Sandy first second all in favor hi hold on one minute because we're still uh trying to webcast good now we're good all right we're going to start with the open Board of Health meeting Susan the open Board of Health meeting for this evening we had one sanitary conditions which was about feeding of wildlife there was a complaint of a resident feeding too many wildlife and attracting rodents um and then there were two miscellaneous uh which were no heat in rental units so Board of Health went out but everything was remediated so that's the end of the report three calls all together awesome uh this is an open public meeting does anyone have any comments in reference to the Board of Health meeting any questions seeing none can I get a motion to close the public portion so second any comments all in favor hi uh motion to adjourn the uh just a health meeting right confused I apologize my head's not right can I uh so motion to adjourn the Board of Health meeting so M second all in favor I all right ordinance uh second reading and public hearing for ordinance number 20 24-9 uh a 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njsa 40a col 44514 this is an open public meeting does anyone have any comments and reference to that seeing none can I get a motion to close so second any comments all in favor I uh motion to adopt so made second any comments can I get a roll call please Terry Mr caufman yes Miss noon yes Mr whis approved mayor Smith approved resolution 2024 r86 a resolution to read the budget by title only whereas njsa 40a call 4-8 as amended by L period 2015 c954 2015 provides that the budget may be read by title only at the time of the public hearing if a resolution is passed by not less than a majority of the full governing body providing at least one week prior to the date of hearing a complete copy of the budget has been made available for public inspection and has been made available to each person upon request and whereas these two conditions have been met so now therefore it be resolved that the budget shall be read by title only uh motion to approve resolution soate second comments roll call please Terry Mr kman yes Miss noon yes Mr whis approved mayor Schmid approved resolution 2024 D r- 87 a res resolution for local examination uh motion to approve so made second any comments roll call please T Mr caufman yes Miss n yes Mr whis approved M approved all right resolution 2024 d-75 to approve the 202 4 Municipal budget um I'm going to run through a summary of revenues we have a surplus $4.5 million total miscellaneous revenues 3,668 19558 receipt from delinquent taxes is 500,000 uh local tax for municipal purposes 12,515 27642 uh nothing for the local District school tax added uh amount raised amount to be raised by taxes for support a municipal budget is 12,515 27642 giving us a total General Revenue of 21 million $183,400 summary Appropriations operating expenses being salaries and wages 7,694 29 37 other expenses 7,282 18307 deferred charges and other Appropriations $1,992 79 Capital Improvements are $75,000 The Debt Service including School purposes $2,824 th23 reserve for uncollected taxes is 1,314 7156 to bring our total Appropriations to 2,183 472 um with that I believe um Susan you have a little presentation for us we'd like to put together between you and Andy yeah so um as you know every year we do a we do a budget presentation just to break it down so that everybody can see the presentation will be um it'll be on our web page and you all have been given a copy to just to kind of follow along but uh again just so we can just break it down for everybody so our first slide is the 2023 tax rate allocation um we have to use last year's because we still don't have the county and the schools but as you'll see 62.7 uh% goes to um our school district so of the taxes of our residents taxes 62.7% of their taxes go to the Maple Shade school district 25.1% is kept here within the township then we have 0.9% which is the brillington county open space 10.4% is your county tax and then 0.9% is the brillington county library so that is something you know that even though that's here in the building and it is a county um residents do pay a tax on that as well um total state aid uh just to give a comparison of what the municipality has gotten from 2020 to 2024 in 2020 we were at 1.7 million uh 2021 the same amount 1.7 million and the same in 2022 in 2023 we jumped up to 1 .8 million and in 2024 we have 1.9 million um so it's always nice to get extra eight and that to comes from you know when we do the um our uh oh Andy help me with the word that I'm looking for when we do for the comp controller Best Practices thank you thank you Dar in the background there we go we got support so when we do the best practices we get the support of all of our um of our employees to and we're able to that is a direct reflection of being it we don't lose any Aid so can I add that the increase over the past two years is not guaranteed the state tells us every year that you're not guaranteed to get those increases that we have been fortunate enough to get over the past two years we're usually at the flat 1.7 awesome okay so our next slide is our Municipal budget comparison between 2020 and 2024 um in 2020 we were uh our Municipal budget was n just a little over 19 million 19 mil 89,000 uh in 2021 we were 8,760 in 2022 back up to $1,256 in 2023 we were at 19 M887 th000 and for 2024 we're proposing a 21,1 183 uh $1,472 the difference between 2023 and 24 is just about 1.3 million um the increase in our local Municipal tax rate by year because let's face it that's what everybody is concerned outout so we did the comparison from 2017 to to to this year in 2024 in 2017 there was a 2% tax increase in 20 2cent sorry 2cent tax increase in 2018 a zero tax increase in 2019 a 2cent increase in 2020 we did a half a cent increase in 21 and 22 coming out of covid we did 0% increase both those years in 2023 1.9 cents and now in 2024 we're uh proposed in a 1.3 C increase there's been a lot of questions I've received a couple emails handful of emails over the last week about Surplus and US using the Surplus in this Municipal budget we are using uh $4.5 million municipality has been sitting in a very good position financially we're very stable um but I wanted to just kind of expand a little bit on what Surplus is and the amount Surplus is by definition is the amount of unexpended funds that a municipality will have on hand hand for use in the next following Year's budget fiscal year budget why should a town work towards accumulating a surplus by accumulating Surplus year to year a municipality can help protect against unexpected revenue losses and it can be used to help reduce the need to increase the municipal tax levy when faced with substantial cost increases you know if we go back to 2020 and 2021 and 22 coming out of covid we elected to use those surpluses those years as well so that we did not have a tax increase for our residents especially understanding that coming out of the pandemic um things were just Topsy Turvy you know everybody we really didn't know which way we were going um and then what does the Department of Community Affairs uh say on Surplus this comes directly from Jaclyn Suarez the director the division encourages municipalities to have an established policy which we did in 2020 we put a policy in place uh concerning Surplus accumulation and its sustainable use in the annual budget ratings agencies want to see this which helps with Municipal Bond uh municipalities Bond rating so that's just a little of what Surplus is but I also wanted to be able to address the Surplus questions that we had and what Maple Shade surpluses balances have been by year so if you look I went all the way back to 2014 with those um Surplus budgets let me pull out my handy dandy document too um in 2014 we had a beginning balance of um 1 million no in 2014 we had a beginning balance of 6 73,74 um that year in 2014 the municipality chose to use 600,000 of that Surplus in their budget so we used almost all of that Surplus and then we ended the year with $657,500 2016 2017 18 and 19 we were building our Surplus to where in 2019 we started the year with 7,683 th000 $143 that year we used $2.4 million a little over $2.4 million in Surplus to help with the budget and there was uh at the end of the year 9,984 199 in um Surplus at the end of the year 2020 we used 3.3 million we ended the year with 10, $139,000 in Surplus in 2021 we used 3 little just about 3.6 million we ended the year with $1,883 th000 and some change in Surplus 2022 we used 4.2 million ended the year with an $8 million uh 800,000 Surplus and now again in 2023 we used 4.25 million and ended with 7.9 so as it has decreased some we still sit on a very healthy Surplus number um those years in 21 and 22 we're again we're used to come in with 0% tax increases for our residents um but it's all within what the state allows us to use for Surplus and again they want you you you're not supposed to sit on millions and millions of dollars of surplus so Maple Shade Surplus in review uh again at the end of year 2023 we were at 7.9 million just a little bit over down slightly do again to decrease revenues there are things that we're just not collecting on um we use it to offset our tax increase to our residents and the question has come is why not why don't we use Surplus for infrastructure so once we use the Surplus for infrastru ructure that does not generate Revenue again once we use it it's gone uh it means that it will not help to replenish our Surplus what we do is we are using the Surplus to offset our taxes and provide new programs we started the rental registration and inspection program we have the reassumed of our fire marshal office we have a new cannabis program that's going to be in we have Recreation programs that we've put in there all of which will help to increase our revenues and help replenish our Surplus there were questions also that I received about why our road programs why we're not using the Surplus for our road programs our road programs we fund those through NJ doot grant funding annually um and there's been a lot of questions about what we have done and what roads we have done um we've done a lot we really have and I apologize I'm little me find what I can get you for the that's it thank you I got it covered here so since 2020 or really since August of 2019 19 we've done Collins Lane South lipincott Bradwell Avenue Maran Lane Indian Queen North Kohl's and Frederick Avenue all with NJ do money so that's just about eight that's eight roads currently in progress with NJ do money we have Alexander Avenue at ruo Front Street which is going to be Fork Landing to North Kohl's or Fork Landing to Styles North Kohl's which will be Lany to park Roland Avenue County and Spruce and then Fork Landing Road at the Yokum School we're going to be doing a project there too again all with grant money um this allows us again to have the Surplus that we can use to offset our residents taxes I also did a surplus comparison by Town end of year um I went we looked at Andy and I looked at our town Maple sha we looked at Moretown Delran and Burlington Township just to see where we stand and where we come in with our Surplus numbers again in s in 2018 Maple Shade was sitting on $7.6 million of surplus uh today in 2023 we're sitting at $7.9 million in Surplus there's some fluctuations in there you know in 2019 we were up to 9 million 2020 we were at 10 um but we're all hovering around we've been hovering around that number that you know High sevens to uh $10 million mortown in 2018 had an 8. just under $8.7 million surplus currently they're sitting just at 8.6 million again they had the same flu fluctuations where they went to 8.2 down to 6.8 in 2020 back up to 7 7.6 in 2021 22 they saw a 9.5 and at the end of 2023 they were down to 8.6 Del Ran another Community that's similar to ours 9.3 million surplus in 2018 9.1 in 2019 9.1 again in 2020 up to 9.9 in 2021 which that year too we all received a little bit of extra money from the state for covid money so I'm sure that that's where some of it comes uh is attributed to Burlington Township I used them as well they were at 7.3 in 2018 8.1 in 2019 8.4 in 2020 8.5 in 2021 and in 2022 they were up to just a little over 11 million so again our Surplus is very healthy you know I I hate and I know that residents don't like to compare ourselves compare Maple Shade to other towns um but when we start comparing our taxes to other towns this is important too it's all relative of where it is but we are within the same uh boundaries and within the same guides Guides of each so looking at the 2024 budgeted Vues uh amount to be raised by taxation is 59.1% that's always your largest no matter where you are what town you are your largest is to be raised by taxation 21% of our revenues is coming from Surplus but we plan on regenerating that and replenishing that so that's where that is coming from we have local revenues at 2.2% state aid at 9% our uniform construction fees we have grants uh delinquent taxes other and shared services agreements as well this is just the next slide is just a breakdown it just says basically what those budgeted revenues are so the amount to be raised by taxation we're raising 12,515 276 uh through taxation we're using 4.5 million in Surplus we're using 1.9 in state aid local revenues we have another 460,000 our shared services we have 376,000 hoping to collect receipts from delinquent taxes of 500,000 we have other miscellaneous items of 26 $ 6,177 our uniform construction code we've budgeted to bring in $ 210,000 and then we have our grants which is just under 500,000 so our budgeted Appropriations again your biggest nut of your budget sorry Chief is Public Safety it comes from your police Fire EMS and OEM next it comes from our public works department 99.3% uh is there we have statutory expenses expenses another 99.3% our capital debt is 13.7% our insurances that's all of our insurances our liability our workman's comp um that's 88.8% our landfill Solid Waste is 7.1% of our Appropriations uh re uh reserve for uncollected taxes what we have to keep for for those that we can't collect is 6.2% the general government Administration which would be the administration upstairs you know are those salaries what we have to do our operating expenses here is 6.5% um and then you have other at Point .3% shared services at 2.4 planning at6 so again our utilities at 2.9% next page is Justus a 2024 budgeted Appropriations it breaks it down Public Safety departments again police Fire EMS and you know this year with our fire department and and where we are doing you this new program everything is included in there comes out to $6.4 million um that includes the two full-timers that we have the four part- timers that were that were uh uh that we have on staff now it also includes the stien program and uh you know any of the volunteers that wind up with um you know coming on and doing like Duty Crew and whatnot everything in there is included capital and debt service is at 2.8 million public works department is at 1.9 insurances are at 1.8 statutory expenditures which are pension Social Security Etc is also at 1.9 landfill and solid waste is at 1.5 uh General government Administration that's admin clerk Finance Tax legal 1.3 reserve for uncollected taxes is at 1.3 utilities is at 69,000 shared services at 516 th000 our court and public defender 171,000 Parks and Recreation 158,00 that's one of those areas where we have increased what we do there offering more programs making it more um elaborate uniform construction code is 154,000 land use and planning 25950 and then other miscellaneous 67,68 getting us to our total budgeted appropriations of 21,1 183 472 then I did last slide hopefully it goes there it is is just a breakdown of 23 vers 2024 um so you'll see the first line and if you can see it I know it's hard for everybody to see it in the audience and I apologize uh Public Safety again this year it comes in at 6.4 uh last year it was at 5.46 uh six 4 5,460 18896 so you know an increase a difference of about just a little over $1 million there capital and Debt Service we are seeing a savings this year of $ 39,7 182 Public Works there's a savings there of 300 of $3,615 our insurances have raised our statutory debt which is the pension Social Security Etc that's raised over 150,000 our landfill and solid waste disposal that's gone up over 73,000 our Reserve frund collected taxes increased by 24 almost 25,000 our general government that increased by 84,000 utilities are down a little bit we'll hope fingers crossed um we hope everybody turns the lights off around here uh our shared services up just about $6,200 our uniform construction code up 21,000 our courton public defender because there's been some changes in that department um that we'll see hopefully see a saving of about $44,000 Parks and Recreation 3900 land use and planning up about 5100 and then other in miscellaneous $197 so our budget is again we're stable we have uh an excellent you know Financial outlook for the community um yes 4.5 million is a large is a large number we get it but it's used to offset the taxes if we did not use that number taxes would increase you know tfold um again this increase proposes on an average tax on an average taxpayer on the average household of $161,000 assessed home is just about 21 $20.83 I think is what it came into per year is that for the year per year per year yes so that's not a quarter um again we put all that we'll have it again in the newsletter this presentation will be put out in the newsletter as well um but I I want to thank Andy and darus and Jess and finance all of the uh employees because again we're bringing in budget that allows us to continue um you know there's things in the police department we've been able over the last four years we've hired eight seven eight guys and women men and women um we have another you know hiring this year we're looking you know for three that also includes you know we've also started the slo1 program where we've been able to bring on three new employees the chief's been able to do things you know in the community um Affairs Department the community policing Department those things are all included in these budget we're not cutting those Services we're not cutting the services of recreation um we're not looking looking for layoffs so we're increasing what we're doing we're increasing our programs we're you know improving Upon Our programs and then we're putting in on the other side we're putting in the programs and procedures that need to be put in place so that everything is not falling on the taxpayers you know the landlord registration program that that rental program that's important I mean not only does it help BL but it's also bringing in you know revenue for us and and we're making sure that these homes are safe um so again I I think we presented you with a very stable budget and uh that's where we go from there so Andy do you have anything to add I just have a little bit some of it I have uh mentioned to you before but and I'm probably repeating so a little um the current fund budget calls for a 1.3 C increase as Sue mentioned on the local Municipal tax rate and this is should be about a $21 additional um cost per the for the year for the average assessed home owner of a a value of 161,000 if your assessment is about 200,000 then you should see an increase of about $26 for the year if your assessments more like 250,000 then the um increase should be about a $32 annual increase and just to remind the taxpayers that their tax rate is made up of the municipal rate the school rate and the three County rates that you saw in the slides the county the library and the open space and even though we collect the taxes for all of those entities we can only control the municipal rate and this Municipal budget has an increase of almost 1.1 million in expenditures over the 2023 amended budget this is mostly due to as Sue already said it's um increases in the various Public Safety budgets specifically the police fire first aid in OEM um there's also the increases in pension landfill Solid Waste General Administration insurances garbage trash um the budget allows for the hiring of replacement employees in the police department and Public Works departments which have experienced retirements and or resignations the police also received a cops Grant so they'll be hiring three additional officers it allows for hirings in the Fire Marshall and the fire department budgets as we continue moving forward on improving services to the residents some budget cuts were made to help lessen the impact on the taxpayer some departments had overall budget reductions when you compared them to last year's amended budget but they are not expected to negatively impact the operations of those departments also to lessen the impact to the taxpayer we used an additional 250,000 in Surplus over 2023 as Sue had mentioned and we added some reserves as revenues that we determin would not be needed for use in the next few years we're using more Surplus in this budget so that we can lessen the impact on the taxpayers we plan to repen replenish the Surplus balance with new Revenue in the next year or two from the rental registrations Fire Marshall fees and cannabis revenues that will be coming in a lot of hard work went into this budget as we tried to balance the wants and needs of the various departments with the desires of the taxpayers to keep the tax increase low while still providing the same level of services that they expect and I would like to thank everyone that was involved in the process they know who they are thank you thanks Andy I'd like to thank obviously our finance department and all the other department heads that that you know make it all happen every day around here so um all right with that being said this is an open public meeting is there anyone that has any comments in reference to the 2024 Municipal budget seeing none make a motion to close the public hearing so made second comments on the motion all in favor I motion to adopt so made second uh any comments roll call please Terry Mr kofman yes Miss NES yes Mr whis approved mayor Schmidt approved this is the public portion for the consent agenda items if there's any members of the public wishing to speak in reference to our consent agenda items please come forward no no not yet no well that's just regular public comments not consent agenda uh all right with no none seen um can I get a motion to close the public portion for the consent agenda so me second all in favor I all right consent agenda resolution 202 24- r-88 authorizing the use of John F Kennedy or Aces field and a temporary street closure for a bubble Festival hosted by the Maple Shade business and economic development Commission you know you want to go I me you're excited I just it's it's all great uh resolution 2024 d-89 authorizing the use of gazebo Park and temporary street closure for the 2024 downtown dog parade hosted by the Maple Shade business and economic development commission good to see she's kicking butt and doing stuff for us we appreciate it resolution 2024 r-9 Award of contract to Booth mechanical for the installation of a new bypass connection to the Windsor a pump station resolution 2024 r-91 amend contract with durin company LLC for the wastewater treatment plant screw pump reconditioning and approved change order number one resolution 2024 r-92 resolution requesting permission for the dedicated excuse me dedication by Ryder excuse me for lead Hazard control assistant fund required by njsa 52 col 27 D- 43716 that was a mouthful that one it was uh can I get a motion to approve the consent agend so made second any comments roll call please T Mr cofman yes Miss n yes Mr whis approved mayor Schmid approved approval of expenditure list so thanks current fund Bill Andy thank you current fund bill is 2 million $954,000 Utility Fund bill is $475,500 121 Capital fund bill is $1,764 72 utility Capital $ 48,6 our trust fund $246,700 and our grant fund bill is $1,687 16 I have reviewed the above Bill list as submitted and recommend payment when funds are available make a motion to approve so made second okay second second okay second okay any comments roll call please Terry Mr Kaufman yes Miss Mo yes Mr wh approved mayor SMI approved this is a public open meeting open public meeting if there's anyone in the audience that would like to address Council please come forward at this time uh R fori 100 gr Avenue in moristown uh again I come in peace um I really don't want to be here but uh you know as we talked the last meeting about the gun range I was just curious to see um if any Headway has been we have definitely uh moved forward for you we took that uh what you said and and ran with it we did have a meeting with the Sportsman Club um they sat down and explained some of their rules some of their doing some of their what they're doing to keep noise down all that uh we are still waiting for some other um writeups that they're going to produce for us some questions that we asked we're looking for some answers for um so we're definitely moving forward to see what we can or cannot do there as of right now it's been two weeks I just you know I don't have anything yet all right um said it's moving forward I mean for the fact that they they came right in we asked them to come in we had we actually delayed the meeting a couple days because Susan and I just weren't available so so they were willing to come in they've been extremely forward uh they do a lot of good for our town that that I didn't eniz they did so it's it's you know it's something that we want to you and didn't get any push back from him didn't get any this guy's out of his mind hey let's sit down and see what we can do don't know what it's going to be yet obviously that's not something we can just wave our magic wand that but somewhat contradicting to what I was told okay um I I should say no no I mean we were both in the meeting I mean but like uh she had told me um that in the beginning they wanted to be good neighbors and uh you know not to do anything well I think she pretty much was they just want to be good neighbors I can't remember anything next time kind what saying the next time we talked they said that said that they were angry that they were asked to do anything um so now I don't think I used the word angry I did say that they were upset and you know that there would someone come up but you know and I'll let you finish because then I can I can't remember I don't know if that was for a text or or verbal what phone but Soy I I'm not angry upset kind of the same thing um you know I don't know how it went from one thing to the other like that quick or whatever but um you said they do things for Community again I remind you of the thing about the taxes I mean you know that would be nice if they they paid the taxes or whatever I'm pretty sure everybody else were sure pay taxes but uh I don't know what they do ni for a community maybe that's not public information no I mean yeah they told they they do um uh the high school they do um what's the word I'm looking for scholarship thank you I don't have the list off top of my head I wasn't but I mean it's it's surprising and like said said you they they've been there since 1940 1942 42 I was going to have all my NS under here a long time so so and that's predates all of our zoning it predates everything uh the only thing they really did and it's long before Chief Fletcher was probably even thinking of being a cop is they had our Police Department involved in kind of their setup that's the only thing they've done with the township and and you know that's so so the fact that you know they haven't just blatantly said hey get lost I mean the other thing is is with a you know again it's not like a building or a business or something like that it's a an outdoor gun range which is supposed to be up the code it supps to have yearly inspections and that that absolutely happens there's no way they're opening about that you're sure about that that's what I was told by them and that's that's some of the stuff we're waiting for I'm just wonder if the inspector's a member there because I've read um inspection codes and that that doesn't even come close to uh that any kind of that's the stuff that we're waiting for they obviously did not have that with them they didn't know really what the meeting was besides just the conversation so and I mean just so you know like there's no way that that comes close there's no Roch thing I mean there's a a burm that they shoot against but that's it there you know as far as Mor st's concerned and as far as the uh p p correct uh is concerned you know there's nothing to prevent lead shot from going we were told that there is there's a steel wall there's I mean again this is the stuff we're waiting for you can tell me one thing they can tell me another until I see it I I I can't make a decision for you my question is like like as somebody like me like how how like they could say anything they want they could say like how am I supposed to know it's true like how I well I I I think we would we'll look in though we're not just going to but you know I mean anybody tell pay their taxes they they must there must be something going on to where five minutes but we're at five minutes but I think again as I said to you today we're waiting for the information from them we did meet with them last week mayor was there I was there it was also uh they had three of their members one happens to also be their attorney um but they they spoke to us I mean they were willing to give it as I told you today I expect it early next week if not hopefully tomorrow because they knew that I was going to be out the last the last couple days um and we're going to continue to work on it all right appreciate it no we appreciate you coming up bringing it to our attention all right uh anyone else have anything they'd like to uh bring up the council hearing none can I get a motion to close the public second all in favor I hi staff and professional comments I'm going to start with you council with me well of course it's Mother's Day weekend so make sure you honor and respect your mother and make sure you get out there and bu local everybody's there your beck and call up on Main Street on the highways uh support each other and uh all of you happy Mother's day and thank you for everything that you do thank you thank you councilman Kaufman thank you mayor uh just one thing I just want to reiterate reiterate what I said a couple meetings ago about uh some pumps uh it's been pretty dry so we're probably not having any issues but it's going to rain again and we know it it's going to rain if you have a sum pump that dumps into the sewer system that's against the law you can't have it so please if you have a sun pump that dumps into the sewer system you need to make arrangements to make sure that you eliminate that and have it dumped into the storm sewer system not the public SE sewer system uh so I just want to make that very clear uh D is constantly looking at our numbers in our sewer system and uh we're at capacity so please again take that to heart that's all mayor thank you thank you I do have a question on that would they reach out to a plumber I mean what would the residents do to do reach out to a plumber is that what they need to do if they're not capable I would assume that would be the most logical okay some people are just dumping it out in their yards you know I don't know how effective that is but right you just I'm just saying anywhere anywhere but into the actual sewer system would be fantastic because you know we can't keep having at least give them some you know some guidance if someone doesn't realize if their house has been like that their whole you know time living here because it's been like that forever I yeah I I would suggest like said they don't have the the ability you if they're not you know they're not a plumber so a local plumber some some someone we keep it local okay sorry go ahead that's okay Deputy Mayor least yes mayor Friday evening April 26th mayor Schmidt Bobby Lyn Lewis my white Lumis picking of me I get my shots back let me stop over a little my wife L de West and I volunteered for the the uh football Carnival this is the first time in many years that the carnival has gone rainf free for the week um so instead of raining it was pretty chilly every night uh yet it was still a lot of people there um and it was it was just very well attended I I couldn't believe uh for the first hour or hour and a half that the uh the U ticket stand was open they were lined up from the ticket stand out to front to Broadway um there were a lot of people there the rides were running um it really was satisfying to be there and help out May 3rd there was a ribbon cutting for a new business to the Acme shopping center off Lenola Road called M my myi Brow Bar Maple Shade fire department went back in operation on Thursday May 2nd a week ago today the Maple Shade Wild Cats baseball team partnered up with all about the kids to help stock the local food pantry they Don donated almost $5,000 worth of food and drinks to our food pantry um and I'm sure that messed up construction but they're still operating thank you so much to those that uh organized that and and thank you for all those young men um for what they did that that is a tremendous tremendous help I know what we do with National Night Out and the other things um but that's that's really very special the Emanuel Baptist church located popular Avenue and Main Street is having their annual Moonlight Madness yard sale and why it is called that is because it starts Friday which would be tomorrow at 11:00 am and it's open until midnight they have lights and tons of people there and then Saturday it continues from 8:00 a.m. to 2 pm. uh I've been over there several times uh while they are setting up and it's just unimaginable the amount of things things that they have for sale so go in there um stop and grab a bargain the next concert in the park is called parrot Beach it'll be Tuesday May 14th from 6:30 to 8:30 at gazebo Park the downtown dog parade at the Gazebo Park will be held Wednesday May 22nd and as councilwoman noon said this is Mother's Day coming up uh I lost my mom uh nearly 10 years ago and Mother's Day is just brings back a lot of fond memories so appreciate your mom and uh enjoy the day that's all I have thank you sir um as Deputy Mayor we stated our fire department did open uh last Thursday um together we have now uh about about 21 um fire I don't want to say firen fire fighters um so so our numbers are increasing between the few paid that we did bring on and we do have a lot of volunteers and it appears that there's about 10 more volunteers that are running through the process now of doing their paperwork and getting fitted for Gears um so it'll be fantastic to be up into the up into the 30s with our with our volunteer firefighters uh with that department so it'll be it'll be good I think it's all in a positive way um like everyone else said it is Mother's Day weekend coming up so um they're not always here all the time so enjoy them while you can if they're still with you um old business operations Susan um just some just some quick notes Mary Beth green of homes.com has penned a short article about our community highlighting all the town has to offer a link will be included in our May newsletter we'll also find it up on our web page hopefully tomorrow but it was real it was uh it was nice it was I know mayor you had participated in it and Jen had also participated uh gave some comments so I'll send that out to everybody um it was just nice to see it's up live now so our annual household cleanup was another huge success as was our community yard sale the yard sale had 55 homes on the map and then we had at least another 30 plus homes join us um as I I drove around I had you know when I had come to town I had driven around and I had counted you know over at that point over 79 homes 80 homes uh that was there so it was great it was a great event hopefully people did well you know it's mixed it's one man's junk is somebody else's treasure so all depends on what they're looking for uh looking for but I do appreciate uh everybody who participated and it was it was a good event we had a lot of good feedback not going to reiterate about the fire department obviously we all know that was an exciting day for us we were happy uh just so that the resident do know though it is staffed daily between 8:00 a.m. and 12: midnight there are there's staff there Along being supplemented by volunteers as well um so that's good also we just wanted to give a reminder to our residents that now that it is grass mowing season uh grass clipping should not be blown into the street and are left around the storm drains anything those that are blowing them into the storm drains if glass if you have a storm drain by your house and you have grass clippings when you have not cleaned them up it is against Township Code um so residents are asked to please clean that up those that choose not to mulch their grass clippings back into their lawns they can be placed in the regular trash um but obviously we do we do encourage that they get mulched back into um into their yards and we also do want to remind all landlords that they must be registered with the township as a landlord and also have a rental inspection completed on their property we're just getting to the onee Mark um where we were implementing the program we were giving everybody a lot of leeway um you know if we haven't heard heard from them we've sent out multiple notices to people that we know that are uh rental properties but we haven't heard from them um the program really is a way of protecting both the landlord and the rener obviously if they register which is required by law um if they God forbid they have to evict if they're not registered as a landlord they will not get any sort of consideration in the court so they have to be registered um but then on the same time for the rener it's it's allowing the renters it's giving them that protection it's making sure that their properties are you know are kept up to code and are safe for them um and it also has helped in keeping our rental prop properties from falling into disrepair so um we have sent out multiple notices to our landlords over the past year we do thank those that have complied and we're advising those that have not that those violation notices are going to be sent out within the next week and if they're still not complying then they will start we will start issuing the fines so do we have a percentage of who hasn't reached out to us I don't have that percentage but I can get that um it's a handful there's there's more than there's more than there should be let's just say let's just say that that's all I have awesome thank you thank you cletcher you're up thank you mayor uh on Tuesday April 23rd our team attended the annual Crime Victims breakfast hosted by prosecutor liia Bradshaw it's an event that we try never to miss uh and our participation is just an extension for our support uh for Crime Victims vitim in our community uh each year prosecutor Bradshaw has victims impacted by violence uh speak to those in attendance to share their very personal and emotional stories of how crime has impacted their lives and the excellent work that her victim witness unit does when they're working with uh Crime Victims um it was well attended it's something that we try to go to it reminds us of who we're really out here working for you know victims of crime and these victims that share stories are often victims of murder sexual assault things that are just incredibly personal so it's great to hear their stories and how law enforcemen and victim witness unit has come alongside the families that support them uh on Thursday April 25th our team host at the second annual will bring your child to workday we had almost 40 kids show up um it was a fun-filled day with various police related activities for the kids uh for the older kids we did kind of like a big Clue game uh we had some things happening with uh chalking electric vehicle rides uh the Ladi set up a lot of fun activities for the smaller kids um we have a little resiliency chalk board that we keep down in the police department so they all came down to chalk that and then chalk our spots out and uh it was a great day we served pizza from one of our local establishments and then we ended the day with some Mr suty so everybody came out and uh got their fill and overall I think it was great just to see that family atmosphere exist and again like I've talked about 40 kids I would have never imagined that but that's where we're at as an agency it was great to see um I want to really thank Corporal Misty Weiss Misty was off still recovering from her surgery but still came up on her own time help out along with my secretary darra and PBA local 267 and a lot of the police department members came up to volunteer yes we had a lot of dads up here volunteering with the kids which was great to see and um you know we couldn't have done it without all their input and everybody who helped out and PBA Local 26 7 covered the funding for all of that which was great to see as well uh over the course of the last month our agency has completed switching out our handguns we've gone from a 357 Magnum type handgun to a 9 mm for our handgun fans out there uh in the audience um you know 357 ammunition is almost impossible to get uh Finance has uh canceled a number of our outstanding POS because we can't fill them with the purchases of ammunition so between that and the of the Weapons Systems that we were carrying uh our uh Firearms team led by Captain Brian Weiss did a fantastic job researching a platform um you know we're doing some things with with this particular firearm to help improve accuracy and skill and that was shown immediately on the Range um whether you're aware of it or not the indoor fire range in burington county has been down for months um that has forced everybody everybody to the outdoor range well uh the first couple days we try to go up up there it's either raining sideways or it's uh you know 10° and uh you know sleeing uh it's not conducive to trying to shoot paper targets mounted on cardboard uh but we managed to get through and get everybody through and what we saw was just our qualifying sores go up drastically that's great um so we're very happy this is uh doesn't pack quite as much punch as a single double action that's like some technical terms but um 357 to the 9 mm's a little bit of a step down and I think that's helped the officers as well uh I want to thank Susan because she was very helpful and Andy and finance because we had to do a number of things to juggle this around over the really two years out but the year and a half that we were moving things around to make this happen because you're talking you know you got to bring guns in you have to bring in the accessories you got to bring in ammunition you got to bring in holsters and now we're on the back end of that where we're uh going to be selling and offloading that stuff as well and doing you know some uh hopefully some trading on ammunition to rest stock our supply but overall I think it went very well and we were pretty happy with how the process worked out on Thursday May 2nd officer Anthony Marshall and K9 siika were honored by prosecutor Leia Bradshaw with the K9 commodation at the proops dinner uh first assistant prosecutor maner who's been working closely with us on our arve in our mental health working group asked to do the presentation we've kind of formed a special relationship with her um sik made a surprise appearance which everybody loved and he was thankfully on his best behavior uh when he came in he was a hit with the crowd everybody was happy to see him and it was great we were the only K9 combination awarded at that event so that was nice to see for Anthony and siik all their hard work uh coming to fruition uh last thing I'm going to talk about is zinon has been happening locally here and and around us in the surrounding towns but has to do with swatting calls um if you're not familiar with swatting calls it's when somebody calls into like your Central Communications either over 911 or the regular phone line uh when they call in they make it seem like there's either a mass shooting or mass stabbing or some type of significant violence taking place at a specific location um historically this really started a lot in the gaming community on online platforms where they would SWAT one another and uh a lot of times you could walk that back through an investigation to figure it out as Technologies improved they've been using technology like spoofing and things to hide the origin of that particular call then when we come through the co area we had a lot of foreign actors doing that during that time um and when you try to go back and Trace that call it's a lot harder to do because it's originating overseas so your jurisdictional issues kick in at that point and more recently we have people that are doing it for a variety of reasons wanting to see a law enforcement response or they have a particular act to grind against somebody or they're just doing it because they want to see somebody suffer some kind of traumatic episode when we're responding into these things because what we get from dispatch is what the officers formulating their mind that they're walking into and thankfully we have very experienced Street sergeants who are hearing the call and trying to make the determination hey am I going into a swatting call or not so all I would say is um the efforts to work together at the county level and the state level have improved drastically and you know we've had two probably in the last two three weeks that we've dealt with and we're walking them back quickly and I'm hoping that uh the efforts of our investigative staff along with our partners at the county and the state that we're going to be able to land on some folks shortly who may be responsible for some of them and you will and I can promise you this we will charge to the maximum capacity possible it is nothing to play with when you're sending that type of response to somebody's home or business and if we catch you we will do our best even with Jail uh bail reform to put you in jail so that is my report awesome thank thanks bring the kids to work uh was definitely a big hit I know we talked about the last meeting but really it went over very well and I thank you guys for putting that all together thank you said just for you J um what brand of gun did we go to say nice yeah love it all right um site plan Deputy Mayor yes there was May 7th there was site plan um Bill and Diana Lynch brought in an application to add a small addition onto their uh warehouse at their property um very simple uh the next was an application for 11 West Main Street that used to be um a travel agency and they want to put a full service Mexican food restaurant in there eat in take out uh they already are in a couple nearby towns and uh they think this is a a great spot for them on Main Street uh with the parking in the back so they their presentation was excellent um their landlord has a couple things to do but they said uh in the next 60 to 90 days they anticipate being open um that's it very simple yeah good job simple's good anything else on their old business switch over the new business liquor licenses Terry yes sir um you received in your packet a request from 73 L LLC um the law is changing for pocketed licenses the liquor license law having reformed um starting August 1st of 24 um they're allowing um pocketed license they're given an opportunity to do something with them they don't want them pocketed anymore so if they've had two consecutive years of being pocketed they have a choice of losing them or selling them transferring them that type of thing um they have given the option of municipalities authorizing a one-year extension um so if they do have plans they're working on something the council has has the opportunity to give them a little bit more time uh the letter that you received is one of those um the 73 L LLC is looking to go in front of um Fox Meadow with with a restaurant they're in a planning stages I believe they talked at a meeting at one point and they're asking for an extension onee extension to get their plans in order to clean up the property because it's where that gas station was and the mini G who who was 73 it was it fontanas okay um prior to um I don't remember the man's name but he he was a private buyer from fontanas and then he is now involved with Fox met gotcha all right and that is something as simple as just a resolution to say that you're okay with this pocket license being extended for one year make a motion no other comments on that good with that thought yes I gu to make sure we have sufficient information from them to know what the plan is so that you folks can vote on it knowing where it's going we can wait um till the next meeting for this right yeah go on next meeting as long as you're okay with us putting on there and then we'll make sure that we have all the information I think so we're going to basically table that then yeah just know that we have permission to move forward just want make sure you're comfortable going forward and we'll we'll get you the information okay there is one other new business item that we have it's for on the Planning and Zoning we have two we have an opening on planning and an opening on zoning okay yeah we had um a res a resignation of um Mr Wilt and on planning and Mr Williams on zoning so we will need to move up our alternates uh we got Daniel McDonald right McDonald will go up and then Matt ree will go up to um alternate one promotions in the first six months Dan McDonald will go up to what a regular member a regular member who oh Dan McDonald Dan McDonald on planning and Matt Reeves on zoning no no Matt will stay on planning Matt on planning Beth Reeves will go up on sorry okay so we'll do those resolutions at the next meeting too but we'll make uh put it out there that we're looking for still leave vacancies in that alternates on both right alternate yes yes you'll have one missing on each okay we'll accept and Zoning still has four yes zoning has four you know what they might have two vacancies now um did we have the vacancy I think we had a vacancy already yeah yeah so so Don has two vac so three and four are now going to be vacant so anybody interested okay see how quickly you can move on that's all we got all right if uh there is no new business um I we do not need to go back into closed correct nothing go back into Clos okay that's um so with that I'd like to make a motion to adjourn until the next council meeting which is scheduled for May 23rd 2024 uh it starts at 6:30 but obviously the public portion is set so second all in favor I thank you for coming