Philipsburg Town council meeting July 24th 2024 Council vice president would you please read the open public meeting act statement this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of July 24th 2024 was included in a list of meeting notices sent to the newspapers of record and posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as required notices under the Statute in addition a copy of this notice has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal clerk everyone please rise aledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Council scura would you please do an invocation Lord we are meeting today to conduct matters of business guide our hearts and our minds in a spirit of fairness right thought and speech impart your Supreme wisdom upon our activities so that our Affairs May reach a successful conclusion thank you for being our source of guidance today amen amen at this time I'd like to have a moment of silence for our first elective former mayor Gloria Decker who was involved in a lot of civic duty she passed away so we please have a moment of silence thank you everyone at this time Susan roll call please councilman Clark here councilman Kennedy here councilman scuro here Council vice president paace here council president Marino here at this time we're going to go into executive session Council for the purposes of personnel no action is going to be taken when we resume we'll be in executive for uh hopefully no more than 5 minutes motion so move second second roll call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president fallace yes council president Marino [Music] yes please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes counc yes Council vice president yes council president Marino yes Bill's list please counc president uh as was noted by the public we were not in executive session for 5 minutes we were in executive session for 42 minutes during which time we actually discussed two matters one personel and another contractual matter regarding Walter's Park but no action was taken now we can move forward sir yes thanks sir bills list please regular bills list as a of July 24th 2024 1,893 63511 the prepaid Bill list is $322,200 for Grant total of 2,257 6715 motion please so move second second any discussion on the bills seeing none hearing none Mo V please councilman CLK yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman skuro yes Council vice president PA yes council president Marino yes on the minutes June 26 2024 executive session minutes and there's a typo on the July it's supposed to be July 10th 2024 regular session minutes July 10th 2024 executive session minutes motion second any comments see n v call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman Scerbo yes Council vice president paace yes to June 26 abstain from both for July 10th council president Marino yes okay public discussion on agenda I items [Music] only Joe one excuse me 145 145 uh I tried to I had time and 40 extra minutes to try to figure it out laugh at the jokes excuse me Joe one minute okay we're in executive session so long Okay resolution 2024 d145 and resolution 2024 d146 we're pulling from the agenda tonight until the next meeting wonderful my I my question was I really wanted to understand what they said and it was amazingly confusing so I imagine we're going to solve that problem between now and next week okay anyone else see you not here none ordinances for the second reading ordinates ordinance of the town of filisur County of Warren state of New Jersey amending chapter S entitled background checks board commission or committee members of the code of the town of Philipsburg regarding background checks now entitled background checks need a motion in a second motion second okay now we open the second reading to the public anyone wants to come up state your name okay seeing none call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president dallace yes council president Marino yes ordinances for first reading ordinance 20 24-17 ordinance amending ordinance 20 24-02 establishing the Sal range for certain officers and employees of the town of Philipsburg a second reading of public hearing on this will be August 14th 2024 at 6: p.m. at which time all interested parties may speak for or against said ordinance a motion so move second any discussion by Council roll call please councilman Clark yeah councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president bace yes council president Marino yes resolution on cons consent agenda matters listed on this consent agenda resolutions are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion of the council and one roll call vote there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member requests an item to be removed for consideration presid just to be clear for the record it's resolution 2024 141 through 144 144 I said the numbers no no okay any discussion on Council no motion we need a motion so move second second any discussion roll call councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman sco yes Council vice president PA yes council president Marino yes okay under old business we have the Housing Authority appointments effective this August 1st 2024 okay Council Clark any discussion under their old business uh no I'm good councilman Kennedy no I'm good councilman scuro I'm good for today Council vice president I have done quick meeting I have no okay under new Business Council youve seen the new fees from the land use board fee discussion any comments no seeing none move on hey motion special event permit for the Railroad Festival so move second any discussion roll call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president paus yes council president Marino yes public petitions state your name three minutes and Davis um this is the third meeting I'm going to ask the same question because I still haven't gotten an answer to it in the four weeks since I initially asked it in the town code for the anti-nepotism policy are we adhering to that when we're hiring people since I don't hire the people M do you have an answer to that yes okay CU there's a Facebook post that was put up by the town of felsburg which will prove otherwise um second question tax bills when are we getting them taxes are due in 6 days and nobody's gotten a bill so how are we supposed to come up with the money to pay the 11% tax increase you're throwing at us when we haven't gotten build yet the county just struck the tax rate last week uh they are being printed now and obviously there will be a um extension of the grace period so that communication have gone out already to people because people know their taxes are due August 1st and there's been nothing no tax no sewer bill no tax bill no nothing and no communication as to what's happening with them right no one's going to come and try to pay their taxes without a bill may do surprised senior citizens are regimented and they want to do it so that's an unfair statement to make you know we get a bill we pay it and there's no bill and they're doing well five dates now technically and no communication as to what's happening with them okay anyone else um Shah Barn 631 South Bay Street I just have a quick question the school year is almost here I wanted to know when are we going to get more crossing guards for the town of Philipsburg I know some areas there isn't crossing guards in fburg um the school district doesn't approve and they said that the town approved the crossing guards so I just want to know when are we get again more cross guards for the next school year okay Mr Barnes uh Captain ran Cena would you like to answer that question sure uh all the crossing routes all the walking routes are covered uh Crossing yards are not for bus stops so any place there's a bus stop the bus controls the intersection and we do not push uh crossing guards on those intersections that was done in the past however we have trouble Staffing uh the 15 don't quote me on the number 15 or 16 uh crossings that we have at this point uh so all the crossing are covered where it's deem necessary by the state okay cuz I know that South Main Street I live on South Main and the only crossing guard that I see is near wers Park yeah cuz there's everybody's bus okay there's not a walking route so at some point you could sit down uh you know we can look at the walking routs okay but other than that Crossing or school bus stops are not controlled by a Crossing order all right good that's all thank you oh is this part six part six Joe Miner uh Town Council rent control sixth lecture is this on the benefit of my plan uh uh the benefits of my plan are that there are no expensive overhead because there is no oversight board there is no bait and switch the only labor increases is the secretary of the inspection department must add a process to doe process that is already required by ordinance she must add a record of the intended rent increase to be flagged when the new lease is intered if the conflict occurs that she must issue a misdemeanor summons like a traffic ticket and as ordered by a computer program or in the case of a lie with the purpose of deception for personal gain as a pattern spe speci specified by computer program she must file a felony complaint to the district attorney one person and one program the tenant has no rate increase protection except that he knows one full lease ahead of time what his rent will be the landlord being an entrepreneur takes full risk of whatever befalls the environment he is an entrepreneur gambling on capital gains protected by rent it is perfect for nobody and better for everybody loopholes plugs other details arguments and counter arguments are available to anyone they are public record attachment to the council meeting of February 14th 2023 the body of The Proposal is is available to anyone it is public record attachment to the council meeting of October 18th 2019 Council and mayor have these records citizens who wish give me an accurate email address and I will email you the documents thank you thank you joh anyone else Randy pza here in Philipsburg uh I have just two questions um pertaining to a couple subjects that were brought up just a little ear just a little while ago number one when it comes to the taxes okay and the tax bills uh they haven't come out yet correct uh is this just for this quarter that's happening and you plan on getting them out on time every time every quarter after that yeah we just have to wait until the rate is by a can okay I got you so in other words right now if they want if people wanted to find out what their current tax bill is all they have to do is call City Hall they could do that short okay I just wanted uh second of all when it comes to nepotism I was told a long time ago that there's no law I mean Rich can correct me on this there's no law when it comes to nepotism on a local level but on a state and federal law level there is well the town does have an anti nepotism policy that's been codified so so that's a local policy that's just that we that we have enacted yes and we used that uh most recently with certain uh police hires okay um which was a recently enacted legislation to assist the police department in retaining and attracting uh officers without having to go through a competitive exam yeah um but I don't know the specifics of you know the instance regarding this particular netism okay that's all I have thanks thank you I just have a question here um what's all the uh stuff going on down at endover Mar school so um ovar School uh is like you know many sites in um billsburg uh had prior industrial activity so the reason that there were no uh that andore school was no longer being used as a school for children is because it was historic uh with the state terms historic fill um which is essentially Phill that was brought in from somewhere else um you know has low levels of contaminants there was also I believe a furnace operation there at one time um so it was determined by the state that um you know school children could no longer be there that's why the playground was removed um because they didn't want kids you know playing in the you know in the field there um but it was okay for you know adults to be there so you know use as an office building um so but eventually the state was going to um you know say Force but you know require that their contamination be addressed so the school district has undertaken remediation of the site uh which involves essentially scraping um I think one to two feet of soil off of the site removing it disposing of it and then bringing 1 to 2 ft of soil clean soil back onto the site so how many other schools that our kids are on or is that way uh none to my knowledge um I mean this was this was identified many years ago and that's that's when they moved the kids out um I I don't know how longor some schools where 20 years ago was brought up then and uh then councilman scuro and I were on maybe five years ago was brought up again at that price at that time was like 500,000 to remediate it now I hear it's 400,000 yeah so did we know this prior to letting our Police Department go there doesn't affect kids yeah so so essentially the the you know the issue is this like if you're inside the building obviously you're not contacting the soil underneath the building there's a foundation underneath of you um you know if you have children on the site there's a playground I mean kids are kids right like they're they're going to roll in the dirt they're going to eat the dirt they're going to you know do all these things um so that's why um you know I mean I don't think I mean Captain correct me if I'm wrong you guys don't eat the dirt or roll around it not usually so um so that's you know so now we're going to correct it now yes well and we we are not correcting it the school district is it's their property so I should bring this to the School District yeah you can I mean they're certainly going to have more information obviously they've been keeping us in the loop as in cesy okay all right thank you anyone else hearing none seeing none let's move on to council open time councilman Clark yes uh the only announcement I have I just want I'm very excited about the uh special event permit that was approved tonight for the rail road Festival as many folks know it's going into its third annual uh festival for this year it's a very exciting event for felsburg um so again I just want to thank Aaron Coleman who's been taking the lead on organizing this event each year um and I know PDA has been getting more involved with it as well uh so thank you all for helping support that and again it's on September 14th I encourage everyone to come out and I've shared personally to the E city of Easton to try to encourage some of their residents to also come visit the town of Philipsburg and learn more about our uh history of the railroad so that's all I have thank you m councilman councilman Kennedy yeah I'm the uh council rep uh to the school board and there was a school board meeting this past Monday I wanted to go over a couple of the highlights uh first and foremost the Bloomsbury school board has decided to leave the Philipsburg School District um it doesn't involve a lot of students and this was uh the decision of the Bloomsbury School Board um the billsburg school board you know Express their regrets about this decision but uh that's that um the my my understanding that uh the Bloomsbury students who are currently in filbur high school will be allowed to finish filbur High School uh next uh item of business Amy Fontana was voted as Acting Superintendent for the 2024 or 2024 25 school year uh Rael laforgia the principal at the middle school is moving to principal at the filbur primary school assistant principal stillo at philb high school is moving to interim uh principal at the middle school and uh Dr Troxel said he will actively seek to fill any vacant positions that are uh came about as a result of these Personnel moves and superintendent Troxel also was voted a a five-year contract beginning this year uh lastly I had the pleasure of being a mystery reader at uh a couple of the playgrounds today I've read to to kids at uh Delaware Heights and at the housing authority and uh I know uh council president Marino read the kids at the Green Street I believe Green Street Green Street and mayor pza read the kids at walers Park so uh it it was uh you know good to show kids that how much uh how how reading is important in their lives and uh it was great to take part in that thank you thank you councilman Kennedy coun and scur out yes uh first and foremost I want to congratulate we have two new police officers in town uh officer MC peek and officer this adric uh want to congratulate them and welcome aboard to Philipsburg um actually was history he was the first female um police officer in town so that's something definitely celebrate here um be proud of U so I want to congratulate them both um I also want to touch on uh Mr Barnes made up a good point about crossing guards I know uh our officer gave um the reason why certain areas don't have crossing guards at bus stops um I had a concern at Logan Hill in Claremont a couple years ago um the bus stops there and none of the cars seem to stop behind it they go past it um at the time I did send an email when I was a resident to uh the chief there used to be a crossing guard there I would say maybe to look into this year putting another crossing guard there for safety reasons I know the reason you gave why they don't have them at um bus stops it makes a lot of sense um but I think the ear on the side of caution for the children there in that spot particularly um we either need to have an officer there or someone to cross the kids so someone is is actually there stopping to make sure the cars don't come because they just don't listen um that's just one one item of concern that I have um there um so but that's all I have uh council president thank you Council Council vice president I I also want to uh congratulate the two new officers and thank all officers for the service that they provide hope you all stay safe okay I'll make more real brief we hear a lot of complaints that this town does not do anything for kids counciling Kennedy read today the mayor read today and I read today I don't know how many Keith had what four kids Keith and two playgrounds yeah I had three so how can you get you have the town involved you have the library involved you have F Youth Center involved and you're only bringing a couple of kids what is wrong with this town you want the services you want them we're providing them so if you're going to knock the council for not providing you're wrong they're there they didn't show up and I had an interesting book all about houses from about two centuries ago kids were falling asleep and I say how fast you want me to my kind of kids ke kids where are you from P right away I knew we were having a good time so we spent an hour with that the other thing I went to the board office one Monday uh councilman scurb and I are former board members they're finally going to start the addition to the Fieldhouse I'm going to say something that's my personal belief I think fsb's too slow for me that project was started five years ago and if you can't get people to agree you don't have to all the time agree look who pays for it in the end you the taxpayer because 5 years ago that price for that field house was a lot cheaper than it is today abely so I think people have to sit back we're adults we're not the kids that we reading to sometimes it will hurt but you have to start agreeing to move us forward cuz the ones who pay in the end are the taxpayers right I was chairman of buildings and grounds and I even said that Fieldhouse won't be built in four years and it didn't so now you start in August and with that that's all I have to St on that other than if you could reach out to kids these services are provided get them out there we're paying these counselors I don't know what we're paying them even if we PID them $20 $10 doesn't matter but two kids I mean when we were kids man we had something like that we'd fill those playgrounds you know and they're reading especially the book I read today my God I haven't read a book to a kid in 20 years but if you want to make this town better no matter how we feel towards each other we have to work together because every time you delay delay delay your taxes keep going up up and up that field house should have been built four years ago four years ago so that price is up the only thing did come down on the remediation of the hand over when I was on the board it was 500,000 now I hear it's under 400,000 so we did save some money but we have to start working together as community and uh Matt I always asked for this policy and I'm going to make it a policy while I'm president when we introduce new employees with the town that's bring them before the council we did it on school board and stop it you know other communities do it and I don't follow what other communities do but it's nice to know who we're signing the paycheck for it's nice that the public gets to meet them so uh can you relay that to the mayor that uh I personally will not sign a bill if we don't have a new employee here that we know who we're paying for if that's what it's going to take to introduce them to the public because after all these are the men and woman and I could say this in my one last thing 20 years ago in Council I wanted to bring a female in and we didn't get it so thank God filbur people's finally waking up because you're changing and you got to change with the time for we're up to me I have three more officers that are female on that's all I have to say anything else counselor motion to adjourn second everybody enjoy yourself enjoy