e e e e e e e no he's not here I got police too after all that good okay I'm going to call the March 26 2024 meeting to order I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all moment of silence to remember the service and sacrifices of the armed service members who protect our nation and the First Responders who protect our neighborhoods clerk please take the role councilman friedlander here councilwoman noon here councilman Brooks here councilman sacket here councilman Brooks here councilman Quinn here councilman voitovich here vice president salberg here president critz adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Daily Record in the Star Ledger the official newspapers for the township of Rockway notice was posted on the official bulletin boards of Rockway Township at the township website and notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk thank you uh before we get going I'm going to turn the meeting over to Mayor Jackson thank you council president i' like call Captain shear and our three newest uh police officers Officer mcaffrey officer McCormack and officer ninh housee so I wanted uh cameras up there I you guys to Face Forward I wanted the residents of Rockway to meet our new police officers um officer McCormack right here got the highest academic award um in the class in the graduating class she had 98 average I believe yes sir okay caffry you came close with the physical fitness yes sir okay good and hey a lot of people know the nin house family I think at Rockway Township Captain Shear do you want to talk about real quick what their next phase of their training will be and yeah well first of all I'd like to take take a moment toate offic they just recently graduated police academy and their next phase of training which they have all had the opportunity to start is their field training so they all entering into their field training and at the end of that they willat thanks again okay moving on to approval of the minutes uh from the March 4th budget hearing can I have a motion so move second please take a roll councilman freed lender yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voy tovic yes vice president salberg yes president cretz yes that's nine yeses motion passes approval of the minutes for the March 12th Township Council regular meeting can I have a motion so move second please take the role councilman friedlander yes councilman Manon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president Chris yes it's nine yeses motion passes and approval of minutes from the March 12th Township Council executive session can I have a motion so move second please take the role councilman freedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman quinnn yes councilman voy toic yes vice president salberg yes president critz yes that's nine yet motion passes going to move on to the open to the public portion um as a reminder when you come up please state your name and address for the record and there we are limiting to three minutes uh Judy sparo sparo yes my name is Judy spataro I live at for Timber Court this way Rock Away turn the mic around turn there you go okay uh the reason that I came this evening was because um I live on Timber Court which is a caac off uh Sanders and sherbrook kind of Forgotten uh little space back there where we get an unusually high volume of water um our property uh which is the farthest Corner House with all the excessive rain half of my house outside my house excuse me was uh a puddle of water until today um and there's been drainage or there's I should say there's no drainage there are no um basins at all in the culdesac the road has a pitch so that it accumulates the water kind of accumulates at my neighbor's house which is um he's at uh three Timber Court his driveway is always underwater now and right across the street which is my property we have a constant puddle of water which is terrible I mean it it's bad in the summer when it rains because it brings flies and mosquitoes and everything but the worst part is that the sidewalk has sunk and at least the curves and I've been contacting the engineering department trying to have somebody come out and observe it we did have somebody come out a couple of years ago my neighbor when when he was doing his res Renovations but uh for the last two months it's been unsuccessful I have been unsuccessful in getting somebody to come out and and look at it and see what can be done okay um at some point dur in meeting Miss kazell if you could just get your email to her and then we'll get it to the appropriate departments yeah I've been contacting the engineering department I don't know if that's if there's somebody else I should be in touch with uh Miss Kelli is our business administrator she will take care of that okay perfect yeah thank you um that's it for the signning sheet is there anybody from the public who did not fill it out that wishes to speak okay moving on to the introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget ordinance 200- 24-7 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations limits and to establish a cap Bank can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role uh councilman freedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president chritz yes that's nine yeses motion passes resolution r- 2464 to introduce the budget can I have a motion so moved second please take the roll councilman freedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president cretz yes that's nine yeses motion passes resolution r- 24-65 the Rockaway Township self-exam can I have a motion so move second second please take a roll councilman frander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president cretz yes that's nine yes's motion passes moving out to ordinances for introduction - 24-02 ordinance providing for various improvements or purposes to be undertaken in and by the township of ragay in the county of moris New Jersey and reappropriated $ 4,539 therefore constituting proceeds of obligations of the township heret for issued can I have a motion so move second second please take the rooll councilman friedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president cretz yes that's nine yes's motion passes ordinance 0- 24-3 Bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of a new firet truck by the township of Rocko in the county of mors New Jersey appropriating $945,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $900,000 bonds or notes of the township for financing such appropriate appropri ation can I have a motion motion second please take the RO councilman freedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president critz yes that is nine yeses motion passes ordinance o- 24-4 Bond ordinance appropriating 1,358 500 and authoring the issuance of 1, 358,000 bonds or notes of the township for various improvements or purposes authorized to be undertaken in and by the township of Rockway in the county of Mars New Jersey for the water supply and distribution system of the township can I have a motion so move second please take the role councilman freedlander yes councilwoman n yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president CR yes that is nine yes's motion passes ordinance o- 24-5 an ordinance fixing the salaries of various officials and contractual employees of the township of Rockway and the county of morus can I have a motion so move second please take a rooll councilman Freelander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president cretz yes that's nine yeses motion passes ordinance 0- 24-6 an ordinance fixing the salaries of various officials and non-contractual employees of the township of Rockway in the county of Morris can I have a motion so move second please take the role councilman freedlander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president critz yes that's nine yes's motion passes consent agenda r- 2461 r24 d62 r-4 d63 r24 d66 r-467 and r24 D68 everybody got 68 today right yes yes okay can I have a motion so move I'll second clerk please take the role councilman frander yes councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voy toich yes vice president salberg yes president cretz yes that is nine yeses motion passes going to move up uh agenda item number 12 uh to the mayoral appointment of Tom Campbell uh for the environmental committee and we're also going to do uh for a fire department appointment Shay Gerald for Fire Company 2 for full membership can I have a motion I'll make the motion I'll say second please take a rooll the second counciler yes councilwoman noon yes yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Brooks yes councilman Quinn yes councilman voitovich yes vice president salberg yes president crit yes that is nine yeses congratulations all right we're going to move on to reports as a monitor I'll ask the uh Council me people and the uh um Administration the administration thank you those guys over there uh to try to keep it to five minutes or less let's start with councilman Quinn thank you I just have a few questions for administration if they would be able to give us an update on the bleachers for Peterson Field um I see the little ones are still out there I just want an update and then also I would like if the mayor has an update on the holistic look at all the fields that we're looking at right now that's where I'm at councilman Quinn as a matter of fact myself our engineer Allison Dave Dyer our Recreation director met with uh Nickerson um Nickerson is a is the company that specializes in stadium seating we came up with another configuration using our space more efficiently and I believe it will probably get us about 300 seats is that right 3 350 somewhere around there so we just met with them and revised those drawings I want to say a week ago so we're waiting for some cost estimates uh we also included a Press Box we were we were configuring the the idea of putting the Press Box within the stands and can they Levering it back to provide more seating but then that would have interfered with driving we don't want anyone driving into the can't deliever of our Press Box so we we uh 86 that plan but uh right now um I think it's a good plan uh it will accommodate uh the needs of the Township in including High School uh we're also working on a sound system you need a sound system to be able to heard on either side of the field in order to make it a an official game so um we're just waiting for the cost for that and uh you know I'd like to thank the engineering department who did a good job in reconfiguring the original footprint to maximize seating so and there'll be enough so we'll have one side it be a natural separation visitor home team although hopefully uh you know we can all sit on the seats together and I'll go through mine of my report councilman Quin anything else now that's it thank you councilman second thank you council president um just one thing I know a few of us had attended the grand opening of the holistic Relief Center holistic relief business on H Friday March 15th so it's good to be at a grand opening of a new business in town and look forward to attending more in the future thank you councilman Brooks I actually have no report tonight there's no hockey going on nothing please make a not of that for the record councilman wovi nothing to report I just uh congratulations to the three new police officers uh best of luck in your careers and U you be safe councilman Freelander okay uh substance abuse Alliance meeting uh this month uh everything is moving ahead with their phases uh I mentioned celebrity day which is May 30th at Copeland and they have 20 celebrities full going to be there that day uh with the kids from Copeland uh there is a a fundraiser in for uh Rock supporting the Rockway T substance abuse Alliance at the f45 training in East Hanover uh which will be May 18th push-ups lateral hop uh and donation is going there if you see around town we're also gonna have uh World Boxing Champion Bobby chz around uh the town at uh different locations uh May 4th that's going to be great uh the library uh is being set up for uh their uh Festival day and uh coming months and I'll I'll keep you posted on that they got a lot of new things going going on that day uh let's see what's next sub views environmental committee we've had the meeting we're moving ahead with uh certain issues uh we met tonight uh with the water subcommittee and uh I'll report on that further on there a lot of uh discussion on what to proceed as far as making sure our Lakes are safe for the uh homeowners uh tell you what I'm going to cut it short that's it please make it so City day is 7 o' it starts 7 o'clock in the morning at Copeland with breakfast and then breakfast and then they start breaking up into different uh groups and then it's going to be a basketball game with the celebrities after that so it it's a great day councilwoman new no report just happy spring happy Easter happy Passover stop councilwoman Brooks um first I'd like to congratulate all the new officers um I know officer McCormick I think on his day one he got to attend the Easter Festival and help operate the uh the um McGruff in the car uh so not a bad first day uh secondly I have a question in regards to a vehicle replacement plan so I don't know if someone can get me what we have potentially if there's um something in the works I specifically I'm asking cuz I recently had seen what I call called the Frankenstein DPW truck it's kind of like piec meal together it looks like um so I'm just curious on what our replacement plans for some of those vehicles are everyone knows I love to see the Denville recycling truck around so um when I don't I'm a happy lady but I think it's still making its rounds unfortunately so just out of curiosity I'd like to see that plan if we have one and if not some updates on what we can do in the future to ensure that all of our vehicles specifically in DP are being replaced appropriately um also I'd like to just take the moment and say if you didn't get the opportunity to see the Copeland theater performance of into the woods Jr you really missed out um these kids to be middle school kids I was blown away um principal Bayer hold on I don't want to miss any of the staff that really just these kids spent so much time but you had Mrs baa miss spot brandler cumberton Ronnie Johnson and Christy Christa Scott do the do the scene sets and they help with it and it's just so awesome it was really a super fun show um Vanessa Waxman Mrs cter and then you obviously have uh principal Bayer it's his first time watching the theater and it was just they really did a um like I was floored to see these girls middle school girls singing it it was just awesome and it was a super fun time so uh the props are really good too Bryce Brooks um um also I'd like to remind everyone that April 6th is opening day so if you are on the North End of town There's usually some sort of hubbub at the firehouses OR at all the Creeks so just be careful the kids are out trout season opens on the 6th and again happy Easter happy Passover all of it that's all I have Mr yo no I'm sorry I was just saying that Mr Council vice president still have no report um also attended the water quality committee U meeting with councilman freedlander just a just a note about it um th this meeting is definitely not just for um the residents that live you know directly on our Lakes um that's of course a big part of it but it also uh impacts the the the Myriad of streams and um Creeks that we have throughout the uh you know throughout the town that might be affected um that you know we we have discussions on and just make sure that they're always uh you know uh environmentally clean so it really does have an impact on on really the entire town and not just specifically our Our Lake communities um a as councilwoman Brooks uh mentioned April 6th is trout day one recommendation I'd make for it Nobody Does it Better than uh company one hiberia um they have a great great day I don't even know how many decades they've been doing their um annual breakfast um then there's prizes for the kids um they do their own stocking so if you get a chance I really recommend come on up uh Saturday the 6th it's a great day um and finally karoli thank you for the uh answer to my to my questions the one I do still have out there that I'm hoping I can get is again just an update on the uh master plan oh yes okay that's all I have thank you did you have anything between then and now Mr y no okay Mr thank you thank you council president um there are a few things I want to go over with uh I wanted to start by saying uh there there's a lot of things out there on Facebook about uh Norway field and the status of uh Norway field and and the purchase of it by the township so it's being part of consider it's being considered as part of the overall review of our fields and facilities for recreation um Norway field is currently in a lease agreement with the township that doesn't expire until probably 2026 we think um we are looking at that property uh it's being put out at a selling point much higher than the assessed value um it has a lot of restrictions the property in terms of developing it or doing anything with it so um I don't want to rush into uh a purchase that you know might not you know be able to do anything with down the road so we're really evaluating it and so uh councilman Quinn as you said so last week I met with uh Miss fante and Mr Dyer and really talked about um field needs right so I think it's it's two components it's number one uh you know how do we maintain our Fields better because you know what we see is and and Mr Dyer did a great job in the beginning of the season the fields look beautiful and then by the end they don't so we're we're coming up with some strategies around that around how we can better maintain our Fields how we can possibly water our fields in season um on a on a proactive basis and and care for them and and educate our ground screw on how to maintain them and then the other piece is really looking at um you know what is the next phase of of development we want to do in terms of recreation and Fields and uh we talked about a few things Miss fronte is going to be putting together a concept plan that we will share with the council um when it's done but I think the the immediate takeaway is uh you know what what are we going to do um as a Township to better maintain the fields we have I hope that answered your question um and as we get a concept plan and get more I'll I'll you know we we'll certainly share that um I also went to the RT uh uh comp cheer showcase um the week uh of March 14th it was a a great job um a lot of cheerleaders they had a lot of first year competition cheerleaders very good program if you have a child that's into cheerleading you should really reach out to them I think I did a post with a link to their Facebook page and her website um so you should definitely consider it on the 16th went to uh the Legion Post 344 and had some incredible corn beef and actually got the recipe um and I'd like to announce that uh they are doing and I just did a post they're having their Easter plant sale so uh hopefully uh either Thursday March 26th Friday March 29th or Saturday March 30th you'll stop by Legion Post 344 and buy plants to support some of our veterans um so it's uh Thursday and Friday 9:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 until they sell out um the PD graduation so this this group of recruits actually went to the Sake County Police Academy so the graduation was at William Patterson University in Wayne and it was phenomenal they did a great job our our uh our Cadets our new police officers really did a great job representing our Township um so it was pretty exciting um the Easter Festival that Sue Gabe um Kathy Von participated in um you know we had a bunch of people from uh our DPW Department uh you know be part of was great it was uh considering it was pouring out and the weather was miserable um we had a really good turnout so we were pretty happy about that um just got I think it's too late what time is it yeah so uh went and gave blood today white metal Lake blood drive um Eileen Horwitz Michael already they do a great job um putting on the blood drive um at white metal lake so next time it comes around it'll be advertised consider donating blood um I talked about Norway field and that's all I got so okay I'm just GNA go next thank you I just want to take a moment and just highlight a few things about our 2024 Municipal budget uh I think it's important to note and not just because of my position I work here um sometimes mayor and councils don't understand the importance of supporting um Department requests for operating expenses Capital expenditures and I just would like to thank the mayor and councel for their continued support of the budget what we present and the respect for the staff as well as uh representing the residents so well and being so concerned they asked very important questions during the hearing so I appreciate that it keeps me on my toes keeps us on our toes and it helps us provide better services to all the residents we serve I just want to point out you know one of the biggest parts of a budget is our total net valuation of properties in the town and in Rockaway township our property net valuation has increased almost 7% so as those property values you've heard the term ratables as that increases that helps with uh supporting our tax tax rate property tax increases here Municipal um I just also would like to point out along with that and and as as you can imagine would parallel it that our net valuation for all of our properties went up so did the assessed value for your properties your homes so that's also good news that went up 7% in other words from the average assess value from last year of $ 49,7 se7 it is now $437,000 $620 so uh that is an approximate 7% increase which is all good um I just also would like to note that the budget here presented tonight is a 0% tax increase for the average assessed home so those with a average assessed value of 437 670 will not see a property tax increase for the municipal portion of the yes Municipal very important okay and uh and and also please note uh that might be a thank you our CFO gave me a whisper I forgot we did add in uh to the budget additional police officers so that percentage may be a little bit more than zero um I think the overall increase is 1.68 or something like that it's about $20 on the average home okay um so I would also like to point out you know in the budget things we have no control over which are utilities pensions social security health benefits contractual oblig obligations cost of goods but overall it's a good budget uh capital budget and um and that's all I have for to say for tonight thank you so just to I want to reiterate with you just said Miss P so it's about an average of $20 per household you said it's about an average of $20. 37 for the average home assessed 43720 but that addition that increase that you know we all agreed on was to put two more police officers on the road you you actually have three so one sent and two patrolman so I don't think there's a resident in the town that wouldn't mind putting up 20 bucks to get three more cops on the road are you agree so and may they be safe yeah it's money well spent and like you said too and I've said it before you know the the profess ISM of the council and the administration taking the budget very seriously years in years past you know the the budget was very painful process and it became a little bit of a show uh whereas now it's very streamlined and professional in the questions you know that get asked so you know there's a lot of work done obviously by the administration there's a lot of work done by the council ahead of time so when we finally come to the budget meeting um a lot of that you know extraneous activity is already taken care of so I just want to thank everybody for that too Miss pa uh just one more thing to add to remind everyone uh we we do have another meeting in um in um April but the second meeting in April I believe it's the 23rd is when we will be uh putting before you the um adoption of the budget and those other ordinances that I had as well as the salary ordinances um I also would like to be putting on I hope the uh sewer maintenance annual uh rate for uh 2024 that's all I great miss fronte um first uh thank you Judy for coming out I apologize for not connecting with you sooner and uh sorry that you had to come out this evening all right um and Queens Road Queens Road is kicking uh and uh we've got a lot of drainage if anybody's traveled Queens Road in the area there's it's quite wet so um the plan does call for a lot of drainage a lot of curbing work it's actually two New Jersey DOT Grant project so um just patience we'll be in there for a couple more months and uh and then lastly I wanted to touch on um recently I'm not sure if everybody is aware that uh Governor Murphy passed the bill for or signed the bill for affordable housing which is a major overhaul of our affordable housing um so in the coming months we will be working closely with our planner Dave Novak as well as our uh legal councel uh to identify the requirements for the township um and watch what other townships are doing to meet these affordable housing obligations um the DCA is required to come out with numbers towards the end of this year and then a lot of our action will be next year in 2025 um some things that we could prepare ourselves with locally is doing um updating our loc our vacant land adjustment so that uh we are identifying those vacant properties and those environmental constraints so there's not unrealistic affordable housing regulations placed on them if that makes sense um but there'll be more updates to come but just know we're on top of it following it and uh there'll be ordinances in front of you that's it Mr Tabit thank you council president um just a quick note about three grants uh that are important to the division of health and also the township uh the first is the Community Development block grant which we generally make application for uh each year um I was able to present on behalf of administration and several departments here on March 21st I believe that Miss karelli in a prior meeting or at a prior time advised the governing body that the township applied for $14,700 in the public restrooms um so we'll have to see uh how the facilities committee decides to vote on that and hopefully we'll find out in the next month or two if the freeholders agree with them uh and we get funded um with regard to the two major Public Health Grants uh that we've been working on in the division of Health for the last few years the strengthening local public health capacities Grant um we found out recently that there will be one more year of limited funding a limited and that it won't be several $100,000 but a total of $4 49,53 um I submitted a letter of intent before the March 12th deadline on behalf of the township the application will be made available April 1st and as I've done in years past I'll meet with our CFO and administrator to discuss what would make the most sense uh in terms of applying for that funding um and with the enhancing local public health infrastructure Grant uh we didn't receive additional funding but I found out last week that the timeline to spend that Grant uh which two years of it total $670,000 plus minus uh will have an extra year until June 30th 2025 to spend it down which is exceedingly helpful because we will have a balance left as of June 30th of this year so we'll be able to thoughtfully plan on more uh spending uh from the gr dollars um that's all council president Chief uh as of late we've been uh busy with the various storms with the trees down road closures with the flooding but we've been able to keep up with everything on the 21st I was honored to present the new recruits with their diplomas at their graduation ceremony as well as uh officer McCormack's academic award for excellence on the 18th our officers responded to an unconscious unresponsive 27-year-old male in the rear of the Mountain View Manor Complex the officers were able to deliver three narcans which is a lot to the individual and bring them back that was on the 18th unfortunately on the 22nd we met the same young man in front of Walmart once again suffering from a heroin overdose uh the officers once again were able to uh deliver Naran to him and revive them so that's one person for noran hits and the officers were able to bring him back twice so hopefully he'll learn his lesson also we're starting to see with the warm weather we're getting a lot of attempted Auto burglaries in our neighborhoods the last one was over this weekend where they're going through the areial Linux trying the car doors so what we're doing is we're increasing the Patrols in those areas as well as you know the other areas that are usually hit and we're also putting out the Rayes to remind our residents if you can help us out please make sure you're locking your car doors and bringing the keys inside and that's the end of my report Mr not no report Mr Dyer just real quick want to add what the mayor had mentioned that we we met with houseon and the next phase or what what we're going to do um to get the heads of the sports programs in a room um so they have a voice on what direction they feel we should be going so that's going to be part of this process everyone's on the same page and um that meeting will happen as we as we go along here just wanted to add that Mr Hinman yes thank you on March 8th after some diligent effort Paul and I were able to submit a assistance to Firefighters Grant through FEMA um the intent of the grant is to upgrade the Fire Department's radio system to p25 compliant handsets the value of the grant request is $900,000 um hopefully we get a positive outcome from that and we can see improved Communications for the fire department so more to come but thank you for tonight okay uh motion to adjourn all in favor move seconds have a good day