e e e [Music] uh good evening everybody and welcome to the April 24th uh Township committee meeting can you come up here ask Vic to come up just keep going sir keep going Megan would you read the statement of presiding officer please in compliance at the open public meetings Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting specifically the time date and public call and information were included in the meeting that was electronically sent to the echo set and all moreis Daily Record and posted on Township website the agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www. lill nj.gov a public comment period will be held in the order it is listed on the meeting agenda thank you Megan whatever everybody please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance iedge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation un God indivisible with liberty and justice for all make can please time take committee man dorsy here committee man ray present committee man verza present Deputy Mayor lavender here mayor Pia president uh so before we get started with the meeting uh I'd like to uh read about former police Lieutenant William Hurlock Jr uh who served Long Hill for 26 years and recently passed away so uh I'll read the statement first and then we will have a moment of silence retired police Lieutenant William Bill HCK Jr who served at Township from 1966 to 1992 when Long Hill was called theic Township passed away on Friday April 12 Mr Hurlock passed away at his Millington home with his family at his side after years of battling cancer he was 82 years old our condolences go out to his family and friends an April 16th post from The Long Hill Township Police Department readed Mr Hurlock was born in Philadelphia August 22nd 194 won in 1959 he and his wife an ruise peoli graduated from watchong Hills Regional High School the second graduating class of the high school he served two years in the army during the Vietnam war and after his honorable discharge he joined the Bic Township now the lill Township Police Department in 1966 public safety director Michael peoples commented in a Monday April 22nd email that Mr Hurlock commanded the detective Bureau for most of his career and trained many new police officers and detectives who are now retired Mike peoples retired as the Long Hill BL Chief in 2007 after serving 25 years with the Department mik people said he he served with Mr herlock for 10 years and that Mr herlock trained him as a detective his support for the police department was unwavering he never missed an opportunity to spend time with the officers and retired offices he would have been proud to celebrate with us the police department 100y year anniversary later this year we will all miss him on May 18th 1978 Mr Hurlock risked his life to successfully talk a man out of committing suicide with a shotgun both of them standing in the middle of the train wrestle over the Bic River in Millington for his heroic actions he received the police department's highest award the Medal of Honor he retired from the police department in 1992 having reached the rank of detective lieutenant in charge of the criminal in criminal investigation division with 26 years of service former Long Hill Police Chief Robert ferano who served as the department leader from 1986 to 2001 said that he was introduced to mer Mr herlock in 1974 when he joined the pay Police Department he understood people and I learned from Bill police police work is about compassion empathy and resolving conflicts without physical Force he was a member of the police BL benevolent Association 600 the New Jersey Anor Legion and the American Legion Post 293 in Warren Township besides protecting and serving his community he enjoyed playing golf and traveling around the country according to his obituary posted on the Valley Memorial Funeral Home website Mr ferano reflected that he and Mr herlock became great friends who were golf partners and enjoyed their early spring golf trips to Myrtle Beach after Bill retired we would speak on the phone and the conversation always moved to the experiences we had as police officers and the police department the conversations were reminiscent of the time when police work was focused on the wants and needs of the Town department and profession Bill's sense of humor was refreshing Bill's favorite saying was life is not a dress rehearsal he survived by his wife of 58 years and Louise his son Bill Hurlock his two daughters Laura star and Dorothy Rose and her husband Scott Rose of Warren Township his sister Joyce kig of Sterling and seven grandchildren Kylie Connor Corey Jake Alysa Britney and Ryan and two nieces Karen and Susan a grave gravide service was held on April 18th at Somerset Hills Memorial Park in Basking Ridge I would like to thank the officers of the Long Hill Township Police Department for the support extended to the family of Lieutenant perock was the peoples said likewise our appreciation to the Bernards Police Department Bernard's Township Police Department for her assistance during the funeral procession as well as the Millington fire company for the display of the American flag on the top of their fire department ladder truck as we honored Lieutenant Hurlock service to our community and his service to the United States as a military veteran ferano added that although her has passed his commitment to law enforcement Long Hill Township and the Township Police Department will remain etched in my mind Long Hill has lost the great Ambassador that always had a positive word about the township the police department and the residents of Long Hill Township Memorial contributions and honor of Mr Hurlock may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project at the website Wounded Warrior project.org at this time I please ask everybody for a moment of silence for former police Lieutenant William perlock Jr thank you everybody all right so now if I could there a happy moment for Long Hill Township we have with us Mr Ed zindell uh Lisa ganin is here and I'll briefly say Mr zindell in a Statewide competition in this magazine the New Jersey leag of municipalities 564 towns uh Statewide and I don't know how many hundreds of photographs were submitted and from those uh Mr zindell who I know is quite a photographer because he is displayed here in Township uh at the photography cont that was held a couple of years ago and with that I'm going to turn the meeting over to Lisa scanland who will do a much better job than I just did good evening thanks for uh giving us some time at the head of the meeting here um it uh a couple months ago I I believe I was at a a meeting and we were talking a little bit about this showof your city contest that the league of municipalities runs each year uh and we've entered before some uh different photos um and they've been very gracious with uh spotlighting us on some other things too but this year we had a lot of uh photography type programming and uh some contests and I was allowed to send in five entries uh each town could send in up to five entries so there were five residents uh whose photographs uh really uh displayed some of the um the pretty parts of L Hill and uh showed us in such a great light that I decided to send five different residents photographs uh in and uh then got the happy news uh about mid-February that we were going to be featured um as the winner of the contest this year uh for Ed's and tell's photograph in the Great Swamp um Ed and I met a couple years ago when uh he started entering some of our photography contests and his photography continues to amaze me he just shared with me some of his recent photos from the past week of um owls and Eagles and even a rattlesnake which I wasn't like like but you you know as long as it has fur or feathers I'm good with it but um still amazing that you could capture it I'd be running the other way um but uh we have on the front page of the article um the uh the front page of the magazine for this month is featured the photograph and then inside is a very nice uh article spotlighting uh lill Township and um it's really a nice nice spread on on Ed so with that I'd love it if um mayor if you would come down and um help present a plaque to um Ed and his wife um for this accomplishment it's really a special thing all right so I'd love to invite Ed up and your and Elaine as well come on up his wife um to see it um this is actually the photograph that we had reprinted on uh metal and made it into a nice plaque for you thank you and um I hope it's something that you'll just remember everything that you did here for us course I will okay you hold it up I Lisa what about Lisa no no it was just it was tilted too far back so you couldn't actually see the picture very nice thank you and congratulations great job and as Zell's live in Myersville I just want to point that out thank you okay thank you very much thank you and congratulations and Lisa I think we have a few copies of this in the library for those who might want to we do have it in the library and um I think I stuck two back in your mailbox Y and we're we're going to make we're going to go on a road trip I think what everybody understands I apologize that why don't you please please the mic is your want to thank Lisa because I didn't even know she had entered the picture wasn't wasn't for her we wouldn't be here tonight thank you everybody have a thank you thank you thank you andette I look forward to some more photographs at the next is it annual or we going to when when are we going to do that again Lisa I'll do it every year there you go yeah thank you thank you uh we have an ARB day uh Proclamation I don't believe well Scott you're on the uh sh Tre commission right I am would you do the honest of reading the proclamation I'd be happy to nameing it you okay so um Arbor day is April 26th which is two days from now and uh this is a proclamation uh from the office of the mayor Township of lill whereas in 1872 the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water or cutting Heating and Cooling costs or moderating the temperature cleaning the air producing life-giving oxygen and providing habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us p wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products and whereas trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of business areas and beautify our community and whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal now therefore he G pasera the mayor of the township of lill do here bride Proclaim Friday April 26th 2024 as Arbor Day and he he urges all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands and further guy urges all citizens to plant trees to Gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future Generations dated this day 24th of April 2024 thank you [Applause] God hold up the proclamation take your why don't you you can accept it as theis in front of in front of flag thank you Megan that fit perfectly with the uh the photography of Mr zandel and I you know anybody can take a look at this uh for those who don't realize 55% of Long Hill Township mors is open space uh good portion of that of course is the Great Swamp but we have uh many uh tracks of land throughout the uh throughout the township including right across from town hall it's about 80 acres across the street and then 40 acres that winds its way over the railroad so by all means please take advantage of uh the outdoor space that Long Hill afford you item number five ordinance 534-2450 regulating temporary Mobile retail food establishments commonly known as food trucks and supplementing and amending chapter 4 of the Township Code entitled General licensing Jack did you want to give a a brief explanation here sure mayor over the last several years we've had a uh a number of food trucks come into town and the township Committee just felt that we ought to regulate them to some extent so what this requires is a that food truck operators apply for a permit uh they're allowed to operate three nights a week um and and then there's some requirements for inspections fire inspections and health inspections uh so it's just to get some control over the food trucks in town um and that's basically it requires insurance and indemnity agreement uh pretty straightforward yeah Yes actually it's comparable to what other towns a lot of other towns have ordinances a lot of towns prohibit them some regulate them uh and this is kind of a middle ground and and I happen to read something some somebody had commented you know why is the town charging a permit fee that standard practice every application for a license involves clerical costs in town hall so it's just to cover costs so uh comments or questions from the township committee Matt Scott Brandon no all right this is first reading uh the follow-up meeting will be May 22nd so the public agenda meeting will be May 22nd 202 24 meganes sound right yes all right can I have a motion to approve ordinance 5 34-24 second second committee man dorsy yes committee man ray yes committee man bza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes and so just to give a heads up each of the ordinances uh are first reading introduction this evening so ordinance 535-2482 from the township committee Jack maybe yeah unlike the food truck ordinance this which is a new totally new ordinance this is cleaning up an ordinance that's been in place for decades uh what it does is it clarifies the definition of special event and it changes many of the uh application and Licensing procedures to fit in with what's been done in practice for many years uh so that that was the main purpose to clean it up to clarify it and to uh to make it uh consistent with with what the practice has been thank you Jack Township committee so I noticed here it says any event sponsored by the township shall not be considered a special event so these are for special events outside of whatever events the town might that's correct and so our most recent street fair was that a special event of Commerce yes because that's the Chamber of Commerce as oppos to the township so so Jack what would you define the township as I mean as I would it be fire department type things or is part of the township or something like that yeah would that so we wouldn't need to get one I I defer to Megan to some extent but I think fire department is a quaza municipal entity right but but so if the fire department is doing something with a social Affair permit wouldn't they have to or or would they just have to apply for the social Affair permit at that point in time that's up to the town committee uh do you want to have the fire department in the first aid Squad I guess too would be the only two we're talking about I think I think we should be a little bit more specific in the language the township or quasi governmental entity such as what I mean do you agree Brandon yeah I mean yeah just as long as it was clear yeah yeah yeah and we put such as the fire companies and first aid Squad U can you move to amend yeah I'll make a motion to amend that uh where it says any event sponsored by the township shall not be considered a special event to include uh quasi governmental bod such as uh the fire companies in first aid and OEM andert isert part of that well I agree with you any quas governmental agency such as fire such that's probably good enough as the fire department right uh fire companies I I probably should say yes do I hear a second I'll second that all right committee man dorsy yes committee man ray yes committee man bza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes and uh again Wednesday May 22nd at a public hearing well so we just amended the wording to the draft are we going to introduce it yes we need to introduce it as revised oh did so somebody can have a motion to introduce as it so I move second second committee M dorsy yes committee man ray yes committee verza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes ordinance 536 first reading introduction and ordinance concerning uniform fire codes and amending chapter 17 of the Township Code entitled fire prevention Jack this just amend some of of the fees at the recommendation of the uh the Fire official comments from the township committee motion to approve ordinance 536-2420 24 ordinance 537-2425 resolution so um you guys at the last meeting had revised the fee schedule um and just to make it consistent with some of our other ordinances you're just going to set it by resolution so at the reorg every year or anytime you do the fee schedule you're just updating it to reflect so it's not it's much cleaner way to do it we don't have to yeah go through two readings and everything so I have questions are we defining commercial canvassers solicitors and pedlers based on Supreme US Supreme Court cases were basically just talking about commercial pedlers who go from door to door selling Goods merchandise or services not volunteer organizations no or or religious groups right or political candidates right that's correct that's all in the established ordinance okay right the only thing we're changing is we're changing the fee from being in the ordinance to being set by resolution what about the panhandlers that sometime will pop up at Shop Right like I'm not talking about the kids selling Girl Scout cookies yeah they're not really covered by this because it's going door too oh okay what about um like uh driveway pavers who go around knocking that door yeah that would be selling a service so yes they would be covered okay any other questions comments looking for a motion so moved second second committee man dorsy yes committe man ray yes committee man bza yes deputy mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes uh public hearing May 22nd ordinance 538-2424 of the Township Code Jack yes we're really updating it we're abolishing the communications committee but we're creating by resolution this evening two new committees the audiovisual committee which will Bas basically cover courtroom Audio Visual and the second one is called the digital engagement technology advisory committee that's right I couldn't remember I can I can explain that yeah please do Scott's better better equipped than I so we talked at length about this at the last meeting but essentially what we're doing is is is taking the activities of what used to be the CAC committee communication advisory committee and splitting those up into two two different um activities one is um advising us on the technology that's used in the courtroom that you know the microphones the PA all the technology that gets us out to LTV uh zoom and the web and then we have the digital engagement technology committee which will be focused on such things as the website social media uh any uh apps that are used for Citizen Services uh and any related technology or supporting infrastructure underneath that would work with that so it's U it's it's more of um an it kind of function any questions or comments from members of the township committee Megan I make a motion to uh repeal SE section 2.38 of the Township Code which is an ordinance abolishing the communication advisoring committee second now Megan committee M dorsy it'll be sad to see the CAC go but I will vote Yes committee man ray yes committee verza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia you don't often hear any editorializing or whatever from that so that was a that was a joy uh May 22nd is the public hearing ordinance 53924 first reading introduction ordinance of the township Council of the township of long hill County of Mars approving the application for a long-term tax exemption and authorizing the execution of a financial agreement with 1449 Valley Road urban renewal LLC for those well I'll let Jack explain but this is what is commonly known as lounsbery it's lansberry meow l B has never paid taxes because it's been 100% affordable senior handicapped uh development uh originally it was built by and operated by the township over time the township committee delegated those duties to a Board of Trustees Who Run It independently uh now they need money in order to make improvements and upkeep to the the facility and in order to do that they're applying for tax credits in order to do that they have to create a a limited partnership with an investor uh who invests the money in return for the tax credits um so this F this pilot uh includes payment of zero taxes which just continues the the practice for the last 30 years or however long lsbury has been here uh lsbury counts towards our affordable housing obligation uh in every round starting with round one we've gotten credits for Lounsbury uh as recently as round three I think we got 14 credits because there's a cap on the number of senior uh units that you can have and there are 32 units carried over still into the future uh I not sure exactly how many of those will count towards round four uh but a number of them will and if there are any excess they will go into the future in 2016 we entered into an agreement with the lsbury board which imposed affordable restrictions affordability controls and perpetuity so it will always be an affordable project uh and it's essentially a Township project even though it's run independently now thank you Jack and and to in a nutshell it doesn't cost taxpayers anything because this has been the arrangement for 30 years it's really a technical requirement for them to get the tax credits but it doesn't change anything and a benefit to the community is that we as you pointed out will have some credits up to 32 uh to be applied to our 202 five uh affordable housing obligation which we know is going to be roughly in the area of 100 units that's correct and the new legislation as you know is just passed just enacted so you know we're talking about next year yeah so there's no surprise that we know we know our affordable obligation uh we have a good idea in 25 is going to be somewhere in the area of 100 100 units that is okay any comments questions from the township committee uh now I'll look for going into perpetuity or just no it's a 30-year pilot agreement which is the lifespan of the tax credits okay if no other comments or questions looking for a motion second dorsy yesman Ray I'm going to have to recuse myself from this but my wife's on the uh linbury board committee man verza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor Pia yes and Megan thought she was going to trick me on this one but the public hearing for ordinance 53924 will be May 8th TR to okay item number six on the agenda consent agenda resolutions are there any res resolutions that the committee would like to pull for further conversation or uh they may have to ruse it yeah I'm going to recuse myself from 24131 24132 and 24136 136 any others seeing none looking for a motion to approve 24-28 through 24-36 with the recusals that Comm Ray just outlined so moved second committee M dorsy yes committee man ray yes committee man bza yes Deputy Mayor lavender yes mayor yes so now item number seven leaz on reports I'll start with Mr valza are we ready are you I am we've got slides one through three uh teed up am I doing there we go Monday April 22nd was Earth day but in Recreation we always like to remind everyone that every day is Earth Day this year on Monday the Parks and Recreation Department met the students from Central School community helpers group and their teachers Mrs debiasi and Miss at Sterling lake with rakes and gloved hands this group scoured the Sterling lake property and cleaned up garbage and debris many thank yous to this group for helping with so many parks and recreation events upcoming Red Cross class Red Cross CPR and AED class on Friday 5:10 from 6:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. there is still room in the class but register now on community pass we will not be hosting another class until fall $32 per person for the class and it's a for a 2-year certificate The Long Hill PBA 322 held its annual Fishing Derby at Sterling lake fishing pond on Saturday 4:20 from 8:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. despite the gloomy start to the day the fish were still biting lots of folks got to enjoy a great family event hosted by the PBA have you already applied for a summer job with us remember email is our primary mode of communication so make sure you check it also check the employment in Parks and Recreation tab on the website for blanket updates on the process and a frequently asked questions sheet interviews are in progress and we begun the hiring process also we are still looking for a couple of key adult supervisory positions come join us for some fun this summer all right moving right along to slides 7 through nine registration started for summer camps in Sterling lake on 41 remembers remember to register by 531 mark your calendars for our Memorial Day parade and observance on Monday May 27th at 9:30 a.m. local community groups looking to join in the parade please contacts contact the Parks and Recreation Department mark your calendars for the Sterling lake dance Friday June 7th 7:30 p.m. through 9:30 p.m. weather dependent Long Hill residents in grades 5 through 7 $5 entrance fee at the gate be sure to fill out the permission slip on the website and bring it with you to the dance while you while you have those calendars out make sure to mark down dates the dates for our dog days of summer concert series hopefully something for everyone's tastes we start off on June 21st the first day of summer with parrot Beach which is a Jimmy Buffett Tri tribute band at Sterling lake at 7 p.m. and always remember that all concerts are free all right interested in volunteering in the community and having some fun while doing it please consider joining the recreation advisory committee please contest please contact us in Recreation if you're interested in joining us and that concludes my liaison report thank you everybody thank you br he no report yeah that's aough follow yeah even if I had a report I I I I would I I would not be given it your report um Matt uh yes a couple things one congratulations to Sergeant petta of and the longo police department they won the very hotly contested chili cookoff um during the during the street fair on Sunday um next uh there is a new video I saw it's a uh expose interview with Al Gallow of the uh uh DPW with all the new recycling programs or the old ones uh I believe was done with the woman that works at the library it's on YouTube it's about 8 minutes but it's actually very informative uh she ask out questions about the recycling in town and different um and ways people can recycle and it's very informative for people who don't know all the programs we have and as a reminder it is Earth week uh we have a just ton of recycling programs the styrofoam has been doing great the um aluminum again bring your aluminum down to the DPW it's the the cage is full I'm sure uh Jeff wake will be taking it over to the scrapyard to get money for St Barnabas and we can start refilling it again so uh we also don't forget we can recycle the motor oil so if you have any used motor oil if you're doing your uh home repairs please bring it down because we recycle and reuse it again thank you thank you Matt Scott sure okay um so first off on um on uh Monday April uh 15th um I attended the environmental commission meeting uh along with Don Richardson who is the uh the chairman of the planning board um our purpose for being there was to uh talk to them about the elements of the master plan that uh you know they might have an interest or responsibility in so we had a good conversation there um one of the things that's interesting uh that they're going to be working on is a natural resource inventory uh which is something that we haven't uh updated in a while um and so that you know comes along the lines of um you know what we have in town that's uh that's worth cherishing and uh preserving um you know we talked to them a lot about um the sewer treatment plant and the progress that was going there directed them back to the presentation that that uh Mr massel made when he was in they appreciated that and um you know we talked a little bit also about tightening up the process for um uh including them more in uh the planning board process in terms of um you know creating a flowchart which gets them uh things they need to review uh on a timely basis so that was April 15th and then uh again this Monday April 26th second Don Richardson and I attended the shade tree Commission meeting to do the same thing and so uh we ran through the checklist of items in the new Master Plan um that had relevance to the ACT activities of the shade tree commission and uh everyone was very pleased because they're already doing most everything that is listed in there they're so far ahead of the game it's uh very very uh very gratifying um so so that was good but anyway you know these are um outreaches that we're going to do on a on a revolving basis with members of the planning board just to encourage and Foster communication between the different groups so we're aware of um what each body is doing planning board Township committee the commissions Etc and then yesterday uh Tuesday April 23rd was the planning board meeting um of noting that uh Tom Jones who I see here today uh took the group through um the action plan for updating the ordinances and what he's doing right now is creating uh basically a list a spreadsheet of uh candidate um ordinances that'll need to be updated according to the new master plan and um it's going to be kind of a complex process uh because some of these are going to be fairly easy to do and some of them may be kind of complex and require um notices out to the public Etc and so you know we talked about what the process was for creating that list and also what the timeline would be for um working those through the process and L leaney took us through a a uh a flowchart which talked about you know if the planning board drafts a a a uh a suggested ordinance it comes to the township committee it goes through our first reading second reading with the appropriate weights at one point in the middle of that it goes back to the planning board if there's any changes we made and you know basically Tom's got a really good process for calculating how many of these can we clean up for instance before the end of the year before we go into the next you know uh reorg calendar calendar year so you know it's unknown right now how many changes there will be we know there's two definite that are easy but there could be 20 of them there could be 30 of them probably going to take a couple of years to go through this uh but the good news is is that you know we have a process and the process initiated and you know Thomas just doing a tremendous job as Vice chairman um you know being the General on this process so anyway that was the planning board meeting that's it it's not as exciting as vix but it means something well thank you and thank you uh Tom I mean as we've discussed many times in the past the master plan is is a critical document uh it's always been a critical document but more so now with the upgrades to the sewer system and uh the Gateway project which will at some point certainly within the next 10 12 years introduce one seat trips uh into Manhattan from W Gill Township where we have uh three train stations so the master plan is critical the updates to those ordinances are critical as well so thank you all right so we have a proclamation uh it's a little bit late only because of the schedule of our Township committee meetings but volunteer week yeah yeah oh so what would the de be it's um in the second yeah but that's a long document and I don't think anybody wants to hear me read ah 2127 okay so we're not late April 21 through April 27 uh 20 2024 is volunteer week and I'll read the proclamation whereas National volunteer week has been celebrated since 1974 and whereas New Jersey's 1.5 million volunteers provide more than 170 million hours of service annually uh whereas our volunteers make a lasting difference as they mentor and tutor students serve the El elderly and people with disabilities prepare and distribute food to the needy protect and beautify the environment sustain our Arts remember our history and preserve our cultural institutions uh whereas individuals groups organizations mobilize others during natural disasters in times of Crisis to provide much needed support from recovery to revital revitalization thus playing a critical role in the life and wellbe being of our residents and communities and whereas these volunteers represent all facets of Garden State family schools and colleges business Community Faith Bas organizations senior citizens groups and nonprofit nonprofit agencies of all types sorry about that uh National volunteer week is an opportunity to express our appreciation to the thousands of New Jersey citizens who provide these services and special shout out of course to the volunteers here in Long Hill Township we know we have more than 300 in in organizations that are involved with the township but there are way more than that we have the Boy Scouts Etc Girl Scouts and other organizations out there and and our uh Church organizations and private individuals that volunteered their time um you don't read about them on Facebook you don't typically read about them uh in in the newspaper etc etc but they they're doing uh a a critical job uh and we thank each and every one of them in that note uh I want to do a special shout out to C uh in in you know recognition of volunteer week I'll give you some numbers 2023 the members logged over a th000 community service hours 2024 uh they've already been involved in helping with 12 events uh a couple of the highlights the February Long Hill Police Department Heroes race uh which was phenomenally successful and I believe it's going to be uh continued in years going forward uh they helped the Long Hill polic man he post that active intersections uh the annual street fair and I guess I could speak to the street fair uh thank you to the Chamber of Commerce thank you to Dennis Sandow Dennis was at the last meeting and he said he could not guarantee uh that we would not have any rain because something to do with the total eclipse I didn't follow that logic but there was no rain so Dennis thank you your street is intact although it was a little chilly uh year round 12 baskets food pantry search provides Manpower and teams up with local churches and and other community volunteers to staff the pantry and ser volunteers run and pick up food in Hillside from our partner agency Community Food Food Bank of New Jersey for distribution out our local Pantry uh SE program uh 18 years in counting and service to our community from plann community events and emergency activations ranging from local emergencies to federally declared disasters congratulations 2026 will be their 20th anniversary uh and speaking of anniversaries a statement from our Long Hill uh Township Police 100th anniversary committee greetings business owners of Long Hill Township it is with great pride to announce the 100th anniversary of the Long Hill Township Police Department established in 1924 The Long Hill Township Police Department has been proudly serving the residents of Long Hill Township with courage and integrity for 100 years the police department could not have reached this anniversary without the continued support of our community as such we would like to cordially invite the community to help us commemorate this very special centenal Centennial anniversary Milestone uh the lill Township Police 100th anniversary committee has been planning a series of events throughout the year culminating with the grand celebration on October 5th 2024 mark your calendars this Grand celebration will include a Main Avenue parade followed by a very special CommunityWide celebration at Matthew can park we have created a tier sponsorship program for donations we being the police department to not only offset the cost of the event but to strengthen the relationship relationships between the police department residents and businesses uh there's an ask I don't know if we're going to put the are we able to put the uh no because it's the sponsorship some we'll get it out to you maybe I I'll get it on Facebook care are the police are going to do it on their own all right so the police will do that save the date celebrate 100 uh years uh as always we thank the community for the continued support we proudly serve you follow the LA through Township Police Department social media for updates and event information in that uh uh vein I want to thank uh director Al Gallow and his team from the DPW uh Department it is my understanding I didn't have the opportunity yet to to say it but our Blue Line uh is back in place and this time I believe it goes from Valley all the way to the tracks the the railroad tracks does that sound right Al and so I see one of our well two of our uh finest here and I want to thank you and that's the least we can do of and recognize the job you do protecting us and please by all means God bless and protect yourselves as well you will always have the support of this committee and of this community uh you guys and gals are the best um and the PBA fishing derby which I think was already mentioned that was a great success uh so uh thank you for doing that again what year was that how many 30 30 years it's a lot of anniversaries a lot of anniversaries okay uh you thought I was going to forget not at all the administrator's report thank you mayor um just wanted to um continue with the with the police 100th anniversary uh they presented uh over the past weekend um their celebration 100 anniversary police vehicle it was at the um uh fish der fishing derby and the street fair so uh it looks terrific um I do want to give out a email if you want more information regarding the 100th anniversary uh celebration and if you have any questions regarding committee and donations uh contact lhpd 100 atgmailcom uh you could send an email and they'll reply to you with any questions you may have and and so forth and uh they will be um going around to various businesses and so forth and uh reaching out to the general public um my report uh last uh meeting somebody was questioning the information about the e Property uh the project was awarded for demolition on November 7 2023 total cost of the demolition was move forward to do the project and that has been completed and finished um AT&T will begin the process of replacing uh replacement of outdated equipment on the Township's cell tower they would a successful bidder of the cell tower last year the equipment will be replaced within kind equipment and will not extend the height of the current antenna so it will not impact or have any effect on the uh current agreement that we have uh they will need obviously a construction permit so they're in the process of filing for that they have supplied the engineer specifications as outlined in the uh agreement or engineer uh reviewed them and we'll uh review the project as it's ongoing and complete to make sure everything complied with uh their proposal um the beautification committee are selling rain barrels and compost kits the deadline is May 4th 2024 so that's the end of next week so uh if you want to get them they were very successful last year get on the website and order them you just remind everybody where that cell phone tower is cell pH the cell phone tow is at the Public Works location thank um Public Works monthly report um the mayor already mentioned the painting of the blue line down down Main Avenue uh they have used eight tons of asphalt used to fix potholes and black top curving they U to continue with uh recycling they spent four days of Styrofoam processing two days of storm damage cleanup uh they planted a tree at Town Hall in in uh East parking in East parking lot uh to the building uh for Arbor Day um they have cleaned out year to date five 525 basins uh out of, 1300 since January uh they have done some work over at the police department uh that included painting and they'll be doing some uh work on the outside uh this week and into next week um and of course it's that time of the year where Lane lawn maintenance and Township on Township own properties is a regular weekly uh process um and they're doing some outdoor lighting project at the municipal building building with the pathway lights and the parking lot lights um they'll be planting the uh shade tree challenge grants this week and early next week there will be nine trees in total and with that mayor that concludes my report thank you Randy and there was one uh statement I forgot to make so last night there was the inaugural uh meeting of a wung hill shared services regionalization study uh this is a study I want to be clear so before anybody starts uh uh filling in blanks that don't exist uh this is an advisory committee uh meeting that is comprised of uh each of the school boards and uh someone or or maybe a couple of folks from each of the elected bodies uh from watang Warren and Long Hill Township and Greenbrook uh and of course wung Hills Regional School Board so this is a statement we be the first one to actually read this statement but this statement will be read at each of the school board meetings and it will be read uh at each of the uh elected body uh meetings going forward there will be a meeting cut to chase uh a zoom session meeting open to the public on May 20th at 7 p.m but I'll read the uh full statement with full funding from the state of New Jersey a highly experienced Ro Rowan University team led by former Warren Township education member Kath Kathleen Hela will be conducting a shared services regionalization study focus on the word study covering the Wang Hills Regional Wang burrow Warren Township Long Hill Township and Greenbrook Township school districts the Warren The wung Hills Regional and wung burough school districts applied for the $135,000 grant which covers the entire study under the state's School Regional efficiency program which funds the full cost of studies with no cost to school districts or property taxpayers the study will be conducted over the next year with input from an advisory committee we are represented on that committee as our uh both of our school boards the high school and K8 the study will be conducted over the next year with input from that advisory committee that includes representatives from all five school boards watchong Hills Regional watchong Warren Township lill and Greenbrook along with school administrators and Municipal officials the study will analyze educational programs for students from preschool through High School within the five districts including curriculum coordination special education programming and transportation costs provide a demographic demographic analysis of future enrollment for the five districts forecast state aid based on those enrollment projections and evaluate future budget challenges based on this analysis the study will provide recommendations for educational enhancements and potential cost savings through various options ranging from expansion of shared services in specific areas to full prek 12 regionalization the Rowen School regionalization Institute team includes helaa a Warren resident who previously served as senior manager of field services for the New Jersey school boards Association former State education commissioner Lucille Davy G Kennedy green former president of the New Jersey Association of school administrators Mark magar a principal author of The 2022 School regionalization legislation and school Finance consultant Brian falowski there will be ongoing opportunities for your the public valuable Community involvement through the study process beginning with an informational Zoom session on Monday May 20th at 7 p.m. a meeting recording will be posted on the district websites following the session registration information will be forthcoming Megan can I be so kind I would like this letter posted prominently on our website uh as soon as possible again study it is a study and the public will be engaged throughout um and you will be represented uh in this advisory committee by each of the school school boards and by somebody uh usually me or Scott will be attending maybe both all meetings going forward I well I I mean I'll ask does anybody have any questions to come because this was something that came uh pretty pretty uh uh shortly over the last week or so uh and and we were invited to attend and I was I was pleased no it just it's just it's nice that you know not only including all the school boards but the governing bodies of the towns themselves and that's that's a great motion yeah and I I think I mean it's something that came up and you saw that I I think there's a little bit of confusion as to what the township committee is responsible for at least from a budget perspective and what the school boards are responsible for from a budget perspective so I think it's really helpful uh that we will have some dialogue uh not just with our own School boards with school boards uh from uh each of the other towns yeah no that's a great point and and to that endend you know talking about budgets and transparency about it um as you're well aware similar to last year when we did our budget presentation in the courtroom here and we'll be doing that again the same kind of thing and we've had wung Hills uh Board of Ed come in and present last meeting um just got in touch with um George Alexis uh the Long Hill boards will come in tentatively that first meeting in June here uh we're also working with the county to come in to explain how what they're spending our money on and uh I think the library board as well right the library commission yeah I mean the library board has always been very uh forthcoming forthcoming with their time uh they do a phenomenal job and and and I would love for them to come and some people are asking well why are you guys doing that these are all separate bodies well the the thing is though is we collect the tax dollars in one tax bill Randy puts it all together and that that Pi um is divvied up between your Municipal Taxes which pay for Citizen Services the schools the county roads the library Etc right and so that's why we're inviting people in to present here so we can kind of knit together a cohesive picture and folks can understand um how that money is being collected how how it's being spent and what we're doing to uh improve things thank you Scott uh that's on okay uh discussion let's do open space committee for I don't know what what are we discussing with open space is that you Vic that was a continuation off of previous meetings where you guys were going to revise the open space committee uh where we would separate it into uh Trails yeah I I don't know that we're ready for that let's carry that we just split the atom with the c committee so I mean there's just so much physics you can do in one meeting I me it's nuclear fusion which would be a limitless supply of clean energy so SC we have a limitless supply of many things around here okay uh this sounds like something for Randy budget and capital budget requests yes uh all of you have a um copy of where we are with the uh current budget process um this is not an introduction tonight but just a a work session um it the the uh with the original requests it came in uh budget request came in at 17 just under 17.5 million um the the budget is down to 17112 that is about a two to two and a 2.2% increase over budget from last year so what does that uh relate to as far as tax rates and tax increases uh it's a 2.52% tax rate increase it is a currently a 5.2% tax increase so a lot of people um don't uh understand the difference between tax rate and tax increase tax increase is is the actual amount of uh taxation that you're raising from one year to the other to the next year the tax rate is much lower because we had an increase in assessed values so the with that with that your your tax rate is going to go up less than your actual taxes why the why the reason for the tax increase um the revenues from the state have been stagnant um so we're we're fighting trying to fight with that uh we're trying to fight with uh inflationary numbers uh we had uh a large increase in in one of the pensions we had large increases and and this is not just Long Hill Township so I should I should uh make that perfectly clear um municipalities has have seen uh good increases in Workers Compensation Insurance and the um Regular liability insurance um health insurance is reasonable this year um but I bring I bring this before you because I'd like to find out where the committee as a whole would like to see us introduce this budget act I can tell you um there was an article out that uh said that the county has had a flat tax rate for the fifth year in row that constituted a 5.5% tax increase from last year to this year so um you know if that's if that's and uh you heard the Regional School is having about I believe they said a 2.5% tax increase um and which I think is a very good effort with their budget under the extraordinary uh inflation rates that we've seen um so so that's that's where we're at right now um so I'd like to just take a a a quick view um I can certainly sit down with any Committee Member that that wishes to go into the greater detail um as the deputy mayor said we will have a presentation with uh when we um probably introduce the budget I would think um and then we could then we could summarize it again at the public hearing uh this way people understand where the increases are and so forth so on um but any right so go ahead um Randy what's the municipal portion what are we looking at for the municipal portion of the taxes that's all we're looking at right here yeah so that and that number is it it's a 5.2% tax increase over last year right okay and that's again this is this is a working document right now oh yeah so um you know I just wanted some guidance from from the township Committee of where you'd like to uh see see this operate now again I will say you know we all know about the 2% tax cap this is within the 2% tax cap I know it's a 5.2% increase so um again you know as I've said in many many times don't let a a 2% tax cap fool you um there are exceptions to the tax cap there are cap Banks um and there's also an Appropriations cap of three and a half% we're uh we're within that uh cap with no problem so um you know I'm not I'm not um advocating for a 5.2% tax increase um I'm a property owner also I I understand taxes I understand inflation and it's it's it's a tough time right now with with inflation and and everything else so yeah so my my my response is going to be this we have work to do uh we're in a good position uh when I was first elected 15 years ago uh I believe the uh Surplus was somewhere in the area of $600,000 what's the Surplus today Randy 3.2 million so there's 3.2 million in Surplus from 600,000 or whatever it was uh 15 years ago number one one number two I believe there's still uh some Surplus uh regarding the sewer sell yeah we uh the item is called sale of Municipal assets and there's about $2 million in that we we haven't um used any of that uh as as of yet and and you mentioned something called the cap bank which is a a a fraudulently named uh thing it's there's no such thing there's no money in this cap Bank uh and last 15 years we have used exactly nothing from the cap bank and that's our goal our goal is still 2% will below actual tax increase um and I I think I speak for everybody to be honest with you uh we're all taxpayers too so Randy what was um what was the uh effective tax increase last year 20 22 to 23 I want to say I believe it was 1.6% okay so 1.6% last year now we saying 5% this year and and a lot of what's driving that are inflation on goods and services and supplies and things like that um cost of Labor right uh fuel um salaries benefits Etc all all of which kind of track CPI to some degree CPI from January 23 to January 24 is like 3 and a half% but if I go back 2 years it's 9% plus and so you know I think so far we've done pretty good like I said we have a lot of work that we have to do here um me personally I would think that the uh the bar that we should aim for would be the inflationary increase year to year as a starting point and then see if we can do better from there now I don't know what we have to where we have to tighten our belt or what we have to foro if if we do need to um but you know we we've got work to do I mean Brandon do you agree yeah oh absolutely yep yeah I mean I think it's uh and one of the things you know Randy i' uh like I'll take you up on your offer to go through the budget uh I I gave it I gave it a look and I thought it was uh I don't know there's a lot of meat there to to to to cut a lot of fat to cut in in in in that budget but I'd be interested to uh hear hear your ideas and where so you know educate us where are the um the Heavy Hitters in here as far as increases yeah um the police pension went up 100 grand um the insurances are the or the other heavy uh heavy increases uh I think maybe what we do is we go through the spreadsheet and put a threshold against the increases so we can kind of filter them out and focus on them yeah yeah the the um General insur Insurance went up uh 30,000 uh workers comp went up um 36,000 health insurance like I said we we we got a um actually we we did well on that that's only a $10,000 increase um what's What's the total budget uh for for this year just so 17 17 uh 122 122 so you everybody can figure out what 2% is 3% is ETC uh we have in the past and to Brendan's Point uh we've met on a Saturday uh morning uh where each of us could be present as opposed to just two members from a finance committee I would uh uh posit that it would be nice to at least have the opportunity for all of us to attend if only two or three want that's fine uh Randy would you be able to arrange something maybe for a a Saturday um or even a week weekday afternoon however it would be where the opportunity exists for all of us to be there yeah how many days notice Megan when we need to 408 hours okay we'll work on that tomorrow I think that's a specific day Friday afternoons would work for me anything's good for me Monday Monday afternoons would work for me uh Saturday mornings Sunday work pretty much I'll make end and work why don't we get one or two people to take a couple of cracks going through things to help Tee It Up so that if we do get together that we have a productive meeting and we're focused in on some on some targets yeah but again we're I I think we're all on the same page we want to get it as low as possible we're taxpayers too uh and we want to continue the uh the record that has existed for quite some time now uh the average Scott I think you've calculated it last year the average for 15 years is about 1.6% well we go to 2% cap I know you like to play with that number but the 1.6% where're we're referring to is the actual increase yeah uh year on year absolutely uh for the I I'm a big Advocate by the way for actual ta tax increase I don't take the position of hiding behind tax rates and assessment playing around with that of the cap Bank the cap Banks or you're right they're not it's not cash it's allowing you to either raise more in taxes or raise more in Appropriations that's exactly raise expenses or raise taxes those are what the banks are for uh we do not not take advantage of those situations um they're there for a that rainy day uh if you will and I can't even say this if we have a a worldwide pandemic or something like that but we didn't even use it during that time period so um you know that they're there for for purposes of of those very unusual circumstances but we do not practice on on taking advantage of those situations look I mean everything's gotten more expensive any body who goes to the supermarket has seen it I mean it's just absolutely uh distressing how much the cost of things going up but we have to run our house here too I'm only laughing because I read on Facebook that uh chicken shish kebabs cost $5 to $20 at the at the street for that is absolutely not true I bought a a shish kebab for $8 and it was very good so I don't know where that rumor started but that was not true I think you're too much Facebook any other comments no uh so we have old new business any old new no announcements Megan you didn't give me anything did you the Boy Scout flowers sale May 4th andth take Friday it starts Friday the 3 in the evening as soon as they unload the trucks swarms of swarms of customers descend upon them and then it Contin continues all day Sunday through I'm sorry all day Saturday the 4th through Sunday morning usually sell out don't you they usually sell out through April uh I'm sorry at the Valley Mall there's the friends of the library shreddit day that's right April 27th all right okay let me see if I can I'll use my phone yes Community shred day April 27th 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m right here in front of the library bring everything you want shredded there's uh there's a cross schedule bag Etc shred it pal uh so have at it uh have a haircut scheduled for May 3r bragger B's getting a new hat made the Elks townwide Garage Sale May 4th May 4th no not no come on listen up Elks garage sale um is 8:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. right at the Elks Lodge and I got another Elks announcement okay far away May 11th the double elimination blind draw cornhall tournament at the Elks May 11th uh I guess you can check out their Facebook um for I don't know if they have a Facebook but contact the Elks or an elk and they have when is the um the Sip and Shop Marketplace isn't that coming up at the Elks Club I don't know you bur it is I don't know there's a sign out there if you drive by take a look at it you stop at the light and you have at least two Elks up here Scott lavender and I are Elks so you can you can ask us and hopefully we're not in trouble uh with anybody but today is the Administrative Professionals Day so happy administrative professional oh there's one more from 12 baskets as you know they still need non-p perishable food items but as I announced a couple weeks ago they're still in need of uh cleaning supplies um dish detergent spray clean cleaners floor cleaners sponges bleach that kind of thing and they also accept uh toiletries too so obviously unused toiletries soaps toothbrushes things like that thank beautiful and that's it okay uh the meeting is now open to the public remarks and statements pertaining to any matter comments and remarks will be strictly limited to three minutes and that of course everybody knows I never hold anybody to three minutes but please be respectful of uh your other residents that may or may not want to speak all right what is your name Mr gianakis that's pretty good Gary gakis I'm here uh as the president of the Chamber of Commerce today and uh thanks for you know picking up the topic that everything's costing more um and I'm here for two things uh on the agenda and there might not be statements there might be questions but I'm trying to get a little clarification on the ordinances that you guys just um I don't if you tally approved them you read them or we kind of read them um but the one about the special events uh um ordinance that's here and I I think I saw a previous draft of this or maybe it was the previous version there wasn't everything kind of crossed out so is the ordinance now with these items crossed out like they're in the agenda the the the crossed out is the current ordinance things that are being deleted being deleted those things underlined are new okay so can I ask for clarification on it sure underlined stuff is new right um so we're the sponsor of the street fair with the shish kebab that you got and I know that you guys were there I saw you walk around and I hope you enjoyed yourselves and I just there's two things I don't know that I even have to look at it there's two things in it one of them is uh who's responsible the sponsor would be uh uh responsible for the police uh cost of the police department supporting the the event right there's no change to that section at all that that's the same as the current ordinance okay so I'm not completely familiar with the current ordinance but they're responsible if certain things don't happen right or that's correct okay and if if the proceeds aren't donated to a Township Civic organization right and our secretary kind of uh was emailing you and and and guy I believe were on the email I'm just still trying to like in person get the clarification on that so if the Chamber of Commerce sponsors the event and we're uh I don't know if we're a charitable uh you know you qualify we qualify yes we're not a 5013c we're a 501 six orever which are added to the ordinance okay they used to just have 501 so we like to give the proceeds to you know boy scouts or to the fire department or the police department or or you know another organization but we do also have costs from it but I guess what I'm trying to understand is not to be sound I don't want this to sound the wrong way but we could also donate it to ourselves correct okay so that's clear yes okay um and then I think that's kind of rolled up into two questions it was one about the police department whether or not we'd be responsible for the cost of that because that's you know we'd have to kind of factor that into things but only if you don't make the the corresponding donation that right they're tied to each other okay that's it um they seem like separate things so if we're if we're donating whether to ourselves or to one of these other organizations then we're good and we have to have an accounting for it right correct and it's somewhat misleading Gary because that section is underlined but it's only because it was moved okay there were no substantive changes to it okay um so thanks for clearing that up and then with respects so you guys were talking about inflation and everything like that's happening and there's some food truck ordinance stuff in here and and I think that's you know I understand why that's come about uh but for the businesses in town I want to understand the the fire ordinances or the schedule of these these fees for um uniform fire code fees there's type one $54 doesn't seem too bad there's also type one annual and I want to know the distinction and how those might affect businesses in town I I think it's to their benefit making correct me if I'm wrong because it'll allow businesses not to have to come in each time so this is for the food trucks right they're the type one so they're doing an annual fee as opposed to one time fee so it will save them having to come back every time correct so the to clarify if a food truck came in once they'd have to pay $54 right but if the same food truck came in twice they'd have to decide whether or not to pay 500 or 108 correct right correct okay so it's it's up to them whether or not it's uh better to pay 500 or 54 but I'm not saying that mobile food trucks should not have any fee because you know the brick of mortars our business in town have a fee so I just want to get that kind of clarification yeah it's up to them it depends on how many times they're goingon to be in town sure yeah I get it okay all right thanks for clearing things up sure thank you g thanks G and thank you again for the uh repir and thank your entire chamber good evening good evening so my name is Manish wani and um I'm here to bring an issue that I've been discussing with elgo and Randy for quite a some time now would you mind terribly just stating I know if you've been discussing it what is your address 73 Hillside Drive thank you um I'll just read what I've written that's okay so today I'm here to bring to your attention the matter concerning the condition of Hillside Drive uh as for my knowledge that's the only Street in Gillette that has not been behaved ever uh this neglect has led to various issues including lose gravel surface that possesses safety has it to Residents including children uh water accumulation problem and frequent portoles due to heavy traffic um few months ago I submitted a letter petition to algo and Randy expressing uh residents concerns um however the response so far has been inadequate as for the residents with temporary measures such as adding more gravel to fil po holes unfortunately this approach intensifies safety concerns rather than addressing them both myself and another Resident Janet from 38 Hillside Drive have experienced slip and Falls due to this loose gravel surface especially during inclement weather um it's essential to emphasize that the residents have been dutifully paying the taxes and they rightfully expect basic infrastructure maintenance our request is not for extravagant upgrades rather it's for a properly paved street that ensures the safety of all residents Additionally the Hillside Drive is part of a school brush route further underscoring the importance of addressing this issue uh from children's safety perspective um I ask the committee to prioritize this um Paving issue um thank thank you for your time thank you I I'm I mean I I know where it is but I'm not overly familiar with it I don't know if we're prepared to have a proper conversation should be with Randy Randy could you comment on it on the road yeah it it is a undersized Road U that's not of normal width within the township as as other roads are I've talked I had a conversation with the engineer today about it um I we'll be taking a look at at it and uh seeing if we could make any recommendations great how many than for bringing it to our attention many residents live on Hillside do we know um I think there's about uh about five about five homes on Hillside yeah five six yeah five or six H sign the letter requesting for the payment but one and Al do we P do we plow it yeah and was it ever paved no it's gravel right is there a reason why it was never never paved is it a private road there that's what I was wondering is it a private road or what no it's not a private road there there are some challenges to that road a lot of challenges actually to that road such house drainage with um the slopes going off the road uh the the each side of the road so I I have the engineer like I said looking into it and looking at possible uh what are our Alternatives what are what can we do great okay and yeah sure even if it's not P the drainage is still an issue whenever it drains there's a water problem um some part of the street has been turned into an trench uh by the water Force so it's an inconvenient to everyone and in winter time does is does water pull in certain sections and freeze yeah unfortunately there are several roads in Long Hill that we've we've looked at in the past all right so to be fair Randy you're working with the engineer uh Mr B this was Hillside you said yeah Hillside Drive thank you thank you uh any other member of the public who is present in the courtroom seeing none Megan at home anybody on Zoom would like to make a public comment please raise your hand now Colin McDon McDon hello how you guys doing good good evening good good yes so Colin MCD here of the uh lovely oakflower Brewing Company and also Birchwood Drive if you want to come by my house um so the uh the one comment I just wanted to make just to kind of push a little further um um what Gary just touched on it's just around that annual fire permit um I know the uh the long string of comments that uh guy referenced before with people complaining about food trucks and pricing and everything um I I know we may have caused a lot of uh the headaches around food trucks recently so thank you guys for working on on all that stuff but um yeah just you know in the continued effort to stay competitive with this uh kind of Ever Changing landscape of of craft breweries and food trucks and all that um I just want to comment that I think the annual uh fire permit fee as much as that is convenient is um significantly higher than what I've seen in other neighboring towns so um I mean I you know through the Brewers Guild and through all sorts of other uh industry connections um you know we're always talking about food trucks and how to manage these things um and I know you know just off the top of my head I know Morris Plains in particular um they have a six-month permit that is $54 so we're a little over $100 for them to have an annual permit um so it's it's just this uh constant struggle to to work with food trucks encourage them to come here convince them that it's a you know a worthwhile trip um and to kind of continue having you know different food trucks different options I know people in town you guys all know folks come in from all over town just for the food trucks they don't really even come in the brewery half the time which I'm totally fine with as long as there's that you know activity there downtown Millington but um I I can tell you it's going to be tricky uh going forward if I then kind of have to lay on them that it's a a pretty significant annual fee I mean I do know before anybody says that they are paying the $54 each time right now and that has been a constant battle uh in and of itself so um yeah just wanted to chime in with that thank you col so there are two two issues right one's the fire uh the annual fire um permit and the other one is the the per use for the food truck permit did I I I wouldn't say I wouldn't say the the per use for the food truck permit is is a a huge issue I think that's probably fine and that's what I expected it's mainly that 500 for the annual permit and col thank you I'll be honest with you I didn't really take a look at that or focus on it because it was presented to us I Believe by the Fire official yes so thank you for bringing it to our atten mention and if in fact uh it differs greatly from other towns I think we can we can review it we don't have to approve what is recommended that's correct so Colin thank you for bringing it to our attention we'll take a peek at that I if it is you know exceptional relative to other towns I'm sure we will address it I have a question how how many times on average does uh one uh you know each food truck you know park there it it it depends on the food truck we had tried to get it so that we would have folks um you know coming by once a month or so um so you know I mean you know they'll save $100 over the course of the Year going from the single day thing to going to the annual permit um but I wouldn't say honestly we try to discourage folks from coming more than once a month just to have that continued variety for folks in town understood and and it hopefully would be more convenient to just have to do one you know apply one time rather than it apply 12 individual times but thank you for your comment I definitely wanted to because if you said they come once a week then I would think well you know all right well $500 is a considerable savings compared to you know $54 a week that's exct however but when you're saying they only on average come once a month uh it's definitely something to think about so thank you I have a question for Jack so Jack if we had a company this is a theoretical question if there was a company that had food trucks mhm would they have to license Each truck or would you license the company Each truck okay but so there's no such thing as sort of like a site license for food truck company correct correct it's Each truck it's a separate especially for fire and for health so part part of what call the problem here is if you want variety each variety needs to be licensed right right my question is I assume the fire inspector only inspects the food truck once a year just like a no every time they come it it it's it's uh the the statute uh leaves it up to the Fire Marshall uh but obviously if the fire fire marshall doesn't doesn't have any experience with the person they're going to come out each time this this you know the whole intent of the fees are to cover uh you know their expense um at a recent uh fire Marshalls meeting uh the state uh strongly emphasized and recommended uh that they be inspected in place so what does that mean on 6:00 on a Friday night the fire marshal has to go out and inspect it at the place of location which is not during normal business hours so um yeah we'll take a look at it and and compare see what other towns are charging but you know the idea of these fees are are just to cover cost this is you know obviously you know the town's not making a fortune off off these fees um it's it's an idea that you know that the normal taxpayer shouldn't be uh covering the cost of them going out to inspect the food trucks uh likewise with the Bo of Health you know the these fees are are to cover the costs incurred for for those inspections how if so let's say if food truck came once a month would that require a once a month inspection or is that what you're saying it would have they would it can very well yes is that is that by law or ordinance do we have to do that M facility fire Marsh yeah fire fire marshal fire prevention most of those regulations are stat that you you you as a committee don't have the luxury of of ignoring that's right in his discretion right the fire marshal does have does have some discretion okay but like I said you know if you come every week and and he inspects you two or three times and he's comfortable with you they may do spot inspections okay but you know it doesn't need to be done every single time but if you're coming once a month right you're going to get inspected every time I could almost guarantee you that all right at least six times so we have to we have to take that cost into account going to look and see what other town I could pay $54 right thank you all right Colin I apologize you still there no I'm still here all right um for the for the time being have we answered your question yeah absolutely thank you guys thank you Colin Megan a would like to speak can you hear me hello yes we can hear you Charles arena with ch to drove Millington based upon your responsi or lack thereof to my questions at the last Township committee meeting on the Everly property in the cultural transformation I'll not be any asking any questions tonight I've been advised to ask any of my future questions through friends that are subscribers to Facebook which I am not a participant and never will be the advice is that I might get a better response to my questions through this active social media mechanism thank you very much thank you Megan Danny would like to speak D Danny Danny hi I I Danny would you mind stating your full name and address please sure it's uh Daniel rasi I actually live in Bernardsville but I'm one of the owners of um oakflower Brewing sure okay um we wanted to ask um in letter D it says about Vehicles parked on the street shall be subject to all applicable traffic regulations including but not limited to time restrictions and in front of the brewery there's definitely like a restricted time spot we discuss that too doesn't it end at 7 o' or something I forget no I believe it's we we discussed that and I wanted to uh have it I wanted to be longer and I thought that Mr calman said that he was good with it being restricted if I remember but but I'd have to look at the ordinance but I think it ends at 7 p.m. it ends ends at a certain time we discussed I remember yeah that was my recol so you have one hour because I had that concern too like is it long enough for customers to go in there and spend some time in there um I remember it I remember that yeah I thought it was their recommendation to do two hours that's that's the way I recall it hours I want it to do longer yes that's correct that's right that's right so there' be turnover yeah but if it expires at 700 p.m. I don't believe it does it does I don't think it does okay I could have sworn it I thought that was my that was my recollection when we discussed it let me look so and hopefully D Danny you you go by Danny right yes so Danny uh your concern is that the the length of time is not for the food truck defined no for the food trck right well with the food truck if they're saying it's limited to an hour that's an issue when the food trucks are there for usually three to four hours I I thought two hours was a little short for customers too be honest that was for these are bifurcated I don't get to use that word often you know a customer who's who's in there having a beer or two is different than the food truck the food truck I thought cuz we had so many iterations of that ordinance I thought we time limit the food truck I thought it affected not Dan we need to we did not Define the amount of time a food truck can stay there however they do have to abide by all laws of the roads so in that area there is 2hour parking first come first so it we can't we you know we we as as the administrative staff aren't aren't giving our tickets we have no power to do that okay so that would be that would be an issue of of whether they they spend longer times there or not now we we had a meeting uh Megan and I had a meeting with the uh police uh Administration and there are some recommendations that we're going to come forward uh to to provide the committee to take care uh that would resolve this problem great okay all right so Danny thank you thank you for bringing that back to our attention because I know we spent considerable time uh on this ordinance and it's odd we would have missed but we will we will revisit it and we will in fact uh fix it thank you we we should we should probably amend the traffic ordinance correct right that's that's to what TR that's what we were talking about doing all right Danny thank you thank you appreciate it any other member of the public at home or if you're not at home and you're on the internet yes maybe you're an oak flower he got a point if anybody else on Zoom would like to make a public comment please raise your hand now I don't see anyone mayor all right so I I will look for a motion to go into executive with no further action second everybody have a great evening and thank you for attending and for those at home for uh watching mik for