go to no not not not yet that's the one to really get but that was usually pretty crowded last time tomb after last Rick you a future career after Public Works s just see how you do when you decide to retire best part of the job that's right I to miss tell her job's in Jeopardy to come back she can switch with you for no election nights always fun election nights yeah big fun too [Music] e okay ready recording in progress would you all please I United States stand indivisible andice all thank you I will now read the open meeting statement notice of this meeting of the township Council of Township of roxburg was given by the open public meetings act as follows on December 28 2023 was emailed to the Daily Record the nework St Ledger the Roxbury register published in the da record notice shall also remain posted throughout the year on the bulle board in the main hallway of the municipal building so now I take R Council car I'm sorry Council car yeah Council crowy here Council Hall herey mayor P here coun Ry here and May thank you so now that brings us to reports of council and representative council committees and new business old business a our proposed 2024 Capital Improvement plan thank you yes yes thank you mayor councel um second meeting we have we need to pull brick you move these up they they too loud no they on I that was just so you weren't overheard by everybody the Mee making disparity comments thanks we need I need that help um we uh second meeting we have tonight and we're going to go over three budgets tonight engineering um and our two utilities sewer and water um we did provide to council after the first budget meeting a few documents one was it was an email from myself dated January 23rd and there were some followup um responses of information we provided back to council based on some questions we had that evening so if there are any additional questions on the information we provideed we certainly can go through those if anybody on counil has any questions and please keep in mind that we updated the capital budget from the initial um the initial budget that was provided to the council in on January 26th everybody received the cover memo and also the budget sheets that were affected um two of those budgets we talked about at the last meeting one being the Parks and Recreation budget we updated a few items we also updated the cap minor capital budget we reduced that a little bit so we could add u a small utility cart into the Parks and Recreation budget the other change that we made was in the water department our water utility we've been working on that and we we we tweaked that budget a little bit and move some projects around from 2024 to 2025 and we'll go over those tonight so when we get to water um we'll certainly make sure everybody's looking at the at the updated budget then certainly answer any questions that the council may have concerning those so I will go to engineering first unless there's any questions on the information we provided since the last budget meeting it's up to up to the council any questions okay okay we could certainly go back to that too if we need to whatever Point okay so the first um again we have uh with us tonight Melanie machete everybody knows Melanie is the town engineer the director of utilities um we also have Valerie and Lor here and they're at every budget meeting so we always thank them for everything they do um the first budget that I'd like to go time is engineering and all three of these budgets Melanie is um is in charge of and she prepared these and we put that together collectively but she manages all three of these departments engineering sewer and water so again the first uh budget tonight is the engineering department this comes out of the general fund this is General Taxation and also you'll see melan's budget there are some grants we're receiving from through the state from the federal government but it comes through the state of New Jersey for our street skate project on um on on Main Street talk about the library so few projects that we have you've seen some of these before some of the numbers are a little bit different so I'll go through some of those and if there's any questions on them we'll certainly answer them the first one is storm water management compliance and we increased that budget this year in 2024 to $190,000 in the past we probably done uh 75,000 100,000 we usually do less than this amount but as as I think everybody on Council knows the state updated their um storm water management regulations and we have a new permit that we're required to adhere to so over the next three to four years we have a lot more work to do for storm water and a lot of it's changing out grates and drains and new requirements that to be quite honest if the state wasn't telling us to do it we wouldn't be doing it we don't believe there's things wrong wrong with our grates and drains but they are because they don't meet the permit so we have so many years to do that work and um that's why that budget's primarily increased just because the new requirements that that the state's put on us melan's very familiar with the permit requirements it so RI blood so they've um provided us a budget you'll see that number um for storm water management compliance be increased over the next few years until we come out once we get in compliance and change a lot of this uh fa fa ities out we'll be okay we should be able to take that budget line item back now but it's going to take us a few a few years to u to do what what we're required to do I think we have four to five years four years four years four years left yeah well yeah this is the first year this is our first year 2028 yeah so they that's probably the L of the permit they give us the permits for so long kind of like the with the Su treatment plan they only give us a permit for so long and then when they give a new give us a new permit a lot of times they write new requirements in this is one where this hasn't changed in a while this is this is a big one though affects everybody Statewide just not just not just uh rockberry this is this isn't a one time shot I mean this is this isn't small this is signifant it's not a one it's not a one time shot it's going to take us years to get this changed out the state was very um concerned about it they gave us $5,000 Grand so if that makes you feel better we got $25,000 It's 190 every year as Mr Crowley just said so we always have we always have this is this isn't to do something the same way for five years this is just a completed in totality in five years yeah what you're saying we always had storm water projects like we always have compliance projects so even prior to the new permit I I don't know what our budget is last year that looking great now maybe 100 75 100 so in the past we've had about that amount budgeted every year and we do a lot of different storm water projects right we do a lot of infrastructure projects but because of the new requirement primarily the Gres and drains that we have to change out to be in compliance over this fouryear period Rick's calculated how many we have to do he knows what they cost and that's why you see this increase so after four years it'll go back down but you're totally corrected for a fouryear period we're going to spend a lot money to meet these new requirements of the of the D permit for storm water no way around it believe me if we had a we around it we wouldn't be doing it is are is one time Grant do we get to apply it's one it's one time there's other there will be other avenues for funding I think there were some from through Highlands there's a couple of things that's more towards the Watershed planting grants um there's of engineering related items um this particular item is primarily the structural part of it um but there will be hopefully additional funds that may be available through other we have one from the D for mapping um once we get through with the mapping we're hoping to have additional grant opportunities for uh planning uh the various plans that are also associated with the storm water permit and the islands like you pointed out I know has grants for certain things we yeah I believe the one that that I'm thinking of is does not matter if you're in or out um it's just a matter of getting to that point where what the next step yeah they actually advised us of that I'm sure they advised all their talents that that are in at any point the money more they have and I just St all these Gres and drains are on property oh yeah nothing is onate oh God no nothing on the state roads but it also involves um structures that would be in Eastman areas um defying people's homes um going from one road to another um also if it's if it's not compliant with the current storm water rules we have to update it and if it's part that's part of our system we maintain regularly correct that's something we have as part of the subdivision plan just remember public difference .1 million over a 5 period versus it's not more 600,000 because we have money inly Bud correct no no no versus I'm sorry I was going to say Jim 1.1 versus about 400,000 so this is a $700,000 it's expensive and and and you know the unfortunate part is there's nothing wrong structurally with what we have they just don't believe it's the best for storm water quality so um I understand the environmental piece but it's expensive you know it's an expensive proposition for towns that have a lot of infrastructure and we have a lot Mr the new developments are going stuff do they comply with it we're not going back and fixing villes or anything I don't know about VES I I don't know about Villages so all new all new subdivision site plans um they will be constructed based on the current storm the storm water RS that were in effect at the time that the project was developed so in The Village's case those structures will be already uh storm water compliant or compliant with the current permit um anytime there's a private site that is repaving their driveway we have an ordinance in effect and this doesn't never would affect the township um funding but private sites are required to change out their inlets uh the heads the back pie the curent pieces and the grates to be uh storm water the new storm water rule compliant so anytime that they come in for p uh that they're that they're Paving their driveways their parking lots they should be updating those um those structures so so roads that are given to us that we have to plow or whatever are we paying for that for all that new stuff or are they paying for it we are if if they all the only thing we have new that really is new is Villages because the the new stuff that's been in for oh three four five years whatever yeah because we don't really have anything even in that vein I think we had the sheep farm sheep meow Farm I don't know there's any inlets on that road there yeah that one has no inlets but um you're looking a Carriage Lane um that may may be partially up to date certain things may have changed over the years but we have to look on look at the structures on on a Case by casee basis they give us certain criteria that the structures have to adhere to um it could be uh 20 years old but just because of the way it was constructed it meets it meets the rule thank you I'm sorry make to repeat this okay I thought you I thought I heard you say that a plan that was approved at the time it was approved it was had to be Holden to the storm War management plan at that time correct so the villages was approved 20 plus years ago but those in in that particular instance those are storm water compant frames and grades so they meet the curent the current there certain certain parts of the rule have changed certain parts haven't that was one that has not changed so what the structures that are going in in villages are complied with the current rule for storm water frames greates yeah keep in mind most of our plans are older than that even The Villages mid 2000s mostly you know even the newer plants are early 2000s like you know what I mean you think about like Po speak that's I want to make sure we're not spending money on something that's not finished being developed no we're good on Villages I mean if not we would have had them do the new ones but and keep in mind that's spend back in front of the planning board again which is good for their final approvals their subis approvals anybody else okay so more good news uh we're going to need to relocate a traffic light on Main Street um this is at the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Main Street it's the one that gets hit a lot for people know area um this is part of the street skate project but unfortunately is not eligible for funding and um we do need to relocate it we have a preliminary budget our budget budget estimate of $75,000 to relocate from pole Mass back further from the right away so the the new Street gate sidewalks can be installed properly so you've not seen this project in the past and um as you can see below the two projects below are significant funding for the street gate project which is being funded 100% with grant money but because this wasn't part of the the design this is just not something that can be added to the grant to the scope of the grant we certainly check that will the street might be higher as well as being moved because I know it gets B often I'm not sure about height I know we're going to move it back I don't know if that's enough I know Rick spent some time with this I'm going to put him on a spot but he may not know about El the height of the of the street traffic light is fine when a truck coming off of Route 10 turns right on the Main Street the rear tires of the trailer drive off the road and hit the post breaks the post and the light happens to sit on the trailer so it's not a height issue it's proximity to the corner how often does that happen about two or three times a year y we re from the insurance company how much for inci between seven and $15,000 depending on how reusable the parts are I think our for get down can try to but we do need the design part of it so we'll design it hope it get loed over we'll move it about that's rockbury special just to point out touched on it we're going to be able to spend 1.75 million all gr money so it's a small piece it is it's an unwanted piece right now it's a small piece for moving this project for us being able to move forward with your 1.75 million project for free it's all grant money they fund everything because this piece wasn't part of it unfortunately when it was when it was originally prepared so those are the next two projects um again main Street's moving along melan's working on that that continues that's a that's been such a slow project but it is moving along it's in design there's been meetings with the with different design designers meeting with the railroad because they cross there in the area so everybody's been involved in that and again we're we're moving along with that project and um as it gets closer and further along we'll certainly keep it posted on the actual construction of the project that also includes everybody willall some bike Lanes dedicated bike Lanes we have in addition to the um the streets the sidewalk work of the street light work next project in engineering is elen Avenue this is a u local Aid project we have $215,000 committed from the state for repaving um our project cost is $240 so we're we're we're committing about $35,000 in Paving in addition to the paving we have the paving money we have in Brick blood's Public Works budget um this is this is an additional segment of Eland Avenue and Melanie could tell you the segment I know it's further down I'm not sure exactly what that is M you yes from South Hillside Avenue to Hill to um alcot way uh we did this maybe little bit over closer to 15 or 20 years ago and it's due at this point that's where it's little narrow yes that section is narrow yeah are we going to expand that at all get rid of any of the trees that are close to that keep that that is not the plan I also notic they from outcut going up closer to um the park the road gas lines or something I don't know I hope they're not digging that part me too I saw that last week just checking that make sure they're not going to dig up we'll check that so the next project next two projects in engineering are both new projects you haven't seen in the past the first one is drainage evaluation we call it townwide um we had some we had some areas this summer that we we really had some storms we had some flooding in areas that we haven't had in the past or maybe if we have had it it hasn't been significant um we'd like to do some evaluation in certain areas of town where we can actually do some engineering work through a consultant guide them get some recommendations on some improvements in various parts of of the township um which is really step one and step two would be if we get some recommendations to make improvements whether we can actually take those improvements because depending on what the recommendation is you know it may be expensive for us to do whether it's additional piping pipe capacity um we've talked I mean residents realize even though sometimes we don't always have the answer they want to hear our Drainage Systems aren't designed to handle every storm that will ever occur no no town is that's not how anybody that's not not how things are designed unfortunately we've been having more intense storms and that just seems to become the wave of you know the wave of the future at least um not just roxburry that's a that's a nationwide phenomena but um we would like to have some money in there and the have our engineer do some areas and give us some recommendations on some specific areas we have and M and RI both have areas that they get you know inquiries about but I'm not even aware of that they know there's some flooding some historic flooding that we probably could use a little bit of a plan to put together um and then look at Capital down the road of whether we can actually build the um the infrastructure or maybe there is no design they may come back and say with what you have we can't design anything that'll fix the problem we'll at least know that we are where we are any questions just know acting as last couple years with all the we had I've been C on quite a few emails all those melan gets them to they get them the they do a great job I get some of them and um we try to we try to do them some of them you know when people's yards get flooded we don't like that either but that's different when it's a structure when it's their house or something we you know if it's a basement you know you care we care about everything but whenever the ones that come in and ends up being someone's house um we we understand we understand the fear people live in when they get when they get water so Mr Cy I just want to go back again to one of my concerns is that from Hillside the out we've got the the garden and we have Kan Park and i' love no sidewalk at all it's very narrow because the trees are so tight against the road so for kids riding bikes or even walking from say Toby to get to Kanas park or someone coming up Hillside um it Narrows from about where our garden center is till it gets to alcot and I'm just wondering if I'm not sure I'm so anxious to spend 240,000 this year on that plan of whether we could get a sidewalk or widen the road enough so that there's a shoulder for kids to walk on since we have that part we're spending money for colas to put in pickle B and all these other things we're not solving the problem getting people to there uh if and if I think if you go take a look at it we got some beautiful trees no doubt right but they make that road so narrow that much rather see see if there's a feasibility plan to get something in there so we can move children back and forth from the park from from from uh you said from Kanas Park to what point say up to Toby because just at alcot the road widens and there's a sidewalk but there's no sidewalk right from from alot down to Kanas or from the the garden center coming up and so pilgrim these roads your kids want to come out of and go to the park they worth spending money on we really haven't Sol a problem to get them to the parks so I'm asking is unless the road is really bad I'd rather wait a year get TI see we can't do a plan or get a gr or something to solve that kind of problem not not going to be enough this because of the funing mechanisms that need to put in place you know might be some so I don't I'm sorry it's state funded so but but two things one is I I appreciate what what council m crowle is saying understood we can may do a little bit of work we don't want to lose the funding obviously we we we have usually have a few years to spend the state money let's let us spend a little time figure that piece out and let us figure out if there's even any feasibility of trying to make something work there um and and bring that back to you because I understand that again the cost might be just so significant to widen the road the sidewalk I mean rck is this the area where we don't have drainage there's a little bit of drainage but you need a lot more we've talked about that before maybe why the road sometimes not in the greatest shape so I just want to bring that concern you're look at no understood that's a good point because if we could do it right yeah right then let let us at least try to do a little bit of work on that and bring it and bring it back to you that part of the road pulls apart the fastest limited drainage and again the trees probably tree cover impacts that well it's a bank on both sides too so you can't walk out off the road have to step up to get people's property get away from car right let's look at that while I think goes back and looks through some of Mike's files from 2003 or 2004 two of the councilmen up here may remember particular councilwoman who was here and this was presented to take a whole bunch of trees down put cing and sidewalk in there and we were uh it was shot down so there are plans out there from way back when where this was proposed is there any possibility of small one side is it just that narrow I think you look at it share so like main Street's actually Main Street Street skate project is actually a shared bike lane uh Road plus bike lane if that if we do move forward with a uh with bike with a bicycle it would not be a designated Lane on Eland Avenue it would be a share of the grad type of uh application because of the WID the point I'm trying to make here is if there's a little bit of room on one side put that in there it may help not to be exactly Mr Crow is looking for but at least will create a little bit of an area over people walk and but but it's not going to be a dedicated Lane we have to be careful we don't want to give someone the impression of a dedicated bike lane and they and they don't have one John I'm not looking at designers here I'm just saying as you look at that project right if there's something to be done that helps that down the road no it's a it's a good point it's a good yeah I'm sure Bri says he has the brought show you're talking about you're not talking about adding for a bik that's part where theought back that's signicant amount of there just if we could get a foot or two or the off a little bit you know there was a larger shoulder on one side on the side of Kanas that may be useful that's I'm asking we'll look at the plans that are there so we'll look at what we have but let's look a little bit in in our next budget meeting uh which is next week and we'll be doing a lot of operating if we finish Capital like but we'll go back to Capital we'll spend some time on these capital projects we need to talk about not a problem we have time to do now thank you the uh um final engineering project we're calling it The Kennedy Jefferson scour repair this is um an area up on Mooney mountain and a little bit of an older plan of subdivision where we have some drainage problems and we need to do repair there we're going to lose some drainage facilities so um this is one that's been on our radar for a few years but it's finally time for us to fund it and into the project Melanie it's big hole so in essence during a few of the storm events the uh water coming out of the there was no head wall it's just an open pipe over time it just scoured a big hole and it's quite deep and it's impacting um someti reason here on bottom all that's all it's just yeah when we get back to it 20 it's a good thing we already partially funded or if we ever do the project which we probably we will do it we could re reallocate those funds thank you all right so that's engineering we're going to go to sewer the sewer department next it should be towards the back of your budget whether it's paper or the electronic version talk about some of those projects SE you've seen a lot of those projects before but we'll certainly go through them so Council can ask some questions we've gone through this with the water and sewer committee at different times so they're more familiar with it I'm sure than the majority of council but um again looking at Sewer Department 2024 we have grinder pump replacement that's for our Landing section of town we have money in there every year for grinder pumps we replace those when we need to council's familiar with that you ever come close to that I don't know we spend it every year yes we probably have a decent number on stock too because we need to have them in the event we you know we end up having to because we go out and do them we do them immediately right so as soon as the budget gets adopted we purchase 30 plus and um usually in the course of the year we go through 30 plus grinder pumps and that Al um that does not include any of the grinder pumps that we would um there might be something minor wrong with it that they will rebuild in house or they'll send it out for a less where where the rebuild isn't significant or financially it makes sense to have it rebuilt best deal in town it really is should be very happy about this seen it in work and read it's a great program yeah people call I mean we're there it's it's fixed which is which is great um next project uh is the Ajax mechanical repairs 110,000 we added this line item last year because you know even though we've done a lot of work at Ajax over the years and done a lot of Capital Improvements there's always things at Ajax that's the main treatment plant that that need work on them so we budgeted that again one thing that the committee did ask us um Tom and Sean here tonight at the meeting Bob's not here with us tonight um we budgeted that amount last year in 2023 we didn't spend all that money we still have some of that money left but you know we could always use it somewhere so I think for us to have that money available for projects and for things that come up that we don't anticipate and that's that's a big sewer plant we think that's a good line item to have in there for um you know for in the event something does come up we have to make a repair the next project and I'm looking down at a sheet doesn't look about the RBC unit that doubled in price I'm missing part you know what it just didn't copyright onl I apologize it's by the larger print it just didn't print right for these old eyes um I I only have part of the description L was helping me with this so it's actually man replac it on El Avenue I was missing the front part of the description 30,000 we funded that in the past we just need a little bit more money to make that to make that work and then the um the next project is RBC everybody that's on Council is familiar with the rbc's because we've been doing these for years I think we have 2 we replaced um six uh 16 so far we were going to do two last year which um it was in the capital plan but the money was not borrowed last year it wasn't authorized authorized it was in the plan but it wasn't authorized because we would have had to borrow so that's why there's two This yearor Together borrow last year well just to do the project right so whether we did it last year whether we did it this year we just we just didn't do it we never got to it so that's why there's two this year and there's wasn't one last year wasn't authorized it wasn't funded right it was in the budget it was just never funded it just wasn't was in the plan right was it in our Capital Improvement or correct we we had it in the budget we just never funded it so in essence we didn't do one last year that's why there's two for this year so there's two rbc's and then you can see the out years 20 2025 2026 there's two additional ones H sees a million dollar I thought we would do two a year for 500,000 each but well when we first started uh replacing these each a set of two were 5 500,000 approximately and then Co hit and then after that two cost close to 900,000 that's how much they went we're looking at doing four four this year okay so no they're not a million dollars a piece they're still hopefully holding that price you know about 800,000 for a pair be rep I I will bid it as four to be replaced I after this we'll have four more two and then two or you want to do and then when do we C years out 20 years out yes and some some right now are8 years old yeah to years expect 30 the original ones were 30 started doing them in 20 2017 when I started we just started doing some of those as part of the big um we did we Bor the money from the state we did we did a bunch initially and the ones on the end get less used they last longer correct anybody else all right so that's RBC okay and then the last piece we have is the grit screw I think that's a treatment right that's correct so that's $150,000 project um that's another Ajax Ajax Capital Improvement um we'll have funding for we'll have cash funding for all these projects except the rbc's right so we won't but we'll we'll we'll poke around a little bit and see what we have for for rbcs anything if we could find some old cash if we could use some a little bit of our our fund balance we we'll take a look at that because we have a healthy fund balance so yeah so I think we'll we should not yeah we'll we let me say this we'll certainly do as much as we can if we think we need to borrow a little bit of money for RBC we'll bring it back to council and you guys could at least know what we're thinking no I don't think that decision that one how much is our fund balance are you talking Capital fund balance or the utility utility fund balance is right now after what we took out last year it's about 4.8 million so in order to do that because we we would still have to since we have to balance um the revenues and the the expenditures we're probably going to have to take away some of that money um and then we could bring in the million or the two million but then we're going to be with like you know we would be about 2 million in we what we would have to do is we' have to anticipate it as a revenue in order to fund the rdcs or just get straight out of f Yeah well yeah we just talking Bud because I mean this this account and just for the public this is a dedicated account just for seers so this is only paid for by SE users not but they falance some yeah so we're definitely looking at that and IG project we gr like that that was I covered a lot of stuff it did the next big project will be if we have to change the treatment system uh which we don't know what'll happen with that right if the D again with their permit requires us to do more and deals with I think it's the NIT trates and the river the discharge and we're looking at 2728 we might need to do something there we talk about that at a committee we still don't know that for certain but there could be another project it's a decent magnitude if there is will be I believe going back to the state again for low interest loans maybe some grants something like that you just cut a Chas point is do we have tooo much money in fund balance for this utility if we do we have some extra Mone I so do we or don't we're being cautious but we understand what you're saying we have looked at fund balance we've had those discussions internally we've had them with our auditor I think we're going to and that's why I stated we're going to we're going to recommend using what we can and but we just want to be careful we don't want to get it to the point where it's too low um can we see can we get any accounting of what's coming in and out generally speaking on fund balance well no yeah out we got that low interest Lo what's coming with users from users what's going out and what are yeah we can put that together yeah we can put that together do we have to do four could we do three no yeah well because because you only have two left there's two two two so we would yes you can I guess yes you can but the is you're opening up the Crane's going to be there we can pull pull the two out so the last two of each train are the ones that are remaining so if we got to take um one of the trains out we're just going to finish off the train rather than come back the following year and do the last one it just because we have eight left right yes so so if we did three three and two there's four trains so two four six eight did you just hold The Bu from one year next yeah well whatever whatever money is left what the way I would do this year whether you give me a million dollars or if you give me $2 million I'm going to set up the bid because you don't know until the bid actually comes in maybe the prices will come down um we we'll bid it as give me a price for two and give me a price for four because the crane will already be there to remove the units remove again well but you're remobilizing that so that so that you're adding so but but the the issue is when you're taking train offline you're going to do just do the two it just it just makes sense to do two rather than one out of that that train so either way to me it sounds like council's like to not borrow if we don't have okay we'll spend some time on that we'll get you some more numbers and you know we're the same mindset believe me you know SE is in better position than water from a financial standpoint so we're we're cognizant of that we always look for old money and we we spend a lot of time looking fund balance and what our annual operating is and you know it's funny we couldn't get a good you know we do our rule of funds right we talk about in the general fund A good rule of fund for fund balance and we we really couldn't get that for the utilities you know we we we asked around that you know I have my opinions but you know we couldn't get some other people to commit to a number so we're going to be giving you our best recommendation for for what it's worth um knowing that we're a little bit conservative okay anything else on sewer all right so taking a look at water and please keep in mind that if you're looking at water make sure you take a look at the revised budget that was sent out and if you have Lenor most recent workbook she sent it has the updated um water budget in her we moved a few projects I just want to make sure everybody's looking with the same with the same sheets so again some of the projects in are familiar with because you see them all the time and they're the smaller projects like purchasing fire hydrants purchasing water meters those are things we do we do a lot and you you see those every year I'm going to go through some of the smaller projects in the capital budget and you can certainly stop me along the way with questions and then we have some larger projects in the capital budget that we've been talking about for years probably in the committee more than Council but I'm sure council is aware of them and I'll Noel you explain those a little bit so you know what we're looking at doing in the water in the water funding um so again earlier I mentioned hydrant 30,000 water meters 30,000 we're doing that kind of thing every year we're placing vence where we need to um if you go further down into the into the capital budget again looking at smaller projects um the Orban Drive booster station there's some pump and motor work for $40,000 well number five we have some work there with the pump Etc replacement $35,000 budgeted and the final last smaller project for the water department is the Ford Road booster station uh pump valve improvements at $125,000 all of those projects if you add all those up we will fund with cash the you'll see you'll see in the the operating budget we're going to move that over to the capital Improvement fund we can fund all those projects with cash um because we normally fund we normally fund the water uh the Water fund with around 350 $375,000 in cash for a capital Improvement fund every year that changes a little bit but we try to fund that amount we'll be able to we'll be able to fund all the small projects with cash these larger projects and I'm only going to briefly introduce them and melan's going to talk about them some more these are larger projects we're going to need to borrow some money for these we've know that for years because again these are larger capital projects that we need to do and a lot of these have been designed years ago with the uh with the villages coming online and some of the work is actually being necessitated because of villages and Villages did provide us some money over the years to help offset some of the cost of those improvements so the the first project is and these all work together is the water plan the phase one water master plan the crement project that cost estimate for that project is 1.8 million $1.8 million melan will talk about that in a few minutes um Benzel tank rehab the Benzel tank for those of you who are familiar it's up near Mount Arlington um that's an older water tank we have we need to do some work there and also the um the sky view tank rehab I believe we have two tanks it's Sky View Sky View is up on Mooney Mountain um those are tanks that need rehab um for those that have been on Council for some time we did the we call it the million gallon gallon tank and Landing we did that I think in 2017 I think we did that my first year I was here the work was completed it was designed and thought about obviously for years before then since then we haven't done much tank work and we know we wanted to do the tank work in addition to the um this the the master plan making some improvements to the overall water system to enhance the overall system so I'm going to ask melan you to explain those projects a little bit so everybody's familiar with them and then we'll certainly be able to um try to answer any questions the council might have about those okay so um I'm going to look them all together in the phase the phase one uh master plan Improvement so as John mentioned uh the improvements are needed for villages primarily for The Villages projects um they include uh refurbing the uh the 250,000 gallon tank in Benzel and demolishing the smaller tank um in Benzel both of those are pretty much original to the water system when it used to be the shore Hills Water System um and work is definitely needed on those on those tanks um they will provide fire storage for The Villages project the supply um one of the uh one of the other projects is interconnecting the sky view water system with the Benzel drive or the shore Hills uh system um part of those improvements were constructed by Villages a number of years ago uh they extended the water M um from uh Orban Drive Landing Road all the way up to their project and then through their project inter connecting into uh the Short Hills High zone or the Benzel drive system uh in the vicinity of the for booster station um and this that will facilitate the use of water from the Shor Hill system and Sky system where we're going to maximize the the use of our existing Wells and water from the mcmua that we purchase in both Water Systems so overall it's it's necessitated by The Villages but overall for the water system system for the customers in uh Benzel drive and the sky system there's a uh definite benefit for for for both um customers of both systems the Ford Road booster system that's at the bottom of the hill that's right next to wel correct yeah well was going to move it what is it we have to do to finish so there it is looped so system uh so far with constructed with villages um the portion that we've taken over is from 46 on at Landing Road up Landing Road shiing Port Road into Village bouvard um and it interconnects into Ford Road through an eement area they've also constructed two interconnects um huh well Fleet well Fleet did um one at Manel which is currently shut down until we get these water system improvements and then another one at uh Davis it's a paper Street um I I'm drawn a BL but one one of the side the opposite one of the paper streets and that will help feed water back and forth between the sky view and Short Hill I was doing everything trying to figure out what is it we have to do so they did the system Improvement so that part they was was completed what was not done is um the storage aspect so if you remember back many many years ago um they were going to put a water storage tank on their property do I do remember vely yeah that means it's only going back 25 years so that's um these water system improvements will eliminate the need for that tank so specifically regarding Benzel um there are a cluster of homes up there that don't have the best water pressure surrounding the tank because the tank is right there and the house is literally right next to the tank so there are these system improvements will benefit the remaining customers of our water system so as much as they were they were prated by The Villages there's an overall benefit for our existing water customers understand that it's still thought that was being taken care there were contributions uh like like uh John mentioned before there were prev contributions but I didn't bring the the total um how many hundreds of th I'm thinking that it was like 97,000 over the course of years years they just made one recently I think 230 or 240,000 we have towards the project that was a recent contribution that was made righted they have they have an they have paid an allocation fee back in in 2008 2011 somewhere in that ball park did they get charged I think on an annual basis no but they paid um so when they when they pay an allocation fee they pay 25% of the water connection fee associated with each lot and then as Villages are developing they're paying they're paying the balance of those water connection fees and S we're collecting this currently been no they' been used a lot of them have been used yeah part of it was was was used for the design of these improvements as well so we have um the Benzel Drive tank so there's a benefit there for the the um uh the residents of the landing area we have Sky View uh the original tank is is a $300,000 $300,000 300,000 gon tank that um needs to be refurbed rehabed and returned to service it's been off offline for a number of years we didn't um we didn't move forward with some improvements on that we tabled them for a number of years until the need arose for those improvements and then the reur repainting of the sky view tank that's our newest tank was constructed in 2000 um but paint systems only last so many years it's due so that's that's another part of it um another one of the the improvements that's um being funded through this uh these water system improvements is to separate the sh Hill this sh Hills High zone so there is an interconnect between the Morris County mang at o'9 drive that was we wor we sort of left out that count constructed that uh that interconnect last year or the year before yeah a couple years ago when they repainted their water storage tank so the the tank or the the Vault and the interconnect there um we to do some modifications within that Vault and then another part of that overall uh design is to separate the Mount Arlington Boulevard um segment of of of the exting water system specifically along Mount Arlington Boulevard Who currently have very high pressures because they sit so low in relation to the Benzel Drive tank so we would actually go in at select locations within the water system and either put PR it's still under designed but in essence segment the lower elevation so they they're not experiencing excessive high pressure so we have the the Shor Hill system has has a problem we have areas that have inadequate pressure there's some that have in inadequately high pressures and we're trying to equalize everybody I have questions what's uh question one what's the fund balance for the sh she can give you water uh right now the fund balance for water is 3.3 million yeah we're not pays it's actually good but we can't pay for these improvements with fun Bal was a real was no no no I'm not please not I'm just trying to understand Bas on these large expend that are and the second question I have is you know last year you know a lot of money didn't really go into the next two years is a substantial amount of capital that you allocated so my next question is are some of these items that you have these large dollar items can transferred over time's two two things that one I agree but two things some these are not two things one is the projects that we moved into this year you see we moov P out one year Well number two the projects for this year the tanks the improvements we need to get those done right we've known about those for some years with where villages is in the process it's time to pull the trigger on those we've been design working on design for those we should do those projects and get those projects done so I would do those as a group they make sense as a group um just to be clear you pulled Sky View From Now year to down yeah we just moved it up we thought you know what we could have waited a year it makes sense to do that all at one time that could even be one one contract for tanks just push off of we the POS we move posos out um you know we're looking for State money for that we're we're looking for Grants we're looking for money back from our sett so we're looking for settlement money we know that settlement's moving along there was a case back in December just last year the end of December you know so we're we're hopeful that we get money in settlement money we're hopeful that we can make get some State grant money or state low Andor State low interest loans the EPA is going to be coming out with regulations Nationwide we're hopeful that maybe some EPA money will be coming if they're going to mandate this Nationwide in the past when the epa's mandated big projects they put grant money out there for construction of facilities um posos is going to be one that's going to be difficult for Water Systems I think to do on our own without getting some grant money that's why we moved it so we're functioning right now as everybody on Council knows we've taken that well offline where there's no issues with the water quality in our system we eventually need to get it back online because we need to use the we need to use the well it's our it's our best producer I think so we did move it out and um we're hopeful that over the course of the year we more about our settlement we're hopeful to get a significant amount of money back as a public water system we're at the top of that settlement food chain we do know that which is good we're not just talking about this Wells we have provided them information on I believe three Wells that potentially can be impacted in town um right now we only have one that's in violation of New Jersey standard but with the EPA standards coming on and with New Jersey potentially lowering them we still have an impact we've given them all three um just so we have them for settlement talks anybody sorry how many Wells we have n wells eight sorry eight Wells eight Wells withw facility Well um Evergreen has no detex excuse me and neither does the DPW facility the Evergreen system is a small am out of burer Valley I think it's 30 or 33 res 30 res 30 that are start it's a real small system that's part of ours I didn't even know there was water in the valley just that one little like subdivision area right that one subdivision area and um the other systems as Mel mentioned we actually we call it the rockbury water system there's three separate system that are all separately permited through D when we're done with this big project we'll have one water one large water system right Shore Hills and Sky View combined and then Evergreen will still be on its own because it's just isolated and separated we'll still run it and operated but it'll you know I don't think ever be part of the other system we don't we're not expend that kind of capital expenditure to right right so just so sometimes it's a little bit confusing just the way it's permanent through dppp but um it'll it'll be better because it'll be down to two systems rather than three separately pered anybody that's everything we have on on capital for tonight we obviously have some work to do for you guys we'll get that information bring it back so fund balance is 3.3 how much you anticipating how much money for tomor for water we're playing theor we would probably borrow a good bit of it I think we B borrow a good bit of the capital I think that you know we're still looking at we're still looking it trying to figure out what our what our numbers are we have some existing water notes from older projects 15 there's a few notes that are out there we did the Mount Arlington waterline a few years ago um that's a note we're thinking to maybe trying to put all we might pay one of the notes off if we can we might pay one off at 400 450,000 if we can pay it off I think we're going to try to do that um so I think it's good to get any debt paid off that we have um I think what we're thinking about is trying to combine some of the existing notes looking at some new looking at some of these new projects rolling it into a 30e bond these are 30-year projects these are long projects and um taking a look at what that'll cost us we have some money currently in the budget that we are using to pay notes we can shift that over and take that money and pay off long-term bonds right we know we can shift that money so that's money that's already in there we can get a little bit probably out of our Capital every year we probably don't need as large of a capital fund every year if we're doing a lot of these projects right and then we still have smaller things to fund trucks and smaller things we can probably take a little bit of there and we'll probably be looking at you know a little bit of a rate increase somewhere along the way maybe into next year that we could utilize for Capital debt to do these big capital projects that's what we're thinking we still need to work out the numbers okay yes Jim uh just the public what we're talking about now hav been talking about for the last 20 minutes or so is just the water utility just like the SE utility it's funded only by the water users those that get water from Rock Water Company not the private company correct we've had I think we've had our our water rates have been um haven't been increased in since 2013 I think was our last increase um which has been great I think our water system I'm a customer B's a customer some people are customers some aren just depends where you live Sean's a customer I believe Jack I apologize I don't always know the borders close to where you live but um you know we we want to provide good clean water that's safe for the people and um from my perspective our utilities I think I think New Jersey has high taxes I don't think Roxbury does New Jersey does our utility rates are wonderful our water and suer rates are are really good and they're really good compared to other towns I think we get a great great deal for water sewer I think melan told me the last thing we did in sewer was decrease rates years ago so again for what we do with that sewer system and how it's run and operated it's been done that way years before I got here not even taking credit for any of it they've done a great job the council's done a great job that runs so well at a very reasonable price very reasonable so that's that's a credit to everybody here and all the employees and the engineering department it is really these are two especially sewer they're really well run utilities water is too sewer is just a little bit smaller so it's makes it a little bit tougher sewer was at so again when you think about it to actually decrease the last time it was increased might have been over 20 years ago and we've made that really work and made a lot of Capital Improvements so um these are these are these are well run and they're they're they're financed properly and um we just need to make some Capital Improvements in water now that we have a done so just to back you up John I know what my water bill is and compar to some surrounding areas I know well yeah I mean I people I think we do and I think our sewer is too my I think my water's great I really love the sewer bill I mean I water too I mean you know we're paying every quarter and of all the bills I get at home those are ones I don't mind now when I get the cable bill that's a different story but um water and sewer and for what you get for those um they're they're a good deal but we'll bring more information back to Council on some of these fund balances and some of the ideas to finance things believe me we we we we want want everybody's input on that and make a collective decision on what to do here um trying to make the right decisions we only want to borrow what we what we need to borrow any else so does that that brings us to the end of your por correct that's correct and now we are at number six the public portion if anybody would like to get up and speak now the time your name and address for the record please uh just a question are we going to have the operating budget on the website when it's ready when it's ready Council doesn't even have that we don't have it yet Mr so when it's ready will we have a hard Cofe for next next week's meeting when it's ready yes it'll be ready but we'll have it ready Maybe by tomorrow yeah it'll yeah it'll we're shooting for it it's they're finalizing and I Do by piece we get it to council and we'll start that on on Tuesday next week you call it the B Edition exactly we'll have one just with your name on it I'm sorry we'll have one with your name on it let you go on the computer book I remember save the paper all right thank you Mr CLA anybody else like to get up and speak now is the time name and address for the record please Chris SC uh 105 Orban drive and Landing speaking briefly on the fire department I know that we've discussed in the past couple years about a replacement truck for company to um just want to let the council know that we still hope that that's something that we could move towards in the near future um the truck we are looking to replace is 28 years old 28 correct um and FP recommends every 15 years they get moved to apparatus status and after 20 that they get removed from service so clarified reserved apparatus status is this is like a backup unit okay so they can't they're not the first the first due out of the fire so we have one that is first due this is currently our resered one that's out of service for about a year now um we would like to have that replaced in there forut sure and we are looking to combine it with our rescue truck which is also 25 years old it's also getting up there in age so trying to help the T out by consolidating some of our equipment and um making it work better for the residents the council and for the fire department so take that into consideration if you have any questions I'd be happy to address anybody fire truck and rescue vehicles it's it would be combining our current rescue truck has no order on it it's strictly for rescue exportation Route 80 does a lot of Highway calls um it's out the door pretty much every day and an engine that's 28 years old it's at service it currently failed its pump service and we're looking at right now an estimated 70,000 Plus in repairs to get it back on the road um the fire department is trying to hold off on those repairs if we could get a replacement for it just to save that that extra m being spent and we do understand that there was some money donated from the new development that helped offset that cost a little bit um every year has been a drastic cost increase as you guys know from purchasing a ladder truck last year that costs have not gone down the current build time is up to it was 36 months as of January 10th it's now 238 to 41 months so they're not going down it's actually getting extended so next year the bill time could get increased again which would delay the delivery of when it comes and then John also does have an email from the manufacturer that it is cash on delivery so they don't need the funding up front this could be something that you know we can commit to we wouldn't have to pay for until it's deliv which would be another 3 to four years from that so again you're you're putting taking your vehicles and you're combining it into one correct you're taking a rescue and an engine yep which currently we do have that both go out quite often the rescue well the rescue is on a all the time all the time it does not have water and according to state law we do need to provide a hose line with water on every extrication and Tra man we go on which we can do with the assistance of mutual aid but we cannot provide ourselves due to Limited manow so if we combine them into one unit we can have our crew do an extrication and also provide the water at the same time say mut within or uh sometimes within sometimes without many usually it correct yep as long as we have somebody available any else have questions all right if anyone ever has questions want to reach out you feel free to email me or call me but happy to work with you guys thank you thank you Chris okay anybody else in the public wish to speak okay seeing none we have we're now to number seven introduction of proposed ordinances there are none number eight hearing and Adoption of ordinances on second reading none introduction and Adoption of resolutions none personel changes none Communications none we are now at our second public portion if you would like to get up and speak see nobody close the second public portion we do not have an executive session so I will take a motion for all in favor recting Stu