requirements of the public meetings act have been satisfied with respect to this meeting of the C Council the meeting time and date were included in the public meeting notice along with the public internet link and telephone Callin information set notice of the meeting agenda was posted in the municipal building and sent to the official newspapers to the CIP the gr times and Star Ledger Le 48 Hours proceeding the start time of this meeting the agenda and handouts canb online at www.on nj.org counil meetings public comment period will be held in the order it's listed on the meeting agenda and instructions on how to comment will be provided with the appropriate thank you m please Council Holland here Council mcra here Council Roman here depy mayor maoy pres mayor Toro pres may also pres tonight is Township manager joeo Township manager Kevan Township attorney law please stand for the report this evening just a couple updates um n Administration and Deputy Mayor and I met with the Appropriations team at Senator Booker's office to follow up on our uh original Outreach to them um they were very positive and uh certainly I think we're interested in the project and we look forward to the support as we move forward the uh they did extend the deadline for applications um because of some there way some guidance from the uh Congress um so they will keep that fill in so that was a very positive meeting andbody think on it I had the pleasure of attending the opening of petto venues which is a new event space in brona um near the intersection of onfield here at the intersection with Lakes Avenue uh has two great spaces uh the the owner were all very very nice and energetic um and really looking to engage in relationships with the community so I I wish them the best I thank the deputy mayor council Roman for joining me to welcome them to town and please consider adding to them to your list of vendors that you use in our news pal uh we just had this evening the ground breaking for our inclusive playground at the in the community center Recreation complex um and I thank everybody for attending um especially ass B Al Baris and our representatives from ESS County as well um the environmental commission met last week I look forward to presenting the winners of the recycling poster contest with their awards at the next meeting the VC will be having a lean up Ro Park on 20th of April from 99 to 11: in the morning you can see the website for more information and they'll also be having a tree giveaway her day which is uh very very exciting as well so you can check out thec website for that information I was unfortunately not able to attend the opening for S Lord detier in town I was the uh the joy of traveling with the BR High School band and fire programs to Virginia which it was phenomenal trip with a great group of kids um but I have uh gone to the restaurant multiple times and I have so please consider giving them your support as well another one of our this and that concludes my report I will now call up Mr culture good evening um here just want to say thank you very much for inviting me to the ground breaking and County Executive self uh I have a couple of things to reminder for tomorrow morning it's our last Tuesday of the month we have our mayor's call uh both you and the town manager were notified uh a couple other things we have a um this Thursday at branchbrook Park the CH bom Center we are doing our uh box giveaway for the needy uh we're giving away a th000 boxes it runs from 9:00 a.m. but I would suggest if you know anyone who's in need of food for the holiday weekend please let them get there a little bit earlier and hopefully uh everyone has a good holiday this coming week the other thing is we're moving into spring even though the weather doesn't say spring I have my winter coat on so but we are moving in uh first week of April uh we have on April 6th at 700 a.m. to 1 pm. cherry blossom challenge bike race uh and it's around the oval in branchford park if you're familiar with that and on Sunday April 7th from at 10: a.m. we have our 10 10k run uh I will not be participating but I will be in attendance uh on Saturday the 13th we'll have a a mile fun walk for children and adults who would like to participate and the same day Saturday Saturday April 13th from 11:00 a.m to 3 pm we have family fun day that is at the presidential area which is between Park Avenue and the cathedral it's beautiful area the cherry blossoms are coming out even though the the weather doesn't say spring and uh we did hand this out and you should have gotten it in the mail if not welcome to give my office a call and it's the purchasing report any questions or comments thank SCH questions from thank you have a very nice holiday weekend okay we have two proclamations on the agenda tonight um the first is for child abuse Mission and I will read the proclamation and then ask the women's SP to come forward to discuss the program uh whereas we all have a responsibility as individuals neighbor community members and citizens of town Verona to help create healthy nurturing and safe experiences for children whereas healthy and safe childhoods help produce confident and successful adults and whereas child abuse neglect often occur when people find themselves in stressful situations without Community Resources don't know how to cope and whereas incidences of child abuse and neglect can be reduced by making sure All Families have the support they need and deserve to raise their children in a healthy environment whereas it is recognized that no person can do everything but that everyone can do something and together we can create change for the better and whereas effective prevention programs succeed because of Partnerships among nonprofit organizations government agencies volunteer organizations schools service clubs houses of worship law enforcement agencies in the business Community whereas s a pin wheel or planting a pin wheel Garden in April will serve as a positive reminder that all children deserve great hot childhood happy now therefore be a Proclaim that I Dr Christopher Toro mayor of Theona hereby Proclaim April 2024 as child ofuse prevention month and urge all residents to engage in activities that strengthen families and communities provide the optimal environment for children to learn grow and Thrive so all children have the benefit of Happy healthy and safe childhoods with where of I he to set my hand and cause the official seal of the township of Rona New Jersey to be fixed on this 25th day of March in the year 2024 um Women's Club like to come forward and discuss the pin wheel program yes Lawrence thank you want to come with me you can have a Partners that's all right well hopefully you can hear me because this is got knock it over if I try and do this all right I need for it over here okay I only there we go um just a little bit I'm from the Women's Club of Verona my name is Mickey Lawrence and um we've been putting pin Wheels out probably since about 2008 when the program started um prevent child abuse America introduced this idea to plant pin Wheels blue ones um to be a symbol for Child Abuse Prevention and um it's really meant to I guess symbolize a pin wheel which indicates a very happy childhood so that's why they do the pin wheels and every April we come out to plant those pin Wheels many of us in the Women's Club bring our grandchilden to help put them in so it's a lot of fun for them and for us we put ours the community center and I think the juniors are here they usually plant theirs by the police station one last thing I have is that on Friday April 5th they ask people to wear blue as um support of Child Abuse Prevention so it's all I have to say unless there's questions any questions for uh just a a thank you to all the women of the Women's Club for all you've done in the past and all you just continue to do day after day for the town we try and it spreads outside the town thank you thank you I hope for that sentiment and uh it's always good to see you all here I appreciate you keeping these programs going and they're so important as an educator this one is very near and dear to my heart okay um the rest of the club like to come up we'll do a photograph de May right to the back wait here we go sorry I'm trying not to get the Kel Roman can you go right to cia's other side that'd be great thank you thank next Proclamation this evening is to honor National Vietnam Veterans Day that now as America involved into Vietnam began in June 1954 with the military advisers escal into 11 years of military combat Ling more than 3 million service men and service women officially ended on May 15th 1975 with the joint Special Operation Squadron rescuing the queue of the crew of USS merchant ship AZ on the island of kotang near Cambodia whereas more than 212,000 of New Jersey's bravest Sons and Daughters wore the uniforms or nations Armed Forces during this most turbulent time in US history and during the war's unpopularity and risking their lives fighting the Democracy reflect on the life-changing combat wounds of so many of our Brer residents in the suffering andal families for those missing in action whereas since the unveiling Vietnam War memorials across the country and here in our state homel help heal a nation deeply divided by paying Eternal tribute the 5828 American servicemen and women made the ultimate sacrifice to Vietnam of the names listed on the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington DC 1487 in the state of New Jersey whereas Vietnam veterans Ed the Medal of Honor the highest distinction that can be bestowed by the president United States in the name of the US Congress the insitu gallantry and Intrepid actions as they risk with their lives when above and beyond Duty and whereas on Vietnam Veterans Day we remember and appreciate with grateful Hearts the contributions of the Vietnam veterans now living in New Jersey as well has the extraordinary bravery and whereas under residents first lieutenant Gerald Goan Anthony Hine and L cor Robert alusy were killed in action today are list on the Vietnam veterans morial ball in Washington DC and whereas Vietnam Veterans Day affords us the opportunity to recall with prime gratitude the selfless military service patriotism battle courage and personal sacrifice with those servicemen and women who answer the country's call to duty to fight for another nation's peace and ocracy now therefore I Dr Christopher tamboro mayor of the township of Verona do hereby acknowledge March 29th 2024 as National Vietnam Veterans Day invite all citizens both in public ceremonies and private thoughts and prayers gratefully acknowledge our Vietnam veterans with is whereof I hear to set my hand and cause the official seal of the pona New Jersey to be fixed on the 25th day of March in the year 20124 uh I just want to take a minute to to thank all of the Rona Vietnam veterans uh many of whom we see at our ceremonies uh and to especially recognize our C manager Mr diarco who fought in country in Vietnam as well as retired police chief Doug Huber who did the same I'd also like to take a minute of personal privilege to recognize my father uh who was in the the army during that as well uh it was one of the most significant moments of my life visiting the Vietnam Wall within Washington DC as a teenager um and I encourage everybody to do the same if you have not gone to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in hell is truly a wonderful place museum is EXT so I hope has been my practice as mayor to give proclamations when there are somebody to to um so this evening it's be my honor presento Joe I know you will not allow us to take a picture but I will walk this uh proclamation to you that concludes my report Mr very emotional for I would like pass to K right now Mr I circulated a a copy of my report to the mayor and Council um I'll go through some of the the highlights of the report and I'll answer any questions um we've completed the water andwer rate study new rates will be going into effect April 1st first uh we will be picking off a formal pool rate study for the 2025 pool season we're going to be holding a kickoff season a kickoff meeting later this week with a consultant and a team to review the uh expectations for that rate study uh we have a full presentation on the wastewater treatment plant uh we'll I won't take up any more time discussing that now we keep discussing that in detail with Boswell regarding the water well projects uh Lind Drive well is expected to be breaking ground uh at the contractor should be mobilizing in early April and Fairview Avenue well will be going out to bid hopefully in May or June with an a of contract in July right storm water we have uh a kickoff meeting with the township engineer Administration planning board for uh establishing a storm water management plan uh kickoff meetings later this week uh we also have a meeting scheduled on April 12th with Verona Cedar Grove Little Falls Woodland Park and the legislative district 40 team uh we also will be scheduling uh or we have scheduled our uh joint flood control Advisory board meeting uh it will be held at croove Town Hall on Monday April 15 uh and we will be scheduling future meetings uh after that meeting as well uh regarding a number of energy initiative projects we held a kickoff meeting uh regarding our local government energy audit earlier today uh there will be about a month and a half worth of fieldwork a month and a half worth of reports and finalizing a presentation eventually that final study will be brought to the mayor council for a presentation at a public meeting uh we will also be meeting with a solar consultant later this week to continue those discussions on analysis of potential solar projects in the township um continuing on we did discuss the community center playground we have a number of road projects that are continuing to advance we have uh Derwent Avenue we've uh we've finished all of the the Preparatory work for Paving that Paving will be scheduled uh in April and we also have uh some shade tree plantings which we coordinating with the neighborhood uh over the past few weeks and we'll be scheduling that uh in April as well uh Boston Whitney and windir Road reconstruction project picked off today we held a a community meeting last week construction started today and contractor will be continuing on that project through completion and Douglas place repaving and reconstruction is also currently out the bid we'll be receiving bids April 2nd uh additionally there are a number of Grant appli a we continue to work with our grant consultant on and that is the a bridge version of my report if there's any question coun appreciate Mr any questions counc uh thank you a couple things so are the in terms of the implementation of the new rates what's the communications plan to since um is there going to be like a notice or so that residents when they get their second quarter bills they are not surprised so there's been some public notification that's been going out both on the website and social media there are also notices um there's been a number of notices regarding rate study and the updated rates um we will be working with our public information officer to continue pushing out messaging and we can we can certainly um look to push out additional messaging um related rates or at least have like an FAQ prepared in case residents call when they get their bill like why is this higher so that there's a consistent message that all residents are given and maybe then pointing to information on the website that contains the study and uh because I imagine it's going to generate quite a large number of questions sure there's been uh coordination with all the department heads and all the the employees that will be receiving a lot of those phone calls the messaging that's been going out through our public information officer and with the um the postings on the website and through social media we've been providing that information internally as well so they have the same information so it's the same messaging across the board through okay excellent um in terms of the road reconstruction projects I'm just going back to the ones that we completed like an and um Cypress you know we planted a lot of trees not at the best time and that may have been prior to your tenure um so I just want to make sure that the administration goes back and now that spring is springing and um things you know it's going to become very apparent which one of those trees made it um and which ones didn't and what were the guarantees and what needs to be replaced so I just want to make sure that's on someone's radar that um we kind of make sure those passroad reconstruction shade trees we do have them uh we have a a specific calendar for performance bonds and maintenance bonds so we are anticipating going out there for inspection this spring to see if there's any tree Replacements necessary okay that's excellent all right great thank you no questions um I'll just give a general thank you Mr s you we have a lot of very very important work on your plate and as we're going through this list here I really appreciate um hearing all these uh projects going on because they're very consequen Township and youate your command of all this workload and your D and reporting to us that's so thank you very much for the work this report is getting longer and longer thank you um with regard to the pool study um so I appreciate that that you would be looking into doing a rate study is there a strategic plan aspect of it because the rate implementation is only as good as like a long-term plan so for example the rate study for our water Waste Water treatment was coupled with the report that will be presented with uh later as well as the asset management plan what we don't have is necessarily a strategic plan for the pool going forward so do we have anything like that in the works that the rate study team would be working with we will be working the the the consultant that's working with us on the rate study has expertise in a a a breath of pool relate topics and revenue um concerns and questions debt structure there's there's a number of those discussions that we will coordinate with the the consultant as far as um making sure that the rates are structured in a manner that also C couples and and complements a strategic plan that can be implemented by staff yeah I I would just say for my for my point just as a comment um that I think that Contin doing a status quo approach and then just having a rate structure that's going to say that membership fees are just going to go up and up without like something more robust and strategic about looking at other revenue streams but also looking at the quality of the services that are provided I mean the two go hand and glove so you know that's why you couple a rate study with like an asset management plan because you have to understand how you're maintaining that quality of service at that cost otherwise it's just going to be that the costs are going to go up so um it sounds like you do have that in the works with the consultant as well as your staff so I just want to make sure that that you know when we do get that final report it's it's going to Cur all of that thank you um with regard to the wastewater treatment plant I I just want to acknowledge the ongoing dialogue that you've been having with residents under went um I do understand that these are very troubling concerns that they've been dealing with with regard to Wastewater back flow um and I do appreciate how responsive you've been I do want also encourage you know any additional proactive um you know dialogue with them um I do appreciate you prioritizing and taking down a tree is appropriate and scoping that and so if we do need to be prioritizing those problematic areas um I do very much appreciate that and I think it's so important to be responsive um certainly there have been other parts of town that have also experienced um you know troubling back flow because of some of our infrastructure concerns and communication is a major mitigating Factor so thank you for that um with regard to um your license operator and the permit expiring um at the TW at the end of 2024 um I'll probably Reserve any comments or questions I have about that when we discussed the wastewater treatment plan um I did want to ask on your storm water update with regard to the pekman meeting on April 12th if possible if the council could get a timely report out on the subject of that discussion um and how it went especially because I would be attending the April 15th meeting of the flood advis so as if I can get as timely information as possible but I think it's so important to be transparent with my colleagues I think really any communication should go to the full Council um that would be appreciated um and also with regard to the road work projects I really just want to also say thank you for being so responsive to Residents with regard to their shade tree concerns um I know that there were some residents that were worried that too many trees were coming down and that the township has been responsive to that and so fewer trees are coming down um if that can also be coordinated like with the shade tree commission to make sure that those trees that are planted are viable I think that would be wonderful thank you so much sure I want to give a lot of credit to Chuck he's been very helpful in both the Derwent inspections the the corrective measures that were necessary in coordinating with all the neighborhoods on the the tree removal so I want to make sure I pass that along directly to Chuck and all of his guys as well but thank always being responsive to us thank you yes a quick question is more CLK uh being that you brought up the advisory uh joint flood control Advisory Board do we have a full committee there I know we just appointed someone at the last meeting we do that was the ordinance called for one resident okay so it's full thank you thank you thank you thank you may thank youate pleas know you're aware the tree came down the storms this weekend and I've uh I had have been notifying Carol Thomas to in shade tree to look at all the trees on that street so that we can make sure none of them are adversely affected so residents can be assured that we're checking in the entire Street well it's fresh in their minds that they may be a concern so we put that in place this morning uh I did have a meeting with Steve Neely relative to the 50133 Friends of Aron Park he uh he has confirmed when we begin the uh campaign for everage uh as soon as the final meetings get passed by the mayor and Council when we move on that project uh donations will be funding through that 501c3 have project that those plans should be draft stages for you Emergency Services a building we're still meeting with Community groups we're targeting a major community meeting in June we also have asked the township attorney to work can we research some policies from other communities across this state and the country relative to sponsorship and naming various rooms it's part of your fundraising uh efforts and I'll be discussing in close session a recommendation for a professional firm to handle that aspect of your project I'm looking down to see if anything is really relevant that is important for tonight before we get into the other project um your parking signs final designs and recommendations of been split very honestly uh however it appears that uh the sign number one is the recommended Choice with key rather than logo instead of the hand which may be confusing the arrow so I think that seemed to be the general consensus in the selection of the Chamber of Commerce which I I get major preference to we'll be going with the similar assign for your replacement of the sign at the um pool U that's well beyond its age and it'll be in the same uh imprint it'll be the same town color and was designs will pass to you already only too and we'll get that project going and as soon as we get the policy on sponsorships um most of those are all being sponsored the chamber I met with them and they were very uh uh and enthusiastic to help about again businesses to sponsor the individual parking signs we hope to get that project out of here for shortly and unless there's any other specific items that you'd like to address be glad to answer those questions we move on to engineer Mr Council the fact that there is no update kind of an update on it is traffic light at P Claremont I don't know I it felt like construction started on that for a little while and then stopped I don't know if there's any further Insight that we have no I checked on that there's not any uh further discussions on that the developer keeps reaching out for support which um you can't countship and not sure one day there will be a stre light on they have approvals from the they have all their approv I know there's a backlog in the traffic signal themselves all over Supply good that's one not sitting there is a traffic light yes all right well thank Mr dico and we are moving on to the Waste Water treatment so to see thoughts everybody good evening mayor and Council um gelle Diaz from Basel engineering so the wastewater treatment plant um was constructed in 1928 two Renovations were done in 1967 and 88 um the plant is owned and operated by the township and is rated for an average daily flow of three million gallons per day and discharges into the pekman river um it should be noted that during wet weather events we Peak over four times that amount um during the assessment we did site visits at the plant and we went through all the assets um and you know looked at the conditions spoke with the operator at the time and the new operator and Personnel just to discuss the issues they've been having so these are um in the report it you know says every asset but these are just all the you know the major assets that um are at the plant so the personnel and staff have identified um some immediate needs I put some in the report we did have initial estimate but with the new operator he has identified some other immediate need projects the funding for this comes from the operating budget but also um and then some resolutions that I guess they had appropriated money to get some of the repairs already done um when we went through all the assets the priority One projects that we thought were the most important and or critical to the plant operating and meeting regulatory requirements are the primary clarifier pumping station which is currently under design um by a different consultant and it is being funded by the through the njib um the micro screens which are an outdated design um we're looking to replace them with an update it's become very hard for the staff to um repair it to get ports for it um so it's become very um maintenance you know Troublesome so for the staff and then the ultraviolet um the UV disinfection system um has given them problems probably you know close to when it's been installed they've had to do uh numerous fixes but currently a lot of the bulbs are um they're constantly out they're constantly replacing them so it's another um maintenance uh issue for the staff so we did a um a cost estimate for the three projects and it's um 7.18 million for the construction cost um it's also we should know that we did work with the um user rate with New Gen and this all has been put in the first one to three years um with the primary clarifier Pump Station being the first on the list because it's it's you currently at the the last stages of design some other future projects we that we identified um for the next we would say year three to 10 um are different projects just to keep um the placing pumps and doing some structural analysis and structural improvements to the plant um we have also recommended an inii study due to the peaking Factor um the inii study will include smoke testing throughout the township um and also there are areas that the DPW has identified that they have sewer backups um and it you know it issues there so we would be doing some uh video inspection so the way we worked did as we did we put I think the smoke testing in the first year of the great study and then we um identified we put money towards every year for the next 10 years to do the rest of the video inspection and to do the remedies to what we find in the inii study another thing that we looked at were different alternatives for the operation and management of the treatment plant um we looked at three alternatives one being hiring a full-time operator and staff for the wastewater treatment plant um currently we have a part-time operator um and we're you know utilizing the current staff the second alternative was to retain the services of an omm provider and I'll go to that a little bit um on the next slide and alternative three was the possible conversion of the wasw treatment plant to a pumping station to convey flow to P Valley sewage commission and the mayor we we had a couple of meetings with P Valley and um just to look at the feasibility um we done like a highlevel cost estimate which is in the report about $60 million but there's definitely more studies that need to be done because we need to see if there's conveyance capacity what route would be the best if we were to go that route and then also um when you change treatment plans you have to get an amendment to the Wastewater management plan there's DP permitting we have to see how the pman river would be affected because you're not discharging to it now you know if we we were to go that route so those are different things that would have to be assessed if they were if we were to go with alternative three and that is at a minimum 8 to 10 years down the line it's a long time and um for all three of these alter Alternatives all the capital Improvement projects would have to be done in the time frame just to keep the plant up and running so it's 60 million plus the 20 million that we we spoke about so alternative to the onm provider it's the alternative um that could it has the advantage that it could be done it implemented in a short period of time where there is different um levels of service for no andm provider the uh there's just getting staff and a full-time operator all the way to the level that they provide vehicles chemicals Staffing uh they pretty much come in and run the station to supplement the staff we met with a couple of vendor a couple of providers just to get a different um idea um of what the services they can provide and um that's something that if we decide to go that route alternative to which is our recommendation um we would pretty much list the services and and you know get put out an RF Q to get a provider so the Assumption of the responsibility of that of the Waste Water treatment plan would be by the onm provider they would be responsible for all testing reporting records management um they work with our with the township staff and they train them and the advantage is that they work in other treatment plans so um they you know they they're not just at one place they get ideas they can come back and implement it with the staff and they also can help with hiring and because right now we only have six staff members um and it's we're supplementing with the DPW right now so they would help in the hiring of personnel to fully um man the plant they have special specialized experience and they can meet you know specific operating conditions as they come new regulations um and they would be in charge they would be responsible for meeting all new regulatory um regul you know all regulatory changes that are coming with nitrate being one of the a little bit in the in the report so all the Alternatives like I mentioned before will require the capital Improvement projects to ensure the Regulatory Compliance um the benefits of the I right now um every time it rains we're go we're way over our Peak um it puts a burden on the the plant um but we need to take care of it at the source not just inre inrease sty to increase you know pumps at the plant so we're looking to um with the smoke testing to look at any illicit Connections in with storm water um any suum pumps and that'll all be identified with the study um all like I mentioned before the project cost and coordination with the user rate study we went through we had multiple meetings with them we pln out the next 10 years of uh Capital Improvement projects that we identified and that we didn't identify like I Andi remediation so the cost for alternative 2 versus the other Alternatives we spoke a little bit about alternative three being a long-term solution you know and that 60 million that we're talking about is probably in today's cost and 10 years from now would probably a way different cost um there will be an annual cost for um for alternative 2 we can do the contract on a yearly basis on a five-year basis however uh we just you know we decide to go on it and um we can lock in a cost for a couple of years and um so it's more expensive than alternative one but the benefit is um the plant will run more efficient and they would help us with all Regulatory Compliance so there's less liability for the township thank you Mr yes um so public aware this is a summary of the detailed recommendations the council possession um any question a general comment I made um yes I'm familiar with the three primary uh immediate need projects you flag between the clarifier fromation micro system one of the challenges that I feel like we run into with the plant a lot is a lot of things that were designed to have systems redundancy originally seem to have lost it over the years um and we end up with when failure when failures happen they quickly turn into emergencies because we don't have over the degradation of the plans we've lost a lot of that and I'm curious did You observe that is there you know do your plans think about that because that's one of the things if we are to be long-term in the business of operating this plan um through Rehabilitation and putting things back into good working order I'd like to try and get us out of that mode absolutely and that's one of the things that an onm provider could do it would be proactive so we're not everything's not an emergency you get a better price when you do it through the you know when we B projects so so it would be long-term planning so when you bring an on andm provider there I'm sure that they're going to have their um recommendations on what to do from with the plan to make it more run more efficiently and I know that um the they now the operator that's on staff right now has been fixing some of the pumps trying to get everything online just to get it to work status quo because that is an issue that we've had pumps down sure um first of all I want to thank you um for and Boswell engineering um as a whole for taking the time to to prepare this robust report for us I think it is very helpful to kind of understand the state of our wastewater treatment plan we've heard various resident objections about their experience after major flash flooding events and major storms we've heard about infiltration at and and really inundation of the plant um we've seen some very shocking um pictures of the plant completely underwater so it's very it's been troubling and it's really helpful to have all of the materials all in one place um I do also want to thank you for working with New Gen strategies to incorporate a lot of your recommendations it would have been perfect so like just shyia perfect to get this um presentation this evening it would have been preferred um to have gotten it in advance of the rate study analysis but I do appreciate that you did work uh collaboratively with them so that a lot of your recommendations are incorporated into that rate study analysis and this Council has approved the the rate study recommendations so the funding mechanisms will be there to move forward with um your priority projects um and the recommended um or the priority One and the immediate need um projects so I I do really appreciate that with regard to the inii study and the smoke testing um anecdotally you know the experience of residents getting smoke into their house um has been very disturbing especially in other municipalities I anticipate that we would have a similar thing here so I did appreciate that there was discussion about collaborating with municipality I do think that it's for the township Administration to really make sure that that is adequately communic at and that we have the staff around because you know if there are um inappropriate connections then it's very possible that the smoke does go into somebody's house and then people could be really Disturbed so it just be really important to understand if we have children at home or elderly persons or really just and just making sure that communication is there um and it's possible that people didn't even know about these connections right because you know if it's an old house um you may not even be aware of that um I agree with alter Al native to um and I really appreciate you know your analysis of the different Alternatives um I do think bringing in um like an onm operator that you know has kind of like the bench strength to support our municipality and understands our key concerns um is going to be superior to and perhaps some of the Consultants that we've had previously supporting us excuse me um I do also want to thank Kevin for responding to some of my concerns earlier today so I'll I'll Reserve um some of the questions that I had asked him I guess my last comment is I really appreciate you starting your report with the um kind of age of our treatment plant right like this is a 1928 vintage wastewater treatment plant that's only had two major Renovations in approximately a hundred years so think about that like in terms of your own house like does anybody want their 1988 kitchen anymore this is like wastewater treatment technology that is 1988 vintage there's a reason why these things are wearing out why you can't get these parts anymore why we don't have the redundancy and it's incumbent upon us to be investing in this infrastructure for our residents um and for the environment as a whole we're not contributing to a clean environment if we are not properly treating our waste um so I just really want to thank you so much for this presentation and the thoroughness of it um I've really appreciated working with you all and I'm grateful for the collaboration and the administration's leadership on this so thank you yes uh again thank you for this report it was a good it was a good read Because we've been looking for this for quite a while I just want to uh put Clarity to the numbers that you gave us uh Priority One projects you said 7 million and then uh all the others together was 22 just for the public that includes Priority One projects too so it's not 22 plus it was 22 over the 10 years y yes just want to make sure that the public know and that's an estimate you know just you know the last few years you prices have changed the supply change so that isn't that's an estimate in today's dollars uh do we have any idea this may be for the administration not for you when we plan on doing the smoke testing I for number one I want to I I've never seen it before and I'm I've asked a million questions about it so I want to be present somewhere in Corona for this uh and I do agree with Council woman Holland we definitely have to get this out there because when it's explained uh people will will be Panic even if it's not and normally the way it works we do to have like a kickoff meeting so we like to invite the fire department and you know the contractor that's going to perform the work and then we do do door-to-door notices so that they know what to expect and then you know it's it's dependent on the township whether they want to have the fire department on staff but they will get phone calls so we want them to know what streets we're doing what so we try to get everybody on board so to make it as you know seamless as possible mayor kick in we'll have the entire staffs and public information to map out a plan to maximize the it's on each section as we so information is out there and our emergency services will be on board that that could be a lot of phone calls yes we're going to do a very intensive information campaign and the second piece will go better than we'll learn from the first one off I think there's actually an opportunity there talk you line without turn to a drill for management as well public day off which could be very helpful for that side which we don't get and one last question yes uh it was on page 21 you talked about repurposing the dry beds and the green houses in the facility do we know what we're repurposing them for what um they've been talking about it but they I I don't think you know no nothing said nothing set yet um we do have to get DP approval before we do it just because it is in the process but it's my understanding that that's not used that's not something that's commonly used anymore a process so um we shouldn't have an issue with that and we spoke to the operator last week about it so um once we have a plan um it's pretty big area so wor about it has a plan than Council mcra uh thank you thank you so much for this really comprehensive report and you know this is really a strategic plan for this asset that's so important um and so this was really help um as an aside just my first question the plant does flood I mean we have a whole issue with water getting into the sewer system clearly and overwhelming the plant's capacity but we also in extreme events actually have the pecman flooding the plant um that's not in this how to protect the physical plant is not in here at all do have a point of view so I did put you know it is in the that's why I put that environmental map just to show you that it was in the you know there's part of it in the flood Hazard we one of the things that we put in there was a structural analysis and that's something that we'll look into um as part of that can you uh thank you for that um can you talk a little bit um about the fact that we for the primary clarifi clarifier pumping station we actually approved money for that project back in 2021 why is it why has it taken so long we like sounds like we're on the cff that the Design's finally being approved is there a good answer on why it's taken three years or are we because I guess what my my concern is given that that took three years these other priority projects can we do this faster in your estimation yes I think we definitely do it faster you can Jo you can take that over the teams in place okay to move all your projects I think you've seen that on almost all the projects and we we cleared some of the delay that was previously on the deck we got you'll see most of your projects moving in in a p that they should be okay thank you for that can you talk a bit about what's in the not in your summary presentation but is in your report about the nitrate levels and what's happening s sure so there was um a decision that we would get um a limit of 10 so um Kevin and I met with um a consultant that does dynamic modeling right now the limit is set using like worst case scenario lowest flow in the river so um Dynamic modeling that they're they're going to perform will take um 10 years of data and they'll model it to see where the limit should be now this consultant has worked with d d and other municipalities and has success so I think they're going to do they're going to give us before they do the whole study they will give us an update they're they're um they do uh and then they will also give us um even if they can't change it to you know be something that's 20 or right like to change it they can they will let us know if they can lower to a fact to increase it I guess to a to a point that um we may be able to use blending or you know alternative um treatment that's is not as expensive so um I think at they're going to do a short study let us know if it's it's feasible to to even continue with the dynamic U modeling and then from there um they will be working with DP the whole entire time and then we will be involved as well right eliminates the this is part of kind of an appeal we'll say to any decisions and I hope if we do move to the OEM provider this governing body can get more timely updates on notices and violations that we may be facing because there was a lot of reference in this report and I'm not sure you know and I I keep up with a lot of my femails that we have always been aware of all the things happening that's referenced in this report I it's more it's not everything was a violation so it's just um that there's deficiencies you know in in terms of um equipment failures so um treating things as emergencies when they really should be proactive I they're getting there you know they're they're I think we need more transparent And Timely reporting to this governing body on what exactly is happening there as but I think that's what you're moving towards so before you respond the people at home cannot hear you at all all right so if you could I that'll help for the zoom can you just stand over there would you like me to repeat please repeat ear sure the the nitrate limit that is established by the state currently is based upon the lowest flows in the pecman and the highest flows in the Wastewater Plant um that limit obviously the highest flows in the pecman would be coming at the same time that we have higher flows through the plant um so the dynamic modeling is basically it's a study on flows through the plant coinciding with uh the weather events so higher flows in the plant come with higher flows in the techman which means that the limit that's established is too strict of a limit likely uh we have a consultant who's performing analysis we will be meeting with them in April we'll have more information to provide to Mayor and Council after that meeting and the hope is that after that analysis we will either be able to remove the nitrate limit or just have much higher which limits the need the need at the plant to treat that great and my last you know question or comment is so when we do the smoke testing and we find illegal connections whose responsibility then is it to remediate that is that the homeowners or is that the municipality so if it's inlets that're tied into the sanitary would be the municipalities if it's something within the home normally the way that works it's the homeowner so they're notified and they're giving I mean it depends on how we're going to handle it but normally um they they get notice that they need to um disconnect their Sun pump or um do you know sometimes they don't know that they have a cracked lateral or a cracked um uh clean out their lawn is you know smoking so um there's different things that that that could come about but if usually homeowners responsible for their property and then the township will be responsible for public property obviously as it when we get into the details which isn't for tonight I'll be concerned about residents who maybe can't afford to make those those upgrades and making sure we direct them to appropriate programs so that they can you know fix those deficiencies like I know those programs are through our affordable housing trust fund for you know repairs and stuff we have to think through all of those scenarios um and I guess my final question is in the past we were advised we should be lining all the manhole covers um as one way of preventing infiltration during storms so like I will that like if we end up is that one project that's typically done or so like let's say we were doing the street or we were doing a project on the sanitary you could put Lids in which makes you know the water not go down or change the covers um if there's something that's flood prone a flood prone area you could do flood proof manholes so those are you know we instead of doing that all over the to you know Township we could do it as we do Road programs okay so section by section we're going to tackle these issues I guess that's my question yes and you know it's good practice anyway if you're going to be doing the paving of the we know from previous experience that you should be videoing the lines before we pave the roads and then um there are areas in terms of the videos inspections that um we I spoke to Chuck and they know their problem areas so we'll start with those um once after we do the smoke testing well I'm really excited for this report and to really begin implementation and I thank you again for your really thoughtful analysis and I think it's great for the public to be able to review this and the you know the waters assistant Asset Management plan but now the key is to actually go forward and do the project so thank you very much for your hard work I I'm going to close out with the council folks comments on the the report I think it was well done and I do enjoy reading these things believe it or not um I am certained by option two largely because it does include our existing staff and I think that's a lot of them have been getting certifications and been doing the training and going to school uh which is a testament of you know moving a lot of DPW wrong j but DPW laborers have moved kind of up in the ranks and are doing these and uh are investing a lot of time into this and I think it's helpful and I would hope that at some point we would be able to have enough trained staff that we could operate on our own again and use the talent that we have in the house um but I that would be my condition of approving that option would be that it does include our staff and it actually sets up so our staff could provided we have enough take the plant back over again in future um I think that's that is important if we can get there but right now finding anybody to operate a plant it's a challenge and that's why if we have talent we should really be cultivating it and I thank Mr smallo for his work on doing that encouraging his staff always to get um more Education and Training and uh just as a for public Mr was already planning the 100th Anniversary Party of the sewer plant so I hope that everybody is able to all right s do you have anything else okay um moving on to council Deputy Mayor M oh thank you Mr Mayor uh I will Echo uh a very interesting new business that we did the ribbon cting for in town uh Palo then venur uh ven excuse me at 546 Bluefield Avenue it was very interesting because I was in that building prior to them renovating it and they just basically cleared it out and it's it's it's actually a lot so much bigger than what I thought they have two areas one area 50 and one area that can hold 100 uh right in the center of town so I uh ask people if you want to have a party and bring your own caterer in space that you can rent out from them uh and and obviously support a local business and the other one uh soor they me Tiara had their I guess official grand opening this weekend on Saturday uh they have been in in business for uh quite a bit about a month about a year already but uh it was very nice to to visit them I have been in there eating their food several times already and again uh one of the many good restaurants in Verona definitely frequent uh the uh I just I do want to we just touched on it about uh the meeting that Public Works had uh for the P Whitney and windamir uh project we've been doing that with residents for the last couple jobs that we did so I want to thank Mr molaro and uh Mr Xander for excuse me for running that meeting there were quite a few questions uh for I guess us up here we see a lot of these projects go through and and others that see them uh some of these basic questions uh are good for residents to get up and ask uh because it familiarizes them with what's going to go on so some of them I was like oh yeah that's a good question but uh it has to be answered so it was it was uh someone that was disabled was there uh the question of the trees came up and I I thank Mr M AR for going and reviewing the trees that were coming down and actually uh going to save a couple more so that was always an issue and we got plenty of emails from residents about the trees so we're happy we can uh keep a couple more of them so that is uh all I have for this evening Mr thank youy mayor goun Roman the risk of being somewhat repetitive but I'll be brief here I'll just also congratulate PTO venues um great people there and a very creative reuse of retail space I really like um you know retail we I'm glad when we have retail businesses but also when there spaces that that can be used for alternative use it's interesting see what people think of to do with them so wish them the best of luck inona and then also thank you to everyone who put together the uh Brown breaking ceremony for the playground this evening pleasure all have for this than to councilman Council uh thank you I also uh attended the uh restaurant brand opening for sabour which is amazing restaurant that I have frequented and I really love the family family and Community Support that they clearly have it was really a fun celebration on a very rainy day so I appreciate it going I was able to attend the Essex County Commissioners women uh history event which was held at the Glen Ridge women's uh club which was also one of the honores uh the Commissioners um highlighted uh women business owners women elected officials and the Women's Club um it was an excellent and then it was always wonderful to support our commissioners um the neighborhood traffic and Safety Committee had a meeting they talked um further about uh their complete streets policy that they are drafting um for the uh Lind Drive project uh we talked about Bloomfield Avenue safety and some advancements and conversations that have happened with the county um and they also talked at length about some safety improvements uh in the parking lot of Liberty field um and that's actually my report thank you thank you Council Council H you um I recently traveled to Washington DC on business and it's Peak cherry blossom season down there so I was really pleased to inform many of my fell fellow Travelers that Essex County actually has more cherry blossoms than DC so I'm very much looking forward to enjoying the Essex County festivities that were mentioned earlier I also attended the Essex County Commissioners women's History Month celebration in Glenn Ridge earlier this month it was gorgeous and well attended and I'm very grateful to be a part of a county that is so supportive of women elected officials and women in general to that end I also joined the League of Women Voters and had the benefit of speaking to women candidates for office um and I do think it is so important for women to really engage and raise for these elected positions because representation really matters I want to acknowledge the makers Day celebration at the Verona Public Library and I'd really like to compliment Claudine and all of the library staff for the program programming that they are providing to our youth maker day has grown more impressive every year and as a parent of two girls that are very focused on stem I just really want to um thank the library for offering use programs I joined the Recreation advisory committee meeting on March 19th where we discussed winter programming the successes of the programs that were offered um as well as opportunities for growth uh we discussed the spring programming which uh registration has already opened um and it was very popular and weight lists formed immediately um has as has been the the status since covid and so the recreation department has developed strategy IES for whittling down those weight lists and we're already successfully doing so by the time of the recreation advisory committee meeting so while it is still frustrating that weight lists form so quickly I do really want to compliment the recreation department staff for the time that they're taking and the progress that they're making with whittling down those weight lists pool registration starts on April 1st and there was committee discussion about a survey and surveys that may be going out to the residents shortly um there's also been discussion about surveying um for the winter programming to really get that direct resident engagement and feedback on the successes of the successes and opportunities of presented by those programs so that was the recreation advisory committee meeting I attended the event at sabore um and uh saor excuse me and I really want to just talk about the fact that they have the most amazing food so if you have not gone there to eat you are missing out and I really encourage you to do so so um finally I want to acknowledge World Down syndrome day uh which was last week as well as epilepsy awareness day which is tomorrow because I think it's really important to understand that for us to be inclusive and accessible to our residents we need to recognize disabilities that are not always themed to the eye so um having known people in my life that have suffered from those disorders I really think it's important to continue to raise awareness and to be truly inclusive so thank you so much that concludes my report thank you councilwoman this time I'm going to open public comment on any item M would you please read the public participations from the public wish to speak on any matter please raise your hand by pressing the raise hand button on your monitor my please approach the lecture once recognized you state only your name and capable residence for the record you're not required to provide your street address how ever if you do please note that these meetings will be posted on Township's YouTube channel and addresses will not be redacted for any purpose you'll have one minutes to address Council we cross dialogue during this public portion and after everyone wishing to speak has been heard the council May address your comments and or questions thank participation in this N I will close public comments and we will move on to adoption hearing amendment of ordinances the first ordinance on the agenda on second reading is ordinance number 20244 Madame clerk would you please read the title of this ordinance the rec inceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and establish a c to njsa 44-51 thank you madam clerk is there a motion so moved motion is made by councilman or a second oh second second is made by councilman Roman and now is the time for public hearing on ordinance number 20244 the same public comment statement those just read applies please note that public comment is only on the ordinance see public comment I will close public comment at this time as Council discussion for the public edification this is an ordinance that we have to pass every year budget process not the r please councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman MCG yes Council ROM M yes yes at this time I'm going to relinquish the fa to the deputy mayor as I'm refusing myself on ordinance for 13 Deputy Mayor thank you Mr Mayor uh next up is ordinance number ordinance procr $2,225 from the general capital reserve for future improvements for the for the rescue squad Special Operations vehicle C Verona in the county of Essex New Jersey thank you mam clerk I will move this ordinance uh can I get a second oh second second by uh councilman Rome at this time we will open up uh public comment on this ordinance anybody that has a comment any to this ordinates only can approach El turn or on Zoom you can raise your and you live that's a hard one I need go to brona high school so it gets a little wishy-washy sometimes uh Fred tempesta 9 would BR honestly I'm work more dead than alive most days so it's fine don't worry come for me CH it's okay anyway in all seriousness I appreciate the council support thus far um I said you guys all an email I know you hear me talk time and time again but I've always believed reading is believing and sending just the list of the volunteers question just within the last couple years that have crumbled for varieties of different reasons and the reason we're asking for the money is because we are the exact opposite it's kind of a unicorn as much volunteer organizations go we have more and more and more manpower so the more manpower we have the more other extremes things we can be a part of and that just just attracts more members it's like a self-propelling machine the more we do the more we attract the more we do the more we attract and it's really just a good service for the town to have overall on kind of a side note I was going to get up there in public comment I didn't for April is Autism Awareness Month what council M Hollin said to me resonated with just as Down syndrome and epilepsy you really can't tell what autism is which is why we actually sold shirts to the squad members I'm actually wearing it tonight as well my daughter's five and non-verbal and autistic so well it's not part of the ordinance so you know spare me the little bit of a segue but thank you for the entir support the entire Council I appreciate it no one else and no one on Zoom I will close public participation in this ordinance and ask for any Council comments say that I will R continue to support this ordinance I've had discussions with members of the squad um and uh seen of the equipment that is associated with this vehicle um had discussions over value and use to the community uh this is something that we've been looking to complete this project for quite a while uh the dollar amount on the project has gone down over time which is a rarity in government um so I'm happy to continue to support this and I appreciate the squad's excellent work for our community and the ongoing an improv of their thank you thank you anyone else I will just say uh for myself uh comment the fact that the price uh put into this has gone down a little is because the rescue squad has taken money out of their funds to purchase some of the things that were needed for this vehicle uh I too will be supporting this uh I see actually no downside to having this vehicle for especially for the amount of money that this ordinance is for so I look forward to hopefully this vehicle up and running for the squad short with that Madam clerk can you please call over councilwoman Holland yes councilwoman McGrath yes councilman Roman yes Deputy May backo yes may uh ordinance 20245 passes order zero will be published Madam Clerk and I will turn the meeting back over to the mayor thank you Deputy Mayor we do not have any propos ordinances on the agenda this evening and at this point we moving on to the consent agenda uh which includes no minutes uh two only one resolution that is not a traditional executive session resolution I do just want to give a little brief background on this uh during our interview process of our Township manager Mr he shared that um other towns that he had been the manager of had secured artillery pieces as a uh basically an outdoor museum display and a memorial and way on owned forces um and uh we were very intrigued by this um and uh we Mr diaro is keeping with his promise and working with us and with the help of Peter Lupo who was one of our contractors as well our wireless services and Communications Consulting um and they're working on this so the resolution required um a letter of support from the mayor was also required that has been prepared thank you madam clerk uh putting that paper and uh I look forward to eventually having any kind of uh display to add to our beautiful Civic Center and all the other displays there uh that's the only thing that really needs explanation on the resolution would somebody please move the agenda so the motion is made by councilman Roman is a second a second the second is made by Deputy Mayor at this time I'll open for public comment on the consent agenda only same public comment statement app sorry I also didn't I didn't read the license and permit it's for limousine license renewal from wean coach seeing no public comments I will close public comment is there any Council discussion Council MRA yes thank you um so on this resolution on the military hardware um I you know we did as we've had many conversations when we were hiring Mr diaro and you know we were talking about getting a cannon and um and I was envisioning like some sort of uh Civil War replica and you know as I was driving around this weekend I drove in another community and I saw you know large piece of Hardware um and so I do while I'm absolutely in support of us exploring down this road I do think we have to be thoughtful about what is the piece what is the size of the piece where is it going and if we are putting it in uh the Town Center I think there's additional concerns given the school um and the large number of students there and again is it is a piece of equipment that may inadvertently you know cause injury or harm if kids are rough housing near it where is it going to be located and then when we're talking about Town Center in particular we also have some other considerations in terms of the strategic planning of that town uh of our green because you know we do have a very large tree that is really at the end of its lifespan and at some point we need to have a conversation with the public on how our holiday celebrations are going to look a little different in the future so I will support you know exploring this but I do have have some you know concerns on where are we going to put this what is it going to look like and also just I think we should make sure that we do this in the spirit of getting a lot of Resident feedback um because residents I think um are going to want to have a say on on what our public spaces look like so those are my comments thank you thank you councilman I just go ahead Mr J I think I was gonna respond um acquiring the piece was yes thank you mayor was on the list of many projects that you have for me to get moving here um the application is submitted there's details for the application there's a few uh items taking into consideration I wasn't sure exactly where the green to refer to it is the green is going to be placed um there are certain things that I checked off that uh would not be acceptable for you uh in the arena of things that could come on I knew you wanted an artillery piece it would not be a tank it will not be a helicopter which those things are available but probably no we get a helicopter and put it somewhere else at po yes yeah there is a number of artillery pieces from a basic 155 arder to the long gun hour the big big ones which would not be appropriate for here the barel would be as long as this building uh do you do have the final yes or no uh once you're authorized that's up to council and and I strongly suggest it'll probably take better part of a year Well to finally get approved and and get it acquired then you'll have a review so the council should be discussing where exactly there are specific guidelines that the military advises you on on how it's uh how the pad is made how the security the signage recognizing the military and where the peace would be placed I can tell you that the last one I did was on school grounds okay adjacent to and pamis Memorial School and the school was named Memorial School and the Veterans Memorial walk and Memorial is right there on the school grounds and there was no issues there with the artillery piece other than what direction it was pointing that was also a decision of the body well first of all we would love maybe see a picture of that and I think this is also in your conversations with the superintendent just opening up that this is a possibility as well just so they are F yeah okay yeah I I'm just intrigued so you've clearly um so this process is already moving forward and you've clearly had made some strategic decisions about what would work what wouldn't work what I haven't seen is where the expectation is that this would be located we do I mean councilwoman McGrath makes a very valid point about the large essentially Christmas tree that we have in the Town Square I mean is it anticipated that it's behind that and if we then were to remove that Christmas tree because of you know it's being it becoming a hazard tree um you know is this anticip to replace that like where where where were you thinking of in the Civic Center because I'm not sure if that had been determined or not it my my piece of this project is that it was a desire to have one uh obviously I was thinking you're you're green here because you do have your Memorial here you do have your services here so was going to be here but that decision is the governing bodies the exact placement is the governing bodies and literally I would not make any decision about any tree in the town the tree is failing you think your your shade tree commission will tell you that tree is failing okay and and it obscures your your green and the vision of your green is but that's not a decision I can make either that's a decision of the governor Bon on the tree the placement and we're exactly how you want to position assum we name course won't do certainly not at the school library or the town no like so I guess what I would just add I think this is great and moving forward I too kind of envisioned more of like you know uh I guess older um maybe Civil War vintage like cannons but maybe that's just because my father took us to a lot of Civil War battlefields and we always took pictures like sitting on the cannon um when I was growing up and that became kind of like a joke so I make my children sit on cannons whenever we go to like historic places they won't be able to I know well it sounds like it won't so like I I don't know it wasn't meing my vision however I would just ask that um when this does move forward or as this moves forward that you bring um to the council visuals about what this would look like and that um and that we have a better understanding of how it'll fit in because I I do think that there's value there thank you I think it's important for the council to to walk the green and decid where would go and I did uh I'm not sure um how much luck I would have if it's still if they're still available a World War I piece because your Monument is a World War One token and and next most likely is is L two5 cages um replica that I didn't have installed is on the green at uh in C the decator cannon that was missing for decades I I made that comment way back when when I was in h at one point in my career very young and had a rent of they could never find it again so the council has a lot of decisions to make R General thank you for your work on this project I know this is something very interested in we'll uh we'll figure out exactly where where it goes and what it looks like and so on but I appreciate you work on I agree I think those are the small parts of the project the biggest thing is getting something and getting it here because they're heavy um and I trust Mr Dio's judgment on this as well and I think it would be a sarly good addition to our Civic Center especially when we have well attended say all right um mam clerk would you call the both please Council M Holland yes Council MCG yes councilman Roman yes Deputy Mayor yes mayor Toro resolutions K1 and K2 will be number 20 24 59 and 60 than uh we are moving we do not have any addendum tonight we're moving on to new business the first item on the agenda is discussion of zoning P Mr [Music] Russell we discussed at a prior mayor and council meeting the uh notion of adopting zoning permit fees our Construction office uh construction official zoning official uh pulled a survey of surrounding towns and Verona is I think we may town uh that does not have any zoning fee at all uh so there was a survey of number of neighboring towns with the zoning fees by category based on what uh what they charge uh their applicants uh there was a recommendation that the Residential Properties are generally uh that they would generally see a $50 zoning fee aside from new structures which would be a $75 zoning fee application for non-residential properties it would be $75 across the board except for new structures which would be a $100 zoning application fee uh this would be zoning fees that would cover the work and effort put in by the zoning office for reviewing applications associated with fences signs structures detached structures conditional uses subdivisions and other zoning uh applications um that aren't specifically listed there was a recommendation um that was put into the form of an ordinance uh for consideration and discussion tonight them um I'm going to start on this one but I I appreciate the St at Town um when you did your parable are these numbers that You' picked because they they're veryy even numbers is this what other towns are charging or is this lower higher where has this fallen so what what the uh construction and Zoning official did was they they pulled a number of contiguous towns neighboring towns and towns of very Sim similar populations nearby um those that survey included Caldwell Cedar Grove East Handover essexfells Livingston Montclair North Caldwell rosand West Caldwell and West Orange they looked at average zoning fee applications um and they also looked at the three towns that are most comparable in population in COV East Handover and West Caldwell and they Tred to balance what the average fees were along with trying to make sure that the recommended fees were simple enough to follow and uh easy enough to digest both from the public and then also for the office to actually administer as well I uh I appreciate that it would be helpful to see some of that information if you can that forgive me if you have um my my comment on fees is always such that they we have to decide what we want to char reasons for and what they're already paying for taxes right so we've been running a zoning department on tax dollars um those zoning is a effectively a pay for use type environment right you're not going to get charged at the something um so I I don't have an objection to a a small fee I'm not sure going kind of right to the average is maybe the right way uh when we're introducing a fee my concern is I am not prepared to vote on this probably in the next few months uh the reason being is that our zoning department has suffered significant turnover in the past uh year four like four different zoning officers um there are still concerns among residents that I'm hearing relatively frequently just about that transition and about different things so I'm not sure I'm prepared at this point add another Cog into that system as far as a fee paying um so my my comfortability would be to because we've waited certainly this long is to wait until our new zoning officer who's is doing a very good job is in the position for a while longer that the council and the administration can sort out more of the systematic issues and then we can pose this once we have a consistent uh zoning officer because I think it's it adds a bit of an insult injury when we're charging people when we have had some customer service issues in the past um and that it's not good government so I don't have a an opposition I these numbers I still need to analyze a bit more um my suggestion would be start lower but I would much prefer to wait on this um the fall when we can really see and have make sure that we have a consistent Zing Department um and I think that would be a good show of our respect for Resident concerns comments Roman if we ask this could we put a date like effective as of September one October one we can write that into an ordinance uh I I've been for years I've been shocked that we we don't have these already in uh because uh I mean going back I can go 15 years you would always have it I mean someone puts an application in for a sign or a fence it's specific to their property and the rest of the town is paying for the time of our employee to process that that paperwork and and issue that permit that sign that sign permit or fense permit so I am 100% for this I think it's a minimal amount but it's enough to cover the time that's put into testing it uh and go around town and I'll use fences I I say it all the time you drive around town there's a ton of fences up that just aren't according to our zoning ordinance uh fences that are within 10 foot of the front of a yard I go by one every morning and it kind of blocks the line of sight so I think uh this is why we have these in place it's a a minimal amount of money but uh I think it's definitely something that I would def Roman sh of curiosity I mean the majority of these changes would require a building permit or at least a lot of them uh from an administrative standpoint why charge a zoning fee rather than just increasing the construction code fee and generating the same amount of Revenue well a lot of the construction code fees are established by the UCC um the second the second reason why we wouldn't it wouldn't make sense to do that is that a lot of these fees are more a review of the zon in compliance rather than the review of the construction application or construction materials so it's to make sure that the location the sign the size of the sign the the uh location or the materials of the fence are compliant with the zoning ordinances rather than uh construction permit application which has a different purpose right but I money is fungible I mean as long as Revenue coming into the township and it's paying you know that's my only concern is okay do we add a you know another fee on like at what point in time how many lines on the receipt are we going to have here with miscellaneous fees there is push back against you know fees you know I'm not going to call this a junk feed but people are calling you know junk fees to get added on to every almost everything you do in life nowadays to the point where the president's pushing back kind of curious as to why we would sort of go into the opposite direction of just naming an entirely different fee and and why you know why go that sure I'll jump in too um on the on the issue of changing zoning officers are current zoning officers extremely experienced that's why I hired her and stole her from another town she's very confident she's very good and we recently put out a secondary V of training as far as the why not added to the construction fees uh the DCA construction fees are pretty pretty established and guidelines and that the revenue taken on the construction fees you have to spend on it uh it's adding the zoning fees to that creative problem F fees to the state of New Jersey I've got through this before uh zoning is completely separate it's a separate staff that has to review them you're spending staff time on a specific element cation which is The Zing ordinances which the instruction office doesn't have questions coms c m um yes um I'm in full support of putting in these fees I'm actually shocked that we don't have them in place and I thought your analysis was excellent um having you know gone through this process uh in the recent past $50 is a small amount of money to pay considering the size of the projects that people are doing I don't um and considering also the complexity of our zoning ordinances which we have made even more complex and very high standards in our town um so we have a very robust code but consequently you know and res that residency to follow so these are lengthy review processes because of you know our admin how we how we're uh governing this so I don't think we need to wait and I think these are reasonable and I think they should be implemented I do think that these especially on things like this where people are electing to do projects um mainly and that will add to the value of their homes um I think that these are opportunities to help defay costs which then help to moderate and keep tax increases low so I think there's an advantage to putting these fees in and collecting them and that will help us when we're looking at the tax increase for 2025 so I thank you for your robust analysis and I look forward to voting on this uh hopefully in the near future thank you mayor one one last thought on this uh and I'm GNA add to a fe uh the site plan I'm looking at for non-residential site plan over five acres is the same as a site plan under five ACR I can guarantee you our zoning official will spend more time on five acre so maybe that one should be like a $100 P instead of same the 75 but just a thought think of it before we uh play that thank you thank you Mr um anything else for new business I'm sorry all right uh the liquid license ordinance to wants this one I'm sorry I last year for fees and the licensing period ends on June 30th um is I made by law the state allows $2,500 um maximum and but the increase can only be $500 for 20% of the current license amount whichever is less which brings the consumption licenses to 2500 and the retail distribution the liquor storage to the 1866 if the increases and is this an annual fee it's it's an annual fee and then we have to pay a small fee to this ABC m one governance can you just repeat that maximum of 20% or what was the other one or no more than $500 it's 20% of the current license amount for $500 whichever is less so with the um consumption licenses 2500 is the max so you just hit 2500 because neither thank you it's the state C that you can go to any strenuous objection to this y let's put on the agenda for next meeting pleas this time open for public comment on any item same public comment statement applies anybody in the room would like to comment please come up the El turn say no public comment I'm going to close public comment we will be going to Executive session no official action Mr do we have anything yeah I do okay one item all right uh we have already passed a resolution to go into executive session so we will do that F we will see you on April 8