##VIDEO ID:pVb6T2ctZiU## welcome to the Blairstown Township committee meeting for September 25th 2024 can we have an opening roll call please Kristen Mrs Lance here Mr lman here Mr makur here Deputy Mayor orot mayor Morhead here can we please rise for the flag salute I PL flag the United States of America stand na indivisible liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with the open public meeting act pl1 1975 chapter 231 setting forth the time date place and purpose of this public meeting through a legal notice published in the New Jersey Herald Andor The Express Times following the Township's annual reord organization meeting at which the 2024 meeting schedule was adopted so good evening everyone that we have massive crowd here tonight but actually it's kind of massive compared to some of our nights so it's good to see faces in the uh in the audience um we will we have a a short presentation tonight but she won't be here till 8:00 so we will skip through that part of the agenda and go right to our public comments section on the agenda do we have any public comments come on up Mike good even committee Michael Su 5x on trail just want to give you a little followup on what's going on with 50 m Vernon um week ago Monday they had their court hearing to determine what percentage who was at fault for The Dumping no news on that but they came away with they are not going to challenge the cleanup so they move now to a settlement hearing which will take place on November 13th I spoke with um bu uh Thomas barell and we've keep been keeping in touch I'll give him a call on the 14th when he finds everything out I did ask him that this hearing that's coming up whatever you put into your clean up will that continue and he said yes and they're also going to provide people from the D to oversee that clean up in fact I believe they're also going to make sure that it ends up at the right transfer station too so I'll have more news to exactly when that will start but I know that they had it starts I believe it said 90 days so I'll keep everybody notified it's a lot of work how much do you anticipate they're going to take out of M I'm sorry how much do you anticipate they're going to take out uh close to 1,000 truck loads um really well some of the test fits went out 24 to 26 ft I believe May 28 so they got a lot of work do who pays for this insurance they do okay they're not contesting it if they had contested it they would had to get a court dat and that spot is six years out wow from what I'm told so DP is pretty happy with that but we appreciate your efforts but I'll believe it when I see it that's why when the C alter I'm following up and I just want to let you know through this endeavor I did not bankrupt the town I understand but um when the cost if if it's a th000 truckloads when the cost of the cleanup exceeds the value of the property somebody's going to walk away we've been following step by step with this so all I can tell you is we follow the protocols we are a lot further along in 3 years than most people even dream of getting buron still has an there's a similar situation that you're monitoring at Hope too I think hope they have called for them to remove the f Road its entir well great job Mike thank you very we're moving and we'll make sure that it gets taken care of the right way thank you for being our eyes and our ears and our muscle on this cuz you really did uh you really did you there were there was pressure applied I know that so all great job I've learned a lot yeah do you guys have any questions just thank you I do have a question for all of you that beautiful sign would be great maybe you throw a nice little thing up just as goes through each day reminding people that they need a permit before they bring in Phil SW that' be awesome I did have question we talked about that two or 3 years ago that that would one of the things we would use that we forgot I didn't forget that good I do have a question for the mayor absolutely go ahead I'm just trying I'm trying to find him an outlet that's all your monthly mayor has there been any Talk Amongst the Mayors regarding the dumping of fil soil whatever you want to call a little we have we have a little we got wires I can hear all of you can you hear me yeah they can't the people at home can't hear can't hear Charlie what he says I have no idea where the open the open court is um that's they they we they no longer have those uh those mayor meetings it was a CO thing it would be great if they if they it would be but then you could share all the information yeah but they they they did that through Co and that that was that was put on the board of health organiz maybe you can restart I think we should it's not a bad idea that's it for uh 50 m they can hear the trees in the front of that property are dck and they're not ash trees I let the D know about that so that's where we stand that's cool thank thank you Mike my pleasure good thank you thanks mik all right come on up we haven't seen you in a while and it's very good to see you tonight thank you well I've always have questions um I had heard some Rumblings about possibility of um selling our water and I'm here to say we went through this 10 years ago and decided not to we've driven a new well since that time and I believe that it will be well to do any company that comes in will simply raise the rates and um I'm not sure there was a law at one time I don't know if it's in existence now or not that a sale of water uh would have to go to a public referendum and uh if that's true and you have it in the back of your minds i' suggest to get it on the public find before you do anything but um I I have my files from the last time and uh every anything that I have in here tells about the um problems associated with selling a water department and I my advice to you right now is don't even think about it that was number one okay now since I'm since I'm the water guy I could I could if if you're willing to loan me that packet i' I can give you the whole file I just I just had a file in my hand today that you gave me a couple years ago oh really yeah for the downtown just now looking at it just now looking at couple years I got it I got to that layer on my desk I know I keep telling myself I have to get rid of all my files and I never do now my other thing is I was looking at my tax bill and I see you double the open space tax now how much money is in the open space tax and what are you doing with the money how much money in reserve or I mean that's okay how much money is coming in at quarter from the open space tax and we didn't double the open space tax it's all right it went from um 57 uh from 023 to um4 it's almost in all fairness it's a a pretty small number to begin with what it's a pretty small number to begin with so I know saying it's doubl [Music] it's I think Walter's working on it are you I don't know what you're doing you have something to bring up on the screen or well we can't tell you right off the top of our heads right now exactly what it's all in the budget and we you know we did have it okay we we had anop absolutely yeah okay the open space Blairstown open space he has a pie chart um tax raises $280,000 quarter for year year year I used to be more than that well we're at we're at the maximum right the maximum is 4 cents we're at 4 cents right is not how we no I think there's a cap of how much you can raise it in you're get $28,000 a year from the open space tax um what are you doing with it we are we are we are trying to create a surplus again in open space which we have depleted pretty much we use it for maintenance of our open space properties which as as you know are quite a few of them we use it for equipment to maintain those properties as you'll recall we paid for the loader out of uh the open space fund for many years I think that Bond just got retired last year or this year and 280,000 doesn't go far pration yeah it's it's historic preservation and Recreation too it's not just open space but that fund that 280,000 is is not dedicated to just open space historical Recreation open space might be blue water as well can I get a breakdown that from that from our financial officer on that money yep come in and see the come and see the clerk she'll get it we'll get it for you okay $280,000 quite a bit of money and I just don't see the results of it so I'm interested in that okay I guess that's it thank you rob thank you so it's 2004 24 so about 2026 Rob will look at that folder yeah I get around to it my next term I swe no I I I actually I had the uh I had the thing for the downtown beautification that that you and I I was on the phone with him and I said no I just found something that roke in all right there's a lot of information in there what what the perils are in selling the order and I wouldn't do that well the Perils of keeping it are very expensive I I have to say and I don't know you know we talk about open space but if we do keep it we're looking at about just as to get us back into spec where we are be about $3 million that doesn't come easily for a small town how much money you just SP to that new well less than3 million yeah about about half a million half a million we already sweep to eony maybe but honestly that that well is the only value that we have we have our backup well everything in it needs to be replaced that's about a million dollars the tower is over a hundred years old spoken with our Cy about maybe going or two without with us yes yes we have spoken with them in the last two years we pleaded with m& with no interest they're half the users too by the way one half pretty much one half the users and in in yeah they they do yeah and and also in response to the the rates will go through the roof the rates are are um are regulated by the state so we can't the water rates yeah water rates are are regulated we can't jack them up they have to go up in very small increments um which we just did which we just did this year we jacked the race up a little bit Yeah but I would love to sit down and actually talk to you about this okay Joanne I saw papers and no I did not I just going to come up and ask those question just in case so well I guess my first question is Jo vanber still 14 still two months ago I came up here and I was told comments only and then tonight you have people asking questions why are you discriminating against me no I mean when when we say comments only that's really for timing it's really in In fairness to everyone so everyone can have their file minutes so if you want to ask questions that's fine we may not have the answers like with row we answered what we could but if we don't have the answers readily on hand everyone knows how to get in touch with us over the next 30 days they have 30 days to talk to each and every one of us at length we are always open for anyone so a lot of times it's Ju Just Having a Q&A In fairness to us and to time and for everyone waiting we just you know I was not at my 5 minutes was a lot less than five minutes I don't even time you you realize that only I don't even time and you know you should have you turn on Joanne's microphone so we can hear her tap that tap the mic and see no it's not you can't hear me no we're sending we're sending a tech out call very we might have on is up I think mine's working no there you go okay you want to hear me again I want to know why I'm being discriminated against you're not at all I was no well well I was told comment on me it was really wasn't maybe I I probably worded that a little harshly but if we can't we can't have a Q&A with everybody or we we'll just be here all night and we start understand that but you are supposed to open the meeting for public questions right we don't have to have the answers we that's there may not be a lot of uh don't expect you to have the ansers may not be a lot of back and forth so just understand okay so let me bring some other things up and by the way before you get started yes I spoke to the mayor about changing the format and we are going to do that January 1st okay he said Joanne wanted that and I said that's the best idea I've heard in 5 years at the well we used to at the end of the meeting open it up for public questions so January we're going to start doing unfortunately we've had some pretty low attendance you're going to be up here we can control you better up here but honestly at at the end of the at the end of the night there usually isn't a lot of people left so right um I I hate making people wait that long and especially when we were making people wait for agenda items and we're getting out of here at 10:00 at night it's so unfair to everybody so uh it's just hard to start off with a Q&A because it just it starts to ex drag the meeting later and later we want to think about moving the meeting back to 7:00 we we used to meet at 7: prior to to Walter coming in he sleeps till 4 in the afternoon though let me know I'll wake him up okay um all right so anyway I know you changed the agenda and there's some items on here that I have some questions on number 78 and N when you get to it so I just like some explanations on it I just want to know on number seven that's fixing the salary and wages of the officials if there's anything that is over and above the traditional I don't know if you had a 2% increase in in wages but whatever the the typical increase was if there was anything that was over and above that um number eight the resolution to amend the interlocal service agreement I'm hoping that that means that you are going to be going after somebody the other town for fire expenses that we it was updated again yeah oh it was yeah so that what that off that actually no that's not but the the next one you're going to ask about is yeah not to interrupt you but the the number eight has nothing to do with what you're okay think all right well all right we'll put that one to the side but anyway um come January or let me ask you even before that we need to get money for our fire and I don't mean the hose company that's not us I'm talking about the fire company itself and all the things that we do the cost that we have the water the insurance the phones the air packs the trucks the maintenance of of the building paying the the people that we have we pay the the uh Chief and the assistant and the people that take care of the trucks and the maintenance everything we provide fire services to our to our neighboring town and they used to give us money years ago we don't get anything anymore and I would expect to get at the minimum of $5,000 to help us a little bit with our expenses in the past they said they wouldn't give it to us because we didn't have a tax well guess why that no longer is the case and we need to be a little bit more proactive in get in getting some money from them that's number one number two we used to get money from them also for recreation we had a shared service for recreation we don't get anything from them they don't even have a park over there par they have a swing set over in haror everything mother mother over here has had enough of paying for everything for the other towns when we have a tax that many of our people are upset about I'm not saying municipally I know it's because of the schools but that's another issue which we'll get into in January um um also a lot of people are asking about the uh the car wash they want to know if the water is still being recirculated the way it was when the original car wash came in in their ordinance they have to recirculate the water and not dump the water or put it into septic or whatever whatever they're using over there so can we just verify that that is the case that the new the new car wash is doing that I don't quote me but I have a feeling it's a state regulation that they have to do that now okay certainly if they gutted the place and and they did changed a lot of things we just want to make sure that that is still being done that all of a sudden we don't find out that one phone call away yeah you probably find build Department GCA because I'm sure if they have a requirement to do that they have to have a system in place they have to have equ that F I hope they have to waste discharge yeah I'm I'm going there tomorrow so I'll ask them I'll ask them when I'm there um all right also we wanted to get an update on water company and Ros mentioned that um and an update on the remediation of the Walnut Valley um is if that's no no no don't tell me they found another one no no there's no no you're you're close they have to now test for other things and we just got the email this afternoon it it it it's the never going to end no never going to end all right so I guess that's it all thank you this whole thing will be much easier when you're up here if okay thank youor all right is my and the other public comment Mike go no the other mic okay Bob well no okay good a speechless Bob I don't that's never happened I know um I have to find my emplo again here on this okay moving moving along to the department head reports for the month of August we've got Blairstown ambulance Corps Blair's toown fire department Hose Company number one Department of Public Works Police Department tax collector Township Clerk and vacant and abandoned properties uh we will be addressing each of those uh reports in our committee reports later in the evening we have a motion to accept there motion to accept there second all in favor I I I all oppose all right couple of minutes to uh approve June 26th 2024 both executive session and public session meeting minutes May I'll move those two and then we'll do that separately that we have a motion to move 26 June 26 executive and public do we have a second second all in favor I allos there we go um on to August 28th 2024 public session meeting minutes I would like to move that we receive that and accept it as correct second uh I will be abstaining from this because I was not here all in favor I I all oppos abstain abstain oh you weren't here on just said that on said that on the record just said that on the record now we all know no one heard that I'm sure uh we have one ordinance tonight for public hearing and adoption 20242 it's an ordinance amending chapter 19 of the code of the township of blown entitled Land Development this is just our escrow uh raising the uh the escrow money for fees fees yeah um and that's uh from our land use board I'll make that motion I'll second it well it's a public hearing so I'm going to open it up to the public anyone with any questions or comments on 20242 seeing none we close the public hearing section and move on to adopt we have a I'll make that motion to adopt I'll second all right roll call please Christ Mrs Lance yes Mr lman yes Mr M Deputy Mayor orot mayor Morad yes all right we have a consent agenda that is eight eight things long tonight um 2024 84 appointment of Emergency Management coordinator that would be uh Nick Moore uh 2024 85 appointment of Deputy management coordinator that would be Brian Walsh and 202 486 appointment of additional Deputy Emergency Management coordinators uh that is uh Scott Johnson um the other more Robert Robert Mo and I'm forgetting the third buta Mike there okay uh number four uh 20 2487 Redemption of certification of sale for Block 1901 lot three number number five 22488 approval of sale of Municipal assets that is a uh a 24 no 34 year old truck and uh I think they selling that for $2,500 they went out to uh auction on that for several weeks and they had absolutely no takers no it's a fire truck sit the it's International I think it's a 19 some not l oh yeah the one sitting there y uh 20 2489 approving vouchers and claims 20 2490 fixing the salaries and wages of officials appointees and employees of the township of Blairstown in the county of Warren state of New Jersey for 2024 and number 8 202 2491 resolution to amend interlocal service agreement compensation to Township employees and Joanne you want a quick rundown of what that is yeah um so our interlocal service agreements uh for all of our all of our employees we have four correct would would the would the uh would the finance uh subcommittee like to do the overview on this I don't want to take away here you don't want to do I'm happy to doin I'm happy to do it um I in conversation with the mayor earlier today I'm going to reiterate that we like our employees and we hope they stay with us a long time uh we hope they retire from here all of them without exception so that being said um we were faced with a request to um review the percentage of compensation that we received from the other municipalities for the interlocal agreements and understand what portion of that uh has to be matched by flown as far as uh uh the employers uh contribution towards payroll tax and F and all the other things that we have to pay and make sure that it was in line um and previously how it was set up uh the uh funds that were received from the outside towns we would receive and 75% of that would go to the individual uh employee uh that they would receive under lown's uh uh payroll and what ends up happening now is after reviewing that we were trying to have an understanding to make sure that everything that was pension costs and as we say U the different contributions from the employer was not in any way subsidizing U whatever was coming from the other towns and that everything was proper when we started to look at that we realized that there's not really any way to calculate that there there were some numbers that were very readily available to us and there were others that we had to actually get calculations from our uh Payroll Company and in looking at that we started to realize that it was very difficult to go through and figure out since payroll um since pensions um PS pensions only builds two years after the fact uh it's very difficult to have an understanding of how much we're paying and how much we have to reserve and the whole point was to be able to have a small percent not to make any money off of any any contract or anything like that but to make sure that L's town was made whole and that in fact had a very very small percentage over and above that to cover an admin cost which seems reasonable because there is actually um you know other other values and other things that are there the whole intrinsic uh value of someone being in another location and not being in Blair's town was also taken into consideration and so what we started to look through was it made more sense that the funds that were coming from the other towns being instead received outside of um pension ability and I don't think that's ideal I think part of the um the nice part of an agreement previously is that um there would be a pension boost for our employees who are in that circumstance Kev might describing that okay um think so I think it's a nice thing to be able to offer unfortunately uh mathematically there's not really a way to be able to do that to make sure that we're correct and that we're not subsidizing another town so um the CFO and I took a look at it and we said you know what the easiest way to fix that for right now is to remove that U amount from um from pension ability but to go ahead and decrease that instead of being from 75% to being 87.5% so that the um individual U employees are going to be able to keep that additional 12 a 12% unfortunately it also makes them uh that that portion of funds un pensionable um there are ways around that and I believe our cler has researched that there are other towns who do it differently and that is something that we might look forward to in the future because we want our employees to be happy with what they're paid and we recognize that uh it's a small town a lot of these are small towns and it's the only way to be able to look for extra income uh it's a lot of work it's a lot of work um if you're 100% of the the that Town's uh staff that's how it is anyway um so for for Blair's Town's part of it we're moving from um receiving 100% and paying out 75% to instead paying out 87.5% and it's in an effort to make it more fair but you just mentioned that you're not sure whether or not we are covered for all of our expenses oh I'm sure that we are um what I will say to you is that we started to look through the percentages that we know and that there were two two or three different variable ones to be able to come from the um in effect I mean I'll hand it to you if you want um we actually got some figures from the payroll company to be able to look forward to and in general there's u in each case there's at least 2% or 3% over um it's different for each different uh employee but there are definitely percentages that we keep that are over and above that it just makes it fair for Blairstown blown doesn't have to sub subsidize any other Town um they have to cover their own expenses and that's really the fairness and if somebody from the other Town comes into Blair's town because they want to pay their taxes or they want to talk to the CFO or they want to talk to um the uh assessor or something like this and they call and get hurt who's whose insurance is that and they're from another town whose insurance is covering them any member of the public could walk into any public building any but they're not coming in for Blair's Town they're coming their town so Blair's Town's responsible they could be in the the building for any reason so that's a concern that's a concern especially in the winter time I mean honestly I honestly I could walk into mton Township or Harwood Township or or C Township for any reason it's the same thing so could I but what I'm saying is because they're here and they're working for that town there people are coming in from that town for that they come in because of construction I'm Sor to them right now but actually actually there's no dialogue here we're this is we're getting in the weeds here over this so if we can if if there I that's the best I could cover it for you and that's the best to my knowledge and I'm very comfortable with the arrangement that we've come to I believe that we would look towards a better arrangement for them at sometime in the future but this makes it square right now just one other comment that the auditor had suggested that you don't do that you do it the typical way that the other towns pay their their Fair their share and we pay our share y has mentioned that several times just to let you know taking the pensionable part out of this really gives us that that that buffer that we need where you know and and you and I have had a discussion on this on you know will are we going to end up unhook for anything and we won't which is that was the point that was what we were aiming for for here um and and as uh as committee person Lance said um we are up here earning a couple hundred bucks a month we come and go we are here when as for as long as we want to be or until the public doesn't want us up here anymore the folks that work here and we have a very small handful of really professional amazing people that work for this town we need to work in their best interest as long as it does not affect taxpayers we need to work for the uh taxpayers and the folks that work for us because we want them to retire from here um we want them we we want to retain our employees the way any good business would and uh when it comes down to it everyone who works here is working for this is you know it may be a a public entity but it's it's a it's a business to us we have to run it like a business and we take it ser seriously and we wouldn't just go handing out money that that's not there but since we're already collecting that money from the other towns um and it would just go into our our general fund our our um uh fund balance anyway and sit there um uh in this in this day and age for people who are only eligible for a small cost of living increase we can't give the the full-time employees just raises willing it has to be across the board and it has to be uh it has to be fair for everyone so we see an opportunity to make folks a little happier and able to live in a economy that costs the average household $114,000 extra a year to live we'll take that opportunity and I'm I'm glad we could so uh that being said uh I will uh since there was some some contention on uh on the the eighth uh item for our consent agenda I would like to ask for a motion for consent agenda items 1 through 7 I'll move 1 to 7 that all roll call please Chris Mrs Lance yes Mr lman yes Mr Mur Deputy Mayor oron yes mayor Morhead yes and uh for number 8 2024 91 we have a motion please I would like to make motion we adopt it as present please I second then roll call please Kristen Mrs Lance yes Mr lman yes Mr makur Deputy Mayor orcot no mayor Morehead yes all right so we have uh we have Tara in the house I'm going to uh I'm going to just pause everything here and get you up here and we'll get a an update on uh what's going on but you're not getting screenshots CU TV's not cooperating on airplane something's wrong with airplanes um am I on no you got to use Kevin's you want me to okay can you hear me now yes good okay so you said update on what's going on shall I I shall start there okay first of all for the record Tara b n Township resident and I'll just keep it simple I'm wearing the I 8611 Del Water Gap Coalition hat at the moment um the update on 611 is it was targeted to be open uh middle of October the new open date right now is November 5th open means uh as I explained last time um open except for a section I don't know how long could be as long as uh a half mile I heard that in a press statement um with signals we don't know if those those signals uh we hope to find out soon those signals will be um smart technology so if when there's a back up on 80 going this way it'll funnel that traffic through faster um don't know that piece yet uh what's also being creatively looked at is the reality of the truck traffic in there it is width restricted not weight restricted um and whatever signage they had up that they deem appropriate by all standards under these conditions um have never worked so you have traditionally Interstate um Interstate 80 traffic when there's backups going through 611 and you have truckers wanting to bypass the way station coming down 611 and um by and once they get in that shoot once they get past Portland once they get into delw water de there's no turnar around no so we have featured we have featured this thing um and there's real creativity going on about what to do about that um it is not acceptable to expect the same results different results with the same process and um they're working on that the the restrictions that are there currently I I believe they're just with restri correct 102 uh is that 8T 102 in is is not uh 96 in of permitted 102 in is not it's I thought it's a I I know it's WID restricted I should I just commit it there I I thought it was 8 ft but I whatever it is it's width it's not weak yes so um it's not even like they can bring in the scales you know the the the mobile scales and make a make a statement once they get them in there on scales where are they going anyway they're going to wind up going through so it it's a it's a problem so anyway everybody is all hands are on Deck it's being uh the meetings are being run by Congressman cartri himself um um and everybody's everybody's there and it's a very different process than we we're used to so that's the update on 611 um the update on 80 before I get to resolution discussion is tomorrow night at the nton elementary school at 5:00 uh the dot is coming to down to coming into town to do one of their one of their display shows they get to show us what they plan to do on for the retaining wall they have yet to answer our questions from the meeting that Eric was at and and our state and federal legislators um was at um so they've not answered our questions they've not provided meaningful uh responses to our comments and questions and yet they come to town U to to show off uh why they feel they need to replace the entire retaining wall while 49 panels when 38 are good and fair and four are critical being addressed right now and seven are in poor condition why they need to replace the entire wall when 11 by all standards need to be addressed um I can talk for an hour on that I shall not um but tomorrow night all are welcome to come to that and of course there'll be information coming out about what we do about that afterwards um any join us I um we're being represented well um Monroe county is going to be there Warren count at at our 5:00 group walk through Blair's Town's going to be represented well um up Mountain bethle Smithfield um Township at both sides we we in good shape in terms of representation cuz we have to keep showing up at these things and they get to check a box that says they did what is legally required under Federal rules for these kind of projects so we have to participate so those are your updates and I will shift gears to the resolution that I shared with you when I was last here um I I mentioned that we have now in 2025 we will have five simultaneous projects in preliminary engineering I'm not I'm not going to use the the slot the the sheets for the presentation that you might have Fring I'm just going to Rattle it off so in 2025 for the first time we will have five federally funded projects in preliminary engineering we will have the 611 retaining wall being designed and studied probably in an environmental impact statement because that is a n that is a national register historic places listed it is in there and we will have our and JD's retaining wall project that they want to push and we will have Rock full mitigation on both sides as projects and they have um they have their retaining wall and broken into two pieces so that's five projects um and there's no coordination between the agencies Federal Highway New Jersey and Federal Highway Pennsylvania don't work in the same offices they're not in the same region um the uh Federal requirements for environmental the National Environmental Policy Act for mea rules um right now they're separated each project will be in its own little review will it be um an Eis will it be an environmental assessment will they consider cumulative impacts which is like a big real thing that they should be doing no cross Comm no cross coordination um when it it comes to studying traffic impacts are they considering coordinating these projects in in a meaningful way to reduce those impacts and I can tell you the answer is no right now the rock the 80 um the wall project is right now scheduled for construction I think it's 2028 that is right when they would be doing the wall project on 611 um so we've learned a lot in this process with the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the the Rockall project about these processes and the other set of law the other law which is the national environment um excuse me the National Historic preservation act about historic resources our entire Delaware Water Gap is likely eligible to be a national natural Landmark as well as a natural Historic Landmark two separate designations in addition to appalation Trail in addition to sun fish pond up top which is national natural land F far um likely eligible um early in the process if that can be determined it can help things go faster for example the Native American the laki Native American tribes it not until 8 years into the rockl mitigation process did they get what is happening and the entire Delaware Water Gap is being evaluated as a traditional cultural property traditional cultural landscape that's another designation so that's 8 years in because the agencies weren't working in an efficient in my opinion responsible manner to address these things early in development so we've learned what can be done and how it can be done and that there is a way to integrate the Environmental Policy Act stuff the e e the EA and the historic resources stuff there is a whole process that happens out west all the time for big projects that out here jersey's not dealt with it Pennsylvania's not dealt with it they've certainly not dealt with it in projects that are overlapping together um and very much that's what this resolution is about it's about asking it's about picking up where we put on noon passor resolution about all this har passed a resolution about all this we had to start there because the projects are in their jurisdiction if they're not passing resolutions then we can't be going to the other governing bodies um in the county saying um can you support similar actions so Nolton um we started there um we then branched out across the river lower Mount bille upper Mount bille Portland Smithfield Township Middle Smithfield Township stb uh straussburg burrow stoud Township I stayed I started at Ground Zero for obvious reasons we're the ones blowing up um um and stayed on the Pennsylvania side because they are the 55,000 people most of the commuters that are coming through they're the businesses and the IND uh that are affected by their Freight not getting there and the visitors not getting to them so um I expand a little Beyond Ground Zero there first uh Federal highways was I'll say acting right um we had started discussions at these higher levels which is what we're at we supporting here we had reached out to find the right people to talk to and they had started talking about having the meeting as requested by in coordination with Congressman Kane's office and Congress M cart rights office and then uh they started um changing changing what they thought we were asking for and proposing having the meeting and which wasn't going to be useful it was going to be more of the same so therefore because of that I thought you know what we're going to go now extand it to the next one here we are Blair's count asking for the support um I'm I'm going to be going up to hope next same thing you know uh fire firefighting Services through you're they in the Del Water Gap and and I'll go be going to some other municipalities on the pennsylv down into the Slate Bel so basically this is saying you expect the do to address all previous concerns expressed by you guys I reference your previous resolution back in 2018 when you support when it were against The Rock ball project as go at that time for reasons that were right for L down um so you're expecting those things that were asked back then that have yet to be um pretty much responded to to be addressed and Warren County Board of Commissioners has also I should have said Warren County also passed a resolution um asking for these things and they're right there with us today no previously no that's not the meeting I was at I was I couldn't figure out how to be a three places um so you're encourage you're supporting and encouraging every possible action to safely open and maintain all Lanes of I80 and 611 of course um so we're supporting request for consultation with CQ and ACP CQ has the O is right under the president it's a presidential uh thing and they're responsible for all things National Environmental Policy Act so everything that has to do with Nea and Eis and process falls under them Congressman kan's office has already disc started conversation with them about what to do when things go around and ACP is the is right under the president that's the council that does the historic property stuff I've already been in touch with them about this um so you're supporting those actions um you're expecting a environmental impact statement study for any planned Del Water Gap project which includes an independent nonfederal Highway non National Park Service lead agency what that means is um uh these environmental documents EA Eis has a lead agency at this point I we fail they fumbled the football on clearly on New Jersey side um on the Pennsylvania side they Wen that agency wasn't able to do right things to get the tribes to realize what needs to be done to open 611 it's been closed for 2 years and what they're doing right now there now could have been done two years ago so that's another fumble so we're asking for a different lead agency and there is a process that we're tapping into this helps us with the process of getting to that um that that next level thing um you're asking you're supporting that we're requesting the Delaware Water Gap be reviewed as those those National um National Historic Landmark and a national natural Landmark um and you're expecting updates to be provided to uh very likely our clerk here and you're acknowledging and appreciating actions by Congressman goer Congressman Kane Congressman with wild they've all been on record um and Congressman c r as I said is is already engaged in all this and of course we threw in there that we would love support from our Senators so question so if I understand you correctly the um what it is is we're pointing out the multiple bottlenecks and the time the um aggravation that that will place and the difficulties that will place on businesses and residents on both sides of the river um different hardships that happened because of that not the least of which is to our Emergency Services uh that's really how how it would mostly impact us here is what I think um and what we're asking for then as a result is a different lead agency that is unbiased by some of the difficulties that we've asked for and not been answered and that we would request that that other things be taken into consideration including those multiple designations and to get it uh speeded up and coordinated in between is that about right yes okay exactly right hold on want to come next meeting I'm right there thank you reason why we can't get it on the agenda for next meeting right while you're here maybe you can give us an update on on our wild and sink love to you really want the May's Prof that's what I'm wondering you really want no I I'd love to know if it's wild or Scenic yet at this point oh thank you so um the process it's it's an enjoyable process um Karen was with us last night at freeling heisen um freeling heisen is the first municipality that we're starting from scratch you know we had been here and we had been at Hardwick and we had been at Nolton about the lower Delaware process so you guys kind of understood it and you know we're coming back when we have your resolution ready related to the pollen still becoming its potential own wild and Scenic River but freeling heisen was the first municipality where we showed up talking specifically about the PO and skill um um so and and it it's an enjoyable process people every right question you know how is government going to be possibly coming into my backyard where I have you know Riverfront on the Blair Creek and to use your context uh you know what is there any way that somebody's going to um say residence needs beyond my land to fish or or there's going to be new rules and the answer to all those things is easy to it's easy to say the answer is no the there's nothing in the a matter of fact the ACT specifically says um home rule whatever laws whatever property ownership rights somebody has whatever laws ordinances you have whatever laws D already has about especially in our state all the all the water laws um they're they're the priority so um um it's nice to be caring speaking about a project that it's just about opportunity for now and preserves opportunity for later so that I we specifically wanted to use not come here with the resolution yet because I wanted to you use freeling heisen model resolution for this project as the model resolution so um that's that's going pretty well so we'll be coming I'll be here I'm thinking probably November December how's that good yeah yeah it's going well it's fun thank you for asking thank you a lot of habits I have time it's my you know what it's my time others have done this before me and I was aware of them and envious in some way that they could do that kind of thing so it's kind of I got what I was looking for in some ways so thank you for being a part of the project thanks ter you I could never absorb the amount of information you have on your head no need for cute cards there uh all right let's move on to uh unfinished business I talk about anything Charlie has update he has an update do you have an update on that know it's Grand day I we leave it on there just to just to needle you a little bit I talked to Donald again this week and uh oh yeah Charlie I'm coming up in two weeks I'm going to be there it's like guy whatever my argument would be that the jun's farm is now environmentally safe um Donal has not been responsive I when I talk to him he's very responsive he wants to come up but it hasn't happened so I would suggest that uh if we have any developers out there or any contractors that you know have insurance that would like to reclaim a lot of wood please come see us for Jones Farm um 10 ly right now we're looking at another week week and a half before Donald shows up but uh I'm not optimistic um and when I look at the amount of of lumber out there that that uh is reclaimable by any contractor uh Again by all need please show up so that's all I have for Jo okay any other unfinished business off the agenda new business North waren Football helmet Drive that sounds like a pretty good event it does there's someone here to talk about well come on up if you want to if you want Alex C North football I live at 55 um so we've tried to do this in the past and it just never worked out with the amount of volunteers um our actual kids that are playing this year versus a lot of our prior years are down um so we're not bringing in the registration like we used to a lot of our helmets are coming of age we're not getting the donations that we previously were getting for businesses money's tight get it um but in order for these kids to play we want to be safe so the only way that I saw fit was to do a helmet Drive um you all know my husband Eric he's a fireman maybe Boop drives there kind of to play on that uh so we are asking to use the intersection at Lambert Road we will not be on 94 due to safety concerns we also will not have any children at the site during those hours it's just we don't want that at all um so it'll be strictly parents um I will be at that um event from beginning to close um Eric will be at C uh we using them as well um but uh that's it I'm just hoping you guys will let us do it so I think it'll do pretty well I would hope know firemen they do pretty well too but they kind of put out fires and things but uh no I honestly uh the the Masonic Lodge does it and they do very well so I I think you'll I think you'll do just fine and hopefully get some helmets out of that so we hope um any any questions any concerns you're looking at me now you know I got I know you got a lot yeah you know I have something to say about this I mean I would give anything to make sure that you have all the finances that you need for these young men and women that play this Sport and I'll do anything that I can to aim that um you know what happened week can a half for two weeks ago um I was glad just I I again I coached for nine years at that level but when I saw what happened I was so taken back and I I think you're your League official needs to take some action but it all that aside um anything we can do to further help you in getting the money that you need to help these young men women with their equipment who will do so net I I don't think we need is that a motion TR yeah it sounds like a motion well I definitely would make a motion that we support I'll second all in favor I all vot all right thank you for fill those helmets we you need any to see you guys there if you need any cones for traffic right I think you I know a guy I know a guy thank you uh we've got an application for facility use for the North Warren lady Patriots basketball a requesting to use the um parking lot the fire department parking lot to self property use form the the fire department not the side of the building the actual fire department okay I would make I would definitely make that motion that we support the uh young ladies that their basketball Endeavors second that all in favor there we go easy as that could we find any more correspondents for this month I just wanted to make sure you guys are all oh yeah you updated this on pretty much everything in there I'm not even sure if there's any anything we we need to highlight although I will say that one of the matters that um was presented a letter that was sent by Mr day I was just going to say Tak okay good all right yeah that that was the one that was probably the most alarming yes it is and uh we'll make sure that that I've since spoken tool officer and okay excellent um from our Township attorney you have anything for us Kevin uh good evening everybody not a lot tonight um I guess that's usually a good thing I don't have much to say uh but I did want to let um you guys know that actually just today I got an email from the attorney from the school board and it resol um you know all the issues they were kind of making MCE issues but nevertheless they were lingering on our SLO agreement so we will he's going to he he was going away on vacation but certainly the next week or so come to Christen signed by the by the school board and we can sign it that stuff excellent so that's a good very Qui thank you Kevin do you have anything for us Kristen um actually just regarding the minicipal housing um situation with the uh affordable housing for the administrative agent um like you and I sat and discussed I didn't get any um quotes yet for an administrative AG so that's why I off Thea so I'm in the process of uh Committee Member Lance thank you mayor um two things um I did get some feedback from several residents uh over the past month that they are very grateful for the new sign out front and that they keep they uh you know uh feel very well informed we had a a very positive sign up for the senior um upcoming trip for an October Fest um out of Pennsylvania and it was very easily facilitated by the fact that they were able to understand where to be what to bring with them and it was went very smoothly um the other thing is we received some information about the possibility of a grant for consolidation of school systems and I say uh I think it's a wonderful thing to look forward to um I don't know if that's something that uh we want to pursue I think it is um there's a lot of uh opportunity that happens of course the study has to happen first uh I think that there were previously uh barriers uh that each of the individual school systems had to say yes for the study and now that barrier no long exists so um that is something to uh pursue um and I see my favorite Bob halat in the room and I would ask you if you'd like to give any details about the um are very brave and a very hardworking ambulance Squad no I would some I mean I certainly have the numbers and I could read them um I was in theet president thank you sir I got somehow or other I didn't show up one meeting and they made me president it's the truth you know that uh have a brief report I you send it to committee Lance uh we got called out in a bunch of calls but this is for the previous month we had approximately uh 89 calls and traveled about 2,000 miles and most of our calls are medical emergencies traa emergencies lip assist stand by at the seni ble standby footballs search and rescue on the trail we had a few of those and in addition to these are the many hours of required training uh and other services to the community uh I think I said that we had 580 your hours put in by our volunteers unpaid obviously and forever he uh if you are a resident uh you are no longer held liable you are then either for there's no out of pocket expense if we trick come to your house if you have insurance we whatever they pay it's fine with us if you're not a resident good luck anyhow oh one other thing we now have three members of our Squad who is currently training to be EMT at Newton hospital they're it about 2 months and they should graduate probably in December and one of them is my daughter congratulations kind of osmosis and now my son wants to join the squad we're going to have our own Squad working I do understand Bob that we even have some people who are on the ambulance Squad who are um going for their RN going for uh school going for uh all sorts of different higher education for that yeah well yeah on on their own in addition to being a members uh they want to further good education and they started with the a school and they love it and now they want to become a nurse or a doctor as you know we've had many uh members who went to northw Regional who uh met get married uh you know our doctors and nurses and it's uh hey it's it's something we do not for pay it's we have the time someone went said what do we do with all the time that someone has given us if you think about it we do it CU we have the time some people want to do it they don't have the time fortunately most of us do I thank you all I thank you Mr B thank you Jo guys are a great job always have thank you very much be the old and may that that's what I have for today thank you Karen Committee Member alone yeah I'll just say uh Dennis Kean got back to me about the for Valley they pushed off testv that makes sense that all for you Committee Member mura okay I'll start off with the Municipal Court um I Tred to include the dollar value that we've received so far this year so that we can anticipate where our expenditures are going to be unfortunately the entitlement of the document that s me said 2023 and bottom PES in 2024 and there was figures in there for October November December so it's like you know I just I just threw it away because I didn't have time to I I I couldn't find out exactly what the true numbers are however I will tell you from the court from July of 2023 to July of 2024 we added 128 cases they disposed of 13311 so that means there's some of them obviously back there at class St cases they cleared 103 cases which means they adjudicated them with the judge um the backlog presently is 71 cases um and our active pending pending cases with the Frankford court is 177 when I look at that amongst all the municipalities of Mor County and I have the document here we are really really in great shape so you know kudos to them they're doing an outstanding job in the court and uh we can't thank them enough because I know their officers are happy the chief's happy um and financially we're we're saving a lot of money so it's a win-win uh I'm going to go on to the police department our newest member rigs rigs is uh performing extremely well in Union County uh Academy for dogs the school did weigh in uh on his name it was originally I forget URL okay so we did change the name to Rick or the police department Chang St the rig from dog and uh so hopefully we'll have him very shortly out on the road everybody get to beet them they're still looking for a candidate for an SRO for Warren County Regional um we did have a candidate the 11th hour he backed out chose somebody else so it's ridiculous how hard it is to find a retired police officer directions officer Sheriff's Department that wants to do this job so we're offing very competitive p and we still can't get anybody so if you know any officer that's retired recently for anybody in the law enforcement Community would be interested please have reach out for the chief um the other thing is they're working with the county to try and improve the communications again with our radio so they have um issues with that they're looking at possible upgrades everybody that is on social media known as that North waren Pharmacy guide it again unfortunately we had some gentlemen I don't to call them gentleman but uh some individuals break through the front window um thank God there was somebody relatively close that spotted them which probably alarmed them than they left without taking a lot of issue uh lot of that particular burglar if you've seen it uh is also being coordinated with the state police because we had an incident on Exit 12 um an individual got pis pistol wh just prior to that and we also had an incident in Alami Township Pharmacy um of a burglary that happened subst right after that so State Police ended up taking over the investigation and they're trying to link all three together and hopefully we'll we'll come through a good conclusion on that and uh but anybody that can help North fore Pharmacy and Frank I mean he doesn't deserve this he's been a great member of our soci our community so we wish him the best I'm going to read this for B this is from the chief resident should be aware of a scam going around involving a letter that states they have hacked their phone and computer computer and are there and are aware of their quote dirty deds and will be sharing pictures and contents on their contact list it further demands that they pay through Bitcoin to make the go way some letters have included pictures pictures of their homes that they can easily obtain through Google so for the seniors out there or non- seniors you get anything that's suspicious where they're trying to extort money from you the very first thing that I would recommend you do and the chief would recommend call the police department let them V it for you first please don't send any money to anybody over the phone because of some typ some type of extortion attempt um and lastly from the police cars we now officially have our 2023 police car in service um it took a while our 2024 car that we purchased is presently being prepped for um the canine that is going to be coming with B very shortly and other than that that's all I have M yeah thank you s uh Char Char while you're while you were talking about the SRO I I hear through the gra Bine that that the regional is doing something with with uh uh freeling high and Township school as far as SRO or whatever how does that affect how does that affect you know us bringing in an as they going to create another vacancy that we're going to need to send another SRO to the high school or would our SRO o be sent to freeling heisen Township school is it sounded kind of no sounded kind of messy no it no North North forign Regional has their own security Force if you will their only security staff that are non-law enforcement Personnel so they just recently hired two other gentlemen to join that staff if you will to where they are going to sub them out to free and high it has nothing to do with rsro our SRO is our police officer reporting to the chief strictly through Blair's toown in North waren Regional and has nothing to do with freeling class or anybody else and just won Happ St not us good excellent deputy mayor or nothing oh wow wait no no no we have that I just want to urge everyone to go down to Palina and look at the kill and the removal the dam it really came out it's really it's 90% done it looks really nice thank you thank you alter trying to steal my thunder oh you were going to do that whatever almost got almost uh all right let me see here um August fire report Blairstown host company number one they had 38 calls of Duty in August 29 in Blairstown nine in Hardwick um and uh that said they didn't have to travel all that far in uh in August um I will give uh them uh Hose Company U our police department and uh the Blair toown Ambulance Corp uh huge word of thanks uh personally for me for responding to my house um in in August and uh they absolutely the most professional team of folks that we could have representing our town our volunteers are are some of the best in the county and if you if you don't believe that you haven't spent enough time with them and you don't uh you don't realize what it means to be a first responder and there are fire department individual ual who sometimes are the first through the door at a medical emergency and there's no smoke there's no fire but there there is someone there as fast as you can you could possibly imagine and uh between our our Police Department with in incredible response times uh and and our fire department who they they when they get the call they're on the road immediately from their houses really amazing to see and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for the uh the help they uh they rendered uh for me and my mom in August um what else uh water utility uh I had a conference call with um the folks from coler's engineering today uh and we also had our um our water uh our water operator uh John on the phone as well and talking about uh what What's Happening you know currently with the state of our of our system uh we had an independent um inspection today um we we had to do it because of D regulations but we had an independent inspection of our water tower um on bler Academy campus and if anyone knows anything about that water tower they realize it's older than uh anyone in this room even Bob it's it's amazingly old but it's it's was built in 1911 um it it it is from a completely different age when you look at it you realize even the the inspector walked up to it said wow the rivets on the these are rivets these aren't even bolts and nuts these are rivets these are you can't do this kind of construction anymore and the steel doesn't even exist to make this kind of structure but that being said um it's only as good as its lining its roof its paint its Coatings uh and uh they did put a submersible in there and they did find where all of the media from our filtration system at our backup well they they found where it went because at one point they opened up the filters and said there's no media in here anymore we didn't think it we didn't have any any uh you know instances of clogging you know drains or faucets or anything well they found it all it made it way up to the tower blasted out through the inlet and piled up at the bottom of the uh of the tower there um so yeah we we had a we had a study uh an in a um uh an evaluation done in 2014 the last time that was done so uh they they did a pretty comprehensive check on it today and we we'll have the full results of that um in the weeks to come um and we also uh Coler stressed the need to um hire a uh Financial uh uh Financial advising firm to uh evaluate our assets and our earnings uh with the water company and um I have a couple of there aren't many Financial firms independent Financial firms that do this sort of thing so so I do have uh two that have been used in in other municipalities uh one is Phoenix advisors one is uh uh NW Financial Group in Hoboken um with the uh with the committee's permission I'd like to reach out to both of these uh and see um what uh what it would cost to have a um a financial evaluation of our water utility made it is something uh for the for the Lia um process that we've we've started it is uh a very necessary step and right now it's the only hold up in in advaning you need a motion on that I would like I'll make that motion I would second that motion uh before we do I just have a question sure did they give you specs about exactly what needed to be provided from such an evaluation um it's our uh assets value of our assets and um future get projections for you know where where we're going with with an increased rate how much income will we have all that sort of thing and in coner knowing how they're going to Market also as mayor said we can't move forward with this no we're we're at a standstill now until we absolutely also where did I write it down was writing on a lot of different things today depending on um and now the state in true State fashion they also need to know what we'll do with any funds that we make from the sale of the water company um obviously we have we have debt to pay still we we bonded quite a bit for the uh for the new well um so I'm quite certain that would probably go be lucky to pay that we would that's the way I mean that's that's that I think that would probably be the ask if if we get at least uh you know go even on on what uh what we've laid out over the past five six years and you know it was it was a handsome sum but what we're looking at um with the East Chrisman backup well number one the well is is in violation in so many forms right now um D mandates that you have to have a back up well we can't just rely and it has to be a totally conforming backup well and inspected can't rely on that main well thankfully that main well has been putting out a very good quality water we tapped into an aquifer that we we got very lucky uh it doesn't have the high levels of iron and maganese that we have over in East Chrisman and it doesn't require the levels of filtration uh and a as we go into you know into our the the mid part of the 20th 20 2st Century here the D is getting very very um very very tight on what they're allowing in water these days so our monitoring has to be much much more stringent and our um any sort of remediation that we have for any of these these chemicals found in the water any of these naturally forming chemicals that we have to uh it's going to get much more expensive to treat the water we're very lucky with that new well though it's putting out some some very nice water and it's handling even the demands of air um our Telemetry to the backup well is shot which means the wells do not talk to one another so if the main well the new well needs backup from Blair it can't ask so when we get the alarm that it's that it's getting close to capacity pumping someone has to literally drive to the E grisman well and turn that on um and that I think I signed a bill for that but we're still paying that well we it also goes to the tower as well so there's there's Tower yeah there's Telemetry that the three sites talk to but our backup well as far as as communication goes is completely offline um pretty much everything in that building at our back of well is shot uh not only is it well out of uh out of any sort of warranty range I mean there there are companies that made some of the things in there like Culligan they don't even make commercial water uh uh apparatus anymore yeah they're they're totally out of the game most of that stuff in there is uh predates anyone that even works on the uh on the equipment um all of that has to be replaced upon upon sale of the water company what happens to that building and property what's your what are your intention uh with since I mean we're just if we went low ball what it would cost to get everything back into uh into spec and and get a good clean inspection uh card from the D we're probably looking at about $3 million as I I told Ro yeah um and one of the and and Ro you had mentioned earlier that we would have to go to referendum in order to to sell it um we've opted for a different route and it's it's called whippa um what it stands for and is just not going to come to me my brain at this time of night is starting to shut down um but what it is it uh you're showing the DP in the state that the town has such hardship that the the water company is such a either a financial drain a um it's in such disrepair that we're not providing clean water to Citizens and all that um really just on the financial hardship alone we qualify so that allows us to um go straight to sale and not have to go to public uh referendum on it uh because honestly the the D sees that that as a pretty perilous situation um where we can't move forward with the repairs we don't want to burden the taxpayers of a 6,000 uh 6,000 resident town for uh 220 uh water bills that's that's all we we service 220 of course you know Blair is is about over 40% of our of our water usage um and we've even talked to Blair about taking over the system but no everyone sees that that expense of that 1911 Circa 1911 tank up there and then our backup well which is just needs to be gutted completely uh and the treatment costs there are are high too because of the quality of the water um that all of that put together the state says you guys need to do something and you need to do something quickly so they do allow us through a lot of Hoops that we jump they do allow us to sell the system um now I I've done and I'm I'm going to read everything you gave me here row to um the nice thing about to to our water customers the nice thing about having a private entity own it um back years ago the the private water companies the or public you know the the um the large water companies didn't really have many holders in Northwest Jersey or West Jersey at all um they've grown by Leaps and Bounds they've taken over a lot of small systems um and with that growth it also allows them the uh Financial Freedom to be able to come in and fix everything a lot cheaper than we could do it they have their own teams they have their dedicated teams that do it um and that cost is spread out over their and and the efficiency of one operator who can reach four five six different systems right they everything is computerized everything is is modernized and sted we don't have the ability to do that and the what we The Strain we put on really one person in our DPW to uh maintain all of the records maintain all of the equipment um we we run him pretty pretty thin he's there on weekends as well checking the the the well um a larger company handling this it it just makes sense for us it's and I even thought well why would they even want such a small system uh but they they do see value in it in that we do have that one very new well and it's pumping very good water and they also have one of the finest private high schools in the country you know on that system so I guess that probably looks good to them too there there and up at East Chrisman there are actually three three Wells there two or three I think there's there's a couple of capped ones um with a little bit of well with a lot of money and resources they could open up those other Wells pump other Wells and they could start running lines to neighboring towns so they they talked about that and they talked about running farther down Route 94 servicing a lot more of our commercial properties and certainly taking a lot of uh a lot of strain off of different parts of the uh of the Town may ask a question sure they be allowed to take water and transport it elsewhere you kind of touched on that because I'm wondering how that will affect the local water um what's the word for the aquer the aquafer right I don't think they're going to I don't think there's there that that would probably be a commercial Endeavor like a company that fills swimming pools and things like that um a private water company is not not they're not really in the business to do that they they have a lot and and I'm not even I didn't even touch on all the lead pipes that we have in this town that are all going to be have uh replaced by 2031 I think that's that's a state uh so that's that's another expense that we didn't even factor into the sale and we don't even no we don't have um the system is so old because a lot of the system dates back to when John Blair was alive we don't have mapping for a lot of the system through the village well we we according to our our water department we don't have accurate mapping they they they have a little hodge podge of uh sticky notes that they did once but but every line is not really accounted for the other thing is the state's going to come in and regulate as far as the fees and what they can charge yeah they they can't yeah they can't they raise the R so it's not going to be exor yeah well it's not going to be an exorbitant you know increase in the res is possible for them um to say would be supplying the water to increase our housing density in that area is there any land up there that's not developed or preserv how would they do it without sewers yeah how would they do it without sewers yeah we're not talking just water would not inrease it I mean what water public water is a nice thing uh I think certainly when you're in an area that's prone to power outages you still have your water working any anyone who's anyone who's been through any of our long P power rout just knows that but the other thing with these companies they're looking at it from the Long Haul so they're looking at 20 and 30 and 40 years from now you know to recoup their expenditures and start making profit whereas when you look at it from unici pill Municipal standpoint I mean if we spend three or4 or $5 million we want to recruit that as quickly as possible to pay off our debt where they can absorb that kind of a debt and look at 20 years from now and say okay this is going to be a lucrative deal for us yeah um so from a business perspective I can understand where they're coming from to say okay we're going to invest three four5 million in Blairstown but they're also looking at you know what's going to happen in 20 years from now you know what about the municipal surrounding players down where can we service so they're they're not they're not just looking to give us a hand out I mean it's all about money for them um but from a business standpoint it makes a lot of sense for them to do this uh there was a lot of interest in speaking to the uh the representatives that we had that that want to buy the system so I mean and I agree with the mayor this is not something we should be involved in no they don't call it blue gold for nothing and we have the resource that's very precious and and honestly we don't have the we don't have the funds or the manpower to protect it and protect the folks who drink it the way we should we we really the the the stumbling block in in in protecting that water is us even working with where I don't I don't think Blair has any interest in being in the Water Business well I have a good friend I'll see what I if you can get a foot in the door and and and start a conversation I would love that yeah love to talk to them yeah okay I know and and what actually and I was telling someone today that the uh the first time I mentioned this I wasn't even in office and I think Joann remember it was at that that budget um meeting you held at the high school and I I was listening and I didn't really I I the budget made sense to me we were we were you know trying to implement a municipal tax but I said I stood up and I said can you tell me why Blairstown is in the Water Business and no one could really answer that question yeah no one answered that I think Steve Lance tried tried valiantly to answer but even he didn't have a good answer well well we tried to sell it and they they you know they didn't offer enough and to us but you know don't forget the elementary school on there also yes um did have you checked the water numbers the loss to check the buildings vers the usage is it getting any better it's getting a lot better and and you know uh you were you pointed out that that loss of over a million gallons that time and unfortunately that was an abandoned it was a vacant house that had a break underneath the front lawn and no one knew until the owner came back and drove across the lawn and the car started sinking in and reported just it was just pooling and then going back down into the ground and it was really hard to tell by a kill my Sunset yeah behind the school so moving around to the original question what about the real I'm I I spoke to ro the entire time what about the real estate what's the plan do they do they take the real estate is that part of the sale of the water company uh how do we deal with the the little the part that's attached the part do we lease it for 100 years what how does that work I don't think they would because that we're talking about small Parcels that our Township property I I would probably um I would probably perhaps our our attorney could could chime in on this I think at least deal would probably be the best for us but you know I don't think we need we couldn't relinquish a a building on the end of that's attached to our Firehouse well we are we are yeah P property is kind of standalone I'm not sure frankly I mean our financial planner going to ask you that as soon as he starts to Valu he's going to want to add the real estate in or not add in have a suggestion for and I'll and I'll probably defer to buildings and grounds on that that so I don't that's located probably have on and if anyone has not gone as as Deputy Mayor Ora was was saying if you haven't gone over the uh East Chrisman bridge in a while and it's funny because I read things on Facebook of people that that have no idea that the dam is gone the poina dam is completely gone and they have gone all the way down to bedrock what what you see there is the actual Bedrock that that that dam was built on and not only did they remove the dam but they've sculpted the area in a way that it's it's it's pretty breathtaking it's huge and you can imagine when we get very heavy rains because the the pollen skill is very it's dependent upon rain it's it's really what what makes it flow when we get heavy rains that area is going to be able to handle that water so well and I can't wait to see next year when the vegetation grows in um they're going to do some plantings they were even working Downstream on the other side of the bridge the other day to take a lot of the uh the stuff that accumulated over the years and rocks and things and it's it's going to look beautiful on keep in mind keep in mind that is going to grow it's going to grow to you know weeds and all kinds of all also I like the community to keep in mind that property we own that property all the way down along there and that's going to be bright to sell back to D the very near future when we're all done right just like they bought the property down on bail road to it's NE it's adjacent to the the hiking you know to the bco Valley Trail I think the DP will pick that up in a second and for anyone on Facebook complaining that that's a horrible use of taxpayer money well you're right and you're also very wrong because not one dime of taxpayer money went into the demolition of that Dam that was uh the d uh the money that the D gave us all came through fines that is having a really good Department of Environmental Protection in this state and every one of these large companies and small companies and individuals that thought they could get away with dumping the fines all have to be used for conservation purposes and this was a really nice project everything else every other dollar came from donations private donors to the uh nature conserves so not one taxpayer dollar went in uh to the demolition I think think at the end of the day it didn't even the nature of consern put money in too yes there was and that's all private excess it was an excess of whatever was a $500 yeah and honestly the negative comments that I have seen from I don't know people who um fish there once a year or who pass by on their way to work or whatever else um I think that photographers I think I've seen that as well um I understand that it looks different from how it did and I understand that um just the mere fact that it's uh it's different you know the novelty uh at some point will will wear off and whatever else but if you go by the other um Dam projects that have been removed they're on the mus CL or even much closer right down uh by Warrington Road the bridge down that goes through um yeah um very honestly you see that over time the water Meadows prede and the natural species come back and the channel uh either increases in in um its depth or it's you know because of the width that's there the rushing and the the motion of the water carvs whatever it needs to and takes back whatever it needs to in time of flood and those other projects that have happened they're beautiful now and it may take some time but over the length of time I think that um you know the other concerns that people have as far as the the cleanliness or the visual or any of that will really correct a lot of themselves and the Shad don't forget the Shad the sh the Shad the Shad will make it to the biodiversity like anything else you could possibly it's self corrected BR WR there was a there's another state program the blue Acres Program if you live in a flood plane um and you're will to accept the money that the state would offer for your building um they will come and take it down for you and so don't re that's that's half the village Ro that's half the village I know but I'm think about the uel building it's been abandoned forever and um I I was in the building 10 or more years ago and at that time it was falling apart but didn't we recommend that to Genie O'Brien or something didn't she look into that we can get that taken down which which I think I think there are plans for that building what taken down mean but I do think there are plants and that's not necessarily in the flood plane I don't think that's in the flood plane it is oh yes yeah that's why half half the half the village is all right um I have nothing more any other any other things to bring to the committee's attention before we proceed to vot motion to adour Second all in favor I all V all right thank you so much for being here tonight folks appreciate it