##VIDEO ID:KMe3AJrEZmM## that action will be taken on the following items at the regular council meeting on Tuesday December 10th 2024 in council chambers Sparta Township Municipal Building 65 Main Street New Jersey the time is 7:00 all Council meetings are now live streamed and can be viewed at the following link www.youtube.com Sparta tww streams adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 5 2024 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice Madam clerk may we have a roll call councilman hburg here councilwoman Quinn here councilman chello I'm here Deputy Mayor blumetti here mayor Clark here please stand to salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands indivisible withy and jusice for all okay tonight is a a little bitter sweet we have um two council members uh who will be stepping down after this term and so we would like to present them with um some gifts so if you could we can come down I think we're going to do Josh first and then uh councilwoman Quinn second okay here before I read this I I do want to um Josh has been with us 2015 and he uh left for the big leagues for a little bit uh at the county um but he has been a tireless advocate of our business Community also for our Sports department and countless other things and I hope he will also share his own experience as he gets a chance to um but I know he has been a tireless advocate for various people in this town Township and I know what this job entails it's a lot of time off away from your family a lot of hard work and Josh has put that time in and so I'll read this um that we are giving you even in storms a true Leader's Compass always points North and sets about the right course not just following the wind this is with heartfelt appreciation to Josh Herzberg for your unwavering commitment and steadfast guidance and Always setting the right course for the citizens of Sparta and so 2015 through 2018 2021 through 2024 thank [Applause] [Applause] you thank you thank you I've never been one for a big speech is not really my style I uh prefer to be in the background doing the work um but I'd be remissed if I didn't talk about the thing that makes Sparta really go and that's the people that work in this building every day and all the other buildings that we have in town but um you know we sit up here every other week and go to our committee meetings and do our thing but day in and day out the employees that work here do all the hard work to keep this town going and Council people come and go and you know things change but they remain the same doing the hard work and keeping this town the great place that it is so thank you guys guys for everything that you do it's been a pleasure to work with all of you and um you know keep doing your thing Cu uh the people even though I always joke that you know you go home and people don't really think about where their water comes from or when they flush a toilet where it goes or any of that little stuff you know um but it takes people working really hard every day to make all that stuff happen and um I appreciate you guys so it's been fun and uh it's been great experience to do this in my hometown where I grew up and to try and make it a better place for my kids that so they can have the same experience I had and uh it's also nice to wrap it up and and go do new things so [Applause] thanks next up is uh councilwoman Quinn she has been on Council since 2013 and she's been on countless boards and including our planning board our recck department uh Municipal Alliance our veterans I'm probably missing out but I she has just been a tireless Advocate particularly for uh our seniors and our veterans and particularly uh our children I know that whenever an issue came up I always had to know that councilwoman Quinn was concerned about safety that was one of her Number One issues regardless of what it was was is this safe how is this going to protect the people of Sparta and I also know um she does her homework uh I recall the first meeting I attended at the recreation department um I didn't know what I was getting myself into I show up just with a pen in hand blank piece of paper councilwoman Quinn walks in with about a stack of papers this thick um having read all kinds of information and led that meeting um just very effectively with a lot of followup a lot of research and the people of Sparta want that in their leader someone who does the homework some someone who puts in the effort and I know that people are um forever grateful for that and so um thank you for that service that you've provided um again you've taken a lot of time away from your big family um people don't probably see all that gets you know we up here for a couple hours every other two weeks but there's a lot of work that goes in um That You Don't See and councilwoman Quinn is one of those who has done that work and so um on behalf of of my fellow Council people um we have this for you and I'll read this the tree of life is a symbol of immortality reminding us of the impact we have on the lives around us which we can live on long after we have moved on it's with heartfelt appreciation to Christine qu for your resilience and continued perseverance to encourage the citizens of Sparta Township to reach their true true potential 2013 2024 thank [Applause] you I'm going to put a stay on my hate giving speeches thing for one second just because um I'd be missed if I didn't get to say a few words about you and the work that you put in here because having you know been here for the majority of the time you've been here and worked alongside you I've never in my life seen somebody that's worked harder at something and from your emails at 2 in the morning to phone calls to reminders you know to keep me on track um tirelessly is not even it's an understatement and this town would not be where it is Without You Chris and um I can tell you I know from myself to my family to the employees here you will be so missed and your work is unmatched and you know I I just from the bottom of my heart thank you for what you've done here thank you so I just had to say that [Applause] thank so um thank you all very much this means to me more to me than than you will ever know I'm going to say a couple words about Josh before I formally say thank you because what a lot of people don't know in this journey is poor Josh talk about my emails at 2 o'clock in the morning Josh and I work together for decades in the Sparty youth football program football and cheerleading program um he was the president of the league I was the vice president of the league and we so we were in the trenches working for this community for decades before this um my children are a bit older than Josh's so mine um went out of the program earlier I came up here and very quickly called Josh and said Josh we need you here Josh please help and him like he didn't have anything else going on said yes and came and it was the best thing I have enjoyed more than you know being your wingman your colleague but most importantly being your friend and I will forever be appreciative of everything that we accomplished together the long hours but the great results and the great friendship that came out of it so thank you so just um really quickly I was thinking on my way over here tonight my last meeting um My grandmother used to say to us all the time you'll end up where the good Lord wants you to be and when you realize it's not your plan and you stop worrying about it you'll be in a much better place and I look at the past 12 years and I am so so thankful that this was my plan I never saw this I naively signed up for this to to come and and run for this as an extension of all of the community work that we were doing in the different sports programs and whatnot and there is not a person that right now is more thankful and appreciative than I am of having the opportunity to be part of this to serve my town in this way with such amazing people in this building the professional that are unmatched that I have had the unbelievable you know honor and privilege to learn from for 12 years I came here I knew nothing nothing then I went on the planning board and I knew nothing and I what I have learned and the what I have just gotten to um the experience I've gotten to have to work with the residents of the Town who trusted me to bring their issues forward and trusted us to do the right thing and also the professionals that tiredly took emails that they got at 2:00 in the morning but didn't respond to till business hours um what an what an amazing opportunity all the way around and I want to thank everybody that was a part of that Journey um right from the bottom of my heart from all the people in the town that trusted me enough to put me here and keep me here for three terms to the people and the colleagues that have become my family and my friends along the way thank you all very very [Applause] much picture one moment we just WRA yeah think while we're settling in I while we get back to our agenda something I think to say as well um to uh councilman bburg and councilwoman Quinn uh that your time in government is now coming to an end at least uh for the time being and who knows what's going to happen next you're probably experiencing a range of emotions and I'll add a couple more uh speaking for myself I'd like to express uh my gratitude and admiration for both of you for your service to our community uh it is no small task to put yourself out there and um I uh earlier this year I finished a book from Doris Kern's good one on leadership in turbulent times and part of that was a um uh expose on on Teddy Roosevelt and it reminded me of my favorite Teddy Roosevelt Tas uh quote uh which I want to read now and if you're a fan of Teddy Ros you probably know what's coming this is from his speech at the serbon in Paris April 23rd 1910 and it is it is not the critic who counts not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of Deeds could have done better the credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly who errors and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without ering or shortcoming but who knows the great enthusiasms the great devotions who spends himself in a worthy cause who at the best knows in the end the Triumph of high achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid Souls who knew neither Victory nor defeat thank you both thank you Dan okay now as tradition I'd like to ask our uh our current mayor to come out to the front please so Neil uh in addition to winning the uh best dressed council person of the year award no competition by the way uh we would like to present you the outgoing mayor uh at the end of their year gets a uh special thank you and um I'll read it first it says presented to Neil W Clark mayor with deep appreciation for outstanding leadership to the sparta Township community um I'm going to Echo a few things that we said just a little earlier here it's um it's hard to go out and um kind of put yourself out there um in front of everyone uh compliments criticisms it takes a lot away from your family time from your your personal Hobbies your your health we all know it's a really big commitment um and not many people will step up to do that um to be on the council in general to be a mayor so uh you know you deserve thanks and appreciation from all of us and from the township for everything you did this year um I especially appreciated you know your Your Enthusiasm um your passion and your your focus um and the way that you dig into things and uh I think we all do and we appreciate that fight and that uh that aspirational nature that you have so on behalf of the township and uh a very appreciative Township uh and Council want to present you with this gavel hopefully you won't need it too much thank [Applause] you thank you very much uh particular particularly because uh my wife actually got a gavl uh about a week ago cuz she's uh going to be the head of the New Jersey Psychological Association so she beat me by a week so I'm glad I now have a gavl and mine looks a little bit bigger so um but anyway thank you very much it's it's been an honor to um be the mayor um but as I like to say it's kind of like being the tallest um we're five counil person Council um you know the Bayer has some Authority but again it's it's the people you see behind me um who work tirelessly on behalf of the people and and and that's something that we always have to keep in mind at the beginning is that everyone who's up here is only here because the people put us there and we have to be very diligent that we keep up what they want and AFF effectuate that I think that when you know there's a lot of different schools of thought political science major um you can get elected and and say well they elected me and then I'll decide um or there's another school of thought that says you need to tap into what the will of the people is and effectuate that and I've always gone from the latter part um that we are M mere vessels for what the people want um and we you know we've had some tough votes this year uh I think one in particular that I think of is the short-term rental one uh where face personally with my own personal preference I would have wanted it um but I kind of sense the community did not and they elected me not to do what I wanted to do but what they wanted to do and um so that was a tough vote that we had um and there'll be more um but I think that as everyone here tries to keep their um nose to the you know ear to the ground and try to effectuate what the people want that will put us in good stead and you know again another decision um was the turf decision about unerman field personally not a big fan of turf um I think for the reasons that councilman blumetti and councilman cherell have pointed out but I also saw staring right at me um members from the baseball team who would have sat on the sidelines for almost two years waiting for that turf field to be converted to grass and to me that was not something that I think I wanted to have our people um wait for and so that was another one but there'll be more tough votes um and maybe we won't always get it right uh but I think we'll try and so it's been an honor to be your mayor and an honor to serve with uh councilman Herzberg and uh councilwoman Quinn uh I know they put so much time and effort into this um and I know that whatever Journey they go on after this they'll be successful at it so thank you [Applause] [Music] all right so on with our meeting uh first up we have to approve minutes uh may I have a motion to approve the February 13th 2024 executive meeting minutes as presented I move that we approve the ex meeting minutes from February 13th 2024 may I have a second please I will second it all in favor say I I I uh the executive meeting minutes of February 13 2024 have been approved next up we have the manager's report uh manager Zep you please present the manager's report thing thank you mayor good evening mayor council and Sparta residents as you may have noticed the county Bridge bridge out front has been renovated and Main Street has now been reopened as of earlier today I think that was a highlight for today for many people it always gives me great pleasure to share when uh our employees are recognized last month during the New Jersey League of municipalities our assistant tax assessor Amanda Rizzo was sworn in as vice president of the New Jersey chapter of International Association of assessing officers for a two-year term starting in 2025 this organization promotes education and professionalism in the assessment industry I would also like to commend our Recreation director Jee Mont Morano and the recreation parks staff for all the hard work committed to the annual tree lighting and Santa visit which took place this past Friday it was estimated 600 residents took part of that event despite the frigid temperatures the recreation winter program activity brochure is now available on the website and at the recreational office registration for winter programs begins tomorrow December 11th the sparta library was used as a polling site for the first time for a presidential election and it was reported that the day ran smoothly without complaints the library director was happy to have a chance for the library to be seen by those who do not typically use it the annual Christmas tree collection notification has been posted on the website and our public works department will start collecting them curbside beginning Thursday January 2nd for all our Sparta gardeners there are still some raised 4ft X 20ft garden beds available for rent at our community gardens by the vankirk museum see our website under news flash for more information if interested Chief mccarrick will now read his portion of the manager's report this concludes my report this being the last meeting of the Year I wish the mayor council and Sparta residents a very safe and happy holiday season thank you thank you manager Zep thank you mayor thank you Council first off our Police Department is aware of the concerns with the uh recent drone sightings um not only in sporta but across the state and multi-state right now unfortunately I don't have any further information is probably what you've all seen on the news um but our County and our state Chiefs Association have been and will continue to be in contact with federal and state officials for any further information uh we do have a uh meeting this Thursday with State Police Homeland Security and our uh Federal Partners Additionally the FBI uh New Jersey State Police and the State Office of Homeland Security and preparedness are asking the public to report any information related to the recent sightings of possible drones by calling 800225 5324 or submitting tips and video footage online at tips.fbi.gov slome and that is also posted on our Township website and our police department social media and please monitor our social media if we do have any further updates we'll let the public know this past year the police department has undertaken steps to become re accredited by the New Jersey State Chiefs Association and during this process we have updated all of our Department's policies and procedures to ensure they are upheld to the highest standards in policing and ACC with the attorney general's policies and directives the accreditation process also allows our department to understand areas where we may need to improve and Implement any changes my command staff and I are excited to be towards the end of this assessment and are looking forward to meeting with New Jersey State Chiefs Association officials for our final assessment in the near future I would like to thank our captain Thomas Snider for his dedicated efforts towards this accreditation process this Saturday December 14th from 1: to 6: pm Santa Claus and the Toys for Tots Operation toy train are making their way back to the sparta Township train station at 30 Station Road there will be the annual family fund event and if You' like to attend they ask that you bring a uh a new unwrapped toy also they have toy drop offs are accepted at the train station on Friday December 13th from 12:00 to 4: and also Saturday December 14th 12 to 3:30 for more information visit spart trainstation tocom lastly this year now this year National wreaths Across America day will be held on December this Saturday December 14th more than 2 million volunteers and suppor supporters gather to remember honor and teach at more than 4,600 participating locations in all 50 states at Sea and abroad this Mission will commence in Sparta Township from 10:30 to 3:30 at the veterans cemetery on Route 94 near the votch there will be parking in the area of the votch school parking lot but expect traffic delays in that area during that time frame for more information on this event please V visit Rees across america.org lastly I just want to say my thanks to uh councilwoman Quinn councilman Herzberg um you know I grew up in this department many years observing your leadership um and most importantly your passion your passion for this town and how much you love this town what what drove you to do so many different things and uh I know you're support not only for the police department for everybody is is always there and uh we appreciate it we're always here if you need us thank you you you Chief thank you thank you Chief I have a motion to accept the manager's report I move that we accept the manager report may I have a second please I will second it all in favor say I I I the manager report is approved uh we are now up to our very first public comment period um this is for items that are not on the agenda so if you see something on the agenda that you want to talk about it now's not the time this is for an item that's not on the agenda so if you would just approach the microphone state your name and address and please be mindful of our five minute time limit thank you five minutes all right I can go for five minutes I think uh Ryan dumpert 47 Angelo Drive uh I really just wanted to show up tonight and uh and thank Josh and Christine um just a huge loss and uh and I and I think you know it's it's going to be good to look at the doors that are opening and not the doors that are closing tonight um but I really want to thank you uh you know for everything that you did for the town everything that uh you will do in the future um really really special people and uh and thank you um on the uh note of the um Airbnb stuff I just wanted to note that there are still um those houses rehab houses in Sparta they still exist I still open my blinds and look at them every day across the street so as you make that decision just keep in mind that those houses are still there and they shouldn't be um so I would appreciate definitely if next year that can uh pop up on the radar and uh again thank you thank you for everything that you did really appreciate it thank you thank you Ryan thank you Joan scall um 144 senic Cake Road I came here but I don't usually go out at night I'm usually hermit after dark but I couldn't go without saying thank you to both you Josh and Christine for all you've done for the town over the years uh all you've done in the council you've done so many great things um I'm going to miss you you're going to be sorely missed by many many people me especially you brought me to tears um so that's what I want to thank you for everything you've done and especially the um Hometown Heroes that's to my heart I have four flags up there and my grandson finally made it home from deployment this past Friday came into Norfolk sailing in I couldn't go because my son his wife and daughter and had a limit on who could go so I couldn't kick my daughter-in-law out so I just want to thank you again um from bottom of my heart and just kind of want to apologize for what you guys went through the past two election Cycles very unfairly in my opinion um at least you don't have to go through that there's a personal attacks attacks on your children so that's one good thing you think of but I'm going to be thoroughly missed and the town is going to see that you were thoroughly missed I just want to thank you again and um Neil thank um congratulations to your wife for getting the first gabble want thank you and I want to thank um our newest Members Mark and Margie um and one more thing off this topic even though I'm gonna miss you um about I go away out of the country for the winter and I know the marijuana that um is put on hold or going to let expire and I am definitely against it because even though people say it's not a gateway drug in my opinion it is because my cousin died at 32 we started on marijuana um and it's even more potent now and my request would be even though you want to go forward and you do not have the super majority I know that um could you put a for a referendum and let the town people instead of three decide this big thing because we don't need five licenses in town we have dispensaries all over town and those quirky names are very annoying whenever I drive by and I see those stupid names but we don't need it we're not going to make money off it um we definitely don't need it and if anything do it for a referendum that would make me happy let the people decide and not just three individuals because everyone I came across so far is definitely against it even people that I know partake I never did in my life I don't want to I can't stand the smell um so just let it go to a referendum then that's my One Plea since I won't be able to be back here until March and I'm know I know you're probably bring it up before then but to please do that because I don't think the town wants this or needs this no thank you I'm gonna miss you and hope to see you guys back here someday thank you very much thank you thank you and thank your families service to this country and this town yes absolutely and I want to let you know as well Josh and I are still going we're the co-founders as you know of salute 07871 which is also the Hometown Heroes program and we will still be running that program um it'll it's going to continue to run the way it it always has so we'll be doing one order we're going to be working I've already um had multiple conversations with Jim so Josh and I will continue to work with the town on New banners and and we will continue the program without any kind of uh disruption whatsoever so just so that everyone is aware that that program is not a it's a partnership okay but it is run from the VFW so the entire salute 07871 initiative it was moved to be under the purview of the VFW so Josh and I will continue and we'll be working with Jim and the town to um complete the orders and get the new ones up on the polls and whatnot that makes me happy be that that's a great program not that's just one thing I picked out that had four of my family members but you guys did so much for the town and the council thank you than you enjoy your break thanks anyone else wishing to be heard for public comment on for items not on the agenda okay see no one will move on to expenditures uh Deputy Mayor blueti would you please read the expenditures for December 10th 2024 yes thank you I I make a motion that we approve the expenditures for December 10th 2024 in the amount of 1,38 $ [Music] 5,116 197 have a second I will second that all those in favor say I I I uh the expenditures for December 10th 2024 uh have been approved although we have no introduction of ordinances tonight we do have hearings on three ordinances that we introduced at the last Council session so Madame clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 419 an ordinance amending chapter 7 traffic of the revised General ordinances of the township of Sparta amending section 7- 37.4 regulation for the movement and the parking of traffic on all other private property does any member of the public wish to be heard on ordinance 2419 if you do just approach the microphone uh state your name and address for the record and be mindful of our final 5 minute limit okay seeing uh no one from the public wishing to be heard I'll take it back to council for discussion and comments I don't have any comments on this ordinance I don't know if my fellow Council PE uh members do no okay so may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2419 I'll move that we adopt ordinance 24-19 may I have a second please I will second it Madam clerk may I have a roll call vote councilman Herzberg yes councilwoman Quinn yes councilman shello yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2420 an ordinance amending the general ordinances of the township of Sparta in order to adjust certain fees and escros and again if any member of the public wishes to be heard on ordinance 2420 please approach the microphone uh state your name and address for the record and again be mindful of our five minute limit okay seeing uh no one from the public wishing to be heard on this I'll take it back to council for discussion and comments uh I do not have any discussion or comments I don't know if my fellow council members do I see none may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2420 I'll make a motion that we approve ordinance 24-20 uh may I have a second please I will second it Madame clerk may have a roll call councilman Herzberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman shirell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes 2420 has been passed uh next up uh M clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2421 in ordinance amending chapter 19 water section 19-4 water use rates of the revised ordinances of the township of Sparta sus County New Jersey now I will open uh it up to the public to be heard on ordinance 2421 again please approach the microphone state your name and address for the record and be mindful of our five minute limit he see no one um I'll take it back to council for discussion and comments I think we've vetted this out uh at the last meeting um I so I don't have any questions I don't know if anyone else does right seeing none um may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2421 I will make a motion that we adopt ordinance 24-21 may I have a second please I will second it Madame clerk could you please have a roll call vote councilman Herzberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman shirell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes ordinance 2421 has passed we are now at the second uh public comment period this has to do with the resolution so uh you you will want to take a look at um numeral 9ine and if you want to be heard on any of those resolutions please approach the mic phone state your name and address for the record and also be mindful of our 5 minute limit Jenny Derek's tap into Sparta I just had a quick question um the 9-2 is this a new agreement or is this one we've had one we've had thank you so I would like uh to try to do some of these together um and so I would make a motion that we uh approve resolutions 92 93 94 and 95 oh oh okay I didn't know you were ready go ahead go close you can go Court morr Plains I'm sorry I didn't hear your bill close 3D and Galla Court Morris Plains New Jersey okay um question on your transfer Appropriations I just was looking down at the list and uh maybe Mr Zep could just identify um you've got 389,000 major medical you've got 236 in public roads snw and between Bond principal and interest 315,000 being transferred uh into the cover of those accounts maybe you could just uh identify for me what those are to cover uh if you would because I also noticed down below you have in your water and sewer you have similar transfers going into Bond principle and interest for both Water and Sewer which is a little unusual so thank you no problem um as I have mentioned in the last uh council meeting we had similar transfers um we had a an excess amount and we discussed that um the current year budget uh wasn't set up as as appropriate as it should have been and we had a lot of lines that were underfunded and these multiple transfers uh where we had excess money we could transfer them at at the end of this year was to cover those shortfalls due to the budget uh not having s sufficient lines set up for those various lines that you mentioned just now um we also uh as I mentioned as best practice is is is doing it through transfers through resolution as a as a best practice principle and um that wasn't exact ly uh happening all the time now they will happen um in the future I don't expect to see this many transfers going on uh this gives us a chance that when we create the new budget for next year we'll be able to address a lot of these uh uh shortfalls and we won't need uh this many transfers but to get us to the end of the year to get the the budget to work for and pay the employees and the staff and our obligations uh these transfers are necessary U and I also have have the uh advice of our Financial Consultant along with uh uh our uh uh finance officer our new finance officer who's uh in transition all make sense except uh just curious about 940,000 being transferred down it's about approximately 70% hair under uh for the transfers and uh but the items in question like Public Works snw those are anticipated items those aren't typically underfunded major medical again not typically underfunded in terms of those nouns are known ahead of time those aren't things that are surprise or unusual expenditure items that usually uh surface later in the year uh and that's also true for Bond principle and interest again those are items that are generally known at the time the budget's crafted so that's why I was curious as to those items kind of stick out to me as to why there would be underfunding in those respective items I don't disagree with you at all um the fact is is that as we started digging into the budget as we progressed through the year we discovered that they were underfunded and then we went on uh steps to correct it and uh we we got to this point where those transfers were necessary where we're allowed to do the transfers um there you know it it's just the the budget wasn't set up appropriately from the beginning and we went on uh several steps to correct it um it is my intention that this won't happen again any other member of the public wishing to be heard on the resolutions okay see no one as I indicated um I would like to do as uh in one motion uh resolutions 92 93 94 95 so I may I have a motion to approve resolutions 92 93 94 and 95 I move that we approve resolutions 9-2 9-3 9-4 and 9-5 may I have a second please I will second it all those in favor say I I I so resolutions 92 93 94 and 95 have been approved uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 91 I make a motion to approve resolution 9-1 uh may I have a second please I will second it and just for the public when is the uh reorganization meeting uh reorganization meeting is uh January 7th 2025 beginning at 6 PM okay thank you so all those in favor of um resolution 91 say I I I resolution 91 has been approved next may I have a motion to approve resolution 96 I move that we approve resolution 9-6 may I have a second please I will second all those in favor say I I exstension abstain so we have two eyes and two uh three eyes and two extensions may I have a motion to approve resolution 97 the displaying of the commerative flag on Township owned flag poles of the National Guard I move that we approve resolution 9-7 may I have a second please I'll second all those in favor say I I abstain we have three eyes and two extensions on resolution 97 may I have a motion to approve resolution 98 make a resolution to approve a motion to approve resolution 9-8 uh may I have a second please I will second it thank you and um just one question with regard to that I think a gentleman at the last meeting made it but I I thought it was an important Point um and I think you explained it very well which is we're not simply having money left over and then dumping it into uh certain budget items that we we feel like we want to or like a slush fund correct correct and it's simply that those who were given it to were actually underfunded is that right that's correct okay and I appreciate the gentleman for his his questions and the clarification so all those in favor of resolution 98 say I I I so resolution 98 has been approved next up may I have a motion to approve resolution 99 I move that we approve resolution 9-9 and may I have a second please I will second it and I'll take it back to council uh Council blue many I think this is something that you had raised with us that originated from the planning board so if you could just explain it to us yeah I'd like to add a little context and after I do that if if the council would prefer I would follow up with a motion for a quick recess in case people wanted more time to read this because it was a very late addition um this resolution was just added um and there's a timing urgency around this to get it in by well it's our last meeting so we have another meeting to do it by December U it just came up on the last day or so um the uh resolution is for the the township it's a resolution of support for to apply for a no cost technical assistance program and it was recommended by our planner Katherine Samad and also the uh master plan subcommittee so the uh Su sustainable Jersey has a no cost program that we can apply for um and they will give us uh technical assistance it's not grant money there's no funding it's just technical assistance to work with our own engineer and planner no strings attached uh there's no in respect there's nothing to do with property deed restrictions or anything back in February of 2021 New Jersey updated its uh Municipal land use law ml that requires all townships to um develop and add a climate change vulnerability assessment to their Master plans whenever they next update their land element of their master plan so this is something we have to do it will be part of the master plan work next year um this program will allow us to get if we're selected to get technical assistance from sustainable Jersey to help guide us through that process and make sure it complies with the law um however I will stress the planning board our planning board and our professionals will have final decision- making on what and how to add this to the master plan work that's going to be proposed so again the deadline to apply is the 20th uh but it requires Council resolution of support that we go ahead and uh seek this technical guidance to help us with this process so again something we'll have to do uh our planner engineer would be involved in this anyway they still will be involved this doesn't provide money but provides some technical expertise on walking us through this climate change vulnerability assessment analysis next year so that's the the Topline kind of story of what this is about um I would LA because this is last minute would anyone like a recess to no question so we have to do this assessment you know the state is requiring us to do this assessment what are we required to do anything after the assessment or just do the assessment um this program won't require us to do anything with this they they would like you to then if next time you update your master plan to add this into it next time we update the master plan regardless the land use element we're going to have to insert this climate change vulnerability assessment regardless of whether we get this help or not let me let me rephrase is what is the assessment there to do um it goes through with the engineer with some of our town data it goes through and looks for where the township would be vulnerable due to climate change impacts so whether it's um whether it's economic areas flood areas um stream overflows uh Source systems whatever it is they go through that with the engineer and identify like Hazard mitigation yeah flood Hazard climate change vulnerability mitigation we just we just passed that legislation not long ago yeah yeah and addressed all of that we got to say climate change though so you can you know spend money yeah well that's flood that's just flood Chris right this is a comprehensive for yeah we have to do it next year anyway um every town has to do this so if we do get selected it would be technical guidance that would help Katherine and Corey walk through this and kind of expedite it and save us a little bit of money so um I just wanted to make sure that we're not putting ourselves in a requirement to do some kind of mitigation that they make up no okay fine yeah the other thing that I would caution here and not to be redundant with the 20 minutes of dissertation I feel like I went on last meeting over you know the if you look at the original objective of the master plan and and everything that all the actions that are happening around it this was for Sparta Township the state slowly but surely and state agencies and state funded organizations have crept in and become almost a cancer in my opinion and I don't want to reash everything I said last time but a when I hear things like there's no strings attached and it doesn't cost us anything and blah blah blah I assure you there are strings attached I assure you it will cost you something um and my again you know anyone's I'm not going to Hash the whole thing up again but this is Sparta's master plan and the issue I see and that I have been talking about for many months now is you are opening the door to our master plan and letting different entities especially the state have a lot of say in what's going on in this town and I would seriously caution you from moving forward with any more of it because I assure you go do your research I did my research there's a lot of towns that are not happy with the fact that they fell for these kinds of things I'm not saying it's this exact thing and ended up in the fine print giving away their parks giving away property signing away things to the state and they didn't even realize because they thought that the monies they were getting or the benefit they were getting were just so great they were blinded and didn't do their homework until it was too late you mean like all the Farms the state has pretty much common deer exactly yeah so I'm just saying I think the state has its place it's our job up here to protect first and foremost Sparta and so I will believe you with that sentiment I didn't have a chance de if I'm really being honest to read the whole thing I'm sure the state did put this in there for whatever reason is going to benefit them um you know have the professionals I mean you said this came from Catherine who's our planner Jim have you looked at this all the way through I I've I've read through it and I I don't think there is any commitments that we need to be aware of I'm very aware of what you're talking about but I think this is harmless enough it's it's just an assessment it and as Josh you were asking if there was a commitment that has to come out of the assessment and at this point from what I could read and understand there isn't uh however it is a mandated element of of the master plan so I don't know a way around it but fortunately I don't think it it's too harmful for what it's worth well then this is just a resolution of support so it's really nothing well they require our resol the resolution of support who does the state sustainable Jersey just to apply for the right assistance so we have to support it but we don't have to participate in it so fun well you have to do the assessment yeah the assessment's required yeah you're you're getting and that was probably one of one of my questions is understand that we are getting access to technical experts for this do you know what the subject matter of their expertise is climate well I would assume yeah environmental climate change impact analysis yeah I see yeah and and so um and they're from sustainable Jersey too so just a little cont sustainable Jersey who actually I I thought you might ask that so and a little bit of history for folks who might not know it in 2006 the College of New Jersey this was funded to the Geraldine R Dodge Foundation to create a sustainable communities leadership Network at the same time League of municipalities was coming together with a mayor's group to focus on similar activities also njd and NJ Board of Public Utilities were working on sustainable Community related initiatives those four parties got together and in 2009 launched sustainable Jersey the Key Program partners are the league uh the NJ clean energy program the College of New Jersey and njd and the major funders are the Dodge Foundation uh The Gardener environmental fund NJ clean energy program Robert Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Jersey D and PSENG foundation so that's just a little bit of more context around who makes up sustainable Jersey and where they came from so again I mean I I just I'm just telling you I'm leaving you with this advice every organization that you just mentioned except the corporate ones are funded by taxpayer money from the state of New Jersey from or through it the college all the organizations that you mentioned so again be very mindful of organizations that come to you with this name but understand where they're getting their funds from and be very careful to protect and make sure it stays Sparta's master plan and not the state of New Jersey's plan for Sparta Township and I'll leave you with that I would just note that the points are are well taken but at at this juncture anyway they're not uh putting their clause in too deep in the sense that uh we are committing to providing uh some staff support for the program and some access to our professional planner but other than that it's not a financial commitment that we're making Beyond those services but this is like what happened with the open space right so the open space people came in and said we're going to give you a grant this is going to be wonderful um if you add up all the time for our staff that it took our staff did most of the work and then at the end of it volun this is a volunteer group funded by the state and the outcome that I saw a big part of it was hey here's a good idea turn your Parks over to the state okay so this is why I'm saying I'm just warning everyone I'm not going to be here to be saying these things anymore so well I might be over there not here I'll probably be over there but I'm just telling you make sure it stays Sparta's master plan and be very careful every time these grants come in that we have to match you have to have the money for the match before you could take the grant every time they come in and say oh this little organization is going to come in that's a 501c3 group of volunteers they're funded by the state and you know the amount of time that it takes the staff to participate in all these things that is a tangible cost to it it's not Monopoly money it's real money and it's real resources and it's taking time away from staff jobs that are already in many cases overloaded so again uh I'm just leaving you with that and I'm sorry Dean that I didn't get a chance to read the entire thing through as I would have liked but to your point this was a a last minute addition so yeah just just so we don't have confusion again there's no Grant related to this this is simply accessing technical assistance uh and my understanding if if we had the actual technical expertise um it may not have been necessary even to ask for technical assistance right that's correct yeah and this the staff and the time that's associated with this would need to happen anyway with our professionals and again um the ass and again it's an assessment not uh and with that assessment do you know whether they uh recommend remedy for whatever they assess saying well you are vulnerable here here and here therefore you should do a b c and d are they going to have recommendations about for every vulnerability that they identify they have a recommended remedy for it I assume that's part of the assessment regardless of who does it uh but but again that assessment though doesn't require us to adopt no whatever remedies they may suggest in their assessment is that right no okay no this is still the the master the P the the planning board the master plan subcommittee our professionals are controlling this this is just assistance and so would it be the the the the planning board's uh discretion as to uh whether they would adopt whatever recommendation may be found in this assessment oh yeah yeah I mean the assessment we don't have a choice of whether to insert this into the master plan that's that's law we do have a we do determine what goes in so yeah okay thank you all right uh with that um may I have a motion to approve resolution 99 well I have the motion we have the second we've talked about it that's why I forgot uh all those in favor of resolution 99 say I I I I we have I didn't hear any opposed to abstain oppos to abstain I'm abstaining from this yeah I'll abstain what's the difference okay so we have three eyes and two abstentions now up are the council Le on updates and I'll start to my far right and work my way to the left so councilman shello um yes thank you mayor um the environmental commission last meeting was November 14th uh there was no meeting under 28th uh and our next meeting will be this coming Thursday the 12th uh unfortunately I will not be in attendance on this uh the meeting on the 12th uh I'll mention that I participated uh along with the environmental commission that the in an anjac presentation on the dangers and toxicity of artificial turf fields um the business development committee meets tomorrow morning our last meeting of the year uh with our as a member of the as a lezant of the Board of Education uh we did have a mayor Clark and I have met with our counterparts from the board of education on December 9th that was Monday and we spoke about our mutual cooperation on a policy matter that we can we will um make um public at a later time I suppose but it was a good meeting our sister city committee next meeting is uh Monday December 16th in the town hall and uh those are all my leoan updates all right uh would like to update on the planning board activity from the December 4th meeting and also the master plan subcommittee meeting uh so first with the master plan and the subcommittee the group met last week and has one more meeting this year the uh Community input survey uh wrapped up a few weeks ago and we received 1,61 respondents so thank you to everyone out there hopefully watching uh for taking part and sharing your input and those results are being analyzed uh the master plan stakeholder and public input meetings will be commencing in the new year and we're putting together we have a a long list of stakeholders and uh groups that we're going to be meeting with and putting together a game plan for that um when where what the outline is going to be looking forward to it the uh second item is the planning board on the 4th of December held a public formal public hearing on the open space and Recreation plan this followed the prior public informational session and presentation that was done earlier uh the planning board has identified and will be uh having several minor amendments made that were identified and these will then come back to the planning board for hearing again and for potential adoption at the first January meeting uh one of the key items that the planning board is uh taking out of the open space and Recreation plan verbiage in the report is going to be references to the Rossi um just because we believe it's uh premature and doesn't necessarily need to be spelled out in that plan that's something that the uh Council and Township needs to have some more conversations around and we'll get to that later that's up that's my update thank you thank you uh we had a revolutionary 250 uh meeting and there we had some new additions to it because we had put out like a call out to some of the various groups uh and spar that may be interested and I will encourage other groups uh to please participate in that as we begin planning um for the 250th anniversary of our country um we did get a living historian to come who has done a lot of presentations at schools and we're trying to incorporate him into some of the activities that will be at the school as folks may know they teach you know uh that period I think it's sixth and seventh grade and so it's a natural fit um and I think he has a real way to have kind of Hands-On learning that I think the kids will really enjoy um and so we uh again 2025 will be much busier with this but we will be having a series of different events as we lead up to 2026 so although there will be sort of a culmination event in 2026 uh stay tuned for other activities like Tavern talks where uh you can go to crows and see people in Period costumes and and and talk about that particular um time we're going to have other things that are Sparta Centric um so that we have a very good group but again um this is not just this is for anyone who's interested particularly um other sort of groups that may be involved um there's actually revolutionary era uh game called rounders I believe um which is a kind of a precursor of baseball and so one idea that people have been throwing around is is getting some of our baseball teams involved in that so again um it's a very uh active group and there'll be a lot of fun planning for that uh we did have another meeting of our Trails committee um we are still assessing what are the what we call the lwh hanging fruit uh for Trails uh in Sparta that we can update uh like I said before we're very lucky to have um a professional engineer on the trails committee who can um for every length of the trail we can figure out who owns Which part of it um and what would be necessary to for us to be able to use that and convert it so we're you know we're still working on that and hopefully we'll be able to present something um in the first quarter of next year uh regarding the Trails um this isn't a council aison update but um uh Chief mccarrick referred to it I will be participating in the waths Across America uh uh celebration uh on Saturday and um very honored to do so and with that that is all the council aison updates I have so the business development committee our admin staff resigned and there's been no communication from the Department so we don't really know you know usually they send an email out to everybody in the committee to see who's available for the meeting letting them know so I don't know they haven't assigned any body knew we don't haven't heard anything we've been interviewing for the replacement okay usually somebody else takes up the duty though and sends a communication so meeting tomorrow morning and me and Dan were texting that we haven't heard anything so somebody should probably Reach Out follow because the committee will be texting me at 7 o'clock this in the morning asking I'll follow up on that's all I have okay so before I jump into mine my committee updates I would like to to share with everybody uh some Revolution um Revolutionary War Sparta history that came to us courtesy of Jim castore who shared with me the other day that if you were to go into the Glenn so you're coming up uh Glen Road you make that left into the Glenn on the left hand side down a little ways was a cannonball Factory it was owned by a Sparta resident Mr titman and in that factory they manufactured cannonballs for the Revolutionary War up until the great flood a couple years ago the foundation of that building was still in the Glenn and when the Glenn gave out and everything came down the remaining structure which was the the foundation was wiped out but I wanted to share that because there's a lot that we don't realize that is not captured anywhere or told anywhere about our role the a lot of the residents that lived here you know famous people that lived here things that happened here we've kind of talked about it um you know the first films uh the Edison mind like there's a lot of things that have happened here um and I think it's worth it to really be memorializing it more and exploring it more um things like that um also he also thought he said at one time there was actually one of the original Canon balls that was found and he thinks it might be at the Historical Society but he's not sure so anyway I think that was that was something pretty cool that I wanted to share um so that's that um the municipal Alliance I attended a County Municipal Alliance meeting last night and sent out some notes to everyone on the committee with regard to some updates um and some programming that's going on countywide in 2025 also um today there was a zoom meeting at the um the GSU so the government the state agency where um they did mention that I received the Sussex County volunteer of the Year award so that was very exciting and I was very happy to um accept that award on behalf of our Municipal Alliance and our Township and also tomorrow night at the commissioner's meeting there'll be Proclamation read and I'll be there for that as well but while I'm on that topic I just want to offer sincere thanks to Chief mccarrick we've co-chaired this for a couple of years now it's grown exponentially we picked up all the other schools in Sparta so um it's it's across all demographics right so it's really from end to end um but our school population up until two years ago really was the spart school system and this past year we were able to um expand with the opioid funding and the additional funds that we got to include votch the charter school um you know Pope John Reverend Brown so all the schools in Sparta so now we have a true Collective on the alliance it's grown exponentially and I want to thank you for all of your efforts in helping it grow and all of your support and I also want to thank all of the dedicated members Marie Morrow um who was also the volunteer of the year several years ago Dr Jan ESP bazito who um from the sparta Township Schools was also a volunteer of the year um a few years back but these are people that go above and beyond to make our alliance the success that it truly is Marie puts more time in as far as processing reports than I've ever seen um it's it's really something the amount of reporting that has to be done everybody does their fair share Jenny's on the committee as well you know exactly what I'm talking about it's just been an amazing thing to be a part of and I just want to thank everybody for their efforts um The Alliance uh members that the the committee for 2024 is wrapped up the schools were notified that the um Sparta Municipal Alliance is sponsoring inspirational speakers for each of their schools it is up to the schools the committee came up with a su list narrowed it down and it's up to the schools to pick from those speakers and then to um pick a date that works for them so that's in place Sparta Township Schools will be getting a multi-e um license for the screenagers program they are the only school that stepped up really looked at it and said they wanted to participate so um Marie and the uh Tara I believe are meeting on Monday to really make sure that all the licensing is in place for them so that's wrapped up as well and um there's another initiative I'm trying to get the dates Chief but apparently at votek they have an event every year uh when the kids are Juniors and they set up not just um there is some information there about drug prevention where to go for help domestic abuse like it it's not it's it's outside of just Alliance stuff but it also includes things like general transportation um medical assistance things of that nature so it's sort of like this trade show and the teachers give the students cards each student gets a card and they have to go to Every booth and ask questions to find out where the answer to their card is so somebody's card might be I don't have insurance where can I get a mamography or uh my friend has an issue with substance abuse where can I get help or what happens if I get a DUI you know what are the repercussions so there's law enforcement and everything there this sounded so amazing so I asked Lisa to share the dates when they said they don't have one published yet but I think this is something that um maybe you would like to attend Chief just to look at it and see if maybe it's something that can come back to Sparta Chris I did get some information on it uh believe today or uh yesterday from uh Maria had sent it over to me but I just want to know the alliance has grown because of you take credit or credit thank you is due and it goes back to what I said before about your passion you have a lot of passion for a lot of different things but I I you know completely witnessed it being on the uh Municipal Alliance committee with you so and uh that's why you are the volunteer of the year so thank you thank you Chief so that's the um Alliance moving over to the senior advisory committee Josh and I have had the pleasure it's one of um you know it's one of the most rewarding I mean all the Committees are rewarding but the conversations with the seniors and getting their Insight on different things is amazing because I've said a million times you cannot build the future if you don't know the past if you don't understand the Legacy you cannot build forward on it the um the last meeting for the seniors was held um and I want to reiterate with everybody as you are now looking at your new affordable housing obligations I am asking you like I did at the last meeting to think very carefully about the different things that are available to you which don't just include Mass housing all over the place that is going to put a burden on the infrastructure that the Township in my opinion is not going to be able to sustain there are other avenues to help meet these objectives I know you're you're going to uh you have the we have the planner working on reducing our commitment but even with that said there is a definitive need as I've said a million times and Josh has has said it as well for senior housing this limits the infrastructure burden and also for veterans housing which also limits the burden um the infrastru structure schools things of that nature um I will say one more time I sent an email to every member of this Council after the last meeting we have talked about this before the model so what's going on at n Heights the model up there they cannot build more units because they are maxed out of space they are very interested in working with Sparta Township so let me leave everyone with not a question there it is a comment it is a statement they are interested in building more of these thing more of these type units um so I encourage Council Jim I don't know like again this is my last meeting but I want to leave no in no uncertain terms with everyone understanding they are willing to build more they need a partner they need space they need land but they have financing they have things Reach Out Mar oh thank you okay so way she and just to reiterate what you said Chris we have the obligation already it's a great way to meet it without without overburdening the town's resources yep uh with regards to the Department of Health I just want to thank Steve levenson it has been amazing to work with him I Know Chief you work with him a lot as well Jim as do you I've served on the Department of Health that we have here for many years now he has done an outstanding job in um representing the needs of our community when it comes to this based on his expertise and I want to just thank him very much for for all of his efforts there's nothing to report right now with do the final reports are in you got copies of those um and pretty much everything I think he had two questions out and he's just waiting respon yeah Chris you know I will say when I look at my inbox besides Jim and roxan that's who I see the most I mean you see the the amount of communication that goes on with the county with him y it's a it's an asset for sure yep salute 07871 the orders um are open again so just to let everybody know the orders will be open through February of 2025 as I mentioned we're going to continue the program exactly how it is we're not changing any links we're not changing any reports we're not changing any vendors we're not changing anything so that will remain open through the end of 20 February 2025 we will take the form down like we do every year one just in give us time to compilate the orders for 2025 we do that in March and April so that we get or March so that we get them in before Memorial Day so if anyone is interested please go out visit us visit the link that's on the website uh with regard to Recreation again I can't stress enough the the rec advisory committee is buttoned up for 2024 they did as you said in an outstanding job on Santa like they always do and um a special shout out for anyone who happened to be in attendance the night of Santa's visit to our um emergency responses our emergency responders Police Department ambulance Squad they truly did save Christmas that night so special thanks for their quick actions and for the volunteer very quick volunteer efforts of some of our um workers in the parks department and um really it was quite amazing for the for those of you that were there so anyway thank you very much and that is my Council liaison updates thank you very much right we are now up to uh unfinished our new business does anyone I'll start to my far left this time does anyone have any unfinished or new business nope I do okay Matt did you didn't think did you really think I was going to say none so again just I hope you're getting it done right now I am I promise um last meeting I brought up um and ask that we please formulate an ordinance that restricted the placement of um 5G apparatus in places where people were all the time so Parks Library liary schools things like that I brought up the concerns for it I asked that something be drafted I didn't see anything in the packet but this is something that residents are very concerned about and I think it's something the council should be especially for everyone who's very concerned about you know we're so worried about climate change and all these other buzzwords and we have some things that are direct threat you know that we should be taken seriously so anyway again it wasn't to ban them all over the place it was just a recommendation to prohibit them from being in places like schools where people are for eight and 10 hours a day Library Parks Town Hall um you know where employees are it's one thing to put them on a water tower in a park on a hill somewhere but not for them to be directly over where people are um I want to thank everybody um I know the employee lunchin was this year I want to apologize to all the employees I've been here 12 years I have never ever missed one I didn't know about the date I had a glitch with my email I never got the date I didn't know the date until 11:00 right before it and unfortunately I still have a full-time job thing that I do and so I could not make it and I was crushed but I want to just tell all the employees thank you just building on what Josh said before it has been um an honor to work with all of them over the past 12 years the angran historical marker following up I will have that to you by the end of the week so for those of you that don't know the story or didn't hear it angerman field was basically this the space was one in a card game we have some historians that are helping us build the story it's pretty cool one and we're going to put a marker down at angman field um I would also recommend moving forward if and when at some point in time that the budget um that funds become available I would ask that this Council please be mindful of the support they give to the fire department and also to the ambulance Squad um both of these organizations are volunteer organizations we provide funding in some small manners but this is something like you don't understand how lucky we are until you're unlucky and have to call those resources but they've grown and expanded in a time when most towns are dwindling and they have to go out for 100% paid service so I would ask that you please when you're doing the budget for 2025 look at what's what's allotted to them and think about expanding that as well um also the aop polymers follow-up testing so Jim I know there was going to be some followup we had the representatives that came you were working with them to get some additional testing that was going to be done I think in the building itself and then I had asked them if maybe when they do their regular testing if they could just do one extra test spot in an area that they haven't I just what did we ever hear back from them or get that confirmed no we didn't because we didn't think that they would extend pay for the cost for the additional testing unless there was a viable justification for it but they said they would in the they said they when they were here I believe they said that they would in the building we can double I can double check okay if you if you could just follow up um that's it for me all right I'm going to add one thing okay only because Ryan brought it up today and and I brought it up at least five times in public meetings are the those Sober Living homes I mean it's just it's just not fair to the residents he's not here Josh I was going to ask you to give me his contact info uh we have made a lot of strides on it and that those five facilities have actually complied with all stra the state regulations um and they are very close to getting their permits and being legitimate uh sober living houses uh according to the state I'm I'm going to reiterate the fact that you know we went to the state with this they admitted that that they cannot violate our zoning laws and I know you said that some things have changed but there is case law in Morristown where it went to it was it was challenged and it won but they cannot VI violate the zoning laws you're both correct I the bottom line is that the state uh you know we have required these homes to uh to comply with all of the state permitting and all the state requirements and they have begun to provide us with the necessary approvals from the state um we certainly can scrutinize them and make sure that they do not violate local uh zoning laws but they have a threshold approval from the state I believe five at this juncture this is what Trenton depended on and when I when I questioned him directly and said so you're saying you guys allow them to violate our zoning law operate a business in a residential only he said no and that is why that is why Morristown won that's why they won on the appeal because they cannot they cannot Z violate the zoning law if we allow them but but that's that's correct they can't violate our our our zoning laws but we we've got to identify the specific violations that they're operating a business they're liable for the the state has concluded they're not violating a business and they have defined you know under what circumstances it does become a business and they're specific and we're trying to monitor that they can't provide support services within the home but in such individuals are permitted to reside in a home they can't there there's a whole list of things they cannot do well I mean I would I would say one what they're the amount of people they're allowed to have in that violates the the septics the amount of garbage they're putting are they are they paying commercial garbage pickup well I so all I'm saying that that would the zoning officer you know investigated and observed those violations we certainly can enforce those violations I think what very specific we have to be very specific as to what we try to enforce otherwise what we should try to enforce is what Morristown did and and violate them for for violating our zoning laws and let the Court decide well we have to identify where they're like I said we have to identify what zoning ordinances they're violating and that's what the they're profiting from using those houses as a business they are you can I mean we can say that there people living there sure there are but there is a business that is profiting from that they are operating a business the courts I mean you the case law exists I I I've read the case law in in marown i' I've reviewed that I know we talked about this way back yeah we've been we've been looking at this and scrutinizing it for years because even the Marist toown decision was was years ago um and it's gone through and you know further review with the courts and the frustrating part is uh that the state continues to run interference in terms of anything we do uh but we can enforce specific violations of of our zoning as long as we can identify the violations and prove that they're violating those violations you know if it involves Solid Waste if it involves septic uh We've we've got to be able to identify them and then uh then enforce them but yeah and certainly the zoning office has been working very hard to to clamp down and to try to ensure that they are meeting every requirement both state as as well as our local requirements yeah I just I don't believe that they're treating a home as a home it's it's they're treating it like an apartment they're treating it like a a you know a house where multi it's just not a home it's not a a Zone residence they're not treating it as a residence and they're not nonprofits and that's why I think i' I'd personally rather see a judge make that decision than than letting the Trenton do it that's just my opinion so I I won't be here to make the decision but that's what we said we were going to do you know way back when and they were going to get warrants or they were going to get they were going to get subpoenas to subpoena how long they exactly have been running those and we were going to violate them for Vi the violation of the zoning all the way back for the amount of years that they've been operating that in violation of the zoning and the code enforcement officer has been endeavoring to do that operating a business in a residential Zone even after they were told and they still continue to do it because they were put on notice that they should not be doing that they told us they gave us their word they were going to pull out and then they just decided not to they did say and maybe this is something also that you know the council can reach out in some way because that was the thing when we pulled them in you pulled them in because I happen to be in that meeting with you when that happened and laid down the law and that the owner at that time said we are working to move to close all these residents that are in residential zones and put them in a Zone because we said we support what's going on here it is not that we don't support the use we're trying to help you but you the it's it's creating too much they were going to move them mixed mixed use Zone where you could have commercial and residential and then they just they basically said no we're not doing it well if I recall sold it he sold it after sold it to another but he refused he didn't do what he was supposed to do and then after the fact when when he thought we were going to come after him he sold it yep so anyway that's all I have all right obviously we we did work on it I mean I know we've been working on all five houses there has been some upgrades from the state there's been red designations of what they call the housing the Cs lrs there is a huge checklist that has to be gone through uh and they've been going through it I I understand your argument on that and I think Tom mentions State interfer running interference and I think that's what's going on and we're kind of you know if things like that get out all of a sudden people's property values are going to go down people don't don't let their kids ride their bikes around because cars come siipping up and down the road well I do tell them that we will enforce it as if it is you know any other only they they they did need to reach out to us for like I said I think they're running a business in a in a neighborhood they definitely are and and who else is running a business that looks like a disaster again still is Exxon y um that box was scheduled to be moved last week the truck that was coming over to pick it up broke down you notice I had DPW helping move it out so they could anchor onto it so uh I should be getting a date on when the new truck is coming for I mean literally the boards are falling off the building the it it it is such an isur in such a beautiful part of town where other businesses have spent so much time putting money and investing into the their facades like I I mean I don't know again I've been complaining about this for what four years now I don't even know a long time um and I just feel like you know I don't know what you guys can do about it other than continue to just keep giving them fins Exxon Corporation doesn't really care maybe Exxon Corporation would like to deed over that property to Spart a Township maybe we can redo the ordinance so the fines escalate well that's something I mean we won't be here to do it but you guys should do something because for about four years now I've been complaining about it and it's been told to me that they look at it as quote the cost of doing business they're using it basically as a clean the site yeah and that's not acceptable to the rest of the people so you guys may want to think about you know the fine structure to make it hurt more I don't know or just eminent domain it maybe or look into whatever you could do to get it ask them if they'll give it to the town if they don't want to do anything with it at the very least it's contaminated Town doesn't want to take it did it get a full did it get no that's because El would they leave it well this is for you guys to deal with but not fair to the the other business Ian I think I think you've made the case and Josh as well that um you know if if there's any property in Township that looks like blight that's it yeah and so there's certain remedies we'd have to look at that there's probably some thorny legal issues um and then you know speaking you know thorny legal issues I know it it didn't go um unaware about the 5G Towers I know that that's another one where there's Federal preemption there the FCC governs that although municipalities and towns can restrict certain areas that's going to require a lot more uh looking at and then again um you know I don't you know the the available scientific evidence about the negative Health implications is murky at best if not um there's no definitive proof that you know the the the waves the radio waves from the 5G Towers uh posing any type of health effects but that's something that we can look into but um I don't think we want to kind of jump into a federal preemption argument right away without really looking into it um more carefully but um the point is well taken um with sober homes um I appreciate you know Josh and Chris and um attorney Ryan really diving into that that that's an issue that a lot of um neighbors have brought to our attention and it it is it's it's murkier than appears I mean that my first instinct was that oh how could that be considered a single family residence well there's you know case law that talks about well a family can still be 10 people who don't know any each other uh as long as they share in the household activities they're considered uh a residents um as odd as that may be there is law on that and so again you know and I I had gone to a seminar about sober homes and and thought that we were going to be able to you know hey could we say it's a business and put it in the business district and it seemed about to be the consensus of a lot of the lawyers there that that was a kind of dicey proposition but I think that we do have to think of you know creative ways uh ways that are effective so that we you know while providing a service to people in recovery uh we don't change the nature and character of the community for which uh where they are so um but I appreciate um both Chris and Josh really um bringing up this issue um consistently and really trying to see it to um a logical and reasonable end unfortunately it didn't happen soon enough but I um I think you'll probably hold our feet to the fire and make sure it does so with that I have no um new or unfinished business so a few items uh last Thursday on the 5th I uh was pleased to attend a meeting hosted by our three New Jersey state legislators uh which was attended by over 35 local elected official offals and and some Township Representatives across the 24th district and it was primarily to uh share with us kind of what they're working on and what's going on in Trenton and also to hear what's on our mind and uh I did by the way uh share that last meeting we approved a resolution to support uh the legislation uh putting forward an amendment to the affordable housing calculation format second uh on the affordable housing uh as many of you probably assume I just wanted to share that the council and the planning board and their professionals are diligently working on looking at the number that we've received analyses calculations and strategies and we will adopt a binding resolution by the by and before the deadline of January 31st and then also a full housing element in a fair share plan by the end of June and lastly uh which is a couple thank yous so I I wanted to thank outgoing members uh Chris and Josh to thank you for your dedication and your service and the many ways that you've made Sparta better over your years in your term here um and just to wish you uh sincere best wishes on whatever comes next thank you thank you and finally uh just to our town manager Jim and roxan our Clerk and to each and every employee um this is our last meeting so to to thank you for your commitment and your your caring and for your uh daily and weekly Focus that you bring to Sparta and to uh to its residents so thanks um I've got a couple things to um to add um on December 3rd I participated in the teacher for a day uh program um and I appreciate the um Avail the opportunity to do that from the school system and from the sea I learned a couple things I learned that I'm very bad at teaching fifth graders um also learned that I shouldn't quit my day job and I can tell equivocally that unequivocally that uh the fifth graders learned nothing from me so um uh but I I still appreciated the day and um hope to do it again sometime um I did uh attend the tree lighting uh unfortunately I didn't get any cocoa that day and they were out by the time I got there but um other other than that it was it was a fun day um and uh also attended the municipal holiday party and uh to reiterate what's been said a couple times today you know i' I've been doing this for six years and learning all about how to run a town and I'm still in awe of what the the people that work here uh do every day and I always viewed our employment as a club you know anybody that works here doesn't have to work here they can choose to work anywhere they want to but and the fact that they've chosen to work to take care of people in our town is is is is wonderful and uh if I weren't so socially challenged I would love to walk up and down every day and say hi to everybody but uh I try to do that when I can um I always wave at the trucks with the logos as they go by in the police cars I'm sure they're like yeah whatever but um it always makes me proud when I see those trucks so again I'd like to thank all the employees that work here and that's all I have thank you and that does remind me I also did participate in the Teach for America um they assigned me probably folks with about my um you know maturity level they were first graders and um Mrs Lions is an amazing teacher um just in awe of how one person can keep track of you know 20 you know almost 20 or so kids doing 20 different things at once but it was a really great way for you know a government official to step in the shoes of our teachers and to see um the real work that it involves uh particularly just following uh their curriculum um it's you know it's you know I have an idea how to teach what a noun is but I I don't have any clue how to follow uh the curriculum guide that tells you how to descri teach children how to what a noun is so um it was a real lesson and just the work that gets uh involved in teaching our our our young folks and again I'm glad we were able to have a holiday party for our staff I know that you know they like I said when I spoke there um Sparta is their family and they've made it so uh with the work that they do and and I'm glad that I and I hope that over the holiday period they can spend time with their own families um they do a lot of work particularly our uh DPW folks uh who are out early in the morning uh making sure that you know our roads are safe and so as they you know put a lot of time into you know the greater family of Sparta I do hope they will spend time with their own family uh as we all do and I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season of reconnecting with your friends and loved ones and and and realizing what really is important is keeping that connection uh with your loved ones and with that we are at our last public uh open public session and so if you have us a burning desire as they say um please approach the microphone and name and address and be mindful of the five minute limit Jennifer Derek's 20 uh Ty into Sparta I'm following up on a conversation Jim you and I had via email um which is an ongoing conversation about the brown Fields I asked month after month after month we've met a few times in the summer or in the spring about what our status is with the expectation that what is going to be onl uh the solar field would already be up and generating funds for Sparta we're not anywhere close it seems in our in the last email exchange so when we first started talking about this you talked about the remediation of the last 2 and 1/2 acres of the landfill that had not yet been closed and that was this one of the key hurdles to getting this done and at the time when we spoke you talked about the DP requiring one a one to2 Ratio or a 1 to5 ratio in land Swap and now we're up to 1 to 27 acres and you said so now it's we're up to close to 7 75 Acres that Sparta has to donate to the state they consider that to be the remediation um that's a significant uptick from where we were at the beginning of this process of of a 2:1 or a 5:1 swap where is the land first that's one question the other question is where is the consultant that was hired to do this work because the consultant that was hired to do this work was sold to the township the the the the actual company was sold to the town Township that this was not going to cost the township or the taxpayers anything but 75 acres of land to be given over to the state is a cost to the township and so how do we Rectify that where are we in the process of the reconsider the application to reconsider and the um and the uh appeal process for both the SRE market and the actual application for the Brownfield itself where are we in terms of this contractor are they doing the work that they were originally purported to do um and just quickly I'll divert back to the Sober Living homes Josh the the mors toown decision that you were talking about did in fact give teeth to the township to collect money so it was the The Stick of funds if you're going to be a business you have to now pay business tax and that was what got them to move they also had to pay the violations for the zoning correct it was all funding it was a funding related right well at this point we're talking about millions of dollars in right exactly companies would have to make a business decision right and that that's and they continue to have to pay the fines as they stay there right the one the one home on Glen Road I can say for sure um I called the VA because that was per that house was purchased with a VA loan and I checked in with the VA to find out what the requirements are for a VA Lo loan and the expectation was that the veteran was going to be living in the home and they weren't and within 6 months the house was sold so so anyway okay the landfill where we are right now is that there is a proposal in front of the wetlands mitigation Council all right in which the 27 to1 ratio is correct of uh donated proper property uh that the town has as open space all right and uh the D is not accepting it what they're asking is that you donate it to a land uh conservative uh type organization like Green Acres or the Land Conservancy where it will be held in open space and perpetuity um and be preserved and that ratio is also derived uh from the condition of the property uh unadulterated uh and whatnot the lower ratios you're referring to is when you mitigate Wetland property in making new wetlands in the mitigation so there the ratios are applied differently all right and so what happened was a few years ago um uh our prior Engineers what they had done is they put a bid out on the landfill to uh entice companies to put solar panels on the landfill and then the solar panels would thus help pay for the mitigation and thus close the landfill the goal of this whole thing is to close that landfill all right and because we have two and 3/4 Acres of wet lands we've had a very difficult time closing that landfill all right and so we thought that by uh putting a lease out there for a Solar Company that that would help us close the landfill C Renewables was the awarded vendor all right and it was their obligation to help close landfill and that was a collaborative effort with the town you are correct we still have our environmental consultant and she's working diligently she's the one who put the proposal together that's in front of the uh uh Wetland Council right now uh today I received uh well I was copied on an email from Wetland Council where they're not sure if they can get it on the January review or if we're going to have to wait till February um that remains to be seen that's for the D that's for the D ground that would be for the permit to to fill in the wet lands and then once we we could fill in the wetlands then the landfill will deem to be closed and then the landfill could then been deemed to be a Brownfield and while that's all happening then C can put in their uh uh their application to uh install uh the the solar panels so the DP has to go first it's always been d right so the but why did the two this is rhetoric two applications were made on behalf of Sparta one was only a third filled in and that resulted in a rejection it was seemed it seems that this company that's supposed to be our experts that we're paying for um didn't really do a good job with that it was premature and it was it the well the alternative Jenny was the D want a million dollars no I'm not questioning that I'm saying the applications for SRE entrance into the SRE market and for the Brownfield cons consideration were premature if you're saying that the Wetland M premature and that they were hoping that they would be able to mitigate the Wetland property sooner than later but um our experience with with this is It's a Long slug this has been the the the town's problem for almost 20 years I understand that and and also the application that was filed I looked at it it's only a third completed it wasn't even filled in properly so I I question the expertise of whoever is hand Ling this but the to go back to the comment that you made a moment ago about the different ratio is because of wetlands having to be created when there were a few different methods of mitigating that property all right you could you could buy uh credits from a a wetland mitigation Bank uh down in South Jersey uh that was in a tune of like $900,000 10 years ago all right uh uh the township didn't have an appetite for that for the the obvious reasons um after that you could also uh go and have another area create the wetlands uh to what you're filling in and that ratio was more of that 5:1 7:1 I'm not a pro on that but that's what those lower ratios were referring to when you're actually going to create Wetlands to offset what you're filling in now we're at the stage where we're donating property that uses a different ratio of 27 to1 higher ratio right so there's no land where we can come up with 10 acres or 7 Acres or 14 acres oh we have and in fact what what happen you had all we we we've got a lot of productivity going on right now with the master plan and the open space plan the open space people weren't aware that we were considering using some of the properties that the township owns and donate it they're kind of like they're happy because it's being preserved and it's not going to be you know ever developed in any way but we're going to use it to to donate it to a Land Conservancy and get credit so we can fill in our our mitigated Wetland on the landfill so there there was a bunch of moving pieces on this we have that going on I don't know where they come up with a ratio but that's down at the EP who comes up with that ratio um the good thing is is that the township has this property and it isn't costing anybody anything and the property is going to be preserved either way it's just we're going to get credits and we're not spending a million dollars and we can fill in the wetlands and then once the wetlands get filled in as I said we can then close the landfill deem at brownfields put solar panels on it and then move ahead with the lease agreement with with the vendor where are we coming up at 75 Acres where are is that uous no nope they're they're spotted around town you're welcome stop by my office I can show it to you um we had to vet them very carefully uh a few of the the properties we had originally offered um we couldn't use because they were purchased with open space funds and that limits what you can do with it uh when you purchase with open space funds you can't sell the property you really can't do anything with it other than hold it in in open space perpetuity uh you have a bunch of properties also who are bequeathed to you from beneficiaries um lots of times they come with stipulations as well uh usually you know to be preserved uh or is only passive Recreation only non-developed um it's all in the deeds and this is an arduous process of vetting every property uh that the town owns and believe it or not the open space plan did a lot of this so um it was a a good practice and the timing was pretty good um I'm still optimistic that that we we're going to finally get to close this landfill again that is the objective here is to close the landfill okay thank you I want to also just jump on something that you touched on because I think it's very important people understand this um one of the things that happened when the open space report was publicized and the meetings happened and they were televised was people started reaching out to me that had that their families had donated property large large amounts of property in Sparta different families that had donated large amounts of property and they said they that property that they that you know to your point that property that they know they donated to the town they donated to town not State and if something was going to change and the town was going to then turn it over to the state they were going to get lawyers and they were going to come back because that property cannot be used for anything other than certain things so yes we own tens of thousands of open Acres what you would say you know open Acres but they is a lot of it to your point that we can't use for different things and this whole um issue of properties that have been donated is one of them because we also have some that were donated by builders that the township owns four Highlands as well they had to do a swap out they gave it over to the town so that can't be touched either so close 3 G Court um I just want to commend councilman hartsburg councilwoman Quinn uh for your service to the community uh your outstanding elected officials and the community is better for the donation of your time and talents over the years just wanted to say that thank you thank you Bill thank your thank you thank you for your service yes right any other member of the public wishing to be heard for public comment okay see no one um may I have a motion to adjourn so moved I have a second second we are