record or we have to radar that too Township committee meeting of January 22nd 2024 beginning at 700 p.m. at the Delano Township Municipal Building 770 coopertown Road Delano New Jersey we are recording we are recording all right good evening everyone welcome to the January 22nd 2024 Township committee meeting held at 7:00 p.m. at the municipal building 770 Cooper Town Road in Delano we have a roll call please Mrs Patrick here Mr allette here miss Seuss here Mr Templeton here Mr Bartlett here also present Mr Schwab our Township administrator Mrs lore municipal clerk Mrs Russell Deputy municipal clerk Mr Fenimore the superintendent of Public Works and Mr tiller the police chief you please pleas rise for the flag SE I to the flag of the United States the for stands one nation God indivisible with and justice for all the uh Sunshine statement please Janice please be advised the proper notice of this meeting has been given in compliance with the open public meetings act in the following manner written notice has been mailed to the Bron County times and career post and published in the January 4th 2024 editions written notice has been posted on the official bulletin board of the township of Delano at least 48 hours prior to the meeting all right thank you meeting is now open to the public for any comments or questions this is session number one you have any comments or questions please approach the podium give your name and address for the record meeting's now open to the public and there will be another session later on as well all right seeing no one who wants to come forward meaning is close to the public uh comments and reports start with the township administrator Mr Schwab okay thank you um number one to remind you 3:30 tomorrow we have our first budget work session and Public Works uh and police will be making their presentations and normally I have to apologize normally I have a lot of information for you in advance but I will is not able to get it to you with everything going on so we will get it to you at the meeting and go over things so we will see everybody tomorrow at 3:30 um other things uh to report I think John you you're going to talk about snow stuff so I don't have to bring that up that's John's job um I'm not sure whether they're going to call a correspondents but we got a notice from New Jersey American water that they're filing for rate increase and uh one of the things that municipalities sometimes do is get involved in those cases it takes a little while but something to keep in mind is if anyone is interested in uh getting involved in that uh as we mentioned before New Jersey and I'm sorry psng is also filed for a rate increase and you can think about whether or not someone wants to get involved in looking at that um you also there was correspondence and they'll mentions correspondence but I'm goinging going up here about the state land the new State development plan every X number of years the the state comes up with this plan that then affects everybody and uh uh there's a what's called cross acceptance and someone the county is the one who will be talking to the state Planning Commission about anything goes on in our County but if Delano wants to have any input someone has to then be in contact with the county and find out how to get input to the county about what Delan would like to see in that plan uh report we received uh bids for the Field of Dreams maintenance a couple weeks ago and uh the low bidder this time was a different vendor uh by uh several thousand doll and our uh landscape architect has reviewed it and making recommendations so we'll probably have it on the next meeting subject to input from Wreck uh and uh the low bidder is um what's his name U mugh Landscaping out of uh mortown rant so he's always been number two or number three each time so the same three keep bidding and this first time had somebody lower than TLC so you'll see that recommendation coming and it should be on your agenda for the December 5th meeting unless we hear otherwise uh you also uh saw correspondence from d follow up to our Engineers middle for the seaw wall work at the Waterfront Park front of the mansion that D did Issue a conditional permit and uh Harry is going to go over this in some detail at the next meeting about Tim table costs etc etc but based it was based on what we talked about the previous meeting uh and we'll believe it or not be moving forward on that after a long period of time um that's all I have all right thank you Richard very good news that we finally got that permit all right uh department heads start with the chief uh good evening thank you uh start out with our uh statistics for uh January up to date uh including today uh We've initiated uh 12 police cases there have been 69 motor vehicle stops conducted there have been 36 motor vehicle violations issued uh there have been uh five motor vehicle crashes that have been handled and six adult arrest and five uh contempt arrest um I want to now report on a u some communication I received from a resident on Wilson Way uh he reached out to me via email to stress concerns about uh Newton's Landing Boulevard in Emory way uh he St that there's an increase of traffic doing u-turns there currently there it is allowed there's no restriction to it um and he complained that the uh driving schools specifically have really been utilizing that intersection and it's causing some safety concerns to the public for uh pedestrians and vehicle traffic after I received the email I went out on three different occasions and monitored uh while doing so I was surprised how much uh traffic from the driving schools actually were utilizing not only that intersection but also the one at Newton's Landing Boulevard in Pennington uh after doing so I spoke to uh Township engineer Harry Fox conferred with him and uh my recommendation would be to uh uh incorporate it in our code to make it no u-turns at both intersections not only the one uh just because I I do see how it could be a fear for uh Public Safety with especially uh pedestrians walking um so I would presented that to the uh committee to consider um following Point uh recruit ORF is uh into his 14th week at the Atlanta County Police Academy uh good news he uh completed all firearms training uh last week that concluded the two weeks firearms training and he did pass so another hurdle that he's uh gotten through um we're working with our GIF coordinator Aaron provenzano U we're scheduling a First Amendment auditor training for February 20th uh there's uh still a few of our officers that have not received it portion have but uh we're going to have retired chief police Keith humel um respondent here on the 20th to conduct the training and it's uh it's valuable training that I think especially our newer officers will uh benefit from um so we're looking forward to completing that um not sure if I should wait to brief on curent on Ryan Kar since it's on the agenda they'll just make the appointment unless anyone's got questions yeah you can just point out that it's on the agenda to point so Ryan Kars is on the agenda for a he was offered a conditional offer of employment with us uh to be our next officer um as uh Township administrator advised on the tomorrow tomorrow afternoon I'll be presenting my police budget to the uh committee and a final note I just want to uh thank John and his uh crew um you know probably don't thr it enough but D the storms uh you know they're the ones that keep us uh safe because we can't get to or calls for service without the job they do so uh just want to go publicly thank John and his prw and that's all I have for tonight thank you very Chief I have a question um the uh uturn don't they have to be done by ordinance I remember bringing that up a couple years ago when that's so that was going to be I was going to say if you all agree that this is something you want to consider we'll put the ordinance on the agenda for the February 5th meeting yeah I have the uh ordinance number yeah we got all ready to go but all right yeah well why don't we do that day is there any any not to are there any other U-turn issues West Avenue with the median is that uh that's something I'd have to monor we haven't gotten complaints um you know we're specifically this complaint came through years ago I wanted to go see for myself I I mean obviously it's it's no secret that the driving schools are utilizing Newton's landing and uh you know they're public roadway so there's not much we can do to say you can't use the roadways but when it becomes a safety hazard or or they're doing something illegal then I you know I take it uh in consideration to really evaluate the uh urgency of it and this one after seeing it on three different occasions the way it was being utilized I I definitely recommend it so and it would fall under the uh schedule or under code 29545 uh u-turns prohibit and I think you did rate to those driving schools at one time I I did in my contact uh at at the the NBC he's great it's just he's he's been telling me they've got a lot of popup schools and uh when they're technically not doing anything illegal it's kind of hard to tell them that you know we shouldn't should this good at least it'll be resolved I think the point you made in your email about you know let them go a few hundred yards to the traffic circle where they could learn how to navigate a traffic circle yeah the resident it was that's good I'm glad that's going to be resolved we'll put we'll put the uh introduction on the agenda for the 5th and then the next meeting you'll have toal hearing out that way we can also let signning Point people know that's there's going to be public Hearing in case they have any com very good anyone questions for the chief chief that that training Pro uh the chief hmel was coming in February 20th what's that again I could First Amendment Auditors so it's um really prevalent right now if you have uh people come the government buildings and uh they test they test the employees to see their knowledge of what they're allowed to do what they're not allowed to do they they come in with video cameras they'll walk around the parking lot looking personal vehicles and just to see if uh you know we we're knowledgeable and what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do so that's open for the municipal staff as well Administration uh I believe Aaron said it is yes the Public Works our office the staff administrative staff okay thanks all right Mr fenmore you you've had a quiet week right quiet month well it's it's been three years since we plow so kind of in a learning process but uh got the cob webs off the plows right uh yeah and you have you find all the problems plow don't go up don't go down and you know you work through it uh but the first storm we had four trucks we do we put four trucks together clear the whole town try to keep the town clear and then towards the end of the storm that's when we put the salt down and you know you don't put salt on top of snow and then plow it off that's just wasting it so that's what we did and each one of the four trucks they put on 121 miles and they put out uh 22 tons of salt the first storm uh the second storm we did 174 miles times four truck and and we put out 24 tons of salt uh so um it you know uh we the second storm we hit two times we went through the whole town two times and unfortunately sometimes it takes a little bit longer to get through and you know especially since we haven't plowed in a while you know it's was something a little new but one of the nice things that we had is after each snowstorm people don't realize that we have all these sidewalks we have to clear we have town hall now we have the public works now we got Hickory Street we got Gateway Park we got the pocket park we have the columns we have Perkins Lane so I I mean we have a lot of ground and that is left on us guys have been plown for a certain amount but the two young guys that we had we St stayed up on everything do just doing Town Hall trying to keep that clear um it was it was a good it was nice because after the storm we didn't have to worry about going out and shoveling you know we got to do the gas pumps we got to make sure of that so nobody slips and fall and uh it just you know it it it's gets old but you know it's got to get done and uh it was nice to have these young guys in there helping us this year really was and uh that's about it that's all I got yes I saw Brian and Harry running around like crazy offloading the uh we have we have some properties that um if I took it down in the truck there there we got three properties we call them the holes it was actually yeah three spots that we do and none of my guys like to do it so I get stuck doing it and it's the dirt road down the end of Delaware it goes to the back of Ms and then we put the RightWay in that goes on the other side of M down to the thing and with all the way to the snow all the branches are down you know and I'm like oh jeez and it's all dirt roads so it's very difficult to plow to begin with but the other one the other hole off of vard is really bad I mean it to go in and try to push the snow and to maneuver it it it it gets scary usually I try to do it with the loader but sometimes the loader is too big because it all the cars are in there and you try to navigate around all these cars nobody will come out and say well that let me move my car you know then but you know we get it done so so we can't forget all the uh flooding we had what two weeks ago now uh I don't know if anybody took a look at the boat ramp with all the stuff we got off there so that was another thing that you know and then we had the flooding in the streets which brought up all this debris I mean we've h a lot of debris away so far and we haven't even finished the the boat ring so it's uh the weather is uh coming on us now you know but it was a little little strange plowing since 3 years three years and it will'll be 63 degre this Friday yeah that's good we're having more rain and the full moon is the 25th so there may be more flooding this is the first year in the 29 years that I've lived at the residence I have right now that the water actually came up in my backyard h uh all the way up and it's never done that uh I know somewhere along the line we got to work on the the bridge thing some kind of a valve put in there to help yeah you know flooding like that it's not going to stop it you know we we got to remember one thing that I don't think people realize that all the silk from everything all the streets and the towns where does it go goes into the creek and into the river MH and it's all filling up yep and when you fill a bowl up it's just going to overflow and you know the river's got to be dredged the Creeks got to be dredged you can do whatever you want to do but there's so many of these areas that have shed up that were we we're not really thinking about it you know like Bob Stitch when I started here that was a beautiful running nice Stitch Wildlife like you wouldn't believe you can practically walk across it you know it's so bad now and it's a shame you know and like the river uh the flooding out down along the river on you know the robins way there I mean that that was bad that's the high one of the highest times I've seen it there and down over um by uh just past the mansion by stockin's house over there y the end of Delaware yeah stockens the um I guess I'm trying to I it was I think I was like 7even years old 1958 maybe um the storm down there they came and tied my grandfather's uh house boat to the telephone poll that one Flo away and the and the river actually was up to Second Street because we had a rowboat down there rowing on Second Street I have pictures where there was a tree next to my grandfather's house back there was a little house on the other side and the water was halfway up the tree that's how high the river was was at that time it was a I think it was Hurricane Hazel unbelievable so we haven't had any flooding like that at the end of Poker Street and ran cus that was flooded out I could not believe all the debris I like where did all this debris come from we usually had to use backpack blowers and go from rain cus and blow everything up to to the other side of ran cus going up poer that's how bad it was I mean we had had to pick it up with the load yeah um yeah it was a mess cuz I picked up two trash cans full of debris that was left in my yard from the water just my yard I mean that and I have a very small yard so I can't imagine how some of these other properties manag I know Matt and I were out um the whole week monitoring the flooding visited with some residents um and have some thoughts uh kind of you know on our non-engineering thoughts but um I know we're going to talk more about that I think at our next meeting when Harry here great and I had emailed Harry and Chris no because I really think we need an engineer who specializes in storm water management along the the river I mean we need somebody who can actually come in and I think maybe Kathleen's property may need I don't even think she has a a a seaw wall um so they have like a makeshift where they and Bob stitch has to do we have to do something different there but that's what we need need an engineer who specializes that is the lowest part of town yeah so that water is going to come up there it's not the new we dug it out and you know it goes over top of that so and it just fills in I mean that was flowing right over wow that was bad that was I mean I I've seen it probably just as high yeah and I wondered about the storm drains because I saw water even coming up from them was going right through it's very hard to stop water yeah found out the most powerful thing yeah and I did have some initial conversations regarding the bridge flooding I'll bring that up when I get to my report um I mean you know it it technically the little stuff the little flooding that the last couple floodings with that that's going to be hard to that's going to be very hard to stop but the little ones I mean then they call me up and then I got to send my guys out and it's not even for the Lano you know you know what I mean it's for Riverside it's something that could be an easy fix right d BS in to stop that water from coming back up right exactly you got two spots that's where it comes up you know but I had sent a letter to their engineer I cced Matt with my email that I sent to Sasha Harding the engineer of the Bridge Commission and um I have made a suggestion as to what was suggested here at our Township meeting it was last year the before and uh he called me on the phone he will never put anything in writing but he said they had no plans of doing um that one valve or whatever is needed there and I did send you that email how didn't you get that I sent you the email it may you know what it may have came up on a different email address because the second time I went to send you something else um the other email address came up but I'll send it to you again I did send it Sasha Harding I had him I had a list for him since we're talking about it now I'll just bring up I did have I met with mayor kembell from Riverside and uh just trying to come up with a just a game plan on how to move forward with getting this flooding issue in Riverside fixed and we both agree it's not on it should not be on the laner it should not be on Riverside this is clearly a county issue and the county Ro when I spoke with the Bridge Commission they basically said that the bridge isn't flooding and they're right the bridge is not flooding right has not been underwater thank God that'd be a whole different issue but the county as you know the owner of the road they need to work on a solution here so uh we we have some thoughts on how to get that I've also looped in my contact over with the county office of emergency management and they're going to work on this as well with us and just to try to come up with some sort of solution here and I looked at it uh I was out there countless times over that week when the flooding was occurring on both sides and you could clearly see what storm drains is coming out of on the Riverside side and you can see right where it's going in at low tide right where the um the outlet is into the creek and you know putting a duck valve on there like just like we did at the end of Hickory that really needs to be investigating for them and it's a a good solution you know it worked for us on Hickory It Won't Stop you know if it's raining of course the water's still going to go it's still going to pull up there if it's above high tide but the majority of the time when we had the flooding last week was when it was not raining and the water just that high tide was coming up yeah so you know we have some thoughts on that we're going to continue to press on that I'm going to now that the county oen might be caught up after the few events over the last week I'm going to schedule some time to sit with them and keep everybody informed on how're making out is that that is one concern we have as far as you know I get it's complete inconvenience for the residents not to be able to make it across but I'm more concerned about emergency services with fire trucks needing to respond to both town uh towns back and forth ambulances coming between towns police if you need to back up each other and having to Loop all the way around down 1:30 you're adding precious time it was uh it was nice to see uh the police department uh the OEM and public works and even the Bridge Commission working together to notify the residents in unison when the closures were happening and the openings were happening because that was a rough rough week for that so it was nice to see all the communication and coordination yeah I think we I think between the chief and I we finally figured out who's talking to whom or who's not talking to whom within the various you know the Bridge Commission calling or the Riverside calling the Bridge Commission to let them know to shut it down then then not passing it back on to everybody else but we got that work worked out and everyone was getting the alerts uh afterwards so it it worked out well toward the end of it and hopefully that keeps up God forbid we have more flooding with the uh you know more rain this week SM I've been watching the tide sharks hopefully we'll be good this week still I'm not going to jinx myself I think on a positive note uh the work that we had done on clearing out the drains along Hickory Street uh from the resident that lives corner of I think it's Cooper Town Road and Hickory right across from the ballpark they said that intersection had not fluttered it uh that they didn't experien some of the things that we had in the past uh and again timing wise and we had the storm but prior to that uh we had the crew in there I guess or Harry did uh cleaning out those drain lines even though they weren't clear at 100% whatever roots and things they got out of there uh help and during the heavy rain when it did Flood once the tide subsided it went down right away went down so that did that worked out great very good point I thought the the county owned from the bridge on our side to the linking Lake around the bend and then they owned the Bridge Commission from the bridge on the Riverside to the lake I thought that that's what they were responsible I talked to the county guy and he says you know he was like well it is the bridge commissions but they're going to push it on me and so he was trying to look this you know but just so you know I don't care which one of them fixes it someone fixes it yeah when I send that it's not going to fix everything it's not going to you know you get severe flooding like this you can't that's almost impossible but the little stuff that we just have to block off you know it it'll stop that it'll and that was such a simple what it cost is $8,600 for the duck valve over at Hickory Street such a simple solution that you know could be done and just got to get the right people to look into it hopefully we will did anyone else have any questions from Mr fenmore well done thank you very good uh let's uh Mrs lore nothing at this time thank you didn't want to forget you there thank you all right we'll go to Township committee reports uh start to my right Mr elect see uh the library board did not meet uh in the beginning of January because we had the state of emergency that had been declared for that uh rainstorm that we had uh for the history board uh we had a reorganization uh meeting and uh the chairperson will be uh is Peter Fritz Vice chair is anma Elma Jordan and Treasurer is Ron Naylor uh we still have an open position for the secretary uh position uh the history board uh whether it's a discussion that we need to have at the end but uh we would like to uh we're proposing to or asking that uh we're able to use Town Hall here we have the displays out front but we'd like to on the third Saturday of each month uh from 1: to 3: to be able to have uh the lobby open and have uh two representatives from the history board present uh to be able to explain the displays or give presentations here at Town Hall uh also uh it would require the Las on or one of the committee people to be present uh in the lobby uh during the time that the history board would be using uh the lobby to have it open to the public I heard you volunteer there right well as it lat on yes I would be present and if I couldn't then I would try and recruit one of the uh one of our uh fellow Township people uh committee people to uh take my spot be the third Tuesday of the month Saturday or Saturday yes Saturday of the month and uh during that time uh it may you know whether we add on to that that we have literature in the lobby that folks can't get to during the normal week uh of our uh Township building being open we close at 4:30 uh we're on a Saturday afternoon at least once a month they'd be able to get in here to maybe get some of the other literature we need feedback from the rest of the committee and the administration whether there be any uh any issues there I think it's a good idea we have all the uh stuff in the lobby be great for people to look at uh we would need to have uh or whether we have the door automatically open and closed from one you know open that one and then close at three we having a myself or one of the committee people to have the fob and be able to uh have the door wedged open definitely figure that out go the committee see anyone else has thoughts on that have the committee persons probably start with the F rather than a time lock changing those just to see what the what the feel the flow is yeah as a test the program advertise it you know get the word out put it in the be and see how it goes and then if it's something that's there's interest particularly in this in the the better weather spring summer that there's enough traffic that warrants it and the endurance of the history board and the volunteers and the committee members coming on that we'll see how long that goes uh Beverly I guess they have their uh facility uh they have they use the library and they have their display so they have Saturday hours open over there from noon to 3: uh on the first Saturday of the month uh Riverside they have the museum uh and then Delan Township I wasn't able to come up with what hours they're open uh on the weekends or on on Saturday rear side's open on Thursdays Thursdays the the depot yeah they're they're open on Thursday 9 to 12 uh they also have Saturday hours from 10 to 2 you guys have any comments you're okay with the opening I know I think it's an excellent idea see if people want to come in and Rouse around and see what we have have that it okay yeah now thank you when do you think you will start that the history board about that uh or hasn't been determined yet it has been determined but if uh we were able to maybe third Thursday I mean I keep saying Thursday Saturday Saturday right I don't know why I have Thursdays on my mind but come here Thursday yeah on Sat the third Saturday of uh February oh you start that February okay and what are the times again from 1 to three okay thank you all right and that's all I had all right thank you very much uh so what we'll do on our facility calendar in the office we'll block out that third Saturday every third Saturday from 1 to 3 for the history board okay okay history board open house um open open for the displays y right very good thank you Fern it's your all right let's see we get through this uh there's one item on the agenda tonight the resolution 35 uh doing an amendment appointing the prosecutor last Wednesday night's uh uh court session uh got off to a little bit of a bumpy start but uh good work of uh Court Administrator uh or Administration Jennifer Esposito and some background work by Mr hole and I think uh Mrs lure and Mr Schwab were involved in that but uh anyway um we'll get to reaffirm our prosecutor as appointed for the municipal court process uh been putting a lot of time on the new flood ordinance um since I was volunteer assigned for that job um I've got a bevy of emails from d with questions and uh picked up a couple of adopted ordinances from other communities in New Jersey uh Burlington County is one of the last areas of the state that's adopting this ordinance the new flood ordinance uh to replace the one that we did in 2017 and I've had some correspondence with our neighboring towns just to see what kind of additives uh that they're applying to uh what the state requires what FEMA requires and there's an option for the local community to add whatever they want uh one of our neighboring towns uh and I don't know if it's reinforced based on what we experienced two weeks ago but they're adding four feet to the base elevation uh of their flood maps so um discussion on the uh the bridge and so forth uh probably the third or fourth time I've emailed the Bridge Commission with the suggestion for wireless electronic signs to be strategically mounted posted at various intersections Toano Riverside out on Route 130 to advise motorists when the bridge is closed so everyone doesn't get jammed into Riverside or into Delo and then we pedal a backpedal to go the other direction so I did get a reply that that was passed on to uh U The Bridge Commission and went up to the county so between a duck bill valve an electronic sign maybe something will get solved to uh alleviate the the burden of of you getting a call and you getting a call that the bridge is closed and we got to run out with barricades and everything else so U we can only hope uh and also uh been following some of the affordable housing things going through the legislature there's a bill going through the assembly and the New Jersey the Senate State Senate um revising or replacing what used to be the Council on affordable housing um and uh one of the things that uh since I had worked with Mrs Martin and Mrs lore on the Route 130 plan uh two three years ago and so forth was um there were some significant errors in the data that the Department of Community U Affairs has and tax records and so forth that the state has and that's all part of the calculus that goes into determining an affordable housing obligation and uh there were significant errors then there significant errors that still remained and if there's a way that municipalities can get a look at that data uh before it goes through uh whatever is created out of this legislation that uh we can get uh a realistic uh calculation rather than start on the other end that whatever answer they've come up with or an assignment for the region uh as far as a prospected need for affordable housing that gets filtered down to the communities that we don't have to backpedal and say well this data is wrong this data is inaccurate this is outdated um they look at housing starts they look at actually they look at s satellite data imagery to see uh vacant open land uh in the Route 130 report uh Delano shows up as 218 Acres classified as vacant well most of that are is our Parks Pennington Field of Dreams U West Avenue and so forth and so if you can we can get to a point where whatever entity is going to make these determinations these calculations that they're looking at reality and rather than some garbage G in garbage out uh data collection that uh We've dealt with in the past so um I met with the tax uh assessor a couple nights ago and he gave me a rather large Excel file so kind of combing through that just to to validate some things and uh just putting a little bit of elbow grease into it to uh try to put us in the best position so anyway that's all I got right now okay thank you very much Mike Miss Fitzpatrick thank you uh the seniors met on January 9th at Dobbins and the speaker discussed planning for the future so you can enjoy your senior years and make sure your future plans are discussed and put into written documents that are acknowledged and accepted in New Jersey uh the Sewer Authority also met on January 9th via Zoom uh and um the properties to update Style they received their permit from d for the SIU um 989 Cooper Town Road um no change they still have several items needed before requesting release of their performance bond uh the trunk line project is underway the TV work is started and the manholes have been identified so you'll be seeing people working around town uh we're still waiting for the heating system to be converted to gas at the garage the GIF Insurance inspections are completed and the operator's report is on file uh the next meeting for the Sewer Authority will be held here on February 13th at 6:30 p.m. uh the Recreation Commission held their reorganization meeting on January 11th the positions for the new year are as follows the chairman is Phil mcfaden the vice chairman is Al grao the secretary is Steve Jazz and the treasurer is Morin hilderbrand the subcommittees for the events and activities were discussed and dates determined um Scott Taylor our planner presented a plan for the addition to the Vine Street pocket park which included moving some of the existing plannings and adding some additional amenities such as a clock picnic table and benches once the cost estimates are received um it will be presented to the township committee uh before the project is submitted for the 2024 local Recreation Grant which is Du on February 27th and this week is a busy week coming up we have the Youth Sports Association tomor night Board of Ed Wednesday the hen advisory committee on Thursday and Living Springs on Friday so I will be busy this week so thank you thank you Kate is this the joint land news board meeting was um cancelled because of the weather uh so they will meet for the reorg in I think it's February 6th the recreation meeting I attended as well the KE just reported on I uh enjoyed Scott Taylor's presentation um for the proposed Vine Street Park I thought it was very well done and great job to the subcommittee on that as well that's all I have all right on my report I attended the fire company and Fire Commission meetings on December 18th and 27th respectively a normal business occurred at the fire company meeting the election of officers for 20124 took place and the officers for this year are President Bill Trimble vice president Eric Zuber uh Treasurer Terry Hamlin secretary myself uh trustees Lester Abrams Christen cave Joe Fox Nick cubler and John Zuber and your chief for 2024 is Scott Hamlin deputy chief Lester Abrams Captain Nick Hubler and lieutenants Chris cave and Joe Fox and fire police Lieutenant myself and chief engineer Keith Morman I attended the Board of Ed meeting on December 20th as I indicated in my December report there are a number of items on the agenda for approval that were approved mostly which included staff positions that should have been filled over the last number of years and the district was required to provide but didn't uh they were not funded in the present budget and was previously indicated they would need to apply for a loan from the state in order to cover uh those items uh one thing to note was the breakdown of the student population that was called out uh we have 117 special needs students in the district which amounts to 28% of the students and the average in the state of New Jersey is 18% uh I did inquire about the grant writer position that was supposed to be reposted are not sure where that was at and as of today it still is not reposted uh they are going back to committee as a whole so there will not be a work session meeting each month just the regular monthly meeting which happens to be this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. uh needless to say the last two weeks I spent a lot of time out and about through town with the various storms that we've had and communicating with our residents uh the January 9th 99th storm we had significant flooding in parts of the town which of course were along the river and the creek as uh mentioned previously I took numerous drives throughout the town sometimes accompanied with missuse and the sheer amount of water coming in as we discussed just hasn't been seen before um I was in frequent contact with Mr fenmore on our cleanup efforts from both that event and from the snowstorm and as always as we said our Public Works Crews were right on top of everything and I will thank them yet again John please pass on our thanks to all the guys working for you and uh thanks for the officers as well for keeping up with all the closures um see I mentioned we uh worked on the communication on the closures and see what [Music] else I met with Mrs Russell last week and we spent some time putting together information for the County's hazardous mitigation Plan update and needless to say we put flooding in there as a Hot Topic or cold topic as the case may be um and finally over the last month I spent a lot of time testing retesting troubleshooting and any other verb you could imagine with getting our meetings on a one-way stream to the public and using my various backgrounds in Brook EST engineering we're live streaming Tonight on YouTube um the whole town as a whole uh the town as a whole since Co started we tried to find a way to do that it would be a full hybrid solution so the residents could participate in the meeting and due to various challenges with affordability or lack thereof and responding vendors or lack thereof that was never completed but uh this most certainly is in the effective and no cost way for our residents to at least see and hear what happens in these walls and once the stream is over it'll be saved automatically on YouTube in the same manner that we've been uploading the audio uh from the meetings uh we tried Facebook live for a reor meeting but but while it worked out the audio was low and it didn't allow the widest amount of people to view it unless you had a Facebook account so now with on YouTube anyone who has access to the internet could watch us uh right here no membership or anything else is needed so uh hopefully that's working tonight good job setting that up yes yeah thank you thank you very good all right uh consent agenda items the consent agenda items are considered to be routine and will be enacted with a single motion any item requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all consent agenda items will be reflected in full in the minutes anyone have anything they want to remove from the consent agenda um I guess a clarification Mr Schwab or Mrs lure on the uh resolution regarding the prosecutor uh 35 two three four five six the sixth whereas um our prosecutor Mr G uh was telephonically present and the court proceedings uh the docket was completed which seems to imply that we had no prosecutor that evening I think Doug wasn't aware of that when wrote this so at the time we didn't know that was what was going to happen so it's up to you how I mean the whereases are I guess a well it's a formality I mean is there any reason why we wouldn't do it yeah I think it's a question whether we should change any of the where ases if they are don't describe exactly what happen so there was a prosecutor present no not uh the judge apparently was able able to communicate with he was present on the phone on the phone as all the uh individuals that had a summons to court were present on the phone okay so maybe just revise it to say the prosecutor was present via telephone not physically I don't think that makes a difference he was present because the public defender is often not there in person either I think the purpose of all this is because this resolution is what Doug will use to make sure that that they're pres knows why we're doing this yes CU they're the ones who promised they send somebody and did not right so I think it's a formality that we should okay it to them yeah certainly it should whether you want to change any of the warehouses let me just put in there at the end um at the end of the uh that six whereare as Clause um the court was able to continue by the judge telephonically getting Mr G on the telephone just to I think that would clarify anything in that statement yeah I our prosecutor Mr G uh performed his duties at our court session last Wednesday night Ione all right so I said as best as possible without a prosecutor present that prosecutor Mr G was on available by phone yes okay we we'll clean that up yeah Mr G thank you Mike any anything else anyone has for consent or we're good no all right ordinance 20241 calendar year 2024 model ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank uh mjsa 4A col 4- 4514 first reading by title only and to set public hearing date for February 26 2024 at 7:00 p.m. resolution 20 24-31 authorize appropriation Reserve transfer resolution 202 24-32 resolution of the township of Delano in the county of Burlington state of New Jersey appointing temporary entry-level law enforcement officer under the alternate route hiring process resolution 2024-25 resolution authorizing the township of Delano through the township of Delano Police Department to participate in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office 1033 program to enable the township of Delano Police Department to request and acquire excess Department of Defense equipment resolution 2024 d34 resolution authorizing the Burlington County division of mosquito control to conduct aerial larvel and adult mosquito control activities and authorizing execution of a municipal agreement form and resolution 2024-25 resolution amending resolution 2024-25 one24 payroll 93,9 1872 escrow trust fund $ consent agenda move second all right motion By Carolyn second by Mike roll call please Mrs Patrick yes Mr elette yes Miss Seuss yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Bartlett yes sound like he wanted to chim in there was something F no I was just uh noting the uh added uh language with the 35 uh 202 24-35 paragraph 6 got m thank you all right appointments uh hen Advisory Board one-year term expiring December 31st 20124 forgot to put it on the uh reorder yeah it's first time we had to do that so that's why it's here thank you Richard uh Suzanne Perez Lynn Fulton Michael volano Melena kareah and Jess knight uh a motion move one second motion by Kate second By Carolyn rokle please Mrs Patrick yes Mr elette yes Miss Zeus yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Bartlett yes uh correspondence James uh just the two things that Richard already talked about the first one um we received notice uh from the state regarding its Redevelopment update and the second one was just um the receipt of the permit from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for 410 linear feet of vinyl ball okay and that's it thank you all right thank you very much uh meeting is now open to the public for comments and questions this is session number two as it's session number one if you have anything please come up to the podium and give your name and address for the record meeting's open to the public all right seeing no one meeting is closed to the public uh discussion items uh Recreation grant program process status that you JN or Richard that's Richard yeah I can talk about just uh I asked to put it on because we received uh a couple things going on and as Kate pointed out from wck that uh the plan for Vine Street Park changes are going to be hopefully completed and therefore we expect that at your meeting on the 5th uh Scott Taylor could be here to present it to you and the issue was applying for a grant we just got notified recently that this year's State recreation facility Grant uh is available and due by February 27th earlier there was some discussion about the Green Acres Grant yes which was due February 7th but I pointed out that that's a loan it's not a grant and it's mainly aimed actually both of them are are aimed more as areas that are in Greater need perhaps but so for the the um State Recreation Grant we received money the first two years first year we did the well Field of Dreams and we received a grant to do the uh work at UH bab Ruth field the particularly the uh overlay of the u basketball courts that has not been moved along because the cost to do that is significantly higher than the grant so it'll be discussed as part of our budget process as to whether or not we want to still go ahead with it because we're going to need local funds that originally wasn't anticipated there was some minor changes about where the location of the uh pathway is going to be and where the area where the handicap space is and those so there's some minor changes that were were done and and the engineer hasn't formally drawn them out but the main thing deals with uh the fact that the cost for the overlay is just significantly higher than what was estimated so that'll be discussed um the issue then in terms of your process if the plan is that if you're happy with what is presented next meeting and Gateway if that's where you're headed for applying using uh that project for your Grant because of the timetable we have to be prepared to do a resolution probably at the next meeting at the latest so we have to be prepared for I want to make sure that that's the direction we're headed just so we don't accidentally miss the date because we administratively don't know uh where we're headed for that I also want to point out if you look carefully at the recreation grant program uh it emphasizes uh activity if you remember this money is arpa money which is came from Co and the goal then was to get people outside where they couldn't catch the disease and so so the aim was trying to prove that the money is going to be spent on outside active Parks it's aimed for that uh and so therefore we had to convince them that good turf at the Field of Dreams would be something that allow better use of an active Park the basketball court clearly that's active stuff so that's one of the things to think about when you're making the application as to what you're going to make the application for if Gateway is pass Vine Street I'm sorry Vine Street so so you have to think about where that's going to score but I don't know what our alternatives are involved we were talking on about 200 a talk about other things but the question Becomes of those passive Parks active Parks so it may be that you decide no that's what we want to try for but I'm just pointing out that because it's not active recreation park as I understand it and because we haven't completed using their money for last year's Grant yet Perhaps our chance of getting the grant is not as high as we would think otherwise so I'm just mentioning that so that you're prepared to think it through and not make any assumptions that we'll get the grant at this point in time if that's where you're headed for G I'm sorry for Vine Street part of Vine Street now the way that it's been proposed is to have an open area so that if some kids want to throw a football or what have you they can do it okay the other thing is adding um tables uh picnic tables chairs you know like benches so that it will move people to be able to sit there especially if they're going to the ice cream bar and they can go across the street and have their so it's going to be a more active Park than passive they're trying to make it more active yeah that'd be great I'm just pointing that out as I read this I mean I think that's the goal to um to have people filter through there right um so that's some of the changes in the vegetation that exists they're going to be moving that having a more open area and hopefully people will enjoy it they're not doing as much on that new section because that's you know kind of kind of scary when you think about the way the cars go around the curve and what have you so we're going to open up the other area and have a clock sort of like in the central section but I I think it will be more active if uh the way Scott explained it um that's something you're going ask him I just want to point out that if you assume that I mean if there's other Alternatives in your mind that might fit the grant better but it's also very important that when you make an application for Grants you have the plans and the numbers for good or for bad in terms of the basketball courts yeah we submitted the numbers and they said fine but it turned out the numbers weren't right so I'm not sure where we are I just want to make sure that you make the decision there's no right or wrong we don't know I don't make the decision whether it gets approved or not I'm just want to make sure that you're aware of what the standards are and have read that so that when you make your decision you make it you know full knowledge that's all the only other thing that would be uh even an option would be to install the playground equipment behind the Field of Dreams pavilian um and that we spoke to Scott about would be a relatively quick quote just from a playground equipment company there wouldn't be too much planning involved so you know as a backup we we have that option yeah so my question is can we submit that as part of this grant as an attachment to this you mean two separate ones yeah like an yeah I don't know Scott can tell you that I think that's what we did last time they gave us the the well as opposed to something else we looked at so it's possible but I think we had the playground equipment KN there so if we have that information that's kind of thing to have that discussion with Scott about he'll know better than I will but I just want to make sure I didn't want to check with him because get to a point if we had a couple months then we could have plenty of time but you know you have to kind of make a decision the next meeting that's where we're going for so we can do the paperwork for your following meeting which the 26th I believe and it's due on the 27th at 5:00 cutting cutting it close so we might want to have maybe it's prepared if you're ready to go on the F thing we can have the resolutions just in case you're ready to go and if not we'll fill in the blanks there maybe figure out how to do that we have two meetings in February so but but the February meeting is not to the 26th because the holiday the first one's the fth so 5th or 26th is due by 5:00 on the 27th I believe answer 27 have you guys had a chance to look at the story Board of the mockup I did okay the judge still I have a question did do you think that um recck would like us to include the um playground at the Field of Dreams as an additional like an either or or do you want to just stay with the one Grant I had this discussion with Scott on Thursday night at our meeting uh he again brought up the recreational part where he didn't think that we would qualify too much for l stre so he was seeking the alternative and then I had suggested that we plump everything together right we do M Street we do uh Gateway the 414 R Co property and they play ground equipment along with soccer RS and he he recommended that we decide on one or the other yeah either either Gateway or mine street but both of them are pretty much passive although we're inviting additional people it's only up to $100,000 so it's not a ton of money yeah um the average is 60 kind of yeah that's the problem okay so maybe we should just stick with this one because uh it seems like I don't know I think I thought wreck past it to go to move forward with this one I mean they did a motion was there okay I just wanted to ask make an application if you don't get it then you decide whether you going to finance it yourself for next year or not conern and this is part of this is I don't understand why we haven't spent the money from the first R usually the Lano and the Recreation Commission when we get a grant we spend them ony it's time it's over with that's why we were so grateful when the county grants yeah they would fun money because we were spending not City yeah but this is a state it's a different it's a different but it's still a grant that because we haven't spent what they gave us last time could be a mark on correct because the cost we got quotes for the overlay and they're significantly more than what the grant is yeah a lot so that's that's why it's got to be part of the capital budget Pro we for the basketball court be put aside we should in my opinion I'm not an expert it should have been put aside and proceeded and finish up the project as planned with the sidewalk and that all that time will they pay for just that just for I I don't know that they'll do that but yeah you know I mean we if we did those that's a small piece of it and we don't finish what we did we'd have to go back to them and say is it okay if we do the little B part parts and not the big part we haven't but that's the kind of thing we need to talk to Scott about that's the stuff we need to talk about in budget but that's why it isn't done but you're right Phil it we won't look as good because we haven't completed it when we make this application so I think our chance of getting it may not be as high as we might have thought otherwise but sometimes you still say okay well give it a try what's the worst case nothing worse than not trying so yeah the other grants were from the county um and they were a lot easier to deal with than the state but yet in fact we still have leftover money from County grant that we're talking about using for the Pathways in front and the pathway and the fencing and so on because the cost of the event lawn came out less than what we got the grant for because it was a guest right and so therefore and there's some stuff that um uh Mary Pat said we I wanted a charge we couldn't so so but we can do it for this not for you know so we're they're much more flexible there's no question dealing with County money than dealing with State people but in some cases we didn't get that done for almost two years after we got the grant because they're more complicated and larger and it's reimbursement too right yes yes reimbursement yeah correct it's all reimbursement stuff so anyhow so my belief is that that what we'll do is we'll prepare the a resolution and we'll have it ready and then you can decide what to do we can have a you know in blank or with that Park and see if you want to decide you change we can always handr write it in and so on because I'm concerned about doing the resolution on your meeting on the 26th when it's due the next day yes right okay I'll not a good idea so i' like to be prepared everything that he's I like to be prepared okay okay all right that was what I wanted on to have this discussion with youall thank you Richard M anyone have anything and also you can have the officer of year presentation that your next meeting February 15 perfect Chief will be in charge of that so that'll probably be at the beginning of the meeting and then we'll do the then Scott will do his thing after that okay okay all right thank you Richard I keep on top of these projects very good okay anyone else have anything for this evening we can go home turn Mike G nope nope everything's good oh John does yeah um that was a good blast about asking the residents to get their cars off the street uh it it worked very good yeah now we have to work on the basketball courts that are in the way so oh in the street you're talking about Can the police officers ticket for them yeah we can okay if they're in John's way let's get them done oh it's so but moving the cars you know you know in the winter time I think it's good they get them off you know the street they have to put them in the backyard and fine is for the the winter time just to get the cars off cuz it makes a big big difference right yeah and and also thanks to the residents who got their sidewalks cleared right away um I went out that evening was track of what day it was I guess Friday evening um and and most of the residents had them clear there was one block One Long Street along the river that should name remain nameless that uh wasn't cleared too well but the majority of the Town looked pretty good so thanks to the residents well you have 12 hours of daylight following the storm to do that correct yep and even after that 24 hours 36 hours there was a lot that wasn't clear if you know residents who are able to you're able to help your neighbors if you have an elderly neighbor you know be a nice thing to do it was definitely better the second storm than the first storm the first storm there was a lot of Burlington Avenue that was not done which concerned me with the kids walking school and it was very icy but the second storm it looks like everybody kind of did a better job so that was good all right I don't think we have a need for another executive session um motion to agend move [Music] second Fern all in favor I that was me am I standing like going on that's all right --------- we are recording we are recording all right good evening everyone welcome to the January 22nd 2024 Township committee meeting held at 7 pm. at the municipal building 770 Cooper Town Road in Delano we have a roll call please Mrs Patrick here Mr alette here miss Seuss here Mr Templeton here Mr Bartlett here also president Mr Schwab our Township administrator Mrs lore municipal clerk Mrs Russell deput municipal clerk Mr Fenimore the superintendent of Public Works and Mr tiller the police chief please rise for the flag s i to the flag of the United St America the stands one nation God indivisible Li and justice for all the uh sunshine statement please Janice please be advised that proper notice of this meeting has been given in compliance with the open public meetings act in the following manner written notice has been mailed to the Bron accounting times and Courier Post and published in the January 4th 2024 editions written notice has been posted on the official bulletin board of the township of Delano at least 48 hours prior to the meeting all right thank you meeting is now open to the public for any comments or questions this is session number one if you have any comments or questions please approach the podium give your name and address for the record meeting's now open to the public and there will be another session later on as well all right seeing no one who wants to come forward meeting is close to the public uh comments and reports start with the township administrator Mr Schwab okay thank you um number one to remind you 3:30 tomorrow we have our first budget work session and Public Works uh and police will be making their presentations and normally I have to apologize normally I have a lot of information for you in advance but I was not able to get it to you with everything going on so we will get it to you at the meeting and go over things so we will see everybody tomorrow at 3:30 um other things uh to report I think John you you're going to talk about snow stuff so I don't have to bring that up that's John's job um I'm not sure whether they're going to call it correspondents but we got a notice from New Jersey American water that they're filing for rate increase and uh one of the things that municipalities sometimes do is get involved in those cases it takes a little while but something to keep in mind is if anyone is interested in uh getting involved in that uh as we mentioned before New Jersey can I'm sorry psng is also filed for a rate increase and you can think about whether or not someone wants to get involved in looking at that um you also there was correspondence and they'll mentions correspondence but I'm bring going up here about the state land the new state development plan every X number of years the the state comes up with this plan that then affects everybody and uh uh there's a what's called cross acceptance and someone the county is the one who will be talking to the state Planning Commission about anything goes on in our County but if Delano wants to have any input someone has to then be in contact with the county and find out how to get input to the county about what Delan would like to see in that plan uh report we received uh bids for the field of DRS Maintenance a couple weeks ago and uh the low bidder this time was a different vendor uh by uh several thousand dollar and our uh landscape architect has reviewed it and is making recommendations so we'll probably have it on the next meeting subject to input from Wreck uh and uh the low bidder is um what's his name U mchu Landscaping out of uh mortown Del Ran so he's always been number two or number three each time so the same three keep bidding and this first time had somebody lower than TLC so you'll see that recommendation coming and it should be on your agenda for the December 5th meeting unless we hear otherwise uh you also uh saw correspondents from Depp uh follow up to our Engineers middle for the seaw wall work at the Waterfront Park front of the mansion that D did Issue a conditional permit and uh Harry is going to go over this in some detail at the next meeting about timable costs etc etc but based it was based on what we talked about the previous meeting uh and uh we'll believe it or not be moving forward on that after a long period of time um that's all I have all right thank you Richard very good news that we finally got that permit all right uh department heads start with the chief uh good evening thank you I'll start out with our uh statistics for uh January up to date uh including today uh We've initiated uh 12 uh police cases there have been 69 Motor Vehicles stops conducted there have been 36 motor vehicle violations issued uh there have been uh five motor vehicle crashes that have been handled and six adult arrest and five uh contempt arrest um I want to now now a report on a u some communication I received from a resident on Wilson Way uh he reached out to me via email to stress concerns about uh Newton's Landing Boulevard in Emery way uh he cited that there's been an increase of traffic doing u-turns there currently there it is allowed there's no restriction to it um and he complained that the uh driving schools specifically have really been utilizing that intersection and it's causing some safety concerns to the public for uh pedestrians and vehicle traffic after I received the email I went out on three different occasions and monitored uh while doing so I was surprised how much uh traffic from the driving schools actually were utilizing not only that intersection but also the one at Newton's Landing Boulevard in Pennington uh after doing so I spoke to uh Township engineer Harry Fox confered with him and uh my recommendation would be to uh uh incorporate it in our code to make it no u-turns at both intersections not only the one uh just because I I do see how it could be a fear for uh Public Safety with especially uh pedestrians walking um so I would present that to the uh committee to consider um following Point uh recruit ORF is uh into his 14th week at the uh Atlanta County Police Academy uh good news he uh completed all firearms training uh last week that concluded the two weeks firearms training and he did pass so another hurdle that he's uh gotten through um we're working with our Jeff coordinator Aon provenzano we're scheduling First Amendment auditor training for February 20th uh there's uh still a few of our officers that have not received it portion have but uh we're going to have retired chief police Keith hmel um responding here on the 20th to conduct a training and it's uh it's valuable training that I think especially our newer officers will uh benefit from um so we're looking forward to completing that um not sure if I should wait to brief on current on Ryan Karns since it's on the agenda they'll just make the appointment unless anyone's got questions yeah you can just point out that it's on the agenda to appoint him so Ryan Kars is on the agenda for a he was offered a conditional offer of employment with us uh to be our next officer um as uh Township administrator advised on the tomorrow tomorrow afternoon I'll be presenting my police budget to the uh committee and a final note I just want to uh thank John and his uh crew uh um you know probably don't do it enough but during the storms uh you know they're the ones that keep us uh safe because we can't get to our calls for service without the job they do so just want to go publicly thank John and his crew and that's all I have for tonight thank you Chief I have a question um the uh U-turn don't they have to be done by ordinance I remember bringing that up a couple years ago when that's so that was going to be I was going to say if you all agree that this is something you want we'll put the ordinance on the agenda for the February 5th meeting yeah I have the ordinance yeah we got all ready to go but all right yeah why don't we do that is there any any reason not to are there any other U-turn issues West Avenue with the median is it uh that's something I have to monitor we haven't gotten complaints um you know we're specifically yeah this complaint came through a couple years agoo I wanted to go see for myself I I mean obviously it's it's no secret that the driving schools are utilizing Newton's landing and uh you know they're public roadways so there's not much we can do to say you can't use the roadways but when it becomes a safety hazard or or they're doing something illegal then I you know I take it uh uh in the consideration to really evaluate the uh urgency of it and this one after seeing it on three different occasions the way it was being utiliz I I definitely recommend it so and it would fall under the uh schedule under code 29545 U-turn to prohibit and I think you did rate to this driving schools at one time didn't I did in my contact uh at at the the MVC he's great it's just he's he's been telling me it's they've got a lot of pop up schools and uh when they're technically not doing anything illegal it's kind of hard to tell them that you know we shouldn't well this is good at least it'll be resolved I think the point you made in your email about you know let them go a few hundred yards to the traffic circle where they could learn how to navigate a traffic circle yeah the resident Val and it was valid that's good I'm glad that's going to be resolved okay we'll put we'll put the uh introduction on the agenda for the 5th and then the next meeting you'll have public hearing adopt that way we can also let finding Point people know that there's going to be public Hearing in case they have any comment very good anyone have any questions to the chief chief that that training Pro uh the chief hmel was coming in Fe 20th what's that again I couldn't First Amendment Auditors so it's um really prevalent right now you have uh people come to government buildings and uh they test they test the employees to see their knowledge of what they're allowed to do what they're not allowed to do they they come in with video cameras they'll walk around the parking lot looking personal vehicles and just to see if U you know we we're knowledgeable on what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do so so that's open for the municipal staff as well Administration uh I believe Aaron said it is yes the Public Works our office the staff administrative staff thanks all right Mr Fenimore you've had a quiet week right quiet month well it's it's been three years since we plow so kind of in a learning process but uh got the cobwebs off the plows right uh yeah and you have you find all the problems plow don't go up don't go down and you know you work through it uh but the first storm we had four trucks we do we put four trucks together clear the whole town try to keep the town clear then towards the end of the storm that's when we put the salt down and you know you don't put salt on top of snow and then plow it off that's just wasting it so that's what we did and each one of the four trucks they put on 121 miles and they put out uh 22 tons of salt the first storm uh the second storm we did 174 miles times four trucks and we put out 24 tons of salt uh so um it you know uh we the second storm we hit two times we went through the whole town two times and unfortunately sometimes it takes a little bit longer to get through and you know especially since we haven't plowed in a while you know was something a little new but one of the nice things that we had is after each snowstorm people don't realize that we have all these sidewalks we have to clear we have town hall now we have the public works now we got Hickory Street we got a Gateway Park we got the pocket park we have the columns we have Perkins Lane so I I mean we have a lot of ground and that is left on us guys have been plowing for for a certain amount but the two young guys that we had we they stayed up on everything doing just doing Town Hall trying to keep that clear um it was it was a good it was nice because after the storm we didn't have to worry about going out and shovel you know we got to do the gas pumps we got to make sure of that so nobody slips and fall and uh it just you know it it it's gets old but you know it's got to get done and uh it was nice to have these young guys in there helping us this year really was and uh that's about it that's all I got yeah I saw Brian and Harry running around like crazy floating the uh we we have some properties that um if I took it down in the truck cuz there we got three properties we call them the holes it was actually yeah three spots that we do and none of my guys like to do it so I get stuck doing it and the dirt road down to the end of Delaware it goes to the back of MERS M and then we put the RightWay in that goes on the other side of MERS down to the thing and with all the way to the snow all the branches are down you know and I'm like oh jeez and it's all dirt roads so it's very difficult to plow to begin with but the other one the other hole off of vure is really bad I mean it to go in and try to push the snow and to maneuver it it it it gets scary usually I try to do it with the loader but sometimes the loader is too big because all the cars are in there and you try to navigate around all these cars nobody will come out and say well let let me move my car you know and then but you know we get it done so so we can't forget all the uh flooding we had what two weeks ago now uh I don't know if anybody took a look at the boat ramp with all the stuff we got off there so that was another thing that you know and then we had the flooding in the streets which brought up all this debris I mean we haul a lot of debris away so far and we haven't even finish the the boat ramp so it's uh the weather is uh coming on us now you know but it was a little little strange plowing since three years three years and it will be 63 degrees this Friday yeah that's good we're having more rain and the full moon is the 25th so there may more flooding this is the first year in the 29 years that I've lived at the residence I have right now that the water actually came up in my backyard uh all the way up and it's never done that I know somewhere along the line we got to work on the the bridge thing some kind of a valve put in there to help yeah to you know flooding like that it's not going to stop it you know we we got to remember one thing that I don't think people realize that all the silk from everything all the streets and the towns where does it go goes into the creek and into the river and it's all filling up yep and when you fill a bowl up it's just going to overflow and you know the river's got to be dredged the Creeks got to be dredged you can do whatever you want to do but there's so many of these areas that have sealed it up that were were're we're not really thinking about it you know like Bob ditch when I started here that was a beautiful running nice Stitch Wildlife like you would ble you can practically walk across it you know it's so bad now and it's a shame you know and like the river uh the flooding out down along the river on you know the robins way there I mean that that was bad that's the high one of the highest times I've seen it there and down over um by uh just past the mansion by stock house over there y the end of delaw talking about yeah Stockton the um I guess I'm trying to I it was I think I was like seven years old 1958 maybe um the storm down there they came and tied my grandfather's uh house boat to the telephone pole that wouldn't Flo away and the and the river actually was up to Second Street because we had a rowboat down there rowing on Second Street I have pictures where there was a tree next to my grandfather's house back there was a little house on the other side and the water was halfway up the tree that's how high the river was at that time it was a I think it was Hurricane Hazel unbelievable so we haven't had any flooding like that at the end of poper Street in Ran cookus that was flooded out I could not believe all the debris I I I like where did all this debris come from we us had to use backpack blowers and go from ran cus and blow everything up to to the other side of ran cookus going up popper that's how bad it was yeah I mean we had to pick it up with the loader yeah so yeah it was a mess cuz I picked up two trash cans full of debris that was left in my yard from the water just my yard I mean that's and I have a very small yard so I can't imagine how some of these other properties manag I know Matt and I were out um the whole week monitoring the flooding visited with some residents um and have some thoughts uh kind of you know on our non-engineering thoughts but um I know we're going to talk more about that I think at our next meeting when Harry's here right and I had emailed Harry and Chris no because I really think we need an engineer who specializes in storm water management along the the river I mean we need somebody who can actually come in and I think maybe Kathleen's property may need I don't even think she has a a a seaw wall um um so they have like a makeshift where they go in con and bog stitch has to do we have to do something different there but that's what we need we need an engineer who specializes that is the lowest part of town right there yeah so that water is going to come up there it's not the the new we dug it out and you know it goes over top of that so and it just fills in I mean it was flowing right over wow that was bad that was I mean I I've seen it probably just as high yeah and I wondered about the storm drains because I saw water even coming up from them was going right through it's very hard to stop water yeah found out the most powerful thing yeah and I did have some initial conversations regarding the bridge flooding I'll bring that up when I get to my report um I mean you know it technically the little stuff the little flooding that the last couple floodings we've had that's going to be hard to that's going to be very hard to stop but the little ones I mean then they call me up and then I got to send my guys out and it's not even for Delano you know what I mean it's for Riverside it's something that could be an easy fix right when there fills in to stop that water from coming back up right exactly you got two spots that's where it comes up you know but I had sent a letter to their engineer I cced Matt with my email that I sent to Sasha Harding the engineer the Bridge Commission and um I have made a suggestion as to what was suggested here at our Township meeting it was last year or the year before and uh he called me on the phone he will never put anything in writing but he said they had no plans at doing um that one valve or whatever is needed there and I did send you that email how did you get that I sent you the email it may you know what it may have came up on a different email address because the second time I went to send you something else um the other email address came up but I'll send it to you again I did send it Sasha Harding I had him I had a list for him since we're talking about it now I'll just bring up I did have I met with mayor kemell from Riverside and uh just trying to come up with a just a game plan on how to move forward with getting this flooding issue in Riverside fixed and we both agree it's not on it should not be on Del L it should not be on Riverside this is clearly a county issue from the county road when I spoke to the Bridge Commission they basically said that the bridge isn't flooding and they're right the bridge is not flooding has not been underwater thank God that'd be a whole different issue but the county as you know the owner of the road they need to work on a solution here so we we have some thoughts on how to get that I've also looped in my contact over the County Office of Emergency Management and they're going to work on this as well with us and just to try to come up with some sort of solution here and I looked at it uh I was out there countless times over that week when the flooding was occurring on both sides and you could clearly see what storm drains is coming out of on the Riverside side and you can see right where it's going in low tide right where the um the outlet is into the creek and you know putting a duck valve on there like just like did at the end of Hickory that really needs to be investigated by them and it's a a good solution you know it worked for us on Hickory it won't stop you know if it's raining of course the water's still going to go it's still going to pull up there if it's above high tide but the majority of the time when we had the flooding last week was when it was not raining and the water just that high tide was coming up so you know we have some thoughts on that we're going to continue to press on that I'm going to now that the county might be caught up after the few events over the last week I'm going to schedule some time to sit with them and keep everybody informed on how we're making out because that that is one concern we have as far as you know and I get it's complete inconvenience for the residents not to be able to make it across but I'm more concerned about emergency services with fire trucks needing to respond to both town uh towns back and forth ambulances coming between towns police if you need to back up each other and having to Loop all the way around down 1:30 you're heading precious time it was uh it was nice to see uh the police department uh the OEM and public works and even the Bridge Commission working together to notify the residents in unison when the closures were happening and openings were happening because that was a rough rough week for that so it was nice to see all the communication and coordination yeah I think we I think between the chief and I we finally figured out who's talking to whom or who's not talking to whom within the various you The Bridge Commission calling or the Riverside calling the Bridge Commission to let them know to shut it down then then not passing it back on to everybody else but we got that worked out and everyone was getting the alerts uh afterward so it it worked out well toward the end of it and hopefully that keeps up God forbid we have more flooding with the uh you know more rain this week nothing I've been watching the tie charts hopefully we'll be good this week still I'm not going to jinx myself I think on a positive note uh the work that we had done on clearing out the trins along Hickory Street uh from the resident that lives corner of I think it's Cooper Town Road and Hickory right across from the ballpark they said that intersection had not flooded it uh that they didn't experience some of the things that we had in the past uh and again timing wise and we had the storm but prior to that uh we had the crew in there I guess or Harry did uh cleaning out those drain lines even though they weren't cleared 100% whatever roofs and things they got out of there uh helped and during the heavy rain when it did Flood once the tide subsided it went down right away down so that did that worked out great very good I thought the the county owned from the bridge on our side to the linking Lane around the bend and then they owned the Bridge Commission owned from the bridge on the Riverside to the lake I thought that that's that they were responsible I talked to the county guy and he says you know he was like well it is the bridge commissions but they're going to push it on me and so he was trying to look to you know but just so you know I don't care which one of them fixes it as someone fixes it yeah when I sent that it's not going to fix everything it's not going to you know you get severe flooding like this you can't that's almost impossible but the little stuff that we just have to block off you know it it'll stop that it'll and that was such a simple what it cost is $8,600 for the uh duck Valle over at Hickory Street such a simple solution that you could be done and just got to get the right people to look into it hopefully we will did anyone else have any questions from Mr fenmore well done thank you very good uh let's uh Mrs lore nothing at this time thank you didn't want to forget you there thank you all right we'll go to Township committee reports uh start to my right Mr elect see uh the library board did not meet uh in the beginning of January because we had the state of emergency that had been declared right for that uh rainstorm that we had uh for the history board uh we had a reorganization uh meeting and uh the chairperson will be uh is Peter Fritz Vice chair is anma Elma uh Jordan and Treasurer is Ron uh Naylor uh we still have an open position for the secretary uh position uh the history board uh whether it's a discussion that we need to have at the end but uh we would like to uh we're proposing to or asking that uh we're able to use Town Hall here we have the displays out front but we'd like to on the third Saturday of each month uh from 1 to 3: to be able to have uh the lobby open and have uh two representatives from the history board present uh to be able to explain the displays or give presentations here at Town Hall um also it would require the leison or one of the committee people to be present uh in the lobby uh during the time that the history board would be using uh the lobby to have it open to the public I heard I heard you volunteer there right well as it l is on yes I would be present and if I couldn't then I would try and recruit one of the uh one of our uh fellow Township people uh committee people people to uh take my spot I think it be the third Tuesday of the month Saturday or Saturday yes Saturday of the month and uh during that time uh it may you know whether we add on to that that we have literature in the lobby that folks can't get to during the normal week uh of our uh Township building being open and we close at 4:30 uh on a Saturday afternoon at least once a month they'd be able to get in here to maybe get some of the other literature we need feedback from the rest of the committee and the administration whether there be any uh any issues there I think that's a good idea we have all the uh stuff in the lobby be great for people to look at we would need to have uh or whether we have the door automatically open and closed from one you know open that one and then close that three we having a myself or one of the committee people to have the Bob and be able to uh have the door wedged open we definitely figure that out go the committee see if anyone else has thoughts on that if you got to have a committee person it's probably start with the file rather than the time lock changing those just to see what what the feel the flow is yeah as a test program advertise it you know get the word out put it in the beat and see how it goes and then if it's something that's there's interest particularly in this in the better weather spring summer that there's enough traffic and the endurance of the history board and the volunteers and the committee members coming in on Saturday we'll see how long that goes uh Beverly I guess they have their uh facility uh they have they use the library and they have their display so they have Saturday hours open over there from noon to 3: uh on the first Saturday of the month uh Riverside they have a museum uh uh and then Del rean Township I wasn't able to come up with what hours they're open uh on the weekends or on on Saturday but rear side's open on Thursdays Thursdays the the depot yeah they're they're open on Thursday 9 to 12 uh they also have Saturday hours from 10: to 2 yeah you guys have any comments you're okay with that open I know I think it's an excellent idea see if people want to come in and rousse around and see what we have have ADD it okay yeah F no thank you when do you think you will start that your thought that uh or hasn't been determined yet it has been determined but if uh we were able to maybe the third Thursday I mean I keep saying Thursday Saturday Saturday right I don't know why I have Thursdays on my mind but here Thursday yeah on Sat the third Saturday of uh February oh you start that February okay and what are the times again from 1 to 3 thank you all right and that's all I have all right thank you very much uh so what we'll do on our facility calendar in the office we'll block out that third Saturday every third Saturday from 1 to three for the history board okay okay history board open house um open open answer displays yeah very good thank you Fern Mr templon all right let's see we get through this uh there's one item on the agenda tonight the resolution 35 uh uh doing an amendment appointing the prosecutor last Wednesday night's uh uh court session uh got off to a little bit of a bumpy start but uh the good work of uh court administrator or Administration Jennifer Esposito and some background work by Mr heinhold and I think uh Mrs lure and Mr Schwab were involved in that but uh anyway um we get to reaffirm our prosecutor as appointed for the municipal court process uh been putting a lot of time on the new flood ordinance um since I was volunteer assigned for that job um I've got a bevy of emails from d with questions and uh I've picked up a couple of adopted ordinances from other communities in New Jersey uh Burlington County is one of the last areas of the state that's uh adopting this ordinance the new flood ordinance uh to replace the one that we did in 2017 and I've had some corresponden with our neighboring towns just to see what kind of additives uh that they applying to uh what the state requires what FEMA requires and there's an option for the local communities to add whatever they want uh one of our neighboring towns uh and I don't know if it's reinforced based on what we experienced two weeks ago but they're adding four feet to the base elevation uh of their flood maps so um the discussion on the uh the bridge and so forth uh probably the third or fourth time I've emailed the bridge commission with the suggestion for wireless electronic signs to be strategically mounted posted at various intersections Delano Riverside out on Route 130 to advise motorists when the bridge is closed so everyone doesn't get jammed into Riverside or into Delano and then we've got all backpedal to go the other direction so I did get a reply that that was passed on to uh U The Bridge Commission and went up to the County so between a duck bill valve and electronic sign maybe something will get solved to uh alleviate the the burden of you getting a call and you getting a call that the bridge is closed and we got to run out with barricades and everything else so we can only hope uh and also uh been following some of the affordable housing things going through the legislature there's a bill going through the assembly and the New Jersey the Senate State Senate um revising or replacing what used to be the Council on affordable housing um and uh one of the things that uh since I had worked with Mrs Martin and Mrs lore on the Route 130 plan uh two three years ago and so forth was um there were some significant errors in the data that the Department of Community U Affairs has and tax records and so forth that the state has and that's all part of the calculus that goes into determining an affordable housing obligation and uh there were significant errors then there are significant errors that still remained and if there's a way that municipalities can get a look at that data uh before it goes through U whatever is created out this legislation that uh we can get uh our a realistic uh calculation rather than start on the other end that whatever answer they've come up with for an assignment for the region as far as a prospective need for affordable housing that gets filtered down to the communities that we don't have to backpedal and say well this data is wrong this data is inaccurate this is outdated um they look at housing starts they look at actually they look at s satellite data imagery to see uh vacant open land uh in the Route 130 report uh Delano shows up as 218 Acres classified as vacant well most of that are is our Parks Pennington Field of Dreams uh West Avenue and so forth and so if you can we can get to a point [Music] where whatever entity is going to make these determinations these calculations that they're looking at reality and rather than some garbage in garbage out uh data collection that uh We've dealt with in the past so um I met with the tax uh assessor a couple nights ago and he gave me a rather large Excel file so kind of combing through that just to to validate some things and uh just putting a little bit of elbow grease into it to uh try to put us in the best position so anyway that's all I got right now thank you very much Mike Miss Fitzpatrick thank you uh the seniors met on January 9th at Dobbins and the speaker discussed planning for the future so you can enjoy your senior years and make sure your future plans are discussed and put into written documents that are acknowledged and accepted in New Jersey uh the Sewer Authority also met on January 9th via Zoom uh and um the properties to update Styx they received their permit from DP for the SIU um 989 coopertown Road um no change they still have several items needed before requesting release of their performance bond uh the trunk line project is underway the TV work is started and the manholes have been ident ified so you'll be seeing people working around town uh we're still waiting for the heating system to be converted to gas at the garage the GIF Insurance inspections are completed and the operator's report is on file uh the next meeting for the Sewer Authority will be held here on February 13th at 6:30 p.m. uh the Recreation Commission held their reorganization meeting on January 11th the positions for the the new year are as follows the chairman is Phil mcfaden the vice chairman is Al gravo the secretary is Steve Jazz and the treasurer is Morin hilderbrand the subcommittees for the events and activities were discussed and dates determined um Scott Taylor our planner presented a plan for the addition to the Vine Street pocket park which included moving some of the existing plannings and adding some additional amenities such as a clock picnic table and benches once the cost estimates are received uh it will be presented to the township committee uh before the project is submitted for the 2024 local Recreation Grant which is due on February 27th and this week is a busy week coming up we have the Youth Sports Association tomorrow night Board of Ed Wednesday the hen advisory committee on Thursday and Living Springs on Friday so I will be busy this week so thank you thank you Kate Miss Seuss The Joint land newth board meeting was um cancelled because of the weather uh so they will meet for their reor in I think it's February 6 the recreation meeting I attended as well the KE just reported on I uh enjoyed Scott Taylor's presentation um for the proposed Vine Street Park I thought it was very well done and great job to the sub commmittee on that as well that's all I have all right uh my report I attended the fire company and Fire Commission meetings on December 18th and 27th respectively a normal business occurred at the fire company meeting the election of officers for 2024 took place and the officers for this year are President Bill Trimble vice president Eric Zuber Treasurer Terry Hamlin secretary myself uh trustees Lester Abrams Christen cave Joe Fox Nick Huer and John Zuber and your chief for 2024 is Scott Hamlin deputy chief Lester Abrams Captain Nick Hubler and lieutenants Chris cave and Joe Fox and fire police Lieutenant myself and chief engineer Keith  I attended the Board of Ed meeting on December 20th as I indicated in my December report there were a number of items on the agenda for approval that were approved mostly which included staff position that should have been filled over the last number of years and the district was required to provide but didn't uh they were not funded in the present budget and was previously indicated they would need to apply for a loan from the state in order to cover uh those items uh one thing to note was the breakdown of the student population that was called out uh we have 117 special needs students in the district which amounts to 28% of the students and the average in the state of New Jersey is 18% uh I did inquire about the grant writer position that was supposed to be reposted they were not sure where that was at and as of today it still is not reposted uh they are going back to committee as a whole so there will not be a work session meeting each month just the regular monthly meeting which happens to be this Wednesday night at 7 pm. uh needless to say the last two weeks I've spent a lot of time out in about uh through town with the various storms that we've had and communicating with our residents uh the January 9th 9th storm we had significant flooding in parts of the town which of course were along the river and the creek as uh mentioned previously I took numerous drives throughout the town sometimes accompanied with missuse and the sheer amount of water coming in as we discussed just hasn't been seen before I was in frequent contact with Mr fenmore on our cleanup efforts from both that event and from the snowstorm and as always as we said our Public Works Crews were right on top of everything and I will thank them yet again John please pass on our thanks to all the guys working for you and uh thanks for the officers as well for keeping up with all the closures um see I mentioned we uh worked on the communication on the closures and see what else I met with Mrs Russell last week and we spent some time putting together information for the County's hazardous mitigation Plan update and needless to say we put flooding in there as a Hot Topic or cold topic as the case may be um and finally over the last month I spent a lot of time testing retesting troubleshooting and any other verb you could imagine with getting our meetings on a one-way stream to the public and using my various backgrounds in broadcast engineering we're live streaming Tonight on YouTube um the whole town as a whole uh the town as a whole since Co started we tried to find a way to do that be a full hybrid solution so the residents could participate in the meeting and due to various challenges with affordability or lack thereof and responding venders or lack thereof that was never completed but uh this most certainly is an effective and no cost way for our residents to at least see and hear what happens in these walls and once the stream is over it'll be safe automatically on YouTube in the same manner that we've been uploading the audio from the meetings we tried Facebook live for a reor meeting but while it worked out the audio was low and it didn't allow the widest amount of people to view it unless you had a Facebook account so now with on YouTube anyone who has access to the internet could watch us uh right here no membership or anything else is needed so uh hopefully that's working tonight good job setting that up yes yeah thank you thank you very good all right uh consent agenda items the consent agenda items are considered to be routine and will be enacted with a single motion any item requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all consent agenda items will be reflected in full in the minutes anyone have anything they want to remove from the consent agenda um I guess a clarification from Mr Schwab or Mrs lure on the uh resolution regarding prosecutor uh 35 one two three four five six the six whereas um our prosecutor Mr G uh was telephonically present and the court proceedings uh the docket was completed seems to imply that we had no prosecutor that evening I think Doug wasn't aware that when he wrote this so at the time we didn't know that was what was going to happen so it's up to you how I mean the whereases are I guess a well it's a formality I mean is there any reason why we wouldn't do it yeah I think it's a question whether we should change any of the whereases if they are don't describe exactly what happened so there was a prosecutor present no not uh the judge apparently was able to communicate with he was present on the phone on the phone as all the uh individuals that had a summons to court were present on the phone okay so maybe just revise it to say the prosecutor was present via telephone not physically I don't think that makes a difference he was present because the public defender is often not there in person either I think the purpose of all this is because this resolution is what Doug will use to make sure that that they're present Mal knows why we're doing this yes because they're the ones who promised they'd send somebody and did not right so I think it's a formality that we should Okay so it is sent to them yeah certainly it should whether you want to change any of the warehouses may we just put in there at the end um at the end of the uh that six whereare as Clause um the court was able to continue by the judge telephonically getting Mr G on the telephone just I think that would clarify anything in that statement yeah than our prosecutor Mr G uh performed his duties at our court session last Wednesday night by a phone all right so said as best as possible our prosecutor present that prosecutor Mr G was on available by phone yes okay we'll we'll clean that up yeah thank you Mike anything else that anyone has for the consent or we're good no no all right ordinance 2024 d01 calendar year 2024 model ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank uh njsa 40a col 4- 4514 first reading by title only and to set public hearing date for February 26 2024 at 7:00 p.m. resolution 202 24-31 authorize appropriation Reserve transfer resolution 224-3204 33 resolution authorizing the township of Delano through the township of Delano Police Department to participate in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office 1033 program to enable the township of Delano Police Department to request and acquire excess Department of Defense equipment resolution 2024 34 resolution authorizing the Burlington County division of mosquito control to conduct aerial larvel and adult mosquito control activities and authorizing execution of a municipal agreement form and resolution 2024-25 resolution amending resolution 2024-25 one24 payroll $93,900 $ added uh language with the 35 uh 202 24-35 paragraph 6 got it thank you all right appointments uh hen Advisory Board one-year term expiring December 31st 20124 forgot to put it on the uh reorder yeah it's the first time we have to do that so that's why it's here thank you Richard uh Suzanne Perez Lynn Fulton Michael volano melena kareah and Jess knight uh the motion so move second motion by Kate second By Carolyn uh rokle please Mrs Patrick yes Mr elette yes Miss Zeus yes Mr Templeton yes Mr Bartlett yes uh correspondence Jes uh just the two things that Richard already talked about the first one uh we received notice uh from the state regarding its Redevelopment update and the second one was just um the receipt of the permit from the New Jersey Department environmental protection for 410 linear feet vinyl bulut and that's it thank you all right thank you very much uh meeting is now open to the public for comments and questions this is session number two as of session number one if you have anything please come up to the podium and give your name and address for the record meetings open to the public right seeing no one meeting is closed to the public uh discussion items uh Recreation grant program process status is that you Janice or Richard that's rich yeah I can talk about it just uh I asked to put it on because we received uh a couple things going on and as Kate pointed out from recck that uh the plan for Vine Street Park changes are going to be hopefully completed and therefore we expect that at your meeting on the 5th uh Scott Taylor could be here to present it to you and the issue was applying for a grant we just got notified recently that this year's State recreation facility Grant uh is available and due by February 27th earlier there was some discussion about the Green Acres Grant which was due February 7th but I pointed out that that's a loan it's not a grant and it's mainly aimed both of them are are aimed more at areas that are in Greater need perhaps but so for the the um State Recreation Grant we received money the first two years first year we did the well at Field of Dreams and we received a grant to do the uh work at UH bab Ruth field the particularly the uh overlay of the uh basketball courts that has not been moved along because the cost to do that is significantly higher than the grant so it'll be discussed as part of our budget process as to whether or not we want to still go ahead with it because we're going to need local funds that originally wasn't anticipated there was some minor changes about where the location of the uh pathway is going to be and where the area where the handicap SPAC is and those so there are some minor changes that were were done and and the engineer hasn't formally drawn them out but the main thing deals with uh the fact that the cost for the overlay is just significantly higher than what was estimated so that'll be discussed um the issue then in terms of your process if the plan is that if you're happy with what is presented next meeting on Gateway if that's where you're headed for applying using uh that project for your Grant because of the timetable we have to be prepared to do a resolution prior at the next meeting at the latest so we have to be prepared for it I want to make sure that that's the direction we're headed just so we don't accidentally miss the date because we administratively don't know uh where we're headed for that I also want to point out if you look carefully at the recreation grant program uh it emphasizes uh activity if you remember this money is arpa money which is came from Co and the goal then was to get people outside where they couldn't catch the disease and so the aim was trying to prove that the money is going to be spent on outside active Parts it's aimed for that uh and so therefore we had to convince them that good turf at the Field of Dreams would be something that allow better use of an active Park a basketball court clearly that's active stuff so that's one of the things to think about when you're making the application as to what you're going to make the application for if Gateway is more of a passive Vine Street I'm sorry Vine Street so so you have to think about where that's going to score but I don't know what other alternatives are involved we were talking once about 200 Ash talk about other things but the question becomes are those passive Parks active Parks so it may be that you decide no that's what we want to try for but I'm just pointing out that because it's not active recreation park as I understand it and because we haven't completed using their money for last year's Grant yet Perhaps our chance of getting the grant is not as high as we would think otherwise so I'm just mentioning that so that you're prepared to think it through and not make any assumptions that uh we'll get the grant at this point in time if that's where you're headed for for Gateway I'm sorry for Vine Street part of Vine Street now the way that it's been proposed is to have an open area so that if some kids want to throw a football or what have you they can do it okay the other thing is adding um tables uh picnic tables chairs you know like benches so that it will move people to be able to sit there especially if they're going to the ice cream bar and they can go across the street and have their so it's going to be a more active Park than pass it they're trying to make it more active be great I'm just pointing that out as I read those spec I think that's the goal to um to have people filter through there right um so that's some of the changes in the vegetation that exists they're going to be moving that having a more open area and hopefully people will enjoy it they're not doing as much on that new section because that's you know kind of kind of scary when you think about the way the car go around the curve and what have you so we're going to open up the other area and have a clock sort of like in the central section but I think it will be more active if uh the way Scott explained it um that's something you're can ask him I just want to point out that if you assume that I mean if there's other Alternatives in your mind that might fit the grant better but it's also very important that when you make an application for Grants you have the plans and the numbers for good or for bad in terms of the basketball courts we submitted the numbers and they said fine but it turned out the numbers weren't right so I'm not sure where we are I just want to make sure that you make the decision there's no right or wrong we don't know I don't make the decision whether it gets approved or not I'm just want to make sure that you're aware of what the standards are and have read that so that when you make your decision you make it you know full knowledge that's all the only other thing that would be uh even an option would be to install the playround equipment behind the Field of Dreams Pavilion right um and that we spoke to Scott about would be a relatively quick quote just from a playground equipment company there going to be too much planning involved so you know as a backup we we have that option good yeah so my question is can we submit that as part of this grant as an attachment to this you mean two separate ones yeah yeah I don't know Scott can tell you that I think that's what we did last time they gave us the the well as opposed to something else we looked at so it's possible but I think we had the playground equipment no there so if we have that information that's kind of thing to have that discussion with Scott about he'll know better and I will but I just want to make sure I didn't want to check with him because get to a point if we had a couple months then we could have plenty of time but you know you have to kind of make a decision the next meeting that that's where we're going for so we can do the paperwork for your following meeting which is the 26th I believe and it's due on the 27th at 5:00 cut cutting it CL so we might want to have maybe it prepared if you're ready to go on the 5th maybe we could have it the resolution just in case you're ready to go and if not we'll fill in the blanks there maybe figure out how to do that we have two meetings in February so yeah but but the February meeting is not to the 26th because the holiday presid first one's the fth fth so 5ifth and 26th is due by 5:00 on the 27th I believe have you guys had a chance to look at the story Board of the mockup I did Phil I have a question did do you think that um recck would like us to include the um playground at the Field of Dreams as an additional like an either or or do you want to just stay with the one Grant I had this discussion with Scott th uh he again brought up the recreational part where he didn't think that we would qualify too much for street so he was seeking the alternative and then I had suggested that we everything together right we doine Street we do uh Gateway the4 gos property and the playground equipment along with soccer gos and he he recommended that we decide on one or the other yeah either either Gateway or Vine Street both of them are pretty much passive although we're inviting additional people that's only up to $100,000 so it's not a ton of money yeah um the average is 60 which is kind of we yeah that's the problem okay okay so maybe we should just stick with this one because uh it seems like I don't know I think I thought wck passed it to go to move forward with this one I mean they did a motion I was there okay I just wanted to ask you can make an application if you don't get it then you decide whether you're going to finance it yourself for next year or not my concern and this is part of this is I don't understand why we haven't spent the money from the first round usually and the recreation commiss when we get a grant we spend money it's time it's over that's why we were so grateful the county grants yeah they would money because we were spending not City yeah but this is a state it's a different it's a different but it's still a grant that because we haven't spent what they gave us last time could be a mark on correct because the cost we got quotes for the overlay and they're significantly more than what the grant is yeah so that's that's why it's got to be part of the capital budget process the we for the basball be put aside we should in my opinion I'm not an expert it should have been put to as side and proceed and finish up the project as planned with the sidewalk and add all that will they pay for just that just for I I don't know that they'll do that but yeah you know was I mean the we if we did those that's a small piece of it and we don't finish what we did we'd have to go back to them and say is it okay if we do the little bar parts and not the big part we haven't but that's the kind of thing we need to talk to Scott about that's stuff we need to talk about in budget but that's why it isn't done but you're right fil it we won't look as good because we haven't completed it when we make this application so I think our chance of getting it may not be as high as we might have thought otherwise but sometimes you still you say okay well give it a try what's the worst case nothing worse than not trying so yeah the other grants were from the county um and they were a lot easier to deal with than the state but yet in fact we still have leftover money from a county grant that we're talking about using for the Pathways in front and the pathway and the fencing and so on because the cost of the event lawn came out less than what we got the grant for because it was a guest to right and so therefore and there's some stuff that um uh Mary Pat said we I wanted a charge we couldn't so but we can do it for this not for you know so we're they're much more flexible there's no question dealing with County money than dealing with State people but in some cases we didn't get that done for almost two years after we got the grant because they're more complicated and larger it's reimbursement too right yes yes reimbursement yeah correct it's all reimbursement stuff so anyhow so my belief is that that what we'll do is we'll prepare the a resolution and we'll have it ready and then you can decide what to do we can have a you know in blank or with that Park and see if you want to decide you change we can always handw write it in and so on because I'm concerned about doing the resolution on your meeting on the 26th when it's due the next day yeah right okay always not a good idea so I'd like to be prepared everything that he's I like to be prepared okay all right that was what I wanted on to have this discussion with you thank you Richard M anyone have anything and also you can have the officer a year presentation at your next meeting also February 5th meeting perfect Chief will be in charge of that so that'll probably be at the beginning of the meeting and then we'll do the then Scott will do his thing after that okay okay all right thank you Richard trying to keep on top of these projects as we know very good okay anyone else have anything for this evening we can go home burn i g no nope nope everything's good John oh John does yeah um that was a good blast about asking residents to get their cars off the street uh it it worked very good yeah now we have to work on the basketball courts that are in the way so oh in the street you're talking about Can the police officers ticket for them yeah we can okay they're in John's way let's get them done oh but in the cars you know you know in the winter time I think it's good they get them off you know the street they have to put them in the backyard then fine just for the the winter time just to get the cars off because it makes a big big difference right yeah and and also thanks to the residents who got their sidewalks cleared right away um I went out that evening was track of that day was I guess Friday evening um and and course the res had them clear there was one block One Long Street along the river that should name remain nameless that uh wasn't cleared too well but the majority of the Town looked pretty good so thanks to the residents well you have 12 hours of daylight following the storm to do that correct yep and even after that 24 hours 36 hours there was a lot that wasn't clear and if you know residents who are able to you're able to help your neighbors if you have L neighbor you know be a nice thing to do it was definitely better the second storm than the first storm the first storm there was a lot of Burlington Avenue that was not done which concerned me with the kids walking school and it was very icy but the second storm it looks like everybody kind of did a better job so that was good all right I don't think we have a need for another executive session um motion to adjourn move second fern favor I that was me sound going home it's all right thank you very much everyone