night to make WR e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e four of the township of Washington Township Council adequate notice of the meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the Township Clerk to at least two newspapers in January in the meeting has been posted on the township bulletin board electronic Message Board in WCTV and on the township website please notify the minister Kirk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance at mayor and Council meetings the fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door on your left please silence all cell phones could everyone please stand for a salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible miss that maybe they change roll Council CIO Council Sears councilman here counc valz here counc president here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Peter Camari Township administrator Mark M Carlo Township attorney Ken PA via zoom and Township Clerk Susan wowski and CFO and CFO John Corker sorry John they didn't list you I didn't list you John sorry this was a regular meeting schedule sorry payment of bills resolution number 24-27 authorized payment of bills March 15 2024 to March 28 2024 do I have a motion so move second any discussion yeah I just have one question um the way the ordinance is written and the way we handle it are do we have the ability to pull one line or one bill or we do Mike you said that yes we can we can not send out a check that is correct Mr okay what what line are you talking about no I just wanted to make sure uh for future um and in terms of the historical ordinances that we're you utilizing and uh uh I don't want to say burning up but uh utilizing for expenses do we have a prospective schedule or do we address it as the expenses come up I'm sorry I just I don't understand understand what I mean by prospective schedule so uh I'm looking at page 104 yes resolution 247 uh maybe uh 10 lines down we are expensing or charging a capital ordinance uh 12-13 uh it's for Memorial Field drainage yes so I'm assuming because there's further expenses that are charged to current that we've exhausted this uh ordinance but there there are possibly other ones and there are other ones further down the list that may have uh monies available and I'm just trying to understand and is there a plan in place to deplete those or are we addressing it as the bills come up I always hate to give you a wishy-washy answer but it's it's somewhere in the middle so for example this specific per um expense we were having significant drainage problems at Memorial Field and we were just essentially wasting our money by replenishing The Mulch and not addressing the under the uh you know know the the rooted problem there so when we got a contractor out and they gave us a uh quote we were looking to see what funds were available to pay for it that year meaning 2023 so um Cara was this a 2023 Capital project no so how did this project come to fruition that the council approve this project during 2023 well we utilized funds that were already approved that's why that's how I'm trying to answer your question I'm saying who authorized the project what what council authorized the project that's why I'm just I'd like to have an answer last year's council did authorize okay that's all I need that's why I said that's why I did the 2023 sitting Council authorize this project well you asked me if it was a capital project last year and the the true answer or the accurate answer is no so how did so where did the funding source come for this project when it was authorized well that's what I was trying to answer Mr man's question and the answer is right there if you look at MRC Inc from Memorial Field it tells you all the other the lines that were utilized to make up the amount of what the the uh contract was so I think it was 54 $56,000 so before the contract was awarded to the contractor it was brought before the council and the council was told it was going to be taken from all these lines okay that's that's all I just wanted to B clear so understanding that process uh if there are ordinances unexpended ordinances um would we know in advance of what you that you plan on expending them on a particular item or particular line it's not that you wouldn't or you would I guess it dep depends on the expense so you know if a several $100 engineering Bill comes in that can be Associated to a funded an older funded Capital earance you know we're not going to seek your approval until it comes to the bill list something that's a significant purchase like the the drainage corrections to Memorial Field that were again $54 $556,000 of course we're going to bring that before the council prior to uh incurring the expense I'm sorry there was just one other line um the Scott packs would that be the same that there is uh further down that line uh further down on that front first page yes all right and was that part of their the capital or uh Capital plan last year they asked for it however we had pre-existing um funds already approved for the purchase of Scott tax so we didn't put it into the capital to ask for additional money so they submitted the request yes okay no further questions thank you any other further questions thank you Mr car you're welcome sir roll call councilman Casio yes councilman SE yes Council mman yes Council woman bz yes council president desum yes PSA for April 8 2024 the Township's second annual spring into Wellness 5K run Walkin healthare will be taking on Saturday April 27th please visit our website for further information and sponsorship application the township of Washington launched a Hometown Heroes Banner program as a living tribute for our community to honor past and present members of the Armed Forces please visit our website for further information 2024 animal license renewals were mailed out in late December please note that $25 late fee will began on March 1st New Jersey counties in partnership with the Department of State Department division of el elections are actively seeking residents to serve as po workers for the upcoming primary and general elections please visit our homepage to learn more about this event the township is seeking members for The Advisory Board of Health and a public affairs director if you are interested please contact the mayor V email at mayor atwp of washington. us street sweeping will take place the week of April 8 2024 please make every effort to remove your vehicles from the street to allow for better cleaning thank you in advance for your cooperation as a reminder our cable channel channels are 77 on Optimum in the township and Westwood only the next special council meeting will be held on Monday April 15th at 7.m thank you everyone report of the administrator thank you sir good evening uh there was no formal written response from last uh month's meeting because there was no followup required for any Resident questions or counsel however after the meeting uh mayor calam Mar did ask me to follow up on that 2019 Ford from DPW that we've lost use of because it's been with with Ford so I I found out that it's a 2019 Ford F550 we received it in January of 20120 and did receive two full years of use for it it broke down in early 2023 and hasn't been returned to us repared yet because they of needed Parts on March 26 we conducted a followup and we were told that the engine is due to come in April 3rd and is due to be returned to us this week on April 12th when I asked the superintendent DPW to try and find an update today of course he was unable to get a hold of anybody however once we receive um the vehicle back I will be following up the appropriate person regarding any compensation from Lost use and that vehicle had a plow assault and we used it to brine it also had two two dump bodies for small loads of mulch um so it was a very useful vehicle while we had it so I will be following up on that just to give you an update on some of the projects around town uh we're happy to say Memorial Field and Gardner field playground um repair has been um completed however the playground at Memorial Field is still out of use we have it um kind of fenced off with that um disposable fence stuff um because there's only gravel there there's no mulch we're having a very hard time getting a Ming company to come in a reasonable amount of time the company that was going to come and do Clark Gardener and Memorial is telling us May 20th so we've been searching around for someone that can obviously get us to mulch a lot sooner so we can get that playground up and running Gardener is open but it needs a few inches of uh mulch as far as the 23 Road program I did speak Mr Excuse me Mr J finds that the missing m is acceptable that we can open the playr for Gardner not Memorial okay but is okay with the few whiches of missing mulch gner well we didn't spec specifically speak to gner but based on our superintendent's knowledge of what's required we have enough mulch uh 23 Road program I followed up with the owner of DNL Paving and we are scheduled for April 25th and 26th I have a meeting with the engineers from Boswell this week uh to discuss some of the punch list items that were held over from last season uh some of which are on Beach and one on Clark which is a water problem they'll be addressing the commuter lot I met with several residents that had Landscaping uh requests and concerns last week the final Landscaping plan is due to be sent from Boswell to myself and uh the contractor and as soon as that the contractor will be able to start the landscaping and Paving and um definitely is hoped to be done by the end of April and uh hopefully a lot sooner but Mother Nature might have some input on that we're scheduled I think for three days of rain this the end of this week and N PG if you're driving around town I'm happy to say we're doing pretty well um with the resurfacing from all the trench work and replacement of pipes that they did uh last year they're they're staying on schedule even with the rain we had the last week or two and that concludes my updates council president thank you can I ask a question sure somebody have a question Oh I thought Tom did um just is our Township engineer reviewing the repaving for PG yes okay and the only reason I ask is uh outside in the parking lot just as I was walking in that uh the seam M it just seems It's not um doesn't seem to be tight the seam doesn't appear to be tight uh I don't know if there's you know a concern we're coming out of winter so not an issue today but you know if it remains open uh you know could there be intrusion of water and uh like a freeze La so just wondering if it's uh it's a standard okay I'll follow up with the engineer thank you anything else from m Mr Mayor report of the mayor thank you good evening council members members of the public um I'd like to start by deviating from my usual monthly report to read a post I put on my Facebook page it is truly disheartening to see the work of the Green Team and its dedicated volunteers destroyed by someone or some people these senseless actions have been left have left many hardworking members of the team feeling demoralized I feel that time will eventually heal their spirits but it is important to remember that it is far easier to destroy than it is to create in an effort to support the Green Team I will be making a personal donation of $200 to Aid in the Reconstruction of the area I encourage others to contribute whatever they can to show their support as well once a date is set for the Reconstruction I hope to see a strong turnout from the public to lend a hand and demonstrate their backing for the team remember many hands make light work to the individuals responsible for the D damage I extend an invitation to join us on the day of reconstruction you don't need to reveal your identities but witnessing the community coming together to rebuild will surely be a more fulfilling experience than the act of Destruction let's turn this negative event into a positive opportunity for Unity and growth that concludes my Facebook statement for those of you who are not aware an act of vandalism took place last week on the path off of Cleveland a where the Green Team and many volunteers put in a lot of time and effort to beautify the areas near the bridge I now have two pieces of good news to offset that act of Destruction first I would like to share with you a recent email I received from a resident on behalf of happy Tales animal rescue I am writing to you to inquire about making a memorial donation of a tree or bench or possibly both someplace in Washington Township for a longtime resident of Colonial Boulevard Dolores SOA who recently passed away Dolores was one of the happy Tales volunteers for over 20 years and happy Tales would love to honor Doris's service with a memorial to her and her love of animals does our town have a memorial plaque type of program and if so can you provide me with details on how we can go about this my name is Dory sto and also a Township resident on Colonial Boulevard and a happy Tales volunteer for eight years I am the point person on the project happy Tales will pay for all costs in dolores's name that ends her email in brainstorming with her we decided that a tree will be planted at Martini senior Park we also received a request from a resident who would like to stay Anonymous the resident has donated two scoreboards at our new botche ball court in honor of Cynthia Clark and John Rutter Shan I hope I pronounced that correctly the actions of the These Fine people will always win out and will be remembered over the misguided actions of a minority of people now on to my usual report police department news the department appeared before the New Jersey State Association Chiefs of police accreditation board for the final accreditation hearing and was unanimously approved for accreditation on March 14th I would like to congratulate the entire department on their successful efforts the promotion process to until the rank of Lieutenant was conducted Sergeant Michael Glock was chosen for recommendation to advance to the rank of Lieutenant officers participated in a coffee with the cop event at the Township Library on March 10th the department handled crowd control for the Ramadan event on March 9th traffic control was not needed since the event was held indoors at the senior center Recreation news the 2023 2024 basketball season ended on an extremely high note there were four of 10 travel teams that won championships in their respective divisions in the Bergen travel basketball league I would like to congratulate the coaches and participants of the following teams in no particular order the girls fourth grade Navy division Champions the girls fifth grade Air Force division Champions the girls seventh grade Army division Champions and the boys fourth grade Air Force West Division Champions the 2024 summer Recreation camp registration open to Township of Washington residents only from Friday April 5th to Friday April 12th registration for the program will end on Saturday June 1st the program is accepting up to 600 children this year the lacrosse program has started its 2024 season thank you to all who volunteer to help this season good luck to all of our teams the fun with art program spring session has started the Reg registrant had fun with an Easter themed drawing in their first class the 2024 men's over 33 softball program registration is open now through Friday April 12th please visit the town website for more details on this and all the programs the township is offering fire department news for the month of March the department responded to multiple fire and Co alarms as well as a few calls reporting odors of natural gas one call to the parkway for a reported vehicle fire turned out to be false two mutual Aid calls for working house fires one to Saddle River on March 3rd and the other on March 23rd to paramis for a working fire the department also went to idell for a standby while there was a house fire on March 15th the department was dispatched to the shopping center for a person locked in the bathroom the deputy chief was able to free the party with little to no damage the siren has been mounted and is fully operational in its new position at the department Monument area the department will also reconnect the one at Town Hall within the next two weeks the department is holding is hosting a Texas halom event as a fundraiser on April 26th please check the Department's website for further information DPW news the department assisted with the installation of a new swing and border at the Garder field playground they also helped with the removal of old Moes Mulch and the installation of drainage at the Memorial Field playground new mulch will be installed at a later time they began weekly painting of the lacrosse field at Memorial Field they prepared the parks and baseball fields for spring they took down and removed a dead tree at senior's Park and also removed the tree from cross street that had fallen due to high winds on March 11th Municipal storm water outfalls have been inspected in addition to catch basins in zones 1 and two sewers were inspected in zone one the next scheduled metal collect metal collection date is April 11th Library it was a successor fic march with lots of school visits and programs the spring session is being extended to the end of April as we expect our entrance renovation to begin in May in addition to online and in building notices a special newsletter will be sent out to Residents that will answer all questions regarding services and hours once the contractor has confirmed their dates Municipal Alliance News a program on vaping was funded at the high school featuring motivational speaker Tim Schumacher on Monday March 18th the transition from paper documents to the state digital mag system is underway code enforcement our code enforcement official keeps busy ensuring that the properties in town are in compliance with the town codes if you would like the office to look into an issue please please call 20664 4404 or send an email to admin SEC that's admin SEC atwp of washington. us zoning office the zoning officer reviewed and process 32 zoning applications last month planning board the board continues its review of the Town master plan to keep our town as residential in nature as possible budget and salaries the budget process has been going well however I believe I should inform the council and the public about a recent event that took place we had a good employee leave us last week although I chose not to ask the employee the reason I believe the timing was in part due to the discussion about and the actual issuing of rice notice the employee got a job in a similar position in a local municipality earning more than 20% than she was in her job here I hope starting the discussion of the salaries the council keeps in mind that our employees are our most important asset we should all keep in mind how difficult it is to find and retain talented employees I would not like to go back to the days of when the township was a revolving door for employees coming and going I know we currently H we currently and finally have some of the best employees in municipal government as demonstrated in the above example we are far from paying our employees a top rate for the work product they deliver but let's continue to pay each and every one of them the compensation they earn and deserve thank you that concludes my report thank you Mr Mayor report of the council Mrs W sure thank you all right so um March was a busy month um the week of March 14th I had the pleasure of reading at Washington school for their Dr Seuss Week um thank you to the Washington school for welcoming me and hosting such a nice week it was nice to read to our little residents and watch them engaged in such an important part of the learning process um on the weekend of March 9th and 10th the township residents welcomed Ramadan thank you for that invitation that Sunday the library hosted the Irish dancers in celebration of St Patrick's Day um the library has so much to offer I really hope our residents are taking advantage of everything they have uh this weekend alone the library offered Eclipse glass solar eclipse glasses for our residents so I really appreciate them taking the time to put that together for our residents uh let's see councilman Sears and I have been working hard to get the Hometown Heroes Banner program up and running um we definitely owe a big thank you to the administration to Heather Henry and to ranata for their unwavering support of this project there are so many different moving parts and I believe we have 20 to 20 22 banners so we've got the the green to go and we're ready to print so we will have those up for Memorial Day to Veterans Day so thank you to everybody that's been involved in making that possible um the as mentioned in the PSA the 5K and healthare will take place on April 20 7th the run walk kicks off at 9:00 a.m. and the health fair will start at 8:00 a.m. there is still time to register to be a part of this amazing Community event both as a runner walker and a sponsor uh we are still actively looking for sponsorship as well as vendors and volunteers we cannot do it without volunteers the all the information of is available on the website so please visit our website for links to the registration to the sponsorship to the healthare and to the volunteer sign up so please find the time to get out there join us it's going to be a great uh event um on March 30th I just want to say congratulations to the fire department for their Easter egg hunt that was a whole bunch of fun um watching councilman seers put out all the eggs for the kids um thank you to the mayor for standing in the cold with me and uh to so many of the kids and the parents um thank you to the the fire department for really volunteering your time to bring this to our our little ones and the parents I know we all appreciate it um let's see where are we to the basketball teams we are blessed to have such amazing kids I just feel like we keep celebrating so many of our young residents uh so congratulations to the basketball four sorry the four travel basketball teams I think we need to put our heads together and find a way to recognize all these kids in a collective space and thank you to the volunteers who take the time to um train our kids and practice with them I know that that takes time out of your own personal schedule so thank you to those volunteers um and then the Green Team I just want to you know I guess apologize on behalf of those folks that did this vandalism you know my daughter and I were there putting it together with the green team with councilman here I know you take so much pride into all that and to just see what happened um I apologize that that that's even a thing in our community but when the time comes you know I'll be there and my daughter we're ready to you know put the gloves on and our bags and whatever you need from us um and then last but not not least um I just want to talk about the budget for a second the I feel the budget has been overall I'm very pleased with the progress of the budget um I feel we have as a council come up with some very reasonable compromises however I do want to um address the rice notice I strongly am opposed to this procedure I don't think it's necessary um in speaking with some of our employees just you know C ual conversation some have endured some unneeded stress as a result of this um especially those that that just give so much of their time and energy to make our town function um they are the front line and it's unfortunate that we have to you know bring some of them up for question um and put them under this un unneeded this unneeded stress um they are the ones that are between us and the residents they work day in and day out to to make sure that the residents are getting their needs their questions answered so while I not I do not agree with this rice notice I will tell our employees that I'm here for you and I will stand and I will fight because I luckily have been have had the pleasure of working with so many of you while I was director of public affairs and I saw what you brought to the table and I appreciate apprciate everything that you did for me for the community so I will sit here in open and enclosed fighting for your on your behalf so I hope that Council really considers the importance of our employees because right now as the mayor said it's hard to find good honest hardworking employees so let's recognize and show them that we appreciate them that is my report thank you Mr Sears thank you council president uh I just want to tailor on councilwoman Val's comments on the right rights notice I think it's um a sad day when we cannot trust the employees that are running this town if you take some time and sit in the Buildings Department or you sit and talk to the people that are working upstairs you spend an hour in uh uh the clerk's office it's endless it never stops they always have a positive attitude they are always well respected they go out of the way to help people uh and just some quick comments on the weekend when I see a problem I will call or text one of the code officials they will get back to me if I have a question uh about something in the planning or zoning board I get an answer I I don't understand the rice notice of of such great employees but again like Miss F says we are behind you 100% there are people that are watching these rice notices in the public so we are behind you and I will go on to my report thank you thank you uh just a follow up on the Hometown Heroes uh report we do have 22 members uh we will have them up for Memorial Day the uh the residents that sent in pictures to be digitalized uh Heather Henry did an outstanding job on getting those pictures corrected and I have copies of the pictures that the residents um presented to me I will get them back to them just reach out to me and I will get you the pictures that um uh you had digitalized uh uh for the banners great great day um on the grants I applied for the uh County mini grant for our May 4th clarfield cleanup that Grant was accepted um and usually it's about anywhere from 375 to 400 you know once we complete the project I have to submit the form uh I am working with Easy Ride on the process of getting a charging St station uh working through Public Service Gas and Electric I have a a call with them tomorrow to uh see where we are in the process and where we plan it should be placed for the benefit of you know the community so we will I'll keep um you guys a breast on where we are with that uh mon Clair state I had a uh conference call with the five graduate students and the professor to overlook our Waterway project hopefully they will start that within a month and we'll move on with that uh the uh April 13th we will be handing out seedlings down at the Bethany Community Center uh we also have the E recycling uh shredding going on down there uh we're asking everybody to if you have old cell phones drop them off to the Green Team the um resell value of those are quite high right now I think because there's gold and medals and prees in it that they want and we're also going to be collecting clear plastic bags for the library to support them in getting their their benches and their chairs through track so that will be on April the 13th on April the 20th we'll be down at beffy Community Center again we will be handing out seedlings and we're asking to collect cell phones and plastic bags and again on April the 27th is the 5K running health day we have vendors coming in uh it's it's going to be a great day so please come down to support that uh student recognition uh we did recognize a lot of the um basketball but for the first time in Westwood Regional uh um history I was told the New Jersey Act academic de cathlon Westwood Regional High School is the state champs and they are going to Pittsburgh so congratulations to that whole team I don't have all the names of the students that are involved but I will find out maybe Mr Mayor we can post them on the web and congratulations but again terrific students outstanding uh uh results coming out of the school system in Washington Township so I sure we're all very proud of of these students uh the overnight parking for the First Responders uh it was presented to the uh Town attorney the town attorney re reviewed it we should be getting a ordinance written for it shortly uh the stickers are made up I have them here oh nice all right they will uh there's a set of rules and regulations that they have to follow to be placed on the car and the rule rules and regulations will be in the ordinance so that's ready to go ordinance Mr Excuse me Mr per when do we expect that ordinance I have it ready thank you okay good okay now to the do side uh could the uh TV guy put the first picture up on the screen I don't know if the rest of the council can see it what you are looking at is the final result of 300 100 hours of volunteer work 60 hours of DPW assistance Girl Scouts Scouts the soccer team West with soccer team council members parents students this was totally completed that was one side of the bridge and then on the other side of the bridge it almost mirrors itself there's a a bird bath there's Belgium stones that were donated special plants were installed on both sides can you go to the next slide please this is today's results stripped down thrown into the river bird bath crushed thrown into the river could you show the next three pictures please there's a bird bath crushed in the river with the Belgium Stones thrown on top of it that is plastic and EPS styrofoam that is now uding that that Brook going into the lake the stones were all ripped up thrown into the uh the brook the uh bird bath was on a 4 in concrete uh uh Boulder uh um tube it was ripped out crushed and thrown in you're looking over over ,000 worth of damage this is beyond disgusting for our town for us to even have this done the green team is so we're so disgusted at this that the green team is offering a $500 reward for the name of the persons or persons that did this we will ask full and total police respons in this we want the fullest amount of punishment that can go to the people that did this not only did they destroy something with which so many people put so much love into this the chemicals coming out of that bird bath the EPS styrofoam and the plastic I made a call to the Environmental Protection Agency today I explained to them what would happen I mean what has happened and they agree that if we find a person they will get involved with issuing a a summon to them so my word to the people that did this you may be looking at $11,000 or more but your legal fees will be way over $5,000 if the state gets involved I cannot say how disheartening this community I personally received over 50 calls text messages phone calls emails with people totally disgusted over what has happened here by the pr um and I hate to end on a negative thing here but we need to solve this problem and it needs to end thank you council president thank you Mr Sir Mr Alman uh following those reports I don't think I have much just uh Tom appreciate the followup on the charging I think it's important uh that we have that in town so really appreciate that we just need to uh if we can come up where we feel a location that would assist me on getting the um the quote on how much it would cost okay maybe we can brainstorm something certainly okay thank you thank you Mike Mr C yes sure uh really no report tonight but I just want to um reiterate about the right notice to the employees the rights notice protects both the employees and the council and governing body and talking about uh them and their positions it is no way in Flip or um what's looking for uh inating well no it should not it's not an intimidating process okay though they might think it is it's to protect all parties involved and I understand there's a lack of understanding of the particular um statute but was put in place for for the employees benefit no one else's benefit and the township as well so um if the employees take it that way I'm sorry but they they obviously don't have an understanding of it as well as well as some council members on the dasas and that's my comment thank you Mr Casio um my report is short uh I'd like to thank the police department on getting their thankful they got their accreditation it's uh glad to see that congratulations to Lieutenant Glock on his promotion on March 14th I also got to read to the students at Jesse George school and I picked the eclipse so perfect today is the day of the eclipse so they unfortunately I didn't have enough glasses to give out that day but I hope they got some um the rights notices are not meant in a NE any negative criteria other than the legal requirement for us to notify them that we're talking about their position that it all about um thank you for all your work Mr valz M valz and Mr Sear and all the other people behind the scenes on the Hometown Heroes congratulations to the decathlon team at Westwood Regional High School and also on Saturday April 20th Washington Township baseball softball will be hosting uh its opening day ceremonies uh the 600 children in the program approximately should be marching on the field with the hundreds of coaching volunteers hope to see everybody on the day and then the audience there be lots of uh giveaways and food and back AES that's all I have thank you how many teams do we have this year there are there's over 30 something teams wow it's a great program they're doing they last year they had such a an amazing yeah there's 30 teams there's I think there's there's more than that I'm I just left practice before I got here no very good very there's a lot of teams so thank you to the board and all the volunteers that make it happen because without them it wouldn't happen uh general public comment limit to 5 minutes do I have a motion to open the for the public comment so move so move second all in favor I I I would anybody in the audience like to come up and address the council at this time good evening good evening council members my name is Stephen Kish live in Washington Township I just want to follow up on something uh uh Mr Sears brought up councilman Sears brought up uh the council mayor have done a really outstanding job recognizing our outstanding athletic teams in the past in this town and I I would encourage you to have the same response for our academic to cathon team there's there's a terrific article in the pasak press this week if you haven't seen it about this team uh I'm familiar with aadea one of my kids you know 10 15 years ago was in acade acadeca it's an interesting activity they take 18 kids nine are starters nine are alternates and they have these meets where the kids on their free time are taking tests they're they're taking a an actual academic test they're participating in an interview they actually get interviewed like you go to a a job interview they get formally interviewed in other words they all have to get dressed up in suits and and so forth they have to give a speech and they're graded for all of these different things there's also a super quiz at the end which is kind of a fun competitive thing that goes on uh this group of kids this year uh had has done something unbelievable they're the state champions so uh Westwood Regional High School are the state champions in the academic de cathon so I hope that the council and mayor can uh at one of the future meetings before the school year ends can formally recognize his team and let's treat them the way we treat the athletic teams in this town uh they're an outstanding group of kids they're led by math teacher uh James Thomas in the high school has been doing this for years you can look at a picture in the in the article of all the uh sequential awards that that they've won over the year and this is the ultimate one becoming state champions and we hope they do great at the national uh but they're represented this town terrifically and they should be recognized so thank you thank you Mr K would anybody else in the audience like to come on yes Mr just real quick uh I also want to recognize councilman Casio and and coun president to sen because you guys did recognize the wrestling team and recognize another sport so you know we are we are going to we are going to do something that just we just found out this week Mr K so it's on the agenda yeah I just sure May the mayor and I get get together and get the information we just found out about it this week that that being said we're proud of all everybody both academically and I mean these students are amazing in this Township you know amazing the best thing I ever did is buy my where it is because I get to see the kids walk to high school as freshman and leave as seniors and there's so much growth it's the best thing I ever did it's so satisfying so they're all all good kids sometimes do bad things but they're all good kids yes Mr okay thank you uh council president mayor council president and council members as you aware I am the chairman of the planning board you just state your name I'm sorry should have called you by your name thank you sir thank you I do I get a minute back Susan I just started so no okay thanks uh mayor council president and council members as you are aware I am the chairman of the planning board and have served on this board for about 15 years the last year and a half as chairman over the last 15 years I would need to use the fingers on both my hands and maybe my toes to count the number of admins that have served the board and is due to this revolving door around the board admin position that on occasion things fell through to cracks for example board member board minutes not being prepared on a timely basis or not being prepared at all receiving planning board applications and agendas right before meeting and we cannot forget the automatic approval of the gorger Place subdivision application finally over the past three years the planning board has stability in in the board admin position tonight I'm here to support Grace Kish our current planning board admin I learned last week that that Grace was served with a rice notice I was shocked to say the least Grace is one of the hardest and mo no Grace has one of the hardest and most stressful positions in this town's Administration Mark you work hard too besides her position on the planning board she is also the admin for the zoning board this the seamless functioning of these two boards is dependent upon Grace properly executing her role and responsibilities and she does it very well just spend one day in her office maybe even a couple of hours and you will witness firsthand all the activities that Grace needs to manage the numerous phone calls from applicants contractors real estate agents and the delusion of application doc documents that has to be sorted and sent to board members in advance of a board meeting and on occasion there there are some that get little spirited with Grace and in those cases I tell Grace to have them call me I will take care of it right Grace okay lastly since Grace took over as the planning board admin about three years ago our meeting minutes from years past and I mean years ago are finally documented and up to dat current meeting minutes are prepared right after the meeting and presented to the planning board members at the following meeting for review and approval meeting agendas and documents are timely delivered to the planning board prior to the meeting so they can be reviewed for hearing and application in closing instead of reviewing and challenging the appropriateness of Grace's salary and position the council should be given her a pay raise in the next budget I strongly believe that her salary is not Equitable with the value she she is providing the boards and to this town and to all she interacts with on a daily basis thank you thank you Mr spe so I I just want to set the record straight I've worked with Miss Kish for the last two years and just to give her the praise that you just gave her that I would like to give when she comes up I don't know how this whole rice thing is becom a a a a negative thing we cannot physically give her the Accolade she likes and I agree 100% with every Accolade you gave her and I would have gave them to her I'm going to give them to her when it's her time but we've made this such a negative thing legally we have to rights notice our employees to discuss anything about them whether it is good or it is bad promotions you get right noticed demotions you get right noticed yes so it has both but this all we're doing is following the letter of the law the previous Council last year right notice people they didn't get this negative ity nobody up here has said anything that this is going down a negative path and I just want to set the record straight on this days for me I am right noticing the employees as the law states for the state of New Jersey to discuss their employment right it is not whether we discuss it in a positive way or a negative way they need to be rised council president I just want to add some clarity as to why um so I don't know where this whole negative Aura came and these emails that I've seen going around Town Hall setting this defense up that we're going after the employees in my heart there is nothing uh pers I'm not trying to persecute anybody at Town Hall I just want to have the free ability to to give Mrs Kish her her accolades right but if I don't rice her I can't do that legally see I'm see I'm under I'm confused as well because I would love to be corrected but what that's the law I I called I've called I've called the league of municipalities Mr Mr PA has made has given us guidance I've been through promotions I've been through demotions with people in my staff and the state and that's how the law works and there was never there was never any ill intent of us rights noticing people Mr PA I just can I just I just want to add why this might be what I understood Mr parer say is that the law went through a few revisions over the last 10 20 30 40 years but the way it stands now a rice notice is required when there is an adverse job action that's why everybody's upset but that's that's what I understood that's not true can I can I just jump in here a little bit uh I mean I I hear a lot of people interpreting what it is I thought I went through this pretty clearly last time what I basically said was if you want to discuss employees in a closed session you have to give the employee the right to say I do not want you to discuss it in Clos session I want you to discuss it in Open session in public if you're going to discuss it in public you do not have to have a rice notice so I I just want everybody to be clear about that there's nothing there's nothing that says you have to have a rice notice if you're going to be discussing uh a position in public but then why in the past that we stopped talking about I I I went through this last time and and and I'll go through it again so there was a case that came out that talked about giving rice notices Whenever there was any when Whenever there was any action being taken was on the agenda the Keen case but it went up to I told you it went up to the Supreme Court it got reversed okay okay and and I went through this last time I'll try and go you know I'm telling you again basically the rice notice is used to protect an employee so that a public body cannot discuss their employment behind closed doors and gives the employe the right to bring it into the open and to have the discussion about them in open now when people get rice notices they may get uh uh concerned over it uh because basically what you're saying to them is we're going to be discussing you in private that could cause people concern so that's the rice notice uh situation is that they have a right to say that you have to do it in public okay okay Mr pauler can I uh just to point to Clarity or to further emphasize the ability to go into close sessions one of them is for personnel correct correct so if we were to speak about a position and the person who holds it by default it goes into closed is is that a fair statement no no no it doesn't go default there's no Default about it it you have to you have to say you have to pass a resolution you're going into closed and you're going to if you want to discuss something in closed and the rice notice basically says if you intend to talk about somebody inclosed you have to give them a rice notice first so that they could say I do not want you to be discussing me in closed I want you to discuss me in open we we can't make that determin as a as a council we can't make the determination to have the discussion in public because it's an employee right no no I I don't know where this is coming from except except except except except except that there was a case that talked about that but the right notice is the ability of the employee to take the discussion out of the Clos session and into public council president by May hold on just so if we wanted to speak about Mr Dar Carlo okay uh and we put that on the agenda about his performance his I'm assuming his salary and salary action would be part of that yes discussion that that would be a Personnel discussion that would go behind closed doors it doesn't have to go behind closed doors the employee if you're going to talk about the employe and you are going to be talking about him in Clos session he has a right or she has a right to say I don't want you to have it in Clos session I want you to have it in in public a council can we elect to have those discussions in public yes we don't have we don't have to go into Clos to have those correct that's correct but in the past we've been stopped Mr okay I don't know how many times I have to go through this I in the past okay so there was a case that came out from the appell division that talked about that and the it was taken up to the Supreme Court and they reversed that decision so if you want to talk about an employee uh and you're not going to go into close you can talk about it in public if you want to go into close you can go into close and but that's how the rice notice came to be because a board of education went behind closed doors and there was adverse uh action taken and the protection was given to employees to uh make a discussion be in public Mr Paulo can I ask you a quick question though just on the flip side if if there's going to be a discussion about an employee in Open Session and that employee is not aware of that going to be a discussion isn't that where they have that right to have the rightest notice you know in other words we give a rightest notice to say that there's going to be a discussion like you said clearly that it's the employees right to decide if it's going to be in in open all right they'd rather have it in open but how does that employee know there's going to be a discussion and if it's held and they don't know about it what happens do you follow what I'm saying well I I think I follow what you're saying you're talking about being aware of things so there's going to be a discussion about so so hold on so if the if the council is going the council now has sent out rice notices to a certain number of employees right right that is correct okay so the the the agenda we did not buy any we we decided by the list we went one3 one3 and you made it public okay and you're going and and you're going to you are are having that in public I mean you you notifi you you said you're going to be having these people come to into uh uh be notified I mean you're notified they've been notified and they have the right to come back say the open or close again you know you're taking the the wrong approach the the the the rice notice came about from the open public meetings act because it gives everything is supposed to be in open except for the exceptions and the exceptions are listed and you have to pass your resolution to go into closed but if it's going to be a Personnel matter inclosed that's when you have to give a rice notice that's that's that's the most I can tell you is that's what a rice notice is so so what you're saying is we could discuss any Personnel at any time whether positive or negative without right noticing a person as long as right as long but it's just a position not the name correct no no that's where that's where the whole thing gets thrown out because we what what happen what my inkling for Rice noticing is our new handbook now puts the position with a name in the past the position was all by itself but that's just to us that's not that's that's public record some there it's it's operable well well I asked that question and we were told that this is not available to anybody no the budget's not available to anybody but that's where it is yeah but no but that list is available if I if I opener that list tomorrow and say give me all the all the employee um uh positions with the name it's available then so then you could surmise that this person is this person so that's what made me because we can't just say uh the administrator while he's sitting here I know I'm picking up Mr and then and then say say just say the administrator when he's sitting here as the administrator like we all know it's Mr D so the same thing goes with other departments like if we talk about a different department you know exactly who that person is so if you don't rice them and let them know that we're talking about that department how do they know that they're being talked about and that was that's basically what I was getting at that's my whole thing for racing is and just to be okay well okay well here's let me just jump in there if you want if you want to do that then send out a a notice it's not a rice notice you could send out notification to anybody you'd like if you feel that you want to notify employees that they're going to be talked you know that their position is going to be talked about at a particular uh council meeting well then send them a little note but it's not a right notice but we did the same right notice I I went through the minutes last year Mr Mr par and we rice notice the former Council rice notice people last year for the same reason the same way I'm sorry but I don't recall right noing our employees last year no there has never been in a time that I can recall where the entire employee bank has been R notice that not that not to my recollection I don't recall any any time any Council in the in the history that I've been there has right decided to Rice notice the entire employee Bank of people oh we did we did it we did it two years when I was on Council my first time we definitely WR noticed everybody two years in a row I don't recall that that was the guidance we were given here's the bottom line it's better to just rice notice them and you protect yourself whether it's an open or closed that's really what that's really what we're doing okay it's basically a a general blanket if we decide to you know discuss them in open we can do so apparently now without any consequences and we can do the same thing in closed they've been rice noticed so it's protecting everyone it's supposed to protect the the right of the employee okay and that's what it's there for for all right but we we're we're still in public comment period so let's wrap well that's that's that that's the Genesis of it and that's why we did it it's better to be safe than sorry and that's what we and that's what the guidance we've had in the past Mr poer um from from you and that's you know that's where we're going to go with it yes Miss councilman Casio this is my third budget the last two years we have not rised noticed our employees just correct I didn't say we did okay no two years ago you did WR notice employees so this is new on my 10e here president may I make a quick comment I kind of wait till the end um yes um obviously there's a lot of confusion about rice notices you know it it it is stressful uh but I'm going to say a majority of the council members ran on a 10% Municipal tax cut I hear from a lot of the employees that the salaries were saved the last because they're concerned that that promise is going to try and be met by salary cuts and so I hope you understand how this is very stressful time for the employees putting those two things together that's fine thank you anybody else in the audience like to come up and address the council at this time anybody in Zoom any hand just give him a minute taking Mr kish's advice you asked me to wait seeing nobody motion to close the public comment period of the meeting some of second all in favor I thank you ordinances adoption second reading introduction first reading ordinance number 24-7 and ordinance rev revising the criteria for losap awards to members of the township of Washington volunteer ambulance Court motion to introduce and pass ordinance number 24-7 at first reading by title I'll second it roll call oh sure sorry SC so I know we had a presentation last week couple weeks ago or a couple weeks ago the last meeting excuse me um I just after reviewing this I just don't see how we're incentivizing uh activity or uh I guess um response because there is between 166 and 190 uh points available MH you know the calls and the uh assignment to the operating schedule um you know is 90 of them but there's still a large opportunity to get you know significant uh amount of points without writing without being on the schedule you know I'm just I'm I'm sort of reacting to what the uh what the stated purpose of the revision was was um you know I don't know if I'm reading too much into it or making a wrong interpretation but I just feel that if they want if there needs to be a change and they feel there is we certainly should change it I'm just not sure that this is the correct incentive to get that uh response I I I asked a similar question like you did during the meeting and I believe the ambulance course said these revisions would help them either attract or retain members and then we said we look at it we look at it at the end of the to see if it was working or more revisions were needed that's how I understood it Mr I believe u Mr Greer that was here he was stressing the point that um certain members are taking web classes and they're generating their credit for the loap instead of responding to calls they're making their credit before the end so this plan is to modify reducing them taking all these web places to get them back into the routine of responding to ambulance draws and again he did say that it was a was a kind of a trial period to who helping to retain or attract new members we may have to look at this again for is that okay that's fine did everybody else get the same thing out and he said I believe that other other department do yes other towns were doing this so any other discussion roll call sorry councilman CIO yes councilman Sears yes councilman yes Council valz yes council president the sen yes resolution number 2 4-28 authorized publication of ordinance number 24-7 and schedule a public hearing do I have a motion so moved second all any discussion roll call on before I'm sorry and second was Mr Sears yes thank you I'm sorry on the wrong line before sorry that councilman Casio yes counc yes counc yes Council BL yes council president yes individual resolutions resolution number 24-29 authorized an emergent appropriation prior to adoption of the 2024 current budget in the amount of 3,989 34735 do I have a motion so move second discussion does this [Applause] um inis uh catching up for some of the uh shortfalls from the initial uh budget or temporary budget uh so I think we charged uh some expenses to for instance the grant a grant uh waiting for the budgets to be finalized so uh does this uh accelerate the correction or is this just a straight percentage Council actually there's there's two parts the first part is basically this is necessary to get us to the point where we adopt the budget for expenses that we'll have to pay for um and also um if you look at page six on this report um where it mentions the two pension lines unlike the other accounts which are basically at 50% of last year's they have to be the full amount because those annual payments are actually du April 1st and you have a 30-day grace period so they have to be paid by April 30th to avoid any penalties and division pions are very strict with those types of things so that's that's why if you compare the first temporary budget to the second that's why the second's a little bit higher because of those two two account they're on page six a little more than little more than half the down yes no it's the library contribution and the pur payment right well no no the two I'm talking about are the two pension payments for the the 247 and the million 8 they're because they're do equal period so they're they're the full amount for the year which is why it's a little bit higher than first temporary bu so it's a 26. whatever per plus the pension payments is that correct right like everything being equal it will be basically a little bit less than uh double what it was original but because of uh and the majority of the reason for this is because of the two pension accounts yeah there are a few other accounts that I had to make a little bit higher just to convers until we adopt the budget but dollarwise this those two lines represent probably 90% of that I would say and again this this will get us to the point where where we won't have any issues fulfilling our obligations until we adopt the bud so which which is why it's necessary at this point answer your question no councilman yes it will help us exite that okay thank you any other discussion roll call Council Casio yes councilman SE yes councilman man yes Council valz yes council president to sener yes resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined have the unanimous consent to the council and will be enacted in one motion should any item require independent consideration any council member may have such item removed from the consent agenda does anyone have anything from the consent agenda to be removed resolution number 24-21 0 authorized refund of recreation registration fees lacrosse coachi and the amount of not to exceed $130 resolution number 24-21 authorized refund of use facilities fees Washington Lake iation the amount of not to exceed $200 motion to approve consent agenda resolutions so move second second roll call councilman CIO yes councilman seers yes councilman Omen yes Council valz yes council president to sen yes adjournment to conference agenda do I have a motion so move second all in favor I thank you uh conference April 8 2024 their Administration we have the DPW building um anything to report tonight Mr Mayor no again just uh leaving it on there just keep it at the Forefront of people's minds when are we looking to make a decision on that I think we'll have to once the budget's over then we'll get back into full swing on that yeah are they the architect though is working on the plan that was discussed to go above yes yes okay so there is act there's an action being taken just not on us at the moment correct thank you under Council ordinances of legislation non financials the auditor for 2024 uh M wowski has put a um a sample uh I guess advertisement from last year for a new auditor what's the date on that the deadline uh just had it open I just folded the page it's we had to go out twice last year okay because we had one and then we went out in January then we went back out I believe it was in the beginning of March but this is just a sample of you know the wording and that if somebody wants to change something just by only say so and we'll do it or and your time frame and you want to do this fine it's going to be for 2024 so it's not like it's got to be done before no it's got to get you just got to do it but at some point before the end of the year anybody have any uh any corrections or I just I just see Township auditor 2025 correct on the on the prequalification say 2023 still it's going to be 2024 this I going be 2024 yeah and then whenever you you know if you like that we go out with it you tell me the date you want to buy whatever you know meeting dates whatever I think as long as we have it back by June 1st right we'd still be in compliance Mr PA or Mr Corran for the auditor as long as we have the udor for this year in place by June so that you can do it later than that we can do it later oh yeah no no because 24 would be would be done in 25 correct so they're doing the 23 AIT now so till a year behind you really have until the end of the year we just set it to July 1st bring is that okay with everybody we'll bring it back in July everybody okay with that Mr Al yes back on the agenda for July deadine the deadline ju for the next meeting to for us to review the the candidates that submit all right so submission by July 1st yep when is our meeting in July uh July the middle that's why it'll give us time it'll give us time to look at it that's why I Pi only me that's you have 15 days to look everybody have yeah you have like 17 days after it comes in to look at it July 15th yeah 14 days then everybody okay with that m yeah and what's the difference between the two one was earlier date and the other one was second date we dat it twice okay that's all did one get a better response I believe the second one did I think we had three candidates and I'm sure since we did it last year but is it request for qualifications or requests for um aren't we asking for a vote or is that that's all part of it they have to put a proposal in there it's really an RFP well you want your qualifications don't you so just you want to see the qualified how they're qualified I mean I'm sure makes no difference to me you know question I'm sorry should it be a request for qualifications or a request for proposal oh okay the proposal is included in the calls but Mr Almond's asking should it be a request for proposal request for calls that's fine I mean it like it's working so everybody's okay I'm okay we leaving it just the way it is all right under miscellaneous meeting date April 22nd what's what is well Mr PA reminded me that that oh yes I am sorry I'm sorry the 20 we set a meeting date on Passover so when we shifted it the only the only thing is is that it might play into our introduction of the budget yes can we move it is there anything on the 21st or somebody we on 21st Sunday I'm sorry no we're not coming in on Sunday no we're not coming in on Sunday I'm I'm going 23rd I'm going to conference that night so if we could push if you have to push to the 29th to the 30th but I mean the 22nd it's I don't know what Mr 23d is Tuesday I wonder you can't do what about 24th mesday Thursday Friday Wednesday 24th Wednesday so we'd have to move it to the 29th the 30th now the only thing is that the DCA I asked if we would be able to introduce the budget on the 22nd before this came up yes um she said we could do on the if we don't do it on 22nd possibility of putting to that week um it would help some of it so what about if we move into the week before what meetings do we have for the week before right now we have the 15th and 17 that's saying we have budg meeting on the 15th and the 17th and 16th is zoning zoning we can't do that so what if we want the the Thursday night oh you can't do Thursday we got to get it to our financial guide days I mean wrap it up on what did we say we were hoping if we could wrap it up on the 17th Mark and I will said that night and go over all the numbers to make sure it's correct and then he could get it off to the financial and then I think we're we're in pretty good shape to be done by then but we'll have to see 22 we can't we can't have Mr PA it's Passover so we don't he doesn't have to be here for the introduction of the bud is anybody else does anybody else have an issue with being here on the 22nd for Passover I understand it's a religious holiday we did not was not was not taken into account so is everybody okay with leaving that on the date I'm okay I'm okay Mr CIO Mr Alman are you okay with it uh I think it's um I mean it's one of the highest holy days of their of the Jewish calendar I don't expect him to be here though excuse me I don't expect him to be here Mr yeah but we should just respect this not having a meeting not only it's not only a issue of Mr PA I think it's an a broader issue of our yes constituents yes you know so why don't we try to wrap it up for the night of the 19th which would then 17 the 17th excuse me which then would give you the enough to still adopt it on the 22nd right that's not three days I'm confused what's that I'm saying not to have it on the 22nd no no I'm saying if we could wrap the budget up we make a point that we wrap it up on that the second meeting of next week this way Mr Dara and Mrs wowski can get it wrapped up and sent to the auditor okay but what about the 22nd that's what we're looking for we cancel for the 22nd is the 10 what's that when would you want to introduce it which day 29 30th is that you're looking at yeah I would ask for the 30th only because then I could be in here on Monday and get the pack it together that's as long as you don't think it' be an issue that's fine everybody okay with that so the new meeting would be the 30th yes okay yes it's okay with that I can the only topic would be the introduction only top no no no no April 22 is an actual council meeting people you have to remember that's what's on the that's what I question unless you met on the 22nd and it wasn't we cancel the 22nd we cancel the 22nd meeting and move to the 30th is what I'm I'm request I think Mr Alman the same request so this way we observe Passover without having the issue of not knowing yes is everybody okay with that yes yeah all right now the other thing I have to ask Mr par can I ask a question now that we've done this hello you hear me he's muted do you can hear me sorry hello Mr my only my only question I have to you now is that the resolution that we just introduced the ordinance with says that it's going to be on the 22nd can we go back and amend that to say would be the ordinance that we just yes you can do that yes so can I I ask for a motion to yes address that yes everybody follow me what's the number one number 2408 yeah but you have the resolution that goes 247 and you're going to have um yeah 24208 if we can have a motion to amend that I'll make a motion to amend resolution number 24-28 to be the April 30th date versus the April 22nd date do I have a motion I make the motion do I have a second second roll councilman cassum yes councilman um I'm more here Council Ms yes councilman Alman yes Council bz yes council president to Sena yes thank you very much so we will we will cancel the April 22nd meeting and move it to April 30th that okay Mr poer yeah that's good by me okay thank you Mr Pa thank you Mr Pa thank you thank you okay 2024 budget discussion uh continuing so let's open up our budget books okay can we take I guess can we take a 5 minute break if everybody's okay with that everybody okay with a 5 minute break sure e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e list I think Mr Mr so we start with number one uh right on page one uh administrator 41201 -110 136 782 requested 136 782 recommended do I have a motion let me catch up page one oh yes okay uh motion so I was seed have a second second second discussion so we're not uh so we're addressing this list for the open we're going to go to the open ones and then we'll do some more and then I want to go and then we'll go to close just so we can at the end this way we know we but I want to go through the open ones first if that's okay Mr okay so the first one on the list is 41201 0110 administrator and we have a motion by Mr Sears and a second by Miss VZ so my only question is um just contemplates and increase correct yes 2% all right um 2% cor so last year there was uh there was no action taken I believe because there was a arrangement for an additional week's vacation is that that is now passed and this is the 2% and the vacation goes back to the uh schedule no the vacation stays the X week vacation stays yes cuz he's the the position has given up that week indefinitely of of a salary increase like it won't build if that one week does not add to the 2% in future years but the the the the trade-off was exchanged that week of the Rays that I think it worked out to be almost to the penny um that the the week would stay indefinitely I don't believe so I disagree with that okay well I I was here and that was the understanding so was it so you're saying in 2023 Mr D you gave up your raise for an extra week of vacation um I don't know that we should be asking the employees directly so I he's been red so it says you can talk about him it doesn't say you can have a dialogue with him otherwise Mr full of people so you believe that the 13400 includes giving up that that one week of of extra vacation well adding a week of additional vacation not giving it up oh excuse me but it gave up his 2% raise to add a week of vacation correct so the 134 was the same as the 2022 salary correct and it's not that I believe it I I know it to be factual so 2022 and 2023 remain the same in order to get an extra week of vacation that's correct okay and how many weeks of vacation does this employee get um that up him to three weeks okay and it's 35 hours in the office correct it's 35 hours what does that mean is he not here 35 hour um yeah yeah the the position Works more than 35 hours it's a mix of remote and in office okay thank you so the extra week when I think it's five years uh when it goes to three weeks does it then go to four weeks yes it does okay so I don't understand how an individual uh position can forego one raise one 2% raise and get and essentially buy a extra weeks vacation for the rest of their career yeah yeah it's ative that raise do not factor into 23 24 25 that that money is not paid in any of the future years so wait he doesn't have three weeks vacation this year has two weeks was just last year he got an extra week no it's ongo oh okay I I thought you just said it oh if I misstated it no it's indefinite for for as long as this employee is in this position and our employee handbook allowed to that I I mean I wasn't on Council so I'm just asking a question um I I don't know specifically if it does the council at the time approved the action uh when we brought it to them I think we approved only that year we didn't proove it ongoing and if if we have to go back through the record we'll go back through the record I don't think that's what the I don't think that's what the action was I can't speak for the action I don't your suggestion you're suggesting he gave up 2500 a week indefinitely for one extra week of vacation in one year no he gave up 2500 total that would have been his raise right but no not we he gave up $2,500 total for one weeks of vacation right but now if if you take it the way councilman Casio is saying it he's not getting that 2500 this year but you're saying he's not entitled to the third week that wouldn't make sense it makes sense to me it makes perfect sense so you would give up you would give up a 2% raise for an extra vacation week one year apparently he did yes he did for one year no ongoing no that's not let's go back to the record I'm going to ask to table this one and go back to the minutes those closed session minutes okay so we can revie that this is why we have employees who are very upset because they can't counter things from year to year wonderful yes it is wonderful that's how we treat our employees the first one right out of the gate well the first one right out of the gate has a special has a special uh discom from any other employee that only gets two years up until their fifth year and this particular employ this particular employee now is special disc disc compensation for being here for two years or three years so I don't see how that's fair to the other employees to be quite honest with you y this employee asked and in conjunction with the council it was granted if any other employee wants to ask we would certainly take it under consideration and bring it to the council I would like I would like to go back to the record because I think it was for one year that's my recollection okay um who's going to check what record what are you looking for go back okay can I just can we clarify what's the question here the question is that this employee did for did not receive a raise in 2020 three correct correct for an additional week of vacation correct with with that now becoming in perpetuity that week vacation but he only lost the raise one year while all all other employees only qualify for two weeks so if all the other employees decided to do the same thing would they qualify for the same thing which I don't think is valid Mr Mr Mr Alman asked a question so I I should let Mr Alman speak to what he's trying to yeah so when this came up I had asked in the I had asked as a member of the public and it's not allowed under the employee handbook because the employee handbook doesn't speak to it the employee handbook doesn't speak to it and Mr paer indicated that it was approved as part of the budget process so it was a Count Council granted that extra week in lie of a raise and I guess I'm questioning by foregoing one raise one periodic raise you have an extra week's vacation in perpetuity and to me that just S I don't understand how that financially Works to the benefit of the town and the taxpayers so that's my question so so I guess what you're trying to say is those dollars that we spent in 2023 are going to be additional dollars in 2024 because his rate is higher so now his week of vacation I gave up in 2023 is worth more in 2024 and going in the future if he would continue to get raises like if I got if I earned a $3,000 vacation in 2023 and then when you had 2% on top of that that $3,000 vacation is now a 3,000 plus 2% vacation so it's increasing yeah but I I guess it's it's more fundamental than that it's would would you forego so the argument last year was if I recall that um the salary for the compensation for one week's of vacation essentially equated to the raise that was being forgiven correct so if that's the case how is that um different this year how is that different this year you know so we're giving a raid essentially we're giving a raid um we're giving a extra week in perpetuity for the $2,000 or whatever that 2% was uh last year the town is saving 2500 a year in granting this additional week of vacation every year from the fact that it say stagnant from 22 to 23 now this year it's in for a 2% based on almost you could say the 22 salary because it didn't get anything so I think I and the employee believe that that was the tradeoff so right now the 136 782 includes 3 weeks vacation that's correct correct with the 2% and the employee gets all the work done that is required of the position say the taxpayers money uh every year to not build on that 2500 plus 2% every year or whatever the annual increase would be in future years but there but there is a net Delta in the future years because that those dollars that he for you know he forgoed in 2023 and now 2% higher in 2024 so there is a Delta we're not saving as much we're still saving but we're not saving as much um well you're saving us the 2% that would have been built on that is not built on that it's not factored in I mean you know again if we want to demoralize this employee um I will instruct him to work 35 hours as opposed to you know anyone picking up the phone calling him at any time and getting a response that is he he does respond every time every time I've called him he has been diligent and I appreciate all Mr Dar Carlo's uh great effort he's made in this position compared to people in the past so I think Mr darari does pick up the phone every time I call him I've called him during the week I've called him on a weekend well he's texted me on a weekend I've texted him back so I'm not disagreeing with uh anything you're saying Mr Mayor and there have been plenty of days where it's his quote unquote day off and he is still conducting business I've I've even spoken I think that's part of being the administrator I mean that's yeah but if it's I mean it's been we all when when you're in senior leadership we all have to do more it's it's it's it's a it's if we're going to go based on the handbook I think the handbook would say different so we can look at it as the letter of the handbook or we can look at it in the spirit of the handbook he definitely puts in way more than 35 hours and I'm going to say right now then if that was only for last year then I'm going to change my recommendation for 4% raise this year because that was just last year so why should he give up 2% in in fatuity for getting a vacation an extra week in one year so if this Council wants to cost the taxpayers more money indefinitely I don't think that's the question I think the question is was it was it in perpetuity or was it a one-year deal but if it's a one year then I'm changing my recommendation to 4% because then he got robbed of 2% every year and that was not his understanding nor my understanding okay any further discussion on this well I'd like to we want to table it last but I'd like to motion for the well we already you already motioned for the number that's there we I thought that's a motion for discussion yeah for discussion yeah so so I would like to motion for the 136 782 but I just want to make sure Dr did you make a motion to table this or not or you just wanted to table it uh I wanted to take a look at the uh the record at the minutes my understanding was it was for one year and I think that think I I don't I wasn't in the meeting so I can't discuss it I until I look at the meeting that's you got no I thought that's that's how it was so so what would you like to do I would like to motion for the 136 782 with the 3 weeks vacation I I second that any discussion roll call Casio no councilman Elman no sorry councilman Sears yes Council woman blz yes councilman Des council president Des yes Administration I thank you for that mik it's the right thing to do administrative secretary 41201 0120 6,474 requested 6,48 recommended so I just I guess they just rounded it up uh that's 2% correct that is according to the chart that is 2% yes do I have a motion to discuss yes second second discussion yes if anybody deserves a raise she definitely does well this person has this Precision does extraordinary um runs DPW does town events um I I can't talk anymore about how she handles professionally and I've been there when people have gone off on her and she's still or maintains her position and her cool extraordinary worker like like all of our our employees are but she just has that little exception thank you Mr thank you council president well we can speak of them by name correct yes and I just I just had one question uh Mr Mayor this position was filled midyear last year right that's why there's a discrepancy between the uh actual and the approved I'd like the administrator answer that yes sir she she began position in March I think all right that's why I make sure that's why there's a discrepancy there yes that's fine I thought I thought she started mid like first quarter where was any other discussion ladies and gentlemen I just I want to speak to ranada who has been an absolute blessing for the position um Bern AET was wonderful Rada has exceeded my expectations like councilman Seer said she is a go-getter she stays on top of it all she's so organized we well with the public professional um she has helped out tremendously in so many of the projects that I've tried to initiate um so I thank her personally I think this is you know this is a dime in the bucket for what she brings to the table so I'll motion for the full amount but we already did oh okay any other discussion yeah how long has uh this employee been employed by the town a little over a year and has she been offered uh an accommodation on her vacation or buyback or however we're phrasing it no and she has not uh requested one and I apologize February 13th of 2023 I thought it was March 13th February 13 thank you any other discussion roll call coun Casio no councilman Sears yes councilman om man yes Council bz yes council president Des Sena yes I just need to find the next person uh Mr to Carlo would you a to help me where that person is yes the purchasing assistant no she sorry she Chang it no she changed it to open she Chang yeah purchasing payroll qpa recycling coordinator I just so what are you looking for sir whoever that that's Dina teria yeah corre Dina tabok I don't know where page she's on and um I don't know if I can tell you yet cuz I think you got to make a motion but we have to adjust that number just to remind you because we took it out of financial services is to put it in her salary the qpa number right so you'd be you'd be voting on a different number than the 52 all right where I just need to know where she is that's all oh job I miss it Miss it right after the administrative secretary oh I'm sorry I wasn't picking up you putting down purchasing assistant one oh Pur oh I'm sorry it's got so many she's got so many titles I didn't know which one it was so all right so now you said we pulled out the qpa at line I just want to make sure know where so qpa took came out of financial services fee page 10 at the bottom quit I was lucky uh yes so Financial Services fee originally was 23,000 we took six out was a which was a Roundup of a little bit um the exact number is 5,916 which would be so last year oh can we talk start talking about yet oh I just need to make a give me one second uh purchasing assistant 41201 z-14 52 592 requested 52 592 recommended do I have a motion so moved second discussion I guess can we let Mr depalo just continue on where the numbers came from thank you so under Financial Services fee last year in the budget Council approved uh the 23,000 23,000 included Lurch Vincy Bliss and the stien for qpa which was increased from the previous year 4800 to 5800 as a collateral Duty last year we did not ask for any any percent increases on collateral duties or meetings or anything this year we did request a 2% increase on collateral duties this is just the first first one we've come across that would clarifies what I'm just calling a collateral Duty so her salary line said 5259 592 I'm requesting that the 5916 be added to the 52 592 coming to a total of 58508 that total number of 58508 would include a 2% raise on the purching assistance um salary from 2023 so 5159 + 2% is 52 592 the addition of 5916 5,916 is a 2% re from the stien 5800 last year I hope that wasn't confusing so that's how I came to the whole number of 58 508 so if we added 5800 to the 23 and then put a 2% on all of it that's how I'm coming to the 595 508 again know maybe jum the gun terrific employee that wears any hats is our qualified purchasing agent which has incredible amount of benefits to our town one of which is increases the bid threshold from 175 to 44 which in turn saves US money she's also P how does she how does she get the qpa typen now is it an extra check no it's it's divided up in the payroll and uh councilman Omen brought up um I don't know if i' call it concern but you know he brought up a good question why was it being paid out of that um Financial Services fee and I really couldn't come up with a better answer other than that's the way we've always done it so in correcting that we took it out of financial services and want to just make it the base salary which includes purchasing qualified purchasing agent in that purchasing assistant line so essentially it wouldn't be a stip anymore it would be it would be folded into the salary she does a lowp too uh well she has there's a couple things that have multiple people's hands in it so she she does it along with joy well it says loap and qpa stien on there so well on which one you look at on the line we're taking the money out of it's the loap and qpa stien is the 5800 right and that that just included so so somebody else getting part of that loap no no no I'm sorry if you read it that way it's not how I intended it that line was AFS budget review ads lowp and qpa stip and so the lowp is referring to the Lurch Vincy Bliss fee okay so she's not getting paid anything extra for loap all right it's the way the comment and everything was was that loap and letting me clarify that no she's she we're not requesting any that's part of her job as well as it is as part of someone else's job too and she the total of the two is paid as a w W2 absolutely and what about the coordinator Rec the recycling coordinator is a different person has it changed since the oh my gosh I'm sorry I'm I'm I'm confusing myself the recycling coord needer is the same person yes so since I've been here that's been $1,000 stien that's being split now between um DPW and this person yes the DPW employee and and Miss tabia tremendous amount of work $500 is is uh is is nothing because obviously you know that position allows us to get the um recycling tonnage Grant which is um like $223,000 that we received this year tremendous amount of schooling tremendous amount of reporting so but that $500 sir is not included in this line so it would be the 58508 plus the recycling coordinator so just for this discussion and ongoing the rest of the budget I just would like to understand what you're referring to as salary and a style okay is there you know is there a so the work whatever you call it salary or stien the work is the work so that's not really the question I guess is there a distinction that you're making or that we should be making in looking at this so is a stien so and I'm not saying they're light for light but the mileage stien is never sub hasn't been subject to an increase in the 15 years I've been following it okay so you get it so is this now considered salary or so what we're doing based on well the way it originated with the qpa sipon is because it was an outside person right it was a so then last year was the first whole year that Miss tabok was the qpa but again and just not getting getting to that part of correcting it that's where it was in the financial fee then you brought it to my attention hey yes that's it's more accurate to fold that stiping into her salary she's always going to be the qpa while she's here the recycling coordinator position although she shares it with another person may not always be her be be be Dena I'm hoping it is but that's why we're keeping that still as the stud so that's kind of the origins is how I understand the qpa working and um goad are you so just for transparency if the role happens to split again at some point you'd like to combine it to one line or you're should we keep it separate the qpa and the the purchaser no I I think that I we just add to that line all her things so we know it's clear well I don't I don't think we should especially since recycling coordinator no I'm saying qpa to this line yeah we we are that's the orig so there's going to be purchasing assistant and qpa correct well I can just change the line to qpa because well you're not but you don't want you mean add it purchasing assistant you don't want to make a qpa cuz then it looks like you're paying a qpa 57 58 Break It Out Underneath p I mean will she no I mean I can say purchasing assistant/ qpa yeah I can do that but I think we should definitely keep the recycling coordinator but again it goes through payroll all the appropriate taxes and um are taken out of the $500 Mr what what lines have you coordinator under then that's going to say where it is the recycling coordin it's far it's real low down in the the budget yeah so that that line when we get to it we'll still ask for a th000 and then just understand 500 goes to Dina 500 goes to a DPW employee so this line that you're voting on will just be this is now we're now folding that qpa stien of $5,800 into into the line for purchasing assistant making one line for 58508 okay and 35 hours and is this an exempt or non-exempt position what's that me is it eligible for overtime or not oh no none none of the town hall employees are are eligible for overtime if that comes up again the only ones are the the contractual employees which would be DPW and police no no telling how employees are are can receive over time well our hourly ones right be overtime okay yeah all right it be straight time somebody over exra hours I satisfy both our 35h hour employees do not receive over right thank you so um and again I know you didn't ask and I know you believe me they frequently all of our town hall employees come in early and stay late so they get the work done whether it's 35 36 and I know you didn't ask that but I'm I'm just letting you so my only concern and Canen drop off I don't think he stays for the budget portion I don't know if he stay Mr PA are you still with us or did you leave us my only concern is if yeah I'm here there you go my my concern with this is that um if they are non-exempt if the role they are performing is non-exempt and they're not being paid overtime are we risk okay so I I wasn't getting the initial conversation so give me that give me the uh the initial conversation so I I just asked that we were discussing one one position one role and I asked that they were working 35 hours yes I asked if they were exempt or non-exempt and uh was were told or the discussion was they're not eligible for for overtime which I understand so they if they work 38 hours or 40 hours they get paid a 35h hour salary so my question to you is um do don't they have to be classified as exempt or non-exempt based on their role and if they're non-exempt don't we have to pay overtime you know I would think yes but I'd have to look at that we have a policy on it I just don't have it with me we have a policy on overtime so and I understand there's a policy on overtime but uh this is It's a federal yeah there a federal law a federal La comes from our insurance company we didn't modify it at all so they're salary employee so they generally do more than 35 if they on their own they're not demanded to do it but if they stay late on their own they don't put in for overtime so and I I've seen more than enough settlements where so you know and again not to underestimate the skill set or underestimate the effort or the knowledge but when I look at some of the job titles and descriptions you know it causes me to thank you br let me explain any other any further discussion you're I'm sorry you were vote can someone just check my math just 58508 yeah that's why I was just going to double check that's what I came up with thank you you're welcome all right so um we have a motion for councilwoman bz a second by councilman Sears Rollo will be councilman Casio no councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes yes Council bz yes and council president Des Senna yes the next one is inclosed the next one we have is assistant clerk elections Health secretary which is on um which one Lisa oh yeah where's that so it's on page page six yes she's going to have a couple different so assistant to clerk 41201 120120 49980 requested 49980 recommended do I have a motion move second discussion it's a 2% raise just in case that question comes up let's just go have to say that it's a 2% raise any discussion Michael although it would require jumping around do you want to handle a person or do you just want to handle line items as they come up because this person draws from more than one line yeah I think we should do all three line it that's get rid of all three of them just like we did the last one so so it's we're on 40120 one20 one20 on page six I have a motion we have a second any discussion what's that so what is a assistant clerk what's the going rate for an assistant clerk a lot more than this if you look our our surrounding town just like every other position we've been told she's a certified Municipal no even though she's not certified if we look at her JW classification I I think so it it almost exactly almost exactly mirrors your job responsibilities yes just going to the tab of her job description because if you guys did go to her job description it might make it easier only because it has um her description for everything she does so assistant the clerk and the Board of Health secretary which which will be next do we have any well let's get through this line first so yeah no I know I'm just telling you that the class ific has everybody everybody any other discussion on this line well so I don't know because it's uh the role reports to the council versus reporting to the administration if they have input previously on this or but you know it seems like it's awfully light but you know I would like to understand if we could I'm trying to find uh the page Mr give me one second unless you found it already here it is um assistant to clerk Board of Health secretary responsibilities responsibilities Alcoholic Beverage Control animal licensing block parties budget preparation collection of fees planning board site Development Council meetings Daniel's law deposits monthly reconciliations ecology permits dump permits election June primary November General Financial disclosure statements landlord tenant registrations limos licenses minutes monthly clerk Revenue rep reports no knock registry when requested notary services opras ordinances resolutions postings on website Public Notices raffle licensing records retention requisitions Road opening permits PSG and viia soil moving permits Towing I think we should add more money to this treent Health Department she's the deputy register of budget preparation five Advisory Board of Health day meetings per year certified copies of marriage licenses debts so this is under her other stien correct this Health Department there a second stien flu Clinic licensing establishments in the township licensing snack stands marriage license applications process issue licenses monthly Health revenue reports pool licensing rabies clinics in November registration of vendors under Tao which would be Animal Control right yes dog bites unregistered pets complaints rabies clinic assistance um and that is the end of her long list of Duties I think we're a little light on the money for so may can I ask M uh mayor colmer excuse me um when you have done other assessments of uh Market have you included this role in those assessments um no I have not not not this role okay because I I think it's too broad assistant to clerk can mean different things to different municipalities and some it's a part-time function and some it's a full-time function so it's hard to get a Apples to Apples comparison on Market on this understood I mean I would I would like to understand taking into account the mayor's comments um you know what some of the assistant clerks in neighboring communities uh I'll compensated that do you want to table us until we get that information or me I they going to have to R notice have to R noticee again depends you want to make a motion to adjust it Mr Alman well I don't want to just adjust it I mean i' like a I'd like a basis of what the uh surrounding towns are doing at this position and we could you know there's a motion to approve it as is yes we could approve it as is change it later on you know so could we we revisit uh leave the motion as is and then see if we could revisit what other assistant clerks are getting in other towns and present it at the next meeting do you feel that it's when you said too light you're saying that perhaps there's a need for an increase is that what you're getting at yes that's what I'm applying I I you'd agree with them yes yeah obviously what she has on load we're not paying the proper amount for her but I will I like I like Mr Almond's I'd like to approve it as is and then get a a response back of what the surrounding areas are uh paying their assistant clerks agree as long as we have a duty of what they're doing I agree and then we'll revisit this before we finalize the budget everybody okay with that yep I'm okay so I'm going to leave it as a check mark but we're going to revisit all right so let's roll call at the existing item 49980 requested 49980 recommended with the uh ability to come back to this later on and revisit it once we have more information from surrounding assistant clerks good yes roll call councilman casso no councilman Sears yes councilman Olman yes Council woman valz yes council president desum yes what's the next line for her's elections right so that's down sir before you on Miss wowski is this something you can assist with through your I guess your messaging with other yeah I can look and see what the the latest one has um that I have because I have a feeling I might have put that position in there but I have a look we we wouldn't would it be accurate to classify her as a deputy municipal clerk well that's something that's been said for a while but it never wanted to go for but does it need one of the certifications to do you don't have to be certified to do that as well and you know it's not well we could revisit that also if we want to that's what we want to change your title to and that's a recommendation counc president may I make a comment yes um I I want as much as our employees are entitled and are working for however if that's the basis you're establishing for raises uh to do be it fair we have to apply that to every salary in here um you can't just go based on the volume of functions you have to go based on the volume and quality of work so I do have a concern although I want to see our people get increases where it's deserved again we we just wanted to revisit this one that's and we may not revisit it once you know so well so I completely appreciate that uh mayor kalamari but and correct me if I'm wrong but there have been large salary adjustments outside of the 2% if we call it that in Prior um prior budgets that didn't address every person M they were specific to a an individual or individuals so you know that's my yeah that's why we said let's revisit it once we have the numbers so her the second line is on page eight election salary and wages 40120 one21 100 150 requested 150 recommended that's not all that's not all no that's you know I I saw the path I'm sorry to jump in but I saw the path you were going no that which number are we looking at this is not the 212121 one0 0 that's on page eight correct yes correct that is not the split between the that is split between the two of us so I what my my comment was going to be is that how come that didn't get everybody else got a 2% raise why didn't that line get a 2% raise that's why I understand that which which line the on page eight election salary and wages if we if we stick to what this budget pretty much entails everybody got a 2% raise including in their siphons except for this line and a couple other lines I believe miss me and Sue had some conversation regarding that Sue did you want to discuss that I was just told to keep it the same uh by who by me oh it was just a direction from Administration in general that we were trying to keep everything level and not look for anything over and you know I wasn't going to argue it because iig what to you remember I'm certainly not I mean I probably leave that to the mayor but I'm sure you're you want to recommend so let's so this is the second part why I didn't put it on there this is the second part of cornelius's thing motion but that it is or it's not but it's not the full amount that's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying to you it's lumped in between the two she gets paid I think it's $150 or $125 per election if you look at the salary comparison chart yes she's in for 125 per election thank you my it's right here I got there you go just see you know so Lisa Cornelia Corel is right here yes it's 125 per elction per election right so two times a year well yeah get more right yeah no no for elections cor only gets 125 total right but I believe the other no the other one she gets one the board the Board of Health meetings she gets 125 per meetings but for elections it's 125 total no per election per election which is two of each year two of each year Primary in general okay because doesn't say that here but that's hold yeah it doesn't specify yeah it should say 125 per election like the line below it says 125 per meeting we can add in the future years right but I mean we go by the salary ordance that's exactly where I'm going right now are you pulling it up yep okay thank you and then her third thing is um page 4 Health secretary which on here it did we vote on this approval this up I'm looking this up just to make sure coun well on a split line item like this it's going to be hard to vote the line item than one person draws from it the way you're doing it so unless there's no discussion yeah there's no discuss all right so the clerk gets $400 per election and the um assistant gets $125 per election and that's twice right that's 10 that's 1050 yes okay so we have a motion for 4012 01211 100 for 150 requested 150 recommended do have a motion so moved second any discussion this is the it's 400 for the clerk for two for total of 800 and the assistant gets 125 and 125 per election so that makes 1050 but I guess to your question is it uh where these stiens or they remain flat they got they got a non-applicable for a percent increase it's list under Sal salary wages I think that's what Mr was getting at as opposed to yeah it's part of their salary yes but but they did not get an increase so my question is should if we're applying a 2% with the exceptions highlighted I mean I don't know that sort of goes back to the earlier question of what's a stien what's a salary you know the recycling coordinator didn't increase yeah but the qpa did so the same you one did one didn't so it's like where I I guess I and again I don't I don't know the scope I personally don't know the scope of both of those um to me the qpa sounds like it's a much uh more burdensome position for lack of a better term to the employee and it it it's part of her primary role so I I I mean I that's how I rationalize that it's salary not that recycling coordinator isn't but it is aable I mean I I don't know how to how we Define it and Ju Just to point out although I'm sure you're all seeing it uh for the first three years that position paid 950 then it jumped to 1050 so I guess the real question is are we going to increase it by 2% annually or are we just going to review it like every two or three years and give it a bigger bump than what the 2% would have been so perhaps we could just somewhere on this call it either a salary like a you know $10.99 or understanding that the other ones are M and other ones are stiens and MH they're they're treated differently yes you know they're reviewed every three years or every two years whatever it is right any further discussion on this line roll call councilman CIO yes councilman Sears yes councilman Alman uh yes Council W bz yes and council president the Sena yes so now we go to health secretary where is that page 46 page 46 ladies and gentlemen [Laughter] okay it is uh 40127 33016 Health part-time secretary 21 142 requested 2,142 recommended do I have a motion I'll make the motion have a second a second any discussion this is all her salary [Music] correct roll call coun Casio no councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council yes council president to sener yes okay the next one we have is Joy a no no no sorry secretary meeting fees you have to go down one more line please oh okay uh Health secretary meeting fees 401 27330 170 625 requested 625 recommended this is another zero line increase do I have any discussion motion second a motion so moved second roll call you do any discussion there's no there's no chance councilman  uh yes councilman Sears yes councilman Alman yes Council bz yes council president to7 yes now we're done now we're at Joy a par think she's in the front uh we're going to go to page 11 11 halfway down the page tax collector 40120 [Music] 45110 uh do I have a motion 67 626 requested 67 626 recommended 2% so moved that's 2% yes sir do I have a motion so moved second second yes that's 2% any discussion does this office have night hours Mr uh when need be yes we we tried it it didn't seem to be beneficial for the residents um so now we extend to night hours during the I think it's the grace period correct and and during you know when it's when pay aree yes so on the quarter on the quarterly Grace periods we do have night hours because I gotten complaints that people had come here and there was nobody here and they had to come back during the day so that was last that was last not recently was last year that that's been addressed okay any other discussion ladies and gentlemen uh just because you brought it up so does this office have night hours just quarterly when the tax payments are when people are coming in to pay taxes and that's during the the grace period you said so two weeks of was it two weeks of grace period no 10 days 10 days well it ends up two yeah business days versus calendar days one okay you know okay I don't want to put misinformation uh so it's uh the last night of the grace period okay thank you I think it's important to understand that we try it and the feedback that we received was it wasn't beneficial to it wasn't we weren't find it beneficial to have consistent night hours on Monday okay however it is advertised when we do have the extended extended time for the residents during the grace period so just be only because we're on this line how how does because we have an early dismissal on Friday or the the hours are less on Friday but part of that is there are extra hours up front mostly on Monday I believe for those departments some Department well one department and that's the clerk's office so when we went to this new schedule we consulted with the department heads and the clerk's office requested to remain the same as we were oh I apologize and the building department I believe is open L on Monday the other departments elected to reduce their lunch hours to a half hour where the clerk's office did not the clerk takes an hour and they stay late on Mondays the rest of the Departments only take a half hour lunch most of them which remain in their office and are working lunches and that's how um we close the building at 1:30 in the afternoon for all the offices except the clerk's office Clerk's Office closes at 12:30 on Fridays okay so they're working a half hour every day during lunch for two hour off on Fridays they get a half hour lunch which makes up for hours I'm sorry two and a half hours a week right it equals 35 workouts okay any other discussion on this line roll call councilman Casio no councilman seers yes councilman Omen yes councilman uh councilwoman FZ yes council president to no Deputy Treasurer where's that one it says Deputy treasur um Health coordinator that might be before it what page that's going to be page nine oh it's before Deputy Treasurer benefits coordinator Deputy Treasurer benefits coordinator 40120 1301 160 5,712 requested 5712 recommended to have a motion um some move have a second second discussion second so who is the treasurer Mr Mr uh Mr courin Mr corkman has the title of treasure okay so this employee assists Mr corpin and what I couldn't well we can go to the job pass that's I just doing chart ta I think in all fairness we could I could read off the duties and responsibilities for Deputy Treasurer that's fine if you have it already yep benefits coordinator HR oversee pension Health Insurance Dental 457 plan which is investment plan life insurance enrollments which include changes updates inquiries employee liaison vendor liaison coordinate efforts for possible plan change and uh you know I'll digress for a second this is the individual that's implementing our new health care and saving um the township significant amount of money uh to continue Revenue collection she's our Central cashier preparation uh of the bill list manage monthly quarterly annual payments and reports for Board of Ed Library Health Insurance Dental life insurance GIF County taxes debt requirements pension liability COA which is developers fees management coordinate reporting with planner out police outside billing admin fees calculations Bank transfers general ledger entry processing work with Police Department on collection the loap report which we talked about which is coordinating the paperwork new enrollments updates member inquiries annual coordination of contributions the 1099s preparation reports coordination Corrections mailing and submissions to fed and state electronic and paper our bond band coordination which our paperwork signatures Bank wires update to general ledger with in conjunction with the CFO bank leaon with Valley Bank updates changes in paperwork signatories transfers wires overdrafts uh NSF is not coming to mind not sufficient no non-sufficient fund supplies coordinate positive pay security and on that just so you know um she was um imperative in having an upcoming meeting scheduled with another bank not that we're you know not going to cause hysteria but the CFO and and Miss par as the deputy Treasurer are always looking to see how we can improve our investments with the bank get better you know service from the banks some banks are very competitive right now they're offering us a lot so are in conjunction with the CFO schedule the meeting upcoming meeting with the finance department to see what other banks have to offer us that we're not receiving already Bank transfers check signatory for payables unemployment audit Le a on order during the year and during annual auditing esro account management which is a significant Duty that again all these are outside of the tax collector uh process Township Engineers there's this many you know we have several Engineers to work with as Len beckme Boswell invoices engineering Road opening escrow refunds resolutions escrow shortages performance bonds uh dealing Mr PA on escrow accounts and continue working on open payables and constant communication with engineers and applicants records and retention management and uh may I add that I I know um seems like the clerk's office it seems to be a popular office for people to select when they're going through the phone tree and uh Miss AAR even I would love her to do this because it takes time away she never uh Dodges a phone call from a resident if she can help them in any way um she takes time out of her day she doesn't just forward the call um so again that's very much like the clerk's office a lot of people go to the tax colle ctor um and then you know it continues on to the escrow responsibilities escrow releases and and so forth so a lot of duties for the you know the amount of money that we're asking for motion any further discussion ladies and gent roll Council M Casio no councilman Sears yes councilman Alman yes Council woman bz yes council president the Sena no um Grace Kish planning zoning board U for the adjustment secretary is on page let me know when you're ready and I'll explain how we do this too 2019 secretary salary right here it's for it's on page 19 is the secretary salary right yes if you can 4 let me just get it introduced yes sir 40121 180130 it is 20,000 requested 20,000 recommended um do I have a motion so moved second any discussion thank you sir so just to inform the council if you put your thumb there and you just go to the next page which would be 21 you're going to see zoning office slbo Clerk another 20,000 so in 2023 her salary for administrative duties to the zoning board and the planning board was a total of 37 I'm sorry 35,000 so we're requesting a increase of $2500 in each one of these lines bringing Miss Kish to a total salary of $40,000 but it's still a part-time no oh no it's between the two it's fulltime now it's fulltime yes we brought her to fulltime last year so last year she was doing full-time for 35,000 we were hoping to readdress with an appropriate increase for 2024 oh 17 and a half and 17 and a half I yes sir thank you any further discussion ladies and gentlemen is that office closed one day a week yes we we allow um Miss Kish to work from home on that that on when uh no I forget which day I think it's Wednesdays um that's when she usually um takes the private time she's always accessible how and she does answer residents emails um she's just not obviously the phone she does check her m messages she follows up that gives her her private time where people aren't interrupting her day constantly again it's like the clerk's office high miles you know high volume of people coming in you know Mr Des can you know attest to that that gives her time to catch up on um the minutes from the you know the several different meetings she she administers during the month so yes we do accommodate her in that way and yes to your to your question I think it's Wednesdays I forget it's I believe you're cor yeah pres um Grace is probably another hard worker that we have she's brought up the planning board minutes and the zoning board minutes when they were like years behind she's always has the updated paperwork when you sit on a planning board um I have never experience um not having the proper information when when Grace is there so um I just want to throw that out there she's an exceptionally hard worker thank you council president sorry Council M here council president if I can just piggyback on that when I first came in as as we moved in finishing 22 and starting and completing 23 um she always brought several brought several initiatives to my office of telling me how things need to be improved and worked towards it with another employee we created cheat sheets for the residents um you know reorganized the whole process of how people go through the system and informing them you know shows shows tremendous amount of initiative and doesn't just bring the problem brings the problem and the solution you know F fantastic employee and again another one that deals with very unhappy customers that have their own timeline in their in their mind which I can totally understand you know everybody thinks they're going to get their permits the next day and unfortunately all those complaints fall on Miss Kish and she has tremendous customer service uh I can hear it firsthand because her office is right next to mine so thank you for listening thank you any other discussion when we brought the minutes current was that outsourced was for some of it I guess it was it was so far behind and I think we adjusted the line this year to account for the fact that um it's back solely on Miss kish's desk for responsibility yeah as you've seen Mike she has the meetings from ad minutes from the prior meeting available for the next one for approval I understand I just and not to take away any of the effort she's making but I recall last year there was I believe it was last year the discussion of Outsourcing the minutes to catch them up so you know not to take away that she's not keeping them current but uh there was a separate effort to pick up the backlog yes yes that's absolutely correct yeah but however she had to work with that person um to get them done so it's not like she just passed off the whole thing it requires a little bit of coordination between them they have to come back they have to be presented they you mean and and in addition well we're not asking for that in this budget correct no we're not just did further explain Mr alman's you know question we didn't make race fulltime until the council approv the money for it which you know by that time was you know almost probably May June you know before we had the money for it not you said I recall that so and it wasn't very much money I think I forget what line it is but I think it'll it'll come to us when we get there but we're not asking for that this year no no any other discussion before youbody voting on those two lines then we're voting on 110 first and then we'll flip the page to um SE motion be on that yes we'll do a separate this is two separate line items I want to keep it separate just the the basis for the increase is is really market and length of service and what is the length of Serv uh you see in the notes that she's a 4-year employee on the budget she says that yeah only coming fulltime last year a certain point yes sir June of last year right that sounds about correct yes any further discussion roll call councilman CIO no councilman seers yes councilman yes Council valz yes council president to Sena yes flip the page to um 21 21 it is um oh did you want it to 40121 18510 20,000 requested 20,000 recommended do I have a motion there's another line for yeah that's what I was going to say well let's let me finish this both also what's that she's on both it's so what do you mean she's on both secretary both okay let me let me let's get through this line I'm sorry motion with by Mr sear or Mr L Mr or no no anybody motion yet on this yeah I you motion and Council you second or vice versa vice versa I'm sorry any discussion roll call councilman cassum no councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council woman bz yes council president TOA yes zoning board secretary meeting fees 40121 185140 17 00 requested 1,700 recommended do I have a motion Some Mo second Mr CIO and Mr Sears thank you 13 meetings at $125 per meeting do I have any discussion roll call oh I'm sorry I do have a question so for the other for the council for instance is are the meetings baked into the salary no yes unless they're over oh the for the clerk or for this this individual no for the clerk oh the clerk yes it is up to a certain point me yeah right so yes except if it's over right well that is in so you are required as part of your job to attend 21 or 22 meetings and after 22 you're compensated up to up to 10 up to 10 maximum 10 10 extra yes okay and are you in the zoning and planning the only are those the only extra meetings are the those the only roles that have meeting responsibilities the he also that we just we did and cour do court session for that session so is there a reason why we compensate them differently because if they don't have the meetings in the months they don't get paid right this is they don't have they don't have like a July and August meeting like zoning board sometimes goes months or planning board goes months without a meeting so once they're canceled they don't get paid for those meetings correct I believe correct yeah so it saves the town money yes so she only get paid those meetings that she attends if there's no meeting there's no stien right is that correct Mr Right yes yeah yeah that's why you see 13 meetings because that's the max they can have in one year unless they go to special meetings for any reason a big application but okay rall councilman cassum yes councilman Sears yes Council mman yes Council woman valz yes council president yes on the previous page planning department secretary meeting fees 40121 18012 it is 12 3,000 requested 3,000 recommended $125 per meeting what I think it's 25 meetings right isn't there two a month and plus the re think reversed it I think planning is what once and Zoning is twice no zoning is only once planning is twice plan I'm sorry any discussion roll call a motion I'm sorry motion motion it's 9:45 it's getting late second R call councilman Casio yes councilman sear yes councilman Omen yes Council valz yes council president to sen yes motion to to um I lost my sheet resolution number 24-22 Personnel various departments employees motion to enter into Clos session do I have a motion second I'll second all in favor I I have a comment before you take the vote um an employee asked me today um if the council has made an accommodation for the clerk position uh since that position is enclosed um but yet the clerk needs to be here to take minutes I think that's the way it's always been done I I'm just saying an employee asked me about it and felt that it was an unfair Advantage well she has the right to either public or close so she's going to right but but it's not fair for her to be listening to what the council is saying like everyone else if they opt for closed but they could be here for closed no they can't they oh they can't then Mrs wki will have to step outside and I'll take notes just make sure I got paper here you want to do me first you want to do me last we'll do you first so we can but let's get to close first we didn't get all in favor I have a motion and a second all in favor I let's give a couple minutes president may I make one statement before we go into close sure Mr Ser um I have a text message from ex counil and Stacy feny who is adding an extra 200 to my 500 for the um um information on the oh thank you cworth so it's now a $700 reward thank you Mrs Fe thank you council president so we're going to just go into close if you're not we're not we are not coming back from close so um Ricky you'll come down and turn off the TV and microphone you're not going to vote on it you'll vote on them next meeting we'll vote on next meeting yes we'll discuss them now and then vote on them at the next meeting thank you so let's wait for Ricky to