##VIDEO ID:wV45fnszAxA## ready I'd like to call the regular session meeting of September 17th 2024 7 P P.M to order roll call please mayor romic here commissioner huitt here vice mayor sui commissioner Watson here commissioner rello present I'd like to have Reverend Jonathan murky please come to the podium give an invocation please stand join me in prayer father we give you thanks for this day and for all of your blessings thank you for a new school year and for those who make it happen thank you for those who help and keep and protect our city thank you for our leadership may your blessing be on this meeting tonight give us wisdom and guidance and lead us forward in all things for we ask it in your name amen I to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indiv with liy 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 municipal clerk is directed to include a statement in the minutes of this meeting madam cler are there any changes uh yes mayor just W which was the removal of ordinance on first reading item number two concerning street thank you any presentations uh no mayor bills make a motion to pay the bills second motion we have a motion to second to pay the bills roll call please commissioner hu yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes okay motion carries I make a motion to approve and dispense with the reading of the following minutes and to proceed with the regular order of business September 3rd 2024 work session September 3rd 2024 closed session September 3rd 2024 regular session second a motion we have a motion and second roll call commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor ramc yes motion carries public comment on agenda items only we have operates a public comment portion if anybody would like to come address the commission see nobody I will close the public comment on agenda items only petitions and letters uh we have none mayor reports of Commissioners commissioner hu yes I like make a motion to receive and file the EMS Fire and Police Department reports for the month of August 2024 second motion we have a motion to Second for to receive and file the EMS and fire and police police department reports for the month of August of this year any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner reelo yes mayor ramc yes motion carried commissioner Watson uh as stated in the work session uh 3400 uh linqu notices went out for the solid waste utility um in the end of August um catch base and repair at 24:15 shelburn Road was complete the U I'm sorry this is for the streets and Roads Department now so the catch repair was complete 117 tons of brush was collected and um streets and roads are still out collecting the current location uh is Way West Main Street and it's headed towards Carl Road um a lot of calls were received so far for loose leaves um in relation to the brush um but the loose Le collection starts November 1st and ends December 31st residents can start placing loose leaves out the last two weeks of October and if anybody has any questions or concerns please contact streets and Roads at 856 825 7000 extension 7388 that's all I have thank you commissioner Watson commissioner rello yes I just wanted to go over some uh Department uh highlights and happenings our September 11 ceremony was held last Wednesday evening we had uh many residents from the community attend and we would like to thank you all for helping milville to never forget that tragic day in 2001 we'd also like to thank the Lavoy Camp choir and the milville high school students who performed at the event they should feel very proud uh they were pretty amazing it was great to see our youth involved with this ceremony uh even though they were too young to remember they understand the importance thank you mville fire department for hanging the big American flag from the new tower truck thank you to all the prayer readers and speakers that attended as well lastly I want to thank Samantha Cruz and the men and women of our parks department who organized and set up this year's ceremony we also had millville's annual car show this sat this past Saturday we had a great turnout there were actually over 200 Cars uh congratulations to Edwin Sharia I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly I hope so uh for winning the best and show Award with his uh 1967 Chevy Nova SS cool car uh we'd like to thank the following sponsors the neighborhood preservation program uh Gary and Betty Galloway uh Chopper Automotive AutoZone of milville national highway products galini Ford galini Chevrolet it was an amazing turnout that was well attended thanking everybody for coming out and enjoying the car show and also supporting our local businesses uh there was a lot of food uh a lot of people they were packed in in in uh our local businesses as far as upcoming events on Saturday September 28th uh milville Recreation Department is holding our annual baby show at Corson Park old children must be four years or younger and must be from milville to participate registration will start at noon and the show the show will begin at 1 p.m. sharp also uh the Holly City walking Club is going to start back up on Tuesday October 1st 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and it's going to take place every Tuesday and Thursday unless otherwise noted I really want to thank the board of education for allowing us to use Lakeside Middle School once again uh it's pretty wonderful we also have several fun Halloween activities coming up in October so stay tuned we'll be announcing them uh if you should have any questions on any of these events please contact the milville recreation department 856 825 7000 extension 73 94 thank you mayor thank you commissioner rello make a motion to receive and file the tax collector's report for August 2024 second motion we have a motion in a second roll call please commissioner hwit yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner benello yes mayor raminick yes motion carries the city of mville intends to submit the 2023 comprehensive annual performance evaluation report to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on September 27th a draft of the city's program year 2023 comprehensive annual performance evaluation report for its cdbg program is available for inspection on the city website and in person on the fifth floor of City Hall through Wednesday September 25th a public hearing for the draft 20203 report will be held at 4 pm Thursday September 19th in the city commission Chambers written components of the report may be submitted until 400 p.m. September 25th written comments should be addressed to the Department of Community Development 12 South High Street fieldbox 609 milin New Jersey 08332 I had a wonderful interview with Fox 29 news on September 5th with meteorologist Drew Anderson we tored downtown mville specifically the riverfront and other area businesses uh you should be seeing that interview coming out shortly I do not have a set date yet um but it was a beautiful day and he got to learn a lot about what mville has to offer to its Community I attended the inspir primary care grand opening on September 10th which is located at the Union Lake Crossing Center at 2148 North 2nd Street Suite A this is a great addition to the community where it's going to offer residents um not only in milville but in the Cumberland County area for to receive their primary care it's approximately 9,000 foot building um where at right now two doctors and imense staff has already been setting up and getting ready for their Primary Care uh patients to uh begin arriving uh the inspir Health Network Branch as a total is continuing to grow here in South Jersey and I'm just glad to see and have them here in the city of mvo as commissioner rello uh said a solemn and well attended 911 ceremony uh took place last Tuesday I want to also have special thanks to Sergeant stadnik and officer Somerville for the flag detail as well as the car show there was over 200 Cars beautiful weather incredible job done by Samantha crw Brook Tomlin Wayne grman and Randy Quay Moville Police Department as well everybody in the community came together to uh promote and support this 33rd annual car show which is now done by the city of mville um we had some hiccup summon you know issues but for the first year we took corrective criticism and I can't wait for next year to make it better um I couldn't uh imagine a better day for it all the people that came out showed showed support uh just like we said in the the support of the businesses as well uh Rob bruny got a bunch of lemonade for his uh his staff and he was walking back and uh he said this is the most cars and people in 10 years in business on High Street for the car show I'm excited just like hly City fest that was a couple weeks ago I'm excited for the next year to do these events and continue to do these events and also bring new events to the city that the public can enjoy the this Thursday I will be on with Jim Quinn on Thursday the 19th at 700 p.m. for his inside the track Edition where I probably be asked to describe all these events that I just talked about briefly with Mr Quinn ordinances in the second reading okay the first item is an ordinance appropriating certain unexpended proceeds of the sale of previously issued bonds and notes to finance the cost of the additional water utility improvements and taking related actions make motion on ordinance on the SEC reading second motion we have a public hearing if anybody would like to come to the podium state your name address and concerns on the ordinance and second reading item number one please limit your comments to 5 minutes good evening Patricia k 49 pet Drive um is this in addition to the $2 m6500 that's was bonded for the water meters is this where the extra 240,000 is going to go and what are the additional water utility improvements that it's going to help Finance I could provide those answers but I just going to look into it to give you an exact um you know answer up front I believe this came from a separate Bond and there was left over funding and then I it was 2008 or something it was a long time ago I don't remember 2016 I believe don't quote me on that Mrs no it's 16 or eight because they were both long time ago um and as far as the project goes um vice mayor looks over the water department he could probably describe to you what they're being used for okay do any of the rest of you know what the additional water utility improvements are before you vote Yes you do what are they I would rather have vice mayor Su explain to you in specifics thank you I wasn't prepared to answer Mrs kis but I do good evening angelene Ral milvo uh just to follow up with um this ordinance and preferably I don't have to again with the next one considering they're the same thing if this is an ordinance right and it's a lot of money and no one can answer exactly or or is willing to whether they can or cannot or is willing to provide the public with an answer then um I would request that you you either table it until there's someone here who can or vote against it because you guys don't really have the answers either and this is you know a lot of money that the public isn't knowing where it's going thank you thank you Angel yeah it's money that uh needs to be reappropriated because it's left over from a bond it's in the water utility so it's going to have to go back into the water utility can't be spent for anything else correct it's the best interest of the city to appropriate the unexpected unexpended proceed proceeds in the amount of 2ou $ 24,1 14189 under ordinance number six to finance the cost associated with the Citywide water main replacement projects collectively as the quote new water main projects end quote so it's the infrastructure for the water department correct so it's most likely the replacement of the lead pipes and such as we move along throughout the city correct I do that I believe on the first reading the vice mayor made a comment about it he did yeah anything further Brock no uh if I may Brock house should we move on this because I think we're leaving some questions on the table uh should this be carried to the next meeting uh do we need to table it to next meeting what do we need to do I think it's routine business the funds have to be reappropriated it was explained by the vice mayor at first reading and it is staying in the order yeah and it stays what utility all right roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor Ramic yes okay motion carries second item is an ordinance amending unexpended proceeds ordinance number 7-26 finally adopted on February 23rd 2016 to reappropriate certain unexpended proceeds of the sale of previously issued bonds and notes to finance the cost of water utility Capital Improvements and taking related actions make a motion on the second reading second a motion we have motion on the ordinance in the second reading item number two there's a public hearing attached if anybody would like to come to the podium State your concerns seeing nobody I will close the public hearing any comments do we have a I'm sorry do we have the second on the motion second okay sorry I missed that thank you any comments of Commissioners no all comment should have covered in the first in the ordinance above am I correct yeah and the specifics are actually listed in the ordinance itself so if you look at it they're there roll call please yes oops commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romic yes H richion carries ordinances in the first reading okay we have an ordinance amending milville code chapter 52 police regulations so as to enact new article 10 prohibited camping make a motion second motion we have a motion in second on ordinances in the first reading item number one any comments um Mr Russell uh could you explain how this ordinance aligns with the grant grants the Supreme Court's Grants Pass decision yeah what the law the state of the law until the Supreme Court decided city of Grants Pass Oregon versus Johnson and that decision was made in June 28 was that you you really couldn't enforce a lering or an anti- camp camping ordinance because if you did the claim would be made that you were penalizing the status of someone because people can't help the fact that they're homeless so the case law said if you try to enforce ordinances like that someone may be loitering may be pain handling somebody may be sleeping on a city street that you would be penalizing them for their status so there was an ordinance uh that was uh on the books uh in a min IP ality in Oregon and that ordinance was challenged it went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court in city of Grants Pass Oregon versus Johnson held that an ordinance that had a graduated penalty structure was not penalizing people because they were homeless and it was an anti- camping ordinance in essence what it said was that you couldn't sleep in a public place or a quasi public place for a first offense there would be a small fine for a second offense there would be a higher fine and also the judge would have discretion to issue an order that would prohibit the person from going back to that spot and then if they violated that court order then and only then could they possibly go to jail so that's what was before The Supreme Court the Supreme Court upheld that ordinance uh when I crafted the ordinance that's before the commission I Tred to adhere to what the ordinance was that was basically okayed by the Supreme Court and again it doesn't penalize someone for their status but it does criminalize certain Behavior Uh and so that's how I would break it down thank you Mr Russell roll call please commissioner huitt yes you ask for public comment no no no no that's the next meeting it's it's being introduced and the public comment will be at the next meeting and you can comment then okay Tom only only ordinances is in the second reading require public hearing okay commissioner HT yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner Bello yes mayor romic yes he motion carries resolutions hey item one is a resolution to amend resolution number 52024 to accommodate for the leak of municipalities in November and provide for the designating meeting dates of the Board of Commissioners for calendar year 2024 make a motion on resolution I number one second a motion we have a motion and second on resolution item number one any comments uh this is just as we make our calendar year for the meetings and meetings of other boards of City Hall uh this one uh a best our foreseeing of the future so it is a change of the date of an upcoming meeting roll call commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner Bello yes mayor Ramic yes okay motion carries item two is a resolution approving the insertion of of an additional item of Revenue in the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget in the sum of $2,252 from the state of New Jersey in the form of the national opioid settlement grant for McKenzie payment number one which is now available as Revenue make a motion second motion we have motion second on resolution item number two any comments roll call please commissioner hwit yes commissioner Watson commissioner reelo yes mayor Ramic yes okay motion carries item three is a resolution authorizing adjustments to the and utilities record make motion second motion we have a motion and a second on resolution item number three any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor romanc yes motion carries item four is a resolution authorizing filing an application with the US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice assistance for funding under the fiscal year 2024 local Justice assistance grant program and uh authorizing service agreement between the city of irland city of milville city of bridon and County of Cumberland for such finding make a motion second motion we have a motion in a second on resolution item number four any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor Ramic yes okay motion carries item five is a resolution authorizing special assessment of Municipal leans for certain properties due to expenses incurred by the city of milville relating to cut and Clean Plus ad administrative fees in accordance with chapter 11 article 6 of the municipal code make a motion second motion we have a motion second resolution item number five any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor Ramic yes motion carries item six is a resolution amending the shared services agreement between the Cumberland County prosecutor's office and the City of milville city of bridon and city of irand to extend the grant through to December 31st 2025 and thereby extend the period to purchase and receive approved automated license plate readers make motion second motion we have a motion and a second on resolution item number six any comments roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor Ramic yes he motion carries new business he just need a motion to authorize the city parks to advertise for bids for the project known as Ireland Avenue Force meain replacement makeig motion second motion we have a motion a second on new business item number one roll call please commissioner huitt yes commissioner Watson yes commissioner rello yes mayor Ramer 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 concerns to approximately 5 minutes thank you good evening everyone um I'd like to introduce myself my name is Katherine Chipley and I am the union president for PBA 2113 and our address being in 18 South High Street PBA 213 and SOA have been out of contract since January of 2024 the PBA SOA have only had two formal sitdown negotiation meetings with the city of milville our last meeting occurred on April 24th 2024 we have requested another meeting however the city's negotiation committee has not sat down with PBA SOA since nor at any point have they provided an offer our most recent correspondents between PBA 2113 and the City of mville expresses a best and final offer at the end of October and we look forward to working cohesively with the city and anticipate a competitive offer with that said I'd like to point out some things to the citizens as well as the City commissioners a mville police officer will make approximately 28,000 less than a vinand police officer they will make approximately $9,000 less than a bron police officer since 2019 the city of milville has lost 14 officers for employment with other agencies some information on officers we've lost one officer one Camden County prosecutor's office narcotics officer of the year award he makes approximately $24,000 more being employed there two former mville police officers have won Delaware State Police Trooper of the Year Awards these are just some of the prestigious Awards our former officers have received they all are thriving in their new departments with room for growth and advancement we ask the city to recognize the loss of good officers who are valuable members of our department they have left and succeeded elsewhere truly showing a loss to our city Recruitment and Retention of police officers is a problem here I've conducted a poll among PBA members to gauge the body's feelings in the current climate more than half that responded have taken the civil service test in an attempt to leave to another department a third have received job offers from other departments and have been unable to transfer due to the requirement needing the chief of police to sign off on the transfer the city is actively preventing people from leaving who are just looking for better opportunities the biggest problem is the salaries here are not competitive if we can make the salaries competitive the major driving force of The Exodus will be taken care of I'd like to stress that these are fully qualified and working officers who are looking for any way to leave the city of mville to put things into perspective a newly hired police officer to replace those leaving to replace them will take approximately a year and a half a year year to a year and a half from the time of background investigation to the final process of their field training program to be ready to work by themselves that is a year to a year and a half before you have a new officer ready to work on the road it takes a few years for an officer to be comfortable with their knowledge of the job a majority of those that I pulled have between four to 10 years on the job that's experience that is irreplaceable at this moment the current officers have been working short staff from for quite some time time and honestly the number of sworn officers for the Department's roster should be re-evaluated and increased as a result of short staffing of officers our officers are exposed at a higher rate to use to force incidences shootings and violent calls for service officers are also more likely to be injured and fatigued to make up for the staff and shortages there is a large amount of crime occurring in milville within the past 10 days alone MPD officers have recovered three illegal RS that means no permit they don't own them this is unfortunately a common occurrence in this city the amount of shootings have increased in recent months since June of 2024 we have had 26 confirmed shootings with an additional four plausible ones with scenes unable to be located this is in comparison to 13 from last year's same time frame that's more than double our officers have encountered police involved shootings in recent years recently two officers reported hearing gunshots whizzing near their marked police vehicles as they were actively respond into the area after hearing gunshots fired these officers believe they were targeted specifically for the shooting this is still an active and ongoing investigation our officers are working their hardest and trying to make the city as safe as possible while answering an increase in calls for service volume we asked for the public support in asking for the city of milville and its Commissioners to recognize the tremendous work and stress our officers are encountering by asking for support we hope that the city will provide a competitive contract offer with hopes this will help in the Recruitment and Retention of milville officers my members have been diligently working to keep this town the same as most of us grew up but sadly this ideal of a small town is merely that of yest years we must adapt to this city we have become and provide resources to police town as such you cannot address these big city problems with a small town mentality in order to get qualified officers we need a competitive salary otherwise we're not going to be able to staff adequately thank you for your time and consideration we look forward to the support of the citizens of milville and its City commissioners thank you Detective thank you detective Tim cardi Moville about two Saturdays ago I had Moville police at my house for an incident that didn't it kind of involved my family and I got to say to my officers the officer that showed up I can't remember his name but I could picture him he was very polite and courteous and then the patrols that was watching my neighborhood I appreciate them you know I've been coming up here talking about the contracts over and over and it's sad that we're losing good officers because one person one commissioner is holding the pur strings that is preventing these contracts for our public employees my suggestion is there's four of you if he's holding this up and he's preventing other future endeavors in the city with our employees and purchasing stuff for our employees maybe it's time to remove him from his position because obviously he has too much power when it comes to this city there's four of you up here and I remember two commissions ago he was removed from power from his departments so maybe that's should be taken into consideration so that way our public employees can get their contracts settled with good starting pay for everybody and I'm not talking about a one two 3% raise our public employees all of them deserve a living wage you're not providing it they're going to other cities how many res how many employees left here to go to City of vland how many police officers have went to the county sheriff's department can you blame our officers for going for not only higher pay but a safer work environment I was at the football game Friday night and our officers handled the one fight very professionally and they were quick they're putting their lives out on the line and they're not getting paid diddly squat I think that the four of you need to sit back and maybe remove some power from a certain commissioner that's in charge of Revenue and finance and that's holding a per strings for these employees to get fair starting pay and better wages thank you Jim Reeves 40 pack of Drive milville Carlton Avenue speed limits 25 I think the city should look at raising the speed limit to 35 on that street it's a main street through town not too many people Park on it the problem with it is the lines down the street Street or no passing but as you go down it either way it looks like it's a passing zone cuz that when it was painted some of the paint didn't down as much so it looks like a passing zone but even when you go down at 30 mph which I do most at a time that's five or the speed limit before I get to the other end I got five or six cars behind me or they pass me and I hate to say it when somebody passes and then some somebody gets clipped but hey I'll be there with the fire department on that so the other street is I'm not sure if it's the cities or not is the main street through the airport from Cedar Street to dividing Creek the lines there my wife is complained about they're gone and people speed on that too enough for the streets I have to come to the planning board meeting the last one you had good meeting it brought to mind something else on Sundays I read the paper the only paper I still can get the New York Times that you can actually read I think most of them non-existent and what there is is not much in it local news but in this they talked two weeks ago about chemicals from municipal waste the federal government pushed using the waste sewer Sledge waste from industry and homes to put on farms now they're finding that it's got in it forever chemicals which is all the things that are bad that won't leave the chemicals or leave the Earth One Farm in Texas was over 100 acres they had to destroy all their cattle and they're farming they cannot farm the land so they're going broke there's four states they mentioned now 30 years ago I'm guessing milville took sore Sledge from Philadelphia brought it down and put it on land where the airport is and across dividing Creek and those fields that they grow corn in came to mind at the planning board and they're talking about the rezoning and I didn't know what Lots were lot afterwards I looked and oh and the planner who was here didn't know anything about there were sewers eligible on it I don't know maybe it was it's all fine there's nothing in it but in the future if that's developed in any way it may be a problem I don't know just food for thought for the city and I'm sure you don't remember I know they finally stopped bringing it when the smell got so bad that the city did shut it down so but I I do remember and if you've been around for a while you remember when then we did that the former Economic Development director was aware of that that was something he made us aware about okay thank you very much thank you Chief and I support the police department yes sir as always Patricia K's for9 pet Drive I would like to thank whoever took the uh first reading of the ordinance to make Buck Street a one-way Street off the agenda I would like to commend that person because it's going to be a real issue with traffic especially with the bridge especially with emergency situations also thank you Tim cardi for your support of the police department and I think the fire department should also be included in that did you know that some of our officers and firefighters are eligible for SNAP benefits if you don't know what snap is supplemental nutrition um assistance program the old food stamp program that's pretty damn sad thank you thank you hi my name is to ibe I live at 520 North 6 Street and uh I just wanted to adress address a couple things um we've been there for a very long time my family I mean we bought the house back in the 60s so and my family and I still live there been there through the generations and my mother's over here and she's handicapped she has a lot of health issues and the no the level of noise that goes on on on that street um is especially after 11:30 12:00 at night in the area especially like between like Oak and and Broad Street and the gunshots are just ridiculous and also that's one issue and another issue I also wanted to bring up is the way people peel out and speed their cars down there and I don't know what type of budget the streets and Roads has um you know what they have for their budget and allocations but one possible solution that we were thinking about with some other people on that street was maybe just a simple course of putting a couple speed bumps in because that might make all the difference in the world because there are also a lot of little kids and on that street too and I just hate to see somebody get hit the way they peel out but the noise level and the the car speeding down it's a huge problem in that area and you guys probably are aware of it but we just wanted to bring your attention because it is very hard when she has health issues and she's trying to sleep at 11:30 12:00 1:00 in the morning she's waking up by fighting loud music blaring gun shots everything and I know what you guys were saying before about how the police department is unfortunately sped a little thin so I also think in according to what everybody else was saying if we can get those wages up for our police and we have more police out there to patrol I think it would make also a world of difference in all this stuff um but thank you very much thank you Jonathan M Churchill Drive as a taxpayer as a pastor as a Chaplain I just wanted uh affirm and thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns um this past week two of my parishioners have required police assistance and both of them have come to me and said the young police officers who came to them were outstanding very professional and compassionate and I'm grateful for that um as a chaplain I have the privilege of working with all of our First Responders I'm telling you right now they are top-notch people they know what they're doing and they do it well and I'm grateful for that as a Chaplain I'm also part of the school chapy program and because of the shortfall one of our school resource officers had to be moved back on patrol and you you can't begin to imagine the difference those school resource officers make in the milville public schools so I'm just appealing to you uh do what you need to do to get this taken care of because it it needs to be addressed thank you so much good evening Anthony D santis I'd like to expend on the topic of the police department if I may um as an extensive user can you talk can you talk to the microphone to S okay as an extensive user of the millville's police department I'll be the first one to stand up and commend them in addition to the police department also the fire department and itself and the people who work in the par paramedics I respect what everyone has to say tonight that the police department does deserve more money and it's a very nice thing to say in here but what I haven't heard tonight it's actually Troublesome to me I haven't no I mean they like came up fire a commissioner the other the other comment was um you know just throw money at them where's it coming from are we going into debt financing are you going to raise your taxes do you have a solution I mean what when the city wants to bring in a certain product or new businesses or something into the area they're going to add to the tax bill this should be some type of support now I'm not telling you that I'm trying to promote a business or whatnot I'm telling telling you that it's a simple Financial um equation you know you have a spreadsheet there's a positive there's a negative and the bottom number should be somewhat positive if it's a negative you're working in debt debt doesn't work it only lasts for so long so let's help the police department the fire department let's make make certain that they have the most up-to-date equipment for them to protect themselves but together as a whole I think we should sit down or at least as po as it be and then and maybe some outsiders with some help and determine how to generate this Revenue you know this way Kirk could go up there and stand up to to to his policeman and stand in front of his uh firemen and say I done this for you anybody can ask for money I mean let's be honest anybody can ask for money but in my opinion when you guys are getting paid is for lack of a better word pathetic you should deserve more money and I said that to every police officer that came to that facility and when I spoke to them first of all we always praise their work anything that we can give them we offer them water someplace warm in the winter time it's just they're human beings secondly is the money aspect of it but how do you give more money if the city is in a deficit so let's not crucify or just say hey let's dump it let's come up with a plan let's come up with a solution if it there's going to be dead financing that's fine but the in the end you have to see some Revenue coming in if you don't see Revenue coming in don't complain when your taxes go up so now you're paying $5 and next year you're paying 10 guess what deal with it you know why cuz everyone here is quick to comment but help with a solution I'll help I don't mind I mean tax revenue from businesses is one cannabis the last time I was here there was a cannabis group I mean this room was full because the city made $115,000 on a cannabis well if it's working so great and bringing in so much money let's bring in some more of that money and let's reinvest it in the police department in the fire department in the paramedics but you can't just do debt financing without an endgame thank you for your time and I support you guys but I support you with a plan I would like to see a few future for everyone here you know just going into debt and paying you an extra $10,000 how long do you think that's going to last you know before a load of layoffs come through New York City they changed the Mayors they got layoffs you know when nework excuse me I'm sorry one one person excuse me one person comment Mr Sant you have the floor thank you so what I'm saying is that you have one minute remaining Mr dant I need 30 seconds so what what I'm saying here is let's all pitch work together get this behind us and let's come up with a plan to help not only the police department but everybody else in involved including some of the city clerks okay CU Milwood should be a thriving City it isn't it is the industrial capital of South Jersey thank you everybody and uh God bless tall people Joe suin uh 51 Dorset Avenue I'm here as the coordinator of the mour municipal Alliance committee and uh we've been working on starting up our programs for this year our our year starts Janu or July 1st we're uh we're also looking to um try to bring in some uh speakers for our students for drug and alcohol prevention uh we're in the process of looking for you you ways to to raise money for that uh and um because unfortunately when uh Co hit the the state took over 60% of our funding to put on programs for and not just ours all the mun all the uh alliances in the in the state and uh they never have gave that money back or or any part of that money so uh you know it puts us in a position where you know we try to do some fund cing to uh to make up for that and U now just as a on not as the alliance coordinator but just as me uh you know I understand that we do need you know to pay our police officers better but we need to look at all of their city employees uh I know for a fact that we have some city employees start at minimum wage and uh I think we'd be real lucky to get the best to start at minimum wage doing anything I mean even Walmart pays better than minimum wage but again that's uh that's just my that's not from the alliance that's just me personally and uh you know I don't know I don't know how the city comes up with that much money CU I know that we're not uh rolling in D right now but uh and I do think as the gentleman brought up that uh I know that uh we are shy away from uh a cannabis dispensary but uh uh all we're doing is sending our tax dollars to Vining and uh and I just don't think that we have that much extra money that we need to send money to vand uh I could be wrong about that but uh that's just my personal opinion thank you thank you Joe good evening angelene Broomall milville I support my police butt no butt no butt I am considered lwi income that's not easy to admit on microphone in front of all you on TV I would never ask someone and I do I guess just existing in this town to put their life on the line for less than minimum wage basically for poverty to be like me that's embarrassing yet somehow we find ways to give out 15-year tax Pilots somehow we find ways to pull somebody off the street with zero experience and pay them six figures you want to know where the money is it's the same way that you find money in my house to feed my kid or whatever you budget properly you prioritize properly we don't we don't give big Executives in this city $28,000 do we we're not giving out tax Pilots for companies that are providing no jobs when we know the research shows that tax pilots and tax abatements don't work we have the money we're just spending it wrong please please you're lives depend on this your lives your children's lives your husband your mother yourself it's not a joke this isn't just about an extra dollar in your pay it's very serious I just beg you please like that's I I'm not one to beg for you guys to spend more this is something that's very very very serious I support our police Poli and firemen no butts thank you hi my name is Tom MTI I'm from milville and uh I'm former law enforcement I'm retired um it's really tough when you have other people that are working around you you're doing a harder job than now are and they're making a lot more money um I know milville short staffed I know they got their hands full you don't have to know when you drive through the city and you see red lights and blue lights on practically every night Third Street Fourth Street Second Street people getting run over out on uh route 49 because they're fighting in the street coming out of our parks and so forth um and I'm not I'm only going on speculation rumor whatever I I don't know exactly what happened there but it's something that shouldn't happened um it's it's tough and they do a dangerous job and uh you know I wasn't preparing to uh speak to that um there were there were two things that came up in meeting the one thing they're talking about the uh forever chemicals and so forth um they did put sludge out there the D approved it they sampled it there's monitoring Wells and so forth and so on so before anybody gets too worked up it's not like they're putting Love Canal chemicals out there um Texas is Texas and they don't graze cattle they grow corn the corn gets used for any one of a number of things probably making biofuels but um the TF the forever chemicals are teflons pfas um they're the kind of things that typically don't show up um the uh thetes other things Plastics that show up in sewage they're everywhere they're ubiquitous they're in Antarctica there's you know we've already we've already bought that there's not much you can do about it um you know it bio biodegrades over a long time but um you know without uh really looking into it or sampling you're really not going to know if there was any impact whatsoever um and currently I don't think there's anything getting put out there other than soy soy and the oat milk from the oat milk place and they're using that as a soil conditioner um what I would like to bring up since we kind of got murdered at the planning board meeting with the uh the ideas of uh doing the zoning Redevelopment um the city is working hard to try and figure out ways to you know bolster our economy and uh a lot of times we get you know people that not in my backyard I don't want to have this that or the other built because you know it's going to impact me one way or the other um milville has been an industrial Town um in the past uh things are a lot cleaner and better than they ever were and you know companies when they they you know open up a company um they have to adhere to more stringent environmental laws than ever before and um you know if you come to the meeting you want to start going on about we're going to wreck a C1 uh one minute remaining Mr M okay um you know you got to come correct and uh you know they brought up about the water quality and we're going to ruin Union Lake if we do this that or the other thing um the lake the stream and the other thing out there are not C1 they're not even close so um you know you have to really look at things and if you really want to kick something in about what kind of development's going to happen whatever please do your homework and you know I want to keep things as nice as we can and safe for everybody um and I think the commission the planning board and the zoning board all have the same thing in mind thank you seeing no one else our close public comment portion closing comments of Commissioners commissioner hwit first I want to thank everybody for their thoughts I want to thank the residents for their thoughts about our Police Department I know what our police department does I see it every day how are we going to fix this how are we going to fix this I fully realize that as I sit here right now there are no elected officials that campaigned with me two and 3/4 years ago when I spoke to Residents clearly and truthfully I will raise your taxes two cents every year as long as I went to Public Safety nobody tore my hair my head off nobody threw me to the ground nobody complain cled I won my seat let me remind you I'm not sitting here with any of those Commissioners that I ran with did I get to do what I campaigned on no I didn't city of mville has the lowest tax base in the county of Cumberland County for all of us that pay taxes could that be a reason why our Public Safety team our police firefighters and rescue squad along with our city employees are not making what they should you I'm looking everywhere what are we going to do I don't have any control over it anymore I spent a lot of time and now I call my police officers I get phone calls at 1:00 in the morning I watched the residents of this city tear apart my Police Department your police department they do what they do and they do it good I had an officer three meetings ago he was working his last two days for the milville police department and I was standing out front on this sidewalk where I stand after every meeting sometimes till 11:00 at night and he pulled up I couldn't tell who he was but he called for me to come over to the squad car I'm not going to name the officer because that would not be fair or right I walked over to the trooper to the police car and he apologized to me for leaving the mville police department to go to another department I said you don't have to apologize to me you have to do what's right for you you have to do what's right for your family you chose this career and it's not working here he did not have to apologize to me I have to apologize to my departments I spend time with my officers do I have to no I don't have to if I don't want to hear it I control whether I hear it or not I don't have to go to roll calls I don't have to answer phone calls I could be like people have sat in this seat before me and just go on I'm not going to do it it's the job of this commission and it is a priority of the residents to stop beating my people up think about it people how many times have I sat here and told the senior citizens which I am one of your tax increases you get back every year fill out the form fill out that form you get them back you pay them every quarter just like I do but you get that back it does not affect the budget of this city what does affect the budget of this city is every time one of my officers get hurt because they don't have what they need because they're tired and worn out because yes they come to work after getting done working a 12-hour shift they turn around and they come back in 6 hours cuz I don't have police officers which means you don't have police officers stop tearing up my police officers on Facebook where you think you're making a difference it doesn't work people it doesn't work we I'll repeat myself we collect the lowest amount of city property taxes in this County why don't we pay our employees that's why that's all I got to say thank you all all of everybody's here and not here that is watching I'm done thank you commissioner hu commissioner Ral I address a few things uh from this evening uh Mrs KS I wanted to just address with you I'll be honest I felt like I was on the spot there uh I didn't have the exact verbiage of the first reading I was aware of what I was voting on if you want me to go over it with you again I just kind of um got sidetracked here with uh taxes and uh just collecting my thoughts here um I want the milville police department to know that you're um greatly appreciated in this city uh you may not feel like it but you you're the you're one of the backbones of of this of this community I without you guys it would be chaos um we do appreciate everything you do um I do see swipes uh on social media of course uh at the police or the fire department I even see uh city employees taking swipes at the Commissioners on social media which I I don't think is cool or acceptable either I don't think any of that is acceptable um I know it's it's a a thankless job a lot of the times uh but I'd like to personally thank you guys for everything you do um a lot of people come to this Podium and they think that the solution is always uh to raise taxes uh to solve everything uh I personally do not agree with that uh you know uh I think that raising taxes is a Band-Aid uh it fixes the it fixes the problem uh temporarily but it's not a longtime solution I think economic development is the long term solution um and I find it a little frustrating and I um bite my lip on occasion but a lot of people that come to this Podium and a lot of people that speak um either appeal their taxes or don't pay property taxes and they're the first people that always say that raising taxes are the solution um the microphone is here for feedback if anybody ever has ideas I mean yeah you're you're welcome to come up here and voice your frustrations that's that's what this is all about uh or to praise uh things that you think are wonderful that are taking place but Solutions are always welcome if anybody has ideas uh Mr DeSantis when he came up uh he did uh he did a touch on that um we're here please uh you know offer us uh some ideas suggestions and solutions and on that note thank you Mr thank you commissioner R commissioner Watson uh kind of don't really know where to start um he a lot of couple things that were said uh like working for the city not being happy not being rewarded for your efforts and uh being displeased and leaving you know it's kind of what happened to me um you know I left another town um you know as far as supporting not just the police and fire but all the unions that need contracts right now you know what I mean it's not necessarily that you don't have the support it's there um being part of the contract negotiations team I could tell you I've been very displeased especially with our representation uh but I'm afraid to say anything further than that I express what I felt the beginning of the negotiation contract or the negotiations um and it didn't go my way uh that's pretty much all I'm going to say with that uh Police Department fire department Council 18 um I me of course you have my support I mean I've been in public service for a long time there's no reason not to to have that support for all of you uh the issue is is you know when you're told you only have this much to spend and you have to spread it out between all the unions how to do that fair is very difficult um and obviously that number needs to grow and just like Marissa said um it's an economic development and you know I'll be the first one to tell you I disagree with cannabis I'm not going to say too much on it because there's other people in the city that want it to bring in the funding to support you the police fire Council 18 bring in revenue and paint our streets and fix our curbs and things like that um that's just my take on it I'm not going to accept it and but the rest of the city wants to I'm fine with that I can respect your opinion respect mine um but yeah economic development is the way to go um and even though I don't agree with the vice mayor all the time he's probably going to be the best one to tell you that there's been so many efforts made with economic development you know in the past few years and you know it's almost overwhelming it's hard to keep up with how much is going on and as far as wasted funding I mean there's a lot of money going out you I mean we were just talking about the the there was Water and Sewer on on this and it's infrastructure well if you have Economic Development going on you need to replace those water mains you need to increase the sewer line you need to put in pump stations um I guess I'm not the best one to speak on cuz that's not my background but um you know I think efforts have been made and you know people at the podium I understand you're frustrated um you know when you come up that Podium obviously you're passionate what you're talking about you're coming out here you have great representation a big group that came out but please you know don't think you're not the only ones that's are very frustrated with the situation um you know if we had an unlimited you know funding I would definitely it would be a yes you to to get you where you need to be for sure um but that's just not the case and it's been very difficult but that's all I really have to say thank you for everybody coming out thank you commissioner Watson detective Shipley thank you for representing PBA 213 take note that your words and all the words of your citizens that speak tonight that are watching we hear you I want to ask the public I saw a lot of heads nodding up and down when we were talking when somebody brought up M does not allow classes six through 7even that's the only other classes that the city does not allow of cannabis that is class six of retail class seven of delivery this gets brought up every now and again and why this is on my mind I just got I had a phone call today from assemblyman Antoine mclen uh heads up business administrator we'll be having a meeting with somebody from Kate May County that wants to have a cannabis business come here to the city of mville I do not know what type of business of cannabis but I have to tell the assemblyman that we do not allow class six or seven pretty sure about all the shaking heads and like it was said that's tax dollars Revenue going to the city of Vinland or very close to commercial Township where there will be excuse me bug um there will be uh retail in commercial Township Mr Reeves uh yes that road is by New Jersey Motor Vehicle Code any unregistered residential street is automatic 25 mph I did not know if there needs to be State action in order to raise that painting lines is an issue in the city of mville where especially like the curb easements on High Street that is of areas um I do agree with line that it is very vague um especially and on Bogden you know Kirby Wy Road um so with that uh the resident on North Street the noise ordinance I feel for your noise ordinance um the city does not have a noise ordinance but as I'm told by our Police Department you call they will come the noise should be turned down action will be taken if not the noise is not turned down um as your comments to speed bumps that is a long lengthy process through the state do they'd have to do traffic safety studies to find out why they were speeding we had a lot of speeding issues when the last commission awarded the contract we paved Fifth Street when Fifth Street got done you know nice and smooth as glass a lot of speeding on that but as far as far as speed bumps every once in a while Pleasant Drive is another road that says you know we have to add speed bumps on Long lengthy it's not a quick say hey state New Jersey we'd like speed bumps we'll pay for it that can't happen traffic St safety study has to be done 3 to five years I agree with what all of you have said tonight I appreciate each and every one of you coming out Ed if you're not here I know that people are watching I know residents through all through all out Melville that watch every single meeting they'll not miss one of them especially former shitty employees it's weird you know what I'm talking about Jim um we're working to do our jobs we're working to do the job that we're up here for I will work to better the city of mville I'm not just here for four want to stay longer that's for the people to decide that fact I got asked three times to move to higher office I said no I'm G to stay here in moo I want to see change I want to see our Police Department grow I want to see this community grow I want to see citizens stay I don't need citizens leaving census in 2020 202010 it was 28,000 we're decreasing just by the 2020 census we need to bring back industry like people have said we're industry town we need to create those jobs jobs for Blue Collar jobs for White Collar we need good residents we have good residents we need more of them I appreciate each and every one of you coming out tonight I look forward to seeing all of you at our local businesses in eies you hear me talk about that a lot um enjoy what has to offer for you guys we're bringing a new business we want to revitalize old businesses but we're here for you myself vice mayor we're all Commissioners we just have titles some of us but I appreciate each and one every one of my Commissioners for all their words and all their hard work I wish each and every one of you have a good night and enjoy the rest of the evening can I have a motion for adjournment make motion second all in favor I thank you