##VIDEO ID:__iyovyyqD8## we're live right now you sure you can do that whatever new business hello and good evening everyone adequate notice of this meeting of the Lawrence Township Council being held on Tuesday February 4th 2025 has provided through proposing of the annual meeting schedule of said Council and according to the section 13 of the open public meetings act said notice was forwarded to the chonan the times and the Princeton packet on December 19th 2024 i' just like to take a moment um it is Black History Month and I just want to acknowledge just a couple of my favorite quotes of your indulging never be limited by others people's limited imaginations that was said by Dr May Jameson the first africanamerican female astronaut I also just wanted to um State here in New Jersey we are very fortunate to have in our educational system the Amistad mandate that requires the teaching of African-American history in UK through 12 grades and I learned something new that I never knew there was a gentleman born in per Amboy by the name of Thomas Mundy Peterson he was born in October 6 1824 in New Jersey and was the first africanamerican to vote in an election under the just enacted provisions of the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution his vote was cast on March 31st in 1870 I thought that was pretty special and now Madam cler if we could have pleas insiration may we carry out our work at this meeting in a just honorable and sincere manner always bearing in mind our duties in continuing to keep Lawrence a wonderful community in which to live I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand Nation indivisible andice for all Mr Bobby here Mr Kaki here M Perry here Mr Ryan cannot be with us this evening mayor farmer here at this time we will have our special um presentation U manages 2025 recommended budget and presentation beginning with Mr Peter Kus thank you mayor and Council it's an honor to be here to speak in front of you tonight so tonight is the 2025 managers recommended budget and we'll just start with a calendar of where we're at so we've closed the fiscal year we're a calendar year uh Township as opposed to something like the school that's a split year um we have already filed our annual debt statement and right now we're in the beginning process of our budget we have our annual financial statement that's due to to the division of the local government services which is followed by the budget adoption and then we have two of our notes coming du they're coming to simultaneously so we can roll them all into one note the note threshold is $10 million so if you could roll them together it's beneficial and then we have the annual audited financial statement coming up so just a few uh budget uh points we operate on what's called a modified acru basis there's many different types of accounting there's acrel accounting there's cash accounting there's cost accounting um New Jersey works on a modified acral so cash accounting is you record your rece reips when they're received and you record your expenses when they're paid as opposed to as opposed to an acral accounting system where your revenue and your expenses are recorded when they're incurred so new what New Jersey does is they take the cash portion for Revenue we record them when we receive them and we use the acrel portion for the expenses we do purchase orders to incur the expense before it's paid so it's it's called the other comprehensive basis of accounting it's how we operate the annual financial statement needs to be filed with the division prior to the budget to the introduction of the budget because they need to verify the revenues and our Surplus balance we operate on a temporary budget until the adopted budget is um moved upon by Council so a snapshot of the 2025 budget a municipal budget is really broken into two larger pieces you have the revenue side which has to match the appropriation side within those categories or within those two halves you have categories on the revenue side you have revenues that are you that you cannot exceed what you brought in the prior year that's the cash basis part of the accounting there's a calculation it's called The Levy cap calculation and our tax line is um beholden to that calculation so there's calculations that the state looks at to make sure that you're following it on the appropriation side we have really two pieces we have Appropriations that we call inside caps those Appropriations are are restricted to what the state calls the appropriation cap calculation and then you have outside of caps which are not restricted outside of caps um there's not many items but it's um Debt Service Capital items um Elsa sits outside of caps so there's not many items most items are inside caps because the state wants to control um the growth of a budget how how fast the budget's growing and not to exceed it so what the state does allow is they allow us to bank the unused portion of the caps for use in Prior in subsequent years budgets um the oldest balance expires and then you bring a new balance on if you're not using it so you had a levy cap Bank and that is a line that is um restricted just for the amount to be raised by taxation and on the appropriation side the balance is for just the Appropriations that sit with Inc caps so Lawrence Township has um very robust caps that um if needed if need be the township could tap into those um Banks major anticipated Revenue sources these are sources of revenue um that help balance the appropriation side of the of the of The Ledger we have uh Surplus we have Elsa but Elsa is offset with an appropriation we have state aid that has remained flat we have interest on investments UCC fees those are our uniform construction code fees the lanquin taxes ambulance service fees um our 2% local tax on the um cannabis shop that we have and are pilots those are those are major sources of revenue on your appropriation side salary and wages is our largest item of of appropriation and this year we have a number of new positions being proposed um we have a deputy U um a member for the clerk's office we have officers 11 dispatchers to take over our dispatch service and firefighters we also have um Elsa this is the other side of the revenue us I'm sorry um Capital Improvement we have uh group health insurance reserve for uncollected taxes which is a appro it's a nons spending appropriation it's an appropriation that closes the gap between what we collect and what we have to pay the school and the county they get 100% of their um budget so the municipal budget has to make up that difference for the balance and that's what that line I is we call it reserve for uncollected uncollected taxes garbage and trash that includes the landfill um and recycling uh the police pension the pfrs is police and fire pension PS is um public employees we have Debt Service utilities Social Security and our general liability those are the major Appropriations 2025 budget year uh the manager is recommending that we have a 652 Cent tax that is a zero increase from the prior year uh there's no change to Elsa at this time and right now the school and the county have not struck their tax rate so when they're struck um those bills go out in the summer that include those um amounts quick snapshot of our debt service um like I said we have two bands they're right now currently owned by an investment bank called Piper Sandler uh they are due to mature on June 5th and will be rolled over our current projected payoff will be 2027 budget Capital items these are items that are requested by the Departments um that they feel that they need and they're going to be speaking to council about them so we have our normal uh police and non-p police computer maintenance software um server upgrades batteries of $50,000 we have a clerk U record retention at Oprah that we're trying to get uh our documents digitized Public Safety Equipment this is the third year of of fiveyear program for body and vehicle cameras police barri uh barricade cones some Municipal Building improvements um a normal HVAC replacement program every so many years the Public Works director needs to replace certain um items of our HVAC system a police department fuel tank to replace the one that used to be at at um Town Hall behind the senior center is a retaining wall that needs to be um redone some more charging stations two a town hall one at the senior center and a line item for Community Center improvements on 295 Edgar Crossing Road continuing with our capital budget we have fire and rescue equipment there are ems bullet approved vests there's fire personal protective equipment fire SCBA those are the breathing apparatus that the firemen wear self-contained breathing apparatus there's a power load stretcher and fire turnout GE some communication equipment radios and Pages for the Fire Department fire Services uh some various equipment for public works there's a dump truck that um Public Works always tries to do double duty so it's not only a dump truck but it will be available able to do snow plowing during the winter vehicle maintenance a four poost vehicle lift to get the vehicle lift out from under the slab where it fills with water uh vehicle maintenance tire changer two z turn Park mowers a six-yard compactor truck and this is the fire apparatus is part of our uh building up to purchase a very expensive piece of equipment or two pieces of equipment a ladder truck and a tanker a pper and our road improvement work continues every year the engineer has a list of Roads based on uh their condition that includes signal improvements concrete curving overlay um everything in the road program so the current breakdown of the 20124 tax rate because we don't have a 2025 tax rate it looks like this uh you have the school we have the county tax portion that includes the library uh we have our local Municipal piece and we have our local uh open space piece the county the county portion also contains their open space piece that concludes the the brief presentation any question from um M mayor M just just so you're all aware uh P put together the the budget books for you that you you have received um prepared uh the document mentation and information that you requested last year we' provided with the same words this year so this is all things that you need to um go through and then Peter and I are available to any council member that wants to sit down and and go through the budget um and answer your questions I definitely will reach out to get some additional information once have had a moment to digest all of the numbers presentation thank you and next we'll continue now with presentation 2025 Department um Keith leine Health officer hello mayor and Council hello um I believe that you were emailed my report I did bring some extra copies because it was updated since uh the one that was sent to you Keith I updated them I gave them the updated Wonder perfect uh so my presentation um the packet does include um our activity for the year so I hope that can take some time tonight and go through that we're very proud of our accomplishments uh but I'll keep it this brief uh into the budget um so if you will turn to page 15 if you'd like to follow along um the total annual Health Department budget was $39,500 and this was the same uh amount that we had for the previous year so we did did not increase this budget and we were able to complete all activities for the year um coming in lower than our budget which is uh we're very proud of that so we ended up spending for the year 20124 34375 188 um some of the expenses included um are the typical things you would expect for a health department medical services including um vaccinations and Medicine uh contractual services including a doctor veterinarian clinics and nurse case management for childhood Le poisoning cases uh your standard equipment that the inspectors would use uh office equipment services and office supplies um also memberships and training so the second budget that we hold in the health department um is the the animal control budget which is a total of $15,750 we were also able to come in lower for the year 2024 just by B uh we expended $ 15,470 so these expenses include uh save animal shelter who we we contract with um for animal Sheltering Services fantastic shelter they do an excellent job um Emergency Animal Care Services we partner with several different um vets so that one will always be available should there be an emergency um deer pickup services for dead deer which is very important I mean we collect quite a few deer um every year um you know hit by cars equipment for the animal patrol officers uh supplies like food litter disinfectant training and a modest um uniform allowance for the Control Officers now our department runs mostly on um grants uh so we secured uh for the year 2024 uh the sustaining local public health infrastructure Grant which is a fantastic Grant um delivered to us from the New Jersey Department of Health um and they receive it from the United States Department of Health um this grant totals $168,400 activities that go into this position and um we're we're definitely grateful to have that source of hunding the second Grant we hold is the municipal Alliance Grant which is delivered to us from the uh New Jersey Governor's Council on substance use disorder that is the state of New Jersey uh a total of $3,122 annually and um this amount actually will be going up for the year 2025 uh pretty significantly um so we're we're happy to be able to work with our um Health Partners and try to find some good uses for uh for the extra income for 25 uh a third grant that we hold is uh a radon awareness program Grant from the uh New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection so as you know Ron is um a leading cause of lung cancer and it's um it's one of those things where people uh wouldn't know it if you had in your house unless you test for it so it's extremely important to test for Radon anyone who has a basement um stop into the health department if you're Lawrence resident and we can provide these kits for free um highly recommend that you test your basement if you have one and if you haven't tested Ron um Lauren sits in a high Ron area so it's um it's one of those things that we want to promote and again the tests are free through this grant I would like to um just make mention uh that this past year in September 8th 2024 we lost a longtime Health Advisory Board member Mary C Barrett um you may know her from Council meetings she was a very vocal member of our community a champion for public health a longtime uh server on the health Advisory Board a nurse and a and the Department of Health retiree from the state um so we lost her past year and it was a LW she was a wonderful person I'd also like to just mention a few of our partners um John Moses at rder University who works for the Bron and underwrites uh we we underwrite um a podcast that he produces mental Fitness um which discusses um mental health issues of all of all different kinds and they do a fantastic job with this podcast so we want to say thanks to him uh James denron at the Mercer County Lawrence Library who we partner with as often as possible a fantastic uh person and Fantastic Team he has over there um and just a great partner also u a new partner we picked up this previous year um was Princeton Pharmacy which is actually located in Lawrence um Jake runs the Princeton Pharmacy him and his team are fantastic ftic and they they' helped provide us with vaccinations for our homebound community and for our project Freedom um and um any any others that may need special vaccinations that we can accommodate I'm happy to take any questions from the council or if you think of anything after the fact you could always feel free to email me questions mayor I just would like to say um one thing that we plan to do this year is we are going to on board the health department to have an online platform that is intended to increase the productivity and improve the experience of Staff members as well as uh improve the service that we provide to Residents and businesses terms of making it easier to uh issue applications process applications um we started it this past year uh we did some soul searching and troubleshooting to and we've now kind of targeted what we want to be able to do with regard to the health department so that's something that we're going to plan on working on for 2025 in addition we do have improvements um planned for the lower level where we have clinics where our nurses work out of we wanted to improve that area to make it a better experience for the residents that come in to use those Services as well well thank you for all your work thank you next we have James Dort construction official evening mayor and councel uh this year 24 was another busy year for us in the construction Department we basically took in with our clarist to have 2800 applications and between five and full-time inspectors We performed 800 I'm sorry 891 inspections a little up from last year uh we do have a lot of uh uh excuse me I'm sorry I'm losing my spot here we do have our software program in place for eiling uh we're putting the final touches on that we actually we are contracted through fast tr. goco their sister parent company that they do for E plan which accepts all the plans we're still working with those those people there uh and we are we have a meeting next week with plan table company to finalize hopefully get those ordered it's been a long row with that um the other problem we're facing and Chris to contested is that the state is having problems with the contractors who have their seals electronically sending them to us or anywhere in the state they want to make sure they're secure so that's another hold up right now um people can go online they can actually see their application they can actually pay for it online now which is a which is a real big saving for us uh some of the projects finishing up this year Ryan holes they'll be finishing up their last but their last two buildings are going into ground now they anticipate being done in the end of July um middle of July end of July we have three new restaurants coming in to merer one VA they're taking over the Hooters place um cheeseburger cheeseburger and H hands so that's getting redone uh we also have a Starbucks coming to marer One Mall which will be on the other side of American the bank Bank of America with the drive group uh we have various residential CES going on and a lot coming into our office so once another we anticipate another busy year for us we just received um for the project behind the lawen shopping center um it's 12 tow houses and two buildings with Apartments uh we going to start reviewing that very shortly we're still also waiting for confirmation from the DP for the sewer commitment to they they apply for it and once that happens we'll get that moving and the other LGE is U Christ Mario squid on 206 they have a lot of projects so they keep us very busy up there so we uh we're non-stop right now and hopefully we'll be bringing on next week a full-time pluming guy to give me a little bit of help that's pretty much all I have thank you very much thank you and construction is good for the absolutely and now we'll have M Jack Emergency Management coordinator short and sweet oh that hurts me uh these other guys didn't tell you but they yielded all their time to so I'm sorry but have to suffer to this a little bit good evening mayor farmer and members of council manager nowinsky uh Mr Newman and clerk uh har thank you for allowing me to have this opportunity to speak to you tonight uh regarding the Emergency Services budget for 2025 before I get started um I'd like to have a a request for a moment of reflection um we lost two very important longtime members of our Volunteer Fire Staff um over the past two weeks both of them were past Fire Chiefs uh past Chief Ken Johnson who was also a longtime uh employee of the public works department here at lawence and slackwood and P Chief Ted Clement from the Lawrence Road fire company so if we could just have a moment of reflection for those gentlemen who made a mark with their dedication and their service to Lawrence Township in the years that they they were here thank you so we get started with the budg uh the first thing will be the fire division that we're going to speak about briefly um we have nine career staff people that are on duty from 8: a.m. to 4 pm um we had a uh a rotation of uh three stations that they were operating out of uh each with a three man uh three person staff um as of right now we revised that slightly and we have larger um contingents on two trucks throughout the uh the the shift from 8 to four One Rides out of uh the slackwood station and the other one rides out of the lawrenville station uh in addition to uh their emergencies requiring the fire department response they do a lot of inspecting of their equipment so forth which we've gone over and I promise this year no surprises no people showing up here you know with any kind of equipment on or anything we're not going to do that this year okay uh they amount equipment they do all the all the different things they also respond to um medical emergencies when our career EMS sta is tied up so they do uh they also do the regular inspecting of the apparatus they uh they exercise pumps they maintain breathing apparatus um they do a lot of different things for U for the uh the fire service during their eight hours of operation Monday through Friday they uh pretty much take care of all of the uh fire safety programs in the township um they go to uh to all the schools preschools they uh they do a couple of uh things in July where they have uh kids in Safety Town that that comes up here so they take their they take their their job seriously and and fire safety with young kids is a big part of our job for uh calls for service for the fire division in 2024 there were 1,334 calls as of the time when we actually put this together which was the end of November and the total calls for 2023 were 1,278 we are probably a little over 1,400 calls uh for last year which is a a pretty big increase just a little bit about dispatching and and responses for the different uh divisions you can see the career staff slackwood lawren and lawrenville um one of the things that we're going to speak about is uh centralization of uh a response for the volunteer staff so some of these things that you see here as far as the uh the scratched assignments for some of the stations they are um they're they not really uh uh accurate for from July 15th on because we basically put all of our volunteer staff into one station there the couple of the assignments that we were on throughout the year we actually had three uh working structure fires uh in the town last year uh in addition to some serious motor vehicle accidents and this is just the career sta they train our volunteer staff sidewood Lawrence Road and lawrencville um they definitely continue to sustain a very positive influence on our fire service um they do they do a great job as of July 15 we Consolidated uh the three fire stations for a voluntary U program uh the volunteers had the opportunity to move their equipment their their gear from the two stations Lawrenceville and slackwood to Lawrence Road we were trying to uh do a force multiplier here where we have uh more volunteers coming to a central location which allows us to get apparatus out uh at a quicker rate and um not to have as many non-responses as we've had in the past um so it seemed to work out as a matter of fact in the six-month period which was our test period it looks like anywhere from 55 to 60% of an increase in our responses so that's good good now that's only one truck okay that's only one piece of apparatus getting out most of the time so that's very good uh you know the the the followup is that one truck gets there while the rest of the volunteers responded to the station they uh they might get held up by the officer in charge because it's just taken a little bit longer and the incident doesn't require more we did 10 background investigations on potential applicants and uh we had one person graduate from the mer County Fire School the uh the volunteers continue to like I said they continue to be a very important influence and and a very important support for our fire service we spoke about that this just gives you a little idea some of the responses during that that six-month period all this information is contained in the books a little idea what the fire division does emergency medical division um we have uh a core of career people staff we have uh 10 career EMTs one uh chief of BMS Chrissy Vincent and um they have we have the three ambulances that we run for 247 operation the crews are broken up into 12 hour ships so there's every 12 hours there is two EMTs that are uh on board and then we have an extra uh truck that we put in periodically that helps with uh some calls second calls and third calls that are in the town and they pick up additional Revenue sometimes where it stood we have 18 prium um it seems to be a little bit more difficult like the vol sta the prams are seem to uh be spread out quite a bit they work for a lot of different municipalities so when we have openings in our staff it becomes a little bit more difficult for us to fill with a prum uh sometimes we have to split ships in order to get the pums on board but it's uh it seems to work out Chrissy vinon does an excellent job as a chief of BMS make sure you tell her I said that on the record on the record um last year 2024 4,029 responses that's what we had 4,029 you can do the math on 365 days a year so it's uh it's definitely um definitely a busy operation uh we have a lot of increases in our responses to uh marsall St uh St Lawrence Clover Meadows um places like that it uh it just gets to be overwhelming after a while we find ourselves sometimes going there two three four five times a day for those calls um um the second ambulance there's some stats about what they picked up 412 calls while they were in service and um this is a very important line EMS continues to struggle with exposures from covid-19 RSV micoplasma pneumonia and the neuro viruses those are the microplasma pneumonia is a respiratory issue and the majority of our calls right now are all centered around respiratory Emer it seems like it's the biggest thing going right now and it's it's nothing to to K around I mean it's serious and we're finding that our staff is being infected as well so we're losing people for a couple of days till they get over it um but it's it's definitely at a very high rate right now and the hospital's just overwhelmed with people just give you an idea of our our medical division what they responded to Fire Marshal division Fire Marshall at tenza has two full-time inspectors a housing inspector and a fire inspector Administrative Assistant um last year I think it was they lost Don arenson from that department so these people had to pick up uh and and carry the load and you're going to notice from some of the the revenue that they made they did an outstanding job last year so for their inspections for the year think they totaled somewhere the total amount was for inspections for their inspections uh they did 2761 inspections and investigations they generated 368,000 inspections and generated $127,700 that's a Monumental tax for a small group of people just give you an idea what the housing division does this is their uh their month-to month um how much they brought in and I'll I'll address the uh the operating budget for 2025 the office of emergency management is staying steady at $8,000 Emergency Medical Service there's $43,000 that's requested um that $43,000 does not go for salaries or wages or any incidental like that it's all for perishable equipment that we go through and repairs to equipment that uh that we bring and the purchase of new equipment but new equipment some of the things that we showed you last year and we told you how much it cost they have gone up since then so it's not easy uh I know the CFO mentioned that the power cut is one of the things that we are $50,000 for a stretcher that's what it is so that's the the state of of where we're at as far as put um personal protective equipment $60,000 if you remember we were asking for um additional money for personal protective equipment over the past couple years uh we have made a a tremendous gain on the equipment that we've had right now I think we're just about at the stage right now where we're starting to just fill in bits and pieces of equipment if you remember it's about $20,000 a person to outfit them completely with equipment so you know this it's only about $5,000 or $6,000 for the turnout here but the additional stuff the scvas which you see on here for $125,000 that right there is what we use to um repair or replace the present equipment that we have they all have shelf FL so we have to get rid of it after a certain amount of time uh the fire service radios and Pages $100,000 we're still trying to climb out of the hole that we had from that 2015 uh Grant from the county where they bought us uh you know a million dollars worth of radios and Equipment but at this point right now again the serviceability of those pieces of equipment has gone down to drain so we have to replace them there's no repairing them anymore because they don't make the parts for them so we have to replace um for the replacement of a ladder truck and a pumper $150,000 which we have been contributing over um the past few years uh to uh to to gain um a little bit of money to be able to actually go out and purchase these uh these pieces of equipment and that's all I have I know I know you were expecting more I realized that you exp more thank you for your presentation and forun this the past year I was able to I think both councilwoman har and I were able to visit all of the father houses see the work very much up close so definitely gain appreciation for all that you just mentioned thank you I have one question that's all right um I know um You' mentioned the the sort of response times for the combined uh volunteers how does that compare to the paid staff in terms of response time is it comparable or we having any issues with with the response time of a centralized location the the response times and you have to remember the volunteers are coming from home so they're not stationed in the station so a turnout time for the career staff is probably a minute to a minute and a half they're getting out to the volunteers by the time they travel from their house get geared up and jump on the truck you're probably talking maybe from the time it dispatch 7 8 9 minutes sometimes so it it is it is a considerable but if you're looking at the NFPA standards and it's it's an acceptable practice depending on what you got on the truck and responding to a particular area so as long as we are getting equipment out that's what the main the main stay is here just to get the equipment out the door thank you mayor may I have a I was going to ask a quick question um has the consolidation raised the efficiency as far as getting the volunteers out yes and have they all complied with um the centralization not all there are still some that chose not to participate in the program but that's that's you know you have to expect that it's a voluntary program we didn't make it mandatory um I think when you when you look at centralizing your response uh at some point it has to become mandatory but also we need to have a station a centralized station to get everybody to because the station that they're responding to at Lawrence Road right now um it doesn't it lacks some of the important things that it needs you know shower facilities U you know bunk facilities for male and female things like that Jack could you just talk about the uh impact three additional firefighters are going to have on on on the department yes the the three additional firefighters will allow us to expand the uh the coverage hours for the the career staff uh the Monday through Friday 8 to 4 uh will definitely change how that will change and how much more time we will get uh between manager nowinsky and myself and I think we'll be able to figure that out but we will be able to expand uh the coverage time for sure uh which will also help alleviate the responsibility of the volunteers responding to uh calls after the career staff is off and and Council we've discussed I think uh the main thing that we need to work out and hopefully it is this year is is um whether we're going to consolidate and whether we are going to start the process of getting a new facility that new facility will allow us to properly grow a career fire department at this point in time we we have to maintain uh the growth that we're experiencing now because it's got to fit within with certain parameters of of SCH but a facility a facility that's going to meet all the federal and state uh guidelines U for the safety of our our our our fire uh Fighters is critical and So the faster we get to the point where we know where what we're doing then we can identify how more aggressively we can grow the career Farm to ultimately you know it need be a 247365 operation thank you thank you okay that that concludes our budget presentations at this time um we are now open for public participation five minutes these part these presentations will be uh put on our website so all the presentations of this evening will be available to public on the lawen township website hello good evening mayor thank you councel mam clerk manager other councel um my name is Jim hooker I'm on the uh board and here as a member of the board of the friends of colonial Lake Park nonprofit with Tom Ritter who is our president um and we come at least once a year we usually hear a little more than once a year for various things including tonight right maybe in any event here's the new calendar here's what we come with we actually sell these as a fundraiser they're 20 bucks a pop if anyone wants one but the council and clerk manager do their wonderful work that they did some years ago stopping a development there it's putting together a bunch of open space money and that kind of stuff uh and stopping the development and buying that in perpetuity for the park um so we do this we give them the calendar each year to thank them for those wonderful efforts um the the beautiful belted caning Fisher one of my favorites is is uh the cover I don't know who took the picture it's here oh here it is Laura noros is she local at works at the library and some people are like we have someone from Bucks County who comes and shoots and uh Gary Sabo we all know the retired Tren firefighter so and beautiful pictures of course the bald eagle is in here um and will make and makes its appearance the great blue heron rabbit you can go on and on so here's a couple of folks who said things about nature and the importance of a park like this better than I or Tom better than we can say it and these are to be found in the calendar there's little little sayings so may are like you inspirational your sayings for quotes and here's a couple of quotes um and this one from jacqu custo uh for most of History man has had to fight nature to survive in this Century he was in the 20th century he is beginning to realize that in order to survive he must protect it and that's I think where we are now and that's what the great council did and the township all coming together uh then here's one from Jimmy Carter uh like music and art love of nature is a common language that can transend political or social boundaries and that's pretty much what happens here and one more uh from Lady Bird Johnson our first lady in the 60s uh the environment is where we all meet where we all have mutual interests it is the one thing all of us share and you can see that as you all have um down at the park any given day weekend uh weekday from all walks of life as we've all talked about and we've all seen um and so those uh inspirational quot sort of speak to that I think and so with that we'll just turn these over to Madam clerk so there's one for all of you there and um we appreciate once again everything that you did uh and and continue to do and Mr Whitehead is here and Nancy's here and different folks who are always uh you know helping out down the park the mayor the councilman we've walked it together last year we celebrated the 100th anniversary and um that's about it and I I we thank everyone for all that you do and all your support it's a beautiful Park and we all continue to enjoy it and treasure it with your support I can't talk thank you thank you all very much and we're looking forward to February 14th we'll be back at Colonial Lake for Valentine that's a beautiful event yes the colder the better too it's a lot of fun nice winter thank you for the calendar yeah I'm Nancy Albertson just here I just want to put on record that I'm here lots of times for treent and block on Hardscape again they've got stuff on the township property which I did email you guys I do have pictures Kevin did again Jim I guess got went out and had him clear the stuff looks like he did but unfortunately he's still doing what he is told not to do so I hope that we can get that fence up soon I know the ground is hard but you know he shouldn't be allowed to continue to do this so okay thank you and thank you for always salting my end of my road I work every day thank you and we we do go out each time that there is go out and mayor I'd like to just I think we could say this publicly now okay I received word from uh the owner of Trent block that they have acquired um a new location and it is their um plan to systematically move out of their current Cherry Tree Lane location and uh relo so having said that having said that we're we're holding off on the um on the fencing for for now until we can figure out and if if for some reason it gets delayed we're going to put the fence out but if not it we don't know what's going to happen next with that site but it's good news um so they'll be and that happened a couple weeks ago and so their plan is hopefully by June I don't want to hold the owner to anything specific but I us to get out there are a business a large business that has grown and is expanding and so um um it's good news that they are expanding and I believe there will still be a l can I say that yeah sure yeah okay good evening everyone uh Thomas L 15 East air Lane um so there was one thing that I did want to ask about tonight um so you know during these past few weeks you know ice has been ramping up their their arrests on UND documented um you know illegal imig uh immigrants uh here in the US and you know one thing that I am really concerned about is the the surprising amount of arrests for for ACT uh for like you know actual citizen American citizens who have you know done the due process to become American citizens and everything you know there was that incident that happened in New York a few uh weeks ago you know there have been you know there have been ice Vehicles being spotted over at ying and other local areas um I was just wondering so I know that like of course I know that the federal government overpowered the jurisdiction of you know local and state governments but is there anything that the you know local and state governments could do to possibly curtail you know these arrests of you know legalized citizens thank you for your question and and I I'll answer the short answer the short answer is no no this is we're in a navigating in a new world right now this country and it's it's a federal program and acts under Federal Authority I can tell you that uh like I shared with with you all that I've met with um our police chief to get a sense of what our police response would be in a in a ice raid situation and we've committed back in 2018 and it still remains that our local police department will not participate in any ice operations other than to uh protect the perimeter to ensure the public safety of anyone else we're not going to get get involved in any ice activities with regard to that the police um Chief also indicated that they're waiting for guidance from our New Jersey attorney general because this is all new to to all of us um so I can share the concern I know our uh Gover body shared the concern with me so it's a fluid situation and as soon as we get more guidance from um the attorney general and our Mercer County prosecutor who's the chief law enforcement officer for the county we'll share it with the community yeah thank you I really do and just if I could just add to it um the one of our committees the Dei committee is looking to have a community conversation with um leaders in our community to just assist and educate members of our community with regards to how to behave and what additional information is available um but that you know in support of just general information education thank you so much I really do appreciate it yeah may I make one comment before you leave um I sit as a chair for the national Haitian Association of elected officials and we've put out on our website information so people know what to do and what not to do we will be having a zoom with resources such as attorneys and and um local Advocates to give people guidance on how to navigate it so once that information is available if permitted I will share it on the township website so everyone can know what's going on thank you I appreciate it thank you good evening to everyone mayor council Kevin sorry that my hair is out of place it's not as neat as Jack's my name is John White I'm the electrical sub code official here in lawrenville um and I'm also the president we have a lot of people in our um office that wear a lot of hats and um I'm the president of Central Jersey Cod Fishers also so we get a lot of information about where our industry speaking of construction may you said that earlier and also to add to what Peter put up about what the UCC fees are I think it was like 1.3 million Peter something like that just to provide some context um I learned today through New Jersey Board of um officials building officials that there's pending legislation that um inspectors uh will have to have their inspection done in two and a half hours so if someone called in or we had by law we're supposed to have eight inspections a day I don't think we're nowhere near that I think we're above that beyond the mark and we don't complain we get it done and where I'm going with this unfortunately because of the short Manpower nobody wants to come into this industry and we know that Council in mayor gets a lot of cause when we don't show when we don't show up at a particular time we're stressed and no one's putting pressure on anyone just that no one's coming in I remember councilwoman Perry right mentioned something in the hall about what can we do right can we get our um um um salaries up you know to bring people in and that's an industrywide problem and it pays well it pays well but it's really difficult to get people in and when we talk to people it is about to pay all right and this new bill um and the lack of construction I just lost one of my employees my inspector and now we got a former retire he double retired he's back but he's limited he's very limited in what he can do he's 76 and I'm not knocking that I'm thankful to have all right but Jim he's been some Mechanical plumbing construction official and I just want the uh panel to really really take that into consideration and I really appreciate having Kevin our and I mean this there was a call a couple years ago and a person lost their heat all right and they had a unlicensed electrician go in there and do work and there was pressure put on to have me sign off on the document all right and unless the township council is going to sign off and says you give us power to do that and take full responsibility if that house burns down so I really appreciate Mr nowinsky I never come to these meetings not live in Columbus but I'm here because I'm working overtime but I'm not on overtime now I did clock out but but that being said um I really really wanted to stress that because two years ago there was another bill and it was and that's approved 847 88 expedited inspections with all of the construction that we're seeing in our town all right the fees at 1.3 million the township would be obligated to give that money back let that sink in and I'm not saying it's your fault I'm just saying industrywide how do we get more people in you know because we truly truly are stressed and I would hate for the township or any Township to start giving money back and if we were short like some towns they allow Mr Bob knows this because some towns they want a person to have every license I think that's a problem I'm an electrician of 40 plus years all right Jim's been a plumber for and I still want my contracting business all right and imagine a Township having to give up that's $300 they can go up to $300 right Jim if I remember $300 per inspection so if you had a fire electrical building mechanical and went out there there's $1,200 just disappeared from our budget so imagine if one of these massive construction projects come in and we're still short you know and again I'm coming from the point where you know the council please understand that we're short so when that call comes in you know they're saying I mean they say a lot of things we get it but we also get a lot of AD Boys in this town because we bust our humps we really do I mean I I'm trying to save my hair Jack but anyway thank you any questions I do have a question do you do um any Outreach with high schools or young people because I know the trads are such great professions and I know that there's vocational um opportunities I know that do we do any like that mentoring I think I before I had no problem I bought kids in my office before I'm a former teacher as well you know so I have no problem and we do a central Jersey Code officials we actually would go to different um like Mercy County and we talk to the kids and that gentleman that mentioned something about is he still here about um the um the issue with what's going on nationally yeah when you go to Mercy County and I went to Mercy County years ago for my apprenti and the demographics have changed tremendously that class was pretty much um Latino you know so the workforce has changed tremendously you know so um but we try okay we try can I ask one question sure do you know do you happen to know off the top of your head the the bill number I'm want to find out tomorrow send it to the send it to all of us yeah NJ boa called me up today and announc that I said another one yeah yeah if you could get it to the clerk and then she could for toel that thank let's hope it doesn't go anywhere well having that number we could lobby with um our partners in the legislator to ask them to help us with that yeah that was the um gist of the conversation today they used to have presidents meetings for all these organizations and I said well you're the lead chapter for the state you need to make that happen I said I'm all board so do we have 165 members cjca y thank you education pie syia k um I would like to take an opportunity to uh that we have department heads uh here at the meeting and EMS and fire department uh to thank you all for as we hear it every time in um Madame Clark's uh inspiration um you are a part of making this community a great Community to live in and um we truly appreciate all your hard work that you put in to for us residents to enjoy this community The Salted roads the cleanups um in the uh at the end of the Cherry Tree Lane um there is a barrier before the entrance in the entrance to the Delaware River ran uh Canal that's always someone always enjoys putting graffitis there and as soon as we call it's covered up so we truly we truly appreciate the help and it's it's it's a wonderful it's it's great to be here tonight to listen to all of the achievements of all the Departments because we don't see it every day we you don't see it unless you you uh need something you don't see it and luckely we didn't need to the health department too much this year so so it's wonderful to hear all of the things that are happening in the township and we truly appreciate all your help work so thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity thank you C public comments I'm public comments at this time mayor may I just say um I want to thank all the department heads for coming tonight um even the even the ones that were presenting they're here as a show of py and support for those that are presenting it speaks a lot about the professional ISM and um the teamwork atmosphere that this this C government has and I appreciate you all being here and also the EMTs firefighter um volunteers that were here they all just had to leave um I want to thank you guys um for being here tonight uh it's important ABS absolutely share the senent thank you all for being here this evening and you don't have to Keith that's noted that you're leaving okay and rision of agenda I don't think we have I think that I think that we do we have something to I W to Personnel discussion okay and and it's it's not about any present employee at all okay okay for close s so for close session it's a potential land acquisition personel very it's very brief all right I'll make a motion to amend I think we should yes that would be proper I think I'll make a motion to amend 18 H6 number 93 to read authorizing a closed session of council immediately following the regular meeting to discuss potential land acquisition and Personnel I said okay M call please Mr B yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes mayor B yes adoption ad minutes can adopt regular meeting September 177 yeah I was gonna I'll ask the clerk about August 20th as as Mr Ryan hasn't been here for a few meetings now um how how can we move forward on this you can if you yeah okay you can if you've read them understand them and agree with them you can vote on them okay that would be for um Council per and myself okay then I guess we're prepared right y forward thank you madam clerk for that clarification you're welcome no motion so in that case I'll move 18a regular meeting I mean 8A regular meeting August 20th 2024 second second M if you call the r Please Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes mayor farmer yes mayor I'll move 8B regular September 17th 2024 we have a second second M CLK please call the r Mr Bobby yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes mayor BR yes aing and rejection of BS any introduction of ordin May I'll move uh 10A ordinance number 2484 d25 and ordinance amending chapter 10 article six of the Lawrence Township Administrative Code entitled officers and employees section 1038 municipal clerk Deputy municipal clerk here in a second we'll table this second is for a second okay I'm second okay we have a second Madam Cliff call the Please Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes Miss Perry no mayor farmer no mayor if I may since we didn't really have a chance for debate about this um I I think we need I think it's time for us to to move forward as a council and and figure out how to appoint a deputy municipal clerk it seems if the uh the former having Council having Council appoint this position couldn't even get a second the last time and um this time we got a second and then there was no no opportunity for debate I had some things prepared about um classified unclassified uh positions the potential of this position being politicized being an unclassified position with no input from the municipal manager or the clerk only from the council so um I hope at at the next meeting we can have a chance to have a a debate about this because I think we need to move on from this this has been going on since October 1st um when when a resolution was put forward about a $100,000 job with no with no budgeted money at the time no regard for the impact on Township uh priorities or or even asking doing the the courtesy of asking the clerk what her office needs so I hope I hope at the next meeting we can have a conversation about this and move forward thank you thank you Mr okay adoption of ordinances you have another adoption I'll move 11a ordinance number 2483 d25 an ordinance amending chapter 435 of Lawrence Township ad Administrative Code entitled motor vehicles and traffic addition of handicap parking space at 1632 Bruns Avenue I'll second okay M you call the r please we have a motion by Mr Bob and the second by Council Perry yes this is an adoption did you want to open it for the public okay is there any public comment seeing none Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes Miss Perry yes mayor bur yes we'll now have the manager report and I he's going to into the record the budget announcement yes I'm going to be reading the uh budget message into the record and it takes about 10 minutes time at the8 minute Mark don't get an like I'm gonna go on for you can take a break as we prepared the 2025 Municipal budget future federal and state funding uncertainty was FR in Center we were also mindful that our taxpayers will likely have increases from other public entities funded by them with this as a backdrop we deemed it necessary and appropriate to limit new cap new non- Capal spending to adding three police officers and three fighter firers to Municipal operations we also increased our annual contributions to the three Volunteer Fire companies by 10 ,000 each for a total of $70,000 per year to each Fire Company we continue to enjoy a favorable financial situation that allows us to provide and improve upon the essential services our community deserves and expects from their local government in short we continue to reduce our debt increase our Surplus add Personnel to improve Public Safety maintain a forward-thinking proactive Capital Improvement plan and deliver a budget with no increased in our Municipal tax for a second consecutive year where we find ourselves today isn't by happen stance it is from a consistent fiscally responsible approach to governance over the past eight years and the good work of the employees who serve our community the total Municipal budget is 6,395 19630 the recommended Municipal tax rate for 2025 represents a 0% increase from last year and is 652 one equals $475,500 the amount to be raised by taxation in 2025 is 31,1 18020 the increase of $214,400 3374 and we will use 0 to remain within the 2% tax levy cap note the 2022 cap Bank of $94,500 year end balance of 20, 638,000 5838 it's an increase of 1,452 655890 Revenue will be 12,773 1427 is an increase of $4 52,6 189 over the 2024 remaining balance the cash Reserve balance for tax appeals is 8 million 9 $1,491 18 the decrease in outstanding debt continues the 2010 closing balance was $3,797 the 2024 closing balance is 8,365 reducing our debt by $2,423 th000 from last year for 2024 we have budget for 2025 we have budgeted another $2,423 reducing to our reduction to our debt in addition The yearend Reserve balance in the Lawrence Township Self Insurance Fund is 1, 62,5 8538 the 2025 Municipal budget has an appropriation of $120,000 to fund this decrease the municipal open space fund balance is $431,000 2828 Revenue revenues that support the municipal budget have multiple sources but are placed in in one of four categories Surplus miscellaneous revenues receipts from delinquent taxes and the amount to be raised by taxation the amount of revenue from each category to be anticipated in support of the municipal budget is controlled by state statutes and regulations those legal restrictions are in place to promote Assurance of the fiscal solvency of New Jersey municipalities generally defined statutory restrictions are as follows one Surplus is limited to the amount available from fund balance cash two miscellaneous revenues are limited to no more than the amount realized in cash in the immediately preceding fiscal year for each Revenue Source three receipts from delinquent taxes are limited to the collection percentage realized in cash against receivable balances of the prior year and four current taxes are the default Revenue necessary to close any Gap in revenues to balance the budget against the Appropriations the legal Provisions that regulate the utilization of Revenue in our operating budget must be applied along with local policy of anticipating revenues at levels that can be sustained for future budgets and with the consideration of replenishment of cash Surplus receipt of revenues in excess of what is anticipated to be received in a budget is credited to Surplus at the year end simply the Regeneration of surplus the development of Revenue estimates must be approached with not only consideration of the current budget but of future budgets as well failure to craft a budget without sustaining revenues for future use will lead to their diminished support of Appropriations and increase the demand for taxation this long-term approach has been applied to prepare the recommended budget cash Surplus as budget Revenue results from the fiscal activity of the immediate prior fiscal year the amount of surplus to be applied as budget Revenue comes from a known yearend balance the significant contributions to generating a cash Surplus are Revenue realized in excess of the amounts anticipated to your ized in the prior budget year lapsed 2023 appropriation reserves and miscellaneous Revenue not anticipated cash Surplus is anticipated as Revenue in the 2025 recommended budget of 9,315 th000 surplus is 15 and 42 hundred% of the total budget Revenue miscellaneous revenues are from known and recurring sources permit fees interest income state aid the amount of revenue from this category is Lim by Statute to not being anticipated in the current year budget in excess of what was collected from that same identical source and immediately prior year miscellaneous revenues are 31 and 34 hundred% of the total budget revenues receipts from the delinquent taxes are receipts from payments of outstanding prior year tax receivables and tax title leans held by the municipality the year end tax receivable balance is 1,267 6703 6 the 2025 budget anticipates $1,150,000 as revenue from this Source delinquent tax revenue is 1 and 900% of the total budget property taxes are the amount necessary to balance the budget with revenues to equal Appropriations property taxes also referred to as the amount to be raised by taxation is the difference between the total of all budget Appropriations and the total of anticipated revenues the amount be raised by taxation in the 2025 budget is $ 31,1 18020 an increase of $ 24,41 181 the revenue from property taxes is 51 and33 hundred% of total revenues when calculating the tax rate is necessary to know not only the amount of taxes to be collected but also the value of taxable property in municipality also known as the net valuation taxable the 2024 net valuation taxable is 4 b754 m459 300 this is an increase of$ 32,9 12,700 over the previous year this increase in taxable value helps to support budget growth the amount of taxable value results in one penny on the tax rate equaling $475,500 the recommended Municipal tax rate for 2025 is 652 a0 Cent increase a residential property owner with a property valued at the 2025 average reg residential assessment of 28757 will pay $1,874 196 as the municipal portion of their property taxes Appropriations while crafting the 2025 recommended Municipal budget the challenge continues to be implementing financially efficient services at an appropriate level New Jersey Municipal budgets are restricted by law known as the appropriation cap to limit designated Appropriations from increasing no more than 2.5% or the cost of living adjustment whichever is L with exceptions for fiscal year 2025 heard the New Jersey DCA the cost of living adjustment was 2.5% below is a list of the significant increases in our Appropriations our Capital Improvement fund we increased by $1 million and that is uh geed towards renovations costs for the neighborhood center salary wages $842,500 mcia 61559 it's a contractual increase joint Insurance Fund 47,3 23.50 increase in premium and Fire Company funding as St we're increasing it by $330,000 um to help provide additional assistance to our Volunteer Fire companies the recommended budget includes a funding of $55,000 to the Lawrence Township unemployment fund $120,000 to the self-insurance trust fund and $51,000 to the Lawrence Township accumulated sick leave trust fund these are consistent annual budget contributions Lawrence Township mpal employees are provided health benefits or may qualify for a cash payment in lie of receiving health benefits if the employee complies with the applicable eligibility requirements of The healthc CARE program health benefits are provided through the New Jersey state health benefits program which dictates specific benefit and co-payments employees contribute a percentage of the premium for their applicable coverage and the salary level levels guide these percentage percentages contributions employees will contribute 1,445 33 towards the cost of their health insurance the employee Group Health Insurance appropriation increased $841,000 that's a 19% increase the appropriation increased due to rate changes participation and new hires Lawrence Township employees are members of the Public Employee Retirement System police and fire retirement system or the defined contribution retirement plan participation in these systems requires contribution from employees and the employer police and fire employees contribute 10% of their salary civilian employees contribute 7 and 5 h hundred% of their salary to purs and 5 and 1 half% for the dcrp the employer rates of contribution are 37% for police 17 and 11 100% for purs and 3% for the DCR participants the 2025 Appropriations for PF FRS is $2,865 75 for e RS 1,267 260 and dcrp is $99,500 the 2024 Appropriations were pfrs was 2,248 258 PS 1, 25193343 for the employer share of the contribution the systems are valued on prior wage levels two years prior for PS and pfrs the Ying Lawrence sewage Authority provides sewer treatment services to Ying Township and Lawrence Township the cost of that service is controlled by Elsa and is portioned to each municipality based on the flow levels received at the plant each town will pay the debt service for specific projects that benefit the individual Community for 2025 the annual charge for lawr Township is $6,200 th000 with no rate increase to the end users La Township residents the appropriation is paid from collecting sewer service fees separate from real estate taxes the appropriation for Debt Service includes Appropriations for ban interest in the amount of $276,400 2524 cents in lease payments related to police vehicles and the statutory B payments of 354 , 57325 and 26842 75 in ban rollover payments to De to further decrease the township outstanding debt with an anticipated settlement in 2027 meaning the township would be debt three if we continue on our track as we are reserve for uncollected taxes is non-s spending appropriation M mandated by state law to collect adequate cash to taxes for the school County municipal tax Lev requirements the appropriation is needed to close the gap between current taxes anticipated and 100% being collected what this means is is if the taxpayer fails to pay their taxes municipal government has to use its budget to provide 100% payments to both the school and the county they get 100% we got to deal with it that's something to discuss with the state representatives the appropriation is needed to close the gap between the current taxes and anticipated and 100% being collected this appropriation is 4,541 1854 in 2025 of which approximately 14.53% is attributable to the municipal portion of the tax room all right I don't know how long that took but I can tell you that um Pete here's got us to put a lot of time and effort into crafting the budget um we met to discuss budget meas uh messaging and I think this year more than um any other year we're seeing a couple things that are driving us to um say we should not hit the taxpayers with with more taxes if we can control it and we can control it at this point in time we know that what's pending with the school if it's passed is going to be significant burden Upon Our taxpayers and we also know that there's going to be an increase from the county we don't know what that is but our taxpayers are going to that we saw the high we're the smallest of the property taxes that are collected and in addition we just don't know where we're going to land with regard to Federal funding and how the decrease of federal fundings to the state is going to flow from State funding to us so we have consistently benefited from approximately $4 million worth of state aid we don't know if that's going to happen next year we hope it does but that's why it's important for us to address important Public Safety um issues like increasing our police department and firefighters um but also maintaining a really fiscally responsible approach knowing that we can't control outside factors and so that's where they are thank you Kevin for that presentation attorne report mayor if I could mayor sorry no I just want to publicly say that it I'm flabbergasted and really impressed by both the manager's work and cfo's work as well as all the department heads to add add staff and keep a flat grate when we're not sure about um funding from federal and state sources that to me is a sign that this town has been run really well for a long time and that we are in a good position to sort of to to be prepared for what's next right in the past we've had some hiccups but right now we are not only having a 0% tax increase we're adding firefighters we're adding police officers we're even adding a deputy Municipal cler apparently um and on top of that we're almost going to be debt free by 2027 think about that this town will not have any outstanding bonds it's an incredible test to the longterm fiscal responsibility that Council and the manager and the CFO have shown over the past 30 years so Bravo and it also sets us up nicely for the um emergency facility that we may need to have you know so it lines up good thank you mayor but nothing to report I don't feel so badly about coun Madam clerk um I do have something to report um March 11th we know that the special School Board election will be taking place The Ballot Box um is open now um ballots um and the yeah ballot should be sent out I guess sometime this week um from the county and I do want to say something to the council or recommend something and I'm uncomfortable about really talking about this over the last few years I've had a little pushback from the use of the fire companies uh for as polling places and um because of that I as me as the clerk or I as the clerk I should say have to certify uh suggested poting places and those are three of our largest one we have about eight eight districts between the some of these uh fire or more and you know they don't fail I think two of them fail because we do not own them that they're not public buildings they are public buildings and we should be able to utilize them so I do want to at some point um I did get some I did reach out to the Board of Elections I did get um the law on it and we are going to utilize that building I sent out a letter to them asking for authorization to use the building and um I gettime push back and I don't think me or any other clerk going forward a future clerk should have to put up with that with the public billing well Madam there's this is the first time hearing of it but um please do come to us and if there is any way in which we can assist in that process then that really is our role to support you and that so um I was unaware of that so yeah because I bring this to your attention because I'm listening to the budget we give public funds this is elections is not an option uh is taxpayer dollars and those facilities should be utilized period Well we heard you so um we look into the matter are you finished business anything okay new business did you want to say something good ah Council Madam mayor I would like to at next month's meeting go over make a recommendation that for any council member that's going to go for training of any type if it costs more than $250 that the full board has to vote on it that it's just not going to the clerk saying I'm going to this class or this meeting and it is accepted how did um is there a certain budget I think it was budgeted monies right for Council to attend trainings is that my understanding manager Winski yeah there is a budget for for those for those things okay is it like is it $9,000 in 2025 yeah and and we could I mean if there's any type of question I don't believe that we use minimal of that am but saying you two all right I'm not saying it's about you two I'm just bringing it forward that I will tell you this much years ago when I served on this board there was three people on the board I was not on and they done what called the walk to train or walk to Washington they paid for it out of their pocket okay thank you so all I'm saying is with something attack cost it ain't like going to the leue of municipalities at that cost Council should have to vote on that's all I'm saying it's very interesting that this has come up since we have been diligent not to spend very little money in the past and just so it becomes public record we have requested the mayor and I to join legislators at the walk to Washington which is where we have the opportunity to speak to legislators and have direct access without having going through staff to support this Township especially in this environment where we do not know what will happen in the federal government so I find it very interesting that all of a sudden that there is a request for a vote and just to be clear the total amount that is being set spent is $375 per person now if we are able to actually achieve something for this Township that would be Minal so I I really feel that it I understand being fiscal and I understand that it's important that it is transparent so that's why I'm going on record yes the mayor and I are taking the walk to Washington because if we can reach legislators to do anything for this Township that's what I'm going to be doing because as most of you will learn I'm very passionate on making sure that this town gets everything it needs and I'm not afraid to ask so I should hope that that money would be well spent and all members of this Council were invited to join us you are absolutely right all members of the council was invited through the municipal clerk when it come came up what I'm saying is I get paid to sit up here every two weeks a salary to spend $300 out of my pocket is not a problem because I want to go somewhere okay for the years I served I paid for my stuff I didn't come to the township and ask the township other than the Lega Municipal you're not going to you're not going to shut me up other other are to L of municipalities I have a right to Mayor I I think the councilman should be able to speak his peace I have the right to speak you can bang all you want I want to speak all I'm saying is well I'm saying about me I didn't mention you I didn't mention her I heard this I called it to walk to Washington it is New Jersey you came up with saying you and the mayor I refus to say the names I wasn't saying I'm saying about myself because I got saying is it could come out of my pocket instead of the Township's Money Jim that's what I'm saying point of order May mayor mayor councilman can as you want to go there I think you're being very disrespectful I'm not being disrespectful you're twisting it the way you I'm not attacking any yes you are okay and I will not stand for you grandstanding attacking us okay not BR standing I'm not attacking you I did not mention your name Rec now minute Rec Rec point a account do our Township attorney is can she call recess just without any any Vote or anything I I would believe that there be need to be a vote but I'll I'll I'll withdraw and I'll allow the mayor to to have recess yeah I know I can call it recess Roberts are weird Bill all thank you we you turn outside it ends the stream can't do that okay okay so if you want to go out if you want to go into your chambers that that could be good I want to stop and we'll come back EAS so so can control destu still a how are you very well how are you regular meetings like with developers and stuff I just tell them look I have Ani rep and then sum yeah this is actually it's called ploud it attaches to your phone it takes it and then you have transcri every word catches every word um and then you say please put this into summary please you're not sitting there tomorrow listening and trying to get stuff so we're gonna try it next so that's so that's where like technology can reduce the need for like hiring a whole new person right because you're gonna capture a whole bunch of time we'll try that I've been like on WE Haven Le hour yeah but but like the more the more you're on it you get to figure out how to how to best use it it's this device that record getting said tonight do yes wait a minute hold on okay I'm back in all righty let's rock and roll new business appointments to the boards and committees mayor I'd like to appoint uh Ryan Colter to the environmental resources and sustainability green committee uh for an exist in 4year term ending 12 3125 are we going to do these in a block mayor uh no so you have a block second do you have a second we're doing it in a block no no no just for Ryan Ryan for environmental resources and sustainability can we have a second he did he did mad Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes mayor F yes mayor I'd like to uh nominate uh councilwoman Perry to the class three uh planning board seat second call Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes May yes okay I would like to appoint um Mr ninski to the planning board the official title of this class that's all that needs to be just just for the rec M Class number two do I have a second second Madam clerk call the rooll Please Mr Bob point of order I I believe that's just the mayor's appointment I don't think counil makes no don't no that is I'm sorry that is that's just it says it right here paper all right do we have any other Che Mr I have a question for the um Elsa board the appointments were La Township Could you um refresh my memory on what they are what we have how many we have two two one open seat One open seat right is that what's happening we have one open seat has that been filled we have no open seats yeah I have a resignation from Mr Ryan well then you need to come to me okay so when it comes to me and I formally get a resignation then we have a open seat okay and that that's an appointment by mayor no that if it's it's an appointment by the whole Council and I did receive an application today uh for that for someone that's interested in that position all right moving right along you reive the application are there any other appointments this evening no I don't think so um the other two um I think you I got a planning board one but we don't have any openers on the planning board and that was Miss Claire Russ I think it was I made a mistake in and then um did get another one in but I'll put it on the next meeting for you because it's nothing for Public Safety either and we receive in the application all right this will bring us now to the public participation three minutes I already signed uh hi Jim hooker Buck Hill Avenue I just wanted to Echo my friend sovia Hest classy lady who said those nice things about our First Responders and um others who help our time operate salting the road etc etc etc uh even you good folks and the manager and his whole Squad so I just wanted to Echo what um Sylvia had to say miss culus about um the services and what a great town it is to live in as a result and uh too often we don't give it that due so thank you see no additional public comments closing up public comments resolutions mayor I'd like to move 18 A1 through H6 in the block second do we have a second I did yes Mr Kaki yes Perry yes mayor far yes Council on reports do you have one Mr coun yes I do mayor um uh environmental uh egac as I like to call it because that's it's the acronym um we had a great meeting uh a couple new faces from the public there we talked about um a stream restoration project that's going to be happening in um uh off of um off of Texas Avenue in the spring whenever the the ground thaws so that'll be exciting uh live staking where they put um sticks into the the side of the the stream and and they'll take um it'll also be it's being partially funded by rors as well as um as well as AMJ and one of the nice things is that uh Public Works members of Public Works are going to be there to sort of learn how they can take that those skills and apply them to our Parklands and other Municipal U properties so that's exciting um I also brought up uh the idea of uh whether uh the environmental committee would like to be interested take a look at um mobility issues within the township or if that might be something that might be something separate later on that I might come back to councel uh for help with um so they're going to take a look at it we had one um one resident who who plot who sort of did a report on his trials and tribulations of walking all the way from the Trent Farmers Market back to the uh the library and how you know I can see Miss cop's face she knows exactly what I know that that's uh taking your life in your own hands in certain parts of it so uh we have some dedicated people on that committee um and then I just wanted to ask I noticed on on Mr lavine's uh health report that the health Advisory Board is missing a council leaon so we should probably take a look at that thanks thank you Jim any updates on Elon no council Council no updates we still okay mayor can I ask a quick question about Council initiatives um are there any updates on the mayor's task force for the community center now that we've heard that the part of the budget is a million dollars towards at work and then I'd also like to ask Miss Perry um if there's any any movement on uh on her RFP okay so let's see um the mayor's Tas Force as you know we have received back from The Architects a first um the renderings of the recommended improvements to the 29 295 Ed Crossing Road um I believe Council has all had an opportunity to review um that report and that will be shared with the task force at the next meeting which is scheduled for February 26 I believe um and that meeting will take place at the community center uh where the task force will um have a tour and also review the report from the architect as well and there will be consequent after that there will be a community meeting scheduled and the task force will also be selecting a chair for that committee um what else mayor when you say community meeting are is that open to the public is that open to the public Y and as you know Council love that you are always welcome that the test fory want to attend any as well as any other members of council always welome um what was the other question I to to council Perry about the status of her task force since we had some conversation you know the jackly had spoken a bit about you know so um as per my last uh per our last meeting we received seven bids um which came from throughout the United States as far west as um California and up north as far as um Boston um the committee is now reviewing and summarizing each report which we will then consolidate and present to council for um guidance on moving to the next step and okay Al wanted to give an update on the F board the F board met uh last night and I just got um a more update um as we reappointed members um to that committee the chair and the vice chair are the same and uh in speaking with the planner she um let us know that the projected timeline for the next second public meeting will be scheduled in the late spring and the completion of the report is expected to take place the end of June and July for adoption by the planning board the draft will be ready um June after she has met with some additional stakeholders in the community um what else and that they will also um the sub commmittee is expected to meet at the end of February and they are the the D force behind a lot of the work that's being done on the master plan uh and she just reiterated that in 2023 um the master plan was adopted and we're reexamining the plan as we're required to do every 10 years for review so we are still um within deadline for that so um that is continuing and then also going to share that the diversity equity and inclusion committee is will be um having a round table discussion with stakeholders and leaders in our community to discuss um some of the concerns that have been brought up um with regards to immigration um and also uh some anxiety that people have about the current Administration so uh there will be a round table to help support some of our neighbors who are experiencing some difficulty at the time not to mention um our young people as well we've um we've gotten a word that there is concern with regards to to that all right excuse me is there a date for that round the round table will happen in February I do not have the date before as of yet before me but it will be in February and that is actually going to be a zoom call so um it allow for people who may not be local they're uh committed to doing the work of supporting our neighbors and informing the public of things that um are being represented not only in the Nationals but that potentially impact us here locally so we want to make sure we have all the resources and information all right any other reports no all written communication we have um this evening we have a letter from uh the friends of colonial Lake Park regarding a resolution to change the path of the plan Elsa s line through the colonial Lake par to avoid imparing Irreplaceable 100y old trees in the park and we all I believe received a copy of that letter from the um from the friends of the colonial Lake and you know just I gu in support of us creating a resolution there any comments on that mayor can I ask the the township manager uh is Mr filler the executive director of Elsa the UN law SE Authority was he scheduled to come before council at any point we we have not formally made that request you can certainly do that I I it's it strikes me as something where there's concerns in the community so I think it would be good to hear it directly from the executive director um just what the plans actually are because I understand that that in the summer we we got a letter and a map but that doesn't seem to be assuaging the fears of some of members of our family so I think him coming in and publicly stating what's going on would be great and I think you had mentioned that he usually comes in March for budget yeah he usually does come in we can ask them to come separate from that we can we can absolutely make that request address this particular matter I guess soon better than later we decide okay and we also received a letter from Eva foras regarding the abisal water quality Supply by TR water work um May or if I may uh Trend Waterworks and the subject matter Miss fa fabri gas letter is part of ongoing active litigation so I would ask that Council doesn't comment on the letter but nonetheless you can ackowledge receipt obviously read the letter but again it's a part of active litigation so we should refrain from commenting thank you Council okay seeing no additional items on the agenda we will now go into our executive session we thank the public for attending this evening's meeting and have safe travels back to your uh Final Destination motion s