how are you you're recording good evening everyone I would like to call the April 15 2024 Hamilton Township budget Workshop meeting to order um this meeting is being held with the benefit of public notice as required by the open public meetings act Madam clerk will you please call the role Mr here Mr whan here Mr Ty here Mr Carabelli here M Phillips is absent please and gentlemen if we can just stand for the salute of the flag and remain standing for the invocation the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all Yes dear God whose love knows no bounds strengthen our hearts with compassion and generosity and may we build this Hamilton Community up in all we do may we look to serve you as you taught us and spread your message of hope and love make all these intentions and those in the Silence of our heart amen amen amen all right before we um before we proceed this evening I just want to make sure everyone's aware that there are no formal minutes for this Workshop this meeting is being held uh is it's being recorded and will be posted on the township website uh all comments and questions uh can be submitted directly uh to the clerk's office so up first up first we have director Kathy Fitzgerald hi Kathy good evening everyone thank you very much this evening we look forward to presenting our budget okay4 well good to have you here this evening and uh good to have your team I know Nicole's with us along with with me absolutely you do you do all right so we're just looking at your going with animal control first so oh you want to go animal well I'm just looking at what you have on your paper that's whatever okay then we'll just go with whatever you say no it's no big deal I just have to find I have um Winter Wonderland start does everyone have winter wonderland starting this off my first one ises that confuse you guys or is it we can flip to it we're fine oh right I don't want to make it no we're good the only one that's having an issue is councilman Tai right now I don't know why go ahead okay yeah [Music] yes okay so at first we have winter wonderland um I don't think anyone has any comments on this one but I'll open it up to my Council colleagues it looks like everything was fairly similar uh the only contractual item that I saw an increase um was the restrooms right and that was so insignificant it wasn't even worth bringing up but if anyone else has any that's a temporary restant they bring correct y you find more Park yeah right exactly are we only going to have half as many light bulbs on the Christmas tree this year because I know there the electrical there we go electrical you found some savings there we will provide with whatever we have in stock and inventory that we're given from public works and then we will purchase what we can with the funds we all right so that brings us to um what else that brings us to um recreational summer programs I'm really am I really going out turn for you I I'm sorry okay yeah whatever come up so on this one here um it really isn't that much at all uh this the only and this is not that significant line I was the recreational supplies but that that just you bump that up because of I'm assuming because of inflationary cost and the cost of range balls and things like that so we're fine how how are we doing you know I want to ask how are we doing on the revenue side for just how's the Golf Center doing in general golf Center's doing great so and we also we redid the mure golf didn't we do that recently in the last few years River Rock the area to make it more maintenance friendly okay um we added some batters I think it was out there last summer with my boys but uh yeah we've some aesthetically pleasing things and we're working with Public Works to continue to do that okay okay okay next up I have sponsor cosign sponsor activities Rec Rec division so the one question I I just had I know there um on on page three the donation piece I know we had this I I guess the rec committee had come up with another structure uh to fund the some of these athletic organizations and Leagues with this uh donation um when will that be in place cuz I know that's not reflected here in in these F years correct correct so the recreation parks and recreation committee has been continuing to meet on that they have some options that they presented before them um and they'll come up with a decision and let know what their suggestion is to present to the administration okay so that that would be uh something that would not affect these figures for 2024 correct it will not they will have to um make their divisions according to the Sens that we've received here in our donation account okay regarding the Sens they still stay the same whether a person is uh lives in Hamilton or another so that is one of what the committee is working on now residency versus residency and trying to make that more equable now when we say we're trying to make that more equable is it is it we reaching out to that Community say Northern Burlington right to say you have X amount of players utilizing our facilities are we trying to negotiate a stien amount from them different various towns or I believe the committee may have representation from the particular R and they're working on giving their opinions and trying to do that Council I don't have anything def to give you at this time okay the only the only problem I have with touching any of these fees is um not to pick on anybody n get $3,000 you have some of these other leagues getting less the township pays for the lights and field maintenance for 9 B rout right right so the $3,000 right to turn around and say they're getting 3,000 and we're trying to take some from other people when we take care of all their field maintenance and we pay for their lights and we pay for their sound system and we pay for everything I don't want to just turn around start cutting just because some kids live in northern Burlington because right now Hamilton bab Ruth is getting the short end of the stick with their electric their electric has been outrageous because they're in some kind of Zone and and it's out of control they're paying I think they're paying like $10,000 a month just for the electric because they're on some kind of grid that nobody else can get on and PSC and she says sorry we can't do anything for so I don't want to I know that they're getting more money than some of the other people I just don't want to turn around cting enough to get something yeah the variable to be spoke of the committee has brought to the attention of the chair and they are trying to find a solution so that everyone is happy and no one takes a and I I know similar to councilman Papo we I've been I I've spoken to several parents and and also Administration folks with Hamilton bab Ruth as well so that topic has come up for a couple of years now and we we've discussed that um and I know that they've merged with Northern Burlington um Pat and I to and also chudy three of us are pretty much on top of the sports seat in Hamilton so I I understand all that um I also I just want to mention that um I did notice that the administration and the mayor's office did put an adjustment within the plan um that hopefully you know there is some changes that gives us a little wiggle room with um additional potentially additional funding for um the new structure that we be put in place overall I I think the administration's view is also like coun they don't want anyone to take a hit they just are trying to find that balance so that they certainly understand that with the shift to all the travel Sports and get you know getting away from the individual leagues the leagues are suffering a leag and down and we just want as many kids to play sports as we can and try to keep the lights on for as many people and you know if that means people sharing fields or whatever we have to do then maybe that's something we can look at to yeah yeah so switlick um baberuth is at switlick Hamilton baberuth uh Nottingham at FS MH so they're both public parks why are we paying the light bill for one and not the other It's s looking public park or is that owned by the league it's public park League I guess right I think that's a public park um so like hdba or some of those utilities we we we reached out to um the Statewide bab Ruth we tried to merge the leagues and they said absolutely not because the team would be unbeatable the two teams right now are so good and the addition of Northern Burlington we tried to join they figure if you join all of them you have a bigger better lead everybody uses one field and they said no way they wouldn't proove the charart good job yeah okay any other comments or questions regarding I talk about baseball day no I know and for my personal yeah and no uh no cont contribution to the Nottingham Memorial Day Parade it's zero no that was removed by the administration oh because we took over the not because we took over the um Ballroom uh not yet so the ones to do with the ball because in in the purchase from the volunteers they part of the agreement was that they agreed to keep doing the parade and part of the sale price included an amount each year to give them I believe for I want to say for three years so so it's kind of for elsewhere yes they're still we're still subsidizing the pr we we've reserved it for them and once we had the agreement with them so at least I I believe it was for 3 years I'd have to look at the agreement again but it was a certain amount for 3 years to give them to continue to be able to do the parade okay um I remember when this came up yeah um so we didn't have any need for it in this budget anymore okay okay next up we have uh senior citizen program I mean line nams are fairly similar the um if if not a few reductions here and there but mostly you know small small increases um I did notice [Music] um under other professional consultant 028 I noticed a slight uptick there but you know back in 2019 that number was closer to aligned with the 62 that you're requesting um and I noticed that there was increased uh cost I think to run just run events and you know and more attendance more attendance now we're back full problem that's right that's right and we had the dip because of the pandemic yeah that's why our numbers were a little less uh or a lot less um any any comments and Kathy we should you know we're still working through the paperwork but hopefully we'll have um through the um cdbg funding you know that gets approved at the state level will have the I think there's a health vehicle or and also a senior vehicle so we're you know at the county level just so for those that are in attend were working we received uh at the county level cdbg funding um and one of the requests that came in from Hamilton was for and and most of the 1.1 million is dedicated to all of it's dedicated to uh vehicles and targeted population so seniors disabled um are are make up that component of uh targeted population so we're we're we're pursuing that and hopefully we'll have that uh sooner rather than later but we're moving through that paperwork and that process which is a lot more cumbersome than the arpa money was just learning you know the paperwork the plans that have to be submitted and some of the things that have to be coordinated at the uh state level so yeah yeah so we're we're making some some progress hopefully by the end of this year maybe like October November don't hold me to that but that's it'll be great so thank you again yep you're welcome I see nothing else under it council president okay let's move over to saan House cost of janitorial went up by 20% that's say oh it's saying everything has going up tremendously and the um amount of rentals has also gone up which requires the janitorial services to also that okay again out of the pmic now things are really starting to increase look good it is I mean are some of the one you know if there's consistent line for different projects let's say graph uh Grafton house saying house we have sometimes we'll have to save uh costs and be more cost responsible we will look to have the same vendor Ser multiple locations is correct and that happens with our yeah um our hospitalities our um so okay are the cleaning charges passed on to the person that rents the place yes they are um we are been approved in the most recent ordinance yeah was $150 for the B and $100 for like for janitor janitorial services in this case here will that be something that is it is the vendor just for the saan house or is it someone you know entity that there is a vendor that we utilize for the saan and grafting houses I'm still looking into the Nottingham Ballroom vendor trying to also utilize some of the um other avenues of obtaining a vendor for that um but currently we did increase the fee that will also help to offset costs in the current budget when our Department of Public Works has to um fill that need okay okay okay I didn't have anything else on yeah I know on saying but if anyone else let's say oh how our um I just how's our uh fish pond that's public works yeah so the ponds of Public Works and they have a grant that they're working on to all of those ponds right right my knowledge they're doing fine I got excited a little bit sorry had to protect those koi when they fixed that pond oh god um all right Recreation division service yeah we're up to Recreation division Services programs I mean these are all zeroed out from previous years so that was there was nothing that I saw in that at all nothing it's it's all reductions no not going to complain about that now we're up to Public Health Services all right Chris you ready one thing is always ready he's always ready he's ready prepared um I guess one of my first questions was [Music] um the overtime maybe Chris uh like why that 50% no but why does that fluctuate so much uh so the last couple of years so we had uh overtime through Co so that was all the co overtime that was that with additional clinics contact tracing um I mean that's really that's where all the that's working you were able to get some Outreach done with that CP and um or whatever not whatever R are but we are uh cutting back uh now and hopefully we will stick to the um the 15 um it will be um but we did map out um the flu clinics uh that we have and the overtime that uh does come with those clinics uh so we should be on Market okay for the you um able to maintain your head count with that loss of funding um we are still waiting um for the final amount for just coming the year I don't have all the grants uh in line but that's a uh a TVD the grant funded got the perm nurses will probably not continue um because none of the grants moving ahead starting July 1 I can do clal services on U but the other Grant employees will have to see how the funds look okay I mean uh it's flat to down right pretty much but uh the one um was the medical director PSA was that came in higher it came in higher I noticed that we go out um every year or we go out the bid um and we've only had one uh RJ has been the only one we've been very happy with uh Dr viod who's been our medical director for the last number of years um and we have a partnership with another collaborating position for p so we have two under contract P Kathy I've noticed on a couple of the uh Department budgets that or Sub sub Department that uh the legal advertising budget has been reduced is our has Our obligation changed there or are we depend on what so I don't know of anything specific that's going down like on October Fest I just see it's not a big number it's you know just went down from 1,500 to 1,000 and it was probably based more on what they spent last year and the year before oh right under a th000 so they probably just reduced it down to that Mak sense [Applause] Chris you're getting off easy no no but they really I didn't have anything did you have anything or no well he's he's going to be back in no you're back I know I he'll he'll rotate back into the hot seat in a minute yeah cat bir that's that's a better way to say it Nottingham mm you up to Nottingham I have October Fest Oh I thought we just I just looked at oh there wasn't anything on no that one production that pointed out yeah and some recreational supplies the only question I have is um online 029 with the golf cart rental what you know what they're actually charging us for the golf carart rental and I mean how many we're getting would it make sense for us to get them we're using them a couple different events for the year do you know I mean is it worth exploring that opportunity we do own golf carts but wreck doesn't own golf carts we don't own any golf carts we have kotas um it would probably be something we could look into um do you 48000 for one or two for a 25 of them for 25 for like how long a period of time we have them from Friday when you drop them off till Monday when pi them up so through the weekend only for really a tight window you you even have those and they are they help with loading in and loading out for some of the vendors helps with guests who may need a ride it helps with that it helps with electricians to go just a variety of of uses for those also have to go and well we're not going to buy 25 golf [Music] carts not bad you're talking about $300 per golf cart that it's 225 um for the regular unit and then I think 39 then they Char us a SE charge for delivery and still yeah and there's I mean it's also like you know what is the need right for the rest of the year and then then you have to deal with maintenance costs yeah I was thinking it was one or two not 25 oh yeah I didn't realize so many I didn't see never saw 25 all one time yeah scattered all around We R them just yeah right do we do you do you ramp for uh golf carts for we're I guess we're going to did we already look at Winter Wonderland do you did you do you rank golf carts for winter wonderland we do not cuz it's crer Park and it's not as big massive yeah July conc fireworks not okay not hand ball not hand b z z lot of zeros so that's confusing yeah go actually myself and counil both got the same email um from someone that from the Red Cross I just got it on Thursday they're asking I guess they were never paying fee to use for the blood drive and now paying I think 12200 1250 plus $150 for the do we do discounts or do we not do anything for the nonprofits considering it's for a blood drug yeah the ordinance was was just redone so it is for profit nonprofit Civic nonic they worded that um at this point in time they are part [Applause] of now they're labeled as a as for profit right or they still nonprofit I missed you you said something between profit and nonprofit just how the ordinance has been written okay um I believe that they do um receive funds for the supplies that they obtained so then they would not be considered a nonprofit are we do are we doing the right I mean from your professional opinions are we doing the right thing by charging a nonprofit for a blood J I think that we have a lot of nonprofits right that that utilize that and so the idea was to change the fees and actually reduce them somewhat so that they got um a break uh from the The Profit side of it that somebody that's just renting and is not a nonprofit but I'm not quite sure as to your question about whether they're truly a nonprofit status anymore or not so they may be subject to the fees I don't even really know so I'd have to look at that but I don't believe they're nonprofit anymore because I think they sell their product the red CL crossb blood drive may be a for profit and I I'm not positive but I we look into that yeah let's see what we can find out I'll with the ad thank you they run a blood drive also at the YMCA and do they are they charged at the YMCA I I don't know yeah they do it for a lot of like they do it quite a few places but I'm not quite sure if they get charged yeah we we use them and we don't we don't pay we don't make them pay but that's private how's the uh how's the ballroom looking I I know there's been some T painting you been in there yeah I haven't had a chance to looks really nice yeah all right and it looks beautiful we're still making more changes and I think be very floors were refinished they look good yeah I was nervous I thought they put new ones in them floors were gorgeous they hadn't been done in quite a long time so this was a major Improvement good and the 20,000 that we're allocating for um for uh furniture or for the ballroom is that something that we we want to have it there not in capital it's a it's better it's it's not a sizable investment that's why I just I we we could look at that um because it certainly would qualify to be under capital I know that we do have some Capital monies for the future renovation and the continued project on that but you know this was probably just to get some things that are absolutely necessary at this point to replace that is correct I don't believe that these fell under a capital approval um according to our finance so these were smaller items that smaller to be able to purchase through the O okay okay very good cristion crer man so question Kathy on crer mansion so um this budget only includes the house doesn't include the out buildings does not include the out build where are we going to see that Public Works handles the carak house and the ground thisly theion itself in progam well the house is in good shape recently painted we're definitely better shape than we were in the past so we're moving in the right direction the only clay uh public tennis court in the in merer county is still not playable though Kathy what are we going to do about this it's not under your perview is not all right I'll talk to Public Works about thank you you Dy to plan like knew that was wait used to play Rick agaz make any claims to Greatness don't have any questions on this part either grafted not much to look at Grafton oh that's how are we doing with uh running out that facility I don't have the revenue numbers in front of me right now but we have been increasing since postco and uh it's it's definitely booked almost as much as s now because anybody who wants a little bit smaller of a venue we recommend from can to go to graft using the same haers they have a beautiful historic building and very [Applause] good environmental health services that brings us to Environmental Health Services [Applause] Chris you were back up but don't see I don't know if I have anything here I I see we stay consistent with the overtime as far as what your requests are but you know like last year we only used maybe you know a third of it you know uh the year before that roughly half of it right yeah year before that's similar so why why do we consistently go with the same request I'm just it's not a lot of money but it's just I guess it's just in case there is an emergency just inspectors r on call so they do just like um you knowers very called out so it's just a okay where you thank [Applause] you I did I did notice um and John me pointed this out to me that you're just getting back to I'm sorry I'm just going sayian Gardens and crer mansion and sayian house um I don't know if this includes Grafton but I would assume it does that you're seeing an uptick in 2024 of about 75 ,000 on where you were last year and where you think you're going to be at the end of the year I think we're up for sure okay does that that number include grafting you do you know that's it shows 135 135,000 up to 210 for this year they has to includ right yeah okay all right back to back to chis sorry Chris thought you Bramley he's still on environmental I'm I'm not Chris we don't want to short yes I'm on BR I'm up to brle all right we're now we're on so I have a question uh can you just talk about other professional consult what is this line I don't other professional Consulting and special services can you just tell me about that that's how that's their contract am that's how they're paid so the service providers who occupy the build runs theer andc runs Center that's okay and this is um this is once again an annual contract with both of those entities right onee contracts I think they're two or three years one year of renewal right good are we put it out to RFP and so and got the responses in for each of those programs and this is so we have a multi-year contract with them with the ability to renew and I believe it's up to 5 years total right I think you're correct yes I think and it it specifies in the contract what types of services they're providing I know there's daycare I think typ of services and programs and who's responsible for what yes it completely lays it out the RFP laid that out and then they responded respons and I think both entities do a phenomenal job from what I you know from what I've seen and and just talking to folks about it so um what I've heard run well yeah oia Fest all right this one I got a lot of question no two lines I have nothing hey's uh long as they're blooming we're going to be good and I ordered good weather did you excellent and that was at no cost we're not doing it on Mother's Day we are doing it on Saturday before Mother's Day and Mother's Day is the rain so I have to find something else to do with my mother on Mother's Day take her out to a nice brunch would be nice right oh yeah is that right big over there than all right uh sour okay now we're at uh animal control services okay somebody ask a crazy question right sure everybody else tries to cut over time right everybody tries to what I'm telling you is salary and wages went up by 10% your overtime is going up zero how do you propose if you have the same amount of overtime hours if salary and wages went up is are we going to go through the overtime bu cuz we're only $640 away from me do we need to increase that um if I got more money in my OT budget I would be very happy it's to go yeah I'm just thinking rationally because right salary and wages went up 10% over time is staying the same when we do all our other budgets right you do just use I don't use the fire budget but we use the fire budget when you do the fire budget if they're getting a 2% raise and people are getting promoted whatever happens your salaries go up why as the salaries go up your hourly rate is going up if your hourly rate is going up your time and a half rate is going up they're getting called out and we expect them to go out and do a job are we going to go over because we're only they they actually used $1 14,360 and we only have the overtime budget same as 15,000 last year mhm our complaint right our complaint is we want them out if we want them to go out and it's after hours are we giving them only enough by giving them only $640 or $540 where we need them to and three over the last 5 years we suppress that number so one of the uh factors in that may be that we're increasing head count there uh yeah that is and we are we have number of vac positions as well so but the staff is filling in those positions but right now they are filling in for so so Chris back to wages and salaries right so the year before we we spent $649,990 in wages right this year we asked for double that I I know you put a part-time ACL on is that correct we put a part-time double why why did we why did we cuss double what do you mean double I see we settled what what do you mean double wait not double I mean we increased it by almost $200,000 request yeah I meant request $200,000 my request was additional positions that were not approved so we are we did get one additional position um added um you know as long as this full-time position we have another attendant position um so that will increase us to uh four full-time uh attendance three part-time GL C to clerical shter manag so it's just an addition of one um one person is that one person is that able to increase our coverage yes I mean if it gets approved and I'm able to move one person the person I'm thinking of also has their ACO certification so that would they would keep tools so they'd be able to go out on call so fulltime position as an animal attendant with the abilities when we need an AC to cover beid out of but by having another attendant that free should free up our acos even more you it would but on after hours that's not always right I I've just meant during the dayl right right now the acos are also covering animal attended care duties because we are over capacity and have been for quite some you quite a while so everyone's trying to chip in to to make sure that and the last few months we've been struggling to um find part-time attendance really that's where our biggest Gap is right now is is the part-time attendance um because they're the ones that fill inly weekends holidays um you know Sundays but we're we're having a hard time doing those decisions right now so just to go back to the numbers real quick M um 2019 it was 18 over 18,000 2020 I guess everybody was Co so they were able to watch their own dogs there's no dogs get L uh 2021 was 18,000 2022 is 15,000 2023 was a little lower but three out of four years or depending on how you want to look at it we're over 15,000 I'm not you know it's not a popular thing to add over time I don't want you to go over over budget either and then say hey sorry we can't go pick up the bu have any money so I have a follow on I'm sorry I me to I'm I have a follow on that no well you're making a good point but my question about that is if we go over the overtime budget to you wiggle room with the salary and wages to pull some of that because we didn't use all the salary money last year so like do you have flexibility to well we probably didn't use all last year because we had random vacancies throughout the year so you know and while that may happen this year you can't really count on it so there might be a little bit of a cushion there but probably not a whole lot you would over capacity they're you know people are working as much as they can and and maybe in the future especially Chris I heard you know I'm not trying to quote you but you you mentioned yeah I could use more overtime right money's for it if needed right why not request it so like why didn't your request say 17,500 in overtime and let them bulk at it right yeah no it's and and I will say when we I mean we hit our we've been pretty much on target uh the last few months we've uh with our vacancies we've over spent what we should be at this point so what does happen if they max out that budgeted amount well trans you have to transfer in and you hope that you don't by ordinance we have to vote on it you have to do it by resolution but you can't do that until November so you can't really count on that and you're not supposed to budget for the thought that in November I could transfer so um you know while I think the additional person may help on the overtime somewhat it's going to be filling the vacancies and making sure that they do have a full staff and you know so and he's you've been following you always back it very closely anyway and so it's just I'm sure uh an item of concern right now because they've had to use it more than they expected give me some of the cut so I can put in your overtime budget I mean [Music] real environmental if we drop that down to we can over 2500 to um Animal Control okay um I think that would help it would give usal thank you thanks for okay all right that's good so we're going to try and give them extra 25 I twisted his arm a little bit he's going to find some I think through Environmental Health Service okay and then that we can put that in that's that's fine so thank you Chris great prices of food of everything going up realize you go to the store and a bag of do $65 85 medications as well to ro m that's the biggest thing no I want the shelter capacity too that affects those numb too so still get a lot of donations still though when it comes to food mean not so much we do get food every so often I mean um it's have mix we get a lot of toys blankets we've been trying to push people more for monetary donations now if possible we do have a way on the website to actually take monary donations because they take up less room um because we also are not at over capacity for dogs and other animals but we have zero storage for for a lot of these donations unfortunately but it allows us to then you know give that extra to the neighboring uh shelters as well so we've made some uh decent size donations over to tr diesel um with our excess uh you know you toys and like things like that that we for and our food pantri and the food pantri yes that's awesome that's good uh when you get uh cash donations what are the parameters for the use of that money usually so it goes into a donation trust um and since I've been here the only real uh we only used it a handful of times is is ex uh really expensive uh B ner cost so we had a dog last year who had um a m000 Net bill that um really we we could afford but it was the right decision and the dog end up being placed in Foster rescue and then moving on um we were able to use the donation funds for that uh for that and I think that's the best way to use those funds is just you know we get those 78 $10,000 bet bills to you know to use that donation for that good mhm anyone else with the shelter no up next we have Fourth of July um not much here um saw a little bit of an uptick with the fireworks um but just in general I want to thank thank you and your team for all the work that they did Nicole I know uh shanon as well um do a phenomenal job so uh with all our events I'm loosening my arm up for the first pitch first pitch the mayor can't do it I'm there oh so um the first pitch of the njsa um is it isn't the njs fireworks well let just said something about you just wanted to talk about throwing a basb yes wish you could a baseball player to do it ou so that brings us now uh to Capital um I see Grafton has the dishwasher which we need that uh not a huge ticket item um I see also some improvements to the uh Golf Center The netting of the Golf Center driver that's the entire netting we're going to replace it's the right side by the echo Center okay that side there placed the back a while ago okay right side was invate what's the what's the lifespan of it I guess 10 20 years maybe oh that side probably we replaced I think years okay I don't see a Top Line number under General Capital that's it right for you Kath I don't see anything else that is correct that's all I got good anyone great job thank you very much thank you Kathy thank you and your team Chris Nicole thank you very much for coming in this evening thank you sure we're going to have the same thing to say to our next participant waiting patiently behind yes ni gets to go off the soft go get out the first pitch right B testers com L it t the compression wow HTS h heard that's that's funny see you tomorrow it's right oh yeah see me before they do the me guys we'll do our best hi Carrie how are youan I tend spontaneous feel that you know what's that oh you calul around I got you um I got my ruler um so um how are things at the water pollution control right now thank you pollution upward upward and onward upward flowing well no how how what are some of the challenges with the you know that are flowing down you know yeah yeah right true challenges same they're the same as last year and they're going to be that way for a while let me turn this on on on yes there you go okay um staff and infrastructure you can't find people certified or qualified uh uh good people qualified skilled because you need a lot of skills so yeah you've got certifications you need that's the big catch I got to tell you something so excited so excited uh I'd say about 410 today uh John W are uh plant superintendent called me and said he just found out one of our operators just got their S1 license oh my God yeah so we're very excited we're trying to raise up the staff existing staff and to get licenses uh inside the plant licensees and outside so we're very excited about that congratulations so now the old existing uh people you know now they you know that Competitive Edge we want it all to rise up all around us that would be good for Hamilton that's awesome that's awesome good job okay so you want to just maybe just uh intro yes I have oh you have an intro oh wow all right good evening council president car council members and Hamilton Township at large a big thank you to Mayor marttin the administration and yourself for allowing WPC to accomplish so many great things for Hamilton and his residents overall yes the department of WPC is meeting their mandate which is that the sewer tax dollars that come in are spent wisely and that we stay liquid how about statistics well I hear other departments sometimes provide you fancy statistics I don't have that kind of thing but I have a few fancy a few a few interesting numbers on on the average in 2023 7.2 million gallons of waste water was treated every day this number isn't fancy but if you had a few gallons of waste water on your lawn it would be very a very big good number this 7.2 million we agree that every day uh the department beautifully protects the public health and the environment we do this while parts of the plant are 85 years old approximately did you know that we have over 300 pumps that we uh maintain and operate 300 that's a lot mhm did you know we processed almost 5,000 tons of sludge cake last year plus we operate and maintain 27 pump stations and 350 Mi of pipeline hey we also collected over a half a million dollars in sewer connection fees pretty good operating expenses even though prices continued to increase we stayed within budget this year we're proposing a 12.1% increase in the overall operating budget from last year this is reasonably High I mean not high but it's a a substantial number it's due primarily to the statutory requirements Insurance other things like that increasing and those are alone by themselves statutory 17.7% wages and salary the Aging uh Workforce we talked about we're going to continue to try and fill those vacant positions with motivated skilled workers this is aggravated because licensed operators in New Jersey are retiring faster than they're being replenished this is this is the way it's been for a bunch of years because in the' 70s and ' 80s is when the EPA funding came through and a lot of plants were built so that's what's happening there out I asking to maintain the current projected total headcount of 70 people in the department the second largest challenge is infrastructure we talked about that the department continues to work hard to plan bid and build those upgrade grades and replacement projects highlights from 23 the completion of several large construction projects talking millions of dollars each that would be the Yardville groveville Pump Station upgrade the thickener SL 1954 digestor upgrade and the near completion of the effluent grit Channel concrete Rehabilitation is that that main entryway into the plant that was corroded yes yeah yes it's beautiful nice and it covers on I might have to do a third tour that's right the mayor's going to do a another Tour all right we should we'll come together we'll go we'll go with the mayor go also in April our new jet truck arrived which is a great a great asset and it helps solidify or stabilize our uh truck Fleet in the outside using it on the outside what's on the horizon for 2024 hopefully we'll begin hauling our own sludge sludge prices have increased astronomically as you've seen in the budget this is a bid bid item only a few people bid on and they know that so they kill us and it's not okay it's not okay so do we have the whole I'm sorry to interrupt um um so do we have the haulers to do something like that to transport the sludge they do that now but we hire we currently contract out and you're saying we're going to bring that work inhouse inh housee will they go to the same landfill with it yes okay that's interesting approximately how much is that going to save um I'd have to look at the total budget okay um but we could between uh labor and the truck truck and containers the truck and containers say 350,000 we'll have a payb in less than say 2 or 3 years so right now we currently don't have the truck to hold the containers we correct that's a capital item it is it's in for this that's what it's in for this year and we're hoping it's being fabricated right now it's a high priority item because we're talking lots of money every year W okay also in 20 this year we hope to complete the master plan it's been going on a bit of time and it's going to be a very good map to project the future for Capital Improvements also coming up is the potential for the njd requirement to near eliminate ammonia ammonia in our effluent uh this is a whole new process we may have to add at Great expense this will decrease the oxygen levels in the Delaware River and this is that background story I gave you a copy of yeah just for your sidebar reading uh it this has been in the works for a long time a lot of Studies have happened uh on the drbc side we've done lab data D is analyzed Etc so this is a this is a a lot of money if it comes down to Hamilton we may have to do it may not have to do it excuse me you say reduce oxygen levels it will increase increase oxygen increase oxygen in a Delaware this is because for the North Atlantic sturgeon it's the number one breeding ground in the United States okay it's going to reduce ammonia we have to reduce ammonia when is this when is this scheduled to take effect is this legisl it's it's proposed and uh so this has been going on a while 10 15 years a lot of the background homework on it um and so recently the EPA got very frustrated with uh the drbc Delaware River basing commission and said we're taking over they literally took over and said at the beginning of this year the comments were due I believe the end of April end of April the end of March uh relative to the whole thing and so they will not likely impose limits on ammonia they're going to transfer it over to drbc D in New Jersey and they will they will put it in your permit and what's going to happen to our permit we're on the edge as far as a change or no change can we be uh proactive in our I've talked uh regularly with the administration relative to talking um with them and how do we strategize the mayor's already talked with I believe it's senators or Powers at B to say hey we are all for protecting the environment but we need money yeah we that's the whole thing yeah I don't know I don't have a clue how much something like this would cost us uh okay so stud preliminary Studies have been done and I enr them as a price index up from the report which was done uh on to say 5 years ago and we're talking in a realm of about 8085 million wow absolutely a big 80 or 85 million yes just for that piece not current year budget not even talking about P yeah which is all over the news okay this is outside the 10-year plan that you've been painstakingly working on this is one of those requirements is like don't bother us we don't want to deal with that but yes absolutely and it isn't budget line item but it's in the bottom it's like potential kind of thing okay just give me a heads up when we get to that worksheet I guess so I just want to make sure I take I don't know if you'll see it in yours or not no no okay yeah it's on mine when I give it to the administration oh okay yeah it's uh anyway okay so okay the other thing posos all over the news it is required for drinking water you probably know about that it is not required for waste water yet again if it comes not a lot of big money if we have to take it out of waste water we're trying to not have to do that not have to deal with that because we are the recipi recipients of the P faucets discharged into the Wastewater so so we want to take it out of the waste water before it gets to the plant okay so luckily Hamilton used to have a lot of Industry they don't have that much anymore so it all reduces but hopefully it's not coming from the water itself could have keos but they have to clean it up so that means it would be cleaner coming to us so so that's that's further out than the ammonia situation and of course we're going to continue Construction in the plant and outside the plant so overall in summary for 2024 we're talking about a total operating expense budget of $23.1 million including salary wages and statutory costs and capital projects in a real 2024 uh time frame of $8.5 million in closing I would like to thank the men and women who work in WPC for nearly every person in the department being ready 24/7 to respond to Hamilton's emergencies thank you thank you Carrie um thank you uh Chuck and uh Fred are and you know you put some pressure on them because you came very prepared with your report I appreciate the overview and the um the summary of uh what's what's been going on over at WPC um let's just jump through the worksheets um um up first we have utility management okay um nothing crazy couple decreases the only thing I saw on this one um on page three was the zeroed out of that one uh for 002 support additional Block hours it support additional Block hours can you put is it O2 is it what the three numbers before that oh I'm sorry 024 oh 0 02 0242 the actual uh for 23 yes in 23 it was there's no money taken out I just wanted just to I mean it's been consistently around the same number it just went up slightly this year but I just didn't understand it's 80 additional hours no I get that I just didn't know why it was Zero why it was zero right right that's a good question yeah yeah I I don't know why I didn't had o there was a delay in the bill billing believe that's probably what it's from may have beened some more else so we can we can find out One V they did do work so um and then I just had a question regarding uh 0 0245 um the 14,100 for the J first and third quarters yes oh the okay dumb question I know I know the you make yes I got you um oh I'm sorry anyone have any questions on no no page four um page four um you have their uh for 0271 Legal Services relating to njde permits the 20,000 mhm is it necessary that we have 20,000 sitting there yeah we've only been spending a thousand a year right the catches are D permit renews every 5 years so if we get into a legal situation and we do have legal staff that's bid out so they're on call per se not not legal here um that specialize in fighting a requirement that it's very possible that need money it could be more than that it could be less than that okay so I I believe though we could reduce that number I believe this year we could reduce that number do you want to say 10 what you do yeah mhm that'll be fine s these are one of the things you can't predict right you're would you feel more comfortable if we kept it in I mean is it it's something that I mean I know in the past we had 5 20 20 10 20 you know I don't like change I but I know that you're you're being uh you know very good with the the budget and taking a look at it I think you could probably do it Carrie says and reduce it if you if you'd like to remember this isn't affecting the tax I know so it's not affecting your I don't think that's going to affect anything anyway so I'd rather leave it there be just in case that's fine when it goes unused as it has in some other uh it it just goes to their Surplus anyway and then that's used to to help out other areas okay no problem that's fine and you almost got one um just the one under uh page 7 General engineering and professional Consulting um seems like what number that's uh 02818 we going to look at the air quality permits up B okay TR 028 what 018 0 28 [Music] 018 did you have a question my question is like we fluctuated with that number but we've never been near 300,000 is that also um an area that well they already cut it from yeah actually the past two this will be the second year in AOW they cut it they've cut it from last year and we were at 22 uh [Music] 222,000 so right now we don't have an S3 or S4 backup license operator so that additional fee that $100,000 is part of the variable and also the 200,000 in general engineering if we start a plan we don't we can't just put it to Capital because it may not be established project yet so we have to put it out of operating and then we can switch it over to actual project that gets begun or established okay so uh and that those numbers could be higher low so you said at the beginning we got somebody got their S1 yes S4 is the highest in the state and and it depends on the complexity of your plant and we're deemed a four level four okay okay we can reduce this if you like well A+ today she had a nice presentation wow A+ um I wouldn't say it if I didn't feel comfortable oh well how would we reduce that because it would be the engineering part of it General engineering yes where we we open up advice accounts and some general Consulting purposes but they're lower numbers and we don't always use all of that and we like to get that Consulting project and switch it over to Capital quickly so we can keep it all in capital in the whole from planning all the way through Construction $28,000 the year before what they we'll take it under advisement yeah yeah Mar that that's good next year I'll bring it down for you nice thank you car all okay a lot of zeros yeah I really didn't have too many comments training is sorely needed don't want to Short change them on that facility safety boots that up they haven't had them in a while safety signs it's a $500 item it doubled safety signs I notic there's new there's a new hardware on page 12 which is 059 002 which is Network Hardware PCS and monitors and I know that there's you know a additional purchases for time clocks and things like that that's why there's a little bit of an increase in that number um and also seven new PCS um now with the new PS are you upgrading your programs that you're using or are you using in the same when we get a new computer it's all new all the programming on it new the software all that type of thing so it comes in already already stocked all right it comes with a new keyboard monitor programs you need for your facility right well the Microsoft Suite is primarily what we need and then uh it comes in and makees sure it's it all the other compatibilities that we need as far as security Etc so the time clocks this is to switch over our time clocks currently to match the Township's style so they'll be systemwide compatible good okay that's good yeah all right I think we're up to maintenance of sewer Lines no one else has any other questions okay and honestly I didn't have a question on this on these line items casting okay make sure those sewer lines are running well so I really didn't have any comments there maintenance of Pump Station anyone hold on don't that okay sorry maintenance of pump stations controversial is Bo Pump Station alarm Auto dialer units big jump in uh 037 d001 Pump Station alarm auto dialer units mhm uh we're switching over to a sensaphone type alarm system at the pump stations eight senson of Lost alone cost $26,000 that's why we don't want to do it all in one year Manpower wise or people power and also uh the things themselves cost a lot of money so we're trying to phase it over a couple years so eight this year and then what the rest next year next year how many more next year uh I remember exactly another eight uh or five or something like that sure jump out I like decreases yeah counting eror they fix that that's good see anything else pump stations it's not counting air yeah on treatment plant treatment plant maintenance of treatment PL very important backf flow preventer testing mhm electrical maintenance this is for I know we cut that what I know we cut this uh last year by half um is this electrical maintenance 026 to yes yes I'm looking at it what is this um this is just for lighting with within the treatment plants this is this could be anything within the treatment plant uh it's not going to be labor obviously that would be our own labor but it's going to be things like wire and devices and switches and auto dialers that all that so I think what the catches is that there's other electrical po uh buckets and so you know they're not really good they don't pay attention really well to that so uh if this you know this item could come down another one is would be high enough so it it's like that kind of thing okay makes sense all right and we already talked about the hauling of sludge grits and screening and it's going to take a couple of years probably to bring that inh housee that brings us to the environmental board 30 30% increase in the halling huh yeah well what what we see in garbage pickup 80% what it 80% garbage Pi it's probably the same contractors yeah the cost from services come down slightly budg the only it's G up but because of that type of thing and then the chemicals and materials and things so yeah it's like Township wide it seems these outside vendors the price that they're charging us they Monopoly one so many companies that's to bid on true they hold you hostage want to get we want to get out of that they'll be sorry when we go in house yeah there you go environmental board environmental board some big numbers there Yep this is where we got my friends at the environmental commission I don't have anything there no either I so so preliminary news preliminary news from Saturday's community cleanup at the environmental commission right they had over 60 people show up on Saturday despite the very questionable weather they had they must have had I think I don't even remember what the count of bags of trash was like 50 bags of trash no more than that I don't remember what it was 80 I don't know is that the only one we're having or we going to have additional we only have one a year by Hamilton and then they had like 45 bags of recyclables plus like all kinds of tires and this and that and the other so it was a tremendous show uh showing this past I've been i' two years ago I went to one with my son and uh yeah I I couldn't believe how much we hold out of there um and we were at the park right I can't escape now uh the park right near um Arena off of Arena um there's a creek back there um and uh yeah you can't believe what people yeah people dump all it's a shame yeah they uh got this park they had a big group come and got this park behind the municipal building cleaned up this year they had I think it was a boat or Cub Scout group come uh one of the Consulting Engineers groups came in senta crew we had Texas Roadhouse come in senta Crew That's great so it's Fant we have all ages so it's it's very good that's great yeah okay you know the high schools are tote work H Society School District many hours and they have so many volunteer hours they have to do in the community that might be a way to get with okay okay let's continue finally we have breing fund s this is salary salary Wes obviously standby pay more standby pay mhm well we actually used considerable amount of that standby pay last year too we it it's uh we have three people on standby a week for pump stations and collection system emergencies depending on alarms and they get 21 hours each in time or pay so that's a fixed and it's a lot of money 21 hours for what a weekend for the whole week just for standby just for being on standby and if you go out then you get time and a half or double time right thank we just renegotiated that and we upped it because it the market called for that want to jump to Capital now now that truck that the hauling truck and containers that were that you're saying is in the process pment was that last year's budget or is it in this year's last year Capital last last year's Capital except we asked for a little more last year we had 300,000 so we added another 50 I think 25 or 50 and it's going to cost us upwards of say 330 340 for the for the truck itself and the container yes okay that's what that's what we were talking about we thought it was last year I believe it's five containers Al together two sizes in the I it jet jet truck is different than the rollof and the RBC Improvement project that's um that's and we're looking at that annually is that going to be so we have 48 rbcs rotating biological Conor that that uh those discs on a skewer that go around 48 of those they're twice past their useful life some of them are not doing well at all some are gone because of broken shafts and Etc uh a few are gone so we are going to replace now it's out to bid it's about a 50 we manufacturer time and we want to quickly get the next set manufactured but for all of them no for another six or eight so I've talked with the CFO and said we can do this all at one time but how do you want to do the money do you want to Stage it over say 5 years you want to do it all at once we're going to go with the infrastructure bank because we are not digging which aggravates digging in the ground aggravates cuz you got to do cultural resource reviews and studies and artifacts in the ground things like that but if you're in a building environmentally you're fine so that's why we're going to go with that low interest rate is half market rate uh interest so uh I bank so in talking with uh eugia she said this this strategy is fine and you're going to stagger we're going to do a set a year would be the plan the only thing is uh much of the equipment in the RBC Building is degrading very rapidly and so we have electrical conduits that are corroding away and wires such that we can't even pull the wire out to replace it you have to replace the whole conduit the whole run because the inside is a fairly uh moist corrosive environment not chemically just moisture wise talking about the discs we're talking about that big building the RBC Building so we have to look at ventilation also it's a rotating there like wheel like things yes correct yep I remember but they're expensive they're say how many do we have 3 to $500,000 each 48 of them Al together so that's why that's why we had the engineers in a pie a small piece of the master plan said if we go with a different technology for biological treatment can we get away from these rbcs and save that say um say $50 million and put it toward another treatment and the answer was we probably don't have another uh enough land with an activated sludge type treatment which is a soup of bugs instead of bugs fixed on a a plastic media super bugs soup soup soup you can have it all like mixed in a soup and then the bugs kind of just get some air get some food [Music] [Laughter] and Cathy Cathy's all knowledge in these things over time come down to the plant we'll we'll show you some more so it's not possible for us to get away from the technology we're using now yes so therefore full steam ahead on replacing those rbcs if we were able to we'd be able to get a new technology that would be less uh uh maintenance um maybe not maintenance but less likely to degrade on the time frame that the current system does um but we just don't have the space so the point is mov we're hemmed in there we're kind of on a little Peninsula we are we are land bound yeah uh land locked yes um we need more land for that other technology fundamentally yes so this is high equipment but it's very simple right just goes around you just got to keep it going around and process-wise and operating it very simple also very simple this system this current system the other one is more complicated takes a lot more attention so and is not as friendly to storms because the soup the big storm of flow right the huge flow can wash it away the bugs are fixed on that media so they don't get washed away that easily so there just advantages to each but we we needed to consider that large amount of money and not just blindly replace the rvcs so we're staggering it but there's some risk there uh there's no risk okay we're just going to move forward with this technology keeping it I meant you're staggering the rate at which you replace it the reason we started last year when we bid this right we bid this last year is because the DP said you're you you violated your permit for ammonia yeah you need to do something you're missing rbcs so we couldn't sit any longer we needed to do something we needed to move forward to replace those rbcs that were actually missing already okay we we had to move forward with something so this gives us a a good path forward agree okay yeah appreciate the work you're doing and and you know the 10-year plan putting us on a solid footing you know for decades to come uh with that uh you know it's it's it's an investment and it's an important investment so I'm appreciate it welcome anyone else having any questions great job thank you Carrie glad you you and your team for all the work that you do and uh I think that's it for this evening I think we're good all right see you see you Wednesday so