##VIDEO ID:aZVkVrJDmFc## swear right yep okay we have a couple new councilmen up here we're going to swear them in she here go ahead you're she timej we'll get pictur am I ready you ready good actually a lot of times put his right hand there you go now we got the picture perfectly all right I I 10 GRE do solemnly swear to solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will Faithfully partially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of counsilman all the duties of C according to the best of my ability according to the best of my got so help me got all right congratulations running away let make sure we got a good picture here you guys are good y you got it better for thanks just check Perfect all right congratulations thank you okay Bobby I just figured i' check make sure let's get the neighbors up here all right she's going to hit him with H your bigger smack right in the air all right I I Joseph cenza do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and Allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially partially and justly and justly perform all the duties of counsilman perform all the duties of counsilman according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations for a good picture all right not yet you got to wait four years hell no all righty okay roll call please mayor michek here councilman corns councilman Conan here Council denza present councilman Deno here councilman Dodie here councilman Griggs pres administrator La Place here and attorney corini here okay we have an appointment attorney resolution 1-22 the appointment of Christopher Christini AO schlack corini Warner Gillespie of grck and Fisher PA as a b attorney for the year 2025 a motion motion and a second okay any discussion all right call the roll councilman carahan yes councilman Desa yes Council dinino yes councilman Dodie yes and councilman Griggs yes okay okay congratulations thank you looking forward to your sck guys thank you all right all right is now time for the mayor's new year address and keeping up with John mad eight pages sorry okay and I wrote it down just so I wouldn't forget all right good evening and welcome going from councilman the mayor has been interesting to say the least the first year has flown by I have several things to cover I'd like to start with some recognition I want to thank outgoing councilman Doug Rex and Martin Quinn for their service they did a great job I'd like to welcome Ken Griggs Jr and Joe denza it's a different world up here on the Das but I have confidence that you guys will make a positive contribution to the burrow I'd like to thank my wife Jan and my family I've said this before and I'll say it again I'm nothing without them they are the ones that make the most sacrifices that anything I do for the town is at a direct cost in terms of time away from them their willingness to see the big picture and sacrifices made to support me leaves me forever grateful for the love and support I'm starting my 11th year as a part of the middle sex leadership I've seen a lot of things happen in that time some good and some not at this point I feel we're on a good path in 2024 we made some excellent progress in a number of areas I'd like to mention a few highlights we still have a long way to go fiscally but we have added to the Surplus and continue and plan to continue on this path this is necessary for our fiscal stability as well as helping us to secure the best financing rates to save cost it's easy to Kick the Can down the road but we have made it a point to address and resolve outstanding issues and in the balance be as fiscally conservative as possible we brought back the council mtic committees used correctly they help with transparency accountability efficiency and communication this program continues to develop as some are more effective than others but overall they have been helpful in developing departmental goals and plans we requested departments commissions and committees to come in on scheduled basis and present to the council in public on their activities their activities goals and accomplishments at Council meetings several have come in and we have more to come we held a town hall meeting to discuss opening where we are and where we want to go as a burrow residents need to be heard and this meeting highlighted several areas where we can improve we're going to do this again in 2025 the flood wall project has removed approximately 90 houses from our taxable base we sold some under utiliz properties bringing in over $800,000 which in addition to the sales price will turn into ratable properties for us we investigated the possibility of purchasing the Presbyterian Church adjacent to the municipal building after concluding our due diligence and making a lower counter offer an agreement couldn't be reached we made some Headway on the Cedar Avenue railroad crossing this will be a very long-term project with a potential $180 million price tag before it's brought to the proposed long-term solution which is to raise the tracks uh we have new compliant crossworks cross crosswalks are being installed along TW uh Route 28 so if you see that that we don't know the total cost of that but that's a nice nice savings to the Bur because it's being installed we finished the streetcap project this was a million-dollar grant that gave us lighting sidewalks fencing and safety improvements in front of the high school and Mountain View Park at no cost to the Bur our DPW did a stellar job of making a retaining wall for the Heather Lane neighborhood which is saving off the erosion caused by the flood wall project we purchase log splitting equipment and we offer free firewood to our residents this is saved us on course of disposal while providing a popular free service to our residents our Rock snake came back but Larry the alligator did not we had a bit of holiday decorations on the streetcape as well in Victor Crow Park and in Mountain View Park for all of our residents to enjoy and plan to expand on a yearly basis how we celebrate our holidays we held several community events including a volunteer fair cored cop Community Day National Night Out as well as our winter festival with a bonfire we're looking to do more of these events in 2025 we started on the rotating revaluation plan which in the end will save the burrow money as well as stable radical property valuation changes as properties are kept more current we instituted the mayor Emeritus as a position for the immediate past mayor which enhances and helps promote our Legacy volunteers as well as well helps fulfill ceremonial duties when the mayor is not available this is a this is a big one for me our Police Department marked their 85th Anniversary congratulations guys we invested in our Police Department with a two-year program hiring nine officers and instituted remote dispatching investing in our Public Safety to keep crime down and to protect our community with an active invisible Police Department our environmental commission have been reactivated and hit the ground running with the creation of a tree farm and a rain Garden as well as instituting a green team which in addition to being more our hands on deck will provide helpful and securing grants for future projects we have finalized our Board of Health to move to Somerset County which should result in US receiving better service to our burrow for the money that we spend we have purchased a hydro hydro rake and are looking to clean and provide flood relief improvements for lake kraton at duck pond with the purchase of the hydr lake I'm looking for some tangible progress on a cleanout as well as open our dialogue with the necessary state agencies over the operation and inspection of the dam which has been overlooked we are un well underway for a comprehensive plan for Victor Crow Park this will take several years to bring to fruition but in the end will'll be a real multiuse centerpiece for our burrow we have started the pillars of middle sex and citizen of the Year program to recognized people who have been instrumental in making middle sex the burrow it is our 2024 pillar honores were John and Sheila Ferman Ed Johnson Jim Grim Bob and ailia sherff thank you for coming Jack Costa and our citizen of the year was Barbara Benson so we had a pretty busy year we got a lot done but now it's 2025 and despite the successes we still have some significant challenges and some pesky outstanding things facing this burrow two of the more public outstanding issues are flooding and Lake kraton the duck pond we will continue to work on and press the the urgency and necessity of these projects and these will take years to complete but we will continue to push the state agencies to make our needs a priority instead of letting them slide to the back last year I talked about General Coen Powell as a leadership primer where he States strategy equals execution all the great ideas and vision of the world worthless that they cly implemented rapidly and efficiently the Crux of this was that a leader you need to have the knowledge of and pay attention to the operational details if a project is going to be completed a key tenant that we had place for the last year was a proper budget process and adherence to the plan we plan on doing we did pretty good at this actually and uh we plan on doing this again in 2025 the last two the last two years we saw a couple of necessary tax increases these were brought about by several factors investment and Staffing rising cost of benefits overall economic price increases and timing in hindsight two years of a zero Municipal tax increase with these other factors may not have been the most helpful but the extraordinary economic circumstances caused by covid and the uncertainty of the future at the time made the decision reasonable we'll Endeavor to keep the increase for 2025 as reasonable as possible during the past year I've had the opportunity to interface with many officials from other towns while we're hunting down drones by the way in my conversation I have come to realize that as a burrow we offer quite a bit of included services that many other mun municipalities don't garbage sewer and bulk pickup just come to mind just very quickly in addition to the free wood that we now uh send out there for 2025 our goal is to retain all of our services we'll be looking at all expenditures with an eye towards reducing costs while retaining quality services one of the major things that's going on right now is we have several contracts that are in the middle of negotiations a key factor in these negoti in these negotiations health insurance our state plan has risen 48% in the last 3 years 16.3% in this year alone we're currently in the process of looking at options that are available as this increas is unsustainable for us as a burrow and to continue as it is would possibly result in a reduction in services or staff or both I do believe we have an opportunity here for a win for our employees as well as our burrow but but we are actively pursuing this I'm looking at folding the beautification committee into the cultural and arts committee the combination of these complimentary committees should help both with membership and results 2025 will see major improvements to Mountain View Park there are already paid improvements that we have already on the side will include new restrooms as well as a playground equipment and Pathways and Improvement to the Pavilion area including an adult Fitness area that's yeah all right I thought so looking at our businesses I see that there is a bit of inconsistency in the way that they're looked at and handled for 2025 we're looking to implement a mertile license whereby all businesses in the burrow would be required to register giving us an accurate count of businesses in the burrow as well of knowledge of their proposed business activities before they start up later this month we're waiting the much anticipated opening of the history room at the Library I believe we have a date uh set for that the 23rd yeah the 2020 23rd here we go excellent we plan to have upgrade to a full-time construction official to review our Construction office workflow as well have a larger infield presence for routine and Zoning code enforcement issues as I mentioned before the flood wall project has removed approximately 90 houses from our taxable base this equates to about $900,000 loss of Revenue each and every year we need to attract businesses and developers to our burrow our reputation is that we're difficult to work with and we're not really interested in change we need to be ad meable to control development the Redevelopment committee has been inactive has been inactive for a number of years I will be reactivating this Committee in the first quarter and put some emphas emphasis behind it to see that what we can do to bring people to the table cable this is a must to stay competitive in terms of making middle sex attractive to be here as well as for us to afford to stay here landlocked as we are we have limited opportunities as it is it's time for us to be aggressive and let people know that we're open and ready for business in Middle sex lastly I'd like to talk about volunteerism the burough Council the fire department OEM Rescue Squad and may of the Committees and commissions in Middle sex bur are made up of volunteers and these volunteers are the backbone of make our burrow tick unfortunately volunteerism is at a low the past few years and some of our key areas are being down as significant number of members to the point where their ability to be effective is is being severely challenged maybe it's a matter of people not having knowledge that they have these services that the service maybe it is a matter of people not having the knowledge that many of these services are volunteers or perhaps a culture that is brought up by door Dash and other services not realizing that these services are free that are free now will no longer to be able to be sustained without an influx of new members this will happen quickly especially as our older members continue to age out middle sex re residents need to take notice and to get involved continue low volunteers will result in us paying for things that we now take it for granted as being free Robert Kennedy said progress is a nice word but change is a motivator and change has its enemies we have to be friends to make all these changes happen and we have to work together to push this all together for our dedicated employees and volunteers we're grateful for them and for our residents we're grateful for them also I'd like to wish everybody a happy healthy and prosperous new year thank you okay now it's time for some comments from our Brandy new councilman Ken you're up you're up okay um it's been it's been a great uh journey to becoming part of the council uh I enjoyed all the activities ands we did and uh the support from our residents I thank you for standing behind me and trusting in my abilities and you know selecting me to be part of council it's much appreciated I also like to thank my wife for all the time she was away from me and for encouraging me to do things and standing behind me and next to me in some of the events it really is appreciated she she does a lot for me and uh you know I'm honored to to just be able to make change I've been you know part of the Board of Health for the last two plus years and uh now you know got to move forward and take part in uh bigger things for Middle sex and just uh just excited excited to be part of the change in the future thank you all right thank you all right Council desend thank you very much I just want to thank uh all of you who voted for me although the choice was limited um I want to especially thank my wife looking up at the picture up there I see my father-in-law who's not smiling in that picture but I'm sure he's smiling tonight thank you I promise to do my best and uh that's all I can offer okay now we're going to move on to some of our appointments here I need a motion for council president motion for who M second okay uh we take a vote on that okay councilman Conan yes councilman Desa yes Council dinino yes councilman Dodie yes and C C yes all right I guess we don't have to entertain any more uh congratulations Mike I look forward to working with you for another year okay fire department officers uh we do have a list that Linda is going to read for the record much to her sh grin but uh we did swear these guys in on New Year's Day and uh we're we're happy and lucky to have okay for 2025 fire officials we have Chief Ken BTO fire spin Chief sha young second assistant chief Eric showman company number one Lincoln we have Captain Brian Maddox Lieutenant Jason Frank engine 21 Joseph mccy assistant engine 21 Cody Tindle engine T25 Brian Oliver assistant engineer 25 Connor wise honorary assistant Captain Mark Kachi company number two beach with hes captain kukish Jor Lieutenant Randy rednick engine 22 Jake W assistant engineer chip frish company number three Pierce Captain Steven Bird Lieutenant Bill Winkleman assist engineer 23 Chaz ulet assistant engineer 23 Sean Kaplan Company Number Four Parker Captain John pesar Lieutenant Jeff Meyer engine 24 Rob poera and assistant engineer and Andy castala Jor all right thank you and uh for those of you that are watching on TV the fire guys just so you know we're very grateful for the things that you do and we appreciate the the fact that you guys stepped up okay we are now moving on to appointments by the mayor not requiring Council confirmation okay we have the recreation committee Laura thomasy the shade tree commission Ryan Frank Ryan environmental commission Robert toino Steve Ember Gino Salgado Andrea Murphy is alternate 2 for the lower rat middlex County Water Resource Association we have John okay very goodan that the they don't require confirmation we don't have to do that by the mayor requiring Council confirmation okay we have the Housing and Community Development we have Donnie subash John Madden Bob dinino naen Burgess Monica Townson for the library board we have Beverly Weber Emily denza for swim pool commission we have Kim Mazy for Board of Health we have Melissa fos Chris jilia Kevin Nelson and Bob Sher and Justine Decker as alternate two for joint lanp we have Frank Ryan counc deino CHR John Kelly is alternate 2 Martin Quinn is alternate class 4 Bob Sher is class two for Parks Improvement committee we had Amy Thorton we have Rich hendak Amry Cleber Spencer Durkin is alternate one Doug Rex is alternate 2 B gber flood control we have Paul waska okay can I have a motion motion second second second all right uh any discussion at this point all right call the rooll please okay we have council president carahan yes councilman desens yes councilman Dino yes councilman doie yes and Councilman Greg yes I should any be sworn in right uh yes okay does anyone here want to be sworn in that was that was just an appointment I can do it if you want all right thumbs down over there okay all right nobody that's fine just figured I'd throw it on out there okay moving moving forward now we have uh the liaison appointments correct okay for 2025 we have the Board of Education Mike Conan Board of Health Ken Griggs County SWAT Transportation Joe Desa Housing and Community Development Joe denza OEM Kevin Dodie joint lanw Robert doino Recreation committee Joe Des sza Shri Ken Grigg swim pool commission Joe dza fire Kevin Dodie Police Court Kevin Dodie zon code enforcement Ken Griggs Recreation Joe Desa Public Works Recreation recycle buildings of ground Rob toino Finance Mike Conan Administration Jeremiah corns construction Ken Griggs Rescue Squad Kevin Dodie disabled in Senior Services Jeremiah Corin environmental commission Robert doino cultural and ORS committee beautification Jeremiah Corin fil film committee Jeremiah K and Parks Improvement committee we have Michael desens and Joe excuse me Michael Conan and Joe desens yeah okay for okay Council mtic committees okay for 2025 we have Administration legisl in Department Senior Services Jeremiah Corin Robert Cino Kevin doie fire office of emergency management Police Court and rescue squad we have Kevin doie Michael Conan Ken Griggs for finance taxation real estate Insurance public utilities and Library we have Michael Conan Joe Des Senza and Robert doino for Board of Health zoning legal code enforcement shade tree and construction we have Ken Greggs jeremi horns and Joe dza for public works for Public Works recycle buildings and grounds and environmental commission we have Robert toino Ken Griggs and Jeremiah corins and for recreation Recreation Fields swim pool commission and Community celebrations we have Joe Des sza Kevin doie and Michael Conan okay very good all right so now we're going to move on to the appointment of Professional Services we will be doing these one at a time okay okay okay we have resolution 2-202 the appointment of sule Clooney and Company as the B auditor for the year 2025 motion second right okay call the role council president conahan yes councilman desens counc Dina yes counc doie yes Council GG yes Okay resolution 3-22 the appointment of Coler engineering design as the B engineer for the year 2025 motion thank you okay we have council president Khan yes councilman denza yes councilman dinino yes councilman Dodie yes councilman Griggs yes okay we have resolution 4 2025 appointment of Nigerian Associates as the environmental engineer for the year 2025 motion motion second okay we have council president Conan Council denza Council dinino councilman doie yes Council Griggs yes we have resolution 5225 the appointment of Morgan engineering and surveying as the alternate engineer for the year 2025 motion second council president con yes Council Desa yes Council dinino yes counc doie yes Council Griggs yes okay we have resolution 6225 the appointment of col engineer and design as a C4 license operator for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan yes councilman denza yes Council dinino yes councilman Dodie yes Council Griggs yes resolution 7225 appointment of dillworth Paxton LP as the bur as the bond attorney for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan yes councilman Desa Council dinino counc Dodie yes councilman Griggs yes resolution 82025 appointment of Michael Kachi Esquire of Kashi Law firm LLC as the burrow prosecutor for the year 2025 motion second counc president Conan Council denza Council dinino counc doie yes counc C yes resolution 9225 appointment of appr pry mcdermit masro and Murphy as the burrow labor attorney for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan yes counc dinino yes Council Desa yes Council Dodie yes counc Grace resolution 10 2025 the appointment of Ricky planning as the B planner for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan Council Des Council dinino Council doie Council GG yes resolution 11 2025 the appointment of s Schock corini Warner gesik and fiser Pa as the Redevelopment attorney for the year 2025 motion counc president Conan yes councilman desens councilman Dino councilman Dodie yes counc G yes resolution 12225 the appointment of Dorth Paxton as the conflict Redevelopment attorney for the year 2025 motion counc president ponam yes councilman Desa councilman dinino councilman doie counc Grigg yes resolution 13225 the appointment of Marco bonucci of the firm Marco bonucci LLC as the public defender for the year 2025 motion second counc president Conan yes councilman deso counc dinino yes counc doie yes resolution 14225 the appointment of King Munch and Colin Lop as a conflict Municipal attorney for the year 2025 motion second counc president conahan yes counc Desa yes dinino yes counc doie counc GGG yes resolution 15 2025 the appointment of King Munch and col lope as the environmental attorney for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan yes councilman Desa counc dinino yes counc doie yes Council Griggs yes resolution 16 2025 the appoint of s slack G Warner G officier PA as a tax appeal attorney for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan counc Des counc yes coun yes C Griggs yes resolution 17 2025 the appointment of Robert D Spangler as alternate public defender for the year 2025 motion second counc president Conan yes Council M Desa yes counc Dino yes counc M DOI yes counc M Greg yes resolution 18 2025 the appointment of Bruno Associates as a grant writer for the year 2025 motion second council president Conan yes Council Desa yes Council desino yes k m doie yes C mcgriggs yes resolution 19 2025 appointment of North American Insurance man man agement act for sure LLC as Risk Management Consultant for the B of middle middle sex for 2025 motion second council president con yes c c coun do GGG here okay all right you got through them good you take a break for a second yeah that's right I was just losing my place all right we're gonna move on to the consent agenda resolution Okay resolution 2025 adopting Robert's Rules of orders resolution 21 2025 approval official newspapers for 2025 resolution 22 2025 appointing Michael a place to serve as fund commissioner to the central Jersey joint Insurance Fund for 2025 resolution 23 2025 authorizing the treasure to reinvest funds for 2025 resolution 24 2025 authorizing the filing and settlement of tax appeals resolution 25225 appointing pocket officer for 2025 resolution 26 2025 the regular meeting date resolution 27 2025 authorizing the tax collector to charge a fee of $25 for tax sale notice to conduct tax sales when unpaid taxes or any Municipal lean on Real Property remain in rear at the close of the fiscal year resolution 28 2025 authorizing to tax collect to collect interest on delinquent taxes resolution 29 2025 canceling small sewer balances resolution 30 2025 approval for reimbursement of the clerk's Department police department and Recreation Department's petty cash fund resolution 31225 approval of the middle sex bur rescue task force members and medical advisor for 2025 resolution 32 2025 appointing the local office of emergency management membership effect of January 1 2025 to December 31 2025 resolution 33 2025 appointing the Burrow's office of emergency management auxiliary members effect of January 1 2025 to December 31 2025 resolution 34 2025 authorizing ABP Inc to provide payroll services for 2025 resolution 35 2025 establishing a cash management plan for the burrow of middle sex for the year 2025 resolution 36 2025 approval of fire department drivers for 2025 resolution 20 37 2025 appointing Justice Des Senza as the mayor's representative and John Madden as the governing body representative to the Housing and Community Development Committee for 2025 resolution 38 2025 awarding the contract for public relations and design consulting services to Positive Solutions from January 2025 through December 2025 in the amount of $33,500 per Year resolution 9 2025 authorization to approve payment of certain bills between regular meetings resolution 40 2025 a resolution to provide for a temporary budget for payment of claims until the adoption of the 2025 budget resolution 41 2025 endorsing the by local policy to support the Business and Professional community in Middle sex burough okay good all right uh can I have a motion please second second does anyone need to pull any of these I don't no okay oh yeah uh resolution 2121 2025 I just have a question on okay sure what is it Alle understand they're not publishing anymore we're able to use it they'll be digital they'll be online good okay any other questions okay call the rooll please he he gave a motion okay council president Conan yes councilman Desa counc coun Dodie and coun Grace yes okay very good okay all right uh we're going to move up to the public portion of the meeting if you have anything to say please uh state your name and address for the record you guys are a quiet bunch tonight jesz now I know you guys can go when you get riled up so no nothing all right let's a motion to close the public portion second all in favor well it looks like we're at motion for adjournment motion all in favor all guys have a great New Year 28 we're going to have a lot of good uh lot of good things