after 31 PL 1975 notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board designed for that purpose and notice was transmitted to the official newspapers provided by resolution adopted January 6 2024 meeting notice has also been continually posted on our website can I have a roll call please yes council president uh council president Morgan here I'm sorry councilwoman Phillips is absent but excused councilman oison here councilwoman Russo here councilman Pagan here woman Haron and mayor's absent but excuse thank you uh can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please [Music] um all right so I'm going to open up uh the meeting for public com public comment on agenda items only so if there's an issue that's on tonight's agenda that you'd like to speak about please feel free to come up to the microphone state your name and address for the record will be a second on any topic yeah later at the towards the end of the meeting there will be an opportunity to speak on any matter you so desire but for now just agenda items only question ask a question are we on the agenda yes a fair question I I well your opport if you're talking about the agenda item that you're here for that'll be in the senior citizens commission uh you know what why all right so what I'm going to do is I'm going to close the public comment section on that and then I'm going to skip right to your section so you guys can go okay um my name is Lissa Willison I actually live in haddenfield but I work for an organization called Interfaith caregivers that supports haddenfield Haden Heights and seven surrounding communities so we Al uh the these ladies here uh Mary Sandy Lucia and Rose and Barbara we got together because uh we were interested in having activities for seniors to do in Haden Heights things like crafts um speakers just sort of you know things to get people out uh We've noticed that since the pandemic specifically seniors have felt extremely isolated so it's really helped that we have these types of activities in our communities for people to do so we put together um what we would like to do is have just a commission that oversees this or this group and this event that we do currently on Fridays from 10: to 12 at the community center and we would like to keep doing that one of the things we would like to do is possibly use the larger room um we have 66 people people on our Facebook page and we have been attracting between 20 and 30 people on Fridays so these are all people from stamfield Towers um and all people that live in Haden Heights it's just Haden Heights residents so what we're asking is that um you create this commission so that we can be part of what the county offers to seniors and we cannot be a part of that unless we're appointed so that's why we wanted to bring this forward tonight so the two main things are being having the commission set up and being able to use the larger room in the community center so that we can accommodate our numbers because we have a small room but it only fits about 108 to 10 people it sounds like an excellent idea uh I think anything we can do to encourage um any group within towns to get together and have these types of meetings I think is a good thing thing I guess we just need a resolution we would probably need a resolution to authorize the formation of the establish an ordinance commission may sure please so um the word commission you up just have a couple questions sure sure Howard okay um uh I use the word Commission because I sit on the haddenfield senior citizens commiss so I just Ed the same word commission has a different kind ofation and committee okay A lot of times and I'm wondering whether it's a difference for you if I was establishing something a commission sort of has binding powers to impact and make decisions that are enforceable a committee on the other hand I think it's what you're talking about like a social group a committee um we would have to do an or ordinance to create it okay um we would have to the govering body can select and give me input on the ordinance on how many members should they should be appointing um the qualifications normally what they do we do is we let's say you had n right it should be an odd number okay and then you would have like you would elect like a president and a vice president each year perhaps or and then for the first year three of them would get a one-year term three of them would get a two-year term and three would get a threeyear term so it would stagger and you'd always have some consistency in in the committee right and then it may be they may also want to created things like this um want to have all Aon from the governing body that would be appointed year to year at fre organization perhaps right um that if there was somebody that you needed to go to you know mayor's busy or Kelly's tied up you have a governing body member who would be your goto person and I think Mr I'm a I'm a senior too um I'm not picking up you for that reason um but but how does that sound like the nine member committee okay yeah are you okay with that yes I think if we could if we could get if you would mind giving um our clerk Kelly Sano like a contact and some emails I do it's I'm Lissa so I'm you're Lissa yeah so I can be reached I think you have this letter I can give you a copy is that the IFC yeah Interfaith caregivers yeah so I'll make sure I copy when I do some graphs and get some input back from the governing body I'll shoot it to you just to make sure something that you're you what your purpose is what your mission is yes and then create you and it's just appointed you know by the governing body at reor like we would appoint any other group it would just be staggered first time through then next year three people would be up and then that yeah I think Council was so inclined that would be the way you I think it's wonderful I'm sorry um the only other issue uh on the use of the building is that that doesn't create any problems does it yes so I want I just wanted to speak to that so I know um we've been communicating with your group um I know Sophie is the primary person you've been speaking with so the one thing that we talked about when you initially brought this to me was the fact that there are rentals in the community center on Fridays now my understanding is that everything's working out okay right now or because we're gone by noon and we put everything back right now the only yes yeah so the only the only issue I would foresee in the you know near future is the summer Recreation program and during those weeks it's five weeks during the summer went last week in June through the end of uh July and uh so that we do book out we do sort of block off both the cabin and the community center during those weeks we could try to work around it okay um you know lot a lot of it depends on the weather and such um so I think we've been able to work around that part of it because I initially said that you know if if the governing body wanted to choose that you know you had use of the building all day then we just would not do rentals that day it would just be a you know a decision of the governing body with respect to um commission versus committee I know the county I believe refers to it as uh permission I believe um true but but I'm not sure if that means we need to have a commission or a committee um so there there's a there's a division in the county uh I know they would send us you know to send in money for dues and such and that's referred to as commiss I believe um but I'm not sure if that language carries through to that we would actually set up by ordinance um I knew that the first discussions about this uh councilman oison mentioned applying for Grants and such and if that was the case then um that would be uh we can do whatever yeah so whatever they whatever they require so I guess right so Howard would it be just out of curiosity if if um they wanted to apply for Grants which I believe is one of the goals here um would it have to be commission I don't know that's right okay all right we'll find that out okay it is certainly make okay because we would like to have funds to do things like arts and crafts or a speaker um a 3D therapy came and did a balance class so I don't know at some point like if us if we could be on the budget for a certain amount of money in the future if we don't have money finance committee I would I would support that okay so it's just something for to think about for the future as we you know the pro at first we thought it was going to be as Mary said maybe six people well now it's 25 to 30 people wonderful so which is really great but we want to make sure that we can do things the you know the right way and make sure that people are make sure that we do it the right way okay all right thank you one com if you would mind up former mayor mayor um he the mayor I'm Barbara cesy and I'm on the committee with these ladies um one of the things is the room is not always set up so unfortunately last week the room wasn't set up and the the ladies that were there was very hard to move the tables and chairs around um it's one thing in that little room because they're tinier but the big big chair big tables and chairs are like heavy and hard and they're up on stands and stuff okay yeah okay thank you please we don't either thank you for considering our DPW has been very good with stuff like that hey Rose rose Fitzgerald so for many years when I was on Council and then when I came off Council I was um president of stanfold Manor for four years and that building um held activities so a lot of the some of the activities there were held here but we had a wide variety of programs for seniors because we have a couple thousand seniors that live in Haden Heights and I know that they won't all come out but just the fact that these programs are available or that the burrow is doing something but we had um I was just recalling that we had a program on the anniversary of um D-Day one year and people brought their memorabilia we've had lawyers we've had will seminars we've had downsizing seminars we've also had parties too so I didn't quite catch the part about the money uh and I don't know that gentleman but I mean we I never had a big budget but I mean I know I did pay for a Frank Sinatra uh imitator he was from somebody from town and there were times when um when I got reimbursed for expenses and one of the reasons I remember that is because that was the only time that I ever went into Republic Bank because the burrow had a Republic Bank checkbook so I know it's is it too late to be on the budget for this year for ,000 or $500 I think right now I let's get form and then see see what you know if your group continues to expand we are certainly open to it I mean there's other committees that have formed recent years that do get funding so we would certainly you know put together a more detailed proposal for what it is you want to do with the funds and how much you're seeking then we can I can have discussion we can have discussion together and invol our CFO okay because a l a lot of these ladies are new to the burrow um and they came in and were looking for things that you know what is there to do and of course then covid came um and so um all the programs that were being held um were discontinued during during covid and the stanel manor program literally ended January of 2020 because they were preparing to um build at St Mary so that house is now used as the um you know the the the go-to point for where the plans for St Mary's um take place so so this is great that these women have stepped up and and are willing to do this and some and and many speakers are free you know lawyers will talk for free Funeral Directors talk for free um the balance person that they had last week was great people were talking about it all over town they came for free but every once in a while it's just nice to have money in the budget for something that that comes up thank you so so we used to have you know programs and we had we did make a little bit of money offer programs and so we would at different times depending on what Rose had planned um you know she did a dinner she did some things that you know we were able to pay for it out of out of those funds we currently don't have that coming in um as you know because we don't have programs at at this time um but you know assuming that next year is something that um could be considered for the budget for sure and you know I'm sure that um our administrator uh CFO might consider you know maybe some funds being available from Civic events or whatever there might be a little bit of wiggle room for something you want to do but I'll let him speak to that I don't want him to kill me but you know there might be something this year that could be done depends if you come up with an inv something you need if you bring us to you know before you purchase it just bring it to us and uh we'll take a look and we'll see what kind of funding we have available and and where and if it's appropriate then we'll you know we'll try to get you reimbursed and make it happen until we and then literally tomison is your Council M okay that wasn't a joke I mean that was just a joke I think it's a program that'll probably grow because you're doing a good job yeah just get bigger and bigger thank you thanks for coming out tonight yes we appreciate doome so um I've mentioned this a couple of times of the last couple of meetings um just putting it on the calendar as a reminder um that uh solicitor long is going to administer the uh training at the next council meeting at 6:15 prior to our to our regularly scheduled meeting um and I that that's all just basically a reminder to you to Howard anybody yeah and I I'm GNA send out a reminder email but okay and that's all on that I sure will might have to send that one a few times [Laughter] Aon and all all in favor I good evening everyone what's up uh we submit our ver report just want to highlight a couple things uh some Road program Pro the road program project um the first road we'll have ready out to bid next week and uh that's Garden Street from 1 to Second uh we'll have it out the bid next week we'll have the bid opening the last week of May so I'll be able to award at the first meeting in June contingent on uh receiving uh good bids uh second project is the do Municipal Aid fiscal year 2023 that's St Martin's we submitted all the bid documents to do for psse review we're just waiting on comments back from them so once we get comments back we'll be able to get that project out as well so that's all I have unless there's any questions yes that's continuing from phase one so we'll start from the end of phase one and get between Nar birth and binar hopefully we'll try to get as far as we can we are we were we had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow to meet out there with the contractor to go over that we had to reschedule that till Monday of next week so it's still a punch list item we are uh on top of that that whole intersection is pretty beat up so yeah we're get that taken care of I was really happy to see Garden Street on the list of projects coming up it's just really bad yeah uh working with the engineering committee uh that was the priority it was getting that one done so we'll have that done hopefully KN wood during the summer before uh school starts again yeah okay thank you Street before we adopt the G which second this is so I have a to open up hearing anybody want on this coordinates come mic [Music] address this to ad4 yes council president council president Morgan yes uh I'm sorry councilman aison yes councilwoman Russo yes councilman Pagan yes councilwoman Haren thank youing the Cod of the to include 353 privately own stor a motion to open up this public hearing there see noov going to close the public comment section on this I have motion to approve yes council president Morgan yes councilman oison yes councilwoman Russo yes councilman pagam yes councilwoman Haron thank you 20447 to municip cost allance [Music] est8 final47 is May motion ition to yes Council council president Morgan yes councilman oton yes councilwoman Russo yes councilman Pagan yes councilwoman Haron thank you resolution certified resolution 20249 resolution certif United States decisions under act 1964 resolution 100 resolution for local examination of 2024 Municipal budget resolution 2024 101 resolution approving introduction and providing notice for public hearing public inspection of the 2024 res2 resolution aming resolution 20439 res4 resolution 2024 103 resolution authorizing the mayor to execute Shar Services agreement between the county Street on County roadways resolution 20414 resolution resolution Community grants planning housing purpose of providing housing administrative a Services for2 we're table that after session y resolution 105 modation of the public records act um resolution 20417 resolution auth pay bills the first EV resolution 2024 108 resolution providing for inord with the provision ofy contract matter to that summary we moving resolutions 99 through 108 with the exception of 101 104 and 106 council president Morgan yes councilman erson yes councilwoman Russo yes Council pagam yes councilwoman Haren yes thank you okay at this time name see no I will the public comment section of the we now before we to Executive session we're going to do introduced resolution 2024 101 resolution approving introduction and providing notice for public hearing and public inspection of the 2024 Municipal budget public heing final option 2024 101 is table for Wednesday June 5th 2024 approximately 7:00 Building located 6 station one of the reasons why we wanted to separate this pres from the others is just given the significance of the uh budget there a couple I wanted to discuss for the public St and for the benefits of my colleagues who have been in we work with our our CFO mik he's done some PR significant efforts to put this together and I think it's a pretty good budget uh I'm going to say up front that um the tax rate increase is more than I so wanted to be um but in reviewing the budget total and what we've accomplished this year I think appropriate the overall rate increas expected to be approximately 3.81% the reason for this there are number of reasons for this increase that impact our our anual budget but this year we had some significant uh cost increases namely uh the EMS Services went up over $95,000 pension costs decreased over $70,000 and Library contributions increased to some appro $4,000 in addition to other significant cost increases that we but part of this overall increase has have to mention uh Cal projects that we have also undertaken those are significant they include U construction projects some of which were discussed during the engine report just a while ago there are numerous roads in town that are slly overdue improvements one is Street the high school first and second Avenue and that's started soon so going to be a very visible application of where these taxpayer dollars are going additionally we had to spend a fair amount of money we had basically had sitting in service for over year over a year we had amount of money to get that up running again now we have that use again great we also had to purchase two additional police vehicles um and another thing that I do want I want thank CFO for is that our our Sur has increased significant and that's a good thing because our surus least when I came on C dangerous as and one of the one of my goals since I've been on to improve that because when you don't have strong don't have financially organization shap and the fact that we made a big St improving that in the past couple years particularly the last year I think andf so a while we certain are not happy with the tax increase this year and I can say that is field increased um we don't take itly we don't we don't make this change but it's something needs to be done Financial of our town and I think going to see more tangible results of that improvement in our overall financial position you see it now and you're going see it going forward in future and and with this increase I think will be stabilized so we don't see like this um so with that said can I have council president Morgan yes councilman oison yes councilwoman Russo yes councilman vagam yes councilwoman Haron thank you so that ex session e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e uh we are tbling resolution 2024 106 a motion second motion to table resolution2 discuss motion table must proceed directly to V yeah did you don't okay just an all favor right 20214 resoltion AG services2 ition excellent [Music]