##VIDEO ID:ZPOCGcISKtg## session to order roll call please mayor romic here commissioner huitt here vice mayor sui here commissioner Watson here commissioner Bell present do we have a pastor I don't think so I didn't get any no okay may we please all stand to salute the flag I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all this meeting is being conducted in accordance with the Oakland Public's meeting Act of 1975 was advertised posted and made available to the public as required by Statute the municipal clerk is directed to include a statement in the minutes of this meeting Madam clerk are there any changes to the agenda uh yes mayor we had two so we had the addition of resolution item number 13 authorizing the city to enter into a contract purchase order with riting Group Incorporated and also the addition of resolution item number 14 to provide notice of non-renewal of the milville municipal airport ground lease thank you madam clerk any presentations uh no mayor make a motion we pay the bills second motion I have a motion second to pay the bills any comments roll call please commissioner huitt vice mayor SEI yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes okay motion carries make a motion to approve and dispense with a uh reading of the following minutes and proceed with the regular order of business September 17th 2024 work session September 17th 2024 regular meeting September 17th 2024 special session for demolition hearing second a motion we have a motion in a second to approve and dispense of the minutes roll call commissioner he yes vice mayor sui abstain commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor ramc yes motion carried public comment on agenda items only we have now reached the public comment portion please come to the podium state your name address and address your comments on agenda items only please limit your comments to approximately five minutes thank you good evening Patricia kier's 409 Pete's drive um I have a question on resolution number three um for Premier Orthopedics was this for 2023 Services look like I think we amended that we extended it in 24 so if we extended for last year sure here that was the I'm trying to think remember if we extended that contract into 24 they did get an additional contract for this year but I believe it said these were for services provided in 2023 says it was a on yeah here we go got it am yeah it is for 2023 for 2023 is there some reason it's taken 10 months to get the bill and is this money taken out of this year's budget or is it taken out of taken out of this year's um last year's budget from the um Surplus it would be taken out of this year's budget from where I don't the account is on the certification of fund so whatever it says there it should have an account number I believe that you have the account number with the certification of funds where exactly that falls I don't know which account that falls under off the top of my head yeah I know treasury permits inspections police fire streets and Roads parks and playgrounds and courts so it's coming from everywhere cuz it applies to every Department right but I'm just curious to why it took 10 months um I just could have been a late bill it could have been something somebody missed somewhere and then my next question is on resolution number five um for purchases of vehicles I guess therefore for for the police department no they're for the construction Department they're for the construction Department correct if I if I can add Mr K uh they're for the construction department just like now the construction department has brand new vehicles sitting up yes they're coming to us the vehicles we now have they're coming to the police department the old the turn of the Year from the ones that we purchased last um September yes this is going to be the same thing as the year runs through these vehicles that were purchased in now will become the police departments we have funding in the construction department so they use them for a year and we get them they're not part of the police budget they are not part of the police budget no okay why same with the ones we have now I'll exp I'll explain it to you so the construction department has a budget the money they get for construction has to be spent in the construction department for permits so that way they get new cars every year and at the end of that time they can get rid of the old cars and the old cars now we're with police vehicles so that we can give them to the police department and avoid the cost of bonding for three or four vehicles that's why we're doing it okay so the magic trick okay um my next question is on resolution number six for the electrical repairs um is this part of the expansion of the sewer and the sewer department is this part of that expansion or whatever it is we're doing clarifiers no no okay so it's separate what exactly is the electric what exactly is this is that the yes yeah I can so s at city park the main basketball courts lot of lights don't work yeah we have nine out right now Mrs K we can handle in-house certain electrical capabilities at this point we need a true contract electrician to handle those specific electrical needs okay so the buildings and grounds it's mostly the grounds I see there's three of them so there's three correct three sites okay I'm sure he'll be a electrical contractor through you know yes as as it's stated to water utility and public properties okay and that's all I'll bother you for tonight thank you thank you Mrs Kars seeing no one else I will close the public comment on agenda items only petitions and letters okay I just need a motion to receive and file a letter received from Laurel Lake Property Owners Association showing opposition to the potential designation of block 141 lot one as an area in need of Redevelopment make a motion second a motion we have a motion and a second on petitions and letters item number one any comments excuse me roll call please commissioner he yes vice mayor Sue yes commissioner Watson commissioner Bello yes mayor Ram yes hey motion carries reports of Commissioners commissioner huitt uh food giveaway might be jumping on commissioner rell's no absolutely toes but uh I'll be out there along with a couple of our our police we always there as community policing uh this Friday starts at 10: and it's about it thank you commissioner Watson I got the report from the streets and Roads Department for September uh 47 tires were collected 13 appliances were collected 258 electronic waste was received 4,375 bags of loose leaves and grass clippings were received 252 street sweeping tickets were written 231 tons of loose brush was collected uh catch Bas and Repair on 2415 shelburn Avenue was or some road was complete catch base and Repair on Drive was complete uh last year when last year um loose leaves has been screened and stockpiled for fresh compost streets and Roads should have been done brush collection for 2024 uh by the end of the week uh residents can start placing loose leaves out to uh curb the last two weeks of this month loose leaves collections begin on November 1st if anyone has any questions or concerns please contact TR and R department 856 825 7000 extension 7 388 that's all I have thank you thank you commissioner Watson commissioner Ral yes uh we had a busy weekend in milville uh on Saturday the milville public library had its ribbon cutting ceremony uh and that was really well attended by the public uh as well as mayor romic and I are County Commissioners assemblymen and Senate ATT test over there I believe approximately 250 to 300 people were in attendance uh great turnout after the ribbon cutting we held the annual baby show in Corson Park we had 58 contestants and we want to congratulate all the winners and recognize our new little Miss milville 2024 and new Mr milville 2024 uh Milani Carson and Liam Clark also want to thank Wade lman of bully p management and mistri City 2024 Lexi Elton for judging The Baby Show alongside me uh regarding Department updates we're currently working on our last cut of city- owned properties uh want to give a big shout out and uh thanks to the parks department for keeping up with the grass cutting all year long some updates on activities and events Holly City walking Club started back up tonight uh it'll take place every Tuesday and Thursday 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and less otherwise noted uh the walking will take place at Lakeside Middle School uh please enter the front of the school and please remember if school is closed there will be no walking um this Saturday October 5th at 11:00 a.m. we're going to have an official ribbon cutting for the newly painted basketball courts at Waltman Park uh if you haven't seen them already uh this is the time to see them they're pretty amazing rare caus has put a lot of work into this we're excited about this project and we can't wait to celebrate with everybody uh it's October 1st it wouldn't be October without Halloween decorations we're accepting registrations for our annual Halloween decorating contest so if you'd like to register your home or business please email Recreation milville nj.gov and if you have any questions uh about any of these events please contact the milville recreation department 856 825 7000 extension 7394 that's all I have thank you mayor thank you commissioner vice mayor suie yes first of all a couple weeks ago I had the police respond to my house I'll get into specifics with that later when we talk about non- camping ordinance uh but I want to thank all those that were involved they did a great job and uh if you're ever going to have your firearm out and find it necessary to call the police make sure that you tell dispatch yeah and I'll explain all that later uh secondly nav Avenue uh received work from the county two weeks ago that they hadn't picked an engineer yet for design they still haven't picked an engineer yet uh I'd be anxious to hear from other candidates for those those offices we thir one come in here and speak on to where they are with a NAB Avenue expansion and perhaps if they won they could speed things up so I'll be reaching out to them later and perhaps they can come to the next meeting and let us know I mean that would only be fair the one guy running came here and told us but nothing's moving at a very fast pace and it needs to speed up other than that we received we opened the bids today for the wastewater treatment upgrades to the clarifier the numbers are really good once they verify everything I'll have those numbers for you at the next meeting it's pretty good news all the way around and with that progress thank you vice mayor uh before I forget Piggyback in off of what uh commissioner Rella has says Halloween uh to the public that has already started decorating thank you I like seeing them during the day um I do not like scary movies at all but I like seeing our all the houses decorate especially the one uh house I believe right on East Pine Street um I saw them decorating they always do a fantastic job job um on East Pine Street had to pull up the map um regarding to fifth floor it is a reminder that we are in October which serves as a heat reminder for our landlords um from October 1st to May 15th rental units need to have heat in good working order for occupied units um I'm sure all the landlords you know of all these rules um about uh being a landlord to your constituents events that has happened in the past two weeks I attended the cut International Film Festival that the the city of mville proudly supports here at our Moville Levoy um Bill Horn and his team uh does an excellent job with promoting this there's over 31 countries that submitted films short films um it's a reminder that this event is free to the public every year I hear I hear that the public never knows about it we don't push it out enough I find that hard to believe but this is where I I hear all the information all the time um it it is truly a wonderful event to go to this is now the second year I think don't quote me second year we've done this um and it's growing every year so I hope to see more of the public out there next year um it's a truly unique and wonderful experience that the city of milville with uh the cut International Film Festival has to go on um speaking about elections I supported recently mayor vinin Anthony fucci um milville and Vinland have a good working relationship um between myself and the mayor of Vinland and I look forward to it uh continuing in the future I would like to congratulate Miss Holly City Victoria spinski um she has a very difficult name to pronounce uh but I was fortunate enough and honored to be a judge for this year's Miss Holly city um I was one of six judges we had a broader range of Judges from local mile residents to as well as vinent judges and uh it was uh very enlightening very different to be on the judging side I remember being as a a high school student and going to this uh it's now a $10 donation to be audience member for Miss Holly City just goes to support um you know project graduations and so on for the seniors it was a good attendance um from that night I was just as shocked you know as being a judge I was shocked for top five who was top five and I was shocked who became Miss H City she was my top three but I was not if I was a betting man I was not betting on her um so congratulations it's a very unique and interesting process congratulations to all the participants that did uh compete in Miss Holly City it was wonderful to hear uh all your interviews um during that Thursday night ordinances in the second reading okay so there's just one which is ordinance amending mville code chapter 52 police regulations so as to enact new article 10 prohibited camping make motion second second motion either that things closer the work on we have a motion and second on ordinances in the second reading there's a public hearing regarding this I will now open the public hearing on ordinance in the second reading item number one please come to the podium state your name address and concerns about this ordinance see you no one I will close public hearing I will open public hearing I was going to wait oops now I did it help's coming I don't think this microphone fits that ho anyway make sure it's on Joanna okay we're good C we're good um my name is Tom McGinty and I took the liberty of running around the city and looking into the some of the homeless situation um I'm going to kind of include vagrants with homeless because the homeless in some cases don't get a fair Shake but be that as it may I went and took pictures of all the sites around milville that homeless and vagrants are congregating in and it's deplorable um I've heard a lot of complaints from citizens business owners I've been uh around businesses in milville I try to shop at milville places I try to go to milville uh different you know events uh I probably have been around every square inch of milville at 1 point or another so um I get to see a lot of stuff here and there and um there's a lot of pictures um if you go on Facebook it's Thomas McGinty photo.com on Facebook Facebook and there's all the pictures are there they won't be up long because there was some outcry about me putting pictures up of you know the homeless camps and so forth and so on but my name's Tom ainty um I hope I'm speaking on minds of uh many milans and I put a lot of time and energy in the last month since I found out about the drafting of this ordinance so if it takes me a little longer to get the point across um you know please have a little latitude um I did my homework to the best of my ability in a short time some statements aren't in line with my opinions and in compiling this presentation I can only rely on what others are telling me and information that's truthful and accurate so in case you don't know in June the Supreme Court ruled that people without homes can be arrested fine for sleeping in public spaces overturning a lower CT Court ruling in Oregon which stated that the penalization of homeless on public property was unconstitutional many locations suffering from homeless problems and illegal alium problems where they arrive with nowhere to live is an issue Oregon's huge homeless population was also becoming a health and sanitation problem conditions in milville are no different similarly milville City had to remove a fountain uh and some other um I'll just say uh secondary use type of things because people were breathing in there living in there um people were living in a dumpster behind a local restaurant uh as well as many other things that were getting easily repurposed um some people don't see homelessness as a problem uh from their standpoint young who have other priorities or they're unemployable for a whole bunch of reasons uh like the adventure of living like a gypsy or a nomad and it of often goes hand inand with drug use and other factions factors sorry that I'll mention the counterculture of the 60s SE drugs rock and roll mentality of their parents may play a part in the shaping of the mindset of the homeless and vagrant individuals and today's society they don't want to get off the streets there isn't a lot a municipal a municipality can do unless they make the conditions on their streets through law enforcement unpleasant to these individuals drug use I don't you know don't have to tell you but addiction crime homelessness all go hand inand um tragically people are urged by their inner need to feed their addiction rather than to spend money that they get through what employment they can find panhandling dealing and muing drugs for dealers are crime alcoholism same same thing it's a struggle um some people can't drive because they've had DUIs some people won't hire them because they had DUIs where they're unreliable to come to work in a nutshell um some people are you know on the street and they get inebriated so bad or have fall out that um they wind up getting picked up by our um emergency services and so forth sometimes when it's cold the same thing they'll commit a crime or do whatever uh to get indoors as a means to get out of foul weather extreme temperatures um and it's day in and day out out same people it's recurrent um you know depression um some people have lost the want to strive to thrive and their initiative is gone so uh living indoors is no longer p a priority and they find themselves Outdoors camping or just sleeping on a blanket somewhere psychosis this is the sad part there are many many people with serious health issues the de institutional de institutional you know what I'm saying they did away with people going into mental health institutes and so forth they wound up in prisons now they're cut out of the prisons because we're trying to empty our prisons apparently they go to halfway houses they can walk away they do whatever um the concept of you know putting the mental ill into the community um was sound in theory but it uh it only works halfway the people have to want to be a part of the community and a part of society um people with mental illness face a lack of facilities administrative assistance to get them in a favorable situation felons and those prone to violence can't be placed in some of these group homes so forth and they get bounced out and until they commit a crime they're on the streets uh a variety of housing challenges also uh unaffordable housing scarcity of services and support uh Community communities are frequently unreceptive to the idea of housing uh people with mental illness and so forth in their neighborhoods um the the problem lies where the people who have serious behavioral problems again wind up on the street there's been a large increase in the homeless population in the nation in the past four years uh this change is also much related to the pandemic people moved out of shelters where shelters did not accept guests because you couldn't have crowding people came out on the streets and Tents now they've been there for more than two years and and there's no uh no end in sight to that the situation is episodic and The Tide Rises and falls with surges and covid and other tenacious viruses that have hit the Forefront um those living on public lands off often face theft assault at risk of being hit by passing vehicles or attacked by animals um encampments have led to fires disease environmental hazards and a high number of people overdosing on drugs and dying on streets in public property um it's happened so um the harsh reality is you can't have a cure for the problem until you identify and treat the system symptoms uh currently milville has few alternatives for the homeless and vagrants to go and sleep and take up residence during temperate weather and what have you um churches provide food tents and other things that are donated they do a great job with Code Blue but that doesn't open till the weather goes to freezing it's a double-handed thing and I'll get to that in a minute advocates for people in homeless situations um you know ask for or clamor for the necessary funding to get the homeless off the street and uh strict enforcement of the laws is frowned upon by some people and when the uh ordinance is finally passed and in effect which I agree with there's going to be get to your point you've had an acceptable amount of time okay all right um milville struggling monetarily and some areas are good but um a lot of the things are undef funded so when these people uh are picked up going to need to have something to do with them and uh I've talked to police I've talk to everybody they're going to wind up going through the court system they're not going to pay Their fines they're not going to uh come back to court and so forth it's going to the court so um in a nutshell because I have another two pages unless there's a plan to do this and get them off the streets and do it in a efficient manner with something to do with them uh you know it's pointless to go throughout the city and chase them around because they're going to wind up on public property and or private property sleeping in people's chair in their house coming through the window um in cars violent has had a host of people breaking into cars and found sleeping there in the morning um thank you Mr vet you're welcome if you want to read what I put the rest of and some of the ideas that I have found by other people I will post this on Facebook Mary Mare of milville I agree we do have a problem but yet the biggest problem is and I'm speaking from past experience dealing with billing for several agencies the biggest problem is yes we do have people that are homeless that choose to be homeless yet we have others that do want the help but unfortunately if for example if you have a drug addiction you have Maryville which does outpatient as well as inpatient if there's not enough beds to house that person they can't take them Plus on top of that if they're intoxicated or if they're high the agencies that deal with this type of addiction can't handle them they're not allowed to handle them for some odd reason our laws don't permit that so that's part of the problem they keeps them out there speaking as a previous volunteer for code blue I know for a fact code blue does periodically recording record keeping of who's chronically homeless M25 started a program called housing first they took them off the Street who have been chronically homeless for several years placed them in a home and then got them whatever other help that they need Trinity first is only one of the few places that the homeless can go to get a meal even uh get a shower there's a pamphlet that's stapled on the table over there as you first walk in that gives a complete guideline of resources that these people can utilize and yes some family members have given up on them but the bottom line is you can't sit there and depend strictly on your municipality to do something we have to find a way of getting the law makers that are sitting up there in Trenton and in the white house to get off their Duff and make it possible for them to sit there and be taken in especially if they're the ones that have cried out I want help I want help and I'm speaking as a sister of a brother who was addicted to pain Killers who through help of a friend of mine managed to get him the treatment he needed and he's doing fine now but he was to the point where I had to turn my back on my own brother and tell him sorry you can't live here and I thank you for your time um Greg KS uh for sorry uh 409 Peach Drive um I just wanted to bring this up as a point of order because it's happened multiple times you guys have a rule about five minutes and you need to keep to it you need to keep it consistent because it's happened more than five times now in the last like four meet four months worth of meetings so you guys got to be better with this because you got to follow your own rules to be a real government thank you good evening my name is Pastor Jack foser I'm the assistant uh Pastor First United Methodist Church good evening mayor and councilman and ladies um I oversee the Trinity first Hope Center which I think a lot of you may be aware of that um we deal a lot with the homeless and there is a real problem in the city with that and I don't know whose responsibility it needs to be uh we de wait now we have a woman probably in her mid-60s homeless she spends her night nights in the foyer of the police station she hides her belongings in trees hoping nobody takes them we say hey sign up for milville housing I call what number is she 295 how soon could she possibly get housing two years and that's more than just one person that we deal with that we come we have a couple that are that are living on a bench somewhere or at a different place every every night he just got a job last Monday at tfal he's doing well we let him to come into the Hope Center and shower several times a a week so he doesn't smell when he goes to work we do the laundry so he goes into work and presentable I don't know what we're going to do about housing for them you know people go hey Pastor Jack he'll get you housing and they come to me and I say there's no I can't do anything for you if you if they can't sleep on the benches and they can't sleep in the park they're just going to move they're just going to move and then they're going to be baby someplace else that is not as acceptable and I think many of you remember there was a couple that was living in the AL Cove of that one store night after night till they boarded it up you know there is options um places down in Maryland they put in little houses uh I don't know who runs it I don't know what that looks like I haven't had the chance to investigate into that the cost of that we have that place what is it on Buck Street the old apartment building complex that's been torn down and we have o day that may be a good location to consider doing that or you I don't know I just feel that if we ended up getting 50 houses we'd still have 50 more people that needed housing so just trying to give you you know my professional ideas and and uh situations that I deal with every day so I thank you for your time and if anybody would like to meet with me and come over and and we can sit down with you to Hope Center and introduce you to some of the people and kind of explain to you the situations that they're going through so thank you very much thank you Pastor Cindy Cook I've been working with the homeless since the Inception of code blue in two January of 2015 first of all during Co our County put our homeless up at hotels that was paid for okay they didn't have to be on the street right now if a homeless person gets covid the hospital lets us know they are taken to a hotel we do provide meals for them through a couple different agencies I myself take meals to people homeless people with covid okay with pastor's assistance I had some business businesses ask for Flyers these are now available I just gave jeie some on it it has all the resource information the addresses where to go to um get a meal what times where to get a shower where to get your laundry done and even a Bible study session okay next I provided this every year I am on the home homeless trust fund for Cumberland County I represent the city of milville every year we get the human resources homeless and service at risk guide this is also for people that are at risk of becoming homeless it has not only the Cumberland County information on it but it has the state information where to go to get assistance before you become a homeless I don't know if you know but first of all to get into a room or an apartment you need three times the monthly rental rate three times now I don't know how many of you would be able to qualify right now if you had to pay $1,000 a month for an apartment how many of you right now have $3,000 to put down you know not many people rooms cost 70 to $90 a week we have had many homeless people that are homeless but are working many of them have joined the gyms or now the church has the shower program but I've had them where I've helped them get jobs they were working but they were underwork so they could not afford through no fault of their own one gentleman it was because his wife died of cancer and he was faced with insurmountable medical bills and then he lost his job he always worked but meanwhile he lived in a tent we got him a membership he was able to then go take a shower so he didn't smell when he went to work when we had code blue he would come in and sleep inside he would get a nice meal we would wake him up so that he could go to work in the morning or if he was working the night shift we let him come in late most of your panh handlers are not homeless I look at the ones out on 55 I do not see not one homeless person standing there with a handing getting money off of 55 they are not homeless stop giving them money because that in encourages panhandling if you want to help get a WAW coupon card so they can go get get a sandwich or get them a meal but do not give cash because most of these people are not homeless you will see they hold signs up no they are not homeless if they were homeless they would be at code blue in the winter or we have code red in the summer they are taken out of extreme heat a lot of your homeless that you see multiple calls on okay we had a homeless woman one minute remaining Mrs C okay we had a homeless woman she has since passed everybody kept calling the medical services on her she wasn't always drunk she was in liver failure she had therosis of the liver she had extreme pain in her legs her legs would give out from underneath her she would fall down they would call the ambulance we had have a gentleman with pancreatic issues he's in pain a lot of times they self-medicate so just because you see some of these people out there don't assume they're all homeless the group across from city Liquor only a couple of them are homeless the rest are there trying to get you to give them stuff but they're not homeless thank you Patty Patty K's 409 Pete strive I would just like to make one comment that I know something has to be done with a homeless I work for 36 years in Social Services um there are so many barriers that none of us here have any understanding of what people face I understand something has to be done with the homeless but enacting these fines is just going to give them one more barrier to being able to get a job or housing thank you seeing no one else I will close the public hearing comments of Commissioners oh I have one so I'm going to support this ordinance and I I'll get to why in a minute there are problems with it but I believe it's a first step the homeless situation is is it's a horrible thing um many factors lead to it but I'm going to share a story with you why I'm supporting this ordinance and why I personally believe it doesn't go far enough the problem with this ordinance is it's going to cause people to move so if we selectively enforce it we will be for foring homeless out of certain areas and in other areas if we enforce it on all public property we're going to be forcing people homeless are probably going to go to private property which is going to create a whole another set of issues now a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I thank the police department so I don't know if this guy was homeless or not but he was apparently looking for a place to sleep he came in at 3:30 in the morning through my dining room window I of course got my weapon told my wife to go upstairs and called the police department they responded greatly they came they got the guy they locked him up and there he remains till his AR reignment on October 24th my point being this is going to result in a class of cultures cuz homelessness is a culture like it or not and US those of us that has have houses that's another culture so one of two things is bound to happen somebody's bound to get hurt had that guy not sat in a chair and went to sleep and went to go up the stairs where my wife was somebody would be dead right now and that's not a joke people somebody would be dead right now so we need to look a little further now I read a lot of books nobody seems to have a solution no city with the exception of one Miami had a solution and it wasn't very popular and that was to ship them somewhere else so I don't know you know and and what's what worrisome is we have people that are giving bus passes to people to come here and take advantage of some of the programs we have we don't have the resources to manage the people that are here but if your parameter for success is how many homeless people you feed then you then that you would measure that you would get as many as you could to feed but it doesn't help everybody else you know doctors take the hypocracy no harm so when when we all you know and I do I feel for homas but when we offer them the more services we offer them where's going to get out and that's especially going to be a problem with the tiny houses I think unfortunately they're going to say they have tiny houses there I'm going to go there and get a tiny house just like you Pastor they say you know Pastor Jack can get me a house well you can't we have limited resources we have a lot of homeless many of them aren't from milville they came from somewhere else so I don't think this goes far enough I think it's inevitably going to lead to a clash of cultures and inevitably somebody's going to get hurt I mean there's no saying that no you know somebody's not going to get hurt now walking through the park with a bunch of homeless people get there high drunk whatever and something desperate happens and it'll be a horrible thing so we need to get them the help they that that we can get them and that ounce of prevention is worth a lot more than the Cure as far as what resources are available to people that aren't homeless yet but may be in the future but we have have to be real careful about what services we offer and how we offer them because we don't want to become a magnet for the homeless either and like I said this happened to me it could happen to any one of you and I just happened to be sleeping downstairs and I thought it was the cats making noise so had that guy went to go up the stairs or came towards me before the police got there I would probably be the one sitting in jail for a couple days till it all got straightened out so you know be real careful but I am going to support this um just listening to everybody uh I've spoken to numerous stakeholders in our community over the last month or so and while not every homeless person has mental health issues or addiction issues a large number of our homeless population require these Services we have to keep encouraging people to follow the path to a better quality of life we Rise by helping others we have wonderful people in our community that are devoted to helping others get up get to services that they obviously need and get on the path to improving their lives I want to continue working with groups and individuals in the community who have ideas and solutions that are beneficial to everyone we have a compilation of resources uh through Cumberland County uh and Cindy also mentioned that she has another booklet there um these these these resources are to help people improve their situations um I made sure that those resources in a booklet there should be maybe well we can make more copies uh available to the public I want to thank everybody for coming up here and voicing what they had to say on this ordinance thank you roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor sui yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner vello yes mayor Ramic yes okay motion carries ordinances in the first reading ordinance amending mville code Chapter 30 land use and development regulations to rezone block 141 lot one to Farmland production as originally recommended by the 2017 land use element I'm sorry make motion second a motion thank you sorry found that comical um any comments we have a motion to second on ordinance in the first reading item number one any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor sui yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner vello yes mayor ramc yes motion carries item two is an ordinance authorizing the amendment to motor vehicle and traffic regulations municipal code article 10 schedule 21 to add parking reserve for handicapped persons at 309 East Oak Street make motion second motion we have a motion and a second on item number two any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor sui yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner Bello yes mayor romc yes okay motion carries item three is an ordinance authorizing the execution of a utility easement agreement between the city of milville and 416 15 Street um South LLC for property identified as block 489 Lot 4 and more commonly known as 416 South 15th Street move the ordinance on first reading second motion we have motion the second ordinance in the first reading item number three any comments roll call please commissioner HT yes vice mayor sui yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romc yes okay motion carries resolutions okay item one is a resolution appointing Frank doerty as an alternate for member of the mville zoning Board of adjustment and expiring September 30th 2026 move the resolution second motion we have a motion and second on resolution item number one any comments roll call please commissioner huitt vice mayor sui commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romc yes a motion carries item two is a resolution authorizing adjustments to the tax and utilities record move the resolution second motion we have a motion second on resolution item number two any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor SEI yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner monello yes mayor ramc yes motion carries item three is a resolution authorizing First Amendment to 2023 Professional Services contracts with Premier orthopedic and Sport Sports Medicine Associates of Southern New Jersey LC for an additional amount of $2,573 25 make a motion and with that I have certification of funds uh from our CFO the amount of $2,573 25 for a new not to exceed total of $ 32,5 7325 second motion we have a motion second on resolution item number three any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor SEI yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor raminick yes okay motion carries item four is a resolution authorizing water sewer termination on October 21st 2024 due to failure to comply with the utility ordinance pursuant to section 56-18 of the municipal code move the resolution second motion we have a motion in second any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Sue yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes okay motion carries item five is a resolution authorizing the award of a state contract with janini motors to purchase 2 2024 Tahoe 9c1 Patrol Vehicles 1223 Ford utility Kaa all-wheel drive Pursuit vehicle and one 2024 F250 srw XL four-wheel drive vehicle and an amount not to exceed $212 22,690 move to motion and with that I have certification of funds in the amount of $212,600 signed by our Chief Financial Officer Suzanne kones second motion we have a motion and second on resolution item number five any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor sui yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner Bello yes mayor ramc yes he motion carries item six is a resolution awarding a contract through a fair and open process for the project entitled entitled electrical repairs Maintenance and Service contract for sewer utility water utility and public properties to Northeast Electrical Services LLC and an amount not to exceed $50,000 from October 1st 2024 to September 30th 2025 make a motion and with that I have certification of funds from our CFO Susan Quinones in the amount of $50,000 second motion we have a motion second on resolution item number six any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor sui yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes okay motion carries item seven is a resolution supporting the State House Commission pre-application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for division of Parkland and Riverside Spring State Patriot Park block 123 lot one associated with the New Jersey Department of transportation's replacement and Rehabilitation of the route 49 Bridge and relocation of existing Bridge mounted sanitary sewer main move the resolution second motion we have a motion and second on resolution item number seven any comments this is all about moving a tree actually really really we're moving the pipe going to go to the river there's a tree there so we had the option of either having the Department of Transportation plant six trees to replace the one tree or they could pay theal protection yep to not plant the trees little bit of red tape yeah yeah why we can't put it under the new bridge like the water M well that's what we wanted but they said no welcome to the state of New Jersey wonderful well progress roll call please commissioner he yes vice mayor Sue yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romc yes all right motion carries item eight is a resolution approving the insertion of an additional item of Revenue in the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget in the sum of 10,467 from the state of New Jersey in the form of the national opioid settlement grant for Endo public opioid trust distributions which is now available as Revenue move the resolution second motion we have a motion second resolution item number eight any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor SEI yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner reelo yes mayor ROM yes motion carries U we have a resolution approving the insertion of an additional item of Revenue in the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget in the sum of $493 127 from the state of New Jersey in the form of the Patrick Le bulletproof vest partnership which is now available as Revenue move to resolution second motion we have motion second on resolution item number nine any comments roll call please commissioner H yes vice mayor SEI yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes motion carries item 10 is a resolution resending resolution number 227-228 and approving newly revised solid waste and recyclable rules and regulations make a motion second a motion we have a motion to Second any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Sue yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes motion carries item 11 is resolution approving participation with the state of New Jersey Law and Public Safety grant program safe and secure communities program administered by the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Office of the Attorney General for the application for funding of $ 67,2 with a match of $438,500 for an approximate project total of 56,2 8.73 under safe and secure Grant number 25- 0610 for the period of June 24th 2025 through June 23rd 2026 move the resolution second motion we have a motion second resolution item number 11 any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor Sue yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor ramc yes he motion carries item 12 is a resolution approving sub award number 25-61 0 to the city of milville the subrecipient for a safe and secure communities Grant and the amount of $ 67,2 with a required $438,500 73 in kind for a total of$ 56,2 3873 for the period of June 24th 2025 through June 23rd 2026 move the resolution second a motion we have a resolution we have a motion and second resolution item number 12 any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor seie yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner Vanella yes mayor ROM yes okay motion carries item 13 is a resolution authorizing the city to enter into a contract purchase order with ritin Group Incorporated for the parts needed for the 15th Street site rout water main for an amount not to exceed $ 39,9 make a motion with that I do have certification availability funds in the amount of $39,900 signed by our Chief Financial Officer Susan quenon second a motion we have a motion second on resolution item number 13 any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor suie yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner Velo yes mayor romac yes a motion carries and our last item 14 is resolution to provide notice of non-renewal of milville Municipal Airport ground lease make the motion second to motion we have a motion and a second on resolution item number 14 any comments roll call please commissioner commissioner huitt yes Vice May Sue yes Comm commissioner Watson yes commissioner hillo yes mayor romic yes motion carries I thought you were going to speak I'm sorry sorry I thought you were speaking as well but uh new business I just need a motion to authorize the following special event on public lands application pending approvals and that's the national dual sport ride sponsored by Tri County Sportsman MC Incorporated on Sunday November 3rd 2024 starting in Port Elizabeth from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. so moved second motion second a new business item number one any comments roll call please commissioner hwit no vice mayor SEI yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor raminick yes okay motion carries item two is a I just need a motion to authorize the following special event on public lands applications pending approvals and that's autism fundraiser sponsored by Patty Crockett with faces for autism on Saturday November 9th 2024 at the old warhouse Irish Pub 123 North High Street from 4 to 11:00 p.m. and arts festival art demos and music sponsored by river uh front excuse me Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts on Saturday October 26 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 2: P p.m. on High Street make a motion second a motion we have a motion second on new business item number two any comments I wish Patty all the best of success for her continuing faces for autism events she does a great job and I look forward to that Arts Festival event which is upcoming later this month call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor suie yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner manelo yes mayor Ramic yes motion carries we have now reached the public comment portion of our meeting anyone who would like to address the commission please go to the podium state your name and address your concerns please limit your comments to approximately 5 minutes get this set up for short people William Jones I live at 610 East mberry Street um again ladies and gentlemen as always it's great to see you again as many of you know my family and I are new to the area um in our very short time here we've dealt with issues with gang violence and gun violence no less than four times already this has been not only my next door neighbor his back window getting shot out when he was only a block away from my house um the gun violence at the football field uh the school shooting threats and as well as a young man being shot to death about three blocks from my house which resulted in a huge police search and helicopters all over the place I believe I speak for everyone in this area when I say there is no CA too great for the safety of our community and the safety of our children after speaking to some with some officers in milville will and other people I've found a lot of scary Common Ground shared by almost every single person our officers are spread thin and constantly Expo expressing poor pay and even poor interactions with the public I hear all too often about the great past in the history of this town but mostly I'm hearing about how it's going down the drain we have to change something whether it be more funding for the officers or more officers I've already got to talk to the school board about the uh the lack of safety officers there's only one officer for the entire School District um as a combat vet I should not be afraid for the safety of my family for my home and my town I I express a lot of common ground with commissioner suie about you know if somebody comes into my house in the middle of the night they gonna have to deal with what I got but unfortunately in the state of New Jersey that does result in prison time even though you might be correct in defending yourself and I don't want to beat on a dead horse because we've heard in force about the homeless issue ladies and gentlemen it's it's not a secret that we have a homeless issue here when I worked private security after my seven years in the military in the state of or in the the city of Savannah I dealt with homeless in more ways than you would ever know and a lot of them do come in from the buses they are being given tickets just as commissioner suie hit on they are given tickets and sent here because they feel that there is help here but that's too often the case not true thank you for your time I hope everybody has a wonderful night it's great seeing everybody here again thank you sir hi Cindy Cook valine mil um as we all have become painfully aware this week with the Hurricanes down south September was it's almost over or it is over the um emergency month you're supposed to prepar this month you can go to fema.gov and you can download on your phone the app that will give you warnings if there's imminent danger in your area okay I encourage everybody to do that also there is um information on emergency supplies you should have on hand so that if something comes up my husband and I used to always keep a certain amount of cash and are safe in small bills and rolled quarters so if there was an emergency and you couldn't use your debit cards you couldn't use your credit cards you could grab them you could still get gas you could get still get Necessities by having cash you go to the laundry mat because you had quarters they also suggest a thing most people don't think of is extra prescriptions I have many family members down south right now one friend has lost everything his home was right on the water near Tampa not only did he lose everything I mean he lost his boat he lost his dock he lost his three cars but luckily they were evacuated so they were all safe I really do suggest especially if you travel having that fema.gov link it'll tell you if there's a tornado or something in your area I want to thank jeie she printed these up after I sent her the email with the at risk guide and guess what the print's big enough I can read it without my glasses that was Joanna so really really this is great because most people don't realize once you get evicted you're not eligible for any programs so this will help you avoid getting evicted or a loved one from getting evicted it's got the listings of where to go to get if you don't have the money to pay your utilities where to go for assistance like Catholic Charities and all it's got Statewide agencies as I mentioned before working with Pastor Jack he printed this up if you have a business and you want to distribute some information to where your homeless can get assistance this is fabulous you can contact me or Pastor Jack there's Trinity has got the clothing closet they've got computers that assist with job search the ability to Lost to recover lost documents not for nothing but a few years ago we had a homeless gentleman some kids came up and stole his backpack and that was his WD 14s Not only was all of his IDs in there but we had to help him get his DD214 and everything you know they can't get jobs if they don't have birth certificates on hand in their backpacks the birth certificates normally get destroyed I actually held on to a lot of these documents in my safe for some of these individuals it costs money but if you go to certain agencies they can get the these things and I encourage to go ahead if you need this like I said contact either myself or Pastor Jack and we'll make sure you have a copy thank you oh almost forgot pastor Pastor commissioner Watson I drive all over the city of milville I was halfway into an intersection on Vine Street the other day because a big bush was blocking a stop sign also on Pine Street you have some of them and also some other you've got the limbs are coming down off the trees blocking stop signs you have this Shrubbery in the way blocking stop signs you have some of the cases the stop signs are turned at an angle they're over you know they're not straight up and down and if you're not aware you don't know there's a stop sign there thank you good evening angelene Broomall milville I could be way wrong on this so I generally don't like to speak unless I have the facts but I I think I and if I'm wrong please correct me uh mayor so you mentioned something about the discussion with nabab and when when uh director CIO came here and that you wanted to hear from one of the other candidates am I correct on that I think that would be fair M Mr CIO is up for reelection okay I just want to make sure that I understood that correctly um I don't believe that this is the the place for politicking we um it would be nice to hear other candidates ideas I completely agree with you on that but that's where you rent space at you know the legion and you debate and things like that this is not um the place for that you know we're great this is meetings right this is city government and um that's all I just I don't think that this is the appropriate place for that thank you thank you m bumo just Doug alre U commissioner alre uh this I want to make sure I heard this right but I want to salute if I heard it right that the Milo decided to pursue the airport uh did I hear that correctly I was looking through the agenda we uh we voted to issue a notice of non-renewal for another 30-year term I bear in mind we're still 5 years away from the end date of that's fine but I just want to salute this Commission because I think this is a pretty bold Step It was kind of real at the last minute but I I just want to say that this is this is really good and I I believe it I just say as long as I can do as a commissioner could help in pursuing whatever M decides how they're going to do this thing in the next five years I hope we're Partners in it uh I hope uh that I think this is a good thing for cumal County not just for the city of milville but mil City M will benefit I really salute you guys for taking that it's a little action now of five years of uh of of hard work trying to figure out how to get it done and then it opens the whole doors for South Jersey at the same time so thank you and one last uh there is a new uh I was on the radio with the Emergency Management uh cou County's Institute a program called Rave which allows U uh select people get messages that affect them uh directly from emergency Master you can sign it through the County's U uh website and they will purposely any issue that affects you the most they will put when there's a emergency setting or something they could they'll set that uh out to you so you get that information uh we learned a lot of stuff on the radio last night a lot of people had a lot of good comments so and hopefully we're going to imp them so thank you thank you commissioner thank you commissioner Doug alre case he didn't catch that say commissioner Doug alre of our K County Board of Commissioners I appreciate those words Doug they do mean a lot it is a benefit for the city of mville and as well for cand County resolution 14 seeing no one else I will close the public comment portion closing comments of Commissioners commissioner hwit uh thank you everybody coming out that's what we're here for and uh see you all next meeting thank you commissioner Watson I don't have anything at this time commissioner rella thank you everyone for coming out um voicing your concern concerns expressing uh especially on a one particular ordinance uh your desire to um help and I'm I'm hoping to hear more solutions on how we could um most help uh the people in our community thank you vce mayor zoie yes uh unfortunately I couldn't attend our last meeting and uh I missed a very interesting meeting so I'm going to present some facts here that many of you may not know first I'm going to address the contract negotiations the contract committee originally contained two Commissioners for all negotiations two of my colleagues not I last September I realized that negotiations have not begun between the city and any of the collecting bargaining units the unions so it simply appeared that a desire that neither the city nor the unions had expressed a desire to begin negotiations so I took the initiative to get those negotiations started subsequently the city's negotiated committees were changed around now I'm going to explain my responsibility as I believe it as a director of Revenue finance and Finance in those negotiations as director of Revenue and finance I have a responsibility to oversee the department to make sure the money exists to fund whatever the negotiating committees offer to the union there can't be a suicide act as well as taking the Union's desires into consideration the vast amount of this work is done by our Chief Financial Officer this includes evaluating what proposals are possible within State statutes and reference to property tax caps the overall impact on the tax rate if applicable and it's important to realize that what may not only be may be affordable in one year and possible may not be in subsequent years as raises have cumulative effects in other words the cost is compounded for example if the cost for a raise of all the employees in the city now this hypothetical number is $100,000 then that year that cost $100,000 and the cost of the raise in the second year is $125,000 then the city needs the 100,000 plus the 125 for a total of 225 for year two and so on and so on and so on now whatever that agreement is it must be sustainable by incoming Revenue we can't go into a deficit we cannot deficit spend there are two main ways to increase our revenue and that is through increasing taxes and economic development to increase ratables simply increases increasing taxes does not offer a way to sustained pay increases to make this city compete with other cities in terms of wages alone let alone other cost of the city you know and as a side note I find that some of the folks speak here that speak here about giving officers raises have spoken against pilot programs have spoken against development in general and against a high tax rate and yet want our employees paid more I want our employees paid more but it has to be possible it has to be feasible and has to be sustainable so a little news you can have some of the above so you can either have your employees paid more but it has to coexist with the other stuff otherwise it's not possible at all now I know that one of my colleagues mentioned a 2 cent tax increase every year for Public Safety well to be honest with you that won't cover contractual raises for the police department let alone everything else so additionally one of my colleagues all you know stated that you know seniors should apply for their rebate or whatever for property taxes so that it doesn't affect them well that's great except it shifts the burden because you know what the people with families the young people with families and children they're going to have to pay it they're not going to get it back and that helps nobody so uh you know my primary focus for the last three years of it has been on economic development and that is why has been on econ ecomic development a couple meetings from now I don't know if it'll be the next one the first one of November you're going to see a presentation concerning a big project in milville it will help immensely so I look forward to that now we're going to go into close section at the next meeting to discuss the financial consequences of different proposals I can't get into them exactly and it's the commission not me alone the commission that will make a decision on what contract to award and that will be done by public vote I want the best employees for this city in every Department I want them compensated fairly and other communities payment more the mville does this sometimes not always makes it attractive for some employees including police officers leave for other departments or agencies additionally police officers here gained an an enormous amount of experience because of our crime in a very short time which which makes them a very valuable commodity because of that experience to other departments so we need to compete with other municipalities also in our depart in our contracts we have in our civil service contracts we have what is known as steps some of you may be familiar with the civil service system some of you may may not be so why our officers start at the minimum state rate which is currently the lowest paid officer is $ 47,800 per year they receive annual pay raises on their anniversary day date till they meet their Max and this goes for all city employees but the rates aren't quite the same so our highest paid officer right now is 97,2 180 per year just to give you some idea where it was and it's not enough to compete with other communities additionally one thing we provide that some others don't is health benefits for 5 years after an officer retires that comes at a substantial cost for a family that's approximately $20,000 a year additionally all employees and we work with the unions to get what's known as the benac card done the benac card basically the city absorbs the cost of the cay so if you're you have health insurance to the city you pay no co-pays that's a pretty good deal so we do we can to attract and retain the best that we can get within our constraints and we're working hard to expand those constraints so that there are more there is more money to pay more employees not only police everybody so to give you you know and and this information is operable if you want to see what any Public Employee makes all that's operable so you can over that if you like and that may remove any vague descriptions of pay which have been offered by members of the public to reiterate we need to pay our employees competitively competitively while taking care of our entire city and not bankrupting our city within the bounds of laws established by New Jersey as far as allowable tax increases and without financially destroying our residents next I wish to uh correct a statement made by Mr Cy he was correct and I'll paraphrase this when he said that I was removed from my departments that is correct what he did not say was that there were some employees that made certain allegations against me an investigation ensued at the conclusion of that investigation was found that I had done nothing that was not permitted and my Powers were restored next I do not control all the money in the city nor do I control the entire agenda of a meeting any commissioner can have a resolution or ordinance placed on the meeting all it takes is the courage and willingness to do so and some have done so to their credit most have done so at one time or another but if anyone out there any member of the public any employee has any question about what I have said or what someone has told them I said simply ask and if you want you can bring that person with you so they can verify it I'm more than happy to answer sometimes I'm too blunt for my own good now as Commissioners when we make decisions we have to evaluate the opinions of not only the public but our professional staff as well you know Engineers planners lawyers executive staff folks that have been specifically trained and have vast experience in their areas of expertise at the last meeting one of our speakers offered her background and we heard another that did not everyone is entitled to their opinion and has a right to express it at a public meeting is it up to the governing body and the public to evaluate those comments now we should take into account the opinions of the public based on their interest experience and backgrounds so I want to examine the background of another speaker so that you may give his opinion the proper weight now this individual once occupied a public trust as a volunteer that position was a volunteer fireman fireman according to articles appearing in both the Daily Journal and the Atlantic City Press he admitted to involvement in a September 28th ORS of a vacant house as well as admitting to seever committing several bus fires and setting a trash receptacle receptacle on fire others were charged with him with accounts of aggravated assault and conspiracy aggravated Orson and conspiracy he subjected his community his fellow firefighters to Danger on purpose now I don't know what CS people to do this whether it's a chance to be a hero after initiating a problem or a craving for attention at any rate that individual sitting in here and his name is Tim cardi please evaluate any of his future comments accordingly I'm providing a copy of the Daily Journal article to the clerk in case anyone wishes to open the article you should evaluate all of our opinions based on our experience our background and what we have done in the past and will do in the future that is the fair thing to do and mayor I know you're fond to quote so I'm going to leave you with one to lead you must turn your back on those that follow progress truly stated would you pass that to the clerk please we all know I don't have to literally be the dead horse but Cancer Sucks couple days ago I've only met never got to meet her but she worked from milville Court milville Police Department her name is Amy Baker and she lost her life to cancer any employee that comes through here there always will be remembered she leaves behind her husband hband and two sons her husband Jason Baker is a sergeant of the New Jersey State Police I'm so sorry Jason for your loss motion to adjourn make motion second motion all in favor all --------- ##VIDEO ID:eAavCqi9m0o## please mayor romic here commissioner huitt here vice mayor Sue here commissioner Watson here commissioner rello present may all please stand and salute the flag I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all this meeting is being conducted in accordance with the Oakland Public meetings Act of 1975 was advertised posted and made available to the public as required by Statute the adisal clerk is directed to include a statement in the minutes of this meeting Madam clerk are there any changes to the agenda uh no mayor presentations uh we have none public comment on agenda items only if you would like to come to address the commission please come to the podium state your name and address the agenda items only thank you limit your comments to 5 minutes approximately good evening Tim cardi mville um I just got to make a comment on a discussion I'm making Buck Street of oneway Road parts of it I don't know whose simple idea this is but I guess they failed to realize that when the traffic's backed up on 49 the way it gets backed up a lot of people use that road to cut the traffic I guess they also didn't realize that if the police cars are coming out off where Avenue and every respond to the Third Ward or that section of the city that's their main main route I mean I don't even know why this is a discussion when there's so much important other stuff going on in the city I just want to know who's who going to benefit from this because it sure isn't going to be the residents or the visitors I mean you have the pizza place a pediatric office and a foot and ankle right there it's going to affect their customers it's going to affect the customers whoever is up top that needs parking below and we got what two three City parking lots there I mean the library just had a big event on Saturday and they hold all them Vehicles plus the small parking lot next to the blue building and let's not forget this you're you're going to have a major Bridge construction I mean common sense I mean I haven't seen detour plans but I'm sure the dot is going to be using that as a right turn if you're heading west and if you get a accident at high in main that's another detour route I again I don't understand whose brilliant idea is to even think about this or why I mean we got more important issues going on instead of trying to make three blocks of book Street that's going to affect everybody including our First Responders you know slow down response times how you going to tell that that lady that's having a heart attack her husband when she dies because the M couldn't take down Buck to cut across down one of the side streets to get the oak or pine that's all I got to say I mean to me this is just a waste of everybody's time and it's not benefiting the residents or the visitors or even our First Responders thank you Mr cardi see no one I will see you no one else I will close a public comment on agenda items only discussion of Commissioners all right let let me start out with why I wanted to look at Buck street now first of all we've lost several parking places with the expansion of the library we lost parking places at stop at the top of the hill we've also lost parking places at the post office because they have changed their parking to 30 minute towway Zone um you guys went to start car show you saw the crowds there I expect it to get bigger with what a positive event that was second to address traffic flow well first of all we close that street probably more than any other Street in the city for our events we close it down fully between Pine and 49 for fourth Friday there's another event and also 911 it's partially closed uh for OEM in an evacuation situation they're going to make anything go whichever way they got to make it go to facilitate an evacuation if you guys have ever seen evacuations from Florida you will notice that they close 95 down on both sides and everybody goes one way so that can be addressed now since we lost parking places we're also going to pave Buck Street shortly not because we lost parking places but because of the library because of all the road that was tore up there so that's on our list to pave so there's two ways that we can do it if we choose to do it now it's on here for discussion to see if we want to do it yeah there's no not there's no right done and uh you know we have a lot of things to do in the city and we have to consider everything not just what anybody else thinks is important everything's important so engineering looked into this first and there's two options to do it so the engineer cited some benefits more street parking for downtown High Street in the old Arts District in levo more flexibility when having City events at Buck Park and high option to close the roadway or detour in the Park area one way traffic pattern will be so you can do that or you don't have to do it it will be more pedestrian friendly and it can get more foot traffic around existing and proposed businesses in the area the possibility of reducing traffic at the intersection such as long way time off bucking wear for a left you know when you're trying to get through there if you guys ever sat there in the middle of the day yep if you're trying to make a left turn sometimes you sit between two and three lights because it's only right turn only from correct uh Buck onto me so there are two ways that we could do this if we decide to do it okay option one is to start with an ordinance with a first reading so we start with the ordinance to get a first reading to see if we're interested in doing it in the public is interested in do it or not if denied it cost us no money on on NJ dot permitting and traffic studies if it's okay on the first meeting we move forward with the NJ do permitting and traffic studies and utilize ordinance first reading is proof to the state that the city is sincere about the change if denied by the state that's the end of it if approved we can be move forward with the second reading of the ordinance now if we if we go through first way we can also a pretty good chance that we won't have to pay for the traffic Study last you have the second reading of the ordinance to approve oneway traffic if it's denied that's the end end the project and loss of whatever money and resources we put in it which should be minimal and if it's approved the project would move forward now next we could start with a resolution to investigate the oneway traffic flow if we would have decided to do it that way so we passed the resolution now we now we have to front resource and time to complete the do dot permitting for State approval if and again if denied by the state that's the end if approved by the state we move forward with the ordinance at first reading and once we do that if it's denied then that's the end of it and of course then we move forward with the second reading and the final step is the second reading of the ordinance this will be a longer timeline option with less with a higher risk of it not being approved by the state because it will probably doubt our sincerity and may not want to do the traffic studies so you know that's why I brought it Forward at this time because of the paving and that will entail perhaps construction changes perhaps not but will definitely entail line painting changes and we don't want to do that afterwards if we're going to consider it now is the time to consider it so that's why it's on the agenda it was on the agenda last week once I knew I wasn't going to be here after listening to our amateur Traffic Engineers I figured i' better be here to explain why I want to go on the agenda to see if you guys wanted to proceed or you just didn't want to proceed either way is okay with me so I think I covered everything I don't know you guys have any other questions that it's obviously a discussion for the work session so certainly forward them the engineering or whatever Public Safety do you have any comment uh as busy as we have been at at this time no actually to be honest with you uh cuz naturally you know I'm going to sit and talk with Sergeant stadnik uh because he's traffic safety and he's also now OEM director uh and yes we have been very busy so it just I was not able to do it that's where I'm at so you need more time yes I think it's definitely important that we have their input yeah well that's I think that's the number one I was wondering if we actually had their input at this point not yet we we do not have their definite input at this point um my concerns are uh I was at the library on Saturday they had about 300 people there and I personally did not see any issue with parking I was at the car show and there were a lot more people there for now absolutely I did not see an issue with parking for now you're right uh I was there for every fourth Friday event and what I did see uh and vice mayor you were at one of the fourth Fridays as well and I I think you might have saw me out there with the parks department uh and the police at one point they had to try to block the street because people weren't obeying the road closures and um I don't know how we're going to enforce that should that become a one way because if they're not obeying barricaded streets I don't think that a lot of people are going to be very hip with a one way as a as a new thing and I think that might cause uh that's something that we have to look at that might cause more issue than whatever you know cost benefits well when people don't debate signs and barricades that Clos issue the doors absolutely uh but you know so those are just my three comments on that anything from the public works department I would like to talk to my department head get his I get his back backing on it um I know we touched base on it a little bit and it was brought up that an emergency road um so before I make any kind of decision that's where I would like to go obviously get police input as well um and further input from the public you know maybe it is a something good to increase the parking in that area so if the public has any input I would really like to hear it so maybe we can reach out to some business owners in the area like Mission Spirits perhaps yeah I think Gage gauge what our professionals have to give um let us you know Maul and think about it you know go to our professional staff yeah um see what they have to say I do agree there is benefits to it I do see the importance that the police department does have to get to uh I guess it'd be North Buck Street yeah everything East and West is Main Street divided by High um so I do see that the bridge you know the bridge is a um case you didn't know the bridge is an imminent uh replacement with will it will happen not what and now it's only the time of when so um but remember we live in the state of New Jersey where nothing happens fast um so that's a that's a big concern for me but you know I mean that's going to be a headache no matter what we can traffic whichever way we need to for that you know it's that that'll when that happens that'll be you know we'll cross that literally figuratively we'll cross that bridge when we get there um I was waiting for that uh so I yes let's let's wait and talk to our professionals get a good understanding uh you know we're we're always out in the public so public come and ask us you know give us your opinion when we're out at many events you know we're all over the city of milbo so I said wait and see that's good we wait for you and reach out the missing Spirits M see whatever see if the library has any been put you know I mean they have their parking lot but what traffic they had for parking before okay we can reach out to them again to see if their opinion Remains the Same yeah the brid the bridge replacement would be you know significant you know detail maybe work on some kind of like a time and that would be complete oh long long time no wrong question um no that's a detouring tra your hair is going to look like M you're going to be old like me uh yeah timeline for replacement uh no uh I think we have something on the I believe we have something for the do um but uh n just that well that's going to be a long process the bridge um so n wait until you talk to talk to our professionals just talk to our staff talk to the public but main thing and that's why it's on here now yeah yeah main thing you know I definitely want to hear what your Chiefs have to say Kirk so I think that's upmost you know up up the top of my that is the most yeah I'll definitely be talking with the chief and and the sergeant yeah got whenever the next meeting is so ready okay commissioner hu do you have anything to discuss during the work session uh just want to thank our Public Safety team as always they out there grinding uh grinding hard I realize a lot of people give them heat and stuff but you know they're there when they're needed and uh basically that's it thank you thank you commissioner Hitt commissioner Watson uh thank you for the opportunity but I don't have anything to commissioner Ral I'm grateful for these work sessions uh transparency is really important thank you thank you for your words vice mayor suie that's it for now good discussion um I have lots to talk about lots of had lots of events uh has been happening in and around milville um but I will wait for the regular session to discuss all that so now we have reached any new business uh no mayor we have now reached the public comment portion of our meeting anyone who would like to address the commission please go to the podium state your name and address your concerns please limit your comments to approximately 5 minutes Patricia Kier 409 Peach Drive Melville I just want to add one more um concern for buck Street going one way when you're coming north on second I live on the west side of milville I always cut off on where because the traffic light at second in Maine is a beast you cannot make a turn whether you want to turn left right whether you're going north or south and um I think it's going to really clog up Second Street even more High Street and then it's going to affect your laterals so I think people need to look at that also thank you Commissioners my name is Elden Paul heus I'm president of TR County Sportsman motorcycle club I'm back before you again this year to ask permission to use city property have I as I have in the last I think three or four years now um I've already met with uh John feldis and he's already relayed all the I put at the Emergency Management plan for the event they were concerned about that uh in the past we were worried about police and and traffic safety I have I'm working with the cumland county sheriff's department for a couple of positions I still may need one city officer for something else uh the only thing I'm asking different this year is I'd like to be able to add another piece of city property uh to help alleviate some of the stuff over around the soccer fields where I've been in the past we've been doing this event for four years and haven't had any issues with anything The public's been great the milville police have been great everybody that's been there has done their job and and our people have done what they needed I'm asking permission for a piece of property it would be west of perus fields on Cedar Street uh between on the right hand side between perus fields and the tree the airport Tree Farm it's just a little small narrow piece of Pines right there where the buses turn around most of the time uh there's already Trail in there I'm not asking to make anything different I would like to be able to come up Bogden Boulevard make a left on the Cedar Street make it right into that piece of woods come out go down the street make a left in to the other city property that I'm going to go to on Buck shum Road anyway just going to change it so I'm off the black doop more uh I have a copy of a map here it's the same map that I've given Emergency Management and everybody that's looked at it so far has been okay with it I just need to know if I can add that little extra section in there uh again I'm not asking for anything different other than that it's been the same all these years with no issues that will reduce the black top time yes yes sir yes sir a quick synopsis of where we're coming from we're coming out of Port Elizabeth we're coming up Buck shootem road to Silver Run we're coming up Silver Run going in behind the soccer fields where you just had an event in there in August basically all the same stuff over around the other side but instead of going back down theing Creek Road we're going to come out Bogden go down Cedar Street for not even a half a mile it might even be an eighth of a mile if it's that shoot in there come back out we'll have Traffic Safety there go across the street and then go back over to city property over behind the bunkers and around over there and then we're heading back out of town so we won't be here long like we've been in the past uh I just wanted to know if I can get that little extra piece of property there to help reduce some of the stuff in that area and I know that we've had questions in the past that's why I tried to get to the work session in time I had to leave work early to get here but I want to be able here to answer any of the questions that you folks have also in the past I mean it's been a good event for the last whatever four years they they come we try to offer an area at the Motorsports Park for them to get fuel a lot of them will get on their GPS they'll come in town they go to the gas stations they go to the wah Wawa it originates out of Mars River Township if you'll remember correctly Saturday my event is all down in the Mars River Township area Sunday it starts in Marsh River Township comes across the martown bridge comes into milville does the loop and goes right back to Marsh River Township again we'll be a little bit in U commercial Township we'll be a little bit in downtown and you said this is to alleviate where you normally used to be at uh on dividing Creek Road in Bogden yeah we're going to still cross there but we won't but we're going to try to stay off of dividing Creek Road as much as we can in that area we had the corner of buck Shum and dividing Creek that was owned by the by the Motorsports Park but they sold that corner correct so that's going to alleviate that also I'm not going to be over in that area there yeah I of the only things I've ever heard was hearsay of that you know where that where Bogden to dividing Creek came out little congested little congestion there but it's not a race yes my guys can stop for traffic they don't have to go across the road we're not going to and actually one of your Off Duty Officers uh Jason vinski is in my club I usually leave him in that area there to keep an eye on stuff because he knows the the police department and stuff too but I'm also working with Cumberland County Sheriff's Department because I can get them a little cheaper like for free and uh I'm going to use them in a couple of the other spots but but there's probably one other one that I'd like to be able to use probably one of the mville officers to and it won't be a big deal perfect so if you have any other questions feel free to ask me thank you all right uh Tamara Davis milville um I need to go back to this discussion because I'm a little um baffled and confused on the reasoning behind this um the first reason given for considering this is um more street parking I don't understand why you need more street parking if the Lots aren't even full even on a good night at the leoy there's parking available at the at the Culver Center there's parking available on Buck Street right now two three lots there's parking available behind the art center as well um and then of course the street parking further up Pine and such um and then there's a part paring behind the orous so if those aren't even full on a good night I don't understand why additional street parking would be um allowed now I I drove by the library today and I understand Saturday is an unusual day but um there was two cars in the parking lot I don't know why they would need more parking um there's also for Mission Spirits there's also and I'm not sure who owns this parking lot but behind Mission Spirits so if those aren't being full why would more street parking be needed um I understand that residents can park at the P oh and I forgot the one on High Street behind the um BJ's roosters so there's plenty of off street parking available so I don't know why more on street parking um and I'm going to bring this up because everyone knows there's still people parking in yellow zones so come on you know I don't understand why that's necessary who's going to regulate that but anyway then there's something about more flexibility more flexibility for what exactly and then pedestrian friendly well right now on Buck Street other than mission in the library and in the in the pizza place there's really not much going on um other than events on Buck but if it need why why don't we wait for more businesses to come there then I can understand looking into it and possibly adding more spots there but why do it now before the action happens if it does now the other reason given um was the post office went down from 30 to 15 minute parking is that what you said it went down from unlimited parking to 30 minute towway zone parking okay and who regulates that the post office Lo Governor all right so does anyone actually do it has it started yet yeah sign there I was at the post office two days ago so but what does that have to do that's on Mulberry so what does that have to do with all the way down by to try to answer a couple of your questions to try to be Forward Thinking so as more development occurs I mean you have buildings being fixed on Ice Street you have house Hardware is now under construction plans have been submitted they're in there working they're actually in there looking at equipment and whatnot hopefully 10 Buck Street will be operational soon um there's more Development coming and we don't have to do this like I said people don't want to do it we could do it later if you want I'm just looking to try to save money if we do it now if we decide to do it now if we don't we can do it later but it'll incur additional cost and it'll waste time additionally if you have parking readily available in that area it may serve the public better as businesses may be more attracted to move in certain areas if parking is readily available so like I said if we do it we do it if we don't it's okay with me okay but now's the time to discuss it because we're going to pave it that's why I want to discuss it now okay um I had one more comment and I can't remember what it was I'm sorry it went right out of my head oh and the other thing was I mean I know you mentioned that you have events on Buck Street and you close that area of buck Street too but you have more events on High Street so there's no discussion of doing any one-way traffic on that so like I don't understand why that would have anything bearing on making that a one way like I don't understand what is the point you have so much other parking and I don't know why you know it would be necessary to close off a street a throughway whether it's for OEM just and make it one way like it doesn't make sense when you have so much other parking available that's not being utilized now so to the greatest extent on a good night and also you have Bojo is presently closed right now when that's open there's a ton of parking that's taken up by the people going to the bar whether will reopen again but all those other businesses were still there at the time too you know this is just an option that I'm presenting that's why we discuss it and that's why we see what the best option is okay all right then perhaps maybe if we have more parking somebody won't Park in an illegal spot I would hope well maybe if you consider what being parked right now in the public Lots like uh two or three buses taking up six or eight spots there's no ordinance on that but uh if you allow things like that happening school buses parked in a public lot then you know of course you're not going to have enough parking so just saying great Angeline Broomall milville I also want to discuss the uh one way on Buck Street being as I live on Sharp Street that's where that's where the police go that's how they have to get there and it's um that's how they have to get into all the the Third Ward when they're here we we know how dangerous the Third Ward is and to have to zigzag around just doesn't make sense to me um I am concerned as to why the head of Revenue and finance who claims he's so busy is leaving is making decisions and spending money already for our Engineers to go and look when it's a public safety indoor streets and Roads issue paying an engineer to go out and look for parking for uh Mission spirits that was what you said I'm using your words um for one business when we have ample parking I I don't think that's an issue and and I appreciate the forward thinking of maybe one day I've been in milville for over 21 years and I've heard maybe one day about High Street if we want to be concerned about something I would love to see some concern about the places where we have constant car accidents buck and Broad uh doen broad Henderson sharp you know we we all know that there's parts of town around here where there's accident after accident after accident after accident we want you know to do what's best for the community let's focus on safety saving lives how about Bluebird in second we want to get the state involved let's really talk about one of the most dangerous places in milville to drive um the rescue squad let's use that for a parking lot just an idea um if that's what we're doing is throwing out ideas you know um and there was expenses incurred paying our engineer our engineer who's making a million dollars almost um who's clearly very busy with lots and lots of things between his two contracts I I see this near so I'm going to help you there are two contracts with our engineer well let me help you because he wasn't the engineer that worked on it we have four Engineers up there so what all the things we have going on in engine ing why would we take them away from all these important projects for parking for Mission Spirits when we refrain from conversation just let her sorry I'll let her go the cost and resources to submit to the state again is another cost that we don't have the money for when we are struggling we you know we're struggling it doesn't make sense to me um at all at all to spend this money which in my opinion which I am not a public safety person I don't work for Public Safety I am not a traffic guy anything like that but I see the police constantly going that way they have to to make a left to make a right is impossible for an average person never mind lights and Sirens trying to get over to Green Street after a shooting mcneel car accidents I ask that um we don't allow this to go much further let's not invest more money to find out answers that we kind of already know but I don't want to play games of this I don't think it's necessary to um entertain uh something that we know we don't need thank you we have that closed session just to remind everybody yes I'm make one comment yeah seeing no one else I will close the public comment portion closing comments of Commissioners commissioner huitt nothing at this time commissioner Watson nothing at this time commissioner Rell nothing at this time vice mayor suie yes when you're Paving a street you have to design the street so that's the reason the engineers are looking at it now not yet I would agree we already said we're not investing I don't think well time is well time is money we have to invest that time that there's on the street anyway but my my comment is that we're investing time time is money we're going to ask still ask our professionals engage their opinions um I would agree to all that resolutions so we have a resolution authorizing a closed session for the following matter discussion of DRP ground leas under the attorney client privilege the deliberative process ception and the contract negotiations exception make a motion second a motion I have a motion in the second on resolution item number one roll call please commissioner huitt yes vice mayor suie yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes may Ram yes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for