##VIDEO ID:wx2GYDtWR90## everybody good morning everybody and welcome to the Wednesday January 1st 2025 reorganization meeting I am going to start with a roll call Mrs Van venberg here Mr lman here Mrs Lance here Mr orcot here Mr Morehead here at this time we're going to do the flag spop PL Al the United States of America and stand na indivisible liy and justice for all notice of this meeting have been sent to and published by the New Jersey Herald and Express Times providing the date time place and general agenda set forth in accordance with the open public meetings act PL of 1975 chapter 2 31 additionally a notice was posted on the township bulletin board and on the township website at this time we are going to do our oath of office starting with Mr Morehead [Applause] choose your best choose your best I Rob Morehead I Rob Morehead do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey I will bear truth that I will bear truth faith faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and the government's established and the government's established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of commitment of commitment for the township of blown for the township of blown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me so help me [Applause] go okay and at this time we are going to swear in [Music] Mrs I keep doing that is Iber i jav van venberg do solemnly swear Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear truth that I will bear truth truth faith and Allegiance faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments establish the United States establish the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform justly perform all the duties all the duties of committee woman of committee woman for the township of blown for the township of blown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God okay oh I can go up now you can go [Music] up I know you're not feeling [Music] at this time I'm going to take a motion for mayor of 2025 Madam clerk I would be honored to nominate Rob Morehead to be mayor for his fifth consecutive term and I'll second that all in favor I are you ready how do you want us [Music] angge facing you that's good pretend like you like first timeon be the last is that on I Rob Morehead I Rob Morehead do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true Faith true faith that I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established to the governments established in the united states in the United States and the state and the state under the authority of the people people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of Mayor of May for the township of Blairstown for the township of Blairstown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Applause] Mr Mayor it is an honor to pass this on to you I kind of like sitting back listening to you doing that was nice thank you and uh good morning everyone I even played to the camera for Bob I hope hope you got that Bob got your best son all thank you thank you thank you um next up on our uh reorganization meeting this morning we are going to look for a nomination for deputy mayor for the year of 2025 Mr Mayor I would like to nominate Mr wol or and I will second that all right can we have a roll call please Mrs Van vber yes Mr lman yes Mrs Lance yes Mr orot yes mayor Morhead yes let's get you yes yeah she's she's done that's right raise your right hand repeat after me get little closer I Walter orc I Walter orcut do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of Deputy Mayor all the duties of deputy mayor for the township of Blairstown for the township of Blairstown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations mayor you might as well just stay down yeah doesn't make sense to go back and forth I'll you need y now the fun part I love these guys and G GS uh and uh and I've I've watched uh I've watched you guys come up through the round and continue to come up through the ranks I um gave the uh I gave the O of office to your former Chief and I'm very happy to be doing the same again today with a with a new Chief uh we'd like to do the Oaths of office for Blairstown Hose Company number one officers we will start with Chief [Music] ready sure hi steart guys I steart guys do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear that I will bear true faith and Allegiance true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of Fire Chief Fire Chief for the township of Blairstown for the township of blown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me go so help me go congratulations up next deputy chief George [Music] this right in the air I George carrer I George carrer the third the third do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the con Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in the state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of deputy chief all the duties of deputy chief for the township of blown for the township of blown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratul you're going to do it or you're going to come up and help I know it is a lot of work I know all right next up is Captain m I Mike Pell I Mike Pella do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully impartially wor and justly perform and justly performed all the duties of Captain all the duties of captain for the township of Blairstown for the township of blown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me go [Music] [Applause] congratulations next up is Lieutenant [Music] she wasar got you got the you hold the Bible I'm a baby I Jeremy Stoddard I Jeremy stod do Solly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the constitution of the state of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same say and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of Lieutenant all the duties of Lieutenant for the township of Blairstown for the township of blown according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God [Music] B mama daddy dad D okay now the part that everyone came here tonight today for uh is the consent agenda it's really the most exciting part of the entire program I'm lying I'm completely lying we have 30 items uh on our consent agenda this morning and I'm going toh go through them real quick I heard a grown over there number one is 20 20251 various of appointments non-compensated 20252 uh cancel water utility balances under five bucks 20253 appointing local emergency planning committee members for 2025 20254 fixing the rate of interest to be charged on delinquent taxes and authorizing the tax collector to hold an annual tax sale 20255 adopting the annual meeting schedule in compliance with the open public meeting act 20256 designating authorized signat es on documents 20257 authorizing investment of idle funds and fund transfers 20258 cash management plan uh 20259 Contracting for Professional Services in accordance with the local public contract law for our Municipal attorney 20251 Contracting for Professional Services in accordance with the local public contract law for our Municipal auditor 20251 Contracting for Professional Services for our Municipal engineer 2025 12 Contracting for Professional Services for our bond Council 20253 the designation of our official newspapers 20254 the resolution authorizing execution of an agreement with uh first hope bank for Blairstown online tax payments and 20255 cancellation of certain real real estate property tax balances 20256 authorization for tax assessor to file corrective appeals and stipulations and authorization for Township attorney to work with the tax assessor in defense of tax appeals with the Warren County Board of Taxation 20257 collection of a fee for duplicate tax sales certificates 20258 fixing of the rate of interest to be charged in delinquent water accounts 20259 the resolution of the township of Blairstown County of Warren in state of New Jersey approving temporary Appropriations for the Blairstown Municipal operating budget for 2025 and for the water utility budget for 2025 22520 authorizing and establishing a petty cash fund 2025 21 resolution authorizing prepayment of certain bills for 2025 2025 22 is a resolution appointing Township committee 2025 subcommittees and appointments 2025 23 the appointment of a qualified purchasing agent 20 2524 resolution of the township of Blairstown County of Warren state of New Jersey appointing the judge of the Blairstown Township municipal court and administrator prosecutor and public defender 2025 25 the resolution of the township of Blairstown County of Warren state of New Jersey authorizing the adoption of a mailbox replacement policy 2025 26 the appointment of Risk Management Consultant 202527 the appoint of the fund commissioner 202528 authorization to enter into an interlocal agreement with Nolton Township for a Chief Financial Officer 2025 29 the resolution approving and authorizing the interlocal shared service agreement between the township of Blairstown and Hardwick Township for municipal clerk services and 20230 resolution authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute the interlocal services agreement between the pollution control financing authority of Warren County and the township of lown that's all 30 we have any discussion on any one of our consent agenda items yeah I would just like to pull um uh number 10 20251 okay uh 28 29 I just want to be sure that everybody's okay with the agreement on with the a wording on there I know it has specific hours mentioned um of of being physical in the building but it also does say that shall provide all the hours um required to furnish each town and that's be okay with that because then it goes into says physically in the municipal buildings sorry question my question is we still have on here sh hours required to furnish each town with the services necessary to perform all the required activities um so I just want to be sure that while I'm here we're not spending a lot of time in those other towns we do have hours that we will be that that each person is in each Town um and I just want to be sure that everybody's okay with that well we had a lot of we still had work to do on this um for the Personnel side yes uh can we do these maybe for one year and and finalize it get it get it a little bit more pinpointed what we think well I would suggest that we uh do that separately that's what you want to do and we can vote on that separately with your with we can vote on I'm actually okay with it just how I did else is okay yeah I'm I there haven't been any of the wording in in these uh resolutions in the past hasn't really shown a problem right here so I I'm well we did tight it up a little bit if we want want to be reimbursed those I would be inclined to to approve both as as and I have fa everybody will do their job as necessary anyway okay you okay with it I'm with it as it is so you're so you're leaving that in the consent right so we're we're we're voting uh we're voting on 1 through n and 11 through 30 well Barett asked if you would pull 30 I need to understand okay I actually haven't seen the on it I'm looking at it I just told that we're able to enter into agreement but I don't that all right so then we're all pay with 20 I8 29 andain so we will vote on consent agenda items 1-9 and 11 through 29 collectively I'll make that motion I'll second roll call please Kristen Mrs Van venberg yes Mr lman yes Mrs Lance yes Deputy Mayor orcot yes mayor Morhead yes uh and then consent agenda item uh 10 that is 25 uh 20 2510 our Professional Services agreement with our Municipal auditor yeah I I'm bringing that up because I have a bit of an issue with um the presentation of the audit uh of the excuse me the presentation of the budget being done by the auditor and then the audit auditing the budget I feel there's a conflict there and especially with uh this past year and I'm I'm not going to vote for him being our auditor I feel that it isn't a bad thing every four or five years to change because people become a little bit too acquainted and um I I just don't I don't like what happened in the presentation of the budget this year and with the auditor auditing what he's presented to me is a conflict but that's my St this this year will be different you are going to be chairman of the finance subcommittee and you will have uh a lot of say about how the budget is presented you could actually present the budget we will be Karen and I will be presenting the bud but my concern is last year um and the A and auditor auditing it I well I'm going to make sure that that that something is said about the way that's your that's completely within your your Realm of the subcommittee responsibility okay so you take the vote I'm to all right do we have a motion for we have a roll call please Christen Mrs vanber no Mr Lan yes Mrs Lance yes Deputy Mayor orov yes mayor Morehead yes uh and then there is a 20230 uh resolution authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute the interlocal services agreement between the pollution control financing authority of Warren County and the township of Blairstown we have a motion to approve second roll call please Mrs Van rockenberg yes Mr lman yes Mrs Lance yes Deputy Mayor orot being a member of the pcfa board I will abstain mayor Morad yes all right we've got some uh appointments for our land use board Walter orcut a one-year term is our class one expire iring 1231 2025 point out that the class one represents the mayor exactly you are on the uh you on the land use board as a part of the township committee representing the mayor there Evelyn tilney uh a one-year term of class two expiring 1231 2025 Mr Bob Law with a 4-year term expiring 2031 2028 as a class 4 Mike Su with a 4-year term expiring 12 1231 2028 for the class 4 and uh Charlie makura a 2-year term expiring on 1231 2026 as our alternate number two and Adam Murphy a one-year term it's an unexpired term he's coming in filling out uh that term in the all four position expiring 1231 2025 he's on uh youo that was you might Point that's true and if you're watching at home and you've always dreamed about being on the land use board and and we're actually hoping to get someone with an agricultural background I think that's that's a kind of a uh uh position on the on the board that uh we haven't had in a while and a voice that we haven't had in a while we certainly have uh still have enough of an agricultural uh Community here in blown it would be nice wait Charlie is a goat farmer though Charlie is a goat farmer go chicken farmer that's true I think we've covered this he knows his animal husbandry but uh we're we are looking for one more member and that just as a uh you know putting it out there if you're watching at all um all right anything from the committee um can I just make absolutely first okay I just want to thank the residents of lown and my family for your support on recharting to this committee I'm also uh grateful that this committee is going to be terrific to work with this year um I ran on the AC acen of care which is communication accountability responsibility and experience I'll try to keep you as informed as possible on what's happened the town little changes and spending Etc we plan on doing a PowerPoint presentation on the budget where you can ask questions understand reasons behind the numbers and I'm optimistic that there'll be good communication among the committee members and no vote will go without full knowledge of all I'm extremely proud of our employees and we are incredibly fortunate to have tremendous Volunteers in our town and I thank them all L sounds Fant fastic bedroom community we're in the we are the heart of North Warren County let us hear from you come to our meetings bu of a land use board meetings and you can reach out to me at any time email text call and I will always get back to you thank you anything from the public anything from anyone here wants to say a word all right okay we have a motion for adour so move second all in favor I don't POS there we go thank you folks thanks for coming out today