##VIDEO ID:4rML7Y-kNA4## e e e e e e good evening and happy New Year welcome to the annual reorganization meeting of the Hillsboro Township committee for 2025 please be advised that in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231 public laws of 1975 that notice of this meeting was made by the posting on the board at the Hillsboro Township municipal complex and notifying the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at the Hillsboro Township municipal complex at 700 p.m. on January 2nd 2025 I'm Sarah bre Hillsboro Township municipal clerk and I will preside over this reorganization meeting until the members of the township committee select a mayor Miss lenzo please call the role committee men chiarelli here committee woman hand here committee woman Payne here administrator Ferrera here Township Clerk break here attorney Rizzo we will now have a presentation of the colors Pledge of Allegiance and invocation our colors are being present presented by the following Girl Scouts from Service Unit 72 Allison valo Olivia Warner Addison Warner Abigail Abigail Lombardi and Alyssa parola Hillsboro Township Police Lieutenant Chris anglehart is escorting them this will be followed by your invocation offered by Reverend Tim Wolf please rise for the pled Allegiance remain standing for the invocation flag sorry oh the flag's [Music] coming for I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all standing good evening please bow your heads with me as we pray almighty God and Heavenly Father Tonight We Gather at the beginning of a new year to commit to you the community of Hillsboro Township we are grateful to you for the many opportunities and blessings of 2024 we are also thankful that you were with us during our trials and difficulties God you have call the members of our Township committee to the awesome responsibility of being servant leaders we thank you for them and all those who serve with them we ask that you grant to them your spirit of wisdom charity and Justice that they may Faithfully serve in their positions to promote the well-being of the people and institutions of Hillsboro please surround them with supportive family and friends strengthen their bodies minds and Spirits as they Endeavor to serve you and the people of Hillsboro we humbly ask for your continued blessings on the organizations businesses schools and families of our Township in 2025 and we ask for your blessing this evening on the Town Township committee reorganization meeting we pray all these things in your holy name amen please be seated chair thank you girl scouts of Service Unit 72 lieutenant anglehart and Reverend Tim Wolf for your participation this evening please J me join me in a round of [Applause] applause before we continue I'd like to acknowledge several special guests who have joined us here this evening former and current elected officials your support of hilsboro Township is truly appreciated we have assemblyman Fryman we have assemblyman Jack [Applause] Chelli Somerset count County Commissioner Paul [Applause] Drake surrogate Tina jallo free holder and mayor [Applause] kener mayor Anthony F Mayor Bob Wagner mayor Carl sarach and I believe that is it did I miss anybody Sean the P mayor Shan the [Laughter] P once again thank you all for joining us this evening and for your continued support of Hillsboro it is now my honor to announce the results of the November 5th 2024 general election certified by Somerset County Clerk Steve Peter reelecting committeeman Robert bring and committeeman Shan Leon to three-year terms to the Hillsboro attenion committee beginning January 1st 2025 and ending on December 31st 2027 congratulations committee men I'd now i' like to call up committeeman bring and his family along with assemblyman Jack Chelli to swear him in should be [Music] just pop it down there yeah we can hear y y sure I state your name I Robert Bing Jr do Solly swear do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey JY and I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemly swear I do further solemly swear that I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties all the duties of the office of committee men of the office of committe men according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank sir [Applause] picture oh we got we got that nicely over a little bit more in the middle everybody there you go Grayson this way Grays big cheese oh that's a good one that's excellent cheese right there that's excellent cheese go can we get another [Applause] one yeah one more big cheese come back to Christian big cheese thank you yes please come forward and join your your family and know join join join I went back I went yes we're family where'd you go I got you on the page okay welcome that's okay okay you can stay put we're now going to ask committee um leani and his family to come up and be sworn in I know where to go how are you left hand on the bottom right hand ready to go your thing I state your name I sh do Solly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform justly perform all the duties of all the duties of the office of commit man the office of committe man according to the best of my ability Accord to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God thank you very [Applause] much Gr you need cheese Paul can you okay congratulations commit and the PTI please join your colleagues on the Das [Applause] yeah I'm I'll just stand to Mr you can I don't know I think we put it over there but it's all right okay it pays more all settle Miss lenzo can we have another another call roll we've done this before I swear I know record order thank you committeeman bring here committeeman chiarelli here committee woman hand here committee woman leani no men you're trying to kick me out already you got you got promoted and then Dem it it's all good try again been leani present here I swear we're sober here Township cler here I need my paper back okay dramatic pause we will now proceed with the election of the mayor of hillsbor Township for 2025 are there any nominations for the office of Mayor I would like to nominate uh John chiarelli for mayor in 2025 I think John Chelli would be an absolutely fantastic mayor um he has a significant experience in engineering great leadership qualities he has done significant work over the past 3 years and um it's an absolute pleasure to be working with him and I think he'd be a great leader in 25 is there a second second are there any further nominations seeing none I declare the nominations closed can we have a roll call I'll do the roll call committee m brending absolutely yes could been chear rally yes thank you last chance woman hand no committee Lani yes and committee woman pain yes I declare committee John chal chali Mayor of Hillsboro for 2025 congratulations [Applause] [Music] can mayor CH chiarelli's family come up to stand with him as he's given his Li of office job Johnny all right yes I state your name I John Chelli do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I'll bear true faith and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the Saint to the same and to the governments established and to the government's established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do far further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will perform I will I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the office of all the duties of the office of Mayor mayor according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God it's only the eighth time I've done this today I get congratulations thank congratulations mayor [Applause] pictures you want to come up for one tooe you guys want to come up he'll get he's got a smile moving out all right now now we're going to shift shift seats hold on all right let me just give my last line there seats yes congratulations please welcome hillsb Township 2025 Mayor John Chelli thank [Applause] you do it buddy get it yeah she's got the got you got the you took his notes these are mine ior I we'll get there say it's all the paper potion I got you that motion thank you all so very much uh I'll have some remarks in a in a few minutes but at first we have to uh some more rearch business uh and that is election of the 2025 deputy mayor uh we'll proceed with the election of the deputy mayor for 2025 are there any nominations for Deputy Mayor mayor it my pleasure to uh nominate uh not only a very qualified individual but a very great person that cares about Hillsboro greatly I become a friend friend of hers and I'm honored to nominate woman Payne for Deputy Mayor is there a second absolutely yes a second I think it's a great choice great are there any other nominations see hearing none I declare the nominations closed um Miss bre will you please conduct a roll call vote on the election of kathern Payne as deputy mayor for 2025 commit Comming yes it's going to be a great year this year good job everybody committee woman hand absolutely yes committee man leani I don't know absolutely that's why you were demoted committee woman pain yes thank you very much I appreciate the opportunity mayor Chelli yes welcome to the executive team I guess thanks um I declare the Katherine Payne deputy mayor for 2025 congratulations [Applause] call upon assemblyman Chelli once again and with Deputy Mayor Payne's family for the [Music] oath go I state your name I Catherine p Solly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I'll bear true faith and I'll bear true faith and Allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God I do further solemnly swear I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially that I will impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of all the duties of office of Deputy Mayor office of Deputy Mayor according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations [Applause] ladies and Gentlemen please welcome deputy mayor pay I have a little thank you for you thank you thank you Jack thanks for being here leaving thank you Jack um at this time I wish to continue the tradition of recognizing the outgoing mayor which was started uh by Mayor Bob Wagner when he was selected to serve as mayor in 2005 um I asked committeeman committeeman yeah BR to join me here for presentation up here yeah it's just this uh good we're doing it up here please accept this this uh please accept this gavl set commemorating your term as mayor of Hillsboro as a token of our appreciation for your dedicated services to our community thank you sir so we'll engrave something on thank you I appreciate [Applause] [Music] that so while he's walking around again uh committe men we offer our sincere appreciation and thanks from all of us um please join me in a round of applause for committeeman Robert Brit and we'll now move to comments from the township committee um starting with me um thank you again and good evening uh to all and Happy New Year I'm truly honored and humbled to be up here on the Das this year and be selected by the township committee as your mayor last year you put your faith in me as Deputy Mayor and as a team led by committeeman now committeeman bring uh we were able to accomplish great things we advocated for Hillsboro to get 206 moving and back on track increased transparency through the new ask the mayor initiative focused on infrastructure purchased more open space and fully funded the police department to keep Hillsboro safe among other uh tasks we accomplished and I'm committed to continuing and expanding these efforts while implementing additional improvements to bring benefits and services to the residents of Hillsboro I want to personally thank mayor bring committeeman bring for leading the township last year for the excellent excellent award-winning year he had as our mayor the work we accomplished for the residents of Hillsboro is reflected in his re-election to the township committee and the same can be said for uh committeeman leani with his re-election and uh congratulations again to to Deputy Mayor kathern Payne for her selection as a deputy mayor on the township committee so like prior Mayors again I'm I'm committed to honesty putting Hillsboro first and protecting the values of the Town holding people accountable and being proactive to pave the way for Hillsboro's future um a little story I think uh my professional background as a a professional engineer an expert consultant uh a certified cost professional in the construction and engineering and Public Works Industries brings together a bunch of technical knowledge uh technical elements um to the work with those various departments in Hillsboro but what's actually more gratifying is is really getting exposed to all the services that are delivered by the township to the 43,000 residents we have and the 1500 businesses um the health Social Services police safe police sa police and safety um burrow aware Interfaith youth veterans and seniors each of these things benefits from building and maintaining our infrastructure so I accept the role as mayor from the perspective that of being in the right place with the right skills at the right time and bringing together this Collective skills and knowledge with the services that are being delivered to our residents and again this will this is in essence to pave the way for Hillsboro's future I'll elaborate a little bit more on that later but I want to thank the committee for putting your faith in me and approving my nomination for this role and I I won't let you or the 43,000 residents of Hillsboro down I have many to thank for helping me get to this point starting with all the residents of Hillsboro for electing me two years ago to serve them all I have to thank my wife uh Kim for supporting me through this journey uh and for understanding the understanding she exhibits where is she there she is uh when my role you know when my role as your public servant Takes Me Away from certain family time uh along with Kim I thank my daughters Sydney and Alexa who are also here Sydney's our Adventurer she's just back from her trip to Australia in New Zealand and she's going to be studying Radiology at Mercer County College starting in a couple weeks Alexa just graduated a semester early in from Coastal Carolina with a Bachelor of Science and psychology and minor in business so now I have a Full House Full House again so uh all three young ladies have helped me uh in various ways through these past years and I really appreciate your help tolerance and support and I love you guys uh I must also thank my parents who are here for their for always loving and supporting me and my family and instilling in me the virtues of and hard work and integrity that have made me the father friend neighbor commit and now mayor that I am today and I hope I have made and will continue to make them proud as I serve Hillsboro with those same virtues uh many thanks to my extended family in town there some of them are here tonight as well and my my mother-in-law Marsha dco passed away in October and I'm I'm sure she's here in spirit too uh along with Smokey um thanks to the countless neighbors and Friends uh from in town and some from out of town who are here tonight who've lent me endless support and encouragement and uh thanks to the Hillsboro Republican Club for and its supporters who put their faith in me as a nominee years ago and to Jack Chelli for his unwavering support through the years and for his Min administrating administering my both of office tonight and two prior times uh there are several former Township committee members here who are here who were called out earlier who are also a great resource of inspiration and and experience and advice uh there also tonight are numerous residents who have volunteered for and uh volunteered for been assigned to and who are accepting appointment to various seats on Township committee uh commissions or boards uh I'm not sure how many are here uh uh but you should also be recognized for these volunteer efforts it's how I got started as a volunteer appointed as an alternate to the planning board and I want to thank these these trusted volunteers who have committed their time and experience to help the township you've been if you've been newly appointed or reappointed and are up for approval later tonight I have full confidence in your abilities to serve the township many thanks to the St the township staff and employees there's a bunch of them here tonight how many you're here I see a lot in the back row absolutely that they're they're these loyal employees run manage and maintain Hillsboro from the administration office here in the municipal building to the infrastructure throughout the town uh to the highly regarded Hillsboro Police Department who's standing in the back um row and and they should they should continue to get all the credit they deserve uh well well done Chief and and guys in the back so there there are numerous items that uh are accomplished by the the staff that we're talking about uh we Hillsboro obtained another sustainability award for the state this time we achieved first place um for sustainability for um against towns of of of a similar population we won the health gold star Ward at the league of municipalities only one of two towns in the State uh we were designated as a health a health town by the mayor's Wellness campaign we continue to be a leader in shared service agreements uh for example we handle several courts uh we do health services and in this past year we expanded to providing Financial Services uh and we look for more opportunities uh uh in 2005 25 numerous employees also have achieved and departments have achieved uh Awards and recognition throughout the year and and so we hope to continue that effort and enthusiasm that's shown by those employees um and Township Town administrators from all over the state will come to Hillsboro to learn our Forward Thinking strategies and best practices and the the township committee was awarded a local government leadership program award this year related to these efforts so re we really wouldn't have earned the award if the management at the township did not do what they do so we really again appreciate you for that we we got to accept the award but it was really because of the the development that's exhibited by the management in in our staff um I want to thank again mayor former mayor briding immediate former mayor Brit and the township committee as we embark on 2025 and in 2025 I'll continue leading with the Baseline principles that we outlined and executed on during the last couple of years that's fiscal responsibility infrastructure and open space with the focusing on developing the overall vision for this future of uh of Hillsboro these three are the primary Keystone VIs points which each in their own way will help protect the town and pave the way for Hillsboro's future uh fiscal responsibility we're going to continue our business-like approach to governance and maintaining strong fiscal policies excellent credit rating uh and our overall financial position while increasing and providing excellent Township services and and again we're just going to continue supporting the police funding the police um and maintaining our fiscal responsibility I mentioned infrastructure and continuing to work to improve our sustainable infrastructure infrastructure is not just about Paving roads it expands to it various utilities buildings and any other structures and Facilities that need to operate for our society and as such this will benefit the safety and health of all of our residents and the economic development of the community uh it's known as a triple bottom line where infrastructure benefits social environmental and economic causes so we we're you know we've challenged and and committee M bring has said that I've challenged uh the township to pave more this year uh improve infrastructure so that's what our our goal is going to be uh third preserving and expanding our existing open space through coordination with our own open space trust fund uh Somerset County has been very helpful Green Acres at the state and and continuing the Farmland pres preservation uh and this will be related to the uh master plan I'm going to continue championing the master plan which will be a significant part of this this Keystone Point um and along with these three key things myself I will personally continue uh to to advocate for diabetes awareness working with the health department and the mayor's wellness program this year to spearhead the Hillsboro diabetes awareness Center uh continue as a cheerleader for Hillsboro High School the robo Raiders um the marching band Girl Scouts Boy Scouts uh I know one of the the Boy Scouts is here tonight the Girl Scouts were here earlier Youth Sports and other programs throughout the town good night they leaving they leaving it's the first day back to school after Christmas break they got to go home oh W up sorry Mommy's taking them home sorry about that I stated last year we have a lot of serious work to do and I'm sure that there'll be some bumps in the road as we make improvements and continue to maintain that there is no reason that this can't also be fun uh it's especially fulfilling to help people in any way and I'm looking forward to helping people succeed in this coming year we accomplished a lot of great things in 2024 uh with this team and I look forward to working to the best of my abilities with my fellow committee members Township staff and residents of Hillsboro during the coming year we'll continue No Nonsense Common Sense approach to completing projects and resolving issues to keep Hillsboro as one of the best places to live in America and thank you again for putting your trust in me to execute the duties of mayor uh happy new year God bless all of you uh God bless Hillsboro and God bless the United States of America thank you good [Applause] job and now let's see here comments by the deputy mayor I think we have to go we're getting pushed out by the vacuum cleaning s so uh thank you team for your support and I appreciate the vote and the nod and the kind words Sean I didn't know you had them men you about me but thank you so uh really great 2024 um and I'll be very brief I promise um it was definitely a a stepping year in the right direction um a teaching moment on a lot of different things and I think it's you know it's always important that you give your time to something a little bit bigger than yourself and your family although we all do that um to kind of see behind the curtain is really important um and it offers you other steps and other Journeys and other paths when you do that and this year was definitely full of them uh and I'm very appreciative so um specifically my work with the veterans um Samantha H and I were able to do amazing things this year with a veteran commission that had pretty much you know stalled out a little bit because of 2020 and illness and you know people being afraid to come back together and we were able to bring that Community back in a very safe um formative way with informative sessions and I'm very very proud of our work with that organization and to kind of revive that in our community I think it's an important part of our community um so we'll continue to do that in 2025 as well I also um will continue to work with the county and push them on eliminating uh sorry Illuminating a water hazard that we have on one of their roads in our town we um started that conversation in February of last year unfortunately we're unable able to resolve it in 2024 so I'm looking forward to resolving that for us in 2025 um and then finally last year and I was reminded quite frequently throughout the year um I never thanked my family so I am very grateful for my husband and my aunt for their unwavering support of my job in 2024 I'll get to you child and my children um but you know my husband and my aunt have been a very um like great force in my life for my um sometimes unsure agreement to do this in the first place and to also keep me on my path for 2025 so I'm very excited about all of that and I thank all of you um for your support and continued interactions I have met so many amazing people in our town that I would have never met without this opportunity so I thank you for that and I hope we have a great 2025 thank you everyone [Applause] thank you Deputy Mayor Payne and now for comments by committee me Members we'll start with committeeman bring good evening everybody thank you for being here and uh part of this was for my family and so they had to step out boys had to go to school so we'll make sure that they watch it on YouTube too so I first of all just wanted to say thank you um to my family uh that's the most critical most important thing that we have here is our family and our friends first to my wife Kelly who was sitt sitting there with my sons Robbie Christian and Grayson um my they're amazing little boys it's you know it's some disruptive when they're here but it's it is what it is they're they're living every moment of this and they love it and it's just been great for them I want to thank my mother and father Bob and Nancy bring Robert and Nancy bring I am a junior and uh they're the greatest parents I could have ever asked for I uh work my tail off because of them in the way that they educated me and brought me up I'm very lucky to have them in my life they've been the best parents I could have ever asked for I also would like to my my mother-in-law didn't wasn't able to make it she's under the weather but she comes to everything Lisa Lisa Conrad she's been great so I just want to thank her as well too love you very much and I love you Mom and Dad love my love my wife and children as well too I know how challenging it is to see me not home and volunteer an immense amount of personal family time to help the town this would have been a message for my my children sitting here my wife Kelly is a superhero and my boys are lucky to have her as their mother I love her very much so I want to thank the Hillsboro Township residents for voting for me and my renom mate Shawn Leon the great sha leani that's what I like to call him thank you committee men Leon for your leadership over the years um so regardless of side you have to look at Shawn and say thank you every time you see him because during Co he stabilized this town when other towns were going out he did a phenomenal job and he was a great great leader and he kept us in a really good spot so thank you committee men Leon for doing that thank you to the Hillsboro uh Republican organization putting your faith in me I'll continue to work hard for everybody in Hillsboro Township regardless of side there are hundreds of people uh there are hundreds of people who now are fully committed from the in the Republican organization who are fully committed committed to helping Hillsboro move in the right direction and thank you for putting your town first direct message to you thank you for that I'm excited to work with mayor chiarelli and Deputy Mayor Payne I'm very very excited and um I'm and to support a better Hillsboro congratulations to both of you thank you for stepping up and leading us this year 2024 was a great year and we had significant steps forward for Hillsboro and it was my absolute pleasure to lead us through transformational shift in many areas of our town I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished the amount amount of awards that we won I want to personally thank there's let some legislators in the room who uh um for recognizing my efforts I appreciate it assembly men for for recognizing those efforts um I really do appreciate it worked very hard last year feels good to be recognized well we set out last year with far-reaching objectives of the town and proudly we accomplished every single one and most of them were accomplished in the first 6 to8 months which is great because it allowed us to build continually more and more into it I promise to be unapologetically honest as mayor last year and I promise to do so as long as I'm on the township committee I can guarantee you're going to get it straight from me if even though feel good I'm going to tell you exactly exactly what's what we got 206 back on track thank you to the state and all others who helped out um following through as they said they would based on the significant amount of conversations that we had I look forward to working with mayor chiarelli and Deputy Mayor Payne and moving 206 forward continue to do better even better than we did even better thank you to our Police Department you guys are at the Forefront as we recognize that Public Safety is the most critical component of a town we have beautiful Parks we have beautiful schools you have great roads that are starting to materialize you all these great things in this town but if you don't have a safe town you don't have anything and you guys keep us safe God bless you thank you for doing what you do I really really do appreciate you guys open space and farmland preservation is critical for the future of our town thank you to our partners for assisting and preserving land last year it took not only the township but the county and also the state as well too I know committee man leani had started those conversations early in the year and took a lot of pressure to push up on the state to get that moving I'm very appreciative of that and we we' preserved a significant amount of land last year there's so much more that we can do to preserve our open space and I'm excited this year to prod uh to uh pursue additional ways and work to preserve the beauty of our town because of the fiscally responsible nature of our of how we govern our town as mayor chiarelli stated we we manage it like a business we have a double A Plus Bond rating and the best debt to income ratio in the area we are able to set forth bonding because of that we were able to set forth bonding which allowed us to do an immense amount of roads in 24 and set ourselves up for success year-over-year and with mayor chiarelli's challenge to do even more roads that bonding allowed that to happen with that our infrastructure is critical and I'm looking forward to supporting mayor chol's vision and objectives related to our master plan he has done a phenomenal job and I think you're going to hear a lot about it this year of getting us set set us up for the long term it's incredibly important that we maintain our trajectory from 24 into 25 we had a great year but you can't look at last year you got to say 25 is going to be even better and I can feel it I could see it it's going to be a great year I'm glad these two are leading us two items I like to highlight I'm going to focus on additional attention this year um coordinating with the superintendent the Board of Education uh with 65% of our taxes going towards this group I think it's incredibly important that we find common connections to make sure our children have the best future you'll hear a lot from me on that I'll also work closely with the administration team to ensure our communication and transparency practices are at the highest standard they asked the mayor video series that I launched in 2024 and Deb Bing sitting in the in the crowd thank you for for being a champion of that early on I appreciate it did a fantastic job on that um uh it allows the allows our res in the moment an in-depth understanding of what's going on you deserve to know what's going on in the moment and that's the best way to do it and I hope we evolve that even further in 25 in closing I'd like to congratulate mayor chiarelli and Deputy Mayor Payne I have your back like I said I feel it uh 2025 is going to be even better than 24 let's keep moving this forward uh 24 was the most professional and rewarding um year most rewarding professional year of my life I want to thank everyone for their support and again I want to thank my wife and my children for allowing me to take our family time and apply it towards helping the town to have a better future my boys have learned an immense amount from my time as mayor and now they all understand what giving back actually means the greatest gift and this has absolutely happened a couple few over the Christmas break-in before then so for both boys the greatest GI gift I ever received this year is when both of my older boys independently said that they were proud of the things I was doing as mayor that felt better than anything they proactively campaigned with me and also commit man Leon knocking on doors a couple thousand doors they knocked on they understand and standing and standing in front of problems is true leadership they did that proactively on their own was a beautiful thing last thing I promise to continue to make sure all of our children in our town and our seniors taxpayers included but if it's good for children and seniors it's good for everybody I promise to continue to make sure all the children in our town have their place at the Forefront of our future Hillsboro is a family town and one of the best places to live in the USA and I promise you I will fight to protect that thank you all and God bless all of you [Applause] uh next is committee woman committee woman hand thank you very much mayor all right one year ago I was sworn into this office um during the that time I have met the most remarkable people that work in this building you are true professionals who care deeply about our community um you are committed to the betterment of our community and I appreciate apprciate you all um I've had the privilege of working with our law enforcement and of course our family my family of firefighters um additionally thank you to our County and state legislators who have provided their countless support whether it was in Grants or otherwise to this community and we appreciate it thank you I have every right and every obligation to raise issues in public I will continue to do that and to expect answers we've had difficult conversations and debates which is healthy and hopefully result in the best decision for our community I don't think that it requires others to miscar characterize my questions disparage my comments or feel threatened by them as a committee we ultimately want to work together for the betterment and the good of our Hillsboro Community as for me in 2025 I will continue to advocate for the affordability for our residents by calling for fiscal accountability reduced taxes and reduced debt we should be very careful about adding to our residents financial burden by committing this town to highin payments that will extend beyond the terms of our office we should focus on road safety um this is in regards to speed and weight limits distract driving and protecting the bicyclists and the pedestrians of our town we should work to preserve the character of our town by protecting open space and again I was elected to represent all of the people of Hillsboro and I will always prioritize their well-being over any other consideration I look forward to continuing to serve effectively thank you very much [Applause] and committeeman leani you sure it's not Clerk or uh what did your tag say which which one am I on right now thank you mayor um you've heard a lot of words and it's getting late so I'm gonna be brief sometimes the this best speeches are short shortest speeches so I'm going to start first with thanking my family uh for putting up with this for six years and now committed another three takes um takes a lot when you as the township people know you're not around a lot you miss events um and it's for the people of Hillsboro who I do this for because I love this town um and I think that um true public service is that you give yourself for the betterment of the people around you all 43,000 people many of whom over the 40 plus years I've lived in this town have become not only friends but their customers their relationships they're they're more than people that um come to my counter and I think ask the mayor started in 2020 at Central Jersey nurseries um but uh it still doesn't end but um thank you to my family uh my daughter when I first started she was uh six years ago she was still uh just out of high school into college now she's through grad school and and a vibrant young lady that I'm very proud of uh um my mother who's with me um and my father I like to thank them for raising me um with always keeping your head on your shoulders and not being bigger than the title that you have um my father told me when I took this job six years ago don't forget where he came from and I've never done that I'm still the dirt guy I always say that jokingly at planning board meetings but that's I am I am the dirt of Earth of Hillsboro I've had my hand in most of your front Lawns if you live in developments planting trees um but in all seriousness it's the people that make this town it's the people in this building that I'd like to thank that I've gone to know personally over the past six years and look forward to working with over the next three um because truly they are the shining star of this of this municipality our Police Department our planning staff our people in in health obviously when I took this job we were under a small little thing called covid um and and the fact that uh this town was one of the only ones that stayed open 100% open for business during covid is a testament not only to Anthony uh but to the the people who work in this building that bought into it and and felt that they needed to be here to support this municipality there aren't any municipalities in this County that can say that think about that all the municipalities in Somerset County we're the only one that was open the entire time um but as I move forward I promise to continue to represent you to be approachable not only here but anywhere you you see me if I'm having dinner with my wife maybe give me a break uh and uh email me or stop at the nursery I'm always I'm always there as you know um but I'm truly humbled to be elected for the third term the second one was special CU you felt like maybe you didn't get fired because you didn't screw up enough but the third one gives me the um that I feel like I'm I'm doing the right thing most of the time and we can't always tell you what you want to hear and I've always said that you rip the Band-Aid off once and you tell them the truth as the mayor said but we have to do what's good for all 43,000 not necessarily what's especially uh what might be group for a small group of people but again thank you all I'd like you also to keep in memory some of the lives that were lost of the tragic events in the last uh week um and keep them in your thoughts because we are a community and we thank our Police Department for keeping us safe because it just goes to show you you never know so hug who you love make the phone call to the person you haven't called in a while just to say hello because life is fleeting and you never know when it's going to end thank you very much [Applause] thank you commit Brit committee woman hand and committeeman leani who roped me into this thing so um I thank the deputy mayor earlier but uh and thank you Deputy Mayor you what did to me the first few me whispered in my ear um I got two of you doing it so um thank you again all committee me committee members um for your input and I look forward to a very positive year with all of you with this team um we have a lot to do we have a great town to live in and we're going to keep it that way so um now we have some other reorg reorganizational business this evening specifically the consent agenda so let's move to the consent agenda we have resolutions 1 through 19 um some of the items to note include setting and meet the meeting schedule for 2025 the 2026 reorg date already you're getting ready to boot me out um awarding professional service contracts establishing the temporary budget and appointing volunteers to various boards and commissions um so of 1 through 19 does anyone have on the day wish to take any of these resolutions separately I would like to make a motion on consent agenda nine to remove one bullet regarding the appointment of SLE Clooney and Company as our auditor if we could take that separately please so resolution nine or even just the bullet off of um consent no we we'll take it separ we'll we'll talk we'll we'll handle the the 19 except for nine and then we'll talk about that thank you okay so I guess then we need a motion to approve resolutions 1-9 save nine Motion 1 through eight and 10 through 19 second thank you any comments from the Das nope any comments from the floor okay roll call committee B bring yes committee woman hand yes committee B leani yes Deputy Mayor Payne yes mayor cherell yes thank you um all right so so motion to resolution n you were making a motion to take it separately then we need second no no I just did that okay I said one through eight and okay 10 through well that I thought that was the motion to approve one through n all all but nine so if we want to take the one separately then we need a motion so now we need a motion to accept nine motion for to take it separately and then to yes so we need a motion to take nine separately little add order e yes so moved uh for Amendment nine only to take resolution n second roll call Comming yes this isn't voting on this is just taking yes yes a little backwards but we got it committee woman hand yes committee leani yes Deputy Mayor Payne yes mayor Chelli yes we'll get it down eventually yeah it's all right all right now we're in motion nine now res all right so motion nine or I'm sorry resolution 9 is uh authorizing the appointment for various Professional Services and other service providers and the execution of Professional Services contracts and other contracts in accordance with the fair and open selection process njsa 1944 a-204 D5 for the year 2025 and no well the yes oh okay so it's motion to approve motion to approve second second okay comments from the day yes so on this one it is the fourth bullet down regarding Supply Clooney as the auditor I know in the last meeting we had um you know a a helpful debate regarding um using a different auditor for one year um there were several concerns regarding the financials um this is of utmost importance to everyone in this room and anyone watching at home so um we did have a discussion on using a different auditor for a year it's always good to have somebody else to look at at the books um you know it's it's healthy to do so I would like to put that forward that we consider using a different auditor please well I'll answer that question it's very simple no one else submitted a bid so by default they they were worded the contract and we cannot go anywhere else from that nobody else submitted a bid they only bidder and there's no opportunity to no they Fair Mo at open practice they submitted the bid they were within the regulations they get to W the contract Legally Legally Legally so it is what it is for 2025 to answer your question yeah yeah I I don't yeah I I mean I I understand the procurement law and that that they were the only ones so even if they weren't the only ones if they were the low bidder or the the lowest responsible bidder we'd have to go with them so and I would direct my question to the chair do you are you comfortable with that do you feel like having them look at the books again and I understand that they were the ones that bid but do you are you comfortable yeah the they explained the one item that was the cause of of the distress originally um the next day so I I feel comfortable with them they've been they do they do them all around the state and uh they're a wellestablished auditing firm and I feel comfortable with them thank you all right all right any other comments comments from the floor nope all right seeing none roll call hey it's my job committee beening sorry yes committee woman hand I am supportive of all of the others but for the reasons that we just stated I will have to vote no thank you committee mapani by rule of law yes Deputy Mayor Payne to be legally compliant also yes mayor Chelli yes all right thank you um so now comments from the public I will open the meeting to comments from the floor please keep in mind this is for comments on items not on the agenda Mrs break will you please read the statement regarding public comment the township committee welcomes input from the public please state your name and address and spell your name for the record you will be given one three minute allotment for your comments please understand that this public forum is not structured as a question and answer session comments are to be addressed to the mayor again please keep your comments to 3 minutes thank you okay any comments from the public hello and you did say it not on the agenda on the agenda right great um my name is Leisa Gaber bis l i c a g a b r bis b a y Lis I live in Hillsboro um I just had a quick thing so uh committee and bring you going on I loved what you said about like working with the schools and supporting them and fighting for them um I in case everyone isn't aware um the state is working on changing the or considering changes to the school funding Reform Act um and they're having four dates one has already passed but the next one is going to be uh Wednesday January 8th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Somerset County Government office 27 Warren Street in Somerville New Jersey on the first floor conference room if you're able to come and talk and support the schools that would be awesome if you don't have time but would like to submit something there is a form and you can do that ahead of time thank you um I'm not sure if they will be if the words will be read into effect or not but um the township and the schools do need to work together especially regarding all of the building that is um possibly going to be coming up because um unfortunately what happens as we discussed um I think sometime in the fall or whatever um is that when you have more market rate homes that increases the amount of um let's see um of of money that uh oh God I'm totally blanking on the words um but I'm tracking with you yeah so so but then that looks bad so that as well as the the income that's coming up um that's bring being brought into these market rate homes it makes us look worse in terms of the current school funding formula and um and so then our Aid might get cut we're trying to get Forida kindergarten in town you know that'd be awesome we're one of maybe like five or 10 that don't have it in all of the 600 plus um districts and so that would be one way of doing it if we could um if we could sorry that's okay that's okay you're doing great yeah don't be nervous we fine I think the bottom line is if you'd like to go support the school systems and advocate for a fair funding formula which you're all for this would be a great time for you to to do your concerns in front of the people need to hear it yes especially in terms of the market rate homes being able to allow when they come into the system that their taxes are being able to be added to what the school is going to use just as the township has that ability to use for their budget so thank you so much I'm sorry would you say there was three more or one in pass and there three more yes so that is the most that's the closest one in um in Somerville and then on January 14th from 10 to 12 that one's going to be in Trenton there was one prior in December in uh in Trenton also um my husband made it to like the last five or 10 minutes so we didn't get to hear much of what was going on there but um and then there's going to be one on January 16th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Camden County Regional Emergency Training Center which is at uh 420 Woodberry Turnersville Road in Blackwood New Jersey 08012 thank you so much thank you Le thank you can you can you send over here sorry can you send that to me and I'll put it in the news okay thank you any other comments from the public thank you Mr Mayor and uh Township committee members I'm here to talk about good government that was not a word that was used in anybody's presentations but I'd like to just encourage your thoughts on that and encourage the idea have more public participation so I'm going to challenge each of you to help that process by asking each of you to commit to helping by doing a few things first I'm sorry can you state your name David Brooke seven Winding Way thank you I'm sorry my apologies I know you so the first thing is your agendas for the township committee meetings as you all know the agenda for committee meetings help guide the public to see what is happening and provide ideas and advice on critical issues and items that are being discussed and voted on unfortunately the agenda the actual real agenda not the draft on Friday comes out almost always at about 4:30 to 5 on the night of the meeting now never I'm sorry never okay that's when it's publish I'm sorry I didn't hear you I'm sorry so the challenge that I've seen is to have the public involved there are many detailed items and some of them are multiple Pages it's very difficult for those of us to get that agenda review it and be able to come to meetings and provide coherent comments yes there's an agenda that comes out earlier but often times it's changed and I've called the clerk and they say we're still working on it so I guess what I'm asking for is that I don't think it's good to promote public participation when we don't see the full agendas or proposed ordinances that are still in draft form and so what I'd like to ask each of you to do in order to promote public participation is please promise to release the agenda the actual agenda earlier so that all of us who are interested can be able to um be better able to participate at the meetings the second thought committee M breing discussed bonding a number of you mentioned it what is bonding well bonding is simply a loan a loan with interest and someone has to pay off that loan and that interest I guess my question to all of you is why did the township approve bonding when we as taxpayers will ultimately pay much much more for those services so as a taxpayer I'm going to be paying that debt because bonding is a cute word for debt and I don't know why we need to go into debt when there are better ways of paying for things a lot of you mentioned fiscal responsibility uh as the mayor mentioned figuring out how to pay for municipal Services through I believe taxes not bonding is still may be the way to go at least we pay for it UPF front nobody likes to pay taxes but bonding is a sort of a perverse tax that we only ultimately pay more on state has a tendency to do it I think the township should not so I please ask all of you to promote fiscal responsibility by not borrowing on our future anymore to me it's too expensive and being fiscally responsible means we live within our means the third item if you don't mind that that's three minutes if you can wrap it up I'll wrap it up I'd like to also promote public participation a number of you know that it takes takes a lot for the public to get up here and speak and it can be very intimidating I've asked for before I'd like to ask you all to think about one thing you sit in nice chairs at a nice desk we the public stand in front of a microphone we need a Podium we would like to have a Podium to be able to put our papers on and so I think that I would ask each of you to think about purchasing a podium every other town has a Podium so that people can put their papers on them and feel a little bit more comfortable and not intimidated by being up in front of all of you and my offer is I'll help pay for part of it thank you thank you anybody else moved second for that I have roll call here committee Bing yes congratulations mayor and Deputy Mayor committee woman hand yes Committee in Le Pon yes happy new you everybody and uh hope to see you back for some cake and and coffee Deputy Mayor Payne yes thanks everybody mayor chiarelli yes uh thank thank you all for coming tonight this concludes our 2025 New York meeting the next meeting regular meeting will be next week uman 7:30 good night happy New Year and yes Jo us all right