okay updated it clerk please read the statement notice of this meeting has been provided to the public and the Press on January 17 2024 and was posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building in accordance with open public meetings act njs and semicolon [Music] you here presin here council member Florida Matt say Excuse Me Brad is on the way okay okay he hopes to get here he's fighting the traffic from Liberty Airport oh so he did fly council president rudo here thank you this evening we're entering into an executive session regarding Redevelopment negotiations we go there but certainly this will be I would think uh an item that may be will probably be considered along the same line but but something that I think I'm going to give the mayor the pleasure of we have to make a motion to go into executive no oh we don't oh I'm sorry we are in aren't we in executive session no we have to make a motion I'm sorry um thank you have a motion to move into executive session Mo by Mrs is there a second second second I Jess benedetto all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries back to my call the meeting to order will the clerk please read theate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public in the on January 17 2024 and was posted on the municipal building in accordance with open meeting fact NJ 4-7 assemble please assemblage please stand and join with me a pledge to the flag pledge allegiance flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call council member bushier here council member D benedetto present council member Higgins yeah council member Sparta present council president rudo here before we move into our meeting schedule I would like to ask for a moment of silence for two men who have been friends to many of the employees in the community and I'm sorry in the Township offices here and as well uh to their families uh Leighton Bergman he's a former firefighter and the senior citizens uh on the senior citizens board and Edward fips he's a public works repair June 1987 to January 2024 you please join me in sorry 14 20 20 20 I'm sorry 24 14 I apologize so if you join me in a moment of silence thank you this evening we have two individuals who the council would like to recognize first is uh Sergeant Ronald Karis I just like to make a few comments one of the things that you read and of course on social media and the questions come up you know why does these why do these things happen how come they occur why the Wake so long wait so long we're looking at you know how many dogs were there that many dogs shouldn't we have known sooner well people who make these raise these questions do so because of their concern for the for the pets and for what took place and how to make sure that these don't happen again but I don't know if they appreciate the level of uh the intensity of work that Sergeant karus uh had to put forth in order to orchestrate this particular activity what happened quickly and I'll turn it over to our police chief is that you have a member of our Police Department who once finding out about the problem had to put together a program of investigation that would justify the uh the coordination of efforts between the County prosecutor's office and with the uh ASPCA and local veterinary and our own good Animal Control offices and then coordinate these while working on a timeline knowing that while he's doing that the situation continues to De you know degenerate gets more and more deplorable and he did so in a very professional manner you know bringing people in as far as not us but notifying the organizations that were involved bringing people in as far from from West as uh California and in from Ohio and coordinating all of these activities and he did so in a very prompt very professional and very expeditious way and on that basis I'd like perhaps to have our chief uh give us a little bit more detail on this because I think for what happened and what took place and what's continuing to take place that uh our Sergeant karus should be well recognized please Chief thank you for all those kind words council president I welcome please take a step over here so you can be TV Haven seen you'd like now for the camera it's okay Mar first I'd like to uh officially recognize and thank Sergeant Karis for all of his work on this case it was a tremendous amount of effort between himself and the animal control division uh it was coordinated also with our County Partners at the prosecutor's office also the health department uh it was also coordinated with our federal Partners um this case started as as the council president said from dogs running at large uh we knew we had a quality of life issue uh unfortunately the way the property is set up it's um about eight acres and it's set pretty far back off the road so people have a right to privacy people have a right to uh you know not unreasonable searches on their property so it's not as simple as just going on somebody's property and identifying what's happened uh we we worked with the council um you know over the last year working on some ordinance changes to try to uh help Rectify this issue that we were having down there and we were through the hard work of animal control and issuing some citations for dogs running at large we were starting to pick up steam with some some outside help and it really picked up steam in October uh when a defining incident happened with a specific dog that we were able to take some additional uh criminal action on and as a result of that that ultimately led to our search warrant that occurred up there uh we also recognized that we only have so much capacity our animal control so while we didn't know exactly the number of dogs up there we were genuinely concerned that if you go up there and you um go into a piece of property and all of a sudden you have a large overwhelming amount of animals that we don't have a way to care for it would be a very large large scale effort so um that's why we specifically worked with the ASPCA we partnered with them we explained what we thought we had going on and we went for the search warrant uh through a tremendous amount of work from the sergeant with the assistant prosecutor that was ultimately issued as everybody here knows uh we were quite surprised by the number of dogs at 91 dogs up there at face value when you walk up to the home the day that search warrant you would have never guessed there was many that many dogs in the house um but our partners at the asp uh really have to give them a lot of credit uh for how hard they work to put their team together to come out um I don't know what we honestly would have done without them they took all those dogs they were able to treat them they brought vets with them as the council president said from the way as far as uh California uh Gainesville Ohio all over the country they flew teams in to assist us it was a tremendous effort and uh like to congratulate him on a very good job well done so once in a lifetime kind of event I think in a career when you have something to quite that scale it was the longest search warrant I can remember being part of in my whole career it went on for uh somewhere around 12 hours dealing with the situation up there so congratulations to you thank you and the whole Animal Control Division and if I if I failed to recognize them I'd also like to include specifically uh some members of the susset County prosecutor's office uh the assistant prosecutors uh we did have member from uh the haong buau uh animal control responded up that day and also assisted with us so thank you to a pakong um am I missing anybody our Animal Control all of our staff County Health Department County Health Department but it was a big large coordinated effort and we appreciate the recognition and as always the continued support of the council the mayor and our community thank you thank you appreciate it you really app good job thank you why not really appreciate it job guys I just would like to add I can't go in any more detail but the the investigation is open and active good thank thank you very much thank you I I think it's worth noting that many times something comes before the council and you don't hear any more about it doesn't necessarily mean it's died a natural death oh or a premature debt it may simply mean things take a little bit longer than many people expect uh but we are working on it who are who are good offices and uh I for one have never been disappointed in the activities and the actions uh of our Police Department each of them all of them have done us all a great deal of Honor thank you than you than moving on to our next perhaps you would join me and this Peg was only with us for a short time yeah but she made her presence felt she spoke for the community she spoke for the taxpayer and by doing that she can do no wrong so I would say as per the black pegasi and recognition of your dedication and service to the township of Vernon and residents as a member of the township C Council please accept this my God thank you very much perhaps you like to take a picture thank you it was an honor it was an honor to serve and I hope to do it again good all never I got to change okay good thank you mayor may we have your comments please thank you council president uh I'd like to just Echo uh condolences to uh family and Mr Leighton bergman's uh family as well um know they say with with death comes new life right say so so leave that topic on on a happy note uh I'd like to congratulate our Board of Education business administrator rayon slam and his wife Megan on on the birth of their second child Jack P slam uh born March 6 weighing in at 9 pounds 10 ounces so congratulations to our ped business administrator on Friday I had the honor of Performing my first wedding ceremony uh this beautiful young couple this couple has moved into Vera not too long ago I happen to have found his name interest Lewis Anthony because my name is Anthony Lewis uh and he actually has a coworker named Anthony Lewis so was he was quite uh uh this couple uh was joined by their family on a special day but this special day was uh was Kaya's uh father's but she was the bride Kayla's father's uh he passed away I believe a year before that on this day so it truly was a special and uh memorable day for for everyone so um congratulations to that couple um you know when I ran for office I I shared the the many challenges uh with many of the local business uh owners of Vernon being business friendly some of those challenges I witnessed firsthand on H on opening a business in Vernon and was trying to get the proper guidance and attention I believe a potential investor should receive uh additional attention when investing in our Township um I I don't feel a how to guide or directing someone to a website Etc is being business friendly I mean it's fine if you need to someone's not around you could direct them to you know to it if you don't have the answer but again on the campaign Trail I I have met uh many business owners who uh who share their struggles with me we have all agreed that if we had someone who can um just give us that little bit of attention uh to help us get started or someone who can expedite issues concerns uh when needed or someone who has knowledge of the many Department Department functions someone who is friendly with a smile after having conversations with several staff members and department heads um a lot of them recommended Min Mindy Martin who is a current employee uh to be a great choice to be Vernon's business coordinator she will be the liaison a point of contact and and expedite when needed uh when when needed uh when needed um this vision of being business friendly has now become a reality this reality comes at no additional expense to The taxpayers Mindy has truly appreciate this opportunity to utilize her various departmental knowledge and has the willingness and drive to see Verna become prosperous since then I have received business 's up Anthony time's up all excuse me I've stressed how appreciative they are with the level of attention that they were receiving ladies and gentlemen we we do have a lot of development uh coming in and they will need some special attention business owner knows that time is money which is extremely vital Mindy will utilize an office that shares uh an internal door with her current fire prevention office when working with uh with business owners also I just want to share uh since our last meeting I have met with the CEO of Planet Network and and warber telephone protection today to discuss the new fiber infrastructure rollout uh which is high-speed internet and telephone Planet network will be working in Barry lakes and hn lakes which they expect to be completed within the next two months and will provide me updates on when they will be taking on customers in these areas Warwick will also provide coverage updates to my office and the police chief um I guess for road closures he he left I guess okay um uh I want to I also I want to make a correction about statement I made about the location of a fiber storage unit which I originally said it was in bar Lakes this it's which is not going to be uh the fiber storage unit will be located at the electrical power station property located at the bottom of 515 on and Brak neck where they they come together this storage container will adhere to the Township's appearance guidelines and will be sided and placed in a not so visible area within the property in addition they will be bringing fiber to the municipality building area this infrastructure upgrade in our area will be a huge cost savings Initiative for buron which I'll further discuss at a later time uh that's it thank you council president that's all my comments thank you mayor like to open up the floor for public comment may I have a motion to open up move by Mr Higgins is there a second second Mrs Mrs Jessica de benedetto thank you and uh I'll get your name in there right you know thank you all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries meeting the floor is open for a public comment if you have any comments you'd like to address to the councel please come up and make yourself H anybody on yes paladini Mrs paladini yes good evening um good evening I was prepared to come on and voice my opposition to the uh 3.5% cap bank but I'm not going to do that because um I spoke with someone I have a very close friend who is a uh municipal clerk in another municip IP ality and um this municipal clerk explained the whole thing to me I just want to say though that um can you reintroduce an ordinance that was um voted down can you reintroduce an ordinance that's exct same wording as the one that was voted down that's just question yeah yes you can it needs to be introduced by a member of the group that defeated the ordinance okay my concern is that um people don't really understand municipal government law or they're not explaining it correctly I believe and I can't say for sure I believe that it was probably voted down in the beginning because the person who explained it I believe it was the business administrator failed to understand what it was and failed to explain it to the council correctly and I just want to say that such a cap is an insurance policy if you will it doesn't mean that you have to spend it and I hope you will certainly not spend it but for example a number of years ago we had a very severe ice storm in Highland Lakes and that cost a lot of money to take care of and should you not have that C Bank in place you could have a budget short for an emergency situation and for that reason I'm not opposed to this ordinance but I wish that things would be explained better by individuals who understand these things better I'm not so sure you can reintroduce it but if you say so Mr rudo then I'll take your word for it I just wish that as I said we had individuals the business administrator the CFO the clerk who would explain these things better to the people who don't understand them so that we don't have this kind of situation again and that's all I'm going to say on that matter now and that's it and I also I also want to say that I have always said that we have a superb police police department so I want to join you in thanking and congratulating officer Karis for the great work that he did thank you thank you I'd like to address your comments just briefly normally the C the cap Bank in the past had been 2% this year the Governor State you know moved that amount from 2% to three and a half perc the reason why is because of the level of inflation that had been experienced by the items that were inside the cap bank now when I mean inside the bank there are certain items which are part of the cap bank and certain items that were not and I asked Mrs brigh if she can make sure that if I uh start getting too far into the weeds she can cut me down but the uh what it happened uh we had had we have had we do have two people who were uh brand new to the council and when that happened uh and and Mrs buer who previously had been in support of the C Bank uh you know spoke spoke to me that I thought perhaps it would be to the benefit of the council and benefit of the community that we had our uh auditor come in and explain why these changes were brought about in terms of the difference in the percentage and what exactly the cap Bank covered and in fact when you begin to look at this there are certain parts of the cap bank that uh are perhaps you could help me Mrs brigh but enumerating some of the the air the items in the cap bank that tend to have uh affect be affected by inflationary Trends so well there's inflationary things which are usually operations right but they're um our costs that are outside of our control which is what I generally tend to focus on um first being pensions so for 2024 the increase is over $160,000 in pension that's almost about a full percent um and again that is dictated by the state we can't do anything about that um health benefits so there's nothing outside cap this year for health benefits the state can pick and choose kind of what they want each year to put outside of cap in addition to items that are already outside cap like Debt Service um last year they did do a one-time outside cap for health benefits because they increase health benefits 21% so they did not um do do that this year uh but the health benefits cost even though we did switch from State health benefits to what we currently have um I believe their cost increase this year was about five and a half percent um so again that's above you know a standard 2% or two and a half percent or even this three and a half percent rate that we have to take into consideration with our um cap thank you and and I think the real sorry the I did want to mention too um the real key with the c bank is you're not just saying okay we can go up to this dollar amount right this three and a half percent you're also establishing a bank so that when you do not go up to that three and a half% if there's 200 300 4 $400,000 left right in that bank you're able to use it and Bank it for the future and that's really the part that we need that's the insurance policy that we've talked about a couple of times right if there's something catastrophic it happens and next year we have to raise it um you know in next year's budget and take care of it as an appropriation we have the ability to do that with that insurance policy Bank thank you with that in mind um as I said I I I wanted to make comment on on it this evening because we don't know how long this inflationary trend is going to continue and if it continues at the rate that it is showing you know we could be back talking about this the same same situation next year um thank you for bringing the point up it allows us to address these uh these changes and financial responsibilities that the government has put on us and uh hopefully uh we can uh satisfy your concerns and in that regard uh are there any is there anyone else yes um I have step I'm sorry Stephanie scilingo Mr schingo how are you hi I'm Stephanie Singo how are you good thank you I'm actually calling regarding um ordinance 242 and the and I'm concerned about the removal of the Clause of the Vernon Police Department performing background checks on the Cannabis okay um establishment licensing if the police department isn't going to perform these background checks who would be responsible for that the governor has approved the use of the State Police for the uh for checking out the background of applicants for cannabis licenses and whatever else is required so they will take over that responsibility it will re it will relieve our uh Poli Department from doing this this task it frees up dollars and also the state police have a very very strong background in in checking applicant background excuse the repetition for uh situations as cannabis okay thank you so it's not being uh given any less importance it's just being the responsibility is just being put on a different shoulder so to speak so so background checks will be performed before and that is a requirement that requirement is not being waves correct that's correct that's correct okay thank you you're welcome anyone else uh yes Anil Anil no Ann LW how are you sir hi I'm Annie l oh I'm sorry thought it was a Neal separ so in furtherance to what was just mentioned by Miss Singo I brought the same issue up a couple of meetings ago and I I do have to point out I think the confusion that exists in so many issues is because these items are not clearly enunciated like what would be the harm in continuing the sentence to say but the state police are now effectively you know enabled to do this I I don't know why all the Clauses always stop short of being completely transparent why is it so so difficult to get a a concise complete thought on every on every one of these issues that's it thank you anyone else U no I have no other hands up certainly hi Peter Knight Ben Vernon uh I just want to start off by saying that behalf of myself and people I've talked with I I just want to add on to the uh thanks to the efforts of officer camaris and the police department we live in a town where we're fortunate to have a police department that doesn't turn a blind eye and often something like this might have been considered nothing important but the welfare of our animals uh uh you know it's important particularly in Vernon I think everybody has a greater sense of it uh I just like to pick up again on the the last comment um for instance in a resolution a resolution 2497 uh where it just says emergency temporary appro Appropriations I think it would benefit everybody if if you could go a little deeper into that explaining that specific temporary approach or is that a bucket so there are instances from time to time where it's very vague I don't think it's intentionally so but I think it would benefit if we have a little bit more detail thank you thank you is there anyone else like to comment to the council is there anyone on online no that's it okay close the meeting to the public I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second seconded by Mr um Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries bills list members have received a copy of the bills list you have any comments on the bills list you want to bring it up regarding I have one regarding check number 61313 dated 22624 it's guard rail repair um $7,200 uh my understanding is that guard rail repairs which are caused by automobile accidents are generally build back to the insurance company charge them and if not I guess go after the the driver unless of course the problem was something of our own making can you advise the council if this indeed is has was so done yes so if a car crashed into it what we would do we would fix it and it would be put towards the insurance company and then we would be reimbursed so this is in the process of yes being reimbursed yes thank you anyone else coule questions on the uh checks there's a check for $228,700 Insurance Association check number can you let me know the check number number yeah so it looks like let's check uh 61374 what what is that um so those are our health insurance consultant fees usually the way it would work is that instead of paying the consultant directly we would be charged by the insurance company specific percentage the state the not say sorry um the hiff would charge a certain percentage on top of our bill um rather than doing that our health insurance our health consultant is charging us a lower fee so we're paying more and paying them directly rather than paying the hiff who would then pay them at a higher rate so there's a state insurance plan we're not we're not on the State Insurance state plan no we're on the um the new jerse one of the New Jersey health insurance plans okay so that insurance plan has you go through a broker a consultant yes you can't go directly to them we go through the broker you can't go directly to them you can it's my understanding that we do not we cannot go directly through okay and then the option other than that would be to go to a state plan and see where the coverag is is good or better and the cost is lower the cost we just switched from the state health benefits plan to the hiff to save money went from the public plan to the private plan it's still it's still a public plan it's just a joint Insurance Fund oh what's the H okay it's a joint Insurance Fund so in the same fashion that the township like Statewide is our insurance it's that is a joint Insurance Fund where multiple municipalities come together um and they form for example statewide right um it's a joint Insurance Fund whereas where all the municipalities M excuse me municipalities pay towards that and then claims are paid out of those premiums to the individual it's like being self-insured but in a group self insured almost self-insured but you're we're partnering with other municipalities yeah it's interesting that for example on the board education it went the total op they went from yeah the private to the state plan right and then they left the didn't they leave the state plan too I don't know not yet I don't think they have yes they well we also went from the private plan to State health benefits and then state health benefits increased 21% last year for municipalities whereas they only charge state employees a 3% increase so we took it when we realized it was 21% the township did their due diligence um worked with World Insurance to see what was out there what we could do about that and we found the hiff luckily we were accepted to the hiff because not every municipality can be accepted to the hiff it's best based on claims um history so we had a good claims history and they allowed us into the because you have to so with the 21% increase compared to the plan that you went with even with the consultant fee there's a cost save yes significant yes okay that's really what I was get to and then the second question had to do with uh ston Hill reality 13 ,000 yes what's that that was reimbursements for the municipal service act for the municipal Service Act that was approved at the last meeting for snow plowing and no yes for a number of years because they wouldn't sign an agreement for the township so this was as a result of last last meeting's approval yep and it was uh 2019 through 2023 okay thank you anyone else moving right along well members have received a copy of minutes of February 26 24 may I have a motions to place these minutes on the floor for consideration Mo Mr spart is there second second second by Mrs muiri are there any uh deltion deletions or additions changes if not I'll ask for roll call vote council member bueri yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes yes counc member Sparta yes council president yes motion carries moving to the consent agenda we have uh resolutions 24 56 [Music] through 97 97 thank you I lost my M she some this here did anyone prefer to have any of these resolutions separated for indiv ual discussion and consideration please let me know I'll read them in total uh can you pull 2496 please 2496 I think it is P yesing that okay anyone else 2456 56 56 I oh yeah 2456 okay that uh and I want my separate this one yeah 2496 did you do that it's being tabled being why anyone else so we're pulling 2456 and 2496 oh no we're not doing 96 that's well it's being yeah did we do 2497 we can 497 the first and the last okay and if there are no other ones uh resolution 2473 refund for totally disabled veteran name uh amendments Castro V to repola this was a name change from a previous resolution 243 I'm sorry 23272 um resolution 24-24 refund over payment block 527 lot 515 s sell resolution 2475 refund totally disabled veteran block 153 lot 6 resolution 2476 block 153 lot six cancelling taxes for total disabled veteran resolution 2477 refund for totally disabled veteran block 208 lock four resolution 2478 refund for totally disabled veteran block 208 Lot 4 resolution 2479 block 208 Lot 4 cancelling taxes for total disabled veteran resolution 24-8 refund for totally disabled veteran block 557 lot five resolution 24- 81 block 557 lot five cancel a taxes for a total disabled veteran resolution 24- 82 refund for totally disabled veteran block 202 lot 42 resolution 24- 83 refund totally disabled veteran block 202 Lot 4 2 lot resolution 24- 84 block 202 lot 42 cancelling taxes for total disabled veteran resolution 24-85 refund for totally disabled veteran block 355 lot 6 resolution 2486 refund for totally disabled vet vetan block 355 lot 6 resolution 24-87 block 355 lot six cancelling taxes for total disabled veteran resolution 24-8 refund for total disabled veteran block 565 lot two resolution 2489 refund for totally disabled veteran block 565 lot two resolution 24-9 loock 565 lot two cancelling taxes for total disabl veteran resolution 24- 91 refund for totally disabled veteran block 490 lot 6 resolution 24- 92 two resolution of the township of Vernon execution of an agreement for municipal Services between the township of Vernon and Lake walkill Homeowners Association resolution 24- 93 refund for totally disabled veteran Amendment resolution number 24- 68 block 121 lot 6 to block 8 lot9 resolution 24- 94 refund for totally disabled V veteran Amendment for resolution number 24-70 block 121 lot 6 to block 118 lot9 resolution 24- 95 res Amendment for resolution 2469 block 1 121 to lot 6 to block 118 lot 9 cancelling taxes for disabled better that concludes the you're right I'm sorry you're right no that concludes the consent agenda may I have a motion place these on the floor Ben Ben benedetto I don't know why I'm doing this on I don't know there's a problem there and I don't know what it is I think I'm confusing you with a former superintendent and he wasn't near near as pretty as you art art here you goto y thank you and I'll second it second of my Miss Fury uh all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed I for them please certainly thank you roll call uh council member discussion did you open it for any discussion there any discussion yeah I just had a question to Dell it's there's a lot of disabled vets and no negatives against them approaching $800,000 now on the average tax with what we talked about last meeting and adding more does the state give us any relief the state gives us relief for qualified seniors and Bets I can find out exactly like how I don't how their calculations work I can reach out and find out exactly have a significant impact on the budget yeah there is actually some uh legislation that's starting uh in the assembly that will be the state will actually reimburse the town for the amount of taxes that go to the school board and the county that we can't call back that first year so there there is some relief for at least that first year but after that and the purpose behind that is it's obviously not budgeted for year two forward you can budget it for so so they're recognizing the problem Yeah but whether that goes any place has yet to be seen so yes that's something to follow up on yeah definitely that was my comment question council member bushier yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries moving from resolution 2456 resolution Township Council Township of Vernon amending resolution 2277 in support of an adult use cannabis retailer license for Castle of greens may I have a motion to place this on the floor for consideration move by Mr Sparta is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins discussion on this uh yeah I I actually I I'm the one that asked this to be tabled uh I think it was last month when we looked at it and for our attorney to kind of review the history of it and there was some question as to if they were going to fall underneath the ordinance that um had the licensing fees annual licensing fees to them or if they since they were approved before that do they fall under that one since this isn't amended so just an explanation if you could yeah so so my opinion is that they fall under the new uh the new licenses and uh you know your current ordinance the now existing ordinance also has an annual renewal statement and it says specifically in there essentially that you know it's year to year so um just like let's just say hypothetically uh business was in business for 30 years well you're not forever stuck to okay this year's licensing fee for the next 30 years without being able to increase it so it's my opinion that they would fall under the the current uh you know the now current licensing fees now I don't know whether they've um formally submitted their initial license AS application as of yet I don't believe so um and part of that's because they still need to get approval from you know the state so right now all we're all that's before you is a resolution of support for their application which has already been passed essentially but they needed know they needed an amendment on um but it's a new resolution of support but all it does is allow them to really go to the the state to say because in that ordinance we put in basically was like a timeline right so they haven't really started that timeline yet they don't have their state Y correct so I I don't believe that they're this is not a situation where you know they they submitted initial license and all of a sudden you guys are pulling a rug out from underneath them and changing you know what's involved in the license or that kind of thing they haven't put it in yet they need a new resolution of support so it's my opinion that okay they'd be under the new one thank you any other question this was triggered by an address change a physical location so being that was approved under one location it's now starting over again yeah that's my opinion and if at some point in time they decide they want to fight us on it which I don't think they will because them right but if they do then you know that'll be it everyone has the right to fight about it and so in fact they changed their address on the original location that they presented to the council and also to the L they even went before the land did they go up before the land no no they didn't to us So based upon that they change their address to us um so basically it's it's a new application correct I think that's right they're so far beginning of this process that I don't see any issues um the resolution language that you have in front of you also updates it from what was past initially to recognize that the orinan have all been changed um that it's been specifically replaced so that this resolution is case there was any questions language here explicitly stating this resolution is being passed subject to the the now existing ordinances that language is repeated a couple times in there um just so that way if this is any's looking at this in the future um they know that it's being done based on these ordinances the now existing ordinances and U it does say ordinance 23 so did they provide like a a lease agreement or a um do they are they releasing the property when they asked for this update Mars um they gave me their um business plan okay um as far as a lease agreement but no no proof showing that they either bought the property or have a lease agreement there's no I'm just curious it's been going on for so I have their um trying to see what I have I have their business plan which we got the first I don't know if I have their curious because I know the first time they were going to buy that property that's okay yeah and just to be clear when they when they um come land use will have to land use and also when they um uh submit their application for their license there's a lot that they have to give us okay all right yeah this resolution just s of understands just basically recognizes that Canabis is a permitted use in town that this location is being proposed in a area that's permitted for cannabis usage and that they provide you with business plan that's really all you're you're saying with this uh to the extent that there's land use issues if the building is going to be 10 stories high and it's you know that's not going to pass a land use for you still have those restrictions if there's other the state will obviously go through all of its um its vetting process and then to the extent that there's other you know noral issues that and questions that a town might have with regard to any business use in the municipality you still have all your regulatory Authority through your L use boards through your code officials through U through all that stuff and your ordinances that specifically govern this isues if this particular application were passed how many retail establishments would we now have three yep sorry yeah three but we don't new ordinances huh our new ordinances too but we have three that are grandfathered in yeah this would be grandfathered in under the old ordinance yet we would be required to move this as a bring new applicant under the new ordinance doesn't seem like I that that's the thing that kind of threw me you're considering it new but well so so I guess that's um that's a piece of information that I I didn't have before so you're saying right now there's two already in place there's there's three three have been approved um one approved through the land use board no no only one has been approved through the land use board and two of them have not and this is one of them that has and I think they didn't they didn't go to the land use board because they changed their address so they had to start or Council would be their first um stop stop the the other ones I'm sorry you may have just said this but thinking through we're talking the uh the other locations have received their state approvals don't know um I one has one has and they they've been through the land use board and they're actually full approved one I don't know haven heard of you never heard back after he approve and it's that's been a year and a half he has the license from the state yeah moved it all with the property yeah the only other the other question is whether or not because of the difference in the number of retail establish and in some instances um and I believe this would apply here and again to the extent that anybody has concerns so again it's there's on our end there's no concern over the time I mean they might be concerned but you know not on on your end necessarily but um sometimes what happens is because applicants may come forward and they may say hey maybe you have five people who all want to have an establishment um but only you know in this case two or three are approved uh you don't know who's going to get approved by the state they may not be a viable entity they may not have met their state approvals they may not get their land use approvals um so um you know I don't believe that you can have more entities you're ordan says two only have two unless some were grandfathered in because they got their approval let me ask you a question then so could then we could we then give five resolutions of support and it's the first two that open the doors that's it's it's like a race then because one of the concerns I've had is we've had this one out there for a year and a half and they haven't as far as we know done anything else to me it almost becomes a pocket license then and that to me is not in the spirit of of having this ordinance and so to me if you went ahead and approved more once two get open then the other ones can no longer open so I I think that's that's generally right I mean it's not intended to be a pocket license like a liquer license where you can just sit on it say I have the approval right go um the other issue is that talked about the approval process is multisteps so you could have people who get get the letters of support that and again this resolution of support basically says we've received a business plan you're in a permitted use you know that's it um then you got to get your state approvals you got to get your land use approvals and these applications could get jammed up for legitimate reasons any one of those those steps um I know that there's I know there are towns where there's been one applicant who was a who was approved they in front of the land use board and there were basically two different two remaining applicants the land use boards essentially both competing for the second right spot in front of the land use boards and you know one got approved by the land use board one didn't um based on land use issues not based off of of cannabis issues um although there were some questions about whether or not you know one was a you know they likeed one and the other but but they both had their approval so um you know if I don't believe that passing this resolution somehow you can't change your ordinance by passing a resolution you know if you accidentally pass 10 of these you can't suddenly have 10 your change your ordance that said if anybody's concerned you know I have not looked through the other existing I look through the language with regards to the fees on this to make sure that they'd be meeting the the new ordinances and the new regulation which I believe they would if Council wants me to go and look details on where the other uh licenses are in terms of what stages they're at have they have they applied is there an issue I can do that um if there's a concern and and you know table it for the next meeting I don't know if there's a another concern I think it's just a question of whether or not if we say yay fine if we say nay then where does you know under what ordinance does that apply the fir the original ordinance whereas the number of uh of retail establishments was you know in decrease I'm sorry increased decreased two on the new one or do we go back to the original one where it was three I I think on on this issue I believe that in any instance uh with regard to the the ordinance you have a new ordinance which is going to apply to all license applications that come in um and that's you know you don't have a full application yet all you have is request for a letter of support yes but this is for a brand new applicant right because they changed the address correct correct so this so the new the new ordinance would apply that's to this applicant all right and if you didn't approve this well your prior approval one probably not valid because it has the wrong address on it so it's probably invalid because of that and two even if they were saying okay well we can manage to operate under the prior submit the prior approval if they come back in front of you under the prior resolution of support I believe they're still going to be subject to the new ordinance because the ordinance requires them every year to apply apply for an application license and then also apply for every year they have to get recertified and every year they'd have to meet the requirements of the ordinance and the scheme that's set out there and if we said two businesses and we're at two then they would then there their loss their loss so what's the point of approving this so so you know the um you're going to call them so you know from a from a policy standpoint you know again if the council wanted to um you know table you know table this to look into the issue of the number of licenses in terms of where the other ones stand um you know we can do that I can have a conversation with the attorney for the uh for the applicant discuss that with them if that's what the council would like um and uh you know to the point that was asked before uh just somebody who's out there who s sitting on it you know and this applicant moves quicker right they might be able to jump the line from the other one U but I can't tell you that for certain because I just don't know where the I have to really look at the other on we got to tell you where there's two that are locked in and this is you know this guy just sitting in the wings or um you know can he jump some of the other people um it really depends on where everybody else is in the process I would like that I'd like you to gather more information because to me it just doesn't make much sense if somebody went through the entire process let's say one building is next door to the next which could be the case here and that's a different address and that negates everything they've done yeah making a motion to table I am motion to table has been made by Mr Higgins roll call please we need a second second you don't need a second I do table you no okay remember asking that last time Marcy I thought we did too I know confusing um council member Brer yes to table council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member SCA yes council member rudo yes sh Carri table thank you moving to on resolution 24-96 a resolution that's table 97 I'm sorry but we have to table it no I'm sorry it's being pulled that's not on the agenda resolution 24- 97 emergency temporary Appropriations I have a motion to place this on the floor for consideration Ty that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second okay Mr Higgins second it uh any question or comment on this oh to Donell this this is $5 million or so so could you explain what this is all about if we have a 12-month budget sure budget for this so everybody understands um at the be at the beginning of the year the um state allows you to appropriate and set a temporary a temporary budget um they allow up to 26.25 per of the prior Year's total um operating Appropriations to be included in that budget that's really supposed to get you through three months right so um the idea is that we would be introducing the budget at the next meeting um at the end of this month um or the first meeting thereafter that would be the limit so these Appropriations would get us through a get us through the budget process of approving the budget but didn't we have a 12-month budget last year our our budget runs from January to December right so our temporary appropriation budget is only a quarter of that which is enough for about three months okay so we're into a budget year that we haven't even voted on the budget yeah yes and so we're just funding it for that quarter okay let's see this this fund's about a month and a half or so you said it's what 26 and a half percent 26.25 per is Max and it and can that that 26.25 per line item or it's across the entire Appropriations okay so with Deb Debt Service and um capital or exceptions to that so is it 26.25 of the 31 million then you get to decide where it goes or is it 26.25 per line item last year is not per line item that's interesting yeah how how do we so there are specific line items where um for example we pay for spatial data logic their licensing is paid at the beginning of the year right so for um the billing department I might appropriate more than 26.25 per in their o ande line because I have to to pay that bill it's the same thing with Edmonds for finance and for tax right those bills are due at the beginning of the year there there are a number of like renewal bills that are due at the beginning of the year where I might for a specific line item have to increase more than 26.25 per. but the idea there are other line items that I don't necessarily need that funding immediately for example volunteer Emergency Services we reimburse all the fire department dep ments um and our Emergency Medical Services on a monthly basis I don't need to appropriate the full or 26.25 because they're not going to submit for January's reimbursements until really probably the end of February um so it's really just uh I take a look at what we're going to be paying out and what we're going to need and then I adjust accordingly and then if things come up too um you know if something if there I think last year we had an issue with a boiler buildings and grounds or might have been a hot water um you know that might be above what we had appropriated I come back to council I ask for emergency temporary Appropriations we put them in the budget we put them in so that we can at least charge a line because right now I can't charge a line if the money is not there is there any way we can get our budget in the same calendar sequence so that that this is avoided you mean to introduce the budget in the beginning of January either that or move the fiscal year to coincide with the budget so so it would that wouldn't that wouldn't change things so you have a choice to either move to the annual like to have an annual what we currently have from January through December um or the state fiscal year which would be June to July um it would not change though I mean it's the same in every every budget it's the same thing with the state budget federal budget that you kind of move forward without having one set in place the state let's compare our calendar to the board of vet they have their budget meeting same time we do they vote on it and it's effective July 1st which is the coincides there's no media Appropriations needed because it's covers the 12 months right but we can't finalize what our numbers were for the end of 2023 until we run our annual financial statements for 2023 in the beginning of 2024 we're a cash basis of accounting so I can't just anticipate money that I think might come in I have to do it based on what has actually come in in cash what we've actually expended and these dates are set by the state they're set by the state the right question yeah so the state sets the dates um that are requirements right so the statutory deadline for um submission of the budget to the council is always January 31st they always move that um through a local Finance notice that they issue at the end of the prior year so that was issued I believe the date was the 11th no it would have been the I'm sorry February 29th was the date for submission to the governing body um or the meeting thereafter to introduce the budget the date is uh March 29th or the first meeting thereafter and then to adopt it it's like April 28th I believe or the first meeting thereafter okay so it's dictated by the state that that's on the calendar year that's really yes okay and also Bill to that 26.25 with 31 is 8.1 million and it's only 5.2 so it's not being yeah we're not going to the right amount we have to so there is some discretion that's used yes and this um so the the temporary budget we passed in January um did not take into consideration the pension obligations so I don't put those in until we have a temporary emergency appropriation um in March and the reason I do that is because there's such high amounts that we probably wouldn't be able to meet the 26.25 per with the original temporary budget that we do in January and I would be coming back to the council you know asking for additional corporations every meeting so I try to not do that I try to do I try to make sure we have enough um within that 26. to 5% in temporary budget but knowing that we're not going to introduce the budget until the end of March right the end of this month I know we're going to need additional appropriation so I've put them in with the requirement for the pension that we're going to have to have got it any any other questions R call please council member bueri yes member D benetto yes council member Higgins yes yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries moving to ordinances introduction of ordinances ordinance 24-4 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njsa 444-454 may I have a motion to place this on the floor I'll make a motion motion made by Mrs B second seconded by Mr spart discussion on this I had a question I can't find it um Dell I emailed it to you earlier did you happen to see it I didn't get it until I came back for the meeting so okay ah here we go oh my goodness so how many times in the 26 years it's a bit of extensive question understood but let's say the last 10 how long have you been here been here five five years all right let's say the last five so how many times have we had to go to to use the cat Bank yeah um we've used it we've used it a few times but we haven't used it a few times okay um and another question that you had is you know how many times have we increase the budget or increase taxes right versus that so um the first budget I did here was 2019 we increased taxes in 2019 we did use some capping for that um 201 we did not increase taxes 2021 we increased taxes 2022 and 2023 we did not but those years we didn't increase taxes we still used cat Bank okay so that's like case in point right where they're totally they're two separate things right almost M to meet our Appropriations we still have to put pension in there I still have to put in the State Health increase that we had last year um but you know there were other sources of revenue that we brought in that helped significantly in those in the past five or six years um to help offset those increases um um in tax revenue uh we did have significant increases in fund balance so we were able to put in more fund balance that we used and still replenish um the fund balance that we had or bring in additional with again the new revenues that we weren't anticipating that may the council may have approved during the middle of the year that brought in the money that we didn't anticipate um so to say that to say that they're connected is not really the case right so what we're really asking and so the public understands because previously evening you answered the bank cap portion of it at the end of your explanation and that's the most important part bank cap for the public means that we have a surplus last year we had a $9 million surplus we did not we did we had it just under an8 million it was just under 8 million surplus I don't mean to correct just under eight yes I just want to be clear now it's under eight but when was here no it was 7.9 million at the at the start of 2023 okay so if we agree to your number because I but the $8 million you had in Surplus extra money sitting here and then when we had surplus funds out of that eight where we had to appropriate and say of the eight some of it's going to Capital some of it's going to whatever use then there was un uh secur or unassigned balance of money sitting available in case we had an emergency and that all came about because of Co because Co boosted everybody's Surplus because there was less spending during Co that's technically where a lot of it came from and then this the federal government stimulated with money they gave it to the states the states gave it to the municipalities and your fund balance your Surplus went up dramatically it' be like a homeowner all of a sudden getting an inheritance and they have $200,000 more than they have before on their annual budget of $50,000 so they have a choice just like we did what do you want to do with that and a year ago the choice was on the former mayor we want to raise taxes 5.5% and keep the whole $8 million and the council said no you're not so go back and spend some of that 8 million and there's a zero tax increase and that's what happened so now on this year you're telling us that of that 8 million you did have to spend some of it correct it was a lot um Okay so the $8 million we started in 2023 we used two million of that we out of so we used 2 million in the budget to not increase taxes right we brought back $780,000 to put back into it so we lost $ 1.3 million of that fund balance right so we don't have8 million left right you got 6.6 so there's a $6.6 million fund balance currently right decreased to about 18% right and then we have yet to introduce the budget for this year so you have about 18% so if a homeowner has his budget set up we have the ability to have people like yourself who are very schooled and and everybody does this professionally they don't as a homeowner if they had 18% of their annual income sitting in their savings account they'd be pretty comfortable and we should be pretty comfortable and then when it gets down to five 7 8% no we shouldn't be comfortable and then we probably have to replenish some of that Surplus we're not we're in a great position right now so what would happen if this passes tonight you would be able not you personally the town would be able to say at some point in time we're allowed to increase your taxes Mr and Mrs taxpayer but if this passes we can go back yes we can go back and being that we didn't increase any taxes last year year any the year before we banked that cap we put into this fictitious savings account that 3% or three and a half percent that we could have charged you and guess what we're going to go back and take it from you this year and retroactively charge you on the money we didn't tax you on two years ago which would be comparable to going and buying a piece of pizza two years ago for a dollar and you go in that same store now after and their their rates went up their costs went up and they see you walking in and you buy a piece of pizza today and it's a buck and a quarter and they say give me the quarter you owe me from two years ago that's exactly what's happening here so you're asking that the the council raises the the amount they can retroactively charge somebody from Two and a half% to three and a half per. that's correct that's no okay explain what you asking for you spoke about taxes is revenue we're talking about Appropriations which are expenses so there is a Revenue tax cap that is entirely separate from your Appropriations cap your Appropriations cap is essentially like it was mentioned before an insurance policy there are increases that we cannot control like pension health I don't that's not answering the question no but that you're you're you're lumping together it's not unlp it please explain what a bank cap is versus having $8 million in Surplus to start out a year because s because Surplus are excess revenues and expenses that are not spent you know what I'm sorry Bill I think it's it it confused me a little too because it's different than the school board it's when we were on the school board it was literally you could we could only raise the the tax ra 2% that gave us the ability to raise taxes another you know whatever our bank was right on the school board when and I misunderstood it too like we're but but we're just you can go back to explain what we were saying but I think that's that was a big confusion for Appropriations the Appropriations in the tax levy are actually mutually exclusive here this Bank cap is just on the Appropriations not you don't have to raise your tax levy to raise your Appropriations when there's other sources revenue and on the school board we really only had two sources of revenue was state aid and tax ofy they were it here we have other sources of revenue to offset an increase in Appropriations other than taxes does that sound 100% that was accurate okay Brad you can sit they had other sources to raise revenue they they they tried to get other towns in the county to use our special ed services as a revenue but but you're you're you're talking about you know 10 or $20,000 to do something like that as opposed to the two main there are other sources of revenues but when on the school board it was only state aid and only the tax levy were your two main sources that made up 98.3% or whatever it was of your revenues here it's different because we have the short-term rental tax we have the hotel occupancy tax hopefully at some point in time we'll have a cannabis Revenue there are other revenues that come in other than just the taxes in the state aid on on the and and this cap that that's being introduced is only on the Appropriations so you can raise your Appropriations three and a half% doesn't necessarily mean your taxes are going up three and a half percent because in this case the the cap bank is only on your Appropriations which is mutually exclusive of the tax Reven of that's that's a good explanation that bank right so it doesn't mean that you're using that bank it just allows you to go up to that bank so right so whatever Appropriations are in the introduced and then adopted budget will dictate how much of that bank if any is used right and the other thing that you have to remember is that the items within that cap Bank are the ones that are very large but are very very uh susceptible or affected by higher inflationary costs and pressures and state is allowed us to go up an additional one and a half percent now three and a half and yet if you look at some of these same items these same uh appropriation items they're going up as much as seven six percent because they're purs or uh your insurances and and and what happens then then if you have made the decision not to go to the bank that you can by not voting for it and it goes up now you're now you're stuck where do you get the money from well you shouldn't be asking the taxpayers for that money because they don't have the ability to do what you're doing it's it's not taxes it's not if you so if let's say we use the three and a half% and we don't have the revenue to cover it then it does then we have a fund balance we have the fund balance too right right but then you guys said you can't use the fund balance to cover those expensives so we need the cap bank that's what I don't no no no no no because again they're two separate things right understood but I'm saying let's say we raiseed the cap Bank three and a three and a half% right and we don't bring in the revenue to cover that but you but you're not going to use the Appropriations let mat let Matt jump in here I I think there I think that um there's a there's a misunderstanding o over there's three different I think issues that are getting confused here which I think is is part of the problem there's Appropriations there's revenues and there's Surplus and then it's this cap Bank kind of layered on top of that so and please definitely correct me if I'm saying anything incorrect here okay um but when it comes to the appropriation so in your budget just take this budget this year okay let's just say that you know there's certain items that are in the cap that the state has said we're going to limit you because we don't want municipalities overspending so we don't want to allow you to suddenly increase your you know I'll pick a line I'm I'll probably the one that's out of the cap but uh you know let's just say um don't Road repairs Road repairs all right um that's in the cap yeah y let's say we're not gonna allow you to increase your your um you know those items Road repairs maybe Recreation Senior Services by 20% we're not going to let you just increase all these items collectively by 20% because we don't want you to raise taxes is 20% so we're going to limit you on what those line items can be to you know two and a half per. um now let's say you do that you increase your entire every item that's within the cap by two and a half% um doesn't mean your taxes are going up two and a half percent because you might have additional Revenue you get cannabis licensing fees that cover that money you get your assessments change your um you know you have a new project in town things like that cover that so even though you've increased the Appropriations for those items by 2 and a half% uh of real money that's actual dollars that are being spent by the town you have other resources that are covering it that are non- tax resources so there's no taxpayer impact in terms of raising taxes now what state wanted to try to avoid you like a lot of school budgets and I I don't know about your so I don't want to for anybody who's members I don't want to if you guys did this but you know a lot of school districts because they had that 2% cap hard cap it's different cap than hard cap on that 2% a lot of school districts just increase their spending all the time because they were so afraid that if they hey if we don't do this we're gonna lose the ability to do it so what the state tried to do is say listen guys we don't want to tell you that you have to increase your line items every year by two and a half percent just to make sure you don't have a situation where in five years all of a sudden now you're you're stuck so what we'll do is we'll allow you to say look we'll let you go to more you know you be two and a half 2% now it's it's more but we'll let you um if you're not going to go all the way up there you can Bank the difference so that way in a future year you can potentially increase those line items but it's not real money that's just the ability to raise it so it's not like we're taking make sure I'm right about all this but not like we're taking let's say $200,000 and literally putting it in a bank account for a rainy day right y it's not Surplus it's just the ability to do that uh it's the ability in the future next year to go up instead of going up you know the 2 and a half% that's allowed you can go up three and a half% without having to get special approval by from the state or otherwise take special action and of course you all control your budget so just because you're permitted after different years of Camp theoretically to increase your Appropriations up by 10% you all control the budget because you know you might not want to do that if you did raise it by 10% you take all your capit bank and you say we've saved up all these percentages for several years and we're all going to use it this year because we have some expenses that we want to do you still have to fund it funding that is completely separate because there's no money that there's no actual dollar specifically tied to the cap Bank appropriation so if you take if you clear out all your C on how much you're allowed to have saved up at this point but three years from now you go and you raise your Inc cap Appropriations by the full amount you're allowed to do with all your saved cap Bank Appropriations got to find the money now you may have to do that by using Surplus if you have Surplus you can take a more Surplus to cover that if you have different additional Appropriations from development or cannabis you may not have to raise taxes or you'd have to raise raise taxes so it's three completely different um you know uh processes and most municipalities in do the C Bank automatically every year because not doing it um doesn't it just handicaps them for future years because let's say you didn't to the c bank and next year you have expenses that exceed the C Bank uh they exceed your allow appropriation you still got to pay those bills um but now you have to go to the state there's a process that you'd have to get approvals on to explain why you didn't do that um so that's why most municipalities do it you know generally with you know automatically to make sure that they have the flexibility that they need to do it but there's no actual dollars associated with it so that's so we're at two and a half% and the vote here is to go to three and a half% with a another two years worth of surplus in our bank right now the Surplus has the Surplus has nothing it has nothing I nothing to do with it then you keep saying then we use Surplus then we raise taxes potentially Surplus is off that's where you're losing me I'm understanding that it's so so not forget about Surplus for a moment Surplus put the Surplus aside can we have no Surplus this cap Bank simply allows you next year or the year after to increase certain line items by more than two and a half percent the difference that you're not increasing it this year okay so that's all it allows you to do Surplus is most often used by almost every municipality annually I would bet you if you looked at every budget there's probably an appropriation every year in every budget that takes some amount of surplus and uses it to to pay for your budget that year it may vary each year so one year you might say we have more Surplus so we're going to use a little bit more of it because we want to do something special you know there Inc there's an additional expense or maybe revenues were down in other areas but like during Co we use some people ass use Surplus to um uh that revenues were down so they use Surplus to outbalance the budget because they didn't want to pass on the cost to the to the taxpayers so if you increase the if you pass this ordinance with the cap bank that allows you in the future to go up a little bit higher you'd have to find a way of paying that some way Surplus is one way you could pay it so if you have extra Surplus that's one way you could do it but you don't have to right so you could do it by taxes you could do it by other Revenue sources to cover it there also could be your your the other thing to make it even more confusing it's not that it's confusing keep saying it has nothing to do with Surplus and taxes and I keep hearing Surplus and taxes but I get it I I understand it's but theoretically you're only talking about incap items so let's say hypothetically next year maybe your incap items have gone up by more than what's permitted so you need to use your cap bank but maybe your out of cap expenses went down there could be no impact on your budget it balances out get I get it I'm just saying you guys keep saying it has nothing to do with Surplus and taxes and it could it it could but it's just the this part of it is you know one not tied to actual dot you're not taking money from a bank account putting it and two it's just giving you additional flexibility in the future if you all has a budget that increase has those those expenditures in it that's really the you all still control what you approve that's your voice um yeah no yeah no I know I understand you guys me ta doesn't authorize a tax increase it doesn't authorize anything that so that's my understanding of right I didn't run for this position to give myself the ability to raise taxes more than my predecessor pretty simple So my answer is no I mean why why would I want to do that I I would want the administration to live within the budget and cut expenses like the mayor he's spending a lot of time finding expense Cuts that's our job and to provide services for the residents within their budget but there are certain expenses that you're unable then it's the same as owning a home Pat if you got to put a new roof on you don't go out to dinner you know a lot of dinners that exactly oh that's I do just want to mention the 1% is $197,000 and the pension increase alone this year is over $160,000 why did it have to be three and a half% just because that's the max they allow the STX is 3 and a half% um the cola right now is 2.5% so they issue whatever they want between 2% three and a half perc they said it's two uh I'm sorry two and a half percent this year um but I something that I would like to point out is that 2022 we had a 9% inflation rate 2023 was about I think a 6% inflation rate we're expecting about three and a half to 4% inflation rate this year so it has to do with the expense side right there's only so many things that we can control every resent I know that's everybody that lives here experien the same inflation rate they're they're making do we can't ask them to give us the potential but to to increase it Sur again I think I think you talk about this in two year I'll vote no but if if it comes up in two years I'm still here then um maybe you'll have a point but not now anyone else council member bueri yes benedetto no council member Higgins no council member Spa yes council president rudo yes motion carries uh ordinance 245 an ordinance of the township of Vernon the county of Sussex New Jersey adopting a Redevelopment plan for the loc property located Township identified as lot 525 lot 1819 pursuant to local Redevelopment Housing law njsa 40 a Poland 12 A-1 one ET at Secor okay I have a motion to place this on the agenda I'm sorry on the on the on the floor moved is there a motion I'll place it on the floor second I'll make I'll M Ro council member busher yesc B benad yes council member Higgins yes yesc president rudo yes ordinance 24-6 an ordinance of the township of Vernon County of Sussex newers JY approving an application for the long-term tax exemption and authorization authorizing the execution of a financial agreement with O'Neal group Vernon one urban renewal LLC may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 24-6 I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs reri is there a second second second by Mr Sparta um all in favor roll I'm sorry roll call thank you council member bueri yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Florida yes president rudo yes motion carries public hearing second reading of ordinances 24-02 ordinance I'm sorry this was tabled no no it wasn'ted this is the the state police the back oh I'm sorry right this is the checking the ordinance for checking the background ordinance 24-2 ordinance Township of Vernon County of Sussex state of New Jersey amending chapter 13 uh cannabis establishment licensing and regulation of the code of the township of Vernon to remove the requirement for the Vernon Township Police to perform background checks Andor investigations period as a note investigations will be performed by the New Jersey State Police I have a motion to plac this on the floor for consideration move move by Mr Sparta we have to open this um to the public hearing okay may I have a motion to open the public SE 242 thank you Mr Spartan uh is there a second second seconded by Mrs de benedetto um anybody here wishing to address the council um this that in hand on on online or no no I can't tell it from any I don't have any hands up so they have a motion to close the FL of the public on public hearing ordinance 2432 move moveed by Mr spart is is there a second second second by Mrs de benedetto uh all in favor signify by saying I iOS motion carries may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 24-02 moved moved by Mr spart is there a second second seconded by seconded by Mrs de benedetto uh may may I have any is there any questions or comments on this and I'm just gonna wait for um council president member buer to come back okay that air yep no we do take a vote sorry that's all right we're voting on ordinance um 242 to adopt roll call please council member busher yes Council M D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member sarta yes council president rudo yes motion carries ordinance 24-3 in ordinance of the township of Vernon County of suss state of New Jersey amending chapter 52 section 9-d of the Township Code entitled duties of the fire commissioner Deputy Commissioner may I have a motion to open the floor for public hearing on 2403 I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second seconded by Mrs de benedetto um R the floor is open to the public for any comment on 243 there anything don't have any hands up here seeing no one coming forward have a motion motion to close it close the FL is made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I oppose motion carries may I have a motion to adopt 24-3 I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri second second seconded by Mrs de benedetto um are there any questions or comments on this particular ordinance 24-3 if not I'll have a roll call vote please council member bushier yes yes council member D benetta yes council member Higgins yes council member Spa yes council president rudo yes moving to public comment moving to public comment on items not on the agenda this uh Area Public comment for five minutes on any topic you have your Council and give us your comments on any item second I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri there a second second second by Mr sparter favor signify by saying I I motion carries the floor is open to the public pleas come forward state your name no one come forward may I have is there anything up on the yeah Sky boxy um Jesse paladini yes Mrs Mrs paladine um just a quick statement and uh a question um I'm really not sure you could have reintroduced that ordinance but having said that I'm not for or against did it need a super majority vote though because it deals with um budgetary matters C Bank the C Bank is that what you mean yes no it did not need a super majority no no that's all thank you you're welcome I don't have any other hands out see no one coming forward may I have a motion to close for to the public I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second about by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries and uh going to council comments Mr Higgins none none nothing tonight I just I have nothing tonight I just have one quick question for mayor uh you brought up about meeting with Planet Network and War Valley telephone our telephones have been horrible in this building is that something that planet Network could help us out with okay is that J yeah um so one of those topics um to be you know we're constantly having every time we dial it's like we have to wait for a line to open so uh so they're working their way over here fiber um and once we do um I think we're going to go out to bid I guess for the telephones right um but I will tell you this um I get a little tired of writing checks out for long distance when long distance means Hamburg Newton think we're spending at almost what $89,000 a year and I think that should be somewhere around 30 something thousand when when we upgrade the phones wow no cost for the phones no cost for the inflation as well so it's it's it's a win-win all around so good oh yeah thank you can't wait for that one thank you when I get more information I will I will bring it to you guys than uh only comment that I have is uh please refresh my on the budget uh here not here in class that we have yes um you um you signed up for March 23rd right is March 23rd yes it's a seminar I sent you um an email yesterday I believe yep um and if anybody wants to sign them up please just let me know and I will um this is also not only on budget it's on budget strategy it's on budget uh development uh you know some of the items that we touched upon this evening so I just thought I'd make it make a note on it uh it's a web AR it's a webinar yes it's on a Saturday and the cost is $100 per individual and the township will stand the cost and I believe it's from 10 until 1 and that concludes my comments see nothing else may I have a motion to adjourn moved moved by Mr spart is there a second second it all in favor signify by saying I opposed motion carries meeting is agend actually I I just flagged this one um what's the