e all right can I get a motion to come out a close so made second all in favor I all right open Board of Health meeting that's you it's you is it sorry yes the open Board of Health meeting before uh councilman Weis can you hear us I do I can I said I do okay very good thank you uh open Board of Health meeting we had um three calls in the last month uh they were all for um animal bites two dogs and one cat where in each case it was the homeowner That Was Bitten so wow that's it that's a nasty bite awesome uh this is a public meeting is anyone from the public have anything in reference to the Board of Health meeting seeing none motion to close so moved second any comments all in favor motion to adjourn out of the Board of Health meeting second all in favor I I I all right um the Arbor Day am I just reading the proclamation or is there something else coming on just the proclamation okay great we have a uh presentation in reference to Arbor Day there's an official Proclamation I'd like to read to you whereas in 1872 the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed in the planting of more than 1 million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water cutting Heating and Cooling costs moderating the temperature cleaning the air producing life-giving oxygen and providing habitat for wildlife and whereas trees are a renewable source giving us paper wood for our homes fuels for our fires and countless other wood products and whereas trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of business areas and beautify our community and whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual r knew now therefore I Steve Schmidt mayor of the township of Maple Shade to hereby Proclaim Friday April 26th 2024 as Arbor Day in the township of Maple Shade and I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands and I further urge all citizens to plant trees and Gladden the hearts and promote the well-being of this and future Generations dated this 14th day of March 2024 thank you all right we're going to start with ordinances first reading introduction in first reading ordinance 2024-the amending chapter 95 of the Township Code entitled fire prevention can I get a motion for introduction so move second comments can I get a roll call please T Mr Coffman yes Miss NES yes Mrs vpy yes Mr Weis approved mayor SMI approved all right publication date will be March 20th of 2024 public hearing on March 28th of 2024 ordinance number 20 24- 05 and ordinance of the township of Maple Shade in the county of Burlington New Jersey amending chapter 88 section six of the Township Code entitled fees and escros motion for introduction so move second comments can I get a roll call please tyry Mr Kaufman yes Miss n yes Mrs VY yes Mr whis approve mayor Schmid approved publication date on that will also be March 20th 2024 with a public hearing on March 28th of 2024 excuse me ordinance number 202 24-6 an ordinance of the township of Maple Shade in the county of Burlington New Jersey amending the township code to add chapter 126 mural and public art motion for introduction move second comments hearing none roll call Terry Mr Koffman yes Miss noon yes Mrs VY yes Mr West approved mayor schmi approved publication date also March 20 2024 with a hearing date of March 28th 2024 ordinance number 20 24-7 an ordinance repealing ordinance number 20216 and to conditionally permit certain classes of cannabis businesses to located to locate within specific geographical boundaries of the township of Maple Shade and Bron County New Jersey adding licensing requirements to chapter 114 article 7 entitled cannabis resolution of support and Licensing and adding cannabis tax taxing regulations to chapter 181 taxation article 7 entitled cannabis taxing regulations transfer and user tax and adding cannabis zoning requirements to chapter 205 zoning article what we 23 I had to think about that a second uh entitled cannabis businesses motion for introduction so moved so any comments Terry can I get a roll call please Mr Kaufman yes Miss no yes M bupy yes Mr West approved mayor Smith approved that has a publication date of March 25th 2024 with the public hearing scheduled for that on April 11th of 2024 ordinances second readings and public hearings ordinance 20241 an ordinance establishing salaries and wages of certain officers and employees of the township of Maple Shade County of Burlington state of New Jersey effective January 1 2024 this is an open public meeting is there anyone that would like to make a comment and reference the ordinance 20240 one hearing none can I get a motion to close second any comments all in favor I can I get a motion to adopt so moved second any comments Ty R call plans Mr Koffman yes M NES yes Mrs VY yes Mr whis approved mayor SMI approved this is the public portion for the consent agenda item is there anyone in the public that would like to make comments in reference to the consent agenda items this evening sir come on up please state your name and address for the record hold on into the microphone please I'm sorry no I know I'm sorry I got ahead of yet Robert Turner 170 South elip Road yes sir I'm looking at resolution 2024 r- 58 declare block 303 tax examp I'm just wondering if you could describe what that in a more common name what that is I seen it over several times on the agenda so go I'll let you explain you're going to be back that's where we have a totally disa veteran if they meet the standards required by the state they are exempt from property tax okay sounds good just curious I questioned that when I originally got here too sir I agree with you all right anyone else can I get a motion to close the public portion Mo second all in favor I I all right I'm going to do the consent agenda and just a block to move things on this evening so we're going to do resolution number 2024 d-56 through resolution 2024 D r65 can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved any comments roll call please Terry Mr cman yes M noon yes Mrs VY yes Mr whis approved mayor Smith approved uh expenditure list Susan all thank you our current fund Bill list is $2,941 63050 Utility Fund bill is $41 19,33 one. 196 Capital fund bill is $ 57,4 73 utility Capital $339,999 35 our trust fund Bill list is $5,610 31 and our grant fund Bill list is $1,949 I have had an opportunity to review the above Bill list and submitted and recommend payment when funds are available thank you Susan can I get a motion to approve Mo second any comments roll call please T Mr Coffman yes Miss NES yes Mrs Wy yes Mr West approved mayor Smith approved uh looking for an approval of February 2024 minutes Some Mo second any comments Terry you got M yes okay all right roll please there Mr Koffman yes Miss n yes Mrs WBY yes Mr whest approved mayor Schmidt approved this is the public portion of the meeting any members from the public wishing to speak to Council on Municipal topics please come forward to be heard I know you do nickia 605 North KS Avenue two comments I like to make please you adopted an ordinance 20241 you ask for the public portion comment people have public comments on or whatever like that there I'm walking in I have no idea what it is okay I know what it is by reading but I can't comment if I don't see it so if I didn't I did not have opportunity we don't usually print a whole ordinance out for but you're ask for public comment correct sir so it has been posted since the introduction on the bulletin board as well as in the newspaper and you've been able to come up and view it in the clerk's office that's basically that's State Statute that's how it gets done and it's been and it's been on the web page too you're ask for comments and again somebody didn't take the opportunity to look look for it okay they don't know what they're you're approving to make com so after I understand right I'm just saying what the process is just because there has to be a certain amount of period of time that we do provide it but it has I know how long this ordinance is and I'm sure when I go look it up tomorrow I'll see but and probably another five or eight pages whatever I get it but just you know a general consens type thing is that it's kind of hard for anybody in the public if they didn't pay attention and look this up ahead of time they can't comment on something they might have serve well that's the way the state has us do it then Nick I can't really change that stat you got one do better as as a community that's what I'm saying that's fine several months ago I came up here and I suggested have a public portion section now I again I I lived at a smaller Township they had two public portions one in the beginning one at the end okay you're going to go through all these the old old business the new business couple months ago when I was here I had questions on something was in that section but it's there's no public for me to come up question something you talk about and I had to remember it later onet what it was but it was on the um you had questioned about the bill list and whether or not you were that that was months ago but I'm saying if I'll pick on Chief flusher a second he goes through his report and come you know afterwards if I have any questions or anything like that there I have to wait till the next time for the public portion section to question anything I'm using his reports a bad probably bad one but you know I got to remember what he said or make notes and remember try to get here where I could ask the question while I'm here maybe clarify something for other people as well as myself that's why I suggest that before you go through a bunch of stuff and then at the end goodbye see you leave and I for I wanted to ask so I'm just you know just a suggestion try to make things a little broader for people to ask questions and and comment okay all right I appreciate it thank you sir anyone else have a comment seeing none a motion to approve or excuse me motion to close the public portion so made second all in favor hi hi all right we're going to start with staff and professional comments um start this way Mr Kaufman you have anything thank you may just uh one thing um M shade Rotary will M shade Rotary will have its annual paying cake breakfast on Sunday before Easter Palm Sunday it'll be uh at steinhauer school from 8: until noon um please come out support it every all the funds uh in addition to the pancake breakfast there is a basket raffle uh so I'm ask you to come out and support this uh everything that we make from that goes right back to the schools for scholarships and uh it's one of our main fundraisers so I'm asking that if you want to have a good breakfast that's a good breakfast so all he can eat please come out and uh join us on on that day between 8 and and noon at uh at steinhauer school thank you mayor thank you councilwoman n hello all happy spring that's one good thing uh I did owe the fact about uh breakfast rotary breakfast make sure you come out and support the rotary which supports the kids and uh the VFW has a having a fundraiser which is St Patty's Day it's always a fantastic time but it's one of their largest fun risers so uh please support them they do so much for our community so we'd like to give back to them and uh at least socialize and get to know each other so that's that's it for me thank you thank you um beautiful weather everyone is eating it up on shore and out and gardening watch out for the bees make sure you leave those dandel lines out there for them and um we will see you before Easter so I'm not going to wish you a happy Easter but I'll wish you a happy St Patty's Day and be behave yourselves um and that's it thank you Deputy Meer yeah I believe I will give one of my shortest brief um speeches I think within the next 48 hours everyone will be celebrating St Patty's Day and I hope you all have an enjoyable time but be safe going home or down the [Laughter] steps that's all I had thank you thank you sir wow I just have a couple quick things I like to mention um Thursday March 7th uh the maple shet Business Association held their International women's day in pow Herman Expo uh it was held at the Fox Meadow in their new residents Clubhouse uh it was a beautiful venue for that event uh the turnout was fantastic we had I'm going to say over 50 people uh there were six powerful speakers uh Dr Jillian from strong bond Health which is a new business in town Dana from amp to dance uh Corporal Misty Weiss of the Maple Shade Police Department Gina Marie who's a success coach two outstanding sisters Elena and Marissa with party for you and jelica from Karma care and our Township manager Susan I attended two of the speaker sessions uh with Misty and with Susan I must say both of them were extremely powerful um I told Misty afterwards uh she brought a tear to my eye it was it was fantastic um so thanks to the maple shap Business Association for putting on that event uh the weather outside's turning towards warm um so plants flowers starting to bloom I'm asking if you could please take some pressure off our code enforcement officials and keep your property neat and cut and in order uh because that also help your property value uh and I would also like to ditto our councilwoman statements both of them to uh support the VFW with their event it is a big fundraiser for them and as you heard last month when we last meeting when we were here uh they do a lot for this town they donate a lot of money so I'd like to really make sure we support them and that is all I have old business Susan operations thanks so um I just have a couple things this evening uh the first is it's not old business it's new business coming up will be the townwide yard sale is set for April 27th of this year and then our annual household cleanup that we started a few years ago that will be held Wednesday May 1st to Saturday May 4th there'll be more coming out in our newsletter which we hope to have out tomorrow um but those dates will be in there but just to Mark the date um as you all know but our residents do not know yet we are excited they will now we are excited to announce that Congressman norcross's office has been able to assist us in securing an $850,000 Grant um for our Kings Highway treatment plant and that's part of the replacement program that we need to do there this money is going to help the township address some of the pressing needs in our infrastructure um so we need to set up that time with the congressman uh he would like to come down here and do um just an announcement about it and and a small press conference for us for the for the money so we thank his office very much uh for working with both myself and Dennis um he worked hard to help us get that that funding in a meeting with R&V last week we discussed the status of several road projects that are going to begin this year also the ases field Recreation Grant progress um both are right on track we have uh and are nearing their design completion uh demo is also complete on our food bank project and lastly the Collins Lane pathway lighting project that's been forwarded to psng for uh connection Pro for connection pricing so we're just waiting to hear from them and we expect that to be done in the next several months as well awesome uh Municipal budget is going to be introduced at our March 28th meeting however I am requesting a special meeting to discuss this year's budget and I would like to hold that meeting we said sometime next week right Andy is that what works I thought we were introducing the 28th Okay so that's why we need to have another meeting so have our dates get our stuff together um but yeah we would like to have that um that meeting so I will be in contact with each of you please look at your calendars um should be brief uh again coming in right where we had said we'd hop to come in it and uh we think we'll be able to deliver an excellent budget to everybody again awesome so uh just some department head reports through February our tax department had a collection rate of 94.4% just slightly down uh from this time last in 2023 utility collection however is up about 8% over this time last year our dog license renew is up by 38 licenses this time so uh people have really jumped on board with that and we appreciate it a reminder that to all that March 23rd is the free rabies clinic at the EMS building there will also be renewal license forms available that day so people can just fill them out leave the envelope and we'll make sure that their license gets there our construction Department permits and certificates are down a little over time this last year from this same time last year that's going to show that you know there is a slow we're starting to slow a little bit in in what people are doing to their homes and whatnot um as far as getting those permits but our inspections are maintaining at the same rate so we're still continuing with those um and DPW they have remained very busy now that it seems that we may be out of that dirty four-letter word season of snow so um crews are now concentrating on pothole repair inlets I know that they did two this week alone public grounds and maintenance and they are in the process of completing the list that will identify our roadways for our miscellaneous Mill and Overlay Road projects that we're going to do uh right now we're looking at Farnsworth North Cedar and North Terrace to be three of those roadways um and these are in addition to the NJ do roadway projects that we have and the safe routes to Schools project that we're going to be doing as well this year that report that finalizes my report awesome thank you and I don't know how I forgot this but I do have one more thing uh the maple shap Business Association is bringing back our car show um it is going to be September 7th it's not going to be on Main Street as usual cuz there's no sidewalk sale but we're going to have it in the municipal lot behind the Acme so get everyone got you got the summer to get your car all polished up again Steve yes is there one more thing about the um Sky Zone is there something at the Sky Zone coming there is hold that thought let me see when it is though I think it's after I think it's after um that's not until April 9th we'll have a couple meetings till then okay that's I thought it was the ninth but I wasn't you know right no problem all right all right with that we'll turn to Chief Fletcher report thank you mayor uh at the end of this month uh all the police Chiefs throughout the state are required to turn in their annual use of force and vehicle Pursuit uh analysis and summary to the Attorney General's office uh they have moved the goalpost a couple of times uh normally it's due by the end of January but they're trying to get some standardization to it um some Chiefs turnning something shorter some turn in something longer I turned in something longer so I've kind of built out my template and I'm using that to complete the report but I thought it was a good time just to give you 10,000 foot overview of what force by officers looks like in Maple shape so in 2023 we had 15 use of force incidents involving 30 officers from for 25,000 calls for service that amounts to 110 that amounts to 1 1,000 of 1% of the time on a call we use Force we enter this into what's called The Benchmark portal system that was created by the Attorney General's office in a subdivision called Justice data and they have us listed as 19 and when we went through and understood what the discrepancies was it really was just over the way the case numbers were entered so I talked with Dr Golden and uh their system doesn't have the ability to weed that out so it's going to be incumbent upon us so our Captain's already taking care of that to make sure that we try to get the numbers more in line I don't know the Benchmark and what the police departments keep on their own records were ever match up 100% because we're each tracking different data but we're required to put it in and we do that um when we break down some of the data in their Trend analysis report uh and officers can check off multiple boxes when they're filling out of use Force report but the officers listed there five initial reasons for response 16 were for mental health calls nine for disturbances six for domestic disputes six for medical emergencies and five for welfare checks when we analyzed the next category subjects actions that led the officers to use Force 19 were for resisting arrest or or for police control 12 were engaged in self harm 12 were engaged in taking a fighting stance or verbal threats to to do harm against officers or another 11 Were Striking with hands fists and elbows and seven attempted to commit a crime geographically six incidents took place in town but two of those incidents were in cinamon and moristown where we had to come in and assist on a mutual Aid call so we had four in town the remaining 13 were taking place out along the highway area or in the apartment complex much more transient area much more diverse population issues and problems are a little different than they are naturally what we see in the main part of town um we had one taser deployment and in New Jersey if you have a taser deployment you have to go meet with the prosecutor's office to have that taser deployment reviewed um the individual in this taser deployment was um very agitated very aggressive he physically went and tried to grab an officer's gun out of his holster it took two officers to prevent him from doing that he was subsequently tasered as a result uh the taser had a great spread you try to get the taser probes above and below the belt line we had a great initial contact and then as he was falling back one of the taser probes came loose so by the time he hits the ground he's already back up ready to fight some more so it basically took all the officers there to handle that this happens on South CO's on the border with Cherry Hill and we're in the middle of traffic why this is going on and literally cars are waiting to drive around this as this is happening uh I made clear to the prosecutor's office that the New Jersey State Association of chiefs of police has Representatives on the less lethal committee um they have approved additional less lethal technology which I would like to invest in such as pepper ball technology um there's another thing called The Bowler app that we're waiting to be approved uh both of these are good non-lethal tools that could be utilized if something like that happens where you have a failure with the connection on the taser and the prosecutor office is supposed to be approving those individually in each County so I made it clear at the review that they need to step up the process because I've been asking since last year we're now in 2024 and obviously I want to see that come to fruition 100% of all the subjects whom we use Force against ignored repeated officer commands and then alcohol and drugs were confirmed in 50% of the incidents and unknown another 20% of the incidents and that makes the escalation situations even more challenging um despite what you might hear uh on television you cannot deescalate people unless they're willing to engage in a conversation with you if they won't engage in a conversation with you it's very difficult to get them to deescalate a situation and then depending on what we find when we show up if somebody's slashing a rist we're generally moving right in to prevent any more self harm um one of the things that has to be built into your program is what's called meaningful command level review Maple Shade has been doing this for years uh it's nothing new for us here um but they formalize the process when they change the use of force policy so what happens now is if an officer uses force that force is reviewed by the supervisor on duty then it's reviewed by the lieutenant then it's reviewed by the captain and ultimately it's reviewed by me as the chief and we're looking for a variety of things policy consistency could we have done something better uh do we have a weapon system failure whatever it might be we're looking to diagnose all that uh the day where force was used the most was Saturday followed by Thursday and Wednesday 12:00 lunchtime was the most uh frequent time for Force followed by 400 p.m. dinner time and 5:00 a.m. breakfast so people are hry so hry there's a lot there's a lot of things that go into those times but um generally speaking it's usually where people are reaching a boiling point depending on what's going on in life at that point in time um our officers have been trained in a multitude of deescalation systems the management of aggressive behaviors Verbal Judo IAT which is called integration communication assessment and tactics and able active by standard ship for law enforcement through the Attorney General's office as well as defensive tactics to include caga and most recently we started training in Gracie Brazilian jiu-jitsu uh for law enforcement so we have three officers certified in level one and we're going to be putting those same officers through level two shortly uh one of the biggest challenges uh in this past year one of the biggest changes I should say in this past year is a lot of times we would be standing up dealing with individuals now because of we're training we're trying to bring those individuals down to the ground it's a lot easier to control people on the ground when you have something to press against but when you're standing up and people are twisting and contorting it's it's really hard to get control of folks so with that said if you're bringing people down to the ground they can get lacerations abrasions uh bruises so that's one of the things that we see in the 15 incidents that we've had so despite the fact that and probably in like 8 to 10 pages on my report I'm analyzing 15 use of forces it's not like I'm analyzing 300 I'm analyzing 15 um on the pursuit side we had one vehicle Pursuit for a potential stolen car and the early part of 2023 uh that subject was later identified and he was charged with a looting and numerous summonses were issued to them this same subject was later charged by us for carjacking and is subsequently pleaded guilty um we had a couple of carjackings on some ride shared services and he was the one responsible for that just get a quick drink uh starting tomorrow we are going to be heading into the school district we're going to do our walkthroughs for active shooter training and then on Monday we'll be heading in the school district to do our active shooter scenarios and active threat scenarios with the entire School District we're splitting up in the teams we'll be heading out in order to conduct that and when we do our walkthroughs that's pretty much where we finalize what the scenario is going to look like the school district did an absolutely excellent job the last time I know they decked me uh when I was in one of the scenarios they had no problem taking the chief out they did a good job and you know again the the whole point is you know understanding what your roles are you know your run hide fight you know you got to determine where you're at in the process and then make a decision accordingly you know we're not here to Second guest folks but we try to make sure we have that conversation I do want to give a shout out to detective Justin Jericho and broland County prosecutor's office detective Jen mares uh for their shooting no hit response on rining Avenue uh they did a great job we have uh subsequently charged three juveniles with a fourth being charged shortly and we did recover the weapon that was in used in that just to provide some clarity on the issue a shooting no hit means that somebody has fired a gun but no person was struck might be property it might be fired into the air um when that happens we are under a director from the broland County prosecutor who's the chief law enforcement officer in the county to notify their office they make the determination if they're in or they're out on the investigation in this case they decided they were in um once they come in Maple shet police no longer controls the ability to push information out so no matter how much pressure is applied on social media to our elected officials or a Township manager it does not change the outcome um the prosecutor's office usually makes that determination in this case in concert with their press information officer we eventually were able to put something out but generally they don't put things out on shooting no hits they're not going to put something out when you land on a subject which we did pretty quickly we had the first subject in custody within two days we had the second subject in custody in day three and as subsequently we're recovering the weapon in additional juvenile in custody you know throughout that next week so they did a great job but I would just want to be clear about where we're at you know if we're working with a federal partner same thing app any of your three-letter federal agencies you know you're going to be in concert with them but generally they're going to let you know what you're going to put out if we do something with the FBI we're not putting anything out unless the FBI says you can go ahead and put something out and generally like I said they prefer to put it out all right so I just wanted to establish that and the last thing I just wanted to uh give a shout out on is we had the incident back in December of 2023 with the attempt at robbery at Wells Fargo bank and weapons session um I had submitted the team that was involved in that to the two Hunter Club they were awarded the meritorious service award uh this past Friday so it was great to go there and present it to them they did an absolutely fantastic job that was a serious rapidly evolving situation on that one we controlled the Press we got something out as quick as we could um and we had the ability to take this subject into custody we had a wall of cops up between this individual and that school there was no way he was getting to the school and um just thankful to Morristown Mount Laurel camenson palm and Riverton who didn't even ask they just sent cops and they just start arriving which was great and that is my report for today thank you Chief Deputy Mayor anything going on on site plan yes we had an application in for the old sierin building they had come in in February uh gave us a rough idea what they wanted to do they want to put a multif floor Self Storage up uh we explained to them um what we were looking for we did not want it to look like an industrial building that should be in an industrial park uh they understood we told them about buffer we told them about um uh plantings that we just wanted it to look like a very nice Lo location uh and thinking as often happens they would not be back or they would be back with something that would need a a big going over again well they surprised us they came in um at site plan um they satisfied all of our wishes uh they even brought some samples in of siding and coloring that they wanted us to pick uh we said pass that on to zoning when you go there that's not what we do we're just trying to make it so you can get to the next level uh but they were very very amable to everything that we talked about and they addressed everything that we had talked about um I don't know if they're going to make they did not make zoning last night I don't know if they're going to make next month or not uh I'm not certain about that but they're working they are very serious about it uh they like the location and so far we like what they have offered the next one was uh shade environmental over on Cutler Avenue they added a uh a building uh separate building from their their operation a year or so ago and they run out of space and what they want to do is put a small addition on just to house their office um they're not prepared with site plans or building plans yet they just wanted to know what uh the township thought about it and they meet all the requirements so we told them to move on and uh get some plans together and get them submitted and that was it they were just the two applications awesome thank you for your report sure new business sustainable I'm sorry before um we go there for old business I failed to um mention the at the last meeting the Maple Shade youth football Carnival was approved um originally it was asked for the beer garden for the two nights uh for Friday and Saturday they have requested Thursday night that is what they put in their ABC application so if you are all agreeable to that then we would need to amend their resolution at the next meeting um typically the last couple years they've had three nights it was an oversight uh just when the application originally came into us so if you okay with that we will have them um we will redo the resolution to memorialize that but their ABC application does say that it's okay so okay you're all right with three and that's just okay ande that's what they've been doing so yeah so this way the chief and Terry can sign off on those two okay thank you I apologize no problem so new business no so um as you know and you all received uh sustainable Maple Shade the community garden is underway um Jen I did I see her there she is yep she come she had sent the letter over to Jen and I think it was um Lynn Right Lynn both of them sent the letter over uh requesting that there be a water hookup at the curb line um I did speak with Woodard and Curran and Mr Booth both have agreed to provide their service for free of charge um but there is still a cost that's involved so as you know from the letter that was in there that was very detailed about what sustainable wanted to do um just Council needs to make a decision as to whether or not you wish to have that connection there what happens to the rain barrels so and I think Jen or or Lynn if one of you want to come up and answer some of the questions for Council we still plan on doing rain barrels so we had gotten a grant specifically for the rain barrels but then when we were thinking about it we just it's not I never thought it was a good idea just to go with r because everybody's going to put all this work into the garden and if we have a drought like it's just it's not going to work so I was always for putting a water hookup in I didn't know how much that would cost I didn't know the how hard it was going to be to get in but we said it takes like a day and it's not going to be like hard to get in but we would like to do it before the garden gets in so we don't have to dig up people's Gardens but the rain barrels are still an option if we got the water hook up we would you guys would not have to fill up the rain barrels we would just whatever major gave us yeah we do plan on still having the rain barrels there we're just concerned that if there is a drought um that there would be site and then people who were going to use their plots would then not have water access and another thing we didn't think of is getting the truck who fills it like depending on the placement of the rain barrels we might not necessarily be able to get a truck in there to fill them anyway which I wasn't thinking of in the beginning it's all new to me so may I ask how much the grant was for $2,000 so that's specifically for rain barrels so we still are going to buy the rain barrels all right so the other um Pro for having a water hook up there was that sometimes you need to clean your garden tools when you're at you know when you're gardening um and sometimes like you need the pressure of a hose versus like just pouring something out of a sticket from the water barrel why they bring them up will there be places for them to keep their utensils the the garden tools at the the site yes we're going to get a shed we actually have a grant in and if we don't get that Grant approved we're just going to buy one okay so the Township's going to put a water connection at Street and then are you going to run Irrigation in from there or what's no we just going have a hose it's just somebody just so they would bring like a water water and can to you know cuz you would said dig up the gardens I didn't know if you were going to get silly on I mean eventually maybe that would be awesome right of course no just like a one single hook up with the H okay where would the meter go would have to go wherever the connection was they'd have to some sort of pipe but that would just be out in the cold in the it wouldn't be there would wouldn't it freeze it could it could yeah if we're going to meter it if we're going to meter the water are in their house right so if you plan on if we're going to put a meter on there to know how much water is used yes we have to C yeah well said there be a meter next to the yeah well they won't be they won't be using it winter they have to we' have to winterize it and then I would the meter would have to be enclosed in something there would need to be some sort of box box a box yeah a locked box and that would keep it from freezing hopefully yes other Parks use water like it's not going to be any different thans Lane Park or but where is the water meter for that Park Collins Lane yes there is no meter on Collins Lane Park oh okay how do you get water without a meter it's unmetered water the pressure is still there but there's no yeah we have several we have several properties in town unfortunately no I I don't know so the meter just runs the meter tells you how much water you're using basically is what it is there's other outdo water meters right no they're enclosed it would have to go into a box I mean those things and those things could be worked out I think what the big thing the big question the council has to answer is one um are you okay with hooking up the water there that's the first thing the second question has to be is it go if it's metered is there going to be a charge for the water if they're just saying that it's a hose obviously it should be quite limited is is what it is and I don't know what kind of resources you have if you had to pay I know that you're charging for the plot how many plots do you expect to have or like what is the plan right now it was 20 I know they're different sizes but how many yeah so 30 Al together so 30 plots all together is what it sold maybe a third of them last I check okay and how much are you charging for the plot $20 for the smaller one 20 and the bigger one which is actually part with everybody else's so it's just a hose that's going to be used um to have water on S to have water on site it's it's not an irrigation it's not an irrigation system tra that's the only problem no it's like wash off your sh and plus water the crops if there's no rain water right okay Terry just brought up something I was actually thinking is who's going to be responsible that's not left open and run yeah that's true the host just leaves it running and it runs for a week before somebody goes back to the Garden kind of thing well just something something you should just may five of us who are on we going to have plots there I feel me and John live like literally across the street from the place oh you live really close I do and also you can't really like as someone who Gardens a lot know what house I live in um you can't really like leave for a week and like expect anything to really and you actually have like it's during the growing season when you're watering like if it's hot if we have a um like a heat wave or something and it's in a drought like you have to be there kind of every day to check on your plot and make sure that the soil is wet and you know so I don't think it's going to be like nobody's going to be there for extended periods of time while the hose would be like in use not obviously during the winter when we winterize it there would be a couple of months where nobody's going to be using it but during the planting season and the growing season you have to be there consistently wasting your time or like the time I put the sprinkler on at the community garden at the high school and the nice fellow neighbor guy called somebody at 4 a.m to say peace turn the sprinkler off it's hitting my house I was like but nobody had turned it on so I was just trying to like save the garden but so I mean I'm sure if the hose was left on somebody's going to call cuz the guy the plot next to is the landscaper so I he would see it watering well there'll be a lock I'm just thinking of our little munchkins that come out at night sometimes and Lo on the Box on the on the on the hose or something you know cuz oh I can ask well CU at the high school is a key like you need a special key to turn the faucet okay all right I we get that kind of faucet so so I think that's what the important part is there needs to be some sort of and everybody who would have a plot would have access to the shed like with like a number okay yeah that I mean they're just little things that you like like you said it happened in at the high school there you know so you're just oh no I did that I one who turned it on me okay and I am also right up the street um and I'm home most of the time so you know if there's a problem that that can be like I joined sustainable for because I wanted to create this Garden my big like thing but not 10 years ago so it I will take responsibility for going up there and making sure that things are okay if somebody you know notices we plan to be the stewards of the the I will be lot okay so if it's going to be metered we'll know how much water is being used yes if it turns into to be a really a lot of water could we give like the first year free and then base it on what their water usage was as to whether there was a fee you could I I mean if yeah we don't know how much it's going to we could take it you know we could take the the first month and see let's see how many plots they get um and how many owners that they get to come out and do it um if they're going to put the safeguards in with some sort of Lock and you know we'll work with Will um I think then you know let's see but if it gets exuberant is sustainable like as the season wears on you need less and less water like it's more importants are I think like you said when you have a drought in August right well if you have a council standpoint is if it winds up that we're using a lot of water and we know that we are are you open to possibly Mak payments obviously through what's being refund what's being raised in the garden okay okay need to be all right with needs to be all right with you all I'm fine with that yeah I'm making sure there's a just the hose with the key that was good things I we just want to have thought of that after the fact could go in with that yeah good idea what's that CH we just want to be consistent because we have other individuals that have water meters but we're not charging them correct so we want to be consistent whatever we do for one we got to do for the other yes so there you go so that's what we'll do so we'll work with Will um we'll get with him make sure that we can put the lock on there and then we'll just we'll meter it and then we'll keep you know we'll we'll keep in contact with you to let you know how much is being used and we'll let Council know and we'll go from there all right thank you so much you have a lot of worms um number two Susan new business process number two is the new business process Jen if you want to yeah she's like wait wait what yeah well so um I had shared with you a letter that um that our business and economic development director Jen uh Nixon had shared with everyone as well as a process um I think the letter is pretty self-explanatory um regarding that we've had several businesses that have come in um that have discussed with Jen that they'd like to come to town and we're just we're hitting a a little bit of a hiccup and a roadblock when these new businesses come in town the process they're telling us that the process is not as easy as they had thought and had hoped I me obviously one of the goals that we have is to try and to make businesses coming into town so Jenn if you just want to share a little bit about the businesses that had come in and talked you and what what those roadblocks were and I'm just going to keep them Anon Anonymous for now but in my conversations with existing business owners um stakeholders in the community that have gone through the process most recently real estate agents who are actively seeking to bring business into town and businesses that I've met with to bring them into town um that have had Communications with through the different departments and planning boards and Zoning um there's no clear path to open a business in full shape they can have their EIN number ready they could be have a whole business plan and funding but when it gets to M shade it's it's patchy on who they have to go to First the process it takes how long it takes for that process which meeting they can get on the first of the month month the last of the month which board they have to go in front of and I just felt that if we are going to be actively seeking new businesses to come into the town um I wanted to get all the stakeholders involved and different planning zones Council obviously Susan to kind of have everyone hash it out discuss what the process is why it's that way why the ordinance says it has to be that way and maybe see where we can stream line somewhere that process so a business owner coming into town has a clear goal and path that have to take the open that business in equal shape um I've heard that surrounding businesses or surrounding communities do not have a lot of the the things and meetings that our Township is making them go through to open a business here um and if we are actively seeking business to grow we I think we need to make it a little bit easier for them I just have if I may ask a question that the starting a new business is that currently happens or is this what you're proposing that is what I don't know what you so that's what Drew up for Susan to answer her question what happened in his office so okay okay just seems what we're getting is that there's a lot there's a lot of coming back and forth back and forth into the building and talking to a lot of people and having to go to multiple different apart Apartments multiple different departments to really get answers so somehow we're trying to find a streamlined way of what we can do because a lot of these businesses that have been coming in coming into an area in town that the business is approved to be as as allowed as a permitted use there but there's all these steps that have to go so I think Jen you know Jen had one business that came in and they thought it was just going to come in get their business license and go and they found out that they had to go through this process so they were looking to open sometime in miday now they're looking that they're probably not going to be able by the time documents get in and things that they need to get to everybody probably more like a late June early July start bus that would flourish in the summer in our community so so those are the things that we've been that's what we've been basically faced with over the last couple weeks um and we would like to be able to sit down and maybe put you know somebody from the zoning board like Jen said maybe somebody from the planning board herself myself site um PR site plan and just say okay what kind of things you know this is the process that prip has has identified as being in the zoning office um you know and working with Terry too that what C what things can we streamline here to say okay in the beginning you just get all this and then it's done um and then obviously if there are larger items that have to be addressed fine I mean they have to be addressed but we don't want to get to a position where we're attracting businesses which we are um and they're turned off because of the process um you know we're going to be going to that uh 30 and 30 at uh dare business Network event and that's going to be one of the very big I'm that's going to be one of the questions that they anticipating 120 investors looking to invest in a community yeah and it's and you know remember that's not just development new development those are redevelopers too and that's really where Maple Shade sits right now in a Redevelopment that's that's what we have we we're basically built out so we want to make that process as as easy as as easy for them as we can um ideally being able to have it before we go to that D business Network would be would be ideal so that when we give them our booklet of our town here's the process easy can be and this is who you get a hold of so I think it would be beneficial if we could start some sort of uh it would seem that once you get together what you want and you f out some form or some booklet that you can somebody wants to do I want to do a business this is what you need to do and it's right there in writing and then they know what they need to do there's no surprises correct we also we also have to have a section for anyone that's going to be in a restaurant anything to do with food that would have to go through the health department a lot of times people don't realize they have to go through that also before they get to us yeah and that's that's huge and I can't tell you how many we've had I mean you know now and let's say drink Co it was it was a free-for-all I mean it just nobody was doing anything but now the county is back and they're doing their inspections and they're they're up to date on their inspections I get a call every week from you know oh we didn't know that they were coming in so those are things that I think as a municipality that we're failing at and we're failing at that for our businesses you know signage what can they do about sign those so we need something that's very clear and what is going to be allowed so that they know because they might change what their business model is or how they're going to do it if they know what's required should be all in compy everything that they need to know whether they're doing food establishment or whatever the case may be everything they need to know in order to start a business def isn't a cookie cutter process because every business in zon use is different but just some sort of clear path so they know who they have to meet with when and approximate times you're not going to come in and have a license and be operating in 10 days corre right they need to know some sort of time frame can we also reach out to the commercial uh people who own the commercial properties in town because you know they don't care how the Rental process go it's on you if we can educate the renter which is the commercial renter to say you know you have to go to the township and do this before I rent this to you I've seen it many times over being up on Main Street for so many years and hearing all the you know background noise about someone didn't do the right process whether it was the health department or whatever and uh here here everyone else gets blamed for the fact that it wasn't done properly so if we can get that streamlined also where we can reach out in another area to to people who are doing the renting because they're like oh you know they're going to they're going to take the money and they don't care if the the person doesn't have everything lined up so you know it's it's a process that we have to work together on I believe I mean that's just my thought did you I may jump in yes sure hello yeah i in all the years that I've been involved with the land use uh this is the first time I've ever heard anything about negative about Maple shade's processing of businesses we have been known for years and years that um all the attorneys that are bringing businesses in uh that we are one of the easiest towns only because we are so welcoming to businesses so I don't know what has changed but I certainly think streamlining uh and putting a list together you you certainly can't cover everything but putting a list together would be much simpler than the way things are going right now uh and I'd be glad to jump in on that and help uh with whatever um is needed this I think this is not something new because I believe it was attempted quite a few years ago with a different uh community development director how it was supposed to pretty much streamline how everything's I don't know whether or not any of those records are still available 2008 2008 yeah so you know it's not like it hasn't been tried it just needs to be followed my conversation with them is it took seven months to get wow from our entering our business door doors to opening their business there was a and it could follow on their end as well yeah but um it does it seem to be certain businesses that certain businesses maybe something that has a health department involved with it or anything like that food business no outside departments it's just us okay okay well no it's definitely yeah we definitely need the yeah remain business things are constantly changing so we just have to change any I'm just saying that we need to all come together there are so many departments involv process zoning construction like that streamline a little bit to make that process easier it would attract more are we're put in front of those investors they're not going to want money is time so time is want to have be held up by things change and you have to be on top of it so just in looking over this it just seems like it depends on what type of businesses that's whatre is I I don't know yeah it just seems that whatever there's different things for different types of businesses that are opening and whether they're starting they have to do a lot of uh revamping of what's in the building or whatever so but no I'm all in favor of that okay sounds like a good idea okay excent thank you know my famous life orage J handle it all right okay next line of business 386 Park Avenue yes as you know we have a request from the cinnamon and homeowner to tie into Maple Shade sewer um I have reached out to well we have the letter that we were given from um from the homeowner requesting it we also have a request from the cinnamon and sewage Authority requesting it um I did reach out to both will gray and to Dennis Yoder to ask their opinions um Dennis's uh opinion was that he was leaning towards allowing but thinks that the outside Township connection should have to pay one and a half times the current rate fee since there are more administrative activities involved he also feels that an additional any additional flow will be minimal but asking for a onetime $11,000 fee to reduce the extraneous flows in Maple Shade um along with the connection fee would be beneficial so he's not against it um and he's but he you know he said it's okay he'd be okay going forward with it and then I received will um who sent me and he said that you know he thinks is that it will set a precedence if we do this now like that's the big thing so he is suggesting that perhaps we do a we conduct a feasibility study to determine the cost versus revenue and connection fees which goes along with what Dennis was saying um for private Force Mains um as proposed by 386 Park um he said that they can become a nightmare if all parties are not aware of their responsibility specifically what comes to mind to him is who's going to be responsible for completing the markouts that's something simple like is it going to be us is it going to be the homeowner um who would it be if the resident owns the line how are they notified if someone is digging in the vicinity of their line what happens if it gets hit during an excavation or road project and if we allow one to install the Force main line and others do as well will there be several of these small Force Mains along the right of way either in the roadway or along the front of other people's properties we are as we all know under the cap with the njd um and they're not allowing us to even remove ourselves from that so we are still there um he says that recent flows from the inii show that our system is above design capacity consistently during rain events and long after which we do know that as well um he said during a visual site visit on Park he believes that 386 could tie in if they extended their gravity sewer M up to his house surveys will need to be completed to verify elevations if this is the route that they want that everyone wants to entertain um if we do extend our sewer system the cinnamon and resident should be forced all cinnamon res cinnamon cinnamon and residents should be forced to tie in uh not a popular stance but if we're going to do it for one then we should force all of them so it's not just one that I do agree with um but then that's more so and this is this is a common this is a common practice in New Jersey so does he have to replace his septic system is that what the issue is bringing this up yes okay so I know I was I was on the board I don't know I think it was zoning right um we had the property off of was it no so I think you were involved was it hell High Street that lot that the guy wanted to tap in so like six houses back here and that just it didn't it wasn't a win for the Township in any way everything was an argument everything was a problem everything put a lot of responsibility on the Township that we didn't want I think that's where Dennis was saying with the cost portion of it and what will said about doing a cost analysis obviously um that will allow us to make sure that we have those fees in place um we would have to obviously do it by ordinance if we were going to require all the residents to do this one is just for this resident right now is what the request is for yeah if I remember correctly that gentleman wanted to tap one house in but he was subdividing five lots and said yeah the other ones won't join in we're like yeah okay let's go with that yeah our requires it that would be something that we would need to work with cinamon in Township with and at that time that was a big that was a big push on our system like there were like six more households coming in off of that line which is not far from right from Park a that it was a problem so I I definitely want to dig deeper into this before we just I have a concern about again consistency we denied that gentleman on High Street um does if we allow this does that then open us up to liability saying hey you denied me you're giving it here and then can he come back to us and say hey what about so that's my and I think that would be part of the ordinances you know if we were to create an ordinance basically requiring them all to do it camenson would have to sign off on it and then we would sign so those homeowners would have to they would receive notification that says you need to tie in the issue then becomes on our side can our system handle yeah there's quite a few houses on bark have I mean that's there's houses on both sides right huh some are ours two three calls a year from home from homeowners that want to do it there was a couple properties we asked them if they wanted to Annex it when they came here and they asked us to do it many years ago so you want to give us make that as part of Maple Shade and they said no the only house that's not it's the one on the corner of the pork and Fork Landing no that's house I thought we had something back like I said I mean I would have to lean on the sewer department my chair breaks leaning on your chair um the um the differences here is Max you know what I mean do we want to have a problem n you got something you want to throw in there uh sure one of the differences here as I see it is this application is for an existing home and the other application was a developer who was going to put up new homes so I I think it could have a different thought process with someone with an existing home rather than developing would be part of my decision and I think we played that into it they're saying you know if a resident is having a new house built they have to put a setic in it's whatever $15,000 so so wouldn't they want to pay x amount of dollars to come in with us but it still came down to the the the so Department saying you know you're throwing more at us you can we handle when we're in our cap so and then we have to maintain that what's that maintenance is forever right and Main obviously the fees you have to maintain it similar to what we do in our own town I mean you make sure that the fees that they're paying can cover those costs but that's where it goes into Will's comment about do we do some sort of feasibility for study first before we see see how many homes are there how many we actually can accept um before we just make a decision on this one I think also talked about doing some sort of uh I don't want to say deed restriction but put something on the deed where if somebody buys that house they know oh yeah they are liable for everything like there's no I didn't know good I mean we talked about that there was a lot of caveats in there that's application so is this something that we want to deny but we'll explore in general and really see or I would say deny maybe explore but how much is sustainable yeah how what are we going to have to pay to have the what's it going to cost the township that's a lot I don't we'd have to go out for an RFP yeah I mean at that point I believe they've done that before haven't we done that in the past well there's been the the motel down on 73 wanted to hook into our silver as well there was a property owner on North fory North fory that came here a couple years in a row asking yeah it's been many manytimes stud is not crazy I mean it's not tens of tens of thousand yeah but why would we want to do a feasibility study to have how many homes come back we we're already at Ma capacity on our silver why would we want to welcome them in see what I was going to say was let the resident if it's not crazy let him pay for it let him make the decision if we say okay you paid for res the study we're good with it it's going to cost you this to come on I don't think we should pay for the study I think that's just well they won't pay for the study well that's I don't think they will unless camon does I could we ask pay for it for I guess you could but do you want an expert who's being paid by the person expecting it or do you want your they just get to pay the bill yeah they right they get to pay the bill they don't get to P who doesn't I it's not going to hurt to ask you could ask I just I think it'll probably be but this one so so turn around why do we want to pay it thinking that it's already a problem what purpose how does it help us it's it it's it doesn't help us no it it solves a problem for a neighboring Community is what it does it does will provide a little bit additional Revenue um because they're paying one and a half times the rate um but it's also could be causing us fines for over for over taxing our again that's what the feasibility study would would um I I don't I don't see that I'm my is deny and say have you the feasibility study we'll look into it again okay that would be my thought yeah I'm not in favor of I am not in favor mention to pay for the feasibility stuff yeah I'll ask them or there sewage Authority right they're sewage Authority right yep okay all right is there anything else on the new business there is yes Harry has yes um I circulated I believe yep already um we have a person interested in his Zing board the last slot I do want to thank everybody that has come forward since we talked about it uh having so many vacancies we've had a lot of applications and everybody has gone forward we had two tonight and this one will um next meeting will fill up both boards good yeah absolutely okay thank you yeah so that's good we'll move forward with that right does that have to be voted on or just put on next next resolution voted on okay good perfect anything else that's all I have anyone else have comments they'd like to make nothing all right with that said next meeting uh we are going to V I'll need a motion to adjourned for our next meeting which is scheduled for March 28th at 6:30 show moved second all in favor hi hi thank everyone for coming out tonight have a fantastic evening