[Music] in compliance with the open public meetings act dl1 1975 Chapel 231 the notice appointments have been satisfied meeting dates for the year are listed in the annual agenda copies are sent to the rec Suburban night and Northern Valley Press posted on The Bold board in the lobby of the municipal sector the notice of this special budget meeting resolution number 24-65 has been sent to re Spight and Northern Valley News has been posted on the B board in lobby of the municipal center and for website the first order of business tonight is public comments total of 15 minutes have been allocated for this purpose citizens are welcome to address the mayor and Council on any governmental item of concern to them whether or not it is scheduled on the agenda below citizens must give their names and addresses when recognized to speak large groups are urged to select someone to represent them publicans advised that these meetings are recorded and are subject to the open records public Act is there anyone here in the Wilson room that would like to make public comment doesn't look like there's anyone here our clerk how about online is there anyone online I see no hands May No Hands being raised go okay we're going to close our public comment then now and we're going to start with departmental reviews of the budget with the building department congratulations Bob Burns you're the first off this evening thank you thanks for coming out tonight we appreciate it um I'd like to start off with 200 2023 synopsis last year building department issued 840 constru permit and 167 permit updates we generated an income of $690,000 600 6998 you had total construction expenses of 39 $298,000 we made a profit of [Music] $294,000 per put back in general budget I'd like to point out with this that state s says if you make too much of a profit you have to know about what does that mean what is can someone Define too much they never have okay never had but that is what's written in the statute okay one tood enforcement officer was terminated our new electrical inspector completed the first year a very good job and we purchased our online software in 2024 we're in the process of hopefully purchasing a new vehicle whether you're supposed to do last year but we're unable to um we're completing the new online software Implement education um we're doing the continuation of training on the uccc module Su perit module uh we're going to start training on the zoning module and the property maintenance module hopefully the the I believe the zoning man training will short next week uh when we complete and the girls get more familiar with the permit process we going online so contractors and residents are able to F out the permits online this a Mitchell Humphrey system yes that's that's fabulous that we're going do that what when do you think I was reading your number so I wasn't paying complete attention when do you think you're going to go live with that uh rly I'm hoping sometime in April April okay um the inspectors are now using laptops in the field so any of their reporting of inspection is immediately transported back to the office so if they get any inquiries they uh clal sta will know their status of the expect is that something we can say so so so I love investing in technology one thing I think I hear you saying about is we're going to be more responsive to Residents because if it's automatically put into the system they'll find out faster yes are there other benefits that uh does it reduce work somewhere else or does it increase work somewhere else uh once we go online will will reduce uh the input of the information into the system because the resident or contractor as a form he has to fill out a lot of that stuff is what the girls are transfer and nor payers now into now they don't have to do that if as long as the resident or the contractor uses the system can we require it uh don't police the way they way the laws they uh doing it so they have access but they haven't said it's mandatory demand or at least again give information such that the first preference is to did you realize again most people would love typ versus is that would save everyone would win the residents would win and we would and would increase the efficiencies this with Bob St iPads or whatever F they're not coming back that was huge yeah the our plumbing inspector has uh designed and currently are using temporary inspectors to do inspections have a better job in another town would what do you what did you find a full-time job he found a full-time job and he's also maintaining a parttime job so he's part time for us no he's part time somewhere else different town one of it actually it's next door to race why didn't why couldn't we keep them part-time here he didn't want to and salary wise he's making as much there as he was making with the five counts that that's um my budget what page you were not on anything yeah I have um three three different budgets um UCC zoning and building uh the zoning and building grows a little bit and that's due to the maintenance cost for the new software the UCC budget actually any other line item decreases or increases are due to realignment with expenses would show where the item is coming from two of the things I would like to do I would let counil one is increase the stien for the zoning off zoning not adustment $3,000 more than what she SP she has obtained certification work last year as the first year she did an Excellence job and through conversations with u prior administrative she promised to increase in salary we with that okay so that's page seven the she promise 300 specifically so was that built into the budget Susan already not okay okay got it go go ahead Bob um I would also like to increase respector Sal and having a problem obtaining expected because the other towns in the surrounding area almost 20 bucks more an hour so what are we paying an hour we're paying about 30 pay 30 each inspector get a different amount of to30 I would like to increase it $50 each in Sp all doing the same work and we all work at the same that'll eliminate between them or another job pay more than we are I this is one of the things that we spoke about remember when this all started big picture where the plate again I believe start at zero then where are all the places that we want to invest as a team you know I I've always said buildings is very resent faing faing resident facing um and again this is what David's working when we get 100 people coming in what is the distribution of what those things are I would guess but we have to find out piece of that is where where's my permit on this where's you know I just built the house and I can't move in because huge the plumbing so I would love to see what are the other TOS paying if it truly is that is there a way with Bob earlier today he's done some research in other towns I found I mean let's get the numbers what is what are we currently paying Bob paying 30 and you're requesting be that that is the comment that I'm also receiving from the applicants that have submitted resumes for the it makes sense you know we we have the same challenge in the DPW which is another very resident based six people six jobs open for 12 months we can't bu we have a problem in the recreation department with this go ahead none of them seem to be worried about benef but the problem is I don't have so so the the profile of an inspector you just said something about the benefits of response to D question are are the inspectors do they tend to be people who they have a career they've retired they have a pension and therefore they don't need to worry about the benefits or they have a full-time job somewhere else like your first comment how do they fit in this profile where they don't care about benefits um either they don't have a fulltime job and they have a bunch of parttime jobs or some of them have been contractors there they're still contractors on parttime basis right right has just retired from his own business right he doesn't need the hospitalization okay okay all right so what are we going to do with the David how are we going to approach this the wage well take a look at the the average number of hours and make a computation as to if we went up to 50 what that would be we have the in the appropriation in the budget line um and then get back get back to what that do right we don't have numbers in that right now so so so examples of other towns and then the recommendation on yes yes and and so Bob has done some of that research and we'll put that we'll pick three or four talents that are comparable we'll tell you what those those rates are we have to have inspectors now getting back to the the revenue and the feed SP if we were to increase the sour for something like this there room to make get a net frutal impact in the budget by being able to in this Rue if raising we could oh so they just that was the first time in 10 years okay so last year figures actually only show like eight months of the increase got four months on the old but it's worth looking at it again again I know that you told me you get to me a day earlier I mean again these fees are like 50 bucks 100 bucks maybe that's people yeah you're right it's like a passport if you told me I can get my building permit a week earlier for extra $200 where do I sign up actually exactly what you said can you look if that's possible also that is totally 100% of course whatever the last thing on my budget is uh increase the zoning conru C that is not in comparison to surrounding towns and I got to say that the mayor and Council 10 11 years ago decided to make two part-time jobs out of one out a two fulltime jobs with the same amount of work with no increase in salary that's basically how job is created I got to say the person in not and and what about the uh are we start going back to the secretary discussion or that is that something where we can similarly look at other towns for I say we should look at boards as and so planning board I believe is a $4,000 cycle HPC is $4,000 C so I think what Bob is proposing that we go it's currently 3,000 so you're looking for it to go to 6,000 so that would potentially impact Sor I was just going to say the same back thing that you know the fining board is it's about $4,000 sense to match match that I mean the planning board has they don't often have the work session but they have a work session and they have a a regular session every month uh zoning board only have the one meeting I mean it used to every so often have a second meeting but if you're going by just you know the number of meetings you know zoning board does have so the the uh the issue is apparently my predecessor me promise that this would get done there's nothing to file to that effect um and even if even if he did it could be something the council would have to vote on so I have a question so so we'll look at that see what's right but then with an eye in mind of we want to be consistent with the St now to the news point someone's working twice or three times as much as the other person that's got to be Tak into consideration but I have a bigger question why do we do stipid inste of SP people all the time um that's a good question I mean I I have seen it done both ways and in several capaci because is not taxable or so for your employee they would probably prefer it be part of their base salary for the the the potential that you wouldn't have a fulltime employee do some of these positions you would have to S and allocated salary and you also would be that you're not paying as pension can you take a look overall come from and see what you Rec and the only reason I say that part of B subject to cross yeah the only reason I I raised that question the new is because okay if Adams working 10 hours a week on the special project but Jamie works 20 hours a week while the overtime naturally means she is going to pay more based on her output whereas the sment that's not we can't really measure that so the other reason for for stiens versus add salad is you're not incorporating it into the job description you know so for example prev you know did it for for about a year and then she said she didn't want to do it well they're getting part of their salary can't reduce their salary right but I me I said this is that's why I said overtime but I understand your Sol part of their right then they can't part of the problem over time work some of the work but did she did tell me though that um that she does do people are coming in coming to the office to ask questions so you know if if that if that particular individual wasn't zoning board secretary then you know would be that would free up some of her time for her me but would still come back would be paying somebody this Sal we'll get back to you to the home we've got homework to do with that what else Bob who else has questions for Bob thank you sir so we have two takeaways right so three takeaways very very excited about the revenue numbers that's great two we've got to do homework in terms of salary and compensation and three we have this online portal to look go to which is fabulous fabulous V you have one question large right so You' got $21,000 no we took it out took it out so operating we no we we took it out we have money left over last year until this year that has been seven or eight years it's still going on still left right still requir sure and and the question is it'll go on forever but at some point that 21,000 come down I'm say yes because last year it did come and and so maybe for example next year budget that be sh um if you are the contractor for the res that's probably about open even that it's limited because of security I mean people can come in and so Bob to clarify um are you're required to to accept paper is there a point where you can require all the plans to be submitted toally right now we accept we have to accept is that a statutory requirement or is that well it's kind of a statutory requirement those that don't P you know put in online um we don't have the facilities to be that's going to be another to do what with blueprints to read blueprints digital so so I got so that would be another expense so do you want a do you want a screen or do you want to be able to print them out um either at this point you have press the scanning though is to eliminate the storage of paper to eliminate the storage so what I'm looking at is if you said you know June 1st of this year you're G to say we're going to set digital now you don't have to scan in those Pap documents digital theer do already home how many homeowners you get 50 50% so the other we don't I I know for the meeting we're still doing the remote so everything is presented so I having been in the construction business and looked at blueprints lots of ways in the real world when you're reading it at your desk because you're just kind of doing a little studying it kind of you can do it but when you're working with them you need to see the whole blueprint at once and then if you're on a construction site you need to be able to move paper around to understand what you're actually we get that I'm just saying that you know we are getting electron or the electronic is Avail we ask so you're talking about a printer or a screen that's 3x4 okay I think we're good thank you yeah he need oh what so we didn't talk about that oh that's that's the the cost of an electric vehic $40,000 it wasn't enough bu couple of far don't have other we got look at theing one that's now from another department mean I LIF at all the we usually get a list of all the cars the entire any about so just to Dan's question is asking these are the state ones that's just so disheartening that the state ones are more money than if you went bought I bought an electric vehicle for $338,000 six months ago so why drop down to 29 so why couldn't we buy one for 38,000 that's my question Chevy well first of all we have to buy a we got put it in right let's see if we can get something right if we can look at other numbers or use get one off Poli right dealership new because we're g to beat the life out of it might as well buy it used not taking on cross country Expeditions going to Wood Street 100% okay good okay all right thank you Bob all right planning board uh Nicole Osborne Is With Us online here uh Mary Beth Willl the chair couldn't make it hey Nicole how you doing can you hear us at all we can't hear you yes good evening how are you good now we can hear you excellent we're just rolling a little closer okay okay how you doing Nicole hi everyone thank you for having me nice to see you as well all right so the whole council is here um uh David FW the new burrow administrator the fal clerk CFO the whole gang okay did you attend the uh budget meeting last year no I did not all right so typically this process is you walk us through any narrative you want to talk about for discussion purposes and then uh the council will have and if there's any numbers you want to point out that are different than last year and then the council will have uh questions for you you do not need to go down line by line unless the council has specific questions about anything in here okay sounds good so go ahead all right so good evening I'm Nicole Osborne the vice chair of the planning board and as the mayor stated I'm I'm presenting to you this evening in the absence of our chair Mary Beth Wilman I'll direct your attention to the planning board's proposed 2024 budget that is before you the planning board continues to work diligently in helping to best grow and develop the burrow with review of site P site plan applications as they are submitted if required we hold two meetings per month on the second and fourth Wednesday to facilitate large development projects if additional meetings are needed to be scheduled the overtime stip in line would be charged from our budget we are currently fine-tuning the payment in Lo of parking ordinance as a recommendation to the mayor and Council for new Downtown Development to correct inconsistencies in our land use development regulations we are researching and reviewing our ordinance so that changes can be made Additionally the planning board along with the mayor and Council and our planner we will embark on the review of the upcoming fourth round of the New Jersey affordable housing compliance obligation the burrow has a constitutional obligation as you know to provide a realistic opportunity for the production of low and moderate income affordable housing so to put all of this into context I want to highlight three points first the amendment to the 2018 housing element and fair share of the master plan was just adopted in October 2023 secondly the third round covers obligations up to June 30th 2025 and lastly the upcoming fourth round is a 10-year period between July 1st 2025 and June 30th 2035 during this time frame the bur will have to prepare a new fair fair share plan so while the fourth round obligation numbers have not yet been determined leading up to the fourth round we will have to do three things one be aware that more affordable housing units may be required than what our current zoning provides secondly that same recently approved Fair Share Plans may still be considered realistic by the courts and lastly we will have to take a deep dive into the Burrow's vacant land inventory so as you can see the planning board has done a lot of work and we still have more work to do to accomplish these obligations from a budgetary standpoint the burrow is not responsible for any invoices from the profession associated with these matters the professionals will be paid from the Housing Trust Fund are there any questions very good thank you you're welcome all right questions from Council Members so it looks like here the total budget's $53,000 yes that's what's recommended that's that's what's recommended um we did have a sement we requested a $2,000 stien for our backup planning board secretary we had a request to increase $400 um to post in the various Publications that are required by law and an increase of 4,000 to cover unanticipated legal matters as well as the $2,000 for uh our board secretary to attend conferences and you know to maintain her her uh credentials so uh so so Susan we we kicked the legal down to 30 from 40 yeah I I put that to be what was close to expended last year we spent 5,000 oh I see they spent 33 and there might be one item next I think it's the main repair equipment they're charging something for m h there and it's not needed in their plan 1,000 I did confirm that today just so you know yes that was one of my questions to you could we remove that since that wasn't um an item that we had been uh previously drawing from yes so and oh go ahead go ahead Nicole there's also um a line item for telecommunications that's $500 um our board secretary has not drawn from that I don't know if that's a hold over from covid but should that also be removed from our budget what is so we can take the Telecommunications 500 out what is it what was it for I don't none of us can answer that question Susan on page nine yeah it out I think that was okay we're taking it out okay great did you have another question beyond that I did or rather I was going toh say the um you know the the second seg the $2,000 seg for the backup secretary I think change to an overtime U amount and I I agree with the overtime rather than making it a separate second okay yeah Amy is uh the second person in my office um so she'll she'll go to some of the meetings to get trained by Amanda at planning board but then once she's trained then she would be pay over time and she had a cover meeting say a s in for the entire year right we don't anticipate her being there every time that Amanda is there yeah but what happened before in the past couple years it looks like if I'm reading it right we always put it in 21 we put 3300 22 2500 but we never spend it well I think there a change in personnel there was somebody who used it go in and get but it doesn't show it in 1920 212 or I think it showed up in a different departmental budget remember that vaguely that was a different U Municipal that was a different secretary board secretary as well it's not our current that was 2019 and 2020 did not reflect our current board secretary so I guess the question is $2500 for is that necessarily in planning board budget or would that be my budget for any don't we have we have overtime money in the administration budget that would be for stuff that so if she's doing planning you want to charge there but to Adam's point do we need it to be$ again you know get it back yeah I mean we don't really have history there so I don't know how many meetings you know she may have to fill in for also expected to be so sure the current yeah the current talking good right now she's been coming to every meeting so far this year because she's really that was more for training purposes right so right because it's important keep in mind that if we don't have a planning board secretary at the meeting we don't have a planning board meeting that is correct what no that is correct any other questions from the council good thank you so much Nicole you're getting up very easy thank you I appreciate that if you came down here you could have had some pizza though oh okay next time thank you guys thank you very much have a good night you're welcome you too bye bye byee going and then send a note inall to see if uh Michelle a little earlier nature Senator you want ready to go do than we get you come be this [Music] requir you maybe oh sry going this way thank you a a big year um to higher years so um I handed you a bunch of papers we'll start with the first uh pop two pages basically which is kind of the original letter of what we're asking we'll get into both the other subjects um so we've had a we had a a pretty good year this year um this past year in 2023 um we were able to provide 27% of our environmental programs to T by residents which does not include programs that we provide to the T public schools that was an additional 23% program so about 50% of our programs are for the bur ten um in general when I say those 27% of the programs were not the schools that would include like the Scout programs the public programs and all the other stuff that are not just for the schools um the school district um pays their their rate separately uh we have one staff member who is designated to oversee the entirety of the land there 247 and um he is by himself to oversee basically the almost 400 Aces but he does a very very good job um and he also works to help oversee all the college students the interns and the volunteers that we have um he takes care of the entire acreage um which in the 2023 open space and Recreation plan was voted as the most utilized and commonly utilized Park in the B PL um we continue to provide staff volunteers signage literature and sanitary public restrooms access and supplies to welcome it says 30,000 visitors but if you invite if you count everyone that we're not actually clicking in it's Clos to about 50,000 that utilize the serve on um and the seven plus Mile Trail system which we manage um we provide the staff to act when there's a threat to the acre including buffers and other lands that are not leased to the Nature Center we make sure that everything is still safe um and we helped to prevent police cleanup Damage Done by garbage dumping Road lter illegal squatting vandalism Hunting Fishing destructive activities and other police related matters all of which we've had and dealt with this past year um most recently um were a couple of bags with animals remains that were left on the side of The Preserve so we are taking care of that you guys don't have to deal with it um we installed Trail camps to help with the monitoring of some of the problem areas while we await a more complete solution which I'm sure the police uh Chief will discuss tomorrow um because him and I have been in constant discussion about that situation um and we provide free programs to um uh members uh 39 section about 40% now of whom are T by residents we collaborate with other Municipal groups such as the welcome committee the environmental commission the Chamber of Commerce to enhance and elev T of Life Community experience we are the ones who oversaw the trashon and continue to offer that as a way to encourage people to take care of their own z um and we actively participate in all new Resident events Community night and other Municipal Gatherings as much as possible um we offer free programming for the library the senior center and the recreation center and we're working to develop a stronger bond with a lot of these um Municipal options especially the senior center we want to Rel increase the amount of um various ages that come up and use the center not just the young families um we offer new residents uh of tenly a three one-year membership so they get a chance to really access the Nature Center and see what has to offer um we respond to and I can tell you it's over a thousand phone calls every year based on Wildlife questions and concerns so that you guys nor the police have to deal with any of that as much as possible um and we will always provide Have a Heart Traps and education to all of our local residents uh maintaining the trails and the premises to enable everybody to have a safe space uh for Passive Recreation including hiking running bird watching photography and we represent the burough as leaders in the environmental stewardship and education to the greater Burton County and New Jersey environmental Community um we regularly demonstrate the tenly as a green and environmentally healthy Town um I am on personal on the the board of the citizens advisory Council for D Interstate Park and I've been a board member for the alliance New Jersey environmental Educators so I am KN deep with the environmental Community when it comes to the state um we've completed this past year $15,000 worth of gr care work on the Eastern side of the main trail that had been damaged by Hurricane Ida we followed the stewardship plan which is still good through 2026 to encourage a s Forest that had questions about whether we have a concern of fire in our forest and the answer is no why because we have a forest Ste Forest stewardship plan and we've already started plans on how we're going to be able to afford to renew that without having to come to you guys for that type of a of an expense um with that TNC formed a 10% thinning of a 10 acre to remove any uh species as I said for for poor fire and drought resistance and to enable Oak species for regeneration um we also actually did a lot of hard work when it comes to inv Bas of species if you take a look at the other page theal page that I hand with you guys um there's two pictures on it the top picture should say 2021 and that is that dark all that blue that's all the areas more than about a 10 acre uh space that we have that had invasive species that been that we needed to be able to remove and if you look at the map right below that that's 2024 that's what we are at right now still so we accomplished quite a bit within that amount of time of the removal of these invasiv if you look majority of that is around that's in the center of The Preserve right around where theous yes and not not too far from the course species we're talking about Flora so we're talking about Flora we can't we're not removing um inv Bas well we are trying to get rid of lantern flies but the way to get rid of lantern flies is by removing the FL right getting rid of ianis um and so but majority of this was actually privet with steria um Japanese knotweed all the other fun stuff that goes everywhere bamboo you know fun stuff um so we've been hard at work in terms of removing that once again this is about a 10 acre uh plot of land out of the 400 there's still a lot to go um we by doing some of this we've taken steps to increase the resilience of our forest to respond to climate change and weather patterns I.E flooding and making sure that we didn't have as many issues in in the future up those Reserve um this past year as you all be aware we submitted obtain the Green Acres Grant in conjunction with the burough to continue the pond preservation um we are still um getting down to the nitty-gritty of it but we will be starting that project very soon um study and address the safety issues including the signage parking lot and path lighting so that we don't have any serious problems up there and provided the training for all staff that they're able to act as first respond responders in medical emergency situations in they had 10 102 incidents that we that we cataloged uh we keep track of it when we have to provide first a CPR any of that stuff um I do want to share one specific story and that has to do with a young family who was up at P preserve uh this past summer they were out there with their two twin boys both very young children um one of the children started having a seizure while they were near the parking lot um and was eating something and started to choke and our staff were on call within seconds and we able to not only get the child's um Airway clear but also get them calm and safe and then we we get the handy on up there to take them to be um safe I brought actually the thing you that brought to us so how old's the child um they were young they were likeo it was it was a set of twins and one of the twins so yeah the the parents didn't know what to do the grandmother didn't know what to do they were so our staff though are trained to be able to handle that and to be able to act as emergency respers um when needed um we overse a lot of them volunteers who provide over 4,694 hours which is we if we get a minimum wage value of that it's about 66,000 that we're taking care of so we do a lot um in the upcoming years upcoming year this in this year our plan is continue to offer all these Services continue with our forest management plan continue to to get our forest to be as healthy as poss as possible and looking at additional Grant support to be able to access additional funding as much as possible continue to study and address safety issues so that we don't have um animals left on our property that shouldn't be there um and any of the other incidences that we've had there were two incidences of major dumping this year where it was like contractor work that was being dumped on our property and we were able to get back where were they dumping um one was off of um the other side of Hutson Avenue on the by the house and one was um I believe Lo that com night yeah yeah they come and and and do that so we are able to now we have have the trail cams in the area so that if people try to do that again we will hopefully catch their cars and license Goods to prevent that um and that is all being of course related with the uh police department and the state that they're trying to stop in herur dumping uh we will continue to execute our stewardship plan for developing monitoring mapping the invasive species to increase our health our Force health and the biodiversity down there and we continue to promote and support the local businesses here within the burough by bringing people in to continue to encourage them to then utilize the other resources here I you go grab a coffee at coffee shop go have dinner at at the night there's always ways to to pair up um and we will continue to update our our education programs to engage New residents and members um while we're very grateful for all the support The Boro has given in the in the in the past we we continue to come back and respectfully ask for um for this year for an amount of 60,000 to help us with our general operation of our of the land um overseeing quarter of the property of the burrow of tenly takes a lot and I've got one guy who's basically doing it all um with obviously the rest of the help of the nature center but they he's he's getting a lot of it done very quickly so let you last year was the ask was 40,000 right last year was 50 we did 50 last year and that 100% of it came out of the open space fund right yes yes how much was our open space how what did we get 400,000 every year we get a little more than 400,000 right a magnitude what did we expend last year out of open space in 23 we did quite a bit right we had the 398 for one of the grants uh there was a couple other ones not one of the ones that we applied for we going to get the 87 back anything that we were doing in open space I mean I can run of rept but it was up there we took out what we took in basically sounds we took out more than what we in last year and so far this year what's targeted for open space the other new pickle last year right so these projects you how much is the membership membership for a family is $60 for the year um there are how many um hundreds hundreds of of numbers um I would say probably actually more than that at this point $60 a year for family membership and the member and the me and some but people are not all family members they it ranges because we have senior members who are less so a senior membership is 30 and the um TNC for two for those parents who are single parents with like a child that's 50 um but it ranges anywhere from 30 to 2500 when was the last time you raised your membership fees um we cannot raise our membership fees in competition with other V centers and other reserves so cons we are consistent right now with everybody else in fact we're at the higher end because we also offer more yeah so that is so so people are willing to do that um I would also say that we raised all of our fees for programming the past year and um the we do get some push back because once again we have to stay consistent with other uh field trip sources in the area so we are right now at a point with with all of our programming fees our camp fees birthday parties you name it are at a point now where we cannot keep going until everyone else starts to raise theirs as well um and we have issues obviously with Staffing and everything but this past year that was my big push was to get our staff at least to a point where they felt like it was worth working at our at our facilities so we put stop Lo um to other places if you can get just as much money working at Stop and Shop it's a lot it's a lot harder get people so we need to make sure that we are in compet in competitive um in competition with that also nobody wants somebody teaching their children if they don't have certain degrees for the experience right so we have raised those speeds up we have reached out for additional Grant support we get some we lose some it just depends on what it is um and we continue to reach out for Grants we continue to reach out for other things we only started really pushing Grant support back in 2019 in in the level that we are at this point Sorry Julie then B so would you say deor that the 60,000 represents kind of a general um assistance that you put it into these areas that you see the need so that is that is specifically to help with land stewardship that is really where it's going it's going to help with our land stewardship it's helping need be able to have a staff member who oversees that property so that we have somebody on the ground and who is overseeing that 247 um which once again that's how we catch the people who are doing dumpings that you are having and when we have the um we have the the encampment last year that had to be cleaned up so we're taking care of that um and so that is that is um our initial ask and just keep in mind that that represents present only 6% of the total of nature Center's budget the delta or the 60,000 the 60,000 so you got about a million dollar budget yes okay go ahead so how has that changed from last year inflation ,000 last year 50,000 and now we have we have some inflation on on Material supplies are just more expensive and to be honest I need to be able to pay people just asking 50,000 um was also about 5% 5 6% yeah yeah you usually got you get usually have about um 8% or so but last year was about 5 six% every year every year um some of our our biggest leaks have happened in education I can tell you when I started the education budget was only $28,000 then last year it was well over 600,000 so you've been there a long time I've been there for 20 years but that's still 20 years me Julie yes but that's still a huge increase when you when you think about in in a 20e span um and then U the other the other thing that I wanted to bring up and some of you learned about this on Sunday um was the um the new initiative that we are trying to put together which is recognizing the that the trail Network at the Nature Center is in need of accessibility upgrades to accommodate visitors of all ages and abilities the Nature Center has begun to pursue a design solution uh based on Universal Design principles the immediate objective is to redevelop the yellow Trail in such a way that it becomes inviting useful and memorable destination for people of all ages and physical abilities to the greatest extent possible uh in 2020 I only saw hundreds of people trying to come to the Nature Center who physically couldn't then make it around anywhere away from the parking lot they would be able to get to like where the picnic benches are and then they have to come back and and that was such a Devastation especially now that we know how important trails and outdoor experiences are for not just people to get out but also mental health stress and and we have such an issue in this country and everywhere when it comes to mental health and trying to reduce that it would be really quite helpful to the entire Community um we are now at a step though we're funding must be secured to create a master plan for this project this funding most grants will not fund which is why we cannot go and get appointed for it um in order to develop the master PL that we can begin to access additional funding through State and foundational grants we're asking the support of the town for this vital initiative as this will help and contribute to not just the Nature Center it will contribute to the entire community at large so okay Julie then I have a question I wanted to know maybe David knows this maybe Susan would the I have a feeling is probably the answer is probably no but um this money to map the uh idea of getting accessible Trails is it one of the things that could be an idea for the county open space Grant or or not so you know how right now we're we're Gathering up ideas for the county open space is this one where it's like no because we don't know we're gonna actually build the trail I know the answer to that do yep because we' spoken with other people who have accomplished uh similar projects and they basically said to us that the open space money can be utilized when we are starting to talk about the construction of of it so the 90,000 is essentially professional fees for deliverable of a report correct to be able to get the master plan put together so that we can do yes yes so so what what we were told was that the um the open space funding and other additional Green Acres funding you utilized for the ACT Plus we're plus we're going from that and we brought a lovely um board over here to explain some of the processes accessible trails and accessible nature is a huge Hot Topic right now there are um four existing Trail areas that I know of personally um three of those are in or sorry two of those are in New York and two of those are in New Jersey uh the closest one to us is actually the metal lands if you've ever been to the to deor park you have the boardwalk there um so part of that is considered accessible however the type of accessibility that we're discussing is not just physical accessibility it's also bringing in sensory capabilities for individuals um with different um needs such as um uh there's an Autism trail that I've heard about up in Upstate New York which is fantastic and having that correlated would really make the trails uh an inviting and welcoming space for all and I'd like to just make sure that people understand this is not for educational purposes it's just literally for people to be able to up and enjoy the El what is the magnitude of the actual construction project that would have to be determined with the with the Master Pro okay so just in terms of what Universe we is it but but are we talking about is it a $500,000 project is it 5 million my guess is it's going to be two three part of the study is so much infrastructure supp is going to be need so what I'm trying to get to is I want to make sure that we're not spending 9 investing 90,000 on a study to spend 150,000 no okay be a much bigger project I think it's the opposite we might be spending 90,000 per $500 million right right could Julie theoretically though this correct me if I'm wrong but didn't I hear that once this Pro program gets going theoretically you you have access to all different types of Grants because now it's the Ada Grant the GRS ACR grants so it really might not be you coming back saying you got to spend more corre you got to open up that that you cannot access the other grants without having this type of a plan in place so that we can that too so so let me I have a question V did you have a question I have a question $90,000 is is that the totality of the cost of it get you to the point of getting asking for grants that that should not it's other words it's not 120,000 it's not 91 it's 90,000 so I have another question is it possible to get any in other words if the town puts up x amount of dollars can you get some matching money from donors yes that's what we're looking we're working towards um we how much is is the study 90,000 or you're asking for we're asking for 90 how much is the study um it's estimate it's an estimate of of we we were we were in a meeting together where we were talking with another individual who just was working on this we have not okay okay so now we're getting to the har we're basing it based on another another project so okay so s going just throw a number here at the table okay if if the burrow if the council decided to use to invest 60,000 in this project because 990,000 is a lot of money could you raise 30,000 to match it no they don't even 90 might not be the total number they're they're guessing we're making an estimate based on on another local project and that's the full amount so so what does it take okay so what is it this is like working with the D you have to have a permit in order to get a permit correct right so corre what does it cause you to get to to get up to the plate to see if you are in the game you think right well no no no it's a preliminary question they're not sure if they need just 90 that's we're hearing I I would just say look this is G more likely if it happens it comes out of open space which we could do any 365 days a year I would say let's get the RFB let's see what then we come back coun it sounds it sounds like yeah that makes sense the question I would ask the counil I are you guys in favor of pursuing and getting you a number and that will receive a favorable response as long as it's reasonable yeah I think I think if the council was completely against it you'd have six people here saying this doesn't make sense so you have six people in I'm generalizing I'm not speaking for anyone that are saying they really want to understand what the real number is right so in other words we don't want to commit 990,000 to a project that's really going to cost you 180 so if if you come back do the RFP doesn't cost you your money right no right we can correct okay so you do the we need to put together a request RFP or some kind of a document to tell them what you want right so that's okay so you do the RFP you come back with the numbers and the council it sounds like it's open-minded to this project yeah for what it's worth I just have to say from personal experience like you know I had twins I I was Wheeling them around with baby carriage you know uh elderly mother like these are anything that's accessible Trails is kind of silly that in 2024 that you don't have accessibility in more than four are in more than four parks of of God knows how many miles away so you know it's just something that should be so the thing the thing with the accessible Trails is is that this is going to be something that helps everybody all ages if you think about it right now when you walk on a side walk you have those those PE cutter things at the bottom and those help everybody yeah you know it's the same idea and we can't make the entire preserve accessible but at least we can take out a very um well traveled area and this also would also um help the trails themselves because then when you have all these people traveling on them it will be protected in a way so that they're not being damaged and this is just like what we've learned recently with all the grants other words we you have to have a project in order to pursue the M I think the biggest thing for me and I've shared this with Deborah this with cash so I've been here doing this now for five years it just the business model doesn't work at the AG so it's very nice at the council we get money to open space it's just not enough if if if we had an extra 160,000 would you take it and use do amazing things with it always EAS 200 60,000 wouldn't wouldn't every business no Absolut not that's why this dividends but I get the point so but this is a place that is just massively under invested we can put so much more we have to find a revenue generating source to do more with the major so but it cannot but it cannot be continuing with the education side because the education is at that level of where we have now Ed it and pulled it to so you are absolutely expert at it I think we have look I I've been very clear publicly with my passion around very sustainable rope scores we have to find a way just it just doesn't work when we bring ideas I want I want to do all of these things all we're doing is just adding more costs to the system versus finding Revenue generating streets that's what I you know getting more grants whatever those things are but it's a big number that we have to unlock else all we do every year is come looking for $10,000 more which we should be giving you $100,000 um so that's what I you know my big thing I really would very very very very very very very much challenge the team and the board to look at the operating model because business model is just not working so when you look at nonprofits in general this is the standard business model for all nonprofits there are nonprofits that have big figured out how to do it whether they uh whatever the events I was so lucky to go on Sunday you know people are giving out free trips to the Space Shuttle you know the space I don't know what they do I wish I spent more time in nonprofit but there trillions of nonprofits that that do really well and again I want to help but we have to do something differently the only thing I am certain on if we do not do something differently guess what's going to happen next year you're going to come for $7,000 which is still not nearly enough and you know something so what will it take to move this ropes course forward what would be the next step or or another idea or another idea so the ropes course right now or still need to be able to vote on it and the and the underlying idea of that is the location of where it would be placed it do not affect the property away from its intended use is initial intended use um ie parking lots AR going to be built in the middle of the forest we could build a building in the middle of the forest like that soble so what if we assume you don't have to build the parking lot and the entrance is through the Nature Center and it's on the what is the name of that the East Hill playground area there's no entrances from the streets whatsoever the ropes course is only accessible by walking through the N Center parking is offsite off not you know no no concrete or black top in the Nature Center at all it's absolutely something that I'm interested I'm willing to pursue I mean this is why I went with you and met with the the folks few years ago it's just trying to figure out what's going to be best for the land I think this has to be again this has to be the top priority else there is nothing else and I know we tried we found it sustainable but nothing came of it I really personally I'm one of six I really see it need see an up or down vote and again I'm not telling the answer I'm telling the board should decide that but the board is not looking to do that what else are they looking to do it just it's not working it's just not working we just can't keep we don't do enough how much do we spend last year on you know Hydro raping it's just not enough I want to get more money we have to make the MTH work I would one my professional for great analysis and go other organizations so I don't have it I would just say that as far as fundraising for Nature Center it seems like they've been responsive in they've gotten feedback and then changing up their fundraising model so in the past it was the nighttime event the nicer bucker Country Club and then they found that that didn't work for you know some some of the population so now they've broken it up and they did a brunch and they're doing something else for younger people so I think that they from what I see they do seem to to try different fundraising we are investing in the ideas that are that are helpful and that are that are execution for what are needs are the idea of looking at what other centers bring we do that all the time we are literally on other nature centers websites all the time because everybody in the environment borrows from each other we're always looking to Andre actually you know what the really trative companies do they don't look at their peers if I'm a cookie company I don't look at cookies I look at aluminum sing companies I wasn't going to look at nature CS right I was going to look at not profits in general yeah yeah see what what else is out there in another world I think that's and we talked about it an area in the 400 acres for dog we've got tons of dogs charge for the dog so I I I want to address this I do because this is something we've had a conversation about I've had this conversation with other people in the past about it as well so there's a few things that I that I want to make sure that everybody understands the initial intent of the Nature Center was to provide a a a natural space for people to be able to enjoy being out in the forest with wildlife and getting a chance to see that the very nature of having a dog on a preserve on a piece of land scares away Wildlife by its very nature of being considered a predator and being seen as such not only that that and and you're talking to someone who loves dogs and loves animals like this is what I do um but on top of that being able to to allow people to come onto the preserve they're already coming on of The Preserve with their animals not even following basic rules and laws that are not even just our rules coming onto The Preserve without them being leashed and then having those dogs attack small children and older children who have special needs or things like that how many schools do you know that have dogs allowed on their property I just go to Rocky no I go to Rockley Country Club I go to Rockley I take my dog they put on you say say you have to leash it leash their dog they are wildlife other nature cers have dogs I I I I'm not AC there should be a place they have enough the residents of our town want to use the Nature Center and they don't because they have dogs and the dogs AR allow so I'm just saying you're you're you're eliminating a very very large percent of the residents because of that it's your choice I'm just saying they're not going to contribute they're not going to go They're not going to be a member because it doesn't satisfy their family and there are other places that do so you can't tell me that it does that it doesn't that that no ma cent in the world because allows God poer does rocky does so Rockley Rockley is different but um poster does and they have problems with them they also but they also have other thousand problem yep so finish the the issues with dogs have been long persistent long persistent and when this preserve was set up and we're not the only ones that don't allow dogs in the area there are several that also do it was based on what the intention was right the Palisades Interstate Park allows dogs and they run all over the place sometimes off leash sometimes on leash the issues that we have at our at our Nature Center is if you want to allow dogs to come up there they are already coming up there against the rules and they're already causing problems I literally had within one week three different people jumped on by dogs and the same amount of people that don't want dogs you have the same group of people that that same group of people that do want dogs you do have a group of people that don't want dogs up there they have small children so can I just I make correctly this is a 100% valid discussion I get it from both sides but I think it's kind of we're getting a little bit off but continue the conversation but let's get focused back on Mone fair enough fa just I'm happy to figure out cre a solution I'm more than happy to try to figure something out I just don't want to see a bigger problem created with this because once again I have one person that helps oversee and helps me police the land one person and if we now add having to monitor dogs on the property that's a whole other level all right so take I would recommend you take this conversation offline but continue it all right any other questions for deor about money okay all right I think we're good great we have we have a road map right sorry we have to be clear on the money we're and0 number for the so two separate things ask is 60 so that's a yes or a no yes the 90 is they've got to come back now with the RFP and then we'll have it sounds sounds like everyone is favorable towards that based on the results of the AR and just so you know this other packet I gave you is our initial report that we put together so that we know that this is actually a even a possibility to do on the land all right because we wouldn't want to pursue it unless we Mo actually everybody else okay with the 60 coming out of open space not the operating budget okay thank you for being here tonight I think it's going to be exting everybody so yeah [Music] Michelle thank you that's what I hey everybody how you doing all right come on in Senior Center is up first Michelle take a seat right there Char yes you've been through this Dr before yes yes so um first off you know we always say thank you very much for your support the town is always right is always behind us which is very appreciative 2023 was obviously it's all notes right so I don't want to take up your time you've all read that all the all the activities that we've done I'll just give you a quick update yesterday we had 447 last year we finished out at 506 or something like that so as of yesterday which I had a re today we had 447 new members yesterday not new members current paid members oh that you count as their paid okay paid members today went up to 451 we had 11 new members in the last week four 42 since January 1st congratulations that's great so we're we're we're doing great U 20 right now 2526 is T ofly So at the end of last year was a little higher but we also had you know a couple of new people um this year we're going to continue you know helping the community the senior community we have so many things going on I know the Nature Center was just here we're going to collaborate with them we're going to do once one Saturday I know she told you that one Saturday month I think it's going to be great um Gina don't if you all know Gina my assistant Gina Chamberlain and Don altu president of our Board of trust backup I need it but she's all excited about helping out at the um the Nature Center we have some great ideas we just signed up for the spring flang so we're going to do that which is I think that's exciting um we're trying to do this year more like multi-generational things we've been working with some of the younger students in town coming to do like they doing these high research projects so they're do you know interviewing our seniors it's actually been great we've been doing things community service hours for the people in the kids in the high school um yeah we didn't really ask for anything new so except for some chairs in the backgr that's it um our budget stay the same we didn't even increase it at all but that's really about it we have about we were just talking about it about 70 70 to probably I think like 85 people are signing in every day so we're almost back to the same amount as we were before so which is good I just said it about 28 by the end of last year it was like 28.7 yeah so it was nice I mean we do we have a lot of CI members enjoy it we have CI members who still don't even know about us CI residents that still don't know about us but we do have a lot of outside of the community which for the the best Friday M you consistent you have the you do keep track sometimes I'm like I'm not sending them anything this week because I think they get all TI he but we're doing a lot of other like next week we have a a panel coming in Wednesday night which is open to the community we're going to start a six week e Wednesday evening class is going to be through the classes going on watercolor Canasta and country line dancing but I'm teaching so signing up so it's yeah it's six weeks it'd be great if it if it we did this before Co and then Co hits so we only got to week four so hopefully we get to get the whole six weeks in so yeah we're chugging along and every day is a a new adventure we go but something only she lives alone and she is there something for somebody like that so well not through the senior center we have references that we could help her with but as for coming to the senior center for something like that no because we're more of a 55 and older active Community we're not we don't have a nurse on staff although or you know they think I'm a nurse they think I'm social worker they think of everything yeah do you mind if I come in for yes sure Mone but not there but we do have you know people come and do presentations and talks and Haack Hospital comes in you know quite a bit and talk about things like but if she please give her our number or her family we do have references although we don't recommend people but we have ref we have we have yes we do have have a lot of lot lot of resources yeah a lot of res yeah it people call us for everything I know that we have a senior service which her and I work very close together if somebody calls me and I can't help them i' like to be able to say oh Paul you know Paul Rea we're dealing with a three foring situations right now we talked about that there's a lot in this town that you wouldn't think you know you think TNA fly lots of money but there's a lot of you know um people struggles struggling can you uh you remind me so there are two sets of uh funds I'm guessing so we pay dues yes and then we pay to go to see we never made it the ti right so I'll just expl people that the new people at uh we have a $25 a year membership that we charge everybody the same you know we can't tear it and then we do $65 every three months for unlimited exercise classes which before again I hate saying it but before covid just explain why oh well I'm going to just explain that what was told to me that the the senior center or trailers that were placed there for overflow classrooms when they were renovating the high school and then instead of taking the trailers down this they were bought for maybe I don't know I've heard $5 I've heard a dollar from the county that they were going to stay there with stipulation that it was for seniors but you came maybe we should give them that5 back yeah right yeah right um but so we don't tear it which to be honest I mean it it works so we do the $25 a year membership which we started in 2019 which the timing was great because we were able to use that money to keep everybody you know active and during 20 during that time then we do $65 every three months for unlimited exercise classes for Co they used to sign up for each class individually same price but it was they'd have to sign for each one indiv like if they wanted to take Zuma they would sign up for that then when Co hit to get more people involved we said let's just charge One Price I think we'll get more people to come and they don't have to you know if they can't be their Monday they can come tu it it was able we were able to get more people together so that's what we do every $65 if they take one class it's the same if they take five classes it's the same and then the trips and then the trips the seniors pay for their trips so I is there any like markup of s well not well we say so let's say if it's if the ticket's $100 do you charge 100 or is it 105 no well if it what oh I have to p through the bus so let's say the trip is $190 with the bus and the tickets which that is I usually do not because $190 to take a bunch of seniors into into the city you know pricey buses are $1,600 for us to take it into the city in the day 56 yeah that's right don't we have our senior bus that we bought for the senior band yeah but that's got that's got you know 14 people in it we actually well so what we do use that once or twice a year we actually us it this Friday there's too few people going to see but that's there that's you know we have we into the city I do not take 56 anymore I'll take 50 I don't know why that six just tips me over the top it's very stressful taking them in um but we never have and then the question just the last problem question then what what do we do with that like the $25 a year and $65 I 65 might be easy you just pay for the instructor yeah that pays for the instructor and that doesn't even pay for the instructor because we do a lot of fundraising through the year that's subsid that we're able to add to that the $25 goes to the um I'll tell you I tell you start on the first page how many presentations do we have 34 presenters last year and they're between two and 350 I do get a listen I do just I do get a lot of sponsors I also get like the county has freed people that's sometimes when we get our free speakers they're not as um interesting as somebody I'm paying $300 for but the speakers you don't uh we don't charge for no because it's with their membership different well right well shop right we get donations for when we do our fundraisers so I do two major fundraisers last year I think we made I think we just talked about like 15 to $6,000 so we do yes we do your small little pancake on and we do our rumage sale which is huge huge but those our fundraisers are great because it gets the seniors involved gets the community involved about this um so like in Faron Senior Center they they do feed the seniors and you don't buy right well that's a County Center so what's the like what's the difference the county centers have lunch every day for the seniors they bring it in where they do cook some places do cook it um that's sponsored by County yeah they bring it in and then they pay like a dollar yeah we do our lunches they're $13 because we fundraise through the year so we're able to keep the prices down a little bit which brings more people in every day offer no no no so so just no we're no yeah we do not do lunch no that's just the County Center we're coming along I mean you know we do I think we go above and beyond I'll tell you though this is the best assistant attor I'll tell you that um yeah we yeah we bounc each other out it's been really positive seniors lot the seniors love it he'll tell you he's one of them s pressure no pressure I can say what we have done you know I'm growing now in my seven years as president and you know I've been through the evolution and the but the last year we really we offer so much last year that is just unbelievable what the what this is do for the senors we have some great programs I don't know I mean you you're all invited you can come over any time we have this one program it's called religion in America I don't know if you've heard about it but one we have a facilit this woman she was a te a retired teacher from Pas valy high school she's amazing she'll the first month let's say she'll talk about a different religion this is what she taught in her honors classes different religion so she'll talk about a presentation we get like 50 people and then the following month she brings somebody from that religion talk last month we had Mormons it was and it's just an amazing thing to teach people you know I would say it's nice the more you know the nicer we are and next month is Jehovah Witnesses oh she's doing her talk on Friday and then they're coming following and it's just beautiful we've had I had one woman come up to me saying it wasn't gonna come last month because the Mormons were coming I don't believe anything that stations but it was snowed out and I forgot so I came this time she now I'll let them in now I'll talk to them thank you so much for having 50 60 people I'm just I mean just things like that we just did a genealogy three-part series and again that was $600 so with our fund I don't mind doing the fundraising because the money goes back to them I can tell you this people ask me of Time how come you spend so much time the Senter because I do spend more time sometimes I already have time to do it but when you look at a person coming there who has been show in the house for six months they Lo their husband or their their and they come Lo and then you see them three weeks later and they says oh my gosh I can't believe I know about this place I my whole life I'm a human again and that's that's you know I can tell you story about this lady we have 92 year old lady that came in there about year and a half ago she how walk now Ruby she's danc you go to one of the launches she's on the Flor danc the whole time change physical change that she went through in the three to four month period She exercis every day now and that's what makes it worth awesome thank you for everything you do awesome thank you so with that being said we're getting crowded um we are getting I know I know so you are at your senior center so how many square feet is your senior center I should have brought the report uh I think it's like 2500 something like that I have the I don't have the report with me and I should have brought it but I did not I sent you you have you yeah I it's it's [Music] closer yeah so the council the council the council had a conversation it was in a closed session to the extent we're talking about it had a conversation about this possibility and they they put forth to the B attorney to to investigate the legality and aspects of it okay so conversations going on you know seriously and so more to come great but everyone at this table has heard this message and you know and the message has evolved I know and things are happening so now DPW C the the floor in So it's we're making do with what we have and we really we really are we're doing the best we can with we're get a new toilet seat something it it is small victory but um that being said thank you very much for everybody okay thank you guys thank you for coming in'll see you at our next fundraiser okay Recreation you ready or you want so I would got 20 minutes time start the next one what's up what so just again my personal thing in general as you listen to all these conversations I truly believe we are not accurately representing the value that we created in these different you know again I could say the same in the last two Nature Center $60 for the entire year Senior Center $25 for the entire year I will tell you in my own world my own team my sales team they just as low as possible let's sell the food as low as possible because it's easier to sell and you know it's not the right value I truly believe in everything that we're doing here we are not charging enough now specifically if people can't afford it there's a reserve actually we're going to talk to recreation in a minute and our rule is no kid gets turned away that's not to say that we don't charge the appropriate number for football or whatever but you could always have that Reserve at 25 like I know I don't I don't know what the right answer is I am absolutely certain $25 for an entire year of service of services which doesn't feel right and it doesn't allow the senior center to do the cool amazing things they did again add five more doll for 500 people that's another $1,500 their entire control budget is $8,000 so if you add $10 that's almost doubling their entire control budget $10 a year yeah I'm saying for them I'm not saying for us I'm just saying for them it's it's more I will tell you almost every single we had the conversation with the pool Club you told me it's like 30 cents to join the pool Club every single one of them in general I will tell you we're not accurately representing the value we create by raising their race 10% they were able to break even instead of Los 20 and again it's for them to keep I'm not looking to cut anything I'm not looking to move anything the value of your work I have more I have more thoughts on the senior senator would talk about may put it on a agenda item and again I just think it's uh I feel very comfortable saying I just don't think we're charging appropriately for 25 different events okay jerie take us through so give us a little you know everyone right um car know did you just mostly Carol Carol thank you for the girl course I wish girl I B more this past weekend oh I saw you you know one guy came up the Girl Scout cookie table he lik particular type of cookie he bought 52 boxes one for each week of the next year Rasberry one this year that was out yeah Ras okay what do we got okay so take us through with a little bit of narrative and then we're going to go right to council so everyone knows Recreation and how popular it is in ply um we had a recb meeting last night council person forier was there and there's a lot of uh love for recreation and we are growing everybody knows this I say every time I see everybody um we're there we're grown our sports are growing our programs are growing new events um the the mechanist room is very busy and uh the team Center uh we've been doing the team Center for two years now and I think we have a hold on it so um we kind of had to start from the bottom to the top um to make sure that everything was organized and we were doing it properly and we're doing a good service for the community so um now we've acquired uh the Little League field so now that's else um you know the DPW in coordination with aborta that are doing some nice things over there so they're doing Plumbing they're painting the bathroom I mean we're doing some nice things in coordination with our post post sponsorships uh we have very close relationships with our co-sponsors um girls across this year we're surpassing the numbers of the boys which I never thought that would happen um sooss cross is wonderful and growing and um you know I had a conversation with the ad at the board of you know the board of bed and he is Thanking us for all the wonderful theater program that we have now in all the sports and we're growing those numbers so now we're somewhere where we're comfortable and you know Sports enrichment programs and things are being available to kids um regardless of what their interests are so we're kind of in place um we're up for a nrpa New Jersey Parks and Recreation award for Community night this year it's the 10th annual community night uh we're growing Community night uh we might expend hours on that to give it a real blowout for the 10th anniversary so we are up for that award which I hope we get it's not promised but we're there for it um and it's out anyway that I think the yeah everything else sponsorships uh donation only for that specific so and and then participation time deps um our staff is getting certificated certifications I'm myself from getting a cprp which is so important for the recreation director car to the certifications for camp um so we're keeping the staff knowledgeable of all the new and upcoming things from the conferences to all the meetings and the district um the team center it's going along really well we actually uh registration closed in the first day which has never happened day one we saw numbers and we were stucked and we didn't know what to do so uh we're coming across these things that Bridges will have to cross growing the community all of you are here to help us space um thinking outside the box type type of things and what we could do to keep throwing all question after so we do have to have a 15 to one ratio to meet the state standards of camps so um based on staff yeah so indoors we can have a 100 kids but in a camp setting we took 55 right now um they're in and out so they go inside and outside um we might be able to take maybe 10 more kids we do have a late list we're trying to find ways to take more kids hire more staff and be able to accommodate as many kids as we can so um this was like I said this the first time this ever happened so we really didn't know what to do we yes we have changed that so now we have a camp calendar we do have special events um they go on different types of field trips we we' we've Advanced the field trips so it's more attractive to the kids I think that's yeah we we've changed them and and they go different places um which is good because this way the parents AR to take the kids they they go Camp um so we have done that we have traveling entertainment for the kids now I just hired someone that's going to strictly do maybe like art with the kids maybe kids doesn't want to go outside and play but so they're off their phones they're going to do trivia with them they're going to do tournaments with them so we hired someone specifically for that and then they do play outside to eat lunch there we try to keep it like a little bit independent for the for you know a little bit of so that's that's an overview who has questions so I'm going to ask a question about Le Mone out so we can yeah not retro to January one we're not going to pay so that who else has questions for no Jimmy wins the award I think this is the first budget that the recommended Administration is higher than a it's the only one in a budget by 500 Buck well done so my budget is the same as last year I might have reallocated money around but I think for this year um and don't forget we took on the team Center under the recreation budget we can stay at last year's budget without increasing it next year we have to talk a little bit but I think my fig question is actually the opposite which is for the grounds keeper we can't we can't we doing salar just that the people I know we can't fill that role I think we did raise it a little bit last year are we G to be able to fill it this year with this higher rooll um so we can't find someone at the salary uh so we were at 40 last budget um it was raised to 48 we're still not in a comparable area I feel uh yes well yes it's advertised now um I did receive three resum uh one of the resumes they had a CDL so I decided to share that my cast because it's important get driver labor I don't need a CDL person so I did receive two resumes that weren't really uh for this job so I just wish more people were um applying for this so we've got the grounds keeper and the assistance to the grounds keeper open yes that was the that was the recreation a position that was renamed as the part time just the grounder that I thought we did we do have a part time in a full time so there's an assistant do vac also am iong yeah sorry it was the recreation yeah we never fill that position so it says 35 hours 25 hours one person at 35 yes because we just use a seasonal employee to assist the fulltime employee so we could liquidate that position the part J decide to do well she had Jimmie has approached me with a request to restructure and reallocate Department um some of that will require some discussion post session possibly scenario too far into it but you want to talk General yeah don't talk about individuals I I would actually um prefer to present it if I could today this way they could bring it to the mayor and Council so just get it in front of council I have it there's there's some scenarios and options we could do this way you could present it properly we have council meeting next Tuesday night Tuesday night can you put your thoughts together by then we have it in Clos session we've had a few conversations and definely uh yes if we could eliminate that position and and move some things around any other questions for Jamie can it's now or never yeah so can I move to some Capital stuff sure of course all right so so over to your Capital So Jamie a couple of things I wanted to kind of alert you to and then and then tell you that all right so so you mentioned that now you inherited the little field I'm not sure if you're aware but U we did just uh apply or just we didn't receive right we apply app for Applied yes for the grant for the little field upgrades so that has been um that's kind of on the horizon and that you know should go back into your fold I guess now that we are inheriting this you know uh but also I wanted to say that the the pickle ball ports that you know were in that Old State Park area that's in this year's budget because that's that's a grant that we did receive um it's my long way of saying so we have some kind of Big Ticket items in this year's open space expenditures hopefully some of that money will be coming back to us um so you had something called the field tur and and so the thing is Susan informed me that it can't be broken up as 75 75 75 7 over five years are you doing it all at once so it's allocating the money and then to do it after the five years so we just want to make sure we have enough money so when we need to redo the field we have yeah you can't do it that right unless set up a reserve and Opera but we don't you don't want to do that okay we have to put it all in at once so my suggestion my suggestion is to wait we do have these kind of bigger projects in St one thing I also wanted to inform you of um that you mentioned on hearing the tenis court rebu one of the ideas that I uh presented uh for Council to to vote on is there's the open space of County grants that we're talking about which idea we select I'm not sure it's valid our engineer was going to be looking into even if it was a a possible idea for that they would that the county would be like oh yeah we'll we'll do that um but I had suggested putting what we need to be done for the tennis courts into that Grant because I know that's going to be such a pricey project and that you know so I don't know how the council's going to vote I don't even know if it's um one of the things that the county would accept is the option like I said the engineers going look into it and see if it is something that they would accept um but I did just want tell you that 10 sport rebuild in our in our orbit you know um and we already have one brand one as well this is us the US the USA right the USA Grant was brought up by from Michael that um yes I applied for a nov so what you do is you need to have the grant approved by USA before it becom comes an actual grant writing uh option so USDA has their approv they need permission to write the grant so I know our Engineers are working on something it's in the engineer specs right now so something myself or my Cassidy cannot answer right and that that was that was brought by hi because he was aware that it's possible that maybe both things will be in tandem to fix those they seem interested in you know giving us the right to write the grant but it is a very competitive Grant and seems like they're interested in that so it's important to kind of stay on it or against the did you speak to and the now I didn't speak to him I spoke with Jamie over Jamie okay so I guess Andy had jie me all the theem I said what was in that result that what's the next step uh so Jamie was supposed to contact the project manager over at USA oh she doing that like today tomorrow supposed to get that okay so why don't we why don't uh perhaps you and David and I have a call about it tomorrow and then we reach out to her we can call to find out exactly she wants to help so I think I think that's great what is the maximum it just it depends um there they could give you a large amount depending on the situation um and there's different there's different parts to the gr you could do a resurface or you can do a reconstruction let's have this conversation we're in it now for um like a resurface but the re the re the Reconstruction is a totally different part of the gr all right who else has questions for Jamie yeah no item we're getting a splash bark they water features I was think I was thinking G that park because we do have the water fountain so you have the water structure underneath there already and there's SP you can't use any of that space it's also in a dead end so it's safe it's tucked back there so well not because we already have a water supply there you know the like the big flowers that sh out the water it was put on there by the rec board and you know they have really good ideas so I thought maybe could I mean that could be right now was not but um you know it's it's something I know we have two because I had to go engineer me we have two pages of projects a lot of them are recreational so I know that there's a lot of projects so so so J we got a couple of right to your point we've got the old Skate Park renovation going on this basketball thing has get done um you know we're doing we we've got we've got the whole thing with u the The League field right so we've got those three projects going on I mean I would think we want to get a complete handle on all that before we then add a fourth one to the nextx for this year anyway that's just my op I we got we need list that all right any other all right too many people talking at once here guys are we all done no I think she just we want about the car real quick yeah so we have seven your elevator pitch we have seven employees and one truck that's 19 years old we need another truck to get around now I'm open to options whether it's a used vehicle whether it's Enterprise the leases really really nice leases if it's something we can go that route I'm happy to entertain that but we definitely things will never I think you you know for for hobbling around town you're not taking trips to to Vegas right so for moving around town I think you know you're the second department head tonight to bring up the issue of used vehicle you know so or at least like you just said with enterpris this was a new one but like yeah 50,000 is nice but 25,000 is better right and then the lease the leases are good too so those are yeah like the government B wanted to know just what the the vehicles that were already in the C Am I Wrong am I right we're going to go so David has the total list we're going to go through it so it's not necessarily a new expenditure right we're not making this decision tonight about vehicles but we review the whole so football helmets are good I we we're just filling filling sizes they last 10 years um and can I have a golf C really need a golf okay let's get one from that yes third she that's good all right anything else all right thank you very much for being here any other questions about budget items anybody like to talk about or can I get a motion to adjourn I get a second good night everyone night [Music]