##VIDEO ID:v2sNrC1GXqE## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e again another reason why they hate us lawyers that's why I got out of the law what pursuant to section 5 chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and Star Ledger in December of 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk m c here B present Luca here zle here mayor Adams here first chapter 231 public laws 1975 commonly known as the open public meetings act requires that all meetings of public bodies be open to the public and whereas section 7A provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and whereas desire the governing body to comply with the provision this act same T conduct its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit accept the set forth in the formal agenda active participation and deliberations of the governing body by the public and acceptance otherwise prescrib by law does public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all of its regular and special meetings so moved second M scpe yes daffis yes DeLuca yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance back put it back in the right place got we all ask pledge allegiance to the FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening everyone welcome to the Tuesday December 17th 2024 our last meeting of the year uh meeting of the Maplewood Township committee um we are just going through have one Proclamation tonight and it's an appreciation for um Mr Mrs Nelson who are closing Nelson's Automotive um on Dell Road for uh after 51 years in business um then we have a presentation by Deborah Lions the chair of the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy um I asked uh Miss Lions to come and present um because um just really proud of everything the Conservancy is doing and I think it's worth um telling the public a little more about it um then we have no appointments to boards and committee we have public comment for agenda items only we have one ordinance on the storm water utility that we've discussed for a very long time on for final passage and we'll have that hearing we have administrative reports of Township administrator attorney and clerk then we have elected official reports Committee Member daffis Committee Member DeLuca Committee Member angle Deputy Mayor kpe and then I go last discussion items we have one for this evening Raymond Terrace parking restrictions and that'll be Mr Luca discussing that then we have a consent agenda we'll have one more public comment on any subject matter and then we will adjourn for the h Hol so um with that I will um I spoke with Mr Nelson uh of Nelson's Automotive um the other day and um asked if he was not he and his wife were not able to be here this evening but we had a very lovely conversation and I just wanted to recognize them so we are going to be delivering this proclamation to them um after the meeting and um I've asked Deputy Mayor kpe to read it for us thank you mayor this proclam Proclamation is an appreciation for Dave Nelson and Nelson's Automotive Incorporated whereas Dave Nelson the owner of Nelson's Automotive Incorporated has proudly and successfully operated his business in the heart of Maplewood for the past 51 years continually providing exceptional service to the community and whereas under Dave's leadership Nelson's Automotive Incorporated has consistently grown and flourished standing as a true Testament to his unwavering commitment to Integrity trust and confidence and whereas Dave built his business on the simple but powerful principle of treating customers with the same respect kindness and fairness that he would want to receive ensuring that every visit to Nelson's Automotive was met with care and honesty and whereas thanks to his principles Nelson's Automotive has not only found loyalty and support but has crafted friendships that have gone beyond patronage and have made it so Dave's business his employees and himself have become part of the fabric of maplewood's community and whereas after Decades of hard work Dave has decided it is time to step back enjoy the fruits of his labor and spend more time with his beloved grandchildren family and friends as he approaches his 80th year now therefore be it proclaimed that on behalf of Mayor Nancy Adams of the township of Maplewood and the rest of the Maplewood Township committee we hereby congratulate Dave Nelson for his 50 plus years of excellence in business and service to our community and we offer our heartfelt thanks for his dedication his passion and his Legacy that he's created thank you mayor and I would just add that his wife Jenny and he both been um uh very proud to have um done this work and um as he said to me he's just I'm getting too old to be make doing some of the positions necessary to really fix cars and do that so uh yeah okay we're gonna move to presentation on that note Deborah would you like to come up to the uh microphone slides he's probably pulling up up now um thanks for having me tonight um as you know but for the folks at home the awood Memorial Park Conservancy is nonprofit volunteer organization that uh partners with the township uh to preserve maintain and improve our beautiful and Historic Park um so we've been around since 2017 and last year mayor Adams was graciously uh declared 2024 the year of the conservancy and we've had an awesome year so um I'm very happy to come here and give you a very brief update about it yeah this is appropriate so after the township committee yeah made this your year you can close the year with let's see what you've done sprinkle that fairy dust around that's right um so since 2017 we've done major planting um in almost all areas of the park as you can see um many of these projects they were all designed by our landscape consultant Jennifer r and based on historic precedent all approved by the um historic preservation commission and the state historic preservation office um so these were multi-year efforts um by volunteers basically um next slide so this year we were were awarded awarded a 2024 AARP Community challenge grant for project we've been dreaming of and planning for uh several years and um that's to complete the interior pathway Loop through the park as was originally intended and also to create a um beautifully landscaped entryway at Oak Valley so in this effort um we've had the invaluable help and guidance of the township engineering department at every step planning permitting for years and this project was possible only uh because the Department of Public Works uh stepped up to install the pathway so we're so grateful to Paul kitner director of engineering and Public Works the engineering staff and superviser Mike Haren and the wonderful crew at the DPW for this path and for helping us with tree planting watering and whatever was else was needed uh so graciously so the path allows um Park goers to Traverse the park while avoiding the very busy and narrow Valley Street sidewalk and also makes the playgrounds and ball fields accessible to everyone um this project was very difficult um because of unannounced construction by the county and because of historic uh drought but it's been uh just so gratifying because we've received so much positive Fe feedback um about it and so this is Phase One and we'll be um taking a little break and uh looking at how the plants survive and then we're hoping to finish uh with a border Landscaping um on Valley Street so uh next slide so our previous you big project was the flag pole Hill project and that that was funded by the Maplewood open space trust fund and was phased in over four years um it was done by a combination of a contractor birchill landscaping and also volunteer efforts and you can see our Capstone what is the um site uh uh marker on our Boulder and that gives the parks name and uh date and the uh designers which are the hestad brothers and Bley hobber um next so in between we've done a lot of other planting projects woo this got wonky Sor um so uh these are our tree projects and they were uh planted with um Conservancy volunteers and the DPW and I'm sorry this came out it's hard very hard to see but maybe I can just uh tell you these uh tree projects are all Guided by our tree replacement master plan um and uh so first are the those um planted by volunteers and then unfortunately you can't see those that are planted um by uh contractors as well um maybe Patrick I don't know if you can scroll down a little yeah it looks like you got like an extra tab in there he's fixing it hey so anyway you can see the um that that's roughly $20,000 for 126 planted trees um and then the contractor these These are Township OST funds um and those were in 23 and 2021 and that was a total of $32,000 so you can see the um contractor planting is more expensive but of course it does have its benefits because you get guarantees for trees that have still it's pretty good total um so next I say he just did all the work what's that he just finished it and you're like oh oh thanks for the comedy relief here anyway this um is our uh this slide shows you what shrubs and perennials we've planted and these are all planted by volunteers um and um those volunteers include our weeding Wednesday volunteers and our partners at the Parkview neighborhood association so um this year as you can see we planted about 200 shrubs and that includes the Valley Street project and um we struggled this year with keeping our plants watered because of the drought so um next year we're uh developing strategies um to uh get more access to water and we're also um investigating soil amendments I just want to emphasize this small group of volunteers planted 200 shrubs yeah I just want you to think about your yard and how much energy it is to and how much work it is to plant like one and I know Deb has like sloft like water from her house down to water was that planting today yeah thought oh it's warm but I just I I think it gets lost in the presentation a little bit that the the magnitude of the work of the of the small group of people who who dedicate themselves to this so and I didn't total this but this comes out to about $12,000 so and that's it's pretty good for that many shrubs so finally uh here are the totals since we started and that's 225 trees planted almost 1,000 shrubs um and that's kind of not all we do we do U maintenance uh we have hold weeding Wednesdays every week and um trash cleanup that's led by Susan rers um once a month uh we also do community events history walks recing we have we brought the Raptor trust in this year um and we do workshops for the public um so I also just wanted to say in closing that these few slides are based on a like an enormous comprehensive data files and they've been compiled by Jennifer Ryan and um we have spreadsheets we have shape files with geolocation date of planting species condition cost everything um and you actually we we do upload that data some of it to a tree and shrub map and that's available on our website or you can download it on your phone and walk around the park and find trees um so I know some of you know Jennifer has moved um but we now have Karen rutberg on board and um she's not only a great Gardener but she's also conversant in GIS and other systems so Jennifer is helping us um transition that work to me and Karen um and we're exploring additional Data Systems um like something like tree plotter so a thousand thanks to Jennifer who's been invaluable to our efforts and um I want to thank uh the township for your help and support this year in addition to those uh I mentioned before the DPW in engineering um I'd also like to thank Pat warry Liz fritsen Melissa manuso and C Candace Davenport and of course all of you especially our fabulous Township leaon um mayor Adams and deputy mayor C I just want to thank you for your service any question you so much does anyone have any questions or comments they'd like to make to um fabulous Conservancy chair Deborah Lions on her presentation just great job on everything you do thank you have you all walked the path yes yes I've stopped with Littles who've read the little and everything they enjoy it yeah yeah now and we're working we already mentioned the Water Source thing to engineering we're hoping it'll uh get to dpw's budget this year but we'll look at how they can connect we were looking at the water fountains as to be a place where it might be an easy connection to um so they can use it so Deb doesn't have to bring you know what are they what do you bring them bring buckets from home yeah to preserve Deborah's marriage and life her back and her back and her back thank you so much thanks so much um it's been uh quite a a a fulfilling seven years and uh Deborah has led the organization really um really amazingly um and pitching in in areas she had no intention of ever doing I'm sure but um so just thanks to the whole of the Conservancy um I'd ask that you send the presentation to Village Green so that you know and talk a little bit in what you sent to U Mary the um how to donate to the Conservancy but also maybe if they're interested in joining the organization the board yeah thanks thank you uh now we're open for public comment on agenda items only so we ask anyone in the room who' like to speak to come up to the podium and give your name and address and you have 3 minutes to speak no you're up first and this is not for the storm order that's an ordinance that's an ordinance that would be the her it's not the storm order because that comes under the ordinance you're G to do that is that what you it's coming up like next it's literally next you'll have close all right anyone online want to uh speak to agenda items Mr worry any members on Zoom would like to speak on agenda items only please raise your hand I see no hands mayor okay great then we'll move to ordinances on Final passage Miss fritson uh yes mayor item number nine ordinance on Final passage ordinance number 3138 d24 is an ordinance to establish a storm water utility in the township of Maplewood in the county of Essex New Jersey this ordinance will establish a storm water utility within the Township in accordance with clean storm water and flood reduction act njsa 4A 26-1 this ordinance has been published copies posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and copies made available to the general public in accordance with the law I now open the hearing on this ordinance for anyone in the public who' like to speak to it or ask questions come on up thanks I was unaware of that order thank you appreciate it I know Mr deluca's got a lot of expence this regard Mr Duca uh good evening uh Virginia Lamb 3 winr place um I just want to say that I support the creation of the ordinance and the utility and I commend you all for recognizing that it's necessary um I have a few points and questions on some of the specific items and then some sort of bigger picture comments I wanted to to to make um so starting with specifics on section three definitions um item eight um I I I know it's second hearing and all but I just feel like the addition of artificial turf is appropriate for the list of impermeable surfaces as I only found out this past uh few months um artificial turf is specifically designed to collect storm water and discharge it to sewage systems there's no there's zero chance of artificial tur rainwater going down into the groundwater again so that's an it's it's technically defined as an impermeable surface um and then in that same section so it's item eight um I'm wondering why gravel and crushed stone are considered impervious surfaces um under Section 11 the adjustment section which is about the credit manual I was just curious about the process and the timeline of creation for that and what resources might be enlisted in in its develop vment I mean as you I'm sure know there's a lot of great resources the Ruckers Water Resources program there are cities that have been really pioneering with storm water management like Chicago and Philadelphia that could provide us some great resources and maybe save some time and in addition there are members of Som action climate who have indicated an interest in helping with that process um if that's valuable in addition under adjustments um I I feel like it should include elements like green roofs and permeable asphalt not just swes and Rain Gardens which were the two items that I saw mentioned and then conversely I'm thinking what about houses that still I I believe it's illegal but they still pump water from their Sun pump out into the street street right and and then also gutters my house when I moved in we had down spouts that went underground out to the street and we disconnected those so I think that needs to be um addressed and then lastly on the sort of under the big picture Point um is the topic of storm water prevention like we don't really have to wait until the water escapes right we have a tremendous opportunity to keep it in place just by taking better care of our soils and Deborah and I had met a couple of weeks ago and um I have a couple of I don't know what the protocol is here I had some pictures from Memorial Park out but you could see how severely eroded the soils are it's Ste slope on the hill there and you can you know during Ido when the library fled like all that water came down the park right so if we really gave a little thought to um managing our soils better um soils high in organic matter can hold several times their weight in water so they they would store millions of gallons of storm water um and many like I said many of our soils are really compacted really highly eroded very severely degraded and neglected which makes them really not only inert but they're really carried off by wind and water so they make for air pollution they make for uh water pollution and this has many consequences including for the health and safety of our many mature trees that are in the park that are really really struggling and suffering so um so big climate implications um and since degraded soils release carbon to the atmosphere while productive healthy soils draw down carbon from the atmosphere so this really makes every inch of bare soil a a missed opportunity so I'm a soil scienti for to mention um so the township can adopt policies to do really simple things like mulching we did a bunch of mulching in the park this summer Public Works was great um adding compost and planting Ground Covers as well as just being mindful of compensating for additional impervious surfaces that are created like the walkway in the park I love it it's great but it's an additional impervious surface so how we going to offset that um so well as we all know you know climate change is here heavy rains are only going to increase so I just encourage the Township to use this ordinance as an opportunity to really innovate on the subject of storm water minimization and management I'd love to call on you for our engineer to talk to you about the process for remediating some of the compacted soil I know we did recently talk about it at the Conservancy especially around the White Ash where we need to like um cover those roots and try to give some more protection and nourishment for those so i' obvious ly don't want to get into the yeah all the details of that or the soil uh here but um I know we've called on you before so can we yeah absolutely absolutely I think that's a I don't think that's anything I remember discussing I didn't realize that the compaction of the soil I knew that it you know helped with the runoff but I didn't know that soil itself could literally be a a carbon Source a retention center yeah yeah living soil because there's more organism in the soil they all hold carbon more roots in the soil everything it's like creating this whole below ground ecosystem and then the water storage nutrient cycling carbon storage it all follows and then every Everything functions better yeah so it's it's really kind of amazing great so Mr DeLuca you'll make sure Mr kidner is aware of that so they can work together on remediation of stuff did anyone want to respond or did you want to answer any of Miss Lamb's yeah I'm just looking I was just looking up some things so um I think Ian I would I I hear you on the artificial turf I would recommend that we not tackle that that's I mean that might be an issue but I don't want to relitigate the artificial turf for the storm water utility so I'd be I understand that it's a hot button issue but you should all be aware that it certainly counts yeah right we understand that if it comes up again I'm sure that will be the debate one of the debate points okay um on the gravel and Crush Stone I think that's just standard um because the you know it gets it compacts the same thing you're talking about same thing with water in a pool um it's counted as impervious surface so it's just the compacting and the and the gravel so they they don't count that that's and we've been working with uh so the way this got started is in 2022 we made an application to the D for technical assistance and um they selected us and a number of other towns and then they hired a firm and the firm we worked with is is named arcadis and it's a national may even be International firm and they very um experienced working in other states because we don't have anything here except for one city and that's New Brunswick which is this year and we'll be the second if this passes so um arcadis has been working with us since January and and they're very good and they'll be working with us in the new year and they've provided us with all the information and but we certainly reach out to you and get more information um and and um you know the the suggestion of working with you know Som action um um yeah Som action climate we can certainly take a look at that I did want to talk about the you know the green roof so the definition on the credit policy and the credit policy is still being worked on so that is coming up for another ordinance in the beginning of 2025 and all that will be in place before we start um billing which will be somewhere it'll go out with the sewer utility bill sewer bill the sanitary sewer bill so that's generally March or April we send that out so may may March or April or May we send that out so we have some time we'll be working all that and we'll doing a lot of Community Education in the interim but uh the credit policy talks about green infrastructure being any measurement any measure rather that captures filters absorbs or reuses storm water so a green roof I think would fit uh into that category and what about some pumps we already we did well the sub pump is already accounted for because it's the house is impervious so the water whether the water runs you know out the sub pump out to the street or if it R even if it runs into the ground it's still going to be counted as impervious surface oh I see okay is is it Al though to divert some pump that's a whole another matter well we do have an ordinance that we passed a few years ago about it for new construction and then also where it is um impacting public streets or public property um we our engineer some has contacted owners to see if we can because some of them were long before somebody bought the house um so trying to work on mutually agreeable agreeable and not we don't want to impact residents who kind of inherited this situation too much financially but also we don't want to have to keep Paving the same road over and over again because the sun pump you know so there are areas DPW is aware of and we have um we isolate them and kind of work with property owner privately but new construction is definite no no yeah and in the cold weather it gets like it I run so it puts ice out far in the street you know yeah I know yeah we have in the in the ordinance we have if it's a safety issue we can force them to divert the water when we do road projects that include drainage we do tie in those those sub pumps or gutters into the drainage system ni and um so that's one thing is to you know we want to get as much water off the road and for the sub pump issue get as much water off the road for very thing you're talking about freezing um but uh for storm water purposes it's really the way this worked is the state has a an aerial view of every municipality and that's how we determine or that's how they determine the impervious um amount of impervious surface on each piece of property and that's what we'll be using and to the degree that we can get people to uh take measures that reduce their impervious surface green roof swales rain barrels things like that then you know we'll be promoting that also great I don't think our well you've obviously all thought this through so thank you very much thanks thanks for your time have a good night thank you okay does our sun pump ordinance address gutters I don't think so I don't think so can you make a note take a look at that um whether we need to because I when we talked about it the Sun Pumps going into the street we didn't think about gutters I think some pumps into this yeah I'll have to take a look at the ordinance we talk usually usually you don't have as much of an issue with gutters in the street because if it's raining correct but to the extent that we do I mean just something I want I can let you know what's in there yeah okay hi would you tell us who you are and where you live and ask your questions thank you uh Craig Miller 502 Prospect Street uh I I don't have any sound effects or slid think of last Wednesday turn that torrential downpour now I know this has been going on for many years and I applaud the township committee's Forward Thinking on storm waterer management issues um what I'm going to focus on uh is the unique aspects of this ordance which is having Maplewood establish quote a utility which is is I'm distinguishing from storm water management all the issues you raised I 100% agree with uh storm water management is important and with uh climate change volatility of storms is going to increase and I think most people in our town recognize that so dealing with this increasingly pressing issue is very much on the agenda but the question of this ordinance is setting up a new mechanism uh to address it the ordinance in the press release that we read in Village patch well explain the issues and the benefits of the proposed storm water utility the two key benefits of the utility are a dedicated source of funding for the long-term capex of stormw infrastructure such as Culver's grapes graes types others other types of infrastructure what does dedicated mean in reality dedicated means that the money will be available in a specific bank account you might call it a lockbox that's less susceptible to the township committee using available funds each year for other seemingly more pressing or purposes that seem more desirable at the time so the ordinance doesn't change what's being done it's a financing governance mechanism it's a fundraising mechanism it's a governance mechanism I I think we do understand that storm water infrastructure is literally mostly invisible in our town it's below the surface of the streets and uh historically Maplewood has probably underinvested in storm water infrastructure like many towns uh other projects are more interesting uh more pressing and uh long-term infrastructure could always be delayed diminished when there's other uh more pressing budgetary issues the other key benefit of utility is uh changing uh who pays for addressing this issue the storm word utility in the statute that you're acting under allows the town to charge fees that are based on impervious surfaces rather than just general real estate taxes and general fees such as sewer fees so a property that obviously has more impervious surfaces will pay more um and as we've discussed this may nudge Property Owners to uh install Better storm water management features um having utility isn't the only way that could happen education could do that also but here's the key point a storm waterer utility is not itself an engineering or an environmental solution and it's not inherently Green in the sense of solving any climat related problem which is of existential concern so let let's keep this in perspective this is and is only is a financing and governance mechanism you know we are a municipality that's what we're doing we haven't come up with new technology we haven't come up with new engineering it's not inherently better than the township continuing storm waterer management and implementing without a utility all the ideas to to improve storm water management I think the only aspect of this that would be feasible with utility that's not otherwise feasible is charging Property Owners on a differential basis and creating a additional Revenue stream for the township to address the issue but the technological and Engineering issues could all be addressed without a utility so like most other financing and governance mechanisms as I look at it the question is is it worth the complexity and the incremental cost of doing it its desirability depends on the accompanying cost if it cost too much to do it perhaps the cost outweigh the benefits of this utility that which we've explored before so the key question is what is the increment cost of this utility to Maplewood versus continuation of storm water management within the municipality if the new overhead uh and admin costs are too high it may not be worth doing examples of such incremental costs include two types of costs uh one setup costs which are include feasibility studies and assessment of each land and plot on a new basis and two the ongoing incremental costs if any such as separate Personnel external Consultants annual required reports to the state assessment costs separate accounting legal review Etc on the other hand uh much of the engineering work is the same that the township would otherwise be doing so one can Vision uh much of the budget of utility offsetting or replacing part of what would otherwise be in the budget of the township so that it doesn't lead to uh duplicative costs one clear example of the unique in incremental cost of this utility is that the Maplewood storm waterer utility will be required to pay to the state of New Jersey uh 5% of the revenues of the utility uh capped at $50,000 a year and that's a recurring um uh fee to the state under the statute it's required by Statute uh under the estimated 900,000 uh firste Revenue this about $45,000 to the state and that'll be recurring increasing up to the 50 Grand each year so I have a few general questions and I have discussed this with one current member of Township committee ahead of this meeting uh and before we answer and but I thought this was an aspect of the proposal that was not um really reported on publicly and uh since Township uh residents or neighbors are concerned about the uh fiscal uh Prudence of what we're all doing here it's worth a few minutes uh to address these issues and it's also worth uh discussing it publicly not just with the one or two or three people who might have asked the questions so that our neighbors our voters uh can understand what the think Township Comm so go ahead with the questions that you had so um so two questions and then uh what is the value to the state what value is the state providing for the 5% of Revenue each year that's going to get what are the incremental costs of the utility which need to be paid by fees um from residential and Commercial Property Owners how will the township mitigate these incremental costs um kind of a big picture as Vic mentioned uh the statute was adopted in 2019 and in the entire state of New Jersey only New Brunswick has moved forward with this many other towns uh have considered it but only New Brunswick has adopted it and so um there have been uh oped pieces written by people such as Jeff titel uh the former director of the New Jersey Sierra Club who raised these exact questions he helped inform my interest in this and these were the questions he was concerned that it would result in bureaucracies rather than Solutions so the big picture question is why is the township committee confident that it's desirable for Maplewood to be an early adopter when many other towns um have not uh chosen to move forward on this I think after we address that I do have a couple of uh specific suggestions on the Ordinance one of which is the same question as was raised before okay but I'll stop at this all right yeah let us um respond to uh a lot of what you're saying I'm GNA ask Mr Deluga to respond to some of the specifics I think um and my colleagues can correct me if I'm misrepresent but my understanding of of uh our Collective desire to do this is um separate apart from the fact that we'll be the second municipality um I think 2019 is a little um misrepresentative if you will because then we went into covid so nobody was really thinking about dealing with storm water utility we did however talk about it at engineering Public Works several years ago about trying to get a dedicated fund and that's what dedicated at least means to me um a dedicated funding source that can't otherwise be taken away from a future Town governing body a future Township committee to fund other capital projects which to me is a really important part of this much like the open space trust fund right so and that's in my mind and I think that's what we all kind of agreed on that we want to address this issue we struggle every year with with our you know budget and with trying not to raise taxes too much and yada yada and we want to get make sure that we're addressing the infrastructure that is a 100 years old or more and trying to make sure that we're doing what we can and to the specific questions with regard to the percentage to the state Mr Duca is more informed on this than I am so I'd ask you to address it yeah I mean in the percentage to the state we have no choice legislation says you have to give 5% or um $50,000 whichever is more whichever is less rather um so uh that's and what we're going to get for that I'm not sure because we you know we're still learning how they're is the state providing any uh assistance in getting this started yeah I I mentioned to the previous speaker that the township got a grant uh of technical assistance that the state paid for so the township has paid no money to do the feasibility study uh for drafting the uh the ordinances so that's all being paid for by um by D so um that's that as far as the incremental cost you know we're we are assigning the current executive um engine engineer as the Director of the utility so that's going to be his you know his job is going to be that um there may be some incremental costs that we have with billing and finance but we're trying to keep all that um down to a minimum as I mentioned earlier the the bills will go out in in a normal course of a of the year as be a separate item on the sanitary sewer bill um you know we are not as a local government we're not able to charge fees for storm water um this is enabling legislation so without this legislation we couldn't do this so I will all due respect to Jeff tile at the at the Sierra Club he doesn't run local governments he kind of stands on the outside and criticizes them that's fine but um we're trying to uh manage our storm water and I would say that I think on the face of it it may not appear to be um you know you mentioned environmental or green but I think it is management and to the degree that we're uh making it um you know preventing flooding from happening to people's homes and properties uh any kind of dangerous situation uh and to the point that we can use these fees as incentive to reduce impervious surface then I think that's all a green uh positive so I think the positives far outweigh any concerns about uh that Mr tile might have raised years ago when this came out and I understand what he was talking about because some of these towns may you know talk about shifting um costs over to this utility that that happens a lot in in in government I spoke Friday at a conference down in in Trenton and said the same very you know the very same thing is that you know we at the local level have to be you know we're creating a compact with our residents to charge a new fee to bring in new money to do projects that aren't going to get done quite honestly through the typical budget process because um the infrastructure work for storm water is below the ground people don't see it they feel it when there's rain now more you know everyone how many people have said boy we never had flooding before but we have it now and that's because our system is over taxed and we can't get the water off so we are clearly going to be um using this money to do projects that we may have had on the books for a long time and haven't been able to get to but we're going to get to them now because we have a stable source of of dollars so I think the benefits far outweigh any concerns that might come up I would just add to that the um you mentioned the studies to do you know to analyze our system or whatever we are doing that now in the regular course for our um sewer um infrastructure by uh what if we we've tved about half of it not even yeah sanitary sewer right the sanitary sewers so this is that that's just prudent like we need to know where the problems are so we can fix them so if I don't think that's over and above and that's something we might do even without a stormw water utility or the storm water system that we have to address the issue with so I agree with Mr Deluga that it's I think the benefits do outweigh the the negatives to it but can I add something mayor um both you and miss Lamb talked about um preventative measures and this is a financial mechanism but I think it allows us to have the conversation about what we as just regular citizens can do to help with climate change and help with storm water management so like I'm really excited about the credit policy and I'm disappointed that we don't have it ready because I thought maybe we were going to be able to read it before today and it would be passed at the same time because I think that allows us to put take these technical terms and lay the groundwork for what we can actually do in our own homes in order to help with stormw management because the more that we as a population start working to prevent and to make changes the less problems we're going to have to fix I think and I think that we don't talk about prevention enough and so I hope that passing this and having a credit policy and breaking it down into a consumer friendly Communications plan will allow us to hit on some of the preventative measures that the regular old people can do not just the governing body by passing these kind of laws does anyone else want to respond before us so um thank you I uh on balance I I do support proceeding with this and I applaud the forward-looking effort and the honesty of the township Committee in recognizing uh the uh difficulties of addressing an issue that requires long-term capital expenditures uh in light of the year-to-year budget um vicissitudes uh I view setting this up as analogous to funding of uh sewers the sanitary sewers which are separate fee and we have a separate water system for which individual uh Property Owners pay to have a separate system allowing uh it to be managed on a long-term basis and as Miss zle said to prevent the sort of catastrophes that Maplewood has experienced a few years ago catastrophe in Maplewood Village of the flooding the fatality uh up near Wyoming uh these I I I applaud um the efforts to look forward and prevent that uh so and I applaud the honesty of recognizing that it does require um a little discipline in advance of raising modest amounts of money and not ignoring it so um on balance I support it I just wanted to bring a full dialogue I do have a few uh suggestions uh for implementation uh I think before you actually go live with uh sending out bills etc etc uh you ought to have in hand uh budgets uh for the next three years a live budget for this year estimated budgets for the two subsequent years I think uh people in town have learned from the Board of Ed that the absence of multi-year budgeting uh leads to unexpected disappointment let's avoid that unexpected disappointment on a uh new uh initiative uh it has opportunities let's make sure we actually look over the horizon before we start sending out bills and getting it this machine started number two a a small point the proposed ordinance allows residents only 30 days from the assessment to challenge the amount uh I recognize that the storm water fee will be much much smaller than property taxes but I suggest allowing 90 days uh to challenge the assessment uh this is a new regime uh it's not tried and true there's very few people doing it in New Jersey uh we shouldn't be jamming our residents with the first time uh they'll be glitches there'll be a learning curve I think due process requires more than uh jamming people 30 days and third and last I agree with the comment that um gravel and Crush Stone of various sorts I think is you know I different people have different views but many of us don't view that as impervious and indeed um some of our neighbors put that down to avoid putting asphalt or concrete because they think it is perious that it does allow seepage I'm not a engineer on that but I think that's worth reviewing yeah I think to miss engle's point this would serve to educate right that it does get compacted and it it may seem like you're doing aerious when you're really doing impervious so fair enough so thank you for listening to me and uh I applaud the long-term effort um Good Luck thank you thank you thanks for all your Insight and all your comments and questions and uh thanks for for keeping us honest I would like to um uh ask my colleagues about the 90 days versus 30 days to challenge it is is that something that we see uh value in for 30 yeah he makes a valid point is the first one out so may not realize it's there until they're ready to pay and they're like What's this yeah so we can't change this let's just be honest we can't CH because if we don't pass this tonight then we have to start all over again in January okay okay so that's a substantive change so that's just the reality we want to change it in the future we can change in the future but yeah okay um we can't change it tonight so we have to vote the way it is or we have to we can amend it thing so so you know I I actually don't agree with the 90 days but because I think I think we're going to spend time in the first quarter of 2025 talking to some of the big uh fee and and I my sense is the people who are going to appeal the most are the big fee payers right somebody paying you know $35 or $70 is probably not going to even see it they're not going to recognize it on their bill but somebody's going to pay $1,000 or more is going to say to us well what's going on so we're going to meet with those folks and explain what's going on and they're going to know that well in advance of the May bill so when that may Bill comes they're going to have 30 days to to um uh challenge it and then we have 30 days to respond so there is some time period there to go back and forth between um the applicant and ourselves will the fees um for each property be listed on a website so that homeowners can see that their property is being uh uh assessed comparable to their neighbor so to speak I I don't know if we I don't know if we' decided that I don't know we'd have to talk about that I don't know um we'd have to figure out if we can even do that I know we can do that for the tax purposes because it's based on the value of the house right um something I guess you know we're going to we do have a because I I think as a practical matter yeah these are pretty small dollars as for 95% of the households right and if people know that they're paying more or less the same as all their neighbors they'll look at it and say that's fine uh but if they don't it will raise questions so I'll leave that with you thank you very much thank you is there anyone else in the room I don't think so I I just W to oh sorry I want to follow up on the proposed 90 days so we can't no move forward with any Amendment tonight that would require carrying to a future reading an ordinance can't right would us to start over with reintroduction of ordinance as amended so be like February before anything El so it' be the second meeting in January and then if trying to pass in February and send it out with the bills and get it all started and done I mean I am concerned that 30 days is short I mean I appreciate what committee members of Luca said about getting to the people uh who are going to be the largest uh those folks who have properties that are going to be assessed at the higher range um ahead of time but I'm just I'm concerned this is a big change this is a big change it's an important change there's a great value in it we're all for it but I think 30 days is is a short period of time so I have a I have a follow-up question about the legal process of it so like let's say we pass this as is with the 30 days but then if we want to in January change it to a 90day review would that just be a sure you could an amendment to the ordinance two meetings [Music] whatever right take that section and change 30 to 90 okay we can also um get information about this ordinance out we've already talked about it but I think it's something that we can highlight in our Communications with our public information officer to get it out I'm in favor of moving forward I think I think it while it says so in 30 days in the ordinance I think in practice if somebody you know 29 days in we have leeway or you know our staff can work with them and um we're not going to slam anybody and say you can't talk to us about it because it says 30 days I'm just saying I think in practicality we are a pretty good customer service Township and we'll work with our residents but I I agree with Mr Duca that it's and and Mr Miller that it's a small amount for almost all residents whereas the real issue is mostly the commercial or the larger properties right but just to be devil's advocate for a minute in my experience and this is no fault of anybody's because we're all volunteers and we you know we work a lot right and we have two and three and four jobs in some instances but you know in my experience we don't get this information out in time and we don't communicate uh this is a big change for the township it's a major thing um and we didn't get it out there to to have more fome participation tonight and to have more questions and and I know part of that is people don't really pay attention until they get a bill that says hey you're paying for storm water then suddenly they're engaged but but you know just from past practice I I think we need to be a little bit more practical that's all I'm I'm mean I want to move forward tonight I'm going to vote to move forward but I do think this is something that we should think about yeah and we I'm just going to I actually agree Mr DAV we've talked about it a lot in committee and here but we haven't talked about it with the public and we even talked about getting information about this public hearing happening today which I didn't see anything on social media so I don't know if anything went on newsletter but like so I agree with Mr daas that and and you miss mayor that we do need to have an education campaign around this which I thought was also going to include the credit policy um and do it all together I I agree that we should pass it to today I agree that maybe we should look at 30 days verse 60 days verse 90 days and talk through that piece to maybe amend the ordinance in January um and we have talked about it a lot amongst us and I think we're all really supportive of it but I agree with you Mr office that we don't necessarily do a great job talking to the public about these kind of is there any way of pulling it out because I disagree we've actually had a ton of stuff about storm R utility but it's been in that very long message that we send out midweek it's been a part of that because I get emails done the daily from people in the community they're like what we have a new tax um they see it but it's because they've had five extra minutes to read through that entire thing so it's been out there but it's been hard to find um so I would suggest for future things for us to have maybe an individual one like this is the storm water I think it's worth it and we talked about doing that so I think we just need to make sure we're doing that because we do have the new bill going out in May so we have time to make that uh not and so you know I think we need to get the information out separate and Stand Alone um we can have a public meeting on it if if we decide that's what we do maybe comp's committee can talk about that and we can facilitate something like we do with Redevelopment projects okay all right so is there anyone online who would like to speak to this ordinance before I close the hearing if anyone on Zoom would like to speak on this ordinance please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor says with a smile okay then I will um uh ask for a motion I move this ordinance be adopted as a whole and the clerk be directed to publish the same as a passed ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange News Record according to law second spitson M great yes D yes Mr DeLuca yes SLE yes may Adams yes good discussion everyone I think it was important thank you and thanks for the public comment in here um move on to administrative reports Mr wary thank you mayor just one item we've talked about communication to the public a few times tonight and I'm happy to report that we have a new public information officer uh Cindy price who is being appointed on tonight's meeting she is a Maplewood resident has a lot of experience um in writing for the public and we're excited to bring her on she will begin in early January great thank you mayor thank you any questions for Mr wary from my colleagues moving on Miss Credo Township attorney do you have a report this evening brief report mayor um as we discussed at our prior meeting uh you know we have the impending closure at least the print edition St Ledger there are uh a couple of competing bills pending in the legislature one of them Advanced today uh which would uh provide a stop Gap measure allowing municipalities that are using uh Star Ledger or other uh newspapers that are currently printed that are are changing to an online format to continue to use them up until uh March 1st of 2025 even after they go digital um unfortunately that does not address there are certain municipalities which will not have two news papers even that will digital um so the league is uh you know uh advocating for uh a more uh robust solution to the problem instead of the measures but it does look like at least some will advance to keep us all on the clear until beginning of March okay any questions for Miss CIA all right then we move on to our clerk M fritsen uh just a couple things mayor thank you um I just wanted to report that uh you know we've uh had shown interest to the county in an early voting location and uh we received notification that um our request to host an early voting location is under consideration and uh the county come out and look at the um recommendations that we've made and probably have more of a report for you in February um as you all know there's uh been some discussion about changing the date of the primary election and uh we've actually been holding back our annual meeting notice because it would impact um any change that might be made uh for the June primary so uh word is we might know on Thursday but uh we'll wait and see if that happens but again uh all the notices that had been sent to uh our local and uh the St Ledger and the uh press that covers Maple I I've pulled them so hopefully we'll be able to uh know this week and get everything published um the annual reorganization meeting is scheduled for Wednesday January 1st 5 beginning at 2 pm sharp and uh that would mean that the township committee members would come at 1:30 for pre- meeting but um we're working on a uh great agenda and uh program for that day as well as the um Town business so um that is my report any questions from yes so just on the uh the June 4th versus June 3D um primary meeting date so if the primary is being changed because it interferes with the religious holy day when our meeting interfere with the religious Hool day so why don't we keep it on June 4th been on the Wednesday so there's no competition either with our meeting or with the primary on there that day good question does the statute say it has to be on the Tuesday no no because we have Wednesday meetings you have a response M pz well I hadn't uh thought about that I mean that would be certainly your decision but um yeah I guess we would be interfering I think it would be I think it would be horrible if the primary was changed because it interfered with a religious holiday holy day and then we changed our meeting back to that religious holy day yeah so I would keep it at the fourth what holy day is it oh okay I'm sorry I'm not does the township committee agree with that sure sure I think it's a good suggestion it's the right thing to do any other questions for Miss Fritz okay then we'll move to elected officials Committee Member daus you're up thank you I go first for a change and I have no report mayor I just I I just want to wish um everyone out there happy holidays however uh folks celebrate and in particular for the new year I I hope that we all experience more peace more peace in the world there's a lot of conflict out there more peace in our discourse we're very divided right now uh peace to our bodies those who are suffering from Health Care issues and peace to our minds and hearts uh let's remember that this festive time for some is not uh a time of mert for many others folks suffering with sadness and isolation um so that's it thank you thank you uh any questions for Mr daffis probably not because she had no report really correct but I'll take questions okay comme member juk I thank you mayor uh three things things um today at 4:00 we got an email from DP that our permit application for Maple Terrace has been approved we've been waiting for this for a very long time and uh um we've all been working in one direction to get this done so we will be um going back to the drawing board and putting up our strategy to get this work underway and timeline and all that um just want to point out on the consent agenda three resolutions uh two deal with affordable housing one is 14a it's resolution 384-2411 uh developers and we went through a process with the affordable housing board and selected ingr so we're we're moving forward with that and second uh 14c resolution [Music] [Music] possibilities to respond in January and then um by mid year we have to provide something too and then my the third thing is the just another resolution this is 14i this is resolution 39624 and this is to award a contract to vanessi hangen and Bruce Bruce Lin uh Incorporated and this is Engineering Services for dehart Park field and I know we've been talking about deart park for a very long time this is a $74,000 contract um to do uh that we put out to bid and um our our uh our professional staffs feel that this engineering firm is the best for what we're looking for essentially to uh remove the top soil at deart and build the underlying soil again and these folks will be doing the engineering and the specifications uh and getting us to the point where we can go out to bid for for uh construction they will be uh engaging the community in this process and uh so we're moving forward with dart Park I know a lot of people had questions about that okay and lastly I just want to thank uh Jermaine um this is your last meeting uh thank you for your service um I I've uh as I said earlier in June I know what it's like to leave not by your choice um it's you know but you find other ways to get involved and I'm sure you will so thank you for being on the township committee and for what you do and thank you in advance for what you'll do next any questions for Mr DeLuca seeing none Committee Member angle um thank you I just want to remind everyone that we have two manura lightings um on December 26th one at spota Park which we do with our partners in South Orange and one at rickleton Square um so you can check out the information from that and come celebrate Hanukkah with us and then I also wanted to just say um to Miss K thank you so much for um your service and for being up here and I've just I know we haven't always agreed and we've had some discussions but like I really believe that we have such a strong friendship and a strong partnership and I really loved working with you and getting to know you and I'm excited to just continue that through the year so thank you any questions for Miss angle Deputy Mayor Craig you're yeah um I too have really no report other than little tidbits I'm going to toss in and my thank yous so um yeah this is my last meeting here but won't be the last meeting here I'll be back for other stuff but um first and foremost I wanted to thank my husband and my daughter um for their love and support and the chaotic and insane decision to run for Township committee many years ago and the people I blame mostly are Vic for being such a great mayor and Deputy Mayor and just committee person for all those years to making it seem like this is the right place to be and years and years ago I had enough hos to actually approach you at a event and say basically I'm going to take your job one day I didn't quite get there yet but who's to say that might happen um but thank you for your trust thank you for always being being there to support me and coming to tell me even though we don't agree I support your right to say what you you need to say and that that means a lot so thank you for being a mentor to the V voters of Maplewood who entrusted me with uh this role thank you you know I never in a million years I thought a kid from Daytona Beach would have been doing things here in Maplewood um but you gave me a chance and I appreciate the support the criticism the call to to do the right thing um the challenges that have come with being in this role so thank you for that um to the staff and the Personnel here in this town and some of them know I love them more than others yes I'm biased um I'm sorry I'm sorry but um Pizza burgers are a powerful thing um and uh I want to thank you for always being the professionals that we hired you to be um I I tell my husband all the time I'm like just like I have at my job Crews of people who um are WR where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be and you can tell by just that magic that they make that's you guys and as much as anybody wants to come in and raise hell in the township about when they didn't get their tax bill on time or how this is not happening and why my leaves didn't get picked up in general this town runs like a machine as it's supposed to and it's because of you all and how youve been the consumate professionals that we pay you to be so thank you for caring that much about us as well as your your career trajectory so please don't leave if you don't have to we really we really can't we're we're kind of smooth right now it'd be nice to let that smoothness stick around for a bit longer um to the members of the township committee all of you have been friends all of you have been supporters but one has been more of a friend and supporter than others I've written you all personal notes because I I knew I wasn't not gonna be able to get through this so look in your mailboxes on Friday they'll all be there with your Christmas gifts um but you know how I feel about you yes and you know I'm going nowhere and I will probably show up with the dog um because George needs somebody to play with um and yeah so to thank you for all that you've given me all that you've supported me with how you've been not only the sounding board and running mate but sometimes that person you just want to go oh my God will you tell me not to do this again um it's nice um finally for the people who volunteer in our community the ones who are afraid to step forward and the ones who aren't sure they have something to give yeah you do you do we don't do what we do here without your support and there is so much left to be done and we need people who were looking to forward move this community into a place that helps everyone all the residents from the top of the hill all the way down by the park to Har Park um we want more from our community and together we can get there but we got to do it together and so my final thing to say to you is uh a quote a friend of mine gave me um years ago I was kept in my inbox I'm like I'm going to use in this sermon one day and I just never got to it yet but um I'm going to use it here I often see that we have a choice between submitting to pain and hurt or following love and hope I commit and recommit daily to being part of my community and it's not because it's easy because it's my home thank you for making Maplewood home for me that's a hard act to follow yeah I'm not gonna make people ask questions of you because it's my turn go for it report so uh just a quick thank you to uh you know the village Alliance and Ellen dport for Dickens Village and the tree lighting and all that was a lot of fun to participate in and to our Department of community service is for the town's official tree lighting at the kazeebo this past weekend um so I just want to um I appreciate so much like uh you being a sounding board for me as well and being a confidant um it's a pleasure to serve with someone who um has a a strong Foundation of honesty and integrity and that means a ton in this little field we have of public service and politics so I will miss you I will miss serving with you and you owe me a double date um abely sooner than later that we're talking about tell your HBY um but but um go with uh the good work you did and the service that you gave and will continue to give as Mr Duca said because you know it's it comes from your heart it always does and I'm proud to know you and I'm proud to run with you and serve with you so we'll miss you very much so no questions for me right good okay um so we'll move on to discussion items we only have one um one that's good for Mr Duca Raymond terce yes so I I sent you a memo on this so in June we passed an ordinance with limits two uh parking on Raymond Terrace to 2 hours between 7:00 a.m. and 5: um I misunderstood I thought automatically they would be eligible the people on the Block would be eligible because that's what we did on Villa Terrace when we took a look at the Villa Terrace ordinance we had specific language in there that made it explicit that they would be eligible to park so I would just like to start in January amending the ordinance to make it explicit so that the people on Raymond Terrace can have the same benefit that we provided them to yeah sounds fair enough okay that's it that's a short discussion item I try to send stuff out so you guys know I love that love that all right we have a consent agenda move the consent agenda I'm sorry I haven't asked for motion yet yes yes luga yes ble yes mayor Adam yes I already gave him peanut butter balls um Mr jca Happy Birthday you ought to think about your comments me what's that now when she said like butter balls they are a baked good about candy right no one's ever no one's ever referred to me like that before I said I G well nobody's ever taken it that way before I don't know where that's coming that was high school nickname yeah oh my goodness happy birthday m happy [Music] birthday I've talked more about let get the public comments public comment want to comment on public on any subject I think we lost the Public Public comment for any any item that anyone would like to speak to I see no one in the room if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion on any item please raise your hand now including Mr ducas 74th birthday we're gonna keep talking about may as well yep no I see no hands mayor man missort okay Deputy Mayor kpe would you like to make a motion to adjourn so moved second m c yes Baff yes Luca yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes happy holidays everyone be safe and