this meeting is one of the meetings listed such resolution resolu Friday January 10th okay need a motion to file am minut from January 5th 2024 second motion report ta zoning offici okay we have a second reading and public hearing of ordinance 1779 for the purchase of 627 had so this is a corrective ordinance it was an issue on notice last time um that we did not become aware of until after the ordinance have been adopted and um this is on the purchase the purchase of um what formerly the side Bank Ocean birth Bank uh anyone um want to be heard on this ordinance is your opportunity mayori yes Comm Robinson yes okay we have the second reading of public hearing of forance 1780 to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a c back um this is a a I call a housekeeping ordinance that we adopt every every year um in the state law puts a a cap on what you're able to raise taxes and this lets you um Bank any unused ta so you're allowed to raise 3% if you only increase 2% then that 1% you can bank for a later year in the event things aren't great you use in a later year um this authorizes you to do that uh where're we always adopt it just in case we're introducing a budget tonight which doesn't use all of that thing so it lets us roll it over to oh I'm sorry second reading open up for the public anyone would wish to be heard on this this is your opportunity anyone mayor M yes lowki yes robs yes we have second reading of public hea ordance 1781 incorporating $785,000 from the general Capital Improvement fund for the purchase of a spart and Cate fire truck so this is um just what it said bu buying a fire truck authorized and using funds from within our budget for the last couple years we've accumulated some money for using money out of our Capital Improvement fund buy a buyer truck 785 Grand what's the lead time Jeffrey it's long way we're looking at Midsummer now oh really M so fire trucks is one of those areas where um supply chain delays was put them at years and so we're catching up okay good uh second reading anyone um here to be heard on that please this your opportunity speak okay mayor M yes Robinson yes okay we had the first reading of capital Improvement words 1782 for the purchase of an ambulance um what am I doing sorry ambulance own properties and infrastructure improvements sorry no you got so this is um this is first reading um the ordinance will be heard at the April 1st meeting right April 1 yes but okay April 1e yes right May commissioner and we have the um public comment on the resolution items so this is the public comment uh time if you want to talk about or have any questions about any of the the items that are on the budget excuse me on the agenda already uh this is the opportunity you can raise it we'll talk about you have any questions anybody okay okay uh we have the first resolution appointing Bruce Smith as a full-time member of the planning board yes yes affirming the burrow of cols with civil rights policy and signing of the group after d yes yes introducing and approving the 2024 Municipal budget I'm going to do hold this okay let me just talk about it for a second okay so um we're I want to thank Betty Joe Cassandra all of our department heads for all the work they've done in putting this budget together um this pget budget will have a a a small increase it's a 3 Cent increase on the average um homeowner which is a a property value that assessed 232,000 uh it would be approximately a $70 a year increase um through this budget where a few things are still going on um tree removal out of the ordinary other than just running everything paying salary increases for folks Health Care increases property insurance increases goodness knows trash um costs um but besides all of that it also handles we're continuing with a pretty aggressive tree REM removal program in night Park uh we have rebal that we've been ordered by the state reevaluation of the Assessments in town that's coming this year um find new fire truck and ambulance which we've just approved um pocket Park which is coming out which we'll talk about in a little bit but this is the pocket park plan for um the parking lot right next to groove ground we're covering that in this budget uh Road improvements um and well our water utility budget also includes an additional million dollars in capital Improvement monies on Border main Replacements and replacement of lead lines um some old services with lead lines still those those are being replaced the sh's one um that's in a quick minute the budget public hearing will be April 1 um and that's it okay mayor M yes M wow yes Robson yes confirming compliance with njac 53-7 for conducting local examination of the 2024 annual Municipal budget so in our Municipal budget we've been um we have a good track record with the Department of Community Affairs of the state if you keep that good track record you're able to do what they call local examination which means that you're following all the rules internally having to go to DCA to get reviewed and get approved that's with those with those yes yes authorizing the acceptance of federal funds and participation in the safe and secure communities Grant this is a police Grant Kevin roughly 70 grand right is what it is and we're um this is just agreeing to accept three month yes yes approving substitution of council to conduct pfas investigation and provide litigation services so um few months ago we uh signed up with a law firm um that is involved in the National litigation um for Recovery of funds related to the posos to the um the water contaminant that has been in a lot um we're we're the the group of the group of lawyers that we're dealing with is leaving that law firm and is stting starting back to their own firm we're just simply agreeing to that firm to keep this um they represent a lot of municipalities in New Jersey all seeking the same thing trying to get some uh recovery from manufacturers of the peos chemical um that has gotten into our water supply and for which we're spending well we're spending already close to8 million um to make improvements to our water system and with standards that we expect to be coming down from the EPA we're probably going to be spend in another 8 million um so this is trying to get a recovery from the the people that actually the companies that actually did the pollution just changing the lawyers we're changing firms sticking with the same lawyers okay sorry for that yes yes appointing a redeveloper and authorizing Redevelopment with aage CCF New Jersey LLC so this is a Canabis um retail outlet that will be um moving forward at um it's it's the old Eggbert Express building out on Route 130 just um just right next to Fortuna's dance studio um there had been another company that had signed off for that property this group bought from them bought the proper property from them um they have um solved issues with respect to parking there they're going to be demolishing two3 of that building uh and put a retail outlet there're very aggressive other locations in New Jersey they're um they're expecting to be open August of this year um so this is parking plan which is the trouble we had with Fire group and and um get R two-third of the building create and enough Park so we're good um so this will be and it's actually going to site plan uh at the plan board later this month I think it's a special meeting they set up to do that later this month that's what that is yes yes approving and refund of water sewer payments to 29 lot to yeah the renewal of the chair service agreement between the B event yeah awarding a contractor Charles Lino LLC for the sa Transit um yeah just that so this is um actually the reating um of work that we were having being done as part of A Safe Streets to Transit grant that we had this is mostly uh pedestrian uh improvements curve cuts and the like um in the areas of North Atlantic South Atlantic Canard Ogden sort of in in that sort of area of um we originally went out the bid was higher than our Engineers estimate so we had to sharpen our pencils and come up with another plan um I think two weeks ago I think uh they open the bids um what we have contractors ready to go and he uh pass this and hopefully we can begin that work this spring yes yes Joshua part time ENT fire for the of fire department yes yes authorizing the purchase 300 had an avue ahead help me which on that's yeah that's okay all right so this is the U what was it gas station many moov ago on the corner of Browning and adav uh it has got some pretty severe contamination um on the site um and nothing has happened for years so we are authorizing um tonight the purchase of that property we're still weighing whether or not we complete a tax sale for closure on the property or just outright purchase it if we were to take title to this property we have access to to njde funding for for our own property um and we would use that to clean that property up and get it clean that property and get it back into productive use so this is authorizing it in the advance that that's the path we move all right yes well adverti um with several bits authoriz advertise to bid for the leadline pit test testing projects so this is related to our water projects I mentioned earlier about replacing um some remaining Le lines services in town yes yes author adverti bid for the wqa what mainl project this is a replacing um uh just replacing some of the older water lines in town it's part of improving system yes yes all adver construction of 641 had an Avenue pocket park project so this is a pocket park the kind of the um the the history of this this lot it's formerly the water lot it's the parking lot next door to groove ground we've gone through a lot we've had own this property for a while and tried to sell it in a lot of different ways had different proposals in develop the entirety of the site parking was always an issue on it um none of the designs ever really came through in a way that we thought like fit into the neighborhood um we've we've been in this yearlong um wreck study Recreation and um you know fields and facility study for over this last year um one of the things that was highlighted in that is that people really thought that they would like the um more U you know smaller Parks we have a pretty big Park not that far away but would like some more smaller Part Parts to break it up it was a thought from a lot of folks internally within the barel that' be a great use for it so what it kind of evolved into is we we have sold the back half of this lot um that lot already that that building which work has started on um is um and there's already planning where approval for Sarah produce is going to be moving over into that building and then the front half of that property U we had contracted with a land designer few months bunch of months ago and we've been gone through a few iterations and has come up with a plan to make a formal part of the front half that property um that that property not being the auto repair shop that it was before over the last eight nine years has kind of become an informal public space for us um we've had rallies events popup shop things all kind of just kind of just been using it for things um so this will now more permanently dedicated to be um a public space uh we've got the designs up here um we know we'll be hearing from people with their thoughts and comments and what they'd like to have happen on it we want to encourage you any comments you have let us know um it'll be we're hoping it'll be um you know a really Central great location on uh on high you want anything you want to add on you know one of the nice things is what you're seeing up here actually is the work already hear from a lot of people I really want to thank those folks that participated in all the studies and the meetings and things that we had so a lot of things about the flexibility and environmental stewardship was an important part having something that's Dynamic could be used from everything from performances and and other types of special events to more passive Recreation uh accessibility for for for those that you know have mobility issues um was was important as well so you know what what you see up there is really uh is is the voice of a lot of cols with res greatly appreciate of that so no I I just I love the use of the space I just think it's so much it's so preferable to building something else on it and um like like mayor said we do use that space already so it it has you don't have to scramble around to figure out how to use it when the times come just it's set up there's a stage there's space there's electricity there's a it's it's really going to continue to serve the town that we felt and I hope it's a driver of Economic Development too right that that ultimately you know it's tough to compete on price with the Amazon to the world so one of the important things for downt is to create an experience right to to create something there and it's not that there wasn't space there but it wasn't a public space right the groove ground managed the space now there's a public space where hopefully people could come spend more time here enjoy themselves know that they're they're welcome and to to maybe stay a little longer shop a little more dine a little more and uh enjoy it so the hope is that it Al helps support our local businesses as well yes yes auor to advertise to bid for a purchase of an ambulance yes authorizing an agreement for replacement of sewer plate at 260 far drive so this all put under the category happens every once in a while this will put under the category of just burrow surprises so um some property owners were looking to do some improvements to their house put an addition on as they're digging up to do the addition they find um a sewer line that's not um that's never been recorded no easement report been there since before the house was put up um so um what this is doing we're simply going in taking moving our uh fixing our sewer pipes not moving right we're just putting in taking this opportunity as they're doing this Improvement to do a um a better fix update the sewer line that's there affects a few properties in this area and um and to properly record the easement that exists because the sewer line is there many moons ago all the P Fork didn't necessarily get F so that's what we're g to look this yes yes and approving payment of bills in the general water yes Rich Robinson yeah speaking of U pocket park and uses of it U we had a vigil last night um for an Oklahoma trans team who died um after injuries um from bullying and um and our community came together to pay respects and just to support each other in the in the difficult aftermath and uh I want to address the um the window um in town and there's some the details I can't get into all of them but um there's been a perception of of haave Crim so we can't um until we get proof of that um but there is increased uh surveillance we're very aware that we're keeping on top of it um from the rainbow crosswalk which will be repainted in the near future um the paint wordss way we have a schedule and a um plan to keep that looking beautiful but um I just want everybody to know that we're aware of it and we're keeping on top of it and not taking it lightly ask thank you um so I'm G to talk energy a little bit kind of one thing is a little more of an update and then something a little a little new um I'll start with I'll start with the new first um so there's a a rather recent law that was passed that allows municipalities to enter into what's called a municipal Community solar program and what this would be um back into what I'll talk about next the idea of energy aggregation for the entire town this is a little different and the idea is to create an aggregate purchasing program for um for for electricity that's generated through um through solar that it's not necessarily on people's property and it's a program that's available for low income households so this is not for for everyone can participate and this state set the law and that it's for low-income house why is that important a lot of a lot of folks don't uh they're renting they don't own the rooms um they don't have the capital to to do these types of programs so what what this type of U what this type of program will do is that we would be able to first working through Gable and Associates or or consult energy Consulting is first of all to identify people that that would be eligible for this program and um with that in community communication is the Hope is that you find solar that's maybe being produced somewhere else could be excess solar that is uh that's out there that we can poent buy um or it could be new Solar Development the the idea here though is that uh low-income families be able to participate in solar just like other people do and get it at a lower rate than they'd be paying for The General car rate um in the in the examples that they thus far and limited amount of times been in state but they've seen about a 10% reduction in cost I think that's a great thing for low-income uh households and it meets a larger goal of um you know of having more electricity purchased through Renewables so um we're early in the process we've uh asked the uh asked the consultant to uh you know do some of the early work on identifying eligibility uh parameters and and who might be uh able to be part of this but we we think it's something worth pursuing so we're going to pursue it so um so that's a new thing wanted to kind of let you know about that sort of I mentioned before about the government energy aggregation we have on on the books a an ordinance that allows the bur to enter into a larger energy aggregation that would U allow us to purchase a mix of electrical supply at a greater rate of Renewables than the state down landat for public um our our idea was always that we did something like this we wanted to get most removables without raising cost on on families that's been very difficult one of the things in our Orin is it has set numbers in place that sort of made it even harder to to to get to a tariff rate we're now at the point that we we've seen other models that are working that essentially you know puts it out there and says look find us at least 10 % more and you know savings or or at least no increase in price so we're kicking around different models that could work that'll if we if we think preliminarily that that can work we'll change the ordinance change the ordinates then the idea is is we can set in motion all the steps of community notification discussion um with with the community and um eventually go to go to market take bids and see if we can get a favorable it but again I think the idea is just to see if we can use the purchasing power of the municipality to uh to serve our residents and also sort of you know speed up the uh renewable electrication which we okay I actually have a few few different things just to touch on um one is we we recently had a meeting with uh the new ownership at Parkview uh kind of got a little bit of a tour at least for me it was first for in a while our crews been meeting quarterly with them um but got a tour um and um the the security measures they put in place the U management procedures they put in place for things like running the boilers and the Heat and and that that you know sort of regular old Property Management stuff has been working well um we're seeing a and as soon as I say this something bad we've seen a noticeable decrease in lease incidents um things are going along pretty well um they have really good plans over there they're moving forward and the management has really paying attention doing a lot of what we think are really smart things um and I just want to make note of that it seems things are working pretty well with the crew that's running the running things there right now they a lot of money in this project um and we're actually seeing some benefits out there right now um just report everybody had a meeting um with uh a group of developers the last couple weeks right here in this room um on the RFP that we're out the request for proposals that we're out on on the water tower development out here um we had about 50 people come to an information session where we just answered questions talked through different concepts um went really well um very encouraged that we had um a lot of um you know good reputable um bigger companies that were interested uh proposals are duing the 15th I think I think was March 15 the Odes of March um so um so hopefully we get some good proposals some things to think about and then that's really the beginning of the process you know once we get that in at the beginning of talking with everybody going over with everybody trying to figure out what makes the most sense for us going forward this is a um this what we've requested for folks are it's an RFQ with Concept plan it's really more of a focus on who the developer is what the experience of the developer is with some general concepts of what they want to do do back here so it's not going to be a finite plan and what somebody wants to build um it's going to be um telling us who they are what they think could happen here and giving us some general concepts what might be able to happen so that process will be getting underway um I you know some of my favorite bear things I got to do last week one was go to Sharp school and Amy Hopkins prek class does uh does our town every year which is out of on the retrospect in the front window of the retrospect right now and it is just the greatest they had every pre- class this time do it there's like 80 different things that were built by kids um the process I go over there and they quiz me they give me clues about what they built then I have to guess what what it was um but it just one of the great days then the next day I got to go to Garfield and read um Thursday night at Garfield with a few hundred people it was amazing the crowds they had out there great stuff um last is financial stuff we went out um two things have happened in the last few weeks one is our credit rating uh in Collingswood was upgraded just a tad um which is a huge huge um impact for us it helps keep our um our interest rates down it's um we're a double a negative with a positive outlook that's the rating ter they give you a stable Outlook or a positive outlook we move from a stable Outlook to a positive Outlook which is a big big deal in the world of credit ratings um and then we followed up that incre that improvement in our rating with a bond sale this week on the remaining money for U for our for the public work facility and uh we're splitting it between some longer term bonds about six million and just under three million of shortterm notes which we will be paying off more aggressively um and they come in they range those notes range from 3.3 to 3.6% is what the interest rates on those were affected by a Better Credit gr so just want to let everybody know that that's all I have way too much for us to be talking um let's open up to the floor whatever you want to talk about this is your opportunity to do so just give us your name and address for the record hi my name is jet I live I'm here because I moved into town more than 20 years ago because I wanted to be able to walk up town and for many other reasons that people here now a lot of great air as P you can walk as far it's not there anymore and I saw in the retrospect yesterday something that I thought I would hope that you folks will take into consideration when when I I moved here I wanted to walk I wanted to shop in town I wanted to use to go to the restaurant saying guess what I can't walk out Town anymore because of this and this and even if I get into town and find a parking spot by the time I get the chaos go back to my car and in bad sh so what I found yesterday in the r is that in field if you're 60 and over anybody else 60 and overk here AIX to a residue rear windshield $20 given gives you free parking for the year contact the police department or this and we want more we want more people to be able to shop up town eat up town um help me out I hope that you'll take it into consideration and find a way uh for us to really support the business and for you to acknowledge all of us who are senors appreciate it reach out like to reach out to learn more about how they're doing thank you got it thanks anyone else what happens now said something come the next meeting you're more than welcome you're more than welcome yes I see your hand go just give your name and address please sure K 126 East H Avenue um well first question is the dispensary going down to pilot program no yeah okay not permitted under State one okay um so again I wanted to advocate for the full funding of our schools as I'm sure you're all aware um our funding for col good has been decreased um by $42,000 for next year which isn't as bad as some other municipalities in C County but still significant um as I shared last meeting there were eight art classes cancelled this year at the high school which I think is pretty significant considering we have an area of town that has signage that says that it's the arts district um and I also want to share some numbers that I think are really impactful um so according to the New Jersey performance report 40.6% of Callingwood high school students are economically disadvantaged for comparison in haddenfield the percentage of students were economically disadvantaged 7 % in Aon it's 17.9% in had Township it is 10.4% again in Collingswood the number is 40.6% for our high school students and I am the parent of a n grader um last month I submitted Oprah request to the school district requesting record sufficient to show the dates and amounts of all payments made to the colington school district as per the Burrow's current pilot agreements the response I got was there are not I submitt an identical request to bar and received some receipts that did not name any pilot program that noted a little over 200,000 a year transfer to the school district in the Years 2015 to 2023 um and I guess what I would like is more information about those receipts again there wasn't anything that connected them to the pilots um I was kind of surprised that it was the same amount for all of those years considering that taxes have not been flat um so wondering what percentage is going to the schools um um this is also the years of Co after covid I think one of the main takeaways that we all should have learned from Co is that our schools are hugs of many surfaces that go beyond just education but also food mental health um so I guess my question is our taxes are going up $70 a year um what is the plan to make sure that we get the funding that we need to our schools and how would you speak to again the shortfall from the state so couple things I I would say first of all is um you mentioned the Arts programs I just want to make it clear we do not control curriculum or the Arts the school district decides to you know cancel Arts programs got take it with school with the school they put it together a budget right so they they say we need x amount of money and then they decide that democratically elected officials right they need collegially there's what 11 of them Plus students and they they put together their budget and that budget is their budget right if if we give them more money doesn't make their budget bigger their budget's their budget and ultimately it's funded out of the tax Bas right so nothing so and and I'm just trying to understand you know why that's not clear because I know you're a smart woman I know you're a smart but it just feels disingenuous today that they're not getting their money they're getting everything they ask for now you may say you know well but Pilots say they don't get you know they don't get as much money but here's the deal in the end right where's the money coming at right it's coming from res comes from property right whether that comes from the burrow or that comes you know it's coming out of the property tax base regardless regardless so they're getting their money and they're getting it from Mostly property taxes some from the state you know decreasing amount from the state that's disappointing again we don't control that but you know that's what it is $42,000 less so you know do we want good schools yes do we control everything about the schools no we don't we don't control everything about schools and you know it seems like they're trying to put linkages here and say well these problems and this happened last year too right there there's unrest at the store well it's the pilots that did it oh it's listen people have to take accountability for for things we try to be accountable what we do when we want to talk about pilots and we look at you know 900 Station app right use that as an example and the idea is well you gave him a pilot yes yes we did it's worth pointing out that when that place was purchased and they came do us beforeand said we should be interested in doing a pilot you want to put a lot of money into that place right Pilots are a legal tool that are that are controlled by you know by state regulation it's not like this is a colate thing they're everywhere that place went from a taxable amount of money at I I forget what it is but it more than doubled right and I don't know the exact amount of money I don't know but it's was a huge amount of more money whatever discount they were getting became more taxable because the valuation of the property went by significant amount so yes there's a pilot on it wait we've talked about it's been very clear mayor's been on the record on this commissioner Robinson's been on the record I've been on the record it's the idea of as we're looking at Future Pilots including that one how do we take some of that revenue and and and and direct it towards things of mutual interest to district am of space and we have almost an INF of interest in in in programs so the idea was look at some point as we know several years more than several years ago they went out for a referendum part of it was to um was to to renovate the the athletic fields in the back it failed by an overwhelming margin and you know for the past I don't know six years seven years it's just been a horrible condition there you know I mean no you know no stand for a football game or or anything else it's terrible conditions there so the idea is somewhere it's got to be dealt with and we have needs we have needs for recreation programs we have needs for um you know for for for athletic programs and all these things and the idea was how do we create this partnership that perhaps we would have money funded through Pilots so you know directed towards things that we could have maybe some you know mutually sh facilities that we would be able to use fields for recreative purposes as well so you know these are these are the things we do they're not par ofan things they're good government things but you got to do them right and we you know we do a very good job I I believe in in trying to do these the right way so you know you know we're mindful of that there are times that maybe a pilot is not there by the way Pilots are on you know every every household in con has the option to have or has the availability for a pilot right if you do any any um upgrades to your property what is it four years right five five five years is you you essentially you you you you your taxes do not rise to to reflect the the the new valuation of the home so every home get a pilot too those bad Pilots good pilots and bad Pilots you know this this is the thing every household has it too you know we use these words by the way it's payment R of taxes payment or times you know decades and decades ago when people got tax breakes and they paid nothing right Pilots say you're going to make a payment we're going to put it in the records you know so we use these terms they they evoke emotion but the fact is is there's still useful tools if you do it right I feel like we're doing it right schools you know have my utmost support i s three kids through those schools I'm so grateful I'm grateful to the school board and the work that they do is hard work and and I think they they they do a great job and we'll continue continue to work with them do the best but the idea of hitting us against each other or or or or trying to V fear on this it just it just feels dis so that's all I'll say I just it's just one comment you started out your your comment saying that you wanted to were concerned about fully fund fully funded schools uh I can absolutely guarantee you the schools are fully funded uh when the school board puts a budget together they receive every penny of that budget that they put together Pilots like I said at the last meeting to you Pilots take away not one nickel from Schoolboard budget uh that budget is put together and it is um it is paid for whether we collect the taxes or not uh we have built into this budget what they call a reserve for un uncollected taxes because when people don't pay their taxes we still have to pay schools signed I signed a check that I iay in schools they get they get every nickel okay um the the and that that's the main thing I want to emphasize again keep saying the same thing over and over here the second is the payment to the schools way back in 96 when we did the um the Park View redevelop it the the agreement reached was that because there will be children coming from that Redevelopment project that the borrow would maintain the payments to the schools from that pilot payment for the duration and it wouldn't go up but it would' be maintained and we have and the 220,000 payment that year reference that is the payment that's made every year uh to the schools um touching on something Rob said if you look at the school board's budget when they that $220,000 is kind of added at the end okay so they put together their budget you know we're going to pay for the insurance we're going to pay for the electricity the salary they put everything together and then they figure out what the what is going to be collected in taxes and then there's a there's a a deduction made for the 220 okay and so that that has an impact on what gets taxed but it doesn't have any impact ever on what you're going to pay for in your school budget that's a misnomer I know you keep saying it but it is just not true and so what it does do which is what we told people in 96 and every year since is that everyone else pays a little bit more because of that and the decision was made back then that it would be a worthwhile investment to pay that extra in for the good of the community in general and that's kind of and since then Pilots that we have done where there have been any incidents of school children if we were going to do anything that impacted on the schools we've had those discussions with the lumber yard was start starting I had discussions with Scott Oswell that we were going to work something if we had we didn't think there were going to be kids coming from there but if there were we'd have discussions turns out we haven't had any kids coming out and and so the the where we haven't done any other contributions that way that's why and as Rob explained for the last few years we've been talking about any Pilots if we were to do them we would bring them on with an eye toward reserving a big portion of it for those common facilities that we could do and I'll tell you just I'll end with this the the 900 hien building the pilot we did there first off was an enticement to get people to spend close to three million improving that building CH completely changing that building and the Pilot We Struck for them was they get a 15% reduction in their overall tax P that's it it's a pretty and we're we're going to create yeah we're creating a a sizable fund which we're reserving now and our in our budget we're reserving to be used for shared Fields okay and that's what we said three four years ago that we were going to do we're doing it if anything moves on any other project we'll do it again okay all right does that answer your questions I mean what I had to say same as last month but I I do this idea that we pay a little bit more because we give these corporate tax breaks it's something that I that that's different than we're not fing the schools say both but I know you are and you're first funding the schools that's just wall well so looking you both say for future Pilots right that you want to do the best possible thing if there are more pilots which again I'm not sure why we need more pilots um looking at the State controller's office there's lots of recommendations how old was that study the state controller 20 years ago 2012 but still relevant and we're still named as a power user pilot and that's still the case for our municipality um but yeah created you know a advisory committee um for the tax AB maintenance um having the school district directly negotiate a pilot with the developer so these feel like they'll be more transparent you said Rob this is a good government issue so you know those seem like ideas that could bring more transparency government to any future Pilots should there be a decision made to happens if it impacts the schools we would be we we've done it in the past the other thing I I mentioned about 900 you where $3 million put in there the valuation place when is the vacancy rates also shot through the roof place you know barely occupied before and new businesses are coming in those are also new businesses of people that live in the community and it's also people that are shopping in the community and coming here to and it's making a more vibr place at a time when no one's investing in office properties nobody's investing into residential they're not investing okay anyone else yes sir name and address for the record Andy 6:30 through Stokes uh I was happy to hear commissioner Robinson talk about the things that have been happening with the karate studio with the crosswalk also not mentioned um which isn't part of the lgbtq potential bias crimes which is what I think New Jersey uses instead of H crime um I think there was species at least a couple times on the nail salon which I believe is Asian mod um so uh all sorts of different categories falling into that uh I heard commissioner Robinson say it's definitely being looked at I would like to hear what is going to be done what is being discussed uh but also what is planned in terms of right there I mean that seems to be a hub of problems of criminal activity uh I know the part is being developed which may be a part of security cameras or something that isn't happening probably next month but these crimes are happening now and in a short amount of time several crimes in one area so I would like to hear what specifically is going to happen so so I just want to I want to put it to you this way okay the a number one thing we want to do is get the people that are doing okay and in order to there have been efforts to do that and in order to improve our chances of doing that I don't want to go through a whole lot of detail about what's going on okay but know that it is a top priority two things one get the guy that did it or person that did it and secondly whatever they do we try to undo it as quickly as possible okay to show that it ain't going to work sure so I think you're speaking specifically about the karate studio you said get the person who did all all because this could be multiple people this could be yeah well and I don't I'm not saying I don't mean to just be it's whoever did these things get those people or that person and I can respect that there's something to be said for not putting your playbook out so everybody knows what's happening but I'm a member of the lgbtq community I was at the vigil last night I was holding a sign to talk about trans rights matter when a carload of teenagers drove by and circled around to come back and yell twice and another parent with a small child in the passenger seat yelled that out at us as well our Community feels less safe everywhere it's it's happening everywhere unfortunately so it's I respect not being told details but that's not enough for us right now to just be told we're dealing with it um we need more we we need to hear more about what's happening that I mean a camera is there a camera up is a camera going up right there yeah so I'm I'm not going into those details I mean just don't think for from a police perspective we need to go into it all I can tell you and look we know we're well aware of the stuff that went on last night we're aware of the things that are happening um whatever we do is not going to prevent some people from being U from being that one okay but but what we can do is take every step we can to make it safe all right and we we had some police officer there last night couldn't stop they they they tried to start to adjust to what was happening but um somebody running by and yelling a bad word out of folks were probably not going to stop that I get it and I'm not asking for that to be stopped specifically but but but listen we're in touch with the karate studio with because that seemed to have been you know they've been targeted um and um we're we're doing what we can this town's built a reputation of being you know kind friendly open to anybody no matter who what where when how we don't it just doesn't matter this is a little bit of a symptom of a lot of stuff since to me it's since pandemic uh it's all seemed to have gotten a little bit worse um and we're um we are trying to address it so I think you could somebody could answer is a camera going up or camera's going up yeah okay you can ask it another time if you want but it doesn't seem like something that can't be answered because of an investigation that could give people knowledge that they're going to get caught that's obvious if cameras are up somebody's gonna be on camera but that's also a major deterrent so I don't think it's a major deterrent to answer at that spot yes okay but there's a lot of places in our town okay there's a lot of places in our yes but that is happening there okay so you're not nobody's going to answer as a camera going up here's what I've said I I the chief of police is over there I'd encourage you to to reach out and and talk with him personally I know we' be happy to talk and let's keep it as a police matter with with the citizen the other thing I'll say is this is hard and we're gonna persevere and we're going to win because it's not acceptable we do a lot here not to normalize so you know we s we have to stick together we are we are known very specifically as a Haven for the Community I mean that's why I live here um and it it it's serious business and absolutely and and I can appreciate how not satisfying it is to not get the specific answers um but do know that there are specific actions and thank you by the way yeah I'm glad you brought it up I think it's important it brings up I think more people will talk about that this is not this is not acceptable yeah I mean one not acceptable to us yeah you know so thank you for coming yeah I'm I want to end by saying I'm very disappointed that nobody will answer about a camera being just we're in a public meeting I just I'm asking if you can just meet okay all right I'm sorry disappoint anyone else yes sir yes Mr Clay just name an address please 74 Washington in Maple Avenue there's a rainwater intake that is off Bas and what happens is when there's something down is Plus coming down from the school sometimes jum on they may get H okay Sten you got it right just note about the energy was talking about back when the park VI was sold and they had a rebate I had suggestion then of taking that money and putting solar panels on all the school buildings and the Public Works he would have generated then over a million dollar for the school district so you can think about that if you have a project about the energy other thing is three four years ago I had suggested that when you were building the the new Fire Station C that any new building that is built should be part of the planning Sy that they went on their building so so we didn't do solar over there but we've got roof Gard we've done some other there just wasn't the space up top Mechanicals like think about if you want to do a project with the school district right they have a lot of a lot of room even this building I I hear it's just a lot I hear certainly okay thank you thanks anyone else yes sir Mike lazro 926 Stokes so um I was wondering about this water to Tower development here you've already reached out to developers to see what concepts they uh are going to bring to the table have you reached out to the community did I miss a session or no you probably did um but yes we have um actually the process has been going on for like like the last eight or 10 years uh we did a bunch of charettes and workshops back back a while ago that kind of led to planning out um kind of lumber yard and kind of what we were going to do over there and then there also I'm sorry just give me a second and I'll let you speak okay I did we did the lumber yard uh planned that out and then also included this area back here and went through like a charette system about development what we did and what we're doing on with this now is we're at this point going out on the r on an RFQ RFP is really attract trying to sign up with a developer or two that we feel comfortable working with that has an interest in this project and then we'll be I'm not sure if you were here I know I don't think you're here for the start of meeting but we we would then be going out and beginning a process to talk about any definite plans like any hard plans about what we'd be doing yeah I was here for that part when did the Lum discussion happen and and this the lumber yard end this when did that like like a while ago it's been like a 10 year process so then there's been no recent Community sessions likee we will be so you're going to go to the developers first and see what their concept is and then you're going to ask the community what we want so I'll say it again okay but what we what we did is went out on request for qualifications and a request for concept proposals what we will be doing is working to select a develop or two that we're interested in working with and who have an interest in developing a project here and then we'll be beginning a process of working with the community to develop just what that will be okay okay yeah I just thought that the community would be involved first um before we have a plan the community will be involved I live in the Zay North neighborhood so this is adjacent to you know my neighborhood it's pretty close and reading the papers about what you know could pop be built here as high as the water tower disguise the limit um it just seems odd that residents in the community haven't been recently involved in the process and instead are you're when when you when you went when you went to when you when you're having work done in your house right a lot of work done you you did you go to your neighbors before you went you went to zoning or planning right and then you notified your neighbors if there were any variances and then they saw it right so you started with planet and then you know the neighbors could weigh in it's not that much thank you but but Community involvement is important they'll be involved and they should be involv well Community I'm sorry the community was involved and listen I know it's been a little while but the community been involved which is kind of led the path for lber yard construction and now this phase we couldn't get this phase moved until we had Public Works moved out um police and fire moved out so I know it seems like we didn't call everybody last week about it but kind of on the municipal government it's not that long ago and it's all part of like a process that's all kind of was all set in this room on a couple Saturdays in August with shett with a 100 people in here picking it up thank sure yes I'm just understanding it's not what's going if it seems to me it's what decision has already been made that something is going to be done oh it's not listen it's a it could be an if just as easily as what what is it it's we have a need for more parking okay we have a need for more parking okay well we ain't no more dirt out there to create more parking so if you're going to create more parking it's going to be a structure be something that gets built okay all the land we have is totally filled with parking so it's going to have to be something that gets built and we have forever talk about this area back here at the water towers the the public works department as being an area that would be right for some type ofel that's one of the requirements we build into this and let people know is that we want to not only parking for whatever is going to be buil a residential no likelihood or whatever would be built but that there needed to be a the public parking had to be replaced and we needed a net increase in public parking and so so the idea right it doesn't make sense to have one of the most vibrant downtowns in the region and host garbage trucks here for 16 hours a day and you know have a municipal yard here so opening this up for for development is a good thing and you know my sense is it'll be some type of mixed use some some public space some it'll be these things but it is a difficult puzzle which is one of the reasons why we went out and asked for rfqs to ask developers to give us their qualifications and share with us preliminary ideas because you know what if you really sometimes you need to go out to the market ask that the people develop for a living Architects Engineers Stu like that US Vision because you know more people come into it maybe we'll get a a better solution and it's a balancing act right developers will invariably want to do everything they can to maximize them bre and we we we will push back sometimes and say look it's got to be scale it's got to work within the community right we turn down you know developers right over at the former Ocean First Bank because they wanted to put some powering buildings there we said no same thing with over on night West night where there was you know developers looking to that area so you know I think it it's when we look at these things and we think of the potential for problems guess what we think about that too we worry about those very same problems because we'll get the calls believe you we'll get the calls so those problems are are often times things that we think about too together hopefully get get a final product that we can all be proud of supports the community anything else yes yeah so 126 e pal Avenue um so since we're saying we want more parking more cars coming into town I would also say that it's really important to have more pedestrian visibility especially on had I feel like I have to go like 10 miles per hour because there's those parking spots that are too close to the crosswalks and I know some places they've been pained green I don't know if that's new if it's like same I I just noticed it but you can't really notice it unless there's nobody's par right there so like I have to go really slow and also like my kids are walking SCH so you almost have to be like out into the road for cars to see you and I know that there are drivers that want to stop and if there's not enough time so either like it's one less parking spot right there like flashers so that people could like press a button and something could be so people could know that pedestrians are crossing I think we want people to come downtown I think that would be like a really worthwhile investment um barington I saw kind of signage on P Bridge Road for people like saying CR wall coming up sure less people CR St L bridge and they are heading that so I think be a really great way to show a commitment to pedestrian safety for everybody for people and down people so so we've we've done quite a bit about pedestrian crosswalks and um one of the things that happens when you put things up is people get used to it and so they never see okay the the green that the start of crosswalks has been there for oh four or five years um and you've never seen it um but it but it's it's been there and the the law for crosswalks is that's a safe space so it's the you're supposed to walk out into that Ren space so that people know that you're looking to use the crossw um we'll we're constantly looking we just spent just got grant money right just spent a whole bunch on doing additional bump outs uh as we get funding we'll be doing more bump outs because um while you say you drive slow uh everybody doesn't necessarily drive slow unless the all we have found that's ever affected you put the signs up years ago we put the The Pedestrian blinkers up at the start of the of the downtown you don't even know that they're there yet like it's just as you everything you put up every sign you put up after it's there for a little while nobody notices it's only the new stuff that they notice and the only thing we found that really is effective is changing the road um The Fountain the crosswalk at the clock the the crosswalk the bump out down in uh at the post office that's been a huge help got problem now is people Park out on out um so it's always it's not so yeah we're we'll we're constantly looking to upgrade that pedestrian safety it's part of why we put the use we hire our crossing guards All Summer Long uh through the bid to cross people when it's busy in the evening out there we're very very conscious of it um y we also we also were awarded a safe routs to Transportation grant for several hundred, five six and S you remember how much it was I there were two separate grants and I think a total of 600,000 $600,000 now if you know anything about safe routs of school safe routs of Transportation they're just relationally slow to put these things together but you know a lot of the plan is to to sort of ADD enhancements that you're talking about in the area that you're talking about yeah if I don't if I could chime in for a second specifically the suggestion that Kate made about the cars being at parking up against the crosswalk is one of the things that we're addressing so that's a great comment from her um they're going to be putting bike racks in there with some of that grant money that that um Rob Rob personally walked the whole stretch and marked every single crosswalk that had cars parked right next to it so they're doing some Alternatives there okay yes siren the same topic what about speed bus or whatever the terms are has consider never about speed bumps we never on about speed bumps I can tell you two two towns few bumps in residential neighborhoods the mayor at the time said I will through the day I put the speed on um hind Field's got a few humps that were like ra intersections and the people that put them in are still there and they'll tell you they will never ever ever again do because folks the trouble so in like Autobot example NE put the bumps in well like most people who aren't traveling that road all the time only know there's a speed bump when they go over and so then the complaints they got from the neighborhood was the noise verybody don't know it um so so on had we've gone it different way instead of the bumps like that we've been trying to as we can get money and spend it on changing the roadway okay the the whole idea into a different bump out that's all and do it in a way that it look that people would have things on social media to talk but it's just all about the bump out it's all about that stuff that's it I think you mentioned your relatively un right yes welcome by way um a couple years ago we did along with had Township with joint B pedestrian plan and so a lot of this stuff was mapped out find the areas that were you know identified by thetic and you know we've sort of you know little by little and sort of knock them out one by one that's a planed two three four years ago right that we're finally getting the money for and beginning the contract so you'll probably see it next year sometime it's just like on the development out here it's like M don't quite move like that I wondered is there a plan for this side of had you have the pountain down here but so we got the the bump out at the um clock right there bump out there narrows it this way and then you go to the post office again we're picking up the worst spot okay the post office was just horrendous especially because of the offsetting streets up there and the traffic that it gets um so yeah we'll be looking at others do we backs right oh oh all the the temporary here on cols in Atlantic that's going to become permanent there going to be Construction done there you're going see stuff change there and there was addition essentially one of the things they call Visual FR right you tighten things up drivers have to be a little more conservative conservative is good because paying attention right so col and cols there's at front of car Field School High School fr the high school so the idea is you just actually it seems like it's simple incredibly expensive especially because engineering adaa accessibility and Stu like that so you know we we kind of work our way through these all right anything else anyone just curiously I know coming in tonight three handicap spots right across from this building but when I look in town if I remember correctly I kind of Cru one day to find out I know that we're there are three other handicap spots where else might be about any other on street there's one there's two near the library on each side of Avenue and the L yard there's some in the new parking where we have sort of but any other ideas let us know Mr Clinger let us know right yes but understand and some of the permits are like some of the businesses looking for cost $450 and that one pays only 125 and he hasn't moved that truck since last June what's what what's the cost 145 year 145 a Year everybody it's a big cost and they're supposed to move but we can check out of the movement there not supposed to be it's not a it's not a permanent lifetime part spot but I do notice that one the white I know know the one Stephen p 28 Browning Road um there's a couple of bills floating around the legislature regarding affordable housing and um accessory dwelling units I'm sure you're familiar um yes does the town have any stance or any we don't we don't have any stance officially on it now I'm I'm I'm aware of it I we're aware that it's out there I from what I've been told there not much folks don't think it's going to go all the way F without a lot of revisions so we'll see don't know yeah it's a um personally I just have concerns about it because I just hear like a modern day duplex conversion program but um but we'll see until they get further along and it gets more real um you know we'll see what it is I part of it has gone through the assembly already for it's got out of a committee assembly okay still got a still got a long ways to go but who knows so we'll see we'll see all right anybody else yes sir Mike lazro 926 Stokes I um I also have property uh on the 700 block of lwood there's a creek that flows between soaks and lywood it's actually um part of an Old Creek I guess that they turn into a sewer that goes down Stokes and then uh it actually gets cold it or I'm sorry it's cold under Stokes and then it uh Daylights between Stokes and lwood in that section uh in the past year it's flooded severely twice um two of the neighbors neighbors jent to me actually had their cars total they were flooded out um due to this if you go to that section and look at either side and stoves then go to lywood see that the fruits itself are actually like sinking into the ground that curves the actual storm inlets um it's it to me it looks pretty severe um it looks like it's obviously happened over decades time and something that I think needs to be addressed um I have brought it up to Public Works work's looking at it and trying to figure out if it's just like a fog or something that's causing it to back up into that area um or if it's something like these storms are getting too severe too often and um it's something that might need to be you know reworked the engineered okay um are there any thoughts about that or you have my thought is I talk to the DPW superintendent to find out okay yeah and I have flooding there's flooding everywhere too not just there tell you we got everywhere new flooding we never have the specific storm I'm talking about is the July 4th storm this summer that's the one where my neighbors had their cars flooded it's actually a a little bit of both like so when you called we addressed was clear both time that those yards flooded it was the entire town was fled so there may be something legitimate it's just getting old checking looking it we did brought it at the last storm the yeah I've been property there for about a year so I'm newer to that location but the neighbors around me say that it's happened in the past but it never happened two times in a year so that's just why I wanted to bring it up you hope we have it addressed you got you got a line of people that don't say the same thing you know we used to have a little bit of pling on that corner but now good like well I mean their car were parked in their yard so all right anything else okay BR see you April Fool's Day