e not yet get yep Ready this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meetings law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided this meeting of March 4th 2024 was included and published in the curry news and star Legend and placed on the Burrow's website notice of this meeting was on the bulletin board as well at bar Hall a copy of this notice is available to the public and a copy of the statement shall be include it in the minutes of this meeting mayor Brian Gallagher is excused this evening council members Teresa boner here Glenn Den here Tom Mitchell here Randy pittz here Gus dravic here Roger ver here uh please let's see here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one a under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you item number four will be moved to uh next meeting item number five we have our department reports and notices as listed uh people always ask I'll I'll point to letter A for a moment people ask when do I move my cars off the street in the event of snow um normally that is two inches as when the plows go out out so if you're curious of when to move your vehicle 2 in of snow is a good is a good reminder to go ahead and do that and then all of the lots are available for parking so if you don't have a uh driveway you can move your car to one of the burrow Lots uh and then as a reminder St Patrick's Day parade is this Sunday uh kickoffs at 1:30 and again parking restrictions are in effect at 9:30 a.m. so make sure we move our cars if they're on Main Street uh we're we all everyone's looking forward to a fantastic another fantastic parade here in Somerville so we're going to move to our committee reports start to my right Teresa thank you uh so the municipal Alliance and newth Services Commissions met on February 8th um the Somerville Middle School is gearing up for challenge day on April 24th that is a day for eth graders to participate in a dayong program that helps combat loneliness and create connections across lines of differences lunch will be provided by the Summerville Youth Services Commission uh the next meeting will be held on March 14th at 7 pm it is open to the public via virtual meeting link if you're interested in attending um and Personnel we are still interviewing candidates to fill a couple positions in the bureau um if you are interested in or if you're job searching go to Somerville nj.org and tap on jobs to see all the listings currently available that's it thank you Randy thank you Arbor was chosen as one of the top eight most hospitable small towns in the Mid-Atlantic by World Atlas our town was noed for its calm and quiet atmosphere making Summerville a Great Escape From the City uh also noted for its diversity of great restaurants so I want to congratulate all of our residents our business community and everyone for this great achievement thank you thank you Tom yes uh last week we had another training course for the employees here in town uh we learned about how to protect the town from Friv frivolous lawsuits that are brought about by people who who come looking for uh gaps in our security and poking their nose in where it doesn't belong and then claiming to be mistreated and well that's it thank you Tom Gina uh the summer Rescue Squad responded to 132 calls in February and they had one CPR save um the Board of Health meets March 20th um the public is invited it's Warren Street at 6 pm thank you Glenn so our environmental commission will meet next Tuesday you're all invited right here at 7:30 but we also do want to remind you that coming up on April the 20th at Saturday to celebrate Earth Day we will do a traditional cleanup where we will meet at the Somerville high school parking lot and then we have an expanded uh green fair that we're very excited to be hosting on Division Street from 11: to 2 on that same day so stay tuned for more details thank you uh with our Recreation registration is now open for youth tennis lessons and adult pickle ball lessons tennis lessons will be held on Monday or Wednesday afternoons grades K through 2 3 through 5 and 6 through 8 pickle ball will be held on Sundays or Tuesdays for beginner SL Advanced beginners and Thursday nights for intermediate and advanced players don't delay register today as space is limited uh you can register at register. communitypass.net Somerville registration is also now open for the NJ Santos Rush Spring Concert uh soccer clinic and games um which is open for students ages 4 through seven Somerville wreck is partnering with uh NJ Santos Rush provide development Academy style soccer training kids will develop Foot Skills ball control and a Love of the Game through technical drill and games players will leave each week having built on the skills they learned during the previous sessions to create a lasting skill set um they will be held on Saturdays from April 13th through May 18th from 9:00 to 10: a.m. at the Carol Pedra Sports Complex registration is $66 for the six weeks and includes a t-shirt again registrations will be accepted from March 1st through April 8th and you can also again register at register. communitypass.net slumville um checks can be made payable to Summerville Recreation and can be mailed to 25 West End Avenue attention Recreation and if you have any uh questions you can call 98746 n85 or email uh kerville nj.org and that's all I have Roger I think also the recreation Department's uh promoting for the rescue squad uh the rescue squad is holding Easter egg hunt on March 18th and it's at 11 o'clock at LEP park right opposite the rescue squad building so yes definitely want to check out the annual Easter egg hunt yes and the children will also be able to go through the ambulances and rescue trucks which is always fun uh children of all ages we should be reminded because I know there's a lot of folks who like to check all out at the new apparatus as much as possible all right tonight on the agenda item number seven is a continuation of uh the mayor's program to bring uh to light some of the uh different things that we do here in the burrow uh tonight's discussion item is payment in Li of taxes otherwise known as Pilots uh so Mr driver if you would please join us and uh present what is a pilot col just make sure your microphone's on over again it's on there that's stuck to the table be with me folks we just got this working you going want to be seeing me you ready I'm ready okay well it worked all right what you see in the screen in front of you and hopefully up there is a representation of the almighty dollar um in 20 23's budget the school system got 57 nearly 58% of that dollar the town got nearly 30% in the county got 12.3% the myth about the dollar and that distribution is a bit like a balance sheet the uh percentages apply the day the budget is struck after that it can change um when it comes to the school portion the school budget is presented to the town and if the town includes it adopts it and puts it into the budget that is the amount of money that has to be paid regardless of what the Burrows finances are so the myth about um every dollar coming into town the school gets a share they really don't they only get a portion of um the dollars and the the other interesting thing with Municipal budgets is that if we get more than the finance people anticipate we can't use it it goes into cplus and can only be used in the following year so having said that why is a pilot different to property taxes and I'm moving through this quickly Mr chair if you don't mind um a pilot is a payment in Le of taxes therefore it's not considered a tax by the government so it it serves a couple of purposes there it doesn't affect state aid is the first thing the second thing is that um it helps support the budget in um an alternative way because it's the the pilot Revenue still goes into the general fund so that it provides money as long as we've anticipated it and I'll show you what we anticipate for this year shortly um that money is aail available for um Works in and around the burrow well um the statute says it should be used for redevelopment it can be used for other things as well the benefit to the town is it provides a long-term stable flow of cash that pardon me that um can be anticipated and strategic plans can be then addressed um Pilots start when a CO is issued so the property tax burden to everybody who pays both um commercial and or um residential tax is that if you've got a healthy pilot program your taxes don't go up as much because they're being offset by the income stream of the pilot um I just lost my total train of thought I apologize um the other portion of of property tax is the land tax that you all pay when you get a tax bill you get improvements you get land and and um County and and whatever with a pilot the person who owns the property still pays the land tax portion so that um they're not getting a break on paying tax it's split into two different elements one being the payment in Le of and the other being the land tax so the the the the revenue stream continues um there's I think this slide said there's only two types of taxes but there is actually three or have I got in front of myself I'm not even know okay okay I've got in front of myself I apologize the Pilot's designed to incentivize a a builder to go to our town not the next town across and and um we've been relatively successful in doing that um the state set up the pilots to one encourage developers to go into neglected or or um challenged communities and um we've used that very well to get stuff done and get development growing and to encourage economic development in the town um we always use what's known as the butt for test and that butt for test is really simple but um applying it is is not as simple as it sounds but for offering a pilot will they build the project and we have have to satisfy ourselves that the answer is no because if the answer is yes they'll still come and build it why would we need to give them a pilot a pilot is designed to help them absorb the costs of environmental remediation and infrastructure so just to recap before I get into the numbers it offers an identifiable cash flow to the town the owner cannot make a tax appeal they can't come and say well I don't like that pilot I want to appeal it doesn't work that way they sign an agreement with us um the three types of Pilots are um 2% of construction costs which typically is used if they're building a factory or where there's you know we can't measure Revenue it's owner occupied pardon me the one that we do use is a percentage of Revenue because most of the structures that we've built are rental apartments or they've got rental apartments and they have retail underneath that's an ID identifiable cash flow which they have to show us each year they've got to give us an audited income statement and that's how we then develop the next year's payment and most of our Pilots are graduated in the first five years typically we allow 10% of annual gross revenues then it then it goes up and probably by year 15 16 it's at 15% which is the maximum we can charge by law the last pilot program the third is one that's applied to fee simple housing for instance py um seeing how their own are occupied you can't charge them a percentage of their income to there is none so um we enter into a shorter pilot um duration and it's a percentage of what the taxes would normally be which puts um a onus um not just on our financial group but also on the tax assessor that he's got to tell us each year what the taxes would be both improvements and land so that calculation can be made so in November of last year our financial consultants begin preparing for this year and so what you see here is is a table that says this is what we are receiving this year an estimated payment and L of taxes and at the bottom there um we've put in there the land tax share so if you um go back to the land um the land tax being a a portion of the total tax budget so this year our budget your budget shows that we'll be getting four and a qu million dollars um in Revenue where if every one of those projects every one of these was just built and paying regular taxes the burrow share of their tax bill would be um a little under 50% of that so that's that's a good example of showing you where the financial benefit to the town is and we manage that very closely I could manage this just as closely to really good your computer's going berserk okay yeah well just stopped working okay this is a a chart that showed long-term impact of a pilot versus taxes and hopefully you can see it pretty well the left hand column is regular taxes for um and this was prepared by Phoenix advisors they were asked to do a WF exercise on pilots and what it would be if we just got regular taxes so the First Column shows that um taxes this year um in total would be $7 million the burrow share of that would be that $2 million that I previously showed you and then that that little column there that says years is the duration of each of the pilots and so over the duration of all those Pilots um the burrow income would be$ 46 and A4 million it's a lot of money when you look at the net pilot Revenue over the same time frame is $125 million which a significant change to the burrow so and then when you add the land tax into the pilot payments um you're getting $121 million more over that time frame than you would if they were just paying regular taxes so I I think that's probably the simplest explanation that I could give you um so the the I'm heading towards the close now U we can use other sources of income to help fund the budget which is what the pilots do and I think the illustration I just showed you know there's a significant contribution to the burrow allowing the burrow to do other things without impacting the pocket of the taxpayer um it stabilizes or helps to stabilize taxes over the long term um the school budget is funded without having to go into debt or um finding another source of Revenue which typically is let's raise the taxes and will cover the school budget that way um the schools still can receive their state aid because their state aid is based on property tax and the pilot is not taken into account um the the the one we never talk about is what does the pilot Pro program other than offering discounts to builders doe for the borrow so we've seen it creates a revenue stream we try and estimate what the economic impact to the burrow would be indisposable personal expenditures everyone that lives in the apartments everyone that comes into town to go to Wolf gangs or wherever and and it's not an accurate met metric by anyone imagination but um it's it's somewhere between 74 And1 million a year which the current development has brought into this town in personal disposable income Randy likes it always tells me keep it going keep it going but I mean it has a positive impact on the economy of the town and um you know we we see that in all sorts of ways and I won't even elaborate so um Pilots form part of a plan um to revitalize and and reinvigorate the community as a whole um it allows us to add competition without cannibalizing anything and it creates new sources of revenue to stabilize property taxes and that's it thank you if you've got any questions I'll do my best to answer Kevin we can put the uh presentation on the website yeah yes I know we're still working on trying to get it presented to the folks at home that are watching on YouTube uh does anyone of the council have any questions for Mr driver all right well thank you thank you moving on our agenda items we have uh number eight which is uh as part of the application process for the uh cdbg grants um we open it up to uh public discussion I will read the three grants and we'll open up the all three if anyone would like to make any comment the first one uh letter a safe and sound Somerset mobile case management for housing and economic stability they're seeking $ 225,000 from cdbg Jewish Family Service of Somerset hun and Warren counties uh they are looking for a roof replacement and the burough of Somerville uh playground project uh looking for funds in $150,000 from cdbg do I have a motion to open public second council members sorry council members Teresa boner yes Glen Dene yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy Pitts yes Gus traic yes Roger verm yes public is open for comment on this item only only seeing none motion to close so mve second council members Teresa boner yes Glen yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gina straic yes Roger verm yes uh all right moving on to uh opening the public meeting for comments on all agenda items and other things motion so moved second Council memb Teresa bonor yes Glen Den yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gina travic yes Roger vro yes uh please approach the mic name and address for the record and address your comments to me public session is open my name is Dora Del sordo um 19 Maple Street I'm an owner uh I'm calling um I'm here today in the council to have U Maple Street included on the list of streets allowed for residential parking permits um the town parking website States um to quote there are certain streets where parking is limited or in high demand parking permits have res uh give residents priority to park in available parking spaces um the fact for which I make this petition is that 19 Maple Street does not have a private driveway as it is shared uh as it shares a single car drive way with the business next door in addition Maple Street is off Main Street and allows parking on only one side of the street of which more than half is metered these circumstances are causing hardship on the residents of 19 Maple Street the streets Cur uh the streets currently on the residental permit list are streets whose houses border Somerset Medical Center immaculada High School Somerville middle school and a Somerset Somerset County Complex the residents on these res residential permit streets are given priority parking yet the majority of these of the houses they live in have private driveways the residents of 19 Maple Street border a very busy busy business district as as we know um and do not have private parking there are only two other residences on Maple Street and they have private parking I ask you please consider designating Maple Street as a street allowed to have residential parking as will only account for a maximum of four cars of which two would park in the Shar driveway during the evening night hours when the next door business tenants are not there um thank you so much for your consideration of my petition to lessen the hardship of the residents of 19 Maple Street I have papers if anybody wants to see I'll take to us I know you had called earlier today and so I received another email just so you're aware is the Lots after hours are free from home thank you any other comments from the public seeing no further comments I move to close second second council members Teresa boner yes Glen Den yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Tina straic yes Roger ver yes uh we will look into your concern on Maple Street uh certainly uh when the mayor comes back we'll discuss that with him as well uh but this is something we can certainly look into okay uh number 10 we have one ordinance for introduction uh it's ordinance 03 no that's not correct 279 or 2729 pardon me amending chapter 16650 schedule 9 entitled stop intersections to include Division Street at the intersection of South Street Kevin if I'm not mistaken South Street has the stop signs we're putting a stop sign on division uh that's correct so so um right now when you reach the post office there's no stop sign there obviously there's ballards but you are correct there needs to be for these years never realizing there's no stop location there yes yes so if you're coming if you're coming down div Vision you can go either way but the but South Street on both sides coming from our parking lot or coming off of bridge have stop signs they the stop uh South does yes yes so now we're putting it on division correct fantastic um is that going to replace the stop signs on South Street or it be an addition this is I believe this is an addition too um be a three-way stop correct correct so uh the mayor has made a practice recently of opening up even though it's an introduction uh for comment so uh would someone like to make a motion to open up for public comment at this time some second council members Tera bonor yes Glenn yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes ten traic Roger ver yes any member of the public have a comment on this introduction seeing none I move to close so moved second council members Teresa boner yes Glen yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Jus straic Roger ver yes uh now I like a a motion to uh introduce this ordinance so move second Council me member sorry Teresa Bon yes Glendon yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Gina traic yes Roger verm yes all right number 11 our consent resolutions are there any that need to be pulled from Council hearing none we'll take them all together uh number 76 affirming the Somerset County Regional Farmers Market cooking vendor fee and waving event fee related to cooking and requiring compliance with the established cooking vendor tent and and kopy guidelines 77 awarding a contract to Ben schaer Recreation for playground installation and safety service at walk Park 78 authorizing a shared service agreement for engineering and related services with the county of Somerset 79 advising the Somerset County commissioners of Municipal participation in the update of the Somerset County multi-jurisdictional Hazard mitigation plan number 80 appointing Deputy Emergency Management coordinators Kevin saluca and Brian O'Neal 81 approving the use of Municipal services for Rolling Thunder Incorporated event scheduled on Sunday May 26th from approximately noon until 2 traveling through Somerville burrow 82 affirming payment to disapio properties in accordance with the parking garage agreement as identified in the body of this resolution and settlement agree agreement d dated June 19th 2023 83 requesting to hold redeveloper in default of the Redevelopment agreement between the burough of Somerville and Spartan urban renewal LLC for not completing certain tasks in exhibit one of the Redevelopment agreement titled Redevelopment project schedule 84 requesting to hold redeveloper in default of the Redevelopment agreement between the burough of Somerville and Somerville multif family urban renewal LLC for not completing certain tasks and exhibit one of the Redevelopment agreement titled Redevelopment project schedule 85 adopting a memorial bench program through the recreation department allowing approved applicants to honor an individual while enhancing the features of public parks 86 approving legal runaround 5K run and fun walk Thursday May 23rd 2024 at 4 p.m. 87 authorizing the submission of a Community Development Block Grant application for $150,000 for the Vander Park project 88 cancelling uncollected uncollectible excuse me sewer utility charges and 89 awarding a contract to SJC Lawn Care Incorporated in the total amount of $19,988 for Peters Brook Greenway tree planting do I have a motion so move second council members Teresa boner yes Glen Den yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy Pitts yes Gus traic yes Roger verm yes let's get up my bills and vouchers here for a second there we are all right uh I would we're to pay bills and vouchers uh for this meeting I move in the amount of 1 million 36,0 and8 48 second council members Teresa boner yes Glen Den yes Tom Mitchell yes Randy pittz yes Jus travic yes Roger ver yes before we close again a reminder we have the St Patrick's Day Parade uh coming this Sunday an awesome event here in the burrow um run by really tremendous people so please come out and uh support the burrow and support your neighbors uh we look forward to seeing everyone down wearing their uh festive colors and enjoying themselves with that uh Mr Mitchell would you like to take us out move for adjournment second all in favor I I opposed thank you