Council agenda Township precipi Troy Hills regular Township council meeting of February 20th 2024 introduction posting of notice adequate notice that this meeting has been provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings law by following the notice in the office of the Township Clerk and by posting the meeting notice on the Bolton board at the municipal building on January 4th 2024 what has remained posted since that date a legal notice appeared in the Daily Record and the nework Star Ledger on January 8th 2024 like to ask everyone to please rise for the flag salute Al to the flag un States indivisible Justice for All okay uh roll call Mr Hernandez here Mr McGrath here Mr Mella here Mr neglia here Mr Ki here also in attendance are mayor James Barbaro uh Township uh administrator uh Jamie cryan Township attorney uh Michael Avery and Township Clerk CED Madden council president we have a quorum we're going to go ahead and begin uh upcoming meetings March 5th 2024 at 7th p.m. uh is the agenda meeting March 19th 2024 at 700 p.m. is the regular meeting at this time we're going to go ahead and roll right into the ordinances second reading and public hearing ordinance 20241 an ordinance of the township ory Troy Hills Morris County New Jersey amending and modifying chapter 4 administration of government section 481 third party payment plan for Emergency Medical Services provided by part Troy EMS chapter a445 fees compilation section A [Music] 441-9116 2024 agenda meeting May I please have a motion to accept who was that Mr neglia okay Mr neglia second second by Miss Hernandez roll call Miss Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kif yes okay motion passes public hearing can I please have a motion to open up the public hearing make a motion second motion made by Mr Michel seconded by Mr negle a roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr negle yes Mr kifi yes okay the floor is open to the public on this ordinance only in case seeing no one may I please have a motion to close motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Miss Hernandez okay a roll call M Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr kifi yes okay uh floor is closed whereas the above ordinance was read in title on second reading and hearing and a hearing held thereon now therefore be resolved that settled and be pass on Final reading and that notice of final passage of said ordinance be published in a newspaper according to law may please have a motion motion second motion to approve ordinance 20241 made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes ordinance passes uh now we are going to go ahead and move on to the public session may I please have a motion to um open the public session motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr kifi yes okay the floor is open to the public to speak on any matter please be advised you have five minutes to speak once you speak we ask that you please take your seat and the council may or may not address you at that time thank you i' like to ask you about the flood project ma'am could you just state your name please I'm sorry what's that your name Ken Martin 66 River Drive for fire um I'd like to find out what's going on with the flood project the last big rainstorm we have I have a leak in my backyard from the wall when I drove down by the Country Club leeping in every single joint all the gates are compromised can I just speak closer to the mic man okay all the gates are compromised water just rushes out I called and asked them to stand by them which they did but I'd like to know when when is it going enough forbidding I tried to get a a meeting with you Mr Mayor but I guess I was ghosted well I don't I'll let you finish respond I mean what's going to happen with this I mean if you don't put it out for bid it's not going to get fixed and we everybody in Lower Lake haata has a chance of being flooded I had 25 Ines in my house after Irene I don't want to go through that experience again so I'm trying to find out I mean I first got the notice in 20121 March 15th that you were taking the fence down then in February 28th of 2022 you were putting it out to have it appraised it's been appraised I Got a notification that you have to do work as far as the brush on either side of the wall and the trees well there's still brush there and there's still trees growing this compromises the wall but I mean I haven't heard anything about when it's going to be fixed so I don't know what what's going on is there anything uh anything else you have ma no that's about it okay if you can take your seat and then at this time I'd like to ask either member from the administration or Council if they'd like to address uh her concerns council president if it's okay okay I can yes um so we uh took a look at the wall uh reached out we went physically mayor and I actually physically went to uh the area to look at the wall we also uh contacted our engineer who I I know that their office has been in contact with you uh on uh more than a few occasions it is concerning to the eye and to you and I understand that but all indications and all studies that they've done that the engineering department has done done and independent uh um engineering firms have done uh have told us that um it is in it's ready to get repaired uh this spring and it's not something that's in dire need that needs to be done uh today so this spring and this summer is when it uh will be worked on okay okay anyone else uh from the public bless you hi Michelle Gainer to Al Court pipany I'm here to ask the council in the town of pan to support the um corporate business tax we have a resolution I'm on the environmental advisory committee I'm also a um I work for the environmental um New Jersey environment Al um commissions and I am being asked from my organization to come and ask parcion as well as Town throughout New Jersey to support the corporate business tax that sunset in 2023 so in December of 20123 it sunset in uh 2014 as a member of New Jersey keep it green Coalition the association of New Jersey environmental commissions worked with environmental commissions across the state to support a constitutional dedic ation of 6% of the corporate business tax to environmental programs Governor Murphy has proposed a 2.5 cut in the corporate business tax for bu big businesses including those proposing giant warehouses and communities across the Garden State if Governor Murphy's 2.5 corporate business tax is implemented cut is implemented which it have been communities and our shared environment will suffer and funding for environmental programs will be greatly reduced Governor Murphy has proposed slashing and these are estimates 48 million annually for the preservation of and stewardship of open space green and blue Acres programs farmland and historic places 12 million annually to support communities with the remediation of hazardous sites known as brownfields the clean up of leaking underground storage tanks and funds funds clean up of hazardous spills so what I'm asking is for the town to sign a resolution I have a list of towns that that have already done so and they're continuing to come into my organization and hopefully with the next session we're going to bring this to the legislator to ask them to implement what was previously implemented in New Jersey so at least we have a 6% dedication going back to open space preservation and hazardous fun cleanup sites thank you thank you Miss G you can just give that to me I was going to say do we have that so I will give him that cop yes thank you council president could I just add to her um thanks Michelle for bringing that up it's a really important this 6% that we be losing from the corporate tax um the money goes to things like this woman was just talking about the flooding blue Acres funding Green Acres funding and we're having more of those issues so any kinds of monies that we can get that's not a burden to the taxpayer it would be wonderful so we don't want to see that that sense that even though it has but if I'd like everybody to take a look at it and maybe we could vote on that resolution like other towns have thank you Michelle yeah I would um have a different perspective you know when I talk to business own I appreciate Michelle coming here uh I don't see oh there you are um you know when I talk to business owners small business owners you know corporations that create the jobs that create the economic conditions for us to be successful they're over taxed and I think we need to move towards an environment of less tax less uh um you know less um restrictions on allowing businesses to thrive and um one of the reasons we have such a high vacancy rate is because there's been policies that have pushed businesses away from this state and I I would not be in support of any policy that's going to be another tax I would not support that so I'm sorry Miss G I apologize hold on hold on we cannot yeah whether it's large or small businesses it's it's all the same at the end of the day um and I think Paran needs to send the message out to the business community that we are open and we want to welcome every single business that can come here and that would send the opposite message well let's think well we can talk about that and think about it I think it's important especially when these big business are coming in and putting warehouses in all over New Jersey which is adding significantly to our storm order issues and they're just going to get worse it's you know what we see now is getting worse every year and um somebody has to pay for that and there if you want to come in and put a big business in and big Warehouse I and I don't even know what the smallest comp business I don't know if the small businesses are paying that for this corporate CBT tax whatever I don't know Michelle could let us know that it might just be the really big businesses but this has been ongoing for a while and I would like us to consider it I understand what you're saying so sir I not I think M Hernandez is right I think we need to consider it and I think it's something we need to look at um I think the environment is something we should all be concerned about and any funding that we can put toward that whether it comes from a corporate business tax or any another type of uh funding source would be very beneficial so I think it's something we need to explore um about getting funding toward that anyone else or no um I I I would agree with uh councilman Mella and I can tell you why with regards to this um I I I meet with a lot of the corporations here in town I meet with a lot of developers in town that want to do business in town but if you're going to strap them more with a 6% tax you you're going to you're going to they're going to they're not going to come and they're going to leave and we're going to continue to tax tax tax um you know I I understand that but in order to keep them the stady want you're trying to reduce reduce their taxes that's you know that's one of the reasons why your pilot programs are popular right now because of the reduction that they get and then we still get a benefit I I don't know how we can in this environment um oppose a 6% tax on corporations here in pipany uh we're trying to get them to stay here and at at the moment right now I can tell you we have two or three of them that are thinking of leaving Pary and I'm trying to keep them here and I know the council probably feels the same way I understand the environment part maybe there's some other way we can we can um um tackle that that that Avenue but um with regards to you know imposing the tax on the corporations i' actually employ people put them to work um support the community in in that manner um I I know a lot of people like to go after the corporation but I think the higher taxes you chase them out anyone else okay come on up Nick sir if you'd like I no had your hand up you can always come up to the mic if you'd like sorry Nick uh M Fernandez I think I have two answers to your need you just to speak yeah if you could just m Fernandez I think state your name most people here know me uh five governors have flown over between the St Northern he Mr Bano I'm sorry they can't hear you in the back speaking you take it out of there yeah there you go uh my knowledge and a lot of other people's knowledge five governors have flown over the state of New Jersey to prevent the flooding problem the Army Corps of Engineers was was brought in several times people do not want their docks lowered or anything else the pic has to be lowered 9 ft and you rather tributaries to like the Rockway River have to be lowered 3 fet this will help stop I'd say estimate 60% of your flooding throughout your towns the other question I have is that people know they're buying in the flood zone somebody's got to accept it the other issue with Transportation I've been fighting with Mickey Cheryl because we're putting in light rail I don't whether people know about the difference between Light Rail and heavy rail both sets of trains passenger trains and freight trains can run on heavy rail uh heavy rail for trailers and tractors cannot be run on light rail a Northern Pacific if you go from Carney Rail Yard Pro probably takes about 300 trailers at a time so if you want to reduce it and you want to bring back business into the area get your heavy rail done because most of our factories have sidecar railings and if the rails were more conducive to them they can have rail heads coming into their warehouses reducing your Trucking thank you I don't know a lot about congresswoman Mikey Cheryl you're talking about the Gateway the the yeah I isn't a lot of that for transportation no passenger Transportation as well pass Transportation no commercial can't have any back thank you all right you're right no you can can you get you oh I could oh more about that and as far as the uh all I know about the paic with the Army Corps of Engineers I'm not sure you're talking about five governors like in the past coming over there always been an issue yeah our district has is the rivine district has a serious flooding issue the Army court is looking at us now and I am sure that what you're saying because I know you know this stuff with the paic and walkway is correct however we have to be careful when we talk about dredging also because it just makes it worse Downstream but the paic is like a big wall I know it I'm I'm sorry Mr preso I apologize we cannot have a back and forth that is your comment and we're done at this point so um no no it's no problem uh so can we have anyone else Nick I know you wanted to come up uh nickak Lake kwaa uh no economy can exist in vacuum and anyone who's making profits and there's not more people who should be paying more taxes than are not than the corporate entity so air 6% take a look and see it actually what it is but the reason you have all this flooding and everything is because it's overdeveloped the water can't go in the ground you can't exist in a vacuum you have to look at the land and then the plane the plan has to correspond to the land we have too much of the opposite I call it economy and a vacuum now in the past we had a class and we had it in Mountain Lakes it was to educate everybody the environmental committee from pipany was one of the sponsers this is going back uh during mayor barbaro's last Administration not one Cilan from this um entity here showed up to be educated and it was called the U uh uh what was the name of it the utility uh storm water utility yeah they called it the rainwater uh uh the tax on rain but it was storm water utility Excuse excuse me and it's not a tax on rain and it's not a tax on your little driveway it's ATT tax on corporate uh impervious surface large parking lots which precip is full of all that storm water degrades our groundwater which were eventually going to drink but the tax it the loophole in that tax it goes back to the uh developers or the contractors to put green infrastructure where it's needed to try to mitigate some of the storm water so it was a positive thing but right away they called it you're going to tax you're going to drive us out of here we're all going to go to Siberia someplace bring our businesses you know some some other place but it was a positive thing no one wanted to educate themselves about it so I mean you know in the future if this state keeps on developing you know you can't continue to to grow you can develop but if you have continual growth that's like a cancer and in the future our children are not going to have very much to look forward to they're not going to be outside that much they're going to be on some lawn or turf and or they're going to stay home on the video and they're going to watch wildlife in Africa or something we're not going to have our our state is going to be you know wiped out ecologically and envir environmentally so there is a movement right now to save we've only save approximately onethird of the land that we can actually save and the goal should be for all of us to try to save as much environmentally sensitive land as we can and you know why cuz that's where your water comes from you're drinking the water nature purifies the water so it's not just corporate profits if their impacts on the environment cost us all in the end so a minor tax to a uh you know to a wealthy Corporation I think you should rethink your uh you know reconsider the whole thing and take a closer look at it I have uh a paper I'd like to pass out it's a rebuttal to the U my questions about the pilot deal and and and maybe at the next session I'll bring uh that up but please uh reconsider Michelle's uh uh petition to you for that resolution thank you thank you Nick go ahead and just want to P that down come on up Bernie uh Bernie Clarkin uh today I'm here to talk about something which I think should be a simple thing a year ago parcion was awarded a $600,000 grant to complete the pathway or Trail around the parci reservoir I from what I understand there's already an unofficial path there but this is something that would make it much more accessible safer and everything else you could ask for every other major reservoir in North Jersey has a hiking trail around it because I've hiked them all and I I happen to like hiking but this is great for paron at the time Mary you were quoted as saying this is a great idea and you were for the grant and for developing the trail so a year has gone by and I'm just here number one to ask you what progress if any has been made on developing the trail and if the answer is none then my followup question is well what's going on when can we get it done and by the way I did call up Mars County Park commission just out of cure osity and they claim to have nothing to do with this you know so I'd appreciate your feedback on that okay thank you first they they do have a lot to do with it but that's beside the point with regards to that um we had a um a hearing with them last year sometime complimentary uh with regards to moving forward yes I am in favor of it um but it's not the township that's doing it uh we're not we're not the ones that are going to be making the trails it's going going to be the uh the county is I think if I'm correct and most of responsibility is going to fall on the county um I'll follow up with them um I've spoke with FN Finn Wentworth who's really spearheaded this along with um I don't know if you know who Mr Frankl is uh but he's another one and we have a lot of those that contributed to this um so yes we're we want to move forward with it but um there is you know we're not the ones that are building the path so what I'll do is like I said I will contact the County myself and I'll speak to uh M I think it's Mr Helmer thank you H it's also the jcm huh JC mua good evening Mr Mayor and Town Council Members my name is pryani and I reside in the greater Glenmont Community uh the purpose of our visit again is to understand the status of the roads being taken over by the township so we are nearly 6 months out since we the Glen Mount Town Home Association provided the amended HOA bylaws to the township the passing of the bylaws only covered the roads around the town homes and not the roads associate with the single family homes for the township attorney to suggest otherwise is beyond my comprehension any a person with or without a law degree would know and understand the basic governance principle single family homeowners do not contribute to the HOA their consent and approval was not sought when the HOA amended its bylaws in our meeting with the council in October we were reminded that it only took the community about 2 years to get back the amended bylaws to the township however you got to realize we are about 265 Town Homes owners so to try to get everybody on the same page to some time here we have two parties the township and the Builder and 6 months later we've not even had a conversation which is surprising I would also like to remind the town that there was an engineering punch list which was done in the year 2010 which identified that the roads built around the community were not according to Township standards why we are here is because 14 you know because no work was done when it would needed to be done so turned over and then finally in the meeting that we had on February 6 the Town Council asked the rhetorical question how is it fair for the town to fix our roads where they do not even belong to the town so let me ask this question how is it fair for the town to collect taxes from us if it doesn't intend to maintain the roads that belong to the town homes or around the single family homes if the town doesn't intend to take over the roads then perhaps the town should look to make the community whole in fixing the roads to the town standards and then give give us a tax rebate on uh on the property taxes that we pay on a yearly basis we as a community will then take over the responsibility of the roads covering the community based upon the Township's own cost estimate done a few years ago the cost of repairs would be in the neighborhood of about $2.4 million having the issue delayed makes the cost increase on a daily basis the township is effectively having an unfunded liability and the cost keep on increasing to the mayor and the council myself and there are a lot of us around here just want to know what the status of the project is I know Paul mentioned something to the fact that you were planning on coming over but a lot of times action goes further than words thank you for your time you want to respond to that sure please so I I I won't respond to the insults about anybody could read Because quite frankly I've poured over mountains of documents that have come from the township and I've looked at the homeowner association's own documents so I think there's a fundamental thing that people are missing and that is the fact that you to to accept roadways there has to be an affirmative act on behalf of the township so by ordinance there is no ordinance that accepted these roads there was three roads in the development three short ones over to the right I can't remember the name of them but they're in my memo that I sent to the council which if the council's okay with it and the May's okay with it we can share with the residents of Glenmont but the hoa's own documents say that the roads sidewalks driveways everything is their responsibility that they own them later on in those same documents and these are filed at the county so any one of you can go get them and see a copy of it as a matter of fact I'll read you the quote article 11 titled restriction section 12 stated unequivocally that all roadways within the development shall remain private and shall not be dedicated to the township of parcion Troy Hills so for the 20 years or so that those roads have haven't been maintained they were the responsibility of the homeowners association now why the homeowners association one other thing take a step back those same documents that are filed have a map attached to them which is a survey of the entire Glenmont development and says these are the roads and the common areas so just looking at the document you know I can read it shows that all of the roads in there I would also note that you can't get to the single family homes without crossing the homeowners association roads so there is nothing in the record to suggest anything other than either the homeowners responsible homeowners association responsible for those roads or the developer may be responsible for those roads but as of right now the town has not accepted them now we can all agree that those roads are in terrible shapes and the mayor and the council president met with a couple of the residents I guess some of them are here uh back in October and we said look here's the plan we're going to sit down with the developer and see if they'll contribute some I've been in contact with the home owners association's attorney uh probably at least five times talking about the progress or lack thereof and I think as I said at the last meeting we asked for a meeting with a developer in November December January and then we were supposed to have a meeting February 13th which was the day of the snowstorm and the developer canceled the meeting so we're waiting for new dates but the mayor and Council are trying to do everything they can to come to a solution I know it's not quick enough for the residents there I know the roads are in bad shape as a matter of fact I received an email today that said understand you had a great meeting on the 13th and that you got all the documents you need to show that the town accepted the roads and I said well that's funny because there was never a meeting because the developer canceled it so I'm not here to argue with the residents of Glenmont I know you're dealing with a difficult situation up there but we're trying to do the best we can but those roads have been not maintained for 20 years or so and they're in terrible shape and the fact of the matter is we had an estimate from our engineer that was done I think two years ago and the number was $3.1 Million to bring those roads up to town standard so that the town could then take those over and again it you know I I understand how the owners of the single family homes feel but that's the situation so I'd love to tell you what you want to hear but that's the situation that we have you can you can I'm sorry there's no speaking from the public if you'd like or more than welcome to come up to the mic [Music] vij Pancham I've been here before and I'm also the homeowner in single family homes when we came here 4 months back the road condition was bad right now it's worst every Poole on that section of season Glen that's touching Summer Hill it's three times as wide three times as deep it's it's really nightmare driving through that section my kids are driving on it people are trying to avoid those po holds and uh an incident is just waiting to happen because everybody wants to go to the small section of the road where there are no portoles and two sides traffic cannot go through it right so 4 months I understand you're trying to set up a meeting with the builder for town to not have a meeting with a builder who is doing most of the business in the town for 4 months you you really want us to buy that argument and if we have waited 4 months I don't know how long more we're going to hear the same repeat answer we are trying to set up a meeting with a builder Builder is not available we have reached out to their attorney doesn't town has any power to make that happen I'm sure all of you probably has a builder's contact as well and you talk to Builder all the time we have a residents coming here you know every 14 days whenever you have these meeting come and drive through those roads right I'm paying full property tax and to get this kind of answer that okay this will get resolved at some point in time no every day every snowstorm that section of the road is becoming worse come and see what happened with the last snowstorm drive through it tomorrow and then we can come and talk in 2 weeks here right to not have any action and and make us suffer like this when I'm paying the full property tax it's unacceptable you guys are working for us right I need better answers I cannot keep coming here every 14 days to just hear the same PS that's what I'm hearing are are you going to your homeowners association meetings are you talking to them about this I'm not a homeowners asso I'm a single family homeowner I have nothing to do with homeowners association why should I go there okay so at this point I just they own the roads I don't care who they are why should I care I excuse me excuse me we don't want to back and forth everyone I'm going to ask everyone from the de to please at this point let the gentleman speak and give him his 5 minutes and once he's done we'll ask him to take a seat you guys want family homeowner all right I do not pay any HOA dues on my single family home why do you think I should deal with them because they own the roads I don't care they own the road I'm paying the taxes I'm paying taxes to the town you guys are not giving me any discount right I'm paying full property taxes almost $177,000 every year what am I getting police fire not enough not enough give me $5,000 discount on my property tax I'll take care of my roads all right I request because this is really frustrating there are people here coming every two weeks and you have to see the amount of upro that is happening within our community all right it's not helping anybody definitely not going to help you it's not helping us so please I request I beg please do something about it because this is unbearable situation I don't want my daughter to get into an accident because of that stupid road nobody fixed it at least you can do the patch work look from the safety angle forget about the ownership of the road come and fix it so that atast we can drive through it it's a safety concern people are walking over it and people are trying to avoid somebody's going to hit a pedestrian any any day more um just so you know we're setting up a crew to go through all that whole area with regards to the poth holes and we're going to Harum um I I spoke to the DP DPW director today with regards to that I received a few emails mayor before you finish the J are you finished sir I'm finished okay if you can just take a seat but go ahead man yes so we're going to be sending up a crew up there to look at uh the are start with the worst areas and Patch them up with regards to which roads are the worst and we're going to do in a cycle um so I just want to let you know that was that was handled this morning um listen I I feel your frustration and I go up there I see the roads I drive through them they're horrible there's no doubt about it they're they're in such bad shape it's it's and you know I know we're going back to see who's responsible who's not responsible the fact of the matter is and you know and I've been doing this since 2010 and I've and it wasn't as bad as it is now but there's some culpability in in my opinion and it's only making an opinion an assumption that the previous owner which would be the veler has some responsibility here um we have been trying to get the meeting with them and they have been not so receptive and and you can figure out why um but um I I told the township attorney today I want a meeting as fast as possible um the roads are bad guys I I can't I can't even say I can't not feel Fe you cuz we're bad and um something has to be done we we have to figure this out um and we're trying we're trying our best and although we don't own the roads if there's a pathway that we can help out we want to do that it's going to take a little bit more time uh a little more patience um on both parts your part and our part as well um because I I've been up there I I drove up there last weekend they're horrible there's no other way to put it there's such bad shape it's it's really disappointing for me so it's tomorrow morning the crew is going to go up they're going to look around and they're going to decide and you know they're going to meet with the VA myself and start patching up and repairing so I I and I know you you've been going through this for who knows how long I mean and I know it's it's got to be painstaking I know it's frustrating um but we have a you know we have rules and regulations that we have to follow when it comes to property that we don't own uh but we are you know we plow it um you know we need to get emergency Vehicles up there as well so I will tell you this we're we're on it and um although the the wheel seems to go slow and sometimes it does I can tell you right now that the um attorney has been trying to get a meeting with them and we're going to have that meeting very shortly if they don't want to have them with us then then we're going to take other avenues as well so I I Shar in your frustration you thank you mayor you know too I I drove up I drove up there the other day too and they're even worse than than when we went up there and we' met I right I I I saw it they're they're worse than they were a few months ago um and that's you know that's why the mayor's going to send a crew up there to at least start making those you know filling those potholes and and trying to do the best that we can while this is still going on and and like you said I mean we saw we saw how bad they are I know Matt Mr McGrath was up there with me too you know we we saw it um so we're going to try hopefully we can patch those up while this is still going on but like the attorney Our Town attorney said we've been trying to get that meeting set up since back then right after we had that meeting so just one thing well we can't sorry man if you want to tell one of these gentleman to say it or I agree with you that the patchwork is what we need immediately well we're going to get that done thank you [Music] you can you can submit those to me thank you hello mayor and all council members and Council uh my name is balaa I'm Again part of the GL community and you keep clearing the same thing and I would like to clear sir can you just talk a little there's gentleman in the back said he can't hear you I would like to clear off one of the misconception what township attorney has we single family owners okay any any contract any agreement it should be signed between two parties okay so if single family homeowners they have to sign some agreement with the developer then that becomes a contract single family 150 houses we have not signed any agreement any contract any statement we don't even pay a HOA if a person pays a ho then you may say like well paying the H there may be some classes we are not paying anything when we bought the house there is no involvement of the HOA so please clear off that misconception that HOA owns the road of the single family homes you don't you don't have to be a member of the association for them to own those roads the only legal documents that are filed and if you guys have something different I'd be happy to read it the file documents say the homeowner association owns the roads I understand the roads go through where the town homes are and then extend out but they have a map attached to their filing that shows a survey that shows every neighborhood in that development so I agree with you you don't have to be a member of the HOA for them to own your roads but until somebody shows us something different the town hasn't accepted them and it's either the HOA owns those roads or the developer owns the roads but I I know the town doesn't own the roads but can it just put anything on the paper and they can say that it's their Ro yeah okay I'll let you finish okay so that's the first thing and second thing as our team members requested yes if the township has no control on the roads like a anchor program anchor rebate program how the New Jersey state law does it I mean if we pay almost $5 million property tax give us a 50% rebate for the next 2 years we will take care of the road we will make sure the roads are up to the New Jersey or parip Township standards and then we will hand over to the township and then you can clear off that is the second alternative what we think we can make it work and third option what as earlier team members said uh please make an emergency repair for all the roads it will help all of our neighborhood uh and it could be a good help and we are all taxpaying citizens we are doing our best and I would appreciate everyone's help on that thank you thank [Music] you [Music] um good evening Mr Mayor uh and the council members Mr Mayor thank you very much for uh going out of the way and helping us out I'm from Glenmont as well I'll keep it short I just have a couple of questions uh for the township attorney you read out that Clause where it seems it says very clearly that HOA owns the driveways and the streets all of that just a a couple of questions why was the township engineer issuing punch list in 2010 why was the road why were the roads being inspected in that case cuz the roads why in 2015 when the HOA was putting up common area lighting were we asked to furnish a bond if it was our own Road can you are you done with your questions okay so when they when those developments get approved there's still a standard that the road has to be built to whether the town ship's going to take it whether the homeowner Association is going to keep it it doesn't matter it's got to be built to this to the standard so a punch list item doesn't mean anything as far as who owns it all it means is when this was approved it's supposed to be built to town standards there are standards by ordinance there's also the residential site Improvement standards that roads have to be built to so anytime of development is constructed in town they want to make sure they're built to those standards so that's the answer so the punch list and again if you if if any of you folks have information to the contrary I'd be happy to read I'm just telling you what's in the public record so I I I do want to say I know you guys are eager to speak in the event uh unfortunately it's only a one time right every meeting if you'd like to you know ask followup questions you're more than welcome to stay after the meeting I'm sure they'll be available and and you can ask those questions I do apologize for limiting you guys but that's just the procedure I'm sorry you you'll have to ask it after the meeting Ahad answer that because the same for the same reason the lights you probably had a lighting plan that showed you putting these lights up the town wants to make sure that they're put up to the standard and that the lights that are supposed to go up are put up so that doesn't again there has to be an affirmative acceptance by the township by ordinance of roadways so it doesn't exist like like I said if anybody has anything to the contrary be happy to look at it but they don't exist so thank you Mr [Music] Ry [Music] hello uh this is vami pundla I live in 71 Summer Hill Drive mot Plains part of Glenmont Community thank you Mr Mayor and thank you council members who drove through the roads and share share the empathy about what we are going through in everyday basis um while the patchwork is done that is absolutely and exactly that it's just a patchwork right we defin need a permanent solution for this and here are my thoughts on this uh the if you look at the sequence I believe that we do everything according to planning board approval as for the planning board approved plans those roads are all public roads supposed to be dedicated to the town post the construction complete now that did not happen and the developer has posted the bond with the town to meet the performance obligations of that construction and unfortunately those Bonds were allowed to be expired I believe that is Town's fault I'm not saying the current Administration or current uh members are part of that but it did happen somebody allowed the performance B bonds to be expired and had those bonds been posted and they they've been maintained without allowing those bonds to expire and become bankrupt the company to become bankrupt town would have per perhaps got the funds if the Builder or developer is not ready to complete the work to fix it and take over the roads that's number one key point and the second key point is I believe that town has emminent domain for the safety of the residents to enforce a developer to complete the project even if the current business entity that is that already completed the construction sold of the homes and might be not having any funds to go and fix it as who is uh running that entity right now so I believe that town has extraordinary powers in the in this case uh to to do something uh in the interest of the community and finally um Mr ly you were asking about the documents all those documents that were provided by the Oprah has this information that this is a according to the planning documents it is approved uh uh it it has been uh it those roads have been designated as public roads and last point which my colleagues tried to spell and I don't think they they could do it the way I was about to tell yes the HOA documents the they were originally they also called those roads as the ho own roads but there were no listing of the roads specifically given and as for the that that definitely caused the ambiguity yes they put the file they put the map everything but they didn't list every Road in the entire Glenmont part one part two and part three and last but not the least all the even the HOA Community uh uh got registered all those homes are uh they are uh planned Urban Development which means they are Fe simple Community just like other constructions that we see here they're not condos where all these roads are owned by the uh Association the roofs are not owned by the Association the front and backyards of the homes are not owned by the association association owned only certain common areas including a road that leads into a swimming pool and that is what we believe was the intent of uh filing that with that uh with that ambiguity however when the town the previous administration under previous mayor U before his tenure was ending he sent a note to the association to fix the um the documents the governing documents and the association of according to that advice went ahead and fixed those and now if you somebody goes and looks at the council sorry County records you will find that the HOA is not owning the roads as of today so there was an ambiguity for a period of time which got remediated by the HOA now I think uh we need to come together between the administration and between the development uh developer uh entity whatever the entity that whatever funds they have we to work with them and then we need to find a solution for this this is my my position on this thank you thank you sir anyone want to respond or J respond that go so first of all that gentleman is correct there were performance bonds that were posted I think it was Frontier insurance company that went bankrupt so and there is no believe it or not there's no fund that the state that covers that if a bond company goes bankrupt which I was surprised at but he this this is a copy of the map that's that's on file with the county and that shows every Road in Glenmont and the entire development so if that was an error just so you know that's the map that's on file also just because they amended the only thing the homeowners association did was amend their covenants and declarations to say that they could donate the roads to the town doesn't mean they don't own them they still own them so all they did was I guess two years ago somebody discovered that hey we've got this prohibition that we can't turn these over to the town if we wanted to so that's what they amended they just amended it so they have the ability to dedicate them to the town it doesn't mean that they don't have responsibility for them and it certainly doesn't mean that the town accepted them and again I'm not being argumentative I just want to you know you said some stuff that I agree with I know when we met you know you provided copies of the planning board resolutions and there were resolutions that said you know they the roads were to be donated to the town but that's not what the file documents say so and again listen I wish I had documentation that said the town owned them and then it would make everybody happy well wouldn't make the coun you know the taxpayers happy but you understand what I'm saying is I got to go by what's on file and what we have and we had a meeting we discussed it if if somebody has any other information I'd be happy to review it and then advise the mayor counsel so thank you Mr ly um anyone else from the public would like to speak come on up [Music] sir hello hello everyone yeah um I'm really getting sick and tired of I'm sorry oh sorry uh my name is JP and I live in the Glen area in the single family home nothing to do with any HOA whatever technical issue is there and I'm really getting tired of hearing the same thing okay maybe there are some good things that I heard but just the watch does not really help us so before we go out today can you get some concrete plan like one number one that is really troubling is a meeting between the township and the developer is not happening for now it is like last in last November we had a meeting with the mayor and he said he is going to pursue this now it is 4 months right so the question is can you give us a date now a concrete date by which it has to happen and if it doesn't happen then what please tell us what will happen if the developer does not come you set a date and developer doesn't come so then what I mean can they just go away without doing anything if there is a 2.4 million or whatever uh amount that is needed and somebody did not do it isn't there stealing isn't there any law can you not grab them and do let them do this work uh please give us a concrete thing like when this can happen by which date you set a deadline that within this right if the developer does not meet us we have to do something and what is that thing please let us know today and also for the patchwork if you can please give us a date because without the date I mean it's just happening the same thing we come every 2 weeks and you hear the same thing so I think this cannot go forever so please give us some dates I you I can respond to that first of all you can just leave that on the table sir it's okay oh just one more thing uh I I see a lot of uh back and forth with a and some of our friends can you have one place where you just talk without like because there rule here is somebody comes here and cannot say anything else after they are done once so can we have a face to face meeting and resolve this uh maybe within this week thank you sir all right so obviously we only control one half of the equation which is the township side of the equation right so if the developer doesn't respond or doesn't meet with us I'm not going to go into because this is a public meeting all the things that could happen after that but I will certainly have a recommendation to make to the mayor and councel if the developer doesn't meet we did have a meeting scheduled for the 13th um obviously we had a snowstorm that day so even though they canceled it um you know I can't say that that was unreasonable but I can't give you a date but I can tell you that if the developer refuses to meet with us and by the way I just want to point out that the township is the only party doing anything in all like I talked to the homeowners association's attorney they're the ones that legally seem to own the roads so you think that other people would be and certainly the single family homeowners you have every right to file something against the developer as well the town is trying to do what it can but I can't get the developer in a headlock and force them to show up for a meeting if they don't meet with us then I will make recommendations to the mayor and Council and then they'll ultimately make a decision but I don't want to air out what the possibilities [Music] are understood but that's between me and the CL and I don't want to air that out in public so that the developer we Telegraph what we may or may not do so and I I'm sure you can understand that anyone else from the public would like to come up and speak or more than welcome to going once I'm going twice okay motion to close the public hearing second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr negly a roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr yes okay moving on to consent agenda be resolved all items listed with an asct are considered routine and noncontroversial by the township Council will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member so requests in which case the the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda please make a motion second second second okay second by Miss Hernandez okay roll call M Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes okay consent agenda is approved moving on to the approval of minutes may I please have a motion to approve the minutes above make a motion can I get a second second second by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr Ki yes okay moving along to presentation and reports mayor yeah real quick council president just so know tomorrow night at the library um the Citizens Watch grp is having a meeting and the reason why I'm bringing this up is the mere fact that and I checked with the attorney we can't have more than two council members there so you would have to select who you would want to go because it would be a quorum uh because it's in a public building as well so that would be strictly up to you who you would like to go to the meeting on that um on um February 8th I just want to know I made police promotions that were actually way way overdue we didn't make promotions with the guards cuz our police force was pretty much completed but now we're starting to beef it back up so it was a really good day I so um Captain Brian D was promoted to deputy chief Sergeant Brian Conover and sergeant jaeki and Sergeant um Luke kigan and uh Sergeant George sedes were all promoted to Lieutenant and detective Jess I can never say the guy's name pinu and Officer Jason ferer will promoted to Sergeant this is um we are in the process of building our Police Department back up uh we're still right now at 95 we should try to get to 103 106 in that area there that will that'll pretty much solidify where we need to be even though ordinance says 113 police officers we've been able to man very successfully with 106 um when I was mayor previous viously and one of the reasons why we need to do this is because we're getting too far behind if we don't start replenishing our police force we're never going to catch up ever um so with that being said I want to congratulate those individuals as well also I got to tell you on February 9th was a really touching day um on uh we attended the night to shine and the night to shine is a PR at Liquid Church it's a night to sh sponsor by the T the Tim TBO foundation and there's a complimentary event for the people with special needs it's really really touching if you want to go on my Instagram page and my Facebook page you can scroll down and see what took place at that time it's really really heartwarming and I thank uh liquid church and the Tim TBO foundation for including Pary it's volunteers it's our our police force and all EMS in um participating um with that the budget um so councilman kifi I'm going to you got to send me dates cuz I'm here all day and so Jame Jamie and I would like to meet as soon as we can I would love to get this budget approved by April if we could so and you decide would would when you want to have the meetings with the residents it could be any night you want or it could be on a weekend that's strictly up to you so uh you and uh coun Council vice president uh contact our office and see what Ty dates are good to meet with the finance committee that's all I have for today thank you thank you mayor Town Council anyone from Township Council oh you like all committee reports uh you we can go to committee reports absolutely Mr Hernandez all right I met with the um environmental committee again um on well last week and they're moving forward with their tree ordinance and they have an event that's I'm sorry you can't hear me back there right is this better okay yes so I met last week with the environmental committee we're having event like a green public education thing that we they asked if the town would want to be involved the pity environmental chair also asked if you wanted them to be involved with any flooding issues that we might be exploring with the recent storms in our town and a lot of people that are suffering for that and um I think that's about it I also met last week with the traffic um committee and we just got to know each other and and I look forward to meeting with them again that's about it thank you Mr Hernandez anyone else from the council okay yes yeah say so go committee uh going to read for the economic development committee so the econom economic development team and mayor James barbaria will extend their congratulations and officially inaugurate the new business moris golf shop located at 96 North beverick Road join us for the celebration on Thursday February 22nd at 11:00 a.m. and please feel free to welcome to to attend it's open to the public the next meeting of the economic development committee is on Thursday March 21st at 6:30 p.m. at 90 East Hy Road Third Floor conference room please note this is a change of date the public is invited please RSVP with chairman Frank kahill at 973-559-6787 Economic Development Authority to offer several grants tailored for local companies these grants aim to assist businesses and offsetting Lease expenses for new or extra space ranging from 250 to 10,000 square ft at street level and furthermore there's a provision of $5,000 to $50,000 to reimburse business Proprietors for expenses linked to Interior or exterior enhancements in the acquisition and installation of new furniture fixtures and Equipment as you know we're doing a lot on North beverick incredible opportunity uh highly recommend you reach out to Frank kill again phone number is [Music] 973-559-6787 [Music] Okay C attorney uh no report this evening business administrator thank you thank you council president I just real quickly wanted to uh mention uh also pass along my congratulations to the police officers who were promoted um all seven of them are great men uh who work hard for uh you to keep you safe um are police force is the best in the state um they care about what they're doing and they're doing their absolute best uh showing um their good work uh through a promotion is something that is um uh very Justified and something that's you know should be congratulated uh there's a number of openings that the township has um and they're listed on the website um one of them in particular is for uh an administrative assistant in my office uh Susan P who has uh served the township very well over the last uh 5 years uh in the mayor's office with mayor Sano in u the police chief's office and now in the business administrator's office so three difficult offices where you're handling important uh items for the residents and sometimes dealing with people who are not very happy um she handled herself with uh uh Grace and uh uh really looked out for the residents and she will be missed um we thank her for her service that's all I have I don't have a report at this time engineering report or uh I'll go ahead and read that uh 2021 Road resurfacing curb and sidewalk program the annual Road resurfacing curb and sidewalk projects on whole pending legal negotiations with the contractor no councel action required Raa River flood wall Levy inspection our consultant is working on preparing design details and a cost estimate for the maintenance and repair work to the flood wall and Levy recent site inspections were made to Aid the design of the repairs once the design and necessary uh permitting is complete the project will be advertised for bid no cancel action required North beverick Road streetscape Project phase one the first phase of the north beverick streetscape uh was awarded once contracts are executed a pre-construction meeting will be scheduled in the construction schedule provided no councel action required drum line drive stream cleaning njd permits have been issued for this project our consultant is finishing the design and we intend to put the bid we intend to bid the project in the next few months no counsel action required putting Stone Heights Road Improvement project phase two the second phase of putting Stone Heights Road improvements project is in designed we anticipate bidding the project early next year no C action required Jefferson Road improvements the njd permits and construction plans for the New Jersey for the Jefferson Road Project are in designed permit applications and plan will be sent to the njd the project will be bid once njd permits have been issued no council action required Lake Intervale area Street improvements the first phase of the lake Intervale area Street improvements project is in designed we anticipate bidding this project in March 2024 no council action required silven way uh Culvert improvements we're working with our design professionals on the prep preparation of the plans and the njd perit application we anticipate bidding this project in 2024 no council action required Edward Edward rad improvements phase two second phase of Edwards Road Improvement project between Route 46 and new road is in design we anticipate bidding this project in March 2024 no counil action required North beverick Road streetscape Project phase two the second phase of the North beverick Road streetscape is in design we anticipate bidding this project in May 20124 no council action required emergency declaration East heading wall collapse the request for an emergency purchase to reconstruct the collapse retaining wall on East heading Place price quotes have been solicited and reconstruction can begin once wall materials have been secure a resolution will need to be adopted by the council replacing off fence in the public right of way 84 Hamburg Road um block 240 loot 10 this office reviewed and has no objection to um this office has re this office reviewed and has no objection to replacement of offense in the public right of way resolution Le to be adopted by Council roadway design projects the following projects are designed or proposals have been requested Mount tabber Street improvements phase 8 Troy Brook stream cleaning silven way sidewalk improvements River and stream D snagging plans and permits Anon road traffic study no council action required moving on to ordinances first reading ordinance 20242 an ordinance establishing 2024 salary ranges be it resolved that the above ordinance being introduced right by title and pass on first reading at a meeting of the township Council of Township or Troy Hills held on February 20th 2024 and that set ordinance be further considered for second reading in final passage at a meeting to be held on March 19 2024 7:00 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in said town at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance beat further resolve that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction there of being published in the official newspaper according the law can I please have a motion motion second motion made by Mr neglia and seconded by Mr muella roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr Ki yes motion passes ordinance 20243 in ordinance of the township Council the township proci try Hills County of Mo state of New Jersey amending and supplementing chapter 290 parks recreation areas and public lands article one Motor Vehicles fees section 2904 No Country Club utility fees and chapter a445 pleas compilation section a445 d37 No Country Club utility of the utility of the code of the township of Morris Troy pcip Troy Hills in the county of Morris New Jersey be it resolved that the above ordance being new read by title and pass on first reading of the meeting of the township council at township P Troy Hills held on February 20th 2024 and that saids be further considered for second reading and final passage meeting to be held on March 5th 2024 at 7:00 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given an opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be further resolved that the clerks be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to the law can I please have a motion motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by M Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mel yes Mr neglia yes and uh Mr Ki yes okay motion passes ordinance 20244 Bond orders providing for various 2024 Capital Improvements for the township or sip try Hills in the county of morris state of New Jersey appropriating of 4,200,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $4 million bonds or notes of the town to finance part of the cost thereof be it resolved that the above ordinance be introduced read by title and passed on first reading at a meeting of the township Council of Township cipy Troy Hills held on February 20 2024 and that said ordinance be further considered for second reading and final passage at a meeting to be held on March 19th 2024 at 7 p.m. prevailing time or soon thereafter as the matter may be reached at the municipal building in set Township at which time all persons interested shall be given the opportunity to be heard concerning set ordinance be further resolve that the clerk be authorized and directed to advertise set ordinance with the notice of introduction thereof being published in the official newspaper according to law may I please have a motion motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr M uh Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr Ki yes motion passes at this time just give me one second before I move on to the consent agenda I just need to confirm something here okay so um to answer the question uh for Resolutions number 2024 [Music] 25 so so 2024 25 26 and 27 also 28 and 29 are discussing are discussing the um9 the pool of candidates for the 5year period so we're not actually pointing anyone specifically it's just it's just setting up a pool of candidates that we can pick from uh what we can do at this time is we can table them until we further discuss with the council and administration and then we could move on to um to approving the others need a motion to table them we'll go ahead and table them you got to table them so we'll do a motion to table 24 to 30 okay motion to table can I get a motion to table resolutions 24 4 to um 230 please motion okay to table to 30 yes 24 to 30 motion made by Mr neglia can I get a second second second by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr Mella yes Mr McGrath yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes okay motion passes so we're going to go ahead and jump to number8 R 2024 31 authorizing the order contract for Professional Services to Michael Lavery Esq of the firm Lavery sagia braminus and Cohen as Township attorney for uh 2024 can I get a motion motion second motion was made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Michelle seconded by okay roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr muella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr Ki yes okay motion passes thank you congratulations uh R 2024 32 authorizing the water a contracts for Professional Services to John Paul valz and Alonso Deo as public defenders for the 2024 year can I get a motion motion second motion made by Mr Hernandez seconded by uh Mr neglia roll call Mr herandez yes Mr uh Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr kifi yes motion passes R 202 24-33 authorizing the award of contracts for Professional Services to Monica Madden Esq of the law firm Madden and Madden and to Lisa Thompson of the law firm Mason Thompson as Municipal prosecutors can I get a motion to approve the resolution above motion take it a second second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia Mr Ki yes r224 d34 Award of contract tachia for Professional Services Township auditor motion to approve motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr Hernandez Mr McGrath Mr Mella Mr neglia Mr kifi yes motion passes r224 d35 Award of contract to Fair viiew Insurance Agency as broker of record and risk manager for 2024 motion motion second second motion made by Mr uh negas seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia and Mr kifi yes motion passes r224 d36 Award of contract to DNH alternative resolutions for insurance services to provide an administration of claim claims processing for workers compensation for the 2024 year can I get a motion motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Mella roll call M Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes Mr Ki yes Award of contracts for professional uh Financial engineering environmental architectural appraisal archaeological housing and planning services for the 2024 year can I get a motion motion motion by Mr Hernandez second by Mr McGrath yes sir Mr Fernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr michella yes Mr negia yes Mr kifi Mr K yes r224 d38 -38 Award of contract to Millennium strategies LLC as Grant consultants for the 2024 year motion to approve resolution motion second second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr McGrath roll call Mr herandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and uh Mr Ki yes okay moving along approval of payroll and bills list CFO Leonard ho recommends authorization for payment number one authorizes payment of the February 16th 2024 regular miscellaneous payroll estimated at 1 million 650,000 number two payment of bills for voucher list of 21524 through 217 which is 2,859 can I have a motion to approve the authorization for payment motion second motion made by Mr neglia seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and Mr kifi yes um just real quick if anybody is interested in attending out of all the council members to make it fair tomorrow um just let Ked know by 10:00 and then uh is that okay if we let you know by 10 and then by 12 you can we'll pull the names out of a hat to make it fair CU if everybody wants to go it's the fairest way to do it so okay okay no problem so just let him know by 10 by 10 a.m. tomorrow is that okay by 10:00 and then you can let everybody know by 12:00 who's going we're going to pull out of a hat so okay make Fair since if everyone wants to go you got it since there's only two of us can go okay with that being said could I have a motion to adjourn the meeting make a motion second motion made by Mr Mella seconded by Mr Hernandez roll call Mr Hernandez yes Mr McGrath yes Mr Mella yes Mr neglia yes and uh Mr Ki yes we are Jour to have a great night