##VIDEO ID:D2LefWfVE0M## e e e e e e e e they are see Nick bringing them [Music] in I don't know how I got disconnected from but I can't wow n it's all good we have to wait a few moments for our Township attorney so come on in guys room in the front there's tons of room in the front Don't Be Afraid come sit in the front row we don't fight really may come on MAR marching B come on in come sit in the front fill it up fill it up ahead go for it there you go there boy Go For It Go For It Go For It Go ahead it's all good very cool this is awwesome where's my keep piling in keep piling in our attorney will be here in a moment so we'll start when he gets here keep coming on in plenty of seats everybody come on in this is a crew tonight very cool as we wait for the attorney set the tone with the kids we are going to do the Pledge of Allegiance yeah the girls Couts and the boys sou Scouts really show up so let's see what Mar band has to offer start a competition I'm just throwing it out there we do judge harshly that's all I'm [Laughter] say Kevin there he is there he is hello Mr Willard that's the first time an attorney's gotten a clap in this in this courtroom that's great that's awesome come on in out there in the hole we're going to start now all right all right good evening and welcome to the township committee meeting of November 12th 2024 Miss break could you please call the role committee woman hand here committee man leani pres Comm committee woman Payne here Deputy Mayor chiarelli here mayor bring here administrator Ferrera here attorney Willard here all right please join me in saluting our flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all that was good good job guys really good job all right so please be advised in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board at the Hillsboro Township municipal complex and notifying the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at Hillsboro Township municipal complex tonight at 7:30 p.m. on November 12th 2024 first we're going to go to approval of minutes so may I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of October 15th 2024 so moved a second second all right roll call please committee woman hand yes committee manani yes committee woman P yes Deputy Mayor tarelli yes mayor Brit yes all right so now we go right to reports from committee liaison and receipt of reports petitions or Communications we're going to start with committee woman hand all right thank you mayor all right I apologize for those of you standing all right here we go Health Department upcoming screenings the health department will offer a blood gluc glucose screening and blood pressure screening in December keep an eye out for dates and times coming up soon also the Department of Environmental Protection will have a virtual public hearing and the purp of this is to talk about the unprecedented dry spell in declining water storage currently um they will be listening to DP officials as they gather input concerning the severity of the situation its impact on Regional water supply and all available options that may be considered or implemented to avoid a water emergency please see more details tomorrow in the ews and on the website it is also lung lung cancer awareness mon I'm going to throw this out there not sure if anyone in this room has ever seen a vape pen but let's listen to that just in case you might have seen a vape pen somewhere in your in your life here we go November lung cancer awareness month lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women in the US with an estimated 23,000 people diagnosed every year um I'm sorry we diagnosed in 2023 one in6 16 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime approximately 356 people a day die from lung cancer smoking is the leading cause of risk for lung cancer um it's about 80% of the deaths with vaping at an increased risk of lung cancer vaping increased risk of lung cancer researchers have found that both men and women who smoked and Vaped had an increased can uh chance of lung cancer um exposure to radon gas was the second most common um and just to go over the signs of lung cancer it's breathe so B is bloodwind coughing uh R reoccurring respiratory infections e enduring coughing a is aching in the shoulder back or chest T trouble breathing H heness and E exhaustion early detection can um reduce death by about 20% all right um on a lighter topic Recreation they had uh the first Pumpkin Smash um November 2nd at abma's Farm it was their first time and they had fun smashing the pumpkins and then that will be used for feed for the animals and um turned into the soil to help grow more pumpkins next year there's also a pajama drive so donating we're asking anyone who has um the ability to donate new pajamas in all sizes to help local families in need a donation box is um in the hallway leading to the library over here November 25th through December 6th there's also a tree lighting so if you are available Friday December 6th from 5: to 8: is our annual tree lighting there will be music dancers train rides hot cocoa cookies and um rumor has it a special guest s we're very excited um Social Services is seeking donations um especially this time of year so please the Hillsboro Community Assistance Network they provide family excuse me um food and Pantry items to Hillsboro families in need and experiencing food in security and by the way the new turkey is actually lasagna so one thing that social services talked to us about is um people will maybe get a free turkey from the grocery store put it in their freezer they then find the old turkey from last year that they never did anything with and they bring it to the food pantry they really it's it's not great um they can't really give those out so please don't find that frozen turkey from last year and bring instead um lasagna not and not everyone has the ability to cook a turkey so if you can um donate the free lasagna that would be awesome um all all pause in for respect week for the week of resp ECT triangle Road Elementary School sponsored a fundraiser entitled all all pause in um for respect students and staff are encouraged to donate a dollar to the can food pantry and thanks to the generosity of the triangle Community a total of $126 was raised for the department so thank you triangle school last but not least senior activity so sponsored by Foothill Acres the local Hillsboro seniors spent the afternoon creating a holiday stencil sign as you can see if you were a Hillsboro resident who is 60 and over and interested in participating in the different programs crafts clubs they do yoga all sorts of fun stuff please contact Social Services for more information thank you very much mayor good stuff thank you all right committee man Le Pony good evening everybody we'll try and get through this as fast as we can because it's a full room um our HBA uh wanted to just highlight some ribbon cuttings of some new businesses that were opening up uh we had three new additions to the hillsbor business Community this past uh few months we recently cut a ribbon at the Mista blends of India a vibrant new restaurant at 220 triangle Road Jean Ceramics a Pottery Studio at 284 us 206 and Summit Sports Bar located iron Peak Sports and events at 137 Mountain View Road so be sure to check them out and continue supporting our Hillsboro business Association just we need more restaurants for Restaurant Week to hit uh so our Deputy will be you'll be busy um the economic business development office is also um dedicated supporting your business growth and Community involvement share your upcoming events promotions and or exciting news and they will help spread the word through social media the township website and the HBA newsletter follow us on Instagram and Facebook and tag us in your posts more visibility means greater reach and engagement so contact the off office to learn more about your available opportunities and those are all free of charge the njeda office hours January 22nd um 101 office hours with the New Jersey Economic and Development Authority were held for a second week second time last week a third opportunity is being held scheduled for January 22nd this session gives business owners the opportunity to learn more about available Grant fund fing and how to take advantage of these valuable resources please contact the Economic and Business Development Office to reserve a 30-minute session with Kathy gunsman and NJ Eda senior small business leison to learn more and I'm just going to share a story that happened to me just last week about how this program can change lives I was having a conversation with a young lady that owns a business in this town and she was on the verge of tears trying to un to get her rent paid for her business and I said did you ever think about applying to the njeda for rental assistance she didn't know anything about it so I got her in touch with with this with them she's in the process of applying this is life this is life saving this is business saving stuff and it's and really what the key is all you have to do is qualify it's it's if you qualify you get it it's non-competitive so if you own a business you know someone that owns a brick and water business and needs computers furniture rental assistance this group is there to help and that's one example that saving a possibly saving a business so I urge you to share the news um with that our staff also our Economic and Business Development is hiring a full-time Administrative Assistant this is a 40h hour per week class one AFS CME Union position that focus on all aspects of our day-to-day ad Ministry of tasks community outreach and event coordination so you can apply for that on our website uh in the drop down box our finance department is also hiring an assistant to the CFO this part-time position offers flexible hours up to 29 hours per week not to exceed 116 hours per month and lastly all our pet lovers Hillsboro Township offers our employees a unique in-house Management training program the Hillsboro leadership program or hlp one the requirements of graduating this Pro program participates are required to complete a community service project one of our hlp teams is hosting a dog and cat Supply drive to benefit our can clients collection boxes are located outside the library andin in the municial building now through January 11th and that's all I have to say but I'd also just like to uh briefly I'll get into it later but thank all those who came out to vote this past week it was a great turnout and I wish everyone would do that every election it's our right as an American to cast your vote for whoever you want to thank you very much for those who supported all the candidates and I'd like to also thank uh Mr Vallejo Mr vanderly for putting their hand up for public service it's not an easy decision and I'd like to thank them for their for their participation that's all mayor all right thank you committee Leon okay we have next committee woman pay okay I was literally editing stuff out I swear so Municipal Court plea by mail you can resol your Municipal Court matter without a virtual hearing by completing a plea by male form this form may only be used to plead not guilty or guilty in certain traffic or parking cases or guilty in certain non-traffic cases look for the link in tomorrow's E news and the township website New Jersey Court's overview New Jersey Judiciary has published a guide to the judicial process that includes information about the Court's structure and organizations the guide also covers basic Court processes and a glossery of legal terms there will also be a link in tomorrow's e newss police stuff the bus uh again PBA 205 will um be stuffing their bus members of the Hillsboro Township Police Department will be collecting food and other items for the community Assistance Network please come by shopright at Nelson's Corner Saturday November 23rd from 9:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. and pick up a list of needed items and help us stuff the bus Christmas movie toy drive join the police department on December 7th at 3:00 for the fourth annual Christmas movie toy drive Santa will be making an appearance see more details in tomorrow's E news you guys must be really good in Hillsboro if Santa's coming twice I'm just saying I'm I'm just throwing it out there well done um Hillsboro fire district would like to remind you that all 21 counties in New Jersey are still under stage three fire restrictions the New Jersey forest fire service warns that we are under a significant fire risk due to comp of low humidity no precipitation and increasing winds all fires in wooded areas are completely prohibited unless contain in an elevated stove using only propane natural gas gas or electricity no charal fires are allowed tomorrow's information and E news will have more for the veterans um fourth quarterly veteran information Fair will be held on December 14th from 10:00 a.m. to noon there will be tables for veterans and their families to receive information on programs goods and services available to or four veterans please reach out to myself um my email address is cpay Hillsboro nj.org if you would like to have a table to offer your services to or four veterans um including salable goods and the tables are free National veterans Small Business Week this uh the week of November 11th through November 15th is recognized throughout the country as National veteran Small Business Week veteran small business owners continue their service by not only continuing sorry contributing to the economy but also by creating economic opportunities for other Americans this week is intended to shine a light on continue to raise awareness and encourage support for small veteran-owned businesses that is all mayor thank you committee woman Deputy Mayor chiarelli thank you mayor welcome everybody um Adopt A Highway the Hillsboro M excuse me Hillsboro Millstone Municipal Alliance committee through its partnership with NJ clean communities completed their second adopt the highway Cleanup in 2024 on Sunday October 27th thank you to everyone who volunteered for for the uh October 2024 cleanup including the Hillsboro Township Police Department uh HT Police Department PBA local 205 uh the Hillsboro High School boys soccer Hillsboro High School wrestling and various h Hillsboro Community members we had nearly 30 volunteers come and uh we look forward to doing it again in April uh 2025 if anybody's interested in helping out contact the uh Municipal Alliance and uh we can add your group to get volunteer hours uh the building department the bilding department has on an online permit application process the sdl portal offers a variety of options for residents to manage their permits online homeowners can submit permits schedule inspections make payments check permit history and much more it's encouraged for all to take advantage of the portal and everything that it has to offer uh see a complete list of permit applications that are available online on the Hillsboro Township website and the Building Department is hiring seems every Department's hiring um two positions electrical inspector and plumbing inspector see the township website again for full details on both positions uh from the engineering department the bright speed formerly known as sentury Link telephone company is in the process of installing Fiber Optic Cables through several locations in in their Hillsboro service area these changes should improve internet access for the residents with service in those areas uh a ma majority of the township is serviced by bright speed Sentry Link with some areas in the northern and western portions also servic by or service by Verizon so if anybody has any problems says call Dan 2673 638 2891 I'm ass I'm assuming that's Dan with Sentry Link ask for Dan uh Public Works drainage system Improvement the public works is continuing to improve the drainage systems throughout the township they've they've uh rented a large vac truck for the week for the week to uh make head way in cleaning out certain storm drains and in keeping with our D regulated storm water program uh our goal is to have water flow is best of its ability and and lessen the potential for Unnecessary uh uh backup and flooding um guess what DPW is also hiring uh Public Works worker one uh full-time Teamster Union position available again see the township website or tomorrow's e-news for more information uh so from sustainability leave the leaves uh I know we announced that the leaf uh cleanup program was beginning but rather than take on the tedious task of raking leaves for collect collection each year best way to reduce greenhouse gases and benefit your garden is to leave the leaves leaving the leaves where they fall helps to prevent weed growth promote provide homes with beneficial and for beneficial members of the ecosystem throughout the colder months and promotes healthy soil you can mulch leaves where they fall chop them up with your mower or move the leaves to your garden or flower beds so visit the sustainable hillsbor website to see more tips how many uh Leaf rakers are in the room right now yeah H there's got to be more than that cuz B the band season over all I know is when I mulch them the next day the wind blows and they're all back um last part here uh senior chapter visits um I had the pleasure speaking with uh senior chapter a last Thursday November 7th here at the municipal building and I'm going to meet the other chapter B we have we have so many seniors that want to participate we have two chapters uh this coming Thursday and the the discussions I've had with the senior chapters have been focused on three topics this time one was the master plan information session and the role that the age friendly steering committee will have in that uh we went through a list of announcements for all the activities that they're going to have here at the municipal building uh over the next two months and the last thing I focused on is really uh something close which is National diabetes Awareness Month um if you have diabetes taking charge of your health as soon as possible may help prevent other health problems related to diabetes uh we have please see the diabetes Resource Center on the health department website for more information on prevention and Care recipes uh and low or no cost supplies uh um Thursday is National diabetes awareness day and I'm inviting you to wear blue actually is it is it tomorrow it's Wednesday Thursday Thursday days I'll wear blue both days I'll play it safe um so join us here at the uh at 9:00 for a group photo we blue blue is the color of uh National diabetes awareness month and uh you know myself I'm a type 1 diabetic so I get it and um you know we're uh we're we're highlighting um the efforts for of the township committee to Inc increase awareness regarding diabetes so the blue circle is a symbol I know we had a blue ribbon up there but uh so diabetes awareness month we did have a proclamation last month but you know we're continuing to promote it for any anybody who has diabetes or anybody who has a family member who has diabetes to help understand how to help them so that's it mayor thank you very good thank you Deputy Mayor chiarelli and um outside of the last very important subject thank you for doing your work with the um with the um the Master Plan update that's a big deal for the town and thanks for asking for the uh residents opinion on that too because it's incredibly important that they help build it so thanks for doing that so how you guys doing tonight good all right good we're going to get to the proclamations in about three minutes I'm going to try to get through what I have to get through but in general let's let's let's talk first about um our veterans and that's an incredibly important incredibly important day Veterans Day just happened right and that's a day that we we we salute honor and thank people who served in our military to protect our freedom it's very important I'm glad we have a number of young people here to hear that CU it's very very important day so yesterday at the Garden of Honor which is out towards the front of the building uh the township committee had the privilege of honoring Hillsboro's veterans at Veterans Day ceremony in the garden of Honor Veterans Day established in 1954 by an act of Congress was previously known as arms AR Armistice Day sorry it commemorates the end of World War I on November 11th 1918 recognition was given to uh us naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander David Coleman uh Commander Coleman was the founder and the first post commander of VFW Post 8731 where he was a dedicated and active member for 48 years he had passed uh earlier away this year and uh the commander of the VFW did a wonderful job of honoring his his service and his life which is wonderful really nice job all right so um we'll go next to the uh Sunny meet Elementary School all right so a number of us from the township committee had the opportunity to go to Sunny me sunny me had just put in a new Pavilion in the back of their school which is beautiful uh it's a great place that they're going to start to plan to do outdoor classes for the children During certain times of the year and doing outdoor activities I think that's great because that's how real life works you don't just sit in an office all day you get out and you move around you do things right world's changed a little bit it's given the kids a different perspective and I think it's just wonderful that they invested through the school for that so wanted to uh uh at least honor that moment that we had the opportunity to cut that ribbon for that next we have coffee coffee with the cops we have one of our police officers in the back back wave your hand say hi to him there we go right we have the best police department in the country that's all I'm going to say hands down right could not amazing oh there's a runaway ball go ahead go ahead there here you go all right now so we had the opportunity the police department is working incredibly hard not only to keep us safe but to connect with the community to make sure that they know that they're here for us and we're here for them and that's the only way this really works together right you have to work like a like a family circle the wagons run each other and that's what the police department has been wonderful at and we're going to continue to have their back so um this is just one of the many many opportunities that they take to make sure that the community knows that they're involved this was an opportunity for residents to come and have coffee with the police department just one of many so whenever you see it advertised please take a moment come say hi they love talking to people they're great and they're pretty funny too so you get some good dad jokes and some other jokes too it's pretty good all right so next one we have a children's Halloween party at nors Hill Farm Norris Hill was a uh is is a terrific Farm it's it's been around for a very long time and um there was a Halloween party uh that allowed children to go around and um get candy dress up partake in a number of different activities and it was just a just another great way to connect with the community and give back through the uh different departments that we have in Hillsboro Township so Norris Hill Farm and number of other Farms we're highlighting noris we highlighted abas Farm we have what 40% open space in this town which is not going to go down and our Farms are a big part of that and we're going to continue to preserve land and make sure we have that that's very very important so we thank Debbie Norris and the Norris Hill Family for uh Norris farm for for allowing us to to partake in that next uh we have Woods Road school so I had a chance to visit almost every single Elementary School this year I'm trying to get to I haven't been to Triangle yet and I'm going to try to get there but talking to the children about Civics and government and give them a real life perspective of a dad that has the absolute pleasure of being your mayor and um um they're very proud and and I'm proud that they are so have a chance to speak to the children about what it's like to be the mayor and the day in the life of the mayor and decisions that we have to make and it's just the the importance and the value of just trying to do the right thing when you get older so um full transparency this one actually was my children's school so I had a chance to go see my two boys at Woods Road school and my my my son Robbie was sitting I don't think where he's at there he's looking though he's watching which is important he was didn't have his head down but uh no it was good it was it was a good connection with the children so HBA Awards dinner so the Hillsboro Business Association we have what 1500 small businesses in this town which is the backbone of this town we're going to continue to help them too proudly announced that 2024 HBO uh announced the 20 24 HBA annual award recipients this esteemed event recognized businesses and organizations in the hills in Hillsboro that have made significant contributions to our community and I wish we could have Rec recognized even more because there's so many more that do so much great work uh for the township but we had a chance to give out numerous Awards so Hillsboro residents participated in the selection process so we didn't select you selected uh and voted for their favorite businesses across various categories that have very important meaning so the award recipients are as follows so Hillsboro exper experience Hillsboro award is through pinnacle health and fitness that was the first one the next one was the community impact award steps together you probably heard of them paw and Claw award Pet Supplies Plus in Hillsboro child resource award The Learning Experience in Hillsboro dining experience award Amma you all know Amma Amma Pizza in Cina glamour Excellence award Salon D fitness facility and Excellence award next fit clubs and the agricultural Excellence award Norris Hill Farm this is just a small sample of all the opport all the businesses that had the opportunity to to be recognized and so many more recognize we just have just a wonderful wonderful wonderful business community and um we're very lucky to have who we have in this town um two other items as well too then I'll close it out very quickly again committee man Leon mentioned voting thank you for voting regardless of who you voted for it's incredibly important that you do it your voice matters it's so incredibly important regardless of the end result and I do thank you for voting if you order for me I do appreciate it um just like committee Leon said and I do also thank uh Mr valo Mr Vander valit for for for running as well too it's incredibly important to you have people to choose from and um I am honored to serve you the next three years and I'm telling you we're all going to work incredibly hard to do the right thing by everybody so thanks for that appreciate that and the last thing I'll say is if you have not had the opportunity I I I do videos every week or at least once a week once or twice a week on YouTube and then we we share it on all of our social media channels to make sure you are connected uh uh the beginning of January I made made that a very clear and important feature because I think you have the absolute right to know what's going on the minute you know that's going on we've had 206 issues from many many years that's back on track you I wanted you to know when that happened 17 18 different roads that are done this year um preserving Farmland a lot of things that we've done as a Township committee this year I think you have the right to know you also have the right to know when things aren't great and I want to make sure you know that when I Know It All right so we're going to continue to do that transparency is going to be the way it's going to be and I can absolutely promise you we're going to maintain that okay um as we move on to the next next next few years all right so let's uh we are done now with the proclamations I'm going to come down and we're going to uh we're going to have a little fun now all right we're going to have a lot of people standing up this is good we go trade there we go okay all right okay now we don't just have a band here I think we have some state champions here right yeah heck yeah right very cool all right let me get the [Applause] proclamation okay before I call you up I'm read something off first so the pride of Hillsboro Raider marching band had a very successful season because of their hard work and dedication you also kicked everybody's butt right you want a championship right the Marchin band is a 2024 New Jersey group open state champions scoring a 96.4 that's awesome big round of applause but there's more they weren't just the Champions they won the caption awards for best music best visual best overall effect best percussion and best color guard another another friend of Applause I me that's that's really cool all right now I'm going to ask everybody in the band and their coaches to come up come on up right behind me come on you guys know how to do orders like tall to short like I've never been in the back my whole life I've always been short let's see how you do let's see how we do it's a big deal all right how you doing guys good good good you got it you got it absolutely all right who is the youngest in the marching band who who's the youngest we know who the youngest is I want the youngest one to hold the proclamation the youngest one in the you're the youngest one you get the hold all right all right yeah all right okay very good all right so Eric you want me to hand to every single one we're going to do it no no okay good all right okay so maybe one of the coaches can come up can come on up and say something one of the coaches actually one of our drum one of your drummers get on up here come on come on sorry all right okay so while while I'm reading this off you think about what you're going to say cuz you're not going to get a public speaking experience ready all right now therefore be Proclaim that we the mayor and the Hillsboro Township committee do hereby commend the pride of Hillsboro Raider marching band directors staff and parents not only for their successful season but their hard work their dedication and their commitment to the band and those principles of good sportsmanship teamwork and academic achievement most important part don't forget that academic achievement which the organization endorses congratulations thank [Music] you hi my name is ellerie Lambert Smith I had the honor of serving as one of the drum Majors um of the this phenomenal band this season alongside uh Abigail Van Langan and ver parer uh I first wanted to uh say a big thank you to the mayor and the township committee on behalf of the band for inviting us to be here tonight and for this special recognition uh this marching Men season flew by and it was really amazing to see how much everyone grew uh and how much we achieved in such a short amount of time it was so rewarding to watch everyone grow as musicians and Marchers uh and Spinners and especially as people as everyone took ownership of their responsibility to be the piece that made the difference um even more important and significant um it was really rewarding and uh special to watch the strong sense of unity grow within the sections and throughout the band as a whole during each show everyone's commitment to the team was evident and it was so inspiring to witness the energy and the intensity behind everyone's performance uh with consistent dedication and passion and pride uh we improved every day and eventually developed into state champion [Music] Ensemble we're so great good for I like that we're so grateful for our we are so grateful for our fantastic directors Jules and Nick and for the rest of our amazing staff that guide us and push us each day to be the best we could be without them we would not be state champions congratulations and great job again the pride of Hillsboro and thank you for this [Applause] honor all right we're going to take a big picture all right let's do a big picture [Music] all right want picturee cheeks are hurt it's a big deal mom and dad you got it great smiling got one got a real camera now here we go Nikon I have one of those I love a Nikon here we go go [Applause] so if you if the marching band can make it back to where you were standing or sitting there's some other awards for scarecrow Champions all right so let's just hang with the other people all right so go get find your spots let's see how we do where' you park here here here let's where's the coaches here's the one of the co here we go here's the official and then here is this for every single one of them you got it man got you got of course I do yeah all right all right okay come on yeah come on up Erica yeah I'm going to need you on this one there's a lot going on here all right so now we're going to do the presentation of wordss for the fourth annual Hillsboro Township scarecrow Festival all right where's my buddy Kevin I see him over there did you make one Kevin yeah no yeah all right I would like to commend all the participants of this festival and your creative efforts bringing art into our community and your role in making this event a huge success it's so wonderful to see all the residents local businesses organized groups taking part in the event more most importantly the children this was uh our most successful year yet with the visitation and the uh uh with with visitation and the voting which was doubled this year I'm pleased to announce and present the awards and recognitions for the winners of the fourth annual scale Corp Festival but before I do it Miss Eric Al lenzo created this idea right here our Deputy clerk about three years ago now I'm going to embarrass you three four years ago would you like to say why or how you thought of this I embarrass you now public speaking on this Absolut bot like that well you know what Hillsboro is a Big Town but um it I felt that we were sort of lacking in small town fi events I grew up in a small town that did these sorts of little events and it was fun it was kind of small never as big as this so that's sort of where the idea came from and I'm I love the idea of more just family oriented community events that bring all walks of life together in our community so that's that's really where it it came from perfect perfect it's beautiful my wife comes from a small town too and she loves it so you actually made a huge difference on somebody that's great all right so we're going to start with the honorable honorable mention Awards okay so let's see all right that's why she's here okay I'm gonna mess up so the honorable mention goes to the baker family for the baker where's the baker Family come on up bring them all up come on up and when I call your name up come on up and stand up here with us and you're going to stay up here we're going to have everybody come up for the honorable mentions ver and what's your name Paisley Paisley This is paisley everybody here you go Paisley here you go there you go you won your scarecrow award all right we're going to go to the next award we'll just that the AR family they're not here all right so the AR the Ares family couldn't make it today but their their award is for the crystal crystal the fortune teller witch award very cool that's the one second from the [Applause] left okay this certificate is awarded to Garden State custom outf Footers for Jack the reaperman award who's this where are you guys at are they here nope nope okay that's all right flounders at the brewery right now making their beers and um they couldn't make it this evening they won an award for Billy the bigan the hooligan [Applause] [Laughter] H all right oh look at that I realized with okay so miss McCrae special education class from Woods Road school gets an award for fall into learning come on up come on up very cool [Applause] congratulations hey bud all right so this certificate is awarded to Janet canor Watson for honorable mention for the crows have eyes Mor Mora Crow Moria Crow where you at she here all right okay all can I ask everyone I'm sorry can I ask everyone to just do this instead of clapping please it's a little distracting for some of our guests tonight thank you got you got you understood very I got you okay so for B okay certificate appreciates award is to Ben andrai for Ray good job Ray there you go good job committee woman pay thank you for that congratulations guys yeah go for it good to see man all right so this will be yep all right so we're going to take one picture with this group because this is the honorable mentions all right come on over here come a little close to this way right midd there we go good job guys good job good job all right oh sorry I did it wrong sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry I almost messed up all right here we go all right yeah we get we're going to bring up everybody else now we're going to do two sets you guys are good thank you very much great job all right now we have some uh what are these the uh the big Winners the big winners all right big winner number one we'll start with the organ okay all right okay so this these next three are for the winning organizations now this is for the Hillsboro rockets for pole dancer p o l l dancer there we go Rockets anybody see the Rockets they're they're they're they're great we have one rocket tonight usually there's like 50 of you can you like can we want to do a they want to do one here we hold this we're going to we're going to have call every are we going to just do one at a time yeah okay one at a time here let's do it let's do it let's do there we go there you go all right good that was fun all right next for organization right yeah all right our second organization Champion was new center Dair 4H club for over the moon come on up over Theon Moon very cool now why is it over the moon right cuz the cow jumped over the moon and dairy say you get a kids that's an old one but you get it there you go there you go you want to hold it here you go kiddo there you go all right here we go come this way come this way here we go good job whose idea was it yours good for showing the masters of recycling I love it masters of recycling I like that farmers are the masters of Rec oh I love that farmers of the man that's really cool very nice all right so the final organization first place first place the final the first place so this is first place so the first place award goes to the Hillsboro High School autism program for sensory Sammy congratulations all right right everybody thank you for doing that thank you committee woman pay thank you for uh Katherine thank you for for that that was wonderful a good idea hey guys Hi how are you who would like to hold this [Music] very nice and thank you again for that you guys are wonderful thanks for thanks for doing that the right way all right you going to bring it back with you that's yours oh that's yours oh thanks okay thanks buddy here you go thank you all right okay so this is businesses now third place businesses all right local businesses a couple more couple more all right all right so we'll do this one quick third place winner is not here today it's the Hillsboro DPW team for Gus look at that that's pretty good all right that's cool those are the guys that if you want to know that that that that fix the roads that need to be fixed and those are the guys that plow your snow so be happy with them they're good guys right now are grabbing your leaves that's right they're collecting all your leaves right now all right okay so business second place goes to the Gard school for The Very Hungry Caterpillar see you good job thank you very hungry caterpillar that book's been around forever here you go good job all right now we have the first place winner for small business first place goes to Paul null and Son Incorporated for super martio get it super oh look at that right yeah look at that Mario you like Mario the best Luigi's cool you want to hold that hold it tight all right you no you hold this you hold this okay here we go boys come on here we're going to stand here and we're going to take a picture I got three of you at home I understand let's go here we go oh look at that that's cool put armor around that's nice look at look here look at Miss look at look at the nice lady with the camera okay got smile or Bowser coming all right oh another one another one here we go good job guys good job I think they did they leave okay Catherine I think we're good I think they left yeah yeah we should we we can do a quiet clap now I believe I believe um we could probably go back to a light clap golf a golf club we're progressing folks working all right three more right four more four more all right so this is for third place resident category the sack family for the Scarecrow see the picture Sarah what's picture Sarah scarecrow thank you oh look at that very nice nice traditional original I like it it was artistic artistic differences after the book hey man here we go ready let take a picture you're you're in Christian oh you're in Christian cool my middle guy Christian I didn't real that's student very cool you like Miss Ramos she's awesome Yo Miss Kelly oh gotch you gotcha okay all right all right oh I know these two this this one goes to Violeta Cuomo and Christine Kaufman for hey burrow nice [Applause] job so I didn't realize Kevin was coming here I've coached Kevin when he was a little boy and ever since we do uh Home Alone every time I see him I go Kevin every time I see him I slap myself in the face what's up man one more one more job guys thank you congratulations dudes and dudette all right here we go all right here we go all right and the championship goes to for the family the good hu family for and I'm only going to say it twice Beetlejuice be juice cuz if I say it three times we're in deep stuff he comes out all right how you doing all right who wants the whole one which one you choose or younger you get choose any great job guys great job all right now but now we're going to be big crown of Applause and now we have our grand champion for scarecrow building okay this is a big one you just showed them oh I could even announce it you showed it so fast now this is a good one so Dance For the Cure wins the championship for blossoms of Hope very nice and I'm actually going to ask you guys to just take a couple seconds to share what you do and why you do what you do if that's all right because I think the dance for the Cure is very important for for for awareness nice to see you again good to see you too thank you you got it well thank you um Janet is the creator she's one of our volunteers for Dance For the Cure and she created this beautiful scarecrow and we've been around uh we just celebrated our 25th year and we're a not for-profit that helps women going through breast cancer we financially help women that's what we raise our money for um and to dat we've raised over we've donated over $1.2 million to women that's awesome much God bless you guys all right let's let's do a quick picture here where's Miss Sarah there she is okay good very good you good stuff thank you Sarah I think that's it right all right all right so this concludes the presentations for this portion of the meeting we're going to take a two-minute break if you'd like to go home you can if you'd like to rest watch the rest of our meeting you can but this is the time we're going to take a break and let the kids get home and get your homework done all right homework all right thank you guys thank [Applause] you e e e e e e e right wait now yeah now all right we're good wow okay it is 828 be two people here it's 8:28 all right let's get it play your seats in the front listen he get out line out all right guys we're back we're back we're back let's let's let's cruise here we have consent agendas uh items number 1 through 13 may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 13 so moved a second second so any comments from the I do yeah I do have I so a question on number seven with the budget transfers so two questions one is when you open up item seven the two columns um first of all those two amounts don't match and the from column actually adds up to 111 958 not 132 958 some reason the system's not letting me open it up hold on a second I'm clicking the PDF come on is anybody else going able to open it I can't I can't it won't won't open up for me I will pause where everyone does math at home Mr I think there's two math errors because I think the two columns are supposed to match and they don't one is 132 558 the other is 132 958 and additionally the second column if you add it up I only got one 958 2040 second someone's got a calculator hold on trust the math to from so you're taking money from to all right just on the left side now let me open it up get bear with me one second so could we uh I'm gonna try and call no she may be in the hospital but yeah yeah so the the CFO had a family emergency at the hospital right now but she said we could call her needed so we we're um voting the consent agenda we're looking at number um seven the budget transfers and the question was raised that the two columns do not add up to the same amount the the two column and the from column well they shouldn't add to the same amount they're different items so one says 132 558 one says 132 is not issue it's the addition so the first one adds up properly the second one as put in here should be 111 on the right you did the math and yeah so I just did the math as well too the left column is correct the right column is not correct they are separate items in each of the columns so they shouldn't they should not equal each other cuz they're two separate sets items but still the second column doesn't add up so I'm just wondering do we table this correct we can we can we can mark it up and change it if we know what the AR yeah it should be 111 958 she put in 132 twice and and by the way I think the columns are supposed to match because it's going to in from no they're different items I mean they could be your assumption let's see what the CFO says there but the believe but they're different items right so yeah I guess so yes but the values should the values are yeah she's just pulling up the spreadsheet the 950 that one's correct 132 it's over 400 so it's the 950 of 550 something she said it's most likely a typo she's just GNA okay see where it is yeah maybe it's on the left side maybe there's what she saying she believes the typo now could she clarify over the phone put you on speaker just yeah please put over the phone yeah put her on speaker so we can hear her okay hi I'm sorry about that it's okay that's the two the two column should be the 558 and the from column should be reduced to the 558 which item should be reduced hold on 21 yeah it's off by $400 what do you mean so just yeah and and I don't I don't know if she can hear me or not so a couple things first of all it doesn't add up it it adds up to 111 the construction salary and wage okay construction salary and wage which is in the from column 725 and what should it be okay just just knowing that the document wasn't posted for the public in its correct form like obviously this is not right I'm just attorney Willard like what what happens because if we're changing something on the Fly Like residents were able to see this at 5 o'clock today you're voting on it as we we can amend it and vote on it as as is it's going to be posted updated I mean does that not give the public a chance to docent constru salary should be 6068 6608 so uh line item 725 should be 60,000 608 60 6 so it should be 60 instead of 40 yes 60 608 and that's 6068 oh correct yes that actually makes it correct yes sorry which item uh L 725 construction official snw yeah salary and wages it's 6608 thank you yep thank you Alicia got it a constru official problem I'm sorry about that typo thanks guys it's okay all right thank you hopefully everything goes well with your family more importantly yeah okay I'm sorry we had to do that to her absolutely but it's also you know we can't pass it as is so obviously not KN why can't we pass it can pass it% my comment was they apologized for having to call her in the hospital but we can't pass it as was we needed clarification or we could have tabled it we had a couple choices there sure that was my point yeah I got you Mr Willard what's the next step here uh the next step is the um under construction official snw in the from line it has 40,8 that four needs to be a six and that balances it out no it's it is 668 yeah 6 68 yeah 6 68 668 got it sorry Willard we don't normally tell you now apologize for the shock got it that's the right number 6 both needed to be 6 6 and then the total on that second column 132 558 and that makes the two and from equal correct correct got it okay so I guess the um it would be consent agenda items 1 through 13 with the amendment to item number seven seven as stated by attorney will Willard yes 60608 is the new number for the construction official okay okay very good so we had comments from the deas yeah I had I'm sorry I had another comment on and it was on line 13 so this is the resolution for the shared service sure and first of all we just got to read this at 5 today when it was posted because it wasn't posted for us earlier I think it makes posted Thursday it was posted earlier it posted Thursday it was it was blink over the weekend this this one was updated earlier today not five o'clock this was updated on the um the the confidential agenda earlier today it was it was today though okay but today I'm just saying it was blink over the weekend being so I read it this this item wasn't the number 13 was added today it was added today so I guess it was the Offline that we had had yes it wasn't on the offline version it just got added but and just fine I guess my my question was I just want to make sure and I wanted to hear from administrative Ferrera you know this is will help make money for the township understood but knowing that our CFO and some of the staff would be helping the Alexandria Township I just wanted to hear from you that this will in no way impact any of the financials like we just obviously we just you know went through that exercise I want to make sure that it doesn't negatively impact the town of Hillsboro any of our financial services financial standard um just help me understand sure so um and it will not uh similar to other shared services that we have in town we have multiple shared services um I get I guess a good example and probably the closest would be our courts so we have Montgomery we have Manville we have Branchburg we added all those courts on we didn't add I think we added maybe one part-time staff with all those courts so we give our employees an opportunity to say if you'd like to do extra work take on a stien and the township makes money as well so when we took on those courts similar Township committee had the same concerns when we first started and I can let you know those three courts and probably 96 courts are the top in the Visage all four so I don't take on any work or any shared services I don't believe that would be good for the employees or good for the township so we typically get at least a half of that salary back into um or Revenue to the town so not only is this one town they want to take on it's extremely small town um I've had the CFO visit uh the town and make sure I've spoken to the administrator I've spoken to the acting CFO that I know very well in taking on this town we've had multiple Towns come to us and ask us for for a shared service and I said absolutely not uh because I didn't think it was the right Town it wasn't the right opportunity um this is a very small town very small opportunity for us where our folks don't need to go out uh outside of uh uh the the municip ality unless it's for one or two meetings a year um so my goal is to grow the finance department and to take on additional shared services in additional towns and when we need to do that we'll bring on people to do that because last thing I want to do is put a taxing effort on any of our employees so as we grow the finance department and take on additional towns because CFOs are one of the most difficult positions to fill next to the building department inspectors uh so we want to not only expand our shared services with the finance department add the appropriate staff as needed but it is another thing I want to do as well it I think we have a good IT director we also want to build the IT department and look at adding shared services we'll start very small and then we'll grow and make sure we're successful um so in speaking with the CFO and speaking with the uh tax collector the qpa and payroll uh manager they all feel that they can take on this with absolutely no ISS issues with uh with Hillsboro so I feel very confident in speaking with the team and speaking with the finance uh liaison as well that uh this is something we can take on and we want to continue to bring in more Revenue to Hillsboro and making sure that we're taking care of the employees and where we need to we'll add staff and I hope to continue with this success with Alexandria that will'll bring on additional towns that they want to come to Hillsboro they see the great job we do in shared services and we want to make sure that we continue to do that I'm not going to take on something that's going to impact the employees uh the township CU Hillsboro is first I hate to say it it is uh but we're going to provide exceptional service um to those towns that decide to do to work with us and every town out there in the state wants to do shared service with the Hillsboro because they know our reputation and they know the job we do and our great employees that we have I'll I know it's a long answer I'll I'll just add that the um the league of municipalities um I know that you have been there only once maybe but they've been talking about shared services encouraging shared services amongst municipalities amongst the county amongst the state for years because of the lack of people and the lack of uh employees available uh and it alleviates some of the burden off uh the smaller municipalities for example this municipality is 5,000 people it's basically smaller than the population of country Classics their budget is minuscule it's actually less than most of our our departments um so this is not like a heavy lift for our department but as a revenue source to us that um in these times is is at is needed uh especially with the uh cost of employees the rising cost to run the township so a uh $75,000 contract Nets us 375 back roughly half uh I think is uh a good first step and uh have more than full confidence in our employees to to handle it um the CFO that was working this this town was working part-time remotely um so he uh he didn't want to do it anymore and they needed somebody so this this is not uncommon with most in in fact uh Somerset County has has offered to do shared services with with other towns and is is the trend more than the acception moving forward yeah just as a followup um to both uh committee woman hand committeeman leani uh we are also working close with the with the DCA and I and Brennan to anything we need so it's not going to cost us any money for desks any equipment that's going to be all paid under a grant if we need to add people so as we grow we have up to $400,000 in grant money to bring in new employees and bring in new equipment and desks so the state has been working with us and like I said we've had some really good Partnerships and they they really encourage um the the shared services so again we take these things really seriously we really vet them and and make sure that we're taking on the right town at the right time um there's three other departments that we're looking at shared services right now they've come to Hillsboro and um we're not ready for it right now it's not a good time so they're coming to us all the time with with ideas and shared services but I'm not going to just take on a shared service to make money and cause a pain point for the town or the employees that are supporting that shared service I I think it's also important to add that specific the CFO that was brought in recently to Alexandria was only brought in to set Alexandria up for shared service success so they specifically cleaned up and reorganized Alexandria and um the payroll significantly tiny this is a very very small City within hundon County yeah no very very helpful um one comment on the second document um section for last sentence um policy is misspelled so we can fix that in the in the contract um and then so fine no no other questions on the shared service and makes sense from a budget standpoint can you make a comment just on H where we stand right now how we are trending you know do we think we're going to have um additional increases next year how how do we feel like what's the current status just in general I probably turn it over to the the finance committee but we just recently had a meeting for the first time ever um in my 20 years we met with our um our bond Council our auditor and our financial planner for the town and we think we're in a we're in a great position uh this year and looking out for the next 5 years uh but we just had that meeting a few weeks ago and we're preliminary stages for 20 25 I want to be way ahead of that I don't know if anybody from the finance team wanted to comment because obviously they're Liaisons and I don't want to step over the lon's feet with um the deputy mayor committee monani but again we're preliminary stages in that but the meeting I thought went extremely well I if they want to comment yeah it was a uh focused on I think our bonding uh uh P the the the uh service that service we're going to have and forecasting that out um the potential for what our capital is going to be and um you know I think comprehensive we have all all the players all the all not all but three of the players together uh in the same room um from the audit perspective and uh you know improving processes where we need to um but I think you know a lot of it a lot of the focus was on on The Debt Service and bonding and planning for planning uh for when that's going to come on or off or go to long term so you know and then how that affects the budget so the start of it yeah I'll just say on the short term versus the long term right now the um as in anything the the process the way it works is you know we take the what the revenue is and we still haven't haven't gotten the fourth quarter numbers yet from building which is part of our revenue and some of the other places but uh the uh reports in in the preliminaries that we are in a good spot uh the the CFO and the uh financial planner feels that we are uh and the um I'll call it the accountants but are are I'm blanking on the word auditor auditor thank you um our feeling that we are uh projecting in a good position for next year um the added Revenue this was actually came up after our meeting so that would just add to that um and uh so the um Outlook according to them that's allow us to actually they reviewed our bond rating and gave us again A doublea Plus because of our the strength of our position fiscally right now and the about and the amount of money that we're able to come in and pay our bills so they feel we're in a good spot okay yeah I didn't know if good if good meant you know what what we're looking at increase wise for next year but have to be determined yet yeah all right we'll looking forward to updates on that and I think it'll be helpful in in the future if Alicia can come obviously not tonight um she had personal things but when we do have financial pieces on it would be helpful if she was here as well okay so we have uh consent we went through the um approval second comments from the deis we're talking about consent agenda items 1 through3 with uh number seven being changed to 60608 as per Mr Willard and then also changing the word policy um properly spelling policy in item number 13 in the contract in the contract I missing a policy missing a policy there you go all right any comments from the floor I'm sorry mayor I just had one other just um I know uh Kylie De La Cruz just wanted to welcome her to uh the police department and the records Clerk uh ratified and confirmed that be because of the uh the Gap in the meetings uh that uh she was already had started back on October 3rth but I wanted to welcome her to uh the PD um doing a great job and we're we're happy that she started and we were able to get her started before this meeting so I know but's happy back there so thank you any comments from the floor all right roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man the pony yep committee woman pay yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor Bing yes public hearings I see none introduction new ordinances 2024-25 may have a motion to introduce ordinance 202 24-14 so moved have a second second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man Le Pon yes committee woman Payne yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor Bing yes all right uh an ordinance of 202 24-15 ordinance amending chapter 262 storm water control Article 1 surface water runoff of the code of Township Hillsboro Somerset County New Jersey to address storm water management requirements any municipality further consideration and a public hearing will be held on December 10th 2024 may have a motion to introduce ordinance 20245 so moved we have a second second call please Well I this I have a question on that one so help me understand are is this this is just an introduction of the ordinance so I I still have a question though is this going to go through to the environmental commission for review it doesn't normally go to the environmental commission this this is planning even though it's with the tree preservation that this goes through well this is St storm water runoff oh I'm sorry and then but this one storm water runoff and then the second one as well so these these essentially the The Saltwater storage and storm water run off this is all part of the D mandates right uh which go go through the uh planning and zoning and then would be go to back to the planning board for review uh it does not go to the to this to the environmental commission or what did you say the even with the third one with tree preservation yeah nothing stat but it would go to the planning board and come back to us um and just for everybody's ucation I think Sean just indicated it these all come from the d uh based upon D modified these are all based upon the D prated model ordinances and we're updating our ordinances to con with the model yeah the EC is aware the environmental commission is aware of them but knows it that it's it's state mandated thank you okay so I'm not sure if we got or did we get a uh introduction a roll call please right committee woman hand yes committee yes committee woman Payne yes Deputy Mayor chck RI yes mayor Bing yes uh 202 24-6 ordinance amending chapter 188 land use and development article article 9 three reservation of the code of T of Hillsboro suers County New Jersey to address the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and JDP tree mov requirements further consideration and public hearing will be held on December 10th 2024 may have a motion introduce ordinance 2024 -6 so mooved we have a second second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man the pon yes committee Bo pay yes Deputy Mayor tarelli yes mayor Bing yes claims list may I have a motion to approve claims list 202 24-15 so moved a second second comments from the deis comments from the floor no roll call please committee woman hand yes Committee in the pony yes committee woman yes Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor B yes new business I see none public comments for matters on the agenda Miss break please read the statement regarding public comment the township committee welcomes input from the public please state your name and address and please 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 three minutes thank you any public comment or questions none so much may I have a motion to adjourn so moved second roll call please committee woman hand yes committee man Le P yes committee woman pay absolutely Deputy Mayor Chelli yes mayor Bing yes it isiv a little before 9 now it was 8:54 have a good night that's all right see in December