I think emails everybody have the mics on it's up to you you're good okay welcome everyone recording in progress I'll say that again welcome everyone to the chadam township committee meeting of June 25th 2024 Mr lante has adequate notice been given yes adequate meeting adequate notice of this meeting the township committee was given as required by the open public meetings act as follows notice was given to the Chad cier Mars County daily record on January 3rd 2024 notice was posted on the bulletin board in the main hallway of the municipal building on January 3rd 2024 and notice was filed with the Township Clerk on January 3rd 2024 thank you can I get a roll call please Mr Lois president Mr McHugh here Mrs Roland here Deputy Mayor Choy here mayor ewal here we have the F uh full committee thank you uh we won't be going into executive session so we can remove that um and I would ask everybody rise for flag salute please I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America to the stands one nation indivisible okay we are going to start with our Citizenship Award but I do not have it so I'm going to thank you for my apologies my notes are scattered here and part of why I want to check my notes is because there's so many wonderful things this person has done and I don't want to miss the long list of things uh but I'll start off I just wanted to uh recognize and H honor Jessica Romeo um it is not unusual to get notes from Jessica either saying that she has an idea or she's completed some work in the community uh to to better our community completely uh on our own I I have met her there's been initiatives and I found her planting plants throughout our town um involved in uh putting out um mulch uh cleaning up Trails uh for the scouts so many numerous events that she's held for our Girl Scouts uh one one that I participated in a mental health uh uh program that she ran all day and was such a wonderful program but this is just a part for the course and that doesn't even count uh her work with the environmental commission which she has led including um taking on the huge task of uh qualifying us for our New Jersey sustainability award uh which as as many of you know is a a very difficult and uh detailed task uh but leading that effort of the environmental commission and as I said uh leading the scouts um there's been a number of other things she's worked on over the years I remember when she had uh initiated the MLK luminary project you know and again got a lot of the scouts involved in the community and a lot of the uh children otherwise in the community Through the library I remember the diversity potluck that she had hosted which was an amazing event I would love to see come back to chadam uh where everybody had contributed uh things that represented their history and their background and everybody had uh bites to share maybe we were not able to do those types of things in uh postco uh but it was really a neat event um and every it brought the community together and everybody had such a wonderful time um uh the pilgrim pipe line my goodness also instrumental and there were a lot of people involved with that but she was also instrumental in making sure uh we addressed that so that wasn't wouldn't come through our community community because the worry was that it was going to come to the community in the right of way uh so she was very much involved in that project so I wanted to bring uh Jessica up to say thank you for all her efforts and I truly apologize because I know there's a list of many more that I've missed but thank you so much so much I appreciate all your efforts [Applause] than [Applause] uh so certainly if anybody had an interest in coming up and speaking I i' welcome that regarding uh Jessica and our contributions hello so I just like to say Jessica's been my friend for oh we don't want to say the years um but I met Kathy Abbott uh 40 with Windwood Road um and um met her at the farmers market another thing she well that was not leadership it was salesmanship but she had I just remember her having a business baking um the best baked goods ever really beating the other ones that were competing um at the farmers market when Asher was really little right um and also Jessica has a natur natural Green Thumb I mean she's on the environmental commission but she can grow things and um just has I know she said she was used to go to the community garden or the community Greenhouse in Maple with with her dad um and just learned just it's in her blood to grow things and to remember okay after the peas first you plant the peas then you plant the you know she knows the next thing what you take out to put the next thing in so she's always got a succession um um and so in a way sustainability is in her blood for for the environmental commission and um social justice just speaks up when she feels something is uh not Equitable not fair not serving everybody so it just comes naturally to her and um that's why I like her and I can't hug her because she has poison ivy and why is that thank you sure I want to say Jessica Romeo Pine Street I want to say a quick thank you and I think this is so important to me because it shows my kids that what I do isn't just mom being a weirdo it's Mom making a difference and impacting people and every little thing you do counts and you know we're lucky to live in a community where you can throw out the weirdest craziest idea and people will support you and back you and help you see it happen so I think that's great and that's what makes chadam chadam thank you thank you than Kathy did remind me of your work on the community garden uh and also contributing you really coordinated contributing some of the yield from the community garden to the food pantry in in uh the burrow which was which is really awesome and you're doing this on top of raising your children and on top of having a full-time job so appreciate it and and lots of respect to you as well for managing all of that hi um Moran Kelly Mountain Avenue um I just want to Echo all the stuff everybody has said about Jessica I I don't think her kids even understand that they have like a Fant fantabulous mother who does all of this stuff and some of which is just to show them how people ought to live but I but I'm glad you mentioned about the community garden um on top of everything else Jessica single-handedly started putting out a cooler on Tuesday nights to get people to contribute their leftover stuff and um you know I've been with her there where you know we're picking the beans and we're kind of taking the zucchinis that people neglect to uh cut and and get them to people who can use them and it's just such an important thing to be aware and she certainly uh makes this whole town a better place to live in so I'm so glad that you've recognized her thank you Lisa mchu ormont Road um I want to say thank you for this award for Jessica because I feel she really deserves it um her passion is unbelievable and I think she leads by example so I'm really proud of you Jessica good job thank you you thank you and thank you to all the environmental commission members who are here as well for all your work can I say a couple things too as well um Jessica and I had daughters that were in the same girl scout troop and it was Jessica was always the first one to show up always thinking about new things that we could do with the girls that were really important and and relevant to them um I think it had a huge impact on everyone in our troop and she was just you know just just drove the troop in the right direction and was just so actively engaged and just got everybody else more actively engaged because it's hard when there's so many competing priorities and then um when she did the luminary project it was great we showed up and it was um really important to me my family and um it it left a big impact on my kids and um making The Luminaries for the community so thank you yeah I also recall uh her repurposing those deadly uh political signs that are all over town with the scouts and and painting over every single one in white so that the kids could write messages of Hope and and uh kindness on the signs which was an excellent use for those signs so thank you for that as well can I say a word sure um I am the uh most recently uh most thankful one as I uh participate uh with Jessica certainly on the environmental Commission and and um and the liaison for the community garden Etc but there are those the one item I'd like to just uh point out there's those that participate and we certainly uh Advocate and uh and promote for anyone listening out there to com uh to uh participate in volunteerism of the uh within the community and the civic duty um uh but there are those that participate and are involved and then there are also those who have that next level and are people that just get it done and uh that's the way I think about Jessica and I hope uh you all appreciate the amount of things and the length of time that Jess has been involved in a varied not just a single uh item or or category uh but really you heard Girl Scouts you heard community garden you heard environmental commission you heard uh you know luminaries you hear a lot of things and and this is just a great example not just for her kids but all of our kids and frankly a lot of the adults in the community too uh who can uh we encourage certainly to get involved so thank you very much Jessica it's very well deserved okay well this is a perfect segue to the mayor's message uh and my uh opening announcement uh I am pleased to announce that the township is now the proud owner of the beautiful 17 acre parcel at 422 Southern Boulevard commonly known known as the fensky [Applause] property uh the acquisition has been a long time in the works while there's been some bumps along the way thankfully through patience and persistence we were able to see this through and close on the purchase on Friday it is a win for open space and a win for our community our open space committee has had an interest in acquiring the property for nearly a decade given the environment mental sensitivity of the land and the proximity to the Great Swamp the parcel is next to Nash field and while the primary goal is to protect and preserve the wetlands and the natural H habitat AB budding the Great Swamp the township will also explore access from Nash field to a small lot in the interior for use by our Recreation programs I'd like to thank the open space committee their chair Joe Balian the trust for public land and the Mars County open space trust for their work in securing the grant that's funding nearly half of the 7 $50,000 cost of the property I'd like to thank our administrator our Township engineer attorneys and Township staff for staying the course and doing all they could to bring this to a close finally I'd like to thank the fensky family as many know Helen fensky was instrumental in protecting the Great Swamp from the from the development of an airport while the Helen fensky Center in Basking Ridge honors her contributions to our area it seems appropriate that her family and the township honor her work by protecting and preserving this land there are a few items on the agenda this evening that I want to highlight first we have two ordinances related to the 2024 Capital plan ordinances 20244 and 20245 $4 million of the capital plan is related to Public Safety including the Acquisitions acquisition of two fire trucks to replace trucks that are past their useful life the acquisition of fire safety equipment and of police vehicles uh as our administrator explained at our last meeting these ordinances provide the authorization to incur the related debt which allows the township to engage in the equipment purchase contracts debt will only be incurred if and when it's needed the township will still pursue Grant and under funding other funding where are feasible also on the agenda is resolution 202 24-16 authorizing a deed of historic preservation easement this is in connection with the the work that was done at the red brick Schoolhouse also done with grant funding that the Town chadam Township historical society secured for those improvements at the red brick Schoolhouse if you pass there as I often do um you had the opportunity to watch as the deteriorating exterior was restored the end result is amazing to see I want to thank the members of the Historical Society board and especially the wells sisters Pat and Martha for all their work securing the Grant and planning for the restoration the last agenda item I wanted to mention is resolution 224-1154 designating TD Bank as our depository uh it's been a goal of our administrators for some time now to review our banking relationship and to maximize Returns on our funds while expanding the servicing that's critical to maintaining the township accounts uh this reappointment of TD Bank as a depos depository accomplishes both expanding the services we receive while also increasing the yield on our bank balances thank you to our administrator our CFO and our finance committee for all your work on this effort uh lastly we've heard from residents recently regarding the font Avenue improvements project while I've heard from many folks who are pleased with the changes there are certainly some who were surprised by the scope of the work and who indicated concerns related to traffic flow and safety this project has been in the works for a couple of years now and has gone through the Normal public meeting approval process public hearings and notification to Residence the project is focused on ensuring ADA compliance for crosswalks and enhancing pedestrian and traffic safety by improving visibility and sight lines our inv our uh administrator engineer Police Department in Township committees ped and present we're all involved in the planning and the project has been reviewed by the county and the State Department of Transportation project is fully funded by andj grant money money if there are any questions or if anyone has interest in seeing the Public Presentation please feel free to reach out to me or to our Township administrator thank you uh and now we'll move on to the environmental commission's annual report hi Jessica chair of the uh Township environmental commission going to keep it really short you guys have the annual report I think I emailed it a couple months ago so in 2023 you know highlights were um engaging with the Community Education and Outreach conducting Tri town yard sales native plant sales a few cleanups things like that I did want to give a special thank you to our DPW has been the most amazing partner we could have hoped for um they're really supportive in our endeavors and they help us whenever we need help which is amazing our Administration for helping us always and listening to us and to the um elected body for helping us as well you know we do things like update sustainable Jersey our natural resources inventory we review um zoning and planning board applications so we tap into some of our experts and everyone couldn't be better in helping us so I just wanted to have a thank you to everyone for that um you know we expanded some native plant Gardens we conducted the sustainability Fair we had a presence at the township Fall Festival which was great um that's about it I think for 2024 our highlights are receiving a couple of Grants which were super exciting so we're going to work on our little reforestation project at Shunpike and keeping an eye on issues related to climate change I think with the heat wave we're experiencing we can all relate to the fact that we're in experiencing these increased um more fre more intense weather patterns whether it's rainstorms or heat waves those things all have an impact on our community our physical health our Financial Health when someone's yard floods that's um an impact on them so the environmental commission keeps an eye on things like this and I think we want to just be aware of development practices in town and protecting our Wetlands so the fensky property is a great thing because that's protecting our Wetlands which absorb all the water um and we want to focus on keeping things things like proper water infiltration in place rather than impervious coverage on Municipal parking lots and areas like that I don't know if anyone has questions for us what we did this past year any questions great yeah thank you I just want to thank everybody for all your work on the environmental commission they often will step in uh even quietly behind the scenes to look into things for us that um either residents have expressed an interest interest uh or you know the township committee is considering uh and we try and get the input and advice of the environmental commission so uh above and beyond the things that you listed I know uh they're always a resource uh for the committee whenever we have question questions so I really appreciate everybody's efforts thank you thank you okay let's move on to Township committee reports Mr Lois thank you mayor okay for utilities um kind of have one for every one of our utilities here we have um so New Jersey American Water did uh some lateral improvements to off the water main last year on Southern Boulevard specifically and there was a lot of asphalt patching that was done on the sidewalks and that has been largely replaced in the last few weeks with um permanent sidewalks which is a nice upgrade for the neighbor Neighbors there on Southern Boulevard um the for for natural gas PNG has announced lower rates I'll have more on this coming but they've announced that there'll be lowering rates this year which is amazing and um for jcpnl they're still looking for an opportunity to come and present the energized NJ improvements whatever they might be uh and they will be looking for the opposite they will be looking for a rate increase this year so that's um but if we can make some time for them that would still I think we should put that on our agenda in terms of um Colony pool we just had our first swim team meet last night that was a the big uh the big event for Colony pool and so there's still time if you are a swimmer and you'd like to get involved um you can there's eight more seven more meets I believe over the next few weeks and it's a fun fun time for all um I don't have registration information to update because I was denied although was asked twice um of the administration to provide the registration information so for the first time in that I can remember following these events here that we don't have a registration update for um Colony pool and um as far as our Recreation and DPW I'll leave that to to my counterparts thank you okay um Comm McHugh okay I have a couple uh touch points on a couple as well so let's start with open space and the follow on not to belabor something but uh a huge congratulations certainly to the town and really to the the fensky family um it's an additional part of that Legacy uh really and uh congratulations and thanks to everybody involved for a very long time uh to finally close that out that's terrific terrific news um there has been uh much discussion in the open space uh subcommittee um uh on for the progressive uh lovers of History um particularly down on the Hillside Avenue new Trail um there are developing opportunities for more volunteer participation so pay attention uh because of improvements on the crib and perhaps a kiosk uh giving some uh helpful information of the goings on uh over the course of the years and even what a corn crib is if you're not familiar with today's Suburban environment um thanks to of course Rich Young and the DPW uh for ordering the signage which will be up there shortly at uh the the Hillside Avenue Trail um as many of you know or not aware I would I would actually take notice of the signs around town even from entering into town uh through the various um facilities and Fields you'll notice a real great consistency of the two white posts the green the the uh the Seal of the Town they're really it's it's a very attractive element of identifying locations and there will be an additional one down on the Hillside Trail shortly so thanks to the guys for that um and uh I would also like to point out and thank um the JC's for they are cont their contribution uh they've contributed with some of their grants uh recently throwing in $1,000 to help that progress along uh moving on and not to belabor that one we've had a lot of mention tonight on the environmental commission um certainly we can uh um announce additional opportunities for volunteerism and that is on the um the Shunpike uh restoration project which will be upcoming so pay attention to the site and uh get your fingers walking uh and then get outside and whatever uh we're directed to do by those who are running the project uh we want to help them out because it does actually require that Grant does actually require a certain level of volunteerism so we're looking for ours um and that's a good opportunity for uh those who have available hours to give um again thanks to the JC's because they P threw it some money at us as well so thank you again um also uh do not forget that um the um adopted drain program is underway and we need more drains adopted uh we don't want to leave them alone out there because there's a lot of them somewhat of north of a thousand actually and that helps all of us whether it be by flow of a river but uh DPW not having to spend so much time there if we help out on a on a a more regular basis uh again visit the site and see what you may be able to uh participate there I think that's a a terrific easy one for us because it's so local you get out there a couple minutes clean up in front of you and and move on um the next subject uh is the library and uh I'd ask all of us in the room to give a drum roll please because uh the fact of the matter is the back entrance is open if you are not aware you can be aware and take advantage of a really uh great setup on the ramp and the stairs it's a safe and welcoming and really an attractive entrance plus the fact you can walk right through the parking lot right there so that's really terrific terrific news right uh also with the library the summer reading program has started uh it's kicked off with a visit from zoria uh the theme this year is uh Adventures begin at your library so do participate in your library um a couple of hell and goodbyes uh we do announce that we have hired a new assistant director at the library um her name is Lori uh FAL she joins us actually next uh wednes July 1st this week next week so uh she starts July 1 so come down and say hello um um and we thank certainly Debbie Fitzgerald for her many many years of great participation and support um for her many years that she spent at the library and then of course don't forget we're still celebrating uh as of uh uh May 10th the 100th year anniversary so come and celebrate your library everybody thank you thank you committee women Roland no I think outside of the hisor preservation easement at the red brick Schoolhouse I don't really have any updates sorry I didn't mean to steal your thunder that's okay that's okay okay Deputy Mayor Choy thank you mayor um I do have some notes to share uh in the realm of recreation um happy news to report uh baseball the U13 chadam white team um uh uh earned a hard uh fought Championship cross country was the runner up in their division at Championship weekend uh field hockey uh is currently um or imminently conducting their mini camp in July uh will be uh run by uh notable coaches from uh Kee so um if you have any children who might be interested in in the sport please do uh have them sign up lacrosse um wonderful news varsity girls uh has won yet another District 3 Championship so hats off uh to you all girl all you girls and the coaching staff there eighth grade girls and eighth grade boys uh the boys reach finals and the girls uh um earned a undefeated season uh registration is open for all uh fall Sports so soccer which is both Recreation and Academy is up and running football and preseason starts August 13th so get your summer vacations in if you have a young football player because the summer short uh they're also conducting a fundraiser as they'd like to raise uh some funds for some improvements to their shed so please be on lookout for that um field hockey has also got open registration um I'd also like to put forth a casting call to all Township residents we've got an open spot uh for the joint Rec advisory committee so um uh please do take a number and form a line out the door for you all who are eagerly waiting to uh serve in that capacity um I did previously report on a consideration um that involved potentially lighting up Lum field uh I don't have anything report there but it is a uh a rather material um uh possibility uh that would uh be quite a boom for recreation uh and general activities in in both cadams uh so to the extent there's any notable progress I will continue to report on that uh and make sure I got all 10 fingers on that pulse um Board of Ed uh the security vegetables uh vegetables are uh currently being constructed so U it's underway and I do believe that all of them should be in place by the beginning of school um there is some consideration given the what I understand to be the overwhelming success of having pushed back the time for High School uh they are considering uh possibly pushing back time for Middle School uh so that's something that's uh being uh thought over and if you have an opinion uh can certainly speak to um uh the members of of the Board of Ed uh Susan Ross's uh and lot of Kenny are the township uh Lea on there so um feel free to speak with them about that but interesting uh notion uh the school calendar for 20242 was adopted uh so go ahead and put forth your uh uh family vacations and and other commitments outside of school uh 100 survey participants uh were uh were involved in overwhelming preference for the 4-day Labor Day weekend and a much longer uh Christmas wi holiday winter break um chadam was also selected uh as part of a a federal litigation against uh a lot of social media companies uh there are one of 12 school districts one of two in the state of New Jersey uh it will be I think believe it's the California Court venue uh and um the notion here is to hold uh these companies accountable for for what is what is understood to be a a a Link in correlation to um the ever evolving mental health of uh teens in this country um and they be seeking to get assistance to uh for costs on implementing Solutions and and batement plans uh changes to business practices and potentially implementing safeguards for uh the youth in this country um it is it is information is rather limited and disjointed as far as what's being shared in a lot of his as uh is is behind closed door sessions they are in um uh deposition right now uh it is going to be moving like all large scale sort of class action litigations at a glacial Pace their hope and desire is to be before the courts in 2025 and that's probably a very optimistic timeline uh but to the extent again that anything material uh that comes forth I thought it was something interesting um and certainly you know fodder for uh water cooler conversations um I also previously reported on um a possibility of of an arrangement between chadam and Harding where Harding students uh could potentially be involved in chadam schools um I there is no notable progress on that I understand some discussions have uh transpired um and nothing definitive um I have received some uh inquiries from residents on on where things stand there and it seems to be somewhat you know gradually escalating so um it it is obviously potentially a material change uh to the school systems should that uh should that occur uh so again I will keep uh uh keep you all a breast uh here in this venue um I can also just suggest uh logging in Via Zoom or in person at the board of ed meetings uh they certainly are uh it's an open doors there they will discuss everything uh transparently and um with with full intellectual cander so um something to keep a breast of uh fex um which is a event held by chadam High School uh students that just occurred on June 11th um and I would like to give special recognition to the students who stepped up on that stage um uh Aiden Aiden Manning Lily Arps Christina Stewart anarie Lord and and Sophie mayor uh Patrick Ryan who MC the event and Carolin Woods who is a chattam high school teacher who participated in the event um hats off to them because uh I I appreciate wholeheartedly the courage um commitment and hard work that it takes to stand before um your your classmates uh staff uh and parents and other interested parties to uh listen to what you have to say so um the the concept or the theme was uh reframe uh so collectively students talk about a wide range of topics from neuroplasticity which has to do with the gradual changing of of the wiring in your brain um to um uh sign language um to corn and the byproducts of corn and its prevalence throughout uh all the products that uh that we consume and its eventual impact on the environment uh to leukemia uh to um anxiety and um you know meditation so it was uh it was a penelopy of topics uh and I thought it was very well-run uh as it always is and if you missed it um will be made available later this summer at tedex youth chom.com uh so you haven't watched it it is it's a phenomenal production um and I think it's it's yet another wonderful thing that uh that the schools here in this community put put together so um hats off to the students who part participated and to everyone who had a hand in uh making that a reality uh and with that that's the end of my notes report thank you wonderful okay so we're going to move on to the hearing of citizens uh Mr lante can you read that guidance members of the public are now welcome to come up to the microphone to address the township committee this is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are not topics scheduled for public hearings tonight those present May step up to the microphone to be heard if you're watching via Zoom you may speak during any of the public comment sessions following the zoom instructions to raise your hand whether in person or online when you recognize to speak please mind the the following procedures please say your name and spell your last name please give the name of your street you do not need to give the street number all public comments will be limited to 3 minutes rather than use any of your time answering questions the township committee will wait until you finish speaking before responding there are two public comment sessions on tonight's agenda each member of the public will be limited to one comment of up to 3 minutes during each public comment period and uh for those who are not in attendance uh written comments submitted to the township committee before 3 p.m. today will be read during the public comment sessions written comments are subject to the same guidelines as oral comments duplicative written comments may be summarized rather than read in full according to guidelines issued by the New Jersey Division of local government services thank you did we receive any uh letters to read I didn't receive anything with any requests for it to be read tonight thank you um anybody online No Hands raised okay uh anybody here who wishes to speak all right good evening committee members and women and uh gentlemen uh Mike Martin M tiin uh Jeffrey Court uh basically I'm here to follow up on the Bachi Court proposal which we discussed at the last meeting uh just a uh refresh your memory this was a joint project between what was agreed to the town to provide labor and the Boy Scouts to contribute to that Labor uh the next steps in the process were basically to arrive at a budget of materials I've submitted a itemized budget to the uh Town engineer and administrator and I'm waiting for comments on that budget and and hopefully a Time Horizon when this could be implemented I recognized that uh there was a tendency to that we needed something like this but uh that the Lo exact location wasn't agreed to so that's where I am here to follow up on those discussions I also have Ben bernish here who's the eagle scout leader who will basically Shepherd this project in concert with the uh Town labor force and that's why I'm here thank you uh if there I'd like to if there's anybody else who wanted to speak on that topic go through those questions and comments and then we can I'd ask our administrator to give us an update on that uh Ben would like to just say a word thank you hello uh my name is Ben bernich be ni from Johnson Drive um so I am working on this project just trying to get it um I don't know we'll see uh but I'd just like to say that um I'd like to have this project done if we can uh push this project a little forward uh because this um the time frame is pretty important for me to get Eagle Scout um otherwise I might age out or lose opportunities I just wanted to make sure or I just wanted to um kind of show that I'm interested and will do what I need to to get it pushed forward as much as possible if that makes sense wonderful thank you that's all I have uh Mr bernish I have a quick question for you um I know uh usually part of the scouts you have to provide a project timeline do do you as part of the Eagle Scout project did you have a timeline or did did you have an idea of some Target dates that you were hoping to hit I was hoping to um kind of get this project started and completed over the summer um as once school starts then it gets busy and stuff um so I was thinking if we could start this project in maybe August and have it completed at the very latest I'd like to have it completed by October but I think if we started it as soon as August then it'd probably be completed much earlier do you know how many hours you put in for that in terms of the the how many hours you expect you do you remember how many hours you expected of the scouts to put in uh building or planning a building would probably be at most like 30 hours I think okay okay I I don't know quite how much effort it would take like day to day to build this but I don't think it would take more than that thank you Mr shotty I know there was a lot of work that was done on this already do would you please provide an update sure uh just for the B for the the governing body I did receive an email from Mr Martin on uh June 10th with some of the information what I advised him was that uh I would be reviewing those those materials with our Public Works superintendent uh at our next monthly meeting and uh that towards the end of this month my assistant would reach out to him to schedule a meeting for us so that's where we stand okay thank you okay thank you any other question questions any questions no okay thank you thank you is anyone else else want to speak during the public hearing okay anybody else online thank you in that case I'll close the hearing of Citizens We're going to move on to the public hearing final adoption of ordinance yeah I will open the uh hearing for that ordinance if anybody wants to come up and speak about permit and Peddler license fees yes thank you so we will close uh the hearing for that ordinance uh can I get a motion to approve um or to adopt 20249 so moved and I get a second call second thank you any discussion can I get a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Rand yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor ewal yes motion passes okay we'll open the public hearing for 2024 d10 pool license fees anybody online I don't see a rush to the mic okay can I get a motion to we we'll close that public hearing can I get a motion to adopt the 202 24-10 I move to adopt ordinance 20 24-10 thank you can I get a second I'll second that thank you any com any discussion wonderful I'll take a vote Please Mr Lewis yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor ewal yes motion passes thank you uh and just so residents know a lot of these were discussed previously in workshop and then again when they were introduced so uh that's where we're kind of rushing through and a lot of these are really just bringing the code up to speed or if there were fees that were way behind uh in terms of update and and behind relative to where our neighboring towns are uh so ordinance I will close that public hearing we're going to be going to through this routine a few times uh can I get a motion to approve uh 202 24-11 so moved can I get a second I'll second and discussion I'll take a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs hland yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor e yes motion passes ordinance 2024-25 again updating uh stale um uh what's the word I'm looking for well actually mayor we're moving we're just we're moving from our code book really these yes yeah um do we have anybody in the public who wishes to speak on this ordinance No Hands raised on Zoom okay so I will close that public hearing uh can I get a motion to uh adopt ordinance 202 24-12 so moved thank you can I get a second second and I'll take a vote Please Mr Lewis yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Rand yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes mayoral yes motion passes okay opening the public hearing for 2024-the anybody who wishes to speak on that topic okay I will close the public hearing on 202 24-13 do I have a motion to adopt I move to adopt ordinance 202 24-13 use of native vegetation can I get a second I'll second any discussion okay let's get a vote Mr Lois yes Mr mq yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor eal yes motion passes okay the next two I did mention in my opening mayor's message uh we'll have the public hearing on ordinance 2024 -14 multi-purpose Bond ordinance I'll open that public hearing if anybody has any questions or comments yep okay so I will close that public hearing can I get a motion to adopt 202 24-14 so moved and a second I'll second okay any discussion yeah I was opposed to this um I it's introduction and continue to be opposed to it I think increasing the you know authorizing $4.4 million in debt to increase our overall uh debt authorized by 24% is something that we should have looked at more closely um specifically in some of the most egregious parts of this I think are paying for police cars with debt um you know play paying for relatively small dollar amount computer equipment which have useful lives of seven years or in the case of the cars 5 years those should be paid for by uh operating budget cash and and not be put into debt because um then you end up in a situation where you have debt on things that have no more use or um as you can imagine we have a a program to introduce two police cars every year or or that is what the the goal is and if you if you do that with debt eventually you're going to um run into just running up debt all the time without having uh cash on hand specifically if you're going to have two cars every year you're you know and you get into that habit so I think there's certain parts of this um that are that that could be done better um in terms of in terms of the the large dollar amounts for the um fire trucks as I had said previously if we are going to stagger their purchases then we could also stagger the debt and and as you as anyone on this committee knows and I said earlier we adopted debt in April or we adopted in uh authorized debt in April and then we res sended it in May um you know we've turned course before so I'm hoping that we can turn course on this portion of this um and then there's also money in here to author authorized to review um a a a study phase for construction of new police headquarters in the municipal office complex that's $70,000 of notes and bonds authorized to explore the study phase of of a putting the police headquarters in this building which is going to be a multi-million dollar project if that was to move forward and in my experience with government you don't spend $70,000 exploring something you're not going to go ahead and do so this is debt to incor incur more debt and we're already increasing our authorization year 24% so we we're up 4.4 million with this authorization that's 24% increase and then it seems that this is a great um pointer in the future as to where we're going and that combined with the idea that we're issuing uh debt for vehicles and debt for relatively small dollar amount things is is unsettling to me that we're sliding back to the to the years when we had 33% increase in debt and 20% increase in taxes and uh we had two years where that was all stabilized and now we're back to 24% increase in authorized the debt so I I'm a no on this ordinance as well as the next thank you committee man Lois does anybody else uh want to speak if I if I may I have a little bit different perspective and I appreciate the comments but I don't I don't see the egregious portion of this based upon the history so we did go back and look at what was not done in some prior years uh to put us in a position of coming to a big bucket that we need um at a short window and certainly those things that are going to be financed we do need to find out what to do certainly with the municipal building um and that is going to be a helpful piece uh but more important it's all about Public Safety particularly in this one as mentioned earlier by the mayor I don't have to rehash a lot of that um but that is something I must as a responsible Committee Member uh support so I'll be uh voting in in support of this ordinance thank you uh yeah and I mentioned it in my opening statement but just to be clear to the residents 4 million of that debt uh is for two fire trucks and for fire equipment and for police equipment so it is related to Public Safety and as I mentioned uh in my opening statement the debt uh would be SP St staggered depending on when it was incurred it's not going to be and it doesn't have to be incurred if we find alternative funding so hopefully residents uh that's clear to our resid this uh did anybody else have any additional input okay thank you can we have a vote Please Mr Lois no Mr McHugh yes Mrs Rand yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes mayor eal yes motion passes thank you uh moving on to ordinance okay anybody online thank you we will close the public hearing uh can I get a motion to adopt ordinance we're talking about the budget especially if you look back at last year's conversations about the budget you'll see that a lot of times um it'll be there will be some unan unan unanimous consent here or what seems to be unanimous consent that the things that I'm saying are you know objected to or or riled against and I I would just encourage uh residents to not listen so much to what you hear but to see watch what's done what actually happens because many of the suggestions that I made in 2023 and I've enumerated them during the operational budget during during the budget um passages uh many of the suggestions that I made which at the time were were said to be uh inappropriate or somehow uh not not good ideas were then adopted this very year including things like I was told it was irresponsible to change the rut The Reserve Run CED taxes in in and I was told that it was determined that that was not a good idea and that not responsible Municipal finance and this year we actually passed that we actually put it in the budget because it it was a good idea we could have benefited from that last year and we we did benefit from it this year in the uh the operating budget so I would encourage residents to to to listen less and watch more about what actually gets done and what actually gets done with this um Bond ordinance unfortunately and the capital ordinance that are related unfortunately you won't be able to see it until next year when the spending on um maybe the municipal building or or other other projects happen um but what is going to happen with this is it is you it's a it's Paving the way for debt to be incurred in the future so you're you're creating a cycle now where police vehicles are going to be paid for with debt that have a 5-year life you're going to create a cycle where we're going to study the the um improvements to the municipal building and we're going to incur debt to study the improvements and then we're going to incur a lot more debt to make those improvements so this in my view is a Runway to debt um and to an explosion of debt that we've had in the past that's not appropriate okay any other discussion if I may mayor um yes I'd like to profer a different suggestion that is to both listen and watch what is happening on the Das and what uh is being passed um you know sometimes you've got to make difficult decisions and I think when it comes to these Public Safety purchases uh which are being achieved through financing um they are they are actions that ultimately must be taken and I think if we had 2020 hindsight uh these would be staggered uh over a number of years uh unfortunately we find ourselves in a position where it is a choice between leaving equipment and vehicles um that pose potential risks to our Public Safety professionals um or making decisions to provide what they need that are compliant uh and allow them to perform uh their duties um we have staggered as best we can the financial obligations uh to put forth uh this equipment and these vehicles uh to the professionals over as extended period of time as we can uh the first two uh vehicles are Vehicles which we uh you know my understanding are um Mission critical uh they're probably you know we've asked I think the township has asked our firefighters to squeeze out what remaining life uh remained out of these vehicles and I think um it's imperative that we give them uh what we need again no debt has been issued these are essentially authorizations which allow us to move forth with potential purchases and to the extent that any Grant monies are afforded to the Township in connection with this then the numbers do change but at least I think what it does provide is a road map that allows us to move forward and get these vehicles in the hands of Public Safety Professionals in as timely a manner as we can it is not a foregone conclusion other doors still remain open which will continue to be explored nevertheless this allows us timely right to to put forth Mission critical equipment and vehicles uh to the folks who need them debt by the way seems to be thrown about like it's an ugly word it is not it is a critical component of Municipal Finance it it affords us to do things that we otherwise no town in or city in this country could otherwise do without the ability to access Capital markets it is an effective tool it is a helpful tool if it's used judiciously and it is my estimation uh that it is being used judiciously here at the township um please don't confuse it as being a dirty word it is a DA I I think if uh you know what I've seen thus far is is the stewardship of of tax receipts here is being diligently looked after um there are easy DEC decisions that are being made and there are difficult decisions that are being made uh some of them have small price tags to them some have large uh we are all taxpayers here none of us want to needlessly have what is being alluded to as runaway taxes and runaway debt we we're residents here we pay taxes as well we would like to see the money is being invested right uh and it is being used what I what I believe quite candidly in in the best way possible uh and we are making again decisions that must be made now lest we put ourselves in a much more precarious situation down the road one thing I didn't share is these vehicles have a considerable lead time if we do not make decisions imminently we run the risk risk of of of having a perilous situation down the road so um I I submit to you in summary both listen and watch thank you mayor I I would just say also as a member of the finance committee and a CPA and a CFO that all the conversations that we had were very prudent and fiscally responsible about how we approach a budget and what we how we can work with what we have and you know there's two fire trucks that are needed and again there is a yearlong weight period to get them we're looking into every possible Grant scent that you can get to help support it there are two more trucks coming in the next year so we're going to have this conversation again because it's time and we did not kick the can down the road and we are doing everything that we possibly can to provide the services that are needed it's not a nice to have it's not that you know we want to get a newer model these trucks are past their useful life and they're big ticket items and that's the majority of the budget and that's that's the reality of the numerous meetings and conversations that we had when we were preparing the budget thank you um I would also add to that discussion because tools were raised things like the Rett which is a reserve for uncollected taxes um I was on the finance committee when I first joined the Township committee back in 20220 and and asked about the rut um and the reality is you have a toolbox of things you use each year to figure out how you're going to manage the budget and and uh manage the tax rate because nobody wants to uh assess taxes where they don't have to or increase taxes where they don't have to so it's one of the tools but you're looking at that tool Everything You Touch hits something else and if you impact the rut this year you're going to imp impact your Surplus next year so you have to look at where do you anticipate being next year based on what how your revenues are doing how you project your revenues are going to do in the upcoming year and where you are relative to to your expense budget for the prior year which oftentimes our Administration tries to keep the expenses down so that we do have some funds rolling over we fund our 167 million budget about three and a half million is funded through Surplus so managing Surplus and everything that feeds to Surplus is something has to be carefully considered and the rut is one of the many tools that are used so if one year we decide we we can't mess around with the rut you better believe there's a whole bunch of discussion there's a whole bunch of thought that goes into why was that decision made so I want to make sure that's clear the other reality is when we're talking about the police vehicles which are $140,000 if you're not financing it through debt you're financing it through the operating budget and what are you cutting in the operating budget in order to fund that uh those two vehicles and we know every year we're funding two vehicles uh so that discussion would have taken place during the operating budget in terms of determining what are we going to cut uh in order to fund those through the operating budget so um I think that's it and I will move on in that case to a vote Mr Lewis no Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor ewal yes motion passes thank you okay so we are going to introduce the new ordinance ordinance 2024 -6 authorizing deed of historic preservation easement I know I touched on this Mr shotti was there anything else you wanted add regarding this okay thank you um so introduction do I have a motion to introduce this ordinance so moved do I have a second I'll second any discussion okay can we get a vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Roland yes Deputy Mayor Troy yes and mayor ewal yes motion passes and public hearing will be on July 16 okay so we're going to move on to our consent agenda we are removing number 31 which is resolution [Music] 2024-the to follow up on before we consider that so we're removing that from the consent agenda was there anything else that anybody wanted to remove for discussion I guess do I need to pull out the approval of minutes if I'm abstaining since I wasn't here uh can we just go ahead and assume that she's on that one or or uh yes normally what we do is um the minutes would reflect that you whatever you vote on the consent agenda I would U make a notation that you obstain on those particular resolutions thank you thank you for uh making sure we're aware of that okay do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved do I have a second I'll second and vote Please Mr Lois yes Mr McHugh yes Mrs Rand yes Deputy Mayor Choy yes and mayor eeld yes motion passes thank you and we will open our second hearing of citizens same rules apply thank you Mr Al pertz um you may speak yeah um Craig Al peritz from shik Road um I just want to thank the committee for passing the resolution for the critical infrastructure for the fire department uh one thing you might want to consider or ask the fire department to consider uh whoever is making the authorization purchase uh is to consider what's called a custom remount which means that um uh a lot of the equipment on the fir Tru is actually reusable but the engine and the fir truck itself is not so they remount the parts they save the parts and they put it on to a new chases uh which can be ordered and custom and basically fit to all standards it should save a significant amount of money and it's something that they should explore uh not saying that something that they have to do but it's something that they should very much consider thank you is that all sir yes thank you Mr shot do you know if that was something that they considered great that yeah that that is one of the major issues with this which is that the the trucks themselves are neither fully specified and nor fully priced so we've issued debt for something that we don't have fully specified nor do we have fully priced so this would be a great example of a of a situation where you maybe want would not want to authorize the debt for something you weren't sure of the specs of or the price of the other issue um is you know working extensively with the fire departments especially on their breathable air mixture compressor that that Grant um in part was that at least at Green Village fire they have a Cascade system which was a a system where the truck is filled with air and then from there they can use the truck to fill the air packs and because they didn't have their own breathable air mixture compressor they had to take the Cascade system to a on duty full-time um fire department that could refill the air that could refill the truck with a breathable air mix and the reason why why that was the case is that during covid the the the private truck that went around went out of business um and then they were relying only on the county Air truck to refill their um to refill their Cascade system in their truck so to ask them to reuse the Cascade system is probably not a good idea considering the amount of use it's had and and what's you know corrosion what's gone through there so I I would doubt that the that they would want to reuse um you know an expensive system like that but that one that's long served them and they had to use and now I I believe they're going to move away from that because they have the breathable air mixture compressor which we were able to um secure a grant for thank you and I just want to make a correction you use the term issued Grant we have not issued issued debt we have not issued debt I just want to make sure we're clear on that okay wonderful do I have a vote to to adjourn I will make a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn thank you and I apologize I am closing there's nobody else public hearing okay so I will close the public hearing and I've got a motion to adjourn and can I have a second second okay all in favor I I hi thank you we are adjourned recording stopped Window Man