ready good evening this is the Village Council special public budget meeting the date is February 26 2024 the time is 50:9 p.m. adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall by mail to the Ridgewood news the record and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting roll call deputy mayor perin council member Reynolds here council member whites here council member Winograd here and mayor Ranos here will you all please join us in a salute to our flag iedge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stands one nation indivisible andice for all we'll go to public comments and seeing no one we will close public comment and go to our regular agenda Keith thank you mayor um so tonight we have a number of items to discuss um as we wrap up um our budget process um I'm going to turn it over to Mr Rooney we're going to go slightly out of order from the listed agenda we're going to start tonight with trust funds so Bob so you're all the your binder um we have trust funds I'll give you a second to get there last tab last tab we good we good yep okay so trust funds represent by law amounts that have to be held for specific purposes so there are some that we um move money into every year to help balance some unforeseen events that may occur such as storm water uh trust money unemployment insurance recycle expenditures um so those are put into the trust funds but going through here um most of the money is dedicated to money being held by developers or um any type of money has put up for projects zoning board things of that nature and and what I did was I just pulled out those that I thought might be in of your interest as to how we use it to offset expenditures in our budget so where we can we appropriate or we we take money out of the Appropriations as we budget them like unemployment put it into the trust fund for future claims uh and that way should there be any um people that go out we have the money that we can uh pay off because it's like a self self-insured piece um so if there's any questions on any specific items in there I'd be happy to answer them uh why are the COA fees not yeah COA fees up so much higher so there was a a Steve correct me if I'm wrong a purchase order in there that was cancelled that uh money was no longer needed so it increased the available funds and the community center trust what is that for what is the purpose um primarily contributions that are made um for residents and outside organizations that may go to be held for events that occur in the community center um Steve I got to kick it off to you for a second if you know what else goes in there basically the programs these are uh Recreation programs and also run by the community center which is uh Deanna and it's uh some of the senior uh programs at night like yoga class during the day um well I'm familiar with the programs I'm just wondering how the money here is utilized and why it's kept in trust uh basically on the trust funds uh the fees that are collected for certain programs that the village runs they keep those funds and trust that make a profit to run another program and then they hire instructors or volunteers that they have to pay you're not volunteers but additional staff yeah first could you speak into the mic Steve because I could just about hear you so I what I'm what I'm trying to understand is why is this not just regular regular regularly budgeted money in our in our operating budget uh because fees that are collected are specifically for certain programs that are run through the community center only um you have Recreation trust separate from this community center which is basically the community center I seen is uh the senior citizens doing their yoga classes in the morning um other uh special events and then Recreation is basically summer programs or uh different programs for students students after school so does does Nancy Bigos Department get to tap into this um there is an allocation that comes out of recreation trust to offset the administration fees that are in the Opera budget for I did not understand that so sorry oh the allocation I I didn't understand what you just said oh in the recreation trust fund that runs similar to Community Center there's programs that are run and then the fees that are collected help offset the expenditures that are in a specific group uh specific program they run uh for instance uh summer camp they'll charge x amount for the students and then they have chaperon that or the extra uh staff that they hire during the summer just for summer school uh summer and and I think I think the I I understand how the funds are allocated I understand how Community Center runs um what I'm trying to understand is why do we keep money in trust like for example I understand that we keep for terminal leave we keep we have $400,000 there in the event that we have terminal leave that we have to pay out we keep money for tax sale premiums uh for insurance claims because these are things that we may or may not have to pay out so we have to keep money in reserve why are we keeping money in reserve well this is at one point in time in December of you know DEC December 23rd there's x amount of dollars in all these trust funds so in Recreation over the years they charge x amount for student or a senior uh to go to a particular program and in those fees we're collecting more fees than what we are expending and then out of the trust fund what goes to our operating budget to offset the cost of running say Recreation is an allocation because there time do we do we have a line item in our operating budget for the community center yes in the operating budget yes got it and so this is a surplus Surplus or this is really programs that are specific in nature separate from the operating budget the different programs that they run it sounds a little confusing because I looked at it myself at Recreation they have summer programs and then they also have summer programs that are run out of the trust fund for specific classes or events it's it's probably because it's a separate building and it's a separate class my question is can we move from trust back to benefit Capital so for example we received a letter on the community center and it was like a very articulate letter that I don't have in front of me calling for all these improvements to be made to the compu Community Center can we it's this money is in trust which was generated and earmarked for that can we draw that trust down to do those improvements ditto casha can casha be draw drawn down to help offset the lights at vets not completely but can this trust be converted to go back to the express generation of trust dollars and offset Capital like we have a couple things going on right now I know with shade tree we use trust to kind of cover expenses in shade tree that benefits the promotion of shade tree but for the community center I had the same question for cash off some of the sports can we take that trust money and use it to benefit improvements that benefit benit that earmark program so there's two things that you have to we have to look at remember this is a point in time M so there could be money that was collected in December for a January program or a February program so that 50,000 may be 40,000 just give you an example the second thing is if there was anything that was put into this trust for a specific purpose so if someone said okay you can use this for X type of programs only then that would have to be identified for that but to your point yes it can be used okay for the most part it will just require that we be careful that we don't dip into that piece that has to be for specific purpose or is for a program that is has occurred in 24 that's right I mean I'm assuming the the preclusion would be like an earmark donations expressly okay like I'm only donating if you plant cherry blossoms cor that's correct and do you have more questions I just wanted to say the money that that's in cash off isn't that the money that they raised themselves last year like they they need that money they you can't take that money from them that's what I'm saying so if they it was raised for a specific Purpose By the organization then pretty much unless it's earmarked for something specific it can be used but if it's raised for that for an event let's say right for the cost of a band for the cost of you know sound if there's a border committee that governs any of these too I think they would have you know some say in how the Mone is being all whether the community center whether it be cash law and where I'm going with this and and I and I don't think it's nearly enough but I know that there are some issues with heating in the community center right and so I'm wondering if this money could be utilized toward resolving that issue so so in the short term I would say the answer is possibly if there were some stop Gap measures that we could take to improve the heating down there the the issue is is that we don't have the electrical WID I I I understand this is a much bigger job than $50,000 Will Repair but in the meantime perhaps as you say there are some and again whether it's space heaters or whatever something so that because it's used by our seniors and you know you know and they're often little too cold down there so um this is we also have some acoustic issues as well so right and which by the way are I the report back is since we got those really nice curtains the acoustic issues have improved dramatically good so um uh and I'm the liais on the community center and we're always talking about how cold it is over there so I'm gonna I'm going to bring this back to them to let them know that there is some money that might be able to be used towards this if we can find something that that will alleviate at least to some degree sure so additionally I just want to say this because it's like information so I Bob's office Olivia and Bob give shade tree each month to our Treasurer copies of what's in the account so they can see it and then we can see the air marks so you can get that report Paul and give it to them and it's very helpful and then I have one more question is there well maybe two is there any way we can other you know other miscellaneous big chunks make me nervous is there any way we can get detail on other trust reserves and you know particularly can we call out the sinking fund for the turf on Maple there okay so that the turf that we talked about the other night is held in our capital account it's not in a trust account okay can we get more detail though on other like absolutely okay and I do want to say because everyone's here I love my shade tree loves the reports that you guys give then I'm very grateful for them even though we drive you crazy asking for them Olivia Olivia green Midwood as well so just a quick question on the community center has anybody ever thought of like the Mini Splits have they looked into those I don't I don't know what they've looked into I mean that would C and that's but that's exactly the kind of thing that I'm thinking they don't cost that much they don't cost that much they really do a good job right so um but you know knowing that there is some money there that again you know I I don't think it would take anywhere near all of this money for something like that was I'm sorry I didn't hear what Lorraine said what was a question Min splits those are those those units that go into the wall um that that could um uh and they operate relatively quietly because noise is also as we said an issue uh and again uh we know that the electrical down there is not sufficient to redo the heating system but this is the kind of thing that's done in in lots of places um and so if there's if there's some money you know I will bring it to them we'll we'll we'll start it from there okay okay good thank you any other questions on insurance or rather trust reserves so the next one St staff levels that's the legal sheet right ahead that's this one we're doing Capital you said that's correct okay the one scking out so this is a comparison by Department of the individuals between uh 23 and 24 an identification of any Replacements or new hires that are anticipated for that department I don't know if you had an opportunity to look through it the head count in total so I work my way to the end anybody have any questions we had 304 employees and 23 283 in full-time 21 in part-time and we're anticipating 314 290 full-time 24 part-time for 2024 so I just want to be clear about that um when we anticipate that's based on the Department's requests can you summarize for us where are the additions going sure and so or in subtractions if there are others that are losing and we're adding elsewhere right so if you go to the if you go if you flip back to water which is where you start um any of the positions councilman that have an X in the in the name fields on the right column which would be for 24 um they're all vacant positions or proposed positions I guess I should say so you have um five classifications in water you have on the next page one in collections and that would be a replacement and you'll see that noted on the far right side of the spreadsheet uh um billing department you have um a request for two part-time employees that's on the next page on the next page you have the um police officer requests fire department there two pages beyond that uh um next is public works part-time labor down at the bottom of that sheet seven of nine um recycling for a driver next is sanitation um to laborers next is Recreation that's the recreation program specialist That's the um Master Library position that Recreation presented then you down a Parks you have some rep you have a replacement and two new one of them being part-time and that sums it up now I just I just want to be clear um Bob and I had a conversation today um I do think that we're going to try to trim back on some of this over the next after tonight's meeting um we're going to sit down with the Departments and talk about whether fulltime is absolutely necessary um we have the issue with the police recruiting um we have the issue as to whether we fund that third firefighter so Bob and I have to go back and have discussion with some of the directors um about tightening this up a little bit um so I just want it to be clear that what you see on the spreadsheet tonight is reflective of what the initial requests were that were brought to council at the beginning of this budget hearing process yeah because I I I would like to revisit this then after you do that um the police I get and I'm good with the police I know we talked about that at length I don't recall a lot of conversation on some of the additional headcount and and you know not to be smart about it but the overall population of the village is I think largely flat so I'm I'm struggling with why we're adding you know folks to the payroll um if there's a good reason by all means and certainly if people are coming on replacing full-timers or part-timers if that makes sense that also is a good reason but I would like to at the next meeting understand except for police why we're adding each and every body that we're adding right and and and I think we have the intention of doing exactly what you described councilman at the at the staff level um before it's brought to the final budget hearing that we have okay I just have a quick question because I don't think you mentioned it but on page two confidential Aid to the Village manager is that like the Janet freaky replacement yeah she's she's already hired and she she replaced Janet yes okay we restructured that position but essentially it's you know that that's and is that salary lower than it it's lower is um sorry is Billy the bus driver a part-timer yes yes so this will be revised and represented to you for the final meeting and that'll be Tuesday that's the plan I hear five when you when the five of you tell us to be here we'll be here okay I say 1 p.m I I hear it's at 8 right and and Keith just I mean fair warning I mean this is an area I'm going to dig into with Yan next week like I'm G to I'm going to hold this to a high high standard here for adding people on again police I'm cutting out and even maybe fire but to me when we're bringing people on to the payroll you know that's going to be an expense year after year after year after year right um I again you know overall I'm not seeing why we have a need to grow the size of Village government um I'm open to to you know reasonable explanations but understand this is an area that I'm going to dig into so I suggest that when you do meet with the Department's heads that you give them an idea that you know I'm not interested in nice to have I want to know need to have or by bringing on part- timers are we saving overall budget understood and and listen the the police are probably going to be cut back not because of Desire on the village part but on the the ability to recruit candidates to be able to um to take these positions M so we we have some of that to figure out before we before we put this thing to bed okay anybody else yeah with the clerk's office um Lori and Michelle were are part-time but I thought one of them resigned she's been replaced Lori no Michelle oh Michelle okay all right she's listed here so I guess that's still filled okay anybody else good let's go parking utility uh Bob's going to take us through the bar parking utility budget parking did you say parking utility parking utility thank you should be next up on your tabs in there m oh does it separated out stuff thank you everybody good so on the parking utility uh went back through and got some more accurate numbers on some of the expenses that go in there um Debt Service stayed the same statutory expenditure stayed the same special emergency stayed the same and under the other expenses um that tab reflects the change with the kiosk leases um some of the adjustment I made to the reserve for maintenance that we put aside every year for the garage for um uh the floor the concrete the upkeep uh so that's slightly above what we've put in there in the past but the overall budget is slightly below what we had for last year so the revenue stream I have not completed that yet but it appears I doesn't appear it definitely covers the expenses from last year and for this year probably will show some uh Surplus so it's possible we can use that money over for um other uses Bob has the revenue been increasing yes yes the um train station parking lot Tuesday to Thursday yep really crowded Monday not so Friday not bad uh but Tuesday Thursday it's it's up how about the deck deck is being used more I looked at that the other day I haven't finished all the the analysis on it but it's definitely going in the right direction and I gather pretty much Friday Saturday nights it's pretty much full um very a lot lot higher than it had been yes right and and during the week it's slowly climbing yeah we're working on that we'll get there got it great thank you anybody else good what we got next statutory expenditures move to statutory expenditures agenda oh it was yeah it was the one it's stat it's under deferred charges deferred charges yes sir the first def C def defon we need an index for there's one in the front of the book I was trying to be kind by go from the back forward so you wouldn't have to keep flipping no that is it works I appreciate it so on page you'll see at the bottom it says uh statutory expenditures it's like the third page under that section MH uh so this is a list of all the um I'm going to call them uncontrolled costs that we have um pensions uh consolidate police and fire uh unemployment compensation for the standpoint of um fulfilling trust or paying out claims Social Security and the first two the accumulated leave and the salary negotiations um we cut back from what we anticipated in so it's um roughly the same as last year or in one case it's a little bit lower for salary negotiations and basically this is the offset to any uh increases that we give to the staff during the year um so this is funneled in and out of the um accounts that have the increases then we we transfer this money into those accounts when we generate the pay questions we got next I think we're good NE next one's Debt Service which is right before deferred charges an exact I have this one so we'll do the easy ones first this is the one that came on Friday right that's correct so starting at the bottom you have contingent which is has been that same amount since I've been here every year uh then you have your contribution to the Joint meeting um 911 that's an amount that is shared by other municipalities with the Village um and that I that's pretty much a 2% increase over the prior year right above that is the capital Improvement fund that amount is determined by the C capital budget that we're going to be talking about after this um it's $500,000 for now um it could be lower depending on where we are with our capital budget um and I also would say that I'll keep some some money in there in case we have a need for Capital Improvements for the rest of the year so right now we'll just we'll look at the 500 as being that Line in the Sand above that we have loan repayments for um what is it NJ what Steve infrastructure trust that we've had this will be the last year of payments for that for um the payback on this on the um the loans that we had and that's $1 15,29 above that is Bond anticipation notes principal and interest so this has gone up substantially uh based upon two note sales that we had last year but there is an offset in Revenue that you haven't seen yet of a million dollars from Capital Surplus so when we get bids from purchases of our notes during a sale they will bid a percentage uh effective percentage and then a real percentage and what will happen is the difference between the two normally a surplus so they'll write us a check for premium we hold that money for payment of debt service so million dollars that's sitting on the other side is to compensate for the interest that's being paid on these these notes yes so when you're talking about the loan the 150,000 the interest on that what was the loan Steve okay and how how long is the average term of a loan like this just CU I'm new here uh it depends on the project but the two I bank loan that we previously had were on the um sewage treatment plant and the water util okay but this is basically uh since it's the current fund that would be the sewer utility a the water pollution control facility and like how close in terms of loans when we talk about bonds are we on Hackle because that was purchased in 2024 is that do that are we going to with so this is an infrastructure loan but like how long was that loan I believe that one was 20 years okay you know usually like 20 years and then based on the amount of the loan part of it's interest free and then the other ones at a reduced uh interest rate and is it a percentage of the loan that's interest fee or a period of time yes usually it's uh 25 to 50% okay and this doesn't cover uh the ibank loans for uh Rood water right no so the water utility is separate there uh loans are and Debt Service is totally separate from uh the current fund which is Village and the Capital Improvement fund is it always calculated upon 17.65% basically the capital Improvement fund is based on what Bob mentioned on the capital budget you need 5% down for any project that you're moving forward with you can also fully fund a project with your Capital Improvement fund monies meaning if you were going to purchase a a garbage truck and we had a million dollars in capital Improvement fund you could pay $500,000 in fully fund that ordinance with cash basically and and where does this 17.65% come from do do we ever fully fund like that this just happens to be the calc the increase from last year to this year it's not it's not in stone so last year we wound up using 400 putting $425,000 in this year not knowing where we are I estimated 500,000 just happens to be an increase of 177% gotcha I'm do we ever fully fund um we the um purchase of the um water facility over here the El club we fully funded by Surplus water Surplus interesting yeah so Bob I'm sorry the million dollars issue that you explained before I didn't quite follow that can you go over that again please all right so we had two note sales last year so when you request bids from banks finance facilities they come back and they give you a rate so let's say it's 5% however they also offer you a premium they give you a premium with that rate so the effective interest rate after you take the premium might be 3 and a half% 3% so we take the Surplus the premium that they've given us hold it in reserve and when it comes time to to pay the interest we apply I say that money that we've held directly against the debt so I mean seeing $2.5 million increase over last year are you saying that could be offset by the million dollars or how does that yes so it's really only going to be a million and a half more than what we budgeted last year that's correct okay and is All The Debt Service just based upon Rising interest rates or and the fact we're borrowing more money or is there something else apply so for 24 we had a say uh in January that's budgeted here and we'll have another maturity in October that's budgeted here and the intent is to have a bond sale hopefully by the end of the year depending on what the market can take um to consolidate those two and bring it into long-term debt so there'll be no effect of long-term debt here the first payment you'll have on bonds issued will be in 25 okay and then could cuz the bond term is typically 20 uh 20 years can we is there any way to look into Hackle because that was 2024 are we going to be close to finishing [Music] that I'm sorry ask me one more 2004 yeah you said 2024 well because it's 20 years plus minus the other way but we purchased it yes 20 years okay so every time we have a a bond sale yep it depends on the components of what we're selling for okay so for example water you would most likely more likely have a 25-year payback because the useful life of their assets is 25 years in the general fund most of our issuance is for equipment and equipment may have an average life of 5 to 8 years so you can't go higher than that in your payback okay so that's the that's basically the difference you can only go with a pre penalty like EXC just like a mortgage right you can't prepay it off uh you you could I there are ways to to prepay it but it's very very complicated um in you have to have the cash and you have to have the money oh then there's that yeah small point now I know that when you when you um uh uh explained this to me uh when I first came on the council it's that we try and stay somewhere in that $7.5 million range every year and every year we we we generally speaking will retire $7.5 million or so depending upon what happened and so we we keep keep that number steady we try to do that we try I understand it's the goal it's a goal any other questions on that service okay you last one Capital you want to do this thanks I mean I'll start well if you want to set the stage okay are we looking at the 88 document that's another wide one it says uh six-year Capital request Master to right hand corner and mine's dated February 16th is that the most recent we have a different I have two yeah the one um yeah 216 I think is the one there was a second one 26 came out last time to me I know is there it's probably so the process that we use every year yes 216 I is we reach out to the Departments ask them to provide us with their wish list as to what they would like to to put into the budget for Capital purposes and this year we we tweaked this a little and asked them to come back to with their top five so we ranked them one to five we then sat down with them individually during the budget process and asked them if there's any revision to what their initial request was in a couple of cases we made some tweaks moved some things around but for the most part what wound up in what we presented to you is they're number ones the most important ones that they want to entertain so the first first thing that we did earlier this year was to introduce the ordinance for um road paving which we do normally early every year so we can get the best results on bidding um we then went into the garbage truck and then we also recently did uh West Glenn and uh Kings Bridge Lane so those are done now we're left with the individual ones so if you look down the 2024 column and you see presented to council those items that don't do not have anything next to them are the ones that we're asking for you to agree to so we can get another ordinance in place and move our Capital program forward so are you looking for so I see by the way first of all I I think this is the first time I've seen it where we have requests spaced out over several years I don't think we did that last year am I right we did not that's great by the way that you guys did that really really well done Keith suggested that we do that um so we went through each department again and asked them where are we going in the next 5 years Y what type of programs or equipment are you're going to need and and the plan there councilman is to to build upon that right this this document shouldn't die when this budget's adopted or when this ordinance for capital is adopted this is something that I want to build off of year in and year out so that when you are presented with capital requests for next year unless it's something that you know happens unexpectedly like we have an issue at the water pollution control facility that we have to address we want you to sort of know what we're looking at going into each of the ensuing years and I also want the Departments to be able to plan out what their Capital Improvements are going to be what you know what what what is the priority what are the priorities in the parks department what are the priorities at Water Pollution Control um we're going to be talking probably a lot about sidewalks tonight what what are our priority projects in making sure that the the village is more pedestrian friendly we want to be able to not treat each year um as as an individualized item we want to be able to look at this long term and know what we're looking at for the next five years no and I really applaud you for that and um just moving on so when the category says introduced these are the ones that we've already agreed to and already introduced an ordinance on right so are you are we reviewing this tonight one by one the things that are would like to finalize this tonight okay to be perfectly honest with you um I I will tell you that it was extremely helpful to me and I think it happened by accident in the fall when the council um made the conscious decision that they wanted to move forward with West Glenn and with the repairs to the bridge um for us to go to the department heads way back then and say you need to set your priorities so that we can try to back in um everything that's requested to the projects that were being prioritized by The Village Council so I I think we've accomplished that here um I could tell you I don't think any of the department heads um walked out incredibly disappointed I mean obviously they all they have priorities there are things that they feel they need to stay ahead of the curve on when it comes to areas under their purview um but I think that we were able to put a capital budget together to present to you here tonight that covers the council's priorities and covers the individual departments and divisions priorities for for so can we walk through each ones that we have I the ones we've introduced obviously that's a done deal but like for instance like the building SUV just happened to you the first I remember I was a little skeptical to say the least on this one so I'm I'm surprised to see it's still in here um is there a good reason why we put it back should we go in order the start from the well that would would be one anyway so that happens to be the first on before we can I just ask a question about the lump sum how much is left over in carryover capital because I see the bottom of 7.8 is there anything to offset that like residual so I I can just to answer that specific question I know that there are ongoing meetings about Clinton Avenue and the possibility of putting sidewalks there so Bob and I have had this discussion more than once to Olivia's credit she was able to track down three open capital accounts dating back as far as 2018 um where we can across three different open Capital uh accounts that were for sidewalks and drainage improvements um that we'll be able to tie together enough money should the council so desire to move forward with the uh the one side of Clinton Avenue uh to have the sidewalks installed this summer if that's the direction we end up going in and I know there's another Resident and parent meeting on Thursday night of this week What's the total value of that number 100,000 okay thank you Olivia nice going a little so so all be it and I I know that I know that residents have come to the various budget hearings and spoke on the Clinton Avenue piece um it is not reflected in this capital budget for 24 because we have the money in capital reserve from prior Pro projects that didn't cost as much great as maybe we estimated for so that that project is doable that's great and I have one more question about carryover on Kingsbridge it says there's a 100,000 available is that carryover as well from the prior Council and is that a full 100,000 in the line item detail not in the column it's 515 we've we're doing it anyway I'm just looking to back out off of the 78 I don't know about that l i I don't think it was 100 I think we had like 60,000 left I think we had something for Professional Services and then because two bids were put out it got chomped into but there should be is doesn't that sound right I think it was I think there should be about 60,000 left we put I'm going to say say in 20 20 21 well the damage was done in 21 right wasn't it or an after effect of hurricane Ida Heather this is at some point we put 100,000 there's 100 in there aside and lorine and I P in that was paid the engineering firm was paid from that professional I want to say 32,000 so there should be a remaining 60 is to offset the 515 does that sound right I think so just give us a second yeah I'm pretty sure I just want to see if any of the initial funding was expended it it was I think it was like 30 whatever it was to hire the engineering firm to do the proposal so so again I can't go back to 2021 but it depends on how that was built it may have been built to General engineering okay or it may have been built to Capital but Olivia is saying that as of today we're somewhere around $100,000 that's available yes so that that might be a backout area that'd be great I mean I that'd be great if we could look into that and we could just start chipping away and I just sorry I just I was going over the detail I'm like H because that would take that down to 415 which would be even better well I don't think it's 100,000 I know if it was but that's what's available it's 99 oh you really have 99 okay we really do okay cuz I knew we put 100,000 side and I knew we hired an engineering firm that cost us 32,000 yeah we definitely got an invoice when we were looking at it we were looking at the expenses of West Glen together and that bridge because we did that tour together and we actually have a revised proposal from the bridge engineering firm that once the council makes this decision we're ready to to pull the trigger to to get that going so great is it free no is it is it less than what we thought I we don't have an estimate we have we have a proposal to engineer and inspection and do inspections oh okay yeah next next phase so but we spoke to Chris about this this morning and and he's he's he's confident in this number of the 515 for the repairs that's great all right yeah so do can we do we want to go through yeah let's go by one yeah that's what I suggest we do so councilman going back to the building department um you know I I I have said this before at these hearings and I I think I've said it to some of you privately um I am not a huge proponent of um capital investment when it comes to um traditional fleet vehicles I mean trucks and heavy equipment that's a that's a different story um however we still do need to have a rotation of the fleet and we're not yet in a budget position to be able to just budget out police cars um we are working through a program right now um um through Lieutenant Chuck in the police department that's um operated through Amer um enterprise Enterprise um where they have an incentive package to be able to lease vehicles for a period of time and then you're able to buy them out at the end it is very economical and we are working through that um we just need to have the quantity of vehicles to be able to fully invest in that program um so that would be my Outlook long term um but you know this was the one request from the building department and I felt oblig to continue to have a rotation in that department of vehicles I mean and again I I I was skeptical I mean if I Rec the explanation was that in the in in in the event that there's an emergency that he needs to get to that all the other vehicles might be used and he would need a vehicle to get there I mean the whole village is like five square miles can a cop give him a ride can somebody else give him a ride there right I mean keep in mind too he was sharing a car with the health department and now that we have the share services with MAA that takes that car out of commission um two days a week whereas prior it was able to be shared between the health officer and the building department head so just food for thought on that as well I get it and I'm not saying it's not going to be inconvenient but $45,000 it's not in an inant of an amount M um and it sounds like he only needed it when there was like a building issue or like an emergency and I'm just wondering you know candidly $45,000 for those that just seems a lot I mean there's no other vehicle no other way that he can get there can we reimburse him if he uses his personal vehicle like I said the village ain't that big there there is a smaller vehicle that he can um that he can consider I think it's an Escape I think that's what didn't he say there's like one of you know there's like one of five he could use and now it's going to be one of four because Dawn is going to be gone well keep in mind there's other people in that department who utilized the vehicles as well right I I think I think Mike Juna had gone back to um to the dealership and they could have went with an escape instead of an Explorer and that was going to cut about $12,000 off the top I mean I'm questioning just need for any vehicle a new vehicle for this purpose like it just seems like the rationale here isn't particularly strong so so I just want to add a couple things I I think we should go with the lower cost version but um repeatedly we hear complaints from regarding in no judgment no criticism of homeowners who can't get cosos businesses who are like suffering suffering the because they're on a delayed schedule so I think the building department I'm going to a meeting tomorrow um with some of the new business owners like they invited me and I think we need to be mindful that a delay to them of two or three days is a significant delay it's rent it's overhead it's lack of foot traffic so I I think anything we can do to make our building department more Nimble would be good but I do think if we can press him on that and have a a lower cost I'd like to go with that why don't why doesn't the council make the decision and we'll cut that number down to 35 and we'll have to back in a vehicle that makes sense I mean let me ask you a question I know it has nothing to do with Council but I mean with um Capital but what did the building department are they getting any new employees um he's requested a part well one it's clerical so that wouldn't affect the the and he requested aren parttime electrical inspector um that's you know again that's yet to be determined based on final numbers that Bob has to prove out and if we hire an electrical inspector do they use their own car no preferably it's best practice for them to be using a village car okay I don't particularly like any employee who has to visit a home to pull up in a private car unless it's absolutely necessary okay um because people should know who's coming the car should be clearly marked that's why we're restriping the cars with the logo and all that good stuff to Siobhan's point we Absolut in my opinion the building department needs to run a little bit faster um so I think we should hire more inspectors and if they need a car that's fine but I don't think they need as Evan said a $45,000 car you're you're good with the lower one yeah let's let's cut it to 35 I I have a question I am too um how many day I know that if I'm not mistaken the head of the building department is a part-time position yes is he five days a week yes how many hours a day um I don't know if the top of my head maybe Heather does sorry I didn't hear that they can go up to 30 hours a week just the the head of the building department is a part-time position um and for Gathering oh you're saying you're saying for Tony yes oh I'm sorry he yeah he works approximately yeah under 30 so up to 30 hours a week usually and and I have the same question that Evan does that that I I know he's not his his job unlike electrical inspectors they're always out in the field the building department inspector uh the head of the building department is generally speaking in the building in in Village Hall um and I wonder if he's and if he's only here for 30 hours a week I I I understand that he would occasionally need a car but for us to get a car when it's not going to get used that much just seems maybe not necessary well would this car be specifically to that one person or would it be for the building department and all the it can be used by anybody in the building department you know how how they allocate the vehicles you know would be hopefully best practices I mean that's that's me that's what I would direct them to do let's put it that way I'm thinking if he's if he's out and I mean again I've I've I've worked with the building department for 30 years um and and I make may be off on this but I don't think he's out a couple hours a day like I don't think he's out two hours a day what Kate's point this is a vehicle that would be available to any of the inspectors that have to go out of the office so if you had two or three that are running around that day Electrical Plumbing whatever they may have a need for a vehicle other than Tony right but the way it was presented to us this was for the head of the building department and so that's what this vehicle is for and if if they already have enough vehicles for everybody else um and and this is for emergencies for someone who is not full-time um is it really worth the investment for us when there are couple of hundred vehicles in the village that that he could utilize and again I'm not saying I'm not saying it's optimal I'm saying that it's it's it's it's also not optimal to you know to buy a car that's going to get used 3 hours a week listen at the end of the day you know it's it's your decision to to set the priorities in this capital budget um so whether you wanted to go with a um a less expensive vehicle or whether you wanted to to cut this out and um you know function with the current Fleet that we have it's the prerogative of the council what is the current Fleet for the building department uh I believe there's four there's already four V ke can I suggest this I know we're meeting again next week I think you you heard us speak on this I I'll leave it in your capable hands to see if this is really truly necessary but as I I agree with the mayor as this was presented this stru this was as I recall correctly to be used on the rare occasion when there weren't enough vehicles around and there was like a building emergency and and Tony was going to have trouble getting to the location along with everyone else and if that's the if that is the the rationale I'm I'm a no vote on it if we're missing something I'm all ears but I'll I'll leave it you I think we can leave it with you to maybe see if there's a better rationale um and again to me the question is not a cheaper car versus more expensive car the question to me is a car or no car I'm I'm I'm with Evan on this um I um I again I I I wonder I I know that the electrical inspector the plumbing inspector they live outside the building that's that's what they do they go from place to place to place for the entire time that they're here so they if if they're working 3 hours a day they're using a car for 3 hours a day um I don't think that that's the situation here so if if you could get back to us on this that would be great because I'm I'm disinclined to go with a car for this position I would say when we meet again is there any way you could find out like I'd like to know how many inspectors you know we have how how often they want if we're going to hire a new inspector is there a car available for that new inspector or do we need a like would this car be used for the new inspector because I do believe our building department does not do inspections in a I hate to say timely manner but I think people would like to have it quicker than it currently is as as it stands right now there are eight people who would be in the field there's eight people yeah if you go to the Staffing level it's page three of nine mhm you have a part-time plumbing inspector a part-time Plumbing subcode official an electrical subcode official a building inspector a code enforcement officer a building subcode officer building inspector a director of building and construction official he does do inspections and then a part-time plumbing inspector so there's eight eight three of whom are part-time and how many vehicles do they have four I believe four and then he was sharing with the health department and he was also recommending I don't have General in front of me for for a new electrical yes yes so I mean I'm I'm not pro a car for any department head just for the sake of it the recollection that I have was that the department because the health department leaving was often unable to respond in a Nimble streamlined fashion because they're lacking a vehicle so I mean as soon as we get clarity on it but anything we can do to streamline that process because new is very important whether it's a new business or a new Resident it's like a first impression for us and you know I don't I don't mean this like but I get a lot of emails um about this and I know that Keith on most of them I can share them with you you know people are frustrated for all the reasons you know can't get into their home having a baby bought a house blah blah blah we hear all these stories and then particularly with the CBD I mean there's I think there's like 15 new businesses that we're meeting with tomorrow that are a little um upset with how long it took to open yeah but that's a separate issue I mean that that's exactly right I I agree completely with you like the building department needs to be more agile we need more responsive people should be waiting but Tony's that wasn't part of the rationale for the vehicle if it was I'd be more inclined to to be that's the question I was under the impression it would be used by the full staff to be more responsive to the building not not for Tony I mean I don't I'm 100% on the record not into giving Tony a car that's not like what I want but because I don't think we run a business based on person so mayor let's if we may can we continue on down this list because there is one addition um that I've been talking to councilman Reynolds about um um with regard to East Glenn so we we'll get there when we get um down to the and we can just skip over the ones that have been introduced but we may we may need to shuffle some money around um depending on your priorities and that may impact this conversation Okie do all right so um the four requests from the fire department um are the air packs wait wait wait we these are already introduced so these are already been done no on page one yeah but we didn't finish with page one yeah but they've all been those Bond intro we've already introduced the bonds lorine we've only introduced for Kingsbridge for the street resurfacing and for West Glenn yeah all the engineering oh you want to talk about you want to do East Glenn now yes I'm with you I'm like wait um okay so in talking to um councilwoman Reynolds and I know this was brought up at the seesac meeting um there was a department request and I don't know what year this is from it may have been from last year um for East Glenn Avenue um for $200,000 and from what the councilwoman conveyed to me uh that had to do with the installation of sidewalks on one side of East Glenn where there are not any it affects eight or 10 homes eight homes okay so um we did talk to Chris today about that as well um there is an argument that for economy of scale if we are going to undertake the West Glen project which again has already been introduced and uh will be adopted by the council um that we also consider doing East Glenn and do them as a package um again the rough estimate when it was submitted by the department last year was $200,000 um and I think councilwoman Reynolds would like that to be considered tonight I would I I mean I think we're wait we haven't heard back from engineering on that figure right we asked them to we we talked to him this morning okay um and he said 200 was was about the was was was that for both sides of the street one side of the street where just so it's from Maple I hate that it's called East Glenn Avenue to me it should be called West Glenn because patri pools it's from Maple Avenue to Oak Street yeah it's it's those Eight houses it's it's it's basically to the train trestle yeah that's why that's why Oak Street to the train trestle there are sidewalks so we just need it from the other side of Oak down to Maple that road there really called declen it is which is crazy right it is crazy I was thinking it was on the other side 17 thank you so in speaking Y in speaking to Chris about this um I questioned the the original estimate of 200,000 based on the short proximity um of eight homes he said there are some engineering uh challenges that exist there which is why that number was the initial number put in and that he would stick with that number if we were going to move forward okay cuz I 's like no no trees to be taken down the telephone poles are B Bob and I repeated everything you said to him almost almost verbatim I don't get it no but I actually now that L brings it up like I know that intersection very well it's actually perfect there's there really is there's tons of of space it's not like Clinton have where it's a bit where it's a tight you know tight squeeze yeah I'd be interested to see why it is so expensive and it does make sense if we're going to do West Glen and to do I mean it's like literally just extend it really is West Glen yeah and have we contacted the homeowners at all no this is this this was maybe a conversation that lasted about that started about five days ago so the homeowners H well it started really two years ago when we were talking me start five right when when Wes Glenn was talked about at seesack two years ago the people living on several residents of of the Eight houses I'm going to say three of them came to the seesack meetings and said we want sidewalks too if you're doing you know you're doing West Glenn so um they've been being put off for a couple years but last year there was there's one house that I could see being somewhat of an issue they have a a little rock wall but it's not it's the type of rock wall to me that you just Place one rock on top of another another like it's not like a you know a real Rock W it's not a masonry W and she came I thought to the council meeting it could have been seesac but I really thought it was a council meeting maybe it was during budget seing season last year I don't know but at one point that home owner which I feel is the only house that has any issues and she's like I want sidewalks I don't care if I end up with a wall don't have a doesn't matter I want sidewalks I've got little kids it's dangerous we need sidewalks I mean I would like to talk I don't doubt what you're saying l i I would like to talk get their feedback I don't know if that's going to be possible if we're voting on this thing next week I'm a little disappointed we're just bringing this up now like on on the eve of voting this out it does make a ton of sense for me there but like we should be getting feedback and direct feedback not anecdotal feedback from the people that be affected most so like not to take budget but Lorraine and I had this conversation and like no judgment in general but one of the things that I feel that's happening is as you know it's like the Hunger Games of capital and I I think that's one of the most d dous sections in Ridgewood and I think seesac needs to move more towards a rubrics of you know how are we determining what's the most important intersection are you on a safe walkway how many accidents have come up there has there been a death you know because now we have good projects ComEd like well let's not put that in the rubric well it would have to be because it would go to the Hazardous corner I understand I mean I think the police even have intersections scorecard at that way they they have Glenn and from a traffic safety St an oak intersection of all the accidents Lorraine not in like a mean way or anything but you now there's millions of dollars at the nth hour going into just sidewalks which is going to be hard to message back to the Committees like shade tree so I I mean I support $200,000 I mean it may be new to Keith but this has been in the budget for two years and for two years see we never we never talk about it like this is great that we're talking about each one in the last two years that $200,000 was there and it just was like okay it was taken out and last year I remember saying let's talk about it why was it taken out and I forget what the answer was but it was like we're not talking about it it's out no I mean I hear you I I and it's not like it's just a discussion point is that we're now going to have at the nth hour Clinton with neighborhood engagement I still like till tonight didn't have the value for it and this is like I think it's I think it's very valuable I'm not opposed to putting it in here but I do think we need to be mindful that we're moving more and more money towards sidewalks and we need to balance it across like the whole situation you know especially because West the Westland people waited so long I I so I I think if I could just jump in here I think that this is certainly something that if we have the money for it because we're already over our $7.5 million goal for um uh for Capital requests that if we can somehow figure out Bringing Down the cost of this and or finding the money Olivia you you paying attention on this one so you know that's that's really it's it's a question of can we afford it this year and if we can't afford it this year then this becomes the Kingsbridge West Glenn of next year that this is the priority that we work around can can I just add something to this though sure you know now now that we have $100,000 in Kingsbridge that with startup funds that we've learned has not been expended right I was under the impression that any money there may have already been depleted because of initial engineering we've confirmed that that's not the case um I'm sorry I didn't ask that question earlier but now that we have that plus if you wanted to do something with the vehicle you'd be you'd be talking about $145,000 whether we could Bridge it with any other open Capital is a is a discussion that we can have internally I think we're going in the right Direction all right so I think you all not in your head yes so that's I agree and the money that that 100,000 from Kingsbridge really has to go to certain things and side and sidewalks is one of them right well my the $100,000 has to go to Kingsbridge what I'm saying is if we if we if we and we've already introduced a bond ordinance for Kingsbridge so essentially what and you tell me if I'm wrong Bob but what would happen here is we would introduce this this current Bond ordinance that would be introduced on March 13th um we would do that with the 100,000 in it knowing that at the end of Kingsbridge we were going to cancel out the other 100 okay does that make sense right so you would never take on that Debt Service which again I want to stress that just because you're putting it in here until you spend it it doesn't become you know part of your debt service obligation right so it sounds like we are 75% there right good you have homework to do all right can I can I just ask this would it be helpful for the council because Heather and I have an agenda meeting tomorrow um for the 6th um would it be helpful if we asked Chris to come to that meeting to update you on where we are with West Glenn potentially talk about what the improvements would be on East Glenn and then to talk about where we land after Thursday on Clinton I'm sorry I lost you Keith I apologize say it again I said would it be helpful at the next work session on March 6th because you can still have some room to make the decision on the capital budget before we introduce it on the 13th on March 6th at the work session would it be helpful to have Chris rutzer come and make a presentation to the Council on West Glenn where we are with that East Glenn and Clinton Avenue that is absolutely the way to go the the only thing that I would love to see happen before that in L is we should send letters to the residents on the fake e Glenn like the fake East West fake East Glenn yes cuz it's really part of West Glenn I'm calling it must be because at some point the train tracks must have been considering the dividing line and now it's mball it must be that old of an a ro okay um but with those those residents we should contact them so they I'm sure they're all going to be in agreement but that's just probably a good idea okay we we'll we'll outre to them okay all right so Heather can you ask Chris if he can come to talk about those three on the six all right that'd be great good good okay okay are we good on page one yes $100,000 rolling on page two okay um so under the fire department we have the um the air packs we have the firefighter gear we have the um engine replacement for the sinking fund um and we have uh tools and equipment um chief judge went through the specifics on what all of those were during his budget presentation um I just want to point out I strongly support the um institution of a sing fund yeah I was to say the fire engine thank you for that and when we do put this budget out and we're explaining it to people we should explain that is not only the fact that you're you're budgeting out for multiple years in advance but that we're starting syncing funds for things like like the fir truck it'd be awesome politically for us to just spend a ton of money that we'd see this year but the right thing to do is what we're doing here which is putting money aside so that when that truck does need to be replaced or when things need to be replaced there's funds for it and the next Council the council after that isn't trying to figure how to pay for these large expenses so absolutely brilliant and we should make sure the public knows we're doing that and I'll be honest with you councilman at some point in the future and this is probably a few budgets away but I'd also like to be able to put money in operating that we can then put in reserve for these types of things so that we can offset some of this debt service with with cash um and that's something that we'll we'll talk about as we get into future budgets um I don't think we're there yet we're still in recovery mode from you know the um the Gap with the um with the federal money that was used over the last two cycles and and the 22% of increase in health insurance last year but um you know we can we can certainly look to that and look to do something in operating for some of these high cost items in the future all right um under Fleet um Chris talked to the council about the uh Bridging the Gap we already have just under $750,000 in a line item for the fuel tanks um that 250 brings us to the point where we can actually undertake this project um these are the fuel tanks um at the fleet division um and that's a project that as soon as this money is appropriated we need to get underway um the library is the $65,000 for the generator hookup um that's a Shar generator between Ridgewood water and the public library um and this would allow the library um to upgrade their facility in order to uh hook up to that generator and they would also be able to be used as a heating and cooling station um during um weather events and things of that nature um so that was the one asked from the public library um Northwest central dispatch um that's equipment um their initial ask was $100,000 after speaking with director Pomroy uh they went down to $50,000 in their ask so that gave us a little more capacity in this year's budget um OEM Jeremy discussed this at our last budget meeting uh we have the camera trailer for 90 the garage door replacement for 30 the um Tech and security camera upgrades for 60 and the portable radios which we're trying to do across all the Departments um for $60,000 Keith I apologize and I won't spend too much time on this I don't recall us discussing the surveillance camera trailer and the the upgrades for surveillance cameras again I may just be Mis remembering it but so that was that was his number one ask uh um it's $150,000 for cameras basically one second so get to the and the trailer I assume was to store the cameras no it's it's portable can be moved the cameras can move he he led with this I don't have my notes that what he said he started with this I think it's so it can move to different locations so is a moving trailer to be able to monitor okay yeah I I I think his intention is you we have a lot of um public events that attract an incredible amount of people I mean I sat in an opening opening day parade meeting today like Blown Away by the amount of people who participate in your opening day parade and then you know there's the event here um at vets field to to open up the season um I think Jeremy's concern is that he wants to be able to have eyes in the sky during that events like that the 4th of July um you know various events that happened during the year um and to be honest with you that one that camera trailer was his number one ask during the during the um meeting with the Department directors there's no ability to get something from Bergen County I mean like for us to have DED I mean again the these events are great one of the things that define Ridgewood um we don't do them every day they're a handful over the course of the Year $150,000 a lot of money I got to imagine other towns host big events too that don't have our resources I I would love to go back to him and see if to export something because that is a big chunk of money for surveillance cameras and we do have drones right at least one C it take pictures they do I'm not the Ops guy now the the drones take pictures and and you know to to Evans Point um I'm going to uh just from my knowledge and it's certainly not complete but I'm going to guess that we have far more events than any of the surrounding towns and so which would leave us with two options I mean look certainly you know given what goes on in the world today I think we need um we need to be ahead of the curve in terms of um uh surveilling these big events so it's either we can borrow it from Bergen County which is again given the number of events it's a lot or perhaps we can share it with smaller towns at a fee is that something that you think might work Keith I I can speak to Jeremy about that he has a relationship with a lot of the other OEM coordinators in Bergen County so if there is a time where we're not using that type of equipment and we can lend it to another municipality and collect a fee I'm sure that's something that we could do through a shared service agreement right I mean obviously you know if if somebody else has a Fourth of July thing going on we can't we can't loan it to them of course if it's the next night we could exactly or or some other events and you know this is where where our shared services momentum can really begin to take effect that you know we can afford to to buy it but then we we don't have to loan it out but we can charge a fee a reasonable fee and and give it get it get a lot of use out of it and get some revenue from it yeah I would feel a lot better about approving this if there was a plan at least to do a shared service type of thing or pursue it because I mean like again we could do a bunch of events but 350 days out of the Year this things going be sitting idle right sure yeah man I don't know about that but I don't know about three I don't know about three I mean I can I can just I can the the the chamber alone runs something like 40 events a year just the chamber that's not the guild that's not the the the 5K runs that's not you know again I and and and you're right it's here there's there's going to be minimum 250 days a year where it's going to be um it's going to be sitting idle and I'm sure it's it's more than that but if there's 250 idle days if we can if we can come up with a plan where we can offset some portion of this um you know and and if perhaps we have some estimate of the number of days that it's going to be used which might be more than we than we anticipate and I'm sure Jeremy can can can come up with that pretty quickly so if we have some some uh uh some analysis of number of days that we need it potential number of days that we could um we could charge a fee to loan it out understood and like Evan said look into possible Grant grants I mean it seems that there should be something even if it's $20,000 or something mhm okay and also I just since since Chris rudish Houser is not here um I hear his voice in my head saying that's a very scary concept just you know um about sharing our equipment to other towns he has always told me that it comes back damaged MH so just consider that it's a it's a good point all right moving on to um Parks um we have the $50,000 which is an annual um into the sinking fund for the maple Turf we then have two pieces of equipment that have been requested um an F350 pickup truck with plow um and a mini loader with a dump trailer um these are both going to be used to maintain our Parks our fields and grade and pool um so those are the equipment requests from Parks this year um moving on to shade tree we have um the tree planting and watering in the CBD $90,000 and we have tree planting and watering in residential areas and that's $300,000 um did you skip the shelter you skipped w i i I haven't I haven't gotten there yet on my list it's in a different order in my list it's it's in a different order so I have I have a I made myself a cheat sheet because this this list was large so U but that's parks and shade tree and I do just want to say on the record that translates to approximately 215 trees and completes the downtown which is very exciting for us and then if you include the adopt a sapling program what does that get us to oh well this has become a huge challenge which I'll talk about on Wednesday we're hoping now we've got massive engagement through the schools we're going to we're going for a hundred sapling in the Somerville District which I know some of you live in so you better be adopting one okay and then um moving on the two large infrastructure projects um under parks and rack is the habernickel Pavilion um pleased to report that the habernickel barn has been raised ra a z and um it uh was taken down on Friday um they moved a lot of the debris today um I did not get an update at the end of the day as to whether they're completely um finished I do know they need to move remove the concrete slab um but definitely by the end of this week um the the property should be graded and it should be um restored uh to the extent that it will be before we move to the next phase of this project so meanwhile Keith just to get an answer the park is basically closed I mean people no it's it's not I actually checked with Nan on that this morning Heather and I had a conversation okay um the walk path was accessible there can you go in with a car to park or no um I think a part of the parking lot is closed off okay um but once he removes the debris which should have happened today I'm actually going to take a ride up there tomorrow morning on my way in um but by by midweek everything should be accessible and the walk path is accessible okay all right um so the the concept of the hackel um Pavilion um would be an open air Pavilion um that would allow for picnic benches to be placed underneath it would be a community Gathering space um and most importantly from a health and safety standpoint um right now if there is an inclement weather event that happens during a baseball game or some other sporting event um or practice um there really is no shelter um for the teams to go to um you know during a game if parents are there they can jump in a car but if there's practice and the parents have dropped them off there's really not a place to retreat to um so this Pavilion um would allow for that if the lightning detector did did go off during a sporting event um in addition to that it would provide restroom facilities um in the back end of the um of the open air Pavilion um Nan did show me and I can share it with the council um a concept for this um beautiful stone pillars at the bottom um natural pillars on the top um a peaked roof um that leads back into where the restroom facilities would be in the back of the the back of the structure do you know the size of the restroom facilities um I don't have Dimensions I don't uh can we she did speak to she did speak to a contractor but I mean I I think I circulate it to you I I do think if we're in agreement that obviously for all the obvious reasons we have to put something up we should put the con agree that we need to spend the money on the budget and then put the concept up at a work session so we don't yeah we don't really know that that what we're talking about is going to cost $700,000 340 340 we don't I'm sorry we don't know that it's going to cost 340 no we have an we have a concept that has Associated pricing but there it can be tweaked there can be and and and this would be the the the concept would be presented to the Village Council and and I'm all for this I'm just curious I'm thinking of of other fields that we have um do any of them have a place for shelter during lightning storms yes so we have different different areas have different spaces bard of Ed and you here you have cash off we have the bathrooms here and the library no Maple doesn't but they run to the stable they all have points closer for shelter and the lightning alerts that there's no place for them to go up there no none okay but but all all of our Fields don't have no all of them don't no and and I'll be honest with you long term you know Nana and I have had conversations about this I I think that we do need to put um some covering Over The Dugout spaces you know the player benches um I think some of our fencing needs to be replaced at some have dugouts by the way I we have I used that term loosely we have benches and and to be honestly I'm not a big proponent of actual dugouts because like let's say at citizens like you want the police to see what's going on inside that structure but if you had you know um four pillars and a pitched roof that gave covering during a a drizzle during a a ball game um upgraded fencing like these are all things that we're going to be talking about and ensuing Capital budgets um but obviously replacing the structure that we just removed is a great place to start I'm just you know as we were saying I just wanted to understand that we don't have that we don't have it in other places doesn't mean we shouldn't have it here we should have it here and then get it in other places yeah no it's it's that that that safety component is it needs to be something that remains consistent as we look at yep future capital budget and ditto I will spare you my joke bathrooms bathrooms are big deal at these fields because when they don't exist people still go to the bathroom and that becomes a problem for the Neighbors so the addition of the bathroom is exciting like we don't have a bathroom we repeatedly hear complaints about the portons the portons you know portons have been thrown in the river we've had massive Porton problems with our fields and these out here were welcome addition so we get constant feedback about the lack of shelter and the lack of bathrooms at our public parks and I and I'll tell you there's not a town I've been in where I haven't had complaints from Neighbors who live around ball fields about PTO John's and the technology that now exists is you know our Park staff could actually lock and unlock those bathrooms from their cell phone so you know there's there's a lot of good security purposes and a lot of good just you know aesthetic purposes uh with this and I'm I'm all for the bathrooms um I'm just curious how do we maintain them clean cleaning wise staff so so so in other words they are locked except when there's an event there and then after the event our staff goes into clean yeah and and and they they probably would be accessible you know during off school hours and stuff to families using the the playground and things of that nature as well okay so then if they're open on a daily basis they need to be cleaned on a daily basis just just making sure no we're we're aware of that got it um I have another thought about if we are creating a shelter with a roof maybe we should consider solar panels um and I'm not sure where that energy would go could it go back directly to the grid since we don't have have a property there that we really need to we're we're going the next the next item concerning Veterans Field lighting we're actually in the process of setting up a meeting with psng um so we can certainly bring that concept up at Hackle when we meet with them yeah sure and the other part of me thinks oh God they're ugly and this is such a lovely structure that that Nan has proposed so I'm of two minds understood do you have a picture of the I don't but I'll send it to you okay I I promised you I would do that and I didn't so I'm sorry but I mean you know it's hard for me to approve 340,000 when I don't see anything where we don't have estimates like it's we do have we do have estimates so we we can provide that to you too we do so okay you know you know what we'll do when when Chris comes to present the sidewalks I'll have Nan here to also spend a couple minutes talking about this answer that would be great great okay all right uh moving on uh the Veterans Field lighting project this is um looks like a big ticket item it's not as big as um it says $700,000 um we are in the process right now of submitting a letter to the Bergen County open space trust fund uh letters of intent are due April 1st to apply for a grant to offset the cost of this initiative on vets field um typically the highend grant Awards around 200 $1,000 from Bergen County open space um we're also in the process as I mentioned meeting with psng to talk about um rebates um and incentive packages they have for municipalities that are upgrading their field lighting um and we're also going to be speaking with the sports organizations about whether or not they'd be inclined to make any contributions to offset the cost of this I have to tell you I think this project is um exceptionally important um number one I think it'll appease a lot of neighbors because the technology that goes along with um lighting field lighting these days um is drastically improved from what is on Veterans Field now um the glare that reflects into people's adjoining yards um is highly highly reduced if not non-existent with the new technology um there's actually a ball field near my house in Little Falls that just upgraded theirs you can stand on the other side of the parking lot and you would know that the lights were on um it's it's truly significant um improvements to the technology um the other thing that I think is important to point out and I I talked to Scott Mueller today um there is not one diamond in Ridgewood um that is currently lit where you could actually have a night game um and offset some of the pressures of the fields um so I know you know that's one of the discussions that's been ongoing with regard to shedler um but I think that this project also helps lessen the burden of field demand because these players will be able to be out there practicing and um playing games um much later into the night it also helps the high school because our softball teams and our baseball team from Ridgewood High School play on vets field um so they would actually be able to schedule varsity baseball games that could run till till 10 10:00 at night um if this project were undertaken so I think there's a lot of benefits to this not only for the neighborhood not only for the people who use this field but just to expand the hours of the use of vets great I think we're all on board well I have I have a couple questions so I would like to hear from residents in the area can we get letters out to those residents I mean we can um I mean if I was a resident there and I have peace and quiet in my backyard starting at 8:00 pm I would not be happy if I now heard that there's going to be games and noise and we we are governed under the restrictions of the fields policy I I I wanted I didn't want to jump in with Keith but we do have a governing Fields policy and I think to the benefit to the neighbors the spillage this is great this is what they've been clamoring for you know the spillage and you also sorry Keith left out there is a public safety element for outside of traditional Field Sports for event spaces we can turn it on it's just improving the infrastructure in my opinion it's long overdue it will only improve the quality of life of the residents around the field what time are they allowed to play till I don't have the F so the fields policy is sort of strange it's got these rules and then has weekend rules and there 20 days of exemptions nineish we don't go to 10 I mean maybe 10 at the high school like twice a year or something because I I know that I think cases Rell I forget they have a time they have to be done by policy has a very neighborly governance in place this one change that I I also can I ask a question to you about finances well I I I just want to say I I had because at the last Mee when this was first brought up I asked about spillage and you said theed lights at Maple you know they Point down they nobody's upset about so I want to go see them for myself you should I've tried the lights aren't on yet at Maple because there's no activity so I did speak with Nancy today and she said she'd be more than happy if anybody wants to see the lights on at night to set up an appointment between now and next week so that we have all visually seen it for ourselves so when we talk about it next Wednesday we we know what we so she indicated to me that n n was going to extend that invitation to all of you um you should all go see it you should can I just mention this too and I don't want you know can how we put the cart before the horse we can have that discussion the intention that n and had on this was if we were to if the council was to move forward with this project we were actually going to invite all of the residents who are in the neighborhood to a meeting with musco because I think it's best for them to actually hear from the manufacturer who can show the difference in technology sure um I mean if I send them a letter it's going to you know raise awareness which I don't think is a bad thing but to actually see it in in a presentation format from the manufacturer of the lighting I think that's going to be much a much better use of the resident time and and I have to I have to go with Keith on this I mean I've I've seen the difference in in lighting and um if I lived next to the field um and and I because I do know the difference I would be dancing a jig because it's that much better for the residents my concern is that when you send a letter um to Residents and they don't have the opportunity to see it they might have a preconceived notion that well this is just going to make it even brighter and and and I agree with that yeah so I I I think that the the the musco um demo would be the way to go but I don't want them to feel like just say we vote on it it's in the budget and then they hear about it and they're like we didn't have a chance to speak we didn't have a chance to say I think when we put Maple when we put Maple and we did invite the neighbors and I I think it's it's great I mean this is a good thing like this is a good expenditure and I think it's great and and keep in mind there's there's a bunch of other um processes before we get to putting lights up right so you know this is the appropriating of the money um at that point you know we're going to have to get a proposal and go out to bid and award a contract I mean this is a this is an expensive Venture here right and we haven't we haven't asked for donations either right that's we have not because it's not in capital I have not asked any of the sports groups to offset it and I did have a question about expenses right which can I ask now so on the trust line there was an earmarked donation under rhs Sports organization for 104 can we find out if any of that can be used to offset any of the lighting absolutely because that that's the old school soccer carryover and imagine the way it was donated might be General field Improvement yes okay I'll check it out thank you and um so we have not because it H hasn't had like Community buying and all that I have not asked any of the 501 c3s for any type of donation for any of the either and I think if we got that that may make the grant more Grant worthy as well to have a partner and and keep in mind speaking of Grants um Bergen County open space there'll be a there'll be a hearing public hearing for that too so if there is any objection to this and again I don't necessarily see a downside but if there was an objection they'd have the ability to express it at the um at the Grant hearing as well but meanwhile can I ask a question should we if anybody else wants to see the lights I mean I know you've ever seen them Paul you've already seen them but between the three of us if we want to see them with Nancy should we talk now to pick a a time and a day or after well maybe after the meeting we could put our heads together I can even call in the and see you should all go see it you should defin you should definitely see it I I drove past it a couple of times before I realized one in why are they never on yeah I I I you know and I think that you know again Beth can probably help set something up as she sets up you know so many great meetings you can all be there at the same time as long as you're on 20 later obviously so it's dark Al okay yeah sensible shoes we we'll get it we'll get it s I also like this because I see people walking on the path in the dark at vets field and it just doesn't look real safe to me and and listen that's one thing that Nancy often says is forgotten is the fact that it's not just the people playing soccer softball baseball whatever else happens on vet field it's also about the people who are using it for Passive Recreation and are walking around the uh the track and and all that type of thing and events fireworks you know you can turn the lights on the rain after cash off and take them up just a bit for a period of time so no slip and Falls it's like they're really I don't want to like go down the lighting rabbit hole but they're quite impressive I mean that's why I want to see them great great let's move on okay all right um we have the um Bridging the Gap on the police vehicles um thanks to the the chief and our finance team here to my left uh that number is down to 66,000 to bridge the gap of vehicles that were that are still pending um recycling uh we're looking for an EV Ford F-150 and an EV charging station 82,000 and that was a swap for reduction of um one of the um one of the trucks that Sean had initially uh brought up and then the recycling rearload Packer 29 yard 385,000 wait is the 6,000 down to 2,000 now for the EV charging station did you say that no 82 82 82 for Combined purchase oh oh oh I get it I'm sorry I'm working off a cheat sheet here so is this our first electric vehicle no do we have any others no I going back back years ago we had electric vehicles that we tried out but that was before my time but we don't have any now no no so this will be the first in what is hopefully a long line of electric fleet vehicles correct great just at of curiosity what would a typical pickup truck be non-electric less I no but how much anybody know I I I don't I can get that number from Mike um I could tell you just by comparison the F the F350 is $100,000 that's a wait that's a that's A50 mucher a much bigger truck but it's the best I have to compare to here yeah no I got you I'm I'm G to I'm going to just take a stab at it that it's somewhere in the 40 to 50,000 range and that's just a an uneducated guess mhm but with much less maintenance and less gas yeah sure so all right and then um the one request from streets is the hooklift truck uh which they are in dire need of um cost to that is 390,000 um signal their run requests were upgrades to the fiber system um which is something that we're obligated and need to maintain it's sort of the backbone of our entire operation here uh from a communication standpoint that's ,000 and the request from water pollution control facility uh for sludge pumps is um 65,000 and I think that bridged the gap on Chris being able to do um some of the immediate needs at the water pollution control facility I will say that in next year's capital budget I think there is going to need to be a pivot um to some up some new upgrades to Water Pollution Control um I have Chris diagnosing some of those issues and concerns right now um but I think we are going to need to do some sort of reinvestment at that location um in addition to the fact that I think some of our communication needs um especially with emergency Personnel um with the assistance of signal um that's going to need to be something that we're going to have to focus on as we go into 25 as well so just sort of setting expectations for the next round of doing this AR um you didn't mention the Kenworth truck uh the rearload Packer for $437,500 two and buying one and buying one but it may not come in until you know who knows whenever and that's going to be good I like I thought he needed even more than that I think that if that that again the the the only problem is the lag time but I my recollection and someone correct me if I'm wrong is that if if he gets those three trucks he's going to be very happy okay which three trucks is a lot it's a lot of trucks well yeah is that true does that anybody know you know with the two he it's a stop Gap measure right the one we may not get until this time next year right so he really has two at the moment right but he can't we can't get more now right the point is that I think the I think the point that Lorraine is Raising is is three enough for for well he really won't have three he'll have two then when this one come so when the new one comes in say it comes in in in October or November are we going to stop renting one truck no we're what we're going to try to do is we're going to try to extend the leases from three months to 13 months okay Bob and I have been having excruciating conversations about this because that has to come out of the operating budget but what happens is one if we do commit to a 13-month lease on those um on those vehicles that we have from Ohio we can then we we then get them at the end of the lease we get new we we get new ones actually at the end of the lease um at no additional cost right so that's our goal as to how to restore the fleet both from a capital standpoint and from a um from a a rental into purchase standpoint we would get new ones at the end of the lease without having to wait like that year yes okay in stock with them already for so whatever is new at the time not being used by somebody else we get so they have a whole Fleet right so it's not really least to buy because we're not we wouldn't be buying the ones we've been leasing for 13 months it's not a lease purchase but it's an agreement to purchase another truck at a reduced cost after a lease agreement that's what afford you the opportunity to buy it Keith um I see traffics getting 100,000 for various upgrades es to radios and then the police are asking for 120,000 for radios traffic signal is the actual infrastructure on the poles it's the actual fiber Network it's not it's not the actual radios okay I'm sorry so we to the fiber on the poll the radios so we have a we have a built out fiber Network that runs throughout the village that that signal the signal division maintains um this is part of that effort and what does that fiber Network do it it it connects all of our municipal buildings from a communication standpoint U it supports the um the efforts of um central dispatch um it connects us all of our emergency uh all of our emergency um facilities all of that type of thing it's like all backboard Tech we have our we have our own fiber on the poles here so we don't you know we don't have to jump on to a utility provider we actually have our own fiber that's built out throughout the village yeah it's like your cable system at home when you have files Verizon or whatever it's a direct line that comes in and feeds so all of ours are connected underground to various points throughout the village so we tie in our Communications that way that's the most secure way to do it and this is just an extension of those to places we have not touched upon yet and as uh Keith said it coordinates our central dispatch our police fire County everybody that's Lo looped into this thing and it's it's a secure way of communications and this is needed cuz Wireless doesn't work well enough I'm sorry I I mean I would think we've gone Wireless I mean no this is this this this is the actual this is the actual dark fiber Network um the underground either underground or above ground depending on where you are true but you're describing this allows folks to talk to each other in the village our our our our our it networks are set up through this our security is set up through this our our emergency communications are all set up through through this and see and Rich Charlton who's you know quite frankly I'd go as far as to say as an expert in this field um you know he they they support the entire operation and other towns do do this the same way um I think we're ahead of the curve from a municipal standpoint on this I could tell you that I know Counties have built out infrastructure like this that and they've allowed municipalities to piggyback on that but in Ridgewood we we have our own Heather I don't know if you have any other history on this I I think Dylan probably has a lot of information if you just let him say a few things but you have to come to microphone Dylan the other thing I think it connects is the water um pumping stations I think that they also are connected to our fiber Network as well and just like that he appears what that just like that you appear um so the dark fiber network was started years ago by the Board of Ed we jumped onto it a little later on it connects all our telecommunications so all our phone systems throughout all the village are connected through it this being one of the primary water department being a secondary site um it connects as far as the radio is concerned then nodes that need to talk back to the main infrastructure they're Wireless but they're in they're within the village that doesn't get good wire Wireless so they can't repeat back here so they have to go through the dark fiber Network to come back to the radio systems um it also connects all the camera systems for the security camera um it talks to all our kios throughout the uh Central uh Central um the CBD um I'm trying to think what else we put onto it uh we pretty much have every type of communication onto it right now other towns are starting to do it now so we are like you said we are ahead of the curve on it okay would this 100,000 also include the nod on the on the roof of this building that we've been talking about no separate that's a difference system that would be through one of the carriers like Verizon cellular I mean maintaining this infrastructure is critical yes and now one with the water departments also when they replacing water mains and stuff they're also running fiber underground with their water mains as well to expand it right cuz that's the same safest place for it okay I didn't know that we have any choice this is this is where we have to go and and just to set expectations having sat through the capital budget meeting with the department and division uh directors um you know this is going to this is going to grow next year because investing in our communication system is something that we need to double down on going into 25 and like I said I think you're going to see a lot of capital relative to that and water pollution control next year okay everybody good mhm let's go all right and that uh that wraps it up mayor so just to sort of review um we're going to look at Bridging the Gap between the additional 100,000 that has been unexpected for Kingsbridge unexpended um 45,000 um that was allocated for the building department vehicle um and we'll see if we can bridge the gap for potenti potential sidewalk improvements on East Glenn we'll reach out to those residents in the meantime um we're going to ask um The Village engineer uh to come and speak at the next work session on March 6th about the update on West Glenn the potential of doing East Glenn and the Clinton Avenue um where we land after Thursday night with the residents and the parents that'll be at that meeting um we'll also have Nancy beos come to the March 6th council meeting uh to present on both um the hab nickel Pavilion and if she has any supplemental information on the field lighting we'll bring that as well we'll subsequently set up a date before then for the council to go out to maple field and take a look at the the lighting as it stands there today all right I'm going to speak to Jeremy kimman about the um OEM camera trailer um and get a full explanation to its use in addition to visiting the possibility of doing a shared services agreement with or offering a shared services opportunity and and how many days a year he would anticipate putting it into use got it okay I think that about rounds it out what is our plan for next Tuesday next Tuesday um we're hopeful to have um all of the revenue um put to bed and finalized and we'll be able to project the tax impact moving forward good good do we know that we really will have those numbers or is that just a hope that's the plan a plan the plan and the Hope a plan is somewhere between definitely and hope good anybody else have any questions there there are a couple of outlying issues that we just have to finalize um before we can come to you with with firm numbers um and we're hopeful that'll be completed by Tuesday and so the idea is that we'll be voting actually out the budget next week my the plan is still that we're going to introduce the budget on the 13th okay which will be the public meeting but we will will we have final numbers though next week you you will have final numbers um Tuesday I'm sorry you'll have final numbers Tuesday okay at the budget good right and so I guess we're done for tonight as far as I'm concerned then let's go to public comment Dylan do we have anyone seeing no one I will close public comment and entertain a motion for adjournment while I dig into my thin so moved second all in favor I I I I thanks