meeting on thir Tuesday May 14th 2024 in council chambers Sparta Township Municipal Building 65 Main Street Sparta New Jersey time is 7:05 the regular meeting is open all Council meetings are now live streamed and can be viewed at the following link www.youtube.com at Sparta TWP dstreams adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public in press on January 5th 2024 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice Madame clerk may we have a roll call please councilman Herzberg here councilwoman Quinn here councilman shell I'm here mayor here mayor Clark here let's stand to salute the flag please The Pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Madam clerk can you check to see that our microphones are working does it hello I don't don't think working hello no I mean they're all on not working all right I'll I'll try to get my voice to carry then and I hope that other council members can do the same and in pursuant to that I did um I've spoken to um more than one person who said that um it is very hard to hear follow along on the live stream if you're not speaking to the microphone um but now it's doubly hard I suppose all right's here is he here oh is he okay okay thank you right we're going to have an IT person take a look at our microphones but we're going to keep going uh while he addresses that um tonight we have some proclamations um to celebrate and to Proclaim and the first one is for Sparta Living magazine and if some of you I'm sure have received Sparta Living magazine in your mailboxes and it usually features uh outstanding residents and of Sparta so and they are coming upon their H 100th uh Edition so we are going to honor them tonight so I'll read the proclamation whereas Sparta Living magazine has been an integral part of our community for the past eight years providing a platform for uplifting stories showcasing the wonderful families of Sparta and promoting the town's events organizations and achievements and whereas Sparta Living magazine will soon be commemorating its Centennial issue in June 2024 May marking a significant milestone in its journey of sharing the stories that put our town in a positive light and whereas since its Inception in March 2016 Sparta Living magazine has been distributed monthly to homes throughout Sparta courtesy of best version media enriching the lives of its subscribers with articles ranging from local events and sports to community profiles and historical features and whereas the success of Sparta Living magazine is a testament to the dedication and support of the sparta Community including its families organizations leaders and sponsors who have contributed to its growth and relevance over the years and whereas Sparta living Magazine's achievement in reaching its 100th issue Milestone is a testament to its steadfast commitment to showcasing the best of our community and for its role in fostering a sense of Pride and unity among all our residents now therefore be it resolved by the township Council of the township of Sparta that we hereby congratulate Sparta Living magazine on its Centennial issue and encourage all members of our community to continue supporting this invaluable resource that continues to elevate and promote Sparta Township do we have a member of Sparta Living magazine here tonight to accept thank you didn't see you back there someone take a picture because J's not here a picture thank you under 20 decades for me thank you oh man good good so next up we have the sparta UniFi team and I would ask uh councilwoman Quinn who's been a big supporter of all Recreation and particularly this uh team in particular to present the proclamation they're not here that's supposed to be P there not back from their track meet yet oh I thought the thumbs up thought I they were there that this your streaming's working that's stream so they're not back from their yet so if we can can we move into the next meeting and we'll give we'll read the proclamation then is that okay definitely so moved and is that okay you're up for reading the proclamation when they do thank you okay all right next up uh we have uh the sparta chess club and if anyone has been following uh the papers they had an outstanding achievement recently with national champions um I see that we have the coach here who has dedicated over two decades of his life uh coaching this team uh to phenomenal success and I I see that we have some members of of the chess club so thank you for being here and I'll read the proclamation whereas coach Thomas Murray formed the nonprofit organization Sparta chess club in 2002 to promote chess in Sparta Coach Murray worked tirelessly in promoting and facilitating the art science and sport of Chess through coaching and competition for people of all ages especially the students in the sparta Public Schools due to a steadfast dedication to the club it has grown to over 50 members and has traveled to 177 States they have won numerous State and National events and whereas the members of the club include Griffin Brower Ian bellish aayush air Vaden Pard Rowan mle Brendan Wick and Imad Pani which should all be recognized and commended for their commitment and dedication to this remarkable club and whereas Sparta's first undefeated Champion Brendan Wick won the u200 with the a seven game undefeated streak to take the title and Ahad Pani was undefeated with a fifth place finish Rowan mindle won the individual u400 and the team won the u600 national title and whereas the Sparta High School chess team had Victoria showing at the National High School chess championships battling against 90 clubs from the country and taking home several titles now therefore be it resolved that the township Council of the township of Sparta here extends their congratulations and best wishes to the sparta chess club on their incredible and well-deserved victories and urges all residents to join me in on extending congratulations to them for their outstanding achievements congratulations I was the um County High School Champion my senior really I one we had two High School tournaments in our tournament I won both of them and then we had a county tournament still much not at all I suck terrible I played in college is anyone playing your family oh yeah um well not my like kids both do my father was going to play her most of these kids since kindergarten I don't know he working on stuff yeah [Music] is mik coming mik coming yeah if everything's uh working properly no it's not it's not on not in the room uh it's streaming because he's saying the sound's working fine speakers yeah okay yeah so we can find how to turn on the speakers would be great get the feedback but it is going through the stream fine so you don't hear yourself but it is going through the stream okay but people in the audience then if they have a hard time hearing um um yeah just raise your hand if you can't hear us um so I'll I'll try to we're going to get uh go on with the uh more um I won't say mundane but important parts of the meeting tonight uh we have some minutes to approve uh may I have a motion to approve the June 27th 2023 executive meeting minutes as presented I'll make a motion that we approve the executive meeting minutes from June 27th 2023 uh may I have a second please please I will second it all in favor say I I motion carried the minutes the executive meeting minutes of June 27th 2023 are approved um just a clarifying point roxan I don't think I was here for that meeting I think I I may have been traveling was I I don't have them in front of me okay so I'm just not going to vote on them I'm not going to abstain but I'm not going to vote on them okay okay all right next up are the uh may have a motion to approve the August 1st 2023 executive meeting minutes as presented I'll make a motion we approve the August 1st 2023 executive meeting minutes uh may I have a second please I will second that all in favor say I I I motion carries the executive meeting minutes of August 1st 2023 are approved may I have a motion to approve the February 27th 2024 regular meeting minutes as presented I'll make a motion to approve February 27th 2024 regular meeting minutes uh may I have a second please I will second it all in favor say I I uh motion carries regular meeting minutes of February 27th 2024 are approved and next up are the March 12th 2024 meeting minutes and before I ask for a motion I will remind councilman blumetti and councilman Herzberg they were not present at that meeting so I'd request that they uh abstain from voting um may have a motion to approve the March 12th 2024 regular meeting minutes as presented I move that we approve the March 12th 2024 meeting regular meeting minutes as presented may I have a second I'll second all in favor say I I I the March 12 2024 regular meeting minutes as presented have been approved next up is the manager's report uh Mr Jim zpp thank you mayor we're working on the mics okay thank you it's it's being worked on uh good evening mayor council and Sparta residents uh thank you all for uh coming through the wet weather and attending tonight uh one of the Privileges I get as manager of the town is I get to appoint new uh fire department members and uh as you know it's uh been a a tough draw for many towns to get volunteers uh but uh Sparta has been doing pretty well and I'm I'm real happy to see that so at the recommendation of Chief Chris angelucci I would like to appoint Robert Johnson as a member to the sparta Township Fire Department chief Angel Luchi is confident that Mr Johnson will fulfill and complete the New Jersey state mandated firefighter One requirement and become a great asset to the department welcome aboard Mr Johnson appreciate that in our public works department uh the free paper shreding event held uh May 4th generated 95 Vehicles resulting in 2.3 tons of paper shredded this was a lower than average turnout possibly due to the nice weather and act and other activities in the area the paving of certain Township roads up in Sparta lake is scheduled for Thursday and Friday May 16th and 17th pending weather conditions if you live in this area please anticipate delays the dyra park viewing area has been renovated whereby staff has reset all the pavers in order to increase Ada accessibility um thank you to the building of grounds crew the road staff have been busy renovating storm water basins on Angelo Drive and replacing cross drains on Cherry Tre Lane in preparation for Paving this summer The Hidden Glenn retention Pond has been renovated so storm water is properly directed to its retention Basin instead of the surrounding properties the roadside vegetation Management program has started with the mowing of West Mountain Road the roadside mower will be out now until the end of summer mowing the areas of potential sight distance issues throughout the town in our parks department there's a reminder that the annual Trout Derby is Saturday May 18th at Station Park this year's Derby is being sponsored by our Municipal Alliance committee the recreation department is still hiring counselors for our SP Spa recreation day camp at Camp sakaja if interested please visit the town website at Spartan nj.org under employment opportunities for the summer day camp employment application the new section at White Lake Sports Complex is open for use please schedule field use through our recreation department at our library the library will host a monthly Council connect on Friday May 17th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. as a reminder this in initiative was created to give the public an opportunity to ask questions of your elected officials in an informal comfortable environment Chief mccarrick will now read his portion of the mayor's report this concludes my report thank you mayor councel and Sparta residents thank you thank you manager Zep thank you mayor thank you councel uh first I just want to wish everybody I know it's a couple days later happy Mother's Day for all the mothers in the room and all the mothers listening tonight and everybody out there hope you had a well-deserved relaxing day uh I reported last month that April was National distracted driving awareness month and I mentioned the dangers of the to the public and what the public face when motorists operate their vehicles while distracted during the month of April our Police Department took part in the distracted driver campaign and in April our officers conducted 972 motor vehicle stops and issued a total of 278 motor vehicle summonses for various violations the sporta police department was awarded $7,000 in grant funding to enforce the clicket or ticket Campaign which takes place May 20th 2024 to June 2nd 2024 there will be extra patrols throughout this time frame to enforce seat belt and child restraint violations as well as educate the public of the dangers of being in an operational vehicle without safety restraints and I just want to remind the public that we do have certified uh car seat installers um if you need that done please try to call ahead make an appointment um and usually we have somebody on staff that could uh check your child restraint or uh install it for you New Jersey has seen an increase in motor vehicle crash fatalities from 2023 to 2024 for the first quarter and a large part of this is because of impaired driving during the month of May and June the sparta police department will have additional patrols to enforce impaired driving with drivers who may be be under the influence of alcohol and or narcotics These funds for the overtime will be paid by drunk driving enforcement St uh funds that are supplied by the state and we understand that May and June hold many celebrations in everybody's life a lot of graduations coming up and uh we just ask everybody to enjoy your your parties responsibly if you're going to uh celebrate with an alcoholic beverage please get a ride last but not least Sunday May 12th to Saturday may8 18th marks National Police Week well many see this week as a chance to recognize law enforcement officers and simply say thank you for the work that we do US law enforcement officers take a moment to think about the sacrifices we have made for our careers and more importantly we think about the ultimate sacrifice those in law enforcement had made by simply going to work and losing their lives these officers who made the ultimate sacrifice they're not celebrating the summer months they're not watching baseball games they're not planning their next vacation and they're not coming home to their families we we remember them by wearing this morning band right here across our our badge we think about the dedication and the dedication from their families the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Foundation data shows that 136 federal state county Municipal military tribal and campus officers had died in the line of duty 2023 representing a 39% decrease compared to the 224 officers who died in the line of duty in 2022 to the men and women who make up the sport of police department as your Chief I want to say thank you thank you for the sacrifices you have made for the greater good at the Spartan Community thank you for your determination your professionalism your guidance and your commitments and not only those who seek us in their worst moment but also your families each other and most importantly yourselves I know what you do day in and day out and you guys are men and women are simply the best and that's to my officers the national poli police week quote is this if people are the people and the people are the police this is a week for everyone to embrace so I ask this week we all celebrate together thank you it concludes my report thank you Chief thank you Chief service welcome and if we could actually I I would like to take a moment of silence for our our fallen Law Enforcement Officers so if we would just take a few moments thank you okay thank you may I have a motion to accept the manager's report I'll make a motion we accept the manager's report may have a second I'll second all in favor say I I I the manager report has been approved uh we're now to our first public comment period however this public comment period is limited to items that are not on the agenda um so if you see something you want to talk about on the agenda now's not the time so that would include any of the resolutions that are on tap for tonight as well as the uh any ordinances so those are not up for public comment at this time yes ma'am any public comment not related to any items on the agenda to talk about the most recent earthquake we had sure if you would just step up to the mic and state your name and address and please be cognizant of our five minute limit so that others may have a chance to speak tell me when the timer is starting ready good evening I'm a 49-year resident of Sparta it's been a 49e love affair of living here I worked in Mars County previously I always knew what I was driving down to and I also knew what I was returning home to a well-kept secret Sparta New Jersey why is Sparta the crown jewel of Sussex County it's all about the outstanding leadership and vision of our town fathers our manager Our Town Council our current Town manager Jim Zep who was formerly in charge of the sparta road department and who was greatly responsible for contributing to the overall beautification of the Town let's also add the park and wreck department and our library the secret is now out of the bottle New Jersey is now known as an earthquake State Sussex County is an earthquake County and Sparta is an earthquake town the earthquake on 4524 was huge it was involved areas of New York PA New Jersey Maryland and down to Washington BC a common question is where were you when the earthquake hit and how were you affected when I talk to people in town about their experience when the earthquake hit there is fear in their eyes and they have been traumatized I was one of the few who never felt the earthquake I was taking my usual am nap I have a 17-year-old dog and he keeps me up quite a bit at night going in and out anyway I woke to text messages from friends in the midwest are you all right is your house all right there was an earthquake in New Jersey huh I never felt a thing I have steel beam Construction in my basement which runs down the middle of the length of the garage then through the basement uh from end to end Mr Jim Cox of Branchville built my home on scutters and several on Tracy Lane a new neighbor on Tracy like me never felt the thing again steel beam construction the town has records of all of the homes that Jim coocks built in Sparta Solutions going forward prior to any new construction or a knockdown down a geological study needs to be done to determine if the ground below can sustain the weight of a new structure in case there is a future earthquake steel beam construction needs to be mandatory on all new homes and new construction no exceptions many of the homes which are currently standing can be retrofitted uh with steel beams to prevent any future deterioration or loss caused by damage again geological studies need to be done on all future buildings and construction prior to construction current construction may be needed to Halt to Halt completion until these safeguards are in place the current earthquake situation is beyond serious a problem for Sparta residents exists and it needs to be attended to immediately to forego all future damage the epicenter was 29 miles from Sparta many too many aftershocks have been identified since the earthquake has shattered the Safety and Security of everyone living in Sparta and like hook if an earthquake can happen once it can certainly happen again much of the damage caused by the earthquake won't be reported most people living in Sparta don't have earthquake insurance so the expense to repair and remediate will be at their expense perhaps the state of New Jersey can offer lowest hardship loans related to the earthquake for homeowners in need of repairs and Remediation due to the recent event Sparta has faced many challenges in the past superstorm Sandy the Halloween snowstorm to name a few which both decimated our town and thanks to the leadership in our town we recovered we are going to come out of this better and stronger with the aforementioned safeguards in place thank you all for your time and consideration thank you Andrew thank you thank you thank you thank you the name she never said her name oh if you wouldn't mind stating your name and address again Andrea Cunningham and I live on scutters Road thank you thank you and thank you for your informed in the suit OB observations I appreciate it bring it to our attention is there anyone else uh for public comment for items that are not on the agenda uh so if it's on the agenda don't talk about it if it uh you don't see it on there if it's not on the agenda you can talk about it so if you would sir uh just please come to the microphone and just state your name and address uh so the uh clerk has it for the minutes John Ryan 21 will Shire Drive The Ref the subject we have excuse me is the shortterm uh or rental okay I'm I I don't mean to cut you off sir but there is going to be a period for public comment because we're having the hearing on that ordinance tonight and so that's the point at which the public can come forward and present their views so perfect okay I'm just trying to get it in the right order thank you very much for understanding pleasure than you he's on his way here okay any other uh public comments related to items that are not on the agenda okay if not we will uh move to the expenditures uh Deputy Mayor would you please read the expenditures for May 14th 2024 yes I make a motion that we approve expenditures for May 14th 2024 of 6, 68,69 and 58 cents okay may I have a second please I will second it all those in favor say I I I the expenditures of May 14th 2024 are approved uh we have no introduction of ordinances tonight but we do have two hearings um will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 244 an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 12 of the revised ordinances of the township of Sparta to prohibit the short-term rental of residential property okay and now is the point for a public comment on this and and sir you were first so uh if you would get rid of me that easily John Ryan Brian Wilshire Drive number 21 there's a uh a movement um to have a shortterm rental on that street there are eight families on Willshire comprised of young children parents senior citizens I read about the uh permission I I would assume for a house to be and Airbnb we were told or read that everyone on the Block had been notified about their plans to open this Airbnb I personally have gone around to everyone at the neighborhood on that street all eight families and just for a record no one absolutely no one had heard of that request or proposal and they had when I went through it and what was proposed no no one was in favor of it I have a petition here it's been signed I believe it's been handed over but everyone on that uh family or that block in addition to that there's a letter written at least by one one person I have more coming in with their description of what they have in that street and the families I can hand that over later or you wish me to read it now I think handing it over will be fine and and I would ask the the clerk that the the meeting minutes reflect that a petition has been signed the residents were not informed of that proposal number one the amount of traffic that we've been gaining on that road from the people renting they are presently renting that home it could be small groups four six people or as it has been large parties and I believe a wedding party at one time that is added to the traffic on that road at one point there was so much traffic that the uh family at the end of the street who has young children little girls and so on which love to play on that street it's the cold is set dead end there's no local no through traffic only local traffic and then some deliveries they're concerned about that and there were other families that have children playing on that street so when they have parties be large or small they end up parking on the road naturally but they end up blocking driveways they end up parking on both sides of the street it's a narrow Street you can't get two cars to pass pass by at the same time and again it's a hazard uh to the people the kids in that street that's our real concern the safety have several items I'll keep it short I guess the next point would be the most importantly is the security of that street personally my concern is that you have families coming in don't know who they are they have not been vetted and they see a neighborhood that's friendly well Todo arm peaceful where are they going who else do they speak to that could get a group potentially to come back into that neighborhood and potentially do damage damage cars more importantly pedophile steal a child or break into a home home it's a real concern for our small street now I understand that spot is considering having uh rental periods that are at minimum I would hope 30 days if that would be P I assume that would work this particular residence uh going with an Airbnb which goes from Resident to I believe commercial because now they're earning money at that residence that would be I think a a major problem so I will implore you to consider uh doing just that make it at least 30 days that would limit the small parties and groups coming into that street again our concern is safety the children they have senior citizens that walk the street for exercise they don't have to worry about traffic zipping by heavy trucks cars or whatever I see my time is up I think point if you wish to have the copies of this letter I gladly give it to you we can distribute it sure just passes up thank you thank you very much um and if there's any other members of the public who wish to be heard on ordinance 2404 uh after the gentleman is finished handing up his papers feel free to come and just state your name for the record also um because there are members who do want to speak on this please be cognizant of the five minute limit one more time what's that I'm sorry I didn't catch that you as to name one more time uh if you would yeah maybe one more time just to make sure the clerk got it John Ryan 21 Willshire Drive thank you Mr Ryan thank you my pleasure thank you thank you yeah just state your name and address for the record please yes I'm Bill Snider snyde r 14 Oak Parkway a thank you for your service to our community and your work in the short-term rental ordinance being considered I would especially like to thank councilwoman Christine Quinn who Pro provided the opportunity for Neighbors representing both sides of this issue to meet with her and voice our cares and concerns I'm speaking uh on behalf as part of a group of 11 Oak Parkway homeowners of which I am one we have several of them here today if you could raise your hand um we are currently experiencing the effects of having an Airbnb business established in our neighborhood as I begin I would like to address two misconceptions that I've heard first that this is a Lake Mohawk issue clearly it is not Airbnb commercial businesses are being established in residential neighborhoods throughout Sparta second that short-term renters help our local economy short-term renters do not contribute to our local businesses in the same way long-term renters do from personal experience I watch renters in boxes of food and drink for their stay they're not going to our dentists getting a picture framed on Main Street frequenting our auto repair shops or buying a Mother's Day gift at one of our jewelry stores however that is exactly what residents and long-term renters are doing I'm going to read a few short excerpts from an article I came across yesterday regarding Airbnb businesses impact on communities I believe it accurately identifies the present threat that our Sparta residents and businesses are facing and I quote airbnb's wholesome efforts would end up growing a wholesome group of hosts and travelers but all this would change when Airbnb became a mainstream platform in the second half of the 2010s nothing fundamentally changed about the platform the founders the mission or even the investors but everything would soon change about how Airbnb was used after seeing the rising success of Airbnb property owners and investors sense a unique opportunity instead of Renning out a portion of their Prime uh primary residence why not rent out an entirety of an investment property this would drive more Revenue than a long-term tenant and before you knew it Airbnb went from being a place for Budget accommodations to being the place to rent out Villas and one of the main side effects of this trend is increasing home and rent unaffordability local cities and homeowners associations are trying to do their best to control this Airbnb epidemic by limiting short-term rentals increasing taxes and fees and doubling down on regulation but for the most part these efforts aren't really all that effective even if enforced most Airbnb investors simply see these limitations and extra expenses as the cost of doing business and you can't blame Airbnb for screwing up the housing market because they were actually trying to do the exact opposite make accommodations cheaper for hosts and travelers but as you might expect over time the market worked its way towards the path of highest profit and revenue which was investment properties and Luxury Rentals and that's how Airbnb became a 100 billion Million Dollar business and inadvertently screwed up the housing market recently an Airbnb business was established in our Oak Parkway neighborhood as mentioned in the ordinance for all intents and purposes this is nothing more than a commercial Motel operating next door to me with a front desk in Florida no one lives at the property and occupants changed three times over the previous week this has become a serious quality of life issue for us and is a growing safety concern for ourselves and our neighbors last week I traveled to Phoenix my wife was scared living in our own home while I was gone not knowing who would be showing up next door at any given time our houses are only 20t apart you know could it be as the gentleman had said is it is there a some of the criminal record there are there illegal drugs there those are not crazy questions they go through our minds um even if you have an unpleasant neighbor at least you know who they are and this is we don't have that uh in our neighborhood view our affected Sparta neighborhoods as the canary and the coal mine we are already experiencing the problems of Airbnb motels in our neighborhoods it will make you think next time you learn about a property for sale in your neighborhood will this be an Airbnb short-term rentals in Sparta should be ended now for a variety of reasons including the following a growing transient population created by Airbnb businesses will eventually and fundamentally change the fabric of our community reflected in Rising housing cost costs rental costs neighborhood conflicts and negative effects on our local businesses attempting to regulate short-term rentals will most likely fail as I quoted previously most Airbnb investors simply see these limitations and extra expenses as the cost of doing business the impact of Airbnb short-term rental businesses will increase in scope it will be much harder if not impossible to rein them in at a later date the reason we must act now the the the uh influx of Airbnb businesses recalls a well-known quote regarding bankruptcy first it happens slow and then it happens fast will Sparta continue to attract new residents and long-term renters that contribute to the fabric of our community thank you sir yeah you're up at the five minutes I appreciate all your comments thank you thank you any other member of the public wishing to be heard on short term rental ordinance hi there my name is Emily Bowden B wde and while I'm not a resident of Sparta I am uh I do work here at 351 Sparta Avenue Mr mayor council good evening again I'm Emily and I am the executive officer for the Sussex County Association of Realtors a membership organization that represents 650 local real estate agents that practice in our community and the local level of the National Association of realtorss part of our mission statement is quote the preservation to own transfer and use real property so not only do I come to you on behalf of the members of our organization as the voice of uh as the voice of real estate in Sussex County I speak to you today on behalf of private property owners and their rights the Sussex County Association of realtorss and the New Jersey Realtors sent a letter to the Town Council on April 18th 2024 expressing our deep concern over the proposed ordinance of 24-2 uh 24-4 a rental Control Ordinance that prohibits rentals under 28 days while the council did not confirm that you received these letters I am here to publicly voice our concerns we have regarding the implications of this ordinance um on private homeowners rights in Sparta one of the greatest misconceptions about rental properties is the idea that these properties are owned by conglomerates big-time investors and other faceless organizations the truth is most rental properties are owned by regular local people like you and like me people who may have acquired a property when a loved one passed away senior people who are snowb biring South but still want to be close to their grandchildren and maintain a place here in Sparta people who are trying to supplement their their income and offset the ever increasing cost of living in a difficult economy an ordinance that prohibits homeowners in Sparta from renting out their properties for less than 28 days affects the common practice among New Jersey residents to supplement income or manage their properties one away prohibition of short-term rentals could have economic implications as well Lake Mohawk the boardwalk White Plaza all offer a historical charm that attracts many visitors to our area golf clubs hiking trails open spaces and other attractions support a strong tourism in Industry here additionally there are a number of esteemed wedding venues in our area wedding guests all need short-term accommodations a ban on short-term rentals could hinder our local economy impact home prices and deter potential visitors who contribute significantly to our growth acknowledging concerns about short-term rentals impacting neighborhood quality of life there's a need to find a balanced approach alternative suggestions include exploring uh nuanced regulations without infringing on property owners rights such as implementing policies based on substantiated complaints rather than blanket restrictions instead of adopting the current ordinance we suggest Alternatives that regulate rather than restrict short-term term rentals this could in involve flexible approaches like permits occupancy restrictions or safety standards we express the willingness to participate in discussions with this ordinance through the letter s sent to the Town Council we would be willing to collaborate with the town to refine this ordinance and offer to be involved in the process to ensure that our concerns are addressed while finding a viable solution for regulating short-term rentals in Sparta I thank the council for the time to listen to the concerns and comments of the Sussex County Association of Realtors and we hope to work with the town on this matter as well as any other matters that impact real estate industry and property owner rights in Sparta thank you thank you thank you thank you anyone else wishing to be heard on short-term rentals I'm uh I'm James Gaddy and over Road um as I've as I've been here for the past uh three meetings uh it's kind of fun um it's it's been interesting to me to see the reactions of some residents uh to short-term renters and uh after the last meeting I I had a chance to speak with our neighbors on Oak Lane and and I feel terrible for what they're going through and it sounds like you guys are going through something similar um my concern is that the ordinance that has been put forward um is the exact same ordinance you put forward last time um and uh Miss Quinn thank you for taking the time to talk with us about it um but a lot of information was raised and I feel like council did not listen to any of those concerns um the the the types of situations that these folks are describing are very different uh from the situation that I have the situation that I have is I am a homeowner uh I have two uh 12 year-old children uh and when I go away uh living across the street from perona Farms I I want to be able to rent my home out to someone for a weekend uh I want to be able to have that flexibility as a homeowner I'm not starting a business although you might remember my my house is actually zoned for business um however I should have the right to do with my property uh what I want within the bounds of of the guidelines that you establish and so I think that you know you know clearly some of these folks here um they're speaking from the heart when they say they're afraid to go home at night and I I I feel for them but that's a very different situation from my example I live in the woods I really don't have neighbors nobody would be bothered if I had a guest at my home for the weekend in fact I have many guests at my home for the weekend they're called friends and nobody knows who they are and trust me some of them have criminal records some of them have been charged with drug possession when they were 18 you know I'm going off on a tangent but nobody knows who the people are that are visiting my house and so I I would just urge you um I know you put a lot of thought and effort into this but I would urge you to really consider that the ordinance you're putting forward is very very far-reaching and I really think it impedes a homeowner's right and I think that again the example I used is that if I want to have my friends who live in London come stay at my house for the weekend and I'm not there and they say hey we'll buy you dinner your ordinance bans that and that's too far-reaching so I would really really urge you to consider voting this down this evening and find a way to strike a balance we're going from from here to here and there's got to be somewhere in between that can protect these folks and make them feel safe but at the same time give homeowners the freedom to do you know what they will within responsible boundaries so thank you thank you thank you anyone else who hasn't spoken already about uh short-term rentals go ahead good evening my name is Jenna Peko I'm not a resident of sparter but I am a short-term rental owner I own multiple properties and multiple townships that have ORD in place all which allow short-term rental under specific regulations and I think you know just as many people said here tonight the key is to protect the community um and also the home as well and for me personally one of the reasons I started short-term rental is because I loved where I lived I wanted other people to experience that um especially in small towns small communities and have that experience we live in a state where vacation rentals are very common right we go to the Jersey Shore we stay in someone's home this is not something new in the state of New Jersey it's not something new in this area of Sussex and Morris County um and I understand many of uh the residents here how they are concerned with negative things that are shown in the media but as um James mentioned Emily mentioned these are minimal in short-term rental and if you have ordinance in place where you can um cover violations and limitations to uh the number of guests that is where you protect your community that's where you protect your residents but I can tell you as somebody who has been a short-term rental owner for over 3 years have had over 250 people stay in just one property um following and and biding by those ordinance that the township puts in place it's amazing to see how I was able to share my community with so many people and to also give somebody a home away from home versus you know having a family and not being able to cook or some like having children and being stuck in a hotel room or going to a wedding where they don't even allow hotels and communities within 10 miles that's really the purpose of having a short-term rental so thank you thank you thank you any other member of the public on short-term rentals hi Tammy good evening all um I've spoken several times here in regard to short-term rentals um I have to say I'm a lot disappointed that nothing has changed um my biggest concern as you know is the business community and uh commercially our our wedding venues as well as our retail and our restaurants because they do benefit from short-term rentals my concern is that um across the country there are towns that do have overlays and do have the opportunity for carats and I know I've had many discussions about that it's really a matter of enforcement and I kind of feel like Sparta doesn't want to do enforcement and I think that's what it's come down to um whether it's an enforcement officer or whoever it is it matters in regard to enforcement there's no doubt about that the reality is there's both sides of the story here I understand the res and their concerns as well as those who have are homeowners here but I also understand the needs of the business community and honestly I think it's a slap in the face to our business community that you wouldn't support something that would support them so with that I just express my concerns I hope that you'll take a good look at that because if you are to support tourism that's tourism and it's tourism in a big way so um I hope you'll think a little more outside the box instead of cookie cutter and putting it across the board because it kind of strangles the community in that relationship so with that I I leave that that's my final word in regard to short-term rentals but I do hope that you'll look across the country Sparta is not just one town looking at this this is a national issue and yes there are plenty of restrictions that can be put into place there are permits that are there there's dollars to be raised as well for all including the town but I think that it was too easy just to stick with the same and not even change anything in the ordinance I'm sorry but I had to step forward and say that thank you thank you thank you Addison nilus as uh Tammy here um I too have come to express my disappointment I thought that by now there would be some consensus and some balance into what would be an amazing ordinance to Safeguard the residents from their concerns and be able to regulate an entity uh short-term rental properties around the township and and that they are continue to give uh be given that opportunity to use their properties not just as a place to live but um being able to offer as uh Jenna said a place for people to experience the community and the township there are a lot of people that come to the county that come to this Township to experience uh a home away from home uh and they do spend their dollars they might not go to the dentist because they're not permanent residents but they go to the shops they go to the stores they go to the bowling alleys it does you will see a effect and not a positive one if you do prohibit this tonight I truly do think that you all on the board and you mayor can find a balance that you do not want to or you find it too hard or you do not want to enforce or put in regulations um I think there are other worst things that you would have to decide on than something like this of a matter of shortterm rentals it's not this uh matter like other things that are more grave and more of a concern I do think there's a balance that can be taken into consideration and that property owners can feel safe in their homes and although yes there's never a guarantee who can come and visit a home just like you don't have a guarantee who your neighbor is going to be whether they are a long-term tenant but uh in my experience and my family's experience I would rather have a short-term rental guest next door coming and going even if it was a bad experience than a tenant or a neighbor that who could possibly be a pedophile there living for over a year if that is really the concern but nonetheless there are ways to vet people there are ways to put in regulations and to put in rules that can Safeguard residents and neighbors and that we can find a balance I truly think there is um other townships have done it and with great success and it's not a matter of just seeing one side of the story because as the mayor and the town board you're supposed to look for both sides you have to find a consensus you have to find a balance it's not just sighting with one side and I I do hope that you know the wisdom that you all have in being representatives of this Township and not just the township but being part of this County that you all uh find that in consideration in all this situation with the short tentals thankk you thank you thank you you anyone else who has not yet spoken on short-term rentals wish to be heard great and again say your name hi Andrea Cunningham scutters Road for 20 years my husband and I have owned uh short-term rentals we call them nightly weekly rentals down in Missouri on Table Rock Lake it's an entire Peninsula that is made up of private homes and also condos which are nightly weekly rentals it's it's part of the terrain anyway the point is uh habitability if you're going to do nightly rentals here in Sparta uh down in Missouri it's based on square footage example if you have a 1,200 squ foot condo you're only allowed six people if you have an 1100t condo you're allowed five it is the fire department that sets the code as far and and enforces it and if in fact an owner is found to be exceeding the code as far as how many people are allowed in they lose their right for as far as a nightly re nightly weekly rental permanently it's interesting that as a Jersey girl I follow the code most missourians don't which is really amazing um anyway that's what they do down there additionally if you're going to have a nightly weekly rental you're going to have Commercial Insurance because if you don't have Commercial Insurance if there's an accident you're totally responsible for the um accident the incident Etc uh you'll need you'll I have to pay additional taxes um I have to pay additional money for Water and Electric and a variety of other things but it's really the key is really habitability 200 square F feet per person if you exceed that then you lose your right as far as a nightly weekly rental you can do monthly but it's the same thing the fire department really is key as far you as far as how you determine things where I am I'm lucky it's an entire Peninsula with lots of condos that are nightly weekly rentals private homes that are nightly nightly weekly rentals we all get along when we follow the code but that's what we're set up for it's not a private home in a neighborhood somewhere like Sparta that does not happen also with Airbnb I have hesitated for 20 years to well to even get involved with Airbnb often times if you're going to read about a bad incident it's happened through a bit Airbnb rental uh several Halloweens ago there was a murder that occurred a few Mur MERS that occurred out in California for a Halloween party large groups rented a house no controls here large group should not be renting a house um the owner needs to determine how many people come in and there were guns involved and there were there were there were deaths involved uh there also have been incidents with Airbnb where someone will rent you just have to call up and you rent in uh uh you you can rent a condo and they do they'll rent a condo and then they'll have a drug drop done and you don't know what's gone on in your condo I think um BRBO is much more intense as far as their monitoring what goes on Airbnb just kind of allows things to happen and you find them in the newspaper quite often that those are my experiences and what I know about the situation thank you any other member of the public who hasn't spoken already wish to be heard on uh the short-term rental ordinance and just again state your name and address for the record thank you hi everyone my name is Bianca I am a homeowner at seven Hillside Road in Sparta in the Lake Mohawk Community um I grew up in Sparta um I use this home partially and when I'm not using it my husband and I do short-term rentals um there's a few things I just sort of want to touch base um in the state of New Jersey um it is e legal to do a criminal background check on a potential tenant unless you have offered them a contract so you do not know if they're a p a file and you do not know of their criminal history until after you offer them the contract so you really don't know longterm who's going to be your neighbor or whatnot so that can happen in any sort of area not just a short term um also um home homeowners who rent their home long-term to long-term tenants also make money and those properties are not commercially zoned um and then someone stated that Airbnb screwed up the housing market um that's not entirely true uh there's High interest rates um there's also been decades where homes haven't been built um and this has affected the housing market completely um and just so you know there are currently 67 homes for sale in Sparta right now um and currently I just got two requests for people to stay in my house from locals um Nancy and Greg whose family lives on Springbrook are coming to town in June for their granddaughter's High School graduation in Sparta also I have Maryanne who moved to Texas last year is coming to town for a week to visit her family who still lives in Lake Mohawk so most of the people who are coming here to stay have family here or are coming here for friends um receptions at wedding so a lot of the people who are coming are our friends and families um I hope you guys reconsider we want a balance um I had a meeting with Christine we sat down for three hours and talked it was a lovely meeting um and I was very disheartened to see that the ordinance is exactly the same as what you guys initially introduced it um it's extremely disheartening we're willing to work with you guys but there has to be a balance and I hope you guys do reconsider thank you thank you thank you thank you anyone else from the public who hasn't spoken already uh what is to be heard about short-term rentals okay hearing seeing no one I will take it back to council for discussion and comments and um I will start to my left I know councilwoman Quinn has done a mendous amount of work I know she originally moved to table the ordinance uh when we had it back at the introduction because um she wanted to dig into it as she is her want and she did a very thorough job and met with members of the public um and so I I think it's only fitting that she should go first um if that's okay so I have a cold so I'm going to try to get through everything um first of all I want to thank everyone who took the time to meet with me it was great conversation great dialogue um I met with everyone you can imagine key stakeholders on every single side Realtors uh business owners uh residents that have short-term rentals residents that have concerns about short-term rentals I met with um a myriad of different people across demographics senior citizens new families in town people that lived in HOAs people that just lived in neighborhood I did my due diligence across public records ordinances um I spent hundreds of hours researching the topic in an effort to come up with after tabling the the ordinance last time uh 10-page working document that I could we a place where I could put everybody's concerns and everybody's desires into a document in an effort to try to come up with some sort of um way for us to to compromise moving forward around the these issues so I want to thank everybody who took the time um for that I want to thank you all for being so honest with me on your concerns and your ideas around short-term rentals um it really did allow to get a boots on the ground look at the issue from so many different perspectives so the the document that I ended up compiled this compiling this working document that I have um I sent to the manager I sent to our attorney um we had a meeting went through vetting a lot of these things I then updated the document and sent it to my members of council so that everybody had the exact same um information so in The Proposal there were multiple um recommendations recommendations that came from homeowners on every side that came from stakeholders um there were also throughout the the course of this initiative some things that really popped out one of which was at the township level we need to do a better job of making sure that people are registering any kind of rental in Sparta so this is the First Fundamental problem that I think at least from my perspective was uncovered when looking at this entire um issue because when it came to getting statistical data on the numbers of things it started with okay well let's try to do a search okay then it went to oh let's search this website oh wait let's go to this website let's go to Marketplace let's go to Instagram let's go I mean it it's everywhere we don't have we need to do a better job of enforcing um this ordinance to get any owner of any rental property to get these properties um registered so that we have a repository of information to go from we need to make sure that the right information is included at the time of that application and that registration as well and I'll talk about that in a minute um the there were a number of different things that that came out of of this working document that we discussed many of which I and I don't know if I'm if I can speak to this but my understanding we haven't really met to to talk about it my understanding is that many of the things that citizen had identified and shared with me as concerns um are going to be rolled up into the processes around this registration of property so making sure that there's fire inspections Insurance somebody mentioned Insurance before making sure that emergency information is posted making sure that um people in the neighborhood are notified within 200 ft of the property making sure that an a cert certificate of occupancy permit is established with a number and that that permit is displayed on the property somewhere um all of these things are not just they're not just specific to short-term rentals they apply to rentals in general whether it's shortterm or long term so my understanding is that in addition to um what is on for tonight my understanding is that those recommendations are going to be rolled up into a new process that the township is going to implement or look at implementing around uh a big push to make sure that people are in compliance I want to be clear this is not a new ordinance this is not a new requirement this has been around anyone that owns a rental property should have that rental property and by law and by ordinance need to have that property registered with with the township and currently it's becoming more evident that it's not not the case so as the first thing we need to get our hands on um so my understanding is in addition to this uh we are going to make great strides hopefully in uh updating the process and the procedure um and and making sure that a lot of the uh concerns that you all brought to me anyway are addressed at the highest level with any rental um also um when we come forth and I I also want to thank uh Mr Ryan also and Jim for your patience endless patience with me on this topic and going through at Such Great Lengths all of the different things that were identified it was a lengthy process it's over a 10-page document and I want to just be clear also that there are C became very clear as well there are certain things that as a Township we have responsibility and we can do and there are certain things that um need to go back to your individual HOAs so that um to put more safeguards in place if these things still concern you if they're not addressed um at this level so what am I mean when I'm talking about that um the issue many of you brought up was on-site parking this becomes a huge issue if there is a rental that has um a holiday party or some kind of get together and next thing you know the residents come home to their house and the uh short-term rental is having a party and there's there's cars parked up and down a small Road that's really a problem we really cannot address that we have parking ordinances that the police will address but one of the things that was brought up to us to me was is there any way to make sure that people could um just have if if the residential property has two parking spots you get two cars that's that we can't control that we have our ordinances but for example if you're still concerned about that you could bring that back to your HOA um Septic Inc capacity and to your point 200 square feet per people um that should be addressed also at the HOA level um we also talked about garbage and sometimes people with the best intention that are checking out are cleaning up and putting out garbage on Monday and they're doing that in the best Spirit but garbage doesn't come till Wednesday wednes so many of you express there's garbage often times up and down the road through no fa fault of a renter um so we you guys brought to my attention he what about bear prooof garbage cans or what about things like that we at the township level are not going we cannot address that but if you feel still strongly you could bring those back to your individual HOAs and and see if you can't get um you know a vote to to look at those different things um all in all again I know that this has been been um a long journey and I want to again thank everybody uh hopefully everyone on the council I don't know if anyone had questions about anything in the document I didn't hear from um I didn't get any questions but uh if anyone has any I'm I'm open to answering them the best that I can and the document also just to be clear contain five different potential options that all of you brought to me as well so I want to be clear my working document reflected a lot of different potential um situations that I promised to bring forward on everyone's behalf so I just want to let everyone know that that is what was done and thank you again thank you councilman hburg so my opinion really hasn't changed since last time I I I said it then I'll say it again I think there is a middle ground I I think people should feel safe in their neighborhoods people should expect some this stuff to be regulated but but I don't feel like the work was done to do that I I feel like there are commercial residential zones that that's an easy decision there are places where um I think airbnbs could operate and not affect anyone um but that takes work it takes work to sit down and go through everything and look at different places and I don't think it was done I think Chris did a fantastic job I I saw her document she has a lot of options I don't know what happened past that we weren't involved in any of the conversations that that crafted this this ordinance but I think there there's still a lot more work to do to make it right for everyone and that should always be our job is to try and address everyone's concerns and still find middle ground and I I just don't think that was done here that's all I have councilman blue M yeah thank you um you a couple comments uh first Chris thank you for all that work and for meeting with everyone I'm sure took a lot of time um rest assured I know we heard some comments too that it seemed like not much changed in the ordinance and well visibly that's true um I read your report very carefully and parts of it twice and extracted parts of that into my thinking and my notes as I before I met again to look at it with um uh the mayor and Jim and Tom and Tom and Jim reviewed some of the conversation they had with you and some of the answers and why some of those things were better elsewhere and some of them we just couldn't do so I do appreciate that very much um so this the feedback was reviewed very carefully and a lot of timeing consideration and consideration went into that um this process and dialogue started I believe the middle of last year and then it was tabled I think fall and winter started up again so this is not anything new or anything that's been rushed um for one thing we we tabled last time and uh we committed to checking from a legal pers perspective whether or not we could uh possibly break out this by land use or by Zone and specifically looking at mixed use zones and um you know where you have some commercial and yet some some residential and the the legal answer we have and and which is true is that we can't do that um that's not a possibility so you know we looked at all the requests we got and I have to tell you over the last starting with last summer and even this spring I've had requests um very an email sent to me asking for everything to don't do anything to don't have any rentals less than 150 or 175 days honestly so this is in a sense a balance um in my mind and based on a lot of the feedback that we received it's it's not as you a lot of you have said this is it's not a simple solution um we have spent a lot of time on this and um you know the work there has been a lot of work that's been put into this and a lot of the work happens here in the dialogues we've had since last summer so you've witnessed that diog and that back and forth the rewrites and it delays so u i I'll just leave it at that for now but um before we move on I do have one comment on the the technical definition that's in there but I'll I'll table that for now um thank you all um and um you know if anybody has you know as we see here behind a Dias if anybody has any uh changes they'd like to introduce now is the time to change to do that um but in short um as we've all know this is a very hard problem and as councilman gled mentioned you know and as we've heard today um yeah it is I'm sorry um I'll try to project my voice a little bit better and the the speakers aren't working in the in the in the room so I apologize um this is a difficult problem as we all have have heard um and um it's unfair to say that we didn't listen we U we did uh we we've had a lot of communications with people uh as councilman bed said we've talked uh a lot in public session about this uh we've had legal council look at this thing uh up and down um a lot of thought has gone into this um uh in uh I also want to make sure that um it's it's been made clear that um uh nuisance laws are already on the books and so noise parking garbage uh that's not addressed here for a reason because those things are already addressed in other parts of our in our Township ordinances um so what we're addressing here is is just the rental piece um and in the end my my position hasn't changed um I I am against uh having someone run a business out of a residential structure um hotels are regulated for reasons uh businesses have different regulations to accommodate walk up customers for a reason hotels accommodate people with disability they provide ample parking there are more stringent fire and safety regulations in the list goes on you know hotels are hotels hotels are not houses um short-term rentals have only become ubiquitous because a short a silon valley customer or company has found a way to get around them uh and that's how that that's why this industry has popped up as we said since in the last 10 or five or 10 years um we've also mentioned that um as you've heard today that the the neighbors of the people in the residences have not asked for this um if you move next to a bakery you probably expect that people are going to bake next to you um if you move next to a house you don't expect to live next to a hotel um uh and we've also another point that was mentioned by the gentleman earlier is that every short-term rental that you have takes one uh house out of the resource pool and exacer Ates our housing problem um every Airbnb is one less residence for a family that wants to live here uh thus raising the cost of uh of of renting a home for everybody um as we mentioned earlier in other meetings we do have a need for short-term rentals or short-term uh housing um uh we have uh wedding venues and this is a wonderful place to uh to visit and we have parks and we have um Trails um but I think the way to accommodate that is through the front door with uh we should look at and our land use laws are being looked at by the planning board to look for places for maybe not 100 room hotels but maybe more boutique hotels uh bed and breakfasts of that kind of sort um those are the businesses that I think our residents here want to attract um and you do that by making sure your land use girls promote that um so um uh I will uh close by saying I do understand that people have made investments in their properties and um I do um uh I think changing the laws um quickly could be a problem and so I'm open to phasing out uh or phasing in this uh this law over a number of months or so or maybe toward the end of the year so uh with that I would like uh we haven't had a motion to introduce it but once that motion's introduced I would like to make a motion to make a a um an amendment to uh uh to the motion um so I guess I'll wait for uh mayor Clark's comments and then we can introduce the I think technically according to Robert's Rules you're supposed to introduce the uh ordinance before we have public debate on it but um um barring that I'll wait for the mayor's comments and then I will introduce the change to have this phase in over uh longer period of time and that's the end of my comment thank you is that better can you hear me was that okay thank you um I don't have much to add I think that um as was alluded to a lot of work has been put into this over very many months uh councilwoman Quinn uh especially put a tremendous amount of work I too uh reviewed all that she had written on it all that she had submitted um and she also shared that with our attorney and our town manager uh whom I met with and and relayed those concerns and so a lot of due diligence has been done to this in fact I will say that probably more due diligence was put into this than a couple land use ordinances that we have currently affecting our Township now um so I will tell you that a lot of work has been done and it is a balance I think that's where the 28 days came up with why it's 28 and not 30 as people know there's 28 days in February so for the folks who want to um who are snowbirds and want to rent out their home for the month of February they will be able to do so um we also had testimony or public comment uh by a short-term renter that said over 50% of her rentals were for one month or more and so again I think we've we've gotten uh it does try to strike a balance and as I alluded to earlier if it were up to me uh I and and what my preference would be I would like short-term rentals as someone who has uh you know four children and eight and four stepchildren who always want to come and I have to take them down to a you know rock away and elsewhere it'd be a lot easier for me if they could rent short-term rentals but again um this is not about my personal preference this is what I believe the consensus of the community wants and it's my job and I believe it's our job to AFF effectuate uh the consensus of the community which I think is to limit these and so with that um I will close my my comment on this and so uh may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 244 I move the we we move to adopt ordinance 2004 as presented uh may I have a second I'll second but I I would like to preface if I may by clarifying what the discussion is and the path forward so first and foremost my understanding is that it was agreed that we were going to roll in the residents concerns into the new registration process yeah correct right yes yes my other understanding in the document in the work document that I created it also had references to bed and breakfast and different verbiage that um was going to be looked at to support that model for businesses and my understanding is further discussion and research is going to be done in that area correct right it's separate discussion MH it's a separate discussion but I want to make sure that we're on the right record that it's happening right okay and also Dan you mentioned a phasing in Period um I also would like to recommend that we review this in a year let's get everything registered let's um get some data and maybe in a year a year's time or so we can relook at this and re-evaluate where we are um but if you wanted to implement if you wanted to change this before we vote on it I think you had said you wanted to put a phase in yes what is your what would be your so if now is the time I will make a motion that we amend the ordinance 244 to have the ordinance take effect as of January 1st 2025 so Tom we had a second on on the the ordinance as read um but now we have a motion is that so we're going to entertain well you need a you have a motion to amend now you need a second motion to amend and then you can discuss the motion to amend and take a vote on the motion to amend got it okay may I have a a second to councilman chello's motion to phase in 2404 beginning in January uh 2025 so I I have a question sorry um would this apply to existing reservations only or would this leave the window open that now uh everyone says oh my gosh rent your house quick because in January you're not going to be able to do it anymore and next thing you know we have this revolving door going on so whatever we do here takes effect January 1 2025 so it it would not only affect registrations for short-term rentals that are already in place correct based on what you're saying anyone could keep renting and renting and renting and do it with more to make more money until January of 2024 correct correct yes I make the motion because I think there there is an element of being unfair if somebody had taken deposits on renters rentals for this year and now has to go back and say I'm sorry I can't do that anymore because the ordinance have changed so um that's for an existing so that's that's my point there's no way to police they have existing reservations you don't know I don't know everyone okay way check on that but Dan this is to clarify this is not a phase in you called it a phase in this is just pause hold off for seven months you're right phase is isn't inappropriate this is delaying the effect of it until January 1 2025 so it's 7 months sure my my my concern with that is that we've started this process last summer or fall there seemed to be a sense of urgency and feedback from residents that we do something to me that seems I'm not against a grandfather period for a little while with the summer coming up but I think January 1st seems quite long to do all this now and then wait seven months I understand yeah so if there's no second it the motion fails I'll second okay okay so we have a second um all those uh the um does anyone else need to be heard on the motion to amend which would change the effective date of ordinance 2404 until January of 2025 meaning that if there are uh existing reservations uh that have been made those would be allowed as well as additional reservations for the time period from now until December 31st 2024 so that that's the effect of this of of moving the effective date to January 1st 2025 I think also people need time to sell these houses if they can't rent them out and they're gonna I mean there's going to be things that people have to do just to square their finances away or adjust their business model to account for one month right y if I want to make a a motion for on the same topic should I make that before this vote I'd rather judicate this yeah we'd have to vote on the the amendment you can then make your own motion to amend it further if the amendment is adopted pull it back to or if it's denied you still can go forward and make your move okay okay thinking something maybe more in the middle perhaps well sure September 1st or something might be more reasonable so that so so before we continue with the vote um I want to reaffirm with our legal council that um this does not constitute a material change that would otherwise require us to reintroduce this it it would not because we're not changing the ordinance you the council is exercising its Authority and discretion in when this this ordinance is going to take effect thank you okay so we have a second is there anyone else that needs to be heard on this if not then we'll go proceed to a roll call vote on the motion to amend go hearing no one else uh may I have a roll call vote on the motion to amend 2404 to have the effective date be January 1st of 2025 councilman Herzberg yes councilwoman Quinn yes councilman Sherell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti no mayor Clark yes okay the motion to amend has been approved um 2404 the effective date will be January 20125 um so hopefully give people time to uh do what what they will with the property now we can make another amendment if you want to Y now okay so I'd like to I'd like to um bring for discussion Amendment for the definition of occupant um right now this the way this is written the prohibited use the the the core of this says that it's unlawful for an owner or an occupant to Etc have a rental less than 28 Etc the way we describe occupant defines it as someone who owns or who is has rights or is in that property for 30 days or more um so there is a a gap there in terms of you you could be there but not be defined as an occupant if you're there for two weeks or three weeks or even four weeks and therefore this wouldn't apply to you um so what I wanted to bring up or make a motion is that we in the definition for occupant we leave it as is but we just take out the component that says should be for a period of 30 days or more that makes you an occupant and then therefore this would apply so if we just strike out the 30 days then occupant would be someone there who's there for shorter than 30 days and therefore this ordinance if it passes would apply to that entity as well whether it's a person or an entity a friend Corporation whatever it is in actuality the reference to 30 days uh really should be to 28 days an earlier version uh of this ordinance was for 30 days but then it was during the course of the discussion the back and forth it was reduced to 28 days so my I I would be comfortable uh and I do think it's a A Min what's called a ministerial correction would be to change in fact the fourth whereas Clause that also still refers to 30 days change that to 28 days and then that definition for occupant changed that to 28 days but I would also note that regardless of what what we do with that Clause uh under this uh ordinance if indeed adopted it's going to prohibit short-term rentals defined as uh any rentals less than 28 Days by an owner or an occupant by owner by occupant but the idea is that the owner and the occupant have the legal authority to uh to rent out the property no one else does um so in other words I think reference was made at one point to what if their children uh do a short-term rental well that's the responsibility of of the owner to control that um so the bottom line is that indeed short-term rentals pursuant to this uh this particular proposed ordinance will be prohibited for less than 28 Days by anyone no one will be authorized to uh to lease that property section 10.2 Tom though says when it talks about prohibited use it says it shall be unlawful for an owner or occupant of a dwelling unit to receive or obtain consideration for the rental of any dwelling unit for a period of less than 28 days so if you're not an occupant or an owner you don't have any legal authority to uh to rent out that property if you're not and by you know we Define occupant there as that person who has a a a right to be there a lease to be there for more than 28 days so there we're concerned about the suas a person who is a uh a a tenant and has a lease and they have their right to subase yeah so again that's what we're addressing by referencing um the owner and occupants there but if if you don't have a a leasehold um and you're not an owner then you don't have any legal right to lease out that property okay so even though occupants is is defined as someone who has possession right of a dwelling unit yeah because an occupant an occupant under 28 days doesn't have the legal authority to rent it out because we're prohibiting it yeah a squatter they don't have any legal right to be there well not if it's rented to them not if it's rented to them correct leas hold interest in it yeah if they're an employee of an entity or a relative of an of the owner right yeah if there's right and there's no consideration being paid for their their staying there but they don't have a legal right to do a short-term rental while they're guests of the owner that was the question if there was a loophole there you don't so yeah I don't see any loophole okay yeah it may become an Enforcement issue but I don't see any loophole you just got to make sure we are able to somehow stay on top of all that okay do you want to retract your motion or do you want to just well we're going to change it to 28 days motion to two places and that's a ministerial correction that doesn't need any formal action okay I'll retract the motion yeah so we're retracting the motion because it's a ministerial act that doesn't require a formal motion no no council bed's motion that he's retracting was to strike that last paragraph phrase all together so that and we need a new motion to make the administra change to no we actually don't actually don't need a formal motion to do admin Co never mind no more we should change paragraph 4 whereas on page one to 28 days that's correct on page two the third paragraph down should be 28 days correct that's correct okay so those change so it will be consistent with the the rest of the ordinance yep okay with that we have uh we need to have a motion uh to adopt ordinance 2404 as amended meaning uh with the effective date changed so may have a motion to adopt 2404 as amended I move that we adopt ordinance 24-4 as amended may I have a second please I'll second uh may I have a roll call vote Madam clerk councilman Herzberg no councilwoman Quinn yes councilman Cher yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes 2404 is adopted as amended next up uh will the clerk please read title of ordinance 2405 coun of sporta ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank okay uh is any member of the public wishing to be heard on ordinance 245 I see no one I'll take it back to the Das uh any member of council wish to be heard on ordinance 2405 yeah Jim can you just explain this I know we usually do the c bank but what is uh the the part of raising the appropriation limit or is this is this the standard one we do year this is the standard one you do every year and you're I don't know if you were at the when we introduced the ordinance that question was asked to Sam and he reiterated that we do this every year it's more of a procedure any other member of council having questions or comments about t uh ordinance 2405 seeing none may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2405 I move that we adopt ordinance 2405 may I have a second please a second uh may I have a roll call vote please councilman Herzberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman chello yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes all right 2405 is adopted uh We've now reached the second public comment period of tonight uh these please uh confine your comments to the resolutions so if you look on your agenda you can read through the resolutions and so we ask that you limit your comments to uh any of the resolutions and also please be cognizant of the 5 minute uh limit and again please state your name uh and address for the record Todd Gillespie I live on eore trail in Sparta although I did not and I'm speaking on uh resolution 92 12 thank you although I did not grow up here I am proud to call myself a Spartan 10 years ago my partner and I were something of a novelty to our neighbors but in true Sparta fashion several of them reached out with generous hospitality and welcomed us to the neighborhood that level of respect and sense of community is what I find to be among the best qualities of Sparta a few years back there were some concerning incidents of vandalism targeted towards the lgbtq plus pride flag at the Sparta United Methodist Church we have also experienced attacks on members of the lgbtq plus Community thankfully the sparta police force have been very responsive to criminal acts but they can't always help in situations where there are targeted actions to weaken the conditions that create safety for our lgbtq plus Community as example we've experienced focused efforts by the local school board representatives to try and weaken the New Jersey state Grant Ed rights of transgender students to help address the lack of knowledge and lack of awareness of the harmful consequences of these actions many of my fellow Sussex County residents form the P flag Sussex County chapter to help educate support and Advocate on behalf of our local lgbtq plus Community we supported and we very pleased to see last year the passage of Sparta Township ordinance that allows the municipal building to display commemorative Flags to recognize and celebrate the many constituencies that make up our community we proudly requested that the LGBT lgbtq plus progress pride flag be flown for the first week of June unfortunately a few members of our Sparta Community appear determined to try and divide us and to demonize the lgbtq plus Community by opposing the flying of the progress pride flag we encourage all of the members of the sparta Township Council to you to send a strong message against this narrow-mindedness and intolerance and come out in unanimous support of resolution 912 thank you thank you thank you good evening my name is an Odair O Apostrophe capital D Air 10 Pine Cone Lane in Sparta I sent a an email to the council members and to the mayor and I appreciate your response mayor Clark I want to read that email now out loud dear council members and mayor I'm writing in support of flying the pride flag at the municipal building for the month of June in recognition of pride month and our lgbtq plus community in many ways it can be considered Brave to fly the flag for continuing to embrace goodness and progress in the face of increasing anger hatred and ugliness the this flag is so meaningful to so many people for those who are part of the lgbtq plus Community as well as allies and Advocates of fairness and kindness flying the pride flag while giving many people joy and hope in times of threats and violence to the lgbtq plus Community causes no harm to anyone please consider being supportive to a community that is currently facing increased Prejudice discrimination and violence around our country as well as in this town thank you I do want to add that I am part of P flog Sussex County P flag National being in advocacy and education and support of lgbtq plus community and their families and we are having a meeting which we invite everybody to tomorrow tomorrow night at 7M at the United Methodist Church on Sparta AV and this meeting will be pretty amazing because we have members of FBI as well as our local law enforcement um which we absolutely appreciate and they will be speaking about hate crimes and bigotry what they do to protect us and to keep our community as well as our lgbtq plus Community safe and we appreciate Chief mccarrick and his amazing officers and detectives um so much for your service and your support the United Methodist Church has fallen prey to hate in terms of vandalism to their flag their pride flag that they uh fly and there as Todd referenced have been several uh incidents of bias in this town towards the community so we want to thank our law enforcement very much and we invite you to the meeting tomorrow at United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. thank you thank you thank you thank you good evening I'm Christopher merch uh business owner and owner of 31 Sparta Avenue for many the rainbow flag symbolizes the lgbtq plus Community including myself many know it or back in the day as Roy G Biv many the flag is a symbol of cheer a symbol of Hope and I know with the continuation of Hope and strength throughout this Township I know Sparta will continue to thrive as a town of Welcome welcoming and cheer for residents new and old for businesses and business owners and for our younger generation that will reside work or simply pass through Sparta Township hanging the pride flag says we welcome all cultures all religions all colors all beliefs all ages all sizes all types and all people thank you thank you hi James Gaddy and over RH and Sparta I just I just want to say that um sometimes as a community we have to stand up for uh those in the minority uh we do that and we have done that that through um equal rights uh displaying the pride flag goes a Step Beyond the law and what you're required to do by not discriminating against people um and it is our way of showing that we truly are a stigma-free community not only do we not discriminate but we support people who look different act different live differently from us so despite the fact that Council failed to uh represent uh the minority with your last vote um I would hope that you would all uh support displaying the pride flag to represent those of us in the lgbtq community thank you thank you thank you uh Scott null 9 South Hayward Road in Sparta New Jersey um I just want to let the town know that I stand with my lgbtq plus friends and neighbors and I think that it's important to recognize that they're a part of this community and to honor their participation um I don't believe that flying a flag should be a big issue for anyone but I do think it's important for the town to stake a stand against bigotry and bullying and treat the request to not do it for what they are attempts to bigot to be exercise their bigotry and bullying and uh it's it's not acceptable it shouldn't be acceptable in any town in America not in the 21st century it's ridiculous thank Youk you thank you Kathy eving cows on scutters road I have a question regarding 95 the um agreement for animal pound shelter services with a pakong uh my question is around the terms of that agreement I'm not familiar with such an agreement so I was hoping somebody could talk more about um you know if it involves a certain amount of days of hold for animals does it involve kill um is any of that detail known I could speak to that so the agreement that we have is for uh pound Services we don't have a pound in Sp that we utilize so we uh partnered with pacon and it's for a yearly uh contract and it's a 7-Day hold so if our Animal Control finds a dog or a cat what they do is um obviously we make a lot of efforts to try to find an owner if we can't it's taken to the animal shelter and the pack on they continue to find any kind of owner or ownership and usually they do um after the 7 days they they go out for adoption when you say up for adoption from the shelter itself in a pacon or is there another partner that no aacan and all the adoption okay is there any kill involved no great thank you welcome uh my second question is around resolution 98 the Oprah U resolution adopting the Senate bill I had some questions around some of the content of that Senate bill and kind of why we're um choosing as a town to um adopt this uh resolution and support of that um I guess you know a lot of the whereas Clauses talk about um unfair burdens on governments commercial interests Etc um the third fourth whereas Clause talks about um costs do we have any figures on um costs regarding Oprah requests in the last year multiple years five years any time period that would support this Warehouse Clause I can Kathy I don't have figures on that that bill by the way uh today is sitting on the governor's desk to to be you know uh opinionated by him on that it's past both houses it's it's sort of a complicated Bill the language in that resolution is a templated language that uh was advocated and and supported by obviously the the the writers of this uh the New Jersey League of municipalities supported it um it's funny I was reading about it today about the the oddsides they're saying that it impedes the access to public records and all and uh roxan could speak to this better than I can because she actually is the one who goes through it but there are uh many Superfluous uh requests that are put through and it does add up on cost and time of resources of staff on those and so they were very careful on on the way they were wording uh the the document and there were uh the resolution actually spells it out pretty well on there manager Z if you if you want have any other questions I want to eat over your time in general this is what I have so okay I'm keep going yeah no no finish so uh with that uh we're waiting to see what the governor say says about that I don't have dollar figures right at now but uh I know that roxan would testify though that the Oprah requests take up a lot of uh uh office time uh obviously there's the obligation we have to it which we don't have a problem with but there are times though when we don't understand the requests and it takes up a lot of time and she has to do a lot of additional work which takes away from other clerk duties that that she should be doing so um the the you know the language in that resolution is sore self explanatory um the bill itself is still pending on the governor's desk uh premature to move this resolution tonight if it's still pending or is the intention to show support of yes it moving forward on the governor's desk exactly it's it's to show support that that we support it for those reasons in that resolution I did um I was on the league of municipalities website and I saw that there's an additional excl illusion uh for or exemption rather sorry for um Telephone email and text logs I was hoping someone could help me understand what that means exactly the logs themselves is it the emails is it what's a an email log or an a text log or telephone log I'm I'm not sure what you're you're referring to that that they are not subject to the open public records act that's what it seems to um that's my understanding of what is on the league of municipalities website where it's additional it states um additional exemptions uh I I read and exemptions of Records to include and then number 11 is or sorry 12 is telephone email or text logs um I was wondering if someone could explain that further because that seems to be something of interest to the public especially more recently once the bill is either Pastor it's it's denied you know will be advised accordingly on how to approach the Oprah requests as we always are but uh what you're referring to I believe in the limited scope that I'm aware of is they're trying to limit data mining by corporations where they can go in and and put in these these Superfluous Oprah requests and get people's um dog licensing information uh their propensities uh of what they do in that area and then they try to profit off of it uh and so that the whole purpose is actually not Oprah at all it's a business model and that's what they're trying to uh prohibit and I understood that but that one specific exemption didn't seem to speak to that for me so that's why I was curious about that okay and but I did see though that if it's if if the Oprah request itself is is very specific to what you're looking for we're we're obligated to to you know produce it um and obviously we have legal Council also that helps us you know with that procedure thank you I hope the township continues to support transparency especially through over I'll just add that I I have some problems with the one that's in Trenton with the bill currently the way it's written it seems to open up some loopholes to block a lot of requests there needs to be reformed because I mean at the township level I think at all the levels it takes a lot of resources in a lot of time but I could see where the current legislation could be used to use a lot of roadblocks and expenditures to thwart people from getting information they want we saw it at the state level when the Andover Subacute Place had a lot of issues and we requested information from the state that they weren't giving to us that was four years ago and they still haven't provided that information so we'll see yeah I think that this language is from the league of municipalities who has their own view of Oprah so to to think that it represents you know kind of consensus view would not be accurate um and I think that you know the you know one of the big problems with this bill is language that is used um there's the township can have complete discretion to say the request is substantially impairs the um the Township's Administration and so that substantial impairment language is something you could drive a truck through um you could fill it in with all kinds someone who lives and Brees Discovery disputes for the past 25 years I can tell you uh uh you know you will find whatever you can to either block Discovery or to get it um I think there are some problems with this I know that our um our Representatives uh in Trenton some have voted against it um for some of the reasons articulated by councilman Herzberg and so there are some issues with that but I think the fundamental thing is we have to remember these documents are the taxpayers documents they don't belong to the government they belong to the taxpayer and there's certain exemptions that are are left out that the public doesn't get access to but when you put up roadblocks for the taxpayers to get to see their own documents uh I think that goes against transparency and that's so of the problems that I have with the bill but we can get to that we're going to carve out that that resolution separately and have a separate vote on it because I think it is somewhat controversial and I think uh members of council should have an opportunity to speak on it but I just wanted to address um your comment so thank you Kathy good evening uh my name is Sandy Pender I'm a Newton resident um I did grow up in Sparta from birth to age 21 um but it's been a while since I've been here I wanted to talk about resolution 9912 um I know that the council has re received some push back in terms of flying the pride flag in the month of June um and I just want to talk a little bit as a not only a p flag board member P flag of Sussex County but also as a parent to a young adult lgbtq child um and what this flag means to me and my son uh it's an incredibly important symbol um it is all about representation it's all about recognition it's about belonging it's about acceptance um I can't speak for people that are opposed to the pride flag because I'm not sure what their discomfort is with it um that's kind of for them to figure out and to decide upon but I can give you a sense of what seeing the pride flag in a town does for my son when we see that pride flag it is a signal it is a signpost that this is a place where they can feel comfortable it's a signpost that this is a place that will treat me as a fellow human being sorry about that I woke everybody up the pride flag also indicates to them that this is a place where they'll be judged by their character and their Merit not because they are part of a marginalized community so I really would appreciate if you would think long and hard about this decision to fly the pride flag despite some of the opposition you're getting um because I think it's really important not only for your community members but also people that visit the town thank you thank you thank you more public comment on the resolutions Jenny derk's ta into spart I do want to um also speak on 98 about the Oprah resolution Oprah is extremely important to me roxan Knows Mr Ryan Knows Mr Zep knows Chief knows Oprah is an important tool your point about administrative obstruction is tremendously important roxan knows that I've had to go and request a Year's worth of meeting minutes Jim knows this as well where a whole Year's worth of meeting minutes are missing and I could to I could anticipate the obstruction rule being implemented in that case I also just a few months ago uh prevailed in a in a case that was a challenge back against a rejection where I asked for email text message phone message any correspondence between the P the paid professionals who are working on behalf of this part of taxpayer and Diamond chip and I was told I could not have them and I had to fight against that to get it back and I finally got it and it was a brick of about this many documents it's important recently up at the county I had to do a similar opal request for meeting minutes for meetings that they're having also with diamond ship and the person running the meeting told me I didn't even think about taking minutes but I'll do it now because of your oah request so I would ask that you consider whether or not this is something worthy of your support thank you any member of the public uh wishing to be heard on the resolutions okay if not um I will make a motion we are going to carve out some of these um I would make a motion that we approve resolutions 91 through 95 and resolution 99 together so the motion is to approve resolutions 91 through 95 and resolution 99 I'll make a motion that we approve resolutions 9-1 through 9-5 and 9-9 U may I have a second I'll second all those in favor say I I so resolutions 91 through 95 and 99 have passed uh next may I have a motion uh to approve resolution 96 make a motion we approve resolution 9-6 may I have a second I will second it and before we vote uh manager Zep could you please just uh remind Council and the public what this is for what these Cooperative pricing system what are we buying and and why are we buying it yeah we're uh utilizing the Cooperative pricing system of North Jersey Wastewater uh and what we're doing is uh we are upgrading uh the communication lines for our water tanks the scatter system scat system there supervisory control and data acquisition basically uh the utility department the water utility has 14 water tanks and over 20 plus pumps uh the ility director uh watches the operations of all these locations throughout the township through a centralized location these uh and these are all run through uh uh right now they're run with phone lines and we're um upgrading to cell lines and we're upgrading the sensory devices and we're utilizing both the Professional Services and the hardware and software that's offered to The Cooperative to upgrade the uh operational equipment for your water system and and that's what this is and this is part of our Capital Improvement program for this year thank you can I clarify too Mr zpp this is it true that this this dollar amount is coming out of a bond approved last year yes correct yes it is and that's why we put it in the resolution now really keeping everything uh defined so the money has already been authorized we're simply reflecting that of that Bond money that we approved we're spending some of it on uh what's in you know in 96 is that right yes as Brey as you know uh public contract law stipulates so trying to do everything correctly here okay all right so all those in favor we've had a a motion for first and a second so all those in favor of resolution 96 um say I I I resolution 96 passes um may I have a motion to approve resolution 97 I'll make a motion we approve 9-7 and then if you have a question we'll get to the second and then before the vote I'll entertain questions if that's okay I'll second it okay and councilwoman Quinn you have a question oh no problem yeah we second we have a second thank you so we're all ready for your questions this a question few years ago I a request to get a listing of Township properties that would 10 plus acres are any of those prop properties being sold because okay this is all equipment oh it's equipment it's equipment this does not have any yeah okay so where it says personal property it means equipment not actual property right okay correct it's not actual property it's equipment property that's no longer useful to the township sorry I read it's listed so I read it as land okay no further questions sorry I wouldn't do that to you sorry and the identity of the personal property being sold is reflected in the resolution is that right correct okay and if someone in the audience looking over this says I really want a 2003 GMC um how would they go about uh actually bidding on that um it'll be advertised on our website when it's being advertised on the gov deal online auction website which is sanction by the state of New Jersey where you have to uh liquidate this in an open fair and form so that's why this gets done this way and we actually do pretty well on liquidating our uh no longer useful Surplus so yeah the information on how to uh participate in the auction because it is uh fair and open to anyone who wishes to participate that will be on our website uh so thank you for that explanation um any other questions uh regarding 97 seeing none um all those in favor of passing resolution 97 say I I I next up is resolution 98 may I have a motion to approve resolution 98 and we have crickets so without a motion uh dies it dies so resolution 9 8 is dead we still share comments at all or is that inappropriate well actually I I will so why don't why don't I make a motion to approve resolution 9-8 and then somebody can second it and then we can vote and then we can okay and and for purposes of so that we can have public we can have comment by members of Council on 98 I will second uh resolution 98 so why don't you go ahead yeah sure I I I looked through this um have some comments I wanted to share about this and I looked over the bill today that was passed by both the state senate and State Assembly um to confirm some of the things I had read in the last few days leading up to that um as a town manager mentioned this is now on the desk of the governor so the existing law it's been around since I think 2000 or 2002 2002 I believe for sure 1,000% needs an update um and particularly to catch up with some of the technology advances uh one of the primary issues are complaints stated by the Bill's sponsors and the supporters is that it's being exploited by commercial entities so mainly for data mining and they're gaining access to information using it for marketing and reselling it sometimes just to resell it and this is being paid for by taxpayers and putting a strain on our staff uh all levels of government so data brokers in particular were one of the targets uh another complaint is a very high litigation activity and exorbitant attorney fees that government entities are being forced to pay at times so you know there's concerns uh from all over the Spectrum um examples from both political perspectives both parties both against it and for it um it's it seems to have a lot of a lot of dialogue going on so the leue of municipalities had sent us this draft language um about the revised version that just came out and was just voted on and their messaging to us is seeking our support for this new bill and emphasized that uh we they recommended we don't support this and we don't support commercial entities exploiting Oprah for financial gain at the expense of our taxpayers that our residents are losing their privacy Etc um however in the revised version and confirmed today this bill removed that language so it does not restrict data Brokers that use Oprah to gain and resell information it was removed um the only difference is that they're still in there now they might have to wait an extra seven days to get their data request um in fact the definition of data Broker up in the beginning of the bill was removed so I don't really quite understand why the league municipalities is supporting this revised Bill personally and when it excludes a direct fix to address one of the main concerns of the sponsors and even even in the resolution if you see in front of you the last two whereas Clauses mention commercial you know stopping this commercial abuse and stopping these data Brokers and that's actually not in the bill at this point uh furthermore which is concerning the the revised Bill allows for the ability to make Anonymous Oprah requests so you don't have to give your name you don't have to give your address as long as you have a valid email address you can put in the op request which to me doesn't seem appropriate um New Jersey is currently ranked 40 the 48th lowest state in the nation for public access laws based on a 2019 study by the University of Florida the breckner Freedom of Information study and in 2015 the Center for Public Integrity they did a review and they gave New Jersey Oprah law grade of f for access to public information so this bill makes some improvements don't be wrong I mean it IT addresses some of the attorney fees and some of the costs and it makes an attempt to address some other things but it's just not there there are significant concerns that it could make it much harder for the average person in a small town or a small entity small community to get the proper information that they have a right to a lot of hurdles and when you have have hurdles access is harder and the light you want to shine on and what's happening behind the scenes goes away um so this this spill doesn't really address the critical objective of one of the critical objectives of why they're updating it they used by commercial entities to data mine and to send in all these requests and just gather all this information and then to make a profit so I I had concerns with this I'm glad most of us are all of us agree I believe and I think that you know transparency needs to be a top priority um including for us and a tenant of kind of how we operate and what we stand for so more much more careful consideration needs to go into drafting a bill that makes sense and it's disheartening to see that it passed the assembly and the Senate and it's now on the governor's desk so you know it needs to address commercial abuse it needs to keep access open and free and this this version just not ready and um it can be detrimental so I'm glad we are where we are at this point in tonight's meeting that we're seem to be in consensus on that but um that's some of the thoughts I wanted to share and just to kind of explain kind of what I found today reading through this and why it's extremely disappointing thank you I i' just like to make a brief comment um so number one in no way should we impede anybody's ability to seek information about the workings of our government that's that's sacran and um it goes really without saying um that said I shouldn't say goes without saying because I just said that said but any case um the process is now broken um it is um uh it as we've mentioned a couple times it has become uh data mining for commercial Industries to try to sell you things um and and just to put in context uh our our Township gets about five opah requests a day just let that sink in um it's a huge part of the job of the township to adjudicate those anything that's remotely vague or that that is not crystal clear that there's any questions has to get an attorney review that doesn't come for free um somebody wants just anybody who um request for anybody who wants to build a deck over the last 2 years so they can sell you deck furniture um that's that's really what it's being exploited for uh in in more ways than it should um and it's wrong and it needs to be fixed um uh but my understanding of the bill it's in place right now does um close some of those gaps but um that does leave some um a lot a lot of things unresolved and um I uh I don't know enough about the bill to know that it fixes everything but um it it does seem like there's there's a lot of Gap in the bill right now and um I'm I'm not able to support the um and and again I want to make sure just to step back whatever we do today what actions we do today has no bearing on the passage of the bill it's on the governor's desk the governor is not going to check to see if Sparta approved it or not and before he signs it so um but that said um I that's all I'll say after saying that said anyone else on uh resolution 98 um I would you know just reiterate thank you Dean for uh digging into it and again my one of the issues that I have too is about the awarding of attorney's fees um as you know the uh as it used to be drafted if you if you won um your Oprah fight that you would get um a reward of attorneys fees that way is to one somewhat incentivize people to you know get access to the government and for the government a deterrent for them not to just blindly withhold documents um you know as councilman Herzberg pointed out they've been waiting a year for documents related to years four years so I mean I can tell you in in in my practice uh I know of no federal judge who would tolerate that um they would have you'd have a motion to compel within a month um and if it's relevant and they haven't made out their U issue burden um you would get those documents and if it was egregious you would get attorney's fees and so um again the the public doesn't often have a lawyer working for them to help them sometimes they do sometimes they don't to get the Oprah documents town does have a lawyer and so the town can spend as many legal fees as it wants coming up with all kinds of arguments of why there would be substantial impairment um and I think if uh we are on the side of transparency uh we we would not support the bill as currently drafted I think there's a carve out you can use where people are using Oprah for commercial purposes right um You can do a fee structure or something to try to meet that um but for people who just want to know uh how government reached the decision that it did a lot of times what you see up here um we try to do a good job of being as transparent as possible but there are things that go behind the scenes that are are subject to Oprah and that are completely discovered um there's a lot of exceptions to that and and Oprah spells those out and we adhere to those but again I think this was kind of um sometimes we do get these kind of resolutions from Trenton um where they want what I call like a a high five from the township um and this is one of those instances so um anyway we've said enough about it and we'll take it for a vote uh why don't we go ahead and just do a roll call vote on on resolution 98 councilman Herzberg no councilman Quinn no councilman Sherell no Deputy Mayor bled no mayor Clark no next up is resolution 910 the authorizing of commerative flag on Township own flag polls for law enforcement Appreciation Week May I have a motion to approve 910 I move that we approve resolution 9-10 may I have a second I'll second it uh may I have have a roll call vote uh councilman Herzberg abstain uh councilwoman Quinn abstain councilman cherell yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes next may I have a motion to approve resolution 9911 which is display of committ of flags on Township owned flag polls for National EMS I I make a motion that we approve 911 resolution 9-11 authorizing the commerative flag for National EMS week May I have a second I will second that uh may I have a roll call vote Madam clerk councilman Herzberg abstain councilwoman Quinn abstained councilman Sherell yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes next up is resolution 912 uh authorizing the display of commitment of flag on Township owned flag polls for Pride week I would like to make a motion that we approve resolution 9-12 to display the pride flag during polite Pride week May I have a second please I will second 9-12 and before we go to vote I I do want to make some comments about this and I hope that that people will apologize I don't normally do this um and it will take about 5 minutes but it it's something that it's based on emails that I received um from from some people that that did bother me and I felt that it was incumbent on me to address those and so before we vote I wanted to address some emails I received opposing the flying of the pride flag I certainly don't take issue with constituents expressing their opposition to this resolution I encourage folks to express their opinion regardless of whether you think I or the rest of the council agrees with it democracy doesn't function and an echo chamber because democracy requires hearing and reconciling different views but willingness to express your views also means you must expect and tolerate criticism of them and I will do so now I was particularly disturbed by language used in some of these emails characterizing people who choose to love and form a family with someone of their same sex words like depravity disgusting immoral someone even suggested that flying the pride flag glorifies mental illness what Disturbed me with this language is that those writing these emails are clearly not recognizing that the members of the lgbtq community have essential worth as human beings the term depraved means immoral or Wicked when you view someone or a community this way or disgusted by them you seiz seeing them as human human beings worthy of dignity and respect and viewing them this way then justifies all kinds of terrible Behavior against them and unfortunately Sparta has seen such Behavior leveled against our lgbtq residents from burning the pride flag flown by the Methodist Church to public homophobic taunts directed at a local business owner and other incidents of verbal bullying of Sparta lgbtq residents although I believe few Spartans hold these views and engage in this Behavior I believe such a Boren and a barent behavior deserves to be called out Sparks can start a forest fire just as flare-ups must be extinguished to prevent a larger fire these views must be exposed and refuted before they grow and we risk reoccurrence of the bias related incidents we have had in Sparta it is precisely because views like these and incidents like those that I've described that the township flies the pride flag New Jersey Law forbids discriminating against someone because of their sexual orientation or sexual identity flying the pride flag simply reflects what is already enshrined in our law and to those that opposed the flag ordinances who thought it was some kind of secret ploy to force woke ideology upon Spartans I'll remind you of the groups that have been honored by our flag ordinance Fallen police officers branches of the military cancer survivors communities that deserve respect and most certainly don't deserve to be called depraved or immoral now as a I would like to address one comment that I got and it's to the person that wrote to me saying you know very well the political makeup of Sparta and if more people were aware of what you're doing you wouldn't have a place anywhere near a leadership position in this town well sir now you know my position also I frankly don't give a damn about the political makeup of Sparta because I know the people of Sparta and most of them don't view their lgbtq neighbors as depraved or IM moral I know this because as a leader as a person in a leadership position in this town that enables me to interact with all kinds of people regardless of their political viewpoints many people I have had the pleasure of speaking to and working with on various Township matters do not share my political preferences frankly our politics are IR relevant because we are able to see one another as having the best interest of Sparta in mind regardless of our political makeup now recently I had the opportunity to reach out to a same-sex couple in Sparta that is celebrating over 32 years of marriage this year and I asked them what experience have they had as a gay couple in Sparta and what they described to me was very positive now obviously their experience that it was positive wouldn't be possible if the so-called political makeup of this town was the people who thought this couple's marriage was immoral or depraved now in conclusion I will end with a passage that was shared at this couple's marriage over 30 years ago and I think think it's important to listen to these words often Love Comes as a stranger and an outsider in our world today a world such as ours a world of hatred and violence of racial Prejudice of ethnic bashing of religious intolerance of social ostracism of robbing and cheating and Corruption and killing literally killing on every scale imaginable that is not a world entirely hospitable to love so when that profound honest and heartfelt affection we call love arise in our midst in this time of ours we would be wise to cherish it protect it nurture it and give it the freedom to grow let's give love the freedom to grow let's fly the pride flag thank you and any other comments on resolution 912 yeah I have a few comments obviously I I didn't read any of those emails but that doesn't reflect the people that I know in Sparta but I will say some of the emails that I did read in favor of this also seemed like they were bullying a little bit to try and get what they want and I don't think that was the attention but I can tell you that those were the words saying that if we didn't vote for this we were dividing Sparta we were demonizing a community I don't think that that those are fair characterizations of how I how I feel about the flag ordinance in general I don't feel that way about my community and the people that live in it regardless of who they are what color they are what their sexual orientation is or what their religion is but I don't have to agree with you it doesn't mean I demonize you doesn't mean I I am trying to divide the community and that was shared amongst several letters so I don't know if that was a form letter shared and and repeated but if we're going to say that we should all be together and we should all respect each other I don't think that's a good way to go about it so again like I always do I abstain in all of these because I don't think the government flag poll should be used for any of this stuff regardless um but that's not a fair characterization how I feel I know how Chris feels and I think most of the community feels but things like that start to turn people's feelings and I don't think that's what we're trying to do and I don't think that's your intention so I'm I'm going to leave it at that and then you can go on with the vote thank you anyone else okay Madam clerk may we have a roll call on resolution 9912 councilman hburg abstain councilwoman quinnn councilman cherell yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes resolution 912 passes next up is resolution 9913 introduction of Municipal budget the title only so again we're not having uh just a moment of clarification we are not having public comment on the budget that waits till a subsequent hearing is that right okay so may I have a motion to introduce resolution 9913 I move that we introduce uh resolution that we approve resolution 9-13 the introduction of the municipal budget may I have a second please I will second um may I have a roll call vote councilman Herzberg yes councilwoman Quinn uh councilman Sherell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes resolution 9913 has passed and again the public will have uh they will have access to the documents underlying the budget the the the the hand Workshop documents are on the website right now okay and so I I encourage everyone to read those uh and at a sub subsequent meeting is it two weeks from now or is it even beyond that that they'll be able to four weeks June 11th June 11th so uh everyone take a look at the website uh digest those documents and then come June 11th to let your voice be heard about the budget next up our take a break at this time if um it's 9:30 or sure yeah we have a uh a break just a 5 minute break I know we've been going for two and a half hours and so someone may need a refresher so we'll take a f minute break before we get to council liaison updates e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e no I swear I don't think okay we are at the uh Council liaison update portion thanks for helping us with the speakers uh the council aison update portion of our meeting and I will start uh to my right uh councilman tiello thank you I actually have a number of updates today I'll go through them quickly um the revolution NJ 250 committee met uh yesterday uh we continue to refine our plan um we did meet with the state committee uh couple weeks back who advised us that maybe instead of thinking about specific point in time or the Revolutionary War and the colonial period to think about the Arc of Sparta history and so um we started tweaking our plans to consider that and um uh our next step is to start to involve some of the um other community uh groups like um Boy Scouts um Junior Women's Club and a number of other people to bring them in and see if they have any ideas to contribute um so that next meeting will be in about of I think I said about six weeks this year so um we had a uh a lay on to the board of ed we had a meeting on Monday the March 6th uh with our Board of Ed counterparts um was a good meeting we talked about some issues um making progress um you know helping both organizations out um I think we came to a good understanding on different things um going down the list uh the business development committee met on May 8th I'll let councilman Herzberg talk about that um the environmental commission met on May 9th um we reviewed two applications that were coming before the planning board uh with the committee is the commission is working on and the recommendation for a tree ordinance that will align us better with the state D model again that's still in the in the oven um they're also working on a recommendation for another ordinance involving native species again that's in the oven um it'll get to our desk at some point um we I attended the Arbor Day event on April 26 uh that involved seventh and eighth grade students coming to the Glenn uh there were educational stations we planted trees to replace ash trees that had been um destroyed um and it was a great event and um I think everybody appreciated uh the activities that went on there um the culture and arts committee met last week um we're still putting our summer lineup together uh but um we really no shortage of Acts that want to U come here it's just a matter of lining up on people's schedules uh this has become a very attractive venue for people to play um they are seeking sponsors so if you're interested uh please contact sportarts uh.com I think is their website um and one thing that we're trying to do this year uh well one thing I'll say is I I spoke earlier about um uh they're looking into a battle of the bands to try to attract a younger band crowd um I think we're going to put that on hold this year and look at it next year the time we just didn't have enough time to put that together um but one thing we are considering is trying to live stream our concerts I've already been working with the manager and and our it uh people uh for to see if we can enable that um and we would it would be important for us to hook the sound directly into the control board so we have really good sound coming through our live streaming not just a cell phone um holding up so um uh still working on that um I think that's an exciting uh part of it uh uh parks and next meeting is May 21st I would like to attend that if I may but um I'll let councilwoman Quinn just discuss that um I did meet on May 10th with uh about the our sister city uh in in Sparta Greece with uh Sparta lonia council member an Anastasia kapu uh and ariles kikas um we had a a really interesting meeting um to kick things off for for our 2026 conference that we hope to have in spart in New Jersey um and U one thing I want to discuss briefly is um the uh the group U or the people from Sparta Institute suggested that we form a subcommittee uh to um start planning this and see how we want to move forward with it um so I asked the um the manager um I we'll get together about like what steps I need to take to form an official subcommittee or maybe an unofficial subcommittee do I just say we are subcommittee and we're good um I don't know but we'll we'll we'll work on that over the next uh week or so um and lastly um I I assume uh mayor Clark will talk about the film ready committee um I would like to ask well if you can talk talk about when your next meeting is um because I'd like to discuss some ideas with the committee related to the revolution NJ committee's um ideas coming out of that and I think there's some Synergy and I speak very quickly and I think I got through that quickly so um that's all I have okay just a couple quick updates planning board the uh obviously most people know that on May 1 the uh hearings on a diamond ship application began a new um and the full board has not met since our last meeting here but the full board meets tomorrow night um and we have two applications on the agenda uh plus other matters to attend to and the Pak uh plan endorsement advisory committee uh which is associated with the planning board uh but it's a council Township committee um met remotely last week um to review some of the uh recent feedback from the presentation that was made and to discuss next steps uh we'll be meeting again in June it's our next meeting thank you thank you um so first update is with the library committee uh we met last week um what is happening at our library some news is that they are updating their software um so that uh eventually you the public will be able to reserve uh rooms in the library using kind of a web portal uh that's not going to happen immediately they're they're first trying to go to um allowing for you know just recording which rooms are being rented via their software the staff will do that and then they're going to phase it to allow the public to do that so that should be phased in uh probably in the next few months uh they are also bringing back What's called the homebound Library services policy uh this was a policy uh for Sparta residents who are find themselves due to Medical necessity to be homebound um they can request books be delivered to their homes um so they're bringing that back that policy so residents of Sparta who are unable to um you know transport themselves or get someone to transport them uh will have access to to books in the library um also they are undergoing um you know plans to renovate I think the upstairs bathroom um they're still looking over them and I'm not sure sure yet when that will happen but there will be a a refurbished bathroom upstairs in the library sometime soon um with respect to the sparta film ready committee um we are in the process of uh as I alluded to you in order to be designated a film ready Community uh you must first submit an application to the uh New Jersey film commission really the New Jersey Economic Development Committee which is the overall arching body that oversees this um that application the first step of that application has been done that step is to attend a workshop um about what the uh the application entails and what being film ready means so me and a couple members of the committee uh went to Morristown a few weeks ago and attend attended a lecture was put on behalf by the president of the New Jersey film Comm commission the executive director uh as well as know Mayors Town Council people um people from communities who both are already designated and also are interested in it um there we learned about um the benefits of the film ready which we have spoken to um also things that you have to get in um prepared and and and what came across very clear was just communication is very important with uh all our various affected um you know businesses our um our DPW to our police officers depending on the scale and scope of the production but all of that happens way in advance uh it doesn't they just show up and then you figure it out later um I had the privilege of going to Kate May to speak with the tourism director which is this week actually they're filming uh the Dylan biopic and Kate May and so I wanted to meet with the the tourism manager who had to handle that and and Kate may they don't even have an ordinance about this um what they do is you simply F you know fill out a special event permit um and know they're considering whether to do a um an ordinance or not uh that is something that was discussed um the benefits of ordinance is that it will lay out for the production companies you know sort of the steps that they need to to get involved but there um it is has gone uh very well um there's I mean they're making I think she said that Kate May will make about $38,000 just on parking alone for a three-day shoot um so again we're in the process of filling out that application which will mean submitting pictures um uh of various places in Sparta uh that would be willing to um have films shot there uh we will be speaking to the people who uh you know so for example uh Camp sack jaia has expressed interest in having film shot there and so of course in the application will be pictures of camp sack of jaia um because they have indicated their approval um also you know we have to give them an idea of the businesses that would that we have available they're particularly interested in uh for example catering uh they're interested in Hardware so we have to name What hardware stores we have that kind of of thing because it is sort of a uh the design is to be a boon for small businesses and tomorrow I will be uh in a conference call with a member of the film commission just to go over um some questions that we have about the application and certain processes and that will be done but the idea is to hopefully get the application um ready to submit within you know say a month or so also I will be um during unfinished a new business um I will be appointing two additional or move to appoint two additional people one uh was uh because we had a member who kind of represented the subject matter expertise of acting and casting and that person is unable to attend our meetings so um fortunately we had someone apply who does have an acting uh background and will be a valuable member and then we also have someone with over 20 some years of producing experience who's also has to join and so when we get to unfinish a new business I will move to appoint them and I won't I I think you addressed the the school board uh meeting that we have um as people know they are planning on uh additions to Alpine School and so we discussed that and how that process will unfold that's a ways off um but uh I I feel that we are having a good working relationship with them and it's important because when you see with the budget most of your money is going to the school so it's important that we talk to them um so with that I will stop and and turn it over to councilman uh Herzberg so as councilman cherella said we the business development committee met um the conversation centered around some of the issues with getting approvals in town the growing concern of the unfriendly business climate in Sparta the concern of the cost of doing business in Sparta some of the delays in in the procedures in the township um the the stor seem to go around the room all the same different things and and different businesses and different reasons but uh but a very similar story we've decided to try and put some of the the people from the Township in the room to try and talk through some of that see if we can't work together to fix it um I'm happy to say that when we did did that we uh were able to bring some of the people in the committee to talk about the planning board subcommittee approval process and how bad the application was and how unlegible and how no regular person could come and understand how to fill that out which was causing it to be kicked back over and over and over again I'll give I'll give you an example signage right you have to put in what the square footage of your signage is but they don't tell you what the requirement is they don't give you any of the metric you just got to guess so you guess and then it gets kicked back well they finally are putting the metrics in so now people can get through this process and I will say people that have seen the new application have helped other businesses through it have said it's made a tremendous difference so I think there is some work to be done and I think we can get some things done and and and make things a little better if we if we work together but there's a lot of work to do and um I hear story after story after Story of businesses are going to the surrounding towns because nobody wants to deal with with Sparta right now that's it that's woman Quinn and the council liaison updates so a couple updates from my side the municipal Alliance like to welcome to Rossy who's the latest uh member of our team she is going to be joining us uh her and so that just you superintendent Beck Dr Beck cannot attend she'll be attending and she's a great new member we're very excited I want to thank Marie Morrow and Joe downstairs for helping us get our banners together for the fishing derby and also thank Marie and Dawn for their help in getting our Municipal Alliance swag that we're calling our giveaways and promotional items to get our name out there the center for prevention I want to thank the center of prevention for coming to our last meeting and giving us a full update of all of their new programming so they offer a lot of really great stuff and they spend some time with us and going going through all the new programs the alliance is very happy to be sponsoring and supporting the trout therapy this weekend as the manager said the Senior Olympics which is coming up very fast Girls on the Run unified Sports and the Align program just to mention a few one of the things that we're really working on right now is a CommunityWide campaign um across all age demographics around the dangers of social media we've already had meetings with two different entities one of which is uh screenagers the other one is a private um Private Practice representative so we'll be making some decisions and hopeful to work with the police department because they have a lot of really great information also we brought up the importance of the police department getting time on back to school nights to be able to address parents so we're excited about supporting you guys there as well the rec advisory committee we're going to vote on the outstanding um older senior in the next part of our meeting so I want to apologize for any of the confusion I misunderstood who was running this initiative I thought it was the senior advisory committee so when they came to me with their recommendation I was under the impression I was supposed to bring in here because I thought they were coordinating meting all of the representatives so I was misinformed about that but tonight we're going to take a vote on that so apologies for my part in the the confusion there um the next meeting of the rec advisory committee is going to be at the Historical Society um the dinner is coming up in June and also the um like I said this sen your Olympics so very excited about all those things with regard to um health department and updates the latest newsletter has been posted on our website from the county and I do want to point out that there is a child health conference that's being held May 28th um so it says complete physical exams screenings and age appropriate for children ages 0 to five that uh may not have health insurance there's a lot of really great information including women's events um men's events and and different things like that so if you're interested any of that please check our health corner on our website um on the rec advisory committee we're excited to announce that it looks like we have at least moved forward we haven't gotten the grant yet but we've moved forward to the next level so we're super excited about that um that money is hopefully we get that Grant and we're going to be able to uh start replacing the playground and make an inclusive playground at Station Park so we're keeping our fingers crossed on that and from Salute 07871 our Banners are ordered and we're hoping that they will be in in the next week or two I copied you on that email that I sent did so I'll follow up with them tomorrow and see if I can't confirm the actual date so that the guys can get the banners prepped and start getting them up before Memorial Day so those are my updates thank you we're now up to the unfinished and new business um and I'll switch it and start to my far left councilwoman Quinn do you have any unfinished or new business you need to address I do so I I have one thing I want to share um with regard to film ready so here's an interesting little um trivia fact that actually Mr castore who is a local historian shared with me um one of the very first movies without uh which was a silent film called the Great Train Robbery was filmed in Sparta on the railroad tracks this is true and it was actually filmed for the Thomas Edison film company 1903 another interesting it was made by Edwin Porter for the Edison manufacturing company that was the name of it also I am told although I have not seen this yet that if you go up um West Mountain and over by where the mines are and go up they had a vault of all films up there and that's where the films were all stored for safekeeping because there had been a fire in one of the repositories and a lot of the films were destroyed so they moved them up there into some bunker up there um and he had all the information and it was absolutely fascinating to know the the history of it so if you're interested in learning more either talk to Mr cmore or you can look up The Great Train Robbery of it was done in 19 03 silent film 12 minutes long so I thought that was interesting I wanted to sh um so that's that um this is an addendum to that we uh the historical society is contacting Mr castore to sit down for like for an interview to get solicit some spest stories with respect to this revolution NJ committee so yeah we're engaging with him he is truly a wealth of the sortation about this timey to have him um I would like to to um with regard to everything that we're talking here tonight councilman Herzberg touched on a couple things we've been touching on registration applications and whatnot I think something to really enhance everyone's quality of life both to help our employees and our residents is to look at online registrations and payment methods in the document that I compiled in the working document with regard to uh rentals I provided five different links to government websites and applications that provided an endtoend service around all kinds of different applications whether they be construction building um rentals for example we could use it for that we could use it for film ready we could use it for everything uh we've been talking about this for a really long time so I would like to um ask if we can get a meeting please together I have some background here I know also a couple years back gov pilot was looked at for some things but I think now the way that these um applications have advanced I think we should take the next couple of months until we start implementation of a lot of these new things and before we just roll things out and we're not equipped to take the registration part I don't want to overwhelm staff do you think we could have a a meeting do you think that we could have a meeting maybe Joe Mike yourself me uh Dawn rockand or maybe whatever and just talk through and and look at some of these that depart set up to take registrations and payments online well they do it through red track but it doesn't help with any of the other stuff yeah but I mean at least they have some sort of basis you can follow so there might be able there might be a solution now that's why I want to meet and look at these apps because right now A lot has changed in the past couple years and I think everyone's life would be a lot easier this isn't rocket science I mean this is this is so many other towns are doing and and taking payment like I know some of our processes allow us to put in things but then you have to come down here with a check so what's the point of doing it online you know so I would just like to to um ask if we can please set that up and start looking at that maybe over the summer get something in place before we start really sure getting inundated with new things like film ready and and all kinds of other stuff to not overwhelm stuff um also uh the smart 911 uh the marketing for our smart 911 system um I want to come back that's my fault for not revisiting but I'd like to work with you and the chief and Mike and come up with something that maybe a marketing that we could do in September when the tax bills I think the tax bills go out in September right so I'd like to be able to work with you guys and come up with something over the summer that we could then do a marketing push to get business businesses and uh residents to sign up for it and maybe we could launch that in September we start working on it now um also I wanted to get an update on the awesome Acres Farmland preservation do we have any update on that oh with respect to um the last I have heard is that they are still in discussions uh with the Farmland preservation and that if there are any changes to that meaning the the um negotiations fall apart or they're going through with it that they will let me know um but again that's through the council for the land owner but we had to take some kind of action in the letter did you ever take that action the uh with it was I I spoke with um the Farmland preservation and it didn't hamper it in any way I don't know if we have or not but they said that that that was sort of ministerial and and not necessarily necessary for them to to go forward um so they're continuing to negotiate okay yeah that's it right the only unfinished business I have is I was going to make a motion to put two people on the film ready committee and that was George Seagal and luk Perez who had put in for it I'll second that is there a limit there's no limit on that committee right think so no um there's not a limit I I know that we're trying to you know get people with subject matter expertise and you know we can you know if they want to have if they want to join um that's that's fine with me we will have two additional people who I do believe have um probably more experience than the the ones that have been listed here but you know I think we also you look at their resumes yes I did applications I think George said he was independent filmmaker I know L was an and lose an actor so I think they have I don't know what kind of more in Hollywood I don't know yeah I don't know what kind of better skills we're looking for than that but to me they seem like they'd be a great addition to the team and that that that would be fine with me so um and then while we while we're on it then I will make a motion that we can do all of them uh we did get additional um applications for um one is as Melody poan uh Miss poan has uh close to two decades in production experience and so she's the person who has to you know negotiate with towns about um when the when what they need to do to to prepare for a filming so she has a lot of expertise on what it takes actually to to run these Productions and we that was sort of a gap that we had in our film commission is that we needed someone from the production side who had a lot of experience and so we're very fortunate uh to have her um and as I alluded to we had someone on the committee uh who had um acting experience they actually owned a an acting studio Unfortunately they told me that the times just don't work uh for them so um and and so they can make room for others we have um we're very fortunate uh to have Mr Frank Dolce uh he is the uh attractive young man you'll see in the back there um his credits include Broadway um One Life to Live television movies um he has also um correct me if I'm wrong but you were involved in with Jew yard is that right Mr Dolce yeah okay um and as anyone who's been anywhere near acting knows Jew yard is probably one of the top programs in the country so we're very blessed to have a lot of um very experienced people and so even um you know I I think that uh so if I can have the the names of the additional people other than and than Mady and um Frank it was George Seagal and who was the other person l l PR okay pz okay and so I would make a motion that we appoint to the film ready committee uh Frank Dolce uh Mady poan uh George sag Paul and Lou Perez May and all right may I have a second second all those in favor say I I all right welcome Mr doce um and Mr Perez and Mr Seagal and miss poan so um with that uh my other new business is um uh I've been asked uh um to join What's called the local implementation committee for the Sussex County local Safety Action Plan that's that's a lot of words um for a it's a county committee that's being formed um to address the increasing traffic fatalities uh that we're experiencing not only Across the Nation but in uh susex County I think our average is about seven fatalities at least um uh a year and and the idea is for a group of um leaders to get together from representing both uh Township and uh Engineers to uh address the rising number of serious and fatal traffic accidents um the mission of this initiative is to create safer roadways and prevent avoidable fatalities and inj in injuries um what this plan once you come up with a plan it will enable the county to access grants to develop a Safety Action Plan that is part of the federal infrastructure Bill and then and they've set aside uh the federal Bill about a billion dollars um for townships all across the country to develop these Safety Action plans so um particularly interested in this um as Sparta encounters growth but also you know hand inand with that or you know there's um development interests that uh that are implicated in our safety uh as people know there's certain uses uh that may generate more traffic than others and and to me that goes hand inand with addressing safety issues but I'm honored to be asked to to join that committee and as we're having our first meeting I believe May 24th and as we have our meetings I will uh during unfinished business or liaison updates I will um know advise the public and my fellow Council me people what we're doing uh with this committee it is called the local implementation committee for the Sussex County local Safety Action Plan and who is who is running it um the county is um the letter I got was from the administrator of the engineering department for Sussex County and are you involved with that too please I did get the information from and we'll be attending the meeting yes okay great okay thanks and the uh other un finish business is uh as councilwoman Quinn alluded to we have um a senior of the year um and this year we are kind of blessed to have uh two uh people who are very uh deserving uh of this award and I think um one of them is as we spoke about I think believe at the last meeting was Maryanne Francisco MH um and as folks know Mar has been she's been in Sparta since 1979 she's been on at least three uh nonprofit boards uh things has diverse from the Girl Scouts to our risk management to the vankirk house um so she has given kind of tirelessly to this community and so in honor of her contribution um I think she's a very well-deserving um recipient now equally I think um deserving is the Reverend David McDonald uh David McDonald has been a a priest for over 52 years uh with I believe close to 15 years at L at Lady of the Lake um but with 50 years of service eventually priest uh retire as well and so um Reverend David McDonnell is retiring uh the Knights of Columbus notified and and nominated him but I think that in light of his um contributions I think that a lot of the time our priest our pastor pastors our ministers are really at the front line of delivering services to our community um a lot of it goes unnoticed um but I know it's definitely not unnoticed by the congregation and to our community so I think both of these recipients and my understanding is that we can do duel is that right Mr Zep yes so in light of that I would uh and we do need to put that up for a vote as you understand it yes okay so um I would make a motion that we award the 2024 senior we'll call it seniors plural of the Year Maryann Francisco and Reverend David McDonald I will second it uh all those in favor say I I I so congratulations to Maryanne Francisco and Reverend David McDonald and thank you and I look forward to celebrating their uh award uh next week at the dinner and let me check to make sure I have no other updates and I do not so I will move it to my right uh councilman blue medy no no business and councilman Chell uh I have one thing to mention that the next Council connect meeting is at the library on Friday May 17th from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock and I'll be there with councilman Herzberg hey so I encourage uh members of the public um to go to that uh often times you only have 5 minutes to talk to us uh this will be a longer period of time um so I encourage people to come to the library on Friday especially if you bring food because it's going to be lunchtime and I'll be hungry bab it is a great all and any other new business unfinished business seeing none I will make a motion to adjourn oh I'm you know what I do this every time um um we are now reached the final public comment period which you are unrestricted so you can talk about whatever you want to talk about so please approach the microphone state your name for the record sorry thank you uh Kathy Ean cow and scutter's road I am delighted to hear about this Safety Action Plan that you just mentioned because on my notes that I wrote an hour ago is something that has been on my mind for months now probably years but I'll say months um I would like to request that we improve and remediate the intersection of 517 and West Mountain so if you're not familiar with it that is the curve up to 57 from West Mountain that where you make a left and you look both ways for probably 3 minutes 5 minutes 10 minutes and then you kind of White Knuckle and you kind of go if you're going to make a left but it's really scary and I don't know if you've ever done that yourselves but I do it on a regular basis and I know we have the proximity of this intersection is to our schools where we have new drivers uh where we have parents that are going between schools especially in the morning during bus traffic um and more recently I feel like there's been to your point um in our County a lot more uh fatalities and accidents and I think if I'm not mistaken a couple of U weeks or months ago there was a fatality or at least a rollover at that intersection if I'm not mistaken definitely not a fatality okay but a roll over um as I understand it so then try doing that on a bicycle different way um yeah so this intersection feels very dangerous and risky to me as a parent going back and forth between schools um it feels very dangerous to our new drivers who you know are probably you know I'm a season driver and I'm white knuckling it in some points of the day um I don't know that you know the remediation should be a light but there has to be some way that we can enable folks to make a left turn there safely and it doesn't feel like at this moment we have that um I understand that 517 is a County Road uh and and that West Mountain is a local Road I believe um meaning in the municipality um I hope that doesn't stop us from moving forward but now with this committee I'm hoping that enables us to move forward with some sort of remediation uh for our uh Community for our children uh for our parents uh I know more recently we made changes to a state road um over by North Village we made some traffic Corrections there um where we had the two lanes now we have got a turning lane um so I I know it can be done and it's evidenced by that especially um yeah so um I would like to actually Oprah the data for that intersection and understand what kind of traffic accidents we're seeing there um so I will be doing that um if you would would just like to you know implore the council implore you uh to make that you know to consider that um and hopefully as one of the first things we do from you know our our Township perspective um possi for that committee you just mentioned is to consider that um and I just like to ask have you had similar experiences am I the only one because this feels like a very dangerous intersection to me yeah no I I don't want to take up your time but I will remark on that when you're done yes yes so for your submission for the Safety Action Plan submission um I appreciate you considering this uh from you know the students that are coming up that are about to get their licenses we don't need to have any additional fatalities in this County because we didn't take an action there that we could have I mean there's technology we want to talk about technology right there's if it's if it's a light there are lights that would um you know are sensors right where it will just turn red when somebody is there I understand that's a busy you know intersection in terms of the County Road a lot of traffic going on the county road whereas you know the the West Mountain um turning is probably not as much at most points of the day I mean technology has to have been able to catch up from a traffic perspective to not impede the county road but to allow safety for the residents and the folks that are driving on that road so thank you thank you can I just give a few remarks on that quick of course so uh that has been brought up several times and I know there was a study in the past about that with uh 517 being County Road the county did the study big problem they have is sight distance for a light and uh what they had stated is that they would need that house that residence on the corner of 517 and West Mountain to be gone in order to assist with putting up a traffic light I see so they they'd have to imminent domain correct the house because the house is impeding the sight line is that right and to improve the sight line you got to get rid of the house that's your understanding that's my understanding yes and like I said that that study was done years ago um I don't particularly have it but I have spoken to our traffic Bureau about this recently um with a recent accident um so we'll discuss it a little bit more and you know obviously with this uh committee uh this is something that we can bring up and uh talk about but it is a very difficult intersection with site distance we do know that it's funny given that that means the sight distance is bad for without a light for cars trying to see trying to break out right so it's it's ironic yeah it's not good for a light but also it's even probably worse if you're sitting lower in a car yeah that's not where most of our accidents are in town there's a lot of accidents in town all over town every day and a lot of it has to do with distracted driving like I stated before um just because there's a light there's a stop sign doesn't mean that you pull out in front of a vehicle um I'm not saying everybody does that but that's the cause of a lot of different accidents um I know there was email that was mentioned about White Lake Road White Lake and Route 94 putting a a solid traffic light up there as opposed to the blanking light and the Crash data that we got from over the past I believe it was two or three years um there wasn't that many motor vehicle crashes there and the crashes that occurred were because the most recent one that was discussed was because somebody made a left turn from Route 94 onto White Lake Road in front of another vehicle and so traffic light or no traffic light you have to yield oncoming traffic so there's there's there's a lot with driver operation that comes into that and I do understand that you know trying to make your roads in the intersections as safe as possible is the ultimate goal and that's what we do look at also yeah I think that will be an issue for that committee which is um you know one like you said I mean if put it in some terms a confounding variable uh for this is you can you can make it the most pristine intersection uh you know possible but if someone is looking at their phone uh and decides to turn into the lane um and be distracted doesn't matter and so trying to figure that out you know what are the intersections that are problematic um the effect whether that intersection as designed is you know approximate cause of of the accident right you know if it's bad sight lines but also I mean I think you know that's something that the committee will look at but we'll I hope they will be able to identify what are the intersections that are and it may be completely random right um we'll we'll find hopefully we'll have that data to find out what are the problematic intersections and whether that problem is a function of the way that intersection is constructed or some other Factor um but I think it is a growing uh epidemic but part of it is uh just because we're on our our phones um and not saying that's everybody's that's not everyone but it's a lot of different distractions but operation is is a key to not getting into a motor vehicle crash the way you operate your vehicle you understand there are intersections that there are things sometimes there's roadway I conditions bad weather that um result in can result in a motor vehicle crash also one of the other places that is problematic and I know maybe you guys could use some support here because again we have state counted we have all these roads coming in one but that intersection that is between OD jobs shell the church and the pharmacy so that light right there to me I mean I go through that thing a million times a day but everything should be have a left turn arrow right so you're not stacking up and then waiting like some and I know that you guys have looked at that before but hopefully that that is an area where there have been some significant accidents many accidents we have a very persistent complaint Bureau to the state our traffic Bureau I know you do that's what I'm saying and I know it takes a long time for them to respond but maybe you guys could light a fire because the the technology would be it's in half of the intersection it's just not in the other half so in other words there's one light that says make a left turn I understand they should all be that way so next time you're at that light um you know take a look at it maybe you can bring that forward as well and help them I think that's a very good point and I think also um the extent that there's money available um you know obviously you know uh it's one thing to come up with a plan and if the money is only to pay a bunch of professionals to come up with a plan who then recommend uh well you're going to have to take out this house and you're going to have to um you know it would be helpful if the infrastructure money actually goes to the repairs and changes to the intersections as opposed to a bunch of money spent for someone telling us there's a problem with it which we kind of already know so you kind of related to this um over the weekend I experienced something I was driving up the hill on up 15 on the way to Sparta um and there's a woman that was I thought it was a woman that was swerving all over the road slumped over her steering wheel with something in her hand almost hit me twice had to slow down so I wanted to call the the police department and say if anybody's on Route 15 here's a here's a problem driver um am I can I call n can I call 911 because it's not I don't know if it's an emergency it is if you're experiencing someone or You observe someone that may be a potential Danger on the roadway you're exempt from the statute you that's a 911 call phone to call 911 and let them know Poss possibly intoxicated possibly uh under some kind of duress we don't know medical condition but to give us the information so we get intercept and find out what's going on you're allowed to do rest okay that's because I was trying to avoid calling 911 but I'm flying through my phone I know I have this part of pie somewhere distracted while I'm doing this ironically thank you right thank you one final comment well I recognize distracted driving is a part of the problem here I just want to say in this specific circumstance there is no way anybody is distracted making a left there as a matter of fact they're White Knuckle paying attention so much to where there's nothing else but that you know drivers when people are making a leftand turn on a West Mountain Road and traffic is back up and stop that may be looking at something or doing something distracting in their vehicle and not seeing the vehicle stop and rear end the vehicle of them understand I'm specifically talking about turning left though onto 517 well that's not the only cause of accident that's the reason I'm standing up here today because I've done it so many times and that is one of the most uh one of the intersections I feel the least safe in in this town so I just want to call that out thank you Denny der's Ty in his part I'll make it quick I'll try to make it quick used to have a cross guard there years ago they were there Helen Morgan there were three or four out by Mohawk AV and that just during the dismissal and arrival times which which you know but that was helpful um the Groot Jack deg Groot at the county is running the NJ 250 rev new whatever it's called committee sorry it's late um and he's so he's running the same committee for the county which might be someone to talk to about sharing resources and maybe you already have we have a county member that's ALS I mean a Township Committee Member that's also on the county okay it's it's maranne okay just thought I'd mentioned that um another thing I wanted to mention uh as you bring up your um things that are going on in town I've mentioned this to Chris and I mentioned it recently to Dan and to Jim um because there's an ad with tap with Sparta on tap into Sparta you guys can put up your press releases you can put up your events on the rec department does and the library does and the um Township Council events push through so take advantage of it can we send them to you or do we have to log in or how do we do it email me I'll help you with it okay um uh safer roadways discussion the the planning board is my understanding hire a traffic engineer or a traffic professional to opine and I would imagine that part of his duty is to opine on the safety of our roads not just count cars and trucks so that might be a resource that we're already paying for to have look into some of these things I know we have the wheel but this is from a different person traffic person do you have more questions so I have a comment on that um Jim I know I don't want to disappoint um the the um minutes are getting better I appreciate that planning board and Zoning Board still don't have minutes from 2023 zero um and and 2024 is not much better the map about half a year ago they brought up a a scheme of a map that is going to be interactive but we still don't have a a map that's newer than 2016 might even be 2013 on the website um I don't know Josh if you're going to take minutes you're not keeping minutes of your of the um Business Development Committee oh because there there are minutes from the previous iteration um but that ended in 2021 so I'm looking for uh an update on those things so thank you so Jenny one clarification the traffic engineering firm that was hired is not paid for by the township it's only paid out of escrow for certain planning board applications so it's not that we're paying them already and we can use them for other things so but good idea but yeah it's different and the planning board minutes I believe that the there's been minutes approved for 2023 perhaps they're not easily you be seeing them posted shortly because a lot of them are done and they just need to get approved and then they'll be posted I as I had was telling you we have two transcribers working to you know is my goal to get caught up on that and and we're working chronologically backwards so we are getting there and though there's a bunch that should be posted very soon uh literally like just a minute uh Josh by the way second time I went to Burger and butcher bang up job I'm coming back there I love the burgers um I want to thank Neil I want to thank Kevin um looking forward to this as far as the production side of things uh done over 30 episodes of Television uh film Voice Over Broadway seen a lot of projects Cradle to grave so it's not just the theory side of it but it's also how is it put into practice how does it actually all come together um so I'm excited about it anybody that has questions love talking about it too so just wanted to say thank you and introduce myself yeah thank you all right it's Frank Dolce is it Dolce yesl okay on Green Road Green Road okay I didn't know if you announced yourself um thank you Cheyenne Trail off a green road okay when is the next meeting of the uh uh the next meeting uh will be I believe it's the 22nd this month yes thanks yeah May 22nd at 7 pm. at the sparta stage so Joe Garcetti has been nice enough to give us uh the sparta stage so look forward to seeing the new appointees there and um you know anyone who wants to come by is is welcome to come by so with that are there any other public comments none for you Beth all right all right no buzzer beaters okay um with that I'll make a motion to adjourn may I have a second I will second all those in favor say I I I all right we are done thank you everyone