qu to order the meeting of the mayor and Council bur of rived special meeting uh Zoom meeting 9:00 a.m. I asked for a moment of Silent reflection and prayer perhaps for all those who died in the um um concert in Russia um due to a terrorist attack ready salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for statement of compliance with the open public meeting act this meeting complies with the open public media act by notification via the March 1st 2024 sh Sunshine notice cons excuse me containing the time date and access information to the town news and the record of a posting of the same on the municipal bulletin board and the burough website and following notice of the same with the municipal clerk Madam clerk roll call councilwoman cman here council president monano Cohen here councilwoman canella here councilwoman Mal Larry here councilman Benson here councilman glass here mayor Papo here okay I have a motion from the council Pres president and second from the finance chair to open to the public for any public comments so moved second all in favor please say I I I I I any member of the public would like to make a comment please raise your hand at this time and the council um Finance chair will recognize you does not look like there are any questions all right then all right very good could I have a motion and a second from any member of council to close to the public so moved second all in favor please say I I I I okay so we are up to item number six first of all I want to welcome the um the uh budget committee citizens for the budget committee who join us we we are very grateful for their presence we're also grateful for all of our department heads and the public um as we try to strike a budget that is um that provides all the services and needs for the public and the town as and the employees as well as um balancing the tax bird um I'd like to just remind everyone that the river the the town's budget historically is about 25% of the tax bill so um and in that we provide all of the uh equipment for our fire or police or DPW our wreck and every other department we um maintain our grounds uh we repair and maintain our storm drains our repair and maintain our roads and the list goes on and on um so th that's important to understand our our role in um in the town and our our niche in the uh tax burden we're about 25% and we're providing all of that including healthc care and benefits uh in addition to salaries for all of our employees um Council caufman uh uh business administrator aola and um CFO uh Chris bagl ter uh where will we begin today fire department all right everyone let's turn we're going to do uh we're going to do operation first correct yes all right so let's turn to um that tab uh for those of you who have the book Chris if uh you can start presenting and as the sheets come up we'll uh call for pages okay our procedure has been to um look through the budget and um and uh as a council and as citizens on the citizen budget committee and ask about increases or decreases and also to if we can find places to save uh money Ken May sorry could I could I ask and you guys decide but we did a bunch of cuts last week like to get a recap of where that stood and before we go into today absolutely that's an excellent idea we're proposed to cost the taxpayers of the Town per household excellent very very good um yes Chris thanks Mary uh yeah the the number uh the actual number is 68,69 and that is lower than where we started the bulk of that there are two large items um we moved $40,000 out of the uh shade tree op op ating into capital and that all you know we'll be talking about Capital today uh and we added $30,000 for interest on investments um into our Revenue um there are about eight other smaller line items um that all add up to another $1,300 that we that we changed the uh the new tax impact year-over-year based on all of these changes is uh 4.71% okay so we went from uh 51555 repeating decimal to 4 point say give it to me again 4.71 okay a 4.71 all right uh Ken anything else uh no I was just so we're still playing with 100K roughly curse if you're if I remember correctly 100K plus or minus into this budget adds 20 adds or deletes 2654 to the number right uh correct uh 100,000 is 2654 that's correct okay so the the average home right now we were talking about an increase I think of [Music] $228 we're at 21263 right now so that's the adjustment okay great thank you sir you're welcome all right thanks mayor any other member of council want to ask a general question before we get into the fire department or of our budget committee very well then all right uh if we could all turn our attention to the fire budget um which um has several pages and Mr Mr Mayor yes uh would it be okay if I can just introduce myself to the mayor and Council as well as the finance committee and the people of River Edge as I am a new department head it would take me about 3 minutes I know you have a busy schedule but I would appreciate it and will explain thank you sir for those who don't know me I'm Chief Robert schlosberg I'm a lifelong River Edge resident residing in Riveredge for the last 55 years three of my children are also in local police River Edge fire and Riveredge ambulance they also own homes in Riveredge they are tax payers in rge I look at the budget as a taxpayer and as chief of this department I have served this community in various capacities over the many years including head of the zoning committee member and Trustee of the ambulance Corps I've been president of Riveredge little league as well as other committees in town there are many Volunteers in Riveredge our hatch should be taken off to all of them I would however like to highlight the volunteer fire department the as these volunteers as many of you know are truly special we come in a time of emergency in the middle of the night during holidays in Clement weather our volunteer fire department comes to the house to investigate the dangers as others flee these groups again are very special Volunteers in my personal life I run a successful company that operates in 12 countries as many of you can imagine I am working within budget all the time I work with people from all different cultures and backgrounds communication is key both in my work and my volunteer duties I believe that my strong foundation in this community as well as my shared information make me one of the most qualified Department fire chiefs Riveredge has ever had I believe that my strong communication skills will allow me to explain my rationale regarding the budget to start we have operated with within our operating budget with the exception of our unexpected repairs of the last year on the latter truck exceeding 20 years and a fire engine approaching 20 years again with the exception of the unexpected maintenance we have been within our same operational budget for the past four years truly a testament to the great job Chief K did regarding our department finances many great examples of course reductions but most notably under the tenure of the previous Chief we also reduced our active fire apparatus Fleet by 20% 20% is a huge number massive savings extending well into the future by not having to do the required maintenance testing and upkeep required on an additional fire Tru let me also mention one L truck that will be needing replacement down thead road I will also highlight some savings from 2023 to 2024 involving our fire pagers hose expenditures no need for additional iPads no requests for new chainsaws or equipment like fans for ventilations simply put we are not asking for anything we don't need in short we come to you with a lean budget that reflects our current needs only at this time I am prepared to explain the requests we are making I don't come with a plan to make any further Cuts although we are able to reduce some of the capital budget items I believe we need to keep our members prepared and most importantly safe if we are not prepared we cannot be doing our best to keep ourselves safe and then we can't hold up our end of the deal to the S citizens that trust us with their safety with all that being said I move forward to the operational budget excellent thank you Chief I appreciate that thank you all right um any member of council assistant budget committee have a question about the first page which is currently um well actually Chris I don't think your first page in our bir first page coincide correct they do they do I've my my worksheet is is the entire budget um so I'm just flipping to the pages once we get to different accounts okay um so uh any member of council uh or of the budget committee please look at the first page which starts with fulltime and ends with garbage supplies ask if there uh is there any comment question or suggestion yes I think for the uniform allowance 255 d013 we need to add a little Chief I think 5,000 would be enough for this year what do you think um yeah 5,000 would be helpful okay because we spent about 70 last year so just need to leave a little extra room in case there are new fire people or the hours go up for the current fire people so forth okay uh Council caufman so we're at 4-01 d25 d255 d32 from this point on we'll only refer to the last two groupings which is 25532 you want to change it from 500 to what I'd like to make I'd like to make a motion to change the uniform allowance from 70,000 to 75,000 I see you're really 25513 yes from 70 to 75 is there a second second it is open for debate comment or inquiry hearing none all in favor please say I I any opposed any exstension okay so the 70 becomes 75 good uh any item next that any member of the finance committee the bud Citi and budget committee or the council wishes to modify question or comment on uh for the Public's benefit uh this budget doesn't come to us unreviewed it is reviewed by our CFO it is reviewed by Chief schosberg and the department heads it is reviewed by our ba uh so by the time we get to this point we have uh it has been scrutinized by several groups and people so I don't want the public to think that just because there is no comment or inquiry doesn't mean that it hasn't been uh you know thoroughly reviewed all right um are we good yes all right page if we're good then that means we're gonna move on so um hold on let me just uh bring up switch this I'm sorry I have several windows open at the same time please pardon me for a moment okay uh so if we're good we're going to go to Department of Public Works is there a oh no no no no no sorry we're going to the next page for operating okay Lizette so um Chief sha Chief schlosberg had um a request regarding Personnel that was previously made to the Personnel committee um but we didn't have a chance to meet before the budget meeting thank you LTE Chief if you w to just uh briefly give us a synopsis oh I basically we have a secretary that's been with the B of River Edge for uh I believe over 20 years uh the secretary Colleen Kylie she uh not only works for the River Edge fire department but she also works for the office of emergency management and she works for fire prevention um she has been um you know handling all three departments she's done an exceptional job um she's been available to us not not only during the hours that uh she's supposed to be at Burrow Hall working but off hours as well I put her in for an increase I don't have that exact information in front of me at this time but I sent it into lazette uh for review and I was hoping that we can get her an increase uh in salary okay uh I believe that uh I mean I'm I tend to deal with things on a lot of different levels but I'm certainly on the Personnel committee I believe the personel committee had kind of already reviewed this didn't we Liz no no we um this request came after our Personnel committee so I sent an email and we just didn't have a chance with you schedules to meet correct okay good um so uh Lizette what would be our procedure at this point um what we would need to know um the budgetary impact and um if there is um approval to Grant this request or put it on hold until until the end to see where we are so would that be uh would we be Consulting with the CFO at this point yes Chris where are we uh Chris do you know the amount um that was proposed I if CHR doesn't have it I have it Mr Mayor oh let's see if he has it yeah I was going to pull up the email if you have it in front of you that's um that would be good go ahead uh Chief yes I was looking to bring her to $30 an hour and uh I we in doing my homework I've spoken to other municipalities uh in similar roles that Miss Kylie plays uh for our department and what's interesting is like I said she's not only just work for the River Edge fire department she's handling the needs of OEM and uh fire prevention and both uh Bill Sanders and Alan Silverman are in line with my request and we're all three of us are hoping to get our the approval for that so uh the ba and I did have a conversation about this for the council's benefit we both thought uh L that correct me if I misrepresent anything we both thought that this was a reasonable and uh uh basically uh ATM Market um Improvement to her salary and so um I certainly recommend it was that what is your opinion um that is correct I also recommended the current salary um for this employee is 26.83 an hour um last year was 2630 she does not exceed the 209 hour um Work Week limitation for part-time employees and um the the salary wage for her position is ranges from minimum wage to $30 an hour and the request was actually for $31 an hour um so those are the statistics that I have for the governing body to consider so the governing body based on our current ordinance can approve $30 an hour and then if uh it wishes to be revised Revisited at a later data could is that not correct correct um so um could I have a member of council move in second then we can enter into debate and discussion so move second it has been moved and seconded is open for debate commentary and discussion any member I'm restricting this to the council at this point any member of council who would like to ask a question make a comment or uh enter into debate how long has she been in the in oh sorry go ahead Barry go no go ahead go ahead Lisa I just wanted to confirm Chief how long has she been in the in the serving the Boral rever I believe over 20 years LTE do you have that information um I don't have it on hand but it's um at least 20 I think I think it's 22 years I to to me a Nob brainer she's a dedicated service person to the town so it's a Nob brainer for me thank you Barry I mean yeah I concur with with Lisa I think I trust the chief uh he's doing a great job he's been helping this town so much over the years and um if she's has important as she he says she is then I would uh trust him to to make the right decisions so I support this race I can add that also she's exemplary in her work and her commitment to the town her um historical knowledge of the Departments that she works within and for is uh is amazing so hearing no other requests for comment I will open it to the citizen budget committee a member of Citizen budget committee would like to ask a question or make a comment hearing none um I will put the question to the body uh Council only all in favor please say I I I I hi any opposed any extensions hearing none is so moved um Chris I don't know which um line item that would require a change but uh it is implicit that since the council approved it that that line Island would be changed to that degree excellent I'll change the fire salary and wage account for the part-time employees okay um is there anything else uh we can go Page by page but because Chris's page isn't well Chris maybe they do uh let's go to the next page which starts with air tanks and goes to uh training uh is there a comment question or a suggestions all right let's move to the next page which uh I'm sorry I think someone just coughed let's start next page uh which starts with membership dues which is 25-44 and ends with honors and badges 255-1680 is there a concern a question comment or suggestion all right let's go to the next page which starts with parades and I'm just going to give the last group 167 and ends with tablet maintenance [Music] 175 Chief do we need the tablet maintenance number 175 uh 17 five tablet Mains the cost has been zero the last two years and it was yeah you know what we did get six new tablets in um I probably feel safe just keeping that number in in case anything was to happen uh they were just installed uh this week by the way in the apparatus and the three Chief's cars so probably just to be safe they're under warranty but I probably just feel safe for just keeping that number in there sounds good okay okay next page uh replacement uh group uh 1 180 and down Cadet junior fire program 1 191 um I would recommend for motor vehicle repairs that we oh someone have a question no you you were going on the same line as I was Michelle okay all right we're in sync um so uh vehicle repairs were 61,000 last year and I spoke with the chief yesterday I would recommend moving that up to 50 from 35 okay why don't you make that as a motion and put the entire code in okay I make a motion to change line 40125 25584 from 35,000 to 50,000 second it's been moved and seconded Ken do you wish to offer a comment no I was going the same route I saw the high expense and I'm wondering why we were under budgeting for a higher expense so all right we are open to debate comment or inquiry hearing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed any exstension okay anything else on this page all right let's go to the next page uh special ops team 192 Through loap Fire 300 okay let's go to the next page which is actually just the total page after that is I believe the justifications so I believe we're done with the fire department um Finance chair councilwoman Kaufman are we good to move on um to capital for fire yes you want to do it that way okay all right everybody uh in your books I think capital is in the front so you want to go back it is the third tab Chris uh if you could also bring us to Capital give the CFO a moment while he's doing that um I know that our um Jason did you have a comment yes superintendent of Public Works Jason I didn't see you because you were in the upper left hand corner I missed you go ahead it's okay thank you mayor um I was wondering if we could just run through all of capital um first um because the decisions on Capital really affect my budget especially when you're talking about the mechanical enss and everything else so if things AR approved I would have to raise some of the other areas in that case um C uh Council mman I would recommend that we return to the agenda and uh finish with the operating budget and then go back okay all right all right Chris I'm sorry about that but we're going to go on Department of Public Works no um time out I I was wondering if we can do the capital first not the operating because then the capital is gonna dictate what the operating might have to go up to on especially when you get into the mechanical increases in salary due to Capital is that correct not salary just general operating budget yeah so like if Vehicles aren't replaced then you'd have to make adjustments in the mechanical line to maintain the current Fleet buildings as well all right all right all right that sounds good Chris uh again we're gonna jump back um Jason uh given that this is uh a change in our agenda are you comfortable with us starting with the fire department or should we start with police or should we start with DPW no you could start with the fire department the way you guys had it laid out um just as long as we can run through all the capital before we get back to operating okay all right so we're starting with fire department um I see that we have a grant built in um to one of the fire department uh elements um but I don't see past open space it looks like the screen has cut off a little bit uh Chris can you do something so that we can see all the way across the line oh all right yeah is it do you have do you have the um the the window of the people in front of it or is uh or is it yeah if if we move the people window is the is the full screen shared it should the last column should say debt authorized ah my bad because it's all black and I didn't notice that okay thanks that helps uh there we go I can alter that as I run the meeting give me a second okay and there we go all right my bad all right so um Chief can you please speak to the um to the requests you're making okay let me just uh just want to pull one thing up here s okay okay um we uh we did get a grant on the uh turnout gear we put a request in for uh $30,000 uh we can adjust that down somewhat uh due to the fact that we were successful on that Grant uh the good news is uh we've done a big job with recruitment we'll probably be averaging uh one new firefighter uh over the next four to six months so that's six new firefighters uh that was probably not figured in our overall gear amount so I don't want to reduce it too much so I'd bring that number from 30,000 down to maybe 20,000 and then taking the grant into account we may be able to reduce it next year a little bit as well but uh 30,000 to 20,000 on the turnout gear if that would be okay okay so let's do the whole thing and then we'll go back and make a motion so you're uh so I'm penciling in uh changing 30,000 for turnout gear to 20,000 and keep going with your budget uh the pagers I have to keep where it is now but the good news is uh looking at last year's budget meetings we had it at six we cut it in half and we were asked if we can keep it at half that amount we also have an experiment going right now on other ways to be notified and we may be able to eliminate the pager amount going forward but for now we got to keep it at that $3,000 number um Mobile Radio replacement uh that is uh got to stay where it is only because there's been changes with the county and um you know we need to upgrade some of those radios and have them flash so we can communicate with other municipalities so 20,000 I'm going to say is something that's needed go ahead uh the lad truck we just discussed the uh repairs that we had last year looking at prior budget meetings in 2023 and 2022 these are things that we were uh discussing uh with regard to the latter truck it's still in good shape overall it's not a danger to our firefighters by by any means but we do have to start looking at putting some money away uh the finance committee and uh several Council people were in agreement to this over the last couple of years we just haven't done anything and eventually uh you know it's going to come due where we're going to have to get this uh apparatus ordered like the prior Chief mentioned last year no one has a crystal ball when we're ready to order it what it's going to cost however if we to replace that vehicle today we're looking at a 3 to foure weight and uh you know somewhere between 1.7 and $1.9 million to probably replace this truck okay keep going uh the command vehicle uh right now we have a command vehicle that's 10 years old it's in excellent shape uh due to the fact that the DPW has done a great job maintaining it as well as the prior Chiefs that have used it the mileage is low unfortunately there are too many hours on this vehicle to keep it a Frontline piece uh the fact that we took good care of it I do need it to uh pull a second boat I do want to use it to bring firefighters to uh training um I would allow it to be used by OEM as a second line piece if we were to get the uh first line piece which I feel is important uh so I'm going to uh ask that we keep that number in at $85,000 keep going now some good news uh the chief uh my assistant chief and the past chief of last year who happened to be the same person uh we did a lot of uh work to uh get the base stations that we're looking for and to eliminate that $30,000 number so you're saying uh that we can eliminate the base stations yes after a lot of hard work uh we were able to accomplish that and get the base stations without asking the town for any money okay and last part uh this is a utility vehicle that we're going to need to pull our boats uh like I mentioned we would use the second uh uh vehicle would be the uh old door the uh command vehicle that we're currently using today would be used as a second line piece to uh pull the second boat the uh utility vehicle would be used to pull our main boat boat two boats always go out at the same time whenever we go out to make a rescue and uh that utility vehicle will also be used to transport firefighters to training uh we've been doing a lot with training as many of you know and we can't always get everybody on the fire trucks and then if uh there's a call and the four pieces of apparatus are out since we did eliminate the one piece that I mentioned I'm looking to replace that with a utility vehicle the cost being 75,000 vers a fifth uh line apparatus that we eliminated would probably be 10 times that amount so yes 75,000 for the utility vehicle okay uh Chris thanks Mary I just wanted to clarify chief on the turnout gear on the first item is the we're we're reducing it from 30 to 20 but is that in addition to the grant or is that so the grant is going to be the 234 62 and we we got the we got informed that that we received the grant but we haven't actually gotten the award letter physically in hand yet that's always delayed um so that's why I just have it as a placeholder right now so for this Capital ordinance I just need to make sure that I have the number inclusive of the grant so if it's 20 should this go to 43462 um you know my feeling is I think we've done a great job over the years in replacing the gear when it's needed we've really got a good handle on that better than a lot of municipality fire departments I I think we can go to 20 and then even have a possible savings next year but um you know I would ask for the 20 and uh keep that 23 we don't know exactly when that's going to come in and I don't want to run over that number okay chief is the grant simp simply for turnout gear uh yeah and when we mentioned turnout gear we got to include the helmet that goes with that as well as the face mask uh you know the hood so uh yes that's for uh strictly turnout gear and everything that's related to turnout gear and is the grant specific to this year or can it can it run over two years in other words does it remain open so that we can use 20,000 this year and 3,462 next year we haven't received the agreement yet we only received the announcement the agreement itself would have the term okay and so with this uh would it be a wash Chris or is it uh is it really 43 and we're getting 23 what how is that working for the public and for the council's uh edification I I think that what I would what I would do for for now um is if if we're going to keep the 20,000 in the capital since we don't have an ual award letter we can't include the Grant in our ordinance we'll likely be um introducing our ordinance in within the next month so if we don't have a grant agreement in the next month we'll just have the 20,000 of turnout gear in the capital ordinance when the grant agreement comes we're able to do a a budget amendment which is is in our operating budget to appropriate that Grant it's called a chapter 159 I know that um we've all seen those resolutions over the years uh once the budget's adopted it's just the methodology to um modify the budget to include grants that we received later in the year once we do that you do have an appropriation for the additional 23462 um in turnout gear so that and then that'll carry both both the 20,000 and the 23462 will carry um forward into future years the 23462 will obviously expire depending on the grant agreement but the 20,000 will carry on so depending on the timing of the purchase you'll have an aggregate of 43462 available to purchase if you if you do not need that much uh my recommendation would be we would draw down from the grant first so we can receive the reimbursement and then uh anything that's left over in capital we could carry over to Future years um or we can cancel it if it's no longer needed good so for the Public's benefit what what we're doing is um we're we're not able to count the grant right now that's why we're putting the 20,000 in but uh we are going to accounting wise uh place in 20,000 if the grant comes in then we'd have 43,000 and we can um we can use that towards the benefit of tax reduction this year and or next year Chris would that is that a good analysis yes okay great um okay so uh we're talking about reducing the 30,000 uh for the turnout out to 20,000 and reducing the 30,000 for the base station to zero um that would be a reduction of 40,000 for the budget uh the chief feels that that's possible uh now does the council wish to weigh in um about anything else in this regard certainly we can revisit if we have to but I would rather discuss it while the chief is here uh Please be aware that our current capital budget is 2.8 million uh which is a bit High Council um councilwoman cin um so we have a very very heavy capital budget for the next three years you looked at the summary Pages um chief of the three vehicles that you're requesting funding for which do you feel the most strongly about for right now I mean you know with the repairs and everything that have taken place with the ladder truck the ladder trucks still in good shape I just want to make us aware that if we do put this off this year um you know we're going to just have to probably put away more money in the upcoming years to accommodate that truck the good news is you know uh the prior Chief as well as the uh members are going to get probably 30 years out of the ladder truck which is good news instead of 25 when most of the apparatus is replaced so we are going to buy ourselves five more years of use with that truck which is a good thing and I think with the maintenance that we did last year and some of the PM that was scheduling this year that's going to even help keep that truck going um but at some time we're going to have to start putting some money away if it's not 350 this year as mentioned last year and the prior year maybe we just put away something just to be safe and then that will help jumpstart us putting away money each year moving forward okay I mean to answer your question the command vehicle is important and so is the utility vehicle I think where there's room we can do something with the ladder truck 2033 is when we're going to have to have delivery on that truck um and you know we'd probably have to have it ordered by 2029 so we're in 2024 now there's still five years um you know um Chris may have some ideas how he's going to make this magic happen for us over the next couple of years but I just want to make you aware that we should just start thinking about the truck you have all done a great job talking about it the last two years but we got to start figuring out how we're going to make this happen when we have to order it five years from now okay Chris do you want to comment on that uh yeah so I I mean to everybody's Point here um this is a question of uh confidence in our future capital budget right so I know in the in the past couple of years we've had some large expenses if we're confident that those large expenses are going to be behind us it would give us the opportunity to put more money in future years for things like this for these for these one-off purchases rather than these larger projects um you know with the with the building repairs uh potentially behind us by the time we get to 2030 or 2029 when we need to place the order you you don't necessarily need to be linear with the amount that you um appro each year uh what we talked about in in the finance committee is even though we're appropriating this money the cost to the town in the in the year that we're appropriating it is just that 5% down payment I'm not going to borrow the money we're not going to be sitting on $350,000 in cash for the next five years while we wait I'm not going to be paying interest on that money so it's really just setting up that appropriation um as a placeholder so that you can continue to do it and you can and you can um uh you know pay your 5% down payment in in tranches rather than all at once however if we have a large uh or a couple of large projects that we're putting in as we have in the last couple of years uh for whether it's emergency items or building repairs and and Renovations uh that we're not going to have in the future that gives us the opportunity to fill in that Gap with maybe larger Appropriations for for the truck in the future so um you know using using the chief's example of five years at roughly 350,000 plus whatever the inflationary increase in the cost of the truck between now and 2029 it's probably going to take that long to come up with that appropriation if you do it linearly um if you put in zero this year then again to his point it'll probably need to be five or $600,000 every year for the next four years or you can you can have one large appropriation four years from now for the full potentially $2 million uh to appropriate that truck in one year so uh it's it's really a question of um what we feel our Capital budget's going to look like over the next five years and whether whether we think there will be a lull in some of the uh more larger expenses that that we've been incurring over the last couple of years and and chief you said the command vehicle has over a 100,000 miles hours was that what no no I'm just saying with the idle time that that vehicle's had um you know over the last 10 years I mean would probably be as comparable when talking to people at Chevy of like having a vehicle that would have over 100,000 miles on it but again we've done a great job taking care of it maintaining it and you know I'm looking to make that an important second line piece you know we have firefighters going to the academy right now if we take a trip to the Bergen County Fire Academy you'll see most municipalities give a vehicle for the um firefighters to take their classes our members take their personal cars and we shouldn't have them putting their gear inside a uh personal car so there is a use for that vehicle um and like I mentioned if the vehicle's not being used by the fire department we can make OEM happy and they can use that vehicle uh you know so we work together the Departments work together the new Tahoe is important and then having the current Tahoe that we have now as a backup vehicle will make things just a lot better how we operate as a fire department coun Koffman do you have a recommendation for this lining so I would recommend that we fund the two vehicles Mobile Radio pagers and turnout gear to the level discussed previously and remove the ladder truck for this year because we again have a very very heavy Capital spending budget for the next three years okay are you going to make that as a motion uh so in a motion you'd be saying um the ladder truck would go from 350,000 to zero yes is there a second second it is now open for debate discussion or inquiry hearing none all in favor please say I I I now um I think that this is a prudent decision for now but um I think next year at the very minimum we need to put 85,000 in the reason I say 85,000 uh minimum is because um if I heard the chief correctly he's looking at the replacement vehicle to be about 1.7 million was that it Chief I'll be honest with you it could I would say somewhere between 17 1 n and keep in mind though we do have a value also on the current ladder truck I don't know what that number would be but because of the shape that the vehicle's in and the maintenance we're doing now I would think that we're going to get you know $250,000 I mean for the vehicle if we were to sell it or trade it in so I I understand that and um because I've been here so long uh and I think it was good that you summarize that for the public because sometimes my thinking is a product of the history that that I have but it's better to say it and so thank you for that so the reason I'm saying 85000 is I anticipated a tradein the chief said 1.7 the 1.7 is probably a minimum number not a maximum number but you have a trade in and so what I did on my calculators is I did 1.7 time 5% and so Chris correct me if I'm not M if I'm wrong but uh 5% or the amount that would have to go into the budget would be $85,000 so um next year I think what we have to do is start with a baseline I if if at all possible and I think it might be possible not this year because this year has been very difficult of uh 85,000 and then we can work on from there and as uh Mr bagary has said um if our uh Capital items be get better under control we don't have as many big projects which I don't I I'm hoping we won't we could fund a good portion of it in its last year and with that in mind we question would become well then how do we afford that well we don't go immediately out to bond as Mr bagaria said we um we put in our budget and then we Bond as we go in other words as we need so that we keep so we don't create interest payments that don't need to be created Chris um my analysis is that pretty much online is there anything you need to tweak in what I said yeah if we if we put 85,000 into the budget next year not the capital budget but the operating budget next year that would get us the full $1.7 million appropriation because that's the 5% down payment that we would need to be able to support that um and then you would have that appropriate ation available you know it can it would be sitting on the books until 2029 and at 2029 uh the chief will have to get a new quote for what the vehicle costs at that point and then you would have to appropriate anything additional um plus or minus um at that at that time um but that would that would give you the ability to do that and uh if we can't do the full 85 in the operating budget next year we could do a portion of it as long as because what the public may not understand is a lot of a lot of what happens is is is constrained by the operating budget so if we can start putting money in the operating budget up to that 85 or $90,000 which is the that actually frees up the ability for us to finance things later now we do have a a a a predicted debt payment but any case this is all uh this is all speculation right now we never know what the future will have for us but it is a possible um Financial um Avenue to take when we can discuss that next year Council woman cin um again I would just say the next three years are very very heavy in the capital spending plan that's why I'm talking about putting it in the operating budget building up the operating budget's um down payment portion the 5% okay I'm okay I would recommend I'm not talking about putting it in the capital talking about putting it in the operational okay build up a a uh the 5% so that when we finally have to gotcha okay and that that takes the pressure off the capital a little bit so it's it's just another accounting tactic to try to reduce the burden on the public and control our overall expense it may or may not be appropriate next year but I think it's something we should seriously consider and Chris and Lizette if you can take that down in notes um and the finance committee and we can see if that might be an Avenue that might help us move forward um through the more trying times that we're currently in okay all right um did we I I think we had a did we have a motion did we have a vote on the uh alteration to the capitl no no we've been in debate okay we've had a motion in second is there any more discussion hearing none all in favor please say I I I I okay any opposed any exstension Okay so we've reduced the capital budget by what looks like uh $410,000 is that correct Chris sorry is on mute there yep uh that sounds right all right no my bad my bad uh 390 390 yes 390 it's the it's 350 uh it's the the my handwriting was a little sloppy my my 30 looked like a 50 to me so we reduced it 390 okay uh let's move um so uh right now we're done with fire both o uh salary and wages side and the capital side is that correct yes all right I just I just want to no I just want to thank you all for your time and allowing me to explain everything the volunteers are counting on me to report back that uh you know we're appreciated and it just means a lot to uh the department speaking on their behalf oh Chief thanks for saying that and we really really are so grateful for all the countless hours that the fire department puts uh forward our volunteers show up 24 hours a day seven days a week and you Chief I believe are the highest in response to calls right now I think you're in the 80 pertile aren't you listen me and uh some of the other guys you know were lucky enough to work locally so it makes us readily available but yes I make more than my shareer calls we we really really really grateful thank you to you and to the other Chiefs and to the captains and lieutenants and all the all the firefighters thank you thank you all right um shall we go to police next would that make sense and we'll leave public works for last sure so we go police wreck and then Public Works Jason does that make sense to you since you asked us to change our procedure Yeah well yeah you could do that do you have a better suggestion Jason because you had asked it to do this because if it's impact on your operating budget well yeah well we're going to go all the way through it and then go back to the operating so really uh it's all depending on how you guys want to handle what who goes first who goes last and how you guys want to set that up all right well why don't we go to uh police at this point Chief uh if you'd like to say a few words feel free to do so sure just thanks for everyone being here um I think um you know I put together the uh the budget request for both the operating and and the cap um hopefully I defined it um well in my uh documents that I've sent I did have a couple questions from here a couple of you here or there I believe I answered them and um I think that uh myself and and the team here that I have are running the department very efficiently um and uh you know I'm just looking for the things that we need to to continue to do that okay chief could you go line by line for the Public's benefit as well as for uh the citizen budget committee and the council and just explain uh the amount and the item and why it's at that amount sure so we'll start off with the patrol vehicle replacement uh normally where we're getting two radio cars for for the um Patrol Division we we run four cars around the clock 24/7 and generally those cars last about two years last year we only received one um and we only we received one and we received a couple other cars uh in other parts of the fleet so that was the give and take there uh it is concerning to to only get one and um we have to be careful with that because if those if we go too long then then I'm coming back and I'm asking you for you know three or four line cars the line cars are the most expensive they're they're bigger cars we're using the Taho now um and to equip them cost a lot of money um however they're running they're running well what we found is that the tahos are are um doing better than the uh the Fords and the Chevys and we're happy with them so what we're looking to do is to get one again this year instead of two um but what we're also looking to do is to add not add but replace are much um worn out traffic cars as everyone knows uh all you have to do is look out your window probably and you're going to see traffic detail somewhere in town PSG project is uh basically in total will be probably be a five-year project um it's uh it's a great project I think uh it's just have to tolerate it and deal with the streets being dug up but on our end we put out five six cars a day sometimes and you even see cars from out of town when we can't get the Manpower or they need more than that those cars uh we haven't had details like this um I I'd have to go way back to to remember when we've had this many cars going out every day um and and they're taking a beating so what we're looking to do is replace again three smaller cars the the Chevy tracks um it helps us even with our green initiative we've never done this before to go to smaller cars because we can't when it comes to patrol Fleet right cuz those cars uh they have to be simply put beef here they take a beating and um they wouldn't last if they were smaller cars but we can and we looked at and uh you know I give a lot of credit to Jason um you know going over this with me and taking a look at it and and uh Pete the mechanic um always confide in these guys because they're the ones who take care of the fleet and um we we agree that uh if we get three of these smaller cars it'll it'll take care of the ones that are just dying and going out there uh Jason I'm sure will tell you his and that's again why cleverly put us in this order because if we don't get these cars he's going to have to increase his lines for the repairs quite a bit um and and these little cars they're we're getting three of them basically three of them for the cost of a line car that's how you know we went as small as we could as cheap as we could they just have to roll out um you know minimal equipment we're going to put a radio charger and lights and the sticker on it we're not we're not equipping them like a regular radio car all right so that's that's the the uh the replacement um program for the cars ballistic vest they've gone up a little bit because everything has gone up and we've kept that and I've kind of made up the difference um just with my uh um Regular budget but um it's getting to a point where I've had to increase that a little bit just because the vest are are going up basically that pays for two vests at 3500 that's how expensive they are now and we have a pretty um we do do very efficiently replace our vest they have a five-year life expectancy and obviously very important to the officers and uh vest or safety to the officers in many ways people just think it's uh for for getting shot at certainly that would be the ultimate but vest also protect us even when we're uh you know getting in a uh you know physical altercations or even car accidents those vest uh do a lot of protection the radio uh computer equipment we uh we have a great program with that because those computers again they last about five six years so by getting one a year and that's how much they cost because again nothing's cheap right so those are uh something that those line cars remember we have four we have one one or two backups so we keep those computers in there and it really phases out perfectly um know those six year comes and those things need to be put to sleep they're just shot the traffic cones we did go up a little bit because we we're going through more uh you know traffic cones and signs because we're going through more they they take a beating out there um the guys do a great job making sure we uh get them back but nonetheless they're getting run over and we're using more than ever because of all the traffic details all right and um and just a note on the traffic uh you know the details just remember we've been clearing and I'm going to be very conservative here um you know after the officers are paid about 250 um, year that comes back to the burrow so over the lifetime of the psng project we'll we'll clear over a million dollars bringing that back to to the burrow um and that's conservative right um so with that yeah you're gonna you got to buy some stuff to make continue um but we are we did bring and we will continue to bring that in for two more years lastly is the communications desk and um you know it's my third year third fourth time this started with Chief kid it started as a a huge let's do the whole thing and then we broke it down I broke it into thirds when I became Chief um you know the first phase of the radio portable radios for the officers and uh we all agreed we had to get those done um for officer safety the next phase was the um the radios then for the desk itself and they took a while to commend just because of parts and you know the way ordering things goes so that's ready to be placed in now but I've held on to it because uh you know I'm hopeful that that I can get this past because we we actually worked in Reverse right um generally you want to put your console do your desk and get everything done and then put the new stuff in so if we if we continue in this order if I put that equipment in we're gonna have to take it out again sooner or later so I'd rather not do that the desk when it again the desk itself as I explained in my um in my writing or you know um the justifications it's not just the Cosmetic desk anymore it's it's uh it's talking about the alarm systems that we use here internally at the at the uh police department they're starting to fail because that's that's they they can't even do anything with it it's close to 40 years old it's a Old Wire system all right and um you know the the it the desk houses all of our computers the Radio Systems um so many things that it takes care of and and we need it to work it's it's I I don't know any other thing in town that works 247 where it's somebody's there 247 every day of the year all right so it's it's got we've got our life out of it guys and I think it's time that um we we take care of it and the price goes up as you can see it's gone up a little bit because of um the contractors but I also it got increased because of the new burrow Hall where we have to connect with them with the alarms now I know we haven't ironed that out completely Jason and I were just talking about it but um but I do know there's going to be additional cost basically what we're looking that additional cost right now is to put the heart in so that we have a heart that'll that'll be able to perform enough to take care of the burrow hole once that alarm system is figured out um so that that's that's our uh our cap and going forward you know Michelle I know um you you said how we've heavy caps going forward you know for the police department we're we're going in the other direction going forward again short of something that comes up that we'd have to go for but you know we're at a little over three next year we're down to two year three four and five we're down to 145 so uh I I listen I only I I only spend money on what we have to guys just as uh Chief slasher said I'm a resident in town I've been a lifelong resident and um you know taxes are important to all of us thank you thank you chief can I ask you a question how many how many cars do you have right now so we have the four line cars to go around the clock there's there's uh two cars after that that are that are used um as basically as backups um but uh and used for you know we we're having our class twos come out of the Academy students they're going to need cars then we have uh the admin cars which would be my car the detective cars so that's uh three or four more and then there's probably seven eight traffic cars uh some of those are just their their life is basically their their shop and and the class threes that you see at the schools we're pushing out two cars right now for them and we'll have a third going to the middle school but those cars you know again Jason and Pete do a great job uh you know we're not sending them over in new schools and new cars those are the three where we basically just got to get them to roll in front of the school and look like police car so and that and that's what we're doing guys we're not I'm not replacing uh you know anything that doesn't need to be replaced um and we said and the finance committee and our CFO we've discussed that we can use some of the outside Duty trust money to offset some of this Capital spending right needed for the police department so the patrol vehicle replacement will be 100% covered by outside Duty and then we were also discussing the other day 50,000 of the commun Communication Center update could also be covered by outside Duty great brings down the debt requirements by almost $200,000 um does anyone from Council have a comment on this I think it's reasonable given that we've covered a lot of it with the outside Duty sh I ask you just a procedural question um the 145 145,000 is listed in our book as but the 50,000 is not so uh liette I believe we need a motion for the 50,000 is that not correct um you could have a motion and obtain consensus okay um so um but before we do that let's see if there is anything else the council wishes to comment on or offer a suggestion I do have a question for the chief uh mayor sure go ahead uh hi Chief just just so so we're saying that with the vehicle replacement we're getting three smaller cars right that's what you said three one one car for the for the uh Patrol Fleet for the for the cars we use around the clock and three smaller Chevy tracks so so Jason will be able to um you know we'll we'll get rid of cars that are shot simply put and again now now we have cars under warranty and and he's if he wants to chime in um he knows better than anybody now now he doesn't have to uh you know add money to the repairs and and you can count on the warranties those type of things and what is the life expectancy of those four smaller cars because you said that there were three smaller cars so it is new for us but but what we're doing with them is you know they are just they're going to leave headquarters and go on traffic details so um I expect them to last quite some time they're not getting pushed around like our radio cars which you know simply put those radio those four radio cars you know else them put it to take it beating because those guys have to they go they have to go up and down curves they they break and they accelerate and you know they're countering equipment so but these little cars are just going to go out and um and go to a traffic and again less gas less emissions the green you know the green people that are uh for the Green Team stuff should be happy when they see these little cars out there and not the big Chevies or Fords out there I don't great thank you Chief Jason good quick question um Chief uh the cars that uh are going to uh be leaving the fleet do you get anything back for those or do you put them up a resale or they just gone yeah they they go out to auction they'll they go to you'll see them parked down by the by the uh DPW eventually uh outside the gate you see some of those old cars just like Jason's old uh trucks and eventually this auction off but you know there's there's not much there's not much left to do with them uh I know years back there actually there was individuals that would buy them from movies believe it or not um just use them to you know do whatever crash them or whatever but because they're they're shot they're they're um you know the miles on them are generally three times what you see because of the way the car idles right you see a car idling out on Boger Road it idles for 10 to 12 hours you got to keep all the equipment running in the car so that idling car never drives more than a mile to get to where it's going but it's as if it was driven right for 12 hours so the engine's screaming okay counsel or the uh citizen budget committee Jason you want to chime in uh uh you don't have to but uh the chief chief was talking about uh how this is these Replacements are important uh in regards to your budget so if you'd like to you can yeah mayor um so just so everybody knows your Chief is correct we have four Frontline cars two backup cars to them if they're ever down or broken or out to repair we usually have seven traffic vehicles um right now we're down to four because three or sorry five because two of the two of the old traffic vehicles are now sitting at schools um for that initiative so what this is going to do if you only get one vehicle a year for a fleet this size you're not you're not going to be able to to um um make up the difference in cars breaking down or going out and to be able to replace them then like the chief says you know you're going to have to get more of these full radio cars that are costing you 70,000 a car what this is going to help us do is keep the cars at the school fill in the holes um that that were left from the school cars and get three cars for the price of one so it's not only helping us there it's helping us like the chief said with our um operating budget when you're talking about um repairs it's also working with the green team it's bringing our emissions um it's bringing us back into a little bit better with the emission laws that are coming out and to help them with the grants it's not electric um which is very expensive right now it's also not a hybrid which is very expensive right now but these do qualify in that same realm so instead of us burning 5 G of gas a day these cars will burn like one and the emissions are going to be so low so it is a good way to go it is a great way to maintain the fleet and um working with the chief chief we were able to break the patrol to traffic so and the other good thing is once the Explorers have met their life expectancy um they'll be the last cars that go out on uh government deals we're going to be able to rotate these cars back as long as we keep them under a certain amount of mileage back to the dealer so we could do flops so we can get money back so okay thank you Jason councilwoman caufman I just would like to thank superintendent molo for his tremendous hard work figuring out a really really good way to help us meet our environmental goals and keep our costs down thank you well done well said any other member of council or the citizen budget committee so what we have right now is just one motion before us if uh I could ask the finance chair to make that motion to reduce uh to um reduce the overall debt authorization from 200,000 to 150,000 based on an other trust for the communication desk update yes so I would make a motion to approve the police capital budget and however adjust the other trust for Communication Center by 50,000 okay could I have a second for that second all in favor uh is there a debate all in favor please say I I I I Okay so we've now reduced the uh overall Capital by $440,000 uh let's go to um actually Jason we leave you for last if that's okay with you are you comfortable with that uh Administration uh computers and it equipment would that be the clerk or would that be you lizza that would be me it's um a simple request our it consultant recommends that we maintain a balance of 12,000 in our account to address any need for um replacing computer screens and any other it equipment we currently have a balance um of about like 95 9600 so this 2500 would be to make that balance whole all right is there any objection all right then we're gonna uh move on uh let's go to uh hold on yes let's to Phil uh Jason you'd be facilities Improvement you'd be Road sidewalks and curbs you'd be but parks and Fields would be you and Joe correct um that would be more Joe this year it used to be both of us but Joe has taken the leading that I assist him and whatever he needs uh whatever he needs all right great Joe why don't you just introduce yourself to the public and uh speak to your items uh hi everyone Joe reca the rec ation director been uh coming up on my year of being in this position and uh basically um what you're looking at is some projects that were talked about prior to me coming in um uh kbg and Memorial Park especially um as you can see we also have some grant money that we are sitting on right now um but we are clearly trying to make this these projects whole um with the kbg with the pickle ball courts especially uh bringing into town but with the pickle ball courts come having to replace batting cages um which the pickle ball courts are planning on being in that uh that area and um overall kbg needs a lot of work um with the entire structure of the field um and then Memorial Park we are looking for we have some grants for playgrounds uh we need to redo walkways and the biggest project would be the drainage um which needs to happen first before any other projects can be done okay so you've dealt with the first and third we're going to leave tree planting out of course um any member of council or from the citizen budget commit have a question a comment uh in regards or suggestion in regards to KGB field and Memorial Park I I think we wanted to recommend that kbg would be pushed out a year so that we can apply for a grant to do that work and we could actually do the sprinklers sometime in the fall of this year regardless of that so how would we want to change capital in that regards I think take it to zero right is that correct um that is correct and um this is timely because with the Bergen County open space program we have to submit a letter of intent um by the first week of April and then the application is due like first or second week of May so since we have this information we can be prepared to submit a grant to help offset the cost and hopefully receive 50% of the construction cost through a grant and minimize um the how much is taken out of open space or the need for for debt because as you see with um Memorial Park out you know we can't count the engineering cost but the construction cost is completely covered through um grants that we received and um through the and our open space and of the grants received part of it is from the local Recreation Improvement Grant for 70,000 and then the balance is from the Bergen County open space Grant okay so let's take it one piece at a time so um we're looking to zero out the KGB field line is that correct yes yes and that would have an impact on our debt authorization of a reduction of 162,000 if approved and that would mean that the uh trust other and the uh would not be drawn on at this time is that correct yes okay and it means that the section 20 costs would also zero out correct yes could I have a council uh Council uh councilwoman cman who is finance chair would you make that motion simply say so moved so moved okay is there a second I have a question there that will come as soon as we uh finish seconding it okay is there a second second second okay we're open for debate uh inquiry or comments councilman glass is my understanding correct that the pickle ball courts that we have now at the library or that we had this Summer that will be maintained again for this coming summer yes that is correct April 1 will'll be up and running okay thank you we had hoped to build the pickle courts this year that had been our plan but uh due to Grants due to cost the KGB and everything else we're going to have to put it off for another year all right is there any question comment or inquiry all right for this only for the KGB field we have a motion and second all in favor please say I I I hi hi any opposed any exstension all right now so we have zeroed that out now the Memorial Park how are we changing that if anything I don't think anything correct correct there's no need for change like I had previously mentioned the construction is covered through grants and our open space trust fund so the only debt that's being authorized are the section 20 cost okay sounds good all right so now we need to move to tree planting um Liz Jen are you here camera on Jen I see your camera's on you need Liz coming yes we're here now all we're GNA do is talk about the the request for $54,000 so would you introduce yourselves both to the public and speak to the uh to the we in the book we have 19 but now we have 54 and that was because last time we wanted to make sure that we're doing it according to uh accounting best practices so if you can uh introduce yourselves and speak to that I'm Liz Stewart chair of the shat Tre commission I'm Jennifer doerty um one of the shat Tre commission members okay Liz you have the floor okay so well Jen why don't you start sure so um uh we want to break down the 54,000 um request just to be clear um 40,000 would be for planting 100 Street trees and 14,000 would be planting uh trees in our three Parks okay and um why is the parks a priority I know that we are we are on uh a negative incline with uh Street trees um why wouldn't we put 114 towards Street trees and nothing towards parks at this point that's a question I wanted to ask I I had hoped to ask it to you sooner but um I wasn't able to get to that but if you could just talk to that yeah we lost I don't know if Jason talked about it in his but we lost um several large trees that were over a hundred years old in Memorial Park and the arbor redum um Brookside Park is always kind of a work in progress I know there's a lot of construction going in that area of town so we're holding off and working with Jason for those areas to see what his plan is but for Memorial and the Arboretum we we lost um 1 two 3 four five large trees in Memorial Park and um and two large trees in um in the Arboretum and I know we're going through the the ms4 storm water tree replacement removal replacement ordinance and the you know that state ordinance is trying to move Burrows and towns towards replacing canopy cover that has been lost and that's being translated to as you know um different properties but you know to set the example as a as a town for our residents if we're coming up with an ordinance like that we should be following it also so replacing canopy cover for these large trees that were over 30 in dbh each usually in an ordinance like yeah let's not use acronyms dbh oh diameter breast height so it's the width of it at four feet height so the size of the tree so the size of those trees in a typical ordinance you'd replace four trees for every one large tree tree like that those sizes they were larger than that but so if you if you say you're replacing four trees per tree removed that gets us to where we're we need to replace in our Parks um we have an elderly tree population in Memorial Park um we're doing construction now so we may I don't know what the plans are but we may be losing more I don't know if trees are Incorporated in that plan but that's where that's where our thought is okay uh councilwoman Kaufman so how many would you want for the Arbor well the arbored we lost um a large tree in the 911 memorial which also I think we'll have to talk to of who we have to collaborate with that I don't know who's doing that if it's just DPW now or a committee but you know that those that's an aging tree population there's a lot of construction going on residential behind that so we don't know you know that that area really needs to be replenished with maybe four trees and then there was a willow a large Willow loss behind the Arboretum um that should be replaced with proba another four trees in the area to replace the canopy cover um and then we lost two trees um adjacent to the parking lot that we planted um with that grant money that we do need to replace um it's on the wall between the two uh parking lots so we need to replace those two trees they're smaller trees um and then we have yeah so those are probably four eight those are six trees in the Arboretum Memorial Park would be 6times 4 at least 24 trees but uh I thought what you said here was that uh we were looking to do oh I get it 40 plus 14 so okay we're always trying to every time we plant because we don't plant every year we try to re you know we try to restock trees in the Parks anticipating the loss of other trees um that are older that we know will come down so we're trying to replace them a little bit at a time so that they can grow a little bit we keep that's a good tree practice it's a good tree program just to keep replenishing knowing that we will be replacing that older population followup question if not I'm gonna go to Mr councilman Benson councilman thank you thank you mayor and thank you Liz for everything you guys do keeping our town so green I just had a quick question you you were talking about replacing trees you kind of inferred that just now so most of them when we're when we're when we're replacing them those older trees are d or it's a construction what happens to these trees you know they they're mostly in Decline I would say um the willow actually blew over that that blew over it's a wet area behind the um DPW I think um I'd have to ask Jason specifically but I I believe that's what they said the the there was an old um White Oak behind 200 atoms along the 911 that one was just declining a lot there's a lot of construction in the backyard but it was declining so it was dropping large branches um into a backyard so we had to we had to remove that um there were some another one in Memorial was up against the backyard had been declining so i' say most of these are declining trees that because they're in park areas and Open Spaces we we have to remove them so they become dangerous is that is that what happens I would say you know we don't use to word dangerous anymore um risk high risk it's a populated area we have people there so the DPW does a great job of Maintenance they go and and prune every year and then when needed but sometimes they need to be removed mov D yeah all right thank you you're welcome councilwoman canella thank you mayor thank you Liz and um Jennifer for all that you do with the shade tree I just had a quick question on uh replacing the trees in the Parks do you work with Jason um and now Joe on where you replace the trees put the trees the tree Replacements at beforehand before planting we do we try to work we give them a plan we work we try to plan that out ahead of time usually it's one of the recreation members um that we meet with and we can meet with anyone from there yes so we coordinate with them and then with DPW we usually coordinate with whoever the tree supervisor is at that time um and then Jason of course is you know communicating with them so yes we try to communicate with all of them and then this year I'm guessing with whatever Construction in the park we'll have to communicate also with you know make sure that we are in compliance with whatever is going on there okay thank yeah you're welcome M Jo R yeah um hi Liz nice to meet you in person or over Zoom um I just wanted to make a comment too yes with all the construction being planned not just in kvg Memorial but also Brookside all of the parks um I just would hate to see brand new trees being planted and due to construction something happened to him um so if we could have those discussions prior to to planting these trees in the parks that I think would benefit the entire town absolutely and we can work with you I don't know how much of the park is being affected in those Parks but we can um stay away absolutely stay away from construction plan ahead um but it would be nice to get you know if we have a planting budget to put some trees in now because you know how long it takes for them to grow I understand but as long as we I'm just replacing the can now y yeah as long as we all work together and know before planting that could be beneficial absolutely yep thanks okay um liette yes just to um continue what Joe was mentioning I think the tree planting um request should be reduced to eliminate the memorial planting because since we have to replace walkways and do do drainage um we don't want sh tree to plant trees and they not survive due to the construction but we could have um the the replacement as part of the grant you know our grant funding and overall budget so I would just take it out of um and we do have some additional State money for Memorial Park that we I just got confirmation we received like less than two days ago so I would just reduce the debt authorized for tree planting and cover the tree replacement as part of the memorial program and Brookside program okay so you're you're you're suggesting is that a change in what we're seeing uh I I just don't know how much of like that uh 14,000 was for those two locations okay Liz how much of that was for those two locations okay is I is the construction how many years is that over do you anticipate I hope over um to start working on design this year and bean shovel ready for next year next year okay so yeah there wouldn't be okay um let me work that out Jen do you have any idea I'm doing some calculations for so we would just do 911 and well actually let's do this let me just understand this so we're saying reducing the 54,000 because we're going to put in the gra okay go ahead go ahead Liz okay so for so we had 40 uh so this is the it's from the 14,000 so if I understand correctly but it affects the overall number and that's what we need to know what to reduce the overall number do we red 50 just be 911 the um Arbor 911 ends kbg areas which areas are we parking no I wouldn't do kbg either because we have this the old softball Grant and we hope to once we have the grant for the pickle ball and batting cage doing one whole complete project and do kbg at once especially once we have D approval so I would just focus on the arum as the the canopy trees okay so that would be about um can we factor in um Brookside list since we lost trees um when they were redoing the sewer lines can we have a a project in the works to replace playground equipment at Brookside right so if if we have those plans for construction for the playground you I'm assuming that you have them we can work with you and still plan accordly which we um have done in the past okay those those plans are being yeah those plans are being finalized but we could um do the the replacement new trees as under this the grant program because um we work the numbers and we have money left over okay all right hope Liz and and Jennifer work on that uh let's let's go go to Jason and Donna and then we'll come back to you guys we need a hard number okay yeah mayor um just like they were saying in the Parks um just so you know the pathway is going to get extended there is going to be a lot more trees LW so I think it is better to put it in the Grant on the way you guys are going because like Liz says if it's going the state ordinance is one big tree four little ones for one big one um that could change this whole their whole picture like their whole amount um could either go up or go down it's going to go up so so I'm thinking then if we're just doing Sanders sorry yes I'm sorry I just had a quick question I know you're talking about planting cheese in Memorial Park which side of the park are you talking about by the tennis courts or on the other side well when we replace canopy cover it's wherever we can get you know the tree so it's not not always right next to where a tree came down but we do try to refill that area it would be more to towards the North End of the park where we lost a lot of the trees and as Jason's saying like the other the South End um I don't know what the paths are looking like I don't know if there's room to kind of work with that also maybe we can save a few more trees I don't know um but um so probably more towards the North End okay so I'm I was just concerned about between the tennis courts and the resident houses on milbrook road because cou trees have come down over there I that's a that small area that between them yes yeah yeah we wouldn't yeah I don't have any plans to plant in there I don't know if Jason okay that's that's all I had I just wanted to know if that's where you were planting thank you okay okay so do we have a number yes so we're so that would be about 15 trees um so about $6,000 okay so uh let's change number from 54 to 48 if there're only for the for the sake of expediency so that we don't actually to one o'clock uh is there any other question or comment if not I'll I'll I'll uh I'll look for a motion to uh change the tree planting budget to $48,000 could I have a motion don't move second second okay is there a further debate discussion inquiring all right all in favor please say I I I hi so um okay uh so we're done with parks and Fields now Jason I think we're simply left with your and you can start with DPW vehicle equipment roads sidewalks and curbs or facility improvements it's up to you okay Mar thank you um again thanks I know this year is hard with the budget the overall budget I know we also got pushed a lot of this stuff has been pushed up from last year for this year and the next couple of years due to uh things that are out of our control um and other uh utility with other utility companies um but starting with the vehicles um I'm looking to replace a international uh Packer dual axle Packer it's uh replacing an old old rusted out truck the floor is starting to rust in the body um this will be the second truck um that we're getting replaced in the last two years I have to raise it another 15,000 a said I just got a uh a brand new updated 2025 invoice and the trucks have gone up so this is this does all of our recycling these trucks do all of our leaves um throughout the town and they're always going so Jason so you're saying you're going to go from 365 to what no you have 365 already you have 365 in the account all right no that's good then because it said 350 in my book our book says 365 look at the screen can you see the screen yeah I got the screen now all right go ahead that's good then 365 is okay do we want to reduce that from 365 no that's exactly where I wanted it to go I have 350 in my book okay go ahead and move on all right um we're also going looking to replace a 10-year-old or 14-year-old Z master um this is an industrial lawnmower so that's why you see the cost at 16,000 um we do have three of them um obviously we use them all the time the guys go out and then we're looking to replace a standon uh a 27-year-old sit down leaf blower uh with an an updated standon blower that cost 13,000 this is to blow all the leaves in the park and to make sure we're more efficient and effective because the other lawn mower has been breaking down a lot and costing us a lot of money okay so okay um so uh any member of council H or of the citizen budget committee have a comment a question or inquiry about DPW vehicles and equipment hearing none I will uh I will uh it's so approved uh or without uh without change let's now move to which do you want to move Jason to roads or roads um we on roads yeah all right so obviously psng has been uh doing a lot of repairs on the gas means so working with them we still have to sit with them to really get an understanding um where they're going with the streets what the allotments they're going to give us um but what we looked at and what they've handed us so far um these are these are the list I have a list of streets that come out to around 820,000 um that includes engineering and soft costs this will uh pave the whole section from Howland to Manning a um obviously our our allowance um I know this this was approved by the council at the last meeting um and pulled out if you guys don't have a list of the streets I can get them to you but this will uh keep Pace with them there is a four-year like like the chief said this is going to be four years okay so I want to interrupt you for a second so that the public understands the council has chosen for more than the 12 years I've been on first as eight years of councilman and now four years plus this year as mayor to uh to not get involved in the street selection for uh repair and replacement um so that it never becomes political instead our superintendent Public Works Jason Meo and our engineer Rob Costa and uh I believe the two of you decide on the roads to be repaired uh based solely on their condition is that correct correct mayor and now it's just the utility it's it's no-brainer that we have to work with the utility to work across because if we if we don't it'll only be one side of the road paved so I'm going to stop you there um so for the Public's benefit uh and correct me if I'm in mistake mistaken um we were able to negotiate uh Lizette check me on this with psng that uh if a road is five years or younger in its life that they would re they would go from one curb to the other not do half the street uh but if the road was older than 5 years then they would only do from the center line to the curb on the side they worked and Jason correct me if I'm mistaken what we're doing when you say you're working with them what we're doing is we're getting roads paved at no cost to the public but having a whole half side done is not a good idea so we uh because that creates a cold seam in the center we want a hot seam so uh we um we're we're our plan for replacement is built into negotiating with psng for the other side of the road in such a way that uh the roads are we're we're maximizing tax dollars lazette and Jason did I did I summarize that correctly you summarized the moratorium um correctly if any road is Le has been paid less than five years ago and a utility has to come and do whatever work is necessary they do have to pay curb to curb and as Jason had explained initially we're still waiting on um meeting with p ps andj to sit down and um look at the the tonnage and what work they're doing and how that impacts our work good Jason go ahead and just say just a piggy back Jason I know I'm interrupting you a lot but I thought you said 800 and something and I'm looking in the book and it's 72122 uh 222 it's 7 which comes up to 797 I'm sorry um total cost 797 222 do you need to adjust that number no that's it that's that's good mayor that's what all the soft costs and Engineering in included so the 797 222 is in uh correct number yes go ahead and just so everybody also knows it's not whenever they cross the center line even if the road is older than five years if they cross the center line there is an allowance there for curb to curb Paving as well and that's also what we're negotiating with psng so there's a lot of moving Parts here so but that's so far that's where we are that could go down or up but most likely it's going to stay that way all right parking lots um there is none this year Ada ramps this is to keep in front of PSG Paving so these will be the ramps that are between Manning and Continental um these will be on the streets that are not part of a do Grant a possi DOT Grant so uh the ramps these streets do not include fifth a hey J stop you again I want to make sure the public understands why we're doing adaa Rams we're doing them because we're required to do them prior to rep milling and Paving correct yeah as a and because we know PSC and G are going to come down those roads correct we want to make sure that we get our best bang for the buck they will not do curb to curb if we don't have Ada so let's do the Ada ahead of them yes so that we're getting the biggest benefit and the least amount of tax impact on USS keep goinging correct um so that came out [Music] to 175,000 yes so that'll take care of all those streets again it will not include the dot uh possible DT funded streets of fifth AV and um bogot Road okay keep going next is curbs and sidewalks it's the same Theory as the Ada ramps we are on the hook um obviously uh for sidewalks we own along our rways um this is a good practice for trip and Falls we're going to update our curbs sidewalks um so we're in compliance with GIF and this will also let us stay ahead of obviously psgs paid and that's $19,600 correct yes that number you're comfortable with yes go ahead okay you didn't did you talk about the do grant for 25,000 that's something that we put in every every year um our burrow engineer prepares the grant for uh bogot Road this would be section nine being solicited this year and we're trying to see if um we can get an application in for discretionary funding to do another portion of Continental because that also falls under a special it would qualify under a special grant program but since that's discre AR it's hit or miss on the award so this would just cover the engineering Grant preparation okay Jason are you done with Road sidewalks and curbs so that we can have a discussion on that or you have something more um yes um yeah because storm drains are a different line yes all right we are now open for debate discussion inquiry um comments Jason what what is the the the T the the lifetime of the uh the new Packer that we're getting that we would get Packers usually last up to 20 years um the problem we're having it's meeting right now it's at 17 years right um the problem we're having is like the chief said before when you order the vehicle it takes up to two years I haven't I don't even have a drop date yet for the vehicle we ordered last June so it's taking 2 to three years to get so that's the problem everybody's having especially with specialty equipment but 20 years is the life expectancy thank you counseling woman coughing I thought I saw your hand up you're muted sorry about that um I was just going to say I think all of these expenses are absolutely necessary and I know that our superintendent does everything in his power to make things as last as long as they possibly can so we these are all necessary and I I would make a motion to U move those forward all right could I have a second second all right Chris uh comment yeah just one other note um last year at the end of the year we got ahead of these do projects um what liette just mentioned is that uh you know that $25,000 covers the preliminary expenses if we get through those preliminary expenses and we actually get an award letter for a DOT Grant even if it's later in the year we can adopt the ordinance this year and that way by the time uh you know hopefully in the next couple of weeks it starts to get nice you'll have the funding in place to be able to start with these Road programs rather than always being a year behind so that's one of the other things that um that we did at the end of next uh at the end of last year and because it's a state Grant there's no down payment requirement the grant access the down payment so it's just a simple matter of introducing and adopting an ordinance so I just wanted to add that note as well so it's essentially a best practice it's it's a good idea to do it if you have uh any type of urgency on getting these streets done otherwise you're always months behind I would I would I think the public expects us to maintain the streets to the best of our ability within our budget so I think it's a great practice yes anybody else thank you Chris and Le said thank you all right uh Jason any more on this or can we take a vote we can take a vote all right all in favor of maintaining uh roads sidewalks and curbs as as written please say I hi I I okay facilities and improvements okay the emergency uh repair program is for the buildings um this this line is always used for anything that's five years and out that need repair so things such as uh HVAC units um the Windows like on bur Hall we just had to replace because of leaking it gives us the flexibility to get um it gives us the flexibility where it doesn't hit my budget and destroy it this gives us the flexibility also during storms like in in iasis this this line actually helped us um move forward and get a lot of the items um back up and running Jason if you can explain your the uh term you use five years and out what does that mean so for Capital you have you the the life expectancy of a capital purchase has to be five years or greater am I correct Chris yeah so that's why he's saying the Public's benefit five years an ounce so that um we can put it into Capital instead of operation correct correct correct keep going all right the salt bin the salt shed this was something talked about for the last couple of years um what's going on is the D has new requirements on salt treads um also our salt shed is falling apart and rotting through um this would be a uh the beginning um for the design phase which uh we would start saving money after this to eventually build in 26 and if I'm not mistaken this is one of those items that sadly has been pushed off for what I don't know 5 10 years something like crazy like that yeah the old superintendent was here um it was the last year so that was from 2018 yeah so we're we're able to extend the and we're still extending the life but now D came involved and there's no way we can meet their requirements with the salt shed so this is the starting phase of it um hopefully we can fund a little more next year once we got a plan together and then in 2026 be able to uh move on it and build it hey keep going um Fire Company 2 paint um for $34,000 this is uh so we're continuing updating not only just the Bur Hall but we've we've worked on Fire Company 1 I know dar's here we've worked on the library um we're still doing a little bit of work on the public safety this is just continuing that work um throughout the town and uh right now the paint is chipping off the building and it's falling down um so this would be to power wash it and get it all painted um so it doesn't you know all the plaster don't doesn't keep falling off the walls what keep going then lastly is this was new um we did have our maintenance company for fuel tanks down here um that Supply gas and Diesel to um the whole burrow come in and there's a new requirement again through D that we have to install new uh gas vapor valves swivels and adapters to the top of the tank um to meet the requirements um so so we got an estimate uh a quote um for $6,200 um to make us uh compliant okay um so actually let's do sewer improvements and storm drain at the same time go ahead sewer improvements this again last year we uh brought this down to $100,000 um we've we did this year we brought it to1 ,000 because we had current years that were funded a little higher so in capital so we had a little bit of a cushion and we were up to around you know around what was it was that around 300,000 um just in case there's any major emergencies in sewers um we brought it down because we felt comfortable recently on Manchester by the by the church and on Fifth we had a sewer emergency um happen um so our our pool of money has shrunk in that so I would like to actually bring this back up to 150 um this was we did it last year for one year we also brought down going back to the facility or the 25,000 for emry repair program that used to be 50,000 I'm okay with keeping that one at 25 because we're doing a lot of new things especially with the Burl Hall but I'd like to bring the uh sewer one back up to 150 all right well it's not a 25 is at 24 you good at 24 24 you said I keep that one at 25 I assume you were referring to the storm drain and line replacement no I went back up sorry mayor I went back up to the emergencies I was trying to explain how we lowered both emergencies last year to the facilities so you're you're now back at impr facilities Improvement and you're saying well it's at 25 you want to keep it at 25 but you want to make an a raise sewer improvements 150 yeah going back up to where we were Jason it's a it's a tough year talk to me about why we couldn't get away with 100 this year because you get one one sewer replacement we had on Ken kamak Road cost us $150,000 you have 36 miles of sewer lines underneath this town that are aging you could have upwards of two three times sewer sewer collapses you don't know the problem is what's going to happen is we we've already spent what we felt comfort able maintaining it at at like the 300,000 330,000 Mark we already spent some of that money down and we're still at the beginning of this year and we've already been seeing um some problems maybe coming up how much do we have how much do we have uh without this 100,000 um it's it's an a bunch of different lines funded over the years I would say less than 300,000 I sewer sewer lines are expensive the number is about 200 right now all right um councilwoman caufman thoughts I finance chair I would think we should do the whole number given what they said the cost of one is and so he wants to increase it from 100 to 150 are you in concurrence Oh I thought we were at total cost of 140 is so I'm confused Jason are you trying to change the 100 to 150 to bring bring it up to 190 or are you still saying that the total cost of 140 is acceptable well the repairs already bring up to 150 so yes 190 I'd bring that up to yeah that's what I thought you were saying so you're saying 150 20 20 for 190 is that correct correct May okay uh budget chair Finance I think we should do that because that would just be one yes all right is uh do you want to make that a motion no wait don't make that a motion okay Jason are you good with uh so you're saying you w to change the 100 to 150 which would change the total cost to 190 is there uh what about the um I thought you were also referring to storm drain and line replacement are you comfortable with that at 24 yeah 24 that is to to put some lines some basins down Madison a where we're having major icing problems yeah um so that's to again to be in front of psng and get those basins in okay uh council president Council chair um Finance chair Kaufman uh would you make a motion to uh accept the um the facilities Improvement as is and the sewer Improvement increased to 150 and Sewer Improvement storm drain and line replacement as is just a quick question does the section 20 or outside Duty need to go up for the sewer Improvement line no okay so you just need to say so moved uh so moved but we also need to approve the equipment so I would also make a motion to approve the DPW vehicles and Equipment okay so the the the whole motion is DPW vehicles and Equipment DPW uh facilities Improvement both as is the sewer improvement with an increase of 50,000 and Sewer Improvement storm drain line replacement as is yes so moved it's open for debate inquiry discussion any member of the citizen budget committee or the council seeing none all in favor please say I I I any oppos any extensions okay so if I my numbers are correct we've only reduced it to four uh 423k from our original 2.8 so we're essentially at 2.4 right now agree with that yeah mayor just so you also know again we're negotiating the streets if we can come up with some solutions to lower even the streets I know it's at that level now and it might stay at that level level I just want the council and residents know if we can come up with some solutions and work with psng to get a little more from them and then possibly have some solutions like in slurry seal or something to maintain or switch some roads out we're going to work with them so hopefully you know it's at this now but maybe we can do something to get them a little lower I think you're making an excellent point and before we go back to Mr Bag ter for our our current uh debt authorization it is a plan it's not actually money we're spending in so for the public to understand a budget has to be built on the the maximum amount that we're permitted to spend not the maximum amount we will spend uh and Chris and is that correct me if I Mis presentes this in any way we uh we can't spend money that we haven't uh that we haven't budgeted and uh so we have to always budget for a little bit more and hopefully we can spend a whole lot less would that be correct yes that is correct and even when awarding that is done by resolution with a certification um signed by Mr baglia and you know whenever there are balances we go through the old capital to see what can be um appropriated to fund new projects reappropriated or what can be cancelled so you know we're always evaluating our our Capital lines throughout the year not just during budget season cool excellent uh Chris what's our new number we see at the bottom of the screen now our total of the projects is 2,929 681 that's a $526,000 reduction on the total appropriation and on the far right you see that the total debt authorized is now 2, 29600 at a $498,500 reduction in our total debt author red well done well done all right well now we need to uh finish up um operational budget and I believe we left off with where did we leave off um we the public works I would just request can we take a five minute break oh yes in fact I was going to do that and somebody else had sent me a text on that and I apologize uh it's been about two hours so why don't we uh why don't we reconvene at 11:5 is that okay with everybody but that's a hard 11:15 okay all right thank you thank you I call back into order the meeting of the mayor and Council and Citi and budget committee um March 23d at 11:15 uh Madame clerk please do a roll call councilwoman calman here council president monano Cohen here councilwoman canella here councilwoman Mal Larry here councilman Benson here councilman glass here mayor Papo here Jason you were next in the agenda that we um truncated um considering your concerns can you go now or do we need to move leave you for last well uh if you would like to move some of the smaller committees I see the libraries here and stuff I don't know no no no J I'm asking simply if you are okay with us following this agenda with you going next or you want to go last no go next go ahead all right all right everybody let's go to Department of Public Works okay in our tab this is uh groups 290 through 510 um we have uh justifications uh and then we have uh the uh sheets Chris if you can put up the DPW sheets that would be great uh okay so we are at 4-01 d26 290 uh 111 as our first item on our first page is there anything uh Council Council mofin just hoping to get a an explanation from superintendent molo on the overtime yes the overtime has not um increased at all what we what me and Chris decided to do was to cut um uh cancel uh salary and wages and you'll see that in here and overtime from the mechanical Division and from the building and grounds and consolidate it um into one one into the one line um we did keep recycling um open for salary wages and uh overtime due to the tonnage Grant and all the grants that we can apply for so we have an accountability so that that has not increased great is Consolidated just wanted to make that clear to everybody okay okay any other member of the CST budget committee or Council wish to uh raise their hand in regards to um first page no all right then we'll move on second page item group 028 through uh item 169 item 028 through item 169 which is uniform and Boots and drainage nope all right uh street signs and um calore uh which is items 170 through 182 all right uh now um next page fuel systems and Total Control okay next page uh training through stump removal items 042 through items 171 we're in the 300 group just in case anyone's lost we can always go back if I'm going too fast we can simply say let's go back uh next page uh safety inspection truck and Total Control any item anyone there okay next page we're now in group 31 item uh 10 through item 101 parking lot maintenance uh through a line stripping supplies and of course total control in Department um I just had one question Jason on the thermal plastic striping item 100 uh yes you spent 8,901 is is 7,000 adequate for that line the what what we do is obviously um the two lines are in the same control block right parking lots so what I do um since we've done a lot of the parking lots uh around town they weren't needed to be um thermoplastic or line painted which we use our striper for so as of right now there's no parking lots this year that's going to have to be painted so I just pull that 2,000 to make the the nine grand for the thermal class sounds good are we good yes all right uh now we are up to recycling salary and wages through recycling enforcement uh we're still we're in group 305 numbers 11 through uh 23 011 through 023 and Jason just for the public there was a transfer again for that full-time number is that right the reason why it's going up so much I I'm gonna leave that to Chris he is the guru on the salary and wages Chris yeah so that we have the um basically the way that we we uh run the budget for the DPW is so like Jason said we Consolidated all of the accounts we previously had vehicle maintenance recycling repairs and maintenance uh maintenance of parks and buildings and grounds we consolidate them to primarily repairs and maintenance we do leave our uh three employees in recycling and uh as well as any part-time overtime uh figures that are included in that um the reason why that that that has changed year over-ear is simply because um we didn't have uh we didn't have a part-time number in there in the in the past we now have the part-time number in there so that's the bulk of the change the the salaries are you know only the contractual increases are we good uh Jason do you want to just say one quick word about the addition of that part-time person yeah so I did put in um a request for $34,000 for a 25 hour week part-timer 25 to 29 hours a week part-timer um this is going to help us with our yard as of right now we're getting a lot of illegal dumping because nobody's out there um our mechanics try to do the best we can and with the camera system we have we try to do the best we can but unless you have somebody out there really checking the licenses to make sure they're Riveredge residents and checking the materials that they dropped off um there's no way um we can we can make sure that we're not accepting anything that the could find us for on a visit um the other thing that we're going to be looking for just so everybody understands with this part-timer um and we're not definitely saying it yet but we're going to try to make a Saturday um hours too uh once in a while to uh assist with uh some of the residents uh dumping on Saturdays when the gates are closed so this is going to help out overall mostly for the D requirements so we don't get popped for any fines or violations and superintendent Malo I think you told us if they find one yes of paint it's $10,000 fine yeah you can get up to you can get massive fine if it's lead if it's acid I mean it's you you see some things that are down here that we got to call the county to remove and that's an expense on us everything's getting expensive so everybody's looking for the easy way to get rid of it and again you know just it it's we should be checking to make sure it's just rivered residence so so we don't add headcount lightly we did this because we really have to yeah the bottom line yeah are we good any other council person or citizen budget member okay we are now in still in group 305 items 130 through 189 okay again if I go too fast you need for me to go back that's fine we're now on the next page items 190 through Department total okay now we're up to group 310 items 10 through 28 buildings and grounds salary and wages through uh Piha maintenance Jason I have just one quick question for 3 310 166 maintenance grounds okay does that include the um uh the Parks Memorial no so okay so uh let me give you a little because mine and Joe's budget were sort of merged together at one point we used to take the money used that used to fund a lot of this stuff was taken out of open space um with our old administrator uh the one before lazette he abolished taking it out of open space and made running lines so what happened there I used to get a he asked what we all needed every Department needed and I asked for a skid of seed that helps us with all the barrel properties catch basins around town um and and some of the small properties like 140 and stuff like that um and that that's our seed line and we get a pallet a year so and then Joe does his own seeding through uh a contractor I believe he has a contract with them for the public back to Joe we're referring to Mr R who is the director of recreation go ahead uh no I was just saying so now it's completely separate uh Joe has his line for bu uh building grounds and or maintenance grounds and you have yours well there is some we're still so there is some shared lines and there there still isn't some shared lines this is just making where this should have been all along so we're just putting it undergrounds because really the problem is we try we open blankets throughout the years I don't want to get into a finance thing it's easier to keep certain lines so you're not opening five blankets dedicating all this money to different blanket when you could just have it all in one line and Jason if you could just explain blankets blankets are pretty much it's it's an account you gotta you got to encumber the money before you can spend it and a lot of times what happens is you encumber like say $2,000 for a vendor so if you need an emergency part or anything that you need you can go ahead and get it because it's already verified money that's on hold okay D anything else no that was it thank you Jason please good Chris am I good now is that a good uh okay good Lisa hey Jason uh just a quick question um I'm gonna go back to 30519 the vegetation collection yes all right we going back to 30519 everyone I just want to make sure that you that's enough because if I I'm not a math Guru but I think 14,000 plus 21 is like over 35 so you're your budgeting requesting 34 so okay so this is a very hard one so we just got we just we just awarded a new contract we we were lucky to have a contract awarded in 2019 before things went crazy it was a five-year contract the contract was up um now we're paying five more dollars per yard um we have another five-year contract so we're locked into that so we don't have to worry about that going crazy again but it's still an increase the other increase that we had there is uh it's it's about 100 yards of vegetation uh a year increase year-over-year um that we're getting from these properties and I'm assuming that's because the houses that were built not so long ago the vegetation is finally coming in so there there's a lot more vegetation being put out um with that said I think I can maintain that this year and see where we're at because I was able um with the 24,000 doing the calculations even if I'm a little under and I don't have enough I can always use the control line to make it up for a little bit I might be under so we'll see where that hits this year because again the new rate and I just have to see what the what the yardage comes in at at the end of the year and see if we're still on that that that year-over-year cycle or if it it reduced thank you thank you I was asking because I know it's coming up in April so I just wanted to know thanks you're welome okay anybody else all right so um I believe we are now at um 310 group 310 29 through 174 which is includes maintenance of grounds and HVAC maintenance oh wait actually I I think we went too quickly over um the previous page does anybody have a question about previous page or the page I've just quoted no all right move on okay now we're in group 310 175 through 184 pistol range emergency sewer okay 375 through three I'm sorry 175 through 184 questions um I just said beautification we don't need anything this year is that no beautification you have I see 1500 yeah 1500 so yeah I don't see anything requested right well the beautification committee also has a line in administration that's why yeah talking to Le yeah talking to lazette that line could come out because she has a line as well yeah under the administration budget there's a line for environmental commission Green Team beautification okay okay okay so maybe uh we could put a note in for next year that this line is dormant and that at the end of five years will be removed okay next page uh in our book is still in group 310 items 185 through 205 reallocation uh cap roof through pecard okay anything okay and the next page is simply total control and department so there is uh if there is no question again we can go back we're up to the we're up to group 315 item 0 one0 or item 10 through item 124 which is uh vehicle maintenance salary and wages through recycling vehicle repairs okay seeing none we at the next page we're still in group 315 items 172 through 179 yes go ahead yes sorry superintendent molo uh just a question about the mechanical work DPW you spent 80 last year and you have 65 for this year is that enough so for the Public's benefit we're talking about uh item 173 yes so um that's a good question we've already hit a couple snags with some big purchases already with some big breakdowns um the sweeper being one and our Bobcat going to the the um during the winter what I like to do is is just keep it the way it is now um if I have to I can always try to shrink some other line So eventually Chris will be able to move it um in the in in the last two months or the year so if something really looks like it's getting bad um again I could always make it up somewhere else to try to move everything around so I I'd rather just keep it for now and see where we are because even I don't want to raise it this year um because this year's also a test year I want to see what the police department cars being brand new and everything is so to see if I can reduce it later on next year so I'd like to keep that that way great thank you Lisa thank you Jason is the uh citizen the senior citizen boss Zero because it's now on the wreck no no the senior citizen bus not under wck so should is it functioning you bus yeah so what we did was we shrank the lines the senior bus went under DPW mechanical okay so it it's still a DPW function um Miriam does a great job with that and we just moved the bus to make the lines a lot easier again this goes back to the control conversation we had or the blanket conversation so I guess just for the Public's edification we make all of these estimates about every single line item every year and obviously we're not omniscient um so there's room to move things around between lines as necessary yeah the main control just just so everybody knows and Chris you could charm in on this but just so everybody knows everything is blocked in a group okay if you see a negative line right that line is negative but but there's a line in that group that's picking up the negative so if you go to the bottom what we see is at the bottom we have control lines that we can't negative we got to keep it's pretty much every line added up onto the bottom so as long as we're within that control line and we don't go negative we can always help other lines with other lines that's the best way to say it yeah a it's it's counting practice we're making predictions um and in November I believe we can switch between groups but right um but right now we're we're simply building a group yeah okay good um okay uh I believe now we are at uh group we were on group 315 172 to 179 uh and um unless there is question I'm going to move to the next page okay we're still in group 315 180 through 186 okay and then the next page is simply a total so and the next page is group 316 011 County of berens no removal salary and wages Jason um for the Public's benefit explain this so they understand why we have a county Bergen line so what happens is we I think Chris can actually explain this a little better we haven't used it last year but we always maximize it for the return um for Bergen County I believe that's to pay out to show them for accountability so when we get the reimbursement from the plowing yeah they they we plow their roads for them right effectively that's what's happening so you're you're plowing a County Road and we're applying that to uh this account when we when we account for it we usually charge off the full amount um and and they reimburse us for that so um I believe you have a report um that you provide to them that shows the man hours that are spent on um on plowing the county road on their behalf so rather than coming out with the plows they just pay us to do it now Jason for the Public's benefit other than tinak Road would you name the roads that that we plow in the county reimburses us yeah Midland na uh Riverside way um Main Street Grand hackin sack EV okay all right uh any questions from Council or the budget committee say the budget committee okay next page is Community Services act o and E questions comments okay again if I'm going too fast slow me down next page is group three 31 331 10 through 100 that is um I think it's bus salary and wages through other General grouping question all right um got a question about the part-time line um 012 why the increase there contractual increase um there that he falls under the unionized contract as a part-time worker so every year obviously we have to do the increase okay the senior bus driver gotcha thank you okay anything else all right now we're up to a group 375 uh item 10 through item 179 which is maintenance of parks through flag Continental bogur I'm so sorry mayor can I go back to one sure um it's 32500 Community Services act sure so we're back to group 325 everyone about two or three pages uh 100 uh what's your question uh just what is uh just Jason what is this for and it went from in 2022 17 to 26 you muted Jason Chris do you want to speak on behalf it is the community services Act is is the requirement to provide the same services to it's generally condo associations town homes that have um you know closed um closed housing so they pick up their own garbage they might plow their own roads and uh there's a requirement for us to provide the same service to them so we we we need to reimburse them for the cost that would otherwise be provided by the town um it's a statutory requirement there are calculations that go into it to determine um what they're due so that you know they don't hire the most expensive Road plower and the most expensive garbage hauler um so that we're paying them the comparable cost of what it would cost us to to um to to plow and to pick up garbage at at those uh locations okay thank you Chris for clarification well done Chris okay everybody we're now up to group 375 item 11 through 375 item 179 uh that was what we were at any questions about that all right we'll move on uh we're still in uh group 375 180 through 187 uh flag polls Flags through Board of Ed maintenance okay and then the next page is simply the totals anywhere okay if there's a need I can go back we're up to group 455 10 through 132 um questions okay we'll move on we are up to 455 5 item 133 through uh total control questions um I just had one quick one uh on line 138 the requested was 10,150 and budgeted 9,000 just wonder what that difference is for yeah um Chris you want to you handle the meter uh stuff to paramis yeah I have a I have a note on a on a conversation that we had were an email from 21324 I I just have to pull it up we've been we haven't spent um last year we spent 7,40 we spent 8,450 before that um the uh the the budget has always been 10,150 going back you know it looks like since 2020 um so this is just bringing it more in line with the expenses it looks like you know it's 8450 in 2020 then 7,800 then 8450 than 7,040 um so it's really just a matter of bringing in line with the expenses thank you okay we can see uh something similar with the control line and so actually uh all right good so now we're up to I believe uh group 45521 through 301 um questions if any and I just want to make a note on this as well um this is a conversation we have every year at this time as of right now the um the BC uh the bcua O andm that's 2011 and The bcua Debt Service that's 202 those are the actual numbers we do have those invoices but the uh the number below that 301 for hacken sack paramis sewer charges we do not know what that number is the placeholder in this budget the 277,000 represent a 7% increase year-over-year um hopefully we will have an invoice or indication of what the total cost will be in the next week or two if we do get it before we introduce we can of course uh modify this line item but right now that is a placeholder it's also good to notice that just get rid of sewage basically urine and feces uh the it's it's about uh $1.5 million of our budget 1.4 1.5 so um the public sometimes doesn't realize that their taxes are also paying for every time they flush the toilet um and and that is a huge expense um our budget is well no never mind let's move on let's not go off on a tangent next page um group 510 item 20 through item 101 storm water okay okay then after that I simply see what I think are supporting documents correct oh councilwoman cofin sorry just a quick line on sewer supplies 510 100 is that really a zero or did it move somewhere down at the bottom of the screen that's should be uh no 510 100 is yeah wait hold on I don't have a note on that one that one might need to be moved up to three to 3,000 that's what it's been the last couple of years I know we combined a lot of the accounts but we didn't we have in storm water we have the public works and the sewer separated but we didn't increase the public works by the 3000 to consolidate it so that's something that we might might might want to add back in but I have a motion okay read the whole line please H I would move to add $3,000 for storm water sewer supplies 40131 510100 but I have a second second all uh it's open for debate discussion or commentary all in favor please say I I I I any opposed any exstension all right so it is unanimously passed okay I think we're done with your budget are we not yes all right uh next uh in our agenda the next item is R let's go to wreck okay these are groups 360 370 375 420 Jason uh if you need to chime in feel free to chime in uh Joe this is you we're starting on the first page for the members of Citizen members and the council we're talking about 4-01 d27 360 o20 in other words group 360 item 20 through item 124 questions all right uh and I believe that we have a couple of pages of explanation and then we go to so three pages after that we go to group 37010 through 37208 which is is wreck commission through Professional Services and cost questions comments suggestions G to give everybody a moment for this because we've switched groups all right uh if you need for me to go back please let me know uh now we're up to group 37036 through 370 174 so items 36 through 174 I I just had a question on equipment all these all the equipment and uh except for field equipment but we don't really need that much equipment for uh like yard and stuff like that with Jason um all the exporting equipment is is got is purchased through the individual leagues the the $2,500 was for swings and repairs at Memorial Park okay oh that was a deductible then right is that correct Chris sorry about that I for about that yeah okay are we good just just can can Jason go ahead yeah so can I say one thing um J didn't no but on Monday night you guys were talking about a storm uh a uh flood uh Insurance line for $225,000 and nobody really knew what that was about um I remember back in the day I think Chris you just came on um we had a we had a flood or trees down um everywhere and again this goes back to the capital um we didn't have enough money for the to make up the difference in the deductibles and we didn't have enough money to for dumpsters or Surf Pro or any of that so that line was formed for that to make sure that we have enough money to do like fix swings or any of the deductibles that might come up um just in the flood zones but so kbg field I'm saying this on for a reason because we're putting out money for kbg field to be replaced when all this money was for that sort of stuff so so Jason are you saying that we need to keep that line or that line can be removed oh you got you have to keep that line actually me and lazette talked to EO just to get the new updated deductibles and each building we would need to good uh council president and then councilman Benson afterwards thank you Mr Mayor uh Joe what what's the uh Memorial bench program uh you request Westing $7,000 and I'm wondering how does that fit in the overall Construction in the park so um well the memorial bench program was in place prior to myself um so that's what the benches are in the Parks as of now we have a one bench from uh that was purchased for a family that is sitting in the garage um in Memorial Park um but the fees on the note that I I mentioned uh the document was signed in 2021 when the resident had purch purchased the bench which was supposed to include the plaque and concrete pad um that dollar amount was not correct I'm not sure where that that dollar amount came from um so the request for the $7,000 is just to finish that one bench that we have and then we could go back to the drawing board and I could get the proper quotes I got proper quote for like six ,200 for concrete and the plaque IS300 and then I have to look into benches so we can reopen that plan uh the program once we have the plans for the park set so this is just basically finishing what was started back in 2021 that request all right thank thank you oh wait follow up council president yeah I just want to clarify so Joe this is basically making that program whole at the moment moment because it was not properly quoted originally correct okay thank you yeah we just have the one bench sitting there thank you mayor um could we go back to uh hold on 3 hold on because I see Council monar Council Mar do you have a uh is your hand raised for this item or a different item you're muted sorry different item on same page okay so councilman Benson you are in order yeah if could go back to 37011 and 37 it yeah just give us the item 311 311 and the one below that the part-time I just Joe it I know Dan came on as a part-time so that 132 in full-time what does that reflect your salary and Dan's salary or I can I can answer that that's so we actually adjusted that in one we had we discussed that in in a separate meeting we adjusted after the packages were already created but that's the the separation is actually 80,000 full-time and 52,000 part-time um I have it adjusted on the records um but the the printouts that you received were um were printed before before the adjustment was made thank you councilwoman marari okay I'm on item um 3741 let's just give everyone a chance to get to that item 41 go ahead meetings and seminars your budget 2000 the last few years like 21 22 was Zero the last year was $88 can we reduce that I could chime in I could chime in on that part of um I'm sorry Joe as part of his appointment He's required to have obtain certain certifications and whatnot and um his predecessor did not have that and did not attend the training so this pertains to training that he would need as well well as his part-time um assistant so this and Joe came on later last year so that's why you don't have that history from before thank you all right any other me great questions everybody great questions anybody else no okay so now we're up to group 370 items 175 through 205 for the Public's benefit and for the council any questions there Council marari item 37076 what is that a that's the um automatic the automatic uh defibrillators for the ball fields for all the parks we have four of them so uh they sit out all year round not all year round but all spring through fall so uh I have one that's expiring in 2025 but we also need new um boxes weatherproof boxes for the parks to hold them in Council me anything else yeah the line below that the Main's contract um is like almost double from last year is that a contract contract increase or so we had a little bit of a contract increase but also um I put all of the contracts for everything that we have into this one account I think it was a little scattered between Community pass and a couple other maintenance contract uh lighting uh that kind of stuff so I just Consolidated that all into one account thank you all right good any other member good questions okay uh again if we need to move back let me know we're now next page 37510 through 375 179 so items 11 through 179 mayor I have a question on something sure go ahead um Joe uh the grass seed for 375 184 we're not there yet but okay sorry okay everybody let's go to page uh 180 through 187 particularly let's go to 184 Go is is that changed to a different line or Consolidated somewhere because it's zero I with the Jason on that one is Jason on this that's the one that we talked about before that got Consolidated to the buildings line that's that will be closed out okay thanks okay good questions all right the next page is simply a total page then we have some documentation behind that and I think we're done anything we need to go back to anybody okay so next uh we go to the police department if there is no objection uh Joe thank you for a good presentation as I think I forgot to thank everybody for a good presentation uh Chief if you would like to introduce yourself or say a few things uh well you've kind of already done that but if you want to do it again that's fine and uh before we go through your budget I think the chief is good yeah okay chief you're muted just in case you're speaking sorry thank you welcome yeah I I'll say you know the justification page I think uh explains the the changes in in the uh budget um so I don't necessarily uh want to read over the whole thing hopefully you got a chance to take a look at it if you have any questions um you know as we go through certainly here I am the one thing um that I did mention uh to Lizette is um and we'll get there I think on the first page of the crossing guards which I I didn't bring up but just a minor increase for them I can get to that when we're on the page otherwise um again my justification page should explain things and we'll go from there yes but remember sometimes the council will ask rhetorical questions because the public doesn't have access to the justification page so that it can be placed on the record absolutely than so everyone let's start with 4- 0125 D group 240 uh group 4240 item one through item seven any member of council wish to uh ask a question make a comment off for a suggestion Chief and and the budget committee too I whenever I say that it also means this in budget committee um budget chair councilwoman Kaufman Chief if you could just explain for the public um 24-4 sure so so that would be the line uh and Chris correct me if I'm wrong but that's going to be the line to pay for our class two officers who will be starting uh they're in the academy now Chief I'm going to stop you there for the Public's benefit explain a clous two off so uh we have uh the officers that you uh see all of us uh up until this year are called with our regular police officers in the state of New Jersey which means we're um have complete certification and we are full-time employees of the burrow uh and with the police training commission the PTC we are registered as full-time police officers called regulars uh there are other types of police officers and they're called special Law Enforcement Officers they're called slos and they are one two and three uh this particular line pertains to the class two officer and a class two officer is a part-time police officer um generally they're they're a young individual and they want to be become a regular police officer uh but the uh it's the first time we'll be using them um you'll find them down at the short towns a lot but more towns up here are or bringing them on you can have a certain percentage of them um you can't have your whole department you can only have a certain percentage so we're we have two now um and the benefit of to us is since they're part time we do not pay benefits to them and we can work them up to about 30 hours a week um and they also will take the burrow traffic details um we will be putting them on the burrow traffic details that means the details that the burrow is paying for right when we do uh like Continental LA or things like that um and they will be ated a drastically uh lesser rate than the regular officers so there's a savings there they will also be used for uh traffic officers if you uh recall when I first became Chief um I was uh I I presented to you that I would not be um replacing the two traffic officers through attrition um and that was at a savings I'll say on average and Chris correct me if I'm wrong with about $400,000 we saved there because they were two fulltime full regular police officers um and now we're at this point where the mayor and Council has agreed to allow me to bring these class twos on board and they're at a fraction of that cost as you can see so um and again their goal is to become a regular they're kind of a farm team so if we like them we can bring them on board when we need regular if we don't like them they're pum so they have a basically yearly contract when I say don't like means there's a reason um you know that they they you know something isn't isn't up to par where they should be regarding a police officer so the reason why it's there is because they are new and um we're kicking it off this year thank you um my next question was uh O7 the crossing guards is is that number high enough because I feel like we added a lot of position so yeah so two things with that and uh think thank um I mentioned to Lizette earlier um I'm looking to increase the hourly rate for the crossing guards to a starting rate of of $20 it's about a a dollar something increase um we we have a really tough time getting crossing guards it's a it's you know they they simply just shop around understandably so you know they'll run to New Milford they'll run to Oro they'll run to pramis and then you know we we try to get them to stay here we haven't been able to have a full staff of of crossing guards um for quite some time now and and I have to say we've been much worse place if it wasn't for sergeant Diamond then the effort um he takes care of that for me and um you know reports to me about it and he does an incredible job advertising interviewing and training them um I'm lucky very lucky that I have them and for example right now if you remember the council approved Reservoir and bogert and since it's a new spot um I haven't I haven't put anybody there yet because it's a new spot so nobody recognizes that no there's not a guard there but we we haven't had enough manpower to fill that in the spots that we have that exist if if we can't fill it with a crossing guard that means a police officer has to go there so uh if a police officer's there obviously we're paying full-time a full regular police officer to do Crossing J crossing guard position and even worse than that if the Manpower Falls below the minimum I have to bring an officer in on overtime which is which really uh we haven't had to do but um many years back we had to do that and that is just an unbelievable cost that uh that that shouldn't be there just shouldn't be there and the way to prevent it is to make sure you have enough crossing guards and it's just a competitive thing right now and we're we're below um the competitive rate so I'm looking to bring that up to 20 and remember they're working five hours a day you know so you're talking you know $10 a day maybe less than $10 a day per guard um and as far as what you're saying uh Michelle it probably should be a little higher but I I don't know exactly how Chris calculates it but he may very well I can see the increase from the year past 22 so um he he probably has calculated in the number that we that we offer or present or require I'm uh sorry sorry to disappoint it's a little bit less uh um sophisticated I took the total that we spent last year which we had a a rotation of about 23 guards not necessarily all working at the same time that was just the total number of people that we paid throughout the entire year um and I took a 3% increase on that number um so I don't have built into this any additional posts so if we do need to add a new post um you know I can tell you that you know there are obviously some guards that work um more than others but if you average across the the 23 um the the 23 of them you get about $9,400 a person um again on average so there's some that are working much more and some that are working just as substitutes as needed or maybe they they didn't uh work very long throughout the year so uh if we're looking at two new posts we might want to consider increasing this another 20,000 um and that doesn't take into consideration more than a 3% increase so if we go a dollar an hour more uh we would have to increase it more than that as well right so we we have to add the the post for bogert and Reservoir because we haven't paid that yet and and uh you know my calculations just on a guard is is somewhere um just shy of 20,000 a year for the Post um you know I understand Chris is doing he's looking at the total number of guards um so we'd have to add that and then if we add an increase so uh Mr baglet Telly um do we need to modify this number in your opinion is CFO if if we're if we are going to have two more posts and we're looking for potentially more increases we would definitely need to definitely need to increase this loan what we what will we need to increase this loan to uh well we are we're about a quarter through the year right and we haven't filled the post yet so at at most we would have um to the chief's point if it's 20,000 per officer and three quarters of the year at that you're talking 30,000 so 15,000 in a um a guard 30,000 for the two of them um hold on Chief what you want to come in it's it's one guard I think Chris because it's Bard and Reservoir you've I think you've calculated in for the new guard that's at Summit and web because we've been paying him then yes then yes it's I'm only calcul I don't I'm only missing anybody that hasn't been filled right so that would be one guard and I agree obviously a quarter of the year is over so we're we're looking at about 15,000 okay so uh we would need to modify uh item oh let me let me do it and I'll just get someone to move it 4-01 d25 d240 D7 crossing guard part-time from 28,900 to 233,000 would that be correct Chris uh 289900 was a 23 budget so it would be going from 20 22300 so that would be to 2, uh 388 238,000 is that correct Chris yes can I have someone move it moved can I have a second second we are open for debate is there a debate hearing none all in I'm sorry mayor I just does that include the dollar raise thank you oh okay no it doesn't I'm I'm saying thank you Barett for bringing that up I don't think it does right Chris that that doesn't include a dollar increase it includes a 3% increase um so it uh we if we're going to go a dollar more then then we would have to increase that further we're looking to bring it up Chris to 20 an hour starts okay so we have hold on hold on could I um I'm gonna ask for a vote and everybody vote nay and that kills the motion and then we can move on that's one all in favor please say I I no no say nay oh I all all those in favor please say I any opposed any exstension n Nay Nay n nay nay motion fails okay Chris give us the new number well the so let we we just need to clarify remember we're not approving this we're simply budgeting this for the Public's benefit this is not an approval of a dollar this is simply giving us the flexibility if the council chooses to do so as an uh as an official action during a regular public meeting so the um I will need a little bit of help uh from the chief on on on how we're looking to to uh work through this right so right now we've got five steps um the first step is $18.91 that's the only step that's below $20 so are we looking to increase all of the steps or just the lowest step from 1891 to $20 I think I'd like what we need to do is bring the starting step up to 20 and then let the increases go from there is are the existing steps enough of an increase or do we need to increase those further because we also need to talk about then redoing our salary resolution um there's a lot of if if I have the right one in front of me Chris I have uh starting at 1885 4 and then the next step at 2391 um we have we we start at uh 1891 and are you looking at the 2024 one because we we modified it a little bit but we uh we start at 1891 there's actually five steps it goes from 1891 to 2085 to 2195 to 2316 up to 2439 is the final step so when we looked at it we you know um and this is a number that I you know kind of bounced off uh with li Lizette is uh to do a 20 start and then 20250 and then 25 now that doesn't it doesn't have to be a year apart but um so 20 starting to 25 top the increments in between um like you said we're going to have to figure that out but okay because you you do have a lot of you a lot of guards that are at the top so that would be a a basically a you know 60 Cent increase for them now they've already gotten the 2% right so that this would just be a 60 cents on top of that um and then the starting and then you would consolidate in the middle so we would we would have to work that out internally on uh who gets moved where right because if you're on the first step do you get moved to the second do you get move you know where do you where do you get put on this on this scale uh we can we can through that um but it looks like it would be you know roughly a dollar per person just simply because uh that's you know that's where they would land in some cases it's 60 cents in some cases it's a doll10 cents so probably on average it would be close to a dollar um you know they're they're working three hours a day they basically hour and a half on each end with one or with two guards working during the lunchtime and they're and they're working um what 40 weeks a year is that right no is it less than 40 weeks 35 weeks it is what 10 months uh mayor how many weeks is the school open school open for 10 months 180 days but it does not come out to uh 10 months when you uh take out s uh like for instance in June you lose two weeks and you lose a week in December so you figure um 4 and2 times about 9 is is uh probably correct 4 and A2 weeks time 9 4.5 time 9 so somewhere around 40 to 45 okay so if we if we figure 23 uh employees we figure three hours um a day right times 5 days in the week times 40 weeks we get an additional just under 1400 $14,000 and that'll cover everybody moving to these new steps so we were saying 14 + 15 is 29 so uh and add that to 22 3.6 correct and brings us to $238,600 is that correct Chris uh we we went we went up to uh 238 600 was after the last one now we're at 252600 so we started at 223 and we added 29 okay all right so we're gonna make it a motion see where we go with it uh so could I have a motion and a second to change Line 4- 01- 25-2 40-7 crossing guards part-time from 223,00 to 252,000 could I have a motion a second so move second now the council should consider weighing in on this are you comfortable with us budgeting that doesn't mean we're spending it are you comfortable with us budgeting it um so let's open it for debate discussion uh even though this was uh which eventually will be a uh an a um ordinance uh the citizen budget committee should also feel free to weigh in are there thoughts mayor if I may I mean I would go with what the chief was saying um I could see where it's hard I could see where it would be hard to get crossing guards um and uh you know it's such an important part of our town we need so many uh so I think it makes sense to add at least budget for it now okay anybody else okay it's been moved in seconded there is no for more debate so all in favor please say I any opposed any exstension okay okay uh let's move on next page is group 240 items 13 through 29 is there any question comment go ahead councilwoman cman uh just hoping the chief could give us an explanation of why the overtime popped last year and why you think it's going to be necessary to keep it even above that level for this year so talk on chief for the public benefit and for the uh citizen budget committee we're talking group 240 item 013 go ahead so we had an officer retire in August and an officer retire in October and those were two um you know officers at the at the extreme end one was a lieutenant one was a patrolman both with uh 20 some years on so they're top of their pay um once they left we have to we have to fill those positions um when I say fill those positions it's mainly in Patrol so when they're not there uh we have to we don't have enough manpower we have to bring them in on overtime so there's some overtime that occurred because of that we also still had some um you know some covid issues still going through we had several officers that have covid so our sick time was a little higher than normal um and but I will but also remember pointing out that those officers left I think Chris can support me with this uh we didn't pay their salaries then from August till the end of the year or October uh or November to the end the year so the money was saved on that end that would be salary and benefits so um you know as much as the overtime went up um it it you know we saved it on the other end um my intentions are not to uh get it that high uh is to uh bring it back down to you know to to have it lower but you know I think that uh that look something always happens but um my goal again is is to is to really focus on the overtime and to bring it down so do you think we can take that number down at all um CR now Chris you you presented that number what's your thought well the reason why I wouldn't take it down is because um you know the this the salaries of the employees are Are Climbing as well so even if you're using you know if if last year let's say a lot of the overtime was covered by Junior employees because you were trying to save on overtime well those Junior employees are climbing the steps you know so I built in a you know a 3% increase on the total cost of overtime but a junior employees increase might have been 10% because they're moving up the steps um so I I wouldn't want to see that go down too much um unless unless we have a very clear initiative where um the number of hours are going to be substantially reduced because year-over-year if you have the exact same number of hours uh worked uh you have to increase the overtime for the for the higher rates so um you know like I said unless there's a a major initiative to to change it now the the number you know I know I said 3% so the overtime for the officers it's you know the actual that's on the screen says 283 381 but the overtime for just the officers was 278 the other 5,000 was for um for dispatchers and and non non PBA uh employees so I I used the 278 number for the 3% increase um I want to chime in here uh Chief if you can comment on this too we're bringing on the class two officers you're going to use them to some degree uh to uh avert overtime and I think you also said that they can do uh Municipal overtime um so yeah that us if it doesn't it doesn't you know I'm not looking for a lengthy explanation but you know no just real quickly they can be used they're going to be used for the traffic details that are burrow projects right so we'll save money there and they'll be used as traffic officers but they by Statute they cannot be used um to replace a full time officer for overtime so we can't do anything about that okay thank you Chief um okay uh Council woman Coffman are you satisfied I am and my next question is line 015 outside Duty why was that zero last year uh that's so that's the line that we use for um hovering uh any road projects that were not funded through Capital we didn't run into that issue um last year you can see in previous years it's it's plus or minus it's it's that's a buffer for us uh for when we're doing a road Improvement project um anything that's um uh a burrow outside Duty project so it's usually just the the Burrow road improvements uh where the vendors are not paying for the outside Duty where the burough is paying for it and that that helps to cover any expenses that would go over something that we budgeted uh as part of our Capital you saw that on our Capital sheet as the outside Duty cost that had its own column um sometimes the road work takes longer than we anticipated and the and the officers are out there for more days or more weeks um and this is always our buffer and uh in last year specifically you see that this this buffer allowed us to not have to make transfers into the account for the uh increased overtime cost as well thank you any other questions all right we're on to the next page group group 2 40 items 33 through 127 okay the next page uh group 240 items 165 through 174 question chief on um uh 24172 yes it's going from 35,000 to 7,000 right the uh we brought on several new officers last year uh we brought on three regular officers and the two class twos um and and now you know not come with I'm hoping you know I'm budgeting for the expectation we may have to bring on one more you know we may need one officer next year due to retirement or or you know I'm just being careful with that um but yeah we were able to cut that all the way back down thank you Chief thanks Chief anybody else okay next page again we can go back if we have to um uh group 240 175 to 185 I just had a quick question on line 178 um Chief do you really is that 7500 fine because you spent 9448 last year I think that um I think that'll be fine um again that's as as Jason explained um you know we probably dipped into that um for things that we needed to and the line went into a negative um but uh it was probably it may have been for something else in the overall line that caused that um and this also goes to uh what we're saying about having the new cars um you know the equipment that we put in and stuff is is uh we're going to have less equipment in those traffic cars we're going to basically have a charger for the radio so it's not going to have the computers and other things that we have to maintain so I'm hoping that uh you know we we should be okay at 7500 and didto for line 182 The 4,000 is enough for that one US traffic other General group yes and and I think um again what we did is we we up on some things and that line went into a negative but we took it from another line you know an overall line I think if uh I think we did maybe Chris could would be able to look at that exactly but um okay that that's what happens sometimes with these lines at the end of the year great thank you this is this the same thing that Jason mentioned during the DPW it's you know you have a control account so you're you're able to to move money within the sub counts um if there's you know pluses and minus as long as that total control number doesn't go over um you're you're in good shape okay we're now on next page uh group 240 items 186 through 200 um questions comments concerns yes Chief can you just for the public edification um 24200 sure the wellness program yes this is a a new line um you know what we're what we're uh dealing with and really across the board in society right with mental health is addressing uh the needs of of everyone including your employees and um something that um you know several departments have started and um and I see the need to here is to is to make sure that we're addressing the wellness of our officers and this covers our officers dispatchers and civilians what this uh is going to provide for is for all of my employees to um sit with a um a therapist once a year um for you know whatever the session is and whatever they may want to talk about they can talk about if if anything goes further than one session then it would kick into their insurance um but it it takes away the stigma of um you know a couple of officers that may be um going to uh to see a therapist um about about whatever thep topics may be as I you know without getting into lengthy explanations we see a lot of uh horrible things we deal with horrible things um and we have unfortunately we had an officer that took his life a few years ago that waves heavily on us and um especially on me to make sure that we're doing the best we can to uh uh take care of our officers so um I looked into this um and I have had other Chiefs call me who have unfortunately it's it's not a uh nice group to be in but um who have had officers take their lives and um this is this is an approach that um we believe can make a big difference in with with uh you know mental health overall with the employees thanks Chief I just want to say Chief uh outstanding that you're putting this in this is the right thing to do thank you well done money well spent uh the next item is 205 it's on the next page it says peard um I'm just going to then move to the page after that group 250 uh 20 through 145 I just had a I just had a quick question on 144 on the bottom of this page 144 okay let's go to that one was it zero last year the cost for the reverse 911 service and also for the 911 so so that has to we use that line when we pay for to do the reverse 911 calls um everything that has to do with that and um we may not have had to tap into it last year um for those calls but again what you're seeing in the years past um most likely what happens is again I take that line and I can use it um for something else and if we were in the need for something that allows it to be used that way then we would we would use that money so last year um overall in that line you know that that category um we didn't have to I'm going to say tap into that to use it for something else and the 911 call s were uh you know I don't know that we had any last year reverse 91 okay so you're requesting we leave those there as cushion yeah that what because if we we just hit a year where we get more storms or we have to notify the public and we do reverse 911s then um that on average has been the amount that we that we would uh look to use thank you okay I think we're pretty much done with the police department budget unless anybody wants to ask a question Chief thank you for being here you're welcome to stay uh without objection we would move to the next item on our agenda which I believe is the library yes it is thank you everybody thank you thank you all right so everybody let's go to the library tab which is uh just before the Municipal Court tab it is uh 390 Public Library um so uh we're going to allow the library just to make a quick introduction to themselves if they can keep it brief then we'll go through the pages and then uh we can discuss any items as we go through them uh Dara will you or Maxine you and Maxine both can uh just introduce yourselves as the president and as the Director I'm the library director Dar o Conor all right my name is Maxine rumsby I'm the board president and we also have two of our trustees with us we have Lucy dealo and at Fort uh Julie Rabinowitz was also here but we didn't realize how long the meeting would take and she unfortunately had to leave but we are here to support the library and look forward to speaking with you great Mr may can you hear us okay yes I can we can hear you very very well you're coming through 10 by 10 okay so the the um the Board of Trustees asked me to read a statement ahead of uh this discussion sure go ahead think by just one minute okay last Thursday at a meeting attended by Bor CFO and the administrator the library director me and Library board President we learned that the library had overspent in its salary line line in 2023 to the June of 25k uh the board feel blindsided by this news as there was no indication during 2023 that we were spending more than we should have been spending some context is needed here in 2022 we had significant overage in our salary line approximately 23,000 this was due to the retirement of three full-time employees with their Replacements starting on Lower salaries although also our Adult Services librarian position remained vacant for much of the year due to lack of interest in the labor market as we emerged from the pandemic and our construction program the demand for longer hours of operation and more programs increased and the library board felt it was important to be responsive to the communities needs by offering more service it was then decided that we needed to fill all vacant part-time positions and increase the hours of operation from 50 to 58 per week uh the library director that's me began a conversation with the borrow about our plans to improve hours and AD programs in early 22 he mentioned during the year that the library would be would have unspent funds in the salary line at the end of the year and this was confirmed during the year towards the end of 2022 the board also discussed salary adjustments in order to offer the staff competitive rates the board was told that mayor and Council would uh approved any salary changes so so long as the board stayed within the 2022 budget uh this week the board learned that the unspent salary funds from 2022 were not carried over to 2023 contrary to our understanding it is imperative that the library board offer competitive rates of pay in order to retain and attract talented staff the staff is the most important asset the library has and in a very tight labor market the Board needs to be proactive in this area in 2023 while many Area library struggle to remain open on evenings and weekends the Riveredge Public Library offered 58 hours per of uh per week uh staying open till 900 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and all day Saturday during the Thursday meeting we last this week we were informed that the 25k salary overage would be deducted from our line for our operating expenses going forward and the our budget for operating expenses would also uh be cut in additional 15,000 we are looking at an effective C of 40,000 therefore to our operating budget since the library does a lot with very little 4 K would result in very significant cuts to service the D the director at me has not had time to draft the plan but has assured the board that cut the service would include shorter hours of operation a reduction of programming and po possibly cancellation of services provided to the community our newly approved strategic plan which you've been provided with uh indicates a strong Community interest in adding more hours of services and not fewer and word on Library funding and we're almost done the mayor and Council have often been justifiably proud of the fact that they fund the library at more than the bare minimum level required by law very few libraries can provide decent Library service on bare minimum funding in the board's view we hope that the May mayor and Council will restore our budget for salary and wages as well as increase our operating budgets so that we can give the community uh what it needs basically that's it folks okay so let's uh deal with a couple of those issues um Mr ble and Miss apella um we have historically given more than the statutory amount correct as they've said how much more H uh have we given them approximately um on average over the last four years uh it's been about $190,000 more than uh the minimum requirement okay second to my knowledge no budget has ever been allowed no one has ever been able to say well we didn't spend this money this year so we get it next year so the police department can't say well we didn't spend this money this year so we get it next year it doesn't roll forward we understood that at the time no no no Maxine I'm sorry don't make us you know let's deal with this in a very professional manner let's first deal with statements is that correct that's correct that is so um I so and to verify another statement the library said just to confirm it um we we are under the statute we don't have any control who they hire who they don't we don't have any control on what they buy and what they don't buy uh but we provide about $190,000 over the minimum amount and their it's their obligation to spend within the budget is is that correct that is correct okay so I understand lives I love the library I think they do a phenomenal job and I often praise the River Edge Library as the best so there is and I think most of the council feels that way there is no animosity to my knowledge between myself or any member of council and the library at all in fact we go out of our way to praise it and support it but we are now dealing simply with a budget question and the budget question is did they go over their budget without approval of the mayor and Council and the answer to that is yes so now the council has to decide whether they wish to to and and there is a also a question of salary increases um and I believe that the library has considered a salary increase for this year which is their their option we don't have any control of that but we have to consider what we want to budget and I believe we've budgeted a 2% salary increase which is what we're essentially considering for all our non-contractual employees is that correct yes so and we also cover all the increases health benefits which I believe health benefits have gone up somewhere around 20 or 30% how much has that gone up it was th this year where it's it's increasing about 8% the 20 to 30% happened um last last year yeah so we have an 8% increase on that okay so we're doing a 2% salary in increase we're doing an 8% health benefits increase and they they may use that in any way they see fit but that because we don't have any authority over them striking their budget we only have authority over what we allocate to them is that correct you only have the authority want to allocate above and beyond the minimum requirement you don't have you have to provide the minimum requirement Okay so um so is it correct that the current budget has last year's amount plus 2% for salary plus 8% for healthare not on this page but there's a separate spreadsheet that Chris did which I think everybody has but we're talking about their budget overall right so um The Proposal was 2% salary increase minus the 26,000 that was overspent last year which takes us to [Music] $489,500 total control total from 552 to 4896 okay it would actually it would actually be 490 I had a there's a a typo on one of the numbers there but it's but yes it's the it's the same thing you said except the number would be different 490 okay and that's currently what we're reflecting right currently we're reflecting what you have on your screen right now so the the tax impact that I was that I was referring to before includes uh 55200 um for total salary and wages as compared to the 49613 68 which would represent a 2% increase minus the 25,000 overage okay so the council has to decide whether they wish to um wish to either do the 525 400 or the 490 give me the whole number Chris 490 be 490 6368 613 68 okay so um so we should start with that understanding now um Maxine Dara um that is the where we're at um do you want to respond to any of that or reflect to that as the council decides what what it's going to do in regards to the budget yes so we understood that usually you are not allowed to bring any money forward if you don't spend money in your salary and wage line item it does not move forward we did understand that at the time and that's why we did reach out to lazette last year I would believe it was November of 2022 and she went to the mayor and Counsel on our behalf and we were told that we could make increases if we stayed within the 2022 budget and that's what we did we stayed within the 2022 budget but when the 2023 budget was made the money was not carried over and because well let me stop you there lazette did you at any time inform the library that they could carry over money or funds what I had explained was a request was made for um an above and beyond cost of living increase and there was a request for the Personnel Committee in turn I had advised that we do not dictate what um individual employees receive they could give the increases they see fit as long as they stay within their allocated budget amount and if I not carrying anything over yeah if I remember uh that I was on the Personnel committee and that was directly related to dar's salary correct and I remember the Personnel committee saying you know they can they can increase Dara salary to whatever they like they just have to stay within the budget and that's seven seven part-time employees well whatever you guys want to do you you can do because we don't have any authority over that we don't you you want to give someone a raise you don't want to give someone a raise you want to hire or the fire them that's we have no authority of that and we went to council to confirm that that was correct and council did confirm that is that is that correct that is correct okay so the carryover part I I understand that it was a miscommunication or not a miscommunication a misunderstanding U but that carryover doesn't occur that's not the way budgets work so I understand your argument for that but that's not a valid argument do you have anything else you would like to discuss simply from a budgetary point of view yes um similar to the police department we're also trying to to stay competitive with our salaries I believe police chief spoke about the crossing guards but for for us it's our library assistance and the State Library puts out a document saying the suggested minimum salaries for different positions in the library and currently our staff is being paid below that amount and in order to stay competitive we have to compete with other libraries around and so we do not want our staff who we've trained and who we are comfortable having here with our patrons to go and jump to another library because they're going to be paid more right next door so we actually had two of our staff members last year come to our Board of Trustees meeting and ask were they going to be getting any raises because apparently some of our staff members make the same amount as a stock boy at St Leonard's and they were very unhappy about this and we explained that we are constrained by our budget but that we do look at the New Jersey library recommendations of what we should pay and that we would try to give them a small raise that's what we did last year we were hoping to do that again because even the small raise we gave last year we are paying less than what the minimum starting salary is in the library world to people who have been here for several years so that's where we stand we want to keep our staff okay uh so the council should consider that argument um the council should be also aware that uh the number of people employed is under your control a reduction in number of people employed would be give you open up ability for raises but that's certainly not something that we like to do right well a reduction of employees means that we would have to cut hours open to the public exactly right and that's something the council should consider too um so what we're at right now is uh we're we're discussing a budget of 525,600 which you can choose to put into salaries or anything else with health benefits at 8% increase and salaries at a 2% increase Chris is that correct the the uh the total number that's in the current budget draft is 552 th000 the total number that would consider the 2% minus the 25,000 would be 49,679 because it's just unacceptable to send a message to the town that it's okay to exceed your budget okay I understand that statement however we were not aware that we were going over budget but you're supposed to keep track of that that's your job I don't okay that is actually your responsibility Maxine I know our director puts the hours into your payroll system but he doesn't have a dollar amount that comes back to him that says where we are in the budget every month and we were not aware at all that we were even $1 over budget until we met with LTE and Chris on Thursday I sure that we began to go over budget months ago but we were completely unaware until Thursday Maxine it's not the responsibility of obiously have made adjusts responsibility of the max we would not have been so far in the hole if we had known the moment we went over budget then we would have made adjustments for the remainder of the year and the council may choose not to penalize you I I have to agree with M Council will Kaufman it's not acceptable that you went over and I think your argument that you didn't know is not a valid argument because it is your responsibility because you set the budget it doesn't come before us to approve a budget or to monitor a budget it comes to us we we Grant you uh under state law a certain amount that we have no control over once we granted and it's up to you and darra uh to do that and if you if you feel that you can't possibly do that effectively you can certainly request uh an update from the CFO or the ba but it's not their job it's wrong to put on them that responsibility it's simply not their their job to monitor your budget since I understand so I guess going forward we're going to be making it a practice to request that number of every month because that would be fine we could do that easily we don't want to wind up in this position again we did not intend to wind up in this position this year okay um all right so uh at this point what we're going to do is uh we're going to U go back to the finance chair uh councilwoman C uh Kaufman um we're we're on page uh we're on uh the page that has 4-01 - 29- 3901 through 100 what is it that you're recommending to the council so I would make a motion that we put the salaries for this year the salary line at 490,000 $613 68 where is that uh what page is that what item is that it's the O It's the control total so the control total is currently at 50 550 5 2,100 and you're recommending that we reduce it to 496 13.68% okay it's now open for de debate councilman glass yes mayor just um a data point before 90 how does that compare to the statutory minimum okay uh Chris that would be you so the the statutory minimum doesn't dictate where the funds are allocated on on the library side uh and since salary and wages is only a portion of the amount that we're contributing um you know I can tell you that the total minimum requirement for 2024 is 77,6 91 um so we have to make up the difference between the 552 um 100 um in all of the other lines that we that we Prov so Chris does this make sense I'm just trying to get a comparison like data point so if we all if we agree to allocate the 490 to salary and wages where would would that get us to based on assuming everything else is going to be approved as requested where would that get us in comparison to the statutory minimum is that something yeah so if if uh so the the next line item the only other line item that would that would potentially change is the other General Group which is at the bottom of the page on the screen the current the request is 153 610 the budget from last year was uh one I'm sorry uh was 138 610 so there was a $115,000 increase requested there if that gets awarded uh then the total would be 881 so we would be 11,900 over the minimum required amount um and if that does not get approved then we would be 90 5,900 over the minimum required amount thank you that answers my question perfect thank you any other member of council or citizen budget committee so the citizen budget committee members can weigh in also okay hearing none could uh we've had a motion in a second all in favor of reducing the control total from 552 5521 100 to 49 , 6368 Chris is that the correct amount or 96368 if we if we'd like to round off the pennies uh it might make it cleaner on the budget document we could just make it 49614 okay uh uh so we have to amend the motion uh without objection is the uh motion amended to 4961 614 hearing no objection it is so moved we are now on the main motion as amended all in favor of the main motion as amended i i i any oppos any exstension I okay uh there is also uh the 153 610 which has gone up from the 138 610 if there is and there is also maintenance HVAC and and such is there any questions or comments about that um I would recommend we reduce that slightly to um which one the other General line so 390 D 100 yes to what to 145,000 okay what is that line for what is that line for operating expenses everything books uh computers equipment everything we need to function uh to operate rate during the year you get a aint you get a financial statement from US every month that uh breaks that out um so you you recommended 145 Michelle is that what you're saying yes and that would rce the control line the same amount do we want to discuss that before it's considered as a motion in second and we enter into debate seeing none could I have a motion in second with uh please read in the line Mo yeah so just to make sure uh this is correct 4-01 d29 d390 D100 uh change from 153,154 debate any go ahead Chris Chris on the spreadsheet you gave us was the hbac and that 144 number the the HVAC is uh included in the 144 yes oh so I actually I think I need to amend my motion then there is a motion to amend what is the amendment uh I apologize um um and what are we still we're online group 391 100 correct yes uh and you were you were amending the original motion was to change from 153 610 to 145,000 I I apologize I didn't realize that hbac was in that um I I would like to keep that flat at the 138 610 okay so we have a motion to amend which can uh rise or fail if it fails then it stays at 145 if it is approved then it then it changes to 138 610 um we have that a motion to amend do we have a second second okay now it's open for debate discussion inquiry Ken do you have h i I think you unmuted your mic so I'm wondering if you're looking to say something no my apologies I hit the button by accident sorry all right is there any member of council who would like to uh debate the amendment so I just one question I am confused so is the is the hbag on its online or is a suggestion to keep it flat because the hbag is I have it on my on the next page yes it is on its own line and I guess I should add into the motion that we leave that at as is at the 5850 okay well you don't need need to do that yet uh we're simply but it is part of the debate so um okay so your original amount of 145 you're saying as justification was because you were you thought the HVAC was there yes but now it's not you're you're recommending that we keep this flat yes and Mr molo has a comment I think Mr molo yes is this the 5800 that is the HVAC maintenance line yes yeah that's the line I used that that that has to stay in there um right yeah exactly that I use that to um fix anything at the library um replace something quick so we can get in and out okay uh Council malari so I'm confused Michelle how does the line affect the other line the general group it it doesn't I was just looking at the spreadsheet Chris had done which I think you received showing the total proposed budget for the library so why would you reduce it to 138 to the original the last year one because on the spreadsheet it was including the hbac a separate spreadsheet to clarify the spreadsheet number the 144 was a combination of the other General group and that maintenance line that maintenance line is DP for DPW to use to address any issues at the library and um the other General group is what is provided um to the library for their expenditures that darra had mentioned of like books computer equipment movies Video Games Etc okay are there any further questions so we are uh we are at the amendment the amendment is to adjust line 4-0 1-29 39-1 100 from the original uh 153 610 uh to 138 610 um all in favor please say I I I I any oppose any exstension okay now we're back to the main motion the main motion is to alter to 138 610 is there debate hearing none all in favor please say I I I I any oppose any exstension all right um is there any other item that the uh Council wishes to consider in regards to this budget okay our next item on the agenda thank you uh board for coming um I know it didn't go your way but uh please know that we do believe in you and we have budgeted almost $100,000 over uh it's just a very difficult budget year I understand that I also understand uh councilwoman kofman's position where she does need to set an example for other departments that we can't just run Rand with our budget and go over but I would like the council to recognize that we're going to be now meeting to discuss cuts to service to the public and the public will be directly affected but we do thank you for your time and we do realize that you do give the library more than the minimum and we do appreciate that so thank you you're welcome thank you all right uh agenda item I believe next uh hold on I got to pull it up uh is is old business shade tree so we're looking at shade tre's operating budget I do not believe they're still here but uh let's go back to shade tre's operating budget we have to make uh we have to vote on certain changes uh this book hold on is it just me or oh there it is it's almost at the very end actually it is at the end okay let me fix my book okay um so we had to make some changes so that their budget reflected correctly Chris can you bring up their budget please oh it might already be up I have the screen expanded yes okay so um uh budget president Kaufman Council woman often what do we need to do to correct this budget if anything um Lisette did we have all the changes made in a different document that we were going to add here do you know what those are off hand um it was the the changes that were discussed on Monday which was to put um the 5,000 for the person to water the trees into salary and wages because they had initially included that in their Capital request and removing the 40,000 from operating for the tree planting um that was uh drafted sent to both um Liz and Jen for review to make sure it accurately reflected what was discussed on Monday and they confirmed that it did okay so we I would make a motion then to add hold on I think we we already made a motion for the tree planting I think we already corrected that correct correct when discussing capital okay go ahead Mich I would make motion to add $5,000 to line 302012 to cover watering of the trees for sh Tre okay so right now it's budgeted for nothing and you're making a motion to could I have a second second second okay uh there is open for debate is there a debate quick question mayor um and Michelle wasn't that added to Jason um budget for the tree watering no it wasn't added to to Jason um budget it's just that Jason though um does the solicitation the hiring and the oversight of this employee for um accounting purposes it has to it's a a function associated with shade tree so the funding has to be in the shade tree account got it sorry my my mistake thank you Lizette also does this need to be amended as a motion because if I remember correctly on Monday we left 5,000 in tree planting but we really should have or did we leave zero because that 5K was for the watering I thought yeah it was left in tree planting but that line needs to be zeroed out and that 5,000 moved into the salary and wage line Michelle will you move to amend to include that the tree planting will be zeroed out no moved I have a second second um okay on the amendment to uh to add zeroing out to tree planting uh reduce to 5,000 to 0,000 is there debate hearing none all in favor please say I to the amendment I I I any oppos any extensions okay now we are back to the main motion that amended which is to increase part-time to 5,000 and to decrease the tree planting from 5000 to Z is there a debate hearing none all in favor please say I I I any opposed any extensions okay uh there is another page uh which is 401 26-32 169 and 170 are we good with those numbers all right in that case then we go to the health department we're done with that go to the health [Music] department this book I can't find it where's the health department guys it's close it's in the middle kind of of two3 through oh here it is yes thank you okay groups 330 and groups 340 we are currently at 4-01 d27 33011 through 33028 any member of council wish to uh make some sort of change to this um it's linked to the agenda all the questions that were to the library were responded to oh um okay so do we need let's fin let's go to Health Department then we go back to the library um is there anything in this budget that we I have a question about or uh recommend to change to I I have a question mayor sure on line uh 33176 okay 3,000 yeah it's 3,000 every year I I didn't even know what that is housing yes the health department um Adrian confirmed we do receive a grant from the state for housing inspection but that line and this is two administrators ago Mr Negan would have this um 3,000 amount in in case our costs exceed the grant we still have to um comply with the state requirements even if the grant doesn't fully fund it so that's just an amount that has been a historical placeholder thank you good anything else yes mayor go line 33093 that's for the medical supplies listen you put here um can be reduced since no the I is the nurse or who is it no longer AR's the B nurse yes we no longer have a we no longer have a blue Clinic yeah I'm sorry no no sorry goad yeah so since our bur nurse doesn't run a flu Clinic any longer that amount can be reduced um I don't know if the governing body wants to completely zero it out or just leave a certain amount in there um as a placeholder that's for you to decide I mean it's been zero for the last four years nothing has been used so maybe as a place $500 but oh 200 100 maybe I would think to zero out but I was out too uh is there Chris or Lizette is there any downside to zeroing it out I mean I think we should leave something why do we not do a flu Clinic anymore is that because you can go to the pharmacy well let's first let's first let Chris and lazette answer the question is there any downside to zeroing it out no yeah my my only concern is if you cut lines too much and our budgets are always lean to begin with whatever doesn't get used rolls over to the reserve year and then what's left over generates our Surplus so the budget is not a year your document you have to look at it you know every twoyear cycle then let me ask this question Chris we were at 4.71 when we began this discussion where are we now uh we have now reduced another 2,668 for a total of 9,367 we are at 4.57% or $26.88 on the average uh test resident okay so and that would include leaving the 23 2,3 I don't think we should personally I Council can decide what council wants to do but I think the 2350 is too much money leing there um lazette is recommending we leave some lazette what are you recommending that we leave um leaving no less than 500 so you're reducing it by 1850 okay now in order is councilman Benson he had a question uh go ahead councilman Benson thank you mayor I I was just wondering what what the fluke Clinic is that is that like shots at the library or something um why would we not be doing that that ceased before my time with the burrow it could just be you know the fact people are going either to their regular doctor or to the pharmacies um even late 2020 was covid but the year before only 225 was spent so it could have been that um the need also also dropped I I don't have that information since it was before me all right thank it makes sense what you said so thank you anybody else all right Council marari how about uh you make a motion to reduce 41-27 3309 three to any amount the recommended amount hold on uh coun Mr bagary well this was more um in relation to the this entire portion of the budget the public health services OE because I have notes from our last meeting on March 18th now I don't know I don't recall rather if they were um approved by vote but I did have a note to reduce line 36 by $100 and line 176 by $2500 I know we just talked about line 176 um but I just want to make sure whether I should put back what was requested for those or uh whether the those will both actually be reduced okay so um line 36 by 100 to 700 I have that in his notes what was the other one uh line 176 was 3,000 and we had we had reduced it to 500 U but I think that was before we had the explanation uh of what it was for so and I think that explanation is requiring us to keep it correct that's my understanding I just wanted to make sure that um we all have the same uh notes Here for for it went down to 500 but now it's back up to 3,000 I just didn't know if uh if that was voted on or not voted on or when we're Crea motion number you gave us 4.57 that did that include zeroing out 176 or not it included dropping it down to 500 not not to zero it out to drop 176 to 500 all right yeah we do need to move that back all the way back up to three 3,000 in its entirety yes okay and uh Ciana what do you want to do with medical supplies I personally would yeah reduce it to 500 we said said minimum not less than 500 so all right could I have a motion clana please after I finish reading it would you move this motion uh to move line 4-01 d27 330- 036 from 800 to 700 which is off supplies uh take line 4-01 d27 330- 093 from um $2,350 to $500 which is medical supplies to move line 41-27 d330 d176 from 500 back to 3,000 which is burrow share of something Housing State housing it's almost and have a second second second uh Lizette and Chris just double check are we good with that with the way I cited that my end okay is there debate hearing none all in favor please say I hi okay is there um is there a any other item for the health department do we need to go back to um any other group any other department okay so Chris Lizette should we make a Motion in second to move forward with um tentatively move forward with the draft budget as amended I believe so all right uh so to make it clear to the public to the CI and budget committee and to the council what I'm going to do is ask for a motion in second to uh move forward with the draft budget based uh with amendments so approved okay uh is there a question councilwoman Kaufman as the budget chair would you please move this and one member of the budget committee please second so moved second I love the fact that both of you did it that's great is there debate it is debatable all in favor uh no I'm sorry uh an roll call please counc cman yes council president S Cohen yes councilwoman canella yes councilwoman M Larry yes councilman Benson yes councilman glass yes okay so um I can't pull up my agenda for some reason right now what's next on the agenda somebody help me out here adjournment I would just like to thank I would just like to thank our Chief Financial Officer Chris Paya our burough administrator liset appella our burough Clerk and DOD our finance committee councilwoman canella and councilman glass and the whole Council council president Montano Cohen councilman Benson councilman glass U mayor papao all of our department heads uh for being understanding and helping us do this work in a very difficult year where over half of the initial budget increase was from you know un adjustable items uh that we have to spend for and um thank you everybody did you mention the assistant budget committee too oh sorry no I did not and also of course uh Donna Sanders Ken crowd time Al ran thank you so much for being here uh Donna Al Ken do you have anything you want say you're free to if you want to you don't have to if you don't want to uh I'll jump in mayor I appreciate you guys' efforts as always and been on this thing a long time I'm GNA stop you for a second uh Chris can you stop presenting and Canen if you're possible turn on your camera great if you can't my fault go ahead Ken oh no let me get that camera on there we go still in the dark shadow try to hide normally kiding um no I appreciate you guys and all the effort you went through obviously listen Chris been I got to say kudos to Chris again he's been a wealth of uh nothing wrong with Allen back in the old days but Chris is modern and uh really has brought this to a new level to get to this budget situation um you know once again I'm going to Advocate you know you send this letter out right showing where our budget is the piece of pie you got to send it again you got to talk about the big increase stuff make sure people are aware that you know we're down to quality of life decisions is really what we talk about in some of these efforts um I think that has to be highlighted so that I can not be accosted at a dinner party talking about garbage pickup and all the other stuff so um but again thanks to all you guys for doing this and appreciate your efforts and we try to keep it to the lowest we can do it every year but you know it is what it is sometimes so thanks again may I appreciate the time thanks thank you for your time and your effort and for those comments I appreciate it Al do you want to say anything if you do and you can turn on your camera great if you can't that's fine uh while Al's doing that I'm going to just say Donna uh texted me earlier today that she was was on duty and then she uh may be required to leave so she just didn't drop off she's uh she's an EMT and uh she's been called out okay Al I don't know Al's having a little trouble there uh can we unmute Al in the attendance maybe Al can speak if we do that I think he's on now good go ahead Al Al do you want to try to try to un unmute him in the uh participants in the attendees maybe that might work um I don't know if you want to put it in the chat box maybe did you do you want to try to talk I'll try to sign off and sign back on Al no you're still muted I I guess Allan sorry you're still muted uh we really appreciate everything you did uh and we're sorry we can't get you in Chris before we leave uh well I think it was 4.57 okay so uh $26 all right um thank you all really appreciate it I want to say thank you to all the people councilwoman Kaufman said but especially to councilwoman Kaufman for uh heading this with Chris and elizette and all of our department heads as well as with uh Dave and Lisa I I believe are on the finance committee uh and everybody Ken and Donna and uh and Al um wonderful wonderful job I wish to God we could have gone lower uh but it just wasn't possible and um and I think Ken's words are important words we we need to talk about this to our friends and neighbors and explain to them um what what what we face and that we were doing that we started off at a better place than most of the M municipalities around us because of our conservative and conscientious work over the years and um want to thank everybody for that all right could I have a motion and second to adjourn some move second all in favor please say I I I well done everybody well done thank you thank you you thanks everyone