heard today that you got the contract for multiple years from Sid board if anything happens to Sid and it get dismantled earlier than your contract what happened in that case scenario do we do does Township owe you money does s board owe you uh money or does that contract get cancelled uh if the the Sid were be to be disbanded uh my contract and Amanda's contract would become void okay but thank you so much would there be their void but is there a payout with the void there is no payout no payout so if your contract is voided there's a 30-day notice and then that would be it correct and it would take 30 days to put all the Affairs in order could you mute please I think it might be you with the back also in terms of both of our contracts um they do have uh 30-day termination Clauses at any time by both parties for any reason for any reason correct so hold on back in a second Mr Cohen I'm good you're good okay Miss brus now we'll go to you okay so speaking about the The Five-Year contract and the twoe contract if they can both if they can be terminated within 30 days from either side how and why was this contract even developed and signed so the Contra the way that the ordinance is written is the executive director and any other staff uh their contract is subject only to the approval of the Sid board it not subject to the approval of the township committee so the Sid board can offer any vendor any contractor whatever they want it's within their jurisdiction so the conversation between myself and the executive committee uh was that I felt that I wanted to stay for five more years I think there's additional work that needs to be done and we felt that especially given the climate in in the Sid world you're probably not out there getting Sid job offers but uh every few weeks there's a new town looking for a new director and we felt that that would create instability um and so what we wanted to do was lock myself in lock aanda in and now we have organizational continuity uh for the next years in terms of amand in the next five years for myself the plan was to create an offer profit that can function uh on in an ongoing basis okay um so 29,000 for sponsorships and what happens if that that's not guaranteed sure and you're saying that all that that money is going towards programming but what happens if you don't have that so certainly a fair question um we've been quite successful this year in terms of selling our sponsorships um we feel that if we have the time and the Manpower with Amanda working full-time to promote those events um that we can secure the 29,000 um what would it result in is probably something like um instead of 35 live music shows there would be 25 live music shows um maybe we would not pay a vendor you know to do a social media training class so it would it wouldn't result in a wholesale cancellation of events or Services um but like any other non for-profit um you know you have to rely on what you can bring in and um you have to base your your service portfolio on that but uh given what we've experienced over the last three years I think we feel we feel very confident that we can raise that Revenue okay so going back to the old dmda um which is actually very much to how and why I'm sitting in this position today that was my entry point in there I see some of the same kind of repetitive uh actions that were that were problematic so the percentage of going of what was salaried um are going to administrative costs versus what was going to the actual businesses it that's problematic for me um I I want to address kind of the conversation about you being a consultant can you explain that because that was also prior to the last the last director of the dmda also had a full-time business in the downtown and it was like this how is that even happening so I think that's a really valid concern and I'd like for you to address it okay so um the first point I think is important with the dmda is that the dmda total assessment was 206,000 uh to serve the downtown ours is 204 and we serve five districts and 250 more businesses than the dmda did so I think it's important to just keep in mind when we're talking about percentage of Revenue that's dedicated to administrative services you have you're talking about $50,000 also coming from the town so you have to give that full picture agreed but what we're talking about right is yes a large percentage goes to Administration but that's because we're serving 250 more businesses in four additional districts on the same assessment as the dmba but you have a bigger budget than that assessment that is true but I just I just want to make sure you understanding that that assessment right what it cost the businesses that are being assessed Property Owners of being assess is the same as it was for the DMD actually there's four other districts that weren't included in the DMD right so the downtown Property Owners signant other ones are paying something that they've never paid before that is true and they're benefiting from it and they're receiving services from it well that is in your that is questionable right that is your opinion that they're benefiting I think my opinion carries some weight I've been the executive director for two and a half years well so I haven't heard anything like that's why I was surprised about the letters because I haven't heard anything from any of the businesses so but anyway can I can I ask the question Cara when you say yes sure you yeah when you say the budget is more now from 204 to 255 is that what you're talking about no to now it's 297 okay thank you yeah the assessment the assessment has not changed right and then there's the 55,000 that comes in from the town right that's in the establishing ordinance Y and everything else is added Revenue so the 21,000 coming from clean communities for instance that counts towards our budget but that's the town giving us money to perform services that they that that cancels out because either the town's going to perform it or you're going to perform it so that 21 I'm not concerned about it yeah so really the only difference is the 55,000 that's in the EST and that one was preo this was postco as I understand it the dmda did not have theun we're talking about you as a consultant the first question you asked two questions the question is the other one that you were answering because I'm like so far what was the other one that you were answering my other I was answering question one first which was which was the difference between the budgets you had asked about dmda no I didn't I but go on I did not I did I just you know pointed out like I didn't ask I know what the dmda budget was and I know what this budget is so that's that's not the question the question is do you are you do you have other jobs do you have other clients do you have other clients of course okay right so like I own a consulting firm I have so this is very problematic I'm sorry Steve I I I I hugely problematic your work has so how how many hours are you working for your other clients I work many hours for my other clients on my own time on weekends on nights and I don't and when when the township paid for you to go to the league I was representing the team just milber right you wen't I mean I'm so sorry I've been to the league like there's no way you weren't having conversations there about all the work that you do and all the clients that you do and if I if I told you that I was 100% representing explore Milburn at the league would you believe me no then I think that's that's clearly the problem if you can't believe me that I would tell you the truth you're human and I know how business works and I know what the league is like so it's okay but so I I mean you can't trust me to answer that honestly I don't know conversation that you have other clients and have an office in Milbourne and have mil like I it's not okay this was the same thing as Jillian owning a hair salon I and I I'm gonna say that you're right it's not the same exact thing because you have much you have experience in this and like clearly I also don't leave to cut hair I I just said that but you are running and you have other clients so this is not it's not okay for me like this is a nonstarter this is not okay I mean our questions this is not okay I no idea how many hours excuse me excuse me excuse me anyway so I have other issues with the Sid Beyond I have issues with the fact that it's appointed people are paying an assessment they're paying a tax they need to have a vote so they are the ones that need to be voting for the members of the S board as it was done with the dmda so that's one huge problem that I have the second one is that I do not believe that the representation is equal across all the districts I think it's a downtown organization and I think it should be kept as a downtown organization and I think that even before like we I voted for the Sid right I I I was that third vote and I believe that we needed something and in the past three years I've seen that we don't need it beyond the downtown and so I firmly believe that so for all of those reasons I will not be passing um voting to pass the budget tonight and I I really think that the the people who sit on the explore board need to take like a huge look at the back that Steve has other clients so that's how I feel about it thank yeah um Mr gorilla yes um thank you for coming this evening um just to be clear the township of Milbourne paid for your registration to go to League of municipalities is that what I'm here no explore Milbourne did explore Milburn P Amanda and I both attended as representatives of explore Milburn okay so explore Milburn P okay okay and hotel accommodations did explore pay for that or we stayed one day and we did not stay overnight okay thank you very much for clearing that up um the 33 letters which Miss Gaddy you'll give us all copies of tomorrow thank you very much um out of those 33 letters can you give a breakdown of how many of them were from the downtown and how many were from the other business districts um I can't give you an accurate I don't know exactly how many okay okay so we'll get we'll get that all tomorrow ter Ric um how many businesses since you've been here have left we actually reported on that at our board meeting I think the number was 27 or 28 and I believe 18 of those have been replaced by new businesses okay and you know what they say there don't last so um do you have quantitative numbers and dollar figures of the new the other four districts that were I guess two parts the other four districts that were added have they seen their I'd like to know what the vacancy rate is on those districts I'd like to know those businesses that are in there since they become you know if they were there before are they still there now and have they seen an increase in their business what what's their bottom line has their bottom line increased yeah so um I can easily produce the vacancy rate data vacancy rate but also if I'm taste buddy and I've been there for four years and I was making $20 a day in profit I'm now because of the DM da or explor Milbourne I'm now making 50 day $50 a day profit I think that would be important for us to know are these businesses making more money because now they're part of the Sid or are they not making more money and what's the vacancy rate and how many in these new districts these new four districts how many of these businesses were there but are no longer there do you see what I'm saying how many have left those new District yeah um do you know per chance um and and some of this you know I'll blame on certain landlords in downtown who don't fill their spaces sometimes and we've seen buildings remain vacant for Years also at the same time could you find out um what the the dollar increase has been for the you know we closed the main street down and that's it's a whole cluster bomb but when we close the main street down or when we're doing special events are the businesses in the town seeing an increase in their business does it help to sustain them or it doesn't it makes no difference I know um we had all discussed was that with you and I with when the chamber you know um the chamber was doing um you know closing the downtown and having a street well that didn't benefit our our our businesses so we said don't do that run another 5K for us but you know that that didn't Ben it benefited outside vendors and didn't benefit us so um I think that's important to look at as well I um I don't think I have any other questions I might I might agree with Miss pupus in the sense of the U I don't know if it makes a difference for those four extra business districts so that's why I think it would be important to kind of look at that I think most of um I'd love to know if something like a town like Summit like they have their big downtown and they have a pretty amazing Sid but do they also include down by nals I can answer that for you okay um and I actually enumerated this to an email to missus earlier today um the so Livingston is a good example every business in the town of Livingston is in the improvement district which is uncommon right um but they charge a two- tiered system so the downtown core pays a higher rate than the businesses in the outer sections obviously the anticipation is that there's less need or less services rendered um but it doesn't exclude those businesses in the exterior areas from receiving certain benefits so that is something you could Implement here if you said you know we don't want to necessarily remove all the benefits from those businesses and Property Owners but we also feel that there is more of a focus on the downtown because of it being the downtown of the town um you could create a tiered system as well that's that's done in our neighbors in Livingston okay but not so Summit was one I thought about um but then there's there's other town like Maplewood they have distinct different bids areas I I would to be candid you would never generate enough Revenue um to run a sid if you created Five sets of Sids in this town it would either be the downtown don't think there's a need for five separate sits in this right but it's it's not even a need question right it's literally a revenue question how much Mone could you generate and um there's not enough money in terms of the commercial assessments to to make it worthwhile so you could do this tiered system um you could eliminate the outer districts wholly um you could eliminate the Sid um it's you know there there's all different options also I I think it would be important to know um most of the time in these other districts the business owners aren't necessarily the um people in the stores as it were so I think it would be important to know in these outer districts so for instance in my the building that I'm in I'm not I don't own the building but um Mr Nal it's I'm sure assessed I'm sure it's in my rent too but did did it increase my business did it decrease my business you know that those types of things I think that would be important that you know from especially the outer districts because it seems as if if you're having all of these activities it would is it it appears as if 90% of the activities take place downtown so therefore or 90% of the taxes should be assessed to the downtown rather than you know again to miss pu's point do you need all these districts or should it just be focused on the downtown right and then 90% of the board seat should be downtown either Property Owners or merchants in the downtown yeah so i' I'd like to well two things first of all I two questions what oh sorry two questions first of all as as the subject of other clients for both you and Amanda came up but also for your contract it specifies a number of hours that you are expected to work so I just want you to confirm that regardless of how many clients you have you spend that that requisite number of hours as will Amanda going to 37 that's what you spend and it does you know what what you do on the on the rest of your life is uh your own business yeah and I I submit time sheets every two weeks that have an hourly breakdown corre and then as for the other districts that may be true today but certainly the uper Milburn District um things are changing there when the when when the Metropolitan starts renting that will become a much more heavily trafficked area so before we're a little Hasty about you know it's not it's not the downtown but it's kind of it's It's kind of uh pretty it will be a very busy area I expect given the the density of of that Springfield project so again the needs of those those businesses I mean that's and and perhaps you know that will also give you an opportunity to uh organize more events in that in that se yeah we're actually uh Amanda has done a great job working with the leasing office at the Metropolitan and uh they are going to have a special program where they're giving out gift bags to all new residents and it's going to include promotional information documents from the businesses at Short Hill station Morris turn bike and upper Milburn Avenue okay public hearing and consideration of adoption of the 2024 budget is scheduled for the December 19 Township committee meeting which begins at 7M here at Town Hall the introduced budget is available in the township clerk's office and will also be posted on the township website once the annual assessment role is certified by our tax assessor letters will be sent to each property owner within the district and the full roll call will be posted on our website the annual assessment role will also be scheduled to be before the committee at a future meeting is there a motion to approve resolution 23-27 I move I move that resolution 23- 270 be approved and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the budget notice published on November 30th 2023 in accordance with law and that the public hearing and final passage be scheduled for December 19th 2023 Township committee meeting beginning at 7M is there a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cen yes Miss pupus no Miss Romano yes Deputy Mayor vayak yes mayor Megan abstain thank you thank you thank you all for the time we'll see you in a month and remember got lots of and you know one last comment on this before I have to drop off is our regular Township employee cost us when we started three years ago it was close to $150,000 including medical benefits and pension plan and now it's close to $175,000 each employee and this one that we are talking about about steel is about 55,000 we paying and $105,000 is what he is getting paid a year so I wouldn't consider him anything other than consultant because he's getting paid also that and thank you I have to leave now board the flight thank you thank you Deputy Mayor save travels thank you thank you mayor thank you Mr cooh and you are scheduled to sponsor 2655 d23 okay um I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance 2655-20 ordinance amending and supplementing the township a m burn indemnification ordinance we've covered this a couple of times already this is a change to the existing indemnification ordinance for two changes one of which changed the dates to uh extend the the notification periods on both sides to could be more representative of what happens in in actuality the other change was to extend the indemnification for clerical errors that occur in the filing of documents required by uh government the state government or any government awesome question to anyone none seeing none Mr Cen go ahead I move that the ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with flaw in the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday December 19th 2023 may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss pupus yes Miss Romano yes mayor Megan yes thank you ordinance 2656-20 mror you are scheduled to sponsor this I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 26562 three ordinance amending chapter 7 traffic of the revised General ordinances of the township of Milbourne the proposed amendment to the chapter 7 traffic code of milburn's General ordinances is to make amendments to business permit categories modifier modify fire Lanes clarify parking allowances in the Township's commuter lots and codify re requirements of parking permit applications we talked about this last meeting right do I need to go further any questions do anybody have any questions seeing none I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on Final reading on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday December 19th 2023 may I have a second please second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss pupus yes Miss Romano yes mayor miggins yes thank you okay ordinance 26 52-23 I am scheduled to sponsor I present for consideration an ordinance entitled 26 52-23 an ordinance authorizing the lease of a 46,500 foot portion of the real property located at 1025 South Orange Avenue known as block 4407 Lot 19 the the this ordinance is being proposed to authorize the township to enter into a lease agreement for a portion of the real property located at 1025 South Orange Avenue in order to provide Sports fields for Township organized Recreation program tonight is the time to set for the public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with state law I declare the hearing open and my name is Jeffrey Feld the poet section I just want to uh get some more clarification I mean I support the use of this this lease but I just want everyone to understand the terms that it's basically only going to be used like three months in the spring and three months in the fall the base R rent is like 2,000 a month but we're responsible for cutting the grass because I think that was and like what is there additional insurance cost I mean I just want everyone to understand that this is a plus for the community but I think everyone just needs to know what our costs are and exploring later whether we can use it for the summer months for other sports and crickets you have any answer to that yeah I mean the landlord is actually responsible for um Mowing and trimming to the Laine all right um we are responsible for making sure it's ready for use in the spring and the fall so like seating and you know that type of thing um if it's going to be a soccer fielder we going to be responsible for lining it and yes whatever we're we're utilizing it for we this this is a great thing for the town obviously is there are there other things like this in the works is this kind of the beginning of potential Partnerships thank you yeah that that's actually a good uh you know this was a sort of a a unique opportunity we hope that you know potential opportunities um come up again uh another one that we were looking at was uh Christ Church but the the usage didn't really fit the need um or our ability to use it didn't fit our need at that time so uh but yeah sure these things will come up and we'll be receptive to them and make sure that we we explore it might not always work out but um but certainly it's a it's a unique opportunity and a creative solution J Morell I I agree this is a fantastic solution to a problem that's been uh uh noted for years I do want to um just follow up on Mr F's question um are there any major pieces of work plan to make the fields ready for use I I'm assuming we're not going to Turf it or anything like that uh but is it just going to be small stuff like lining and and putting bases out a baseballs player or whatever yeah so no it it it won't be baseall but I I'll just so for everybody's edification tenant shall be responsible for the application of uh fertilizer um you know similar to what we do to our own Fields making sure that's it's noticed as we do with our own Fields if that if it's necessary uh slice seating and over seating of the fields approximately twice a year um we'll be responsible for triming trees as needed I don't anticipate that being a an issue necessarily and then painting the premises for whatever we're using it for those are our responsibilities um from a and I hate to bring this up from a security aspect um you know I us member there for many many years um and you go around uh can you just discuss how the security perimeter will be set up and exactly which Fields we're talking about so there's only one large space available for us behind the parking lot yes and we are only able to utilize the parking lot that is directly adjacent to that um if we end up having any activities outside of the time that they normally have Security on the premises which um is is is quite a bit then we would be responsible for any additional security cost we don't anticipate using it U at any other time than when they have security there okay understood thank you okay I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and that the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cen yes Miss prus yes Miss Romano yes mayor megin yes thank you Mr Cohen you're scheduled to sponsor ordinance 26532386 ordinance authorize the acquisition by the township of Milbourne of a building and lands owned by Wyman Associates and the Jersey partnership ly known as block 1004 lot six on the tax map of the township of Milbourne and appropriating the sum of $2,200,000 to pay the cost thereof tonight is the time set for public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law I declare the hearing open so section I just suggest that this ordinance be just postponed for two weeks and this goes back to when we're talking about transparency um unlike the lease which was attached at first reading the acquisition contract nor the appraisal was attached for the public to look at it I received it from oer but I think the whole public needs to know about this property because one is the purchase price how it exceeds the assessment value and how it exceeds the um the appraisal value and the question is who made the determination that that's a reasonable amount in light of the grant um does that will that money be used to reduce or reimburse us for the purchase price or is that going to be used for remediation of the pro renovation of the project um this goes back to and I think we had to step back because the statements that were made around 7:15 tonight when we had the pap paper mil um presentation there comes to be a limit as to taxpayers as to how many capital Bond projects can be done and how much do we have participation uh budget participation as to this project we have questions as to the acquisition cost at some point there's going to have to be cost for renovating the property and also was was interesting you proved the bond ordinance by it prior to doing the acquisition um in the newspapers the property we're buying if you read the appraisal the building is obsolete it's like 60 years old it will have a useful life of 40 years and the question is are we getting a good investment because right now we're going to lose a property from our tax rols that goes into the equation I understand the need for senior um citizen um facility but we have areas you know at Cher Park and the public library but I think at some point we have to step back and this goes back to earlier this evening when we're talking about the best practice inventory this it a capital project it wasn't included in the budget process you're now coming to you saying we need this Capital project we need to look at the long-term FRS because I think if you ask the citizens I think more people will say I'd rather put money into the paper mill than than into the senior citizen project and I think they given time that we should have answers as to what is really going to be the total of this project is it just the acquisition what is going to be the cost of um retrofitting this project thank you thank you Mr phel okay thank you that I no you have somebody on I know it's hard to see good evening Perry erso 514 Milburn Avenue in Short Hills um can I just ask a technical so would you please put your um camera on thank you oh sorry I thought I pressed it there you go hi hello we see am I right side up and you're not sideways either my husband's device um just a qu quick question before I actually State my comments for this ordinance um can you clarify someone that's sponsoring an ordinance what is their responsibility and do they fully are knowledgeable and understand what they're actually sponsoring I mean is is there any you know what I'm saying like not just reading off the ordinance what it is but do they actually have to take responsibility and know exactly what they're sponsoring do you f you getting what I'm saying we understand but continue and we'll answer you when you're finished all right thank you so I just wanted to verify that we're talking about the block uh4 lot six is known as 22 East Willow Street correct correct okay per Mr Feld resident attorney's public comment that this process should have been done by ordinance and not by resolution as it was initially um therefore it's been corrected based on his uh prior recommendation um yes so in my opinion I'm just wondering is there like some accountability for our Municipal attorneys and that will the township be reimbursed for this error um also what is the actual purpose of this purchase please explain how the down payment was made to the seller and I know Mr Feld had mentioned previously but I did some little bit uh the assess the township has this property assessed at 1,434 1800 um the township is purchasing the property for 2.2 million so that's a difference of 765,000 in the assessed value so it's a bit more I could see like you know purchasing a little bit over the assessed value I mean that's that's reasonable to ask but not nearly 9 800,000 and more um has this body also um I guess Mr Feld got it by way of Oprah but do we have assessments available to the public prior to your approval and also I can't understand why the township would give up 27,000 in taxes and also until this body is actually provided with public um supporting documents I think that this ordinance should be postponed but as a property owner um and putting the numbers together and considering how old the building is and what needs to be done I'm thinking that this may or not necessarily be the right investment for the township so maybe you could weigh in why it is a good investment for the township and especially that you're paying nearly $800,000 more um than the assessed value thank you for your time Happy Thanksgiving thank you Miss CA hi Ben Stoler um on this project it certainly feels like you may be being maligned I'm Maggie Miss megin I'm sure you you're a realtor you've done all the work we all know that assessed value doesn't equal market value thank you there's got to be a process that you went through maybe you can articulate to the general pop public the process that went through in terms of how the price of 2.2 million was determined etc etc I think just more information is better in this case uh as well as possible additional uses of that land and how that would benefit the overall population versus $27,000 in taxes I I certainly believe residents are entitled to that information thank you thank you just listening to the back and forth it seems like there's like a consistent theme of giving more information at this stage especially with new people coming on and the uh makeup of this Township committee changing why is there a rush to do this like where did why did this come up so suddenly toward the end of everyone's kind of term together here and why isn't there been more ex explanation the public as to what the use of this is going to be it's a bit muddy like I really can't articulate what this is going to be used for I heard something about possible Senior Center I and then what will be the ongoing cost and what's kind of the net present value of this investment to the community what what are we doing like I just I really don't get it I have to be honest thanks yeah ready Mr Mar do you want to speak to I now close public hearing thank you sir thank you mayor yes I can speak to several of the issues um I'll start with the question about the role of a sponsor of legislation and it's very very similar to what happens in Congress that we we read about people sponsoring bills we understand that they know the main function of the bill and support the policy we don't expect that every uh every detail is is completely in the command of the sponsor but moving on to the question about the valuation the appraisal the difference between the assessed value and the appraise value and the purchase price I uh participated in Consulting with Mr McDonald about this question I was part of what went I think what went into the analysis and it's a question that comes up often when there is a appraisal of property that is desired by a public body and there's a property owner who would like to have more for it than the appraised value and so how do you approach that I I'll I'll start by saying the obviously the assessed value is of not any importance in this conversation it's the apprais value is the apprais value a black and white determination of the market value of property at a given time the answer is no it's not it is a an assumption based upon a whole series of of information and the expertise of the appraiser as to what the property is worth but it is not a black and white uh scientific determination it's an an art uh more than a science so there is some opportunity to have U flexibility in negotiating the purchase of property desired by a public body and what you take into consideration there uh is the extent to which uh you are uh avoiding costs that would other be otherwise be incurred if you were to go through the extreme it certainly would not contemplated here but you look at the question of what it would take if you were going to acquire the property by eminent domain which is a valid way to acquire Public public property for a public purpose I want to stress that was not in the equation here but when you look at that as an alternative you see that uh in addition to the value of the property in a in a an eminent domain proceeding the municipality the public body also incurs considerable expense in undertaking that process U it is one that requires a whole procedural step of of going through a negotiation process only after which only after that fails may you file a lawsuit there are legal expenses involved in that there are expenses involved with uh the expert testimony of the appraisers at the time of the of the hearing and probably the most important question in that situation in addition to those costs of uh professionals is the risk that would be taken by a municipality in the outcome because there is no control over what the ultimate price would be paid in the event of a condemnation which is the same concept as eminent domain interchangeable terms really because what happens is you go before initially a series of condemnation Commissioners appointed by a court they hear the evidence from both sides and they make a judgment as to what the value of the property should be it may be much more than the appraised value it could be less uh and if the property owner is dissatisfied with that uh determination by the condemnation Commissioners the next step is an appeal to the law division the trial court the superior court of New Jersey and it is a jury trial and when you are in front of a jury trial on an issue of valuation where there is on one side government on the other side of property owner the experience has been over the last 10 or so years especially that the public body uh is definitely on the wrong side of the equation with the with the jury trial so there's a lot of flexibility there if you want and desire the property uh and and lastly I'll talk about this bizarre question about whether uh it was my decision to acquire it by way of resolution instead of ordinance I don't know where that gets started but at the very first time we were discussing this acquisition I Su I suggested among the steps that we would had to follow would be the the adoption of an ordinance I fully understand the local an and buildings law and the differences between resolutions and ordinance so uh that that is that is a u a false issue I don't know where it got started that's a to add to this and we've been discussing this for at least five months so for those who don't follow us we've been discussing this for at least five months this acquisition of this prop okay Mr Cohen sure I move that the public hearing be clo well is closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and that the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may I have a second second roll call vote please are we gonna discuss this at all when was my I guess we all just did that did you want to share something I apologize I did sorry I was sorry I was I just I think that there's new information in terms of that paper M ask like I think that there were some really valid points brought up by um people in the room so the paper will ask what we have not I talked about is renovating Town Hall um and that's going to be a big ask was something that's I think really important and necessary to happen and I'm just not sure I think is is this completely necessary like is this where we want to spend do we want to spend $2 million here and I think we need to look at it in a larger picture I mean the paper mill was just brought to my attention like a couple weeks ago ago I didn't even know that that was happening and Town Hall again we just I just sat down with Alex and the architect um to look at the plans that were initiated at the end of last year and I think that right now if I had to choose I wouldn't go choose to buy this property there are other places that I want to spend and think this community wants to spend $2 million so um you know and and again it's it's a pretty big ask and for people to want Ben and Frank to be able to weigh in on this decision I think that that's also a really valid point so I don't know if this is something I mean there is no right but there's no I don't know what the rush is there is no rush we've been doing this for five months well no there is a rush right now there's a rush to like the rush meaning like why can't we delay it you can't delay the business of the township because two new people have gotten well you actually can you can say we're gonna wait can choose to you can go the way you wish to this is on the this is on the agenda this is the second reading this has been going on since July but there is new information but you get to vote the way you I do get to vote but I'm just going to say we weren't talking about the paper mill we weren't talking about town hall these are really big expenses and I don't know why we're not looking at but I don't know why we're not looking at this in a bigger picture because this was for of going to spend we doing this for our seniors the seniors aren't going to see this building for so long they really I don't that's not how I was told about this so I I just like to I just like to point out that um and and and again I think excuse me is is that when when we were initially discussing this um you know part of the the the reasoning for the purchase of this property too in the short term was to act as a relocation for Town Hall if and when those Renovations take place the ability to relocate um does certainly save significant money on those Renovations because the if again and I don't know what degree of Renovations or any of that but the fact is that the renovations this building could be quite extensive and the movement of people from here for safety as well as you know ease of renovation will um will help quite a bit um you know and I and and I I I certainly understand from public perspective from the committee perspective you know and and and the only thing I will say is sometimes we we we I think get focused on saying or at times rather than and like there is the ability you know that that when when you have certainly the financial position and and the amount of debt that the municipality has I don't want to I I I just caution that at times we do get focused on well we can only do this or this and sometimes you can do this and this that's and this and this and this I have a question too this is a there's GNA be a lot of asks com this is a private Market transaction right so which we as I understand and I'm hope I'm not saying I'm not supposed to but it was offered to us privately it was this this has never gone on the market and so and we've been talking about this for five months so it seems to me that if I was the owner at some point I would say thank you very much I'm putting it on the market it's been a pleasure doing business with you but you're not serious and I want to sell this building and it's in my interest to just open it up to to other other buyers who may pay who pay whatever they pay well whatever it could be or whatever they do so that's that's the is isue to me as to why we need to get this done before you know it's it's certainly worthwhile it's useful for swing space when when when or if we renovate town hall and then we've talked about the need for a senior center since the the B Center is fairly inaccessible to to the seniors in terms of get you know no parking and long walks to the to the building so this is the time to do it before he changes his mind I have another quick question what what is um what what happens after this so this is this is the authorization to so then we go out and we and and then and on that point to the point of it being a private transaction there's a contract with a closing date I believe it's in December and uh you know if we miss that and then to your point uh we don't have any legal control over what happens next now roll call vote please do you need a three person Vote or a four person vote for this three this is this is not a bond ordinance it's only three roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss pupus I'm abstaining Miss Romano yes mayor miggins yes thank you thank you Miss Romano you were scheduled to sponsor ordinance 26 54-23 I present for consideration an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2654-20 ordinance to amend the Milbourne Township Code to provide for the assessment of fees for the connection of sewage facilities to the municipal sanitary sewage system of the township of Milbourne the purpose of this ordinance is to revise language in the Township's connection fee ordinance to increase the fee for the basic connection charge from $1,800 to $2,100 in accordance with the formula set forth in the state statute tonight is the time set for the public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with the law I declare the hearing open apparently the people that are speaking I did it wrong it's my fault remove instead of they can come back on if if you remove somebody from Zoom they can't come back I think they can on my phone they can call in yeah so I can I'm gonna read something that's yeah I apologize it's okay it's fine next time you that's okay um yeah I'm reading this on behalf of someone who was disconnected um Can can this body provide adequate information and confirm that confirm whether the newly constructed Metropolitan um on Springfield Avenue on upper Milbourne Avenue are in fact not connected nor interfere with milburn's um milburn's and properties on upper Milburn Avenue sewage system I think that's right okay anybody else anybody else I'm gonna close the hear you want to close it I just answer it that was previously answered that uh the Metropolitan is not feeding into the Township's sanitary sewer system now the storm system like some that water from that from that property will be um going into van LOL as it had previously but um U it was confirmed that uh Springfield is not um uh that's not contributing to the to the township sary okay then I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and at the township C directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may I have a second please second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus yes Miss Romano yes mayor miggins yes thank you we have no matters for old business but we do have one matter for new business miss prus you requested this matter to be put on the agenda under new business the police department Manpower and Staffing analysis yes the request is that we do the last Staffing analysis what 2019 completed in 2020 completed um I think that we there's definitely been a change and um I know this is something that Frank and Ben ran on something we've been discussing we sat down with the chief talked about you know that this is a need and I just want to see this get started for them to do another Staffing study okay do we have consensus from the TC for that yes sure yes sure okay great so that was easy and um just that you know Frank and Ben want to be part of figuring out who that company is but I don't think but I think we can do that offline offline and it will probably take a little bit of time going to next year yeah and um just one other piece of that conversation that we had with the chief was about the actual physical space of the police department and how that is a restraint for them and this ties into town hall that part of the Town Hall uh revisions and hopefully at the in the beginning of 2024 we will share that with the community and kind of start that conversation would be to move the court to to build a new committee room and have that committee room also serve as a court um room and to free up space in the police department so that would um meet some of their relieve some of their constraint potentially for more personel to be situated over there aw may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so second all those in favor good night milour sht Hills happy