in New Jersey the time uh the the regular meeting is opened at 7:05 p.m. all Council meetings are now live streamed and can be viewed at the following link www.youtube.com at spart wp/ streams adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 5th 2024 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice um Madam clerk may we have a roll call Council Quinn here councilman shell I am present Deputy Mayor blumetti here mayor Clark here all right let's salute the flaged FL to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible for liberty and justice for all so good evening everyone happy spring uh thank you for coming out today we are going to start uh with the presentation um by margorie stral I know her through the historical commission uh but she's going to speak on that as well as a program called the vial of life so Margie I think probably the best thing for you to do is come sit at this table and hopefully the microphone works and uh please tell us about the vial life program and also the trolley program thank you I have our poster by light here that's in the front of the uh of the building thank you all right my name is marjerie strel 96 Westshore Trail and Sparta Women's Club initiated the vial of life as a community Improvement project with full support of the mayor and emergency Council and Emergency Services the New Jersey state Federation of Women's Club designated this effort as a top Community Improvement project in New Jersey for 2018 2020 the general Federation of women's clubs named it as the first initiative of their home life department since 6,000 vile of Life Kits were distributed in around Sparta and we have been instrumental in assisting other municipalities in startups most on Council are aware of this project for those who are new I was invited to speak and it's the best time to re-energize vile of life as many new families have moved here when minutes are and even seconds count in a medical emergency the vial of Life kit speaks for you when you can't speak for yourself it provides all the information the first responder needs to quickly and carefully care for you um what is the vial of life so everybody it's a little kit like this okay and um how is it utilized well the kit is um I'll show you what we have inside here there's a little red decal in the kit and you place that on the front of your residents and alerting First Responders if call that emergency information is readily available on the front of their refrigerator next the uh complete the medical information sheets that are in there there's one you can make copies uh you need one for every member of the family and uh that's these are the of the questions that the First Responders would ask you in a medical emergency it would be when the police come the uh ambulance if you need uh the uh paramedics and then also at the uh in the ER these are all the questions they'll ask you so you complete this form and then place it in your baggie and then put that on the uh front of the refrigerator some refrigerators don't take uh you can't put anything but just nearby close by and um what um information is requested on this form well it's all the information that responders need when they come to you in a medical emergency so it's your medical and mental health conditions your medications dosages allergies difficulties in hearing and vision your blood type names of doctors Health directives and emergency contacts so who may benefit from this kit uh anyone any a age those with medical or mental health conditions uh or none at all they should know that if you're not taking any medication those living alone seniors um households with special needs uh child or adult those employing a babysitter or adult care provider anyone may experience a medical emergency at any time and it's really important for responders to know uh if you have no medical problems and uh take no medication so all households in Sparta may receive a free kit they're available here in the town hall at the police station the library and the pharmacy and if you'd like to request a kit uh you can uh email at swc that's Sparta Women's Club vile oflife gmail.com the uh V of life is funded by Sparta Women's Club a 501 C3 organization in addition to so many generous individuals businesses Community organizations and this project was actually considered on September 11th 2017 after my elderly Neighbors at the time had a medical emergency and the husband passed away they knew that I had been an EMT previously and depended on me in medical emergencies for years afterwards I approached our police chief ambulance fire Services Township manager mayor and councel all fully approved my starting the vi of life then I Enlisted the sparta Women's Club community help was enormous it would take another five minutes to include everyone who who helped um Sparta Township even acknowledg our efforts with a proclamation and uh we're grateful to have partnered with you and countless others and as we energize this project we have um some printing needs and would gladly enlist any help that anyone like to give us and support us so this project May save a life thank you thank you thank you thank you and I have H kits for each of each of the members here each of Mayor and councel let me just get my next subject okay thank you now is the information that's on the refrigerator is that like in a QR code so I mean if someone has some H hesitant see printing confidential medical information on the refrigerator cuz if they have a party or something they may not want their neighbors reading their entire medical history how was that displayed on the refrigerator well usually it's the front of the refrigerator or tucked around the side it's called V life because years ago if the form was rolled up in a uh like a toothpaste older a little tube that's why it was called V of life I learned about it when I was with the junior Women's Club many years ago down below I came to uh ogdenburg to the county I was Deputy burough Clerk and I um joined the first aid Squad because they were very short of people uh short of help and I saw immediately how people were having problems you go into a house and say the woman is down you say to the husband what's you know what what is her medical history what are her problems and he would say oh maybe something about her heart does she have any allergies yes she does but I can't remember what they are so I started that years ago but then you know so many years ago it sort of fell off but when my neighbor um got sick then um you know I rethought about that to start it again but as you say you can tuck it away you could put it in your refrigerator as well so that tube used to be put in the refrigerator and if I would go on a call then you rumaging through people say oh I keep it in the butter I keep it in the freezer in the vegetable so that's why later they said they put it in a baggie on the front of the refrigerator the Biol life company oh great and and life stands for life saving information for emergencies right that's what the acronym stands for it's a v no v v v okay V of Life got you thank you and I I encourage everyone to do that I think that um even if you don't want to fill out the fors for yourself think about what your loved ones would want for you and they would want you to get the quickest medical attention and the best attention uh as soon as possible so I think it's a fantastic program and I hope everyone uh participates so thank you thank you and we also have you here in your other hat so put on your uh historic commission hat now also I brought for um mayor and Council little U postcards besides biif kits oldfashioned postcards that the Historical Society has and um I started the Historical Society 22 years ago can't believe it so this is just an idea of mine a trolley idea we have such a very Charming town here and I often thought like Kate May and all they have the old-fashioned trolleys so um I have a hand out for each one of you and uh just to describe the idea and I have them in bullets Town sponsored old-fashioned trolley car tour um by secured maybe two to three weekends per year parking could be provided at the municipal parking lot the VFW or another area and stops on the vanker home uh could stop at the vanker homestead and museum and at historical marker sites say the boardwalk white deer Plaza the Presbyterian church and the graveyard there the train station and places of interest trolley tour guide or Sparta Historical Society volunteer uh could be on board perhaps in costume and narrate as the cholley makes a brief stop at each location create a brochure with pictures of each building and site the address the map and using talents of local students artworks and photography we would list some restaurants or shops on the back and would' seek discount offers from participants maybe St M St maritz uh industry restaurant which has an amazing um uh historical artifacts there alone or the country club Boardwalk Restaurant the plaza candy shop and many more and then when the tour is complete we would return the visitors to the parking SS sites using their Maps visitors May return to any site of interest to them Andor have lunch in town at places listed on the brochure and uh Sparta woman Sparta Historic Society could take reservation for a nominal fee uh we're asking this as a town sponsored event and all as details and specifics were needed to investigate the cost of obtaining a trolley for this uh the cost was not determined as uh municipalities may be uh receiving special pricing and there was a a lot of detailed information that was required in order to try to get a price for this but um our startup uh aim would be for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution I know he's on the committee for the sparta anniversary uh celebrations which didn't really fully take place only the I think the first day so maybe there would be funding there and um I think later options to consider would probably be with um start with Sparta and Sparta sites and locations first and possibly later extended to and partner with neighboring historic sites in other towns so that's just my idea and we'd love to get together if uh you know you would be interested in um taking on this U trolley tour thank you I think it's an excellent idea um I think that doing it in conjunction with events that are townwide like Sparta Day July 4th Memorial Day when you already have kind of a Confluence of people gathered about um I think listen we're all proud of Sparta uh we live here we raise our families here we put our money our love and our treasure here and so it makes sense to to celebrate it and and share that um with everyone and I think you alluded to it and um councilman Chella has been working very hard on the revolution 250 committee um I think I would prefer not to wait um I think that we you know we could do this sooner rather than later but I think it's a a great idea and it's just a question of figuring out the funding and the logistics but we have people who can figure that out and we already have you know if you haven't been to the vankirk museum I very much encourage you to do so they do a fabulous job they have all kinds of programs and it's just important to know the history of where you live right we always learn about history from our books and it can be so far removed but there's something when you can learn the history of where you actually reside and actually go to a historical place I mean we have Indian artifacts we have all kinds of history in this town and the more you understand the history the more you I think you appreciate the need to preserve it the need to care for it and the need to care for your community so I think it's a great idea and I know I'm I'm probably speaking for my Council I mean they all share the concern that if we can celebrate Sparta let's do it so thank you again great IDE I think this is awesome I agree and if you remember we a couple years ago we were trying to get something for the um 175th to your point and we were going to do it through the grave site because there's all the those all the and everything there um I think a great thing to do here may be to hook you up with the business development committee and get some businesses behind this to see if maybe they would like to jump on and and um in the form of being sponsors maybe there's something that we could do there to you know strike some kind of agreement um because I think business owners would benefit from this greatly as well so maybe we can get you um with councilman Herzberg Dan I think you're also on the business development committee correct that's correct so I think maybe that's a great next step to bring this thing forward so if you can reach out to Dan and Josh or uh actually roxan could probably tell you when the dates are of those meetings is probably a great a great first place to go to see if they're willing to sponsor it too oh that's wonderful thank you and when I had looked up some of the TR so-called trolleys they were buses just modern bus today but I I think that a Charming looking trolley would be suit Our Town yeah yeah thank you so much Mar thank you for being here and uh all the wonderful work you and Historical Society have done for so many years and also talking about the V of life so that's excellent so thank you for your time and I was going to ask as well wonderful idea about the trolley I think we could definitely benefit from that I think people would love it um I was going to ask you besides maybe from funding or sponsorship do you have any other ideas or immediate needs for what would help move this to the next step is it is it sitting down to think about logistics or um for that for a v of life we can use some help in making copies of yeah of uh this form we're going to put together a thousand kits we have people ready to go as soon as we get enough material so we could use help to print a thousand of these okay and about the trolley also what about the trolley idea and the trolley um well it's just all in beginning stages it's just all ideas we wanted to put them out and see what you thought and get together and um you know develop something I also want to say Renee Clark is here she's our newly elected president of the Historical Society excellent yeah good good well wonderful I can't wait to see where this goes appreciate it okay thank you so much thank you thank you okay next up we have uh two proclamations uh proclamations are where we uh proclaim the things that are very important to this town and this community this next Proclamation uh actually hits home for me pretty directly um with the you know support of the fellowship and the grace of God I'll have 20 years sober in November of this year and so alcohol awareness month uh really hits home for me because I've seen it um people who take care of themselves and work honestly toward uh recovery uh our modern-day Miracles and so but first you have to be aware of the problem before you can fix it so tonight we're going to celebrate alcohol awareness month and um I will read the procam whereas statistics have shown that long-term alcohol use can negatively impact your body and mind and is the most common type of substance abuse disorder in the US and whereas over 178,000 people die each year in the United States from alcohol rated causes and incidents including motor vehicle accidents in 2021 13, 384 people died in alcohol impaired driving traffic deaths a 14% in increase over from 2020 and whereas adults ages 26 and older who begin drinking before age 15 are three and a half times more likely to report having an alcohol use disorder than those who waited until age 21 or older to begin drinking about 2.3 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 drank alcohol in the last 30 days and about 1.2 million adolescents ages 12 to 17 binge drink within the last 30 days and whereas underage alcohol may use may result in death or Serious injury suicides alcohol poisonings drownings sexual assaults poor athletic and academic performance the typical American will see 100,000 beer commercials before he or she turns 18 and whereas the month of April was established as alcohol awareness month by the National Council on alcoholism and drug dependence to ensure that families and communities have the re sources information and option available to control the crisis of alcoholism and whereas it is imperative that we join forces with other individuals and agencies to embrace those affected within our community and provide path to counseling and proper support and an effort to confront and combat this issue collectively and with empathy now therefore be it resolved by the township Council of the township of Sparta that the month of April be proclaimed alcohol awareness month and encourage all citizens government agencies organizations Health Care Providers and research institutions help prevent underage consumption and adult misuse of alcohol and continue to raise alcohol awareness to help people live longer healthier lives and tonight to accept this Proclamation we have Laura Berger montros who is from the center for prevention uh is she with us tonight fantastic um so if you would and in accepting this also tell folks a little bit about what CER for prevention dos stand can I stand there's a standing mic hello um hello everybody thank you for this this is really amazing I'm Laura I'm with the center for prevention and counseling um one we would like to just thank you guys for honoring um alcohol awareness April as being alcohol awareness month um at the center for prevention and counseling we do prevention counseling and Recovery all related to substance misuse and addiction so I'm actually from our prevention team um we really work to um increase protective factors in the community throughout Sussex County and um to mitigate or lessen risk factors so one I have to give props to Sparta because throughout several different sectors of your community you guys like have so much going on and really involve us in your work our supporters of our work from the sparta Alliance um with our school programs and our community programs I know we have several going on in the schools um we also have a an upcoming event for the community that's mental Health First Aid um our law enforcement through um really everything if if we reach out there they're more than willing um we actually do a lot for alcohol awareness month okay I'm sorry I'm really bending um I won't be too long oh no hello sorry um so we do a lot for alcohol awareness month to recognize it um I think the proclamation did a really good job of summing a lot of it up um but I will just say that we know that the younger a youth is that starts using drugs the more likely they are to have a lifelong addiction um so addressing it at a younger age is so important for us um our recovery team responds actually to the hospital for opioid overdoses and the program expanded pretty recently in the last two years that they can respond really to any drug use um if the doctor or nurse suspects anything or if they go in are are intoxicated and so our recovery team actually responds Now by like fourfold um a lot more to alcohol than any other drug right we know that our youth it's the number one drug of choice um we do a survey I was sharing with Jeff earlier we do a survey every two years in the county with about 3,000 of our youth 6th to 12th grade um and it's all risk factors and drug use and through the work and the support of um our communities and really addressing it in many different ways um we've seen a decrease in alcohol use among our youth um so lower than the nation but also just decreasing in over the past 20 years so thank you guys again and we hope to continue this work um you know to keep that Trend ongoing so that's it thanks thank you and we do have information too like if you know if you have a family friend um we have a a hotline actually a 247 hotline for anybody that is seeking help has a question um so that's with our recovery team yes okay thank you thank you and and I said this last year and I I will say it again um if you know someone uh who suffers from drug or alcohol addiction and wants to get help uh part of recovery the real Foundation point is that the only way you stay recovered is if you help someone else and so with that um people know how to get a hold of me and um it will remain confidential if the per if you know someone that wants help going to meetings uh what what is recovery about I'm more than happy to talk to them um I've been through it I've seen uh the Miracles that happen I mean people who come in and their lives are completely destroyed when they come in and within a year sober they have rebuilt their lives they have families and so you will really witness a miracle for someone who has uh recovered uh you can recover from this um it's not recovering it's recovered and so it it is possible so I encourage anyone to please reach out if you want help thank you and we have another Proclamation which my Deputy Mayor will handle which is the issue close to his heart and his mind so with that councilman blumetti thank you mayor so my it's my privilege to um to read the Arbor Day Proclamation uh during Earth week so whereas the first Arbor Day was proclaimed in 1872 in order to Foster Public awareness about the value of trees and this year marks the 152nd anniversary of Arbor Day and let be known that the city of Sparta County of Sussex state of New Jersey encourages all businesses institutions organizations and individuals to celebrate Arbor Day and commit to caring for trees and the natural environment whereas all people across all demographics have a right to enjoy a healthy sustainable environment with economic growth and opportunity and whereas we are all caretakers of our Collective Community National and international environments and have an obligation to do our part to preserve their beauty and resources and whereas it is important that we collectively come together within Spart a Township and Beyond and be mindful aware and engaged in tree planting maintenance and conservation initiatives and whereas the celebration of Arbor Day in Sparta Township seeks to encourage all of its citizens to seek ways to improve the local environment and become more aware of and engaged in tree planting and preservation efforts now therefore be it resolved that the township Council of the township of Sparta does hereby Proclaim April 26 2024 as Arbor Day and encourages all residents to honor this observance with the appropriate activities and programs uh I see we have some environmental commission members here so I'd like to invite them to come up and accept this hi everyone um can pick it up okay thank you for having us and for reading this Proclamation today the environmental commission is going to be hosting an event uh this Friday with our students from Sparta Middle School in the sparta Glenn um to replace that were lost to the emerald ashbo so we're just thankful for all the township support and helping to bring this event forward and it should be a really great day that involves a number of different partner organizations and students from Sparta so thank you thank you thank you I I should also recognize that speaking there was Christine Rogers and also accepting their Proclamation plaque is our chairwoman Kim null and on behalf of all the council thank you for uh all the work that you do in the environmental commission I know it's it can be very demanding very scientifically rigorous um it's a lot of effort is put into that commission and it's completely volunteer so thank thank you uh on behalf of everyone appreciate all the work that you do next up we have to um approve some minutes so the first minutes that we I need a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes dated November 28th 2023 and I will remind uh mayor bledy to abstain he was not present for that meeting so you're not allowed to vote Dean actually I was you were there yeah I believe I believe uh councilman I think Dan and Josh were not there for that one okay I'm correct right 28 I don't think I missed any meeting November 28th 2023 I attended one virtually because I was I had covid yeah my notes say you and Josh yes what of mine I missed a meeting it was the one right after the league of municipalities I don't know if you were there don't think so we hold off all right we'll go to off and confirm okay why don't you we have another meeting minute so may I have a motion motion to approve the February 13th 2024 meeting regular meeting minutes I'll make a motion that we accept the February 13th 2024 regular meeting minutes may I have a second please I will second that all in favor say I I I and the motion carries can you just give me a moment here I'm looking at the oh sorry I need one more moment 26 seconds I promise and I can look in my um my book from last year right in a minute yeah my actually I have actually Neil and Josh missing third the 28th yeah I see mayor shella led the assembly to salute the flag so I must have saluted the flag yeah that's when when Jerry Yonkers was here yeah so I think it's uh I think I have Neil and Josh actually missing that one yeah Clark and uh pburg yeah yeah just testing you D thank you I don't I don't miss many meetings so I think I missed only one so uh remember but okay U may have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of November 28th 2023 being present at that meeting I will vote that I make a motion that we approve those meeting minutes from November 28th May I have a second please being present I will also I will second that all in favor say I I I abstained still carries the November 28th 2023 May minutes are approved we're now up to uh manager Jim zep's report uh may I have the manager's report Mr zap it's okay thank you mayor good evening mayor council and Sparta residents as many have heard the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has launched a pilot project this project will provide a limited amount of free be resistant trash receptacles to six municipalities one being sparred a Township whom they have identified with elevated numbers of bare incidents okay the New Jersey D has provided the township with a list of targeted areas when the delivery date of those containers is confirmed next week residents in those targeted areas will receive correspondence from the township notifying that they are located within that area which will explain how they can retrieve their containers unless you are the recipient of that correspondence you are not eligible to take part in this pilot program the targeted locations were based upon those complaints reported to the New Jersey DP and the New Jersey DP fish and wildlife I know this has created a lot of commotion I I spoke to DP and and and everyone thought there was these free receptacles going out to everybody and unfortunately that wasn't the case because it's a finite pilot program it's Limited in its numbers uh it doesn't mean it won't eliminate it but they're going to monitor it and there may be other areas eligible for for these receptacles as a reminder the annual free paper shredding event is scheduled for Saturday May 4th at 9:00 a.m. to 12: p.m. here at the Town Hall the event is rain or shine and is open to all Sparta residents business and nonprofits Flyers are located out in the foyer with more information on the township website their Parks and Recreation Department the sparta annual Trout Derby is scheduled for Saturday May 18th at Station Park the event is being offered in partnership with the sparta Municipal Alliance resource team and we thank them for their support in our community development department the staff in the zoning planning and code enforcement have been busy in the first quarter resulting in the above average amounts of customer service an example of the amount of work provided consists of the following 14 2 zoning permits 65 code enforcement issues 25 active or approved site plan waiver applications 17 active planning board applications nine active zoning board applications and 26 septic applications that have been facilitated in coordination with the susex county health department uh lastly tomorrow we celebrate Administrative Professionals Day and I would like to thank all Municipal staff for their hard work and dedication to the township and its residents Chief mccarrick will now read his portion of the mayor's report this concludes my report thank you mayor counsel and Sparta residence thank you manager Zep thank you mayor thank you councel if I could just piggy back off of what Marjorie had to say about the vi life it's very it's very good to have uh 99.9% of the time when uh somebody calls 911 police officers are first on scene and uh with these medical conditions a lot of people are not in mood to talk to you when they're not feeling very well so having those questions answered uh for our our officers first on scene who could relay that information to EMS and paramedics uh makes it uh go a lot quicker so I recommend getting those filled out and uh also uh Lura from the center for prevention they work great with us on everything that we do uh we try to include them and uh no question they come right right out and help us out so we appreciate them very much last week was National telecommunications week and I would like to take a moment to thank all of our dispatchers for both that are both full-time and part-time if uh don't know what a dispatcher is when you call 911 or you call the police station uh that's who's answering the phone and and taking your emergency and taking it seriously our department provides dispatch services for odenburg Franklin stanh hope Hamburg and of course Sparta and this is for police fire and EMS Services I believe we have some of the most talented Dispatchers in the state there's a lot of experience uh there and they are highly trained and simply to Simply perform to the best of the their ability on somebody's worst day um they remain very calm uh Collective they have the information they get the resources rolling as fast as possible and I'm just going to give you an example we're all we have all talked about we're all familiar with earthquake couple weeks ago uh dispatcher senson who has over 20 years of dispatching experience and ditch baser terce who has uh I believe over 15 years experience uh were two season dispatchers working that day took over 100 calls in 15 minutes um answered every single one of them professionally uh even individuals calling and arguing that it wasn't an earthquake or wanting to know what the how an earthquake is is caused um you know politely uh they said you know Google it uh and move on so but they they did a j we don't have a seismologist on staff they did a great job and those are just two of of the many dispatchers who do a great job for us every single day uh great team effort and they uh they keep us safe just as much as our fire police and EMS so uh thank you and uh we appreciate all them also last week was national animal control officer week and I think a lot of us know uh we have uh one of the most famous Animal Control Officers in the state Don kitla uh great individual um I got to mention Don he's a truly invested employ he he loves animals he's been animal control for 33 years 23 of them in Sparta Township um and he's simply invested because he he loves his job um he's a guy that comes in every day with a smile on his face um and for our officers out there on scene with an animal issue when he shows up it's very relieving uh he's got the gift with animal and uh just want to recognize him and thank him for all he does in his many years of service he is very good at that very good he also has a best hairo of any man in Sp anybody should be on the cover of a romance novel it's that guy got the best hair um you know speaking about alcohol awareness um prom season is coming up um I mentioned a couple meetings ago that we had officers attend a uh a mad which is Mothers Against truck driving conference and and some training um we were able to get some good contacts down there often times uh our officers around this time during problem season give uh instruction or information to students at our schools um our traffic Bureau um reached out to Mad um and they started this new um presentation which called a mad promposal and what it is it's a 30-minute presentation designed to engage High School juniors or seniors in the dialogue of unraised drinking cannabis and medication use within par driving they challenge the uh participants of substance use among their peers particularly around prom time like I said and they Empower them with Alternatives that will ensure their promise a special night they can and will remember students will hear from some someone who has been tragically impacted by underage drinking or impaired driving and will have the opportunity to accept mad's prom proposal and say yes to substance free prom the presentation is led by trained and certified mad facilitators and Ely aims to prevent underage substance use and reduce injuries and deaths amongst youth due to underage substance use and impair driving and impair uh impaired driving and riding with impaired drivers so this is a brand new initiative by mad that was created and was presented for the first time ever in the state right here in Sparta at Pop Johan uh high school this week um they are also presenting at the sus County Vtech high school in May and our traffic officers and our school resour officer was involved with that presentation so very proud of that last note um myself I attended OEM uh coordinator uh OEM conference last week as as a Township coordinator um in Atlantic City I took a very interesting class on tornadoes um a lot of people when they think of Sparta they don't think of tornadoes but we don't think of earthquakes either and you know we had an earthquake um you know with weather patterns um you never know what you're going to get nowadays so took the opportunity to take a good class yesterday got a lot of good information more so for families to prepare themselves prior to a weather event um which I'll be putting out on our Department's social media websites and also our uh Township uh website and that concludes my report thank you thank you thank you Chief McCarron if I can build on the report real just real briefly um so two things one is that on this eve of Administrative Professionals Day I want to one thing I've learned in five and a half or so years I've been sitting here that um how how hardworking and dedicated and how wonderful our administrative staff is here so I want to e echo my own appreciation for what they do uh and secondly along with the um uh the dispatchers and not only is it the worst day of the caller's uh life but um having having been in a ride along having had that opportunity last year which was I'm still very grateful for um the officer going to that event is also relying on on the dispatcher to relate to him or her what I'm getting into uh the officer line uh like could also be on the line and and not only keep you're trying to keep both sides calm but you're trying to get the uh that person's in the middle of getting information to both sides the officer needs to know what he or she is walking into um so it's a it's a very difficult job you got to walk a very good line and um we do we have an excellent staff you and um before we make a motion for the manager report I do want to uh pardon the pun but bear down a little bit on the on the trash cans um um just to be clear we uh we meaning Sparta Township had no role in deciding which areas of the township got decided would be uh qualified for the targeted area is that right that's correct okay the D did that and we're simply following the instructions of the DP we agreed to participate in the study with them well we don't we didn't decide the areas they did correct got it okay thank you all right with that uh may I have a motion to accept the manager's report I'll make a motion we accept the manager's report may I have a second I will second it all those in favor say I I the manager's report is approved thank you uh manager Zep and chief mccarrick we are now at the first public comment period uh this public comment period is limited to items that are not again not on the agenda uh so before you come to the microphone to speak you may want to take a look at the agenda and if something you want to talk about is on the agenda now is not the time there'll be a time later in the session to speak on that so again uh this is now limited to items that are not on the agenda Kimberly null uh 9 South haywards Road Sparta New Jersey um I'm the chairperson for the environmental commission as I mentioned before and I wanted to give you an update on the open space and Recreation plan um we've been working actively already with um the con the nature consern or the Land Conservancy of New Jersey um we have a regular uh subcommittee set up we've started to collect historical documents and they've done one site visit we've also started to meet with different stakeholders including the Historical Society who was here earlier um different folks who are maybe experts on the Trails um other stakeholders such as a recreation parks and recreation of course so those meetings have started to also happen on June 13th we're having a formal visioning um process so that anybody from the public anybody from anybody in Sparta who is interested even other townships who are interested um that would be a good time to come and share any input that you'd like um I will definitely mention that's not going to be the only time that input can be provided it's just our first um meeting that we're having so that's June 14 at 7 o' is it June 13th or 14th oh thday sorry Thursday the 13th okay yeah thank you um Kim the rec advisory committee is meeting in May so if you want to come to that with this that be great um you can reach out to me and I'm I'm happy to extend the invitation to you sure that'd be great okay right thank you for the update closer thank you I don't sit still thank you first of all thank all of you for your service to our community it's a it's a nine year veteran of another school board uh I understand uh how much you uh you give and we really appreciate it um before we begin if this is just perfunctory but you do need to state your name and address than Bill Snider uh Oak Parkway thank you sorry about that um I'm speaking on behalf of a group of 10 Oak Parkway homeowners of which I am one we also have three of our uh neighbors here with us if you could raise your hands um in light of the short-term rental related issues that are occurring throughout Sparta I'd like to read a brief statement outlining our neighbors uh neighborhood's current Challenge and our concerns recently a fully operational commercial for-profit Airbnb business was established in our residential Oak Parkway neighborhood the Airbnb host operating this business is located in Florida I want to clearly delineate that we are talking about a commercial business operation versus a Sparta homeowner who may want to rent their home through Airbnb for a limited time per year perhaps to help them offset expenses last year one of our neighbors sold their home to a real estate company operating as an LLC we were assured by the neighbor that the intention of the real estate company was to use the property for a long-term rental with the possibility of the owner or owners building a new home for themselves to live uh they guessed it approximately 5 to six years from that time uh we were skeptical then and our skepticism has uh been warranted unfortunately as we learned two weeks ago this is a commercial business operation the listing can be viewed on the Airbnb website with bookings already extending into July 2024 many renter amenities are advertised on the site that are in direct violation of Lake moha Country Club short term renter policy uh lmcc is presently addressing these issues with the owners even more telling that this property is being operated and marketed as a commercial for-profit business is how the owner or owners themselves describe the property in their advertising on the Airbnb site even to the point of giving the property a branded name and I quote from the uh site about this space welcome to the place at Lake Mohawk by the places at Palm Beach centrally located in Sparta this stunning three-bedroom Waterfront Skylight Adorn property showcases Waterfront views a Lakeside fire pit and kayak and canoe access book with us and take advantage of our full service concierge and local locals inspired discount program provided by your host contact us today for any questions and let us show you a stay like any other I think they meant to say a stay unlike any other uh the first our first kind of goal is for our Parkway neighborhood to work with the lmcc trustees in Sparta Council to stop this company from advertising renter amenities that clearly violate established policies and potentially threaten our environment are watersheds in Lake water quality due to the transfer of invasive species from kayaks belonging to uh renters our second goal is that our neighborhood like clarification ation as to whether it is legal under current Sparta Township law for a blatantly Commercial for-profit Business Enterprise to be established and operate in our residentially Zone neighborhood if it is currently legal let's make it illegal under under a law so we can end these growing conflicts in our residential neighborhoods we are worried about what the summer will bring to Oak Parkway and as you know Oak Parkway is quite a small little little Street um uh you know through this Airbnb business just a handful of these businesses have the potential to wreak havoc and Sparta neighborhoods and negatively affect every resident if continued efforts by Airbnb commercial businesses to establish themselves in our residential neighborhoods remains unchecked we believe that our Sparta Community will be negatively affected and it will be more challenging to keep our very well- earned reputation as one of the safest towns in New Jersey in conclusion our 10 Oak Parkway homeowners are very much in favor of the law being considered to restrict rentals to 28 days or more we'd also like to know is there a council member that can act as a point person for us so that we can further discuss a resolution to these issues thank you thank you don't me I would just one quick comment I would I would think just not knowing exactly that zone but I would think if it's a residential Zone that's a zoning fraction right that's a code violation okay to operate a commercial entity in a residential if it's purely residential tell them yeah so to answer your question about um the short-term rental policy is still under advisement um there's and so um I know councilwoman Quinn has been doing a lot of follow-up work with it um I'd encourage you if you you could um simply email all of us but you know and and with your concerns and and and also to keep you a breast of what's going on but I I I do know that um we do want to wrap this up um obviously it's rental season right now and there's just some issues that we want to uh track down a little more but uh thank you for bringing your concerns to us great thank you very much for your time so Bill thank you and if you need my contact information I'm happy to share it with you after actually the exact listing that you just talked about I just showed the manager when I walked in here tonight um so so I have been um tirelessly researching additional things trying to be fair and balanced trying to maintain um you know definitely the best policy that we can to um to really move forward so I'm I have some things planned for this week coming up and I would appreciate a conversation if you would like to have meat and enough coffee or something that with the residents I'm happy to do that I'd like to do it sooner rather than later because I I owe the my colleagues on the council the findings that I came up with around everything so now after a meeting if if it you know is meets with your schedule I'll be happy tochange contact information we could do that almost immediately sure great thank you so much you're welcome thank you Mr Fox good evening Council Mr Mayor uh my name is Alex Fox a x Fox uh I wanted to come to submit my comments uh also with respect to ordinance 2404 regarding the short-term rentals and specifically like Mr Schnider I wanted to give the council a ground level view of the impact that these rentals have on individual homeowners like myself uh I live at three Log Cabin Terrace if you don't know it it's off of Spring Brook log cabin is a double dead end it's not on the way to anywhere uh and I live how do you get there it's true it's little Hill up off of Springbrook um so I live next door to a house that's being operated as an Airbnb um the owner of that house gave his own comments here two weeks ago unfortunately he rose to speak just a few minutes after I had to leave the meeting and actually I see him and his wife here tonight and uh I want to preface this by saying that I have known Charles and Joanne since 2017 when they bought their first investment property in Sparta which is the house across the street from mine and they purchased the house next door to me during the pandemic in 2020 and I want everybody to know that Charles and his wife Joanne are lovely people I've had them in my home I've had drinks in my yard they've had us over to their house uh nothing that I say here tonight should be construed as any kind of comment on their character however uh in his comments he introduced himself as Charles from log kabin Terrace I need to point out that Charles does not and never has lived on log cabin Terrace in fact he lives in a town about 30 minutes away outside of Sparta Township uh and as I mentioned he owns two investment properties on my block one next door and one across the street so the only reason that Charles is here in Sparta the prevailing interest that he has is profit uh he's an investor my wife and I are full-time residents and homeowners and it seems to me that in this debate over the ordinance the interests of a handful of property owners are being weighed against the interests of homeowners like me uh now while many of Charles's customers have been perfectly Pleasant a lot of them have been charitably speaking unintentionally inconsiderate a few of them have been downright disrespectful and rude and my wife is going to say a little bit more about that in a moment the overarching issue for me and the reason that I support this ordinance uh is that I don't know who my neighbors are going to be on any given day right and it makes me UNC comfortable that at any moment two or three cars full of strangers may pull up into a driveway 15 ft from where my wife and I sleep at night and stay for an unknown period of time so every time I come around that corner onto my block I have no idea what I'm going to find uh will there be a new car in the driveway how many people are here how long are they staying I don't know are they nice are they dangerous I don't know will more people come to visit them during their stay and bring more cars and block up the dead end where I and the mail truck and delivery trucks have to turn around I don't know and because they don't know so how could I expect them to know uh there's a reason that my wife and I chose to live in a modest house at the end of a double dead end in a private community and frankly living next door to an unregulated hotel is not it um with all the talk that's been thrown around about our ratables and Sparta's tax base I would submit that having an unpredictable parade of strangers occupying the house next door to me might not necessarily be positively impacting the value of my own home or the homes of other people on my block my neighbors and I are all bearing unnecessary risk to our safety to our security every time a group of Unknown People appear on our block why why do we bear the risk in service of someone operating a business in a residential neighborhood someone who doesn't bear the same risks as we do because they live in another town 30 minutes away not in the community from which they profit so to put a fine point on it if someone smashes into my car or runs over my dog or assaults my wife and then disappears what's my recourse and moreover why should the burden be on me to figure that out uh we don't have any idea who these people are and like at least one council member that I remember hearing two weeks ago I don't put a whole lot of faith in the vetting process of a website and I doubt that anybody here would entrust the safety of their family and their neighbors to an algorithm uh we're assuming these risks so that homeowners like Charles can make a profit we endure these disruptions to our community for the benefit of businesses and we do so to our own detriment why why is that burden being shifted to the people who actually support our Town's economy dayto day not one weekend at a time I presume that Charles makes a profit from the house across the street from mine which is rented out to at Point um unfortunately we have a five minute uh but I know that uh your wife is here so maybe she can pick up where you left off okay certainly we just have to keep a decorum in order appreciate what you said very points thank you hi uh my name is Berget bogler I am Alex Fox's wife thank you council members police chief um I live at three law cabin Terrace here in Sparta my husband and I bought our house in 2009 and I've been coming here since 1995 when we first started dating and his parents would invite me to their lak house that's nearly 30 years ago now and we bought our house because my husband has been coming here since 1981 we chose to buy here because we wanted to be part of not just any Community but this community I could not attend the board meeting where 2404 short-term rental ordinance was discussed because I was working I'm a nurse but I watched the video the following day and I want to address some of the comments made as well as share with you my experience living right next door to a short-term rental Sparta is a Township we have ordinances and as such I cannot do whatever I want with my property I cannot turn my house into a PR preschool a bakery a nail salon to put up a shed I need a permit when we bought our wood burning stove we needed a permit to those who say they should be allowed to do whatever they want with their property I say that is what unincorporated areas are for that is not what a town is all about living next door to a short-term rental I never know what I am coming home to I never know who I'm getting next door to me or for how long one week that house had three turnovers of people people show up at all hours I've been woken up by people arriving late at night unloading their cars and dragging suitcases up the stairs the garbage generated by short-term renters is another problem people put out their garbage when they leave I often have to look at their garbage before for several days before pickup worse is when animals tear the bag open and there is garbage strewn all over the street and blowing into my yard that's not something the owner deals with because Charles does not actually live on log cabin Terrace but rather 30 minutes away so I end up cleaning up the mess myself Log Cabin Terrace is a small double deadend Road I have come home from shifts to cars blocking my driveway I drove home 2 and a half hours from Pennsylvania after working three ships in a row and when I arrived at nearly 10 p.m. there were six cars at the short-term rental I was tired it was late and I had to go up to the house and get whoever was blocking my driveway to move their car ironically it was a bunch of Girl Scouts having a reunion not everyone is as easy to deal with as the Girl Scouts we had a man who arrived late and whose car alarm kept going off around midnight I went up to the house and he was so very rude to me another neighbor called the police who told him to disconnect his car battery these are not the sort of interactions that I want to have the short-term rental next door advertises occupancy of six people hence the Girl Scout reunion but its driveway cannot accommodate anywhere near six cars as a travel nurse I worked in several States including New York New Hampshire and North Carolina I stayed at residence ins because I wanted to make sure that a team of professionals assured both my comfort and safety hotels motels and bed and breakfasts pay occupancy taxes they have adequate parking for guests they have systems in place in the event of an emergency they add value to a community by being high value taxable ratables I support the proposed ordinance prohibiting short-term from rentals of fewer than 28 days I believe the ordinance should also address street parking as well as the number of vehicles a driveway can safely accommodate in the event police an ambulance fir truck or snowplow needs to respond basically people on both sides of this issue are being asked to compromise and that is a very important part of what living in a community like Sparta is all about and 28 days seems to me to be a very reasonable compromise thank you thank you thank you can just state your name and address for the record thank you good evening Mr Mayor and members of council my name is Dr Ernest liov 143 wagon will Road and I'm glad to see representative of police because I would like to talk to words about traffic safety I think we have two dangerous from point of view of human factor turn one is uh on the Glenn Road to the Glenn Park where is a dead zone when people make a left turn they never know who is coming back from the Glenn park I think it would be good idea to install a big mirror which would help people to uh Escape such surprises and number two you know Well Route 181 um and in approaching to the North in approaching to the theatrical Plaza a lot of left turn uh turn uh number one there is no interruption of uh separating line which makes very uh potentially dangerous because a lot of people goes to the different uh uh different establishment in the theatrical Plaza I think it would be good idea if you would look on that uh from point of view of human factor I I was glad to hear about activity of Mothers Against Drunk driver and it's recalled in my memory one uh story from my practice when I had a teacher of the physical education who for my surprise also taught a driving education and in the process of therapy I asked him and how do you uh and he told all 100 percentage of my students get a driver's license and I asked and how do they get the driver's license license if some of them so-called special students in medical field we call this mental retardation he said uh they have to sign a document where is a question about mental health he said because they underage the document signed by parents and he said I don't know any parent who would say my child has mental problem and uh I would encourage a police uh Department I would be delighted to help you in this in my best ability to retrieve a record of these students and match them with their uh statistic of car accident and to see are they in the average range or among the students we have increase significant increase I would suspect that you would find significant increase because some of the students were my patients and I knew that their cognitive functions were significantly decreased they had difficulties to understand the difference between right and wrong they had a problem with abstract thinking of course there is a question how do they pass a test in driving test it's a different story um this is what I wanted to bring to attention of uh your Mr Mayor and uh conso I think if uh in the 5 percentage I'm right it should be one life saved from uh car accident thank you for your attention thank you thank you thank you hi Dean row 15 BGE Parkway um I'm just going to mention since it popped into my head I've lived here since 1983 July 7th to be exact and the last time my road was paved was 1983 the people across the street from me moved in in 1999 and said when is Sparta Township going to do our road i' put my road as being the worst Road versus anything in Lake Mohawk and anybody who knows Lake Mohawk roads they're beautiful compared to the onethird of birch Parkway that's actually in Sparta and the 2/3 is and Buro room the guys do a fabulous job maintaining the snow and cleaning the drains but it is really bad when Neil spaletto was here they fixed one grate that was like this in front of my house there's now holes where these drains are and I don't know when they're going to get around to it we heard a rumor that our road was possibly going to be done this year but I've been here 41 years I'd really like to see something happen on our street besides oil and slurry looking at me aren't you I don't know fortunately enough uh you know I was running Public Works last year and we're very familiar with the the Parkways and the first answer I would reply to is is are all the customers who want gas all hooked up I'd say all one is being the gas companies are going down the roads and I don't want to pay all all of them so we look for confirmation from that meanwhile there is a lot of storm water draining work going on so there's a lot of activity going on so before we invest and and pave the road and do all those great Investments I want to make sure all those activities are done and that's one of the holdups that's going on with the Parkways I don't disagree with you the the road is due but every time we start to embark on putting our road list together uh I come up against some of these activities and stuff so that that's what's going on if there's holes by your Basin I urge you to just email the public works department we pride ourselves of being very responsive to anything like that because I need the residents to to to you know correspond with us tell us I'll get a petition I mean it's not hard because when we have a discussion it's all about the road it's just really bad and it's it's you know hey I was on the board for 15 years Lake Mohawk I did call the DPW in the past and I know budget cuts happened and staff got cut and everything but but it's like it's mostly activity that's going on on that road right now that's holding it up from being there's one there's one that looked like it just got staked again but you know I had gas put in I think now it's been three years ago so most of it's been so I I'm just I know not an excuse is what let me put the list together I don't want to waste money and PVE a road and then have to you know go into it again okay appreciate it thank you thank you thank you sorry I was okay sorry mayor counsel good evening uh I'm Charles my wife Joanne's with me I live on loav Terrace uh Alex doesn't think I do but I pay taxes I sleep there before I came here I was on my hands and knees putting mulch in between shrubs I'm trimming shrubs I took the house across the street was it was four Log Cabin this disaster remodeled got all the building permits paid for everything you made it beautiful new Roofing siding windows ratables are up pay my taxes on time you can't go around to individuals and say oh you're going to have a big party on Sunday who's coming to your party it doesn't matter if you you moved in in 81 91 or 2017 you're a part of the community I'm I'm on when when the stream between for loock One Log Cabin has debris in it I have a big bar in my truck I pop the grid open and I pull the debris out because I don't want to have my neighbors get flooded does Alex do that no he wants to be the ambassador of Sparta he even told me so verbatim I love these guys that come in I'm like the Ambassador when they hear he's sitting on his chair they come in hey where you from oh you're from New York I'm from New York he told me that so this automatic switch that I'm the bad guy and then a couple Bears get into our into our trash no one had Bears to open their trash up so the the garbage goes out on a Sunday and it's picked up on a Monday morning at 8: a.m. I'm there cleaning the house I put the garbage out so it's like that movie from the 80s Foot Loose where are we going to stop we're going to ban music we're going to ban parties just because we have some people that like to sit on their front porch and they figure that they could uh did determine who can live in a house whether I go there with my son and we play golf and we come back and we have a barbecue together that what that's not allowed then because that's a rental that's a that's a commercial property no that's my home I clean it I'm on the roof cleaning the gutters I take care of that home I pay the HOA fees at Mount at uh Lake Mohawk I pay the taxes and and everything's maintained properly it's clean and I think that this this whole thing is really pushing the envelope on uh dangerous situation with getting into a gray matter with uh this should be just voted down and forgotten about it really should it's and I'm there and I'm and I'm there on both houses keeping it maintained and clean so it's not like I'm just oh Hotel did investment property no I care about this place I care about I care about Sparta I do a lot of stuff in Sparta Township I go to the restaurants I tell people where to go if they want to have their nails done before a wedding the money comes into the township and you should take care of you should pass an ordinance to get the ratables that Trenton is collecting and put it to good use and have her have her Road paved after 80 from 1982 but for the taxes that we're missing out on that road could have been paved 10 years ago now of course the the gas lines are going in and that could be a that could be a matter where you know the gas lines need to be installed first of course you don't want to rip up the road twice you want to make the investment but there's other roads that need to be paved that are ready so take advantage of the ordinance tell Tren you want your part of the tax money and then bring the money in all right thank you thank you hello I'm Joan honorly I also own one law cabin with my husband um I just wanted to make a few comments that any neighbor can have friends and family over and we don't know as neighbors who they are they come and they go it's not like you have a a party and we have no idea who the people are attending the party so that should be disputed um and why does it matter that we live a half an hour away that doesn't make any sense we participate as my husband said we participate in all the spart activities we're part of Lake Mohawk we do a lot of activities in Lake Mohawk we pay our fees we pay our taxes we take care of both houses um and what what are the real risks I mean I hear people complaining about it but I don't see any documentation is there is there actual documentation of police reports of complaints that have been stated are there that's a question so I know presidents that have come up to me the whole reason I brought it here in September um so I I will defer to the chief for the actual police reports I mean statistically there's other dangers that we've spoken about here and whatnot but I'll defer to you I don't know if there's actual you know police reports that have been filed there have been I know a lot of complaints I don't know which of those complaints to your point you're asking a specific question and I don't know exactly how many complaints made it to the police department or that were handled by Property Owners or neighbors okay so it's basically verbal complaints we but but the ordinance is saying that there's problems and it it's noise complaints all these other problems that are part of this new Banning of the of the short-term rental can be handled by existing ordinances we have existing ordinances of noise don't we so to to ban things just because of things that already exist in a current ordinance doesn't make any sense to me and you know you can't tell us what we how to make our money it just doesn't make sense do I tell anybody else how to go make their money I I don't I don't and it's not right for somebody to say you can't make money that's wrong it's just wrong so I please consider not passing this ordinance I'm Vivian Pearl M five Morgan drive and we have zoning in this town and we have to keep that zoning and there are zones for hotels and for bed and breakfast and there are zones for residential and the zones are for a reason and we should keep them and and I I totally support where strong zoning in a town like Sparta I also wanted to comment on the traffic we need a traffic light at West Mountain and 517 there was another accident we had an accident on our Entrance Road the whole uh guard rail went down a truck hit it um there are problems a vehicle problems in this town we have to be careful and and the biggest problem with these short-term rentals it's more people who aren't oriented for example to Lake mwk and their rules they might come up with a you know they they've rented the place and they've decided to bring up their own kayak and they don't realize that Lake Mohawk has very strict rules as to what can go into their Lake and and we we we should try to get along with Lake Mohawk and and and deal with them and and and with their parking lot and everything else it's one town they're important part of our town I don't live in Lake Mook but we we shouldn't just thumb our noses at part a good part of our town and uh the last thing is um is uh I I was just a query when when are you putting on the agenda the re um rehiring of the lawyer for the planning board that isn't a uh Town Council we don't we don't hire the planning board lawyer plan board law the planning board lawyer the planning board hires the planning board lawyer Council doesn't and you don't it doesn't come up to you only after they've made the that decision Dean can correct me and and councilman Quinn can correct me if I'm wrong it does not come here at all no come does not come okay nor does zoning Z same thing with zoning so the zoning I know you don't do the zoning but the woman that spoke before me seem to think that anybody can open anything anywhere as long as they make money and pay their taxes and we can't have that in this town just because I mean I might be a very good Baker and say that I'm opening a bakery on Morgan drive it's it's a residential street we don't want well that my cakes would be so good and people would all come and I could say nothing like my cakes and what about my bread and so I I really I just because something is wonderful doesn't mean that it's appropriate that that's where it should be sold or that business should be run thank you Vivian thank you quick question you said there was a problem with the traffic at the intersection of 517 and what Road West Mountain right by the high school by the high school you know when the kids come out of the high school it's backed up and then and and it's very hard to get out and there were accidents there okay thank you I just wanted to make sure I I had 517 and miss the rest and I and the police should keep a record of the accident there all the good good thank you good evening everybody Margie Murphy peblo Parkway um I completely agree we do not need short-term rentals anywhere in our town it was not meant for that my family has been here since the' 40s and helped develop this area it was not meant for short-term and anything under 3 months should not even be here uh the lake is a very precious area like Mohawk generates probably 60% of the revenue of this town and it's quite important and we do not need anything foreign boats anything else in our lake so it and we do have noise ordinances so I I beg you do not pass anything that would let anything come in under I'd say three months but um on another note is there anything that has come up with the cannabis store is there anything that we can do about that uh prohibiting their sale of marijuana it's prohibit I know I I know what you're saying and I also know that our ordinances do forbid the sale of that they are we have them right now they I guess Chief mccarrick but I know that our ordinances we have not relooked at them we decided several years ago we opted out of everything with the intention that once the state got it together we would revisit it at some point down the road but we were we um the council voted no down the down the line of no anything so I mean retail distribution any of that stuff is against our ordinance but they are selling it I know they they um apparently sers told there's a sticker or a scarf or I don't know I don't know I don't even want to get into it but um Chief MCC we should probably zoning should be following up with that too what yeah zoning zoning should be following up too if it's against Z okay and is there a special segment that we have to defer to another the special police that I know you and I have talked and we have investigation going I can't speak about oh okay okay all right thank you thank you all right with that we'll close the first uh public comment period sorry oh okay well all right we're not closing go for it okay I'm James Gaddy uh where do I live and over Road in Sparta um it was uh thank you uh Council woman Quinn for taking the time to speak with me last week absolutely um and uh you know it was interesting when I was here last week I actually extended apologies for saying that this was a Lake Mohawk issue um but then after having the opportunity to hear comments from everyone else um the comments went on and on about Lake Mohawk uh the comments went on about you know I was told a group of five gentlemen uh came to the beach and how did we know where they came from why are short-term rentals rentals uh being scapegoated uh because there are people coming to the beach um after hearing folks I think this is a Lake Mohawk issue I'm I'm sorry for what you guys are experience on on Oak Parkway I would say that the majority of the short-term rentals in the community are not that that is a for-profit corporate business that's very different than those of us who own a property and choose to rent it out are we going to ban all rentals in Lake Mohawk and only if you can afford to buy a property can you live here because that'll keep out the riff raff right but what we're doing is we're scapegoating short-term rentals for all of these other issues if you don't have parking I'm sure Sparta police get calls about that all the time there's a noise issue if there are people onake Mohawks Beach that shouldn't be there there are Protections in place for homeowners um short-term rentals are not the issue with all due respect Dan if you don't like uber that's fine but short-term rentals are not the same as Airbnb they're not the same as these websites that go around renting properties time and time again shortterm um I'm sorry I disagree but keep going yeah as long as you stop my time um they are different because short-term rentals can be in the form of me allowing a friend or relative to come and rent my property for the week while I'm on vacation and trade monetary or or anything for that in fact the way you have this ordinance written if I have a friend who comes and stays at my house while I'm not not there they can't buy me dinner for allowing me to stay there so I think that it's really important that you look at the language in this ordinance because it is limiting what homeowners can do with their homes and I understand the issues but I haven't heard anyone specifically talking about a safety issue or anything like that that has to do with the rental again I live across the street from perona farms it's a very different situation and this ordinance that you have put forward is very broad sweeping and so you can disagree with me but you guys represent the town and if Lake Mohawk decided that it was okay which they have they have decided it is oh I'm sorry Lake Mohawk sent make Lake Mohawk sent letters to homeowners in Lake Mohawk saying You must register as a short term property and pay a $600 fee so therefore they have allowed it if Lake Mohawk does not want to allow this then they should change their rules and not use Sparta as a whole as a measure to ban this sort of thing I I I have my time to speak could you please be quiet if we can when someone speaks just let poite folks just let them finish and then if you have public comment you can do it but please let's not have people interrupted I apologize to the folks who have had to live next to places that have not been Pleasant okay but just because somebody lives next to you that does not look like you or act like you or you haven't met them before does not mean they're a problem and again no one has brought up any issues that suggests there are any problems related to short-term rentals other than hearsay and so if the counil really wants to deal with this issue then I think you need to look to your other ordinances and you need to put controls in place to be able to deal with absent short-term rental owners who are allowing places to be abused but good luck filling a trolley tour when you can't even get people here to this town because there's nowhere to stay and short-term rentals are not are not the problem so thank you and again Christine thank you for taking the time to talk about this you're welcome thank you how you doing I've been here before it's a Perry bones uh 16 nor Road booten Township I'm about a half hour away um but I bought a business here years ago it was a abandoned building I have I had a r neighbor for eight years and I had to deal with it the police had to deal with it almost every other weekend he had a 12T satellite dish with a light on it with a boat on it it speakers set up pointing out my business ruing my business it got all on the air it was on um social media that this guy was disruptive it I tried to buy the house five years ago it didn't work or seven years ago now I finally bought it I made a state of the Guard h house out of it the neighbors love it I have no neighbors complaining about it um I bought another house that was a problem and not that I'm trying to get but you know that problem that the house was falling down it's in disre here I finally got a um a um a thing to knock it down um every time I go to the town I say when you going to rebuild it I'm like it's up to this meeting it really is I I spent a million and a half almost $2 million dollars on the other house they were ruining my business I had to get rid of this rent wasn't a renter this guy was here for seven years he was a problem for this town he owned Rock Island and his partner was with them so it was a problem for seven or eight years and the cops were there and I went to the police department and see how many times they were there before and how many times they have been there in the last couple years and there's like no times they've been there it's because I've got rid of a person that's there more than 28 days well you know so what's the difference it could be a 30 days 60 days 90 days the house is empty three4 of the time there's nobody there there's no one going to the school system I had a different situation mine's in the woods my house this house and so is the other one now am I going to rebuild the house it depends up to you guys in the town I mean they're spending I'm Char they're probably charging me $20,000 for the one house for taxes which is fine it doesn't matter if I live here or not I'm here more than my business probably brings more money to this town than anybody I got you know these people coming for weddings so there are people coming in there to useing the restaurants and stuff like that but I took a an area that was falling apart nobody wanted it was AB banded for four years and I rebuilt it and I put a lot of faith into this town I joined the Chamber of Commerce so it's not like I'm abandoning this town I care about this town probably more than a lot of people here or maybe not more but I do care about the town and I don't know what to do with the other house now the house should have been knocked down I went to the town because the house was in such disrepair they couldn't do anything about it they told the guy he had to put a boat in front of my building because it was a lake font that was the back of that was the back of his house the back of his house was facing my business with a blue tarp on it I mean it was disgusting now now I'm G to knock the house down I'm G to clean up the area but am I am I going to rebuild it I don't know maybe I will maybe I won't but it'd be better if I rebuilt it I'm not going to rebuild I'm going to put it where it should go in the on the property and things like that so you can't say that you're not going to solve the problem with a 28 day thing it's not going to work if you want like you said you're going to get rid of all rentals then but the rentals is not the problem it's you know I maintain maintain the property we keep it Place perfect and my neighbors love it for that I brought an area it's probably the nicest one of the nicest parts of the town now I pave the I'm going to pave my own Road as a private road I have a private Dam I do everything I could to take care of the dam the town's not taking care of the dam I have the homeowners have to take care of it and which we are so I don't know it just doesn't make sense and is I don't like you say look at the police reports it's all there so I don't know what else to say thank you can I ask a quick question sir I didn't what what area town do you live or what street or what kind of not with Zone unless you know that but where is it where abouts is it oh 30 edway it's across from Rock Island yeah it's the old German house to people that used to own it fron passed away Tony took over the house and it was worse Tony then Tony decided to sell it he wouldn't even sell it to me I had to have someone else buy it so I don't know okay thanks thank you yeah well just just a question for you um uh are the people there are people who buy houses and fix them up is that right are there people that do that yes are sure I'm sure there are yes okay and are those people do they do that on the condition that they have to sell it as a short-term rental meaning someone can buy a house and repair it and then sell the house to another property owner is that right absolutely so the reason why why I didn't my wife was like didn't want to be in a rental business but the thing is if I rent it to someone year round I could have it or if I sell the house flip it I could have a bad neighbor again so I was really protecting my business by doing that if if I have a short-term rental it's only there two days or one day you know whatever so I the problem's not going to persist I could control the noise I can control they don't use the lake I can control everything about this house if I sold the house I can't control it so in a way I was kind of forced to buy this house because they were ruining my business but the willingness to buy a house and repair it one can have that same willingness and ability to do so regardless of whether they rent the house for short-term rental or not is that right I guess so sure okay thank you I'm sorry I think you get two bites at the Apple Margie sorry that's just how that's that's them the rules we have another public there's we have a a c at the end so yes you can come in at the catch all and we are now up to expenditures will the deputy oh okay we are not up to expenditures we still have more public comment check guys my name is Bianca owner and um short-term rental owner at at Hillside Road in Lake Mohawk um and yes the country club does allow short-term rentals um this is my third time here speaking um and I just want to go over a few things that I've been hearing um and it's just extremely frustrating that everyone's complaints aren't really actual complaints it's just taray like we need actual real facts and data if you guys are going to put this ordinance into play and it's not fair also I'd appreciate a coffee with you as well if you want to discuss absolutely I think that's lovely that you offered it to them but you know it's kind of biased that you did just offer it to the people who were against it there's no bias at all as a matter fact tell you I met I talk to them I'll I'll talk to anybody and I've always been very clear about that okay my email is posted on the web and anyone is more than welcome to reach out to me at any time um also I'd like to bring up again that Lake Mohawk was built in the 1920s as the second home community in case you guys did forget yes amazing so you know so short-term rentals have been around before Airbnb before verbo they've been around forever people have been renting homes through real estate agencies through ads in the newspapers ever since the beginning so I think it's you know just a little unfair that you guys are trying to put a stop to this now when this is something that's been consistent to the community since its creation um and again I just would like to reiterate that a lot of these um issues that residents have brought up there are ordinances in place already um this is not a short-term rental issue again um and I think as representatives of our community it's our duty to make informed decisions based off of facts and evidence rather than succumbing to unforced fears or biases uh I urge the council to reconsider the proposed ordinance and approach this issue with commitment to fairness transparency and inclusivity thank you thank you I tried to cut the time between two speech uh Dennis Chu 25 Wilshire Drive I think I've spoken once before my wife not here I'll speak on for both of us um I I think I emailed all of you uh late last week and um rate some of the same points but uh have some additional ones so we currently home share our house our primary residence at Sparta we moved here about 2 years ago and we uh we shared it about 60 days and when we're not there we're we're traveling or Vis or visiting other vacation homes but uh we did this about 60 days last year and it helps us defas some of the major costs for this property about 40,000 in property taxes high maintenance costs anyway we all have that type of problem but when we home share most of these uh stays these guest stays are for pre- or post- wedding groups family gatherings or for previous sparter residents returning home to visit local relatives and friends as as you as we've spoken about earlier before there's a a dir of uh hotels and ins and whatnot we do not allow any parties or events and this is our primary residents it is in our interest and and the town and the neighbors and everything that we have good guests and that they and that the neighborhood is not Disturbed the neighbors are not Disturbed unrespectful guests are weed it out or we would Screen through through the reviews that we see and we we do screen them very very diligently um unrespectful guests you know lead to damage to the property it's just is just not a good thing disturbing great neighbors no parties no outdoor music all the cars have to be parked within the gate and to enforce this we have surveillance and we actively monitor this and when we see any car outside we call and we go there and um their incentive you went askes why why would they comply well bad reviews in this kind of thing pretty much will ban you from future acceptance by any future host so you'll never be able to use their platform so that they're mutual and if you if they're just starting this is a fairly new platform this either verbo Airbnb or whatnot no one wants to be banned from something for life so overring the property also is a non-issue we we do not allow that either because again unknown party or whatever too many people trash your house and this is our primary residence and then that also falls in the category to unrespectful I think the there was a topic that came up earlier in in the earlier meetings about crowding out low-income housing these houses that are being rented out or short-term rented out are not crowding out low-income housing the taxes on these properties alone I don't think it would be very hard for folks to meet that in addition to the current owners now we have some questions you know where do this need to ban come from where is the actual data I think there's been request I think you want to be implementing a a a Township wide ordinance we want to see some hard data I think that I think we deserve that at least besides you know I think there's always complaints of neighborhoods and whatnot but our house is B is is is located in a culdesac off a road it's not in the Lake Mohawk area nowhere near it so I don't know why we're being penalized for this folks that are bad operators should be corrected and banned from doing it but they have to be told I mean how many I mean I think we have 13 operators I count in in the whole area there's like 8,000 units in this in this Township so is that how we try to solve solve things when there's a when there's a what 10 10 complaints or five complaints I don't even know how many there are we ban for 8,000 units that seems a little bit excessive and it Borderland I deeply feel that it it impinges on property rights now when we when we purchase this property we specifically called because we saw that I mean I saw that the maintenance costs for this type of home were like you outrageous and and the taxes were even higher and and and we were told there's no there's no ordinance against it so based on that you know we took the plunge CU we could off said decent amount I'm sorry a little bit emotional here also there was talk about banning and then reservations are made a year in advance so if you want to ban I know I hope the thought is not there that suddenly just becomes law you're going to be disrupting hundreds of people out there they're not going to look favorably toward you know to the host toward to to the township toward everybody I think there are more effective ways like we like we mentioned there already ordinances in for noise and complaints let's just let's just enforce those okay thank you very much thank you thank you thank you hi my name is Michelle bonadies and 30 idle was Lane um the owner of Rock Island Lake Club also with my husband Perry um the reason why we did purchase the property also is because we had neighbors that were being disruptive to our business um we worked very hard to get our business to what it was it was dilapitated uh B building it was horrible you know we put our heart and soul into the business we're trying to make Sparta a good place to you know for people to be we have weddings we have people that want to stay there we don't want people drinking and driving I mean we're trying to be responsible owners here and I mean I really hope you reconsider you know this whole thing because it's really going to hurt not just us but everyone here cuz everyone here is trying to make a living and maybe it's not what they expect us to make a living by but everyone there's reasons for everybody there's one one of us that they were going to make this their home they made their home so beautiful and then they had somebody come in and and go in their house and break in their house so now they felt that they were violated so they left now they're in another state because they don't feel like they feel safe here so it's and this was neighbors that live there all year long so thank you for your time and I hope you reconsider thank you good evening my name is Edison Aus I a uh Chamber of Commerce member I wanted to come here to once again address this situation with um prohibiting short-term rentals for less than 28 days I do have a list of points that I wanted to mention uh first off um as recent as a few years ago the chamber Commerce awarded Sparta as being business friendly um if long-term rentals can be considered a business then so would um short-term rental properties which are a type of rental uh Sparta Township uh should keep embracing businesses and should allow short-term rentals attorney Ryan I wanted to ask you when it comes to rentals or tenants are they prohibited in Sparta Township do you have an ordinance not allowing people to rent out their houses in the long term uh no we don't okay so that would be seen as a form of discrimination because at the same time although yes ordinances are place for the well-being of the community you're not providing a balanced ordinance that would both allow not just long-term rentals but also short-term rentals and again this would be you being more business friendly not just because this is seen as a commercial entity which is really not but in a way of opening your doors for people to come and do business in the township people need places to stay when they come and do business in a location or if for example kind of like what was just mentioned even for safety reasons if someone does get drunk do you want them to drive very far away and you know they shouldn't be driving at all we know that but wouldn't it be easier if they could find a closer uh location of a stay that's something that would be better considerated uh second off historically Lake Mohawk was for second homes and vacation homes for owners uh much of these homes just like many homes in Sussex County historically speaking uh were purchased and used by people from New York City that would come on the weekends come during the weekday uh they would rent out their houses to friends to family members or people that they trusted although there's not there's never a guarantee of who you will allow that will take care of your property 100% just as maybe a friend or family member might do something wrong by mistake or there might be a situation but that doesn't prevent you from being able to use your properties full use and being able to allow to share that even if it's for with monetary compensation um why are you going to allow to affect what historically Sparta was known for um as a vacation getaway or for homeowners or even a place that people can come for wedding venues uh that want to provide and for those owners that want to provide others to uh place to stay and also enjoy their property experience uh third uh this also affects the elderly that cannot survive on Social Security and might want to host a guest to use an empty house or bedroom where they can make that additional income uh this isn't just investors or Flippers and fixing people no this these are homeowners that might have a second home they want to keep the home they probably lived there years ago they couldn't afford the taxes do you want your long-term residents to leave because they can't afford to continue paying their taxes or that they might be able to say let me put this house as a short-term rental uh uh registered and a regulated short-term rental that will provide that additional income uh a lot of these elderly people have been able to do so in other townships in other states and other counties why are we going to discriminate or prohibit them in that way uh just to keep in mind um New Jersey state does allow Cottage sales from your own home uh so that means if you wanted to sell from your home your cakes you're more than welcome to uh even if you're not a business uh baking and selling home treat is ex exclusively legal in New Jersey since 2021 do you want to prohibit people from making a livelihood uh going homeless because not just that they can't afford to stay in their own home and share it sometimes or do you want to be able to provide a place where someone can stay uh four rentals are not considered commercial property or a business is a town going to prohibit all types of rentals because someone thinks it's a business with regards to problems of guests is Sparta going to make an ordinance to prohibit bad tenants long-term tenants or to screen tenants I have experience where you place a long-term tenant and they become a huge problem to neighbors and you cannot get them out of there for a year or years would you prefer to have a short-term rental guest that even if they were a temporary problem for a weekend you can have them removed or that you have the guarantee they're not going to stay there in the long term uh garbage and noise and other problems can be easily addressed by ordinance which at times townships have already have had in place uh seven with regards to investors someone has to purchase the property unless the town is going to take over these badly damaged properties and spend tax money to to renovate them so whether they're an investor of one house or three houses someone has to do that job again this does affect property values because most of these houses that people do shortterm rentals are one of the most gorgeous houses out there and they're not going to allow someone to come and trash your house so I hope you can take that into consideration and in the economic development thank you thank thank you at risk of someone uh coming up if anyone else wants to come up because every time I say it I'm I'm I'm going too soon you're just leaving you had enough um okay with that uh Deputy Mayor would you please read the expenditures for April 23rd 24 absolutely I make a motion that we approve the expenditures of April 23rd 2024 of the amount of 5,758 56485 may I have a second please I will second it all those in favor say I I I the expenditures for April 23rd 2024 are approved we do have one ordinance for introduction tonight uh Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2405 Township of Sparta ordinance to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations limits and to establish a cap Bank may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2405 I'll make a motion to introduce 2405 may I have a second I will second it may I have a roll call uh sure before we go to roll call uh councilman blue medy has a question sure I'd I'd like to ask our our CFO and town manager given the resolution 94 and the delay in uh refining and tweaking the draft budget should this ordinance wait or is it still the appropriate time to introduce it this is the appropriate time I mean basically Sam just go yeah it needs to be in place before the budget's adopted okay so now we we have the figures to put into the orance so we you know just have it on now so that it gets in place before the budget's adopted okay that answer your question anyone else have any questions about uh introduction okay may I have a roll call Madam clerk councilman Quinn yes councilman shell yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes ordinance 2405 is introduced uh there are no hearings of the ordinance uh next up are uh our next public comment period but that's limited to the resolution so if you look uh on your agenda under the resolutions there are four of them tonight so any comment you make would have to do with those four resolutions and nothing else so does anyone have any public comment on the resolutions okay uh see none I think uh we will take a mo motion uh we'll take them one by one um may I have a motion to approve resolution 91 so moved may I have a second please second and uh before we begin the vote this is for uh the leap imple implementation Grant what is this Police Department well and anal control allows us to um share the sorry this is the state money these are the state funds being remote two weeks ago I realized how close you have to be to these this is the state funding that's available to offsets the different costs and we're qualifying for for animal control and under the police department got it so did everyone hear that that's for uh we have a state grant for animal control and this is the uh implementing resolution for that so this shared services for shared servic the shared service Grant p on is leading this applying for the grant we haven't been awarded anything as of yet but it's just for the application to go into in order to get the monies you have to have at least one municipality that will sign off and say that they're going to share the service with you this is the when we were at the diner with the mayor's meeting this is that money this is we're part of that process so we have to do this in order for to be considered in order for them to be considered to get the money yeah great thank you so that may I have um a all those in favor of resolution 91 say I I resolution 91 passes may I have a motion to approve resolution 92 I move that we approve resolution 9-2 may I have a second please I'll second it uh before we go to vote uh what's the purpose of resolution 92 what what is the self-examination what does that mean basically the state requires that every third year they examine your budget and they go through it and find if there's any issues or problems on the other two corresponding years as long as we do this resolution we do not have to have the budget examined they just basically you know we'll send it to the auditor have our auditor look at it and uh basically we can adopt without the appr the direct approval of the state so this is one of the years that we're allowed to uh self-examine our budget as opposed to having the state do it and we're simply authorizing ourselves to examine per the per the statute that allows us to examine our own budget correct okay got you uh so uh with that clarification uh all those in favor of resolution 92 say I I I resolution 92 passes uh next up is resolution 93 which is awarding a contract for the project known as 2024 Road Improvement program part one as part of the mors county contract number six for a total amount not to exceed 268,000 $3 3585 uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 93 make a motion that we approve resolution 9-3 and may I have a second I will second it and uh before we go to a vote no way we can get uh Mrs reinh how's Birch Parkway on this can we nope not until Elizabeth finishes the job all right you Can't Blame A Man For Trying okay um with that uh may we have a uh all those in favor of resolution 93 say I I I and resolution 93 passes may I have a resolution to approve uh a motion to approve resolution 94 I make a motion that we approve 9-4 and councilwoman Quinn I take that as a second sure okay again uh Sam what's the purpose of why are we resending the 2024 introduced once we finally got the budget together at the previous meeting um I sent it down to our auditor to look at it because of the issues with the deficit in the sewer operating budget that that we had to put in and pay for out of the current proceeds and the emergency Appropriations that we had to put in from the prior for uh litigation purposes it made us overextend our cap Levy so have I've been in the process of the last half a week going through retooling the budget and trying to get it down to where it's an acceptable level uh to meet the state requirements um which I have done so um sometime the council will we'll have to go over again where we're at with the new budget so talk with the state saying since we already introduced they would allow us to resend the budget got you and uh I think we once it is reintroduced we do intend to have another budget workshop for the reintroduced budget I hope and we'll we'll work amongst ourselves to try to figure out a mutually convenient time to do that actually I should have the paperwork available probably by sometime tomorrow or possibly Friday that I can at least send out a draft copy to each one of the council people so you will have the sufficient time to look at the numbers ahead and hopefully that'll speed the process up when we do have a meeting that we can have the questions answered sort of ahead of time okay so if anybody has any questions you know reach out to Mr zepper myself and um you know once you receive the the uh draft copy great thanks thank you for that explanation so um all those in favor of resolution 94 say I I I I resolution 94 has passed uh we're now up to council liaison updates as people are aware uh this isn't the only time we do Municipal business all of us are involved in a ton of different committees and so it's this part of the meeting where people update the public on some of their committees and so um I will start to my far right if that's okay councilman Chell if you'd update us on some of your just a couple of quick updates um the revolution NJ committee next meeting is Monday May 13th um the next update I the County Commissioners leaz on in my position there the only update I'd like to make there is that uh two weeks ago or so we um the legislative district 24 state representatives had meetings with the elected officials in the county I attended that as as well as um mayor Clark and um was an informative session uh again to meet our and with our state representatives as well as other um uh County elected officials um the as leads on to the Historical Society I attended The Season's open house also about two weeks ago maybe it was a week ago I can't remember um but um anyway it was always fun to be that at the opening and uh they showcased the um medals uh the workings in the uh from the county um Business Development Committee met on April 10th I did not attend that meeting because it conflicted with the um elected officials which tells me that I was on that meeting at April 10th um the next meeting is uh they meet on the second Wednesday of the month the next meeting is May 8th for the business development committee uh we will talk about I will mention the the trolley that we um spoke of earlier today um the environmental commission uh meeting for this Thursday April 25th has been cancelled um uh I would and we talked about the Arbor Day event uh coming up this Friday I will I'll make an appearance there um to help celebrate that event and also I'd like to thank the township for flying the Earth Day flag if you haven't noticed um it'll be flying up this week in honor of Earth Day which was yesterday and then the weeks long um commemoration uh culture and arts committee planning their summer concert series getting their lineups together there should get updates to the website and posters updated in the next couple of weeks I think that's coming together and uh that is all I have for committee updates thank you so uh few updates from the last two meetings of the planning board uh first the state plan endorsement advisory committee or PAC gave a presentation to the public as part of the meeting which and it covered the state plan endorsement process its components the definitions uh Etc and it was the first of numerous public sessions for that plan endorsement process and public input will be solicited along the way uh at different venues and different opportunities a lot of the state plan endorsement work will feed into the master plan subcommittee and the master plan work uh and I will distribute that presentation uh to my fellow council members and the town manager that was presented about the PAC U second the planning board hosted a capital Improvement plan review for the Sussex County tech school for proposed addition of several new classrooms these are courtesy reviews so the planning board doesn't have approval or denial Authority these are uh just presented to the planning board members to ask questions and help the applicant in this case it was the Sussex Tech School representatives and their engineers and Architects think through some issues uh ideas we were told by the way too that the addition of those several classrooms is fully Grant funded that's what we were told so it's not coming out of the county budget I know there's a lot of activity right now in terms of the tech school and the programs and all that our understanding is that these additions are Grant funded things that were set into motion several years ago uh finally the planning board also finalized its review uh and updated the parking design standard recommendations for certain uses meaning that the number of required parking spots uh for certain uses such as um Fitness Studios and uh athletic centers will be modified in certain zones uh that draft ordinance will be coming to the council in the near future um so be hearing more about that here at these meetings uh and then finally just a separate note uh councilman Sher mentioned the Eon the environmental commission's Arbor Day event this Friday I'll also be there in the morning to offer some remarks to the students on the sparta Glenn Brook restoration work that was done back in 2015 in 2016 by uh nonprofits and other activity other uh volunteers that has done a great job with restoring that stream and the environment over there so I look forward to that and I want to thank the environmental commission again uh for their work in general also for putting that together and it's based mainly on grant funding that they had applied for last year that concludes my uh report uh just a question uh with respect to uh the revisions uh regarding some of the zones for Fitness facilities what was the impetus for targeting that particular use was there some reason why the planning board focused on those uses as opposed to all the other uses that are in the various zones yeah yeah it it um we had some um applicants and some businesses that in a sense were being penalized because they were uh trying to off open up a small business a small Studio o for kids to come and have an instructor-led class but because they were in for example in the economic development Zone the parking standards were set up for large facilities and warehouses so U for example a small a small business that might have 10 12 20 students at a time the requirement based on their uh Zone was that they had for instance maybe 100 parking spaces or more than that so um it was not defined in our codes so we looked at it and created some new definitions about the differences between a uh a small instructor-led Studio such as that versus a a large indoor Recreation Center that might have Fields inside of it versus a typical health club or gym that we might go to as a membership and uh with uh a lot of work of our planner and other professionals we put together some definitions and then looked at revising a couple of the parking requirements and in a sense we looked at surrounding towns and these are more in line actually with a lot of our neighboring towns so we want to make sure we were attractive and we didn't lose businesses because we were being over restriced in terms of parking space requirements thank you for that explanation um so my Council EA on updates first with uh Lake Mohawk we met uh last week councilwoman Quinn and I uh we continue to meet with Lake Mohawk um usually about once a month once every six weeks and uh figure out where you know what issues are um important to them and there's some over LA with uh Municipal issues so we continue to meet with them and I I found them productive uh particularly with respect to issues that are going on in Lake Mohawk and where the you the township can help as necessary my next counc leaon update is today I spent the entire day in mors County it is the very first step that municipality has to go through as part of becoming a film ready community so we check that box off the list that was a very informative they had representatives from the New Jersey film commission they also had uh people from various Studios uh mainly Studio Scouts these are the people who come to your town and have to basically put on uh the production and they're sort of the who would interface with a lot of the municipality from the police to the fire department depending on the scope of the production there was actually a fire chief there and a chief of police there because obviously when some of these Productions you have to it's very important to communicate uh the scale and scope and and so it was of of the production so everyone knows uh what is going on U also very interesting and it will become more apparent when I talk about my new business a big initiative of this too there's a huge educational and job training component to the film Readiness the reason is that when these Productions come in there is the need for training for just to build the St set you need Carpenters to learn how to be a production assistant uh that there's a lot of uh technical programs community colleges that offer a film program or a theater program and it's an opportunity for these students to get Hands-On training with actual professionals so it's real world experience so that's a big initiative that they have and to date they have uh kept up with how many jobs this has created it's been over about 15,000 jobs in New Jersey uh for entertainment production so uh the next step is for Sparta to submit an application for that which will include uh various photos of what of all the beautiful spots in Sparta also I will say if you are a private homeowner who is interested in having your home uh be possibly scouted in a film you can submit to the film commission uh and that can be included um there are plenty of films that are done uh privately actually that is also a lot easier because if it's just in the home there doesn't require as much notification to the municipality Etc because it's all being filmed in one spot and not closing roads Etc so in any event um stay tuned there'll be more about this later ler and with that that is all my councila on updates councilwoman Quinn so I apologize but as I had told the mayor earlier I have a family member coming in from the airport so I have to leave soon so I'm going to give the report and then unfort I'm going to leave I just want I want to understand why I'm getting up and leaving I already said I had to pick somebody I got someone coming in from the airport in honor of Mother's Day she's being the amazing mother she is so well I just uh yes uh couple things I want to acknowledge the following people Benjamin Ramos Bob Nicholson Brian Lockwood Daniel botin Dave Fitzgerald David strep Donald strael Gary Trager George Bridges Jamie James Highland Jeff vry Joseph Daly Josh oldridge Juan Penna Lloyd pet Mike frel Nick Francis Anderson Noah Parker rich schlutter Robert roli barbella Ryan aliera Scott Payne William Samford and there's three more one page printed out of the printer I'm missing three I apologize up front I'll get you at the next meeting these are our hometown hero banners that were ordered for 2024 we want to thank every member that I just listed and I will get the other three at the next meeting we want to thank them for their service their banners will be in in may we couldn't be prouder Jim I'm serious you better start ordering more polls because it's a great problem to have we're running out with regard to um the health committee there is these County newsletter was posted on our health corner so please feel free to go out and look at that from Spartan nj.org it's available from the main page of our website I do want to reiterate something I've been bringing up because I think it's very very important for anyone that has or knows of anyone that has a child that is very ill and suffered um catastrophic medical expenses associated with that illness the county offers a program to support so please if you know anyone that is facing this challenge with um overwhelming amounts of medical bills due to a catastrophic illness for their child please please refer them to the county there's help also on April 25th and May 23rd there's going to be deaf and hard of hearing sensitivity trainings at the um County as well sponsored by the Department of Human Services Division of the death and death and heart of hearing so um if you'd like more information about that information is available and I believe this was also put on our website earlier today Municipal Alliance as the manager had mentioned a lot going on here again you've heard me saying um you know it's so great to work with this group everyone is so dedicated this is the alliance the primary focus of this is to lead people in a different direction other than to get people away from drug and alcohol and substance abuse and and misuse and and to really encourage and promote programming and marketing to support programs that really promote people to make better choices or to have better choices available and our new logo is live your best life we are very excited that we are sponsoring the Trout Derby this is a great initiative in addition to that we are also very excited that um to be sponsoring again the Senior Olympics and also Sparty unified 202 for those are just some of the things that we have coming up in addition we're talking about uh Sparta day so if you see us uh you know definitely come visit also um the rec advisory as I mentioned last month uh we did submit the projects listing and we submitted that to all members of council for their review I will say that I did call Gan earlier in the week and asked for her to add one thing um a little bump Park I don't know if anyone is familiar with what these are I personally had never heard of them but Vernon just put one in and it's a small little track literally with bumps and kids can take little Scooters or bikes it's very healthy it's sort of like a smaller version of a BMX sort of track um but it just gets kids out it's just not going in a circle so not to say that this is going to be added to what we do but just pulled in with something that might be interesting um as well uh last I want to really talk about the senior advisory committee we met this past week I want to Al for any of our seniors interested cesic County Community College offers something called a center for Lifeline lifetime learning and they that means that they provide all kinds of classes and educational opportunities for our seniors so again that's through sesex County Community College if anybody is interested this year's Senior Olympics will be held on June 26 go Sparta we're very excited I every year um it's really great um just letting everyone know anybody over 60 years any Resident of Sparta that is 60 years or older is eligible to participate in our uh Olympics and I am being told there are three more spots open if anybody is interested so if you're interested please reach out to Jean um in Recreation uh also June 10th the senior pool will open at NL view if anyone is interested in that you have to be a senior to be able to go but the registration fee is open to anyone so you don't have to be living up at n uh nou view or n n Heights to access the pool it's open to any senior in sport uh senior Awards dinner will be on May 22nd at 5:30 details to follow and um that's uh also the the seniors are looking for uh ambassadors so if you ever have come into town hall in the daytime you'll see we have senior ambassadors so we have some of our our seniors that are very knowledgeable and they come and they sit in what we call the Fishbowl up here and they answer questions and direct people they're looking for volunteers so if anyone knows if you're a senior or you know of a senior who may be interested in volunteering some time in the Fishbowl at Town Hall please also have them reach out to Gene mon Morano and with that said I apologize I have to leave sorry um but okay um go we are going to do a vote for the um the um alternate position we have a quorum without you but I just wanted make sure you have that opportunity well I appreciate that but I'm I have okay that's fine I just want to extend it to you have yeah we have enough but I wanted to extend that to you before you leave appreciate it understand I really really have to go okay good luck thank you so much okay with that um we are now up to uh unfinished and new business uh councilman councilman Chell do you have any unfinished or new business um I do and um while um Council Quinn is here I want to make sure that um I wish all the sparta mothers uh Happy Mother's Day this is our last uh mother last meeting before Mother's Day um so um this is me and my mom um me with when I still had hair and my mom um I think her hair was she had more hair then um anyway um I want to again wish my mom Happy Mother's Day and um and I love your mom and uh also want to wish my wife who's the mother of our two children also happy Mother's Day um and the rest of and I love her too um and and the rest of the moms in Sparta um that's one thing I wanted to get out of the way um second thing is I've I have um I want to make requests to fly three Flags over the next couple of weeks um so these requests are that we vote to put them on the agenda for the next meeting which is May 14th thank you um so the requests are um to fly the uh from May 15th through May 18th to National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial flag uh this is donated by a Sparta resident and this is to commemorate national law enforcement memorial Officers Memorial week uh do you want to make them all together or should we have separate votes on those I think we we have to vote to put them on the agenda or would okay we should probably make them individually so I will make a motion that we put on the agenda for the next meeting that we fly the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial flag from May 15th to May 18th I will second it second all those in favor say I I I um second just real quick before we leave I want to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day too no way my mom I'm taking a chance that she is not seeing me with thect and happy Mother's Day to you your mom happy Mother's Day Mom thank you and happy Mother's Day counc qu safe um secondly I'd like to make a motion that we put on the agenda for the next meeting that we fly the star of Life flag to commemorate the national EMS week the flag is on hand right now with the township uh that would be flown uh from May 19th to May 25th so moved second all those in favor say I I I and thirdly I would like to move that we fly uh the progress pride flag from June 1st through June 8th so moved I'll second all those in favor say I I I and that's all of my new business all right councilman uh blue mdy thank you uh Happy Mother's Day to my w my uh my mom which you saw the picture a little earlier uh couple quick updates one is last Thursday was the uh Council connect meeting again so if you remember those are once a month at the library where it gives residents a chance to come and talk uh oneon-one one on two just to have some conversations for for an hour or two at the library and share what's on your mind ideas complaints uh what have you so uh try to take advantage of them they're a great opportunity if you don't have a chance here to speak as much you can come there and sit down and library has some refreshments it's a great opportunity um so I had an interesting and uh productive conversation and I would encourage you to to come to those uh we're going to handle the appointment separately cor okay when's the next Council connect meeting it' be the probably the third Friday I believe I'll look that up while you're giving rest to your thing okay um I'm going to reserve a a comment to the end actually have it now Friday May 17th May 17th okay um 11 to1 myself and councilman Herzberg okay going to reserve a one last at the end thank you okay uh first off we have a vacancy on planning board our ultimate alternate member uh had to resign due to work requirements so we need to appoint uh an additional person to the planning board and with that um I going to make a motion to appoint Brian Zimmerman Brian Zimmerman is a lifelong Sparta resident he is a business owner uh at Tri cor packaging in the economic development Zone uh he has a lot of experience with issues that would probably come up with planning board so he it will be a very impartial and fair and informed member of planning board so with that I will make a motion to appoint Brian Zimmerman to the alternate position on planning board I will second that and also add uh further context uh Brian is uh a four fourth generation Spartan and and his children are fifth generation so he his family he and his family had been here for a long time and they're not going anywhere as he put it and they're very dedicated to uh caring about Sparta and its future and yeah and I gave information to my fellow council members uh Brian's contact information to contact him and to vet him as much as they desired so with that uh again I have a motion to appoint Brian zimon we have a second a second um all those in favor say I I I uh okay Brian Zimmerman is now the alternate member of the planning board I believe it's alternate to alternate two to be hypers specific um far as new business um I would like to and I got a notice that on May Saturday May 11th is the postal carrier annual food drive um and what that means is your postal carrier it's a nationwide program uh where they collect uh food for a food pantry and my understanding the the way it actually works I think is you can leave out on that day Saturday May 11th whatever food you want to donate and they will pick it up and you can imagine this is the entire Postal Service in the United States so the amount of food that they are able to collect on that day is staggering I mean tons T and tons and tons of food so I encourage everyone to participate on Saturday May 11th uh the next new business I'd like to address is last Thursday I attended the public meeting about the cuts at Sussex Tech as some people have probably read they are proposing cutting the uh architectural program the graphic arts program and the theater program siding an $800,000 uh deficit uh I've spoken with commissioner space on on numerous occasions and she shares my concerns about these Cuts she was not aware that they were going to make these specific Cuts she is uh very upset about them as others are and a as a result of that probably five to six hour meeting uh last Thursday the board is is at least reconsidering it and looking for Alternatives and so I think you know whenever something like this happens sometimes there's a necessity to find a scapegoat instead of a solution and I can tell you that the Commissioners um the the board they are looking for Solutions at this point so um I think that there's a lot to be said for trying to find a way to keep these programs uh Tech education is vitally important any one who's paying any attention to education will see that it's trending toward Tech um it's a much uh better return on investment than a lot of other education so at a time that we are uh putting a lot of emphasis on Tech education um my personal opinion the last thing you need to do is is to cut it so I hope they will find a solution uh Sparta Town Council has no role in this but uh it is an issue affecting our residents so I thought it was important to attend uh that meeting so with that that is all the new business that I have and you had a comment you wanted to make yeah yeah thank you mayor so I just wanted to make a separate comment on um the upcoming restart of the planning board Diamond ship hearings uh I am confident that they will be done professionally and fairly I would um encourage and res respectfully request that the the public the objectors the planning board members its attorney its planner its engineer everyone approach these hearings uh as much as possible in a non-adversarial way professional and respectful tone and demeanor uh I just think it'll go a long way towards making these more efficient and uh and done in the professional matter just wanted to share that thank you thank you any other new business old business before we go to the final uh what I call the grab bag public comment period so this is the final public comment period um you can speak on um any matter so but please keep it to 5 minutes and maintain the Quorum and civility which I know we always do thank you so any other public comments hi James Gaddy again uh and over Road uh as um I think it's really important to base decision on facts um I just want to read into the record the short-term rental uh short-term rental policy for Lake Mohawk Country Club I won't read the entire thing um however uh Lake Mohawk Country Club does allow for short-term rentals they Define short-term rentals as anything under 90 days thus it is hereby established that this policy shall govern the short-term rentals of single family residences throughout Lake Mohawk reservation uh again 3 months or less they have a list of rules the leaser of short-term rentals must be a Lake Mohawk Country Club member in good standing uh they go into detail what that looks like um they talk about uh the short-term rentals being prohibited from having overnight visitors and then they Define what an overnight visitor is uh they talk about having emergency contacts they talk about uh who is responsible uh for adhering to all the bylaws rules and regulations of the country club they specifically say short-term rental shall not bring water craft to Lake Mohawk Country Club nor utilize short-term lessers watercraft uh short-term renters shall not utilize Lake Mohawk Country Club facilities including but not limited to the Lakes clubhouses boardwalks member parking I know you all want to go home but it's it's imperative that we make decisions based on facts and not based on hearsay whether or not it's permitted in Lake Mohawk uh violations of this policy that then go on to have a list of fees associated with violating any of these policies in fact one uh friend received a letter uh that said their fee for not registering their property would be $1,800 and by the way that's not a hey we hope you pay this fee uh the letter says it'll be automatically deducted from their bank account uh it then goes on to uh provide more specifics about this so if folks are having issues with uh short-term rentals in Lake Mohawk Country Club then there is a document that's available on the website for how they can go about addressing that but again Banning short-term rentals in all of uh Sparta because of 96.6% of speakers who got up and talked were from Lake Mohawk I think is an overreach so thank you any other public comment okay Beth brck Northshore I just want to go on record is saying that Christine councilwoman Quinn has brought up multiple times that she has read has heard from people all over Sparta not just Lake Mohawk about concerns with short-term rental so it's not quote a Lake Mohawk issue or just a Lake Mohawk issue I think we need to stop with the Lake Mohawk Lake Mohawk Lake Mohawk when Council has heard from multiple Sparta residents that there are concerns we need to stop bashing each other and come to some understanding that a lot of people are concerned about short-term rentals and agree on a resolution I know that I've spoken to all of you about a resolution to this I'm on record two weeks ago when a lot of the Airbnb people and people on my right I'm on record is saying let's come up with a solution like a bed and breakfast or something along those lines we are not out to get anybody we are looking at preserving Sparta our community not just like moha not just the other 20 some odd Lake communities in Sparta like up Glen Road like Sonica Lake and like all of the others this is not an US versus them this is our home this is where we live I have been here for 45 years my mother is still here my family comes up we are not looking to hurt anybody burn anybody or whatever we are looking to protect what is our and why we are here and why we choose to live here so if it's going to become it's a Lake Mohawk problem and we shouldn't be penalized and we shouldn't be hurt that's got to be addressed as well and in terms of issues and problems and concerns when people are having their homes rented or their houses rented out and the parking is so bad that full-time residences residents cannot get in and out of their driveways and the cars are blocking the streets so that Chief mccarrick and the fire engines cannot get down the road it's going to come down to what's more important people that have an investment or the people that are having a heart attack or a house that is burning down that's what it really comes down to it's not well I spend $440,000 my taxes are this or my tenant that lived here for a year wrecked the place this is our home and if it's one of their guests that's having a heart attack do they want to say oh well gee sorry it doesn't matter CU we can do whatever I want and screw it doesn't matter that the fire truck can't get down here this is where we live this is our community they're not here they're living in Jersey City they're living in bhen they're in B in or a half an hour out and to the person that said well you have a party at your house we don't know who's there well I would hope that if you're having a party at your house you know who the guests are we're talking about the turnover where you have a different neighbor every week or every two weeks we're not out to B everybody we're looking for continuity in our neighborhoods we're not saying don't do short-term rentals we're not saying don't do long-term rentals we want some kind of continuity we're saying hey let's do something but let's not do it in the rural residential where there's already an ordinance on file where we have guidelines where we have no noise ordinances police wouldn't be called if people weren't violating the noise ordinance but that's not being recited and in terms of rules not being broken why are people showing up with canoes and kayaks and boats to the different lakes when they're not supposed to be doing it why are people bringing renting out their places saying beach access walking distance to the beach pool membership go to the pool there's a house on listed on Airbnb that said we went over to the Lake Mohawk pool it must have been the off seon we have people on East Shore Trail on the east side of the lake I'm watching I got less than 15 seconds that say we walked down to the beach and we were using the beach we walked up and down the boardwalk if people are not respecting the rules that are in place what's to say that they're not re respecting the other rules and guidelines that are on file clearly we need additional guidelines and rules in place to make sure that we're protected thank you uh Perry bonadies um and botin again um I do spend probably more time here than I do my time in my own town plus I do a chamber of commerce work also so it doesn't matter I don't think it matters where you live um you're talking about like a film ready Town it seems like you're putting a lot of effort into that isn't that like what we're trying to do it's almost the same thing that could be more detrimental I mean that would police fire all these different things I mean that's a big undertaking that you're taking on so maybe do something like that for airbnbs maybe fight for us just like you're fighting for the film ready thing that's that's what I think and I know you guys are doing a master plan build into your master plan do something with the master plan to include short-term rentals with some kind of rules and then maybe you guys can make money off of that just like the money's going to this t to the state now make it come to this town so all right thank you well just on that point uh no you're right it would be a lot easier to do film ready if we allowed short-term rental of course it would be but I think as I alluded to yesterday again or the last meeting which is my job here isn't to do my pet project you know if it were up to me for my pet I would you know shortterm rentals would be great but that's not the Mandate that I was given the Mandate I was given is to try to figure out the consensus of the community and so even if that's anthetic to what I would personally like and what would personally help the film Anish of shirt if you had more opportunities for lodging you'd have a better opportunity to attract uh movies than say um someone who doesn't yes Sparta is at a competitive disadvantage compared to other towns but we've made that tradeoff um townships are always making those tradeoffs so that's just comes with the territory so but I I do want to address that the other thing I want to point out is that um Beth is right we have heard uh complaints from outside of Lake Mohawk um so it's not just we have heard that it was Lake Tomahawk which is not in Lake Mohawk uh a final point is you excuse me but you know people thrown around the term hear say when when someone testifies about what they see and here that's not hearsay so Mr Fox when he stood up and described what he saw that's not hearsay he's what's called a precipi witness so that's now if he said I heard something that's hearsay so we are the town is council is hearing actual from people the Oak Lane people who spoke he spoke about what he saw and witness so again that information is in front of this Council we're not just uh taking you know speculative uh rumor and using that as a basis for the decision but I just wanted to clarify that point and with that I apologize for a delay in your public comment but go right ahead sorry thank you very much mayor uh my name is Sheamus Conway I live at 12 o Parkway and I'd just like to I hear a lot of things not going on about the Airbnb and I'd like to make a comment uh uh what I say I bought a property up here a few years ago and uh you know I was admiring how beautiful every place was kept here and how the people kept their property and uh you know I admired that and and uh that's one of the main reasons I moved here you know and I just seen uh you know people I wouldn't say elderly but older people getting retiring here settling in here around the lake and wanting wanting to you know be their place to live here you know and uh I just seen a Airbnb on Oak Parkway and uh not too right down the road from where I live and uh you know every night you get different people the road was blocked off there uh the people across the street couldn't get out of the driveway you know I think that's where the people didn't come here and spend a lot of money here uh for that you know so you know I could see some compromise where maybe uh uh one month rental or something like that you know like I he people say for uh you know the taxes are very high here and stuff like that but uh I just wanted to express my opinion on that thank you very much thank you very much it's uh Bill Snider at 14 Oak Parkway um I think it's very important as as some of my neighbors are are are speaking here about the facts and the fact that we I saw and my wife and I saw actually a couple of our neighbors is this past weekend a kayak came rolling up at the Airbnb strapped on top of a car we watch it get taken off and we watch it go into the lake and we don't I know like everyone we're very concerned about the environmental issues and very concerned because everyone knows how much money is spent uh on keeping our Waters and our watersheds and everything clean and and as I say God forbid if some you know ride by Lake muskin NETCOM if you want to see a nightmare you know an ecological nightmare God forbid something like that happens um on a second Point um the uh gentleman I think it was Mr Fox Fox who spoke earlier um I was really uh impacted by what he said cuz emotionally he described to a te what my wife and I have been feeling since this Airbnb moved in and we've only been you know this is over like two week period And I went the week ago before the we a weekend before this one I went to a a glider club uh that a banquet that I belong to and uh as a first time I ever heard and my wife said you know what you were gone she stayed home she goes it's the first time I didn't feel safe in my home because we would see all a sudden our houses are on you know we have a single lot so it's only 65 ft wide our houses are 20 feet apart at times and all of a sudden we watch TV and we'd see these Shadows outside of our window and you'd look and go who is that and you'd try to size this up and see who it is and at first because we were told it was going to be our you know there was going to be a long-term rental I went up and introduced myself because I thought they were our new neighbors and that's how we found out it was an Airbnb um but uh it it is the emotional side of this of not knowing who's in there who these people are who's coming who might be coming with them is a is it's real it's real and the other uh um the other thing is that I think there's a a dynamic I think one one of the gentlemen here was speaking about I think his property he he owns he I believe you know leases it or rents it out or whatever I think that's a very different Dynamic uh than an Airbnb Commercial Business that person I believe uh I know if it was me I'm going to really vet who that is that's coming into my home um I'm going have very strict rules because I want to come back after a week and find that my home is not damaged uh the other thing is that I'm going to come home and live next to my neighbors and I don't want anything to happen to my neighbors my neighborhoods cuz we like them we're a very close neighborhood I mean it's we know all of our neighbors up and down the block uh so when it comes to a business operation you know an Airbnb commercial for-profit business operation I don't think there's the vetting that happens there are are there are there uh um uh you know Predators sexual predators uh that you're to be notified of because we did have that in our neighborhood uh probably a decade ago and there was a child of someone who was a a you know a a you know sexual predator and everyone was notified uh is that going to happen are the people with criminal records we don't know and every time we see two three four cars roll in there we don't know we start sizing it up and looking what do we think is okay maybe the you know and that's a really bad feeling I got to tell you thank you thank you anyone else for public comment okay uh thank you uh everyone for coming out um again we will take up the actual short term rental again probably in the next two weeks or so but I want to thank uh people from both sides it's it's as you can tell there's emotions run high on on both issues but I think both camps uh you know handled themselves with the Quorum and I appreciate it and so again it's there's arguments to be made on both sides both of both sides spoke very well to the the issues and I thank you you you've put that in front of us and please be assured everyone here is putting a lot of effort and thought into this so with that uh we will now move to uh interrupt would you mind just explaining to us is the short-term rental only able to V on the agenda or could it come up without no it has to be on the agenda yeah yeah we there'll be no sneak attacks don't worry and and it's a two-step process in one meeting it'll be introduced and uh and then once it's introduced it's in the ecosphere sort of say and then it'll be voted on the next meeting The Only Exception would be that if there's not substantial changes from the last time it was already introduced I believe so oh that's true too we Ted it right we Ted it we inod well we oh we didn't we didn't vote to introduce it we tabled it before we introduced it it but when it came to the hearing with the hearing we tabled the hearing Ted it at the we made a motion to introduce it but I don't think we actually voted to introduce it did we on the N no we did we introduced it what what the hearing was tabled yeah yeah we never voted so what happens after the hearing you vote on and we Ted um so again if it's not stantially changed the introduction still counts I would think right and we bring it back to the second the hearing then if it has changed but for your purposes it will be on the it will be yeah you'll it'll be a hearing and you'll everyone will be able to speak their peace about it so um it it it won't be voted on without a hearing and and public uh input so with that may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn uh