okay we're going to call our meeting to order this meeting is held in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act it was properly noticed and has been posted and certified by the clerk the fire exits are not this door it is this door to my right and the door behind you roll call Mr Hamp here Miss Johnson here M Roberts here M Rodriguez here Miss Smith here Mr Smith here mayor here you can stand for salute Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all we don't have our committees yet so we don't have any committee reports administr report yes thank you mayor um we'll start with some Public Works activity uh in the in January obviously we all know now that we've had two plowable snow events uh first thing weekend of January 6th and January 7th and just this past Tuesday and it looks like the weather forecast is uh forecasting a repeat of Tuesday this Friday um so R DBW is doing a great job thus far and is moving along um as I reported to the governing body last year uh the mors council 6 that he represented our white coll and bloll unions um had notified perk that they were no longer going to represent our units so um there was a representation uh change uh for the blue c Union it will be the ifpte Local 196 and for the Wake C it will be ifpte Union Council 8 and then on the annual report uh for the administrator I will be putting this in writing but I just wanted to give you some highlights on DPW on the paving uh uh project uh 10,118 87 tons of black top were installed 653 uh tons uh were from borrow funds with 3,615 tons from New Jersey do grant funding this allowed us to pave 29 roads which came out to over four miles of roads that were completely resurfaced our patch crew which concludes pair curbing in potholes installed 740 almost 744 tons of black tow there were 75 uh Basin repairs using block brick and bags of cement um on the Water and Sewer utilities the main issue there has been RP files as has been reported last year we have four out of the seven Wells that are online and the last and the last three are in production on the U on the GAC and as noted that the piles detection at the four Wells that have the units installed are at zero detection on the recycling center DPW is able to find a company in Andover that is actually paying us uh to bring our cardboard uh the mark the market dictates the amount of Revenue but uh since May to date we have received a little over ,000 1,13 in revenue for the cboard in tax collection uh the year end report has shown that the collector has collected 50 50, 483,000 923,50 zoning questions um answered zoning permits there were 14 7 approved 57 denied litter complaints Property Maintenance uh issues warning there 71 warning sent regarding Property Maintenance zoning complaints resulted in 76 warning sent 68 fence permit fence permits were approved and two were Den in our construction Department New permits issued were 1040 um there were 17 new residential buildings 29 alterations and I'm sorry uh alterations were 1091 addition additions were 29 and an update on our revaluation process um I handed out earlier and for the public there are some available up uh below the dis here um ASI which is the corporation that was contracted to do our revaluation has provided an update uh they are at step seven for excuse me step four through step seven uh on the revaluation process which began with inspections that that uh commenced last March um then they analyzed uh their inspections and and reviewed that that analysis so where they are now and letters will be going out this week um that will provide the property owners with their proposed assessment um and the chart will give you sort of a breakdown of uh where we are with total value so the the value in 2023 prior to the revaluation was 1 b427 m715 and the total assessed value U for 2024 would be 2 b58 m263 n00 um they project that that that new value uh revised revised tax rate the current tax rate um is $33.49 per $100 of assess value uh that is total tax including uh County School and local and with the adjustment if the budget were to be exactly the same the rate would likely be $1 1. n87 per uh per $100 of vation um this will be posted on our website uh on our website with this will be a link to ASI um there will be appointments available that you can schedule the appointment online or call them uh they will offer virtual appointments and they will also offer in-person appointments here at the municipal building um with them uh during uh the weekday but they will also be making uh evening and weekend appointments available um basically they're looking to have whatever meetings the property owners request be conducted and completed by about February 15th is when they would go then um to step six which is submitting the book to the County Board of Taxation um and then step seven would be ASI um defending I guess their uh assessment or proposed assessment for any tax appeals that would be filed the important thing here and I could ask Mr ersen to give some more detail but the the governing body's participation in this is simply hiring ASI um as we were required to by the county Bo of Taxation um the proposed assessments is is their work product and we should direct any uh property owner re questions to ASI and Mr I don't know if you wanted to add yeah no the the process is very specifically set up so that politics doesn't play a role in tax assessments so that elected officials um don't have a direct role the tax assessor has a good degree of Independence the tax assessor is responsible for the assessments and they use ASI as the consultant for this Mass appraisal for her to update all of her assessments so the um you know the council whenever there's a revaluation the council certainly hears about the reevaluation and um you know can have concerns about how smoothly it's going and the the level of communication and so forth but the council has no role with respect to the actual assessments themselves um or the the cases that will you know eventually proceed before the uh the County Tax Board okay mayor I have one final item uh this will be an addition to the build list when we get to that um it's reflective of a refund um for application fees to theak Kong Hills and land and homeowners association for $250 this was approved by resolution in December okay thank you we are open for public comment public comment is an opportunity for you to speak to the governing body you have five minutes to talk about anything and any anything and everything that is on the agenda can I have a motion to open the public a motion sorry hi I'm Carolyn Adams unhe to address the municipal lawyer issue the current town lawyer has a personal relationship for the past mayor as well as with previous Town counsel we should not be renominated from this new Administration we need a lawyer who is not biased and will take the issues of this town seriously but for the good of the community as a whole not for a select view thank you good evening my name is Bob Duncan my comments tonight are about the land use board appointments um since 2008 I was appointed a a zoning uh board member um with the intent by Sylvia patillo for me to use my knowledge my professional skills to try to help develop this town into a more profitable Commercial Business it's a hard town because it's a cerac town it's very hard to get anybody to come into this town because you don't have a major highway going through it that was Sylvia's intent back in 2008 I've been on that board up until now as a land use member and I've served the board with uh as much time as I could possibly put in with the intent of the three things you're supposed to do when you're on a board one protect our town two protect your neighborhood in which applicants are trying to get things developed in it and three hear the applicants uh reasonings for what he wants the extent of what he wants and how he wants to do it so it's always been try to do the three things try to do it fair and make sure you're giving the town the right build as you go forward in recent times it's been the last two years everybody that's on the lakefront has just thought that they could build as far out into the lake as possible we all cherish the lake the lake is part of our community and a very important part but it seems like everybody in this town that has money wants to build further and further out they want the twostory boat house they want the dock to be 60 feet longer they want to have as big a boat as they can possibly have that's always been my position that you have to challenge it you have to challenge The Architects I ask Bill hagy what the what the penalty was for perjury because if you look at these drawings and what's being said most of the people in the on coming to the board are lying right to our faces there's no penalty for it why we why we make them give an oath that's a different story but I'm here tonight because I found out that I was not reappointed to the board after 15 years I called mayor elect Delante and asked her and told her I wanted to still be on the board um she didn't answer me she said I'll get back to you I'll give you a call no call I called her again after she was mayor again no call back nothing but you know here's the funny part I heard that you had to give your uh your resume I didn't even know I had to give a resume I didn't know how I had to ask nothing I wasn't given one bit of respect from my 15 years of service in this town and my service goes in many different directions in this town all right first of all I've been a Boy Scout leader for 22 years I got 65 boys in a toown Stan hope and surrounding towns to the rank of Eagle Scout Pack 88 I was the cub master for 5 years and I got we have a couple boys that have become police officers in the town and the whole thing was develop young men to become better community members to treat people with respect to follow the Scout law to follow all that 22 years of doing that we did every parade we did every cleanup we did cleanups on our own teaching boys how to be men in this town so me stay in the town and help develop it I used to tell them I was on the board trying to make the town better trying to give development that would make it essential that they could stay in this town all right so you do this through all these years that's wonderful but I wasn't asked my credentials so I'm going to give you my credentials tonight I have a master's degree in civil engineering and a bachelor's degree in architecture I've worked on the medal medlife Stadium which we built I worked on the UN I just built four roller coasters and I've done a host of other pharmaceutical jobs I'm now working on um uh Monahan train Hall which we just opened and we're digging the tunnels between New York and New Jersey 42 years of heavy construction experience means when people come to the board they can't  me they know that I know what's on the drawings when I when Ryan joined the board I was happy because Batman knows his business he's professional engineer and between both of us I think we really really set some go good goals together because we certainly made a difference on that board because they couldn't finagle us they they could get me alone but they couldn't get both of us at the same time so I was happy to hear that Ryan was going to be on the board because I said Gee I want to be on the board four more years before I retire and I moved down out of the town or something I put a lot of time into this town I was a a track coach for 10 years you you put your heart and soul in this I raised two children in this town just so you know the chairs you were sitting in were donated by my company to this to this burrow Hall those very chairs with two tables you walk by when you come out here donated three box trucks were donated to this town that I purposely got here I dedicated my heart and soul to this town and what do I get not so much as a call I don't care it with changeing political parties that we got different people in the fish it's not fair to be treated like that ever I didn't teach my kids to do that and I find it insulting to be treated like that how dare you it's not fair 15 years and not so much as a call if you have a different agenda fine deal with it man up and tell me to my face you're not welcome anymore Bob have a good night thank you Mr Duncan I will respond to that as you know I've been here for what are weon 17 days there was no advertisement for resumés we were actually out and about having people that wanted to join groups committees boards commissions and everything if they were interested they were sending their information in there is a change in some of the boards we are going um to a different direction with different people that are on the boards of course your 15 years of service is absolutely fabulous I did speak to you yesterday and I did tell you that as soon as we had had memorialized everything I would give you a phone call and that's exactly what I planned on doing but that hasn't happened yet but did but did you say to me you want to hear my resume you wanted to ask me any questions did you have any inking that you wanted to know anything about me other than you weren't putting me on if you weren't putting me on I was already a member 15 years where's the debate Mr junan there there was no debate I did speak to you when I was mayor elect and you did give me your resume when I spoke to you because I wrote it down okay so I was aware of that and I do appreciate and I appreciate all the time that you have given to the town and all the time that you've given to the children of this town and that's a very important thing that's here and of course everybody's appreciative of everything that you have donated here and again just because this year there happens to be different people on the board does not mean that you cannot come next year and be part of the board next year because there's more people that are up next year we have VES on yes well we have vacancies but we will fill them tonight there's two vacancies Ellen Gilbert resigned I didn't we were the two that came on to the board at the same exact time I chose to stay to want to be on another four years Allan chose not to thank you thank you anyone else public I didn't say anything but I would have to agree with Mr Duncan it took me three years of of bading the land use board to get them to put an environmental member on a land use board and on environmental we had a lawyer who sat there and said he hadn't looked it up yet mayor uh Francis told them it was fine to put an alternate on there it's not fine to put an alternate on these are basic things that should be done things should not be memorialized which Mr Duncan was the only other one that I remember fighting that they should memorialize things at the same meeting because nobody checks up to see if the stuff was done contingent upon and then they come back and then it was well the other one was supposed to do it but they sold the property and now it's your problem and the guy already has somebody moving into the building and now he's stuck because the road isn't here and it wasn't there and we don't remember anything about the parking spaces and all of a sudden everybody doesn't have a memory either they don't remember Hudson Mar Hudson and Maxim parking lot I remember Hudson maon parking lot I remember the lease agreement but all of a sudden nobody remembered anything Tuesday and I'm not sure that you that's me okay you you had nothing to do with that I'm just I'm just saying you were there Tuesday night but you really were not part of my complaint right now so yeah there there is a problem and I'm sorry to Mr no go thank you anyone else motion to bring it back make a motion second uh next on the agenda approval of minutes for December 20th 2023 yes make it second all in favor approval of you had to do because Rachel roll call Mr hoer Camp yes Miss Johnson abstain Miss Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez obain Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay approval of the January 3rd 2024 minutes everyone's all that moov second all in favor uh any correspondence that we have no you don't want to talk about this letter that we got from you can bring it up if you want to sure the the Bernard Association we all got I I we should probably respond to that letter and have him talk to John rushki and the DPW about tying into the the water system but that's that's A Private Matter that's not a public matter even if you had if you had two two houses that wanted to hook in or one house to hook in seven houses can hook in but that's something that the engineer really needs to handle not us I understand what you're saying it's like a it's a private homeowner situation it's a private homeowner situation we can't really come in and say oh yeah you guys got to get rid of your wells and you got to take Town water we've not really at Liberty to do that they need to bring that to John rushy I can tell you that John rushy has already responded to the home that's that's hand thank you resolution 2024 26 the bill list someone like to move that may if I may ask anyone here if they have anything that they don't want on the bill list or want tostain from May and we need we need to add this and it's the requisition number is r402 311 R4 D2 311 Ste pong Hills land and homeowners association $250 for an application refund mayor I make a motion to move the bill list en and including R 42311 any discussion roll call Mr Hamp yes M Johnson abstain Miss Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes Okay resolution 20242 the cash management plan motion to move cash manag second all in favor I think this was on our first correct corre can we just explain to the public what's changed so they're aware of the modifications so what's changed on the cash plan is uh first off we removed um some verbiage that was uh originally on it uh because it's repetitive in our ordinance it's already repeated in I believe it's 33 um 331 335 yeah it's chapter 33 I think 27 through 32 yeah um so it was repetitive so we just moved that so the protection is still there for the employees and the only other thing that we added um was uh we have the recreation trust is being uh made official for checks to where the mayor and the recreation coordinator will sign those um and again that was just under our advisement resolution have Mr Hamp yes Miss Johnson yes Miss Roberts yes M Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes uh next on our agenda is the 202 24-17 Award of a professional service agreement for attorney um so moving along on that uh I am going to make a nomination so that we can open this up for discussion I want to discuss this openly because this is actually where it should be the office of Municipal attorney in the burough form of government has an important role the mayor and the municipal attorney work together in Daily matters pertaining to the burough business which could be Personnel ordinances boards committees commissions Administrative Code contracts Etc I was elected to be mayor of hakon by a significant percentage of Voters the mayor's position is defined by being the head of the government the mayor seized to it that laws of the state and the ordinance of the buau are Faithfully executed the responsibility bestowed upon me to be the mayor of hakan is one I do not take lightly with that in mind I believe I am therefore authorized by the people of hopac on to have the professionals and staff who can help me achieve the people's goals to which they have Ed me to and by not choosing my nomination for municipal attorney and labor attorney this would not allow me to proceed in the direction the voters want the governing body to go I want to do what the people of hopan voted me into the mayor's office to do everyone on this board has run for office and there are some board members who want to run for other offices in the realm of public opinion this will not look good I'm not asking for anything other than previous incoming mayor for and had the privilege of having which is their nomination for municipal attorney granted I am nominating this even evening Kevin Kelly from Kelly and Ward Kevin Kelly in his RFP has offered to be hired at the same rate as our attorney from 2023 shank chry Smith and King Kevin Kelly has offered to be present in the municipal building one day a week for our professionals administrator municipal clerk CFO building inspector council members and the mayor that is 48 extra days of legal representation with our Municipal attorney that the burrow will not have to pay for so starting off 2024 Kelly and Ward will already have saved the the burrow taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars with those 48 extra days of legal representation as an incoming mayor with only 17 days of transition under my belt there are several professionals and department heads that I have been relying on this is not an excuse but it's an honest fact which is why I need to rely on a municipal attorney more than the previous mayors of poac on since they did not have the luxury of transitioning into the position of Mayor having a municipal attorney who would be available to me for an entire day would be absolutely Priceless and technically it would be Priceless since Kelly and Ward would not be charging the burrow Kelly and Ward most recently are former councils for Sussex County Municipal attorney a special counsel also they have worked for bym Township Frankfurt Township freeden township Green Township Hamburg Hardon hakan Newton Sussex Vernon mat Arlington and West Milford Kelly W references consist of two Mayors and two Sussex County Commissioners and a former Sussex County Freeholder who was a mayor and a councilman also Kelly and Ward obviously come highly recommended Kelly and Ward are experienced the municipal Council renewable energy Redevelopment Public Utilities planed development recreational facilities infrastructure Town centers and Industrial Kelly and Ward would always represent the B with a named partner never an associate I would like to ask the council one last time for the approval of Kelly Ward I would like the ability to do what the public has elected me to do for the burough of hakon I feel I can make that come to fruition with Kevin Kelly I would like to again nominate Kevin Kelly from Kelly and Ward I will also be nominating John ersen for labor attorney for ordinance 20 24-17 a Kevin kley and John erson have worked cohesively in the past on several legal matters including most recently Kevin Kelly as County Council and John ersen as the council for the sus County Sheriff's Office so there is already professional continuity between the two parties I ask for your vote for Kevin Kelly as Municipal attorney I'll make the motion second if I may make this suggestion that I don't know Ryan Chris or or da or I know Kevin Kelly I've done a little bit of research based on our conversation if we could have the opportunity to interview absolutely that's what we'd like to do and just and uh and U I have some questions and I'm sure that everybody else would have question in front of the council I would appreciate that for more then we can we can come to an educated decision on I don't know him personally I don't know who hear those would you would you like him to come to the next meeting that' be normally we do an interview session John if you advise on that yeah you would you would normally do interviews not in public you would do interviews in a closed session you could SCH a close session before a council meeting or something like that so i' make a motion to T this until second would you like that for the February 7 meeting the executive session for February 7 yes that be perfect is that tbling 17 and 17 no 17A you're talking about correct not 17 17 by itself 17 a so 17 was table 17A we're still moving on clarification before table both of them table of them we already have a motion at second we have to we have to vote on that and that's the table table in 17 to vote on that first M okay roll call Mr hoer Camp yes Miss Johnson this is to table it this is the table just just 17 you got it yes M Roberts yes M Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes and we have 20247 a would you like to table that also or would you like to do that even I would like to make a motion to table that Robo Mr H camp yes Miss Johnson yes Miss Roberts yes M Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes uh 202 24-20 Award of Professional Services agreement for municipal engineer I would like to nominate John rushy from M McDonald so yeah second a roll call Mr Huffer Camp yes Miss Johnson no Miss Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay 2024 d20a Award of a professional service agreement for a water sewer engineer I would like to nominate uh John rushki from M McDonald so Mo second call Mr H yes Miss Johnson no Miss Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes yes Mr yes okay 202 24-27 Award of a shared service agreement with the I'm sorry 2024 D20 D Award of a professional service agreement for municipal planner I can say that last night at the land use board the land use board uh recommended uh van Clee as an engineer um in speaking with the administrator today we thought that it was cohesive to go in line with the same um planner so my recommendation my nomination for municipal planner would be van CLE so move roll call Mr Hopper Camp yes Miss Johnson yes Miss Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes G22 24-27 Award of a shared service agreement with the county of Sussex for the congregate nutrition program this is for the uh lunch program that is uh at theor center from 9 to one every day so move second a roll call Mr Hamp yes Miss Johnson yes Miss Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay uh next we have the um 202 24-28 authorization to use the burough Hall as a satellite office for honorable Congressman uh Thomas Kean I'll move it second discussion we have a discussion just to clarify for the public of all the municipally owned buildings he requested ver correct which is why is listed here on the resolution yes um in the letter from uh Congressman kean's office they requested to use the chambers here uh for exactly what the resolution says uh with the um satellite office being I believe it's the third first first and third um Mondays for uh for this building that's why they chose this we did we did the resolution based on what they were asking for are there cameras in here yes um they wouldn't consider a more confidential area than a videotaped room the the cameras that are currently in here do not pick up voice they're just viewed and dispatch I can ask the question but I'm sure that wherever um Congressman Keane is and his staff I'm sure that they have cameras but I will double check if that's an issue or not thanks roll call Mr Hamp yes Miss Johnson uh yes M Roberts yes M Rodriguez yes Miss Smith no and Mr Smith yes okay 2024 d29 authorization hiring of a licensed water operator through the competitive contract process um I have a question before um it says Mercer County you did it okay minor a motion sending this out the b this competitive contract competitive contract public call Mr hoer Camp yes M Johnson yes M Roberts yes Miss Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes moving on to ordinances bu bu is um the appointments to the land use board for um class with a term running through 12 3127 we have um Steve pusic second class 4 member with a term running through 1231 2027 is Richard charella alternate number two with the term running through 1231 25 is Don Rodriguez alternate number four the ter running through 12312 is Rick Gan C appointments to the Recreation Commission do you want to pause and vote on those matter yes I'm sorry okay and just just so the council's clear class four members are appointed by the mayor so the council is free to vote to uh indicate its um support of that uh appointment but once the mayor makes the class 4 appointment the appointment's made um but the the council should vote on the timates so you can vote on all four if that was the council's uh that's the way the council wants to handle it or you could just accept the fact the mayor has put the class 4 nominations on the record tonight and but the council should vote on the Alters mayor can you uh give me the Alters alternate was Rick gaan and Don Rodriguez John Rodriguez I believe so this would uh not allow Bob Duncan to be continue as a member I would be more than happy to I would be more than happy to um entertain the possibility of uh keeping Bob as an alternate however we uh in the discussions with most of the current members that are there uh we were talking about just having some newer people that are on there just the the land use board there have been people that have been there for quite some time just like Allan and the thought process was having some some newer people there might actually help the board in the direction that they're going into so I had to other board members I just feel bad I mean we talked to everybody but not me fair fair and balance it doesn't sound that's not fair and balance talk to members but not you we don't vote on the class board members but we do vote on the alternates correct can I move to table the alternates until we have a chance to maybe with anybody who wants the job um I I would love to talk to Dan and I would love to talk to to know the background Don I'm sorry you said Dan I said apologize Don I'd like to have a chat table the alternat yeah so just just to be clear unless the council takes any action the class for appointments are made that's the mayor's power they she's read them into the record they're made we yeah we don't get to change that correct so if you with the alternates you could vote to uh approve the nominations um not approve it or take it I'm going to move the table nominations table the alternates to table the alter and just for calendar control the motion is to table it to the next meeting so so the cler keep that's a r Mr ham yes M Johnson no was making the suggestion you second M Roberts to table yes m yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay moving on to appointments to the Recreation Commission full member with a turn running through 12 3124 uh Kathy Evans full member with a turn running through 12 3128 vman so um again I think just for the clarity of the record um under 5-2 those are mayor appointments so the mayor's read them into the record the appointments are made period okay moving on to environmental commission uh we only have um uh two people which would not be a forum so I can just move those into the February 7th hopefully we have people for that uh committee by then um motion we can have yeah so we have a motion to table table second until 27 until 27 next we have the appointments to the open space I'm sorry can I ask a quick question on that okay we're tbling this environmental commission right you're tbling just as an agenda item these are mayor appointments we don't have a lot of names well we we we do have we do have um again people who are uh asking to to be on the board I just haven't had the ability to go through everybody and I was just waiting for um the ability to do that thank you so we made a motion to I have a motion second Mr H Camp yes M Johnson yes M Roberts yes M yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay appointments to the open space commit I do not have the members for open space but the uh council rep um uh is I put on Christine Smith and the land use ref number two with the term running through 12 3124 that um we need two land use people action in open space we already have Jonathan Taylor the second one is Judy CR the the council um the council can make a motion to approve the mayor's nominations on those two points because under the ordinance those are Council votes the council rep and the land rep or us well uh open space the wording of your ordinance is um the wording of your ordinance is that it's appointed by the mayor and the burrow Council and the B did you want a different to approve second call Mr H yes Miss Johnson yes Miss Roberts yes M Rodriguez yes Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay so then we have Council committee appointments so I literally have just finished these so I don't even have the list to give to Valerie I can uh I can read them off to you and then I we can get you a list tomorrow first thing if that's okay now these are mayor appointments mayor appointment no no they're not no not they're Council committee appointments approv I mean she she nominate but what I would suggest in that you just send this out to everybody at the next meeting there work through it yeah well then we should we should probably look into seeing what um uh committees that are on here that actually have those appointments because there are things on here that aren't there are things on here that are not in our ordinance for committees boards and commissions and an example is the market senior citizens um the uh Community Center uh real estate celebration of events uh there were a few of them that that's not in our ordinance Al together for committees so if we're going to do that can we do all of the research to make sure that we have all of the Committees that um belong where they're supposed to belong and appointed by the people that are supposed to be appointed by change the ordinance you want to change the ordinance oh no no I don't want to change the ordinance there are things that here that are not mentioned in the ordinance but should everything be mentioned is that what you're asking to have the m ined in it I'm looking to see if we can have the research done to see what belongs in there and what does not yeah and mayor I I can tell you that Valerie obviously this came up at the last meeting so Valerie and I took a look at this um so um this has not been a subject that's sort of been welldeveloped here um in the past um I I don't want to step in anything but in the past there hasn't been a lot of disagreement about the committee so this hasn't uh come to the Forefront under the stat the council has the right to organ organize itself into committees so from the statute there's a good argument that things that are what I would call standing committees structural committees that participate in the the the operations of the government and give advisory Council back to the council um I would say that those uh under the statute are Council votes unless you adopt an administrative code that says otherwise the statute specifically says that it's the council can organize itself into committees unless they've adopted an administrative code that provides for some other procedure so I'm trying to draw a distinction that might be helpful to you committees that are structural that that on a regular basis that we've had for years or decades and I think of I'm only trying to give examples not telling you what committees you should have but finance committee DPW deep water and Sewer these types of things um if you have those types of committees I would suggest that those are uh at least Council votes um certainly the tradition has been that the mayor uh makes nominations or appointments and the council votes to accept them but I think they're Council votes I would say differently about what I would call ad hoc committees and and some of the ones that the mayor just mentioned now things like the marketplace um things things like um um Wildlife committee things like Emergency Management Council things like firewise we do not have a record of those committees showing up in an ordinance we don't have a record of those committees being created by a resolution that Define how they be filled in the future I I would think that categories like that would be what I would call ad hoc committees committees that you might have for one year committees that you might not populate the next year um committees that might be for a limited purpose like a celebration like a parade like anything like that and I would think that those would be mayor appointments um because again it has to do with something that is is is is more um temporary in the government and temporary could be 3 months 6 months or two years I don't know but it would be something that the mayor might be working on and wants a committee and I would think that ad hoc committees that are not going to be permanent committees I would think that those are mayor appointments and I would think the Committees of the council um would require a council vote unless you change the administrative I have a question this is the mayor's agenda so historically every other reor the Committees have already been assigned no discussion voted and passed on what's changed this year the fact that we have a new mayor so I'm just confused as to why Council would have to have such a say in it this year when historically they've always just voted on it I I'm just for no of course I agree with you I agree with you in the past right right no no that's but I understand that there's never been any discussion whatever was laid out we just laid out and voted on and passed so if that was done by prior Mayors is it an issue if it's laid out in front of us or not that's up to you right that's my there's not there's certainly in in municipal government a lot of times Traditions or procedures develop and they're followed year after year and the answer to your question is someone asked the question I mean at the last meeting there was a number of questions about whether that committee was a mayor appointment or a council appointment so the next day after the meeting um I spoke to the clerk just to see which ones there was it was a uh you know a a source document a resolution or something and and so if when there's nothing when the town hasn't passed anything you trace back to the statute the statute divides the powers between the council and the another and so that's the only difference is someone's asked a question it's the only difference I think I think that it's just odd that all of a sudden this year there's a question being asked when year after year after year there's never been a question asked why ask it now and I can tell you from the last time I was on Council the Committees that I were I was put on that was it the mayor told me that was it and that's where I was going so I don't understand how it you understand how it's it's murky for us because well I think I think the mayor right so if if the mayor list if the mayor passes out her list of the Committees and at the next meeting the council votes yes we agree with all that then there's there's no issue right and that's what's happened in the past at the reorg meeting the mayor went down the list of the uh committees I think sometimes even read them just said they're listed on the agenda and the council said I vote to approve that so no one asked the question that's all I can tell you Jen you and I were on Council together and yes I recall when the list comes out I know when that list comes out I know I've had a conversation with Mike Michael ask he did you want to be on this committee you want to be on that committee well that's nice for you but I was never when he talked to you did he did he say you're going to be on these committees no I got a copy of the agenda with the Committees I was on that was the discussion the first two years that I did this I had the same thing I saw the list I called mik up and I said what is this I said Mike I don't want to be on this committee I want to be on that committee and he either changed it or he didn't that's the mayor's prerogative to appoint so so when I saw that list the first two years now obviously Mike took that into account because on the third year he actually called me and said Ryan I just sent the list out are you okay with this list because I would argue with him about it that's what we do I mean I would suspect that the rest of us did that came out first thing I did when I saw the list is call Mike on the phone and say what I don't like this list I did that for three years right and I was told that was what it was and that's where it was it's my appointment and that's it so it wasn't like I didn't ask a question maybe I didn't call up the attorney and asked the attorney the question but I trusted that it was and you just said it's the mayor's prerogative It's it's their committee re should send us a list of what she thinks the Committees are and we should have an opportunity to say I don't want to be on that can I be on that one and then we'll all discuss it you know like we should can I ask a question sure are you asking me I didn't need to cut you off absolutely I me John um in the past uh Council committees were always Liaisons to these different groups is that just phraseology or is that something that was um these ad hoc committees uh I'm just trying to is that what you're appointing or appointing Liaisons well no that these these committees that were here were always uh Liaisons to these different groups because they would go to the groups and then they would come back and they would report to this group because the groups themselves uh whoever the group is whether um it's um some of the uh some of the other ones like the market or seniors or Municipal Alliance and things um those are Comm where they had Liaisons on them because those groups don't have members like senior senior citizens is usually the representative that goes to seniors a that's not a council person that's assigned to that group it was a liaison that that was picked from the mayor to go to those groups so that's I'm questioning the word liaison compared to the the the the ones uh that are liaison type roles I think are your appointments I like look the the the wording in the statute is if the council organizes itself into standing committees council members and then it goes on to say it should be their role should be defined and it says who should be voted um and then it goes the statute in another place says the council May the council May create such advisory counsels to the municipality as it may choose and then it goes on but again I'm trying to make a distinction that the statute is a little bit helpful with but not super helpful with which is things as the examples I gave I think would fall under this statute I think things that are um not permanent committees or the aison type committees I think are your appointment okay so let me just ask a question so a committee like uh Finance uh the budget is the mayor's budget so the finance committee was the mayor and two other council person people but if the finance committee um is not one of those uh is not one of those committees because it's again it's the mayor budget so how how does that fall into place um well look I I would encourage sort of strongly encourage that if you're going to have a finance committee the mayor has to be on it because you'd be working across purposes if the council had a finance committee and you make the the budget and you weren't on the finance committee of course of course but again the mayor presents the budget to the council so I'm I'm just saying so having uh having to pick someone that that's on that the F again finances as Finance uh but my question is just uh having people that are on those on those committees like Finance how does that fall into that statute that you're talking about I think it does because it's a it's a count it's a it's a Committee created it's an advisory Council to the municipality created by the council under the statute and again now we're like well we're split we're splitting we're splitting hair we are because because and I I I sort of even hate to say this out loud but um if you weren't happy with the committee then you could work on the budget as mayor yourself and propose it to the burrow there's actually nothing that says you you have to have committee correct okay that I I guess that's I guess that's my question because maybe we can just avoid some of it by just not having the Committees if that's the if that's the direction we go May if I could throw one thing in fears here that I believe you told you would like to be on most of the Committees yes I said I would like to be on most of the Committees because I would like to acclimate myself to all of these different things so I was not going to put three members on a committee some of the Committees were only going to have two members um and some of them like Doc committee has just one member like myself so and I would just say that there is support for that for you to do that okay so I would just go back to put your list together and submit it if you already got it have it printed up set and yeah I nor answer some of the other things normally we had it before but all things considered we're not saying anything other than we just like to look at it no time that's not a problem I'm sorry I'm confused what is their support for her being on any committee she wants or all committee she can be on all the Committees we would support that that's what I'm saying usually that who was that discussed with who I I actually when I had a conversation with Bradley I had said to him that for the Committees that existed for liaison committees I was going to put myself on all of those so that I could go there and acclimate myself to whatever the groups were so I could get as much information as possible at least for the first year so that I didn't want three members in myself because that's a forum and we can't go so it was I was going to put myself on all of them and then have just another council person two other people that would be part of the group because there's no sense in all of us having to go to all the same things I I agree with that completely I think that's a great so do we so then for clarification do we know right now what's a standing committee and what's an ad hoc committee we don't if I was asked I'd be happy to come and have a meeting and talk about um Oh I thought you said you and Valerie the clerk had already gone through it that's why what we went through on the the the the reorg agenda when we had gotten to a certain point on the reorg agenda there was four or five committees that you know are not referencing your ordinances those are the ones specifically MD over there there's some more on this list in addition to those addition to the ones we look for so we're making a motion to table us is that accurate yes I don't have the motion yet but that's what I wrote down yes so I'll make the motion to table till uh February second you're tbling just F yeah F just f wild the one I just got mayor if I could if I could the council to and yourself to give consideration functioning finance committee um just it's three weeks until the next council meeting and the clock is sort of running on the budget introduction of the budget and so forth has has the mayor received the budget yet she received documents from the CFL yes I I have I have pieces I have pieces of the budget um uh can we just at this point where I'll just deal with it till we actually do committee that's fine I I do have one question I'm sorry John um the must connect on sewage Authority is on here and I know that um Mr Schindler was appointed to that and I think the resolution is till 25 or 2 was supposed to be for five years yeah but I think it goes to 25 or 27 no go ahead Sor so I'm sorry so um I that one really probably shouldn't be on here because we can't put a council person on that correct I don't don't know um I have to look at the that comes from the mus conon sewage Authority rules which I could look at which is right but the question is whether or not it can be a council person right that's my question does it have to be an elected official or can it still just say stay Mr sh uh if you come back to that question in a minute I'll tell you okay I know the gentleman before me was not a council person oh okay so it's possible that be anybody which which is fine but then we should just remove it all the year is what we should do well should we add it somewhere on here so we can get updates as to what's going on for an open line of communication if nobody can hear us on there show we can do that like we're doing updates from um Dan McCarthy for the um L Pac on commission who's going to come quarterly to give updates we can always get updates quarterly too so the appointment of the wildlife committee I do not have a I do not have the information back yet from um fish and wildlife so that really is hindering uh what we can do and what we can't do uh with that committee so that committee I don't know if you want to just table it till it's available or table it to the 7th I'm not really sure how that's actually going to work because I'm at the mercy of getting the information from them before we can even start it get it by then okay thank you so call that g what should be G um the appointment of the council representative the Emergency Management I'm sorry table we voted onit we had a motion in a second in favor I I that was for which one that was for the Committees now we're going to do Wildlife so a motion to table the wild committee ran made it I I second I seconded it hi uh the appointment of the council representative to the Emergency Management Council uh I have Ryan Smith appointment of the Council leaz on to the senior sen advisory committee I have Bradley hoer Camp the appointment to the firewise committee the appointment of the chairman uh Bernie kachowski and I believe uh you were looking to add Scott Wallace to that is that the is that the committee you were looking to Scott came to me years ago and asked if he could be on that committee I mentioned it to Mike and Mike said yes but they never did okay but that's the one you yes okay so if we can if we can add Scott Wallace to that and then the appointment of the council representative um was Jennifer Johnson okay so Bernie was on but we have to pick a chairman yeah okay so that group I picked um he's the fire marshal so I picked him as the chair the chair can I have a motion second a second all in favor uh new business we have our reports we have the tax collector's report for November 20123 would anybody like to discuss that no discussion okay motion second to accept AC second and the RO Mr Hamp yes M Johnson M Roberts yes M Rodriguez Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes okay our second uh new business is zing reports for October through December 2023 and the 2023 annual report is there any disc I need a motion motion second any discussion I have a question uh so on the annual report so I'm just picking one category litter complaints 24 warnings sent 105 second warnings none summons 18 so second warnings are given on the at the discuss of our zoning officer like is there a formal process in place for how that works and then so lit complaints are 24 is that only 24 sites that he went to Bas of complaints or is it 24 total complaints it's 24 it's 24 total complaints if you uh remember earlier um uh when um the administrator had talked about his final report he talks about calls that he received thousands of calls that he receives this is just actual summonses that he wrote for second summonses first summes report is what actually went out and physically got done Mr Donan usually works with the property owner and gives them a warning a second warning usually issuing Su is is a comp okay I was I just wasn't sure because there's no second warnings here listed so I wasn't sure if it was at his discretion after an initial warning sent there Z is discretion depends on we can look at the 18 summes may may something that wasg that he the sum was inorder to do he's empow to make those charges as C enforcement I just was um just just for edication uh Rachel if you look it shows the zoning report for October 1st 2023 and then there's a summons log for October 2023 the annual report is all of the months Al together with totals so these are just for these two months so it'll tell you issue issue um and then how many uh actually went out with all of the different uh categories like administ defenses and like that okay so that brings us to um yes yes uh so we have a motion a second a roll call Mr Hamp yes M Johnson stain Miss Roberts yes M Rodriguez obain Miss Smith yes Mr Smith yes we are at number 15 public can I can I bring up two more just two sure in new business in new business sure um so we had our Board of Health is this be the place for me to bring up the chickens righty yes okay um perfect is um presenting a an ordinance or ordinance to change chickens from the R 3 to include R2 and R3 so people we would change the ordinance we could ask the attorney and the business administrator come up with a modification to the ordinance modification to the ordinance to include R2 into the current ordinance yes okay we can do that you want to discuss that as a group that was a recommendation made at theard of Health before this we want to discuss those as a group well did we establish what R2 was we know it's squ Fe but how many we didn't look at that yet so we could ask for them to draft the ordinance and then when ordinance gets introduced discuss and that way the the public will have a chance to look at an introduction of an ordinance and discuss it with us we sounds good so now we like make a motion please all right so I'll make the motion for the administrator and the attorney to draft an ordinance including R2 for chickens second and three well R3 is already in there it would be just adding R2 adding R2 okay any other discussion all in favor I I and the second thing oh the second thing was I I thought I I just wanted to mention street hockey that's all right uh street hockey signups are inperson registration upper level of the senior center Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 4: the last day for registration is Friday March 22nd you must be registered before the first practice starts registrations will not be accepted at the practices or games the online registration is going to be available soon practice starts Saturday March 23rd games starts Saturday April 6th the season ends Sunday June 16th if you have any questions please re reach out to Rosanne Schult at 862 21769 and there are two divisions B division is grades 2 through five and a division is group grades 6 through 12 $50 a player it's a great great program that's it thanks we're taking the opportunity can I make a couple of anoun Chamber of Commerce events that are coming up uh the young professional social is January 24th the uh next meeting of the Chamber of Commerce is February 9th next B2B breakfast is February 13th the annual dinner will be hosted on February 21st there's a tourism Summit that's being worked on right now tourism in Sussex County and that's going to be March 14th more details on the website Sussex County chamber.org U there the awards luncheon has been scheduled for April 25th and uh Sussex County day on the books just go ahead and mark it on your calendars is September 15th um and something from the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority the next paper Shing event is January 19th that's all I have left thank you County again okay does anybody else have any comments okay thank you yes um I want to welcome Byron Bay berro to the um they had their grand opening this past Saturday it's where Ronnie's dance studio was um I want to thank Jack de our susex our newest Sussex County Commissioner um for coming down and attending the ribbon cutting if you haven't been there I highly recommend it it's um a little restaurant but a big punch of flavor and all their food um it's polish and uh Caribbean cariban so it's delicious I highly recommend it um and then also the Northwood Community Association we typically meet on the third Saturday of every month um but for January our next meeting is going to be Saturday January 27th at 10: a.m. at the Northwood Fire Company number two motion open for public comment so many all favor um meeting is open to the public for anything and everything I just had a quick question the zoning report that you provided how is that track and monitored is it track and monitored because just in looking there and I'm going to provide one example because I know all too much about it 326 Windsor Avenue there was a complaint issued in February of 2023 nothing further regarding the garbage and everything this house nothing was ever issued beyond the complaint for that and then they were issued a summons for advertising a short-term rental same people have been in there forever the house is falling apart it's dilapitated it's rental currently and it the one is not going anywhere um but there was nothing followed up on the condition of the property so it kind of left off and then in September of 2023 they were issued to complaint or issued a violation for something completely different that doesn't appear previously so what is the tracking mechanism for that I believe most of these things are up to the discretion of the zoning officer I mean I can definitely look into the um the property that you mentioned and see U well just using that as an example but in general what's the followup measure for that because the property has not Chang condition at all it's gotten worse the police have been there for she's got Cates and turkey vultures and everything else but the condition hasn't changed and it nothing was ever done it just the complaint was sent nothing was done beyond that and then a new actual violation or something completely different that doesn't even make sense because the house is not being advertised nor is it a condition to be advertised for short-term rental so it's just a matter of what's the what type type of tracking is done to actually follow through with any of this regardless of who's responsible for it and I'm sorry Heather what was the number again 326 but in general it's just a generalized question that somebody should be looking at yes thank you anyone else L your chicken ordinance come on now everybody knows there's chickens in the town so how many years are we going to go between R3 R2 Board of Health let's voted in my question is for all the chickens in the town are we writing them up for violations or we just sh there's chickens in the town and when we pass the ordinance we're going to go back and Grant you the authority to own chickens so settled the chicken ordinance already how many I mean come on it's it's almost comical to the point where it's 10 of nine and you're talking about a chicken ordinance where there's chickens in the town settle it enough already thank you just point of clarification I think John Taylor is already on the land board and so is Judy Pro so they're both going to be on the land use board and on open space uh we haven't filled the open space yet but uh that uh I'm sorry the open space has to have two representatives from uh land okay and the second one is that isn't the mayor exio and all committees Mr arson um no not necessarily Oh I thought I read that in the statute thank you anyone else motion to bring it back all in favor so I just have a few uh comments for everyone uh as the administrator mentioned we had our uh first snow uh for January 6 um we've had the rainstorm we've had snow for the 15th into the 16th and I what I understand there's more snow coming uh so I guess we're paying for last year's Easy Street one of the interesting things that I learned through this snowstorm is that there's actually 71 miles of road to plow and her pack on that's a lot of miles so I know a lot of the people residents who uh call and say oh you know they're not on my street well it's not really possible for them to be in front of your house at the same time especially when there's 71 miles of road for them to go through and each person who is plowing has an area of between seven and eight miles that they're actually plowing so they are in the area they are around and um I think that again the roads were fabulous uh which they usually are and as the administrator mentioned uh there were epod where we were not able to get great uh snow removal on County Roads which was very unusual this year and uh we had to uh take care of some of that too I do want to clarify that Dan McCarthy from the lake a pacan commission is coming quarterly he's coming March 20th uh June 19th October 2nd and December 4th so that we can get the lake a Pac on commission updates quarterly throughout the year as things are changing with the lake I also want to mention that troop 88 is hosting a stuff the trailer that's on weekends at the bum Sho right and they're collecting non- perishable Goods for the local school weekend bags um and I just want to remind everyone that it is pet licensing month and with it being winter a helpful um hints that you can have is to remember to keep your sidewalks and walkways cleared for emergency responders in case there is something that happens that doesn't always happen all the time and the fire department does go out and dig out the fire hydrants but if you do have one outside your house and you can do it yourself if you could do that because they can't get to all of them as fast as as fast as we'd like them to and the other thing is the posting of house numbers I had a conversation with the um chief of police and we do have an ordinance that says that you're supposed to have your house number you know prominently displayed on your house um I can I can say from going door too there were a lot of houses that did not have really visible house numbers and it's actually very dangerous you know for the residents because of Emergency Services because they they will not necessarily know where you are so if um we can just remind everybody to put the house numbers have them be right out in front for everybody to see and remind everybody of that please because it will save lives will it count on the mailbox no no it has to be on the dwelling I have to do further research or we can discuss it offline but I believe there's a grant where we could possibly have those provided for res if if um if granted to us okay further into it but that way it would save the taxers that sounds great um that was all that I had for announcements motion to adour meting know