[Music] I call to order this meeting it is 6:32 PM uh Dr Ro please do the roll call absolutely uh Mr an baronson here miss franois here Mr Schmidt here miss Davenport here and chairman chair forward here okay please stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all for all in accordance with the provisions of chapter 231 New Jersey public laws of 1975 the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by giving of notice to the Coro news posting the agenda in the public Lobby of this building 48 hours prior to this meeting delivery of this notice to the Franklin Township Clerk at least 48 hours prior to this meeting and mailing notice to those persons properly requesting to be mailed notification of meetings at least 48 hours prior to this meeting is there a motion to open the meeting for public comments move second second all in favor I any oppose okay the motion is Carri seeing that there is no one from the public um here I am asking is there a motion to close the meeting for public comments the mo second all in favor I I any oppose motion is carried now you've all received a copy of the minutes from the last meeting the June meeting is that right yes seeing that no one said no okay um are there any corrections to those meetings minutes okay in that case uh is there a motion to approve the minutes as motion to approve as is second second can okay all in favor I I any oppose okay I'm moving on to the executive summary professional report by executive director Danielson you muted thank you chair woman let me just uh open them [Music] up okay all right uh our legal services for the month included uh tasks involving Commerce dve Pump Station Birch Glenn developers agreement the Weston Canal um rebuild of the pump station the rules rates and rs the employee benefits in the contract meetings resolutions bankruptcies and general support I'll note that I've removed the Marcy Street project from the project list since the closeout documents have been fully executed uh under the solar electric vehicle project uh we met again uh with the CME and the authority We are continuing to review uh our options and the financial U pros and cons of all those options and uh when anything um comes to comes to the surface I'll report more details in the future our financial platform upgrade the migration to Edmonds it's uh going forward as expected a high Bay garage CDM is still continuing and having trouble to substantiate the building has not been within the flood zone by confirming now uh the storm drain system and which contributes or doesn't contribute to the uh detention Basin next to our campus um that's basically the fork of the road and it's uh easier said than done Somerset pump Somerset Street Pump Station rehab uh notice to proceed was issued to the contractor the S utilization plan uh is being reviewed then will be submitted the next step will include the e-builder uh uh training for staff contractor and the engineer the Brookline Avenue uh sewer rehab project which is the sister project to that uh the authorization to award was received by the njd the bond steps uh for our lending and our financing were completed uh with our bond Council and we did close on the short-term construction loan on June 20th the contract uh documents were all received Wesson Canal uh Pump Station uh rebuild a meeting was held on June 20th the site foring samples have been completed the easement acquisition project so for us to have this um complete this project we have to cross a small strip of land between this lot and the road and that land is owned by the njde psng wants to just um grab that land uh from p uh from the so they own it and then we would get an easement from them but they're reporting that that could take up to 18 months so we are investigating also while while PMG pursues that uh CME will be investigating us just getting our easement from the D which might be faster than the 18 months not that the two compete with each other but faster one of us gets an easement or ownership faster this project will move forward the site survey of this project the site of this project that survey was submitted I believe PSG is now questioning the survey or has some questions about that survey but the project is moving along forward Commerce Street Drive Pump Station rehab project um uh we advertised uh we did advertise the bid and I believe the bid opening is scheduled for July 9th uh will can is that correct July 9th yes that's correct okay thank you um uh the repairing credit agreement was executed and returned so this Project's going along and I'm actually uh going to uh change the uh status of this project from yellow back to green so that'll be moving forward nicely Shirley Avenue Pump Station rehab uh the land appraiser was engaged to assess the value of the land and we should probably have his report within the next week that is that completes a project vendor summary and I'll just move it over to the executive director's report uh revenue for uh June 30th checks received were $ 479535673 of 6,613 3620 penalties for the month generated was $3,561 38 which is uh uh average under expenses as of May 31st expenditures for the month were 482,000 uh 13, 9494080006 position uh as of May 31st unrestricted is 2, 83618 4.37 under restricted is 13, 865,000 $1,291 38 under um discussion items I'm just going to bring this up uh under discussion items my first item is the budget tonight we are introducing the budget for the 2425 year fiscal cycle uh a couple notes on the budget uh the budget is alog together flat that's flat uh under our Revenue flat under Appropriations and uh so our Revenue we're we are forecasting a PO 2% um additional Revenue next year and at the same time uh our ex um our Appropriations are within 1.4% and that's a decrease from last year's appropriation all the projects this year were within budget or below budget though some were completed late uh uh that we could not control not no fault of any one particular person or organization but they were all within budget or below uh however I will note as it comes to projects we may begin to slow the pace uh at which new projects are uh are put on the board to begin I'll get into that um what's unique about this budget from the past budgets is our net cash accumulation or our debt reduction I consider us now that's my strategy anywhere to increase our net cash accumulation and um also consider that uh part of our debt reduction period I say that because though we have we've had a lot of projects put on the board in the last three years the one project that's the big elephant in the room is the Western Canal uh Pump Station that's a that's going to be a huge project we are going to need to do two things uh accumulate more cash because that project is estimated to be a $20 million project and having more cash and H having more cash to pay for it will reduce our debt but we also have a very healthy debt obligation now and I think if we accumulate as much cash possible and possibly be a little bit more aggressive on reducing our debt um digesting the cost of a $2 million project would be um uh it would be less painful so if we could if we could do stuff before we we um absorb that debt and then be Rive after we uh take on that thatb it won't be nearly as bad so I just saw a text from uh bill bomman that uh he says that the this meeting was advertised for 7:30 p.m. not 6:30 a April can you um yeah I'll check that because our calendar is uh presented all at one time and the beginning of the year but I'll look into that okay just reply to bill please uh Joe I have one question um the uh budget uh the township allocation is that included uh I haven't gone through the budget it's right here do do you see my pointer on the screen yeah it's very small I can't my eyes are not that great uh you see right there oh okay all right I so it's in okay that's that's the money going to the town Joe you can see the yellow and and and print but you can't really read the numbers it's so yeah there we go now it's readable not for me I have happen have a large screen even then I'm squinting is it 600,000 600,000 that's can you zoom it can you zoom it Jo yeah I'm gonna draw let me see yeah getting better that's better I know what to do all right so uh we have a it's called a Municipal Appropriations uh we're allowed to do um maximum of 5% of our Appropriations so it's 5% of this number right here I'm sorry uh hold on total appro human deficit Appropriations uh what number is the 5% 60 milon no I'm sorry it's this number 5% of that we can add so that's that brings us to like $750,000 uh but um you know the the team thought 600,000 was a good number this year so that's what that is so possibly next year we won't make Appropriations you know we'll we'll see you know what your opinion is if we do not we that money could go into the net cash accumulation for you know uh you know to pay down our debt or you know to save up for the uh Pump Station no but that you know that that's your decision uh I will note uh let me just move some things around you can that be can that be used to um stop increases in um you know annual bills to taxpayers it it could absolutely absolutely but you know the the goal here is not only to continue the operations but you have to continue your Capital Improvements uh if you if you look at other authorities or um other uh municipalities that put it off it it's way more expensive down the road so that's why you know every Pump Station needs to be updated we're updating it every pipe that needs to be reigned is getting reigned it's that $600,000 isn't going towards that excuse me that $600,000 is not going towards what you just described that could be us discre at you know at whatever discretion you want including um making sure that rates don't increase on the the citizens the res residents correct that 600,000 is going to the municipality I know I I know I understand that okay yeah but what what I hear from people people who live in Franklin when they hear that their their taxes you know it's not their taxes are going up they see it as a sewage Bill going up you know you know whatever it is uh that's upsetting to them so I'm just saying if this can be used to um inhibit that that would be beneficial to them that that's that's true um it's a it's a balancing act so I mean and we could talk about it in more detail next year when when we begin to strategize the budget Capital Improvements h and a rate increase or connection fee you know um as long as we're taking care uh properly taking care of our Capital assets you know there's no wrong answer here I didn't mean this to be a big dis um discussion on this I was just asking the question about you know if it can be used that yeah um so if you look at the revenue so here we're expecting $17 million in Revenue so I also so when you look at that let's just assume that Revenue doesn't change from year to year I I then have to compare that down here to our our appropriations of just under 17 million 16.9 now that's going to go up every year just for the health care retiree benefits uh you know the Appropriations budget 99% of the appropriation budget is non-discretionary like if you say Hey Joe reduce it by 10% can't do it these are fixed costs or costs that are outside our control um half of that half uh half of this it goes to One is paid out in one check to M6 County Utilities Authority that's just an example then you have health care then your pension and your salaries electricity it's non-discretionary so when when you look at those two numbers relative to the rates uh reducing you know adding the the $600,000 to this that might do $9 a year per customer for less than two years it's not that it's not great but however instead of if we change nothing and we just put that money in the bank in an interest bearing account everything would be the same but we would end up having more cash to be able to pay for a $20 million uh project because if we don't save up that cash and at least have a a rate a customer rate uh that will sustain uh saving up money that $20 million will end up costing us $35 million just you know over the lifespan of the loan with the interest and I don't know if 35 million is accurate I should just say it cost you millions of dollars more because you did not save up or uh enough cash or you didn't charge a little bit more aggressively when you have that money sitting in an account several million dollars is it in some kind of interest bearing account yeah look on the screen commissioner Schmidt this is this is our cash yeah you really need to blow it up a little bit to see it but I'm just asking what what is there a percentage an interest rate percentage that you're getting on on your that money there is and that's I guess that's set by the market the Wall Street but all these accounts are interest bearing accounts every single yeah I mean I'm just I'm just wondering do you have a choice of what you can put it in I mean that's a lot of money that I mean if you're getting 1% it's a lot less than if you can get 5% no we don't have it we don't have a choice there's a tradeoff so we have the sewage Authority unlike the town the sewage Authority has access to ibank money the ibank is a bank that is owned and run by the state of New Jersey where they get money from the federal government and they get money from us uh they're able to take money from the federal government that's that they get for free and then they loan it to us and they charges a really low interest rate just enough to run the ibank and and so it's it's near free money however we have to we have a lot of requirements that we have to maintain to have access to that money One requirement was we have to have a lot of money a lot of cash in the bank number two we have to have a trustee for our money which trustees at Bank of New York melon Bank of New York um we all so the every month that this Bank tells us where to put this money and it goes in between their bank and then these top accounts if you see our uh TD bank and they they we shift those B those amounts around uh every month also for example we just closed a shortterm loan for Brookline account so Bank of New York and our bond Council just uh required us to open up two more accounts to manage that money coming in for that project so um the last requirement we have to uh have to get that money you have to have a bond rating from Moody's so we're supposed to uh you see this number uh 16 Mill 900 uh 65,000 we're supposed to have a revenue that's 110% of that money of that amount within a three-year period one of those years I have to have a revenue again that's 110% of $16.9 million so 16.9 that that'll be $18.6 million so I I'm uh I'm $1.6 million away from that however because we might be we still might be okay because we have such cash on hand Moody's might uh grant us the rating without that 110% ratio and look at our past performance I I guess you know I'm just asking if you have let's say $3 million that you know that you're not going to be using for the next six months can you put that into an account CD for example that might get you 5% that over over six months it'll get you $75,000 in interest I I don't think we're allowed to do that but if you want if you want a Dr Roach and I can can uh explore that I I would very much like you to because if You' got a lot of cash sitting around and it's making 1% interest um and there's millions of dollars that can get the 5% interest which is out there now um we're losing out on a lot of interest yeah we we typically have around $21 million cash all the time yeah but I'm talking about something that you know that you are not going to have to touch for for x amount of time you know for six months let's say or even a year if you know you're not going to you know that's a lot of interest that you could be losing by having in a low interest account yeah like let me highlight these the these accounts right here I mean that's uh 5.7 6 7.4 it's about $10 million right there but these are accounts like that top account goes getting out from uh that bank to Bank of America uh one's a bond reserve and the other is a um another Reserve uh that's required so my guess is probably not not but we'll ask yeah I appreciate it if they let us do that I'd be shocked so I had I had brought this up when I came on board many years ago and I was told that we don't have the disc cretion of investing um uh in other uh I guess instruments so I was told that and maybe you know Joe can look into it again uh but anyway the so Bill Bowman and put in another in the chat uh question is this a budget discussion where is this listed on the agenda um I I rep to him it is part of executive director's report uh but uh he has concerns about discussing budget introduction without an agenda item yeah so this is the this is the uh introduction this is not the adoption of the budget so we're in I'm I'm introducing it tonight uh we're not required to even talk about it tonight uh we could and I suggest that we do ret talk about the budget next month again so now tonight this being uh introduced uh this is uh me just initiating the conversation for the board and the public and um next month the uh the public and the board can you know with the benefit of a whole month um discuss it in great detail next month okay maybe I I think the point is well taken I think uh what his concern is that we should have a line item on the agenda that budget is going to be presented or discussed or approved yeah okay um yeah we could do that yeah uh all right so again re Revenue uh if you look over here we're within a 0 2% and Appropriations were negative 1.4 um the what is discretionary if you want to say that is if you go down to uh the capital and you you know you you've all seen and here's a of course um a breakdown of the Appropriations on C F5 but if you go down to the capital projects this is really our forward-looking forward looking the capital Improvement so now this is not all our projects uh if if you call let me uh I'm just going toh open up a uh an Excel sheet here real quick okay so this uh project index is past present and future projects and I I leave the past projects on here uh just for your reference but all the uh future projects on this board are not represented uh in the budget uh because you know we're just not close to addressing them and I didn't think um uh this is more of a vision board if you will this the budget um this list is closer to being real realized so that's the difference between the two lists so the Brookline project is on here and this this page the cb3 is um not only the list of projects but what money is being spent this year um you had the brook line the Belmont trunk rehab Shirley Avenue Weston Canal Road you know and you could you could read all those project projects we do if you go to CB before you'll see the same list let me just go down and CV before the same list but now you look here estimated total cost of those projects in the First Column and then you see of the total cost what's going to be spent how much is going to be spent in 25 26 27 28 29 and 30 so here it's how much per year is being spent on that project that'll that will total up to the total cost um and if you go down to cb5 it's the same list as cb3 but then it's basically um showing you where is that money coming from so if you look at the first project the brook line um $8.2 million is coming coming all from debt from financing um the next one Belmont is coming from renewal replacement which is our cash so uh everything under renewal and replacement is Cash uh that coming from our net cash position however you should know let me just give you this um an example of why we need cash the Brookline rehab project $8.2 million and we intend to finance that that project 100% but the way our financing works is our financing works on a reim reimbursement basis so they'll grant us a short-term loan but that loan reimburses us for money that we paid out already so if we start the project we put out a million dollars the shortterm loan will reimburse us a million dollars so in order to get this financing and to use it you actually have to have some of the money for the project in cash I'm estimating anywhere between 15 and 25% of the project you need to have available in cash so uh unlike the revenue and the appropriation side of the budget which is extremely lean um and if if there's any big variables in any single line item the state requires you to substantiate the difference regardless if it goes up or down uh this section the capital Appropriations does have more discretion in it than anything else like we can decide if we want not to do any of this work but luckily going through uh multiple engineering firms um top-notch operation staff under um Scott noero we've identified these projects as being critical and we also identified the order in which they need to get done and we identified the approximate Le year they must get done so they're it it they're very defendable uh however they are discretionary so that's what I said earlier in the beginning uh we may slow the rate at which we start new projects but I don't intend to recommend that we eliminate or suspend any of the projects just we slowing the rate a new project is started uh that's all I have on the budget um make sure the next budget discussion is uh that goes on the agenda uh please y one second executive director will the budget be discussed next month also because there is a um in the chat the Franklin reporter is saying that there might have been people who wanted to who might have been interested in hearing the budget discussion but it they're saying that it's not on the agenda so here truth of the matter is uh chairwoman uh I wasn't even going to discuss the budget tonight I'm introducing it and um then as we've done in every year in the past we discuss it next month but um and and Joe if I may and it is on the agenda when we're going to actually do the voting on the budget and right before I believe Brian correct me if I'm wrong there's also an open to the public discussion um after the presentation is done I believe yeah that that is correct and is publicly advertised as well I have to do a public advertisement after tonight's meeting of the budget being on the yeah I mean everything from the public advertising to certificates and resolution that I mean this process is dictated entirely by the state auditor who basically holds our hand through the process but if if you want I mean I'm quite proud of this budget um you know more advertising we could do for it the better I'll make sure it's uh in the uh CER news Okay um going back to the report um uh okay and so again the revenue and Appropriations are both flat and uh no major changes in the capital um capital projects uh fiveyear plan also uh there's no user rate increase this year uh our 2024 audit uh is um will probably begin in August September uh we put the uh a on notice could be here on site uh our bonding our short-term loan bonding did close with Bank of and New York and that we did create the sub accounts for that project thanks to uh our bond Council uh I will report our all our projects were completed uh that were completed this year uh and done with uh within budget or below budget and I removed a number of the reports from my summary report that's the monthly summary report um the land acquisition from PNG again I know I'm repeat myself PNG is looking to buy the property from DP where we're looking at the same time just for an easement uh through that property and those two agendas are not competing with each other uh Shirley Avenue we're waiting for the land appraisal to come back so we can know what amount of money to offer the the landowner so we can expand the pump station footprint rules rates and regulations we're still in the process of updating the developers agreement and that uh updating developers agreement also involves the Birch Glen development which we did uh which we are uh now at the point I'm sure the attorney um I don't know if you want to say anything Brian uh the meeting uh what we're at the point we could uh present it to the developer yeah I I think we based on the correspondence that went was exchanged earlier today I need to make a few revisions we'll probably get it out tomorrow to them okay circulate it again to the group just to make sure I'm just gonna stress that um you know what we did was we replaced the old developers agreement that gave the developer everything and left the taxpayers holding the bag for all those expenses and based upon our new approach to this now we are not subject to any of those expenses and that will be on the developer entirely and we we put in some procedures and some standards in the developers agreement um that further protects the taxpayers and the authority um what is in inreasing this year per the auditor um calculations is our connection fee and nothing we could do about that uh but that's only for new connections uh for internal engineering it was somewhat of a slow month with zero new connections and zero um tww being executed but we did have uh five uh TRC reviews that for the township Staffing strength and discussions uh we are in the uh um I'm still in the process of finalizing the annual performance reviews for the managers and foremen I'm assuming the executive director is uh in the process of um doing the re annual review for the executive director uh I will note that we have a new receptionist that's still in training and a new new bookkeeper that's still in training um so if you run into these new ladies please introduce yourselves and welcome them uh I'll note that Jenny nap has retired um sad to seeo very wonderful person and she immediately went on vacation but the good news is she's going to return on a part-time basis which is very good thing to do um I'm just going to note again like I note every month our operations and admin and our foremen our topnotch managers and professionals and they always perform above average and um just what they do every day is just astounding they impress me all the time um regarding our internal engineering I'm going also note that uh the engineering staff continues uh to receive compliments from our taxpayers in Franklin I recently received an email by someone so happy they sought me out to let me know how happy they were uh on the public uh with the customer service and um what they do for the public calling in and needing help and um CME and our internal and our external people uh and within our operation staff too uh are constantly getting compliments from the public and that's public attorneys Engineers developers land owners homeowners and business owners so I sent out an email uh earlier in the week uh that I shared that email um with their bosses um Somerset Grant so the ARP money grant that were coming from the county and the municipality it's still up in the air what the procedure is for us to get that money um the county initially said well once you go out to bid give us the bid contract and the bid award and we'll cut you a check then Franklin Township says no every time you send a check to the vendor you have to submit a PO and we'll write you a check seems like a lot of checks going back and forth so the county told me the County Council told me that they're going to check and confirm if they could just do it all in one check once we award the contract because it's near guaranteed we're GNA pay that amount of money for the contract uh hopefully if they do confirm they could do pay us in one check I would like the maybe commissioner councilwoman Francois and embarrassin to maybe have a discussion with the township manager see if they could do the same thing I would hate for so many checks to be processed in instead of just doing it with one check but more to come next month um okay under uh standard uh resolutions uh we don't all we have this month is payroll operating expense Reno replacement and esro we we do not have any general fund or any North track of the additional resolutions we have a resolution to refund monies that were received in error on account 132 76.00 a resolution memorializing The Authority for the executive director and a chairwoman to execute a developers agreement which still has not been done uh but we're within seconds of doing it uh resolution memorializing CME to um begin monitoring Harrison Tower sewer flow uh resolution authorized in Al land appraisal for Shirley Avenue Pump Station which we that land appraiser was engaged and of course a resolution noting the uh late fiscal budget introduction for 2425 fiscal uh budget cycle and I have no other items and I do not intend for uh closed um executive session and that concludes my report chairwoman thank you and now for the committee reports the negotiations and Personnel committee is there anything to report I have nothing to report uh just wanted to follow up on what uh the executive director mention about management uh uh performance review I just want to make sure that uh all the management people are getting reviewed on time and then uh appropriately uh the races uh have are being put in place thank you Municipal liaison commissioner franois I don't have anything in report Construction commissioner baronson I have nothing to report now the last one is the safety there were no accidents or injuries for the month okay thank you very much so let's move on to the resolutions excuse me um first set of resolutions um or with the consent agenda all items listed below are considered to be of a routine nature thereby requiring one motion and one second for all items if any member wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda please advise me at the time which resolutions need to be handled separately and they will be addressed and voted on separately resolution number one payroll account fund $1 16478 51 resolution number two the operator expense fund 96,6 36.9 resolution number three renewal and replacement count $175,500 and the escrow fund $1 17,31175 is there a motion to adopt this resolution Some Mo is that commissioner Schmidt I'll second it okay second all in favor I I I any oppose motion is carried let's see now for the additional resolutions resolution number five it's the resolution authorizing the refund of monies that was received by The Authority in error and posted to sewer account number 13276 is there a motion to adopt this resolution it's motion is there a second okay second all in favor I any opposed motion is carried excuse me the resolution is adopted resolution number six resolution memorializing the action the board took at the June 4th 2024 meeting authorizing the chairwoman and executive director to execute a developers agreement with bur Glenn is there a motion to adopt this resolution motion to adopt there second second all in favor I I any oppos resolution is adopted resolution number seven resolution memorializing the action the board to June excuse me June 4th 2024 meeting authorizing CME Associates to monitor the Harrison Towers service flow is there a motion to adopt this resolution 9381 okay is there a second D second okay all in favor I I any oppose resolution is adopted resolution number eight resolution memorializing the action of the board taken at the June 4th 2024 meeting authorizing a land appraisal with regard to the Shirley Avenue Pump Station project is there a motion to adopt this resolution to move second okay all in favor I I any oppos excuse me the resolution is adopted resolution number nine the Franklin Township sewage Authority late budget resolution is there a motion to adopt this resolution so motion to approve I'll second all in favor all any oppose resolution is adopted excuse me okay and since there is not a need oh I'm sorry is there someone raising your hands Madam chair just one question Jo I think we're supposed to do the uh connection connection fee adoption okay supped to be done this month I think we talked about it in the prep meeting April did you did you provide that resolution you're muted April you're muted yeah uh Brian you you uh you you all didn't send one over right we just had the discussion last month and then I'm sorry which which resolution is this this for the connection I know we I did the public advertising to let folks know that it was going to be effective on June 1st but I understood we had to let it table for a month and then this month we're supposed to uh do a vote we advertised you advertised for I did I did for tonight uh yes tonight okay so you can vote on it and then we'll memorialize it in the resolution like we did with the others we just you just voted on okay okay I need the wording for the resolution because I don't have a copy of it so let me just give me a minute if you will chairwoman and I will pull it up see if I have thank you Scott thank you [Music] okay so Madame chairwoman it's simply a uh uh a motion that the authority sewer connection fee is hereby modified uh to be in the amount of April what's the amount for the new connection fee now you got to give me a minute so I can pull that for you wait I might have it here one second all right uh let's see for here it is one second I think okay so Madam chair is to approve uh the adjustment in the authorities uh sewer connection fee uh and it is in the amount of it's going from $3,354 to $3,636 I'm sorry could you repeat that again a little slower you sure it's going from $3,354 to $3,636 I I'm sorry you you you kind of were frozen on the last part of that yeah you broke up here also did did you get the first part or no $3,354 correct and it's going to 3,636 okay thank you you're welcome resolution number 10 to approve an adjustment in the authority sewer connection fee um from the amount of $3,354 to $3,636 is there a motion to prove that to adopt that resolution so move make second okay all in favor I any oppose resolution is adopted with that said is there any other business that needs to be conducted tonight Dr Roach do you have anything else nope everything looks like we've taken care of it okay in that case since we are not going to have an executive session is there a motion to close the meeting close I'll second all in favor I any oppose good night everyone good night [Music] me [Music]