call May [Music] 824 meeting adver for the provision of the open public meeting La we advise this meeting a reported possible everyone United States of America the stands Nation God [Music] [Music] here coun here coun here mayor here have presentation from excuse me Mr May we're waiting on uh father R it should be okay move forward then let me okay um National Police Week Proclamation Proclamation for National Police Week 2024 to recognize National Police Week 2024 and honor the service and sacrifice of those Law Enforcement Officers duty while protecting our communities and safeguarding our democracy whereas there are more than ,000 Law Enforcement Officers serving in the communities across the United States including the dedicated members of the lall police department whereas since the first reported death in 1786 more than 24,067 law enforcement officers in the United States made the ultimate sacrifice and be killed and had been killed in the line of duty including Patrol M Shannon a member of the lall police department who filled in the line of duty on December 24th 1946 whereas the names of these dedicated public servants are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington DC whereas 282 new names of fallen heroes are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial this spring including 118 officers killed in 2020 grade and 164 officers killed in previous years whereas the service and sacrifice of all officers filled in the line of duty will be during the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial fund's 36th cake vigil on the evening of May 13th 2024 whereas the candle light vigil is part of National Police Week which will be observed this year May 10th through 16th whereas May 15th is designated as Peace Officers Memorial Day in honor of all fallen officers and the families and us flages should be flown at half staff therefore we it resolved that the B of lore will observe May 10th through the 16th 2024 as National Police me and publicly salutes the service of law enforcement officers in our community and in communities Across the Nation thank you okay this time we're going to do Theus animal offic year recognition call M the of thas Father reene Canalis pastor of our Lady gu church and officer Tom all who's going to be thank you m May for allowing time to come and recognize of Tran M uh we do this every year and in it's something we look forward to doing not only to Foster the relationship between nights here in lyen wal and the lyen wal police department but also the relationship between our lady Guadalupe parish and the police department because you're such an integral part of our Parish Community as we are of yours tomman Malon was selected as this year's patrolman uh police officer of the year based on his community service his work ethic is accepting leadership positions in the absence of and in the absence of leaders to me spending 33 years in the Army retiring that that is an ideal Soldier right there you have so on behalf of nativity Council nights Columbus and our lady gu Parish I'd like to recognize you trollman of [Applause] yes thank you mayor council first time though neighbor been here for about four years and happy to announce also part of the police chap in also that's for so happy to be here uh we are so grateful yes be honor and we pray for all the men and women in do because we we know they they need to protect and serve to the community so thank you for the opportunity and we hope to come back again we're not we're not apart from each other we're neighbors and the parish is here to support and um just to finish up with this the other day a lady came to the to the door and she says excuse me Father no offense I am not C and I said to no than is perfect she say I am in need perfect I need food I need this I said the doors are always open and as I was coming in we the Bells I said this is we are a Beacon of Hope and a beacon of light and that's why stands for we support what what you do a mayor and C just know that you are in our prayers because we live in your town and we were here before a lot of people came to bed right that Parish was established in the 1800s long before us we we came in lol but it remains there and we continue to be part of the mission so know that we are a resource to you we continue to pray for you in the council because you have to not L and especially pray for the police force and in conjunction with the Nights of Columbus know that you are in our prayers and whatever happens here we will like to know we would like to hear it because it comes back to us so thank you for your prayers and thank you for your support once again we are grateful and God continue to bless and may Michael continue to bless you protect you amen thank you so much again first I just like to congratulate Tom on his award it's a welld deserved recognition works hard um it wasn't an easy decision because we had so many officers but I think that speaks to or who were observant I I think that speaks to just the level of service that Tom uh put forward for him to be selected with such a tough competition so conratulations keep up good work and I also like to thank all the other officers being this National Police Week for all that you do many of these officers are out there day night behind the scenes doing a lot of work in our community you're never going to get credit for nobody's going to see they're there all the time protect and serving and and just assistant wherever they can so I just like to I'm very proud of all these officers and what they do and i' just like to take the time to congratulate all of you for what you do you're all well deserving award and just keep up the great work and and thank you for all that you [Applause] do speak for you we also support a Boy Scout Troop and a Girl Scout Troop and your officers been invaluable to both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts there whether it's just stopping by when they're having a meeting and checking on them and saying hello to perhaps getting a free box of cookies here or there I don't know I per or deny that but again having that presence to our youth which is our future thank you thank you one last thing as father R had spoken about he's a police chaplain we have a chapy program for the L Police Department also one of our Chaplin is here as well Mrs Dixon so we have several chaplain who take part in that and they provide an extra level of service to the community kind of a softer Edge can go out there and for those folks who are really on hard times and have gone through traumatic events our Chaplin go out in the middle of the night speak with them assist them help them in any way they can so we really appreciate the service our chap provide to our community as well I just like to publicly thank Father reenee and Mrs Dixon for all they do and all the other chaps as [Applause] well thank you very much and also I like also thank the police department for everything you guys do I you do outstanding job now and it time shows it it's changed so much because of the work that you guys do same thing with the chap we thank you for very much know know you forever um you people go above and beyond the Call of Duty for this community and we thank you so very much and that's why you have so much of our support thank you youur you going take off picture one more app place where she [Music] off 20247 for year 2024 open any questions or comments regarding second meting 20247 motion 20247 adoun yes yes yesc yes second readingin 202 sidewalk agreement at this time like meeting public for any questions or comments regarding coordin yes Council yes Council yes coun poun yes first reading ordinates 2024 9 privt storage make motion 20 249 privately owned salt storage ordinance be adopted as read on first reading published according to law posted in the girl Hall with the second meeing being held at our next regular scheduled meeting second please questions councilwoman H yes councilman lowski yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mary yes councilwoman P yes council president Rand yes first reading ordinance 2024 call 10 amend section 250- 7f of multiple make a motion for first uh reading of ordinance 202 410 amending section 250- 7f he adopted as ROM first reading published according to law posted at our B Hall with the second reading being held in our next second pleas second councilman H yes councilman lowski yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mary yes Council woman Patton yes council president Rand Shar yes first reading ordinance 2024 call 11 non contractual salary ordinance by Tyle I make a motion for ordinance first reading of ordinance 20241 non-contractual salary ordinances be adopted as read on first reading published according to law posted in the B Hall with second reading being held next regularly schedu meeting have a second please second Council woman H yes councilman linowski yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mory yes councilwoman Patton yes council president Rand yes first reading ordinance 2024 col 12 amend article one General penalty 1-1 violation and penalties make a motion on first reading ordinance 20242 amending article of General penalties and violations be adopted on first reading published according to law posted in the girl Hall with the next second reading May held nextly SCH meeting and second please second councilwoman H yes councilman ly yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mory yes councilwoman Patt yes council president Rand shark yes next resolution 2024 96 read the budget by motion some reading resolution 20249 Bud meeting by councilwoman H yes councilman lowski yes councilman Jackson yes councilman morsy yes councilwoman Patton yes council president Rand yes next public hearing for 2024 bud I turn it over to our good evening and Welcome to our 2024 Municipal budget public hearing state law requires that every municipality holds a public hearing on the municipal Budget prior to abop adoption by the government body the public hearing provides pertinent information regarding the town's Financial operating plan which outlines anticipated revenues and allocation of resources to VAR expenditures this evening's budget presentation will include a 2023 financial highlights 2024 Municipal budget at a glance which will include the general fund as well as a sewer Utility Fund an overview of capital Grant application and American Rescue plan ARP funded projects as well as future budget strategies for 2023 financial highlights of the general fund you can see that for 2023 our total tax collections was 32 million and that includes our reserve for uncollected taxes as you can see there's the breakdown of the 2023 tax collections which includes the municipal Levy the local school levy the special district levy as well as the county and as you can see 42% represents the local school piece and 38 and 36% represents the municipal Levy our total tax collection rate for 2023 was 97.8% and that is slightly higher than in 2022 our available cash Surplus was 2.48% which was slightly down from 2022 continuing with our 2023 financial highlights as you can see the allocation of County taxes which was 5.7 million is broken down into four categories General County the county library County open space as well as added and omitted taxes our 2023 financial highlights for the sewer Utility Fund our 2023 total sewer fee collections was 1.8 million and that was up 10.6% from 2022 our sewer utility was self-liquidating and that means it was funded by our users and that is your user fees that's the consumer uh sewer fees was enough to cover all of the expenses for our SE utility the available cash Surplus was up 17.5% from 2022 moving to our 2024 budget at a glance you've often heard the term cap well there are two statutory budget cap calculations required for all Municipal and County budgets the first is the tax levy cap and that's 2% the maximum permitted to be raised as you can see is 11.5 million the amount to be raised which is the local tax is 11 million and that leaves a remaining excess of 4775 that amount can be banked and what that means is that we can carry that over into the next budget year now this just represents the 2024 piece however there was banked from prior years and I'm just going to give you the breakdown of that for 2021 we had 453,000 that we carried over in 2022 we carried over 9,000 and in 2023 we carried over 426,000 that gives us a total of 93,000 point4 that we can use um for subsequent budget years the state does allow that the other cap is our appropriation cap and as you heard this evening we did the second reading of the cola ordinance Cola is the cost of living adjustment so by law it's 2.5% but with doing the cola ordinance it allows you to go up to 3 and a half% and as you can see the maximum allowable was 17.2 million and what was appropriated in the budget was 17.2 Million which means that we budget it to the Max and there's no balance nothing to carry over into the next year so again these are the two caps that towns are required to calculate the tax levy cap as well as the appropriation cap I will tell you for 2024 the appropriation cap gave us a few challenges um with that we had to do a few Cuts because there were some increases that were out of our control our 2024 anticipated revenues and Appropriations are 19.7 million both your revenues and Appropriations have to agree so it's uh zero so it balances we had an increased utilization of surplus in order to support General operations we anticipated 4.7 million of surplus and that's slightly up 2.6 % from the prior year we utilized a tax collection rate of 9691 and that's to calculate the reserve for uncollected taxes and that would leave a small margin for us to generate um Surplus so when you talk about the reserve for uncollected taxes that is the amount that's estimated to be uncollected so if you have a tax collection rate of 97% and you know really you should be at 100% but there's really no towns that are 100% that difference is what we consider the reserve for uncollected taxes and we have the budget board is considered an appropriation our state aid increased from 2.2 million to 2.3 so that's up by 5 5.4% from the prior year our salary and wage line items across all of the Departments increased uh 2% from the prior year other expenses and statutory expenses this is just to highlight a few of the increases that we had I can't go through everything but I just wanted to bring um this to your attention we did have an increase in vehicle leasing cost to our Police Department we had a significant increase in Animal Control 70.3% rate increase in animal shelter fees our monthly rate in 2023 was $5,775 B versus 9,833 33 in 2024 I will tell you that the mayor um and myself and the mayor was very aggressive in terms of trying to see if we could get into another animal shelter with these increased costs but our hands are tied and with all the other towns they're experiencing the same thing so um it is our hopes that we will be able to eventually um the mayor be able to speak to this um eventually be able to get into another shelter because there are quite a few towns that are in the same situation so definitely wanted to bring that to your attention that that was a cost that was just totally out of our control pension obligations are up by 14.6% and that is combined with our police um our Public Employee Retirement System as well as our police and fire Retirement System we had an increase um of over 8% in health insurance costs but based on a $19.7 million budget for 2024 the 2% Levy cap has been met as well as the appropriation cap that I showed you on a pre previous slide our local projected tax rate of 1.7 1714 equates to a tax increase of 2 set this is just a budget summary of information just gives you the breakdown of our total assess value valuation which we call our ratea bues what our total uh local Municipal tax levy is what the municipal tax rate is as well as the revenues and Appropriations that you can see um tied and that they balance both revenues and Appropriations are the same this slide represents the tax rate effect so when you're looking at a 2cent tax increase based on your various assessed values if your home is valued at 150,000 your tax increase would be $30 for the year and that's just based on the municipal piece because as I showed in a previous slide our taxes include and your tax bill doesn't just include the municipal piece it includes the school it includes the county it includes the special district as well as the library tax and special right so the special district is the fire district our anticipated revenues over a 5year period these are sources of revenues that support the municipal budget as you can see the breakdown is Surplus anticipated miscellaneous local revenues state aid revenues uniform construction code fees other special items receipts from delinquent taxes and the amount to be raised and that is the municipal tax levy so anytime you hear the term amount to be raised that is your local Municipal tax levy just going back to the library that is the County Library System library system so just to give you uh a breakdown and and a pictorial of our anticipated General revenues you can see um from the pie chart that the amount to be raised is the largest piece and that is the the municipal tax levy that's what is raised by you all um in your taxes so it's [Music] 55.9% makes up the bulk of the general revenues for the town followed by Surplus anticipated so anytime we put a surplus into the budget to support it that too is a revenue percentage of tax collection so as you can see here there's an 8-year trend of where our tax colle tax collection rate has been and for 2023 which we used in order to calculate the reserve for uncollected taxes for 2024 was 97.0 eight% so that means that we had collections from all of our residents of 97.0% and in the years that we have um a High tax collection rate which I consider that to be a high the reserve for uncollected taxes is less because you have to remember that the higher the tax collection rate the closer you're getting to 100% so that Reserve that difference is going to be less the next slide shows you the budget Appropriations for a 5year period the breakdown of our Appropriations include General operations deferred charges Capital Improvements ipal Debt Service I just want to show you for the reserve of uncollected taxes I mentioned the higher the tax collection rate the lower the reserve so in 2023 our tax collection rate was lower so as you can see the reserve for uncollected taxes was higher so in 2024 it was a higher tax collection rate so your reserve for uncollected taxes was lower okay so now just to give you a breakdown of the general budget Appropriations so I'm going to go back to the slide so you see General Appropriations for 2024 is 17.2 million so the breakdown of that shows you that the bulk of the bulk of our Appropriations is our general operations and that is 87.5% the general operations is broken down into salary and wages other expenses statutory expenditures insurance as well as utilities and the salary and wages for all of the Departments make up the bulk of the general operations our pension cost over a fiveyear trend you can see that it has gone up almost every year and that is combined cost for our Public Employees Retirement System our police and fire retirement system as well as our defined contribution plan health insurance expense fiveyear Trend and you can see the same thing from 2020 to 2024 there has been an increase in our health insurance and we are with the state health benefits um program so when there's an increase it does impact our budget our 2024 budget ated a glant for SE utility our 2024 dedicated revenues and Appropriations AAL 1.57 million your user fee by July 1st is $196 if you pay after July 1st it'll be $200 salary and wages in sewer utility have decreased and that's attributed to attrition other expenses there's an increase and that's attributed to anticipated repairs and maintenance for our aging collection system coupled with inflation our sewer utility anticipated Revenue for a 5year trend is broken down into our sewer um our Surplus anticipated rents and miscellaneous and again when we save rents that represents our user fees you just call it rents that's the terminology they use so any prid you can see that it is the user fees that makes up the bulk of the revenues for our sewer utility our budget Appropriations for sewer utility for a 5year trend the components of our our appropriation for sewer is salary and wages other expenses Debt Service and statutory expenditures and when we talk about the statutory expenditures that would include uh pension and social social security things of that nature so from this chart you can see the pi which represents other expenses um is the largest piece of our Appropriations whereas in the general fund you saw that the biggest piece was our salary wages but for sewer it's more of the other expenses because a lot of the repairs and maintenance go through the other expenses in our sewer utility and we only have a few employees um in our sewer utility moving to our proposed capital projects for General Capital we have our road reconstruction and improvements the completion of Colonial Square Drive and Colonial Square Place reconstruction of caror Avenue lyen wall Park Bikeway connector from Banger Avenue to burrow Lane Brighton Avenue improvements a and Avenue improvements all will be funded through NJ doot and then reconstruction of various roads other improvements and equipment purchase of two frontload trash trucks rearload trash truck and a front-end loader for Public Works purchase a service lift and a zero turn mower for Public Works public building upgrade to include roof repairs and Energy Efficiency upgrades to various municipal buildings continuing with our proposed capital projects uh computer equipment replace outside steps and metal at the Fieldhouse and Memorial Park installation of new storm drains and basketball court reconstruction for sewer Capital SE Forest main replacement various Pump Station upgrades and the purchase of new bypass pumping equipment Grant applications that are pending approval safe routes to school federal aid application Carlton Street sidewalk improvements Community energy plan implementation Grant and a local recreational Improvement grant for Carlton Park basketball court improvements 2023 ARP funded projects these projects are completed that's the expansion of the municipal building parking lot reconstruction of various roads and that was Wallace Avenue installation of an HDC hbac management system in our Police Department additional enhancement to the dog park Paving and resurfacing of police department parking lot we had roof repairs for the file storage building the ambulance building as well as the Fieldhouse Memorial Park to be completed in 20124 for the sewer Capital upgrades to pump station number eight and also under General Capital the traffic light installation at usab and Route 30 25% cost share with the New Jersey Department of Transportation we are anxiously awaiting for that project to begin um right now uh the design has been completed so hopefully sometime in August they will start working on that and uh basketball court resurfacing um is also part of the ARP funding as well as some additional Capital to help with that project and then the installation of solar powered Speed Monitor Radars future strategies looking ahead to remain physically responsible and continue to manage Surplus and debt levels to improve long-term Financial stability and stabilization of property tax breakes continue to seek operating efficiencies where possible such as shared services and to take advantage of opportunities to apply for Grants and investigate additional Revenue sources to minimize the tax burden leverage information technology to improve service quality Effectiveness efficiency and Communications to our residents reappropriate Bond ordinances to reduce cost on new debt issuance and provide an ongoing commitment to our residents by continuing to provide the highest level of services while minimizing the tax burden this completes the public hearing for our 2024 Municipal budget if you have any questions uh I am now open to entertain now um our budget is uh our introduced budget is currently on the website if anyone wants a a copy a physical copy of it we can give that to you as well but at this time does anyone have any questions as it pertains to our 2024 Municipal I have a question for the uh you said for the shelters it went off like 9,000 a month what is control doing like what is that take there so you're taking people just calling for stray ads is that what you're saying and various on what our Animal control officer uh picks up and how picks them up but they do go to uh the shelter in the beginning of the year um we were not able to send them there or the Animal control officer was not able to take them there because we hadn't signed the contract because we were refusing to sign a contract we were protesting because of the cost but we had no choice is this wild life or is this domestic that's what I'm asking wild they can't take there they have to take somewhere else you're saying just straight P or do what I'm assuming you're saying whatever our Animal Control takes to the shelter is what they charge us for plus now this is the part I have a very big problem with and this is the part that I brought to the county and yell the screaming at the county for anybody who can't afford to keep their dog and watch the drop them off you pay water and to me that's not being responsible and that's on top you're not pay for yes if somebody drops off an animal at the shelter and they can't afford to to pay for it to be dropped off they still accept the animal and they build a l residence and that's on top and that's on top of the mon we have a really bad cat problem in L I mean it's massive and people think because they feed them they're helping them they're not they're making it worse because they're not fixed and the cat multiplies three times a year they can get pregnant so you have four kittens by the end of the year you have thousands of kittens running around so that's what I was asking if it had anything to do with people because people are just irresponsible I can't tell you how manys I get them fix myself I take for out of my own pocket I don't go to them all if I find that I not m p my own home home pays for it list I take my dogs to get my myy P and I take it to get fix I pay out my own pocket but you don't have to but I do I fail it I'm going to take care of it so that's what I do I mean people are just animal everywhere and not everyone does that and like the mayor said when we found out that that's what's happening on top of what we're yeah it's over1 and something thousand a year so it went up I spent $1 a week feed in CS that aren't even mine but they come there they live there outside I take care I SP $1 a week I want fix CU I don't want a million kids I think people are just dumping St it's crazy than so I thought I was asking with the extra money work yeah um part of the expenses I had noticed did I see that we were getting more or newer garbage trucks we are yes cuz some of the uh trucks that we do have AR in good condition so and the second did you say that C cat that I could take the cat capture it take the L they'll do what they have to it oh okay it's just candy oh candy show um first I I want to say that we're very excited to hear about the safe root to school uh application grant for Carlton sidewalks um a lot of kids walk that so very we're hoping to get it that's why we fingers crossed on this end as well also very excited to hear about the basketball court redo yes you've been following that we you reached out to the community it is our hopes that it will come to fruition this year Trev Yes again fingers crossed um for that one as well and while this may not a popular question uh I have to ask it anyway uh on your slide you identified that the county library tax is 338,000 what is the approximate fee for the lyen w library what is say the approximate fee well right now um in the budget itself we have 119,000 in the municipal budget as far as at 300,000 that's um you know that's the county portion for right no I understand we we pay we're a member Community we're 20 of 26 communities that pay into the County Library System our Municipal tax for that fee is 338,000 according to your slide question is on top of that what are the residents of Linden paying to operate the Linden Public Library the library is 119,000 that includes salary wages and the other expenses okay fair enough thank you and if you want any more details breakdown you know you can always um put in your requests and I will comply thank thank you yes um I did notice that uh you had pending several grants do we have a grant writer for Lind um with most of our grants are engineer because a lot of them are um ND which is the New Jersey Department of Transportation trust guance and they do them for us so if there are other organizations that have like Community um grants would we as resents a bring here we have to um you can present them I mean we've had uh situations before where uh grants have been um presented to the governing body and it is to their discretion as to um whether or not the town will apply for the grant it depends on whether or not there's a financial match um and what the financial obligation would be to the town but um more than willing to look at whatever grants um anyone in the Comm you know maybe a little any other questions all right well that that concludes my presentation next up the I'm sorry resolution 2024 97 2024 bu motion for resolution item 2024 97 adoption of the 2024 budget any question yesc yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mory yes councilwoman Patton yes council president Rand sharp yes cons AGA the item below consider routine by the B one motion there will be no formal discussion of these items if discussion is desired the item will be removed and from the consent agenda and will be considered separately andain a motion for resolution 202 2498 through 20 24102 thank a motion for resolution consent agenda items 2024 98 through 20 24102 and a second please second councilwoman H yes councilman lowski yes councilman jacks yes councilman Mory yes councilwoman Patton yes council president Rand Shar yes a motion for resolution 2024 103 please resolution authoriz the B to enter into Shar service agreement in the Cher Hill Cher Hill Township purposes of sharing a tax collector motion make a motion for resolution consent uh agenda item 103 and a second please second questions councilwoman has yes councilman lowski yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mary yes councilwoman Patton yes council president Rand sharp yes next um resolution 2024 104 counc resolution authorizing the borrow to hire the services of a trash consultant for the purposes of a auditing the burrow Solid Waste servic motion for resolution item 2024 104 and second please second question councilwoman H yes Council lowski yes councilman Jackson yes Council Mory yes Council woman Patton yes council president Rand Shar yes and last but not least 2024 call 105 coun resolution authorizing to a shared services agreement with C County for the purposes of street sweeping service motion for resolution item 105 2024 105 street cleaning um street street cleaning services with the c a second please second questions councilwoman H yes councilman lowski yes councilman Jackson yes councilman Mar yes Council woman Patton yes council president Rand Shar yes just open counil thank you mayor Fire Department fire commission they responded to 67 calls last month there is a main things of note that happened uh they passed a resolution to uh actually start fitting out the bond Firehouse they hope to have the bid bids in by August and they also submitted the paperwork to remove to move the fire district election from November from February to November as part of the general election since they've already had an election this year this wouldn't take effect until 2025 and this will save them quite a bit of money by combining it with the general election they submitted a joint uh application with other another department for 44 radios free smoke alarms are still available for homeowners you just need to contact their office and the Fire Commission names are public meetings they're held on the third Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Scott Avenue Station foron Scott next meeting is uh May 20th we also have a couple of other brief notes uh this Saturday the South Jersey land water trust is sponsoring the community cleanup at cwood Lake um Saturday May 11th from 10 to 12 noon meeting at the end of P avue Road the Spectre Care Foundation to vment Center uh has announced their annual fund third annual fundraising Gaya um which is in September 12th um anyone is's interested can see me I'll be happy to give the information l l world Minal Bike Share Drive is in effect the give they give away bikes at the night National Night Out last year they gave away over 50 they're hoping to get more do more this year and if you have a unused bicycle and any kind of condition contact them and I can give you the information um and they will be happy to pick it up if it's not repairable they will use the parts for making other ones that repairing other ones that are repairable uh the Homer band is having a $1 dog adoption special through Sunday because they're over credit that's all I have for you mayor thank you thank you thank you may please Department activity report total Services called 2011 traffic accidents 40 community policing 76 traffic enforcement stops 279 criminal complaints issued by officers 51 traffic issues summons issued by officers 146 criminal complaints issued by citizens 36 traffic summons issued by citizens zero detective bureau investigations 64 respectfully submitted by chief police L Public Works B items collected me back up tons of trash collected 78619 tons of cycling collected 83.4 bulk items collected 248 scrap metal picked up 85 concrete picked up eight stumps and lcks picked up six number of accidents zero number of injuries zero sewer service calls 69 stoppages stoppages 24 Main stoppages one emergency calls 19 markouts 45 Pump Station repairs n home stations VOR three service calls for Laurel Springs six stoppages six emergency calls three for the library we still have Girl Scouts coming in there on the 2 and the fourth Thursdays at 5:30 and the summer reading program will be going on in 2024 feers at your library that's all that I have thank you thank you I have the code enforc uh report for the month of April 100 Co inspections seven smoke inspections 147 violations down two 202 violations written 87 abatements eight tickets written 277 yearly rental inspections 17 nearly re inspections six foreclosures 75 uh resident Communications um also I would like to say a big thank you to D for a few things so the first one is uh D hosted our bring your childhood work dead which was a huge success um so we want to thank her for picking up that mantle and carrying it and taking it and making it a very interesting day for the children so thank you D she fed them well as well um also and I know the mayor's going to El doing this as well but Bo is my department so I want to talk about this you know she comes up here every year with a pretty chart to the grab and everything and we all go ah well there's months of work that goes into that Gathering that information the historical information balancing the budget doing all the things that she does um the requests that we give her the things that we want to do um where we try to keep the tax levy at and all of those things and D meets that every single year so I want to say thank you to you and Jeffrey because I know he does a lot in here as well but thank you for a great job [Applause] does yeah oh yeah and just another little small thing right she runs the barel from day to day so we couldn't ask that we listen going you ain't going nowhere okay but she does a great job and I just want to thank you on the record in front of every um a couple of other announcements to make our newsletter is in its first draft we are still going to try to get it out before Memorial Day that is our goal next week so um you know look out for that as well um the county store in the Vorhees Mall bores Township Center whatever it was called the old OT mall is no longer there there was a fire um a grease fire there a couple of weeks ago that caused heavy smoke damage and because of that the county made the um made the decision to move the county store so now it is located at 100 University court and Blackwood it is the same place where elections and archives are held the phone number Remains the Same 856 566 2920 and remember before going out to the county store you must call them everything is done by appointment only there so I just wanted to get that information out to you um councilman jerine Jackson was kind enough to let me share this information with you I'm kind of going over into his group his area somewhere but I wanted to share this with you from the County May is mental health awareness month this is a good time to remember the importance of mental health as it impacts our well-being mental health conditions can affect anyone regardless of gender age ethnicity or income level the United States is facing an unprecedented Mental Health crisis among people of all ages and backgrounds including young children and older adults nearly one out of every five experience anxiety depression or other Mental Health conditions in the last year the good news is today mental health conditions are very treatable as illustrated by many athletes entertainers and prominent public figures who have spoken openly about their experiences people willing people living with mental illness can and do lead happy lives and productive lives and this includes serious mental ill illnesses such as bipolar disorders major depressive depressive orders and schizophrenia which can interfere with someone's life and the ability to function similar to medical conditions like diabetes with early and consistent treatment people with serious mental illness can manage their conditions with the right care anyone affected by or at risk for mental health condition can achieve a well being and Thrive um the Cameron County Office of mental health and addiction is located in Blackwood um their phone number there is 856 374 4 6361 it's a resource for anyone that's dealing with or has a family member that's dealing with um and needs assistance with your mental health in a crisis situation the county says that you can dial 988 for emergency um Health if you have someone in crisis language matters when it comes to mental health the more we talk about mental health together and the more we normalize these conversations it becomes ultimately empowering to people to seek the help that they need and it removes the stigma of mental health so this uh next Saturday May 18th um the cam County prosecutor's Outreach office is having a walk um to honor mental health awareness um it's called not all wounds are visible stronger together um it is a walk that's taking place at Wiggins Park in Camden the rain date is the 19th the next day it's from 10: a.m. to 2 p.m. anyone interest in the walk I did print out a few of these and you can take that with with you and um I think that's it for me Mr thank you thank you you're welcome okay thank you may yeah I want to take the time to thank colus for coming to present officer Thomas alone with that uh you know presentation you know that that's priceless when uh organizations like the NS of Columbus and churches and everything come is May 15th 2024 um they went over their budget this year before we go to our budget I I just got to say d one that presentation was remarkable you know we go to the back we see how complicated the budget and for her to present it to everybody that we all can understand it it's just it's it's remarkable but thank you um so uh their budget and it is going to be a flat tax this year um also we're lucky we have a good adiss over here C and we're going to have a flat tax this year and like you sold the pie trp don't you that's 40% of the general fund um they had a few issues um you know back from 2019 they do it over 1 seven year ago presentation and our state funding has G up from 16% to 33% which is pretty remarkable so the state's taking a big job of that also um you know the thing we're talking about we had talked about that the uh animal shelter the fees have going up you know their health care is going up at the school 43% from 2019 and this is the big one Transportation has going up 106% since 2019 and there's no there's no call whether they're calling that anom GED flation I mean just it just doesn't make any sense the weight healthare and everything else has going up but it's just something that mayor and all these other public ficials have to deal with you know it's but that's all I thank you God bless all thank you Mr Mayor um please excuse me this is U some fresh information that I just obtain and I want to thank councilman U lowski and councilman Jackson for um responding so quickly with me but camare Healthcare alongside partner type free books project and best the book bu are extending invitations to children from lindall for the National Health Center week event on August 7th 2024 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia this event promises a day filled with activities such as flying street hockey Clinic with Coach John tortella tours of the Ws Fargo Center food and interactions with the Flyers team and Personnel Community Care food and clothing pantry is facilitating part participation and has requested that we identify 50 students age 7 to 12 from lindal along with about 10 Lind wall parent teacher um grandparent Guardian chapon transp U Transportation isn't U provided right now but we're going we're like I said this is brand new information we're working on that those interested are asked to sign up by May 21st that's why I'm saying this so um quickly um it will be on love Lon wall page I will ask around for other um postings as well a link um to the sign up like I said will be on love Linder wall um thank you Trevor and D for that and the first 50 verified registrants will be forwarded to ccfc on May 21st so if you can get the word out and spread that thank you so very much you Mr thank you mayor uh one just wanted to follow up on councilwoman Rand sharp uh with the mental health uh month there is also a Camy County Youth mental health Summit uh going on Thursday May 30th that would be at the Double Tree by Hilton uh 2349 Marlton Pik H so that will be May 30 I also want to just put out a couple reminders for some public events um first and foremost we got May 27th Memorial day we'll be uh doing a ceremony at Park 9:00 a.m. also have a concert Friday June 28th at 700 p.m. uh will be the Tom Petty tribute B and last but not least uh June 12th our next meeting here our next council meeting uh we will have a visitor Jennifer we from uh senior citizens united uh she will be doing a presentation here so that would be U very interesting for seniors and and anyone in the community listen to she has offer and that's all thank you sir all right this time I open the meeting to the public any from the public speak um before I do that I have to make an apologies the last time I spoke about whether people can come to the door I made a mistake you can have religious and you can have they can come to your door not unless they so I I do apologize for the information at this time I'd like to open the meeting to the public anyone from the public wishing to speak please come to the microphone state your name and address for the record please do not forget to sign in before you leave and please five minutes thank you Columbia um have three things on my mind is there any way to better uiz the nice electronic sign we have out front and put more information that things going on Council meetings uh town cleanups I sat there one day it has very limited stuff on it and I seen call used to have a lot more information before it would be very helpful because not everybody spends the time going online checking everything all the time just be beneficial de we have two other signs in town that are more to date unfortunately 18 just like last two weeks ago to use the sign because Deb used to do and Deb didn't very good specific information on how to how to run so she just Leed if you know something that's coming up in town that's a town orientated event please reach out to her she'll get it on right away okay other thing um does Public Works have a regular schedule where they go around and clean at the end of my street it's been clogged up for probably two months I didn't know if they had a program whether r or whe I should just call no I I would call in that situation we just had I forgot to you guys on the back of Public Works there was a situation over on Park Lake Boulevard behind the puming station or something people were dumping back there and somebody called it in and said that it looked like you know out there the next day and clean it all up in a matter of hours so please if you have an issue don't hesitate to call may not happen that day but it will happen shortly after um third and final is my favorite house in the neighborhood I know we've had this discussion before and I've been told that the police are doing everything they can but it's affecting our I think the right way to say our lives um it's not that people don't feel safe to be in their yard two weeks ago my neighbor was trying to cut his backyard and I literally had to go stand in his backyard with a stick chasing the dogs away so they didn't jump over the fence so cut back at some point in time we have to figure out something different than what we're doing because what we're doing isn't working the woman that the charges are pressed against this to in court again the 15th of this month if she doesn't show up it just gets postponed to another month and nothing's getting done at some point in time there has to be some way to make someone there responsible we have to do something different we keep doing the same thing and we're getting the same results so there's got to be some other solution to the problem and T absolutely my recommendation is keep calling we do we did and it spread into Laurel Springs and they're not cooperating resent two houses down this who lives in Laur Springs okay have Springs please come around because the dolls got loose and came up on her porch sit out there 96 years old has a bunch of dogs come up on her porch La Spring Police didn't really want to be B they don't fill out incident reports they told her she had to go to Police Department to do that person she's 96 years old I understand sorry and I'm sorry for her incident but I would um told run loose away we byol gets there how many do they have you I was told by the out running on the street that's more ammunition for you you give that to the police officer he has to take a report you have proof that the animals were out on the street Texas and give it to Animal Patrol and then you go to the front so if I see a Mur I don't have a picture of it it didn't happen that's you see where I'm com she was chased by two of the dogs while she's walking her dog can I let me finish first let me finish first she was chased I am by several of the dogs while she's walking her dog she walked to the C how is she supposed to take a picture of this at some point in time someone has to believe us that this is going on and not ask for pictures Mr you know as well as I do I believe everything you're telling me but unfortunately just like I've been told by the police their hands are tied unless they actually physically see it I will reach out to the chief again tomorrow and let them know that the issue continues to go on and just like he told you call every single time it will continue to build up evidence and they will continue to do what they need to do it was until recently we were told that we need to have ask to have an officer come to our house to fill out a report we thought when we called that was aort and when I spoke to someone at the police station they told me oh it just comes up as you had six police St that happens all the time all around town to CH Tom something's got to change it's affecting our quality of life it's not fair to all us I'm just I so the Dos have to so can we any send a letter to them and say it's been reported that you have so many dogs and check the registrations and then okay so we're going to check for the registrations and maybe we can send a letter out there and go about the other way with the dog registrations and the number of dogs that show well the difference is when they when they get registration if they don't have the do registered they have more than three dogs Animal Patrol problem they will be they will be fine unbelievable amounts of money to to get rid of the Dos it happened to the people across the street me they started trying to bre dos like talking about there last Thursday and they came sorry I you Animal Control was at their house Sergeant V from the police department and they came away with nothing accomplished and April 17th I'm walking down pill with my little dog and two pits come running towards us they were possibly this far away barking lunging snapping and fortunately two neighbors came out and helped chase them away and we did call the police but of course Poli out there the dogs to come home did they put them in the backyard or are they are they in the house I think they came from the backyard but I it just materialized so nobody to take a picture but I did get the names addresses and phone numbers of the two men who helped me as well as the names of four or five other people who better costed by it's very scary and I want to tell you if I get hurt or my dog gets hurt I'm suing the city of L the police department and you personally the other thing is that I have in my pocket the telephone number for the troubleshooters of Channel 6 Action News and that's our next step because you obviously have nothing you can do thank you but I anyone else public [Music] speak 2en this 22 Avenue uh the backyard that these dogs are in it's her backyard and then my backyard she has three grandchildren I have one grandchild that lives with us all of their toys are in our Market we have no use of our backs the dogs jump into her yard try to eat her poor 20-year-old dog who's blind in that yeah it's silly I have I have trampoline I have kids cars I have everything in my front yard it looks horrendous it does but I have no choice I can't put any in my backyard right now we are in the process of putting up a fence but it's costly and it's honestly a cost that I don't want to pay for cuz I don't need a fence my dogs won't jump the fence but I am putting up a fence because I can't live finally to buy this to put the fence up I my my 5-year-old grandaughter if I her out there I have to beat out there with a metal pipe waiting for these dogs to come over and I've had to teach my 5-year-old granddaughter if anyone tells you go to the porch that she used to run to the PCH run to the this is no way and I I do I do believe you know the police are coming they they've been very efficient every time we've called they've shown up and I understand their hands are D but I just there's got to be something they're reading the dogs I mean it's clear she has puppies it it I've watched it go on for now two years LS of puppies LS of puppies L puppies people pulling up front buying puppies other things and I just feel like I can't believe all this is going on and there's nothing the dogs live in cages they live in and a huge cage out back so when an control Cain there's a cage out back I I don't know what's the house number again is it0 they they put a fence in their backyard and keep the dogs from getting out supposedly on to St but they were just on the other day but the fence between that house Rachel's house is a small the between my house R's house is a small so we've actually B in together our both of our families to buy the post and the fencing to put up a six fence at the side of yard which is not Che we can do right now is to work on the fact that they have more than three we can find I app we would we would find especially if they stop one your hous back to them if you would just let them in and [Music] [Music] say I just I just we just we want to feel safe and there's a lot of people that walk you know Robin includ she you know walks her dog we have a lot of people that walk on a regular basis and I mean it's pretty much like don't walk past that house which is silly um your neighbor she stated about the dogs and stuff and if it were our house believe it or not we go do the same thing that you did had a neighbor that took in a vicious doll she thought she was doing they left and left the dog tied up to a post outside the dog barked all night long she took the dog in the dog happened to be vicious I couldn't go outside me and my daughter were in the car every time we I called the lall police a number of times but what she would do is she would hurry up and take the dog in before they came well the one time she did it the officer came around the block the opposite way so normally they were coming down this way and she had an opportunity to take it in the house this officer came around the opposite way and saw her taking the dog into the house and at that point he was able to do something about it and say that you know this dog bites this child and this woman you know you taking an aous dog and she got rid of the dog but it went on for months it was not an easy fix and there were times that we were literally trapped in our car that the dog was barking around the car and would not let us out of the car like snarling with like you know like that [Music] [Music] this incident they've been calling here quite a few times about this which we made back in 2017 when you guys came after me for my go don't even go outside which I said you pick and choose who you go after cuz I had six little dogs that were under 10 lbs and he told me I had to get rid of my gos and I told you I move out a len wall before I my but they didn't go outside they would only go in my yard and in the house these people been complaining about gos and you've done nothing now that they have over the limit so why do you pick and choose who you go after when you like You' always come after me for every little thing I know sh helped me when I had dogs I only have two now they've all passed away but it brings me to the point you don't do what you're supposed to do in this cwn you pick and choose if there's a license and you're supposed to and if they they selling gols and they're breathing they get a account license but you just don't know what goes on because you don't care because they complained over and over again that because other people aren't as vocal as me you've always came after me for I don't understand it so you pick and choose who you want to take care of and who you want to go after why is that is that it no it's not I you won't answer something me no why what I'm saying you got vicious dogs running loose you got Huskies running loose people have at least four so you know they're not registered there's another um German Shepherds running loose that are more than three and these all know this because it's posted on the Lin wall sites but you don't do anything about it I had buls living in my house this big cuz I rescued them because you just hated me you just came after me told me I had to get rid of my go I don't hate anybody for the anybody for the record that's that's not my I don't hate people so let's anybody you come after me for everything when these dogs can harm people my dogs aren even allow outside I carry them from the house to my car when I take them out so why are you not addressing this they've been here more than one time yeah thank you that's what you don't we've been by the police that this woman is issued a warrant every time the dogs geted in their she doesn't so they those are Chang going right now sir I'm sorry ex right 2:3 in Theon andard like that issues where it's going to cause further issues for us they have lar they catat and Driver copss obiously it's doing other f elab is so I want to you guys more information obv he has made it perfectly clear to police they don't want I mean they don't they don't want the police they are caretakers and they have all the rights to do whatever they want that's what makes it difficult for us like I said tomorrow and know concerns are still there and I'm also going Construction office departments both unfortunately I know nobody's Happ I mean there's nothing that I can [Music] [Music] we just want to know that and something that we can that we can [Music] [Music] stes they've beening for years and it's it's a situation they have to increas the size of L so there's four properties there are buses imp we have to go back as far as as oh so they are home yes and there home on the CL as well but three of this thank thank you mayor first thank you for clarifying that door door solation appreciate that secondly uh ordinance or resolution which was 105 for the sweeping of County Road it perfect uh and then I just wanted to follow to you guys on the question of the train bridge so we took your advice and called the mayor of the 5 pounds that we referenced as far as the painting of The Bridge all five towns were able to work with a variety of authorities to revamp their train Bridges three of which deal specifically with the Ad Agency that you referenced intersection and they were all able to accomplish the task through um essentially banners that range in price from $3 to 9,000 nowhere near 400 and they were able to attach the banners to the outside because at the end of the day majority Transit intersection agency nor you guys being a Township like the look or or does the look of the current Bridge do any good right so all that paint peeling the rust is showing through concern to pain they had those same concerns so we were able to find a solution as I said for between and 9000 thank you guys anyone else in the public wish speak [Music]