good evening welcome to uh council meeting number seven today is February 11th 2024 March 11 I'm sorry March 11th 2024 Melissa can you please uh say a statement you lost I know in compliance with chapter 231 of public law of 1975 notice of this meeting to be held at the criminal justice building 61 Main Street South River has been published in the home News Tribune on January 5th 2024 posted on the municipal building bulletin board the burough website the front door of the Criminal Justice building at 61 Main Street South River Roll call Mayor gindy here councilman Ballas here councilman Cula here councilman desian here councilman grensky here councilman kenzel here council president olera here please stand for the salute to flag flag United States of America to the rep for stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all please stay standing may be seated we have no proclamations we're going to go to agenda session uh discussion on first reading we only have one first reading uh which is on uh School Bus Parking and residential zones Ry would you like to us want to talk about this may we received some complaints from Neighbors people were parking buses school buses uh in residential areas we checked the ordinance if there was nothing uh to say you couldn't do that since we banned trucks and everything it's in that same category we looked at the state um designation for buses the larger buses are class ABC right class D is um fans all that so the appropriate thing would be to put Class A B and C on the uh the no parking list on driveways I believe it's only already not allowed on City on streets right I believe we spoke about it's going to be only on A and B which is the long buses it will be on the long buses I believe I just don't want to misspeak that they were there are two types the both long buses the shorter buses are still permitted um and the types are I think we are permitting type A and type B and we are prohibiting uh just give me one second so I can where's the first reading it's type c and type D that we're yes yeah so type c which transports 10 to 54 passengers or type D for 10 to 504 passengers are going to be permitted prohibited okay thank you all right uh we're going to go into the introduction of the municipal budget Melissa can you please read 2024 d123 resolution 2024-25 Municipal budget notice Municipal budget of the burough South River County of middle sex for the fiscal year 2024 be it resolved that the following statements of revenues and Appropriations shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2024 be have further resolved that said budget be published in the home News Tribune in the issue of April 11th 2024 the governing body of the bur of South River does hereby approve the following as the budget for the year 2024 notice is hereby given that the budget and tax resolution was approved by the council members of the burough of South River County of middlex on March 11 2024 a hearing on the budget and tax resolution will be held at public safety building on April 22nd 2024 at 7:00 p.m at which time in place objections to said budget and tax resolution for the year 2024 may be presented by taxpayers or other interested persons thank you uh any discussion I know uh Joe thank you thank you mayor um some highlights in the 20 24 budget uh just so everyone knows the budget's an estimate in a planning document uh this budget is in compliance with the appropriation capit law in the state New Jersey tax levy capit law and there's no cuts and services in the budget the burrow has three utilities um all of them are self-liquidating which means that revenues are sufficient to cover operating maintenance and Debt Service cost parking utility which is the smallest utility we have is very small um you know just maintains the the burrow meters which we have money in there to to cover uh repairs to meters the second utility is the water utility on your agenda tonight is a rate increase of 10% this budget does include that rate increase of 10% some of the expenses that increased in the water budget or the purchase of water from East Brunswick increased 5.23% the majority of that was a pass through from milex water milex water increased their rates to each Bruns by 4.5% and then we get the pass through to us also Insurance increased and salaries and wages increased due to contractual agreements the budget also includes comp to the Water System including Mains treatment plants fire hydrants and other equipment uh we'll also be installing the new meters this year in 2024 and as always we continue to pay down Debt Service aggressively uh your second utility is electric also on its agenda is a decrease in electric rates of 4.83% so hopefully in a perfect world some people won't see any change at all they'll see an increase in water and a decrease in electric and hopefully it it levels itself out um I there was an article in the paper about a month ago on Utilities in New Jersey increasing their electric rates in that article there was psng jcpnl lan City Electric and lo Rockland electric ranging for increases from 3.6% to 8.6% so that we're able to decrease rates in this kind of environment is great uh the battery storage project for the second straight year um worked the way it's planned to work and the burrow is benefiting from it uh the burrow captured majority of the peaks in 2023 summer which resulted in transmission and capacity savings and in this budget uh most of the most of the budgets for expenditures for electric are equivalent to the prior year same thing as in water Insurance increased and salary and wages increase due to contractual agreements um also for Capital expenses in the budget for electric is upgrades of Transformers and wires and repairs to the substation all right lastly is the current fund all of your burrow Revenue line items in 2023 hit their line items or exceeded them which is very good uh state of New Jersey did increase state aid this year by a half of 1% so we're receiving $4,130 more and for the second straight year the state provided an aid called Municipal relief Aid so in 2024 they're providing a burrow at 86,87 which is double from 2023 but it will not continue in 2025 so next year's budget we have to make up $86,000 of Revenue uh the burrow has continued to do the $50,000 decrease in anticipate electric Surplus each year there's also another line called utility operating surplus of Prior years which is the savings from the battery storage project uh the burrow is using those savings to offset Capital Improvements for roads Parks purchase of a fire Tru purchase of a DPW Vehicles sewer system improvements and we also paid down more debt since interest rates in debt service are significant same as the other utilities most of the most of the Appropriations have remained level all the Departments have remain pretty level consistent to last year all the Burrows Union contracts have been settled through 1231 of 6 so the salaries and wage lines in the current fund uh include all those contractual amounts same thing as the other utilities increased in insurance was 59,000 or 11.77% sewer treatment costs increased 66,000 or 4.5% those were two of the bigger uh increases in the budget also we seek out the burrow does a good job seeking out grants uh there's 327,000 in federal state grants in this budget that doesn't include hcd or or uh New Jersey Department of of Transportation which are funded by ordinances and less part is Debt Service increased slightly because the interest rates have been going up higher so usually what everyone wants to know is the average residential unit at $292,900 40 will see an increase of $58.19 a year or $485 a month uh again projects funding in this budget between all the utilities and current fund are Road improvements Park improvements purchase of police and DP W Vehicles purchase of a fire truck sewer system improvements Capital upgrades electric infrastructure and water infrastructure public hearing is scheduled for April 22nd 24 I think councilman alera is going to speak about some other Saturday meetings that we're going to have and lastly I just want to thank council president alera councilman krenzel and councilman zimian along with art for all the help with the budget and all their input that's it Council any discussion no what is your pleasure let me just read the title first resolution 20241 123 resolution accepting the burough of South River Municipal budget for the fiscal year of 2024 what is your pleasure motion second motion by councilwoman Ballas seconded by Council councilman siola councilwoman ballis yes councilman Cula yes councilman dimian yes councilman grensky yes councilman krenzel yes council president olera yes thank you now we're going to go into second reading 2024 d8 Alissa ordinance 2024 d8 an ordinance to amend the code of the burrow of South River chapter 155 entitled fees by amending section 155-10 Chapter 30 water motion wave to full reading second motion by uh councilman siola seconded by council president Olivera all in favor we're going to open it up to the public hearing 10 minutes please come up state your name and address no this is for this is for the ordinance that's later all right do I have a motion motion to close second motion by council president Olivera second by councilman kashinsky all in favor Council discussion what is your pleasure make a motion to move second motion by councilman siola second by council president Oliva councilwoman ballis yes councilman Cula yes councilman desian councilman grensky yes councilman krenzel yes council president Olivera yes thank you Alyssa 202 24-9 ordinance 202 24-9 and ordinance amend burrow code chapter 155 D fees motion W to full reading second uh motion by councilman siola seconded by councilwoman Bas all in favor I I we're going to open it up to the public 10 minutes anyone no sit down not yet I'll let you know when you're ready to come up all right what's your motion motion to close to move motion to close public second oh God she got me going um motion by councilman krinsky seconded by council president ala all in favor I Council discussion motion make a motion second motion by councilman uh Zan seconded by Council councilman siola Council balis yes councilman Cula yes councilman desian yes councilman Ki yes councilman krenzel yes council president Ola yes thank you Lista 202 24-10 ordinance 2024 d10 Bond ordinance providing for improvements to the Burrow's water treatment storage and distribution system appropriating $950,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $900,000 bonds and notes to finance a portion of the cost thereof authorized in and by the burough of South River in the county of middlex New Jersey motion wait to full reading second motion by councilman krinsky second and by councilman krenzel all in favor I open it up to the public 10 minutes motion to close second motion by councilman Olivera seconded by councilwoman balis we're going to open it up to all in favor all in favor sorry I councilman discussion have a motion make a motion second councilman Hank councilman Dian second by councilwoman B Council balis yes sorry councilman Cula yes councilman desian yes councilman grensky yes councilman kenel yes council president Ola yes Alissa 202 24-11 ordinance 202 24-11 an ordinance of the burough of South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending the burough code of the burough of South River so as to create chapter 43 entitled filming permits motion to wait the full reading second motion by councilman krinsky seconded by councilman kenzel all in favor I opening it up to the public motion to close public second motion by councilman krinski seconded by councilwoman Ballas all in favor I I Council discussion what is your pleasure move the ordinance second motion by Council womman Bas seconded by council president olera councilwoman Ballas councilwoman Cula yes councilman desian yes councilman grensky yes councilman krenzel yes council president Oliva yes thank you Alysa 202 24-12 ordinance 20 24-12 an ordinance of the burough of South River County of middlex state of New Jersey amending the burrow code of the burough of South River R so as to amend chapter 155 entitled fees motion away the full reading second motion by councilman krashinsky seconded by councilman ciola all in favor open it up to the public motion to close public check it councilman uh motion by councilman siola I sorry by councilman krinsky seconded by councilman siol all in favor I Council discussion what is your pleasure move the ordinance second motion moved by councilwoman Ballas second by councilman desian councilwoman ballis councilman suula yes councilman desian yes councilman grensky yes councilman kenel yes council president Ola yes thank you going to first reading ordinance 202 24-13 ordinance 202 24-13 an ordinance of the burough of South River County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending chapter 350 of the burrow code of the burough South River entitled zoning mayor I move that Council pass ordinance 2024-the only and that the clerk be authorized to publish the same as required by law with the second reading and public hearing to be held on March 25th at 7 p.m. via video conference via Zoom or in the council chambers of the Criminal Justice building located at 61 Main Street South or New Jersey second motion by council president Olivera seconded by councilwoman Bas Council Ballas yes councilman Cula yes councilman desian yes councilman grensky yes councilman krenzel yes council president Ola yes thank you we're going to open up to the reports Bruce thank you mayor good evening everyone our report is essentially the same as the last meeting I will tell you though that the 2024 local aid program we're moving ahead very nicely on that which is combined with the 2023 local aid program to get those done and then out to the dot for review and we also submitted the hcd project proposals that is it anything for Bruce just two more items on the agenda one is a temporary budget emergency uh this is done until the budget is is adopted in April to get us through the next couple months and then also you have a loap list and a resolution for approval um that is approved by the governing body and it's posted in the firehouse that if there's no uh contesting it then the payment will be made in 30 days that's it thank you anything for Joe p uh yes last week uh the asphalt plant opened up we started going out filling potholes with the hot you know asphalt there's a ton of potholes out there please be patient we're going to be out there for a good three to four weeks so if you see anything just call it in also that's all I have I have a question uh any power failures with the winds and everything that we've been having the storms we had a 48 Washington 48 Washington [Laughter] okay okay that's all all right so police chief is not here the fire chief sent me his report uh he was unable to make it in today uh as of today there's 78 alarms up to today uh apparatuses are all in service engine four and with and uh wait sorry engine four the engine that's 30 years old will be taken out of service in the near future to for consistent oil leaks uh any further questions we could uh talk to uh the fire department um Andrea oh I have nothing tonight mayor thank you Alysa nothing tonight Ry mayor just have a couple things um the repair of the tileyard pumping station is almost complete we hopefully have it back online next week 100% uh the other thing is through the efforts of my office and the special uh Administrative Assistant for special projects most of you know the public should know the uh fire department was granted a $75,000 Grant from the state for new gear for the firefighters we also have just completed with our consultant and appli for a grant for new radios for $221,000 we'll hear in that about a couple of months good that's it thank you councilman siola um the only I have is DDC uh will be meeting uh next Wednesday March 20th 7 pm at 55 Reed Street and that's all I have for right now woman ball sure I'm sure okay um this Saturday is is the free rabies clinic down at the Public Works building on 9 out in way 16th dogs are 12: p.m. to 2 p.m. cats are 2: p.m. to 3 p.m. the South River trap neuter and return program is also collecting donations of cat and kitten food please bring unopen dry or wet food to help support this program and they will also will be uh selling licenses for your cat and your dog for South River residents only if you are registering for the first time you must bring a certificate of spay or neuter uh for the library this Thursday the hling woods fors will be having their presentation of their um wolves and uh that starts at 6:30 so if you want to learn more about the habitat and conservation of the Wolves uh come out Thursday night at 6:30 the last day of book donations is March 16th then the friends of the library will be sorting books and getting ready for their big book sale for the year and I went to my first Cultural Arts and Heritage meeting they are getting their plans set for South River day which will be June 15th so they're looking for vendors and talent and DJs and anybody that would want to set up a a food display we're going to be working with the EDC to see if we can get you know a lot more businesses involved and of course the Memorial Day Parade we're we're starting to plan that already because again we must um get all the uh the the bands and whoever else wants to participate in that and that's all I have councilman dimian uh just a reminder that on Saturday March 23rd at 8 a. in this room is open to the public for the uh budget uh please come out ask any questions we'll be here um it's put together very well and you can ask any questions and any concerns you have that's it thank you council president all right so budget committee standpoint just want to thank councilman dimian councilman kzel our CFO Mr Zenga and our ba Mr lensky you guys made it a very seamless process for us so we can't thank you guys enough uh for the residents I know we had to raise uh water rates that was never you know that's never a goal to raise water or electric but our job was to try to mitigate that as much as possible so I do want to thank art and Joe for looking into the electrical uh decrease for us as Joe mentioned while everyone's going up um I've called multiple towns multiple companies I really do think at least in Middle sex County we're the only ones that went down uh which is really unheard of in this time so thank you guys for all your effort with that um as Mr dimian said we will be meeting on March 23rd at 8: am and April 20th at 8: am. the these are going to be our budget presentations where we'll be able to present to the public ask questions before before the budget gets adopted on the 22nd so if you're interested please come out and uh ask as many questions as you'd like the location will be at the criminal justice building which is currently where we're at um and both will start at 8: a.m. sharp all right and also at that meeting we'll have our burough auditor Mr Jerry stankowitz who will also be able to answer any questions if necessary parks and wre spring registration is live please visit Civic recre as we have a number of offerings coming up this spring our Easter egg hunt is scheduled for March 23rd at grow ski park this year after feedback we received last year we're going to do things slightly different we're going to have three and under and first and second grade will go together at 2 pm there's going to be two different courses uh for each age group and prek and kindergarten will go with third and fifth grade at 2:30 so we're expecting the event to run roughly between 1:30 to 3:15 so if council's able to participate it'd be awesome to have you guys out there uh congrats to our our w wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament we had roughly about five uh wrestlers who will be competing at the State Recreation tournament which again is awesome for our little burrow to have representation and to our cheerleading teams this past weekend we had all four teams compete our September teams our U14 and u8 place second our full year 14 U uh came in second as well and for the second week in a row our 8U full year team placed first so it's also it's awesome to see you know our town and having other parents from different towns come up and like are you guys not an All-Star gym like how do you guys keep doing this and I explained to them we're a recre center we're a recreation department we don't have a recre center and everyone doesn't believe us but our girls continue to go out there and do a fabulous job so congratulations to coach Terry uh coach Allison coach leani and Coach Lara for a great job that they've done um and again our programs continue to grow um our cheerleading program has over 70 girls now flag football we're expecting close to 90 um so the rec department continues to grow and age I apologize ahead of time because I'm sure you know veterans is going to be used like crazy this spring so there's not a lot of uh field space but we are looking to hopefully bring more to the town in terms of space offerings not only indoor but also outdoor and as art mentioned just a big thank you to dawn for getting that grant for the firefighters I think it's awesome you know we do apply for Grants uh we are hoping that the radio Grant does come in and then hopefully the big Grant is the playground equipment grant that was $700 plus thousand so we should be hearing about that fairly soon that's all I have mayor thank you councilman krinsky thank you mayor um first off on The Office on Aging beginning of this month the members are going to be required to uh use their key tags to sign in and on if you so if you wish to become a member just stop by there and uh sign up and uh get your tag and become part of the office on agent Community um the senior freeze is in effect right now and uh if you haven't gotten your booklet from uh the New Jersey Department of Taxation give them a call at uh let's see where is that number 800 88265 97 um firsttime filers who wish to establish their base year should access and print the PTR application and instructions which should be access and printed uh at www new jersey.gov treasury SL taxation SL PTR uh deadline for firing for TW deadline for filing of 2023 application is October 31st 2024 um and with that uh Office on Aging will have a closure on March 29th in observance of Good Friday and hopefully um yeah and that's it thank you mayor councilman kenzel all right I'm uh planning to call the the tv35 committee uh to have a meeting uh sometime in the near future and you heard about the potholes are being repaired at this time uh it's going to take time because there are so many potholes out there and there's more every day so but we are on top of it and we are working on that as we are also with our tree trimming because we have spent years trimming the trees when we have major winds like this major storms we don't have power failures because the branches are not near the wires so we're going to continue to do that for the future and uh keep everybody uh like it's burning that's all I have sir thank you we're going to open it to the public 10 minutes state your name hi how are you I'm Kaa um so I'm a 16-year-old resident in South a and I came here to address a problem that affects many in our community um so I'm really bad at public speaking um currently due to limited parking space I have to park my car at least like a block away from where I live however in just 8 months I'll be driving independently because I'll be 17 and um that means I'm going to have to park my car like about a block away maybe even more from my home every day as adults I'm sure none of you guys are really comfortable with the fact that a 17-year-old will have to park like a block away from their house and then walk through Water Street at like 11 o'clock at night in order to get home from work um this challenge is increasing with new developments you know uh apartments and stuff like that because it reduces the available parking spaces soon it's impossible for a lot of homeowners to be able to um you find like a conven convenient parking space in their near their home for themselves and their loved ones this is unfair because you're prioritizing you know the needs of the few for uh instead of the needs of the many um I believe people deserve to use their property to alleviate some of the streets flooded with parking with parked cars shouldn't we strive for a solution that accommodates all residents rather than inconveniencing the majority for the sake of the select few thank you what's your street address I'm sorry what's your street address uh 183 wad Avenue 183 all right thank you anyone else from the public hi Julie Litman 31 Division Street um I'm also a little bit put out about this ordinance that's been in existence apparently for a long time my car has been parked on my street legally it's been totaled now I got a new car to replac the one that was totaled and it got sideswiped can't do anything about it because nobody knows who did it cuz they hit and run okay but yet my son who has this place to park his car maybe not legally because it's new ordinance or an ordinance that's been in place on his lawn is now being told he has moving I have a problem with that because my car that's Park legal is getting sideswiped and total yet he's trying to park his car so that it doesn't have that problem it's not blocking a driveway it's not blocking a sidewalk yet he can't leave it there that bothers me because of what's happened to my car twice not to mention my neighbors who lost mirrors my other neighbor who had her car total it's ridiculous I've complained they park on the wrong side facing the wrong way so cars have to get too close to my side okay she was coming up Division Street when she hit and total my car how did she do that I have no idea but it sounded like a bomb went off when my car got hit you know I know there's a problem with parking in this town but we need to we need to start looking at the fact that people who may be parking on the their lawns are doing it out of convenience and out of necessity because there's no place else to park I understand that you have a problem with these cars that are blocking sidewalks or blocking driveways great those are people you should be stopping not the people who are trying to do it the right way thank you thank you anyone else from the public 183 White Avenue yeah uh like it's been addressed my car I've been parking it in a spot for like 13 years it's never been a problem I recently was told that I can't leave it there you know or I'll get a ticket which I think is nice that I didn't get a ticket in the first place I will point that out but uh you know I park there because like you know sometimes I'm putting the kids in the car sometimes you know there's other issues my mirrors have been taken off both on Elizabeth Street and on Whitehead Avenue at least four times there's police reports one of the times uh we were putting my youngest child in the in the back seat of the car and the door was hit there's a police report about that too person didn't stop they took off down the street you know so I mean like not that it's like whatever but you know it's nice to know that I can go up there and it's not a problem you know like I don't like I'm sure I could go up there real quick throw the kids in and drive off and probably get away with it 99% of the time but why should there even be a chance that I could get in trouble for this you know what I mean like I don't know that's just my feeling on it I guess uh thank you thank you my name is Barbara barand I live in for on 42 Ivy Hill Road in Parlin and I also want to take this message to the sville uh burough so I'm here to address catalytic converter thefts I know it's a problem and if it happens to someone it's a major issue can't drive the car for some time it's a big headache and this happened to one of my neighbors a few weeks ago where I am in the community there are no garages you park cars outside their car was parked outside their townhouse and uh the catalytic converter was stolen their neighbor has a security camera and it showed that at 1:00 in the morning two individuals stole the catalytic converter it's a quick job for the thieves so I began to think about this I looked up on the Internet they say you can't stop it but you can deter so I've seen advice like uh put the car in a well lit area put alarm on most sensitive one can buy Shields depends on the year make model of the car and um I called around to some neighboring mechanics or auto repair shops none of them do it their there must be a reason so one of them recommended Minik key which they do put anti- theft devices on catalytic converters and one of my neighbors recommended Echo engines they'll be moving closer here there'll be their new home will be in parland right now they're in Woodbridge um I was very pleased I went there I'll give you details about where they are and the business so I have two older cars I had the anti- they custom made it okay on both cars and interestingly they told me that those catalytic converters on my cars are not worth much on the market one like $20 it's not not like you that' be may it'd be worth s or $900 but I said do it anyway I just want to deter I'll feel have peace of mind I don't want anybody getting ideas to steal it from my cars so I went to Echo engines I'm very pleased with them um it took about like two hours about to do it reasonable prices the two hours I I like to read books so I read a book and nice staff and it is uh it's located on 115 that's 115 Amoy Avenue name is Echo engines echospace engines Incorporated it's Woodbridge New Jersey 07095 right and telephone number 732 75045 uh website Echo engines NJ I'll spell it out Eco n g i n s nj.com in the family family owned and operated for 30 37 years the owner is Chuck Hy that's he i l and he and his son Chuck junor run it and I asked Chuck Jr is it okay if I speak about the business at Council meetings he said yes he said just tell the people to call in advance so that they can order parts now I just want to emphasize there may be businesses in South River that do the work but I'm just relating my experience and so there are new address and they'll be moving within a few months is 507 Washington Road in Parlin that's opposite roughly a cemetery the Calvary Cemetery near dupon Street if you pass by you see there's work going on it doesn't look big but it's deep they're doing very well they need more space they'll be able to put up more cars in in the air to fix also they want to get a equipment for wheel alignment they're doing very well and so basically what I wanted to say I just want to give something for people to think about I think it's important I tell my friends so um that's it thank you thank you thank Youk you appreciate that will there be any else anybody else from the public Litman 31 Division Street I have a question I drive a big school bus I want to know what the ordinance is and why why just because I want to know because I was parked where I thought was legal private property and was told I had to move it within an hour or it was going to be towed you have a type A or a type B it's the big long one the 54