but can they put it on for can they put it in for yeah okay that was welc to which fig it's a work it's Conant great for like aile could probably that's the and then also to the tree Monica you ready you ready R okay good evening I'd like to call the burough council meeting to order adequate public notice of this meeting has been Pro provided as required under chapter 231 Public Law 1975 specifying the time date location and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice in the municipal building providing a copy to the home News Tribune and by filing a copy in the off in office of the buau clerk may I have a roll call please council president Zam Brana here councilman Collins here councilwoman odonnell here councilman Paretti here councilman Potter here councilman rinsky here mayor mayor here okay please join me in a moment of silence Follow by to the flag I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to for it stands one nation God indivisible okay so now is time for public comment this public comment is limited to resolutions listed on the agenda if you wish to speak please step up to the microphone and say your name and address for the record yeah George congratulations thank you George Murray for book drive uh I have a couple questions for the resolution 302 2023 um because the details are not in there um so uh has the bacfo been receiving uh any or paying herself the 2% increase for the year of 2020 21 22 and 23 uh all the salary increases are in the resolutions no there was no increase for 2023 and uh what are the contract values uh for the length in a contract for both positions so you you want the contract you've seen the contract right no I have not okay so that that's the council is going to vote on it I I will say one thing um there was some information going around perhaps some people are interested in that this is not a tenure contract this is a a fair contract it really deals with with this year and you know to uh mayor elect Murray's credit he called me last week and we spoke about this and I told him come January 1st you're free to do whatever you'd like there is nothing that hamstrings you with this contract you know you can can do what you want it's something that you know we thought was fair we call I called the Personnel meeting last week about it and the Personnel committee the two people that showed up thought that it was fair to bring before the council and allow the council to vote on it this evening so that's that's the uh the full Council has the all of the the particulars of the the contract so then the dollar figures are not going to be provided you does anybody want to share that with Mr Murray I'm looking it up right now I I I have oh you do sorry all right so George the 2024 you're asking for the subsequent years so 2024 ba 126,000 base salary CFO 34,000 2025 29,000 CFO 35,000 2026 business administrator 132,000 CFO 36,000 got that so 126 129 132 34 35 36 and what about uh 2023 2023 sorry 123 123,000 for BA and 32,000 for CFL okay thank you anyone else yes sir my question Also regarding 302 uh 2023 you state your name for the record please sir Frank Manco 21 dur Drive counc congratulations to you as well Mr M thank you uh we were just wondering is how how long has the current ba been in this position uh I believe about 5 years four or five years so I spoke to our labor uh Council earlier today and it was um June 1st of 2020 can you confirm no well I've been working for the buau as uh ba since May of 2019 and the CFO was 2020 yeah and the CFO um position was added officially appointed I did it for a year for no fee from May of 1919 uh 2019 till June of 2020 and is there currently a contract for the ba CFO position no the Personnel committee has been looking over that all year and is there any requirement for a contract for this work uh that's the that's at the that's up to the council to decide it's an industry Norm but it's not I think he's asking if it's required yes by State Statute state statute for the answer is no to that correct so the witness can provide his own questions um but to answer uh an industry standard but it is not a requirement um is there any direct rationale for offering of an employment contract in based on the idea of what benefit or value does that give the town certainly I I don't think that would we would have put it on the agenda had we not felt that there was a benefit to the town but that's I guess what I'm asking is what what benefit is there any protections that it gives the town or any greater um well it sets forth expectations on both sides of what um salary and other uh benefits will be so it makes clear it's really a it on multi- levels it's protection for the buau the burrow will it it's the you know one of the higher positions there is another contract on the agenda genda for another um position that is the highest paid position in the buau and then the the next one would be the ba and CFO the CFO has you know uh as as you can see in the figures it's it's lower but for for a variety of reasons the ba CFO is an important position they do the budgets they you know coordinate most of the operations in the town and and part of the reason for wanting to memorialize this is to protect the buau there have been cases in the past where perhaps because those um positions weren't really clear that there may have been um some actions that were taken that weren't in the best interest of the buau and you know if you'd like I can I can discuss an example I'm not really one to air the bureau's dirty laundry but if you'd like to hear one of the reasons why we think it's important I'll be glad to share it with you if it uh with that in regard if it suffices to say it clarifies the roles sure I can accept that so several years ago before we had a um Personnel committee the finance commit then this was when I first joined the council that was about six years ago six years ago the finance committee chose the positions at that time the finance committee as he will recall uh was m councilman revolinsky myself and the council president at that time the uh CFO part-time VA decided to go take a job in sville and when uh she left uh it was the Judgment of the finance committee to put a new CFO in place and they decided that it should be a lower level clerk that worked in the finance department and that clerk did not have a college education was not trained to do that and they unilaterally decided that they would spend taxpayer money to send her to Ruckers to take classes so that she could become the next Chief Financial Officer of the Bureau of miltown now that was I against you know I was strongly opposed to that they were very in favor of it they did that um in the meantime we needed a ba so we got an interim ba that the burough paid money for and then as the time went on they found that the interim VA became you know cost prohibitive so we were going to hire you know hire a full-time VA and that's when Miss larrison came on in the meantime it come come to find out that that candidate who they chose to be Chief Financial Officer um had not been really attending her classes and in at Ruckers and um was arrested and forced to leave the bureau because she was stealing money from the accounts uh receivable so that is who they you know it it's a very important role that needs to be memorialized and and have some clarity as to what the position is and you know if there's somebody that's doing a good job just like all the other department heads got some increase then that person should that is not saying that that person needs to be there forever it's certainly at your pleasure to to choose whomever you'd like however what we're saying is for this year we are putting forth for the council to vote on whether this important position is worthy of this contract and that's that's up for the council members to to vote on so are there other employees besides the police chief that are typically uh contracted by the town well actually yes they're under Union contracts a majority are I mean besides besides specifically the Union contract any of the other department heads or any of those do they is that an industry standard as well it's not an industry standard to have a contract for um other department heads does this set a precedent where they might be entitled to one or consider it a request of parity that's that's again up to the personnel and and the councel I guess you could say you know it could go either way if the ba position is the gatekeeper between the council and the burough employees um how would the council then be aware of a different employee wanting contract I don't I don't understand I don't get that question if the if it's supposed to be if if someone did want a contract and where they where would they request that from in a different employee had are you asking if they if the they could come directly to the council to discuss well I was just wanting protocol where would they start I think generally in any kind of reporting structure you generally would the department heads would report directly to the ba to initialize that contract but then everyone ultimately would have to come through the Personnel committee whether bypassing their skip level to go directly to the personel committee or to the council that's kind of like similar to any type of I guess private and public Enterprise like your direct line report or skip level I see so there's a bridge between there okay um so when the salary ordinances for this year were introduced why was the offering uh of the PFA PA and CFO position a contract not addressed publicly at that time it's come up before I uh I was not aware of that because then also the Retro Act acve to January of 2023 in the contract um it would just make sense that if it's going to be regarding 2023 it would have been made when the salary ordinances were introduced again that's up to the council to decide what's fair and and Equitable actually the resolution that was put before us for the salary ordinance excluded the ba and CFO and I questioned that at that time and no mention was made of we said that I I believe the the language was so that we would Circle back to it and now we are at the last month correct so the agenda for tonight's meeting uh when was that first prepared or it's always prepared the week before the meeting and when was the so the agenda items were introduced at that date so it was um proposed for the agenda when I uh looked over the agenda and saw that this could be something that we discussed I sent an email to the Personnel committee who is council president zamb Brana and councilman Collins and said I never got that email you got three emails and one invitation to a meeting I will give that meeting was on the phone right it said it was Mr mango I will tell you what last week on Monday when this came to my attention I emailed the Personnel Mr councilman Collins and council president Zam Brana and said before I put anything on the agenda I would like the Personnel committees to discuss these contracts that were going to that could be on the agenda for next week I emailed twice I received a response from Council president Zan Brana I then finally emailed one more time saying all right let's do a meeting in instead of in person let's just do do it by phone cuz we're getting closer to the holiday and I said let's meet at 9:00 on either Tuesday or Wednesday morning correct councilman Colin that's incorrect I said that you're going to be a telephone meeting at 9:00 that's correct that's that's that's not I didn't agree to meet somewhere that was at 9:00 the day before Thanksgiving you did so you did you call no I I I I thought uh you know you called when I opro her time sheets but you didn't call me now now for a personel meeting that's strange that no without it was without any call that Madam mayor it was It was supposed to be you and me and Phil so you didn't pick up the phone did you didn't call me but when I I asked you I gave you the Callin number what happens on a meeting is you called I had less than 24 hours to respond to this no you had a day and a half no I'm sorry you you said that out Wednesday at 142 anyway so why mad mayor when I over her time card you were on the phone with me in an hour and a half but you can't call me on the phone when there's a personel meeting isn't that a little strange I don't think that I have to hold your hand to get you to call into a prescheduled meeting councilman I it was well well you didn't answer Madam mayor why did you call when it opened her time sheets I don't didn't call you that that's yes you did mad I think Mr M had a question that so I'm sorry Mr mango we digress go ahead it was when about when was this decided and put on the agenda or maybe even before the I wanted to have a Personnel committee meeting before the agendas would go out and that would have been uh they were out on Wednesday so it's always the Wednesday or It's usually the Friday before the meeting but because of the holiday they went out Wednesday before so when was the contract written it's been reviewed in uh throughout the year and who actually wrote the contract or was who as the Liber earlier in the year attorney has has reviewed it yes so when was it first reviewed uh I earlier this year it just seems July not sure a while back yeah it's it's been ongoing for late presentation yep um is there in in present ing or reviewing that contract by the Labor uh attorney is there a cost to that process that the is that Professional Service and um who reviews or authorizes those costs is that done by the Personnel committee or is that that's part of the bill with yeah yeah the finance committee and what you're doing is you're making sure that what they're billing for um adheres to what's in the RFP that was provided or submitted earlier in the year is what is specifically permitted or prohibited uh within the employment contract and does the contract allow for any behaviors that are otherwise prohibited in the employee handbook say sorry repeat that question I'm not sure if I understood it does anything in the contract um exclude anything directly mentioned in the employee handbook is there anything over and above or below that is allowed by the contract that is not normally set as the precedent in the handbook there's no reference to the employee handbook that's because in the contract yeah I don't I don't I didn't do if you're asking if I compare this project to the employee I didn't do like a you know control search in that but um I don't think there's anything in here does it supersede so to speak the employee handbook or does it would would the contract take precedent the contract is for that position I think the employee handbook is the general guidelines for all burrow employees I think this is specifically for this for these two positions um is there anything in the contract regarding uh working from home it allows for one day a week to work from home or as approved by the mayor yes exactly but nothing requires it in writing in this contract or approval by Council are uh utilization of burrow resources uh allowed under this contract for personal use it's prohibited by the employee handbook to utilize B resources personal gain I guess it's still just uh seems that this is just an odd time that normally decisions I would think of contracts of this nature so late in the year when would be left up to the Future Council thank you for your for your input appreciate any questions anyone else yep no G you go and a final congratulations to Mr pan thank you g pany 31 K Avenue um I'm also speaking about this resolution tonight uh I believe it subverts the will of the majority of Voters of miltown who have overwhelmingly voted for a new Direction the new governing body comes into Power mandated by the outgoing governing body that's all I have to say George Murray for book drive um so thank you for those numbers councilman par um so I just did some quick calculations so I'm probably close but not spoton because of dollars and cents but it appears that um for 2023 uh her the Ba's position jumps from 880,000 to 123 123,000 um and that's resolution that's not correct 064 2023 it's actually right in the resolution um salary wages um and then so it appears to be almost a 93% increase for 23 and then 24 is three and A2 25 is three 26 is three um but my question is there's enough money for all these increases for two specific positions but yet most um of the rest of the burrow employees uh got zeros Andor single digit increases for their contracts typically three or fouryear contracts um and this is kind of setting a bad precedence before course now you're going to have all the department heads most likely are going to be filing grievances or suits for their increases especially the statutory ones because the statutory uh I think is only 2% for the statutory increases which are uh CFO clerk tax assessor um tax collector um I think this is a bad precedence that is being set here at the end of the year thank you I I do I would say check your numbers one more time they sound a little off but other than that you know we the council will uh take that under advisement yeah this is 064 is the published resolution for 2023 salaries okay that are paid out to the employees thank you thank you anyone else yes sir Nick lagotti nine Jan court that was for Peter um I just wanted to come up here I don't have a question I have a a comment or a statement I served on Council when we had the previous CFO ba I served on Council when you had an interim CFO ba I would like to say and state publicly that the CFO ba that we have currently is Leaps and Bounds better than what we've had in in the past you know money gets involved I don't know who deserves what I'm not up there making those decisions anymore but I want the people of miltown to understand that our current CFO is the best thing that happened to this town many many years ago and I hope that she continues to work here thank you anyone else seeing none I will um sorry close audience comments and move on to the approval of minutes um this is for the November 13 2023 regular meeting any comments or Corrections can I have a motion to accept the minutes so moveed second have a motion by councilman Potter second by council president Zam Brana uh all in favor I I any opposed okay will the clerk please read resolution 295 2023 authorizing bill payment by title only resolution 295 2023 authorizing the payment of bills claims and statements against the burrow of miltown in a total amount of $47,552 you've heard the reading of this resolution what is your pleasure Madame mayor I move that the bill be approved as typed second a motion by Council pres I mean councilman poter second by council president Zam Brana that the resolution be adopted is there any discussion yeah I'm just curious I didn't see any uh bills on here for the labor attorney and considering that we have resolution uh 303 in front of us uh I'm sorry not that one 302 in front of us uh I would expect to see some sort of bill from the labor attorney for the hours served most recently in drafting this contract or reviewing it which it'll probably come in in the next round for disc December do we know how much that might be off the top of my head now a quick question and I'm hoping councilman rinsky can answer it um do you know what happened to the library uh door no I haven't heard anything about the library door I know the contract for the re is still ongoing but nothing about the door I do they called me um the uh disabled handle push handle was broken so they had to call somebody in oh gotta it was a significant repair soost and Ralph Ralph was thank you anyone else will the uh clerk please call the role council president Zam bran I councilman Collins I councilwoman odonnell I councilman Paretti hi councilman Potter I councilman rinsky I okay next we'll move on to the consent agenda a consent resolution has been prepared for the resolutions listed on the agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature and having been reviewed by the buau council will be enacted by one motion any item may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any council member and if so removed will be treated as a separate matter any items requiring expenditure are supported by a certification of funds if any member of the council wants any resolution acted upon individually please give me the resolution number and it will be pulled from the consent agenda M may can you pull uh resolution 302 2023 obvious uh 297 298 303 and 304 please 297 298 I'm sorry what was it 30 3 and 304 anyone else yes 297 I don't know if I'm repeat I can't hear very well down here 297 203 it's already been pulled 298 203 302 203 and 30323 and 30423 that's what we got so right now we just have left 299 3301 is that correct correct okay you got that yeah will the clerk please read the consent agenda resolution whereas pursuant to the rules of council the council May establish a consent agenda for any regular or special meeting upon certain conditions and whereas each of the following resolutions to be presented before the burough council at its November 27th 2023 regular meeting appear to have the unanimous approval of all members of the burrow Council so that'll be 299 3301 now therefore be it resolved by the burrow Council of the burrow of miltown that each of the above listed resolutions be approved and adopted by the burrow council with the same legal effect as though each was read in entirety at the November 27th 2023 regular meeting and adopted by separate vote you've heard the reading of the consent resolution what is your pleasure Madame mayor make a motion that these resolutions be adopted second have a motion by councilman Potter second by councilwoman odonnell uh will the clerk please call the role council president Zam Brana I councilman Collins hi councilwoman odonnell hi councilman Paretti hi councilman Potter hi councilman r hi so move will the clerk please read resolution 297 2023 by title authorizing Award of contract madvac allterrain vacuum equipment through sourcewell National Co-op contract number 0930 21ex Hudson Machinery not to exceed $ 66,6 45 you've heard the reading of this resolution what is your pleasure Madame mayor i' make a motion this resolution be adopted second have a motion by councilman Potter second by councilman O'Donnell any discussion yes I uh asked for this to be pulled because looking at the quote here I don't see anything in regards to a a warranty on this piece of equipment which at 66,000 I'm hoping there would be okay I don't have an answer for you I'm I'm sure there is one but this got put forward through DPW so is there uh is this equipment in stock ready to be received and then um I I know it's not the same but it made me think of it when uh when this resolution came up but a while ago we applied for a grant for street sweeper so we can conduct inter local services with Jamesburg um did we receive that Grant not yet have so you say not yet like we didn't receive the money but did receive Grant so the the leap grants can take a very long time so we're still waiting for uh an answer on that okay thanks yes I had a question on this certification of funds this one's predated on the 27th that it was already signed when I got it on was that the 24th today's 27 that's how I do the certification of fund so it's dated the same day as the resolution that it is adopted and it's not notorized I never know I don't the certification of funds I type up and I have I have the ba put in the information but it's dated for the date that you guys will adopt the LA none of the certification of funds that have been done all year have been notorized including by the previous clerk so it should have been done by notorized checked on that notorized I've never done that but I can look into that for you any any other comments on resolu before ever in 20 years yeah Janette wasn't this part of the capital plan was this in the capital okay so this has already been approved in the capital plan yes okay the the purpose of the resolution is to um because the amount of money and it's through a national Co-op that's the reason that you have to if it was under the $44,000 threshold it it wouldn't have you know we wouldn't have had to do this okay and I sure the DPW is so excited to have this it's been several years in the making to have this available it's one of several pieces of um equipment and parts and things like that that have not been not been available for a very long time and this is one that they um place a very high value on so I'm sure our DPW is very very happy to see this anyone else will the court police call the role council president Zam Brana I councilman Collins hi councilwoman odonnell hi councilman Paretti hi councilman Potter hi councilman rinsky hi so move will the clerk please read resolution 298 2023 by title appointing risk manager for year 2024 we heard the reading of this resolution what is your I make a motion that this resolution be denied second so we have a motion by councilman revolinski a uh second by councilman Collins that the motion be denied any further any do we discuss or just vote on that happy to give my reasons for it um I asked at the September 26th meeting about this very same issue in which the resolution appointing our new GIF indicated this firm as the intended risk manager appointing Professionals for the following year is the responsibility of incoming councel and done at the reorganization meeting so why if we dro the issue back in September are we now trying to circumvent that standard procedure which you go ahead feel free to tell me why I'm wrong so I believe at that time Council revolinsky it was it was tabled so that more information uh could be available to anyone who was seeking more more information um to be uh to be truthful the gentleman in this company has providing services to the burrow uh since mid year for for free um so it has been at no cost uh with with the understanding that um a uh an appointment would be coming by the end of the year but there again that's that's not as answering my question the point here is that that's what we said then and the it hasn't changed that's what we said then that it's really what it comes the point here is that you're attempting to appoint professionals for the 2024 year yep now which is done at reorg I hear you not by this sitting Council I hear you so then why is it on here so isn't this the role that needed to be in place already for us to obtain which we did by appointing someone at the last meeting until December 31st 2023 because you don't appoint people for the following year that's the next council's responsibility I I can I want to jump in so you're right is for the 99.9% of the time professionals should be appointed by the next Council the January reor that's why we have re reorganization meeting the leaving of a gif and starting a new GIF is quite out of the norm and then having a professional do the work that necessary for us and no cost is also out of the norm I at that time when I the Council voted along to say we amend the original resolution to be 2023 the in re looking at now for this new resolution and honestly even looking back on when we first passed that in for to had the stop Gap necessary for the GIF management um I think that's has a bad precedence for the burough in in terms of for this circumstance of having a professional service that we need in place for one year to be done for free and then have no expectation to award that position for the following year now again that is not that should never happen in the normal course of business because we are not planning leaving the gy mid year every single year um I think this is a one-off standard and I think the standard of being is your correct Council Linsky that incoming Council should always do professional appointments I think this is a exception to that rule because of the fact that this has a bad presidence of why would anyone work for the burrow if we intend to use their services for free and not then award them professional contracts in the following year I think that kind of sets a bad presence for outside professionals do not do business with us that's why I am um I'll say I'm supporting for passing this resolution because that's where I stand on that I think it's in for the most part any other circumstances I think I most of the council would agree with you to set not to set the presidents of outgoing Council appointing Professionals in this rare instance I think this is the exception to that rule so that's my opinion on that yes Madam mayor I don't understand this because we don't know how much we're paying this person how do we sign a three-year contract without knowing what the compensation is to the person only one2 it's what 6% for the year 2024 6% right this is a three-year contract right the year 2024 one year contract it goes to the end of 24th and no matter who we have it's statutory it's get 6% Council re linsk have a question is there you have a is there you have an issue with the firm or the person or is just the appointing of it no the lad I mean I I don't know this firm it's been the only one that was ever presented to us when I asked in September if there was others if we put out an RFP I was told you don't have to put out an RFP for your risk management share which after double-checking you're right but if they're paid by the GIF and we have them doing the work now in 2023 isn't the work they're doing now paid by the GIF and if not then why aren't we getting a bill from this person they offered to do it for free well I guess they didn't manage their risks very well because we have to apply we are applying for other gifs we we didn't appoint we didn't appoint a new GIF that there was a mistake in that resolution so there's no there they have gone through town taken inventory and it is for the purpose of putting applications together for other gifs to get Sol solicit quotes and that's what they've been doing for the past several months it is an arduous task when a new um when you're going to bring on a new GIF we've been with middle sex gif for a long time and it is important that um there are things that I had noticed with what was going on with that gif and that's why most JS require a risk manager the 27 million in debt of the middle sex County and what is our financial obligation um we were about 500,000 but we've paid almost half of that so um so that's why we were Bound by contract the contract is up that's why we passed the resolution to we don't have to leave that gif but that that's the resolution was passed so that we could leave it and give them proper notice and then the risk manager was brought on so that we could properly make sure everything is inv inventory in town and to make proper application to other area gifs to see who's going to provide the best uh prices for us Janette if we had not done that at that time what would have happened would we have been Auto we have to renew with the current GIF for another three years yeah and that's that's why we and that was the concern going default because after the past three years there was what 12 members now six yeah but they not so and just just to be clear they're not in debt for 27 million it's called an I being number so it's it's for claims that have not yet been that it's possible it's exposure to so they're supposed to be funded it's like an unfunded liability and so that's and that's been going on for uh over a decade probably longer so you you're in favor of leaving the current I think that it's it's the the right thing to do for the town because uh you know to make sure that we are properly insured and covered and that um yeah that it's a more professional um group that we go with well I don't I don't think we're talking about leaving the GIF here we're talking about pointing risk management I understand that but that's a conduit to leaving the GIF yes okay so any we have a motion on the table to um could you it was to have a motion to deny on the table so an affirmative vote a vote in favor of the motion is a motion to deny the resolution okay vote against the motion is a vote to uh deny to to vote against the motion to deny it and then you'll need to entertain a new motion a yes is a no a no is a yes if you say so okay well too few words will the clerk please call the role council president Zam Brana so I'm I'm saying no to table it no to deny it yes to make that clear not yes to deny it no to deny it correct no if you're motion is to so the motion is to deny the resolution if you vote no that means you do not want to deny the resolution if you vote yes that means you're denying the resolution you don't want the resolution to pass no I want the resolution to pass a SE I don't know what the motion the motion the current motion is to deny so V in favor of the current motion you vote to deny if you vote against the current motion you are not going to deny it for the time being and you're going to entertain a new motion totally lost me man I listen wow not that hard I I don't agree I don't agree with uh denying say no this motion just no no councilman Collins yes deny councilwoman odonnell I have tostain in this matter I conduct uh personal business with the um agency okay councilman Paretti no councilman Potter yes because I want to see this at re York councilman revolinski yes we have three yes two nay and an abstain so the motion is passed to deny motion passes so denied the resol so we'll be staying 302 is the next one correct oh I'm sorry uh looking at the numbers so 302 is uh will the court please read resolution 302 2023 by title authorizing the mayor to execute employment agreement with business administrator and Chief Financial Officer you've heard the reading of this resolution what is your pleas I make a motion that this resolution is denied second we have a motion by councilman revolinsky second by councilman Collins uh any discussion yes madame mayor you made statements earlier about qualifications based on an incident that occurred four years ago where this Council was forced to have an interim and appoint a CFO on short notice but in this contract it has no requirements for any qualifications for the CFI secondly you said that this is a non 10-year contract however of perhaps our our borrow attorney can give me some information as to the statute that results in tenure for a CFO let CFO this contract is for baac CFO if the incoming mayor and councel wishes to appoint the CFO then she can have tenure if she they do not she will not have tenure so we are this this contract is not binding for tenure well isn't it four years and a reappointment four years of service and reappointment terms of the CFO are for four years so if uh as indicated earlier U Miss larison was appointed I believe in 2020 then her first year would be 2020 then 21 22 23 um so if she was reappointed as the CFO for 2024 um then she could conceivably have tenure but um I don't know that this appoints her as CFO so much as outlines what the terms of her compensation would be as CFO provided she served those periods I and I I had a question on that as well for for those on the council just to clear it up um I reached out directly to the labor attorney about that about the tenure issue um because from obviously from that has been a conversation already so the ba does not have tenure that's a um if business administrator you've seen that on line for 10 year that's a public school function that's not a municipal government function the CFL could with a a resolution to appoint this this does not have anything to do with appointment it would have to be a second resolution in 2024 by the incoming counil to appoint and then someone who has two appointments could apply for 10 year um so that is the responsibility of the incoming Council to decide that resolution so there's a council not this Council that's there's a process in place M Mr V mean we have you here have you reviewed this contract I haven't you what I'm not your labor counsel well can anybody run it past you they could but the reason you have an Engaged labor council is because they handle your employment issues I've never talked to the labor Council recently I mean I haven't talked to since like March I gu okay that was another one it's a I I reached out I out have Labor Council councilman Collins and I think you've appointed them as of January of this year and they're who handle your labor issues wow so if I wanted to speak to you about this I couldn't do that you could speak to me about it but then I'd probably have to reach out to labor Council and you'd pay me to talk to labor Council to get an answer to a question that you could ask labor Council more like going in the dark here at this contract so when labor Council when we had the other uh contracts up our Police contract our blue collar workers contract wasn't labor Council present at those discussions as well yes and labor Council how come we have lab councilman Collins have you spoken with labor council at all in regards to this no I haven't were you ever offered the opportunity to no I haven't when were you told that this contract was going to be presented uh I didn't wasn't told till I got it Wednesday we actually spoke about this contract I believe it back in March and it was rejected by myself and councilman Z BR and now it comes back up and my my pack it on Wednesday I'm shocked I'm like I don't remember like saying that I was rejecting that contract John what's that you don't recall yeah I don't recall saying that yeah yeah that's why did then why did we present it in March then we didn't present it in March we discussed it we discussed it in March and discussed it we didn't present it to anybody we stated that I stated the fact that if we give Miss larrison a contract there's five other employees that'll be eligible and the cost of the taxpayers could be a lot of money and uh I don't think this represents the best interest of the residents John it's it's a contract that goes back for this year to the beginning of this year well I don't understand this um I want to business on I said you can't post dat a contract so how are we postdating that post yeah why why are we putting this back to January 1st 2023 instead of having the ba and CFO salaries adjusted with the salary ordinance that was adopted earlier this year you're you're an attorney could you answer that question why Council doing that I can't decide I Can't Tell You Why the council decided do that I would say that that's that's you know the labor attorne as as councilman Freddy I I've never seen anything like this you post contracts all your labor contracts usually us be retroactive if you frequently don't have one when we're in negotiations seems labor The Works that no one wanted to share with the whole of council the labor Council I have few more question La Council any time you wanted excuse me councilman rent another question so why is the ba which is one position and the CFO position in one contract the CFO is a statutory position correct and the B a serves at the pleasure of the council so why are we putting these both into one contract when it could be the B's pleasure to have a ba that's part-time or someone else who is not the CFO that they that can be changed that can be changed but then why adopt the contract because we have that role now we have it now but it can be changed so again we're trying to Institute that nothing changes one's officers CH just to be fair to what's there now so why are we looking at three years especially when according to new Jersey statute 40a col 9137 states that uh it doesn't State a time frame and only that he or she will serve until the governing body decides to go in another Direction and I'll quote it's the ba the business administrator shall be at quote the pleasure of the governing body exact why we have contract that's exactly right that's exactly why we have a contract that's exactly right so we wasted labor attorney time we wasted everyone's time here because you put forth a contract for positions that don't require a contract exactly it seems pretty foolish and and it's not even anything in here that states about the qualifications it's of course I reviewed the agenda and the the resolution but who introduces to the clerk she had to print this up that was the Personnel committee that you what this but isn't that was resolution supposed to be in the Friday before the following Monday so you got it two days early last week so wait a minute excuse me when was the date that this was handed in to the burrow clerk Monday but you it says it was already done and then under here it says the Personnel committee have reviewed which is past tense the terms of the agreement well that means you did exp post facto how can you do that with a contract and a resolution how can you how no it's the it's no you just told me it happened on Tuesday and Wednesday no you asked when the when said was in Monday now how can you go and amend a resolution when you didn't meet well the resolution hadn't been adopted at that point so typically it's not but it says it right here it says was review if I could so you're going back and doing it expose facto after you introduce the resolution then you're going back and saying resolution is introduced tonight is when the resolution this resolution was turned into the C no no but councilman Collins a resolution is introduced at the meeting at which it appears on the agenda so it's not uncommon for someone to write a resolution in anticipation of the meeting date that's that's well then how how can we do that it says because it says right here was reviewed the terms of the agreement but it already was printed councilman Collins if I can step in a few things uh I have things turned into me by Tuesday not the Friday before I extended the date from the previous clerk to give department heads time to get me materials that's the first thing I type up most of the resolutions when I type the resolution it's typed as if you are reading it and it is typed and for the date that you are passing it right I understand the date that you are passing it is today right then and I write you reviewed it it's because you reviewed it prior to today right but when I got it it wasn't reviewed because they were still working on it so I'm not going to change the wording of the resolution because the resolution that you're voting on is saying that you reviewed it prior to today when you're adopting that resolution reviewed as in today you read that resolution it was reviewed yes it was reviewed prior to today I'm not typing up a resolution to say to be reviewed and then changing it after you adopted I have to type a resolution in in the form of which you are going to be passing it and you're passing it saying that it was reviewed which it was prior to tonight's meeting because I got the packets out Wednesday of last week I see that's why that so that's why the wording says reviewed in a resolution yeah I wish I knew about this I would have but it doesn't matter that's why I put the watermark draft on it because it's considered draft until it is adopted that's right so I hope that provides some clarification but I type the resolutions in the form of them being read and adopted today so that's why it says reviewed as opposed to to be reviewed so we have a motion to deny any other comments name okay lot of comments I see here item number eight page three uh develop prescribe enforce rules and regulations for the efficient management of borrow government for avoidance of any duplication or overlapping which I think we can all agree that some redundance is good and cross training uh effort among the Departments or among units within the department and for the Improvement of methods and procedures so again I think that this statement in here is inaccurate as to what we truly want we do want some we done have to change your ordinance because those came right directly from the burrow ordinance from the burrow ordinance great so is that before us then to change that ordinance no okay because this contract was only just sent out on Wednesday no all right not for so we've got ba positions and CFO positions in here um I don't see anything in this document that says that the CFO must retain or maintain the CFO certification State Statute says that but it's not in the contract state so then why why have the contract if it's state statute the state statute is referenced in the contract no it's actually referenced in the end about the rules of organizing and that one doesn't reference the uh CFO standards so we'll move on to page four under Personnel develop and administer the Burrows Personnel program including up-to-date job classifications and pay plans what do you mean by that job classifications we've had several employees this year who have said they were hired to do a specific job and then were told do this job instead and then we pulled hours from them and then replaced them and only to find out that the candidate that was coming on board said I'm not doing that job that's not what I signed up for and now we hours back we don't need to get into no I think we do because you're trying to propose a contract which I think is BS last minute here as a favor so we'll move on to D purchasing for the CFO have custody of all burrow property real and personal uh and I'm wondering perhaps our B attorney can tell me what the personal is in there this is part D on page four personal property yeah anything that's not real estate anything that's not real estate yeah so real property is real so maintaining the computers and anything of that nature I think that would be what that would State uh let's see I I you read it quickly I didn't read it and obviously you were ready to with your inquiry so that's correct so they to maintain an inventory and depreciation schedule of all property owned by the burrow and have custody of all FAL property real personel not assigned to any other department okay called the fixed asset I just I was curious what the personal meant but B property that's just not real estate yeah so anything personal property is anything that is not real estate or a fixture which would be a fixed to real estate okay um during the work week this contract says the business administrator CFO or Chief Financial Officer shall spend sufficient time at his or her job to ensure smooth and responsible operation of the burrow offices and responsibilities the business administrator SL Chief Financial Officer shall at work at least 35 hours per me per week I have a problem with this word sufficient should it not say a minimum of 345 hours a week because the second state uh sentence or second bullet in there number two both parties recognize that more hours may be needed and worked without compensation I love that sentence worked without compensation and no overtime shall be paid so I'm just wondering if we can amend that as well before ever adopting this contract which I think there's more questions than than answers to but we have number one here the sufficient time at his or her job who determines sufficient the um the term is also there at least 35 hours for I did okay good I I like that but what I have a problem with is the sufficient who determines sufficient anything else yes page five item number three the business administrator Chief Financial Officer shall be permitted to work from home one day per week and during inclement weather additional remote hours may be permitted with the approval of the mayor I have a big problem with this one I'm wondering who else in the borrow is permitted to work from home anyone council rinsky do you remember any other CF person don't do you remember any CFO working from home from toown how about you madam mayor remember anything about this before Co or after you know it's amazing how I know was still since Co our work has changed and thankfully we're out of Co but we've got here shall be permitted to work from home one day a week I'd like to amend that contract and have it say not work from home well right now we're on but you're trying to adopt a contract that you haven't even promulgated with the rest of council Council reol that's been on your mind since March and you haven't done anything with for the record you've made a motion to deny the resolution I'm giving all my reasons why understand but then you're indicating you want to amend the contract motion on the table is still to deny I so I'm just that's what that's theote to make sure we're all on the same page all my reasons why this contract I think it should also state that if if if we were to give a contract that any remote additional hours should be approved in writing by the governing body by resolution on a Case by basis so as we move into SI leave we have go ahead okay sorry you were both talking I'm just wondering if I convinced everyone hold on a second you're both talking at the same time so I'm not catching what either one the contract I provided the contract for for review by the Personnel committee and the the labor Council just like when the police chief submitted his his was written by himself which was reviewed by the labor Council what we put their on and this follows the template that I saw online when I was looking up some of the statutes about this so basically it starts councilman Collins with a template that's online for all excuse me I'm finishing my response um for all um Bas and CFOs there are standard language that you grab from from the state and this is aligned very very similarly with what I saw there I've never heard of anybody writing their own contract uh what do we got a labor Council for if somebody's writing a own contract that they rubber stamp I think I I believe it was a a collaboration this is why we have closed sessions or executive sessions before we present this is a real problem for me okay sick leave Article Five page five item number one it says sick leave is hereby defined y y yada etc etc I don't see any minimum increments and I'd like to see that be at least a minimum of 4our increments again why I can't cannot approve this contract tonight by any means okay that item number four um I'm curious about the that one might be governed by the um by the state well do we have do we have that is that governed by the state or the employee handbook on how many hours you have to take in order to to do uh to take sick leave what does the employee handbook govern how many hours the minimum block okay but this contract does not reference anything regarding the employee handbook okay okay so here we have sickle sh crew for the business administrator Chief Financial Officer at the rate of 15 working days in every calendar year of employment and I'm just wondering what other towns have as far as the number of sick Le days Civil Service Civil Service requirement thank you for clarifying everybody has 15 we all have the same does that also go here for the $5,000 to be paid out if they don't use the sick Leaf that's all sick LEF really and uh it's not nothing in regards to paying half or whichever is less I I believe the Police contract states that uh they can only carry over half of that time no they carry it all over uh bement we have five consecutive calendar days for bereavement is that consistent with every other contract that we have that's that's standard know answer question vacation week is this one standard as well because I'm seeing that in 2023 they were entitled for four weeks which I've been getting since I was hired okay and now it's going to be five weeks in 2024 by adoption of this contract but yet we're also going up in salary which I'll get to in a minute so we're going up in salary and we're also going up in time so it's my understanding that the 5-year officers in the police department only get 13 days off for 8 hour day 8 hour shift personnel which is 104 hours and then for 6 to 12 year officers they get 16 days so we're already at 20 and we want to go to 25 I don't who negotiated this contract wasn't me I I I didn't think so last I saw was a copy in March and here's here's Madam mayor here's your email 152 on Tuesday 11:21 I understand reviewing the potential agenda of that police chief contract needs to be addressed I will like to set up a quick meeting and get your input are you available tonight or tomorrow that's Tuesday and you did at 9:00 the next morning that gave me a lot of time and that's for the police treat contract I don't hear anything about the bacfo contct say anything about to I followed up with additional contract of course you did nobody was there day ahead no no I I asked you and but did you when was this I know my mind's bad but I know that bad did did you respond at all uh today Monday I didn't see it it's the day before Thanksgiving you know Wednesday who who has a meeting unless you were trying to pull something fast obviously Saturday Sunday the the mayor-elect called me on Wednesday to ask about it why didn't you you told them foo foo change it next year no I didn't I what I indicated was that it's not a tenur thing you are not required to follow it we are doing what we feel is right for the bureau to contractualization First well about mayor it sounds strange in a lean Duck Session that you're passing contracts well you know I think that's under isn't there article it's funny that you know you mentioned that because 5213 h1d isn't there a prohibit on that in the state contract I know you know there is the well where's our labor attorney when we need her the Govern she's more has been available I I heard that Council people have spoken to the labor attorney if you were so concerned about it why didn't you bring this up before you got I got hit with this one St this was such a pressing issue at the end of November um what I will say to you councilman Collins is in I went to 8th grade here in miltown I had Mr veter as I'm sure a lot of other people did and we learned Civics and government and yes we learned about lame duck sessions government still continues until the next group takes over so all we are doing is governing you can vote Yes or you can vote no we are not hamstringing you with anything that you cannot address when when the uh the members are are uh sworn in we are addressing what is in front one of us here this evening so right now a motion to deny wait a minute I'm not finished talking here but vote on I have a problem with this because according to this it says according to the mayor authorizing the mayor to execute employment contracts but you have Council people here why are you usurping our Authority here unless you want to rule with an iron fist this town in last days I am not that is not counc Collins I wrote The Resolution all that's saying is that when you execute a contract you're signing it the entire author the mayor to execute the contract every says maybe I can't read anymore no no no it says authorize it yes because you as a council have to vote Yes but you as a council do not all sign the contract yeah but this is authorizing we're authorizing the mayor to sign the contract by you voting yes to the cont no I would if all the Personnel committee should sign it see what here here's how it works if it's any contract whether it's we're going to get get a new garbage collector once the the council votes on it then a a um piece of paper is put in front of the mayor to sign now if you vote no there will be no paper to put in front of us because it wasn't authorized by the council it is not has nothing to do with me all my was the conduit to say here you go let's let the council review this and you are you bringing up your comments and then the council will vote if the council votes yes I will sign it if they vote no I I will not it's as simple as that so everyone should vote Yes on the motion that's on in front of us right now that is on the motion to deny if we want to go ahead and take the role let's so we are we clear on this is on motion to deny questions here um so the 2023 salary that's stated here article 6 on page 8 says 32,000 for CFO for the year of 2023 and in 2024 that goes up to 34,000 which is a 6.25% increase in 2025 35,000 which is 2.94% increase on top of that and finally in 2026 36,000 a 2.8% increase I'm just wondering if 2.8% 6.25 2.94 is what we would consider standard for increases when we've offered police departments zero for year one in their contract secondly let's look at the business administrator salaries going from 123 to 126 a 2.44% increase then from 24 to 25 a 2.38 increase of $3,000 and again on top of that another $3,000 of 2.32% is that standard I don't think so we have here article 7 I think that's seven up it might be 12 because my uh my ran numerals are a little off I'm Rusty on that but education programs and conferences the business administrator Chief Financial Officer shall be permitted to attend compensate and be compensated for at her it should say his or her regular salary any school seminar or retaining session conducted of management or supervisory and or financial Rel nature the problem I have here is that it doesn't require anyone at mayor or Council to approve it first so what's to stop our business administrator or Chief Financial Officer from taking off to go educate themselves and be better at their job at our expense when they're supposed to be here doing their job another reason why I will not be approving this yes article uh 14 right that's a x1v that's 14 I'm getting better this agreement represents and incorporates the complete and final understanding and settlement by the parties and I understand this is kind of boilerplate but I'm wondering again who negotiated it when it was negotiated and when do we come to these final terms that are put before us tonight anything else yes Madam mayor no answer article three I'm too busy WR my own contract article three that take a while article three says serves as Chief of Staff to Mayor and counsel but according to this it says once you wants time off she only has to go to the mayor according to article 4 section three it says the business administr Chief or executive shall be permitted to work from home one day a week during inclement or and during inment there so that's more than one day a week and remotely may be permitted by the mayor well reports to the mayor but it says mayoring Council here Chief of Staff to the m Council I didn't know we had a chief of staff to the council that's what her position would be see I I don't understand why we're giving people contracts for the end of the year this is ridiculous but okay any other comments so I'll just I'll just add that um when I spoke to the uh labor Council about all of this um I was addressing a concern that um councilman revolinski uh reached out to me on Wednesday and um asked me to consider what was going on with this contract and particularly a concern about uh tenure this is not um a contract that uh States it's uh an appointment it is a contract that states terms of employment and she actually thought we were placing the incoming councel in a very good position by doing this by having um this person in place when you have a 2ir majority you can vote and decide what to do next but right now not being the current council members you can't take action so you can't have someone who's ready to go on January 1st but you will have someone who is um in place when you make a decision it may be to um keep the existing status quo it may be to change um uh to a completely different uh you know entity but she felt like we were putting you in a good place to have that person there and create a transition period if you were making a change because once you have that 2/3 majority vote to make any type of change there there is a 90-day period that's all it's not the full term the length of this contract which I think is the fear that has been generated among our public and among some of our council members who didn't get take the opportunity to speak to labor Council but um I think I am confident having had that conversation that tenure is not involved and that we are placing the incoming counsel actually in a very good position thank you any other comments were the salary increases that we're seeing before us today included in the 2023 budget CU how could they be if we didn't even think about them back then money was included for increases is that why we have a resolution here authorizing budget transfers no no we'll get to that one next any other uh comments All right so M mayor I just got to say one thing I write your own contract that seems like the tail wagon the dog so again um the labor Council directed me to a site and I wasn't actually looking to find terms of contracts I was actually looking for information about tenure but what I found were boilerplate contracts and with someone writing their own contract they're taking that boiler plate and inserting the name of the burrow or changing if it says Township to say burrow um but there's a lot that's built into exactly what we're allowed to do whether it's this Council or the incoming um uh mayor and Council so what are we paying the labor attorney $600 an hour for just say go write your own contract that that's well they foolish again they review anything to make sure that all of the things that are in there are are correct do we have put a name on it either the majority is do we have anything from labor Council in writing saying that they've reviewed this contract and found it to be sufficient in writing yeah yeah in writing no no no there we go so we're going by everyone's word here that's okay I'm going by the Numbers $123,000 plus 32,000 comes to what 155 and then next year 126 + 34 brings us to 160 for a small town that can't even fix a a sidewalk out front for months at a time we're just going to throw another six grand at a problem don't worry like I said no on this one so we have a motion to deny in front of us uh will the clerk please call the rooll council president Zam Brana no councilman Collins yes denied councilwoman odonnell no councilman Paretti no councilman Potter respectfully I councilman revolinski I go a mayor mayor mayor no so now we need a motion on resolution 302 I'll make that motion second we have a motion by councilwoman OD second by councilman Freddy any discussion what was that motion to table it I didn't hear no this is a motion to vote on 302 we we did vote motion to approve correct I didn't hear approve that's why I'm sorry to approve it the motion to deny was denied the motion to deny was denied so now the motion is on the table to approve the resolution that is what this motion is for and we have a motion by councilwoman M Donald second by councilman will the quote please call I'll have discussion this to okay so and just I know we've kind of covered the conversation already um in the prior motion so one if there's now if there's entertaining to motion to amendments I think that's something that we can discuss at this moment I'm looking to Peter to not if this if they wanted to do motions to amendments we could do them now say again motion to amend the resolution itself yes could that be entertained right now no you mean the contract contract sorry yes sorry the contract at this point you have a motion to approve it you would have made a motion to amend most likely pre preceding that motion perfect thank you um the so I know that was a conversation earlier and then my two I guess on the conversation of this is to C re Point talking about the numbers um for the ba and G and CFO combined salary and pay structure for the next three years regardless of who fills that office and that's a competitive salary for the burough of miltown and within Mid county and if the burrow miltown is wanting to have a sustainable financial future you have to have a somebody who is going to gonner that pay with those skill sets inside that office um regardless of who that person is um if they are expected to fulfill the um responsibilities set forth in the contract for CFO NBA um that's a salary we have to pay pay for that person again this is not binding that salary to a individual it's setting forth a negotiable salary for that office now and that's the standard for our office going forward I think that is a win for the burough of miltown for when whenever a ba or CFO whether that's a combined position or a separated position you have now a standard precedent to set against to say I want it to be higher or lower to compare against um I think that's a good bargaining tool that miltown without it bringing someone in you have now on paper something to measure against and I think that's useful for anyone coming into office um so that's why I'll be voted to support this resolution to say this now is the standard that now can be used as a going forward and have a written memorialized contract to then compare against for future iterations I will just add that um a number of people uh reached out uh via email um some people spoke today and I hope that um you recognize that we have a dra the concerns that you presented that uh tenure is um not um at play here um that that was um a misunderstanding likely um so it's not at play and um that we are setting up the uh future Council um to be able to move forward immediately on January 1st um and um you know have a nice period of transition if they would like one anyone else yes I'd actually uh I'd like to say thank you to councilman predy I know we disagree on this issue but I will say his comments have been thoughtful and and precise I thought you did a good job there explaining it my uh I I will say that my biggest problem with this and again it's not about the individual Yep this is about a contract coming forth last minute with numbers and terms that the rest of council has not seen and similar in fashion to the um the gentleman for the risk management you know I think that if this was so pertinent we should have really looked at this as Council earlier in the year perhaps a couple closed sessions and discussed what the implications are going to be um and Tak an action then not now but I thank you for for all your comments thank you yes Madam mayor I just like to say I agree with councilman rinsky about councilman par comments I'd also like to say that you know when I was young I lived through the Kennedy assassination and even the country can do without a president and has uh ways to go around it there's nobody the world stops for so uh you know we can't memorialize somebody is having a set of skills that are unique to themselves except maybe Picasso actually the state statute does say that there has to be a CFO that was a question that I asked I said what what happens if you know uh come January AR 1 so we have to fill the seat right away is that what you're saying you have to have a CEO whether it be an interim CEO or a permanent I'm sorry CFO thank you for you can't get an interim is that what you're saying you can either have a permanent or an interim you can have a tenur an appointment um but you do the state statute and you can look it up and read it for yourself don't have to you know what number that is believe it has to you're required to have one yeah how youo one is is different right I'm sure there has to be some uh leeway in time I mean it's like um the people did want to read it um in answer to your question um 40a colon 9-1 14.8 is about um tenure um for the CFO and the one that has the information about mandatory I might have to look that up and give it to you um about the interim I'm going have to look that up and give it to you separately um but I'm happy to do that no I'm just looking out for the best interest of the taxpayers here that's what I'm trying to do and and I believe that everyone that's going to vote here that's why they're sitting on Council uh have the best interest of the taxpayers I mean one thing is that you can look at this in its entirety and say what's right and what's fair and you know it's not precluding anyone from from changing anything but there are certain safeguards and and things that have been done for the bureau that uh are good so you know it's not all negative and so I I would encourage everybody to vote on what they think is is fair and and correct so will the court please call the rooll this is to uh approve the resolution 30222 before we do I have one more question for uh for our burrow attorney given that the resolution includes a copy of the contract if we were to amend the contract whether it be financially or other requirements within there um are we then forced to abide by the existing contct or contract if the ba CFO decides not to agree with those changes other words like if we wanted to reduce the amount of time off or give more that's you could change then you'd have to have another resolution right well I I you would have a contract and you have a contract that specifies the terms of the contract not having gone through it I don't see how what's amended but you have a person who is uh ostensibly an at will employee is as your ba so you certainly can renegotiate because you don't have to keep them thank you if that makes sense thank you for cl will cour please follow the all council president Zam Brana hi councilman Collins no councilwoman odonnell I councilman Paretti hi councilman Potter respectfully no councilman revolinski no mayor mayor I uh next will the clerk please read resolution 303 2023 by title authorizing the mayor to execute a pyment agreement with Chief of Police make a mtion for the reading of this resolution what is your question make a motion the resolution be adopted I second I have a motion by councilman Freddy second by Council Donnell any discussion yes madame mayor are we going to be here on January 1st redoing this what what do you mean the police chief doesn't that usually happen at the first of the year it's the contract cont contct not the swearing in it's a it's his employment contract right but don't we do that at the first of the year with the contracts would he swear them when we swear them in we're give him a contract before he's in the office he's already been appointed John right I understand but don't you do that when he's here on January 1st you don't have to do it that way John is that traditionally what we do no no I I just have a question question about um I'm wondering what if anything other than perhaps maybe salary for adjusting for the current time is different between this contract and the previous Chief's contract pretty much nothing pretty much nothing other other than salary it's and so you don't have a problem with him writing his contract right John no I do okay well we saw if it's the same contract that was before that was reviewed by labor council at at that time so it's already been like the contract they all he didn't write it it was the same contract correct they've all had their due difference right any other discussion will the clerk please call the role council president Zan Brana I councilman Collins I councilwoman odonnell I councilman Paretti I councilman Potter I councilman rinsky hi so move and finally will the clerk please read res ution 304 2023 authorizing by tile authorizing budget transfers for the reading of this resolution what is your pleasure mad mayor make a motion this resolution be adopted I'll second I have motion by councilman Potter second by councilwoman O'Donnell any discussion yes um I understand what the budget transfers are but I'm wondering why we are transferring these monies now what was not used and what is it being intended to be spent upon so you are only allowed to transfer monies the last two months of the current year and the first three months of the future year the reason they're being transferred is because of overe expenditures of other line items so the police budget for example the overtime salaries were over $100,000 and that's a big transfer that's going there how much uh did we pay to that company that does the coordination for scheduling the police hours how much did they take out of their Vig I want to say it was 10% of the 18% that we collect so we charge 18.8% total we charge 18% uh administrative fee and they take 10 of the um 18 and with all the psng work that's been going on what that work that has happened over the past three 3 years the buau has netted on that it's only been the last several months that the um I want to say six months how how much money I I don't know off the top of my head I and that would not go in for salaries that's an administrative fee that goes into a miscellaneous Revenue it's and then it couldn't be transferred over to salaries no cuz it's a reeven you can't transfer revenues into Appropriations any other discussion okay will the please call the role council president Zam Brana hi councilman Collins hi councilwoman odonnell I councilman Paretti I councilman Potter I councilman revolinski so moved uh next we'll move on to reports from officials we'll start with councilwoman margar OD all right I have some hot off the presses breaking news very excited to tell you um this is from Chief Canali an arrest was made for the string of car break-ins officer mccab went out on foot in clean clothes and caught him in action so we're very excited um uh to share that information um I have a brief announcement too from uh Chief Jolly um that pictures with Santa will be at the firehouse on Saturday starting at 10:00 a.m. that's always fun um did not have anything to add from uh the rescue squad tonight but I did want to mention that I picked up information at the recent League of municipalities convention um that seemed to apply for all different departments so I have things to bring to our incoming uh chief of police about membership in that organization uh for uh DPW uh for the fire department very excited that found a company about uh grant writing and I think that'll be very valuable to the incoming uh Council to have some potential assistance with obtaining um uh grant funding because that has certainly helped uh the burrow out a great deal and um I will Reserve any extra time uh for uh what I know will be some longer reports next meeting right thank you next we have councilman Dave Potter thank you Madame mayor uh for you utilities uh for the psng project the service main installation of the gas line work has concluded as of today um the only item left to do is the retirement of two Regulators which will take about one one day to do however this won't happen until the regular crew regulat crew is available in the next few weeks for a water utilities projects the work on Highland Drive in East Lawrence is completed and I look forward to Mr mclen from CN to provide an update regarding regarding what's left on the project uh to be done uh finally Madame mayor I would like to thank our water sewer department for handling two recent water main breaks one was on Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving and the second one was yesterday uh service was done internally and restored within the same day so thank you very much to our our crew for that and finally Madame mayor regarding planning board the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday December 6th and that concludes my report great thank you next we have councilman Rich rinsky uh no DPW report for this evening however for the library I'd like to mention the following the uh miltown Pharmacy will uh will have flu shot clinic on Wednesday November 29th I probably should have gotten mine earlier between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. so please register with the library for that the friends of the miltown library will have a jingle jangle jewelry sale on Saturday December 2nd from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. enjoy yoga in a pressure-free setting which I guess means I can go and not feel bad about stretching on Tuesday December 5th at 9:15 a.m. after school origami with Mrs Wright on Wednesday December 6th at 3 p.m. painting with baby uh 0 to 18 months old with a guardian of course on Saturday December 9th at 11:00 a.m. followed by Reed Tu a pooch at 12:30 p.m. please register for the paint with a baby Library Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Tuesday December 12th 6:30 p.m. the public is invited to attend and of course for any additional information please call the library at 732 247 227 uh I'd also like to uh second uh councilwoman O'Donnell's notion there on uh catching that burglar I know the the community really came came together there posting their videos and sharing it so that all the residents could see where it was happening um and that goes a long way to helping catch these criminals so please if you see something say something if your car's broken into and you only lose $5 or $10 well maybe they took your neighbor's garage door opener and their house is going to get robbed the next night so please report these issues to the miltown police and that concludes my reports thank you next we have councilman John cin thank you m mayor I just have a short report from the board of bed congratulations to meori lashman uh and Shannon Castello for being selected as the uh staff members of the month congratulations to Mar maritt Joanne Demetrio and Robert schauser for being elected to the miltown Board of Education uh starting in September 24 they're going to have a school breakfast program uh but it'll be only for 15 minutes so and uh let's see what we got here Saturday and Sunday it'll be the uh Winter Wonderland takes place and there you could donate food if you'd like they're taking food donations and let's see I think that I believe that's it Madam mayor yep that's it Madame mayor thank you okay thank you next we have councilman James pre thank you madam mayor from the recreation department the youth fall soccer tennis flag football and multisport seasons have all come to an end and we've had a successful season we look forward to seeing everyone in the spring late fall soccer clinics are scheduled to begin on Thursday November 16th at parkvi they sub began um the adult yoga men's basketball women's volleyball winter registration will be opening youth basketball registration has opened and the deadline is December 29th program will begin on January 20th as as always we welcome volunteer coaches our annual tree lighting ceremony will be on Friday December 1st festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Santa will arrive on the fire truck at 700 p.m. and a little plug for that that isn't always a awesome awesome event at burough Hall so please bring the family um enjoy it it's a that's again a lot of special stuff in this community that's that's one of them so please try to attend as well as the winter wonderland that councilman Collins mentioned that whole weekend will be very funfilled um please be sure to visit our Recreation web page at mtown nj.org Recreation to izee yourself with upcoming programs and new activities along with park locations to register for any of the programs you register at Community pass which there is a link at the burough website Additionally the recreation department will be hosting a holiday family movie night on Friday December 15th at 6:30 p.m. at Parkview School in the gymnasium we ask all families to register on community pass for the free event please feel welcome to wear your holiday pajamas and and watched the screening of the Grinch the original Grinch um and we look forward to seeing people there so we have a couple weekends filled with holiday events leading into the holiday season um for committees revalorization committee we met uh for our November meeting a successful meeting had a member of community come who is interested in joining so my once again plug for the CI citizen leadership application now is definitely the time our clerk is already reaching out to the relative committees to make sure people are registering um so for the residents who are interested in joining the Committees um particularly rization we always need more um but that one individual already had a massive amount of contribution so um special shout out to PJ stom thank you for attending the meeting uh and finally the recreation advisory committee met in November and our new Rec Rec director Kelly Boyd led a fantastic meeting fantastic meeting snaps and uh she already has a plan of action for multiple steps in terms of bettering communication with our volunteer coaches and starting to look for more creative programming ideas like failing movie night at Parkview so um again just kudos to Kelly as well as her staff with Kim and hopefully if you're interested in doing events like that or having idea sessions around um Recreation sponsored events Recreation advisory committee as the committee VI and that concludes my reports great thank you and next we have council president Jo BR thank you Madame mayor uh I do not have a finance committee report tonight I do not have a senior center report at this time I will say though uh for senior center activities and what's going on I urge everyone to go to the uh miltown uh nj.org site navigate to the senior center and that's where you can see uh all the things that are available to the residents in town uh Ford Avenue meeting uh was Tuesday uh 21st at that meeting the uh annual audit was presented and approved the 2024 budget was presented and approved um there there are conferences that are scheduled uh in December um uh settlement conferences I should say in in in December with uh additional conferences to be scheduled in uh mid uh 2024 for all the going on at uh at Fort Avenue uh the last Fort Avenue meeting was actually televised uh that is something uh that I'd like to thank Russ ZB on the cable TB committee for making that happen making sure that that's uh available for all folks moving forward so we know that people can't sometimes make it down there but if they can actually find out and get some updates especially people who are new to the town by watching the meeting that's that's the whole purpose of uh having having that done and um the miltown historical preservation uh committee meeting uh was not held uh because it was actually on Thanksgiving so it would be uh the next meeting is going to be uh in December uh second uh last last Thursday in in December uh and that concludes my report Madam great thank you uh our administrator Miss Laris no report tonight um when is the holiday party for the employees uh the holiday party for the employees is December 8th Friday at the senior Setter um 12:30 to 4:30 great thank you uh our B attorney Mr venola nothing tonight thank you and finally our B engineer Mr M just a few items tonight first uh on West fol Avenue we have contacted the contractor Z brothers and uh he's indicated he'd like to work on some of the utility improvements on uh F through the winter months we will discuss this further with your administrator relative to disturbance to the residents and access of winter timeon with regard to trying to get the work started do has contacted us uh indicating there a technicality with a resolution of Award with regard to the extension of time we'll prepare a draft resolution work with your staff for the next meeting Clayton Court as you know we've been trying to get some of the uh final items completed we're happy to report that that's been done and hopefully by your next beam will recommend the Final close out and lastly with regard the was improvements as uh councilman Potter indicated the work has been completed we've been asked to uh see what the cost would be to uh expand some of the restoration of the roadways we're waiting for prices from the contract hopefully we'll have something next meeting great could B question sure um so uh just for a a resident who um posted something I know we don't generally respond uh to uh to Facebook but I something I noticed could you just explain one more time about why they let um things settle before they do the paving well what typically happens when the trenches are back F they're compacted but you can't always get a full compaction so generally uh if uh it's the type of trench that has properly been backfilled and um and and maintained you can uh put your surface course on but it's not not always recommended because you do get differences in the soils so you prefer to wait till Springtime to go through the final restoration that's generally what we do okay and believe me if there's a trench problem there a resent with a concern we will monitor through the winter time with your public works department if there's an issue we'll have a committed and put a surface course on it just for that little spot okay but I think it uh best to get this work done at Springtime we get done with whether it's trench or full width restoration it's a better way to go okay great thank you I hope um people who are on some of the uh Facebook pages have uh heard that since we are not um our communication policy doesn't allow us to type a response to that but thank you very much that's all we have that okay any other questions I just have one question Mike that did you say that that worked the restoration work was going to be done in the spring or is it going to be done before the end of the year on high I would say with depending on whether or not you do the trench or the full width Springtime is a better po not between now and the end of the year that's right beautiful thanks but you did say you're going to go and check to make sure yeah all people will be out there checking make sure as if it settles to the winter I'm not fix ITC thanks all right okay and now on to me um so as we've said we have a lot going on in the burough the next few weeks lots of holiday uh events going on was kicked off by the tree lighting on Friday um I want to thank Kelly Boyd and Kim McGrath they reached out to me today and we will have a very special guest at the tree lighting uh a girl in town was diagnosed with acute lympo blastic leukemia in January 2023 she's undergoing treatment and she they she has an incredible spirit so they reached out to the family and they said that she is thrilled and honored to be the tree lighter this year so we thank for that that's that's a wonderful and then we will see everyone at the uh at the winter wonder land after that so anyway moving on to Old business does any member of the council have any old business to bring before us this even Madam yes I probably could have included this in Council reports but um there's been an outstanding Council or committee conversation about ptin Avenue for the human Relations Committee but we haven't met um human Relations Committee in the in the past month um we're still in our finishing up our final recommendation uh to the burough Council as well as to the administration of how to handle that renaming um again that will be for the incoming Council to um Implement and address as they see fit but the um recommendation is for we have a recommendation for plan of action as well as within that plan of action how to the committee thinks is the most streamlined process of fee reimbursement for the homeowners to change their necessary documentation at to put minimum burden on the homeowners uh uh plan of action for communication to the homeowners who proactively engage them establish when the timeline of when things are going to happen in terms of scheduling uh resolutions to the council and providing them upfront documentation so they don't have to search for it in terms of um address changes and whatnot and and also provide transparency of what they have to change and what they don't have to change because sometimes that can be murky online as well so um again could have included that in Council in my initial report but okay I know that's come up in a few Council meetings I wanted to report that and that yeah that's been a discussion for a long time um how many home two homeor um so we have it's not many letters we have to draft um but yes we'll have um communication and then um that'll be something that will be in the council and administration's hands um for 2024 okay great good to hear that it's moving forward um any other old business hearing none I'll close Old business and move on to new business bus does any member of the council have any new business to bring before us this evening hearing none I will uh open to uh public comments hang on one second the public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments the council will respect the Public's Time by refraining from any comment until the speaker has finished it should be noted that the public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question and answer session please state your name and add dress for the record when you come to the podium yes good evening my name is John Madden 39 Ramsey Road middlex uh wonderful meeting here um I'm excited to see that the Parliamentary process is really working well um my one comment uh I just regarding the CFO contract ba contct contract I think it um from a transparency point of view it it doesn't look good if if a meeting like this is near the end of the term uh where new Administration is coming in number two um to me uh encumbering the new uh administration of of you know I mean the old Administration uh for the new Administration with the rules and everything I I don't think is very uh transparent I and I think residents will will notice that so I just wanted to say that because it kind of bothers me you know and the other thing is what's wrong with a renewal of just a one-year contract there's really nothing so let it go fall on the new Administration and if if I'm not mistaken this is more of a legal issue I I'm not sure if it's the ba position or the um excuse me Lauren gtis the ba position or the CFO that if a three-year contract is awarded I think there's some loophole in the law I'm not an attorney that would count the first year and would would coincide that into the four years so can I ask the attorney that or no no okay but I think that's the case I think that's a loople the law but everybody should be aware of it so thank you thank you yes ladies mle hello my name is tickus um Jessica nuk 311 North Main and 32 bway Burlington Township but U I lived in Edison and Brunswick and I know miltown I used to bring my kids at the park here so I enjoyed it and thank you guys for giving us a chance so we are from rabu Johnson University Hospital and as you guys hopefully know that we've been on strike since August 4 uh so today is like 115 days since we've been out for safe Staffing and um we are asking a resolution to pass uh a bill of a 4536 and uh Senate bill s304 that is safe Staffing um we are trying to have it pass as a leg legislation eventually um so this is safe Staffing it's been up since 2004 almost 20 years but right now it's going overboard like the nurses we are tired um 1,700 nurses are out on the street and the nurse the hospital has replaced um the nurse us with travel nurses paying almost like double and triple amount of money uh as of this week probably like 140 or over million 40 million 140 million um they've been paying so far or over um so we are asking safe Staffing because um safe Staffing is the patient ratio uh one nurse has more than six patients that's what um what's going to happen so far it's been we have six patient and the turnover is very high and so we end up having more than six patients and we we're not able to give the care that we want to give to our patients and I I don't know if any of you have been in the hospital or your loved ones uh we cannot attend uh they call for pain medication we cannot give them pain medication we live them in the bathroom uh somebody called for chest pain we cannot attend them a shortness of breath the same thing um I had a patient who with the stroke symptom and I had to take that that patient to a CAT scan and that CAT scan has to be done within few minutes 2 hours and if that is not done and the the the stroke is not ruled out or ruled in the medication cannot be administrated if that medication is not given that patient will end up being paralyzed and but unfortunately I was I was fortunately I was working with her with two nurses because we were short and I with no assistant at all I could not leave her by herself because there were there like almost nine patients and I canot leave those patients to her so we are struggling and we want the community to help us because when we have safe Staffing it helps less infection less Falls and the mortality rate would be less because if a nurse if one nurse has one more patient more than five about like six or seven there a high risk of like 7% that that goes up to every patient that the death rate and the studies have been done um that the patient ratio makes a difference California has four one nurse has only four patient and the icus over there they have one one to one or one to two over here our ICU nurses are getting tripled during covid we went through a lot I was in charge of almost three floors at at that point I had dropped nine bodies on one night nine bodies and we didn't even have bags to rub and those times right now they have been forgotten nobody remembers that time and there was no CFO or CNO or CEO that came at that time it was just us the nurses with the patient holding the patient cuz none of the families were even allowed unless they were willing to go in the covid rooms we were the one to hold the phone to say their last goodbye to listen to their last word and just holding their hands we got sick none of this High managements got sick we got sick so the only thing that they did remember from our time was that somehow we managed to do the work of two three nurs and they still want us to work like that and we just can't so in order to help us get a fair contract that has ratios in it it would be more important to have this done at the state level so those ratios would have to match our contract and that's why we're asking for the bill as well as the uh Senate bill for a resolution will support us doing that Madame mayor can we make a motion to um add this to a resolution for the support in our next meeting so yes so that's that was going to be my question I'll second I'll second I me I'm sorry I did I gave you all a draft of the resolution so you could motion to do the resolution now make a motion that we adopt we'll number this 305 2023 and I will second cuz I I got to and and 305 305 sorry and and I got to say that as we were speaking I was reading this I read it a little bit earlier but some of the ratios that you have in here even even those seem a little light but just to point it out one registered professional nurse for every two patients in critical care that seems appropriate to me anything less than that I would be nervous with I mean we talk about intensive care neonatal care burn units one registered professional nurse for every patient under anesthesia in an operating room that makes sense I I don't know how you have a person under anesthesia without a nurse there so uh I commend you guys for coming forward and and presenting this to us so I know we have a mo on the floor here to to adopt this resolution as written and uh hopefully our our State Assembly and Senators uh look kindly on this and move it along yeah and Council rinsky does say a copy of this resolution should be adopted and given to our assemblyman and Senator as well thank you then on the side note we we've been out for how many like over close to four months now we don't have any health insurance and they think we are out for money and we are not I've been in rabber with jansa almost close to 19 years I'm a nurse and also I'm a nurse practitioner and nursing is my call I do the nurse practitioner but I love doing nursing and there are so many new nurses that I feel so bad for them because they're not getting trained they are getting oriented and percepted by the new nurse and they don't like they don't like nursing now they living the profession without even being a nurse more than 6 month they're doing something else we have so many nurses they keep saying we have shortage of nurses but we have so many nurses with active license but they don't want to practice it's close to 40,000 nurses in New Jersey with license but not practicing wow and just because of the working conditions they're not taking breaks and all that so we just need help yeah my mother was a nurse and uh you have my whole arted support anything I can do to help you guys thank you appr for coming do we just need a voice I need a second motion by councilman rabinsky second by councilman Potter um do we need to do roll call Monica or just voice do it all all in favor anyos thank you we appreciate it thanks so much thank you thanks for coming good luck to you anyone else yes sir good evening uh my name is Robert spuzza I live at 217 garrson Circle uh I'm sorry can you say your last name again I'm sorry um I'm here tonight to uh address the council about the gate on Garrison Circle um I've reached out to the council in the past um had some minor resolutions uh but I've been there about 11 years for the first seven years or so that gate was locked every night uh the arms worked super line yes okay I'm sorry okay apiz um you know I've been there for years and for the first seven eight years of living there that gate was closed pad locked every night the uh arms worked uh there was no speeding anything Co hit uh the arms are always left up or broken that gate has yet to be locked I have a soon to be 12 yearold and a 7-year-old and at any given time there could be 10 kids neighborhood kids playing basketball outside my house and cars speed in and out um so I'm kind of just wondering and when so you reached out to when you said you had some who who um I've emailed with yeah I've emailed um and and there have been minor you know resolutions and two weeks later just so happens the arms are broken again and it's become a cut through in town and I'm I'm not sure when that that gate just became a through Street for I mean even due to the the crime we're having in town that gate's open right now there's people walking in and out of that gate that don't live in town all all hours of the night I'll bring it up to the Chief and um to our uh our new Chief as well yeah that's that's gotten me nowhere that's so is that um and I feel that's terrible for because you're particular with kids in front of the house like that is that enforceable I Cod and this is a general question I have no idea what the answer is is that enforceable I code that a private Enterprise would need to have a gate operational and like they could prevent a through I don't know if that's H hit him in the wild that's some kind of G like it's a little trick it's a tricky situation because I think when the property was first transferred over to ownership with with silver line they they were allowed to have that as an access and you know it's always great to have it as an emergency access some of the employees used to come into town at lunchtime and theyd walk across the flip bridge and go to Maria or wherever but it's become a problem and over the years we've had tractor trailers sorry I'm leaning back over the years we've had tractor trailers that that come driving down the street when they're not supposed to and they've said well it's it's an access point um I know Mr spuzza and I spoke about two or three years ago on this issue we were able to get the police out there to do some monitoring and I think it slowed the situation down but the um management over at Silver Line was not receptive to closing that permanently um and okay councilwoman odonnell I think you know you I I don't know what actions were taken when you were but it sounds like probably very similar that legally we can't force them to but yeah again I'm not I I mean I would love for them to close it permanently don't get me wrong I guess for myself it's more like why can't it go back to those I know that you know when that gate would open during the day they'd have a security guard to open it and there was only so many people that had access to swipe in and out of that gate and when the gates when the arms are working there's not is really not much of a problem because the people that speed it and out don't have access so they can't even come down um and it just so happens that they get fixed and a week later like in the last 2 three weeks which made me come here the arms are just both up and I mean there's just traffic coming in out and I mean at night it would be nice that that gate get locked again so that people AR I mean have my friends up the street that their car was broken into again it may not stop it but I think it would slow it down a lot mhm so one of the things when I said things are a little bit tricky is that um we're not sure that miltown has jurisdiction there there's a um a municipal border right right there so we're not sure where our jurisdiction is exactly at the gate you know obviously it's at your property um but it's not at the gate but I'll bring it up to them again and see if there's any any resolution um on that if they've if they've sorted that out um but I know we hopefully reach out to North Bruns as yeah SP to the proper not you well no I don't mind doing that either I mean you know I've reached out and it seems that miltown police are the ones always come and tell me don't touch the gate or don't do this or don't do that and then in the same you know notion will'll say well we don't even know if it's our gate or if it's north Bron gate but yet I'm told not to do things and still com if you do something to someone else's gate you are you arees passing you are um vandalizing it if you're doing something to their gate just like if somebody's breaking it and coming through if you if you personally are doing something to it you are either um trespassing on their property or or vandalizing um because it's it's it's theirs but we just don't know if we have okay I understand look I'm not here to argue I'm actually asking for help you know I don't want you I don't want you to get in trouble so I don't what you know um but it just seems to kind of like I don't want to say fall into ears but like there's no there's nothing that's like happening you know and tonight at 11: 12:00 there'll be random cars just driving through that gate and and because they don't close it they don't put the arms down at the end of the day when at 3:00 in the afternoon when the kids get out of school and they're playing basketball outside my house and a car speeds out of that gate and God forbid hits one of those kids it becomes milt's problem so do keep in mind too though that um you know I Know Chief canelli has has has said this that the uh streets are not for playing really they are for cars um they're designed that way walk to school yeah I've had to argue with people speeding into the gate while the kids are walking to school so you know what there's there's a protocol for when you're walking in the street you know you walk facing traffic you stay to the side it's not necessarily playing a game of of basketball and expecting a a c you know um oh okay yeah so a street is definitely um for vehicles but certainly the a driveway or a yard that's you know we're playing we have great parks that have basketball and things like that too but the gate being left open I think is encourages yeah ENC encourage this is whether that's you know we we don't want speeding in town regardless and whether that should be 25 miles hour yes so like to limit the speeding and limit the cut through the gate seems to be the focal point so I think with the new police chief starting um that's something that could be brought to him as like hey that's something that is an out ongoing issue that hopefully can be addressed as soon as possible but yeah no promises you're right I I think they both have admitted that it is not a clear-cut issue but I don't think anyone wants to see that be a cut through and then that is that area becomes a hight trffic volume are all of a sudden it it was a problem even with the gate but without it I'm not asking for the world I mean but follow you can see the difference when the arms are working and the gates closed compared to when it's just it it works as a traffic calming device just like having those reduce your speed I mean you know people slow down they wait for that gate to open and then it's a little bit safer M Mr pza I think if I remember for years gone past there's an agreement between the burrow and silver line about that gate I don't know if maybe uh Peter you look that up find something the chief um and the incoming Chief would familiar with the we also when I bought the house I was told that you know there'd be minimal traffic it was was closed and locked every night um Co came and you know a lot of things changed but it's not changing for the better you know and so two things that I'll mention one is that we have um a sergeant who handles uh traffic so we'll make sure we we uh have him looped in as well um but I encourage you to use uh the repor of concern on our on our website so all documented um will follow emails my wife has sent emails you know I spoke to Mr about it uh councilman Potter had uh when he briefed me on taking over Public Safety it was one of the things that he had given me a heads up about to we're on was leads on the public safety we first and I and I they actually hired somebody didn't they hire a gate C they did and and it seemed like things were getting better and then it's just kind of like and there's no point of contact right I I don't want to bother you guys the police chief all the time but it's tough at night you know when cars are in and out of a and again I mean the carnival comes into town people walk through there you know it's like random people I mean I understand you can kind of walk where you want or stay off the side of the road right got to be careful butay off the middle of the road the side of the road is exactly where you're supposed to walk just being able to kind of like walk into Midtown and let's be honest you can park a car back there come breaking into some houses and just go back to your car and leave and get on Route One I mean I'm not saying it's happening I just would love to possibly you know get some type of a fix I do know that they had a lot more problems back there years ago years ago the big trucks but at the end of the day if that Gate's left open and those arms are open trucks can come in there the trucks can do whatever they want so Mr SPO I will follow up with you later in the week okay it's not just trucks it's the uh Route One Speedway right so any of us that live on the North side maybe the people that live on the South Side here turnpike I can hear on a nice night when the windows are open you know people doing donuts in that parking lot there the zooming down Route One and you want to in you know discourage them from zipping through uh your street I get it I would love we get it okay I appreciate it thank you thank you I would like to say thank you for coming down because honestly I haven't heard from you in a while in regards to this so it's nice to know that you know something not nice to know I guess but at least now we do know and are aware of it because it's it's been a while since I've heard like my last resort it's like one step forward two steps back fix it gets broken again you just have to you know unfortunately just keep being a squeaky wheel and you know letting people know that it's it's broken again yeah well it's broken again okay well noted well noted anyone else yes sir good evening good evening my name is Richard M 107 First Street um I wanted to ask about water pressure okay uh it's been going going on for like two years now I'm not sure if there any issues with the pumps or not but um I am kind of forced to buy a boost pump in order to keep up with the pressure so I was trying to see if there is any known issues that I don't know of so we have our engineer we have utilities committee uh you know we've been looking at we've had that several times throughout town is First Street one of the known areas Mr mlan or so it's South Main have you contacted the utility department not yet okay um we should speak to Don Herman okay and I'll take your name address at the end of the meeting we'll go through and see what we can do okay okay is it every all of your neighbors or particular tier well no and it's not even steady it's h fluctuating there are times when you would expect that it's at and I know it because we have sprinkle system and if I set it up at 5:00 in the morning I would expect it to run without problems thinking not that many people are up and then the neighbors that are getting up 5:00 going to work they say oh uh water is running down the street so I'm basically watering the the street and I know don't know about it so then there could be 10:00 in the morning I turn it on is running fine which or 9:00 which you would expect that more people are using it so it's kind of um you can't pinpoint when it's happening and this is the second summer in row I mean my water build was over, no close to $1,000 last year not knowing that this was happening and my I mean I know this is a you know first world uh issue but uh you know paying for the water and having a long getting Brown something there is something off so so what the if you contact you know if get with the water department to determine first is it your service or is it the service you know is it the whole street and then you know the other thing is that you know that we've had we they we've prioritized the streets throughout town that have had similar problems and have done multiple uh projects to repair so if it's something that's cuz I know it's also happening on South men Street our office because we have a Sprinkle system there and this year we couldn't use it at all because and especially today when they were closing out it was really low pressure so it's not just our address at home but it's you know it's where South michig I'm sorry uh right across from the convenience store okay and there's also in on the other side of that because the irrigation guy said that he is a customer that has the same issue in the area so it's not just spotted there has to be some kind of more so Dave you can make a note for the utilities committee I I was just curious something that popped into my mind and then you mentioned brown Water um I know there was a water service from the the main to the resident's home that that um burst on your street a couple months back uh have you replaced your service at all since you've moved in um I'm just out of curi I'm not telling you to go do it tomorrow I'm just curious the line from the street into your house to the house no okay I mean I I didn't because I'm just curious they can become clogged over time and and start to like choke down and then it it really hurts your water pressure and I'm not saying that is the problem I'm just starting to think about like in that neighborhood if people have or have not and when one breaks it's kind of an indicator that there might be something going on hopefully Mr Herman can just if it's the area Mr Herman might be able to determine if it's the area yep no that's good but I don't think the council was aware of that so I'm just bringing it up because our office is only a St and a half away and it's the same issue so it's not I mean it's it's a more of a uh Regional yep and if I could have another question sure um who could I be pointed to in regards to net metering what net metering for solar yes uh that would be the utility department as well we have an ordinance in regards to the net metering was there any talk about it or is it something that is it's been it's been standing for some time um it hasn't been readdressed in a while but basically what it says is uh you pay x per kilowatt and then we only give you back what our purchase price is through whale Price Right which is which is not our wholesale price because a portion of that money that is charged goes to maintaining the electrical system within miltown okay so where do I go from here that's the uh party utility department but you can what's your question in particular yeah what is your question with it about net Meer are you good well it's not in place right now right right we had one of the three uh municipalities that don't have it m because we we have a our own and just like um to touch on another end of it is any EVS being brought in we don't get any uh rebates we don't get any uh extra night Charges better charges for electricity we get none of it um we are you know spending the money to improve in that direction um they would be I think beneficial if it is uh encouraged in some shape or form um just like bscg uh gives rebates to install Chargers gives uh many other rebates we don't qualify for um so I would try to you know see if we can move it forward but I really would like to have some kind of contact or something that I can follow up not just leave here and it's being put in a drawer and I'll come back in three years and exactly so my next I was going to give you my bit my card and you can send me an email okay with all this information and I'll make sure we we pass it along to the people that actually can look into it so yeah absolutely I'll give you my business card for that so okay thank you well he'll give it he will I'll give it right after the meeting make sure you anyone else Heidi Stout 31 Cleveland Avenue Trina first of all thank you very much for serving as our mayor my pleasure done a wonderful job um regarding the matter of the contract that was discussed tonight um as a longtime resident and taxpayer in this town some of the things that were discussed tonight are very concerning to me and I thank councilman revolinski for bringing up some very important points that would appear to need further discussion it also concerns me greatly that the gentleman who indicated he is on the Personnel committee seems to be to some degree out of the loop and that's also a concern to me my other concern is that as the people who voted in favor of this contract three of them are leaving office at the end of the year and that to me is a decision that is best left with the people who are staying on Council who obviously have concerns about this because they all voted against it and the people who are coming on to council thank you can I just have your name again I'm sorry hi thank you anyone else yes sir little um not that I turn it off I did I know than I'm the last person to ever be called um and my wife will say deserve this for all of her years of suffering uh and not to not to beat a dead horse because this has been a long night uh and I do respect what you said Mr pett about our councilman P about uh setting a standard in your practice about the contract uh what I do think the disservice that happened tonight that was not intended I don't think it was done that way uh but I do think that it instead of the next Administration entering to a table with an empty slate and someone the ba being able to walk away with more than they came to that table with any motion to that negotiating table now has to be looked at as some type of um what am I going to lose what am I going to win I just don't think it was timing is everything I think the same conversation could be done two neutral parties entering a table and coming up with what the next year will be when that's already been done any conversation from that moment on just kind of uh would be for would be more challenged than it deserves to be and and I do think it's a valid point that with so much Exodus about to happen and nothing in the fate of the burrow changes if that wasn't passed tonight I think the timing um was poor thank you thank anyone else yes sir we Le 99 JFK Drive uh i' just like to follow up on some previous stuff I've been looking back on some uh emails from Council meetings and stuff and uh I'll start with lead pipe stuff that there was the letter sent out to identify the lead pipe connections that's right or do we know the status of that I would defer to Mr mclelan and CME on the uh or lead pipe inventory lead pipe yes did have you heard from the water operator Mr Herman about the status of the no we have not I can check it out though I'll be happy to Dave any up do you have any no I know we were collecting the data it was 10 years when was and it's been we a year or two into it I guess so from what I saw like you said it was grant money available and stuff but I'm more concerned about road work being done where roads that might get paved again here might get dug up again MH that and those are service lines as well into the house but yeah that's what I said I was just wondering if what happened after that original letter how many homes were identified not identified or that's an ongoing process we'll find out for you yeah right okay uh if I could too the water line under the turnpike that main what's the status on that the broken one the uh I can help with that mayor the bur has been attempting to get a television inspection on the line to determine the condition of the carrier pipe which is a casing pipe that's under Turn Pipe that a burrow is trying to do that that's correct okay I just curious because that's been going on over a year then right so the access to the pipe is is the complication not so much the tel inspection so we have a contractor who's willing to do the televis inspection the access is the problem so we're working on okay okay uh we're on pipes the covert on uh by the Rangers on kall that little Bridge that's been held up uh status with the pipeline company because they're the ones holding that up disc Mr M I um I just wanted to weigh in because I brought up that you had spoke you and I had spoken about that and that um it was like the Big Gas Company um and the D had given us like the we're not sure exactly where this is um and don't touch anything there yeah at your request I did call the county engineers's office and they've indicated that the gas company shut the job down because the concerns with the close proximity of their gas B to the to the actual Culver so project is stopped it's just stopped that's it that's correct so it's it's not a matter of them not knowing where the main is it's a matter of them being concerned with the Integrity of the main proximity to like it's too close to call I'm I'm just trying to understand that that it's like you know you can't go toward the East Brunswick side you can't extend the bridge to the or the Culver to the miltown side the gas transmission main is uh um major vict for gas in this area and they have uh um as surprising to the county Engineers office and our office they have basically shut the job down really something uh and we brought it up about curbing on Main Street I don't know if anybody's got in contact with or anybody any help for I brought up to our DPW um that was but the um the no further update than that just you went through the DPW and that's going to be I believe um part of his planning for part of the request to get through County funding but also part of the 2024 funding plans like Grant and stuff so I think that's part of his 2024 Outlook okay was that the shell the um curbs oh I was thinking bit of everything I guess com about curbing curbs you know to me it ties in like I said the curbing it exists doesn't ex exist because of the Shale and stuff but like I said most roads when they get paved are paved to the curb height 2 in below or something I I will say that we were we were successful with a couple of locations where we had requested psng to pave curb to curb in a particular area instead of just the portion which they would be required to do for this gas main restoration um because we were also Paving that street or or an adjacent Street under our own work or with the County Paving program so uh we'll definitely reach out to them and see if the county has any input or capability to help replace some of the curbs along Main Street before the paving occurs by psng so we'll have to closely coordinate that with them and maybe do a tradeoff where Maine doesn't get paved right away but gets paved at a later date if the county needs more time in order to replace some of those curves so so you were not the resident who asked me about it but someone brought it up to me as a public safety concern they said that there are people that um when someone is stopped to make a left turn come up onto their property because the it's so close to the street level so um I spoke to the county um DPW uh person and he was actually going to go to that resident's house so I have to find out from the resident um how that conversation went yeah okay uh moov along last meeting Lou was here but uh like I said we previously asked you too about Devo Lake the dring project down here I fact I have it for you tonight cost for uh the D devot Lake dredging was 1.85 million that didn't include all the Le but that's uh was a probably about 50% of the dretch for 1.85 million right and I've been doing some research on that myself and I'm curious now that uh I don't know cme's been with was with Spotswood for number of years we were that's correct okay because I got like I said back in 2010 is when that thing kind of started to get going and right I was shocked to see that Senator lenberg at that time got him a $500,000 grant that went to the county for the flood mitigation project stuff and that was a piece of it and uh down the road then they got another 22 million from the state d a grant that's correct which went through political whatever up the lad but I'm just curious now like you said with our d snagging project that kind of got hung up I guess but there's a window of opportunity there all the time for that well the the grant uh that you apply for is every other year they come back so right but they once again their representatives they went to their repres Representatives up in the state and got the money and this did go through County too and that's what I'm thinking now that they set the precedent I don't know why we're not going to push to try and get more money out of that or or do something cuz like you said that I agree it's going to help what we're saying with the dagging but if we can get more that's not a big lake to do the whole thing and be done with it for a while so I just appreciate that if you know uh just a little bit of clarity on something I said when our engineer or the burough attorney is tasked to D do something that's all recorded right that's it's not a lot of projects per year in a sense I don't think but I mean so I'm just saying that if I was to oper something from way back when uh we should be able to get it I mean the minutes of Council meetings going back oh yeah I mean if it's far far far back and it's not scaned in the computer I might need some time to 2005 and up uh some of that's in the computer some of that I might have to go into the books and get for you but I mean all the minutes are that's a permanent record right the minutes but they individual task I mean would there be a separate list for CME or for the burough attorney for the projects that they're required they were required to do that's not necessarily going to be recorded in the minutes I'm not sure think well if it was if it was something that was passed by resolution and we were we were paying for specific service then yes we should be able to track that down easier than just a Mike do me a favor and find out how tall the steps are outside that's a little bit harder to track right um so but the minutes would certainly lead to whatever it is if you if you could be more specific about the information that you're looking for that would help narrow the search even within that time frame it wouldn't just be all requests towards the burrow engineer would be request pertaining to this the more specific you are the better and you also have to remember minutes are not a transcription so every single word that's said is not necessarily documented um it's more of a general this is what went on at the meeting this is what was discussed right so like rich said if it said if you're somebody ask him oh how tall is that that may necessarily be written in the minut if it's something we spent money on a memorialized by resolution then absolutely that's going to be very easy to search and I'm just curious uh AV you uh like I said I've given previous burough clerk uh title search stuff and she sent out to all the council members attorney the latest title search by Bor Ray has anybody read it she sent toley I was say back now know that anybody anybody that like I said how many months I'm not quite sure now but I don't remember I I don't recall I'm I'm not sure that that went out to the council members that was a document that you asked for that was found at the Ford Avenue Agency level and you asked for it it was provided to the clerk and given to you under an opal request I have a copy of it because I was the one who said she she might have cced it or whatever to everybody it was a big it was I think the mayor and Council would know if they got it cuz it would have jammed up i' be intrigued by seeing provided it to you as the Oprah request what was it in in regards to the title search it's by boray on the ownership of the land he one but but pertaining to the dam the the water Trestle the anything and everything okay yep no I I don't think she sent that I don't have that would one of you share it with us yeah if you if you have it do you still have it I yeah I have it I mean I can email it out to everybody what do you have a box like box account we can put you can look at from there instead of sending that huge what do the what do you want have that sophisticated box coun right no worries no worries got mailbox I'll print it out and give that that I prob interrupted your question in regards so what are you looking for the council to weigh in on on that well we we keep kicking around the pond ownership at a pond and like I said that title search does a lot for that okay and like I said I'm still curious like I said on the tax maps showing miltown as owner of the pond and I'm just how we got to that um I'd like to know okay great thanks for following up again appreciate anyone else anyone yes sir I'm going to make this quick it's been a long night Ryan s 611 Street um I'm a local business owner here in town some of you know me some of you don't um I have some real concerns about the increase in crime has been happening in the town as a local business owner uh just hearing tonight I've been watching Council meetings over the last few months and stuff and hearing that our police department has not gotten raises and then also hearing that we're not hiring really new cops you know miltown Pharmacy was broken into I local people in this town you know and it's a fear of mine uh the gentleman who was here before my business is right by him the 18 wheelers that make the U-turn in my parking lot become my problem so it is concerns to me um you know it said that miltown doesn't have any more light industrial for businesses like mine to grow into it's forcing me to take my business possibly to go outside instead of building homes here how about we take business owners like myself talk to us and ask us what our concerns are my concerns are is I can't grow my business here I employ people in Midtown okay my employees pay taxes to this town I pay taxes to this town we're not hiring new police officers we're not giving them raises but yet we're talking about giving other people raises and it's sad you know crime is real it took two weeks to finally catch what aarthy what if my business got robbed it's concerned to me so I'm looking for the future Council and the council members here now to possibly instead of building houses let's build businesses here let's talk about light industrial I'm not looking for a warehouse that's not what we're looking for we're looking for me I own a mechanical contracting business in town I do HVAC I do commercial industrial residential I provide services I'm a union company I understand bargaining agreements I understand how RFP works and I understand understand how the whole business and government everything works what I'm trying to say is is talk to the local businesses that nobody except the new Council has come and approached me about because they care about business the old Council nobody came to my business nobody talked to me nobody knocked on my door nobody said hey thanks for employing local residents nobody did any of that so I think that I am a taxpayer here been here for 38 years and our voice is not being heard I appreciate every one of your time I know that this is a you know you take away from your families you really do so thank you have a good evening thanks FR thank you thanks anyone else seeing none I will close uh audience comments and move on to council comments is there anything further from anyone on the council would like to bring up at this time um I I did want to address um uh one of the uh audience comments from before um there's not three members who voted who are leaving uh the council just wanted to clarify there's there's uh two um May yeah oh okay so the voting okay got gotcha okay um uh and I wanted to um mention that uh one of the one of the guests here is actually the the mayor of um of middle sex I was the guest um at their very lovely Veterans Day uh ceremony so thank you for coming to visit us thank you thank you for coming to visit us anyone else hearing none I will close uh Council comments and we'll go to the final uh mayor comments as as I said before I congratulate Mr Murray Mr Moo Mr pany I um look I'm sure they're excited and as they got to see we had a uh spirited legislative body here tonight um I will also say that you know in years past this used to be the norm rather than the exception so as we've uh gone over things and we've talked about transparency and you know I appreciate Miss Doubt's comments uh one of the things that we've really prided ourselves is on transparency you can provide information if it's not chosen to be um uh considered there's really unfortunately not a lot that we can do on that what I will say is that you know misinformation is also an issue as well so it's one thing to have misinformation during a campaign during governing by misinformation will become problematic so as you are aware several people came and were very concerned because they heard the phrase tenure right they didn't and nobody wants to say this is what an outgoing council is sticking the future council with that was totally not the case and it was a misunderstanding that had been made clear and yet was still um spread around to you know again cause fear and to think of who to blame right so that that's one thing and and the other thing is is that you know we've negotiated many contracts over the last several years you know the employees are treated very fairly there was one employee that didn't get any increase and you know has worked hard and we speak to lots of members of the the public we're sorry sir that we didn't get to you but we've spoken to you know hundreds over the last four years and certainly many during the campaign seniors in particular who who appreciate all that these employees here have done for them as well as all of the other people that operations have been streamlined have been improved it that really benefits all of miltown so for everybody else to get a slight increase and for one person not to get an increase that you know we're not naive it's not going to be here forever it's something that everybody has made clear nobody is you know blind on on what's going to happen so and other we are tasked with doing what we feel as as you all will be when you sit up here what you feel is right and fair whether you're on your way out whether you're just starting and that's what we did we voted our conscience tonight on what we felt was right and you can certainly take that and and change it going forward but it's something that that everyone has to uh you know you take an oath of office and it's a little bit different when you sit up here once you've taken that oath to protect and we're serving all of the people of miltown not certain employees not certain people uh we serve everyone and we feel that you know certain things that we have done will benefit everyone so I I thank you all for hanging in here for two and a half hours it was a a really good discussion um and I look forward to seeing you all for one more meeting and we can uh celebrate uh the holidays and with that I will take a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second I have a motion by uh everybody here second by everybody else Council all in favor all right good night