Philipsburg Town council meeting June 26th 2024 2024 6:00 open public meetings act statement be read by vice president Paul this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of June 26 2024 was included in a list of meeting notices sent to the newspapers of record and posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as required notices under the statute in addition a copy of this notice has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal clerk will everyone rise to the [Music] question of the United States of America and to the rep for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice do the invocation please Lord we seek blessings on the task before us bless our efforts with clear Insight our deliberations with wisdom our work with Clarity and accuracy and our decisions with impartiality ameno call please councilman Clark here councilman Kennedy here councilman sco here Council vice president pres here council president Marino here Bill SS please Pard me the regular Bill list as of June 26 2024 is 4,770 104 the prepaid Bill list is $251,700 total of 5, 28,2928 from 38 C motion so move second any discussion by Council seeing none hearing none roll call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman scbo yes Council vice president bis yes council president Marino yes at this time we'll be going into executive session there will be no action taken tonight of attorney flying privilege will be in there no more than 10 minutes yes yes yes vient yes president Marina yes you get motion to reconvene so move second call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman sto yes Council vice president yes president council president Marino yes counselor we were in executive session for approximately 20 minutes during which time we actually discussed two matters one involving matters of attorney client privilege and then the second matter was contractual matters regarding 540 Marshall Avenue no action was taken in executive session council president at this at this time I would recommend removing from the agenda of resolution 2024 D90 okay at this time we're going to remove resolution 2024 D90 mov went on okay moving on the minutes of June 12th 2024 regular meeting minutes and the June 12 2024 executive session minutes so move second any discussion on it seeing none R call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman sto yes Council vice president bis yes council president Marino yes this time we have a presentation the the lower Delaware wild and Scenic River designation ma'am your name please yes thank you my name is Tara mezan and I am with the lower Delaware wild and Scenic River Management Council and I'm here tonight to share with you a little bit about Philipsburg segment of the Delaware River and how it um can be included in the current existing designation for the national River so uh the reason I'm doing this is our organization has a project where we're expanding the designation to areas that weren't originally designated in 2000 2000 yes I mix numbers up in 2000 so the Phillipsburg segment of the Delaware River was not designated wild and Scenic in 2000 um there are a few other segments that we're not and we're also adding and studying adding certain tributaries so we're looking at every tributary from up by the Delaware Water Gap so to tell you where the lower Delaware starts and where it ends um I don't think most of us would think lower Delaware is on our banks I would think lower Delaware is down like below Trenton myself um but the lower Delaware starts at the Delaware Water National Recreation Area and it goes all the way down to around Trenton by Washington's Crossing so that is what is considered the lower Delaware and it was designated in the National wild and Scenic river system as I said in the year two um 2000 um the middle Delaware most of us wouldn't realize this either is located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area so we don't hear uh discussions about the middle Delaware cuz we're always just hearing about the Delaware Water Gap National recreation area but the middle Delaware National wild and Scenic River is located um and in the boundaries of the of of the recreation area and there is an upper Delaware which I would have thought was in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and from when I started this thing but there is an upper Delaware and that is really the upstate New York Park um so um I we were going to put this on the screen but that didn't work so we are in um we are in here this is like nine pages in you guys have the pretty blue the pretty blue Pages um I'm going to just use what would have been my presentation so I don't forget things that I want to mention in here um so I'm here as Warren County's representative on the lower Delaware wild and scena management Council um I'm a Nolton Township resident I also just want to mention personally I grew up uh in buron County my we lived on a lake my my my feet were in the in the muck I was the Tomboy always always paddling around the lake and playing with the frogs and the toads and everything else so it's not surprising that I live right by the Delaware River um by the poin skill inton Township I am I'm I love this stuff so I could spend an hour talking about how much I love this stuff um so now that I told you where um where the the river is um and why we're here I'm letting you know about the the project um and at the end of this um you guys will have some decisions to make whether you I'm certainly not expecting any decisions tonight about this because I would originally we wanted to do this during a work session I wanted to give the slow version of this and have us a serious discussion and answer questions about this um so but you have two decisions to make and I want you to have them in your mind as I'm explaining this when we were designated wild Scenic we have a management plan for the whole river you're included even though your segment wasn't designated you are a part of our management plan Philipsburg all this time could have and can now be a part of our management Council if you so choose um it's logical that if your segment wasn't designated um neither neither was eastn that you know why would you even be paying attention to this thing um so know that you could choose to come in now um if you wanted to and and that's a really a simple thing in addition a part of this project to add your segment and add the laac concrete in particular um we're asking for you guys to support the study so and part of the reason we're asking you to do that is this educational value that we have going on right now we don't need you to say we support the study for us to study it um but by coming here and explaining all this to you and inviting you to participate in that and deliberate a little bit about what this is all about and and pass a resolution supporting the study um it kind of just adds value to the relationships that we're looking to build and give you some more information about what this thing really is okay so here we go so what is the national wild and Scenic river system so in the 30s 30s to s out west everything was being damned you know damn it well excuse me but you know what I mean put the dams up do the hydroelectric the Water Resources whatever it was it was all about dams it was the best science at the time everybody thought it made a whole lot of sense however people then went wait a minute were doing damage to these pristine lands where maybe dams don't belong maybe it's not the best idea here so people got together and and had a whole movement and got Congress to pass What's called the Wild and Scenic Rivers act and what that does and that was in um in the in the' 60s so what that does is it protects certain select rivers that possess outstandingly remarkable Scenic recreational geologic fish and wildlife historic cultural or simil similar values those are what we call O RVs outstandingly remarkable values so certain Rivers have these super special values that should be protected they're in a free flow in a free flowing condition for today's and future Generations um so the requirements for designation and I'll talk about your Philipsburg segment and I'll talk about the low Pac Concrete in here is we need to have good water quality so our whole thing was studied and back in 2000 I want to back up for a moment back in 200000 Philipsburg was a part of the whole study back in 2000 like Nolton Township like my town Township like Bader like Po hat Kong um Philipsburg said you know what you guys go do this experiment we're out we said not us and there was a big Fallout back then toxs Island was still pretty raw people were less trusting of of National Park Service and the federal government and it was just we just didn't want to be a part of this experiment thing so back then fellburg said they were out um back to this so you need good water um good water quality we have that we've already studied that we know the Delaware River has that I took a look on a surface level of the l pacon Creek it has the pieces necessary to qualify um although that has to be vetted by the National Park Service in this process I can just tell you that it's looking good but I'm not the one that gives a stamp of approval um the outstandingly remarkable values you need at least one River related value that that's rare unique or exemplary at the regional or national scale you got you are like Historic downtown is it um the canal the fact that the canal connects right in there is it so we don't have to go further to say do we qualify but that's not what we're doing here back in 2000 that's kind of what they were doing you know just get enough to to get this through Congress because this is this is actually um it it's Congress and Senate appropriation congress senate and then it gets signed by the president as in um in as a federal as a federal part of the federal act um so they're all here you have you have uh rare plants and on the I think it was called Philipsburg Bluffs is that right do you even know we have a place called filbur Bluffs that have rare plants I know I heard of it I don't where it is okay well by the time we're donea down by Sunny Rock I would imagine it's more it's down by theack concrete it's down in that area Cas Sun rock is about 100 yards from there okay so you were right you have so that where there's Cliffs also I don't know I was too scared to go near these C but so the the the cliffs are special that is special um you have the muscles which are always that can be a problem when you're trying to do development um you have these special resources that qualify you certainly have also recreational you know the fact that our river is a recreational gem um so they're all there in terms of Eligibility the suitability requirement is should the river's Valu um be protected um and you know we can get right in there um and is there a demonstrated commitment to protect so is local support present required by the ACT required is local governmental support like I said my town you guys few others when the study was over which is the same process we're in right now when this study is over you decide are you in or you out if you don't see the value then you don't need to be doing this um without the local support on both sides of the river so now I'll be heading over to eastn your segment could not be in the wild and Scenic river system your low pack concrete could because you own both sides of the river just using this using your Waters as so you understand the parameters here okay so next one I just want to tell you the difference between the partnership wild and Scenic River and a traditional wild and Scenic River I mentioned the federal one in the in the national park because that is M managed and administered by the National Park Service that's not us us is we manage our River without National Park Service with a seat on the board so our management plan is about to be amended and our management council is growing because of this project and you are invited as I said you can have a seat on that Council to amend our management plan should you should you choose even at this time even though we're doing the study that's going to require action later um so uh the traditional one is the federal lands and the partnership wild and Scenic River requires there to be a 501c3 to receive the funds from uh the department of interior down to the National Park Service down to R 501c3 and that is my segue to introduce Allison here Allison is the executive director for Delaware River Greenway partnership by law every partnership River must have a 501c3 and they have the Cooperative agreement with the National Park Service to manage the funds that comes down funds that come down down um that we then use those funds the management Council decides the budget how we spend those funds it's all about our management plan the funds are used to advance our management plan um the law says no imminent domain can happen nobody can say to a land owner on the laac concrete since this is now wild and Scenic we can come here because of that and take your land it's just it's written into the act that imminent domain isn't happening otherwise why would why would you want to participate on your properties you would be risking government coming and taking your beautiful rer front you don't want that um uh private property rights remain the same it's the other big thing you know government is whatever laws exist it's pure home rule we don't supersede there isn't anything to even supersede here if D laws exist the regulations are there we actually we have a partn we partnership the state is on our management Council we have a DP representative on our Council um so they have to stay the same and everything as I was saying goes through our management Council um so the partnership is the 501c3 our national park service representative is assigned to us so her job is us and another wild in s River and her job is to advise us and make sure that we're following along along with the rules set forth um by by the wild scen rivers program so the goals of the management plan um are things that I don't think people would have find offensive U maintaining good water quality protecting and preserve our natural our natural resources uh the historic resources um preserving recreational sustainable at Recreation Economic Development that's sustainable um and we do enjoy open space preservation and supporting that so where we are right now is the process we are in requires us to do this study which we're doing right now present the information to you guys to then say you do want to be a part of this um and the National Park Service and our group is then vetting all the information that we're Gathering and making sure all the right boxes get checked then the National Park Service and our con our our consultant creates a packet that goes to one we also would need our state um our County would need to endorse it our state legislators would need to endorse it and then it goes to our congressional representative who then brings it through Appropriations and it gets attached to attached to an existing bill and when it's done whatever we have successfully said qualifies eligibility wise and suitability wise um becomes um the next the Wild and scene agre River in the state um in terms of expansion so we have like the musong you know the musong had a big celebration a few years back because they added a segment similar process here we're adding segments very different though is we're studying all the tributaries so that is the highlevel um view of what we have going on I can answer all the questions you want right now you could say you know what you're right this is probably a great discussion for a work session if you wanted to whatever you guys want okay thank you very much any Council have any questions Council M Clark thank you council president so this I believe is a great presentation right here I do agree and approve at least personally any initiative that helps protect and manage the health of the Delware river water um River sorry the Delaware River um I do believe it's one of our Town's greatest natural assets um um one question I do have um you did say we're if we um do join in we're required by law to participate what does participation look like if we are a member is that just partic uh participate in certain meetings is that monetary what what does that look like perfect so there isn't uh our mou which sounds all all scary lawyers have to go through these kind of things and it pretty much says you agree to principles um the the principles that I just shared you're pretty much stating you agree to to the resource that's required is you are assigning a representative to represent Philipsburg on our management council with an alternative an alternate rather uh we meet quarterly tomorrow typically and now you can pretty much go quarterly from there it's that same Thursday um it's Zoom um because we're a pretty big reach um and from there everything I have to say becomes optional um this is a federal act that's going to stand so you can get as much out of this as you want um or and or you're also setting involvement for 10 years from now 20 years from now who knows what is going on that you can also force them you them be a part of and um you mentioned there's a d representative is there also an EPA representative as well on this uh uh D is EPA okay yes so um e so EPA at the federal level rde is really the agent for them in our state got it so they represent the federal EPA as well and state as well uh no they represent ours so but in terms of I'm just so we don't have any other Federal representation other than our national park service representative she does not have a vote on our Council I want to bring that since you're asking about others uh again she doesn't vote on anything um she just makes sure everything is going the way that things should excellent thank you any other questions from Council uh councilman Clark brought up even monetary what is the cost the the monetary call from the town of fburg thank you I I was going to have to get back to that um none as and by and we are not we we cannot ask you for money same as the federal government can't go knocking on your neighbor's door or your door as a river owner and say we want same thing here it's it's written in there so uh the option you one of the the the um principles of theou is the option is there to provide um money or and income mind if for example you're getting a grant some grants that may come through us um might say we're expecting an in-kind contribution so however you do that but there's nothing being a part of the wild and Scenic River the partnership wild and Scenic river system that can ask Philipsburg to financially contribute okay with that in kind or require I should say require you to contribute yes uh assuming that fburg would get a Grant okay okay you're going to ask for an in kind contribution like what would be the percentage if um assuming Philipsburg is with us um even if Philipsburg was not to um join the management council at this time um and even if Philipsburg did not support adding your segment and the lowack concrete by virtue of the wild in Sanic River being above and below you you are still right now eligible for certain grants and that has that has happened so whatever I was just using grants as an as an example grants sometimes have these in kind contributions yeah okay if psbg were to do it and there are these grants where is that grant money going you um sure so do you want me to stand up or can whever on you're good there um so the there's a there's a couple flavors of grants that that this can um I wouldn't say lead to that's that sounds too much like it's given but um there the Wild and scate Council in it of itself gives out what are called minig grants they're small they're minig grants fun um and they often go to either uh townships directly or to nonprofits in townships for very discrete projects um getting rid of invasive you know Japanese not weed along the river or something and you may have uh a group of local folks who are part of an organization that want to do that and they're being um assisted by the township the township is busting people over there or whatever the situation may be right so that's one flavor of them and ours ours does not ours does not have an um a match um right and and for those many although often times people do provide in kind in the in the form of Labor right um you're much more likely for example to be considered for a minig grant if you if you just pay people to come and take out your Japanese not weed you're less likely to be approved then you've got 15 people who are willing to spend an afternoon doing it right um so the other form is NPS has um different sort of partner Grant often times they actually come through the national park Foundation which is the philanthropic partner of the National Park Service um and they can be for um uh they tend to be slightly bigger although although none of these are like in the millions they're all you know relatively discret amounts of money um but again for projects that are specific to River improvements so for example that could be a you know improving a boat access point or those kinds of things that are um very much in line with the goals of the management plan um so it is as as Tara said some of these monies are available to anybody within the management plan area um just by virtue of the fact that you're on the Delaware River and some of these are um you're more you're more likely to be looked upon favorably as an applicant if you have a supportive Community both in the terms of um the municipality and local organizations um any other questions no this is probably the third time I've you guys it's been fantastic so and I I I need to acknowledge that so thank you this started back in I I think we started this process in February we had um two two Zoom calls our national park service representative did participate and met with um um Mr call and mayor um to answer questions to make sure everybody was comfortable to bring us to this point and then we also got the the T Mr thank you for your presentation if there's any interest by the excuse me the to the community groups we'll go through the mayor in the va8 and get back to here very good okay thank you very much thank you thank you okay moving on public discussion on agenda items only state your name 3 [Music] minutes sand moriset five Fairview Heights I've had the privilege of meeting many of the residents now on Mercer Street over the past few months with my husband many of these residents are now my friends in fact they will be invited to dinner soon because of the friendships that have developed the warehouse ordinance ordinance 20224 is personal to me nobody we have met in this section of town once a warehouse back in the Peron Howard Street property some of the comments that we have had heard are if they build a warehouse the town is going to sandwich us between two industrial sites with MCU ductile pumping lead chromium Arsenic and other toxic chemicals in the air and then putting truck fumes from a warehouse on our other side as we know the prevailing wind blows from the West to the east right across the Delaware River and will blow the fumes directly into that merer Street area also known as the flats they have said warehouses on the pon Howard Street property will hurt their property values because not all down there are transient are renters they consider this a sign that the members of the town government do not care about them if the town allows or Warehouse to be built on the Peron Howard Street property I have heard that some C I've heard some council members say they represent all the residents of Philipsburg you too mayor and that means the residents in this overburdened community which the area of the flats near Peron Howard Street property qualifies as please stand up for those residents of the flats in Philipsburg and vote no on the warehouse house ordinance 20244 and some final questions before I leave and I realize you may not be able to answer them at this time but I'm hoping you will answer them at some point exactly what specific concept plan are you using as the basis for this ordinance exactly what type of warehouses being contemplated because right now there are three different sizes out there so that that's more than a bit confusing and exactly what are the traffic patterns and impacts not to mention has there been an environmental study to determine how much fumes are going to contribute towards asmatic rates within the town the public does have a right to know this information before Council votes on this ordinance 20244 I also want to point out that the agenda thank you very [Music] much my name is David Morisette I live at 5w Heights I making a comment on ordinance 2024-the ordinance which will allow a warehouse to be built in downtown filisur in the area of the flats and overburdened Community as designated by njde miles away from any major arteries or highways and next to the Delaware River over the past couple of months we have been speaking with many residents of the plats the residents have said said they realize that the area should be developed but they think it is a horrible idea that the town would allow a warehouse to be built on the perone Howard Street property because of Angela noes and Van C's total disregard with a spirit and letter of the 2013 master plan revision report the last master plan document to date the February 25th 2021 consistency plan report uh is essentially misinformation at best for whatever reason she chose to ignore the master plan uh that the master plan indicates that the light and dust wheel should be moved out of there and it only should be Riverside residential Riverside commercial and Riverside Heritage industrial zoning is definitely not part of the Town Master Plan and for her to write otherwise in the consistency plan leads to many other questions the problem is is that members of the land use board relied on the van clef's severely flawed report when making their decision on whether to allow industrial Zoning for the Peron Howard Street property I urge each of you I urge that each of I urge each of you to say that you have read the 2013 master plan revision report before voting yes for this ordinance and after reading the 2000 master plan master plan document then you as individual council members should each explain how you could vote for industrial in that area of town in ordinance 20244 it is implied that because the Landes board passed back a recommendation to councel and recommended industrial for the District 5 Redevelopment plan that somehow you should Vote for This ordinance recent precedent shows that this is not the case in 2018 the land use board unanimously rejected the proposal to allow a waste hauling operation to operate on South Main Street and the council rejected the land board's recommendation and allowed Mr to establish operations on South Main Street because the land use board based its recommendation on a flaw consistency report I urge you to reject the recommendation of the land use board and I urge you to either table this vote until you all have time to examine the 2013 master plan revision report for yourselves or vote no on this res uh ordinance this ordinance will be devastating for the residents of the plats and hurt the town of filisur thank you for your time anyone else my name is Wayne Sherer I live at 778 South Main Street I've been a member of Philipsburg area Historical Society for 30 years and have recently been appointed to the Philipsburg historic preservation commission and I want to offer a few observations on the warehouse site from a historical perspective while it's true that the land being considered has an industrial pass most of that land was occupied by railroad tracks and buildings related to operations of the railroad and the Mars canal tippet and wood boiler Works received the raw materials and Shi their finished products by that rail access since the railroad and Canal provided access to the property its industri use had no impact on the South Main Street Corridor in addition the adjacent fet Howard blocks were residential until they were redeveloped as an industrial park in the 1960s those blocks were not historically a source of truck traffic for South Main Street the traffic generated by the proposed Warehouse would have a significant and negative effect on the South Main Street Corridor especially increased truck traffic volume through the town's historic district would have an adverse effect on the old buildings even if restrictions were placed on truck Passage through the district the reality is that trucks ignore restriction and the signs that are already exists just two weeks ago I saw a truck sitting just off Stockton Street because it tried going from South Maine up Stockton Street to chamers Street and it got stuck under the TRU railroad tracks unless you have officers at Stockton and South Maine and at Union Square stopping trucks from going through the historic district the fact is that it doesn't matter if you say well trucks are restricted to mcken Street South and Union Square North trucks will go through there just like they're going through Valley View just like they're going down Chamber Street um and I urge you to dis to not approve the building of that warehouse in the Howard section thank you welome thank you anyone else Sarah name Randy pasaz and F I have one question when it concerns that Peron development what do these people over here want to see done with the property well I haven't heard anything yet other than open space before I live down here on Mercer Street I live right around the corner from there and I want to see it built why because I've seen what comes back off of that street you're going talking about crime you're talking about homelessness and it needs to be developed I want to see a structure back there I want to see a 20 47 structure that's all I got thank you thank you sir anyone else any see no one move on Joey getting up I allow for our age group I want to get to be his [Music] agent Joe Miner Philipsburg and I uh there's a new thing happened tonight on this issue I think uh the um filbur Valley the Delaware River Development thing that that might uh Blossom a bit um now I am for the warehouse I am for more for the a rail head than even the warehouse and for the jobs for for poor people to get from the warehouse however uh if somewh to come up with something from this New River Development thing that could satisfy me a little bit and please give me that rail head I need that rail head I need those jobs but if there're then then maybe it's worth uh postponing with if it doesn't screw up everything tabling this thing to have one more look see um okay there's not tons of letters up there from people like me who want want that warehouse because you're on the verge of deciding to go ahead I think and until I heard this uh Delaware River Development thing come forward to make it pretty to give it some kind of a plan uh that is doomed from the the problem is New Jersey has bad weather that's why we're never going to be a center like like um uh Las Vegas with the dry weather and stuff like that we don't have it's beautiful in New Jersey yeah and we I us that live in and know what air conditioning we works it's just fine but maybe I'd go as far as a postponement to investigate this new Delaware River stuff I still want that warehouse and those jobs more than I am afraid of uh the same uh cast iron uh drippings uh that affect with the windshield of my car I live on on South Main Street that's all thank you joh anyone [Music] I really wasn't going to talk about the warehouse tonight Jo the warehouse I mean seriously where were used when Atlantic states was running 24/7 I was I grew up on the flats us people weren't complaining then now you are complaining comments to the Des they weren't complaining about the wear of Atlantic states running truck and pipe 24/7 when I was a kid getting rolled out of bed it's going to bring jobs here to us they're worried about a warehouse we got more problems in the town than a warehouse going in I'm for it it's going to bring jobs Revenue whatever it may be it's been sitting there we got homeless we got drugs but our Town's got a lot more going on so if you vote Yes I'm for it thank you thank you Jim damn voice St start likewise I wasn't going to say anything but I feel compelled I have a big mouth um some people live in Gau communities here and they're they're bringing us up okay there's been a frivolous lawsuit just going on this is for the fourth year now this town has lost over a million dollars every year in tax revenue you just were faced with a tax hike this year that was very unpopular okay where would you been if the town would have reaped just money from when the development would have started 4 years ago okay let's let's deal with reality thank you anyone else see none hearing none going to move on to ordinances the second reading I'll read them the council will vote on then the public can comment on if they wish ordinance 020241 in ordinance of the town of filbur County of Warren state of New Jersey amending chapter 464 rental property of the code of the town of fburg in order to revise requirements and fees so move now second any discussion by Council Council if I may um I know I've have already shared my concerns but again I'll be voting no on this in the next order um it's going to have an effect on renters and their rents now the town will re more revenue from all these new fees the landlords will be able to weather it but they're going to have to make their money back somewhere and they're going to increase rents on their tenants in order to make up for all these new fees so we're going to see an increase in rents and I don't know how many of the tenants will be able to storm uh survive that storm of weather so for that reason I cannot Vote for This nor uh 20242 but I do see the intent behind it but it will have uh consequences that are economically negative towards certain folks in our town thank you any other comments from Council I would like to make a comment most of my neighborhood is rentals they don't clean up their properties we had an elderly woman who mostly claimed them up you increased the impact on our Police Department you impact our school district I've been on the school district for over 12 years so I know what I'm talking about I like to commend the town officials for finally having an intestinal fortitude to bring peber up to the current status of the rest of the country and I feel that this is in the best interest of all the residents no matter if they're a renter or an owner if you want to bring this community up we have to move forward and the decisions aren't always easy but uh we have this young gentleman back on what I call the flats back on the island what we call them our day cleaning up I participated on a Saturday with nor westcat cleaning that up there should be no reason in today age and era that a town Bes size should have that kind of garbage this is not a social platform for the council I worked with one arm so I expect people with two arms to work if they have a mental problem there should be agencies to handle that I support this and I support because if you want to clean town if you want to bring people in you have to clean up the town and I think this Administration is doing a good job I really congratulate to those people doing it on their own and also there Community teams in town who do it I think it's in the best interest of fever I talked to a lot of young people and they have visions of this town that's going to make it move forward and I think that's where we have to go that's where I think we should go so I'm in favor of it so any other discussion by Council roll call please excuse me public open to the public Cas see none roll call please councilman Clark no councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president paas yes council president Marino yes I think it passes thank you councel second ordinance 0224 D12 in ordinance of the town of filbur County of Warren state of New Jersey amending chapter 219 certificates of hability of the code of the town of philorth in order to revise requirements and fees so move I'll second that one any discussion among councel only comment I would make I heard from some Town officials some these fees and codes weren't revised since 200 5 2005 how would you all like to have your salary back to 2005 today that's why the town is losing revenues I thank the administration for having the integrity and the guts to bring peber up so I'm supporting him okay will public seeing none rad call please Council Clark no councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president paace yes council president Marino yes okay moving on these are ordinances there will be no public discussion on the first reading second reading public hearing will be held on Wednesday July 10th at 6 pm at which time any interested persons wishing to speak for against this ordinance may do so ordinance 2 02 0243 in ordinance of the town of filbur County of waren state of New Jersey authorizing the purchase by the town of billsburg a real property located at 1 through three croner Place billsburg New Jersey 08865 for $100,000 from Jennifer zubic the administrator of the estate of Charlotte Walker deceased okay for anyone wanting to know where that location is down in Union Square across from the railroad tracks the red house I delivered newspapers there as well as mail so that's where it's located any discussion on Council need a motion move second okay discussion he in none V call the r councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman sto yes Council president B yes council president Marino yes thanks to the mayor and administration for the foresight to move on this is a really good assets going to be to the square area moving on to orance 020241 14 in ordinance of the town of billsburg County of Warren New Jersey adopting District 5 Riverside industrial Amendment Riverfront Redevelopment plan need a motion so move second on seconding discussion on Council council president go ahead so it's clear that this is a controversial issue the T the room is literally divided into two so it's it's unfortunate that it takes issues like this to get a good crowd to come to council but if we're going to have the discussions let's have the discussions um I am on record of of not supporting this ordinance I personally don't believe that a warehouse within the Riverside area is The Right Move um now I know folks have opinions on this I've been clearly I've been clear on my stance on this two years ago I wrote and published an oped called a wherehouse development isn't key to redeveloping New Jersey municipalities perhaps tackling the food desert problem is now perhaps some people won't agree with me but I think something we should be striving for is a full service grocery store in town we are food desert and we need to make a option that's more accessible that provides nutritious options to our residents especially with recent news finding that Stop and Shop maybe downgraded some of its spots due to underperformance so this makes grocery stores even more important to our community and this is one of the very few areas in our town that's large enough to actually handle it now it provides jobs it provides active activity in the area to help dissuade some of the more negative criminal aspect aspects and it's also providing a service to our town that is pandemic proof because you're always going to need Grocery Stores um and it always pays decent wages and it's very accessible to folks it's something we need so perhaps some people disagree with me but I don't believe a warehouse is the right area um spot for this there are spots for warehouses I agree this isn't it so I won't be supporting this I don't believe a warehouse is right for the downtown especially as Easton is putting residental recreational in their River area so that's all I'm going to say about that you know where I stand I cannot support this but thank you any other comments anouncement Kennedy just to remind everyone uh I voted in favor of the the uh proposed cold storage facility that was going to go on that site uh because I was shown a guarantee that they would in fact use rail service um that changed my mind on that because my main stumbling block has been and always will be the truck traffic that would be brought to that area when I was shown proof that rail service would be used they actually researched the cold storage facility and they did at their other facilities in fact use rail service um that's why I voted in favor of that previously uh that deal never materialized for the cold storage facility so we're back to a warehouse on that site with no guarantee that trucks wouldn't be used U again at a time where we seem to be having trouble coming up with money for signs to enforce a truck route that would keep trucks off of South Main Street from Ming Street down past Union Square I cannot vote for an ordinance that may lead to more truck traffic down through that area so uh that's why I will not vote in favor of this ordinance thank you council president thank you any other counil councilman scur yeah so I agree with councilman clerk we can agree to disagree on um certain uh resolutions up here I do appreciate the public coming out and um taking a stance on what they believe in um I believe that's a fair process in our community and in our country um I do not agree with what they say um I do agree that we need to light up that area down there um I would just hope that people can come with the same energy and to try to attack the real problem that we see down in that area is the homelessness um we need to find a facility here for people that are struggling um that they won't have that area anymore but it's also a hazard to our uh residents down there because there are people that struggle with addiction and go down there and there's crime all those elements come with that um so I would just urge our public to come out be strong in your opinions I think it's great for our town to have people come out here and participate in the meetings but we need to look at all the issues in town we can't just keep harping on one thing um when this is actually going to clean up that area down there it's going to light it up and with the rail service I believe it's going to help eliminate the truck use and I think that was a positive solution to what the argument was in the beginning so that's all I have Council back in the 2201 had the privilege of being council president whena Rand was going to be sold tell that's like 23 24 years ago Cold Storage was supposed to come in Philipsburg politics kept it out they went to betham Township they averaged over $50,000 making good money I like to move forward on things if we would to move for back then we wouldn't have what we have today we have roughly 19% unemployment rate in this town and when all these little stores open and shops that shouldn't be anywhere over 8% should not I know downtown peber as well as anybody I worked in the post office here I delivered mail in a lot of these areas if you don't clean that up and put money coming in your taxes are going to keep going up cuz those guys in blue aren't Che you can't have the crime that we have in this town unless we have a force that can put them under control you can't have a school district I'm going to talk for a seniors we're on fixed income I don't get Social Security I don't get the benefit of that I have a federal civil service pension and when you tell a congressman what those guys pay us they can't believe us and we didn't put No 5 years 20 years we been over 30 years in and we pay for our Hospital benefits so anything that could benefit this town I'll be for it if it's going to bring jobs in I'm for it if it's going to put money in the town cers I'm for it you want the kids in perber to work in perber give them a place to go to work if you know people that travel from the PAC or pieber down the hill what they refer down the hill the north Jersey City area and I know quite a few would it be nice if they could work locally and I respect everybody's decision pro and con okay but at a point we got to move this town forward and we're not you keep delaying delaying and you don't get anything done do you think I want to see my taxes well no but I want those guys in blue in my neighborhood I want them in a town we had a program we're going to put cameras instead of the boys and woman in glue I said dang cameras are good they take pictures are they working half of them don't work see what good is the camera if you're the one getting assaulted or your head getting beat in I want them in blue there I want five of them so getting back to this ordinance you got to put peber kids to work when they get out of high school we have a community Comm College where they can go to further their education to those of us that were born and raised in this town I wish to God they would have these things back then we could at least went to community college right a lot of kids back in my day weren't Rich they didn't go to school they went to the unal ranch they went to the baker chical so where are these kids now going they don't have money to go to Community College where are they going to work 19% unemployment in this town right 19% well if we have places to go that should be reduced the ma get on the work so I'm going to vote for it and you take it it's in litigation so I'm not going to comment on it because I'm not a lawyer and I'm not aware of everything going on at one point at one point they're going to Su and our taxes are going to see the ceiling they're going to see the ceiling then you want to see a lot of homes go up for sale again it will come it will come so I'm going to support it and I think being a resident in this town since 1945 for race downtown P which I love and I'd love to see it come back I get irritated when I see the garbage down there in a small community so people get out and clean your sidewalks clean your gutters like they did back in my day participate clean it up we put these people we put businesses where they can go to work because they're not going to give them welfare they're not going to give them unemployment they're going to say go get a job we got these agencies that are helping everybody like nor West C that so to keep arguing on something that we're going to lose I'm not a lawyer but I'll tell you one thing we're going to lose and they know you got to look at yourself what did you G buy the property off of the owner if you want to make change that's all I can say get together if you have money make them an offer then we don't have to drag it out drag it out nothing against L rich I'm not take it okay but sooner or later we got to use common sense that's all I have to say so with that being said pres if I so so uh in the ordinance we we reference the blocks lots that were Incorporated uh that in the uh amended Redevelopment U plan the Redevelopment plan and one of the blocks is block 2102 lot one um that is and we referen this in the ordinance and the preambles that it's incumbered by Green Acres obviously that's not subject to Industrial Development that would require major diversion that's not part of any approvals that have been granted but I think just for sake a Clarity for everyone's um mental and emotional health just to make it clear that's not part of this we it would a motion to amend this ordinance on first reading to delete and and the third whereas uh reference to block 2102 block one in the fourth whereas to delete that Clause entirely and in the sixth whereas Clause to delete reference to block 2102 blot one there's a motion to amend have everyone make a net motion to amend that I'll make that motion second okay roll call on that councilman Clark no councilman Kennedy no councilman sco yes Council vice president bace yes council president Marino yes and we call on the amended motion okay we need a roll call the amended motion councilman Clark no councilman Kennedy no counc sto yes Council vice president PA yes counc president Leto yes okay moving on ordinance 0224 D15 Bond ordinance providing for various 2024 Capital Improvements buying for the town of filisur and the county of Warren state of New Jersey appropriating $2,585 therefore is authorizing the issuance of 2,383 $75 bonds or notes of the town to finance part of the cost thereof so move second any discussion roll call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman sco yes Council vice president yes council president Marino yes okay resolutions the consent agenda okay as you know we're removing resolution 20249 okay motion consent so second any discussion none see none I actually have some discussion you got to pull it yeah we look to pull um R [Music] 2024 121 and I'd also like to P r224 129 as [Music] well okay roll call on the rest of the resolution Council M yes Ken yes yes vient yes president Marino yes okay Council sto yes uh so my comment for 121 um this came up earlier in the year when we were looking for um newspapers of record um understanding when I read this this is going to open the door for online uh newspapers to be able to hold that I'm I'm against that I was before um only because just because I think as a town we have a decision we can make this decision on our own we don't have to go by what the state is putting out um we can they're urging us to support it that doesn't mean that um I asked for information about newspaper record before um last meeting about sending a notice um I don't I didn't hear back about that um so that's what I I just don't know if I could support this I know that the county is but um I don't know if this fits for our town in my opinion council president if I may um to my understanding this isn't a requirement from the state this is uh to support a resolution passed by the county free holder sorry County Commissioners requesting that the state edit the law to allow for online publication because currently it doesn't so we would actually be supporting a resolution passed by Commissioners okay any other discussion on that resolution R call on that need a motion so move second okay roll call please councilman clar yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman sco no counc president no council president Marina no okay councilman Scerbo other resolution yeah so for I just wanted to make a comment on it uh I believe it's obvious that we have to continue this lease um but I think we need to really look hard in and I know that our Administration is um we need to find a permanent home that's feasible and state of- the-art for our Police Department I know I've said this before um I think that we need to ramp up so we don't have to continue to do these leases every year um I also know that that land you can't have children at that building I don't know I'm not a doctor but there's a reason why they can't have children there so I don't believe that we should be having to have to have our police offic there much longer that's just my opinion on that um I'm going to vote Yes because they need a a home now they need to operate but I would like to really ramp up finding them a permanent home something state of the-art that they can actually combat the crime that goes on in this in this town okay mayor uh councilman scuro um this just happened a couple hours ago we had a uh very good meeting with Engineers about uh moving forward and trying to keep going forward with um Municipal Building police station things of that nature it was just at 1:00 1:00 today so uh sorry I didn't update anybody yet but it was very recent that's good news mayor thank you sorry thank you m a motion so move second second any discussion any further discussion seeing none roll call please Council pardon me councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman scbo yes Council vice president Callis yes council president Marino yes like to thank the school district for bailing out the town years ago when they needed a facility n has old business counciling Kennedy I don't have any counciling Clark um just one an update regarding an old uh issue I brought before regarding the uh pedestrian walk uh near Joe steak shop in cottage uh we had a great I had a great conversation with the mayor um I don't want to put any you know details out there because it's still talking but I feel like we you know there's potential to possibly move forward um so I just wanted to share that so thank you uh May pza for engaging in those talks and hopefully we can move forward with that that's all Council gero yeah I just have one thing I just want to follow up I know I mentioned prior meetings uh about the speeding on Irwin I want to look into putting the stop sign there um I went over to Irwin looked at it a couple of times uh I think this is just I'm not a professional but in my opinion I think um Schultz and Irwin uh I think would be a good spot as to where a lot of kids play um you can curb the speeding in that area and um that's just my recommendation as a councilman thank you Council vice president okay old business uh Matt Paul please put on next meeting's agenda we have a vacancy for the filbur Housing Authority so put it out there for one week see if anyone's interested in serving on the Housing Authority okay okay moving on to new business NJ do local a Grant application ranking Hudson Street phase two 10 upd uh yeah Timmy you got Green Street bikeways additional rails or Trails you might as well cover them all I did want you to go back and sit down bring you up for exercise okay you thank you so do will L gr is due July 1st I've circulated this before before the town um speaking with the administration um you've already got three rounds of grants for Hudson Hudson Street you need additional rounds of funding so recommendation is put forward Hudson Street the next phase which would be phase four um as Priority One and then Green Street has been in the the going on priority number two they both have a little bit different merits likely dot will Fund in some part Hudson phase 4 but you can put two applications in so we always say put two in and may you look out and get additional money uh the other rant program that's out there with the state has to do with bikeways um generally creating bike way non-motorized Trails so your Rails to Trails project is a potential um one if that's an interest and then there there was a councilman Kennedy and the council was looking at a B qus on Roseberry to Center to Logan to down to Street that's also a potential I don't need a resolution tonight but I do need to be able to submit the applications July 1 so I just need to make sure that the consensus is that those are acceptable applications or if there's something you don't want to move forward I just have to do the application and get it in by July 1 so Council have any objections to moveing forward ktim the only thing I want to ask going the Hudson Street is that go from Warren to Miller Street uh the current phase that or uh Tilcon is the awarded contractor um they're going to start at Warren Street they're going to work towards Evelyn under that contract as far as EVN that's where we're trying to get to is Evelyn that's mil sanitary repairs storm water repairs sidewalks curb ramps quite an intense project and then milling and repaving there's some modifications at the intersections to make them more uh neighborhood friendly than uh their current orientation for more Highway radiuses out there um the future phases you have money to keep keep extending down the road in our future years in 25 and 26 so if I live that long can we go from Evelyn to Filmore you have get rid of that stop light and make it a four-way stop and have officers there for the first couple of days and make a lot of money with phases 2 and three you you should have depending on how it depending on how all the numbers in the town comp contribution to the project you should be able to get the F more good great which the signal could be looked at to see a fourway stop there because you don't even go up there you make a right anyway some don't even stop it go any other questions of Tim why's up there thank you Dan thank you okay we have a motion for fire firefighter application Bon Strauss have a motion so move second second any discussion on him congratulations young man getting into a good volunteer organization uh vote please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes councilman yes Council vice president PA yes council president Marino yes okay public petici council president yes I'd like to make another motion at this time paron go ahead um as you know we had a conversation um about we talked about renaming eler Avenue I did put it out there a couple times at the meeting to have Council uh he fellow Council reach out to come up with a name to rename that uh Street uh me and council president had a conversation Council pres council president mentioned uh Richard Williams uh Richard Williams way and Richard Williams was a student at PHS he was a Korean War veteran and he served in the Navy during the Korean War um his family was one of the first African-American settlers here in town so I'd like to make a motion to rename Needler Avenue Richard Williams Way councilman I'll support that that uh you had mentioned that you were going to go over there and talk to the residents have you've done so I'm going to contact the Housing Authority I'm just making this motion to put to have this be put on through the agenda um and we're going to contact the housing authority to make sure they count contact the residents to whatever documentation they need to get changed and to follow up with those those kind of items uh before we even put the street sign up okay I have the liberty of calling the Postal Service as a retiree from there it's easy to change the name the problem is getting the residents to make sure that they're going to have one year of receiving mail at the old address and after that it gets returned to Sunday sure so I appreciate that going to make this change that you go over there let them know that because they'll only get one year and most people that have a state and federal programs the way it runs and I deal with people so I do know what I'm talking about if that change isn't there it's a nightmare for that person if they're on public subsistance social security whatever so really appreciate it that you know get over there let them know that the change if Council approves it is going to come that's fine give him a heads up on that I really appreciate that yep he I did I worked it over here 30 something years I know it is a nightmare if they don't get it okay so you're making that motion you want to put that on tonight for a vote so we can do the motion make a motion yeah the process to change it's an ordinance forward to move forward with the ordinance yes that's correct there motion we have a second second any discussion among Council he no I'm I'm actually good no cuz I was going to Second it my only thing is I know we have our history guy Wayne here so is there anything we need to know before we move forward okay okay okay hearing none vote on councilman sco's motion I'm sorry you roll roll call Council losing my voice yes coun councilman Kennedy yes councilman scuro yes Council vice president Pais yes council president Marino [Music] yes y okay public petitions state your name three minutes state your name well I was waiting for you okay we supposed to address it to you so I was waiting for you okay and Davis I I intentionally only was going to ask one question tonight but now after some other things I have two questions and a comment so as far as the town code with the anti-nepotism policy for hiring it doesn't state if that pertains to full-time part-time or seasonal are we adhering to that when we're hiring uh we li him to it we'll get back to you at another meeting okay question number two all the talk of Howard Street why does the property owner not being held responsible for cleaning up the property all kinds of posts on Facebook about a group that's going down there and that's great but what if somebody gets hurt he owns the property group owns the property they own the property whatever it's their responsibility I'm responsible for my property I clean up in front of my house I clean up the alley behind my house because I don't want to look at it I get all kinds of trash in my alley why is that property owner not being held responsible for cleaning up that property talk because if the DPW is going to keep cleaning up then they can come clean up mine too well I'm not a that BPW is cleaning it up as you are it has been it's been done in the past well if they have done it in the past we'll certainly look into that uh but we're not going to give an answer tonight because we haven't looked into it and as a fact of anybody in the town if you have other properties for them to me because we're not just going to Signal out any individual or any Corporation so thank responsible I want to clean up people and I want to charge them so we can make money so we follow up on that my my comment now is just because I've watched this I've been coming to Council meetings for longer than most of you have even been sitting there and it seems like more and more at meetings people have their 3 minutes to come up here speak ask questions have their concerns and there's an awful lot of snickering coming from up here being on cell phones I don't always agree with what people say when they get up here I don't agree with what all you do and I don't expect everybody to agree with me but I respect it when somebody comes up here and when people are coming up here they deserve that respect I agree with you okay it it's it's disrespectful to the people that elected you and are paying salaries for up here but it's also respectful for your professionals that are coming here when that's being done and each other when you're up there talking and people are on cell phones snickering back and forth do better come on thank you I I I would like to apologize for that I do keep my notes I I have my notebook open this is where I keep my notes I'm not talking about taking notes I'm talking about being onself when I'm talking about snickering that's coming from up there it needs to stop you want to move this town forward stop it Oh I thought maybe no I'm not talking about note taking I'm not talking about note taking I'm talking about blatant cell phones in your faces when people are up there and it's happening a lot and it's disrespectful people are entitled to their time up there this is their venue to do it okay that's in the mayor comments to me sure okay still under public petitions David Morisette 5 Feb Heights phur New Jersey um so there's been a question posed about what do people want on that property so I previously mentioned that in talking with the residents in Mera Street Cherry alley um and and up up and down Center Street and in pel Hill what the people want is in order of preference Riverside Heritage they want open space how you get that that's going to be the town's issue uh if you want to make the people happiest that's going to be your uh the direction you go um the second uh option that they uh like is a light Riverside uh commercial and that could be a museum that could be a grocery store uh that could be some kind of businesses down there that complement and enhance the area of down around Mercer Street and that area there that's what's in the master plan and if you did that you'd be following the master plan and you wouldn't have me up here all the time um and they also talk about something like a museum um now one of the the strange things is in the conversations the developer said that he can't sell residential because nobody wants to live in the flats and the people I talk to in the flats can't think of a better place to live so residential they honestly believe he could sell residential um so anything that would that would complement the residential area the flats works with the current master plan and so that's uh the answer um and I thank you for your time thank you anyone else got SRA moris at five Fair View Heights in Philipsburg um I did have a question and I ran out of time was there some reason why the agenda was only published yesterday because town code says it should be published Friday before a Town Council meet time well Matt left the room for a minute I was understanding there was electrical out yes the regulations are that the agenda is supposed to be published 48 hours prior to the meeting um I do not know exactly what time Matt published but Friday we experienced a power at 1 1:00ish 130ish in the municipal building and he was not able to use his computer at all he could not publish it on Friday as we have been doing thank you very much for your time however there are ways to get round it we all live locally he could have gone home used his own internet as a he had to stay at the building because they were working at the building so he stay there as a person to watch what was then perhaps next time if such an Amer occurs maybe a blast could be sent out on Facebook or the time website something like that um that would be much appreciated because there were a lot of people that were confused as to why there was no agenda thank you very much come on Joe hurry up Joe Miner Phils the third or fourth presentation on rent control first pro fourth one okay first problem was uh tonight I was I'm going to talk about what it means to be a trust of a bank and uh how the government actually owns all property and uh the note that I've had 12 credit hours in in economics I've read books I've read opinions I participated in being a landlord and a tenant and after all that information the economics that I thought I could do in 3 minutes is impossible therefore I'm only going to give the conclusions that I've reached I gave the background so you know it's not just my my personal bull did it right uh it's the result of a lot of study okay Banks since gold disappeared is the stound it says on our money in God we trust they are trusts um I there's not enough time to explain that all the the dealings we do are based on trusting each other come to my house and fix my sink please uh trust me I'll pay you you you fix it uh with trust the original hunk of money that was in the bank you trusted me you somebody had some money in the bank the B bank had uh trusted uh you come to me you trust me because we I trust the bank excuse me joh I'm going to give you three more seconds you got to dress here oh uh uh yeah there's five times always at least five times as much trust as there is Hard Cash backing it up and that's from uh when I went to college 50 years ago it's probably up to 20 times as much today and that's going to be important uh in my next presentation the other is the uh the government charges taxes to everybody but Charities including churches so religions can own property and the but they really get a relief they made a bargain not to to pay uh uh taxes and for that uh they get to own stuff the rest of us own stuff really under the grace of the government we Out 3 minutes and 3 seconds is up okay thank you okay moving on back you make the council happy you do a great presentation thank you oh thank you any other public petitions sir Randy pza fur I just want to make one comment uh anybody that's been on the planning board knows that it's not really uh it's really pointless to try to make plans for a property when you don't own it thank you thank you I only had 13 years on zoning board I know where you're coming from Sir any else the public petitions seeing none hearing none moving on council at the time Council and Clark yes thank you so just a couple of announcements first I just want to start off by wishing a very happy birthday to our very own councilman Keith Kennedy whose birthday was yesterday birth I know I I know you normally do your uh Happy Birthday um annual bike ride and I know you're skipping this year but next year we're expecting big things out of your next ride 68 miles 68 miles um next I want to thank everyone for attending and promoting the juneth events uh we had a great turnout to folks coming to Chappelle Walter's Park and I just want to give a huge thank you to the organizers uh that helped put that together I know Leslie's not here but thank you so much um but we're not done yet we have one last one coming up this Sunday the uh flag lowering at Chappelle park at 8:00 p.m. we had to reschedule it uh due to weather we didn't want to get like by lightning so we pushed back to the 30 so thank you Vicki for organizing that um looking forward everyone attended just remember just because June is ending we still keep moving forward I actually had someone ask me about uh one of our Jun shirts saying I've heard all about that what's that about let me tell you so it works um and then finally uh tonight we passed the agreement for the uh Marshall Street Pro property um it's an isore so I'm so glad to see it moving forward it will become affordable senior housing um this started last year with the previous administration so it shows that many of these projects are multi-year Endeavors um but we were able to sit down with them and you know he was workable with us and so we were able to get a 6,000 sare ft grocery store included in there because originally it wasn't it's something we worked with them and so this is a great example of a redeveloper working with the town to kind of meet all the needs is it the perfect solution to a food desert no but it's better than nothing and I'll take that so thank you everyone I'm done thank you Council councilman Kennedy uh yeah it was a busy week um along with mayor pza and uh commissioner Kar we attended the uh the launch um for the Delaware River sojourn the kayak kayakers that go down the river over several days and um it was uh great great interacting with those people uh they appreciated the help that filbur gave them uh to use the boat launch and um the free parking and uh hopefully it'll be back again next year uh again uh to reiterate what councilman Clark said the juneth ceremonies uh I was honored to attend the flag raising and there were very moving speeches by Vicky branch and Lee Clark and the mayor spoke as well and it was a an honor to attend that event and I I expect everyone to try to attend the uh the flag lowering ceremony I also attended a ceremony where uh Sheriff McDonald was recognized on North Main Street uh renaming part of that street for him not totally renaming in addition to North Main Street uh we also had the Oldtown Festival so uh it was a very busy week there a lot more activities coming up this summer mov moves on we'll be getting into our uh summer concert series at Chappelle Park which is always fun and um I want to urge everyone to have a a very happy and safe Fourth of July thank you Council Kennedy Council scur yeah I just like to announce that uh this past Monday we had our second wreck advisory meeting and open space meeting uh followed uh very successful meetings a lot of good dialogue um a lot of good things to come uh in the town as far as Recreation and open space um going to continue we have a meeting coming up in July uh like I said it's great to see the volunteers volunteer their time come together for the betterment of the Town um also want to bring up one subject that I've seen um when I drive down South Main Street every day and some other residents have reached out to me um there a lot of weeds overgrown I know the weather has been humid and when those conditions happen happen the weeds grow out of control um I did talk to the mayor on the issue U he's looking for Solutions uh we also talked about the sidewalk uh maintenance ordinance if we could possibly in that section of town because we all know that we want to beautify downtown to draw uh foot traffic uh new businesses and we have to make it look presentable um so if we could maybe look into cute clean communities uh I know we we have money that we hired um people to be doing some things around town for the summer I know the youth Corp is around I I don't know um what services they can provide um but maybe looking at amending the sidewalk uh ordinance for the South Pain Street uh area as far as the grates that were put up by I Believe by the town and the Bridge Commission and the sidewalks that looks like newer um brick on the side the weeds are growing out of there um if we could focus on those areas and maybe the street side of the curb um to try to get these weeds under control um I know it technically says sidewalk ordin it says that the um Property Owners uh duty to do that um but I think in that section of town we have to keep that really clean and looking presentable for um people that come in here for different events um not to say that the rest of the Town doesn't need to be that way as well um but maybe we can look into that that's that's a possibility mayor yeah um in talking with uh councilman squo we've been going back and forth on different solutions um we just uh the town had just been made right with the uh U and DCA recently um next council meeting hopefully we'll have something that for Council to consider to address uh the cleaning and maintenance of that area we've seen a lot of town I I know I've talked to you about it um like East ambassadors things of that nature where they take care of their business district to try to make it more enticing and hopefully we can come up with something very quickly thank you mayor council voice president uh we were just notified that waren hospitals without power and there's a lot of trees down so be's safe going home officer I could actually make a use a podium good evening everyone officer Matt nent fburg Police Department so just so you know currently um Marshall and Warren Marshall Street there's a tree down across the road I'm not sure what progress was made within the last hour with that so there's tree down there so if you're heading towards Heckman take F through the alleyway um other than that towards Alpha Carpentersville and Springtown Road have tree down and Roseberry there's power out like uh they just said so you know get home safe there's includ no weather be as careful as you can take your time thank you guys I move you fix the weather I have a few things before we adourn I'd like to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July August of 11th there going to be an event at Chappelle Park excuse me walers Park something going to be new to the area uh it will be something that this area has never seen it's going to be some big event it'll be one of the biggest ones in recent years and if it's successful next year filisur will see a lot of talent out of the Nork and New York area most of it's going to be music various levels of Music we invited wait the uh person putting it on the we invited the fburg high school band to come think it'll be a good event uh security they're bringing their security people in officer right so we'll help you guys out all right uh I've been to a couple these promotions in the Bronx in the ghettos of nor there was not one swear word not one swear word the reason why I brought up that language because it's my understanding we Ur that at the pool they ought to thank God I'm not the manager up there cuz you sore once you're going to get told sit down swear twice call your mom or dad you're not in the pool if you want people to come you've got to clean up your act you want to have kids respect they have to respect I came from a family of six my father never that us or hit us give you a damn 15 to half hour lecture my mom on the other hand she was the warden she when I tell you the warden she was the warden she produced two sons that were police officers New Jersey state prison guard a teacher damn oldest one a post office worker and a daughter we want values we want to clean up this town they have to learn respect if they can't act right they have to leave that's only my rule by the way so with that I want to shout out everybody always has some complaint mayor mat Hall this is a compliment to the town of billsburg to the mayor to the business administrator in the town I forget what day it was we come up Mar Street Hill the tree was banging over the guys with the windy that the guys on the roof yelling down to me that branch is going to fall so I keep reporting it no you didn't call the right guy you got to call him Maro on the royal pain in the rear but we're going to get cut thanks to the foresight by the mayor the town they cut that brance that thing was huge so now that we have a storm thank God mayor Matt that you guys were out there and do it thank I think so I want to thank that because we hear all the negative let's hear some positive and let's hear how these people are doing okay with that we're done motion to adjourn move second all in favor be careful