have another netive I'll apologize in advance I have a terrible cold but it's not Co so I'll be wearing a mask hopefully you can still hear me uh I just didn't want to infect my fellow council members or the staff so um please take notice that action will be taken on the following items at the regular council meeting on Tuesday February 13th 2024 in council chambers Sparta Township Municipal Building 65 Main Street Sparta New Jersey the time is 6:13 p.m. or 7:13 p.m. the c um the regular meeting is open at 7:00 p.m. all Council meetings are now live streamed and can be viewed at the following link uh www.youtube.com spart wpst streams adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 5th 20124 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice may I have a roll call vote a roll call please councilman Herzberg here councilman Quinn here councilman Sherell I'm here Deputy Mayor bti here mayor Clark here all right we will salute the flag now please stand Al to the flag of the United States America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for for all this I have the uh open public meetings executive session motion but we've already done that so we can skip that and go right to the proclamations uh tonight we have uh two uh proclamations uh that I'm very pleased to to read the first one has to do with um Black History Month and so I'll read that Proclamation and then after I finish reading um I'll ask Representatives um from I believe it's uh norcap to uh come forward and and and accept the proclamation this is Office of the mayor Proclamation Black History Month whereas Black History Month is celebrated annually in February to recognize the contributions that African-Americans have made to American history and whereas Black History Month provides an opportunity to reflect on the significant roles that African-Americans have played in shaping our nation's history and where it's Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of African-Americans and to recognize their Central role in American history and whereas the month of February was chosen for Black History Month as it marks the birth of Frederick Douglas we Dubois Langston Hughes and Abraham Lincoln Whose actions greatly impacted the lives of the American black population and grew out of black history week which was traditionally celebrated during the second week of February and expanded in 1976 as part of the nation's Bicentennial and whereas the township of Sparta invites all residents of the community to renew their commitment to ensuring Racial equality understanding and justice for all and their efforts to advance the cause of equality for every person regardless of race Creed or religious preference creating a world that is more just peaceful and prosperous for all now therefore be it resolved that the township council with the township of Sparta does hereby proclaim the month of February as Black History Month and encourages all residents to honor the history and contributions of African-Americans in our nation state and community so at this point I'm going to ask Deputy Mayor Dean blumetti to present the proclamation as I do not want to uh infect any of our Representatives I don't want your first time at Town Council to be six so yeah one more one more and thank you for trekking out and the uh what do we get 10 Ines of snow um I appreciate it and and thank you for all that you do I I appreciate it and um I'm glad that we can have a proclamation thank you uh we do have another Proclamation um it's for the American Heart Association uh in honor of American Heart month whereas heart disease and stroke claim more lives each year in the United stes than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined in 2020 coronary heart disease was the leading cause of death attributed to CBD was cardiovascular disease in the United States followed by stroke and whereas heart disease can often be prevented when people make healthy choices and manage their health conditions with proper exercise adequate sleep no smoking and proper nutrition and whereas communities health professionals and families working together can create opportunities for people to make healthier choices such as refraining from tobacco use maintaining an optimal blood pressure decreasing the intake of salt in their diets and increasing physical activity and whereas developments and technology and the discovery of early markers of heart disease have allowed for Physicians to diagnose and treat heart disease much sooner and to develop strategies for their patients to State heart healthy now therefore be it resolved that the Township council with the township of Sparta hereby proclaims the month of February to be American Heart month and invites all the township residents to join them and committing to fighting cardiovascular disease uh we did have a representative uh who was going to come but due to the weather is unable to be here um but I will say as someone who has uh just got back from the cardiologist because when you get over 40 and turn 50 it's very important that you do uh get your cholesterol checked regularly um so uh Luckily everything is fine but I encourage everyone to um to get the cholesterol screening there are you know I'm not a big fan of pharmaceuticals uh but there are some that can very much help with your cholesterol level and so I encourage everyone given that it is the month to to do what you need to do to make sure that your your heart is healthy so with that I'm going to hold on to this and we will get I guess the person uh from the American Heart Association we'll give this to him or her um at another time okay on to the minutes um that we need to approve may I have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of September 26 2023 I move that we approve the regular meeting minutes from September 26 2023 and may I have a second a second good okay and uh all in favor say I I and for I I I think Alain yes I think Josh and uh councilman blue medy or councilman Herzberg and councilman blue medy were not present at that so they have both abstained and the approvals are by councilman giell councilwoman Quinn and councilman Clark they I have a motion to approve the Janu the regular meeting minutes of January 23rd 2024 I move the that we approve the regular meeting minutes of January um 23rd 2024 may I have a second I'll second all in favor I I motion carries the regular meeting minutes of January 23rd 2024 are approved this time it is for the manager's report report may I have the manager's report yes good evening mayor council and spart residence um I always like this part where I get to make firefighter appointments cuz um it it's the trend has been uh that a lot of towns are having uh problems attracting volunteer firefighters for the good cause but uh I'm happy to uh uh announce that at the recommendation of Chief uh Chris angelucci that I would like to appoint John hawick Jr and Michael Keller as members to the sparta Township Fire Department Mr ha Wick has been in the fire service for nearly 30 years and is a past volunteer member of Roxbury fire department has recently retired from the city of pic fire department as a career Battalion Chief and currently serves as an instructor at susex County Public Safety Training Academy Mr Keller is new to the fire service and is eager to serve his community he will start his state-mandated fire fire to one training shortly Chief Andrew Luchi is confident that both applicants will be an asset to the Department I'm also happy on uh some staff recognition I'm happy to report that our current Municipal Treasurer Don chumford has passed her state exam and will receive her New Jersey municipal finance officer certification and Samantha Murray in our tax department has passed her state exam and will receive her New Jersey tax collector certification having trained staff such as this will further benefit our operations and residential services congratulations public works department I was curious what I should say today about that we should say congratulations they did a fantastic job our Public Works and parks department have been busy today plowing snow and treating Road and sidewalk surfaces they started at midnight and have been working all day to keep our road safe although Town Hall was closed and the schools were closed today they were able to get our parking lots and sidewalks ready for tonight's meeting thank you you all for attending the Parks and Recreation Department uh the annual Winter Carnival was held this past Saturday at the middle school it is estimated that approximately six 600 plus people enjoyed the various activities I'd like to thank all staff and volunteers who have made the event of success the circle of friends preschool registration for fall 2024 opens on February 15th at the recreation office day camp at Camp Sea jya registration opens to pres on March 1st for six week sessions from July 1st to August 9th this month's Council connect session is scheduled for Thursday February 15th 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the sparta Library please take this opportunity to come out and speak to council members in an informal setting schedule and details can be found on the Sparta website homepage Chief mccarrick will now read his portion of the manage report this concludes my report thank you mayor council and Sparta residence thank you thank you manager Zep thank you mayor thank you councel uh just two quick points update from the police department um as I said in the past we continue to do our traffic studies with our traffic Bureau around the township um so we could enforce motor vehicle violations in an efficient manner one of the latest studies was on Sparta Avenue in the area of Sparta Commons for approximately a 3-week data collection period the average speed was 40.5 mph with an average of 3,600 Vehicles passing daily this is a 45 mph Zone since January 1st of this year our Patrol Division and traffic Bureau have spent an approximate 10 hours of dedicated traffic enforcement in this area during the enforcement period there were minimal speeding violations observed our officers will continue to enforce motor vehicle violations throughout the township and our traffic Bureau will continue to do these studies through data collection starting this July our officers are teaming up to provide the youth in our community with specialized instructions on some of their best skills each week a different officer will meet with a group of pre-registered Youth and teach them how to do activities such as fishing jump roping cooking flag football cheerleading archery defensive tactics and much more this community service Outreach is led by Officer Alise Brown it is designed for the Youth of the community to get a personal to get on a personal level with our officers and also have some fun while doing it with this instruction there will be important convers ations about ways to remain drug free making good decisions setting goals and other life skills as we are finalizing our developing stages we ask that you keep on a lookout on our social media and our web page for more detailed information and that concludes my report thank you thank you Chief mccarrick may I have a motion to accept the manager's report may I have a second I will second it all in favor I I motion carries we now move to um the public comment period uh the comments for this particular section of public comment are limited to items not on the agenda so if you're here to speak about a resolution or an ordinance um that's not this is not the time uh this is a public comment on any issues that are not on the agenda okay seeing uh no one we will move to expenditures Deputy Mayor would you please read the expenditures for February 13 2024 yep I make a motion that we approve the expenditures for February 13 2024 of 2,928 56026 may I have a second I will second that all in favor I I motion carries we're now at the introduction of Ord orance uh portion of our program uh Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 242 ordance of the township of Sparta amending chapter 12 building and housing of the Township Code by the creation of an article entitled lead based paint Hazard inspection requirements for rental dwellings may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 242 I'll make a motion to introduce 2402 uh may I have a second I will second it may have a roll call vote can we have the period discussion sure um I I is there a um a change that we wanted to yes I believe section uh 12-12 subsection 5 the total reinspection clearance should read 200 320 instead of 29 correct so just to error as to the map what I'm sorry what section is that uh top of Page Three section five reinspection clearance by the Township's third party Le inspection instead of 295 It should read 320 per unit okay um I will make a motion that we amend ordinance 242 to uh change uh section paragraph 12 that s10.2 uh paragraph uh f um G5 to um read instead 320 320 uh dollar per unit I'll second that okay we have a given that it's a roll call vote on the amendment the motion to amend uh section 12 -10.2 paragraph F5 councilman Herzberg yes Council M yes councilman yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes may I ask if this needs to be reintroduced at the next meeting or is that no it's a typographical ER so we're okay okay thank you um I also have another question can can somebody briefly explain uh why this is being introduced I'm not talking about the merits of it just the reason for its introduction required by State Statute okay thank you I have no other questions so we need to U move to as amended am I right yes okay uh may I have a motion uh to introduce ordinance uh a roll call vote on the motion to introduce ordinance 242 as amended councilman Herzberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman Sher yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes motion carries we are now at the hearing of ordinance uh will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 241 an ordinance amending chapter 2 Administration uh uh committees boards commissions section 2-39 environmental Commission of the revised General ordinance of the township is and now we are open to the public for simply comment on this particular ordinance uh which is 24 1 does anyone from the public wish to be heard on ordinance 2401 they see no one from the public uh is anyone uh from Council interested in in making any discussion or comments about ordinance 2401 I'll make a motion that we approve ordinance 2401 may I have a second I will second it may I have a a roll call vote councilman Herzberg yes councilwoman Quinn yes councilman tiell yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor CLK yes the ordinance passes uh we're now up to the next uh open to the public uh just to speak on resolutions so this is a comment period limit to the resolutions uh please be mindful that uh if you were here at the last last meeting uh the motion carried that we have a 5 minute limit uh to which to make your public comment and so if you will please uh be mindful of that and keep your comments to to under five minutes so again this is with respect to the resolutions thanks Mayor Mike dine Oak Parkway my comment relates to resolution 99 I'm not nearly as conversent on this as I would like to be but I'm assuming that that is voting or having a resolution as to whether or not to support a public meeting public hearing on the revision or the amendment of the water quality treatment plan is that correct or is there something more than just I I think uh the best for us is to to actually take a look at the actual resolution which will be made available to the public which identifies uh what the resolution is for um I think we all have to be sensitive about uh comments that we make uh for reasons that don't need to be announced so I think that my uh recommendation is that that if you have issues with you know want to know what the resolution is about then you know take a look at the resolution and and that should identify for you um what the resolution is is covering and what it doesn't cover that in here neot the package I didn't see it yeah speak to it is that the state statute required that the township receive a copy um so that's that's why it's on a resolution for tonight okay and what is it that the resolution if if you could title the resolution yes resolution advising that the sparta Township council is unable to make a determination as to whether the township consents to the proposed Sussex water quality management plan Amendment entitled designation of the sparta Warehouse sewer service area that I don't what I'm allowed to say it does that suggest that you would support having a public hearing on the subject that's the sense I get is what what this is all about I think it's unrelated to the public hearing concept Mike it is or is not it's unrelated to it's unrelated a public hearing New Jersey D well if you agree to the resolution what's the impact of it yeah I think D will make that determination sort of out of our hands uh whether you know whether whatever we do with this respect to this resolution whether they decide to have a public hearing or not um is really their call not our call um and so I can't put myself in the mind of the D to tell you if we do this then they will do because I you know I'm not the D so um I know that answer may not be satisfactory but that's the best we can do here I think is that um that's up to the D to hold a public hearing it really we don't have necessary control over that but we we can go on record as supporting it I assume we can say yeah I think a public hearing is a good idea is that what we're about but this resolution is not about whether or not we support a public hearing this resolution is about whether or not we um provide consent to um changing the uh an amendment that was proposed to uh to the water quality management report and please correct me if I'm wrong okay some of the things I've read again I'm not up to Total speed on this there were things in there that's first of all I won't talk about this the specific application but it seems to me it's quite a bit of flux there are parts of it haven't even been heard by the planning board there's statements in there that the uh some part of the revised plan is consistent with our master plan I'm just concerned that if we whatever we do implies that we agree with all that it's kind of tough to be on record I'm not sure we should be in a position to do that yeah again this passes no judgment on the application itself right again correct me if I'm wrong this is only on the water quality management plan and the resolution the way it's read I believe is that it's not withholding or providing consent it's saying that the council at this time doesn't have enough information to make that termination okay so e all right so it's not going to have an effect whether there is a public hearing or not independent of that the reason it's before this governing body is the the state regulations require when there is a proposed amendment that it be sent to the governing body for consideration strikes me and I don't remember all the sequence of events why do would be why would be at this point before the application is matured further does that make sense to everybody I don't know why why are they modifying the treat the water treatment plan they're not modifying we don't know that answer all we know is that it's been sent to us we've been provided the notice as required by the regulations right the last point I'll make is I just want to be careful not to go on record for things that we don't intend to go and record for whether that's relevant or not I don't know I know you're Dan dealing with a complicated thing so I appreciate you trying to clarify thanks thank you Mike any other member of the public wish to be heard on the resolutions we at the public comment period limited to resolutions at this point hi I just walked in sorry Jenny Derek's tap into Sparta I'm sorry I didn't get to hear if there was any comments that are going to be redundant to what I'm saying but here we are again about two and a half years ago this same resolution came to the council the difference is back then at least the three of you didn't know what this meant you didn't know the import the impact of this water quality Amendment and I expect that we do now now know a lot more about it um I haven't seen the version of the resolution you're supposed to be U considering this evening in the past resolution excuse me there was a a part of that language that said that the Town Council was affirming that this project that this plan was consistent with the Township's master plan and the one thing that we do know right now is that we don't know if that's true we don't know if this project is consistent with the master plan I again I haven't seen the language of the resolution so I don't know if that language is included in this version and I apologize if I'm being redundant um but that's something that we didn't know back then we do know now that that question of consistency is in the courts so um that's not something that can be answered tonight thank you thank you by the way there is no language with resolution in here least we don't really know what we're coming is there is there a copy of it up there on the dis I I can read it into the record again that helps the title of it if you want or I can read the whole thing yeah if if if we could um I I you know I I understand that the issue is that the public does not have a copy of the the actual resolution normally they do uh in then in this case um they don't and so um I I think we what is what efforts are we going to undertake to ensure that the public has a copy of this resolution uh that's being considered by us tonight think all we can do at this point is we can read it into the record and then after it's after it's um adjudicated here if it were to pass I'm sure this could be posted as part on on our website I would amend the agenda to include this resolution okay thanks any other comments on uh resolutions uh okay see none um we will now move to the resolutions um I think uh before I do so I would like to uh we have I think about nine resolutions tonight uh it would be my recommendation uh that we carve out 7 8 and n for a separate vote and take resolutions 1 through six in Mass I move that we approve resolutions uh 9-1 through 9-6 do I do I have a second I'll second that all in favor I I so resolutions 1 through six uh are pass may I have a motion to approve uh resolution 97 authorizing the appointment of special Council to represent the township of sorida in pfas litigation I move that we approve resolution 9-7 as you just introduced second and before we have a vote just so the public knows um the what this resolution does is to have uh the hiring of special Council who represent spoted Township uh an ongoing litigation involving uh what's called as forever chemicals uh these chemicals uh it's alleged have as a result of negligence by certain uh manufacturers of the product uh have you know entered our um our waterways and and it's going to probably require significant uh upgrades to our uh sewer systems our water systems Etc and so the litigation is designed recoup some of those expenses on behalf of the township and so uh luckily there are very skilled lawyers who are handling this and they will represent the township of Florida in this litigation so that is what uh resolution 97 is about with that explanation I think we can move to a vote all in favor of resolution 97 say I I I all of f say no resolution 97 carries uh resolution may I have a motion uh to approve resolution 98 I'll make a motion we approve resolution 9-8 second and uh can someone uh explain what resolution 9-8 is before we have a vote so resolution 9-8 um comments on the new proposed legislation which is assembly thank you assembly Bill A4 Senate bill 50 which are proposed to make significant changes to the affordable housing uh setup as it exists now the it rules for abolishing COA and providing for different standards different numbers um and it's something that uh we feel imposes an unreasonable obligation on municipalities and so this resolution points out in in great detail the reasons for that thank you and I know that um at least my comment on this is uh they well-intentioned um I think the my investigation of this bill um it's a little ill-considered at this point um I think that uh with the the Senate bill has currently uh drafted has a lot of problems with it um at least from my point of view one of the problems is it doesn't give significant weight uh which the mount L decision did about environmental concerns that a Township can take into account uh with respect to its affordable housing obligations um another problem with the uh the Senate Bill uh is also that in in in making the calculation for the allocation of of the fair housing units uh it's relying on an uh the calculation as identified in an unpublished judicial opinion uh and as any lawyer knows you don't even side unpublished opinions in a brief to a court much less putting that into a calculation that that every uh municipality in the entire state would have to use so again I think there's significant problems with this this Senate bill and um I think it it is and and I know and maybe councilwoman Quinn can speak to this she's a member of the league of municipalities a lot of municipalities have also expressed their opposition uh to this bill so you know Sparta is not standing alone here and opposing or at least uh this uh opposing the overhaul of um of the fair housing act as specified in Senate bill 50 so you're you're absolutely correct mayor and there was actually a uh conference to go over this 165 elected officials throughout the state were on it earlier this week there are just a tremendous amount of open questions to your point and additionally especially from from the perspective of Sparta Township one of the big things that is not addressed in any of this is what happens to the pre-existing legal contracts and settlements that are all in place right now so for example Sparta Township has a pre-existing um contract signed a settlement agreement with the state um and nowhere in any of this information does it say what happens are all of those now out the window or are they going to be still in force and effect so there's a lot of questions I think they say it when they say abolish COA well the problem is the contract is with Co yes so I mean there's a lot of unanswered questions and again these are you know becoming in as guidelines but they're very ambiguous so you are correct spart is not standing alone in the fact that you know um this this is something that is not making everyone comfortable so if I can offer a comment too um just speaking only for myself uh I this does not uh any anything we U any action we take right now does not um tell uh signal that we we um don't take this as a very important issue I've uh I've spent a lot of time on this myself and I've spoken with each member of the council individually about this we take housing uh affordable housing very seriously um and um uh but afford housing is not just a problem in sport it's a problem in pretty much every municipality in the in the state in the country and and frankly all over the world um there's many countries in the world that wrestle with this it's a hard problem um and it needs attention and solutions and um we're we're not going to stop if um what no matter what action takes place at this resolution right now we're not going to stop focusing on trying to figure out what we can do to make that situation better in Sparta thank you and again uh thank you councilwoman Quinn um for providing a lot of information uh on this Senate bill um you know based on your position with the league of municipalities I found it very helpful so thank you great you're welcome all right so may we have a um vote on resolution 9 98 all those in favor say I I I I resolution 98 passes uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 99 read this is where we have to I mean this is yeah we'll read the resolution resolution advising that the sparta Township council is unable to make a determination as to whether the township consents to the proposed Sussex water quality management wqm plan Amendment entitled designation of the sparta Warehouse sewer service area would you like me to read the whole thing mayor I would you summarize would that make sense yes so um this resolution what what it does is establishes that um the D requires that um the municipality receive notice of this application and the sparta Township Council uh finds that it doesn't have enough current information to render a decision on the proposed wqm plan Amendment for the diamond chip Logistics Park um and for the reason set forth within this proposed resolution the township council is unable to make a determination as to whether the township consents to the proposed wqm amendment or not that sufficient thank you and so we have a a motion did we get a second on the motion to approve a resolution 99 I'll second all those in favor a roll call call oh roll call may I have a roll call please herur yes councilman quinnn yes councilman shell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti abstain mayor Clark abstain resolution 99 has passed as there are three votes in favor and two extensions we're now at the council liaison updates um I will start to my right uh are there any uh Council liaison updates uh councilman tiell uh yes I have a few to offer um the revolution NJ 250 committee U met last on January 25th uh we had met two weeks prior to that as well um uh from that uh from the last couple meetings we formed a preliminary plan and again the plan that we're crafting is try to uh determine what activities events celebrations uh that we would like undertake in Sparta in order uh to um celebrate the nation's 250th birthday in 2026 we have a lot of really uh good good ideas floating around um uh and the plan is put together now because there's a grant funding uh deadline of April I believe and we're going to try to see if we can get some grant money to fund some of these interesting things that we have planned but um in any case um um there's some good stuff going on and I believe the committee next meets on March 4th if that's a Monday um so anybody is welcome to join us it's at the VFW and if the date is wrong I'll I'll try to you can see the dates on our website I believe uh the um members of the council and members of the Board of Ed did have a meeting um as we do periodically us try to we try to do this quarterly um and again we we meet to discuss uh common areas of interest in how we can best serve the taxpayer uh we had a productive meeting and um and I look forward to more uh uh the business development committee I believe meets tomorrow um say no more on that uh the environmental commission did meet last week uh um some of the highlights of the meeting included that um there was a lot of discussion of salt testing uh so we the committee is um is trying to test um salt in various waterways around the area to see the impact of uh runoff from Road salting in advance of a storm or um um and uh I'd also like to say that we were happy that uh commissioner degr joined us for the meeting and uh stayed the whole time and um we had talked a lot about um uh Farmland protection which uh commissioner D takes very seriously and we were very happy to have his presence at the last meeting uh and also we passed resolution uh ordinance uh 241 which adds a student liazon uh to the committee and the committee is looking forward to that and I believe that the role the person can be named uh 21 days after today I believe is the case right so and that's a mayoral appointment so I look forward to the mayor appointing someone very cool to join us and that's all I have for committee reports Dan I'm sorry who did you say came to the meeting in state commissioner Jack deut oh DG okay yeah thank you thank you Mandy yep I'd like to offer just some uh comments on the planning board the plan endorsement advisory committee the Pak met last week and uh with our our planner U that progress is uh moving forward very nicely we're going to have um different meetings plotted out for both the council meetings and planning board meetings to share progress on the plan endorsement advisory work uh the master plan subcommittee will be meeting next week um and there's a whole uh schedule for the rest of the year of the planning board master plan subcommittee meeting is scheduled the site plan waiver subcommittee uh it's been full steam ahead for many weeks now uh didn't really lose too much traction over the beginning of January middle of January um so that work is ongoing uh finally I just wanted to mention the U Highlands Council uh some of you may know that the highlands council is looking to uh potentially make two amendments to the regional master plan there are seeking uh public input public comment on these two amendments um there are multiple uh channels to submit comments there are there were six public sessions now there are four remaining still so you can attend one of those public sessions in person u i I'll tell you where those are in a minute also there's emails so you can uh send your comments in by email or even the written mail as well the public sessions are going to be on February 20th two on February 21st and one on February 22nd although the comment period for email and mail is up until April 1st so you have some time to do it that way um the sessions is going to be one in West Milford which is the closest one in Chester one in Clinton and one in independent Township all this you can find more information on this on the website for the council amendments which is www.nj.gov back NJ Highlands backmaster backs slash amendments so that that will have the schedule of where the meetings are and how to submit the comments via email or mail if you'd like that concludes my update for planning board thank you councilman b um there's significant overlap between um councilman chello and I with respect to the Revolutionary 250 uh I will not add to that I think he covered it very well and he's done a tremendous amount of work in that I would just encourage the public uh to get involved uh there are ideas that the public can have about how to celebrate the 200 150th anniversary and so I encourage people uh to participate as you hear more about this committee uh please submit your ideas and I think we have a fantastic committee I just want to encourage people uh to weigh in the next is uh with respect to I'm I'm also a liaison to Lake bohawk along with councilwoman uh Quinn and I believe we are scheduled to have another meeting February 20th if I'm correct and so I'm very um we are really uh improving this relationship and connection with Lake Mohawk and it's uh consistent with that we will be meeting February 20th and so whatever uh we happens at that meeting I will share at the subsequent Town council meeting and with respect to the uh School Board uh Board of Education I think councilman Chell covered it well so I don't need to add to that so I don't have any further Council on updates for me so councilman Herzberg yeah my uh meeting is in the morning so I'm going to pass it off to Chris uh okay so salute 07871 our Hometown Heroes 2024 Campaign Will the deadline is the 20th so it's next week anyone who is interested in ordering Hometown hero banners or sponsoring someone please go to our website www.s spart nj.org the information as well as the link to fill out a form are all out on the website so again uh please be mindful of that deadline we do these orders as you as you've heard me say once a year now and we we have a a defined deadline so that we can get them our hope is to get them before Memorial Day so we can put the new banners up as well just a little fa you um Jenny uh thank you for posting that and Jenny asked a question hey what are the total number of banners which is a great question because I have them all in pieces so I'm really happy to say that we have 234 Hometown hero banners which is amazing um we have over 300 requests so Vanessa uh and I will be meeting next week once the orders Clos to process this new batch the great news is we have 300 light poles so great problem to have is we're running out of light Poes right exactly we'll figure it out but it's a great problem to have and we couldn't be prouder to have it so um on another note when we started this campaign when we started salute one of the first things we started was Hometown Heroes and we said we really hope that what we're doing is running this successful initiative and other municipalities will pick up on it and I've shared over time you know some of the other municipalities in the county are and I'm very happy to say that Newton is now running their own Hometown Heroes campaign so they reached out got the information about our provider so super excited about that so I'd love to see this that was our intention to really kind of see it grow throughout the whole County and it looks like it's going in that direction so I do want to thank everybody at the VFW Commander Lichfield um you know Josh and I are incredibly grateful to all the volunteer efforts of everybody on the committee and we're super excited about um not just Hometown Heroes but all the other things we have going on in salute 07871 um just so people are aware the process goes like this you put your online information in on the form if you are not internet Savvy you can go to our library or come in town hall someone can help or you can reach out to my email and I'll be happy to walk you through the process once you have completed the form Vanessa will send an email followup asking for the the electronic copy of the photo to be used in the banner so that's the process um the municipal Alliance team super excited about 2024 I've reported at the last meeting all the great things that we're going to be supporting and all of our meetings now are set and on the calendar so we are scheduled locked up invitations out our meetings are virtual this year which I think is going to make it a lot easier for everyone to be able to attend so we're very very excited I know the manager mentioned um the uh parks and wreck for the winter carnival this weekend I unfortunately had a family event so I couldn't be there but I do just want to shout out on behalf of Mayor Clark and myself we sit on that subcommittee there's a lot of work the rec department does a phenomenal job uh I got great feedback from people all over that could not believe there was no charge they couldn't believe how how well it was was organized granted it was a little warm for a winter carnival it's too bad it wasn't a couple days later when we had all this great snow but they um our rec department always does great job parks and wreck so I want to just do a shout out and our volunteers as well um I do want to also share information that we got as you guys know the municipal Alliance um is uh supporting the Sussex County food pantry and they published a report which I think everyone may find interesting with regard to the percentage of people in municipalities served and um this is a published report that I got from Valerie uh lafy I pulled a couple municipalities out just to put everything in range so Lafayette 4.9% Sussex 7.6% Sparta 16.7% Newton 21.6% so I think it's important that we really understand the value of what the susex County food pantry provides to people in our community it's really important and I think often times we don't think about that need right here but it's here um in other news um just as the Le on to the New Jersey League of municipalities I just want to offer a congratulations to Mar uh mayor Janice kovet I had the pleasure of working with her for a few years she was actually voted into the mayor's Hall of Fame so very exciting the New Jersey mayor's Hall of Fame so it's big deal and congratulations to Mayor kovat and that's it for Leah arm reports thank you actually have one other leas on update to make um uh on Friday uh councilman Herzberg and I will meet with commissioner space and manager tap in to try to uh start a quarterly meeting with our County Commissioners thank you any other liaison updates that you may have left out not uh any unfinished or new business and I'll again start to my far right councilman Chell um sure um hang on a second okay um also I want to thank start off by thanking our DPW staff who made short order of a foot snow um did a fantastic job so um thanks thanks it was very long night for people um also I attended the winter carnival for a period in time and want to thank our Parks and Rec Department as Chris as councilman Quinn mentioned earlier um we um uh mayor Clark and I attended a film screening uh last weekend do you want to say more about that yourself when it comes to when you I was that um and speaking of Arts I'm U actually I'm going to attend a an event at the Skyland packing in Newton this weekend and I hope everybody avails thems of the Arts in Sussex County and that it's a beautiful facility and um we should support our local Arts um and uh lastly uh I we did receive a number of flag requests although uh they are kind of a ways in the future so this is maybe for the clerk um roxand uh it if if we make a request to fly a flag let's say in August like does that get how do we know we're going to remember or do we remember or do you remember that or how did we remember to do this in August well we have to we want to fly in August we have to do it in July okay so we we want to wait until we get close to the date yeah that I'll put on the agenda for that okay um I uh because there was one uh person who asked to fly a series of military Flags beginning in June uh going through December which you did last year and I want to do it again this year uh we're make a recommendation that we do this year so the first would be in June I guess I would wait till we closer to June sure I I I have that listening for to me okay so I I wait to as we get closer um and that is all my uh new business updates thank you no new business updates okay um as councilman chello alluded to uh we had the pleasure of attending the premiere of a movie that was shot uh exclusively in Sparta using two local Sparta of I don't think they were actors before but now they are but now they are um and it was a resounding success over 600 people I believe attended the premiere they actually had to turn away people and so it was and it was a the movie itself is Emerald ties it features uh if those of you who go to Lake House Cafe and have ever been served by Terry Clark uh he was probably withholding with you that he actually has very good acting chops so encourage you to see that um and so it was also entirely put on by Sussex County residents um and like I say whenever I go to a lot of events in town we have a lot of talent uh in this in this County and as I joke there I think that the the title should be really about hidden gems meaning that there are a lot of talented people in our County and that showed because it was exclusively the act from the actors to the cinematographer uh to the person who uh helped with the sound editing all local the sound editor actually was from Sparta High School who's a a teacher there and so as I I looked into this I it it became abundantly clear to me that uh encouraging film Mak in Sussex County and in Sparta in particular is something that we should be doing and why should we be doing it well back in 2017 the revenue generated for entertainment production was about $65 million and now in 2022 it's $650 million there's a tenfold increase in six years in New Jersey right in New Jersey alone this is just New Jersey in New Jersey there are 29 movie studios there are uh there's a gigantic Netflix Studio that's being built in Mammoth and the head of the film Commission jokes that you know Hollywood is simply New Jersey uh of the West uh given the amount of production so it it it became clear to me that Sparta needs to uh take uh a a central role in encouraging uh entertainment production here and thankfully there is an opportunity to do that it's through the New Jersey Economic Development Association there are criteria that a Township can do to to become a film ready community and so what I will be doing and I'm announcing today is that we will be seeking applications for the cultural Affairs committee uh we are allowed there's no limited number of people that we can put on this committee but the people who will apply uh will form a subgroup that will look into what it takes to get Sparta designated by the New Jersey Economic Development Association uh as a film ready Community because we have an interest um not only as the Goodwill that it provides but these films provide jobs and they provide revenue for the people of Sparta and we we should uh not be losing out to other counties and and towns in New Jersey so uh again I encourage the public to apply you will apply online you will list that you want to be a part of the cultural Affairs committee and my hope is that the next meeting which I believe is February 26 we will actually make appointments to the cultural Affairs committee uh and the people who are appointed will take it upon themselves to begin preparing for uh getting Sparta film ready designation and so uh again we hope to start that February 26 with appointment so I encourage everyone to apply and that is all for my new business thank you um Neil just real quick yes Jim could you please talk to uh Mike and just make sure that an option is added to the online volunteer form for cultural the cultural Affairs committee so that when people go out there they have a box to check because just to make sure that it's an option okay thank you yeah there is an option for cultural Affairs but there's no option obviously now for the film do we have to rename it though I mean because there is already a committee called that so I just don't want people to be confused there we can probably put it in the comments yeah they are I mean I think app indications are already coming in and they they have put on their when they filled out the form they are expressing that their interest is is is becoming uh part of the cultural Affairs committee dedicated to uh the film ready designation okay so you're saying we don't need to add anything I don't think so I think that yeah I think we should be no I that's a very good point but I think we're covered okay so the only thing I I want to talk about is um me and Chris have talked about this recently I think we've all gotten some calls there's been some information being put out via social media about our former super fund site and potential tests that have come out negatively out there and the possible concerns about you know our fields and whatnot so we're going to start Gathering some information we'll work with the town manager to kind of Flesh that out and see what's real and what's um what may be you know misleading test results or whatever but I know there's a lot of concern there's a lot of people worried about it so we'll uh we'll work to make sure that we can address those concerns that's all I have Chris uh so I have a few um first and foremost last week I attended the sparta Township Safety and Security Summit I have to say it was unbelievable I was so impressed um Chief was there with the police department Center prvention was there um Shannon son uh Dr Beck was there Dr Esposito uh Dr Loren the the presentations were amazing um I I am disappointed that more people were not there because I have to be honest with you you could tell the time that they put into this and I will tell you after um I stayed for the first hour um when I got there you guys were setting up so I didn't get to go to the the breakout rooms but I will tell you in that hour I was just so I felt so thankful you know I'm always reminded of how thankful we are here to have the people here um doing all this work on behalf of our students in our community and I don't know if they're going I don't know what the next steps are but it is my sincere hope that they are able to get this information in some way out to the community because it was unbelievably insightful and I just wanted to thank all of them for all their hard work in putting everything together uh I do want to talk to the manager about something I know I sound like a broken record I will apologize in advance I'm sorry but the Exxon building on woodport road is a complete disaster and I'm I'm I know I've said this before I know we've called them I know they pulled weeds and whatever but I think it's unbelievably unfair to the businesses in town that take so much time time making sure that their property looks perfect is well maintained to have that thing that eyesore I mean there's a dumpster on the side the paint the the Sops are falling down it just looks like a dump site so if we could reach out to them and I don't I don't know what the plant for knock it down fix it up paint it whatever they need to do to it or it's not fair are we allowed to do it ourselves then build them if they're not keeping it up to our code if yeah if it's not safe and they don't address it within a period of time we can go in and and make it safe and then invoice them but um we have a good code enforcement person we'll get we'll get right on it okay thank you um the I just want to point out to everyone if you look in your Le League of municipalities magazine that you all received this evening on page 20 you will see a designation for a sister city and I know that we've been talking about this so I just wanted to make make everyone aware check out page 20 and you'll see I'm not really a fan of the particular sign they use but I think a sign might be cool or maybe a sign in the building or something if we decide to move forward with the sister city thing just something to think about so again that's page 20 um I had a conversation with the county in my role as the league of municipalities on uh President we had a great discussion around some really great opportunities that the state has with regard to Startup costs and offsets in the form of grants for shared services so the league is going to be actually facilitating workshops where we're going to be pulling all the the municipal leadership teams into sessions to really work through and talk more about shared services but one of the things that I called immediately the manager to talk about was we've talked about for a long time uh the possibility of having our own dog pound we've used Services all over the place uh we've talked about this before so one of the things that I was thinking and I'm uh I told Jim I I sent you the presentation um to to really do some research because if we could you leverage that money because we already are you know and we build that into a shared service we may be able to have the state pay the entire Bill to build that facility and I think it'd be great for our community great for our animal control and the Police Department um they fund upwards of $500,000 so we have to match I think it was 10% or 15% I don't have it right in front of me so Jenny don't quote me on that because I don't have it right in front of me right here but um it's a really great opportunity and it is to support shared services um Chief also for you to be aware I don't know if you've seen this or not I think I don't know if I send it to you I will send it to you when I get home but the other thing that this could be used for is is new shared services in the area of multiple response so in other words EMS police fire dispatch um if there's equipment that's needed like radios or different things of that nature this money can be used for that so I apologize I will send it to you as well um I'll get it to everybody on Council so everyone can take a look at it but I think there might be some great opportunities there for us and um with that said at some point um well I'll talk to set it offline that's it that's it for me for now thank you now uh public comment period anyone wishing to be heard please approach the mic Mike Divine Oak Parkway I just had three hopefully quick ones the Lake Mohawk meeting is that public Neil or is that just a town and manager or something that that's simply town and U members of the some members of the Board of Trustees uh and then also a couple employees and then uh we're just we we're just trying to keep an open dialogue between the two entities and then um and you know obviously no action is going to be taken at that and any action would have to come uh Visa V you know Lake Mohawk rules and our municipality rules so if I show up I'll get kicked out or asked to leave do you think yes no okay uh but if you have issues that you you think we should discuss I I would encourage you to to email councilwoman Quinn and I and let us know hey you should probably bring this up in your discussions with Lake Mohawk I think that you know both of us would be more than happy to that because as you know last year was dreadful for the lake frankly and don't quote me but it was terrible but they got a really hot Board of Trustees now they're in a state of flux in a positive way so they're kind of open to anything so if there's a opportunities for collaboration whatever this is the prime time to put that in place I think uh hope I can say this it has to do with a resolution but it's like after the resolution so maybe I I can at least make my statement sure I didn't notice it before but the floral alal compounds I don't really know what they are I don't think they're all that hazardous but is this something that was produced in town and may have leaked into our water system that's what the litigation is about would they they you know to make that determination um obviously that's that's an issue in the litigation which would be you know is it in your water system and then whose is it right is it duponts is it 3M is it and so that um but I think it's it's pretty clear that it's in you know systems all over the country yeah it is it's you know and it's it's liken to the new best it's the new as bestest litigation essentially so um you know the way I've looked at it is this is sort of like a grant you know that you know it would be incumbent Upon A Township if they can offset some of the cost through contributions by the defendants they should do so but it's nothing to cause alarm no I mean at this point I mean the standards keep changing um and you know none of us here are scientists and can and and give you advice on whether the levels which don't even know yet the levels you know that that's something that will have to be determined I know we see the uh I know who puts that at the health department or whatever the water quality reports every quarter and I haven't seen any mention of this I could have missed it but they talk mostly about other compounds that are slightly above the allowed parts per billion or whatever it's it's within current standards it is okay doesn't mean it's good but it's yeah for now I fig what the hell the other one was oh back on the uh resolution about the waste the waste of the water quality thing I guess not to beat a dead horse but given the sensitivity of the underlying subject matter I'm hoping we'll all be extraordinarily attentive to anything that has any relationship to that whatsoever so we don't and I'm not I'm not preaching you guys obviously we don't want to intently go record one way or the other I'm not taking a stand for or against it I want to make sure somehow we're put on record and it's well considered and we've thought it out we're not backing into it kind of what Jenny I think was suggesting maybe that happened a couple years ago I don't know let me leave it at that thank you thanks Mike I didn't want to into your time um so two things one is that I was just joking we're not going to kick you out that's um and but that meeting is we meet with large bodies like I mentioned earlier that we were we have a scheduled meeting with the uh County Commissioners just to keep open lines of communication same thing with the Board of Education it behooves us to work well together and so we we try to meet quarterly um and secondly the the P standards are are getting more tight and uh that may require some more investment uh on our part to make sure that we uh comply with tighter restrictions that we foresee coming uh down the pike so um are they Manufacturing in nor town or they just coming from we won't we won't know um I right that they're called Forever chemicals so this could be from 20 30 50 ago right they don't could be a thousand years ago for me fry something exactly yeah these things just don't degrade y yep thanks any other member of the public wishing to be heard I see no one uh may I have a motion to adjourn so move I have a second I'll second all in favor I I I motion carries the meeting is adjourned yes