e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e let the uh record reflect that we have reconvened with all members present I ask for those that are able to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing after the ledge to flag the United States of America to the please remain standing as as we remember people uh members of our burough staff extended family a long time M Madison residence we lost over the last few weeks uh Nancy Jean cman Crossman a longtime Madison resident passed away March 10th at her home on Dogwood Drive the age of 77 born in Springfield Illinois in 1947 she graduated from cukan uh Illinois high school where she met her future husband Allan went on to earn her bachelor's degree from McMurray college and later master of Science Education from Southern Illinois and postmasters work at Kane University Nancy and Allan were married in 1969 and settled in Madison 1975 after leave living several years in California Massachusetts they raised their children here roson Allison she taught Special Ed Ed over 30 years mainly within the Madison School System retired in 2012 Avid Reader she loved theater enjoyed spending early fall days at the Jersey Shore in Delaware beaches and despite almost 50 years in Madison she never forgot her Midwestern Roots she is survived by her husband Allan son Ross daughter Allison and the respective spouses along with five grandchildren and we also remember Anna Marie Amy Adams a88 most recently of met Mars Township passed away March 14 March 14th born in Summit she lived in Madison for and rais her family here before moving to Mars Township 23 years ago graduated Su Summit High School and she worked as a legal secretary in Newark at a time when women's choices were limited Amy set the example on how to live a self-directed fulfilled life balancing motherhood and a career in the late 60s she learned about monor teaching method and she was instrumental in opening the Westmont monaster School am mendum with James and Sandra dwire she worked in real estate for over 40 years as a broker owned and operated two offices in Madison initially Century 21 Amy Adams on Kings Road and later Adams Associates Realtors on Park Avenue she cared deeply about helping everyone achieve dream of owning a home and she fiercely but ethically negotiated for her clients both sellers and buyers and often found both parties were content and satisfied at the end very appropriate the key to the success is real in real estate is that she built relationships based on trust and respect Amy was a member of the New Jersey Board of realtor Ethics Committee and a parishioner at St Vincent Martyr Church he is um survived by her husband Kenneth her children Kevin Garrett Dr Alice Adams many know Allison for ACT being very active in Madison her husband Terren mirinda and her husband Andrew and Shannon survived by eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren we also remember Vivy manik who died on March 21st at age of 88 fin a long ill illness she's a mother of Chris Manic the superintendent of Madison chadam joint meeting sewer treatment plant she was born in Estonia came to United States through Ellis Island following World War II and had lived in New York City Liv he married and moved to Palisades Park New Jersey and then later Madison and chattam for many years before moving to Wharton 10 years ago she had a long career reti as bank manager with Wells Fargo formerly wacovia Bank in marown mendum and Madison branches she was a world traveler enjoyed her trips to Europe as well as many trips including walking with penguins in Arctica and Safari in penya and Tanzania just to mention a few survivors include her husband of 63 years John her son Chris and his wife Jennifer manik who is also an employee of joint meeting and her other son John let us take a moment to remember Nancy Crossman Amy Adams and Vivic Manic and let us pass our thoughts to the families and friends that they leave behind thank you and before we move on to minutes for approval and we do have a large crowd tonight and some overflowed into the hallway we do have a remote set up downstairs if you want to watch it remot watch your meeting remotely if you do so we will be announcing comment time when you can come upstairs to comment um and you're of course you're welcome to stay here just ask be careful on where you lean so you're not leaning against any of the portraits or any of the artwork this is a very special council chambers one and one and kind and let me ask for a motion for executive minutes of February 26 2024 so move second all in favor I and a motion for the regular minutes of February 26 2024 so move second any discussion or any corrections all in favor I right welcome for largest crowd in quite a while for those who are here for the first time welcome to as I said one of the nicest burough halls in um in the country um couple of things going on last two weeks uh last Monday was the annual Taste of Madison and we I hear a little bit more about that during the Community Affairs report but as a member of the committee I can say it was a great night showcasing the restaurants in Madison and a few from our neighboring towns and I want to thank all the restaurants our sponsors of course any any of you here and listening at home who attended the event and last Thursday I was a celebrity judge for the annual Kings Road School fourth grade talent show also known as Kings Road has Got Talent as I mentioned previous years I've been a judge I think that is the toughest job I've ever had as mayor because there was plenty of talent tent in the show there was magic comedy dance and a song with a little bit of ta kwondo mixed in there and the singing to no surprise was dominated by a theme of Taylor Swift and not to be forgotten was the excellent greeter at the door councilwoman Rachel erick's son Julian all right we now move on to uh reports from committees public Safety Council president range you mayor from the police department tonight on March 22nd Chief Misha met with all Kings Road School classes for the kickoff of kindness week the chief spoke to classes ranging from kindergarten through the fifth grade to give them some examples of what kindness looks like and to hear from students as to what they do to show kindness and how they are kind to others the chief was also invited back uh on April 26th to have lunch with the students the arve together program is in full swing we've recorded on this a few times now and officers and families are in Madison are seeing immediate results and getting great feedback from the families that have been referred the arve program begun on March 4th and is a program which provides individuals in mental crisis the assistance that they need in real time by teaming up mental health clinician with a responding police officer to dispatch crisis calls for more information you can go to rosenet.org and type arri together in the search bar during the week of March 11th two officers completed the 40-hour CIT or Crisis Intervention training the training provides knowledge on different types of mental disorders and conditions including schizophrenia depression developmental disabilities and autism the training develops skills to promote safe encounters with law enforcement by teaching communication and deescalation techniques and enables participants to provide information and access to services that can Aid these persons in lie of incarceration Chief Miss Misha's goal is to have all Madison officers trained in CIT by the end of 2025 as of uh 2024 the Madison police department will have over onethird of its Department trained in CIT a few meetings ago I reported one of our newest police officers Officer meter was made squad leader at his Academy class I'm happy to report that our Second Officer uh who is in the academy right now has also been selected as squad leader so congratulations to officer renon and I'm happy to see these two officers showing others how to be leaders in their Academy class from the fire department the fire department uh reports that so far uh this month they've responded to 18 General alarms nine still alarms 24 investigations and 75 medical calls for a total of 126 calls all three preparation career firefighters have received their emergency medical technician licenses uh one of them has completed all the training and the other two are near the end of their field training the Madison fire department operates a combined space rescue team this team specializes in rescues where uh people could be trapped in tight areas with hazardous atmospheres these services are provided to Madison the Madison and chadam Joint meeting and other surrounding areas in the coming weeks the four newest firefighters will be going to confin space Tech technician school members of the crew division have uh completed certified emergency vehicle operator course as well and uh in more training news the fire department and the Madison volunteer ambulance Corps uh also started their combined training for EMS Services recently all members took place in electronic patient documentation class as the state of New Jersey requires all patient reports be submitted electronically and from The Joint Court the Madison burough uh court cases have decreased uh cases issued in February compared to the previous month and compared to February of 2023 although case loads have decreased uh revenue is up slightly um but this is largely due to um the state finally issuing delinquent payment notices for defendants with outstanding balances On Their fines delinquent payment notices were paused in 2020 um so that's 4 years ago um and haven't been sent out until just recently since the state is starting to issue these delinquent payment notices again we anticipate collecting outstanding revenues and that's all from Public Safety tonight mayor thank you thank you and finance of bur clerk M erck thank you mayor this evening we have three important steps we need to take as we near the end of our annual budget process first we're introducing ordinance 11-202 24 which is an ordinance to establish a cap Bank the state of New Jersey adopted two laws that limit Municipal spending the first is a levy cap which limits our tax increase to 2% but there are certain exceptions such as increases in capital and the second is the Appropriations cap which limits the increase in Appropriations to a certain amount however if the burrow passes an ordinance such as the one we're introducing tonight budget Appropriations could increase by 3.5% with the difference being placed in what's called a cap Bank the cap Bank holds 2 years of excess Appropriations in it doing this gives flexibility to Future councils should there be a sudden and significant increase in expenses for instance rock salt fuel methane gas which we burn in our buildings or other expenses in fact the cap is helping us this year since the budget is increasing by 5.27% ordinance 11-202 24 will establish that Appropriations cat bank and we will be voting to introduce that ordinance tonight the second important step we're taking this evening is the introduction of the official budget document we've had six discussions and presentations on the budget during public Council meetings the process is very transparent with all presentations posted on rosenet and discussions available for viewing on the burough of video this budget includes a 1.75% property tax increase which is the equivalent of about $4 and0 50 cents a month increase for the average Madison home resolution 111 111 d224 will record our vote to introduce the official budget tonight after the budget is introduced the state law mandates that it be available for public viewing for at least 28 days the document will be available on rosenet.org at the library and in the clerk's office we will then vote to adopt the budget at the council meeting on Monday April 22nd the third item this evening is resolution 118 which is a resolution permitting self-examination of the budget New Jersey statute mandates that all Municipal budgets be reviewed annually however fiscally strong and prudent towns like Madison are permitted to be reviewed once every 3 years this helps us make our budget process easier and frees up State resources so they can focus on more challenged municipalities lastly I'd like to thank tonight of all the staff involved in our budget process including all the department heads and of course our Chief Financial Officer Jim Bernett who organizes the process Jim's commitment to clear communication transparency and a collaborative process is really exemplary I also want to thank my colleagues on Council for their insights questions and comments throughout our months of discussion and review of the budget thank you mayor thank you Public Works and Engineering Mr leran thank you mayor from Public Works repaired s line brakes that were damaged the repairing SE line brakes that were damaged by a contract ctor sewer jetting is continuing locations are posted on social media and the Bor website the roads department is continuing to patch potholes Mechanical Services are cleaning repairing and putting away plows and salting equipment and finally the parks department is continuing to ready the fields for various spring Sports from engineering uh wellb facility improvements construction is progressing for May restart to meet the summer demand uh and other improvements to the building are to be completed in the summer the utility building roof construction commenced on Friday March 22nd additional plywood sheathing is required due to conditions of the existing sheathing the MRC multi-purpose courts work has been completed erosion along the path has been addressed with Asal to stabilize the area the memorials Trail Trails phase one work was completed reimbursement from the county has been submitted Grant application for phase three has been submitted and approved by Mars County scheduling to be coordinated with hazardous tree removal Library interior Architects are reviewing submittals and invoicing workers progressing well issues resolved include the fire alarm system M Museum of Early Trades construction started on November 22nd on November 2002 with historical building architect reviewing submittal and invoicing project is nearing completion the cook Avenue parking lot plans have been revised to Red reduce the scoping cost bids are due March 28th Dodge field playground a Grant application has been submitted to Green Acres Program Jake's law Grant the grant would cover approximately 75% of the construction costs Grant award announcement is anticipated in April construction is now com scheduled to commence in early July and it's approximately 3 months construction time from uh let's see this is okay the Madison Eon environmental committee and M environmental committee Echo yard survey will be available through the upcoming newsletter utility bills and online the survey will gather input on sustainable programs for Madison residents and community members they ask you to visit the green fair and Native Plant Sale at Madison Green and clean on Saturday April 27th at 9 at from 9: to 2:00 p.m. and finally Madison residents can order native plants from the Great Swamp Watershed Association from April 1st to the 19th from the shade tree management committee the Spring Street tree program is underway 9 four letters are being sent to Residents who will have a tree will have a tree a street tree planted by their house trees will be delivered to DPW on April 21st DPW will be planting the trees during April and May we ask residents to get a new tree to make a special effort we ask residents who get a new tree to make a special effort to water them during dry spells New Jersey forestry is providing Madison with 100 tree seedlings they will be available for pickup on April 12th in front of burrow Hall from 12: to 4:00 p.m. please invest in the future tree canopy of Madison by planting one in your yard for the Next Generation to enjoy finally Madison's Arbor Day celebration will be held on Saturday April 27th as a start to the Madison Green and clean Day this year Shay tree board will be honoring the Department of Public Works for all the good things they do for Madison more information on on the program will be forthcoming thank you mayor thank you utilities Mr Howen pus thank you mayor welcome our residents and guests uh from the water utility uh along with the normal maintenance and operations the water utility dug and repaced two curve boxes there was a frozen line that they unfroze and installed a new valve there they completed the interior painting of dwell the meter replacement project around the burrow for commercial Residential Properties continues uh on our end along with the outside contractor about uh 10% of the community has already been taken care of we probably have a couple more years left to finish the project completely uh welltech diagnosis trouble with the vfd the variable frequency displacement well and we're waiting on a contractor to begin to work this week to correct the problem B well Redevelopment and renovation are still pending as we coordinate with the contractor to start work from the electric utility on March 11th the department replaced Two Poles due to storm damage on cook Avenue and Community Place power was out from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. the entire department that was available was there resolving the problem dowy Roofing has started the replacement of the roof on the Water and Light plant building which is well overdue uh there was a contractor delay and uh it will be very nice to renovate the inside after that's finished crews are working on new pole sets for Lorraine Road circuit TI Point project 28 Walnut and Community Place Housing Development and 286 Main Street which is the Madison mall apartments they're also performing infrastructure upgrades with these projects they are continuing daily work orders consisting of daily substation inspections Truck and Equipment maintenance markouts residential service disconnects for demo or reconstruction new service upgrades three issues around all of our wires and utility poles street light and post lamp repairs emergency calls repairs the lamp posts in the central business district have been upgraded and that project is completed the lamp posts that are going to be replaced around the train station are awaiting interior fixtures to be complete for installation that's all mayor thank you community fairs Miss Hanahan thank you mayor uh the Downtown Development commission uh had partnered on the taste of Madison as you referred to and it was a great success thank you to all the sponsors uh it was a wonderful showing of community and thanks to the organizers from the DDC rotary and the Madison chamber um the next meeting for the Downtown Development commission is on Thursday April 18th at 7:15 in the heartley D Memorial Public is invited to attend the new Madison farm and Artisan Market will be held on Saturdays from May 25th through December 14th in the Prospect Street parking lot from 10: till 3: we're looking forward to greater participation closer to the heart of Madison for more information you can visit the DDC website the Downtown Development commission uh will also be hosting the Madison Green and clean which used to be known as Mayday uh that will be on April 27th from 9: to 2 and the rain date is on the Sunday following that April 28th it will be kicked off with an Arbor Day celebration and we'll also feature a focus uh feature uh eco-friendly initiatives more information can be found on the website the Chamber of Commerce uh is extending F Shelly the Easter egg scavenger hunt through the March 29th because it was too rainy for kids to go look for the Easter egg so that will continue through the 29th and the Easter FunFest will take place on March 30th from 11: to 12:30 that usually causes a little chaos downtown so be careful ladies night is scheduled for May 9th from the Madison Community Arts Center there are multiple things happening uh this is the last week of the Art Exhibit there so take advantage of that through March 30th they uh the um Community Arts Center has also announced funding from the smart foundation for the New Jersey women playwrights program which will support the development of nine new works by women playwrights and that first reading of those will begin on April 14th the they are also announced the mostly Madison Dance Festival which will begin on April 25th and run through May 5th we'll have nine different nights of dance and plays for further information about all of the things happening at the Madison community art center you can visit Madison Arts n j thank you and Health Mr Forte thank you mayor from the health department free covid tests are available to residents at the health department the health department is also offering covid vaccines to all residents free of charge for information please visit www. Westfield nj.gov health for more information we have an upcoming clinic clinic on March 28th and registration is Avail is also available on the website Co activity is low but influenza activity is actually high with lots of reports of respiratory illness the health department reminds residents to stay home if you're sick wash hands frequently and avoid touching your face be on the lookout for the Mars County Community Health survey the health department will use this survey to gain information about Madison and how we can improve health outcomes in the burrow April 1st to 7th is National Public Health Week for more information look look at the web at www. nw.org one of this year's themes is Civic engagement residents can continue to be engaged by completing the survey uh that's the Mars County Community Health survey again when it's rolled out pet licensing is still ongoing and all cats and dogs over 6 months of age should be licensed within the burrow for more information look to Rose DET rosenet.org thank you thank you now move on to Communications and petitions none received mayor all right now we're on to the first of two uh invitations for public comment we do have a lot of new people here tonight so this one is limited to only our discussion item and the items on the consent agenda so I will go through the list of things you may comment on now if you want to comment on other things there'll be a second U comment period a little bit later in the meeting so um these are the uh our discussion item is also a resolution related to the affordable housing legislation uh that has been passed in Trenton and these are the resolutions you may comment on this will also be part of the consent agenda when we get to that so you understand what's in there resolution 112 authorizing contract with Clark Kon hints for professional uh Services regarding the former Madison Masonic Lodge now the uh at least call for now the heler center uh thanks to a very generous donation and this is not to exceed amount of 9,8 $800 resolution 113 is appointing Lisa Quinn to part-time position of technical assistant to the construction code official and this is in the building department at U and this was increase of pay from 2653 an hour to 38445 an hour to reflect a new position uh resolution 114 is appointing Renee Stoya to the position of substitute crossing guard at $21.45 an hour resolution 115 is approving use of Gibbons Park by The Garden Club of Madison on May 4th resolution 116 is authorizing use of community pool parking parking lot by The Garden Club of Madison on April 22nd resolution 117 is Wen contract to Pinsky and Snyder for the preventative maintenance and repair of HVAC equipment uh base bid in in the amount of $556,500 resolution 118 self-exam examination of the budget resolution uh and that was outlined by uh councilwoman ER uh resolution 119 is a resol resolution thanking United States uh representative Mikey Cheryl for securing Federal funding to save the Drew forest and this was a grant towards a purchase of $4.1 million that and then resolution1 120 is requesting amendments to assembly Bill 4 Senate bill 50 regarding affordable housing so those are the items you may comment on now as again if you want to comment anything else that'll come up later in the meeting if you want to comment in any of those resolutions step to the lect turn you state your name your address and the resolution that you're commenting on and we ask that you try to keep your comments to three minutes and uh we give you a one minute grace anyone wishing to comment on those resolutions please step forward there um I I'm CLA whitcom 12 Fairwood Road I'm here um as a point of Pride to um comment on the U Federal funding from Mikey Cheryl and Corey Booker and uh this is really just extraordinary it's an extraordinary Testament to the Excellence of the burough in in Fearless networking it's also um Testament to friends of the Drew forest for um three years of um not having as much fun as we could have had uh but also I have to say that our our representatives are impressive I mean I I've seen Mikey Sherl at some events and she'll come up to me and say what can I do for the forest I don't even Bo think to bother her but she's so concerned about this and it's um it's not just cuz it's a nice Forest it's an asset that other towns don't have it's an exceptional Aqua for recharge Zone it's got you it's been restored for so long that has biodiversity that doesn't exist it has this intact ecosystem and it's you know if we if we slice it and dice it and and compromise it we're going to lose an incredible asset for Mars County so thank you all and I was comment on resolution 119 thank you thank you my name is Mary Jane l I live at tan High VI terce uh also the home of the friends of the duw forest but I'm here that's right that's where all the mail goes right um Not only would I like to say thank you to Mikey Cheryl but I'd also like to say thank you to uh Senator Booker um I had had the opportunity to work with him in my previous life in 35 years in Essex Union and uh pic counties working with underprivileged children and I can tell you that I felt so good about it that yes we have support from Essex County we have support from Union County Anda County and hopefully all of those children will have the opportunity to someday experience the Drew forest and thank you very much and that was again resolution 119 anyone else wishing to comment will welcome all right I'd like to speak of the same resolution my name is Lydia Chambers I'm at 87 milor Road in New Vernon New Jersey and I'm I want to commend you for working with Mikey Cheryl and encouraging her um to be supportive of the Drew Forest as the friends of the Drew Forest have been I'm co-chair of the friends of the Drew Forest by the way um and then she did an amazing job shepher in it through the process in DC which I'm sure was not very easy everybody speaks about the Drew forest and its critical importance in the as a recharge zone for the berried valley aquafer but I just want to talk a little bit about its importance in terms of its um Native habitat and and um this is incredibly important we're facing a biodiversity crisis and our bugs and our birds and our bees are the populations of them have drastically diminished in the last 50 years and they need native plants to eat that's the basis of the food chain and which which keeps our Hab our ecosystem healthy so we need to protect native plant areas like the Drew Forest so it's incredibly um critical for that reason and um in addition to Mikey Sher understanding that um she's she's working towards obviously protecting the Drew Force but she's also introduced a a build in the federal government called building uh Native habitats at Federal facilities act so in two ways she is showing how important it is to preserve native habitats and I hope everybody and you all are appreciative of that importance of doing that here in Madison thank you thank you anyone else wishing to comment and any resolutions please step forward good evening Colette kusus 7 All Bright Circle in Madison um I just want to say after living in Madison and experiencing the Drew forest for many many years my children my my family Etc I thinkk Mikey Cheryl I certainly thank this Council the mayor and the council for uh your support of our efforts um it's it's really meaningful as my colleagues have explained thank you very much thank you anyone else wishing to comment on a resolution seeing n i close this part of the meeting and uh just also want to reinforce that um a big thank you to uh Congressman Mikey Cheryl and uh you Senator Cory Booker but um this would not have been possible with uh without the support of the friends of Drew Forest we just heard recently from someone um who's aware of what's going on and lives in Chester and said I haven't seen the signs out there so it's uh we have a great reach appreciate it we we now move on to U introduction of our 2024 cap Bank ordinance and the budget and tax resolution um I call up ordinance 11- 2024 for first reading ask the burough clerk to read said ordance by title ordinance 11 2024 uh calendar year 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropri rations limit and to establish a c bank mayor I move ordinance 11-202 24 second and uh Rachel already did a great explanation but any other uh comments on this roll call vote please M erck yes Mr landre yes Mr range yes Mr har pis yes Miss onahan yes Mr Forte yes before we move on to budget introduction just a little additional background we'll get Jim up here to do a presentation and we'll get the um introduction underway um as Rachel ER has already stated you know this is the culmination of our 2024 budget work sth presentation which is probably six more than you would see in uh most municipalities um Jim will present the official budget as he was directed to uh produce at the last council meeting by consensus and which uh basically came down to 1.75 um increase on the uh tax levy and more dollars for Capital it should also be noted that to achieve this goal we have very tight expensive expense lines such as health insurance which on the budget level is going up by less than a percent but on reality level much more than that so it's um great work on the administration to make a tight budget so we can uh control cost or the taxes um and um once we uh Jim goes through this we will ask for we will have the uh statement read by the burough of Clerk and then the uh motion to approve the resolution um and then there'll be um Council discussion public discussion on the budget happens in four weeks at our um April 22nd meeting as as mentioned or you can also comment on it during the uh General comment period so Jim thank you Mary Council appreciate the time uh as discussed we've had a number of uh presentations um transparency wise if we go to the next slide all the information is available on the annual budget process page multiple years are on there and before I even go to the next slide uh I appreciate the kind words from councilwoman erck I want to recognize Chrissy mer who's sitting in the corner there who does want to be embarrassed but I'm going to embarrass her because she did a tremendous amount of help um with me on the budget and I really appreciate all her help so we go to the next slide you see the uh hearing schedule and we are now um at March 25th which is the introduction of the budget uh it will uh be on display and available for review for 28 days and then we'll have the adoption of the April 20 um of the budget on April 22nd the hearing and adoption um the next slide I'm not going to go into detail on this this is a slide you've seen before it talks about goals um important questions in summary we're looking to limit tax increase maintain Services uh maintain funding for Capital programs and ensure long-term stability by not causing any systemic issues we go to the next slide this is actually um a from 2021 when we had the issues with the pandemic and I just want to or take a few moments to kind of remind Council of what the challenges were like just a few years ago in that year Maplewood began their budget process talking about an 8% tax levy increase if you go to the next slide this is from The Daily Record I'm sorry the Bergen Record and it talks about how towns were really challenged with uh covid uh towns other some towns laid off some towns fured Madison didn't do any of that um if we go to the next slide there were some towns that actually had to issue debt to pay the bills they in essence had to issue a mortgage to pay the groceries um Garfield is one of the towns that had to do that they had issue a 2 million doll relief other T had to issue a financial declare a financial emergency which is um a challenge and then puts you on state review for 5 years in a row as we talked about there's a self-exam resolution on this evening because we're in a fiscal position where we don't need to be in state review and then the final slide comes from just the uh presentation from a month ago month and a half ago talking about reminder um about revenues and that things were very challenged in 2020 2021 you can see parking revenues were down to almost nothing they are finally back um Court revenues have still not come back if you look at uh 2019 Court revenues were 173,000 we're still not back um to those levels um interest income has certainly helped um fill the Gap and that is a main reason how we're able to make this budget work this evening um so the next slide please Michael um as discussed um this budget includes no reduction in Services the buau taking over Emergency Medical Services the ambulances I think people heard that the fire department is going to be taking over that uh fund balance is stabilized across the three budgets that we have Municipal electric and water we're also able to set aside more money and capital we're still not back to the 2016 to 2018 time when we had 3.8 million in capital and we'll talk about that in a minute new construction has helped generate additional tax revenue um we've reduced our Reliance of f to fund Municipal operations with the electric utility that's something we have to do because our costs are going to be going up next year and the year after when new electric contracts come in we're compliant with strategic planning guidelines and we're looking to fully fund the MRC carport and as was reported by councilman harn pus the water meter replacement project um should hopefully be completed um to a large extent um later on this year I'm looking at Jim Finelli because I know it's going to take us years to get the last 300 or 400 meters replaced um as requested by council at the March 11 meeting um the pre the budget that I presented there was a 2% increase Council asked that that be reduced to 1.75 and they asked that the cap General Capital appropriation be increased by $100,000 the reason we did that is because we are looking at purchasing a fire truck we were anticipating buying it in two years however we're hearing that it's going to take two years to actually get the fire truck so the hope is that we can have enough funds in general capital and we'll be able to make this a termination later on in the year that we can approach rate or set aside the funds and then go out and order it we can't place an order until we actually have proof that we've set aside the funds we go to the next slide these are some of the concerns that we have um there's going to be discussion later on this evening about affordable housing there's going to be there's a tremendous amount of uncertainty um on affordable housing uh with this new legislation that just passed um clearly Our obligation is going to increase and how we're going to deal with that um will be uh dealt with by Council but it is something that could cost the town um a lot of dollars depending on the strategy that the council decides to go um we may need we're going to need funds if we're able to save the Drew Forest um cost of electricity going up and there are other items here that are listed I'm not going to go through all of them they were mentioned before so the next it's a lot of numbers I apologize this is online um maybe you have x-ray uh specs or something but um it's a lot of numbers I wanted to show 2020 through uh 2024 so you can see some of the numbers that changed if you take a look at the second line down you can see in 2020 Municipal revenues were 3.9 million we're still not back to that level um Co really um caused an issue and you can see in 2021 and 2022 those numbers dropped to 2.9 and 2.8 million we're finally getting back to um preco levels um and uh uh there's other items I want to point out that based on the last presentation that I gave item B3 which is property taxes on existing ratables that was changed from going up from 2% to 1.75% and capital Improvement which is e32 towards the bottom like third fourth line from the bottom that uh was increased by $100,000 as I said before um 2019 I couldn't put any more numbers or row on this um without making everybody's eyes pop out um but um 2018 2017 17 2016 all had $3.8 million for general for Capital Improvement that's for trucks that's for roads that's for sewer that's for sidewalks that's for equipment that's for uh DPW equipment um and alike um Radio Systems um security systems all those types of things are funded out of General Capital we're just getting back this year from 3 million last year to 3.6 million um so those are the there the on um the final thing that changed from the last presentation to now is um a number of Grants were finalized they always come in around this time where it's a clean communities Grant or other grants that come in we had to um appropriate them when we have grants it's basically budget neutral money's going in on the revenue side money's coming in on the appropriation side we get $50,000 for uh storm sewer improvements or we get $112,000 for a sustainability project it goes in on the revenue side it goes in on the appropriation side it's it's neutral but that gets reflected um in uh two lines on on the budget here we go to the next Slide the electric utility just had a a small um slate change in operations from the March 11 presentation but it's basically uh the same document and then the last one is the water utility it was a really small $4,000 change in um the line on the Water Utility so it's basically unchanged from what we presented at the last council meeting finally I just wanted to talk about um the services that Madison receives uh I think um our services are great I live in this town I know a lot of people live in this town and uh I think we're all proud of the services and I think a lot of people maybe not everybody realizes that the type of services you can get in Madison you don't get in other towns taking over the ambulance is is a prime example um that's just someone being a little too close to the artwork sorry so uh in any event um our Fire Department fire safety Police Department crossing guards garbage recycling pickup yard waste and leaf pickup um if you live in chattam Township you don't get that um if you live in chattam Township you may not get water you may have to have a pump you may have to have sewer or septic um Recreations and park maintenance I think our parks are are wonderful I'm I'm biased I grew up in town um Senior Citizen Services this is the the general budget includes this um sewage treatment Health Department fire hydrat and street lights um uh our free public library plowing plowing and maintenance of the roads and in all the administrative functions so for the average home which is um which has an assessed VI is 667,000 that's not how much you would buy that house for you probably buy that house for about a million dollars um because the assess value versus market value that's a long conversation if anybody wants to have it with me but um that house that's worth about a million dollars P paid in um uh 2023 paid about $3,824 cents in Municipal Taxes 13,700 in total taxes the increase in this budget um if approved will be 1.75% increase that house and um it's a specific house that's valued at that amount that's about the average in town that house will have an increase in Municipal Taxes of $4 50 that doesn't include County that doesn't include um that doesn't include uh County or school board so with that um mayor all right here so what we'll do is we'll we'll go to the um statement from the clerk on the budget introduction okay upon introduction and adoption the 20124 budget and tax resolution will be published uh by summary in the Madison eagle and the Mars County daily record on March the 28th 2024 with a public hearing date set for Monday April the 22nd at 8:00 p.m. at which time and place all interested individuals will have an opportunity to be heard and there will be consideration for final adoption a copy of the budget as introduced will be filed in the Madison Public Library and the county library and posted on the buroughs website for public review I have a motion for resolution 11-202 resolution of the burough of Madison adopting 2024 budget and tax resolution second Council discussion Tom me first Eric you had to say something oh yeah okay thank you sir uh Mr Bernette can I ask you a question while you're over there questions man uh yeah we can ask questions but Jim will have to return back to the uh I'm sorry Jim and in for war you he he was about uh 50 steps short of his uh goal for today anyway we okay no I was like talking to your gym and asking your questions so the the one thing that hasn't gone back up in your presentation is the court Revenue so what does the court Revenue consist of primarily it's the parking tickets it's other type of tickets that's the majority of the court so that's what it is just yeah violations of some sort violations and other revenues that are collected by the Yeah right so people are parking better and maybe not speaking as much or whatever so we don't know that will ever come back yeah I don't know if there was a pattern that it was always at that at that level before anyway and The Debt Service of 2.24 million that entails sorry presentation to the eag sorry I'll give it back to you so the Deb service de service yes sir go ahead so what's in that so The Debt Service so there's there's multiple debt services that the buau has for example the MRC is not in here the MRC is Pa thank you for asking this question good question and you know part of the answer here but it's good to flesh this out the MRC is paid out of the open space trust fund so um uh that that's paid out of that portion The Debt Service here is the debt service for the renovation of this building that occurred about 12 years ago the construction of the police department building which I think was about 12 years ago for uh purchase of a fire Tru and then the debt service for the joint meeting which is our joint sewage treatment plant in uh in chadam so debt that is collected uh and and incurred there um is paid through the municipal budget okay and a lot of the MRC debt which is not going through this budget is also being funded by some grants I know you guys are very good every year getting grant money that is your T is up Tom I apologize yes so the the open space trust fund but we also are very fortunate that we've received greenacre Grant funds for the land so the majority of the land that we purchase I don't remember the number Ray probably does of um the majority of the purchase price for the land of the MRC has been funded by um non-municipal dollars non-t tax dollars it's just the um improvements it's the uh turf field and the turf field complex and other things there that that we're paying for through that debt service that debt I know you're going to ask me the question I don't know when it comes due I say part of it comes due in like 20127 for the field for the field right and um but of course The Field's going to reach its end of its useful lace at that point in time and we'll be looking to yeah or we've been saving money for that anyway we've been putting money aside for you know prices are up so we may not be able to fully pay for it um with the reserved money but yes we've been reserving user fees and uh rental fees so um on that all that's been put in reserve and I also noticed that the health insurance hasn't gone up that much so the the cost is going up for us by 5% but the appropriation um we think we're we're I think the best term is to use a scalpel and going in and recognizing that um we're able to to save a little money there so that that's where we're able to save money there to then dedicate more funds to some of the other lines that really went up significantly salaries um the library which is a long discussion if anybody wants to understand the library is funded through a state formula process so it just comes to us and that went up by 7% um trying to get that Capital Improvement up by $600,000 this year so some of the other expenses that went up significantly um were funded by us being um more uh judicious in the way we managed the other budget lines yeah seems like a great balance Jim and the last the one slide that you showed everybody about the services that they get from the burrow I I think that's very important to recognize that we have a pretty good quality of life because you're able to manage all this so uh you know CRS out to you guys at the administration level Rachel up now with the finance committee thank you we um take other comments just one uh thing to reinforce as Jim mentioned the library funding is mandated by State uh we actually we doing an extra $100,000 uh ever since we started we shifted the policy to make sure that every uh burrow entity was charged for electricity that has been eliminated so the any optional funding is out this year here correct on the library it's so we're at the we're at the state mandated amount correct all right other comments we can come um are we right Rachel just I want to say again thank you Jim for leading us through this thank you for being open to the various comments and suggestions you've been so collaborative working with input from the council members and um I know that this is uh you know we've been doing this since December and we finally arrived at this point where we introduced the budget I'm sure that's like a sigh of relief for you but it is fascinating to me to hear from all of our department heads all of our Chiefs come our superintendents they tell us about their goals and accomplishments it is so eye openening and for anyone here who's attending tonight that hadn't had a chance to see those presentations either view the slideshows or the video you can learn so much about what we get done in Madison by you know viewing those on roset .org or on our video channel it it's exciting that we can do as much as we do here to make sure that we maintain a high level of services and Capital Improvements and uh the fact that we have such a transparent process to make all of that uh visible to the public is outstanding and I just want to commend you for you know over time creating a process where so much information is shared so thank you for that well said anything Eric thanks mayor um I just think it's worth sort of repeating um that this budget is a high value budget all those services that come through um that other communities don't get from their municipalities um it is also a testament to the group here Jim Ry and others um who work through this process that we can have a budget where our expenses many of which are well outside of our control um go up in excess of 5% and we're able to uh constrain the increase in our tax levy to 1.75% um and do that in a year where we're planning to um set ourselves up to obtain another piece of new fire apparatus and you know Jim mentioned The Debt Service on the fire Tru that was not engine three that we just got like last year that was one I don't know 2008 or something uh even further back further um so you know we've been able to fund those sorts of things with these types of budgets over the last many years so when we do have a big ticket item you know this firet truck may be $1.2 million we don't have to go out and bond that for the rest of the decade or for 20 years and have councils you know 25 years from now going hey remember when those guys bonded for that fire truck were that you know is at the end of its life um so I think you know just the value and and The Prudent nature of this budget can't be overstated thanks thank you other um yeah I mean I had a whole list of things that I was going to say but you know me I'm not too great on words here but one thing I will say is this this budget keeps in line with the Madison tradition of recognizing your challenges today and they're great in putting together a budget put expenses are going up but more so it's keeping the average citizen in Madison in mind because every one of them are challenged with meeting their everyday expenses and if we don't keep our budget in line that 1.7% 75% increase inre would be a lot higher so this is a realistic budget it's a sensitive budget and it keeps in line with Madison's tradition of being an honest and respectful budget thank you mayor Mo and John would you like to add anything while we're coming around I would just to add that um I think 1.75 is relatively reasonable given all the services that we're providing and it's difficult to to get to this point especially with cost increasing as they are in an inflationary environment um I just think it's was a testament to a lot of work by a lot of people it's my first budget and I'll be proud to support it uh yeah I mean echoing much of what uh council members have said I I think thank you for the hard work uh and for making it transparent uh I for one have learned quite a lot from uh the presentations and um to reflect on what it really includes it's it's not a lot of extras right it's but it does meet the expectations of our community and what we expect as Services um as Citizens here so thank you for making that happen with minimal Financial impact I just want to say mayor I want to thank my daughter paan Indiana my sister Debbie in Tennessee my niece Payton in Texas and my niece Lucy in Colorado who are all for going watching the finale of The Bachelor to watch the budget presentation there we go appreciate them there so excellent Pete Ros maybe he's not watching y all right on that note uh call for roll call vote please mrck yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harmis yes Miss Hanan yes Mr Forte yes okay we now move on to agenda discussions as mentioned before we only have one discussion item which is affordable housing legis ation I will uh tee this up with some comments um and council president range will share um kind of a synopsis of uh the um resolution and we can have a a full discussion but um you know I I I think that I share the sentiments of the uh Council and I say we welcome that the state legislation finally taking action but we do have strong concerns with the bill as it was approved so that's why we have this resolution on the consent agenda sharing these concerns there's our plan to capture suggestions from this body and others so we can approve the bill and work as a partner to answer the great need again we're not fighting the concept we just want to make sure it's done right um for those that do listen to WNYC in particular the Brian Lair show you might have heard a longtime listener firsttime caller on Friday known is Mayor Bob and yes that was uh me and uh so I will share some additional remarks uh as I shared on the uh in addition to what I shared on the radio on Friday and if you want to listen to capture that you can go to De wnyc.org and uh look up the Brian Lair show and they do have it broken down segments on the Friday show but this is a an oped piece that I've submitted to the nj.com Star Ledger which may be running uh later this week so please bear with me but I think it Bears sharing um one of the greatest challenges facing New New Jersey is housing affordability homes for Frontline workers laborers starting teachers and many others who we count on for at least 5 years Mayors including myself have been asking the state legislature to take action to remove the process from the courts the good news is they proposed legislation to replace COA Council on affordable housing the bad news is that a seriously flawed Bill a A4 s50 was fast-tracked through the state house and adopted without significant Municipal input I go on to say I am and you already know this but I am the mayor of Madison and incoming president of New Jersey Conference of Mayors and Madison is one of the few small towns in the state with a Housing Authority which is something we're very proud of we cut the ribbon on our first affordable housing units when Mount Laurel was just a Suburban town and not a judicial doctrine we have always approached affordable housing as a moral and not a legal obligation yet this legislation has me very worried New Jersey with its 564 municipalities does not make it easy to do anything and affordable housing is no exception to be successful we need a program that considers Regional needs while meeting the diverse makeup of each Community certainly a major undertaking no professional would ever suggest that it makes sense to create plans in areas as small as 2 square miles or even smaller but that's exactly what we have to do in the home rule capital of the world during the time when Co was functioning there were bad actor Bad actors M municipalities who did everything possible to avoid doing their fair share but for the most part towns stepped up and met their obligation in the post COA years spanning almost a decade towns across the state collectively spent millions of dollars in legal and court fees defending their housing plans this was millions that did not build a single affordable housing unit reinstatement of COA or alternate legislation Act action was necessary and there's no doubt we need a structure to address a housing Challenge and a system that works but let's be clear it will be the 564 municipalities that will answer the need for housing and it will be the 564 municipalities that will feel the impact if we get it wrong and there is no doubt that it is municipalities not the state who will bear the cost in direct dollars and impact the state appropriated 16 million for the NJ hmfa and DC a for implementation but not a penny for municipalities this unfunded mandate will result in property tax increases throughout the state for years to come and this legislation is different than most as is difficult to create mistakes after implementation once in place the money spent Aqua for recharge Land Lost the infrastructure pushed Beyond capacity the poorly planned developments are permanent when all when there could have been a better way to provide affordable housing one of the issues of s50 A4 was that it moved too fast amendments margely improve the original bill but we need a full analysis of its impact on our municipalities in that in that light we should also be asking the question is the only way to solve the housing crisis through build baby build there is not enough there are not enough financial resources to meet the full need through 100% affordable housing projects and the most densely populated state in the Union cannot support that cannot support filling the need through solely building four Market units to get one affordable unit there are certainly other Creative Solutions that should be considered for example recognizing towns whose housing stock is Affordable and yes they do exist in New Jersey not not in Mars County I'll concede that for the most part or giving credit for communities who have a strong uh rental voucher uh Section 8 programs it is the involvement of Partners such as the state nonprofit reportable Advocates and yes developers that will have a supporting role in answering the call for affordable housing but it will be the commitment from municipalities that will actually put those in Quality Homes when there is development there must be affordable housing but forced overdevelopment poor planning practices is no way to answer the affordable housing crisis I've seen Mayors on both sides of the aisle United in their messaging there is a universal understanding that we cannot turn our back on the need for affordable housing but as the same goes if you're not at the table you'll be on the menu so let's get the municipalities to the table if we order to be successful we need to work together on a better Solutions and I ask that we take the time to get this right let's bring the municipalities legislators together to review the impact of the bill at the local level we can then propose new legislation to improve S5 A4 there are families across the state waiting for affordable quality homes and and there are 9 million residents expecting us to be good stewards of our great state so that's what I've shared and ask mayor to follow it thanks mayor I'm not going to read the whole thing it's quite extensive but I think there are some number of highlights that we should be sharing uh this evening this is a portion of resolution 120- 2024 which is on our um consent agenda tonight whereas Madison has a long positive history of building affordable housing units throughout our community and whereas Madison is one of only three towns in Morris County to establish a public housing authority whereas the Madison Housing Authority has been in existence for over 50 years building hundreds of affordable rental units and whereas Madison established an affordable housing Corporation over 30 years ago Madison believes that providing affordable housing is a moral and not just legal obligation and whereas Madison is currently building a stateoftheart 44 unit affordable housing development on Walnut and Community Place that will be a Statewide model for Energy Efficiency climate friendly building features and a municipal development where 100% of the units will be occupied by low and moderate income families whereas in L of reinstituting COA Governor Murphy in the New Jersey legislature adopted A4 and s50 without significant Municipal input or consultation whereas the legislation is very flawed seriously flawed and provides zero funding to municipalities to meet these enhanced obligations which will increase local property taxes for the foreseeable future whereas the legislation does not address the enormous Financial burdens on towns to comply with their round three obligations which is the round we're currently in before unilaterally imposing a very substantial additional burden to towns for round 4 which starts in July 2025 whereas the legislation requires municipalities to create a realistic opportunity for satisf satisfaction of their fair share without taking into account how many affordable units can realistically be achieved throughout traditional inclusionary zoning where generally one out of every five units must be affordable whereas the A4 s50 Bill lacks any analysis of the economic impacts of the bill but will set a mandate for billions of dollars in construction in the state requiring affordable housing in excess of 40% of all the units permitted in a given year and whereas in New Jersey local governments and schools uh must bear many of the direct costs associated with increases for infrastructure education traffic Public Safety and other demands created by new development whereas in stark contrast to the orted goal of A4 and s50 to reduce litigation this bill dramatically proliferate proliferates litigation by providing many opportunities to sue the subject municipality and through other means whereas A4 and s50 Bill reduces and in some cases completely eliminates affordable housing bonus credits and creates an over complicated and difficult process to obtain the B bonus credits that are still available under the current Bill whereas A4 s50 Bill creates unfair requirements in ambiguity when it comes to the vacant land adjustment process which will lead municipalities like Madison to lack vacant land that lack vacant land being required to produce more affordable housing units than is practical whereas the office of legislative Services has not evaluated the formula required by A4 and s50 for calculating a municipality's fourth round or prospective need obligation for its magnitude I promise I'm going to skip a couple of this these pieces here uh whereas A4 and s50 subjects municipalities to litigation not only as they seek approval for their housing element and Fair Share Plans but also even after they secure approval for these plans and whereas under current laws a municipality would have the right to rely on their fair share number that co- provides however under this legislation a municipality would only have a presumption of validity that the number that the DCA provides to the municipality is appropriate and that fair share housing center a de pocketed developer or any other interested party could seek to overturn that presumption through litigation whereas the A4 s50 Bill replaces a straightforward system uh which frankly was a little flawed too that's not y my editorial comment by which a municipality could secure bonus credits for up to 20% cap with highly complicated system for securing these bonuses whereas as a result of the pronounced lack of due diligence the bill will likely Force taxes to increase dramatically and will Foster serious overdevelopment creating unreasonable burdens in our schools public services roads sewers water infrastructure natural resources open spaces and the taxpayer whereas the legislature clearly can and should upgrade affordable housing policies in our state however this legislation is not the answer and if we adopt this tonight we will send a copy of this um resolution to Governor Murphy all state legislators and all municip uh all Morris County municipalities thank you other comments I'll just uh to to wrap up a a couple of things as as you um as I said on the um radio on Friday that affordable housing is at a crisis level um and it is the obligation across the state to to answer that call uh for Generations New Jersey has actually had policies in place that made it difficult for people to move up through Red Line and other things and is through affordable housing the chance for someone in under in low quality substandard housing thank you substandard housing uh po poor school district and so on has an opportunity to really find the American dream in uh quality so I I think that is one of the messages we want to get out there the other thing is we need to balance development whether it is market rate or affordable housing uh for example right now Madison is in a way penalized for having dedicated open space we've taken this a priority protect oper by having open space even to the extent of we bought land in a neighboring town to create the MRC that is actually that created a housing obligation for us because if you have more than 3% of your land is open space you're going to have obligation created by the rest we need to protect our open space that number need to go up so there's a lot of things along those lines that we need to work on and as a team we can make it happen May I just also want to point out um the great work that you and Rey and and Jim and other members of the council um did before this legislation got rammed through um each of us were kind of going back and forth on a daily basis um you and and Rey making calls to uh our friends in the state legislature and other uh administrators and other Mayors um advocating for our position and that you know position unfortunately wasn't heard um but but uh it it was not for a lack of trying for a lot of folks um sitting up here tonight so I just want to make sure that uh that is expressed thank you for sharing that any other comments right again this resolution is part of our um consent agenda and we will not read it again in the consent so thank you all all right there are no ordinances for hearing so now we move on to our second for invitations for public comment this is when you may comment on any topic um the rules uh again try to keep your comments at 3 minutes but we will give you a one minute grace and you stop you at 4 minutes when you come up to the Le turn state your name your address write the same on the clipboard and then the time timer will start uh any comments that generate um questions what we do is we capture those questions and we will answer those at the end of the um the comment period and uh I think that pretty much covers it and uh we also always have the uh decorum of trying not to applaud on any comments because the person that gets up it doesn't get a Applause is hurt and Mrs Dodge who is right behind me said she wants the utmost decorum in our uh council chambers so Mark welcome good evening uh bark lab 50 Kings Road um I am part of the public services that you guys have praised tonight uh good evening I want to start off tonight by letting you know uh that we are not here tonight by choice we did not want negotiations to resort to this we are here tonight because Ray Cody and Jim Bernett decided that we weren't worthy of their time and they felt that they were under no obligation to allow the S SOA which is the superior Officers Association to present their offer they kicked us out of a meeting that lasted all about 5 minutes we are here because of Jim Bernett and Ray Cody not allowing us 5 minutes to present our case therefore we decided to do it in public form rayan James took almost every Union through mediation or arbitration and were unable to settle contracts on their own each and every one of you in Council sat back quietly and let these men do damage that will take years to repair you are first to post an Employee Appreciation photo yet it doesn't appear that you are affected by what happens to these employees you see here and ignore the fact that a 20-year Public Works employee 20-year Public Works employee recently left the Rose City a 10-year electrical department employee left the Rose City a young fireman just left the Rose City six police officers just recently left the Rose City when the PBA settled their contract through arbitration the ink had not even dried any press release was issued did you know that your CFO dangled a number in front of our faces so the union would settle that number was so good everyone felt accomplished it was so good that we were willing to praise Ray and Jim for doing the right thing when it was time to sign Jim apologized for his math being off but the number was no longer feasible to Jim and Ray or at least to us that appeared planned all along what has happened to the PBA is something we will never recover from you allowed Ray and Jim to cause the biggest Recruitment and Retention challenge to ever hit this agency no we have not recovered no we will not recover anytime soon you not once reached out a hand to try to come to a resolution for the PBA during these contract negotiations you see you have two hires in the academy right now did you know that their employment was at Jeopardy because of Jim and Ray Jim and Ray thought we'd be paying them too much they try to negotiate their salary have you ever wondered why you don't have recruits knocking on the door to work here in the Rose City it's about time you should I can and never will comprehend how you sat back and allowed a legal bill to have a blank checkbook for mediation and arbitration over compensation I'll never forget what your burough attorney said Mr jacobe there's only two people who prevailed during arbitration you and our attorneys still with a client like the bur of Madison I take my hat off to you Mr jacobe when a resident petitioned for a pickle ball court when a resident wanted help save the Drew forest and we support the Drew Forest he's got one minute he's got one minute when somebody wanted to build a dog Parker or update the burrow walking trails you made it happen and rightfully so when your residents did not want a medical marijuana dispensary you went above and beyond to make sure it did not happen but when those tasks with protecting and serving every single one of you wanted fair and equal pay for contributing to making this town the best place to live in New Jersey you were and still are silent when I emailed you all last year not a single one of you could have the decency to reply when I invited you to PBA meetings to meet the new officers we have hired none of you found the time those six officers are gone none of you can sit here hold your head up high and say that the members of the P PBA are a priority to this town here we are again sitting in silence as history repeats itself as our police structure keeps getting Slimmer and Slimmer we are the only ones that are required to do more with less compensation is not even on the table when a $6,000 stip in was given to your communications director because Zoom became a temporary thing don't remember it being an issue the communications director that's time no no no no no thank you yeah everyone everyone we we ask you try to State at three we give you one minute grace and stop you at 4 all right so Mike Clancy uh PBA president local 92 50 Kings Road as many of you know here uh that Zoom s in picking up from where Park lab left off that Zoom s end could have been there for three could have given three of your five Sergeant the $2,500 Ray says he doesn't have to compensate us for 2022 just recently you gave a $3,000 sliping for someone assuming an an additional duty processing permits you had no problem comp compensating that person for taking on an additional task Jim forgets that in 2015 he received this a $1,667 per month that's right that's right Jim $667 per month stien that you made sure had the word pensionable in it for assuming additional duties where is our stien when you abolished two sergeants positions where is the lieutenant stien when you abolished another Lieutenant's position are you going to give a stien to whoever absorbs the Abal Captain's position as well why why should we do more with less but others are well compensated for doing more than they were tasked with and yes you mayor and councel voted for all these stiens yet you allow this man to veto every single stien when it comes to us everyone gets his stien when they're attached with more everyone just not the men and women of this police Administration last week you promoted a fire Lieutenant to Captain yet you want to abolish our Captain's position what are you doing here is secretly supporting Cody defund the police movement you silently let Ray make the decisions that have diminished this agency each step you take is is not for the better but for the worse I never thought that the burough Madison one of the safest communities in the state would ever face a defund the police movement when Ray wanted to put a camera in every corner of every building and and even inside of the public work garage you gave him the million dollars to do so you even helped yourself take $100,000 from our police car front you again voted and gave Ray what he needed for the Last 5 Years the PBA has asked Cody to be transparent when he posts all of our salaries to the public to see every year his reply was we shall see today I finally understood why if he was transparent in posting our salaries he would know that his lucrative compensation package would come to light Ray prepared for this day years ahead on paper we are all well compensated in reality as Ray sits back and enjoys his $200,000 a year salary for working his his 280 hours a year each and every one of us have to do our part to fill the mandated overtime because we can't operate at more than 28 officers Ray won't show you how much forced overtime is part of our lucrative compensation package I was told that the mayor and Council can't understand why our attorney has not communicated with Mr Jobe for the last 5 weeks I am glad that after 27 months of communications one minute a 5we pause caught caught your eye 27 months mayor and counsel 27 months is how long we have been without a contract yet the last 5 weeks is all you were worried about last year when three officers were hospitalized after fighting with a combatant suspect one of which was myself you were nowhere to be found when an officer was assaulted during a bank frud investigation you were nowhere to be found when we saved the life of a man whose throat was cut open during a fight you were nowhere to be found Corporal menz patrolman finario encountered a 15-year-old male who pulled a knife on them because he said he wanted to die I don't think you care or realize what these men and women have to do to be able to go home each and every night you have demonstrated that you could not care less we are not compensated according to our neighbors but Ray makes sure he is on par with other administrators my squad encountered that's spor glads encountered a barricaded man who was armed with a gun and not a single one of you can even understand what that was like and that's thank you for your comments if Ray and Jim could find a way to hold SEC uh name and address please Jack oon 78 B Street if Ray and Jim could find a way to Outsource us for the lowest bid possible as it stands you'd probably support his decision as another step forward towards the defunding of this agency I remind you mayor and councel Ray and Jim work for you you don't work for Ray and Jim do not be afraid to disagree with Ry this is not the burrow of Ry and Cody this is the burrow of Madison The Rose City the residents of this town elected each and every one of you they did not elect Jim and Ray they elected you you have 90 days to make this right you have 90 days to show the public you do not stand behind the defund the police movement as it is happening here in the Rose City please but put the Rose City back on its stem and let let's focus on what's important here and that is the residence and that we could that we proudly protect and serve day in and day out I look forward to seeing you at the next council meeting and updating the residence of the step in the right [Applause] direction again we asked hold hold the Applause anyone else wishing to comment please step forward good evening steart alterman H South Maple Avenue Marlton New Jersey 11 Muller Place Little Falls New Jersey it's a pleasure to appear before you and it's actually a pleasure to appear in this in this room for as many times as I've been in the building I've never walked into this room before and it's really very beautiful uh cud to you Mr Mayor and Council for keeping the room up and making it a beautiful showcase also uh Jim kudos to you for uh your presentation tonight uh it demonstrates that you certainly have the money uh in order to facilitate contracts the public safety contracts in order to adequately and sufficiently pay these police officers that have been without a contract for 27 months most importantly is the fact that you managed the money very very well and some of that money needs to be spent on Public Safety you've heard the word defund the police department it's a scary thing because we're living in a day and an age when Public Safety is jeopardized we're living in a day and an age when we don't have enough police officers we're living in a day and an age that we can't find police officers nobody wants to be a cop today why because of everything that's happening around us and bad compensation packages the cops feel is though that they have no support the cops feel as though that their managers are not supporting them in other words they don't have their backs we're asking you Mr Mayor to have the backs of your police officers we're asking you Mr Mayor to listen to the P of the police officers that stood up here and spoke tonight we're asking you Mr Mayor to speak to the council people and we're asking you Council persons to please please consider the request of the police officers that spoke tonight and provide them a compensation package that is adequate and sufficient so they too can live in their homes buy a car have a family feed their families and live like normal human beings and provide them with the respect for what they do because what they do is not what we do what we do is we go home at night we sit on our couch and we watch our TVs we turn on our 96in television with the surround sound and we think everything's lovely while these police officers are out making sure that nobody's breaking into your house while you're watching your 96 inch TV and stealing it out from under you that's what these police officers do so their job is much different from any other job the the the statute that provides for interest arbitration and what we're in right now says that public safety that police officers are in a unique profession they have to be treated uniquely they have to be treated differently from those individuals and other professions whether as an attorney I don't know what you all do as Council people thank you but they have to be treated uniquely uniquely treat them treat them well reward them for what they do reward them for making sure your streets are safe lest you treat them well well they will not be here and Public Safety will degrade significantly Public Safety at this point is in Jeopardy let's reverse that Trend thank you very [Applause] much Alan T us six Ros have Madison I just want to come tonight because I think it's a shame that these officers have to come here and talk like this this should never happen in a town like Madison the resources are here it's just a matter of how you allocate the resources and I hear that through their negotiations I've heard certain names mentioned if the people that are negotiating with our officers are not getting the job done or if there's some kind of hidden animosity that maybe as a regular citizen I'm not aware of that perhaps the mayor and counsel need to look into that and find a way for these men in our town to negotiate a fair amount of money for these people to be paid if we look at current surrounding towns my understanding is that Madison is in the middle to low end of compensation this is very important it's government's main job you're the government in this town the main job of government is to protect protect the citizenry and God knows that the way things have happened in this country lately we need the protection of the police more than ever these people are giving their time sacrificing you could say that's part of their job it is part of their job that's what they signed up for but they didn't sign up to be short changed so if we can treat other officers in other towns to Fair compensation there's no reason why these people our police officers who were extremely proud of I think you were proud of them too too but this is not a game this is not to see how how much how little we can pay these people that's not right what we should be doing is looking at them and comparing them to neighboring places and saying what are they paying what are we paying and it should be a fair wage and they should never have to come to a forum like this to express themselves it's very disappointing to see that happen so if in the negotiations the people that are negotiating with these men and women can't get the job done please mayor and counsel step forward look into this find out why this is happening because we have money for other things so let's look at something that's very important remember your main job is protecting the citizenry and these are the people that are going to do it thank [Applause] you anyone else wishing to comment please step forward James G Roa 37 P Avenue my family's been in this town over 118 years okay we have no money to pay them but we have $6,000 to buy an electric low mower yes now he wants to buy an electric bus you know where electricity comes from gas coal nuclear doesn't come out of the thin air hitting a switch you think you're going to revolutionize the world these guys go out every day with a bullseye on their back and their front and this is how you treat them it's disgusting do the right thing it's not that difficult if somebody wanted a pickle bll Court you already did it okay it's disgusting what goes on in this town my son used to work for the town and he quit quit cuz he got tired of getting his balls busted you bought him a g a battery Backpack Blower it took three batteries to do what he had to do you got to buy a charging station you got to do this you got to do that nobody looks at the big picture everybody looks I want to make a name for myself and then beat feet it's wrong Madison's 4.2 square miles we have 2 and 1 half secretaries working in the DPW you we have a a foreman working down there why if you had such good people why do you have to have all these people watching each other and then you put cameras in the break rooms really we got Big Brother watching we don't need little brother if that's the case then you don't trust the employees every corner you go on you got cameras it's disgusting what's going on in this town we have people that moan and groan we need more garbage cans down at the DP at all the fields people are lazy I've seen it their dog will take a they'll pick it up and put it on top of the garbage can how is that offensive we all do it Everybody Poops everybody reads that book when you're a kid okay that's a bad word what a bad I sorry but you know I'm also a vet too that'll help you I'm also on Eagle Scout I'm hanging on that wall inside but what's going on in here is not a good thing wake up you get to go home 9 to5 these guys got to work overtime when the weather's bad outside they're out there doing it they're going from 0 to 60 I know you're looking at the clock I'm just about done have a good night but just remember when your hits the fan those are the guys that you call they're the first ones on the scene [Applause] anyone else wish and comment on any topic please step forward Steve has bazito 5 deart please so it seems like the council and uh some of the individuals within it are having an initiative to have this adversar relationship with the police um I've been a resident since 1997 we never locked our doors we never locked our cars and yet now uh everybody's got ring ring doorbells I now have that uh they have security systems they make sure they lock their cars the town is less safe right and I think we all understand that because you guys keep putting out those really effective messages to lock your car and take your key fob with you that's not that's part of the problem but realistically what the problem is is we don't have enough police right they're overworked they're underappreciated okay and the town is less safe as as a result of that one of the officers uh talked about a couple of the byproducts of that one is you can't attract new officers here no one wants to come to a town where the police are known to be underappreciated and underpaid and overworked so not only do we have a problem currently with the Staffing we're going to have a problem in the future and this town is building more and more Apartments there's going to be more and more residents the need for a strong and effective police force is going only going to increase and I don't know the particulars with uh Ry and and Jim but it sounds like it's pretty adversarial and I just don't understand why you guys want to have this adversarial relationship with the PBA and the S SOA you have people posting on the Madison area parents page a Facebook page that they are scared to walk across the street because cars are are flying by by and the first thing they ask is maybe the shouldn't the police be doing something about it but when we don't have enough police to do something about it it's only going to get worse and if you continue to approve these apartment complexes it's only going to get worse so what I'm asking is can you please negotiate in good faith with the S SOA and make our town safer hire more police officers make it more welcoming make them feel appreciated so we'll attract other officers and and potential of to come to the town that's it thank you thank you anyone else wishing um Robert O'Donnell 78 Briton Street um Mr may I was just listening to you and you're discussing the U affordable housing and your affordable housing you said that uh a lot of the other towns are wasting their money and litigation if I heard you're right um I feel that maybe this town is too uh I don't know what to say to instead of training these off hiring these officers a training of having them go through training they go to other towns for more money um for uh Electrical Workers who are certified I think we spent $4,000 plus in certification for these people um firemen as well and then they leave to go to other towns because they can't make the money that the other towns are playing and again I lived in this town I'm I'm fifth generation my children are sixth never in my life would I ever think that we being hear this going on in the town of Madison um like everybody said these men are out protecting us they know the people they they communicate with the people it's just a a great group of guys and um I have you know hire people train them what we're not a training facility and uh maybe we could cut money in other places instead of wasting it uh in litigation and and other things that pay these men for what they do thank you hi Katie Zurich I live at 37 rosale Madison I'm here tonight because I followed closely the Burrow's movements and the police department's response as it relates to arbitration first and foremost thank you to the men and women who Serve and Protect US here and everywhere police forces allow for communities to exist and Thrive safely ensuring the law is enforced and palpable for all who reside or visit the very towns or municipalities they serve and I will thank Council and the burough employees because you do make Madison services and accessibility to set services and resources possible I try to see the good and all call it naive but nothing is more powerful and poignant Than Hope and so hope I will that there is a better and more protective way for these police officers my remarks tonight come from the most sacred role I have as a mother I've lived a lot of places but this is the best and most beautiful place I've ever lived and this police force goes above and beyond for families they are in our schools and on our streets extending themselves in ways I've never seen or known before with young children in this town I see officers educate and Empower children through school programs like dare encourage safe bicycle riding by issuing what my daughter calls the best ticket in town a certificate to mul's and always stopping at a lemonade stand or providing tours of the stations to the scouts special thanks to Madison's Corporal patrola quino who been a positive presence in the lives of my two daughters my youngest regularly says that she thinks a job in policing might be in her future and that inspiration comes to her from seeing a female police officer Patrol the streets it is a mother's dream for her daughter to feel empowered and inspired by another woman in public service so yes like many council members have emphasized here tonight Madison does go above and beyond and no Department goes more above and beyond for our children and for one another than our police officers so I hope we find a way to show them our care in a way that meets their needs I am grateful to all thank you anyone else wishing to be heard please step forward you good okay after you're uh if you're towards the back and want to speak try to work your way up so we okay I didn't see you go ahead I saw someone else is working the way up hi I'm I'm Patty at 127 Park Avenue Madison what was the name again Patty Millan y 127 Park Avenue Madison thank you Pat and I um I just want to say that um I'm really sad that we're all here having to go through this in Madison I'm a lifetime madisonian I'm a dinosaur here here in Madison and um I just the one thing that the Hallmark of our town is is the way we all feel safe our emergency services our policemen our fire department our Medics we all feel safe and secure with them and we want need to take care of them and we need to make sure that you know we able to St grow as we do as we're growing CU we have more and more medicine we're growing and growing we have new apartments coming new houses and I just want to say please let's take care of our policeman thank you m even Victor a 171 Park Avenue I talk sorry what was the name again Victor alati we talk about his Spanish people here I wanted to support a police officer because we understand the last two offices the department was Spanish and we really need that Spanish uh officers here I understand they leave the department because they find a better better con another town so Mar is one of the safing place on New Jersey so we want to keep play that we really need the the office thank you thank you [Applause] VI Victor did you write your name on the clipboard there we need to cap y you can do that while the next person is speaking thank you hello my name is Christen McKenna I live at three Station Road in Madison New Jersey unlike some of the other folks I'm not a lifelong Madison resident my husband and I chose Madison out of a number of towns because it was a safe community and had really good school systems my husband and I are very fortunate they were both Physicians um we both come from Union backgrounds my dad was a union carpenter for many decades and I myself have had a union background and been involved in collective bargaining agreements when I've read about what has been happening with the collective bargaining attempts here having well over two years of not having a contract having meetings and after five minutes it does look to me like it is not negotiations being done in good faith and I've been involved in negotiations that were good faith and very average and ones that were not and they really do feel different I was told about the difficulty with the Madison police um retention and that our salaries are much lower than neighboring communities by one of my best friend's husband who's a police officer and detective in South Jersey and he told me you know what what's going to happen is people are going to just send out their job resumés and you're not going to be able to build depth you're not going to be able to have police officers living in the town that they serve to them and mind and those responsible happen and a big part of that is the police officers the community policing has been amazing my one of my daughters seriously wants to be a police officer and a lot of that has to do with the contact she's had with the community policing thank you Jerry manone one Highland Avenue um I'm a retired officer from Madison PD 36 years um I'm third generation fourth generation is in the building uh my family's in a 90 uh first year of um law enforcement in this town and I am the creator of the SOA reason nobody in this room was involved in at the time of the creation of the superior offic Association but let me tell you why it was created we got three there was three of us a 25-year Lieutenant veteran a 28-year lieutenant veteran and myself a 12year veteran Lieutenant we got three checks dropped in our mailbox they were for $1,400 it said bonus on it one was to a captain also we went to council and said we went to Jim Allison and said what is this goes it's your raise 4 days before Christmas okay well bonuses aren't appliable to pension and it comes out to a145 a day can we talk we met with two Council people that was it they didn't want to go any further all we said is give us the same raise as the PBA and the sergeants that's all we asked for and give us time for uh hour for hour on parades and events that was it that's not that big of a package for a town that has its own electrical sells own electrical and its own water in Jim's presentation looks like we're a pretty solid town probably the best in the state so we file we with park Chief was mad at me Chief cluck for about a week then and I didn't tell him we filed he got got it in the mail okay just like I got just like we got in our mailbox there was nothing against him personally but after a week he agreed with it we got a nice contract uh through that negotiation and that was 35 years ago however it's time after time after time we should not be in arbitration with police officers 2 and A2 years for patrolman guys leaving the department and now we got one Captain two lieutenants five sergeants and now we're heading to arbitration again and by the way I was on the interview board hiring every one of those guys nobody other towns do what we do in this town from Hoboken to do we're the only town that meets every income TR trainer from 11:15 besides being busy okay Sergeant Bart I'm real proud you came here tonight that took a lot of guts for him to come here and it had to come to this point because negotiations are becoming too emotional and too personal they should be all business when there was a business deal in here a few years ago and they were dismissing Ray Cody without you knowing Bob okay we went to the church the next week there was a statement said it still rings in my ears and it's not copyrighted cuz I asked the person today if it was copyrighted one one minute J we do not do business like this in Madison that was the first statement made when Bray was having his difficulties on negotiations when he was unfairly treated so I end by saying this is not the way we do business with police department in our town thank you Jerry Jerry if you could write your name on the clipboard too sorry Mike piano uh ler Avenue I'm a fourth generation resident of this town and some of the things I'm hearing today the way these employees are being treated is an absolute disgrace 38 years in electric utility the last 19 I was a superintendent I hired most of the young men that if I thought was going to be the future of the electric utility and when I hear that during the course of negotiations they were told if you don't like it go somewhere else that's one of the men that this gentleman was talking about the left that's a terrible attitude to have to your employees I see you people sitting up here patting each other on the back about oh we're keeping the taxes right and this is going to be perfect you're forcing the people who've been in this town for generations to leave they can't afford to live here anymore you want to balance stop all your pet pet pet projects waving places an unnecessary waste of money don't balance it on the back tax the [Applause] employee anyone else wishing to be heard please step forward on any topic see n i close this part of the meeting and we'll uh just a few comments first of all um I'll just say very brief words and I'll ask our attorney to just to bring some updates so everyone uh understands what is going on but I appreciate everyone coming out um during contract negotiation times it is very difficult and I'm not going to go into details on the difficulty with it but to uh see the appreciation for our police force those that work for our town is felt by these up here I know at this time you feel like this is ADV adversarial position but together we all make this such a great town and like I appreciate everything the police do on a daily basis and I again thank the residents not only those that spoke but those that came in support for the police department thank you for taking the time to do it that's the way government works um Matt chobe if you could share some [Music] updates it's been a while it's on now uh I heard some uh I want to correct the record so first off there's no defund the police movement whoever's saying that that's just patently false um second please don't interrupt me I didn't interrupt anyone when they were speaking don't interrupt me please uh second um we did meet with the S SOA we made them an offer the offer that we made them exceeds what was given to the PBA they rejected it there's roll into base pay there's increases each year there's percent raises each year and they rejected it but what's incredible about it is is when we met with them and Mr alterman on December 4th when we couldn't come to an agreement I said why don't we bring in Brian kronic Brian kronic is the arbitrator from the state of New Jersey who helped us Forge to deal with the police I said why don't we agree to bring in Brian chronic and speed this along on December 4th I'll get back to you is what I was told well then the emails that I sent let me just tell you what the emails were I sent an email following the December 4th meeting on December 20th can we agree on Brian cronic to come in no response uh January 3rd Stewart Queen gr Brian chronic to come in no response January 22 same request no response February 6 5th same request Brian chronic no response February 22nd can we agree on Brian chronic to come in no response no email no phone call no nothing finally on February 27th on the 29th I sent him an email and said if you're not going to respond we're going to have to file arbitration we waited until Fe till March the 7th so I started this on December the 4th on March the 7th I finally filed because I was getting no response for a deal that exceeds the deal that the PBA agreed to and guess who got appointed by perk Brian chronic the very arbitrator that I was asking the S to agree to back on December the 4th we now have to wait and we're meeting with him now on April the 23rd a simple response could have sped this along there's no defund the police when the offer and I'm not going to reveal the offer but I can assure you that is not a poultry offer it exceeds what the PBA agreed to so just because parties don't get don't come to an agreement doesn't mean that there's bad faith bargaining going on this side and frankly to to cast dispersions against Ray Cody and Jim Rett that's that's totally incorrect bottom line is all the other unions throughout the town have settled the only one that hasn't settled is the SOA sorry I'm sorry no no no comments please so at the the end of the day we don't yell from the audience so the the SOA was given an offer they they they weren't satisfied of it they wanted more but at the end of the day you saw the tax the property tax levy it's going up 1.7 the maximum it can go up is 2% so this governing body and and Mr Cody and Mr brette they have to craft a budget that fits within the 2% tax levy to be able to do everything else and come up with raises that far exceed 2% far exceed 2% so for folks to come here and say there's a defund to police and they're not negotiating good faith that's patently false and frankly I would suggest that not responding to me from December the 4th in fact I've never gotten a response as we sit here today the first time Mr alterman spoke was this evening and today is the 25th of March so from December the 4th to the 25th no response how is that good faith bargaining it takes two parties at a table to bargain you don't bargain in public you don't come to public meetings and bargain you bargain at a table and the next time we're at the table it could have been a lot sooner is April 25th because of the delay by the SOA so that's to set the record straight and for anyone to say there's a defund the police movement that is just patently false and that's and that and that's really done to to alarm people and that's not what's happening in this town never has happened and frankly uh I've been involved in negotiations for many many years and at the end of the day when there's a contract when the PE I don't have three minutes um when there's a contract between the PBA and the S SOA guess what two parties agree to it they shake hands and so that's happened for years and years and years and you heard Mr Monon get up and speak from years ago there's agreements and that's what bargaining is but you got to be at the table to bargain ignoring emails and ignoring requests to bargain is in good faith so thank you very much thank you for sharing that and again the key thing there is there's the process to get this to the finish line so we going have a contract in place and uh we can do what makes Madison proud so thank you again for those that are came out we're going to go back to go on to the rest of the agenda and won't take it personally if you walk out now but uh you're welcome to stay for the rest of the agenda thank you again resp uh no this is not we don't do negotiations here you know that Stuart so okay yep appreciate it yep all right thank you steuart take care oh what's left head all right we move on to introduction ordinances which are none so consent agenda resolutions will the clerk please read the statement consent agenda resolutions will be enacted with a single motion any resolution require expenditure supported by a certification of availability of funds any resolution requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all resolutions will be reflected in F mayor I move the consent agenda resolutions uh 112 to 120 2024 second any discussion or any that need to be pulled we call vote please M erlick yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr harn P yes Miss Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes right there is no unfinished business approval vouchers will the clerk please read the voucher totals okay from the current fund $ 4,224 3176 from the general Capital fund $66,872 183,184 52 from the Electric Capital fund 20,23 $6 from the water operating fund $4,547.43 and from the trust $1 16,22 of5 the total is 4,761 16861 Mayor I move approval of the vouchers second any discussion roll call vote Mr erck yes Mr landrian yes Mr range yes Mr har pus yes Hanahan yes Mr Forte yes there is no new business Forte motion to adjourn all in favor I thank you