Philipsburg Town council meeting May 8th 2024 the video starts at 4 minutes and 20 seconds into the meeting due to Pilot error sound was not being recorded so I deleted that part there were two habitability hearings and they were both dismissed in the public discussion on agenda items and Davis asked what the total dollar amount uh for the raises were uh the council said that they would get back to her with that information hopefully I can get audio for the entire meeting and post the entire meeting in the near future well just to give us a better understanding I know I had that question y anyone else see you on before we go to the consent agenda I'd like to read two of them that just walked in brother resolution 202 24-9 3 a resolution to Town Council of the town of billsburg War County New Jersey authorizing execution of the collective negotiation agreement with PDA 56a Superior Officers Association we're asked the town of Phils for previously signed a collective negotiation agreement CNA with PVA 56a Superior Officers Association for the term of January 1 2020 through December 31 23 and whereas by resolution bar 2024 d64 the town of filbur Town Council fburg authorized the execution of a memorandum of agreement M MOA outlining the terms of a new CNA between the town and PBA 56a and whereas legal council for the town and PBA 56a have drafted a CNA for the ter January 1 2024 through December 31 2028 that accurately represents the bargain for provisions of the previously executed MOA and whereas the Town Council deems it in the best interest to enter into the said agreement now therefore be it resolved by the Town Council of the town of phsb County of Warren state of New Jersey that the mayor and municipal clerk are authorized to enter into Collective negotiations agreement with PBA 56a for the term January 1 2024 through December 31 2028 we have further resolved that all Town employees and representatives are authorized to take all necessary actions to effectuate this resolution signed by Matthew Hall AC the municipal cler second right resolution will read into the record resolution 2024-the item of Revenue in the budget of any County or municipality Forum to njs 48 col for- 87 chapter 159 Public Law 1948 whereas benj sa 48 col 487 provides that the director of the division of local government services May approve the insertion of any special item of Revenue in the budget of any County or municipality when such items shall have been made available by law and the amount thereof was not determined at the time of the adoption of the budget and whereas said director may also approve the insertion of an item of appropriation for equal amount section one now therefore be it resolved that the town of filisur hereby request the director of the division of local government services to approve the insertion of an item of Revenue in the budget of year 2024 in the sum of 10 $10,500 under the Category 3 miscellaneous section f special item of Revenue anticipated required written consent of the director of local government services public and private revenues offset with Appropriations clicket or ticket Grant $10,500 award section two be have further resolved at the sum of $10,500 be and is hereby appropriated under the caption of eight General Appropriations a operations excluded from CS 2024 clicket or ticket Grant $10,500 Matthew SE Hall AC the municipal clerk so Council I added them into your resolutions on the consent agenda is there any you going to pull that one yeah i' uh make a motion to pull resolution 20249 any a second on that I'll second that that's are you just you pull your discussing or tbling we're table table so motion motion to table motion to table we have a second any discussion act call please councilman core no councilman Kennedy no council vice president fallace yes council president Marino yes there it does not pass so it's still on it's not full council president may we pull um 2024 90 for a separate vote not to table but for as a separate vote I motion a second second discussion roll call please councilman Clark no well is this to vote on it or to vote to take it off was if you're just if you're just pulling it you don't need a motion you just ask for it to be pulled for SE discussion that's what you're asking yes vote on it separately so that's what this y just yeah you don't need if you want to pull you can pull for separate discussion that's fine so the vote is to pull it for got so that's that's pulled so that's not part of the consent agenda not part of the consent motion consent so move second so this for clarity sake I be resolution 2024 85 through 94 excluding 90 got call please councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes Council vice president PA yes council president Marino yes counselor thank you so as yall may remember with ordinance 20242 I voted against that with salary ranges only because we didn't know the effect or we assumed the effect on the tax budget would be not good as we saw it wasn't so with these new ranges being set this is far too much money being spent I personally cannot in good conscience support this given that tax uh budget of 11% increase pass we're facing the threat of rent control which will put a 3% cap on investment um so I cannot in good conscience support the physical or sorry the financials behind this with the raises going into them so I will intend to be voting now on this any other councilman uh yeah I agree with councilman Clark uh somewhere along line we have to start pumping the brakes on the spending here um with the 11% tax increase I think it placed a severe burden on our taxpayers Cann not be in favor of these salary increases thank you any other okay motion to approve resolution 20249 no motion there no motion motion okay good for try it again next next Mee me okay any old business from councilman councilman Kennedy I have nothing counil Clark just um do we have an update on The Pedestrian walk um near Joe State shop I know it takes time but just so I can um let folks know where we are with that Tim what what at this point do we need to do with that if if we are I mean we are going to need a um uh 88 curve cup which on both sides we don't currently have correct You' have there's no I've reviewed the location there's adequate s line to make a crossing a mid block Crossing there you need ordinances to adopt it the last time you did one of these projects your expense for construction was $440,000 um this one I would anticipate to be hired and then you would have this survey and design and your ordinances to implement the mid block Crossing I yes thank you any else no council vice president no I don't have anything old business new business councilman Kennedy I don't have anything councilman Clark I do not thank you should I make this meeting going I say I do have new business I really good it's old business but it's new Matt you have to tell the guy in charge of those fees for inspection that I need an answer by next council meeting CU I don't want to take a trip to train but if I have to I will because it doesn't take long to get them we cannot operate a town I'm hearing people say about money what about rat that were back from 2011 this is I think we're in the year of 2024 right 13 years of mismanagement by these fees so I hate like he to be nasty but they better be on the agenda by the next public meetings what the fees for inspections thank you okay Joe from my understanding and I stand to be corrected they haven't been changed since 20111 that's 13 years ago I didn't know what no no I would explain I okay so that's all I what sorry I do have something um the mayor had asked that uh we announced that the townwide yard sale is going to be held June 29th June 29th uh council president I'm sorry I have something also go ahead okay uh I'll let you guys use my time go ahead I'm sorry no one can accuse me and not being fearing anything perhaps Mr Hall can speak on this um I want to know where we stood also with the uh the truck route that uh was recently passed as far as signage um enforcement uh of trucks on South Main Street uh what are the next steps and how soon can we get all this finished well um the first part of that is as we spoke about earlier today acquiring the signage uh Tim what do we got 400 some odd signs uh we need to purchase correct we also need the commissioner to sign off on the ordinance that was passed getting to do for them to sign off yeah but I mean you know it doesn't mean that we can't start I mean presumably um you know we're not going to have any issues with DOT um but once we pass our Capital ordinance um we can begin uh looking at I mean you know we're going to have to do a careful evaluation of um you know how we're going to do the purchasing of the signs obviously there's quite a bit uh we also have um you know bridge is going to provide what signage on 22 East yes correct some of the route truck route signage coming from to bridge into New Jersey through billsburg so their s they will be posting the signs or paying for the signs yeah okay thank you Matt thank you council president okay everyone good okay under motions okay Jackson welcome home parade and block party uh I had a discussion with uh the chief uh regarding this um this is for a child um in um the area of Filmore Street um who's uh who's going to be uh coming home from the hospital so it's been decided that we going do a welcome home parade with a short block party uh following thereafter uh the police department's aware of the route uh the timing uh and you know adequate notifications to be made to the residents on the street and uh you know police are going to provide obviously traffic control for that event okay thank you do so we we just need a motion of counil authorizing do we have a motion on that go move second okay V call councilman Clark yes councilman Kennedy yes Council vice president yes counc Marino yes good luck to that young kid Road moratorium hardship waver 957 Steel Street him yes the uh resident contacted the town um they're looking to convert to Natural Gas the residents indicated they're approximately uh lived there for 7 and A2 years and they're 73 years old so they're trying to make their house a little more efficient so they can continue to live in their home and afford to live there um that email was passed over to the the town um and then Elizabeth Town also reached out about from the toal that require excavation on steel um it's been recently paid in The Last 5 Years off chance that depending on where the main location is they may have to dig up to the next major intersection is there a far that's pretty close Steel Street right this property is located at the corner of Steel and Griffin right any questions of council I'm good since Council in the past has approved these because it is energy saving and it is to an elderly couple to heal and out I have no problem with it all we now is a motion we have a motion so moved second okay discussion seeing none hearing none roll call please councilman cor yes councilman Kennedy yes Council vice president PA yes council president Marino yes okay we're going to open it up to public petitions only one person at a time will be in line up there you'll have three minutes just stay your name we don't need your phone number or your address one at a time if you come up more than one you're going to be counted as one sorry be counted as one no no I'll be short still B we got a good B of rules I'm with you this isn't the NBA with 211 right what I want no I like I can honestly say if I were still working I would not accept these because I would be accused of delivering mail Y and that's a federal law I just wanted to update the council I met this morning with Kathy Guzman from the UC EDC program out of New Jersey I gave her walk tour of town we stopped and visited several of the merchants today and she gave us a couple of different programs that were very specific that were not need that were not uh uh rank based but actually qualified you get the money one of them that I'd like to talk to you about today is one that's a business Improvement Grant it's really a business reimbursement Grant with a two-year look back back for any business that's done any Capital Improvements on a building that they do not own so the example I'll share with you is the work that would have been done for Sal for Salvage sip any of those Investments that were done for leasehold improvements can come to them as a reimbursement at 50% as long as you can prove you paid the invoice you're a good standing with New Jersey and you could be a you don't have to have employees you don't have to have any kind of look back because again these businesses some of them are new but it's an opportunity so if you're aware of these businesses that have made those expenditures or are planning to this is a phenomenal program Without Limits for the 2024 season they expect it to be extended to 2025 but as we know government funding is always guaranteed so I just want to let the council know because you speak with businesses all the time and this is one of those great programs there are others that are less important or less interesting but I just wanted to highlight that one tonight also the PDA is meeting on uh May 15 that's up BL meeting at 5:30 at the Union Train Station and you're all invited uh we're actually going to be having a conversation with um uh the lead Pro program for law enforcement diversion to talk about some of their status so far and the number of people they've helped and uh will continue to help so uh following in June we're also going to have Kathy come back for UC EDC to talk about the details of the programs so anybody you have any questions just let me know thanks thank you Bill good evening Sandra moriset um youve just received 30 more letters from residents of Philipsburg these letters as you see are to each of you letting you know that the residents that sign those letters feel that their trust has been violated by town government in all its 180 letters from the different residents Philipsburg residents based on our conversations in the community overwhelmingly do not want a warehouse on the Peron Howard Street property and they believe a warehouse on that property in downtown Philipsburg along the Delaware River will severely and negatively impact the quality of life in the area of the flats when Philipsburg residents heard that in 2013 there was a document prepared by B and approved by the town government which said the best thing for the future of Philipsburg bounded by South Main Street mcken Street and the Delaware River was to move all the zoning to Riverside residential Riverside commercial and Riverside Heritage they feel the town has done an about face on the positive direction of these plans by resoning the Peron Howard Street property to Industrial I can't remember if I gave you my name sand moriset thank you David Moret five Fairview Heights phis New fisberg New Jersey the 2013 master plan reexamination report the most recent master plan document was mentioned as a passing reference in the February 25th 2021 consistency consistency review report written by Angela nolles of Van CLE which was used to provide information and guidance to the land use Force board when voting on a recommendation for changing ing the zoning of the Peron Howard Street property although the 2013 master plan reexamination report specifically discusses in detail the aforementioned area this is completely left out of the consistency report likewise Tim O'Brien does not even mention the 2013 master plan reexamination report in his September 22nd 2022 consistency letter which was used as guidance for moving forward with ordinance 2022-2023 master plan re-examination report which pertained to this specific area of town were not a part of the discussion maybe the information was neglected to be mentioned because it did not fit the narrative for the warehouse that was being pushed through so the town just decided to ignore it I think it is pretty clear that the residents see this issue of not bringing up the details specific to this area of the flats from the 2013 master plan reexamination report as a serious matter and By ignoring this information they believe the town's elected and appointed officials have violated their trust thank you for your time anyone else see no one Council open time Council Kennedy yeah I just want to uh urge everyone again to uh try to attend the uh phsb Farmers Market which is every Sunday from 10: to two at Chapelle Park had a lot of vendors um it's rain or shine so don't let rain discourage you it's going to go on regardless and um it's been going very well so far so I urge everyone to if you get a chance to attend thank you thank you Council CL thank you council president um just a couple of announcements first off Norwest capap is hosting resident meetings the first of every Tuesday of every month at 5:30 p.m. until about 700 p.m. at rockos um on South Main Street I encourage residents to come out share their ideas of how they want to see the town improve and learn how Norwest cap can be a resource to help drive that forward they're trying to create a resident-led coalition to help improve the town not just downtown but everywhere so we want to try and encourage as many residents as possible to come out because the more residents that come out I know Mr Miner but at least you show up more than show up participate yes you do um but we need to get other people out too so thank you but I encourage as many residents to come out um so it's the first Tuesday of every month 5:30 at rocos um second announcement juneth is coming up next week and we have an entire weekend of fun packed events coming up three events that I know of next month next month yeah yeah what did I say week next week I'm so sorry I'm full of caffeine right now next month cuz you know June but thank you next month disrespect I'm sorry no no thank you I don't want the incorrect information on the record um so we have three events next month coming up the first one will be a flag raising um on Wednesday the 19th we're still working on the time but it's looking at like 10:00 a.m. is we have Chappelle Park reserved um but it'll be a flag raising between 10:00 a.m. to about 12: uh we'll have speakers there to kind of kick off the festivity uh Miss Vicki thank you for taking lead organizing on that event but we also have on the same day at 6 p.m. to 900 p.m. Freedom Day at Chappelle Park uh Miss Leslie no sorry U Al Mr Alex and Miss Gail are taking lead on your this one mine okay yes so these two organizers are taking lead on this event uh happening at Chapelle Park same day at 6:00 p.m. and then June 3rd from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. Miss Leslie is one of the organizers of the celebration at Walters park for juneth we're planning to then lower the flag the evening of that day to um kind of symbol sorry um it's been a long day symbolize the ending of this weekend so as you can see A lot's going on and we have a lot of the organizers In This Very Room so if you have any questions feel free to talk to any of us um but A lot's going on for the the celebration of juneth for reflection and education so I just wanted to get that out there so if yall just share the information that would be great um we have the parents educating awareness Community effort event coming up on June 2nd 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Walters Park this will be the second annual one um this is to bring awareness around drug and alcohol abuse and addiction uh many families have experienced this in some way or another another have touched by this addiction and we want to bring awareness to this to help you know educate people on what addiction really means how it affects people and how we can possibly raise more money around to help with the Cure and treatment um again it's not so much an addiction but an illness and we want to help those who are suffering through it because it is a struggle each and every day so if you can attend please uh do so and then finally Walter's Park Pool um it has just been announced the 2024 season passes uh have just G um been placed on social media and I believe the website or in the newsletter but they are out there now so just wanted to let you y all know that um as the Walters Park Pool will be opening for the summer so that's all I got again sorry it was a lot going on in the head thank you Council vice president I just want to point out that Sunday is Mother's Day so happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there it that's it again happy Mother's Day to everyone out there and you're going to see a lot of construction in the town of fburg like every other community the improvements are really needed they're doing a good job I know there's a lot of complaints and close the street down they open it up but you have to bear and friend with it because we you want a town with old piping or something new I rather have something new and put up with the the road blocks but we can get around that outside of that so I have we have no executive session motion to adjourn everyone have a safe