##VIDEO ID:28AXl_JUj68## in compliance with the open public meetings law I wish to State on December 13th 2024 the notice of this meeting of the Upper Township committee was posted in the official Township bulletin board and the Upper Township website emailed to the Atlantic City Press the Ocean City s Ledger the heral times and filed with the Township Clerk tonight's meeting is being video recorded up until the Clos session portion of this meeting and will be available on the Upper Township website I hereby direct that this announcement be made part of the minutes of this meeting would you please rise for to flag United States of America to the stands Nation indivisible liy and justice for all call please Mr Corson pres Mrs Hayes is absent Mr nappen here mayor Newman here here uh I'd like to make a motion to approve the December 9th regular and close s minutes second roll please Mr Corson yes Mr nappen yes mayor Newman yes motion carried okay um governing body members of Vic good evening everybody thanks so much for coming now as always uh the upper town free Ries Clinic is going to be held on January 25th 2025 and Saturday February 22nd 2025 those dates are rain or shine 1: to 300 p.m. to be held at the shore veterinarian Animal Hospital 73 Hope coron Road in seille and uh besides wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and happy holidays that's all I have for tonight thank you I would like to start off by wishing everyone a happy holiday season I'm sure it's going to be uh hopefully not a snowy one I saw some of the weather reports and they were talking snow and then it went away and I like f but uh just want to reiterate what I said last month or last meeting budget season is upon us we're starting to formulate our budget we have lost a significant amount of state aid and it's going to be a tight budget again this year and hopefully we can make things uh transpire and work well so that's all I have at this point thank you uh I do want to ask we're going to add one item for Clos session it'll be under contract negotiation regarding grants so please uh make sure that that's added to the U uh is a pretty minor item but we just got to make sure that it's covered tonight moving forward um I did get is that where we need to be right and then I did get a uh um uh a good good feedback from uh not only public but the public safety Community really appreciated what we did last last meeting uh it was great to see a full house here and uh you know have received uh comments from my colleagues up here that that will be brought forward again next year probably do it in the January February time frame of 2026 for 2025 will give us a little bit of time to get everything squared away uh and I do have a a closing thank you statement that I'd like to read is this is my last meeting as mayor of uh Township and as a Township committee uh good afternoon all this afternoon's meeting marks my last meeting as your mayor and Township committeeman I truly enjoyed my time on Township committee and have enjoyed virtually every minute of being your mayor I would be remiss if I did not recognize and thank some of the many people who have made this possible first and foremost I'd like to recognize the other members of the Upper Township committee Kurt Corson who got me into politics both the first time around in the second time your Insight on many into many issues has been both interesting and invaluable sometimes more interesting than invaluable thank you thank you very much Victor Your Enthusiasm willingness to serve will be invaluable your future on counter committee and thank you didn't know you as well as I knew Curtis in as many years but you'll be fine committ pancas is extremely valuable confident to me his thoughts and perspective from Public Safety view is great you're truly going to miss out our weekly phone calls Deputy Mayor Kim Hayes what can I say know you're not here there's mark But smart Never Say Die attit just kept me going forward moving forward uh and gave me confidence thank you all Zach and Sam see you sit in here congratulations as you take office please remember keep the residents and taxpayers Upper Township first do what is right for the township as I know you will do not give into outside influences might not have the best interest of the Township in mind good luck in in the future huge shout out to this Township staff your professionalism advice and work ethic have been second to none as we always say you make us look good Township Clerk Joan Heron your expansive knowledge of the job and upper countship history and code made the whole Township look good I could ask you anything and if she did not have the answer immediately she knew where to find it CFO bar bloody your skillful knowledge of the budget and budget process allowed the project to move forward without with ease and helped us produce Real Results I appreciate it thank you ran mcneel weren't here as long but I truly appreciate your expertise you brought to the township as an engineer your quiet leadership was great and enjoyed every of that and it was always a good time to to call you and get your Insight in certain things and you understood the job probably more than than most Mr monzo your sound legal advice has kept the township out of legal entanglements and move some of our most of our causes forward thank you for your calm deneer principal biblical driven sound device is truly appreciated I also appreciate all those emails you sent me over here they were phenomenal um for for those of you don't know uh Tony uh would send me some inside joke it's just what he did and we've had a a different relationship and it had nothing to do with Township business but had everything to do with life and Tony would send me some great great deep good emails uh on biblical principles and and and uh promises Garo what can I say you came here with much apprehension and concern by many staff members we took a chance with you and after 2 and A2 years staff morale is high and a itude of personal Personnel issues that have been lingering for years are off the table the staff is more efficient and there's a well oil machine and chain of command in place your guidance over the years has been extremely appreciated and I thank you uh it always was a fun time when I got to call Gary dearo um he for those you don't know he's a Dynamo he works from home for a couple hours drives up here goes through the con of Silence around Middle Township where we lost our connection ction and then is here till late at night just about every night unbelievable all over the place one of the big things that he did this year that I really appreciate I know you guys will too is the um parking situation scra I mean greatly proved and you drove that 110% many many Thanks goes to Upper Township's extraordinary Public Safety team you really exemplify true professionalism you always made us look great not just good but great Public Works was good no everybody just good you guys were great appreciate it thank you for your all of your support and efforts over the years I still plan to continue to Champion our great team and to help keep our great team moving forward thank you very much and I see John Britton and uh um uh bissa Coker are here you guys do a great job for me and I really appreciate it I point out a couple other uh people in the audience that are here that are craigory just a phone call phone call away always very respectful and a true gentleman in the truest sense of the word and Mr Pink shirted um bulldog next to him Mike Jones is one of those guys that if you need something done forget about it it's getting done it doesn't make a difference getting there is sometimes difficult without a doubt but you get something done wand you're quiet demeaner love every minute of it and I thank you for that and your support and your general knowledge has been great thank you very much lastly but certainly not least I cannot thank my family enough my son's uh as you know get emotionally my son Shan Mark for encouraging me at every turn especially my lovely wife friend stand up you get just you have stood by me who thick and who's been my conscious and guiding force by the way tonight is also fr's last meeting after serving over 25 years on the opper cic School Board I don't know how many years is it Fran is it 25 23 okay 23 sorry about that all this free time what are we going to do I just got done telling um uh Curtis and Zach uh we're going on vacation we're leaving after Christmas we won't be here for your reward has nothing to do with you guys has everything to do with we're going to be away so to all upper County presidents thank you for all you all your support over the years is TR truly been an honor to serve as your mayor and commitment thank you for the honor now that this chapter of my life has ended I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me next my stepfather already has me on a a mission trip to Western Africa I have declined that uh other than that thank you very all we're going to go ahead and move on to the administrator overview and I thank you all for putting up with me and um you know thank to the Press that's here thanks for really treating me fairly because I would sit there with both Craig and Bill and Chris Christopher's not here Chris South but every time I ended every conversation almost everyone please make me sound good and normal and you guys did and that you know take take what I said and put it where it needs to be thank you very much appreciate it well before we go to the official roast of Jay Newman but let me just get a couple things out before I I I give you my thoughts on time with with this board um it is so on the on the Clos session it's safe for Al to school and we need to talk about the contract the mayor had already brought that forward John Adams the same uh um action as he did last year where he gets to use his comp time uh instead of what does it wants his longevity in he wants his longevity in comp time so that's something that we have offered him in the past I just need a motion that that that I'll make that motion second call please Mr Corson Mr na yes mayor Newman yes uh the LG Grant we're going to talk a little bit about it and the what was the other one with the r it's a municipal resilience act resilience act so we're going to talk about that under under uh Ryan's section The Sounds back on there was a short in the circuit up top and third Thursday we have the new uh amplifiers going in under the court uh under the court U Bud right um you know I like my quotes and um one I like is laws are like sausages it's better not to see them being made but we all like to eat them right and mayor you're truly upper Township's humble servant your humility compassion and Leadership allowed this board to operate seamlessly into success and and people don't see the back room pillow fights people don't see the anger the arguments and when it comes out here it's professionalism and there's a there's a definitive Direction I believe that you brought that forth between some of the anxieties that were on this board deputy mayor Hayes was truly a Visionary a joggernauts but you both never stray from the mission and that mission was to lift up build on and to better the people that you both served you both will be some of the greatest politicians that I ever worked for in my 30-year tenure in government and I had the pleasure to work with mayor and you know I'm multi-denominational Judaism and Catholicism so I look for a quote from the Old Testament as well as the New Testament I got it from the book of Moses and the Lord said to Moses may the Lord bless you and protect you may the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you may the Lord show you his favor and bring you peace God bless M God bless amen thank you Jay I just wanted to thank you um whenever I've called or text you've respond right away you come in whenever I need you um you will be very much missed and I do claim your day on the day of prayer you have a standing obligation to come to our day of prayer um I hope you come and rate our candy jar whenever you want to and uh I'll miss seeing you thank you very much m thank you mayor um first before I make a statement I just have one um agenda item that I want to address and that's item 14 which is a resolution uh I would ask that you remove that from the agenda uh there's still a couple issues that need to be resolved so I'd like to take that off okay so you know I don't usually get an opportunity to say thank you um I've been solicitor in in two different towns for many years and usually when I come to the end of a term it's you know not the timing just isn't right and and so in in this case uh after serving as a solicitor in Kate May for 17 years and in lower Township for 12 years uh and being away from municipal government for several years to get an opportunity to come back here um three years ago was a real honor and uh initially Dan re from our firm took that position and when he left I came back and I realized how much much I missed um municipal government and and serving as a solicitor um but I'm a realist and and you know I know that politics change things and uh it's no criticism to anyone but with with the change in politics comes usually change in who gets appointed in various positions um it's a reality it's a sad reality but it's ingrained our system I understand that and I take no exception to that so um not knowing through most of this period whether I would be reappointed or not it's it's clear to me that I'm not going to be reappointed so I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you for this opportunity um to take another quote as Gary took from the Old Testament from Proverbs and I always look at my life and as much as I try to plan my life the lord always directs my steps and it's not usually it's not where I want to go but it's where he wants to place me so I accept that and I always consider it a blessing so it was a blessing to be appointed it's a blessing to not be appointed and you know I give thanks to to the Lord for everything uh I don't believe in luck so um mayor I wish you many blessings thank you and Kim you've been true friends as well as all of you up there and um I know God has great things in store for you and for the for the ones that are staying and the new members of committee um again I'm not going to wish you luck but I'm just going to give you some advice um do rightly and justly and seek God's wisdom in all your decisions and it will always be the right one so with that I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas thanks to Gary Joanne Barbara Ryan and everybody I've had the opportunity to work with here so thank you you first say J it's been a pleasure to work with you um first initially and now again Second Time Around um I think you work a little closer this time and um it was a pleasure to work with you um just want to wish everyone Merry Christmas and happy Come Together Mr R thank you Mr Mayor Echo asone has indicated thank you again time it's been great working with you over a short amount of time over the last year um but yeah every conversation we had you were very helpful and uh very open with point me in the right direction so I do appreciate that um how changing subjects on engineering I just wanted to mention we do have our flood insurance promotion meeting on Wednesday at 5:30 a virtual meeting and if for the meeting online on the web um also as Gary mentioned we are working on some additional Grant applications the first one being a local Recreation Improvement Grant uh that's really for any recreational Improvement uh know last Grant application we went for the senior hbag system um so really the township committee needs uh new agreement uh on a recreation Improvement uh about under 100,000 $100,000 so we talk about something about doing cameras we can't do that this no I verified the cameras are not uh perhaps we do like like I know they're looking for equipment at the playground stra here that would be probably a good y that would fit that would fit and I need that I need a kind of the commitment from the board uh the application goes in January 31st right I think that playr going to be a lot more than 100,000 now that's the problem that's going to be yeah so I mean it just could be for one piece of the equipment in the program uh it's normally you would request $100,000 uh for the grant you should receive somewhere in the range of 600,000 time frame expend uh time I believe you have I'll have to confirm that for it um I do know at least the grant applications to January 31 have to decide on equipment uh to submit the grand application for the project so and then the other grant that we have is open space for uh the skate park so that's kind of encompassing that particular um design and Equipment um but it can be used you know any any any of the thoughts do we have to know tonight no no this is this is a discussion relative to put it after my wife's give me the mo the pickle ball motion out there she's getting her Court rep I don't know what else she wants that's all obviously in process ofie that's already includ so that one's already covered um I would recommend it caring either stat miror playground or potentially additional equipment ad in field one other thing I don't know if this would be considered Recreation or not but I I I've heard there's a small group of parents looking to put together uh some sort of memorial for East bicer the Upper Township peee football player that passed away so if any funds could perhaps be set aside to put something together at one of our parks in Upper Township I think that could be a a good I don't know if that's considered Recreation but listen just just the thought just the thought got an answer I mean same thing with uh the cameras right so everybody thought the cameras was was a great idea and then the cameras didn't fall with we won't know uh commit until we ask okay and then uh some additional Brands uh really for resilience uh there is a municipal resilience action plan an amount of 122,000 to 177,000 uh Gary and I have reached or really responding to D that obviously interested and we're going to be setting up uh scheduling meetings with them in the near future that's probably something we could go towards uh yeah that's exactly what I was thinking be additional funds for that project or similar so I don't want to be known as Grant Central because then people will get mad of us over the past couple years the grants just keep coming in just got to keep on going emails are coming from and then really the last one that I'll be investigating is Noah uh similar to the resilience action plan it's a habitat restoration and Coast hold resilience Grant this one's due April next year and larger Grant uh could be up to um $750,000 or more so that that will be investiga before in April we Tred to over 4 million but we stopped like 3.7 sorry sorry keep on going for yeah it's going on Reon one of these these things you got to do the project to get the grants grants to do the project so chicken the egg come first uh could you give us an update for for me and mainly for my wife on the uh athletic Court caving and fencing yes I know what it is but just so she hears yeah so the we have to send out the fening improvements to bid bids and plans have been finalized currently with Township review so I'm expecting that to be ready to go out to bid mid January um from there I would anticipate construction to start in really end of February early March and pushing to have it completed uh really sometime in may5 um it likely be sooner it's really just a fening improvements that that push back but once that's up bid and we have some back construction quick okay good now I'm safe for another couple minutes2 fully operational very very good thank you um now we're going to open it up to the Public Public anybody from the public like to speak please step to the microphone state your name for the public hi uh Natalie n um slot 456 slot 13 um I um did participate in a lot of Upper Township meetings over the years and I also U mayor Newman would like to thank you for your um dedicated service to the thank you um the second issue I have concerns um about Beasley's Point um I'm wondering if there's a status update on the uh water issue number what is the water issue Oh I thought it was a number on here well Natalie as you know it was the the whole item is turned over to the Attorney General's office and they have not been they're not going to tell us until the investigation is probably concluded but as far as I know uh and as far as everybody knows up here uh all of the retests came back okay all the retests they have for mercury I I think they found some other things that have nothing to do with the merury contamination some of the order but all of that has all of that has been cleared up and the actual investigation as to the cause and the were Wells and all that is all over the Attorney General's office and and I would think that that would be that's going to be the end of it we're not going to hear anything until they actually charge somebody so there's nothing coming then from the residents of the township I actually was at that meeting this morning I talked to the D commissioner DP commissioner would could not comment it it is in the Attorney General's hands and that's where it will reside until the prosecution okay thank you any else for the public I see uh hi I'm Ralph Cooper uh six Gladwin Drive I'm here tonight with a a couple hats I don't have on but the first one is the uh the green team for Upper Township uh the second one is the uh Upper Township Business Association and the third one is the Upper Township historical society so for all three of those I just wanted to express my gratitude to the mayor and the uh committee as well as the staff for the past year uh it's I think it's been a very positive year we've got from really good cooperation with different projects these different organizations have had and I hope that we've uh in a small measure helped the community also in each of these areas whether I'm serving through the Green Team or the historical society when I get to go to other communities I can see what they're doing and in many many cases it's better what we're doing here so it's a it's a good opportunity I just wanted to express my gratitude to yall and hope you have a good happy holiday and a good New Year thank you Ralph we appreciate uh your all your hard work and all those those organizations those hats that you just changed thank you anybody else from the public thank you very much my name is l barbuto I live at 38 Francis in Petersburg and I just have a question here uh as to why the public comments are this early in the meeting and not at the end of the meeting when we get to hear what's going on and what the votes are Etc that's a pretty uh it's a good question thank you and one of the reasons we we switch it was actually a request from the public that said that they wanted to be able to comment on some of the resolutions prior to them being enacted so if that there was a concern they can be removed from the uh agenda and discussed so most of the resolutions that you see on our agenda are minor in nature no I say minor important but they're all routine you should say the routine uh and have discussed ad nauseum over the years the renewals of contracts that we've had for years um approving uh you know recognition of of of people and changes the policy manuals and the like most of it's routine but still there was a request to move it to the the front of the line so that people could comment or ask questions on that particular uh item first okay I hear you but I um the only way you can comment on what's going on today is to remember it two weeks from now and you know I I don't know if anybody has uh well there's really nothing after well I'm not saying today's meeting I'm just saying in general that's something we can take into consideration after the first year maybe have a public comment ahead of time and a public comment afterwards yeah that that would be my that was going to be my next uh suggestion uh to have maybe a shorter public comment uh thing at the end where if something pertaining to the meeting today we may be able to do both okay thank you very much also mayor public comment is not limited to the agenda you know public comment could be on yes yeah whe whenever it happens so yes public as as Tony said public comments not just for the agenda it can be on anything okay thank you barbal seille thank you all for all your service that everybody's done this year um and I really take it as an opportunity and privilege to be able to get up here and ask questions and I appreciate the time and the consideration and um thank you all for your efforts um regarding public comment I think actually your wife actually stood up as well and as we asked initially that the um procedure be that which is done at the county level as well is that if there's a question about a resolution that you could ask that question prior to the resolutions being voted on that's separate than public comment at the end so that you're I hopefully there will be two opportunities for the public to speak in the future um I believe it was Mr Panos committee Panos that made the recommendation to move public comment to the beginning so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to in the future ask questions about resolutions that are being voted on and then at the end again ask a question about anything thank you I think if you review the tapes Mrs that you would be the one that suggested to move right not miss not mayor Newman's wife right but it was your it was it was your impetus correct that's all right I just want to make sure that it wasn't mayor Newman's wife it was the impetus of you no no no it was my suggestion and then she actually got up and articulated did it perfectly which I really really appreciate it want to keep the record clear record's clear we're we're in agreement anybody else public comment John Brittain I live in Seville in 08230 um on behalf of Upper Township Public Safety and our EMS Department um I do want to say thank you to Mr Mayor he does like to make the comment of you guys make us look great but I also must say that the only reason that we are able to make know the committee and the township look great is because of the support that we receive and the time that we have been able to serve under this committee and especially under um mayor Newman as the Public Safety Committee um we have been extremely blessed to be able to receive that support and to be able to you know feel as though we have a backing in that we have people behind us that Empower us to do what has to be done to be able to provide the best services to the township so I thank you for that personally and to the whole committee as well thank you thank you John anybody else hearing none I'll close the public portion of the meeting and continue on with the agenda we have in recognition and appreciation of Upper Township Mayor John J Newman for his dedicated public service to the township of upper people know dedicated his whole life in public TR also committee far k m and you see on our resolutions Ty we're going to hire J Newman when he was off the committee the first time the parttime G we're going to hire him again to fulfill that gole which is phenomenal for the C we have people like that and this is a blessing to have Jay in our community to work with and obviously need to more more fire CH hopefully I a couple years hopefully blessing appreciate absolutely yeah I was saing my words for this moment U I want to thank J I want to thank as well uh throughout all of any sort of the political stuff going on if ever I needed something call J he always picked up he always got back to me immediately and he was com and professional about it uh having somebody to text and call whenever on Facebook accident somewhere that night that I called you immediately I happen to be on site at the uh eastler where he was was hit and killed my first call was to and he actly and his help with that and that wasable thank you again honor well it's been an honor to serve and I do appreciate those words and and it's been kind of fun as every as everybody does to curse sometimes high and uho and I'm talking the last couple times talk me last coup we'll fig out and we did and it's worked out and you know we been over 20 some OD years well 20 years and I'm sure that will continue we have we we always go each other back so again guys appreciate it and it's been a pleasure I didn't say it before Merry Christmas to you all thank [Applause] you why I didn't there I don't like stuff that there's anything wrong with that youan whatman's job with these it's the way it should be thank you can I just have a motion in second for that I would like to make this motion second I have to sign it no no uh R Please Mr Corson yes Mr nappin yes mayor Newman yeah and we have the consent agenda all consent agenda items listed below are routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion I'd like to make motion we authorize a consent agenda items 1 through 13 or actually 2 through 13 I guess it would be second would you call the rooll Please Mr Corson yes Mr nappin yes mayor Newman yes motion carried and we have number 15 ing Jay Newman as a part-time employee to the Upper Township division of Emergency Medical Services and I will make that in the form of a motion and like I stated earlier that's return him to a position he had previous he does that will put him on the roster as our part-time Em which helps alleviate the necessity of full-time Mage so it's a cost upper C res FL buffer to have as many people on staff as possible I will make that in form of motion strong second uh I don't you're going to stain Mr Corson yes Mr nappin yes may Newman motion carried number 16 Shirley White requests for waiver of interest on delinquent property taxes gentlemen this is a uh an issue that I went back and forth with legal and statutes and we were looking uh to see if there was some way uh if we could to wait some interest due to uh some anomalies that she listed to be perfectly sincere with you I've yet to find any legal ability to wave these type of Fe I think that starts us down a slippery slope if we wave one we got to wave them all correct and I to be perfectly sincere with you um foron I don't think you're allowed to anyway no we do y it's by Statute so what would we take no I think she wanted it to be presented to the board and verifi by legal and that's kind of what we did I just want to make you aware she's been persistent and cordial but she wanted an answer and now we have an answer okay um I hereby move that all claims submitted for payment if this meeting be approved and then Incorporated in full of the minutes of this meeting second call roll please Mr Corson yes Mr nappen yes may Newman yes motion carried thank you uh could we who's read thect hopefully he does a good job and we'll take that on next year forget contract negotiation uh yeah it's on here right okay I hereby move that a resolution be incorporated to the minutes authorizing the township committee to enter into an executive session for the following matters person to the open public meetings Act One Personnel Board appointments two contract negotiation EMS billing three contract negotiation safe rout to school Grant I also include my motion the estimated time and circumstances under which the discussion conducted in closed session can be disclosed to the public as follows it is anticipated that the matters discussed in closed session may be disclosed to the public upon the determination of the township committee that the public interest will no longer be served by such confidentiality B with respect to employment and Personnel matters such discussions will be made public if and when formal action is taken or when the individuals involved consent that it can be made public C with respect to contract negotiations such matters will be made public when negotiations have ceased and there's no longer a reason for confidentiality second pleas Mr coron yes Mr naan yes mayor Newman yes motion carried okay thank you very much we're going to take at least