24 in council chambers Sparta Township Municipal Building 65 Main Street Sparta New Jersey the time is 7:03 the regular meeting is open all Council meetings are now live streamed and can be viewed at the following link www.youtube.com Sparta tww p/ streams adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 5th 2024 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice Madam clerk may we have a roll call please councilman Herzberg here councilwoman Quinn here councilman chello I'm here Deputy Mayor buetti here mayor Clark here let's all rise and salute the flag I pledge the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic it stands indivisible liy and justice for all now before I begin I do want to express my condolences and I know everyone sitting up here also does for uh Tom Collins's brother who uh passed away uh so on behalf of the sparta Township and council members our condolences prayers and thoughts uh to the family next up are the approval of minutes and uh may I have a motion to approve the March 21st 2024 budget meeting minutes as presented I'll make a motion that we approve the budget meeting minutes for March 21st 2024 and may I have a second I will second and before uh both I and councilman Herzberg were not present at this meeting so we will not be voting so all who were present uh please say I I I I and we will I abstain abstain the budget meetings for March 21st 2024 uh are approved may I have a motion to approve the March 26 2024 regular meeting minutes as presented I make a motion that we approve the regular meeting minutes for March 26th 2024 as presented uh may I have a second I will second it and uh I do note that uh C Herzberg was not present at the March 26 meeting um so he should abstain so all those in favor say I I I exstension we're now up to the manager's report um so I know that Jim is taking a much deserved vacation this week and so we do have uh our former Town manager and uh very able Sam Rome uh thank you mayor um we have tonight is um application for appointment of firefighter uh Chief Chris aruchi I would like to appoint Tanner AB absy as a member of the sparta fire department the current members have been encouraged from friends and acquaintances to join the ranks and and describing how volunteer offers a challenge but it's extremely satisfying wait for residents to give back to the community this word of mouth has led Tanner to to the Department chief aluchi is confident that Mr a ay will fulfill and complete the New Jersey state mandated firefighter one requirements and become a great asset to the department uh the Independence Day Parade in conjunction with Sparta El Lodge 2356 is scheduled for Thursday July 4th starting at 10:30 on eastshore trail and then F followed up by fund for the whole family at dster Park from our Parks and Recreation Department Camp saak jya begins Monday July 1st staff training and final preparations are being completed this week residents can find the sparta Recreation Pro program activity calendar for the other summer camps and special events and the township website Sparta little league has several teams in the Williams Williamsport tournaments part of the Little League World Series over this over the summer with some games being hosted at Station Park the senior pool has open and they Contin they continually take new members the annual Sussex County Senior Olympics will begin tomorrow June 26th rain date June 27th at Maple Grange Park in Vernon with Sparta C team with the sparta Senor team we wish them the best of luck this concludes the report thank you mayor councel and residen DEP uh thank you Mr Rome may I have I I'm sort of inter but I just wanted to tag on to the manager's report I thought this would be a good time for me to just express my appreciation to the sparta Township Fire Department and the fire the sparta Township Police Department unfortunately we had a an event at uh at our building on uh Thursday June 13th uh which brought out the uh the fire department uh and including the chief himself um it fortunately was just just uh smoke from burned out Motors in our HVAC system and our well that resulted from an electrical surge but went through uh the second floor of the building and the uh the Elevator Shaft and no one knew what really was going on till uh those folks got there and they really were very thorough and going through the entire building uh to make sure that it was safe and to make sure that uh there was no fire to go along with some smoke and uh cleared out the building secured the building uh and they just did a a terrific job so I wanted to personally and on behalf of uh of my Law Firm thank the sparta fire department and Spa PD who also accompanied them to the building that's all thank you and and thank you to our fire department and thank you to uh the gentleman who was being appointed tonight I'm glad to see that we are it seems like uh this is maybe the third week in a row that we've been appointing people uh to our fire department so I applaud anyone who uh does that public service so thank you on behalf of the town and and everyone in it um you make us safe thank you so we're now up to the uh first uh public comment period um this is limited mayor the manager report oh I'm sorry we didn't approve it I apologize U may have a motion to accept the manager's report I move that we accept the manager report as read may I have a second I have a second uh all those in favor say I I I the manager report is approved um as I alluded to we are at the first public comment period of the night uh this is limited to items that are not on the agenda so if there's something that you want to talk about and you see it on the agenda now is not the time so again uh please state your name and address for the record and please be mindful of our 5 minute limit so again this is public comment period limited to items that are not on the agenda how we doing tonight guys Kevin Sal Mary 30 Neely Drive um as you all know I was accepted into the um fairs committee uh a couple months ago um I just wanted to uh um basically start off with uh the new short film that we are going to be doing um later next month um that will be placed in burger and butcher thank you Josh um it's uh going to be a precursor for our show that we are going to be doing uh this fall uh that's going to be released on uh Apple TV and uh we I just wanted to quickly just um you know let the Town Council know about it and um if you know we can uh spread the word about it um I can't give away too much right now but let's just say there's some big names coming and um right now we just can't wait to help um you know this Bri be on the news and uh bring economic opportunities to Sparta so thank you thank you thank you so is that official now on Apple or we're not going to say you you don't have to say never mind anyone else uh for public comment on items that are not on the agenda okay seeing none we'll get to the expenditures Deputy Mayor would you please read the expenditures for June 25th 2024 I make a motion that we approved the expenditures for June 25th 2024 in the amount of 7, 32,592 uh may I have a second I will second it uh all those in favor of approving the expenditures for June 25th uh 2024 say I I I the expenditures of June 25th 2024 are approved um Madam clerk could you please we're now up to the ordinance uh introduction of ordinance provision U tonight um Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2408 an ordinance authorizing an emergency appropriation under njs 40a colon 4-53 to finance revision of Master Plan by the township of spart and the county of Sussex New Jersey may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 248 I'll make a motion to introduce ordinance 2408 may I have a second please I will second it okay U before we go to roll call is there anyone from Council who wants to be heard on the introduction of 2408 yeah I just like to share some context and and background um particularly for the public who may not be quite as aware of what this is about um so we have a uh as many of you know we have a master plan a comprehensive master plan and our current master plan is uh long overdue for an update it was created in 1984 so 40 years ago so if you could pause and consider for a moment what you were doing in 1984 um hopefully you were all here in 1984 um and how different life was back then now since then there have been some U amendments along the way and some Band-Aids that were um specifically targeted for certain needs um so the Town Center or the economic development zone or um affordable housing and but those were not in any sense a comprehensive overview or a u a new look at a creation of a new master plan after this many years uh the master plan is as you may know is a blueprint for our community's future so it's a planning document it's a guide it establishes the long-term vision for the development and trajectory of the community it's prepared with feedback from residents from business owners from stakeholders many many types of stakeholders and it uses methods um to do that to gather input through things like public meetings public input sessions surveys uh presentations at other stakeholders meetings for instance perhaps a board of ed meeting or a Civic groups meeting and also just holding information sessions and Q&A sessions with local local organizations uh it could include setting up booths at township events just as examples um the process usually begins with studying the existing conditions that includes things like demographics and housing and transportation and economic Trends and other analyses Al does uh includes a thorough analysis of the existing and projected conditions some of the major components of a master plan some of these are required some are optional things like land use element a housing element Economic Development circulation utilities Community facilities Recreation open space historic preservation and there's others uh New Jersey municipal law specifically established a mechanism for the allocation of funding through something called special emergency Appropriations for towns to prepare Master plans um the section that applies to this is 4-53 and that's related to but distinct from 4-54 which is for funding of true emergencies such as damage to public and private property by floods hurricanes Etc um the uh special Appropriations emergency Appropriations here um I'll read from the state of New Jersey Division of local government services um under the provisions of njs 44-53 a municipality May adopt an ordinance authorizing special emergency Appropriations at any time during the year for the following purposes and it lists purposes from a all the way down to I including things like preparation of a a storm system map preparation of a complete reevaluation program revisions and codification of ordinances preparation of drainage maps for flood control purposes and D preparation of master plan or plans again this is separate from the similar part of the provision that is for expenses for repairs and damage due to um property damage from floods hurricanes Etc U this this process that we're looking to do with this ordinance does not establish new debt it's not issuing bonds or short-term notes the total amount is reserved it's a maximum so it's and it's over multiple calendar years this is not all going to happen by December only what's actually needed and used is spent from this allocation the the Township's CFO Town manager the planning and zoning department head carefully monitor what the professionals would bill for and what they're getting paid for out of this allocation then the allocation is put into the budget over a fiveyear span so who's who would be leading this work so our existing professionals so uh Katherine sad from Harvard Consulting who's our professional planner um Tom Collins our planning board attorney Dave Simmons our planning board engineer Dory Fox of course our planning and zoning department head and again with oversight from our CFO and town manager additional subcommittee volunteers include Ron day our planning board chairman Ken Lori our zoning board chairman Celeste Luciano who is our a planning board member Mike Sylvester planning board member Neil sne who's the environmental commission Vice chairman Mike dine member of the public who's here tonight Allison Breck member of the public Jenny Derek member of the public Brian Romanowski member of the public Christy White House member of the public and myself this group will use extensive input from the public and theity Community stakeholders again through those multiple events surveys public meetings the the allocation that's in this ordinance for tonight um is based on the estimates from our planners um and these are estimates based on what we think we know now with the understanding that we don't know everything we need to know right now in terms of the um the full full scope as we get into this um the allocation amount was reviewed received by and reviewed by our CFO Our Town manager and our Endor from our um our planning and Zone use zoning office and their consensus is that this amount makes sense and it makes sense to do it upfront now and allocate this in case we need that full amount again it's not used if it's not used it's not drawn down upon the estimates that we received from the professionals don't reflect the final stage of the work so the master plan process the proper process it comes out at the end with a nice master plan document the final step is to take that master plan and then update the ordinances uh the zoning the tax zoning Maps uh other elements that the town uses for governance to match the master plan so that work happens after the master plan and that's pretty significant work and will'll take some time so um in this total allocation number is uh a piece of funding put in place for that work so that we don't just have a master plan sitting there but we have to update the ordinances and the zoning maps to match it and again whatever isn't needed won't be spent and the professional invoices uh that will be monitored by our staff here at township um the dollar amount in total is $300,000 and again that would be the maximum and it would be put back into the budget over the next five years so that's $60,000 maximum per year in the next five years budgets if you think about it our annual budget is 30 million so $60,000 is one oneth of 1% so it's 1500th of the budget and I would imagine that most people look at a 40-year-old guidance document a blueprint would think that it's it's probably pertinent and reasonable to to do that and support that kind of uh work at this time towns throughout New Jersey and the country use this mechanism this special allocation exactly for this reason and that's why it's written into the ordinance into this statute and this gives us a chance to think strategically about our future using that broad community and stakeholder input when I did some brief research and I looked at other towns I looked at about 10 and all of them have used the same special allocation to get funding to put it aside and then pay themselves back um over five years for exactly for this purpose and those councils have um supported that ordinance and they move forward with this um this plan so you know I think at this time it makes sense and I know we'll talk about it again in the next meeting um but in my opinion it makes sense for all of us as responsible government responsible leaders to take this opportunity now and approach it actually with some optimism and some commitment um to take a full look after it was done 40 years ago Embrace that chance and um accept that obligation with foresight and with you know care for our community and our families friends neighbors and their children and their grandchildren so that we have a blueprint in place that will guide us so let me uh pause there it was a lot but I just wanted to make sure everyone had context of what this is all about because it looks like a big number up front and special emergency allocation sounds a little bit um unknown so I just wanted to put it out there and explain what was going on okay um anyone else from uh yeah so it's an emergency appropriation and that usually dictates that it's something that has come up that needs to be handled is that true this is actually a special emergency special emergency authorizations can be done over for a threee to 5year period um the last time we did one here was when we did the reevaluation which was about 10 years ago right and that basically allows you to defer the funding in that over the fiveyear period right and we were overdue with that so that was kind of an emergency yeah and again the master plan I guess needs some updating as well I mean it hasn't been done from what I could tell probably in the last 20 years maybe no I agree with that I just don't agree with the fact that we've been planning this since last year and now calling it emergency especially in a position where we're in a budget crisis it's not in the budget we don't have the money so now we're doing an emergency appropriation to get something done that's not an emergency that's my personal opinion I don't think the taxpayers need to need to deal with this burden from the financial standpoint my only buy in with that is the fact that if we need to do it we need to do it as a special emergency that funding um you know time time wise uh I just made it I know they were talking about it through the fall early early spring and stuff like that but again if we had push forward and done the ordinance before the introduction of the budget um basically we would have had to raise one fifth of it in this year's budget as well so this just allows us to refer it now they can get into it get the professionals hired and start the the leg work and then will the first payment will be in the next year's budget of the I understand that part of it I just don't agree with spending this kind of money in in this budget situation that's my personal opinion I don't think it's emergency I don't think it needs to be done this year and I think the current budget doesn't call for it it's actually listed as one of the reasons to use the special emergency Appropriations it says preparation of master plan or plans I I heard you say that okay I still don't think it's I'm I'm concern who determines who audits this to make sure that the term emergency appropriation according to this is accurate once once we is it the state once we do the second reading and copy this ordinance will be forwarded down to the state for for their review as well because they need that to basically set up that there that we're going on a 5year special emergency authorization so that you know sort of they they keep it in the file down there so they know that hey look you guys have to raise you know one of this each year for the next five years so do they determine if it's if it's an emergency as as long as are they going to audit it is my question no they're not going to audit it because this is the majority of the way that every every town the burrow in in the uh state do these type of things and most of the time the usually a 20 to 25 year window is usually when they look at you know codifications um Master plans different things like that like normally every 10 years you you would probably look at doing a r out um on the taxes however now there's programs where you can do what they call a celerated revalve so there's a new program out there where they come in now and and like take um 10% of the properties for for the whole town and then systematically start increasing each year so that a revalve probably would cost us right now probably about the tune of $2.5 million if we did a full-blown rebound this way we're going to be able to probably put 150 to 200 away and and get the valuation increased you know so much each year so My direct question the reason why I'm asking this is because before we have been told that and the way that the other municipalities did it was they identified a need they have a need to do the master plan and then everything started from that point forward correct so my my issue is we've had a master plan subcommittee and been paying professionals to do a master plan for the better part of many months now so why I'm asking if the state is going to audit it is how are we going to tell them it's an em it's an unforeseen emergency that we do our master plan when we've been paying for it for six months even though they may have been doing that I haven't physically received a purchase order request for any any uh professionals to do this part of it so so no professionals have been paid for the time that they have put in with the subcommittee members or the planning board members when it comes to the master plan at all since the committee started pay them if the money's not placed so they've done the work and we owe them the money they've done the work and now we owe them the money again that's beyond my knowledge there has been no purchase orders issued or vouchers so they have not been paid there were three meetings so okay so um I I understand the need to review the master plan completely I I understand that it's x amount of years I am uncomfortable with a a blanket we've had many discussions about where we thought the price of this was so initially I have been told we have been told for many many many many years minimum $500,000 then we had a discussion and we were told told it's $125,000 and I said that cannot be possible there's no way you're doing a master plan with all these Professionals for $125,000 and I started requesting paperwork I never got to paperwork now we're at 300,000 which is closer to the 500,000 that originally we were we were told it would probably be um today we formally received the um information from the professionals which comes in at $165,000 um I understand that there's different things that have to be built in but doubling it to me seems significant am I correct with the number that we just raised our budget 653,000 roughly dollars is that correct yes and so now we're talking about another 50% of the entire amount that we raised our tax tax right in one shot over five years this yeah this will be basically one of the 300 yeah the 300,000 which year no I'm asking relative to the increase that we just we increase our budget $653,000 correct yes this is $300,000 which is just under 50% of the overall amount that we raised our budget is that correct that's correct okay so what we're saying is the propo this proposal says we're going to get into basically a HELOC loan um that you would do for your home so you you earmark you can go to the bank there's $300,000 sitting there and you can draw on it if you want to or when you want to but if you don't touch it that amount stays there and you can put it back is that the correct understanding yes okay so are we not can we not look at a different kind of funding model what is the timeline that is Rec what is what is your proposed timeline because the other thing is in the documentation return from the professionals there's no timeline so it just says this is our estimate so is this their estimate whether it's one year three year five years into the abyss this is what they're saying be the um Katherine Shad or planner indicated it's about 12 months 12 to 18 months does the ordinance work following this right so it's going to be probably more like 18 months I would imagine the way things usually go but that amount is for the whole project it's not for 204 it's not for 2025 that's the amount for the work this will be set up when will be set up in its own special fund um basically it'll be Reserve or master plan basically will be the name of the account and that money will be draw down upon over that fiveyear period um at the end any money that's left but once we deem that all the work is completed would be lapsed back to Surplus and if there's additional money that is needed if there's additional money that's needed we would have to do a supplemental emergency or um basically the money would have to be raised in in in regular budget whatever year that may OCC so is it possible that instead of doing this $300,000 in one shot that we look at a different way to fund it that has benchmarks and gates in it so in other words we are dedicating x amount instead of $300,000 if we say okay we're going to look at $50,000 for the next six months and then after six months we get a report and an update from the planning board where are you are you on track what progress is going on and then if they need an additional amount of money we may be able to I mean God willing that the budget is better next year we can look at that and maybe instead of funding this thing over five years we could do you see what I'm saying break it up into chunks rather than taking this whole amount and just running wild with it with no no stop guard you know no Gates no checkpoints no anything um I would feel more comfortable with taking that funding that way forward with funding this rather than just saying it's $300,000 if we run out we run out we don't know what's going on with it and um well basically what should be happening here is we should be allowing our our in-house professionals our staff to to run the drive the bus here I mean basically any of the professionals that need to be hired should be going through our department heads of the respective departments and everything else um nothing against the board members but our department heads are the professionals that know how to do the POS that know how to contact professionals the so it doesn't address my it doesn't address what I'm recommending yeah I'm recommending that we do it in smaller chunks instead of saying okay it's 300 ,000 off we go we get no benchmarks we don't know what's going on or the status what you need what you actually need what you might need down the road so what I'm recommending is breaking this up to say okay maybe it's 50,000 I'm I'm I'm uncomfortable taking half of the overall amount that we just raised our budget and just saying okay here it is even though it's over five five years what I'm trying to do is is work on a different way to fund it where we can actually you know keep this going for the next through the end of the year until we get our handle on what next year's budget's going to look like and maybe we will be able to say then next year okay we have funding for $150,000 and we don't have to Kick the Can or Finance something that's going to take two years and finance it over five years I I'm saying I do understand the concern I think and Sam correct me if I'm wrong that it's advantageous even if we had the money next year it's so advantageous to use this mechanism so we can without interest put it back in over five years instead of doing it that one year or two-year hit it's advantageous to so it doesn't matter when it's spent right it's that it goes into the budget over five years so it's only 60,000 Max per year but you have to put it back we do eventually over five years so it's not like it's free money no no it's interest no it's interest free and then what happens if it goes to 500,000 that's my this is what I'm say I feel more comfortable that's not permitted in here I I feel more to 500,000 and there's the the recommendations are very vague to me the recommendations from the professionals don't give really a timeline there's no um and and also my understanding is are we not getting a presentation on this whole thing at our next meeting is there plans to have a presentation to the Council of the master plan not yet there there is but it's on hold we need this past so uh I think are you referring to the planning board the parking design standards I think with the next meeting with Katherine I I'm a Pak maybe if we're going to spend this kind of money I mean again I'm trying to be very mindful that this is a large chunk of change and also balance that with the need to be able to continue working and identifying you know um areas in the master plan review so yeah I'm bringing a different funding model that has checks and balances along the way before we just open up the floor to half of the amount just under half of the amount that we just raised our overall budget yeah but the the annual hit is on10th of the amount right 60,000 that's that what it comes out to but just to address your point about the checks and balances this this today has checks and balances in it we have Sam we have Dory we have Katherine who's project planning this whole thing out there's a Gant chart there's a whole project plan it's going to be online there's there's there's is going to be full transparency they've done this before they're professionals and it's not going to be me doing it somebody else on a part-time basis it's going to be the professionals running this with what work stream we're in where the input where the community events happening how are we going to advertise them it's it's already something they've done multiple times so their checks and balances back to Sam and Dory and Jim are going to be fully there and they know that already because Dory and they went out and already asked for that proposal to get anyone else to tell us what is going going on with this I want I would be more comfortable giving smaller amounts of money that are more manageable in my opinion and then saying okay what is the first Benchmark it's this okay great you have this much money to get to this point and then we review okay now you need more okay great now let's have that conversation um I am extremely concerned that this is going to be well over $300,000 well then we don't approve the rest Ian we we deal with that at that point then we're going to have half but if we I think we're in the same point though because if we do it in like 50,000 chunks every 69ine months then that could be waste of money if we don't do the next I think this way doesn't mean we're spending that right it's just putting it out there so that with the right oversight it's there for you so we don't have to stop for three months and then get going again stop for three more months or six months and get going again so this is a way to um with the right checks and balances in place again by Township staff that they monitor like the do all the professional fees along the way but we're we're being asked to appropriate this money we us right so what I'm saying is I feel more comfortable doing it in smaller chunks I don't think smaller chunks is to the council I think we need to we need to kind of get to a vote but I think that I mean I think that you know one um there's nothing that would prevent the planning board from coming to us and giving us progress reports as they move along saying hey we see that you've spent $50,000 could you please tell us where you are in the stage of the master plan so we can build in the reviews that councilwoman Quinn wants without having to revisit this issue you know time and time again yeah by way excuse me those are those are built into to what I understand already those there will be oversight by us to make sure that the money isn't being frittered away second second thing is that uh sometimes big projects require um big spending and this is not an insignificant issue if you talk to anyone in this town there are grave concerns about the development direction that this town is heading in and the way you deal with that is through a master plan review so that we are so I would caution everyone to recognize there is a need here and it's a need that the public has made loud and clear and so what we're doing is is what we were elected to do which is to respond to what the community wants and I think getting caught up in certain procedural mechanisms is is missing the issue and frankly seems like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic if you would talk to some people and so the idea is let's deal with the master plan review now let's have our professionals who have come up with this number this is isn't drawn out of thin air they came up with this number um and they can be held to account and and brought before us so I don't think we need to get into too many procedural mechanisms about how we you know let's appropriate the full amount and they will report to us as they reach certain benchmarks or we can tell them you need to come to us every 3 months and let us know where you are but anyway I think we we've detained ourselves enough there will be a hearing on this uh if it uh does pass um but I think that it's a significant need and one that is responsive to uh the community uh and particularly the people uh that elected us so with that I know Josh you had another comment well you were talking about oh Dean had mentioned um that there were checks and balances but my concern is there weren't checks and balances when you guys passed the ordinance requiring all of the businesses all of the renters in the Ed zone no matter if they were the exact same business going in to have to go in front of a board costing these small businesses thousands and thousands of dollars sorry business I'm sorry finish your thought businesses lined up to complain about that as recently one of the businesses sat for the entire night with all their professionals they said sorry we've hit our time limit come back next time they're leaving where was the checks and balances there do you still stand behind that I I wasn't involved in it that was actually it wasn't on the orance 21101 that introduced those changes um so that was before the mayor Clark and Deputy Mayor um BL medy were on the council and and actually I voted no on that 2101 so that's where those that's where those changes were introduced that everybody in that Ed Zone has to go to the planning board but all right so my point is where are the checks and balances were there any of the professionals saying that that was a bad idea I was you were there Josh what what what happened I don't know I wasn't I wasn't part of writing that that's a good question I don't know but my point is I I want to make sure there are checks and balances so things like that do not happen well you're um barking up the wrong tree because the that ordinance 21101 was not passed Dan they said it in the meeting it wasn't but it wasn't in 21 I went back and looked I can I can please do because that's not what the professional said that it was it definitely does what was done last year or this year so but whether that that is kind of impertinent to the issue before us the issue before us is whether we are going to introduce ordinance 248 so may I have a mo U we had a motion we had a second we had discussion I'm going to close off uh Council discussion now and we can go to a roll call vote councilman Herzberg no councilwoman Quinn uh I'm G to abstain until I have a chance to I just got this documentation today so I need a chance to just review it this is a huge amount of money and I I as I as I verbalized I have big concerns about just appropriating it without the correct checks and balances and mechanisms in place I need to review these documents so I'm abstaining councilman cheer yes Deputy Mayor buedi yes mayor Clark yes and am I correct Tom that this is an ordinance that requires uh a 2/3 is that right well the the ordinance is introduced however when we proceed to a hearing for adoption it is going to require a 2/3 vote okay but the introduction does not so it is officially introduced it's introduced but not adopted and uh the hearing and the ultimate vote will require a two-thirds vote four votes from the council okay and so I will um you know if uh please get uh councilwoman Quinn you know whatever reasonable information that you have readily available um to hopefully elay her concerns uh so that in two weeks we can do what we were elected to do which is to um have Sparta uh look at its master plan and make sure that we are uh aligning our ordinances with the direction uh that the town people want and taking care of um certain hot issues and zones that have become problematic particularly leading to increased traffic increase accidents um and so I hope that we can in two weeks pass this so now we're up to Josh I be sent that too um mayor also just to clarify as well that um all of this all this time there's nothing that prevents uh the planning board from looking at any zone or we looking at any Zone and recommending updates to it we saw it with the ordinance that we put in place to safeguard the Township against any more warehouses coming in that are over 175 ,000 Square ft it doesn't require an entire master plan to continue that work and I certainly hope that their the planning board is still looking at in reviewing the zones um I know they had a subcommittee that was looking at that but uh changes can be made if there is an emergent need and I think that it's very important for us to continue that even you know I don't know if that's still currently going on and that's part of what the the master plan committee is has been looking at or not but just to be clear we do not need to do um an entire master plan to make updates to the land use ornament or ordinances so that's going to be I I think that's an excellent point um I think that we have to remember that the land use ordinances are our responsibility in the end we're the ones that pass it and so when Town Council sees an emergent need uh for certain zones I think it behooves us uh to to act on that and we can act on it and then the planning board can determine whether it is in Conformity with our master plan but I think not there are some certain zones that are out there now that do present an emergent need and that the fact that if we go through a master plan review that does not preclude us from identifying those zones and dealing with them um again the planning board will have input but I think that there are some zones that we as Town Council should consider that are uh presenting an emergent need and they may come up in uh subsequent meetings but we don't drive that the planning board does we don't drive what the planning board does in a master plan review we don't control that I'm not planning board does no I I I was addressing your point that going through the master plan process does not preclude Town Council from passing ordinances dealing with certain uh zones and we don't have to wait around for 18 months to figure out whether we have a problem in a Zone and we need to tighten up our ordinances there is probably plenty of evidence that we can use right now to determine that there are certain areas that are problematic there's certain ways that are ordinances are written that are leading to problems in that zone so we could look at that proactively right now as a council that's exactly my point yes we could need a master plan what I'm saying is we could do that right now without a master plan well true is the the changes that can be made by the council need to be consistent with the existing master plan you can drive them and then they go back the process is if there's something that we want to drive Tom correct me if I'm wrong we can make that recommendation then it goes back to the planning board to make sure that it's in compliance with the master plan and then it comes back to the council where then it would be adopted introduced and then adopt it I just have one more question just before we move up this topic and it's time sensitive so I'm just going to take take a minute to ask it given some of the amounts of these estimates Sam do we have to go to bid is there a bid process that's required for these most of them are properly Professional Services so necessarily doesn't need a a bid but you have to look at the weigh out all of the uh options that are in there and make sure they're meeting all of our needs and so we don't need to go to bid if it's over because I know there's a threshold right and then we have to go out there's a there's a um threshold for services so my question is based on some of the amounts that are in here does it require us to have to go to bid basically we don't have to necessarily go to bid it's with the Professional Services contract we would weigh out each professional individually see what they're giving us and um it's a judgment call more or less to see who's providing us with the best and most efficient service okay so two building on two things um if we're if the council is taking proactive action and making ordinance land use changes uh that review goes against the current version of the master plan and so if we feel that master plan is outdated any changes that we make is going to be held up uh to see if it comports with a plan that we might not that we might feel is dated and so um that doesn't negate the need for updating our master plan uh and secondly building upon what councilman herzberg's saying there's one thing that you know councilman glaringly pointed out it in section 21101 and maybe this slipped through everybody but um you know there were two sections in there that required every coo to go through the full planning board and that's that's a change that we would like I would like to see made as soon as possible so I guess I'll work with the mayor and and attorney and manager to see if we can maybe make a tweak right there and and sort of FastTrack that that's all I have all right thank you all right we're now up to ordinance 249 uh Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 249 an ordinance appropriating the total sum of 2,500,000 from General Capital Improvement fund for funding various Capital Improvements or purposes by the township of Sparta in the county of Sussex New Jersey may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2409 I move that we introduce ordinance 24-9 as R uh may I have a second I'll second and before we go to roll call just one question Sam this is um from a bond ordinance we already approved is that right we're simply F this is the actual money that I funded in the budget this year to do capital projects um which consist of Roads Parks um building and grounds um all the various improvements that the uh departments do there's money in there that goes to fire there's money that uh goes to PD for third Capital stuff um and this is consistent with the amount of money that we put in last year's we did have 300 or excuse me 3 million in the budget for Capital the other 500 will go into the capital Improvement fund undesignated that can be used for emergency purposes or to fund other ordinances so again this is just consistent what we've done in the past as far as our um funding for Capital and it's it's consistent with the budget that we approved is that right that you allocated already in the budget 2,500,000 3 million in the budget 500 goes into reserve and the other 20 or 2 and A5 million goes out to pay for the projects in cash so basically all of our road improvements that we've done over the last 10-year period which is probably at least 90 to 95% of every Road in the township has been has been overlaid so just to confirm this money is not in addition to anything it's already earmarked in the budget all we're doing right now is we are moving it from one space to another so that it can be utilized to do all the projects and the Day-Day maintenance and all the different things that happen yes under the area of Capital Improvements yes okay anyone else have questions before we go to a roll call vote uh Madam clerk may have a roll call vote councilman Herzberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman shirell yes Deputy Mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes so 249 has been introduced um May uh Madam could you please read the title of ordinance 2410 an ordinance appropriating the total sum of 500,000 from water Capital Improvement fund for funding various water Capital Improvements or purposes by the township of Sparta in the county of New Jersey may I have a second please I move that we introduce ordinance 24-10 as R and again second thank you um and Sam this is your answer to the questions for 249 equally apply to 2410 is that right that's correct except this is for the water operating is hilly instead of the general fund with that uh Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote councilman hzb yes councilman Quinn yes councilman shirell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes 2410 is introduced Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2411 an ordinance of the township of Sparta amending the salary ordinance for non-union and Union employees may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2411 I make a motion we introduce 2411 may I have a second I will second it and before we vote uh Sam do you can you tell us just quickly the purpose of 2411 2411 is just to basically uh gives us the range of salaries for each individual position um the overall amount that we had in the budget for uh this this would be the non-union employees as far as salary in increases was two and a qu% and this basically just establishes the ranges the make sure that those salaries fall within that range um basically payroll clerk looks at all of the salaries and make sure that okay with a two and a quarter this is where this person's going and making sure that the salary ranges fit into that thank you so it's not appropriating any salary it's no it doesn't any any salary it just gives us the range to be able to set a salary uh should we have to hire a new person or something like that um it may one may be like on the low side but again we want to make sure that if we bring in a new person to fill a position and we don't pay them exactly what the tenard person was making um you know we want to make sure it fits Sam in this is every single range extended upwards or is it just the ranges that have uh individuals in then near the top end of the range every range looked at individually just in case you know there may be some position where we bring somebody in that ex got it okay any other questions if not um so before I will um at the hearing before the hearing can you please ask the payroll clerk to send me because it's hard to look at this um this is only what the recommendations are moving forward minimum maximum I would like to see every one of these the listings for the current one that we have right now so that I can look through all of these and see what's changing yeah I can have her put together she I know she has a detail sheet more that she actually uses I just want to see the exist the latest copy of this and what changes and moving forward I think when we get these kinds of things it's really helpful to just highlight what the changes are or to give like a Redline version that goes along with it so that we can see what what changes it's just hard to see here I can't tell what change so um prior to the hearing so as sooner sooner rather than later can I please get a copy of the one that's in place right now from the payroll CLK yes thank you and Sam what's the source uh of the ranges meaning where did you get the what source document is there that gives you what the minimum and maximum are basically just look at historical data from the prior years knowing that we've got a percentage increase and and just make sure that whatever salary is there will fit within that percentage increase okay with that uh Madam clerk may have a roll call vote on uh ordinance 2411 councilman Herzberg yes councilman Quinn yes councilman shirell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes 2411 is introduced next up we have a hearing on an ordinance this is the next step after you've had an intruction C you get a hearing and this is where the public can can comment if necessary uh Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2406 an ordinance accepting the deed right of way dedication from delmare woodport LLC to the township of Sparta and now we are open to public comment on uh ordinance 246 is there anyone from the public wishing to be heard on ordinance 2406 all right see no one uh I will bring it back to council any member of council have any uh discussion or comments with respect to 2406 with seeing none uh may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2406 I move that we adopt ordinance 2406 as it was read uh may I have a second I will second uh Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote councilman Herzberg yes councilwoman Quinn yes councilman cherell yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes we ordinance 2406 is approved uh we are now at the second uh public comment period uh of our evening this is limited to the resolutions so you'll see on paragraph nine of the agenda which is on page five are all the resolutions that are up for consideration tonight um is there anyone wishing to be heard on the resolutions yeah mayor uh maybe I'm out of order but I'd hoped to talk about one of the uh ordinance that was introduced and since it's on the agenda I don't know when or if I'm allowed to distress that is can I do that now or later or well I think you know to and as a former council person you're probably you know familiar with protocol and procedure um so I think if it has to do with an ordinance that isn't a resolution and so but there is a comment period that I call the grab bag at the end so if you would Mike it would be appreciated if you could reserve that till uh later sure um good I'm glad you came back Landon and I hope you will be talking um one of the resolutions particularly 98 yes 98 hi I'm ler I just got a bloody nose out of nowhere so I'll make this real brief um but I've been really working on this Trail project for the last two years I've identified it as an issue working with the county historian I've got the opportunity to create a nonprofit now um hardest in historical we're working on it thank you so much and um essentially this is the first letter of support from one of the municipalities that this abandoned railroad runs through my goal is to go to the other municipality get similar letters of support and ultimately have the Commissioners really identify that as a key issue that they need to solve um the Delaware laana and um Western railroad is 22 miles long it's all abandoned majority of it's already owned by the county including the four miles in Sparta and it's just sitting ducks waiting to be used um hopefully there can be more municipalities to follow suit currently there's a lot of progress in Franklin with the njd for their portion about two miles they're actually going to test out and clear it and see how it goes and hopefully we can start to see a little bit of an expansion through the other municipalities but this is a non-binding recommendation besides the portion that creates a trail committee from the subcommittee um so all recommendations I'm here to give any um you know any from the public a presentation how it looks and I'm really happy that you guys are detaining this and I'm going to go sort out my bloody nose so thank you guys so much before you leave I think it's important that you and I have Aver ation after this because I think that may be um in one of my other roles um involved with the leadership team of the Sussex County League of municipalities we are putting together um survey information for all the municipalities with regard to opportunities for shared services honestly I think where this would be great is to look at it from that level um and see if we can't do something shared across the municipalities in total rather than trying to chunk away at it um piece by piece by piece by piece maybe get a committee together and then maybe there are some shared services costs I know they're looking at shared services for around Recreation this would fall there possibly under conservation and things like that so I think it might be you know we're going to have that discussion because I'm going to ask to have that carved out and if you're not here to hear why I'm going to ask for it to be carved out that's why I think there might be a better more efficient way to so I can a little bit of an Insight from why we're doing this um so I joined the Chamber of Commerce because we have a susus county Trails partnership and essentially they advertise on this brochure all these different projects that are supposed to get done one of them is a a park at Sparta Junction um a pimple Hill State Park which is in Sparta so all these amazing ideas that are supposed to be for us and I'm like why is this not done so I finally after you know finally getting to the the root of the issue I realized that it just seems like that this has been an is is and a problem that has been done before I've they gotten documents from you know 2002 2010 like this isn't the first time someone's had this idea seems to be that there's been a couple roadblocks so the susus County Trail partnership Tammy horsefield the um njd superintendent for the northern region um Josh aosi actually just got moved to Liberty State Park so we kind of had another bit of a a refresh there but what he wants what he wanted to do was get these letters from all the municipalities that's his goal and once he gets those letters or now it's actually going to be the schwarzwurzel and want to you know be a part of how it gets done so hopefully you know you guys consider that and you guys can be at the table and actually the leader amongst the nine other municip M alties and really stamp your your Authority on how you want this to get done so I appreciate you guys really entertaining this and listening to what I have to say but um also thank you guys all for your commitment to this town it definitely does not go unnoticed you guys spend a lot of time um and I really appreciate it so thank you so much thank youon ohon you oh oh you're coming back yes okay okay any other member of the public wishing to be heard on the resolutions okay uh seeing none um I think that we should uh carve out meaning for separate vote uh 93 94 95 98 99 910 911 912 um that means we will do together 91 92 96 and 97 is there any member of council wishing to carve out an an additional uh resolution and that would be n either 91 92 96 or 97 I move that we approve resolutions 9-1 9-2 9-6 and 9-7 may I have a second I have a second uh all those in favor say I I I I so resolutions 91 92 96 and 97 are approved uh we are now up to resolution 93 may I have a motion to approve resol resolution 93 which reads resolution of the township of Sparta authorizing a commodity resale system Services agreement with Northern Hills Academy I move that we approve resolution 9-3 uh may I have a second I will second and before uh we vote um Sam can you explain this is to allow Northern Hills academy uh to get our to pay our fuel prices is that it and then if that's true uh what is it that allows them to do so basically we will be selling them on a Commodities agreement the fuel um what it basically allows is they get the fuel at um almost Municipal cost almost what we're paying for it um the DPW basically runs it because the pumps are out by them but they add on a charge to cover the maintenance of our pumps and stuff on top of this it's a benefit for a nonprofit because they actually can get the fuel at a much cheaper price than they could at the pump and Mr Mayor I I I would just to to confirm all of that uh indeed it's permitted Under The Cooperative uh purchasing rules for the state we do as you'll see in 9-4 have to go through an approval process and file an application with the DCA as I understand it and Sam correct me if I'm wrong um uh the toship manager was actually approached by Northern Hills Academy and uh and proposed this Northern Hills Academy is affiliated with sus County Educational Services Commission it's a not for-profit school that provides services through the commission and therefore it does qualify under that uh that Co Cooperative purchasing rule um and what we're doing here with 9-3 uh is presenting a resale system Services agreement that's going to be based upon 9-4 which is going to be the application to the DCA the Department of Community Affairs we're presenting the the agreement to them they're going to review it all they will make a determination if our system is appropriate um and if they approve it uh then indeed this agreement would go into effect so this agreement assuming it's approved this evening uh it still will be contingent upon of course uh Northern Hill signing signing the agreement and also the DCA approving the agreement thank you uh Mr Ryan that's a a very helpful explanation can I ask what is the nature of the Northern Hills Academy I'm not familiar with that I I'm not personally familiar with him but I understand they provide special needs uh Educational Services thank you so would it make sense to pass 93 94 at the same time it certainly would make sense to me Mr Ryan the um the fact that North Hills Academy just to clarify and confirm it's a public school correct that's that's correct open up to special needs students yeah yeah okay okay and at the suggestion of um but I guess if we're going to add four we need to make a separate we're going to have to restart it and add a motion for 93 and 94 cuz that's I don't think we made oh yeah we did have yeah we only did it for 93 soar um I I will can I withdraw my motion for 93 might be FAS just to do 93 and then do 94 yeah let's just okay so before us is uh 9-3 9-3 so all those in favor of 93 say I I I uh 93 has passed uh resolution may have a motion to approve resolution 944 I move that we approve resolution 9-4 may I have a second please I will second all those in favor say i i i 94 has passed uh next up is resolution 95 a resolution authorizing the tax collector to hold an electronic tax sale for the year 2024 uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 9-5 I will approve U make a motion to approve resolution 9-5 uh may I have a second I almost a second it okay and before we vote uh what is it that we are selling in this uh tax sale is that and I didn't see anything identifi basically 94 is is the tax sale um unless they got swapped on my copy they got swapped um the the tax sale basically is authorizing um tax collector to use an outside uh company to basically collect and um all the money for the tax sale so basically it's it actually works out quite well for for that because uh in the past when we had tax sales inhouse um we were receiving probably 4 to 500,000 in cash in that one afternoon and it was crazy for the girls to try to get all that counted and to the bank so doing an electronic tax sale is much more efficient we get more biders we get larger biders than we would get just having someone in the house and basically uh the cost is minimal compared to the gain and so this is really dealing with the method by which we do the tax sale the method has now is we're moving from whatever we had before to an electronic medium yes okay and we we've received in the past couple years of doing is we've receiv received uh larger tax sale premiums a premium again is is when you have multi- biders on one lot they'll bid to give you a premium um to to basically try to get that property if if they have a big enough interest that they're going to foreclose and and whatever else so uh last year I believe we took in probably almost a million6 in tax sale premiums which is a very large amount and it's very nice to set in our account and collect interest thank you all right so we have a um a motion and a second all those in favor of passing resolution 9-5 say I I I I and we've already passed 96 and 97 um now we're up to resolution 98 which is a resolution of support for creating and preserving abandoned railroad lines into open space and recreational Trails for Sparta Township and suex County communities and establishing a committee to promote the growth and use of Sparta Township system of recreational Trails uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 98 I move the we approve resolution 9-8 uh may I have a second please I will second um I like make a quick comment on that so um one of the reasons this thing cropped up in addition to what uh Mr tener shared with us is that um we have several proposed Trail projects that that we've been looking at um um and and together they would create uh they would allow us to cook into a larger Regional Trail system right now there's a gap in the trail system and un and if you look at a map of of the Su County trails that Gap is right in Sparta and so there's a couple of places where we can close that Gap um we've also been talking about a a possible Trail along uh that goes through the middle of town um and so um being able to connect to a larger Regional system does promote um tourism and people coming into town and and through our town and using our and looking at our facilities and our our shops here um and part of what is um making this even more attractive at at this time is the rise in Pre uh prevalence of electronic bicycles and so with it with a lot of people now having ebikes uh those people want to go further and so when uh we've been explained to by the um the New Jersey EP representative that was here um people want people need larger Trails or longer trails and so this would be a good project for for all those reasons um so connect creating a um and so because we have a couple of projects here uh the manager felt and I I I agreed that um it would be nice to have a committee we're a small committee uh and this is um a committee that I believe is subcommittee of the recreation department uh which would look at the proposed Trail projects and come up with a plan do this first do this second do this third something like that um look at possible um U Municipal grants or or government funded grants and also non-government funded grants for trail systems because there there are plenty around uh so it sort of helped facilitate um all those things and and uh and putting a plan together to get us um um down the road of connecting into this Regional Trail system you that's all I have thank you and I um I commend you for um taking the initiative to um have trails and a committee to to really get moving on this um I think that this is a really quality of life initiative that is very important uh to the people of Sparta and I know it's not only something that improves the quality of life but if you look at what the National Association of Realtors has has found is that access to Trails can improve property values anywhere between 5 and 15% and so the extent to which there will be Sparta residents who will now reside at or near an access point or near these Trails uh we will be providing a boon to their property values uh which then in turn helps us um so and helps their improves our community so I I thank you for doing that thank you Landon um and you've done a lot of work with this I know that that's how we initially met with you had uh told me I think what are we 60 miles of abandoned Trails all over Sussex County um and unfortunately some of these projects had stalled out uh kind of at the county level and so I think it kind of behooves us us as a Township to get moving on that and if the uh County wants to assist with that or can provide key input they definitely should I think councilwoman Quinn's suggestion about um you know uh inter service agreements between other towns that that's going to be important but I think we do need to take a a lead on this uh it's it's a real good quality of life and property value initiative so I'm I'm glad to see it here and one thing our D rep said was um that the state would maintain it force and take on the liability as well so it's it's almost a no-brainer anyone else uh wishing to be heard on resolution 98 like I said I I just think we should have a conversation um about the the direction before we announce it because I'd like to strategize I think there's a better way to holistically look at it I'm not opposed to having this subcommittee I think it's great but before we have we go to that Next Level let's have a discussion and strategize as well yeah and as we I think we've discussed is that we do have you know a Rec committee and a rec department and I hope that we will uh keep them AB breast of those and and and get their input because we have a fantastic rec department and obviously they would have uh an interest in this and and should definitely have some input so with that um I will all those in favor of resolution 98 say I I I resolution 98 has passed next up is resolution 99 uh establishing a committee to plan and promote the 2026 Sparta Institute conference uh may have a motion to approve resolution 99 I will move that we approve resolution 9-9 to establish a committee to study this holding this event uh may I have a second please I second resolution 9-9 and uh Dan I know that you have taken uh um a lot of work and done a lot of work with this and and so if you would just explain to us what this is about uh so in brief um the town of Sparta in lonia in uh in Greece does um holds an annual conference it's an archaeological conference every year in Sparta actually last year was held in Rome because it was sponsored by The Institute university of Rome um but uh in 2020 uh we had made contact with the people from Sparta Greece because we are sister CI and we wanted to do something together as sister cities and the sparta Institute had uh asked us if we would be interested in hosting the 2026 event in Sparta New Jersey um wanting and also wanting to open it up to and all the towns named Sparta throughout the country and throughout the world there's a couple of towns named Sparta around there's one in Canada one in El Salvador and one in Turkey all named after Sparta in Greece um so they're forming a committee of five on their side and they're asking us to form a committee of five on our side that we could work together um to plan out what this event looks like what we can do um what topics we would have um all those things okay thank you U May uh all those in favor of passing resolution 99 say I I I resolution 99 is passed and Dan thank you again for this and I look forward to you educating us uh about our neighbors and in Sparta have to learn the words to the Greek national anth yeah so you'll and I hope you'll learn Greek too yeah um Dan when are you going to Greece um I think I i' leave at the end of August I want to say it's like the 28th 27th something like that and so I will be attending the the 2024 conference in Sparta which I'm looking forward to on my dime not on the taxpayers time that's an important qualification uh next up we have resolution 910 a resolution authorizing the displaying of commemorate flag on Township owned flag polls to honor Olympic athletes July 29th through August 2nd uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 910 I moved that we approve resolution 9-10 uh may I have a second I second 9-10 and all those in favor say I I all extensions and roxan you got the two abstentions yes okay uh next up our resolution 911 a resolution authorizing the displaying of committ of flag on Township owned flag polls for the US Coast Guard on August 4th may I have a motion to approve resolution 911 I move that we approve resolution 9-11 uh may I have a second please I second resolution 9-11 all those in favor say I Iain and next up is uh resolution 911 has passed next up is 912 a resolution authorizing the displaying of the committ of flag on Township owned flag polls to commemorate ratification of the 19th Amendment for the suffrages on August 26 I make a motion that we approve resolution 9-12 and may I have a second please and I have will second and it's the uh it's the seist flag that we would be presenting okay and all those in favor say I I I abstain okay not resolution 9912 has passed we are now up to the council liaison updates where Council can update the public and fellow council members about uh the Myriad of committees that were on and so I will start uh to my far left with councilwoman Quinn thank you so uh the seniors met this past week there's a lot of information to share they are a busy very very busy group um in addition to the Senior Olympics which is tomorrow as uh Sam mentioned uh also they have scheduled a senior Farmers Market um there's also a nomination form that is in circulation for the Sussex County Senior of the year so you may remember that we just did locally the um senior award but now they're doing there's award the award application is circulating um senior day at the fair for any of our seniors in town um meaning the uh County Fair so that day uh looks like admission for the senior citizens is only $4 at the state fair and that is on August 8th so any senior that would like to go to the State Fair can attend for $4 and that will be on August 8th um in addition to that there is a veterans picnic um I did share this information with pit Pete Lichfield as well um and that is going to be happening hold on one second August 17th from 12: to 3: at the Hamburg fire department Pavilion so um this information is super important and I did forward that over through our salute 07871 committee to make sure that they were aware of it but if you do know any anybody uh any veterans please let them know that the 11th annual Sussex County veterans picnic will be on August 17th um there is a a document called Five Wishes which is a very interesting they they were speaking about it and it's it's really interesting it talks through outside of your living will and and trust and things of that nature your five wishes and really articulating and writing down and capturing as you're getting ready to pass or you're planning for your own passing what are your five wishes so outside of you know someone gets my toaster or somebody gets my house or whatever it might be these are heart these are things that are a little bit different um so I asked to get a copy of this document so I could bring it here but uh right now Senior Services in Sussex County is providing these so if anyone is interested in learning more about five wishes program please go to the senior space on the County website um in October the senior trip will be going to schuma they don't meet in uh July or August so we're going to be getting a tour of schuma that's going to be happening in October I did report last week um about the status of null Heights and that building we did get a report at the last meeting that this is now currently on hold um and that is the update with regard to the seniors uh I do want to also mention that the Health Corner has been updated again so with regard to the health department leaon they also reached out to Jamie Barker who is an administrator in the Sparta High School with regard to some first aid classes that they feel are pretty important and some information with regard to um first aid triage when it comes to um traumatic cuts and whatnot so that information went out but if anyone is interested in looking at it please go out and take a look at the health corner with regard to salute 07871 um our 2025 campaign is open so starting now anyone can go out and put in their Banner requests for that that will go in in 2025 so the process is as you know we put Banner orders in once a year so for one year's time residents can go out and by using our online form they can recommend a uh service men or woman to get a HomeTown hero Banner so that's open right now it will close again in April of 2025 you have plenty of time just wanted to let everyone know that it is open I'm super excited to announce that we were approved that when it comes to the parks and rec advisory committee we have great news we were approved for a playground Grant so the one that we've been talking about which is roughly almost $600,000 to build a fully inclusive playground we were approved this is great news it will be over at Kids Castle we are looking at not only members uh input from members from the committee itself but also from members of the community um we've drawn in a lot of really great Insight from um parents and Guardians that have children with special needs so we're super super excited that we were awarded this and really honestly can't wait to to begin with with planning in addition to that in our July meeting we will be very very busy we have a whole list of things to do we we are also going to be um representing so you know that we prioritized and gave Council a list now that we have a budget and now that we know where we stand financially we will be rep prioritizing all of those projects that we had submitted and we will be resubmitting that back to the council in probably early August so that is um the update with regard to council leaon um one additional thing for the municipal Alliance we did a lot of great work this year with our unified athletes and our um our unified community and I just want to wish all of them um we saw a lot of them at graduation this past week so I'll talk about our entire Spartan family but really they had a lot of the the uh unified teams had a lot of really great accomplishments amazing accomplishments this year and um some of them won't be returning because they graduated last week so I just really want to commend them all for their commitment and their endurance and perseverance and for a a job really well done so I just wanted to say that and the alliance was really proud to support them as we are very proud to support our seniors and we hope that they are triumphant tomorrow at Maple Grange in Vernon I'll be checking in I'll give you a report that's it for me what yes 600 almost it's just under $600,000 we have to match about $250,000 I think of it but that money was earmarked because we knew that playground needed to be updated and and uh replaced but yeah this is big news for us this is a huge Grant and um so we're super excited about it Wheels marry around yeah and and councilwoman Quinn if a u if members of the public want to provide uh feedback about what they would like to see in that particularly from our special needs Community how would they go about doing that so they can definitely reach out to myself or Gan mon Morano um we're probably going to be I know that Gan has already started discussions I would imagine that there'll be an online survey somewhere um that will be available and we'll share that information certainly with Jenny and with different different media out outlets so that people know where they can um you know put their information in because these fully inclusive playgrounds um have something for everyone literally so sensory um physical challenges auditory kinesthetic um you know visual so it we're there'll definitely be a space and I would imagine it would be in the form of an online survey thank you and just to build on that real quick a lot a big part of the cost is the uh preparing the surface of it that's uh it's much more complicated than you would think surface B cost and costly oh yes yeah because obviously the surface of the playground has tochair access wheelchair accessible so yeah so the BDC met um I announced that I talked about at the last meeting we were having some issues and I ask that all of the people involved in some of the processes get in the same room and kind of talk things out which was a good thing because we discovered that a lot of it was miscommunication misunderstanding terminologies and um and I think we just needed to push for some new rule changes Expediting some of this stuff because certain people were lagging in the process so I think it was a good meeting I think everybody left with some homework and I think it's going to really help the processes for the the small businesses to get approvals that's all I have thank you uh Dean uh quick update on planning board uh this June 19th meeting planning board completed the hearing for planning board application 708 which was Fluss Holdings and uh started and completed the hearing for uh application 711 which was JP Morgan Chase Bank the planning board will actually be holding a meeting tomorrow night which is an off cycle meeting an ad hoc meeting so June 26 7 PM right here um to hear additional applications uh that's it for the planning board thanks okay D I have a couple of updates um Revolution NJ 250 committee meets next on Monday July 8th uh 7 o'clock at the VFW uh the environmental commission uh did have on May met on June 13th for an open space planning discussion um I did not attend that meeting unfortunately but um I heard it was it was um a good meeting uh this Thursday's meeting on June 27th has been cancelled uh for lack of um items on the agenda and uh finally my last update is on the culture and arts committee the um the concert series begins uh the the committee is making their last minut of preparations for the start of the summer concert series the first concert will be July 5th uh so the next three concerts happen before next council meeting so the the July 5th is uh Dustin Douglas and the electric gentlemen uh and the opening uh Act is the outcrops again the concert start at 7:00 um usually the main uh headliner will start at 8 uh the July 12th will feature Daniela cotton uh and the head opening act as part-time custodian and July 19th is always favorite Billy Hector uh and the opening is Johnny Charles they're all good acts Danielle C cotton has been there before as well um I'm not familiar with Dustin Douglas but um in any case those are the next three again I hope uh you take uh advantage of free concert free rock and roll uh in our at Dexter Park and those are my updates thank you um I will update with the film uh Sparta film Readiness we met last week uh members of the committee are busy working on getting the components of our application together uh one of the most timec consuming components is trying to pick what beautiful spots in Sparta should be included because there's so many of them it's actually really hard to kind of cold that down and so and it it requires uh you know not only do you have to include the pictures but you have to have a description of them uh which we're doing and folks are are are working busily on that um thank thankfully we also have you know some experienced members there um who have provided like examples of release forms when you use someone else's picture you have to get a release um and so they they've been very helpful with that um and next up is uh crafting an ordinance that will come before this Council uh regarding uh the film Readiness and sort of the permitting process and how how this will actually unfold and and who decides uh whether we're going to allow a film or not luckily we we don't have to reinvent the wheel on this um the New Jersey uh motion picture and television Association um they commission they have templates uh that they provide they're very comprehensive these templates templates as I looked over them have been adopted uh by other towns if you look at what the uh the commission recommends and then you go check that against what other towns have adopted for example Monclair uh they're almost verbatim um they're very detailed that they lay out the process um there's little tweaks here and there so for example um Clifton where U Janice kovat who spoke before this town Council they adopted most of that uh but they have little tweaks here and there I I like what they have done and so we will be uh hashing that out as as a committee uh then we will uh you know that will obviously go before every member of council have a look at if they have any questions um but the idea is we have to get that um adopted before the August 30th deadline which is the deadline that we're all driving on so we the deadline is August 30th the design uh whether we get it or not when the commission designates which are the film ready commit communities that will be done we're told sometime in November so we're busy doing that um I also I'm pleased to tell you that we actually a member of the committee Frank Dolce is also a member of the golf club at Lake Mohawk and uh recently discovered at Lake Mohawk Golf Club um a production unit from Netflix had come to town scouting out uh Lake Mohawk golf club uh for the sequel to um Happy Gilmore uh if those of you of a certain age may remember that it was 1996 it's Adam Sandler uh I think it grossed about 40 million at the box office um but they are scouting out certain places in uh Sussex County and Lake Mohawk golf club is one of them and so when Mr Dolce and I found out about that uh we quickly called up the uh production person from Netflix and told him about our committee and about the you know the interest uh in bringing uh such Productions to uh Sparta and he was interested and you know we're just one of other locations that they're observing but we you know tried to sell them on Sparta so who knows maybe Adam Sandler will be in Sparta uh they're looking to shoot starting the end of the summer uh through Thanksgiving according to uh the Netflix uh production person so I'm excited about that and uh other people may have heard I think right now on 206 there are we we have nothing to do with it but there's a a film being shot right now uh on 206 uh I think that Newton is probably involved in um and we will refrain from saying where that's being on 206 um oh also I will uh I will I have the need to appoint an additional person I'll do that under new business we unfortunately had two people who due to work commitments uh had to drop out so uh Madam clerk if we could remove uh Aiden Basco and Joshua Nelson from the committee um and I also want to thank uh councilwoman Quinn and councilman uh Herzberg for recommending George sagali and L Perez they're fantastic um I know George is a bundle of energy and has gotten involved in a lot of different things um sorry going back did we get a written letter from the two that are dropping from the committee I think we I can get one but email me email that they're removing themselves okay I will do that okay okay um and I think that uh as uh Kevin alluded to in his public comments uh part of this initiative is not only to become film ready but it's also to support local artists uh here um and we are we are fortunate to have um a lot of uh local artists connected to the film industry who are working on their own uh Productions and so uh very uh looking forward to uh Mr Ali's a production that he is working on and this will be completely staffed uh by Sparta residents and other people from Sussex County there's no one else being brought in from you know Hollywood or anywhere else so it's an opportunity uh to do this completely inhouse um and I think that's a fantastic initiative and so I look forward to to hearing how they progress and so with that that um I'll do it under uh uh new business but the the route 15 update I'll just do now which is that I again I have a weekly call uh with DOT off officials uh and other local leaders about the progress uh as of uh Friday uh they had already the the concrete had been cured uh they're today this week is they're actually putting in the overlay the actual part of the bridge um and according to them that they are U slightly ahead of schedule and I think they're shooting for July 18th but they're still uh on on progress for that um I'll have another meeting with them on Friday um and I'll send out on my Council Facebook page if and but also I encourage people uh to look at the mayor of Jefferson um he's been fantastic about obviously this is in his jurisdiction and um he has been very transparent and very good about keeping the public informed about progress and um but I do think the businesses along there are suffering and so I would encourage our our Sparta residents uh to please uh patronize some of those businesses along uh rout 15 uh they're not technically in Sparta but they are our neighbors and they could use help particularly the ones where they'll let you down far enough there's one after the sign I think it's the new barbecue joint uh that's one's gotten particularly hit and so if you would uh find it within yourself to patronize those um that's just what being a good neighbor is all about so and I like to also add that we have Sparta businesses along rout 15 as well that could use some patronage as well but that are being impacted by the traffic yes and and and with that I did um I think I may have alluded to in the last meeting there are programs uh that the small business sort of the small business administration of the New Jersey Economic Development uh that they make available and although they're not targeted to just this um Pro maybe a business owner who may have not ever known about this says hey wait a minute I think if I can get a capital improvement loan uh Now's the Time to do it cuz my business is suffering so thank to thank you to Tammy horsefield who sent out that information to all the members of the susex County Chamber um and so I hope they you know they will Avail themselves of these programs um I do know there is a bill being contemplated uh in Trenton to try to see if any emergency funding can be provided to um municipalities that are affected by something like where there's a DOT project that go goes horribly wrong um and then businesses have to suffer whether there can be emergency funds I know I think Senator space is working on that so I hope um he will be successful in doing so and with that that ends my uh update and I'll do the appointment when we get to new business old business or did anyone leave anything out of their Council EAS on updates that they want to now add okay um if not uh do we have any unfinished or new business and I'll start with Dan and work my way down I have none thanks Dean yeah a couple three actually so uh first I wanted to congratulate and recognize officer Michael punon for receiving the Mothers Against trunk driving the Mad award for Sparta and to thank him and all of our police for their dedication to keeping our roads and our residents safe um second the uh I just want to make a comment because I I did attend the environmental commission meeting last week which was a public session on the open space plan uh I attended along with uh our town manager Jim Zep um Corey Stoner and Jean from our recreation department and there was a a good number of people from the public there I think some of you that I see out there I found it extremely valuable I I would encourage you to watch the recording uh if you have a chance it uh it was not only about the process and the scope but also there are some interesting findings initial findings and some interactive exercises during the almost hour um highlighting uh some of the the things that stand out for esparta residents and what they value about living here and it's just a start but uh it was very interesting to see that and there there will be uh multiple other public sessions there'll be uh a planning board and Town Council meetings and presentations by that committee I understand but I just wanted to uh because I was there just wanted to add a comment on that and then finally I uh had the pleasure of being at the council connect meeting uh last Thursday at the library uh Thursday the 20th and uh had some good conversations there was five residents that stopped by and most stayed for the whole time which was great uh I see one out there at least um the um different topics came up one was about cultural Affairs cultural Affairs committee summer concerts there was also uh interests and questions about the council and the town's plans and priorities for the future uh another another Resident uh shared some concerns around neighborhood safety and speeding uh there was another Resident that also uh shared information around Investments and properties and Business Development so uh it was it was a really good experience I encourage anyone out there and people watching live stream to uh try to make those Council connect sessions at the library that's all I have thanks thank you Josh any new or older no I just want to say that I got to you know see Kevin in action with his whole team the other night and it was really impressive a great group of people really dedicated and really knowledgeable you know not having any exposure experience in that watching them do their work and watching the way they get ready to do something at this scale was was pretty amazing so I just wanted to give you and and your team some real credit because it was really impressive that's all thank you C Quin any New or Old business yes so if you if you have not I know that we always spend a lot of time talking about our library and how wonderful it is if you have not had a chance to go to the library or or go online this is what's going on in the library over the summer time for children and teens this is unbelievable I I happen to be there the other day and I picked this up and really it's it's amazing and I just wanted to thank everyone staff leadership at the library for putting together such a robust comprehensive program I think it's it's amazing so I'm encouraging anyone um in addition to the children's programs they also have a lot of adult programs going on so I encourage everyone to to get out and and take a look um at what's going on at the library uh also I want to make sure that um we send our absolute most sincere well wishes to all of our 2024 graduates at Sparta High School at Veritas at Pope John at um votch so we have some uh just amazing outstanding kids from our Township that are you know another great group of the future leaving Sparta and it's just really I think this this is the last class that was affected by covid in any way shape or form so um God willing we have that behind us and I just want to say you know it's it's pretty remarkable when you go to these cermonies and you listen to what these kids have done and what they've accomplished and what the valedictorians and salutatorians are are saying to each other it's pretty amazing stuff so I just want to on behalf of all of us um congratulate our graduates and also their families so uh with that said uh also want to let everyone know that the Sussex County Chamber is offering professional development scholarships to full-time employees of Sussex County based chamber member companies uh the deadline to apply is coming up it is July 31st um scholarship consideration is offered for courses conferences webinars and other educational programs so if you are a locally owned business that is a member of the County Chamber please make sure to take advantage of the scholarship opportunity that is available um and lastly I did speak to the township manager after receiving multiple complaints with regard to the condition of Main Street woodport Road and the infrastructure on those roads um you know something that I did not know 30 years ago when I came up here was the amount of different roads that are owned or that are that comprised Sparta so you have have your private roads your County Roads your town roads uh the sparta Township roads and as you're going through and traversing through town you cross over all of them and the little gotcha there is that if as a municipality we are not allowed to do anything with a road that is owned by the county or by the state for example so we are at um at their will so to speak we can recommend that things be updated we can ask that things be updated but we are not allowed to go in and update them ourselves so I wanted to let everybody know that I did speak to Jim with regard to these problem areas they are falling into disarray he did assure me that he has reached out to the state in some issues on the um in in some instances and also to the county in some instances we're also waiting for um a grant that will support us being able to do work on Main Street which hopefully also will include the recommendations from some of our residents about beautification of Main Street but that can't happen until we get the sidewalks and the roads fixed so I just wanted to make sure that I provided an update on that and that is that's it from me okay thank you councilwoman Quinn and thank you for your words about um the sparta graduates uh both councilwoman Quinn and I kind of sweat like thief and church on last week in the 95 degree heat uh at the Sparta High School gradu uation but it was well worth it uh to see those really talented kids uh move on to the next step um and uh as part of new business I I forgot to mention that I actually through one of the award ceremonies that I attended um one of the award recipients uh was a young man named Miles Williams uh miles uh received an award I think for writing uh in English I think that's what he and um and as part of the award they talk about his aspirations and it mentioned that he has an aspiration to be a screenwriter and so with that um I approached him and his brother uh who was with him his guardian and um said hey you should come check out our film committee and uh he has he so he's sort of like a student intern um and I know that he gets to now see because of what um Mr Ali is doing he can kind of see from Soup To Nuts um how a film is put together how a screenplay is written and so it's a tremendous uh educational opportunity for him but I mean that's part of of what we're trying to do here is that we have is not only uh you have the talent that we already have but actually nurture talent and so I'm glad to see that he is a member we also have a student intern from who lives in Sparta who is from the new house school in Syracuse and if anyone knows anything about the new house school that's one of the preeminent schools of for communication in the country uh most of your production um folks who are on say the big networks probably came out of the new house school um so that uh next I have um as I alluded to uh we do need to I I will make a motion that we appoint Roy mcdonal to the sparta film Readiness committee um again another talent and a a hidden gym that we had in Sparta uh Mr McDonald has decades of experience um particularly in editing and lighting um he has done sampling and digital editing for recording artists like Cinderella Laura branagan Richie Blackmore um he has edited TV shows and documentaries like wife wife swab Celebrity Apprentice and kind of most interesting is that he invented a a specific type of lighting for television and movies uh that uh Steven Spielberg had used in a ton of his movies uh and including Nickelodeon and so this is someone we have in Sparta he provides sort of the technical expertise because one of the the selling components that we have and I think it's an advantage that we have over a lot of other towns is we have a lot of subject matter experts on this committee um handling all different facets of production um and so that is something that you know when I spoke to Netflix I told them about that we have people who speak their language and who can um you know they they they'll have a knowledgeable people that they can talk to so with that I would like to appoint Roy McDonald to the sparta film committee so I make a motion uh to appoint Mr McDonald to the sparta film ready committee may I have a second please um Neil just real quick did did he I didn't see did he put it in application okay I just want to make sure yep thank you I'll second it all those in favor say I I welcome Mr McDonald to the sparta film ready uh committee uh the next thing I want to share I know that we alluded to uh in the last meeting about um uh Mr castore and uh his concerns over the AO polymer site and uh I understand that the we are considering um looking to a consultant to review the plans or the reports that the EPA has made and uh reviewing that and uh and and then so we have a check against what a government agency that has um made certain findings and conclusions I will note that none of the findings and conclusions have changed uh you can find out for yourself uh looking at the AO polymer site but uh now that we have decided to investigate uh this further based on the concerns of an individual I will point out that there are on another issue there are subject matter experts people who are defined as technical stakeholders that have real concerns about the New Forest initiative um that the D is doing and people know this as Sparta Mountain um there are real concerns that the science underlying the dp's decision- making to clearcut a lot of that um is shaky uh in fact there's an expert at Drew University who has written extensively about this and so now that we are you know taking concerns uh from the public and then and and trying to put our government officials through kind of the Hoops I think that um I would recommend and then I will be looking into this that uh because there's going to be more clear cutting that's going on uh on Sparta M beginning in November they've had a public comment period but I think the public would be it would help the public to understand that if someone from the D can come here and explain why they're doing what they're doing uh and and and showing us the data behind uh this program and whether it's having the effect that they say it is because there's those that are not and I think it would facilitate the discussion to actually have people who have taken issue with that and so there are um subject matter experts on this issue and I think if we put the DP there along with the people who have those criticisms and have that discussion I think that the public can be assured um about whether this program makes sense or not um I know there is a study out that the department of energy did for the federal department of energy um that said that you know one oak tree that's 40 years old will hold enough carbon uh more than 151 newly planted oak trees and so if you're concerned about climate change uh you want to kind of keep those old trees you don't want to cut them down and so so I think it's it would be helpful to have that explanation so I hope that in the future we can have that discussion and the public can be educated Town Council be can be educated particularly when it involves such a valuable resource uh like Sparta mountain and our old growth forest um you know we've had those just so you know um and it is part of their contractual um agreement with us that they do keep the residents informed so we did have in this room we had them come we had a night where everybody could come and ask questions this was before Co obviously but um in reviewing the actual contract if you take a look at what they've got there's a lot of requirements and one of them is they have to provide these open forums I'm sure Dean would tell you um that's that's a big part of it they have to share the plan they have to share what's going on we also asked of them because it's very important also to note I know you're you're drawing a distinction between or a similarity between Jim castor's request and that but one thing that's very important to note and for everyone to understand is we do not own that property that property is owned by the state so it's a very thin line because we don't own it and one you know has the safety of children involved exactly and so one is property that we own where we're very worried about public health and I'm not saying that that the health of the other is not important as well but I think if we look into the contract and we reach out to them I'm sure they'd be willing to come back out just like what they're really required to do when they finally came here one of their issues was a huge amount of turnover so somebody had reached out I guess to Sparta years before but then they left and then someone else reached out and they left and so I think a good place to start there would be to have somebody just reach out and see I think the last meeting was between ogdenburg and Sparta because um pieces of it buted up against both so might be a place to start just to reach out and and and they didn't only do the meeting here with a forestry expert who came and gave the presentation of why they were doing it but then they also took people out to the yeah and walked through and explained it y I mean you know and from my recollection and you can correct me it was because the whole Mountain had been clearcut 100 years ago right so they were trying to fix something that we did to the mountain to bring it back into a more natural state but the tour was really amazing it was um unfortunately it was pouring rain but the tour was amazing and I to the point Neil just rather than having you start all the way from zero I think you could build on on what they've already gotten what we've done before and maybe just recreate that and and get them yeah I'll look into that and I think that you know not only getting someone from the DP but I think um the DP needs to stand behind what they say um and they if they believe in it um they would be willing to then have a discussion with those who may have a different point of view and these aren't just you know know random people off the street these are people who live and breathe this um forestry and this initiative um and so I think it would be helpful to have not only the D Representatives um but representativ I I would even consider reaching out to this professor from from Drew University um and and to have her there and so we can have a full and Frank discussion about this and and and if they believe in it they'll come and they'll talk about it and they'll you know assure the public that this is the proper method by which we should uh preserve our forest um uh fight back against climate change and and will lead to all the wonderful things that the D says is going to happen as a result of this um so with that that is all I have and with that we are now up to the final public comment period and uh this is more of a grab bag and I know Mr Dine had some comments that he wanted to make on an a matter yeah thanks mayor and thank you for taking the having the patience to wait and uh I I just forgot the process so it's my my error I had come tonight prepared I usually speak extemporaneous but I prepared some ideas so I can fit in my five minutes but based on some things that were said earlier I wanted to address a few of them one is councilwoman Quinn I couldn't agree more about monitoring the activity of the subcommittee which I'm one that as the de air pointed out there is a Gant chart in preparation it's not classic and then that has a strict timeline it's more event driven because it's tough to pin down the timelines but that would be perfect for the council to examine to watch the flow of money and make sure things were proceeding I thought your home equity line was a pretty good analogy you're not going to draw any more down to give it to them unless you're happy with the progress the other point is I think that the mayor brought up at the very first meeting we went around the U members and said what's your priority for what we're doing and we all agreed on what a master plan should be Etc I said I think there are cases where we have zoning ordinances the whole thing in place that are put us at risk and I think there's a and I said I would like to I know if you were there Dean or not I said I would like to keep make that it's not a priority let's keep it in mind so if something jumps out early on let's not wait till the plan's finish before we try to get the council to take action so I intend to keep trying to push that uh that piece of the agenda we did C cancel think three meetings because I found out later was because no money we're supposed to cancel last week's meeting with the last minute we held it somehow we had funds for that so my reason for coming tonight was trying to request that we figure out a way to fund this and I'll give you a few reasons why I think it's important I I and I don't want to get into the whole whole separate argument but I think there were at least two recent applications that benefited from what I would call ordinance changes that didn't go in the normal pattern they might have been stimulated by a kind of a backdoor approach not accusing or anything else certainly a lot of people feel that that that happened I'm not blaming any planning board members I honestly think they're doing the best job they can they interpret the uh the ordinances the zoning everything else master plan whatever and guided strongly by the attorney they make decisions that they believe are within their Charter to make uh and oftentimes a large number of parenes are included what what it seems to me and I can't back this up by a lot of data seems very common that regularly things are approved worst case they are disapprove they they sue and they mediate whatever a large number of them get end up getting approved I wondered uh if in fact anybody ever did metrics of a planning boore maybe benchmarked it against other towns seems to me our approval rate might be really high and why that concerns me is at the last meeting there was an approval of a four-story multif family building and there were a couple outstanding issues that I don't think got addressed intelligently but in any event the thing was approved now I found out later that apparently the recent zoning change which is one of the ones I've referred to earlier could in fact allow uh all the land from behind the burer king down the West Shore Trail believe it or not and correct me if I'm wrong it could allow that to be clearcut so to speak and replicate this for story structure all the way down okay now whether that's realistic or not I don't know but if that's on the books and there's a possibility are there other things that are equally hotpots so to speak that I would like to find out uh I think we need a revised master plan to make major changes as pointed out earlier if there something critical we don't we can treat it separately and I hope we do that I don't think necessarily that changing master plan in this way is Count anti-business councilman Herzberg brought up a few times that there's a sense among the small business community that we are unfriendly or difficult to work with that bothered me I don't I felt like that was just hanging out there and I was going to ask tonight if there's any update but you already provided it well so I was called to a meeting with 30 businesses that were like that wanted to know what they could do to fix the situation so I don't know each and everyone's issue but I'm not making it up no that is the that is the feeling of the business community in town I'm not arguing with you I completely agree I'm very happy to see that you're taking some real steps about it because the last thing I think we want is to have reputation of anti-business uh I think it's essentially it but I I I don't consider balance development as business unfriendly prioritizing the character of the town is responsibility and the right of the Town residents I'd like to feel confident that the planning board is doing everything they can to advance the concept of the town that I think most people share frankly and again not against any particular members I don't feel confident that it's going in that direction thank you thank you m let me ask you a question sure are there any business owners that own businesses that rent out there any commercial real estate people or commercial business owners that are on that committee not to my knowledge Josh I don't know so there you go love to have one it's not up to me but no I know I'm not I'm not blaming you at all but I don't think good idea why not a good cross-section of people whose interests are represented I I can't speak for it maybe Dean can but I I would welcome it absolutely yeah the subcommittee now is um Township staff professionals resident volunteers um with the plan like it's done with all master plans to have extensive Outreach to stakeholders and all different aspects of the community to get a collective broad set of input I I I believe Ally is that her name uh she has a background in commercial real estate yeah and she wasn't there this time I'm not sure if she's still involved or not but okay I I'll mention it to somebody I think it's a great idea frankly but I really feel strongly about small businesses and I've heard a lot of well I've heard a number of anecdotal things that consist with what you're saying and if there's something we can do to change that perception and change the reality not the perception I think it'd be great thanks yeah we we do have just to clarify we do have some small business owners right I mean we have an attorney we have Jenny um who are both sorry didn't yeah right behind you so we do have those two small business owners right now okay sorry G thanks Mike anyone else for public comment uh do and make sure you say your name uh and your address and you keep mindful of the five minute limit okay thanks Sean Landy 41 sagore Trail um yeah I just wanted I'm part of the film committee I just wanted to say that I'm excited for all the things that are coming right now Kevin Ali and Justin carpa witch have a and George Sagal have a short film that possibly might be filming at Burger and butcher that we're really excited about called subversion um I'm really happy about the news that Neil had mentioned uh mayor uh mayor Clark had mentioned about uh possibly Happy Gilmore too I didn't know about that until today so that's that's really cool um thank you uh councilman Herzberg about our team we really we really had a last the other night so uh and that's what film making is like it's like a kind of a big collaborative party where you make something happen um also uh uh uh councilwoman Quinn was talking about the library the library is amazing um I was actually just happen to be there the other day and I happened to run into deputy mayor uh bledy uh and that met meeting seemed really cool uh sorry I didn't mean to like like quickly go but wanted to say hi and then I sat down and I was it was great having you there for a bit yeah yeah I was listening to it was uh it was interesting but yeah yeah uh the the library really is like one of the gems of our town uh and uh yeah okay that's it thank you thank you good evening Kathy e andow and scutters road I wanted to come here tonight and bring attention to some I recently came across to get a little more information about it um that is the the Nationwide opioid settlement I'm not sure if it's been raised here before or to what degree so I wanted to raise it tonight to understand um a little bit more about where those dollars are going so as I understand it this opioid settlement is to settle lawsuits that have been um happening recently over um drug compan companies and obviously opioids and that was I think it began in 2022 if I my research serves me and I believe it's expected to yield about $50 billion in the next 18 years if I have anything wrong please let me know um so I did some research and um online there's apparently some databases where you can look into um how those monies are being handed to State and local governments I looked up New Jersey it appears um New Jersey is expected based on what I found to receive about $520 million total and again these are just statistics I found from a database so hopefully that's correct um so that's New Jersey and then in Sparta it appears um so far we have received since 2022 about $53,000 with antim estimated future payout in total of I believe 272,000 um between now and 2038 so with that being said um I wanted to ask a couple of questions um first call attention to this um second to help the public become in um informed of how these funds are being recorded um how they're being tracked how they're being accounted for ETC and I would like to hear ways that those dollars are being spent and ways that are related to contributing to the support of and programs of individuals that have uh that aim to curb this addiction and eliminate um senseless deaths that are caused by opioids um and finally I didn't see it in the budget so that's the reason um it's kind of coming to light now I took a look at the budget that was approved last meeting and I didn't see any reference to it so those are the reasons I'm bringing this here tonight and I'd like to understand more so I can speak to that through I give a um updates to that at almost every single meeting through our Sparta Municipal Alliance resource team updates so what what is the money being used for the money is used by the police department the money is used by the municipal Alliance resource team the police department uses it for things like Naran lead Day lead training uh we received we did receive about $53,000 um the chief could speak to more of what the police department um spent their allocation on at in detail than I can what I can tell you is because of these funds as I've reported numerous times the alliance resource team has rebranded its direction so we are doing things like putting speakers in schools we are we are looking at programs additional Recreation programs really sponsoring and taking the emphasis off of the message of um you know don't do drugs don't do drugs don't do drugs to looking at live your best life how can you live your best life how can we encourage you what programs can we put in that really offer something for everyone without a negative message to pull them in a positive direction and if you want to give me a call I am more than happy to walk you through it but I give updates on at pretty much every meeting I actually provided everybody and and a big report not long ago about all of our new logos all of our new vision statements it's a very exciting time our alliance this year expanded to include all the schools in that are located in Sparta Township rather than just the sparta Township school so we are working with the charter school we are looking working with tech um the monies are expected to go over an 18-year period of time most of the funds if you've read the report that's online are down in South Jersey in huge amounts of numbers so we have no way of controlling how the monies are divied up we just get the monies my understanding is as they're paid they are earmarked in a special fund Sam could speak to that and then again that's how we are utilizing the funds so this year we are excited and I've said this before speakers in schools new programs uh we're actually looking at mental health screen um screen time mental health I did a presentation about that at the last meeting meeting so it's all about being physically and mentally um healthy and how can we provide all these different things to make people be that way because statistically speaking that is the most important deterrent um having great character feeling confident doing things being out being physically able those are the best deterrant to substance use and abuse and obviously we have our existing programs in place that are funded through the jakata and that's also an amount of money that we got from the state that program is probably going to be stopped they're not sure originally it was funded by programs that came in through jug Court uh so fines penalties things like that are what funded it um we're not sure it's it's not a large amount but through that initiative we also run programs through schools um such as um just say no the RX programs that they run the peer develop groups there's a lot of different things that we use that money for as well and again that's a much smaller amount but that is a combination of how the money is are being spent and when Chief mccarrick is here or if you send him an email and again if you'd like to meet with me separately I'm happy to walk you through and show you all the different stuff that we've been reporting on so that you can get more awareness around it yeah it seems like it's more proactive to look at drugs as a a negative right and the opioid crisis didn't really come about um because of a a negativity it became not in the in the traditional negative sense of the word drug right it was um through pharmaceutical manufacturers right so your characterization of well you know people feeling good about themselves that's not necessarily a good characterization or the the total picture of what opioids do to a community but that's not all we do that's a that's a new component of what we do which is why I said there's two sets so we think it's very important to do both not just beat people with a message if we're going to say you know we we support all these programs where we're directly addressing that but we also want to be in a positive way as well part of a solution that brings people to a better place and that gives people the opportunity to in you know to be able to engage in things that they maybe wouldn't have before that will help them to have better mental health you know there's a lot of different triggers you can't just say that the opioid addiction crisis came from over prescription that is a huge piece of it but it's not just that it's people that are mentally um challenged or they're facing challenging times they're self-medicating they're self harming there's a lot that goes to it so although I'm not disagreeing with you that opioid prescription is a huge driver it is not the only driver and that's what we are trying to address we're trying to address it in a well-rounded way to really make that have the biggest impact yeah and and Kathy I think that um I did when I sat down with Chief mccarrick about the annual report um I did see there's a line item in the annual report about the opioid funds my understanding and and councilman Quinn can correct me if I'm wrong that's in a separate trust fund um and they the police have um you know some discretion over that but I I you know share your concerns you know I'm a member of the recovery community and part of that is not only to keep people you know kids but it's also to keep people in recovery um as anyone knows who's dealt with addiction relapse is is you know is very very prevalent and um I know that we will safeguard These funds and and see that they are used in a way that's directed at the problem um and I know probably what you're referring to there have been some articles from about other towns that have kind of looked at this as a slush fund that they can use to fill potholes and and buy new police cruisers and um yes and that's unfortunate and um I know we will not make that mistake at all um that we will Target to the uh communities that were affected by that and and and also I think it is as councilwoman Quinn pointed out it is very important to have this kind of positive message and keep people off in the first place but the people who have unfortunately succumbed to this addiction um they struggle mightily there's you know there's a whole lot of issues facing the recovery community and um and I hope that we will we will also focus on them and identify them and find out what they need and try to direct some of the funds uh to them because the the best thing you can do for a recovery person in recovery is get is get them off of it U they are a net drain to society if they're addicted to drugs and so once they're off they can now be a net positive and so I know that we will we will focus on that but I think Chief MCCA can speak more to that I know it's in the annual report um so I look forward I thank you for this is an important issue one obviously very important to me um because I've seen both the awfulness of of addiction and others but I've also seen the amazing stories of success when they get the treatment that they need and they get uh support from their community so thank you yes agree and because it is 18 years that's the reason I'm bringing it up as well because I didn't see it in the in the budget and I'm hoping it can be raised in the budget as well not just the police portion right because it's more than just the police portion that's I think it's in a separate trust fund uh that's refering to just the police portion of that though or to the it's the whole amount is in the trust fund like that's yeah and that's that doesn't get represented in the budget the county the county has control of the funds and they disperse them to us as as they receive them and then we put it in a trust fund right the county says here you go here's 50 Grand we have a line item line within the grant fund okay got it does that allow you to plan for the year what you're going to do with that well basically again the count is sort of driving the bus and we have to do what they tell us we have to do so we plan based on the amount of money that we have and then we're we're cautiously optimistic because again we aren't sure there's nothing in a contract that says you'll get $53,000 or 40,000 or 18,000 um you know on the 18th of every year of June or whatever it just doesn't work that way and my understanding is the the reason why I doesn't work that way is because it's as the funds are paid as the fines are paid right so it what we do is we operate within our means and then we are hopeful that we will get another infusion and again we have the the Chata funds which are very very very small um but we use those as well so I hope it would be more than a hope because I mean there is a schedule here for the next 18 years that dictates according to to what's already been allocated by the settlements that it continues to increase that is literally here on a piece of paper I know I've seen it oh I've seen it believe me but there's no dates time schedules or anything else that goes along with it it says you will get this you are projected I believe is the word or anticipated or some some word like that uh to get these funds yearly over the next 18 years but doesn't give you a date it doesn't say on this time it doesn't say for sure so I mean there is a little ambiguity to it but I I can tell you right now we are unbelievably thankful to have it so if they can't give me an exact schedule that's okay we'll plan within our means make the most of all the the funds that we have and we will wait until it comes great and we all look forward to hearing you know how the money's being spent and you know we we'll keep the the public apprised of that so thank you anyone else for a public comment uh so the Jenny go ahead sorry I'm back um you have to state your name and where you live again Kevin sorry we we follow we follow protocol here sir my name is Kevin all right um so now I just wanted to give a couple more details before I left um so again I wanted to thank Josh again it was a blast the other night um you know just having everybody there um it was surreal getting that experience especially with the lighting and all the details um so just to give you precursor uh the short film that is going to be shot at Josh's place is going to be called subversion and is going to be a prequel to a show that will be shot in Industry this fall and after saying that I will give it to uh can't but you can't share your time so Kevin you're going to have to speak separately under a separate five minutes so okay okay thank me I have a couple a couple of things to follow up follow up on um first of all Sam is the tax sale premium different than the tax sale jny dere's tap into Sparta sorry basically the tax sale is the sale of all delinquent taxes from the prior year so we'll be selling all the 2023 taxes that have not paid yet the premiums come that and this is uh really good that we have an online sale it's very competitive now so we get more biders okay the premiums are the amounts that these biders um place in order to um secure the property so you know they they bid up the interest rate or bid the interest rate down um to Pro to get the property basically win the property from the other biders okay so then once they bid the interest rate down as low as they can get the interest rate they'll start working on tax sale premiums and the premiums is the amount of money that we hold so basically if the after three-year period the lean holder can start foreclosure procedures on the property if they foreclose on the property basically we're allowed to keep the amount of Premium that they bid okay if the if the property owner comes in and um pays for his leans and everything else then we return the premium back to the lean holder and basically we keep all the interest that we generated on that having that premium in the bank sometimes I think the largest premium I've seen us collect has been up to $500,000 and right now I have probably three or four premiums set in in the account that go back to 2020 so in another year we if if the person doesn't come in and redeem the property um basically we will we can take possession of those premiums which would be to the tune of about $300,000 thank you um is it okay that that took like half my time yes yeah but you're I appreciate the answer thank you same um and this is for Tom Ryan um our fair share commitment housing res um resolution the I can only find a couple of things um I know that someone I believe it was Angela bado um negotiated our most recent settlement with the courts I think it was Tom Collins I'm pretty sure it was Tom Collins I don't think Angelo Bata wasn't inv Tom I thought I remember him sitting up on the Das talking giving reports about The ongoing the old one well that's what I'm trying to say we have something from 20078 that I could find an agreement but that only dealt with um a resolution about uh the funding um that goes along with the fair share housing like uh the the money from the trust fund and the dispersion of funds and so on what I was looking for was a COA agreement um there's a particular ordinance 2004 that is um established to give incentives for COA right and you the are you referring to the the housing element yes their share plan yep so my question specifically is um does our COA agreement and I'm sure I don't know I'm not expecting you to have this off the top of your head does our COA agreement whatever it is right now and I understand it may change because of the recent rule changes um does it did it specifically uh require the language of 2004 the ordinance 2004 that established it that established incentives in the TCC and other similar zones to um in incentivize low-income housing or did we have the option of here's what you need to do and then we built the ordinance around it that's my question and I don't expect you to have the answer well I will comment on it because you really captured some of the key words right there and and yeah what it required us to do is to implement policy that incentivizes uh affordable housing but it didn't specify what those incentives had to be so for example if we wanted to help no Heights really there's an there's a need for low-income senior housing could could that be part of the you know it really does come down to some tight language I mean what was required is a practical uh yeah a practical policy practical plans that will realize the achievement of uh increased affordable housing Jenny I'll just tell you we were told CU we brought that up specifically and we were told we could not dictate what kind of affordable housing it could be that we couldn't dictate that it was senior affordable housing okay that that's helpful thank you that's we tried yeah another word you know that that is imposed by the courts is inclusionary so it would be across the spectrum of senior housing uh low and moderate income housing um so those were the types of words that uh that I I I wouldn't say they were required to be in the document but that's those are the words from the law that the agreement would be evaluated against okay um the ordinance 2004 does reference that we have to have at least four Lots as a requirement of the court so it would seem that that was a smaller amount than was actually programmed for and this is a discussion for another day but I just wanted to find out if the court requirement was an actual specific dictation of what was in the ordinance or if we were given leave way which it sounds like we were yeah I I mean it was nego it was a negotiated settlement right U correct um thank you and I I'll be following up but I appreciate that uh is there a county commissioner liaison you okay um do you um both of you yeah um do you get regular input or do you have interactions with them to know because the way are are um the way the diamond chip realy uh planning board non-approval negotiations are going it's open right now to they're waiting for Diamond chip to submit a new plan about how they're going to mitigate that intersection between Diamond between demerest and and lime Crest but we don't know because they don't publish minutes they don't take minutes well now they do but we don't know to look for so what I get what I'm asking for is if you could find out maybe ask frequently has Diamond chip um submitted an a plan because it's open right now and they could drop it in at any time we won't know because there's no notification that this group is meeting and the only way to get the minutes is if I O them so you talking about the Sussex County planning board Sussex County planning board that's why I'm asking if there's a liaison to the board because I know that um Mr Carney is the liais onto the planning board and he said that you know he has to work so he relies on the minutes they didn't keep minutes until I asked them to so we have no mechanism to know when they are dropping in their new plan so now they keep minutes but you have to open them correct that's that's the way it goes so I was just from a public meeting exactly well it's a private meeting but they weren't keeping minutes it's the committee of the planning board oh okay okay um so I I appreciate that maybe there's an opportunity to I mean we could definitely touch base them we met with them not too long ago but I don't think any of that was happening I don't think you would know to I mean you would have to know to ask for that so I appreciate that I think the last time we met was two months ago okay this just happened the end of May May established a communication vehicle and then it's and with the plan of maybe meeting quarterly and I think the quarterly is about up so okay I think it's about time for another meeting um the uh so the master plan um funding um the the the citation of law that is noted in the language of the ordinance itself does say specifically that this type of this funding mechanism as recommended by Sam uh does specifically list um preparation of a master plan in the in the statute that is cited in the ordinance so it's contemplated not only by Sam's guidance but in the law so I would hope that maybe you could consider that um we did approve we have approved large Pro projects um on the basis of a recommendation from professionals we have a $10 million Soul ched for example we have a Brownfield solar project that is going for supposedly going forward um there are there are lots of things that we have so I would just ask that maybe you could consider and you're going to get more information and I hope that makes you comfortable to be able to approve it as as Dean has said the plan is to regularly update not only Council but draw in various groups from the community for their input because it's everybody's master plan and since we haven't had a a full master plan review since 1984 it's time so I appreciate that you're going to give that consideration um I did want to ask about the solar project the Brownfield for an update but Jim isn't here I don't know if anybody has an update on that um back in January a letter was issued by the BPU that said our our application for Brownfield approval was insufficient and they rejected it we wrote a rebuttal that I think was very detailed and I think was correct but we're waiting on a response okay and the understanding when the um Solar Company was hired was that they were going to assume all responsible all cost for getting it closed but I've had a couple of conversations with the manager and the discussion has been trading Sparta land to the D um yeah but that was to get us out from under the the huge amount of cost it would be to rec reate that area but that was the whole reason for the plant for the for the solar project itself was to take that last 20% that was not closed because it was um contaminated by the landfill um and remediate that and Remediation this is all being requested by the D this is this is like it wasn't enough for them it it literally it's like a Shakedown it's I've never seen anything like it before they're like basically saying give us money or we're going to say no so this is a rebuttal to it and we're it's like a negotiation right because the understanding was that that was the reason for doing this whole project was to get that 20% remediated so we could then do soul and this was just a bonus it close the dump correctly tap it close it yeah right which and make reoccurring funds and hopefully you know pay for that whole train wreck out there right but the the there was supposed to be no cost to the town and if we're giving away land that's cost to the town yeah well I don't think anyone anticipated D coming back and shaking us down for more money but that's what's happening so I think that's all my questions for tonight I mean when all is said and done we will be collecting an annual lease payment of about 360 some, right but if we have to give away 10 acres it'll be paid for in the first year but we don't get land back if we give away Acres somewhere I'd rather not give them any they're leasing it though it's a lease no no the land swap for the D cuz Remediation in in D land apparently doesn't mean clean it it means give us more land I I agree I I hate they're shaking us down like that but guess that's the way they do business okay and is there any anticipation of when we're going to get any additional updates is there a timeline for the for them to reply yeah yeah hold your breath okay thank you thank you and I do know that um you know we're waiting to hear back from the vpu about the the um Brownville status CU I know it did it did get rejected initially on you know certain grounds at least if you read the order uh on ones that seem to be easily curable which you know failing to submit you know certain information that can seems to be pretty curable um but we'll wait and see and then I think it would be helpful uh you know at least for me maybe I'm the only one that doesn't understand it which is okay if we lose the Brownfield designation what does that mean for the entire project um so I think that's that that that's something that I know that I'm concerned about but we haven't heard back uh haven't gotten a decision from them following the appeal so right I've had the same question does it impact our access to the estr SRE Market because that's what the letter from BPU said basically thanks for asking to join our SRE plan but you don't have brownfields data so try again that's what it seemed like exactly pass more okay anyone else for a public comment Adrian mirman 12 Brook Drive um I would like to add one or two details to one of the points that was on today's agenda namely the counil ason updates and it has to do with the uh the planning board's meeting of last week uh um theas update was very brief namely that FL Holdings application was approved but I would like to mention or just to observe one or two things from the meeting that I think we may want to possibly address back to the planning board Mr BL you are Le on so that might be still a possibility one of them was at the very end of the approval for the flu Holdings had to do with the color of the building and the Builder or the uh developer had brought five samples of the material they plan to use in different colors the five colors that they presented were shades of taupe which is the color of mud light taupe medium taupe dark taupe and all of the colors were essentially unsuitable for a building that size in that location now the material that they chose has a vast array of colors in the greens in the yellows in the Blues um colors that would enhance the appeal of that building now the developer has been a reluctant um developer in that every request that was made by the planning boards and by the public we had to fight for but in the end they came with a much improved design for that apartment building uh from how it started to what it is now so if the planning board or some representative could just contact and the uh developer and see if the color Choice can be essentially amended by one who has more architectural sense than what we saw the meeting it so happened that there were two other applicants applications waiting uh for this application to be approved and Council legal council essentially pushed through the color choice I think Monteray toe um the planning board one of the members said look do we have to make a final decision it tonight and legal council said yes this is the callor it should be put it in the approval um this is what it is going to be and I don't think that was the correct way to go about it Mr Dine mentioned that not all decisions were that evening um gotten the right attention I I think this detail the color of a building in such a prominent position in town should be chosen with more care than to say look the clock is running out we have to choose let's choose the col of mud uh I think that was not right could you possibly you know bring it back to the developer to see if other other colors uh would work for him as they would work for us and get an architect or a designer um to advise you on this so that we can come up with a battle call of of the uh the second thing I would like to bring up is in town and C woman Quinn you have brought it up in the past walkability the sidewalks are a feature of our town there is in this particular development a driveway leading up to the top of the hill to the building and it has been given a 4ot wide concrete strip as a sidewalk um I would like to see if the developer is open to giving that sidewalk a better appearance like we have these sidewalks in town a concrete strip for ease of movement and pavers separating it from say the road or the driveway for appeal but also for safety the developer has been reluctant he has often said no we're not going to do this in previous meetings but then at the next meeting they were aable to improvements after all you may remember the roof two meetings ago I asked him will you put a nice mansar roof on it he said no he said it very very explicitly next meeting yes he had done so so with the right approach he might be able to give us the sidewalk that I think the town deserves namely one similar to the ones that we have in town already if you could bring that up if there's a way to bring that up I think the whole town would thank you and I thank you appreciate your comments um the one thing I do want to clar I'm not going to commit to anything I mean the application the hearing's over it was approved um I do want to correct one thing so the attorney did not say we must pick a color first of all applicants don't always bring in colors and pass out samples to the to the board um our attorney was saying when asked do we have to do this before the vote he didn't say we must he said if we're going to pick a color it's it's advisable it's cleaner to do it as part of the all the conditions you're listing so when you make a vote it's in the resolution rather than have any applicant come back later on re-engage with the board which is a lot of work just to get advice on a color so we were given the option to pick a color uh your colors that you listed were not correct um as they they passed them along to us so there was a brown there was a cream there was a taupe there was a greenish I'm not sure they all fancy artist names you know what I mean but there was a fifth one so and the bulk of the board at least on that Quick Pass not spending a lot of time on it did align with one or two colors so we suggested the one um you know as for the roof the difference there too you must remember is the roof was part of the ordinance so changing a roof because it was asked was because it was required in the ordinance the colors at least those selections were not part of the ordinance and they were just bringing them as they said to show us that none of them were offensive they were all in that same range so you have to remember the the roof was related to an ordinance and that in their defense could have stopped an approval so colors are a little bit different story and the sidewalk I know we talked about it you you came up that night and talked about the sidewalk and the applicant answered um again the ordinance the sidewalk met the law and the ordinances so what you're suggesting I believe is that an accommodation or an extension be made to further the interests but we have to be careful with that too we could talk more offline or maybe at the planning board meeting I don't want to do much more speculation um or any speculation but I understand your opinion and your concerns about part of that what I mentioned is based on what I asked and what I received as an answer and it was based on what I heard I understand the intent that Mr Collins had to put the callar in the resolution but he very explicitly mentioned the Monteray taupe as the caller to put in the resolution and that that was as opposed to I believe it was Mr sylvest Mr I'm going to have to cut you off was timing wise and also I think this is probably but but probably more of a planning board conversation to be honest with you yeah but you are the Le on yeah but to watch the time too yeah and you also at one point denied the ver the the the accuracy of my memory and I just want to we we can go and watch the recording to see where it lands sure sure sure of course you can do that and I think that's probably something that could be handled before the planning board about uh you know why was that included and you know what are the proper protocol and procedures for that and and and whether you know why is it that the you know why did it have to be in the resolution Etc just sort of understanding that it's probably the better you probably get a better more informed answer from Mr Collins then you will um you know with due credit to Mr you know councilman Bluey um but okay that is that is an excellent solution I just wanted to mention that what I just said at this microphone with my name attached to it was accurate from my perspective it was accurate thank you thank you any other public comment kin Olie Newman uh good evening Council so I have a couple of updates oh better all um so to kind of piggyback off what mayor Clark said um I was made aware of the Netflix uh location scout that came up to Sparta um so I'm not sure if everybody was giving more uh information about it but basically uh Happy Gilmore's coming to the area they set up an office at a caucus and they're currently plan to start shooting um in September from when I wasw from my connections um I did talk to Mr Dolce uh when he was uh when him and mayor Clark did discover about this and gave him some insight from my perspective of how to negotiate and talk with the studios so I know kudos to Mayor Clark and Mr Dolce for setting that up uh um and as I informed Mr DOL and mayor Clark I'm here to assist in any way capacity to make sure that Sparta is the entertainment destination for film and television production uh for number two um mayor Clark he did allude that there's a production happening right now um in and over so they're not going to be in Newton yet um from my understanding if anybody has heard of Clark Duke he was from the office um he was in Hot Tub Time Machine they're doing a Ry comedy um and it's at the be Den so I'm not going to get into the establishment but they're going to be there till the end of July um so that's what's going on um and if I have any updates I can give you guys offline uh third uh councilman Herzberg you know shouted me out graciously thank you so much um as uh my colleagues have alluded we are doing a short film right now um mayor Clark and councilman Herzberg Have Been instrumental um both sides uh we're planning to do a TV project that I know some of you know about it's codam the industry and it's essentially the bear meets Barry in a sense so if you haven't heard those shows I'd strongly recommend you watching them um but it is a government conspiracy theory that's revolving around uh a paramilitary organization that's trying to take over the world basically and um councilman Herzberg has been instrumental in giving us his establishment burger and butcher to do a short film uh been getting with our team leaders just Kat and George scall who came up with the idea to connect us to our world and this is meant to Captivate audiences and generate awareness for the greater film initiative that we want to do it but the key is we want to do a good authentic story we don't want anything with any sides but we want people to get sucked into the world for what the world is um and to give you a what we call a log line in the industry it's a two sentence or one sentence similarly of the short film so subversion is about a former Soldier turn Fugitive who must meet with his Handler from CIA to ensure his safety while uncovering a conspiracy that threatens National Security um again this is going to be Set uh for a Prime video release we're trying to negotiate with apple right now and see what goes on but this is setting up the Greater show that's going to take place sometime after the events of uh this film I'm delighted to announce that we have Jeffrey Owens from The Cosby Show Who's going to be a cameo in this and we're working on getting other cameos to highlight Sparta for the film initiative so that's all I got thank you thank you great any other public comment all right see none may I have a motion to adjourn I move the we adjourn yeah I have a second I'll second all right all in favor say I I I we are adjourned and thank everyone