##VIDEO ID:4lvClApghaU## Bank right e e e e e e e e e yeah if I see anything I'll let you know I didn't either uh hold on CU our microphones are right that that's good yeah they they leave on the 17th to go back to Florida so very happy he is officially retiring the can hear beginning next month there go that's a good Jack people are testing testing yeah much better yeah I'm just waiting right here good evening I'd like to call the September 9th 2024 buau council meeting to order will the clerk please read the open public meeting statement adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 Public Law 1975 specifying the time date and location by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building Municipal website providing a copy of the annual notice schedule to the official newspapers of the burrow and is on file in the clerk's office will the clerk please call the rooll council president revolinski here councilman Collins here councilman M here councilman pansy here councilman Potter here councilman Zam Brana here mayor Murray here Bor Attorney Peter venola pres borrow engineer Mike mclen pres burrow administrator Fred Carr burrow clerk Monica Orlando present well everyone please stand for a moment of silence which will be followed by this L CL aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all now is the time for public comments limited to the resolutions on the agenda if you wish to speak please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record again this is public portion is limited to the comments only listed on the resolutions are listed on the agenda at this time um if someone has a comment uh please state your name and address for the record no okay close the public portion um minutes for the August 19th 2024 regular meeting are on the agenda for approval are there any comments or Corrections can I have a motion to accept the minutes as typed so moveed second I have a motion made by council president rinsky second by councilman Potter uh all in favor I any opposed okay the meeting minutes uh for August 19th executive session are on the agenda for approval are there any comments or Corrections can I have a motion to accept am minutes as typed so move second all in favor I any opposed okay ordinance introduction first reading this is an introduction of ordinance 24549 there will be no public input on this ordinance tonight the introduction summary will be published as required by law and second reading public hearing and final adoption will be considered on September 23rd 2024 full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the B website on the Bolton board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the municipal clerk's office between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday will the clerk please read ordinance 24549 by title only an ordinance amending chapter 7 traffic section 7-14 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets to impose parking restrictions on various streets within the burrow of miltown may I have a motion in a second to adopt ordinance 245 49 I move that ordinance number 24549 be adopted on first reading published according to law and that the public hearing be held at the next regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday September 23rd 700 p.m. in council chambers of farall I have a second I second thank you I have a motion made by council president revolinsky seconded by councilman moo does council have any questions or comments yes Mr Mayor I do have a a question first of all can somebody refreshed my memory Peter I don't know if you have you know this or not but how did these streets and all get put on the list I was provided with a list from uh the mayor councilman rinsky and councilman moo okay and we any of these was any of this information you know provided to the chief yes it it was and you have confirmation that he was in agreement with all this yeah he he said go ahead if you think it'll help with the parking go right ahead okay cuz I have a question regarding the first one on acrian I was actually there today and I took pictures and I I'm not understanding why it should be on both sides of the street this is the only one that has that doesn't have the 50 ft everything else has 110 ft 80 ft but this has actually the whole street on both sides so I would I would recommend that um well this is from Townsen Townsen no towns to South M so that whole block it's actually just one side councilman powder no it says both sides it says from Town Street to South Main Street Oh north north side so which is the north side North Side would be if you're pulling in off of South Main would be the left hand side so if you're pulling in from South if you're coming up acan and turning on to Main North side right hand side so it's going to be on where the house that side where the house is there's a house on there's a house there and they have parking there so what you're doing is if you're putting it there you're telling them they can't park that's why it should be on the other I would recommend putting on the other side when you put it on the other side people coming off of Main Street are now going wide and therefore potentially hitting oncoming traffic but I would all but not if you yeah but but then what you should do is why don't you have it where you have a certain amount of feet on that other side a certain amount of feet puts you right by their driveway which would put you then beyond their driveway no no no I'm talking on the yes I know what you're talking I think this one should be looked at again I honestly think it should be looked at again that's just my suggestion plenty of time it was sent around for a while so this is time no no but this is the time we discuss it see I have problem with this because a lot of these people I lived on fos for years and there's no place to park and what are we going to tell people they got to go you know park down by Albert Avenue to walk home I mean it's it's just it does seem though that there's a consist pattern of people trying to pull in off the main road and when they pull into these side streets there are people for lack of a better expression I will say choking the areas close to the entry point which forces a car pulling in to be into the middle and then a car at the back at the bottom of that street to as they're coming up they really don't have any place to go it also creates a situation where people are behind those cars when they're walking out refining things is not something I'm um refining this proposal is not something I'm against there's a lot of validity in what was done and why we looked at it and what we went with but I'm fine with looking at it but you know it's there's a lot to be said we're not against it we're just got saying that it should be you know I was there I took pictures I we there was a guy who was coming out of the one house on the what I'm going to say is the side uh on the right side as you're heading up from the Park from Albert Adam and you know he he was like oh thank goodness there's a lot of that in everywhere we looked where something's got to be done and uh and it's kind of open to where we can add other streets to it if they're you know as needed Without Really rewriting the whole ordinance so so I've got a question about van L aren't both sides isn't this already in place on both sides or you extending it no it's it's right now it's only 25 ft technically you're supposed to be 50 ft from a stop sign so yeah we're just extending it back with the length of cars these days and like councilman moo said I mean you you drive up Lincoln and you you know if you're trying to pull on the Main Street and you're coming off of Lincoln Albert Avenue side um basically you got to worry about if someone's going to hit you head on coming off of Main Street or how far you can try and squeeze over and you know it's unfortunate the few folks that we were out there talking to that when we're looking at these and measuring them off to to try and determine where would be an appropriate spot um a lot of these are from rentals along Main Street who don't have their own parking and are parking on other side streets making it extremely difficult for people to Traverse the side streets and making it dangerous so yes to your question that vanl does have both sides already we're just pushing it back 50 feet instead of only 25 well got it you're going 280 ft from where it is now and based on an average car length yeah I didn't memorize all the numbers but yes 80 ft I think that puts a I think that puts you at the driveway for for that Jew the Jeweler and on the other side the the driveway and with Garver uh that Ben uh we talked to chief of uh fire and he brought his rig down that street and uh he we based that's based on his recommendations but it was kind of a noticing about the size of a rig in the same respect turning onto some of these side streets that are already touch narrow with the mouth being jammed on both sides if there's a rig and a car coming that's going to be a tough time so I just like there's no place to park now I mean what are you going to tell the people on Main Street you know that live on Main Street in persing fos those the streets are 75 ft they'll never be able to park some people don't have garages there either or driveways that's a valid statement um it was kind of noticeable in a lot of places that there were a lot of cars and still empty driveways and I'm not sure how that that may not change the overall map but it does uh it does imply that people may have to adapt a little bit um I where do you Public Safety inconvenience um everything's a trading is life I'd rather go with Public Safety over convenience I do as well but like I said I haven't heard any complaints on any I mean there hasn't been reported concerns or any complaints in the past so you know I agree da wh needs a further look at I mean we really do need to take a look at this before and get some public input because I wouldn't want to do this to somebody and plus two at the next meeting they all have to be at the you know they're all going to get notified so they the residents will be at the next meeting if this does move on correct is it a requirement that we send out notification to everyone no really so you're going to tell people they can't up but they don't get a requirement that their house is on a resolution we we did that for uh what's the last one that we did parking restrictions on cuz I I had a type for you to put one school yeah do we put flyers on the cars for the people that Park that live on Main Street but decide to park on Lincoln I mean I'm talking about it gets it gets a little ridiculous I mean look if you have a vehicle assume that you got to find a place to park when the snow when the streets have snow on them and you got to move your car you got to have a place to park that's snow this is regular every day so I'm just saying Rich we're just saying this is convenience low this was brought up this was brought up back in July many emails went back and forth the draft was sent out two weeks ago no comment until tonight from you well none so so council president you always say let's talk about it during the uh Council meetings and that's what we're doing fair enough you've always said that we're talking about it is that correct yeah but if you had a question about particular one you could have also asked at the time before we the residents need to know the residents need to know what's going on here so that's all we're saying so we just wanted to see if we can possibly look into us again or table it so we don't inconvenience a lot of our can this be posted on the burrow website in a public Arena where it can be at least people can look at it once they hear with buzz from tonight after every uh ordinance is adopted I put everything on the website put it right on the front page so everybody knows what's going to be a public hearing at the next meeting I mean I do think um you know a good deed done is a good deed done shock and frustration is not going to help that so is there only season it's a valid statement just surprise it's not a good thing beyond that the uh the idea with the vehicle larger vehicles uh from the police and fire and even rescue those uh some of these other streets the entrance to those is still affected that was part of it and I think the actual law was 50 ft uh and 50 ft from the corner however from the stop sign excuse me but a lot of the streets are not clearly marked or they they actually seem to have an old sign I think that referred to it as 25 ft or something like that do you remember I'm trying to remember it was a little while back 25 it's 25 from a crosswalk 50 from a stop sign okay so if you consider that you pull off Main Street and you've got a car parked 25 F feet that's one car length so as soon as you're pulling off you're already scooching over to the middle right in a lot of places because there were crosswalks there I I don't know why we haven't updated these in the past but the the no parking signs should be 50 ft back from those stop signs I don't know why they aren't yet but we went out we looked at it and we said okay 50 ft means one more car or a half a car and someone trying to squeeze in here between the driveway and the intersection so let's push it back to you know 60 ft or 70 ft you see some of these are abnormal numbers and that was based on the location of someone's driveway that first Corner House where that is and saying okay can we provide another spot here what does that do right now there's a car on Lin Inn that they swear it's 25 ft but I'll tell you you pull off of Main Street and it feels like it's 3 feet in front of you on the heading towards Albert Avenue side of Lincoln I mean it's just getting ridiculous and a lot of these from what people tell us when we walk around they go oh yeah that's a renter over there that's his work car that's his wife's car and that's his car well if the guy lives on Main Street how come his landlord doesn't provide him with adequate parking that sounds like someone making money off renting a business or renting uh an apartment that doesn't really care about the impact that his rental unit or how many people he rents to has on the rest of the residence in miltown and quite frankly I don't care if he's got to put some more Paving in and more parking so be it I'm all four parking permits I'd love to enforce parking permits for and find out where all the illegal rentals are in this town coun 2 am to 6. I think you're veering a little off no I don't think I am we've had this discussion before but quite frankly the streets are getting crowded we got to do something about it and it's a public safety concern and it's a quality of life concern too for residents you got people who can't park in front of their house because there's tons of cars coming off of Main Street because people just simply don't want to park in their driveway on Main Street or the bottom tenant has the driveway so top tenant has to find somewhere else to go that's a landlord problem it shouldn't be the burden of every other resident in this town will clerk please call the roll council president ravinsky I councilman Collins no councilman moo I councilman posnanski I councilman Potter no councilman zamb Brana no mayor Murray for the tie I would actually uh I would want this to be looked at a little bit more detail so um if I don't vote is it just tabled Peter no you need to vote you have to vote and if uh it will get revised then uh we can um re it it could be it could be Revisited between now and it's its second reading in which case it would probably be adopted on first reading again because if there was substa of change to the ordinance it needs to start again um but that's where we're okay uh let's uh let's say no and then we need to revise the numbers based upon better field observation motion does not pass if uh want to get together and look at things together oh absolutely you know feel free absolutely I actually want theat there as well there as well it is it is something that the entire town affects the entire town so we should have a little I'd like to see everybody kind of have like yeah this makes sense it works so agre it should be done but like I said it should make sense no absolutely and and I think if you know hey more than a couple miles is a good idea agree no worries right I walk to dog next week let me know let me ordinance introduction first reading this is an introduction to ordinance 24550 there will be no public input on this ordinance tonight this introduction summary will be published as required by law in a second reading public hearing and a final adoption will be considered on September 23rd 2024 full copies of the ordinance will be published uh posted on the B website on bolon board at Municipal bill building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the 8 hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday will the clerk please read ordinance 24550 by title only ordinance to amend chapter 25 Water of the revised General ordinances of the burrow of miltown Mayor Murray just before the uh Council considers this there were two typographical errors I needed to just point out the second to last par uh section should be uh section 25-2 12-6 with a reference to section 25-1 12.7 and the final section should be 25-1 12.7 uh I've made the clerk aware of that I'll get her a revised version but they're just uh doesn't change the substance of the ordinance it just merely changes uh some of the section references thank you you got it is that for the uh right to re-entry right of reentry for to replace lead service lines and then violations and penalties those six and seven respect six and seven and then the reference in point 6 should be to point 7 will the clerk please read ordinance by title I did no we already that I jumped in after that I have a motion in a second to adopt ordinance 24550 I move that ordinance number 24550 be adopted on first reading published according to law and that the public hearing be held at the next regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday September 23rd 7 pm. in council chambers of B Hall do I have a second I will second thank you I have a motion made by council president rinsky seconded by councilman Mano this Council have any questions or comments yeah I do had a couple um so in section 25-41 it appears as though the water the base qualy rates have gone down is that correct but the gallonage has gone down as well do I have that right I'm I'm sorry what' you say so it appears as though the consumption charges uh the base quarterly has dropped is that is that right I'd have to compare it it is what it is based on the calculations okay 10536 a quarter I know over the past few things as they he was speaking with the auditor there was some fluctuations when they checked everything so that may have been adjusted down it's it's lower than what was adopted in July that's what you're asking yeah yeah but compared to previously no I I believe it would be higher prior to July and then there's a there's a section in here and I don't remember seeing this piece in here in section 25-6 where the burrow May discontinued service of water for any of the following reasons basically for non-payment of water service so is at you know 30 days late 60 days late 90 days late like or is it just general pull the microphone Clos it's interesting right now I know we don't have the ability to do that right you're saying you're saying in section six about the lead service lines no no uhon of water section 25-6 about the discontinuance of water um that should be enabled by for non-payment of water service I I don't remember that ever being in a I I remember we had this discussion with uh with Mr Veno and there was there was questions about if we put the time frame in there and then if we started detailing out things about how the notice is provide if we said it had to be mailed first and then someone claims that they didn't get the mail or it has to be certified mail or if you're putting a sticker on their door um that it was left more to how the uh the burrow would implement the process uh essentially staying current would mean if you have some sort of hardship and you're doing a payment plan and you fell short on that and decided that you were going to skip your your payment plan then you would risk shut off I think councilman Zam brand I think it's designed to provide discretion to the billing department because currently there is no uh explicit ability to do that and um they're running up against uh users who just are habitual uh non-payers and will just allow it to go to sale at the end of the year like a tax sale and it I that's that's the way it's always been done right that is the way it's always been done cuz I had this question the same thing and I'm like you know how could we allow this to happen it's because we're never going to lose right because you're going to you're going to get it at the tax sale you're never going to lose it so that's why it's a little bit you know interesting that it's it's now in the ordinance that we're not even going to wait till that the tax sale we're just going to we're just going to shut your water off well it's again it I I don't know that there's ever been a policy in the buau to um uh Expedition ious ly shut anyone's water off I think it is always been something that was seen as a last resort so I but it's not I didn't choose the I didn't choose the provision I I but not it's not a last resort now it's like we're actively thinking of doing this now that's that's that's what I'm trying to get at we have to pay our bills people need to pay their water bills I think it's pretty straightforward it doesn't seem out of the question to say hav't P your vill in x amount of days most utilities do set off a service it is little different I guess as the town being the provider as opposed to jcpnl or American water or any of those entities that are corporations kind of uh allowed to do that because they are corporations and their goal is to make money we're providing a service it's they should make can I update that section prior to the next um gets moved on to next one can that section be updated prior to the next meeting when you say updated you mean updated more specific certain days six months I mean something I I think that's what we wanted at the discretion of the billing department well it's not in here so if you want to put at discretion or put at discretion of the billing department well I think that's what's un there's there's no provision in there that provides a time frame so at that point it's it would be at the discretion of whomever is in charge of making that decision so it absence implies that it is up to them right but if I'm reading it it doesn't so I mean like I said it's an ordinance I would just make it specific like councilman Zan BR said so who whom would you like to name then we just that we just said at the discreption of the uh billing department right but there's I mean the billing department isn't a so the director of that department yeah it would have to be the tax collector that's a start I think it would have to fall to the tax collector if Fred am I I think I'm right there she's tax and utility collector so well but essentially these go to tax sale if someone's not correct paying their bill so it would be the tax collector's discretion yes sir right so I would say the I would say not the tax collector because the tax collector is only the person who becomes involved when then someone doesn't pay and they go to tax sale so the tax collector is well it may be the same person is not the person who would be in charge of deciding how monies are collected for your utility department that would be a different hat even if it's the same person if that makes sense what would you name she has the title of utilities collector as well so you just be utilities collector ta utilities collector not tax collector so be so okay stud so would that would that change Council mtter would that be acceptable to you I I'd be found would it be prudent to put in there you know at a minimum of whatever amount of days that you'd have to be over we can do whatever you guys would like I just the guy who types it in I think the reason that again while we left the amount of days out there is because if someone said hey I'm I'm up against an issue right now and the tax collector said we understand you uh I don't know you lost your job or whatever the case may be but you agreed to a payment plan and to repay what's owed and stay current with that repayment plan then that would be at their discretion but if we said 90 days and they agree on 120 days then you've just bound the tax collector's discretion or the utility collector's discretion okay so I think that's again why we went back and forth on days and that's why we left it ambiguous if you'd like we can add a period of at least well I just think so at least that way you understand that someone would have to be in a rear for 90 days 120 days and they they couldn't have it turned off before then if that's something that would provide you with a sense of security that's a start yeah a start you word grace period yeah or something I mean you've already got 28 days before you're you know incurring penalties so again there there are already mechanisms designed to um try to get people to pay their bills um so again this is designed as a last resort for the best of my understanding I don't think anyone wants to be shutting off people's water so and that's why I think at the discretion we shouldn't have any dat they could be at the discretion so like council president said I I I think you'll find that that there are a fair amount of people that they're not paying their bills but they can't afford to and with the threat of getting their water or if it's electric also getting turned off they'll show up the next day with cash they're not necessarily low-income people so did we come up with the period we liked I'm okay with that the discretion of anyone are okay with that I'm okay with that discretion of okay is that consider a subsid of change that would well that's going to be I I would need yeah I would need someone to withdraw their motion are there other discussions we want to have I mean yeah I think I think you know if if we're going to if there's anything else that you guys want to pull apart one thing I'd like to make clear to the residents is that um these rates are currently based on 2,604 water meters in town um in here uh there is a section of this ordinance and I'm sorry if I'm moving away from my microphone Madam clerk uh let me see here so I can find the exact one individual meters are required section 25- 7.4 separate meters shall be required in every dwelling building residential apartment unit in a dwelling and or store within a building in other words if you've got a two family house it's going to be built as if there's two meters there if there's a 10 unit apartment building it's going to be build as if there's 10 units there and the logic behind that is that in an apartment you could have three or four people and in a single family residence you could have two people paying their minimum fee so every unit's got to be build their Fair share their use of the water now the other thing that we have in here is that there is no minimum water usage and with that whether you have one meter for your whole building and you're getting built as if you had 10 or you have um 2 meters in there you're getting build on the gallons you use so if we're we're not requiring that apartment building for example to install 10 m we're going to build them as if they had 10 it'll be up to them to retrofit their building if they choose we're not trying to really put them out but the benefit here is that whether they have one meter on the building or 10 that one meter still captures all the water usage and they will get build the dollars per gallon just as everybody else and then on top of that they'll pay for an additional meter which is the $13.65 if memory serves me correct quarterly 10536 so when we look at these and the next step is to uh I've asked the utility department that when they go out and do their meter reading to be looking for those indicators of multi- family or multi-dwelling unit U facilities come back with the list go back and forth between our uh code enforcement official and utility billing department to determine where the other units are send notices out to them and let those people know that as a the adoption of this ordinance they will start being built as if they had what's what's an indicator another meter what's an indicator uh multiple mailboxes multiple doorbells two driveways I have two driveways do you have two mailboxes no okay just saying I mean we're we're going to do the best we can to try and capture all of those additional ones and then revisit this and instead of dividing by 2,604 hopefully be dividing by a little over 3,000 which should help reduce the minimum quarterly bill because the quarterly bill is based on our operating costs it is the overhead of the burrow to maintain a water system so that we can provide you gallons of water Fred I got a question for you did we ever find out the agreement excuse me East Brun and starkin Road you said there was Eight houses over there but I believe they added like 20 or 30 more I believe I responded so um that uh I don't think it'll make a difference there's a you know in in our $4.2 million budget uh whether or not we're collecting from those and I wouldn't and I frankly would not like to provide them an opening as I stated earlier did I in my response that to reopen the negotiations between us and them on our billing as part of that conversation so we're not going to build them I right now we're not correct based on the email if you know in the future want to capture that it could change the Dynamics and try to figure that out but there has to be some agreement between us and Them well that would be in the ordinances that you all provided I didn't see anything in there in my crysty look at it again today but we'd have to reach out and individually figure out who they are to try to capture those eight people or those 20 people but yes we can do that but it's not on the $4.2 million between Thursday when we introduced this or got this and today no sir we have not efforted that we have not done that and this is um starken road is up by U Mike's Country Market right right so we're talking about folks whose sewer flow makes sense when they constructed that development to flow into miltown but I don't believe we provide them with water so if we if we're not billing them for water New Brunswick's not billing us for the water and New Brunswick's not billing us for the sewer because we pay New Brunswick based on dollars per gallon based on our water usage yeah New Brunswick says you bought 160 million gallons of water last year miltown you owe us for 160 million gallons of sewage they have tried in the past to say well you pump more sewage than you've bought water and we said well this agreement from 1982 this very nice agreement and it says we only pay you for the water we bought well if you have a sewer break who pays for it the residents of miltown re Bruns the residents of miltown but there's it it would be very difficult to earmark what the cost that those people contribute to our sewer system is especially since we're not metering their water but we have it inter local with gas we buy gas from East brunck so what there's got to be some agreement somewhere cuz I heard there was like if I remember correctly first they added like seven or eight houses and then they added like 20 or 30 more so it's like that puts a stress on our system Mike Mr mlen do you uh have any knowledge on this I think those houses were were probably here when you were working for the great burrow in miltown yes that's correct the exact number though there's been changes over the last couple years I haven't been out there in a while so we got make an inspection I mean a significant number would be something you'd have to go out and take a look at I'm not sure if the burrow has been involved in any of the cosos but certainly the additional flows that have to be looked at so have an agrees with East Bic on those well we'll have to try and dig up an agreement with East Brunswick and determine what the uh equivalent equivalent dollar would be to uh to charge those folks yeah there's an agreement be somewhere in in the file the I think there's a few also on Ryder's Lane which their sewer goes East Brunswick but we provide them water so it's probably one hand washed at the other I will look at our file too happy too want talk sure um there's a lot in this that that I do like I'm I'm torn in this because part of it is I'm I'm Le on to the seniors and uh some of them even though they they shouldn't they tell me how much they bring in in a month and uh some of them tell me how they they scrimp and save to pay when something goes up say like with with the water so although I do like the concept of this I would appreciate if there's a way to help seniors or there are a lot of single men or single women that uh they're penalized because they don't use much water water and you have like a large family or or people that use uh sprinklers in the summer and they may they may gain from this and people like the the seniors on fixed income and and some have some have a fair amount of money but some don't and that that bothers me but the concept of this I I do like so I'm I'm myself I'm torn in this um I I will say that uh one benefit here with this is that um we've taken out the the minimum 7,500 gallons that's included in what you would have in a water bill today and the reason for that is you have some folks who say I never use that much lower it and we have other folks that say it's not enough raise it our bill to New Brunswick is based on usage so we have to properly bill for what is used we have a little over 20 million gallons of water that the burrow uses every year that we do not build residents for whether that's for the pool flushing hydrants flushing the toilet down here at Burrow Hall the burrow uses or loses 20 million gallons a year so we have to pay for that the other thing that this ordinance does is it drops it down to a very small incremental cost above what New Brunswick charges us per thousand gallons I think we raised it up 25 or 35 cents per thousand gallons in order to generate just a little cushion that if something comes up based on last year's usage usage we should be okay but in essence what it does is it it decreases the dollars per gallon because the cost of operating our system is all based in in that minimum fee that minimum fee is what it costs us for our debt service for improvements we've done in the past our operating costs the $120,000 if we're talking about sewer 120,000 a year we spend in maintenance over at the pump station over here at the end of West Church Street there's a lot of money that goes into maintaining this system just so that people can turn on their faucet and have water come out and I know everyone's got different opinions on the quality of that water but you to be able to turn on your faucet and water come out it costs us around 32 to $3.2 million a year we've worked these numbers over and over again initially we were at $300 a quarter now combined for water and sewer now we're about 285 again based on 3 thou 2,604 MERS so when we find those additional units and build those units accordingly we should see the minimum rates further go down and create more equality it also gets us off that um crazy notion of the more water we sell the greater Revenue we have because when rates go up people use less water Lawns die and we don't have the revenue to keep operations going that's not a smart way to operate a business and it is a business because if we don't have money at the end of the year guess what nothing's getting fixed things aren't running you're not going to be able to turn on the faucet and have water come out so we got to pay those minimum bills it also creates e equality which we've talked about for several years between the folks who get build for the three hottest months of the summer in one shot versus the folks who do not because if you're using over 7,500 gallons on average and you decide that you're water in your lawn or you're going to fill up a baby pool in the backyard for the kids you're likely going to exceed that minimum usage and pay more in a tier and that tier means more dollars per gallon for every thousand gallons you use under the new structure all gallon usage is the same rate so if you're washing your car you leave the faucet on yeah you'll pay for the water but you're not going to suddenly Char be charged more dollars per gallon for that water usage I mean I hear people that you know they were upset when it was $75 and they got the minimum charge now we're going to like raise it up so much you know it's going to hurt the poor the single people who are living alone and the you know the people that don't use a lot of water so it's a Converse of this councilman are we losing water in in other ways I mean are we metered correctly so from from New Brunswick it's a it's a good question um one of the reasons that we pushed for those Smart Meters those electronic meters is so that we can look at a certain period of time push a button and capture all the water usage that has gone through meters in the town so when we put those on all of our burrow facilities we should be able to see are we getting built properly the other thing that we don't have is we don't have an electronic meter on our side of the chamber that connects us to New Brunswick so New Brunswick says we took our reading I think in the agreement it says the 30th day of the month they should probably say the 28th to make up for February but the 30th day of the month at midnight they take a reading and they say this is how much water miltown bought we have absolutely no way under the way we operate now to verify that we don't have a meter our own meter by New Brunswick and we don't have the capabilities to suddenly take a reading at midnight of every house in town and find out how much water was used in the last 30 days so in the in the water industry they call it unaccounted for water and the best we can come up with is we've built 140 million gallons of water to the residents we got build for 160 we got 60 million or 20 million gallons of unaccounted for water MH M so we have to account for that in our operating Mike is it possible we have water leaks that are unaccounted for it's possible but you usually see those bubbling them up on the ground um these water undercount water is not an uncommon issue even water metering and as you know we've talked about this before water meters fail and under registration without being complicated with the wording as the water meter gets old it under registers so sometimes when we see these differences and 10% is not too far off but uh you know a little over that sounds like um that it's usually under registration so your metering meters are getting older they get older you under register so you might be paying more uh to new BR because of that so when you get the new meters in which I think is going to be discussed a little in my report tonight that will help you to go through and try to resolve some those yeah there are other water studies can be done to determine leaks leaks sometimes that uh emanate from Storm SE um if Public Works has some time this winter what you can do is go around check your storm s discharges see if there's any larger discharge in the winter time when there's not a rain event uh that sometimes will do an indication that there's a couple ways of doing it but uh usually what you'll do is look at your commercial accounts a lot of times what happens with commercials and Industrial accounts is that the meters are not sized properly so you might get a fairly large commercial industrial user which has a wrong size meters that under registers also so there's quite a bit of complications on this but um there's an allowable uh number for uh water systems like yours as to what uh you would expect a um uh unaccounted for water is so this work can be done to determine it you your system you run about 80 psi on the average and that usually is going to pop up out of the ground as we all know so if I might add one more thing you can uh with Duke brunck uh when they adjust their meter there's a way to go through and calibrate a meter and you you can um in your agreement with the I think allows you to require request calibration once a year so that may one way of resolving your concern about whether or not you're getting built for the right but the other problem though is we have no way to say where that water went in town and that given of time no what you would do is you would check their act their meter right the meter recalibrate the meter one or 2% of the accuracy that's why you know what's gone through that meter is what you've used or consumed or or is leaking in the system which I not really sure you have much in a way leaks but uh it's not uncommon to have some leaks do we know when the last water meter was recalibrated no I think you know you'd have to work with new Brens on that that's something that is in the agreement with new Brunk and it allows you to do that and attend those even request them so you know that's typically a one-year thing that you you should do and would be recommended it's also uh possible that um there there's situations coming from New brunwick U it could be incompetence or or mou feasance and it gets passed along to us and we have our arm tied behind our back here but you know not to drag this out but it's a clear thing you have a meter there you calibrate once a year it is what it is you know right as long as they calibrate but we probably haven't have to calibrated in years it's not it's actually uh you put the meter in with the waterline when you put the transmission man but is actually new BR meter so you can certainly request them to do that on a regular basis I would recommend it that way you're sure yeah there there is one more thing to to add in here of of of substance is that uh this new ordinance requires the council to increase the water rates when New Brunswick increases what it charges us it only makes sense we signed an agreement last year it's every five years we sign a new agreement we renew that 1982 agreement um last year's agreement shows an increase in the dollars per gallon for water going up 35% every single year for the next five years so I looked at some old agreements and and the last time we adopted these 10 years ago since then we have gone up 50% in the dollars per gallon we pay new Bron for water I don't remember water has gone up but the raate hasn't gone up not that much so I just this is this is a bad thing if we are not staying on top of our costs a keeping an eye on them and B adjusting our rates when the our costs go up then we're just going to be back here again in another 3 or four years doing the same thing the whole purpose of this and why we went through all the work is to try and get on the right track moving forward to plan for the future and say our costs are budgeted our rates are going up when our provider goes up in cost we go up the same to try and always maintain that buffer ahead rather than what we've gone through in the past several years which was we had a nice cushion and little by little that cushion depleted because costs went up Fred do you think we could send new brunck a notice that we could recalibrate the main water main I I read a note I will ask them to provide us their calibration data okay just yeah then ask them the last time what was calibrated I will do that but as we St before um we can't argue with whatever they said because we don't have anything on our side of the meter to say look our meter says X and you says why whatever they say their meter is and if it's within a tolerance which is about 102% or 98 then it's an active meter that's what we do here in the burrow when you as an individual go out and say I think my meter is running fast or being overcharged we send it out if it comes in that tolerance the meter is accurate very few in my 230 years of doing this has the meter been that way out of Tolerance without a rock being in there or something like that we just stopped the meter but it's normally pretty well dead on councilman our meter our water loss is because we have an old system that we haven't maintained that's it in the nutshell you know that better than I do right but we should just maintain that recalibration if we get it in the agreement why wouldn't you do it well I'm just saying we'll ask them but our our fundamental problem is that we're not maintaining our system right I will ask I will ask the question I will absolutely ask the question okay thank you so so is there a reason why we can't put a meter on our side so that we could have something to say hey by the way our meter says this yours says that can we do yes sir you never you never spent the money there's no reason can't do it absolutely so maybe we can look into that for the next budget so the conversation is that as we move forward in the count in the finance committee meeting is that we have a couple of million dollars I think don't want to steal Mike's Thunder that's okay but let me steal a little bit is that we need to reallocate our funds to look about our meters so we can accurately bill before you know in the system instead of some of the other ideas that we had and so that's a short version but yes so absolutely we can do that and we should as I've said often and as well as put one in with new East Brunswick too because when New Brunswick's water supply goes down we have an interconnection with East Brunswick and East Brunswick will feed us water so again we want to make sure that whatever we're getting built yep is accurate totally agree what are we talking about cost wise ballpark for for a MAG meter I I don't know what's a 40 Grand Plus in East if you had one from East you probably about 100,000 meter pit and everything else involved yeah it's it's not inexpensive but uh you know it's something that uh generally the DP recommends they don't mandate it but they recommend it for interconnections especially one like yours would be spr because there large amount of work would come through there it's done on time now they they basically when it's opened up it's your build based upon the time it's opened plus they know what your average water use is if your new Bruns is down they can pretty much tell you what they're consuming and sending it by that's only emergencies you know it's not uncommon emergency inter do not have meters but it's it's not a small uh thing and I would just say one more thing meters are a complex uh study uh issue so you could have two meters in in line and have them come up with different numbers so I'd be really careful about you know double meters and you know well our meter says this your meter say and you get one meter it's calibrated it's working fine you rely on it that's how you do it we put the meter in we put it we put our transmission man in we put the meter in we know what type of meter it is and and the less they've changed it in the last 35 years or so uh you know it should be the same meter it's a turbine meter and it it's within the ACT what your water use was at the time so that meter's 35 years old I think says about 35 years time goes by quick so we might we might be benefiting from having a real old meter there meter yeah you may be but I'd highly recommend you calibrate it and check to see the calibration so so go ahead so uh I think the the first comment uh Mr Veno was it was going to get uh retracted so if we could add the comments I think I Mr Mayor all I was trying to do was make sure we were at the end of whatever the comments were so that we didn't uh retract it amend it and then have somebody bring something else again so we Trot over the same path so as long as the council's all said their piece I can certainly give you road map okay so I think we have to yeah I would just ask council president revolinsky to withdraw his motion to adopt so that we can amend with the additional language in section 25-6 A5 regarding uh termination for non-payment Over My Dead Body will I withdraw my motion to adopt it's going to be a long night council president I just say one I I'll I'll withdraw my motion I just say one thing and you know this is uh just a little distra a little odd but at the time if we that suppose that position is vacant it's free water for everybody I'm sorry it's free water for everybody then I think that would provide you with some impetus to fill that position fair enough always going be utilities create taste it's good so I guess we'll make a motion to amend to add at the discretion of the utilities collector to the end of section 25-6 A5 I'm sorry 25- 6 A5 Orlando I will provide you with a new resolution a new ordinance first thing in the morning but we can you can do that CU you're on first reading so you're you haven't adopted anything yet so you are fine uh just we we can amend with an uh an adopt you can amend and adopt yeah I have no problem yet that's where we're head make a motion to amend and and move that amended because if we don't we're back to square one for the remainder of the year yeah yeah there's you so you're amending and and introd and and adopting an introduction all in one motion so everybody got that amend and adopt amending and adopting one motion all right on top of that Mar all right rich did you make the motion I did that I made that motion I just had Peter say it probably worked out better than did that have to be seconded or no it will need to be seconded okay can somebody second that please I'll second thank you councilman Potter so it was the motion to amend in by council president revolinsky amend and adopt coun council president or councilman Potter uh second it can I just have everybody move their microphones one inch closer because you're all very low and will cler please call the RO much better thank you council president revolinski I councilman Collins no councilman moo I councilman posnanski no councilman Potter I councilman zambrana no mayor for the tie I motion passes uh second reading public hearing on this ordinance will take place on September 23rd 2024 at 7 p.m. council chambers ordinance introduction first reading this is an introduction on ordinance 24551 there will be no public input on this ordinance tonight the introduction summary will be published and as required by law a second reading public hearing and final adoption will be considered on September 23rd 2024 full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the bar website on the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office at the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday will the clerk please read ordinance 24 1551 by title only ordinance to amend SP chapter 26 sewer section 26- 7.9 sewer use charges of the revised General ordinances of the burrow of miltown may I have a motion and a second to adopt ordinance 24551 I move that ordinance 24551 be adopted on first reading published according to law and that the public hearing be held at the next regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday September 23rd 7:00 p.m. in Council chambers of bohall may I have a second I'll second thank you I have a motion made by council president riny seconded by councilman Mano does the council have any questions or comments I do just it's a short one um so the in the packet there was the backup for the ward and the sewer ordinances a c bunch of calulations um and numbers are CFO put these together yes will he be here at the next meeting on the 23rd to explain everything yes and you can reach out to him in the meantime as well so Peter I have a question regarding this one how come for the water we have we're going to look at those rates on a yearly basis but we're not looking at the sewer um s sewer rates are uh there's no contract with New Brunswick that describes the sewer rates it's a simple calculation of we used 160 million gallons of water they build us x x divided by 160 million gallons equals y y is what we charge plus 25 cents so but like I said we're not it's saying that we're going to look at it but we're not looking at this so I would say to add that Clause to this too that this will also be evaluated on a yearly basis Fair comment that goes to I think the mcua isn't that right mcua Bills new Bruns based on their flows new Bruns bills us it's just a pass through Bill except new Bruns gets to make a percentage on so is this more amendments Peter this would be another amendment if if that's I'd be willing to once we're done with all our conversation any more conversations okay okay so I withdraw my motion to adopt and I will make a motion to amend to State something along the lines of uh mimicking the language in 1550 yeah I I think what would work for councilman Potter would be uh an annual rate examination that the council shall review the uh sore rates each year prior to the adoption of Municipal budget to determine whether an increase in the sore rates is necessary correct is that good and we just there won't be an auto because I'm not sure there's an automatic rate increase that you can do based upon how we're built correct okay all right and you'll send that over I will send that over so it's a motion to amend and okay 1551 second will the clerk please call the roll I don't have a second oh we need a second we do sorry it's good second thank you I have a motion made by council president rinsky seconded by councilman mano uh will the clerk please call the RO council president rolinski Hi councilman Collins no councilman moo I councilman pansi no councilman Potter I councilman Zam Brana I'd like to hear what our CFO is going to say on the 23rd so it will be no for now one two three mayor for the tiebreaker I motion carries uh second uh second read and public hearing on this ordinance will take place on September 23rd 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the council chambers uh authorizing payment of Municipal obligations next on the agenda we have authorizing payment of Municipal obligations will the clerk please read the resolution by title resolution 2024 d252 authorizing the payment of bills claims and statements against the burrow of miltown in a total amount of 1,2 2,263 57 you have heard the reading reading of this resolution what are there any questions yes yes Mr Mayor I have two questions uh one on page 12 about a hurricane charge so repayment to FEMA sir yes that would 29,000 yes so uh during Sandy so the way this works in in in our world is that uh during Hurricane Sandy FEMA provided to borrow monies in order to pay for those those bills on the when the death settles at the end of the day and all the politicians go away from my personal experience the bean counters come out and then they start checking your bills to see what were authorized but was not authorized it took about 10 years for FEMA to do that in miltown uh and they determined that we were overpaid during that period of time we did not use all the money that they obligated to us and the federal government asked for the money back back and that's what that payment is that's a lot of money yes sir but we didn't use it if we had if we had used it during the period of time and provided you know and of course we would have had bills and purchase orders and cancel checks uh if we had used the money we would have provided them the documentation and they would not have then asked for the money back this was money that we did not use obligated but did not use give you know forwarded Advanced if you will Advanced but did not use correct not use yep Y and a question on page 13 to supply Clooney is that going to end soon or no sir based on the email I sent out today the answer is no we have had uh the accounts payable person in my office has submitted her two-e notice she'll be leaving in two weeks unfortunately so the answer to your question sir is no gez may I have a motion in a second please so move second I have a motion by council president revolinsky second councilman Collins you see that will the clerk please call the RO council president revolinski I councilman Collins I councilman m i councilman panski I councilman Potter abstain councilman Zam Brana ition [Music] carries consent agenda a consent resolution has been prepared for the resolutions listed on the agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda are consider to be considered be routine in nature and having been reviewed by burrow Council will be enacted on in one motion any items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any council member and if so removed will be treated as a separate matter any items requiring expenditure are supported by certification of funds if any member of of the council wants any resolution acted upon individually please give me the resolution number and it will be pulled from the consent resolution will the clerk please read the consent agenda resolution whereas pursuant to the rules of council the council May establish a consent agenda for any regular or special meetings upon certain conditions and whereas each of the res following resolutions to be presented before the burrow council at its September 9th 2024 regular meeting appear to have the unanimous approval of all members of the burrow Council resolutions 2024-25 4 through 2024-25 now therefore be resolved by the burrow Council of the burrow of miltown that each of the above listed resolutions be approved and adopted by the burrow council with the same legal effect as though each was read in its entirety at the September 9th 2024 regular meeting and adopted by separate vote will the clerk please call the RW I need a motion in a second oh I'll make a motion second motion made by council president rinsky seconded by councilman Potter will the clerk please call the rooll council president rolinski councilman C councilman moo hi councilman posnanski councilman Potter I councilman Zam Brana I reports from elected officials council president revolinsky um well you heard most of the spiel about what we've been doing in finance um so now we'll be I guess posting another position available in the finance department as well um The Next Step as uh as we talked about a little bit was is to go out and try and find those uh those other meters we know that there's a whole bunch in electric and so that'll be the starting point along with going out and actually physically putting boots on the ground to find those additional uh multi-unit dwellings and hopefully bring these rates down lower for the next time um other than that we've begun looking into uh some very unfortunate news I brought it up a couple weeks ago uh is that we were told that the cost of electricity for the burrow of miltown is going up around $1.2 million yep you and me both um so we're going to have the gentleman who sent that email to us here on the 23rd we're also going to be talking about a battery backup system uh of which South River has already implemented to generate some net savings for them in the cost of electricity we'll have that person here on the 23rd so uh stay tuned for a very El El rying meeting I had to do it I had to do it it was bad I'm a dad it's a dad joke um with that uh no news is good news with Fort Avenue so far that we can discuss openly and uh I'll hand it back to you Mr Mayor thank you councilman Collins thank you Mr Mayor uh the electric Department the department coordinated a line clearance project on North End of town to improve the reliability on Highland Garver Courtland Street Columbia Avenue many Tre trees were trimmed and removed work continued in this area but more outage are outages are expected line work lineman Line work was performed to replace the rotted cross arms on the electrical components a Transformer was replaced on Highland Drive after an outage was reported and restored power on South Main after a vehicle struck a pole electric the water is uh replaced two defective valve boxes on Main Street annual route control application was done in the uh sewer sewers flowing freely and a new control board was uh put in Elkins Lane pump station has been installed so that concludes my report Mr Mayor thank you councilman Mano thank you uh okay regarding the recreation department um don't miss a fun night under the lights at Ruckers football game on Friday September 27th please contact the recreation department with any questions on how to purchase tickets the phone number is available on the website I can say it out loud most people won't write it down in here or when they're watching us at home but it's certainly available uh mown burough pool did have a great year uh Labor Day festivities were a huge success I know the dog uh the Dog Night draw some people and as well the uh the swimming events that they were holding uh had a lot of people so seemed like a good year for that uh all of the adult and youth fall programs will be starting over the next few weeks weeks most of the Youth Sports registrations and the evening flag football league and registration ends on 9:12 which is uh just a few days away Musical and theater and creative movement ends on 9:17 and adult volleyball registration ends on 9 26 so please hasten to get that done um our at adult softball league will begin next week and our registration numbers have grown nicely from our strong program uh it does seem like there a lot of adults who want to get active it's a great place to start it the 911 Candlelight remembrance services will be held at 700 p.m. at the American Legion Pavilion uh please come out and join us additional to that the library also had some announcements and don't forget our library they do some great things um and some of it does seem geared towards kids and keeping kids active but additional to that a lot of it is uh it's good for parents as well and just anybody on Thursday September 12th after school Jeopardy adult yoga on Monday September 16th a virtual Museum tour presented by AARP on Tuesday September 17th stay in place story time on Saturday September 21st ship Rex of New Jersey on Monday September 23rd uh and there are also various programs that pop up uh as well as uh the library having yarn a puzzle exchange that you're welcome to bring old puzzles in they leave them there and take a new one home um they just do a lot more than what a traditional Library did when when I was a kid um and there's more user friendly a lot less shushing and a more can I help you it's a nice thing thank you thank you councilman panski sure I'm I'm going to start with the senior center uh there will be a bingo presented by brunck Memorial Funeral Home with refreshments and prizes on Wednesday September 18th at 1:30 p.m. there will be a presentation by range of motion on back pain and exercise on Wednesday September 25th at 1: p.m. the middlex County senior health and fitness walk 2024 will be held at Roosevelt Park in Edison on Wednesday September 25th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. if you're interested in attending the event please speak with Debbie to register we have several bus trips planned in September these include Ross Trader Joe's Portuguese Fisherman Mammoth kitchen Ali's Boscov's the shrimp box and Point Pleasant and Camilo uh please check calendar for days and times um the BNA nurse will be here on Tuesday September 17th 12: to3 please sign up on the bulletin board if you'd like to meet with her I'm also working on uh some projected projects with the DPW director and uh I'll I'll I'll talk about that when we get the Grant and um that it comes through um this is uh from uh mil miltown historic preservation committee was via Zoom meeting August 29th 2024 I got this from Randy it's to the it's to the minute 7:36 p.m. it started the agenda minutes from the July meeting were approved the ongoing project to move the historic train station was discussed including a recent meeting at the library featuring a rendering of the station there will be further public engagement on miltown day with suggestions to place the posters and local businesses the committee plans to follow up on the Green Acres Grant and establish a timeline for presenting the project to the appropriate authorities regarding grants the committee discussed potential funding sources and need for specific tailor requests work on establishing a historic preservation commission is progressing with a tentative schedule for discussions in November a fall presentation is also being planned upcoming collaborations with the county and preservation New Jersey were confirmed with events scheduled for late November and mid December attendance at miltown day is confirmed and set for September 28th with a rain date of October 5th middle SEC county has offered to collaborate with the buau on creating a g is map of local historic sites through a shared service agreement the County's GIS division which supports County government functions has previously partnered with municipalities for similar projects the committee sees immense value in the shared service Beyond historic preservation as and is encouraged to help facilitate its use for other utility and possibly DPW needs the buau would need to initiate the agreement by conac County Administration for further review the meeting concluded at 8:31 with the next meeting scheduled for September 26 2024 at burough Hall the meeting will be in person only and now for uh the DPW reports um let's see they've trim trees near crosswalks to keep the area safe for children walking to school they prepare for the closing of the burough pool miltown day is Saturday the 28th we'll be have we will have a table and look forward to seeing everyone there also um there was a meeting from the free Free Loaders I mean free holders uh were they okay the interlocal to proceed with um Highland Drive and the feeder streets um they had the meeting on uh on the 5th of September and uh the work should begin in two to three weeks and the county may possibly reduce some of the crosswalks on Main Street the larger crosswalks of possibly two or three to three and uh this concludes my report councilman Potter thank you Mr Mayor from the miltown Police Department during the month of August the miltown police department responded to 1,342 calls for service during this period they conducted 97 radar details in numerous locations made 574 motor vehicle stops and investigated 24 motor vehicle accidents and during the past two weeks 31 individuals have been stopped for failing to for failing to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks for which they will continue to monitor and enforce regarding crossing guards there is still an urgent need uh for school crossing guards for the 2024 2025 school year the position is part-time with very flexible hours and with a starting salary of $18624 your environment we strongly encourage you to assist us by reporting any suspicious persons vehicles or incidents that you come across the non-emergency number is 732 82810 in case of emergencies always dial 911 and concerns can also be submitted by using the official burrow website under the report of concern tab together we can make our community a safer place thank you for your continued support and please do not hesitate to reach out to the miltown police department if you have any questions or concerns from the miltown fire department for the month of August there were 16 total incidents uh thank you to all who participated in the annual cornhole tournament on August 10th and members are needed candidates that are interested in joining the miltown fire department are encouraged to stop down by the firehouse on Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. or email join mtown fire gmail.com from the miltown rescue squad if if anyone has any billing questions please call our billing company directly please do not contact the miltown police department with any billing or recruitment questions and regarding recruitment anyone who's interested in joining the miltown rescue squad or becoming an ENT should contact us at recruitment miltown rescu squad. org to learn more we're happy to answer any questions and finally Mr Mayor for the mtown 4th of July the miltown 4th of July committee looks forward to seeing everyone at miltown day on September mber 28th please stop by our tent say hi to our committee members and enter for a free raffle to a free entry not a raffle a free entry for uh to win a basket filled with Fourth of July merchandise and that concludes my report I didn't want Monica thank you councilman zum BR thank you Mr Mayor um our first report is from the environmental commission we last met on August 28th which was the Thursday uh with a very spirited discussion on the schwendeman cabin and and uh next steps based on the Architects report that was posted on the burough website uh our next meeting will be uh Wednesday uh the 20 25th uh and that will be via Zoom uh our Board of Health uh meeting our next meeting will be September 24th at 6:30 p.m. and that will be in person uh there was no meeting in in uh in in August revitalization uh committee will be meeting tomorrow uh via Zoom 7:30 start date um topic of discussion uh a little bit over two weeks left until miltown day which is September 28th um which is a Saturday with the rain date of October 5th which is the following Saturday uh everyone here was was invited I'm pretty sure um look to see everybody there it's going to be a nice day as always Let's cross our fingers that the weather will be nice um and it'll be and hopefully it'll be a day like today on that day um and then uh our human Relations Committee met on uh September uh 3rd um topics of discussion were uh the the the changing of the sign from Pain Avenue to HA Avenue uh the flag policy and the committee's um work to put together a calendar of events that will be posted for all to see um for any particular event um related to um uh important dates of Celebration that anyone can check off the uh miltown bur website and that concludes my report thank you uh I have no report tonight B professionals Peter Velo no report tonight Mr Mayor Mr MCL thank Mr Mayor just a short report tonight as was discussed earlier we were requested to call DCA which is the entity that's administering your 2023 and 2024 Grant funds and they've indicated that those funds can be used for water meter Replacements and we're happy to report that tonight thank you Mr car for discussion before the last item I have for you is the uh review by NJ do continues with regard to alad park we believe we're getting close they have requested that uh the burough send in a form which basically acknowledges the reduction in the length of the walkway due to the uh allowable uh financing that they've been able to give the bur for the project which we'll get over to Mr car to sign then that's all we have tonight thank you for staff business administrator sir I have nothing thank you mon Orlando B CL thank you Mr Mayor uh we thank everyone for your patience with the clerk's office as we still are currently working under staff we do offer free notary services in the clerk's office we ask that you call ahead and make an appointment if you can but we will try and squeeze you in without an appointment garage sale permits are handled by the clerk's office paper applications are available on the website as well as in the clerk's office the fee is $5 cash or check only uh last week I sent letters out to any to members of any board committee or commission who has a term expiring at the end of 2024 uh you should have received it by now please respond back and let me know if you are no longer interested in serving if you are or if you would like to be considered for reappointment fill out the citizen leadership application get it back to me um by November 29th around Thanksgiving time uh in December is when Council will start getting things together for the reorg for 2025 and I kind of want to have everything ready uh some important dates to know regarding the general election because these deadlines are firm and time is of the essence the general election is on Tuesday November 5th polls will be open 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. early voting is October 26th through November 3rd a list of early poll early voting poll locations is available on the burrow website clerk page under election if you have moved please make sure you update your address with the county October 15th is a deadline to register to vote October 29th is the deadline to apply for a mail and ballot paper applications for all of these things are available in my office as well as online on the borrow website clerk page under election and one last thing I'd like to say is Wednesday September 11th is a solemn day but is also my son's 9th birthday so happy birthday to Ben and that concludes my report thank you old business does any member of council have any old business to bring before Council I do I'm I'm glad that rich Ryan is here tonight this is about him and uh Mr venol I will not get myself in trouble with this I'd like to recognize and thank former councilman Rich Ryan I'd like to thank him for his years of service as a both councilman and council president I also want to thank him for his courage in an untenable situation that he knows I'm in agreement with he has stood up for righteousness with very little support there are many who could and should have stood with him but let him stand alone Mr Ryan is leaving miltown and who will be missed good luck to you on your journey rich but keep miltown in your heart no more uh close Old business well there was no more for councilman pansy I I can keep going if few question all right let's go now I actually uh wanted to um catch up uh Peter we had talked a while ago I know um the Luck of the Irish got to you recently but uh are we still looking at uh vacant lot ordinance to come around for the meeting in September either meeting in September or first one in October so uh as I indicated to you during our discussions uh there were number of things that popped up with the Ford Avenue litigation that required some immediate attention and then I I did have the unmitigated goal of going on vacation so um I I I think I'll have that hopefully to you by that meeting I also want to get it out in advance so that it's not dropped uh right before the meeting yeah I'd appreciate that and then I think the rest of the council would too and if if we have to have any executive sessions regarding Fort Avenue any progress there please let us know um the other one uh that I have on here was Mike about Albert Avenue Park um what's our expected time frame then for for getting things going I know the state can be somewhat slow to respond but have they approved the plans otherwise yeah we're they' given us comments we've responded to them we're hoping by your next meeting I can tell you that they just authorization advertise and then how um I know we talked about this in the utility committee meetings about uh using those D grants to move forward with possibly the meters um what are we looking at now that with the news that you got from the DCA in regards to that Grant how how quickly do you think we could move on that considering we have the 500 sitting in a water tower that are just collecting dust well the um there's a couple ways of doing meter contracts you may be able to do it through a co-op process if that's what your desires we can take a look at that um other than that you have to put a set of bid documents out and bid it per you know basically similar to Waterway installation project but um we have handled those over the years I think our first one was about 40 years ago so um it can be done uh but I'll check co-ops I think I would look at co-ops first because you can um get the type of meter you want and uh minimize your time and administration for uh so we'll look into it I have some back for you soon excellent thank you and then uh just this one for the rest of council the old business I heard councilman Zam BR mention it that the environmental commission looked at the uh schend and cabin report but did anybody else up here have a chance to look over that report and formulate an opinion of their own yes um I also saw detail the cost and and I was a contractor I can tell that the cost would be much higher than what I saw but um it it would definitely exceed the value of of the structure if you put if you put any money into it it would have to be ada8 compliant and that's where all your costs would be so it's something to think about anybody else on that one Phil any more uh to elaborate on what the environmental commission had to had to add in regards to that discussion no just just to say that again it was a spirit of discussion um you know uh the shran cabin has been um a discussion 10 plus years now probably um uh I think everyone knows that the money that was provided by by uh by this by the county the state I should say um was never going to be enough to do everything um it was a starting point um for for the hope to move it forward um and get it going to to a place where um I think everyone wanted it to be um but again um just to to mention the architect report was there and people were a little bit taken back um because I think what the architect is basically saying it's done there's there's nothing else to do there so yeah that's kind of way that that I interpreted his report too it wasn't there was no Shining Light in there saying well you might have a chance it it was kind of like a you're out of your mind if you're going to go forward with trying to salvage it um the reason I bring that up too is we've got some money set aside you know from the grant that I know we were looking to possibly clean up we um winter coming around the corner is always a good time to clean up some of that vegetation and things like there you know we had we had thought about the roof in the past we had thought about doing the deck but you know know it seems like we might be throwing good money after bad so I think it would be good to uh to start discussions about cleaning up at least the rest of the property and starting to spend some of that grant money on that as we know also that we've seen um the report from our our GIF identifying it as potential hazards and with the overgrowth now would be good for us to to get in there and I think clean it up and try and secure the property a little bit better might be a good idea but again just wanted to make sure the concern the environmental committee were heard is there or has there been an endgame for what that cabin could be should it should be resurrected and brought up the code that heard Nature Center and but this like Staffing of that some of those detail like you ever get into any of that we're getting we're getting two far down the road there but just just the Nature Center so that um you know in my opinion from from what I've been um you I've seen over the last 10 years and I've only been around here like four and a half but um you know there was there was a swap between the county and you know you know for electrical utility and and that's how that that became ours um but the they did provide us with some money um we did get off to a start and and then of course you know when you when you start a project you got to keep going with the project because if if not you kind of take a step back and then and Co happens and you have vandalism and you know blah blah blah not to get into the details but um you know I I'd hate to I'd hate to see that totally demolished that's that's not I don't think anybody wants to see that um you're not going to see a cabin like that anywhere else anywhere you know it's it's it's actually nice um to have something like that um would have been nice if if that could have been thrown into somehow I don't know how uh the Albert Avenue project you know making it part of like that maybe making it available you know for some additional funding I'm not sure but but um it's just a shame so my comments to that was um because this has been going on for many years and uh I was involved with it in the beginning with the scouts with uh Miss marel and schwinderman uh the focus was on the cabin not the twostory portion of the structure we cared about saving the cabin portion of it and before the architect was even involved um most of the structural or quote unquote structural issues were settling of some of the uh logs in the one in the South uh West portion of the cabin which uh could have been easily remedied um that was the focus um making a uh you can have an ADA compliance bathroom that's a multix bathroom so you have the slide goes male slide left goes female and that has that you're not worrying about anything about an elevator that whole second floor would be eliminated with the elimination of the new portion of the building um hopefully we can continue to have those conversations because it is something worth saving I agree um it was uh always been a plan since it was um by former mayor uh Trina um it was named um by the mayor and Council as schwindaman nature Homestead or Homestead Nature Center um thank you um many years ago uh and there was a coordinated effort between the scouts and the environmental commission and Historical Society to continue to keep moving it Forward there was a lot of hurdles and roadblocks that were thrown up in the process to keep keep the forward progress uh moving uh there was a lot of Eagle Scout projects there uh so there was a lot of intent to continue to preserve that that whole area there so hopefully we will continue moving that thing uh forward in a good direction if not the entire thing at least the cabin portion the existing portion of the the log home y so to completely pull a left turn on that and this is just think out loud uh but I've been in miltown 12 years and this SW cabin I think I had heard the name I certainly seen the tax JY place over the last couple years as I came to meetings and saw miltown for all and you name it um but I had no idea what it was and I don't feel the tie to it that someone who has probably been in this town for 40 50 years has with that said I went and knocked on some doors today because I don't know who to ask and you can't ask politicians cuz we're the worst asked uh that was supposed to be a joke and trying to learn like rich but anyway um and what I did find out was it seemed like uh as much as a lot of people respect the cabin they respect the concept of it they're not sure that in the endgame of if you did resurrect it and you made it into I guess the uh ecological Center or Environmental Center at that point where the grant is gone and it becomes on the town an everyday expense to maintain it to staff it to heat it to cool it to cut the grass around it to put people in there for the summer for winter uh to run it and staff it and some people of the people that I spoke to and I will say it was only about 12 people but I just pulled some demograph knocked on some doors and quite literally some people were checking their mails their mail and um nobody seems to know him a councilman except for you guys because none of them recognize me which works to my benefit um but what did come up was that if there's a way to preserve perhaps the oldest sections of the cabin maybe utilize them in reframe their purpose um maybe that I I love that stone structure that Earth and that actual round Stone part some of those that I see that maybe if that became you know and and again like just mentioning what people told me uh pickle ball fastest growing uh sport in America as they say um it's already a Fen in area if there was a dog park and you could have a pavilion there uh or you know they have that little area where at least if you kept the stone maybe you could have tables there maybe it could be something without the grand and undertaking of of that list that is currently on the website and as much as a lot of people like that cabin there's an argument for it and out of out of respect for the town out of respect for the cabin um to me it's 1957 that it was built I was born in 1968 I got brothers that are older than that cabin so I'm not sure I go the way word historic um seems to refer to as I looked it up today refers to an artifact or a document the word historical uh refers to a concept or idea and with that I um I just think the town may not there is certainly is there's certainly a group of people in the town who certainly seem to think that that is a project worth its Endeavor I'm not sure that that is the majority of what a town thinks and the commitment goes beyond getting it to the point getting it to the point is the start of the commitment and I almost think it would be a terrible tragedy to bring it to a higher level again and then at some point let it decline again because there's not an ongoing commitment to it and I think that that may be sadly something to be examined about that simply a concept got to say it out loud I asked the question to people so I have to give their answer thank you I I'll be a little bit more direct and I know a lot of people people are not going to like me for this and please don't egg the house um I remember when this proposition first came across our desk we purchased the cabin from the family not we I personally didn't but it was purchased by the burrow it was given to the county in a land swap so we could build a new electric substation because the substation flooded couple years later the county says this place is useless here take it back miltown and I remember telling Eric steber mayor steber at the time worst idea ever County doesn't give away something that has value okay most of all not to miltown um and to this day that cabin sits there as as a detriment I I understand the history I can appreciate it for the people who have ties to it but I see it as a future burden to the burrow of miltown I don't I see a closed building that may on occasion be opened for certain events to the extent of those I don't know I don't I don't foresee that building being a smart investment considering the limited resources that we as a burrow have we just talked about water rates tonight we've got electric rates that are going to go skyrocketing we've got roads to fix we've got a ton of stuff to do in this town and while I'd like to keep more of our history fact of the matter is we got to be selective we can't save everything and quite frankly it's been sitting for so many years with so much disrepair I thought the architect's report was pretty clear it is not a good candidate that's my opinion if it was up to me and I was the only one up here I'd say you know what thank you County we appreciate it I'm going to put a bronze plaque here tear it down expand the park make something more useful for everyone in town that's my personal opinion on it when I saw the report I thought well I guess I wasn't too far off I think we all need to take a step back and remove the emo from it and look at it for what it is well I'll say to people have said it's it's historic there because it was built 1958 well I was born in 1957 I don't consider myself historic and um I may be though um but I know that other people your wife that's true she's my age but but people have said we have to do it for the family but I believe like like councilman rinsky said the family sold the structure and and I like old things anybody knows me I like old things but uh you look at what what's cost effective and and it's not but there is there's a a park in in PAC and um it's it's similar to uh to uh some of our our Parks here they have an Old Log Cabin because the the town did what people want to do here and it's larger than ours they rebuilt the cabin they restored the cabin but the cabin has no use no one uses it and I've I've taken pictures if anyone wants to see and from the outside because it's because it's it's logs it doesn't look bad and if you look on the inside it doesn't look good but the whole structure had been redone but they had they had no real plan for it so there it sits as a main stay in in the park it looks nice on the outside not on the inside that's that my thoughts Peter I had one uh comment for old business uh the uh title search for the property over there um did we get any progress on that I I haven't got a response from the property owner Mr Burger but um as you guys know he's currently involved in the condemnation case so not sure that the train trestle is going to be at the Forefront of uh his attention right now I'll keep at him okay thank you you got it uh I'd like to close Old business uh any new business I've got one does any member of council have any new business to bring before Council thank you uh I'll piggy back on the title search that we were looking at for the train trestle over here and say um you know Wells Fargo just announced that it was closing the bank maybe about a month ago uh used to be wacovia before that when I had my first bank account it was a first Union um still remember the account number don't ask me how I forget everything else um but anyway I was wondering that because that uh those train tracks go through a portion of the Wells Fargo property would this be an tune time to ask I don't know if they're planning to sell it or or not I mean is it worth anyone else in this Council uh have an opinion I know we we looked at the train trestle as a means for providing pedestrian passage over mil Pond to try and get kids off of the bridge um with a safer route and everything but also to beautify downtown um this would be the other the other portion that other connecting piece which would be just basically from where the Wells Fargo if I'm not talking close enough apolog thank um if from where the Wells Fargo parking lot ends it starts to slope down and you have the train tracks through that run through there that's actually part of Wells Fargo that property with an easement through for the train track so I would think if someone says we can have the train track on this side it would behoove us to have the property as well to to work towards a path over there I I heard it's already been sold Mr molia have you heard anything and is is that going to have to go before planning board or what's that will this have the whole thing be have to go before the planning board if they knock it down or reconstruct it or it depends on what somebody wants to do if they want to reuse the the site for something that's a permitted use there um technically they probably need a site plan approval but whether or not they come in for one given what people generally do around here I don't know it would probably be the tax assessor though that would have been notified if there was a sale correct it could be pending I mean listen if we want I can I can check it I mean it's a real search at the county clerk's online records to see if somebody filed notice a settlement but I mean someone's just got to tell me they want me to look into that or you couldn't we just ask the tax and utility collector if somebody else put their name on the accounts that works but the question is whether or not it's I mean it's contract versus you know actually having closed title cled I had a mind to go in and talk to the manager but I thought again that you know I as a councilman probably shouldn't be talking to the bank manager about hey let's strike a deal um so I would usually Council against that yeah uh anyone else interested in finding out more well as far now okay then can we can is there a challenge of uh between the title search between Bridge we're looking over there you know that what about moving away from that replacing that Trestle and putting a bridge somewhere in between where the D DPW was I mean like it seems like it seems like there's not any kind of fast remedy on this title search right uh I mean I'm not getting a lot of movement from the person I sent it to no and there are open questions regarding it my question being more that um I guess actually probably goes more to use there would be that the idea of doing a doing a new bridge somewhere if that's where the TR where that where that Metal Bridge is what about going uh somewhere in between where the bookside is and where the uh old DPW is and doing a bridge that goes across there and ends up in that area behind the Dunkin Donuts area where we ran the new uh gravity sewer underneath mil Pond I was just wondering you could probably do something simpler maybe it doesn't have to be a massive Bridge maybe the span depending when you pick your spot could be smaller the simple idea being trying to do something in it's obvious we're not doing it this year and based on the relative speed of the title search I don't know we're doing it next year and maybe starting over from a clean Spa Clean Slate where at least it's there let's mark it out see if we can find a grant maybe we could Sid step um a friend of mine told me great phrase I like it plow around the Rock and if that title search is The Rock Let's go to the right yeah uh but it doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere with that anytime soon and it would be nice to say well we can do that and there's a grant available maybe even if it's more money but it doesn't have the same legal fees I think the issue is figuring out where the path's going to be because right now the the idea behind that was you had the old railroad siding which gave you the direct path along the siding Across The Trestle area probably via new Trestle uh back out to uh North Main Street uh you know I understand that there may be another place to do a Crossing but at that point you've got to figure out where the pedestrian access is through the parking lot uh over over the New Path and then into the back of Henry plaza where you'd need some sort of easement to get yourself back out to some public RightWay and between the in between bur Hall parking lot and the post office there is what I'll roughly say is 15 to 20 ft that is in between those two curbs just grass I'm just thinking out loud but that's part of that easement that's that's the proper with the with the Trestle property yeah so when you move closer to bookside um that that DPW that old concrete building that old concrete bad if that you know has to stay anyway where there's talk of that that could be a starting platform I'm just saying is that we're not really moving forward with any kind of we're not providing a service at this moment even though we're working towards it so maybe looking for an option okay just a thought I don't know if anybody who knows about that stuff looks at it and goes that might be a good spot and here's why I think it's a good conversation not what I'm qualified for okay have any idea what that would cost money you're asking the wrong guy mik for1 million actually designed many of these uh residential type Bridges complications with that property is your flood way that's really what you know as you folks know when the flood really gets raring that whole entire site is significantly inundated with water so your Bridge would have to be higher than that because your Bridge becomes a structur in flood plane so the bank property is probably high enough on the other side as you come down towards Burl Hall it's much lower so you'd have to and then you Ada access is required on top of everything else so it becomes a a very complicated thing to try and make work I would suggest that if you really are are serious about this that you come up with a concept plan uh to start looking at what alternatives you have there because you know um there's a lot of things that can be done uh but that particular particular piece of property is in What's called the flood way what that is is the the most restrictive uh District that the DP has with these streams and um you know it's not different than a report that was done in 1980 the flood elevations and floodway pretty much what was predicted so that's what you're having there but um you know when the flood report was done in the 80s the the drainage upstream was not completely developed and that's why you've had these storms in the last 50 years almost now so um but you know doesn't mean you can't do anything there there's ways of dealing with these flood elevations and you know how you deal with it is really something that takes some thought but uh certainly a bridge could be done it's just a matter of how much you really want to spend on it they they range anywhere from 50,000 to $750,000 depending on which type of bridges you we have one project going on right now where we have we're putting one in about 600 F feet long parallel to the parkway so yeah there's there's it can be done it's just a matter of you know where you're want to spend your money you know that property is uh has a lot of benefits and I think that I hear a lot of good ideas out here so maybe at some point you may want to start coming up with a concept plan and decide how you want to develop it thank you CL business okay I'd like to close new business all right open to the public the public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to council's attention their concerns or comments the council will respect the Public's Time by refraining from the any comment until the speaker has finished it should be further noted that this is a public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question and answer session please state your name and address for the record when you come to the podium just a reminder that under public public rules of council individuals wishing to speak during the public input part of the meeting shall be limited to 5 minute and may after others speak have finished to be allowed to speak for a second five minute period once someone raises their hand please come to the microphone and state your name and address for the record my name is danovic I live in North runs three time L Street um I'm here to just express my thanks to uh everyone who have helped me with my Eagle Scout project um if you don't know my Eagle Scout project was the installation of a sidewalk over at American region Pavilion from The Pavilion to the restrooms oh [Applause] nice it was a very big undertaking and I absolutely could not have done it by myself I want to thank uh Mr Nado he helped organize all the groups um without his help I would not have been able to find the people I need to to help me excavate form out uh you know for the concrete um I want to thank Mr Justin fenza for um the excavation if he didn't help us out we'd still be digging there by hand um I also wanted to thank uh Mr uh Mr Jim Snooks for providing forms and also providing his team to help us out with the concrete um you know all these things really came together and it really worked out and I'm proud of it and I hope everyone you know makes of it thank Dan as a Dan as a father of an eagle scout thank you and and good luck toward your towards your Eagle Scout I'm staring at our scout master and Lead Crow of human not just people in this room I I'm sorry West B thank you we love with people here some this been some wonderful projects for our Scouts and continue to do it guys congratulations um I'm here actually at station man I remind people that um this year candidat for is going to be on the 25th of this month 2th how can we have a candidate form when there's only one party with candidates that's it's against the ordinance ordinance all right it's let's take this offline Peter can we have a discussion afterwards please discuss what discussion what discussion nothing ilal we've done before just one there's only two candidates on B corre and the state issued him a $200,000 fine for what there's nobody else you can't excuse me I'm talking hang on okay John please okay thank you finish please this not the first time we've only have one party show up but there's nothing to do with Pary I've said that for the last 25 years has to do with candidates what I have two candidates five candidates 12 care about every set has nothing to do with your Democrat ask people hearing what each has to say the same questions people I was just about to say but besides the people from press are coming everybody including everybody up here welcome to come ask questions that's what we do that's what we do to find out you know especially if it's somebody rerunning or somebody running the first time it doesn't matter I don't care if there's 20 candidates it has to do with doing the right thing and the right thing is is people he candidates think about well it's okay there's nothing at that before Russ what time is it at you just gave the date I'm sorry oh the time is 7:30 at right here 25th um same exact same thing we always do I ask in fact I encourage people to come here before by round before have sheets ask the questions and unless it's something toally inappropriate you know taing somebody or asking about somebody's personal thing we always ask as many questions as we can and I mean I can't control who's on the does not up to me all right we just we always do as a function of the station and it's reporting and recording what people say that's it what we're doing okay look at that's big nothing to do with I mean I anybody would get upset about it except that you know that's what we do all right that's what I say it wasn't say B can can you make sure that's plugged in cuz you're not picking up very well what can you check the wire in the back while you're up there this oh this is not on great okay that was great who turn it off again turned it back on before it wasn't me okay so that's very simple I mean know we try and do everything the right way guys you know keep things consistent as we can am I perfect when we do this I've been doing a long time you all know me you know I do what we can to make it as Fair as we can every year whether it's 10 people running a four or six or or two different races doesn't matter we always try and do what we can to get people informed and that's it it's not usually going to be the deciding factor but it does help people know a little bit more about who they're voting for and that's really all it's about honest that's it no more no less that's the only reason we do it any other reason would be a joke and I don't want it to become a j joke okay that's why I'm here that's why we do it that's why I have people helping me try and get it done right thank you good evening mayor and bur Council my name is Mary Ellen schwendeman Davis and I live at 119 South Main Street behind schwendeman Taxidermy Studio I'm deeply grateful for the community support of the schwendeman Center and for the ongoing assistance from Ralph and the Department of Public Works I'm here to request the release of Grant funds designated in 2016 for schwender and nature center at 120 Kofa Avenue to make the necessary repairs my family has deep roots in miltown with over 150 years in town and a century in the Taxidermy business My Father David J schwender gained National Acclaim for work with the Museum of Natural History in New York City bringing Prestige to our family business on South Main Street in the field of Taxidermy my grandparents began our Taxidermy business at 119 South Main Street and displayed many of their works of art in the log cabin on ktha Avenue which they built in the 1950s with the help of family and friends this cabin set on 2.6 Acres adjacent to Albert Avenue Park is an ideal location for Nature Center Taxidermy is more than a preservation technique it's an educational tool that enhances our understanding of Wildlife and inspires conservation efforts schwendeman Nature Center will be a beacon of Environmental Education fostering a deeper appreciation for nature we are incredibly Fort we are incredibly fortunate in miltown to have this meaning meaningful space for the Nature Center which reflects our community's commit for commitment for preserving and celebrating our National Heritage natural heritage sorry growing up in this environment inspired me to become a biology and environmental science teacher I've witnessed firsthand how eager students are to learn about nature yet sources are often limited the Nature Center will fill this Gap and provide invaluable educational o opportunities the LA cabinet 120 Kofa Avenue designated a wendan Nature Center has been a labor of love for my family the $13,000 Grant or what's left of it awarded in 2016 was intended for its restoration unfortunately progress has been delayed and maintenance has been neglected recent architectural reports indicate that additional work is now required due to the neglect and vandalism since the first report in 2017 despite these Challen challenges I am confident that with your support we can restore this important resource I urge the council to approve the release of the grant funds designated for structural repairs to bring schwender and nature center to fruition many community members including myself are ready to assist in any way possible let us remember that Mother Nature has no political affiliations thank you for your consideration I'm Barbara W from 38 Harrison Avenue um member of the environmental commission and the historical society and the historical preservation committee and the library board um but I'm here mostly uh to speak in support of the Nature Center uh when I was a teacher in miltown schools I was the head of the Green Team for the school and I know that children learn from nature a lot of kids um kids have different kinds of intelligences and different interests and and an interest in nature and in environmentalism is is something that really reaches kids and and to have a nature center in miltown would be such a benefit to the community for the future of the community and the future of our planet because this is how you learn to respect nature and to care about the world um I know a lot lot about the schwinderman family the this flag miltown flag was was designed by Lillian schwinderman and she uh carried it in the parade every year um maybe a different model of it but she designed that flag her family goes back to the 1850s uh in miltown a idus winderman and and then then he lived on Washington Avenue but then the family eventually moved to Main Street where they started the Taxidermy business uh I know that the Taxidermy uh the Log Cabin was visited over the years because I have been here my whole life my mother's been here our family goes way back um that that Lillian schwinderman and her husband Arthur uh welcomed everyone to come learn about nature at that studio the the home was also filled with Taxidermy at the time and and they welcomed people to come and people like would feed the Ducks and they'd visit they had a teepe on the premises it was it was it's been just a gem for miltown and and I know that the architect's report is negative and there are things that um it says are un unfeasible or whatever but the log cabin itself is okay it needs repairs but Mary Ellen does know people who can make some of these repairs there are there are repairs that can be made for for not as much money as the architect thinks there's ways to do it um and it should be done it should be done for miltown um the the Log Cabin itself the architect report said it's the the rooms aren't feasible for meeting but they're they're good for display they're good for display of different nature items that people could learn from the um the large building in the back you don't need the deck you can take the deck down that's that's a quest that we don't need to repair um the upstairs we don't need an elevator because the people don't have to go upstairs um the the to get from The Log Cabin into the ground floor of that other building I think maybe only one step that could probably be ramped for for handicap accessibility and like you said Geor you could have a band that would be handicap accessible I don't think it's that some of the repairs can be done cheaper than what the Architects report is I think it should be saved thank you good evening Richard Ryan 60 South Main Street thank you councilman pansy I appreciate that um I'll speak to you after the meeting um with regard to the shanan property I'd like to offer my own perspective I think that it's a piece of property first of all let's get it factually established as to what happened um because I believe that's important and no matter what anybody thinks the piece of property is worth or not I sat in on those negotiations as did mayor Murray and it was always part of the negotiation that we as a governing body were going to obtain that property from the schendan family in order to relocate the electrical utility and as part of that we would then offer it back as Green Acres to replace the piece that the county gave to us knowing that the county was going to then deed that piece of property back to us and it matters not what anybody thinks it's worth the fact is it was part of the negotiation because it was the best way that we collectively thought at the time we could solve many problems and it was no small undertaking as I'm sure everybody understands having said that if we think about where we exist right here uh this section of Main Street and the blighted properties that nobody does anything about nobody not this Council not the one before it not the one before it the piece of property across the street from my house I believe was 2002 or four it exploded nothing's been done zero including the council I sat on dare I say we were a little busy doing some other important things though as I'm sure you guys are however the schwendiman property is a piece of property that can be saved and sure there's cost in it but it can be saved and I think it would be prudent to look at it as such that no matter the cost involved it's available it's existing there's cooperation from the community with regard to trying to achieve that as opposed to some of these other properties that maybe your hands are a little tied on um so I appreciate other perspectives um but I think that there's greater benefit in the end uh if there's a collective effort to try and resolve what the issues are with this particular piece of property um it's not Out Of Reach and I'd also like to point out that um you know there's cost in everything and I don't want to pay any more than anybody else wants to pay but it's a little bit disingenuous to sit up here and discuss issues of cost and how we have to pinch pennies and save money because of this that and the other thing and at the same time raise Water and Sewer rates talk about raising electrical rates and then spend another Million Dollar on a fire engine thank you Michael sakarin 19 y Al Avenue um I'll just say just one or two things about the schwander property I think what's said has has been said and I I think it's valid and I'm a proponent of saving the property myself um one of the things that came up was Green Acres um just to point out for the those of you who know about Green Acres you should know that Green Acres that that program doesn't really care about prop they don't really care about structures they care about green land is what they care about and so if you get a structure on that then you know it's your thing um don't expect to get support from the Green Acres Program to help you with that sort of thing so so if we have a conviction to do something about a piece of property a structure on that property then that's our responsibility and that's our interest and with regard to that there's discussions about whether this particular law cabin etc those structures are historic or historical and we can look back at when it was built and how whether it's old enough to be considered historical but I think from what we've heard this evening um what's underscored is that historical has to do with context is what it has to do with and and whether there's there's context with with regard to how that plays a role with the history of the buau and the people in the buau and and I think that if one is going to do a historical evaluation like the State Historical preservation office those are the kinds of things they're looking for does it tell a story that has to do with particular municip ality particular family Etc okay so now I'd like to switch gears and um Talk um with a haton uh regarding the Lawrence Brook Watershed partnership and the fact that we have a couple um events that are coming up they're coming up very soon actually so um um we just uh set up a banner at our headquarters there advertising our 21st annual uh water wheels bicycle Tool tour of the Lawrence Brook Watershed which is going to be taking place um this coming Sunday the 15th it's a 26- mile ride um at at an easy pace and there'll be Refreshments provided we start at the headquarters make a loop um throughout the Watershed and then come back to the headquarters so I want to let you all know about that we really encourage people to join us and last year we had it we had to we had to change dates a couple times because the weather was so bad it right now it looks really good for Sunday it was like four or five times last year I remember you guys kept coming up to so bad yeah um and we have another um uh item that I'd like to um announce as well and that is on the 17th which is a week from tomorrow we're going to be having a meeting the Lawrence Brook Watershed partnership meeting at the senior center um and that's going to take place at um 700 p.m. uh Mr Herve barer who's a biologist and a lifelong naturalist um and a leader of the Native Plant Society locally is going to be giving a talk about um a an app called I naturalist where you can go ahead and um go to Natural areas and and by using this app you can find out you know what the various plants and animals are around you and then it's recorded in I naturalist as as a database for other people to be able to recognize so it should be um very interesting um meeting um the title is documenting local Wildlife with the I naturalist app using the lawence brook Watershed as an example um and then I guess just just to close up uh the Lawrence Brook Watershed partnership will have a table at miltown day um on September 28th as well okay so thank you very much for your attention thank you Micha thank you anybody else DAV R act 322 South Main Street um I just want to Echo what um has been said here about the schwamman cabin about the the real Community Support that is um rooting for it and for its preservation um I know part of the um New Jersey historic preservation uh when they put out their top 10 list something they look for is um unique characteristics and as he was saying um um how it contributed to the town and I think there's no doubt that this cabin um has contributed to the town that the family has contributed to the town and it is the only lot cabin in town so it's technically if you want to think about it that way it's it's architecturally significant in in town as being the only handbuilt Log Cabin by a miltown family in town so that that's something important to uh to consider um something else I want to talk about is uh three people have been hit by cars this year so far if I'm not mistaken I understand that there is U more enforcement by police and stuff but we need to you all need to do more than just enforce it we can put as many signs up and have as many cops out there pulling people over for trying to not yielding to pedestrians but we we need smart engineering on the roads I know speed bumps are out but speed humps are in or even speed speed tables um it may be inconvenient to the DPW but it it's it's Public Safety we have to put our kids first and when we put our kids first then we put our seniors first and we put our families first and we put all all all mil Towners first so I think that's important to uh to consider um one other thing I know we've been uh there's been discussion about the flags and all um the state of the flags that are out here right now are are it it's pretty pathetic right now they're all faded and for people who say that you know we support the flag and everything they walk by it coming in here for these meetings and they haven't changed the flags so just a thought thank you thank you Joe deer um sixth Cary drive and I wasn't planning on speaking tonight um I've only been a resident of miltown since 1984 so I'm not a a you just got here yeah I just learn my way around uh but there's two things an observation I made the other day coming up over the bridge uh towards Duncan Donuts and the flashing light there's a lady looking across the street maybe with her child I must have seen three or four cars just go right through there MH if there's a way that we could put some kind of police action there to to stop that because you need to make an example of that um and secondly as far as schwinderman I saw it today for the first time again I didn't know it was there I mean I always knew the store on South Main but not the cabin what do we want miltown to be another Suburban development like North Brunswick or strip shopping centers like East Brunswick this is something very unique to this town I'm from Bucks County originally which is very rich in tradition of from history from William pen to the Civil to the Revolutionary War um and there's things to go visit this could be a really unifying project for miltown volunteerism could be resurrected through Community organizations we could reach out to Ruckers University for their expertise in what some of the uh development Sciences we need there but I think it's it makes miltown unique and it's worth exploring and saving as best we can that's it good night no one else she's got back hello I'm Katherine DeStefano I live at 16 Garver Avenue so you know why I'm here I hope they save your place I really do I've been here since 1980 and it has changed I get there's a lot of rentals I'm on Garver so I would like to invite those Richie I'm sorry if I use your first names and Frank and the mayor came and saw the situation on Garver Avenue I've been almost rended three times when I tried to turn into my street my daughter-in-law who lives next door to me was almost hit on with somebody zooming around the corner if there's a fire it's during the day I'm good to go if it's at night not so much because these cars park erratically they're not residents there's four houses on Garver Avenue four there could be 15 to 16 cars on the street they're from Main Street I'm not condemning Main Street people they chose to buy that house they have a driveway that they don't use they park there I get it's a pain in the neck to drive to try to get out on Main Street that was their choice I don't want my grandchildren that are at my house all the time that are playing that we have to put signs out to say don't come around they're coming around to Ben they don't live there I they're and I'm sorry to say they feel entitled and I don't think they should be so thanks for your time and I would like to say if you would like to come and see Garver Avenue after 5:00 I'm like Motel 6 I'll leave the light on and and enjoy and you can see what it looks like thank you so much no one else okay I will close the public comment portion of the meeting Council comments is is there anything further that anyone on the council would like to bring up at this time I would if anyone wants to go first I'd like to go last speak I'll go well all right um I did hear um there's quite a few people talking tonight uh one person mentioned uh Main Street and some of the blight that we have there um this specifically is one of the reasons why we are trying to get a vacant lot ordinance passed Council to get those cleaned up am I not no not across on now you want me to talk again I'll do it again we're trying to get this vacant lot ordinance passed for that very reason is that when I drive down Main Street it doesn't look like the main street that it was when I was a kid and they're it's just a mess and so we got to do something about these absentee landlords and these absentee property owners who just don't seem to care about the condition they've made miltown um number two I'm sure there is probably a huge line of people that just want to come down to miltown day and give me a tremendous hug I won't be there um got plans with the kids and sorry they come first I know Phil you're happy um and I want to say uh I do appreciate everyone coming forth and saying something about the schwen and cman I'm not going to backtrack on on what I said I do feel that way I think that the building is not in not a good candidate for for repair um but that's not to say that I'm against a uh a nature center I think that you know like when I say a bronze plaque I mean let's start fresh I'm talking about put a plaque here let's start fresh let's build a new cabin that looks like but when I see the amount of work that that cabin needs and then you've got the structure adjacent to it trying to pull that down to me it's like a nope level it let's start fresh I I see the vision I just think there's a different way to go about it um that's it that's all I got I hope that everyone joins us for September 23rd it's going to be a very exciting meeting uh especially as we talk about water rates and electric rates so stay tuned can I go you anybody on that side going yeah I uh Mr Mayor I just want to let um you and the council and all the residents know that it's with sadness to report that we lost a former councilman this past weekend uh former councilman Bill Diner passed away this last weekend and our thoughts and prayers go out to the diner family yes uh i' just like to thank Rich Ryan for also being the president of the was it the board of adjustment Rich for many years you were on the president you did a just a great job I I mean I was I looked up to you for that and I'd also like to say yeah I'd like to see the Shan cabin done and you know we're going to have to look outside the box to get this project done because it's not it's you know takes a lot of people to get involved and to do this even though you know people say you can't be done you know you have to believe anything can be done I'd also like to say that uh as for the candidate Forum um I am the council yison and I have to sign off on that so I kind of see it's a little inconsiderate Mr einbinder to come up here and announce the candidates for him without consulting the uh Council aison so I would ask that he refrain from doing that until it's signed off on because I believe that's in new ordance Mr B which I'll speak to you after the meeting of out look at coun that concludes my comments councilman rinsky this one's for you I'd like to thank councilman rinsky for his six years of dedicated service to the town as he's told us he's leaving Council after this term and uh I'd also like to although shy he leaves a legacy of speaking which I believe he truly enjoys having grasp the element the elemental constructs of issues in the town raying his thoughts to the residents I believe the council and I share the same virt in regards to service and stepping up to be a guiding force people have asked me why why do you care so much for strangers and my answer is always the same I don't see miltown Neighbors as strangers I see them as family the same way I see our country I believe in American exceptionalism in miltown exceptionalism I know the councilman rinsky feels the same this is a quote from Mark Twain the two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why um I have a couple other things I'll make it short this is for our our burough clerk I'd like to recognize and congratulate our burough clerk Monica Orlando for surviving to celebrate one year of service to miltown on September 1st I know her effic efficiency dedication loyalty and smarts makes my job easier the mayor understanding her importance as a team player asked her to make a list of her duties to the town I was surprised not by what she provides but how much she provides again I would like to express my gratitude to M Miss Orlando and I will ask that she stay as long as I am here I app as I appreciate her guidance thank and the last thing I'd like to talk about is um is 911 because it is coming up and uh and it's um Monica's son's birthday I'd like to speak about the upcoming 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on American soil for airplane took off that day as scheduled American Airline flight 11 American Airlines flight 77 United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines flight 175 flights 11 and 175 crashed into the World Trade Center North and South Towers in lower Manhattan the first at 8:46 and the second at 903 Flight 93 despite the heroic efforts of the passengers crashed in Stony Creek Township PA it was Todd Beamer's Immortal words let's roll that led the charge to try to thwart the hijackers that fateful day it was the passengers heroism that inspired Americans since that terrible day flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon destroying large parts of it the worst attack ever on American soil claimed 2977 lives that day 2753 died at the World Trade Center 184 people died at the Pentagon 40 people died in the Pennsylvania crash site it was also the greatest single day loss for emergency workers with 441 First Responders killed including 343 Brave firefighters please never forget this day and the poor souls lost on that day and I'm done thank you hold second here um I guess uh been here about nine months now eight months whatever this is uh what I do notice for miltown vaguely regarding the Swinderman cabin vaguely regarding safety vaguely regarding everything in miltown that we all want for this town and what it all comes down to on many levels is that we just we just don't seem to have have the funding to do the things we want to do there's clearly unified goals people get here all the time and they know what they want and we all want it and if we just had a cash drawer to go to we could do it we'd love to uh sometimes I know there are a few of us we could be a little staunch we can be a little bit like it's what it is and that's not a great answer and we're not happy with that answer we may deliver it with a Stern face but realistically it's not what we want to deliver um I've used it reference of we're not going to Disney this year someone's got to say that sometimes and that pains me I would like to note that fiscally miltown has not been great at managing their finances For What appears to be a long time I say long time because it does seem that seems what to be what it is and I don't have anyone to blame but we got a lot of people who probably tried and sometimes uh you know like pluging holes in a dam there's only so much that can be done I respect you know the whole concept and I get the attachment to the Swinderman to the building itself and I understand too growing up in that time and being part of that and in the same respect you know knowing the people who are building that house and your parents and the friends of your parents and everybody meeting there and going over my cousin's house and you know we were you know building a shed putting it together the old grown-ups did and the kids sat there and played but we were part of it and there was a sense that we could do anything together and I get where where that's a very precious thing what concerns me is uh if you ever see somebody open a restaurant that worked a lot of restaurants not all of them were good not all of them were bad um and not all of them deserve to be to stay open as long as they did but what you find is that at the grand opening a thousand relatives showed up and everybody in town came and everybody was there to cut a ribbon and go it's going to be great it's going to be great and once it was there and open they all went back to their lives and 3 years later there's just a few people struggling to maintain that and I ask that at least if uh the environmental and and commission and everybody involved in this can be cognizant of the idea that getting it to one point is one thing what happens after that is an ongoing expense that there won't be people there to volunteer for I mean our DPW is under staffed every year they hire four people to go out and weed whack and somewh help and for those four people after a couple 102 degree days which we've had I think 21 of them this Summer they go work at Target um and and when I say that we can't pay them enough and they don't want to and where in a town can we find a way to manage all of that if you walk by the we got some nice buildings in town I walk my dog every day uh there's a lot of things that aren't weed whacked like you go to Cranford and you're walking around you walk by whatever it is it's the back of it's the back of City Hall and it's manicured you go into other towns and I see everything clean it's just Manpower we don't have it and we only have have the space to put people into that department let alone the money for it in a time frame because of the constraints of the way budget laws written for a town and I uh sometimes I follow the money CU that's where the answer is that sometimes where the problem is um I'd love to sure make the Swinderman Place into something wonderful maybe we have to be realistic and morph the idea of what it was and what we want it to be and find something in the middle that may not involve a lot of renovation but still be a nature center and I mentioned that as an idea of at some point push comes to shove does the answer become yes or no or does the answer become you know what let's you want a nature center let's keep some of the building let's find a way to do that let's let's make retaining walls out of that brick that those Boulders like let's do something but it may it may involve compromise and the other thing I have noticed that's not what is great you know not one of the things that I think uh our town has been great at is compromise and trying to come together with a plan that's reasonable for everybody and over the next year or two uh I think that's something we need to work on maybe over the next three decades who knows not a bad plan sorry for talking so long but my heart's in the right place uh I know a couple of us that are a little Brazen a little loud heart you're in the right place so bear that in mind and uh kindness tempered with wisdom is a a goal doesn't always come out right I'm a little Italian sorry have a great day thank you I'd like to close Council comments uh my comments um I would like to take a minute to thank council president revolinsky for standing in for me while I was away on personal matters thank you I appreciate it immensely um I would like to thank two miltown businesses Justin florenza and Jim schnook for helping me out while I was not able to be in town for personal reasons uh Justin and Jim and their teams helped out me personally um and also assisting voice Scout Troop 33 Eagle Scout project by assisting the Boy Scouts with digging out the areas and pouring concrete when I was not in State uh local businesses uh that make miltown great when someone needs assistance with something they don't hesitate to jump in and help someone out so thank you very much for both of them tonight you heard the first reading of the water and sewer rate ordinances they were introduced because of political games on both parties to keep the rates artificially low and safe face to the residents well this is the outcome of that because there was no planning for the future and infrastructure improvements there was no uh um uh worrying about the increases from more suppliers and helping offset NeverEnding uh increases um we need to focus on planning for the future for our residents and not just look for their votes uh we need as Council and Mayors past future we need to look at that and we need to focus on the Burrow's infrastructure because our infrastructure infrastructure structure is falling apart and we need to focus on that uh we have uh our bur attorney and our bur engineer that help us uh greatly with that but it's just mayor and councel and future councils that actually has to take a stand and get stuff done uh so now it's my turn to keep my mouth shut so at this time I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second second I have a motion made by councilman Collins seconded by councilman moo all in favor any opposed thank you got the planning board