##VIDEO ID:CcAfzpG7N_k## in compliance with the open public meetings law I wish to State on November 8th 2024 the notice of this meeting of the upper Cy committee was posted on the official Township bulletin board and the Upper Township website emailed the Atlantic City Press the ocean SE sent a ledger of The Herald times and fil 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 this announcement me made part of the minutes of this meeting please rise FL flag the United States of America the it stands one nation God indivisible and jusice for all would you call the RO Please Mr Corson Mrs Hayes Mr nappin here Mr Panos here may Newman here all members are present okay before we um start we got a couple changes minor Chang to the agenda uh the session agenda uh number one [Music] um the um shared services of course we again we have a um contract negotiation with Dennis countship courts uh we also have we're going to add under potential litigation Prescott Avenue and then I want to change the potential litigation from the K County Agricultural board to just an update on that settlement so uh that that's those are the changes close session items mainly adding some stuff to Chang in the nclat so just to rest assur we are not involved in any litigation with the c County act that's been settled um your pleasure on the minutes Mo we approve the regular and close session minutes from October [Applause] 2824 Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nain yes Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried uh rep government body members we'll start let's start at Vick good evening everybody thank you so much for coming out as always uh animal control held our uh vaccination clinic 56 dogs and 13 cats uh we're vaccinated uh back on the 26th of October so that was very well done and Animal Control also responded to 42 different calls over the month of October ranging everything from broken cat legs to raccoons and and everything was carried out very well courts are quiet that's all I have the other end thank you yes sir uh so just a couple announcements the ever Township Business Association is hosting their annual community night this Wednesday November 13th tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Upper Township Elementary School ch um that's usually a really good event to get a lot of attendance there so definitely if you're around check it out um we also have which I mentioned last meeting the Ocean City Upper Township rotary is having their annual community Thanksgiving dinner um this is open to all senior citizens and the public the goal is to keep you from being alone with Thanksgiving so they do an inperson dine in dinner from 1 to 2:30 at Trinity United Methodist Church on Shore Road in monora and then they also have takeout available from 12:00 to 1: and then last but not least our annual Christmas tree lighting will be November 25th at 6:30 here um all the usual players will be present we'll have Santa will make a surprise appearance we'll have performances from the Middle School band and choir and also the C uh for our sers will also be here um it will be after our 4:30 meeting so come after the meeting and stick around for the tree liting it's a little bit early this year but the way our meetings fell it would have been kind of late to do a middle of December tree l so it's technically before Thanksgiving it work that's okay that's all I have thank you Kur uh I don't have too much tonight I just wanted to caution everyone to be very careful not to steal some of the J's fire fire thund here um we have had a little bit of rain but not a significant amount it is very dry out there we've had a couple fires in upper town forest fire in state of New Jersey has had more fires since October 1st than they did the rest of the year it's the busiest October they ever had they've been running a little wagged uh we had a fire that burnt for almost a week in SEO back in the swamp it was an underground G they were surrounded they did a fantastic job they were there for at least three or four days and then they went back four or five days later so it was H quite the adventure obviously familiar with here it used to be a piece property I owned so they said oh they saw one of my deer stands there you'd never see a deer after this far and I said yeah that dear I'm scared of this we were driving out I was I fact I would with a for truck cuz they were doing investiga and they wouldn't know where the property need to just say from here to the back of the room there deer in the middle of the road right there in front of the forest far truck um and I just want to hope everybody had a happy Veterans Day I was not there for the event Veterans Day I was out of town but uh was well ended event as always and Jay hosted it and spoke and was a well ended event so thank you very much uh oh it is me I'm I'm the only one left a couple things uh first of all Toys for Tots as we usually do we host toys of tots that box will be located in lobby of town hall from December 12th 2024 uh as usual that's the Marine corol reserve does that but I think they inv other people as well and they want a new unwrapped toy plac in that box and they'll make sure that it gets uh to proper the people that need um addition to um tonight we're going to see a presentation to the living Shoreline and thank them for for waiting a meeting that was uh that was probably one of the better things that we we could do regarding that and I just want to kind of explain to everybody beforehand this is one of those projects that um it took us to get a to fund a company to get a grant to get a grant to get a grant to to get this thing done so it's going to be um almost entirely paid for by grants if not entirely paid for by grants a very very good uh um operation and forun not fortunately we had the opportunity to do this and we acted years ago and this is this will be the end the beginning end of the beginning anyway and that'll hopefully be put together this is a model we can use elsewhere in town as we move forward yes so um uh we also uh on December 9th which is the first meeting in December um at 5:30 uh we I would like to and requested that the uh administrator de marzo and chief Coker and deputy chief Brit put together we're going to do on award tonight we're going to honor some Public Safety people in Upper Township Upper Township for some several incidents have occurred in Upper Township this year that have some of them might have extended from last year as well and we're going to honor them in a separate ceremony rather than do the individual resolutions which I thought is a pretty good idea rather have presentation which their families could show up uh the rest of the public safety personnel could be here and we can read a narrative of what happened because a lot of people don't realize what happens uh behind the scenes to move forward with with some of these things that happen the systems that have been put in place over the past 40 50 years or whatever and have evolved to where we are now has result in a lot of I you have a lot going on out there that you don't read about in the newspapers because a lot of times there medical incidents we can't release some of that information but there also some of the ones that you do do see in the newspapers and there are some outstanding public safety personnel in our fire companies and our EMS so what we're going to do and some of our civilians we're going to do is anything that has occurred in Upper Township okay involved Upper Township Personnel um then we will going to honor them as part of an award ceremony here'll be it'll be at :3 which gives us an hour before our meeting um our next meeting in dece our first meeting in December uh so anybody has a deputy chief is working on that and uh we'll have a narrative event rather than a resolution that says where where all where has and all this stuff you guys will know what happened and how these people will be honored you'll be quite surprised so um pleasantly surprised um as Curtis mentioned we had um there's been several fires and and the recent rain occurred Sunday I don't know how much it was is that insignificant after the wind today yeah then the wind blows that right off and I think that fire in Peach Orchard is still burning uh and I just want to give another shout out to our un committe men and Lieutenant uh Mark Panos from C Police Department another place where they called the drone over put the Drone up down the fire 5 minutes 5 Seconds put it up it was a complete asset to to us and Through The Graces of the oanc police department which we have mutually agre with it all the time back and forth to them and uh it just saved a lot of time trouble and effort um in finding that fire nobody knew where it was if smoke was reported half a mile away that drone I mean there's at least instances in the last three months I my head just upper count where you know the C there was only two that would kids found it kids found it so the Drone was drone was invaluable especially at night uh and the way the soke was Ling guys guys guys and girls public if you could keep that um in your mind and in your thought when you when you're out there uh reading the newspaper articles and like that if you see smoke especially in this High fire area like I think it was Monday morning or is it yesterday or Friday morning one of the mornings we had whole heavy a whole lot of smoke laying down low that' be Friday umid yeah I think it was Friday that was coming from a gler County Fire uh so it could travel a long way it lays low sometimes the wind picked up blew it offshore which is fine what we're looking for is heavy black smoke or any Flames that you see we definitely want the call um so that that's if there's any doubt call if there's any doubt call and we usually have like that F we set stuff up with our rest of the fire chiefs in town uh we made sure and and uh made sure our Dispatch Center knew that we wanted to know if somebody insisted on seeing somebody we would go out but if somebody was just reporting smoke in the area we would have to deal with it uh as being from the other fire um okay that and I'm going to call on uh deputy chief Brit and supervisor EMT John Carter to give a report on something that they uh actually John Carter requested that you have two two seconds of our time give us a load load out stand up John identify yourself the uh T Committee just approved and purchase maybe within the last month or two for power Lo and new stretchers they have been installed in all our ambulances and they have been working magnificently and our employees are very the opp so that not only increases efficiency of patient care um what they are is they they actually load the the stretcher into the back of the ambulance which was done by our Personnel now so it decreases the chance of injury on our personnel and loading unloading stretchers and and increases the safety factor for the patient themselves uh cuz that's we don't want to Hur anybody as they're coming in and out of getting they already got an anal there we want to make sure they have a good safe ride and this is a big step for it actually reduces Manpower because some of the larger patients sometimes you need an assist oh yeah so and I've been there when that happened and they they can get them on the stretcher of that thing pretty much load into the back of which is very very important okay uh I think that's all I have I find another note that I forgot something but Gary could you uh take us take us away I just want to um again Mark seems to keep quiet but his departments are probably the most active so right now we're leaves relative to around the county keep Public Works picking them up um the tree lighting we're hoping to get the bells re repaired so we out Christmas bells uh that system we identified it as early 90s when it was put on the municipality and took a little bit time to find out the vendor and to track down the parts and pieces but we're working on getting that uh getting that uh Christmas new ring relative to another issue the sdl program and um committed Pano sits on the it committee and sdl is one the compliance issues for the state for the construction so there will be a portal on the website uh and that's where the information will be uploaded by contractors and you'll be able to track the various U processes of your C that will also be a code enforcement element in there uh pictures will be able to be taken everything email or mail via the system uh and payments will be able to be made as well that leads to the 18 which is one of marks and uh Public Works employ so was a 20 plus year right home he's going to drive the truck for us but he's also going to be an ancillary sanitation inspector so as the township Rose and as our initial or immediate rich cars Mari um goes on different assignments not available that ran relatively could be a swor officer on the code foration that leads us to how we ended up on the property uh next to the AC so there was a brush fire there there was illegal dumping there was illegal trespassing uh all parties got involved including the uh the fire departments the state police um the owners of the property were very facilitative in clearing out tons of debris and and mess was left there and it it an entirely New Vista if you go back there so Gary Gary's being very nice the owner was had some motivation Gary was so uh yeah it didn't work out very well um that that's all I have yeah and again last two weeks are spent implementing the Union contract with the 5e contract so hats off the clerk's office and personnel office barers office because that document that had to be updated with the 200 or some odd name on that list to now reflect the longterm that with the employee B especially with M me thank you just wanted to point out we have the resolution solution setting the reorganization it will be Friday January 3rd at 6: p.m. I have nothing May thank you bar nothing this evening thank you very goodan I know you thank you m um just a couple things to touch on first one being the athletic core resurfacing project um so plans have been finalized unfortunately we hit a snag with the fencing improvements um the co-op costs are significantly higher than our local costs that we received from a quote so essentially due to that we're going to be sending out the fencing improvements to bid um we're in the process of creating those bid specs um we already have the drawings and we'll be sending out uh for advertisement over the next couple weeks um if not a month um so expecting construction to take place early 25 after the cold weather um so hopefully by spring late spring of 25 the athletic course will be out and running for putham Avenue uh good news we received extension from dot for the grant amount um we are now in the middle of design work for the project and anticipating to go out to bid in February or March of 25 and then ultimately with construction in Spring of 25 and hopefully wrapped up before summer track next one is athletic or sorry um skate park improvements at Amanda Fields uh so we received some comments back from the county um we essentially have to resubmit the application as a Park and Recreation application um and make some plan revisions we're in the process of that and are anticipating resubmission by end of November last one just a quick update on the county uh New Bridge Road project CR 628 um they are proceeding with advertising uh in with in the end of this month and then anticipating similar to our other projects are going to be starting construction in Spring of 25 uh I do have one thing for you I know that I think I asked you about this before and I probably got the answer but I forget um I'm I'm pretty sure they are anticipating rep in we're replacing we're doing some major construction on the Cedar Swamp bridge at Route 50 on Route 50 state okay um I know in the public safety end of it we have some of the detours are it's going to be a huge detour we need to make sure that Public Safety is 100% advised and involved in planning this okay one of the poorest sight lines in the township exists at 631 and Tyler Road uh where that comes out and that's where one of those detours is coming out I think Mike Jones get attested that that's a very very poor slight line there and that is going to be a problem and that's where we're going to need that I think they are we just want to make sure that that that that's the way it is and the public needs to be involved intimately in that so it's going to affect all three fire districts mutually all our stuff is going to be affected by it as well as it's going to affect EMS in virtually every run they go on so in fact every run except if we're going out towards I think that's Mark just said that they're probably going to put a light there but it's still going to be it's still an issue with the sight lines because coming AC cross that bridge heading toward from uh Petersburg towards marora um even if there's light there is going to be and sight problem on 631 oh yeah big time and as well as 50 and problem so there's going to be issues there and it's definitely needs to be looked at from a local angle not from a traffic engineer from the state who doesn't drive these roads absolutely and I know we had a previously conference call with theot um and they they're willing to work with the township on that detour plan um I'll certainly be following up with them but the last update we received is it's still in the design phase so I think we're a little bit further out to construction still has not gone out to bid um and it's all they gave us was constructions anticipated to start in 2025 I would expect towards the end of 2025 sometimes these things as well all of a sudden falls into place with all that said I'll be following up to make sure we're we're involved on that for some reason I I add in my mind we're going to keep one lane open they are but I don't know which way they're which which way down which road no matter what is extremely difficult to be people in summer techology build is that'd be great but a new model car comes out you want to wait until uh they do it couple timesys that'll be interesting we'll see how that one goes just just uh just keep Public Safety informed top to bottom if you could uh okay that's it for report of governing bodies uh we'll now open it up to the public if the public uh would like to make any uh comment to the township committee if you could please step to the podium and state your name for the record Natalie Natalie n for the record um I uh I was concerned about the potential litigation for uh Kate M County Agricultural Development board um I think you changed it and said that it's just going to be an update on a settlement well what it was is it's misnamed in there there is no potential litigation that's what I announced in the beginning Tony if you could uh take it from there yeah there was a settlement agreement reached with the county um Agricultural Development Bo that was um sent up to the um State and the state um board rejected the settlement for clarification purposes only so they remanded it back and they want the record clarified or at least some of the terms in the settlement agreement clarified uh and sent back up for approval so it's not it's not going to have any change on the approval it's just some clarification items that I wanted to update the committee on and that's on the cad or the yeah the state Agricultural Development Committee um had looked at it and they said there's some things in the record that we need to be clear on so they sent it back for dislar foration okay well it's still um my concern that um the township is not honoring the uh um Farmland um assessment on this property and um I'm not clear as to why and I'm not sure who is but um I brought a copy for Mr Corson again tonight um about the resolution from 2005 where as the Kate May County Agriculture board has granted final approval for the purchase of a development easement on property owned by William S Johnson at the certified value of $41,500 per acre designated as 5.22 Acres block 723 Lot 37 also known as 8 Bayer Road marora Upper Township K May County New Jersey and um it's my understanding that through the county because the the township approved this and the county and the state um don't approve that this was in 2005 and they were paid Johnson's were paid to preserve okay preserve the Farmland at 5.22 acres and they were paid for it and when the hals purchased it they bought it probably off a list of preserved farms for sale can I so I don't understand why his um tax assessment and you say it's can I clarify I I'm familiar with formally an assessment my problem okay well this isn't just I'm talking about the tax you haven't given them assessment and I understand let me say one more thing okay first of all it's over five acres and it's my understanding of the law that if you have less than five tillable acres then you have to show product of $50,000 but if you have more than 50 or I mean than um 5 Acres then you're at $2500 product you're wrong on both what it is New Jersey my I have a preserved form my form is preserved I took to pay out too okay I get farm land assessment for taxes because I form them and the rule is pretty simple you have to have five tillable acres this 5.22 acre property also has a house on and garages the tax assessment in preserved form are two different things a preserved property is a preserved property a form has five tillable acres and the threshold for five acres the first five acres is $1,500 and then it's like $2 an acre after that I believe I'm not quite sure but it's close might be a little bit more or less so the thresholds are basically $1,500 on this property that they have to make in farm income but it does not qualify for Farmland Assessment under the tax laws the tax laws are different than preservation laws it's property preserved I'll not disagree at all with you the tax assessor and there's a an appeal process they can go to the County Board and appeal we can't appeal this there has to be five kable acres so it matters pretty simple and yes I did sign the resolution the township didn't authorize it they were no it B basically the county whenever they preserve a form they s the township committee resolution this is happening in your town do you agree or disagree yeah we agree we we're all B property nobody here J was absent that day that's why he didn't vote for um otherwise he would have voted for it too cuz nobody I mean honestly on 5.22 Acres there they could have built five houses we'd rather see it preserved but the assessment has nothing to do with it being preserved old or I could let my properties Preserve for example I don't have to fill out the paperwork and get the assessment I can Let It Go Back To Nature and never get a form line assessment again okay so do you have anything else Natalie I agree I think I would disagree with what maybe he knows about his situ you can have you can have I don't think he's you can have preserved farmland and still be subject to tax assessment if you don't meet the requirements for Farmland Assessment the assessor is is charged with the responsibility of reviewing the application to make sure that the requirements are met and that's having five tillable acres that are being actively farmed and the assessor in this case makes a decision and if the property owner disagrees they can challenge it by going to the county tax board not the County Agricultural Development Committee they have no or board they have no jurisdiction over Farmland Assessment can you speak over Farmland Assessment they can determine preserve farmland and and authorize the acquisition of development rights based on that please speak to your understanding of a farm management unit for the definition of that I'm asking Mr we're getting off topic because again Mr Hal has the vehicle or the mechanics in the law to go to the next step to decide this map so the the township has made a decision and he'd like to go through the next step to appeal if he can that's what that's what fa1 are the process so he has preservation no one's stopping him from growing anything he can grow whatever the man wants but to get this designation he has to meet certain criteria the township said they didn't and he goes to the next step and I'm I'm glad that he's eradicating tax the tax assessor not the counsel tax tax CTA right rcta makes that determination and then if he doesn't agree disagrees with it he has a vehicle or a venue to express that and I'm sure he's very happy that you're advocating for him and you can share all this information with him my tax dollars paid to preserve this land and it's my tax dollars that are also going to pay all these legal fees that have been going on for several years for Mr this has his fa is not part of any litigation If he if he wants if he dis agree with you okay but maybe you could speak to your understanding of a farm management unit as it if it's continuous or non-contiguous okay well I gave you a paper there the interest here is to kind of get you where you want to be with Mr halber and advocating for no I wanted to understand where you all are coming from and I think I heard um what I needed to hear thank you but I'll pass this I'll pass information along to the tax assessor and I'm sure Mr Al has that information anybody else for the public like to speak anybody else evening good evening mayor and committee my name is Michelle Johnson for those that don't know who I am I'm a Kate May County resident and I'm the deputy tax assessor for the township of upper I have worked proudly for the township of upper for 18 years 23 total in tax assessment I respectfully asked the mayor and each of the committee people to represent and also the administrator to carefully study in depth the salaries and the disparities of the pay scale for those employees who have worked many many years there are a handful of employees in the township that I feel their salar is not commensurate my salary being one of them it is my opinion that the township was once a well-oiled machine and that I was and still am very proud to be a public servant of the township of Auber I continue to and will promote the many wonderful benefits the township has to offer both on a professional level and a personal level as well in recent years increas of salaries and the procedural process that we have all experienced has been very strange and unprofessional and literally uncomfortable to say the least there's an example of improper titles personally I was classified as a keyboarding clerk in the New Jersey Division of Pensions for the past 15 years when in fact I've been working as a certified Deputy tax assessor also by way of resolution this has been recently rectified by our administrator Gary demarzo also with regard to proper protocol isn't it uh proper to invite a committee person that represents a particular Department to a meeting regarding an employees potential advancement example Mr Curtis Corson was not contacted to my knowledge or invited to several meetings regarding my position and discussions on advancement within the assessor's office I come here tonight to request that you take a closer look at any new salary ordinances and I ask respectfully for a fair and Equitable study of the salaries and I would recommend a desk audit be conducted with every Department the township has recently had too many employees employes leave close to 14 wonderful employees morale has not been all that good in recent years and so in closing I thank you for your time and attention thank you thank you for your comments anybody else from the public Mike Jones up Townson Public Works assistant superintendent and I just would like to say I highly disagree with the comment of the morale at Upper Township Upper Township over the past 3 years has gone from a morale that was very very bad to the morale of I can speak for probably every Department in this Township that it's as highest it's ever been thank to the five of you that sit up there today Mr dearo and the other people that play an important role in this Township I've been here 32 years and in 32 years I've never seen the morale where it is to this day thank you thank you anybody else okay so we will move on to you can uh announce the next you have the Strath Mir living sheline presentation uh I probably whever you're she get record yeah yeah you probably need to go there I'm sorry good evening uh my name is Janetta dicks I'm the director of environmental services at um act engineers in mamora so it wasn't a long drive for me um thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the Strath Meir uh living Shoreline project and if you if you'll indulge me just for a few minutes I'll give a little bit of background and some context that I think is important um the strafer living Shoreline was initially conceived in October of 2022 and and it was in response to the state required uh climate change related Hazard vulnerability assessment um which at that time was made part of the municipal land use law and the assessment was intended to analyze current and future threats and vulnerabilities uh from climate change related hazards uh increased temperatures uh drought flooding hurricanes sea level rise and to identify how future development in the township you know might be threatened to identify any critical um facilities life-saving life sustaining facilities and provide strategies to reduce or avoid these risks and in Upper townships vulnerability assessment uh it was anal Uh current and future threats and impacts of the township were analyzed um a buildout analysis um of future development was considered um necessary critical facilities and infrastructure was identified design standards and strategies um were also identified an upper Township ranked sea level rise Coastal erosion disease outbreak drought and tsunamis as um medium degree uh hazards while floods hurricanes nor Easter severe weather and Wildfire which is pretty relevant um were ranked as high degreed hazards so the assessment back in the day um projected a 50% chance of sea level rise by 2.8 to 3.9 ft by the year 2100 um so if you're following the New Jersey pack real rules and I won't I won't get on that soap box but if you're if you're following them the D used a 177% chance um of sea level rise over 5 feet by the year 2100 they they did not choose to use the 50% chance of about 3 fet which is what Upper Township used and appropriately used for their um vulnerability assessment so as part of this whole assessment analysis we realized that Bay View Drive was an area of vulnerability in the township um it regularly floods um due to sea level rise um even just nuisance flooding not necessarily um you know storm events and the marsh that's adjacent to um Bay View Drive from 1978 to 2021 that Marsh has eroded about 9 in per year um so it's quickly um It's Quickly disappearing and and those Bay marshes are um they're our roadblocks they're our um our first defenses against flooding and for flood resiliency and when I do this talk to fifth graders um I like to tell them that this is like shag carpet most fifth graders don't know what shag carpet is but um but y'all do so when the flood waters come in your back door if you have hardwood floors that flood waters come rushing across your hardwood floors but if you have shag carpet if you have that vegetation if you have that Coastal tidal Marsh then the flood waters are dissipated and are slowed down so those Bay marshes are really our first defense the township committed to back in the 2022 23 to funding the design and the permitting of a flood protection revetment or a sill um at the southern tip of Bay View Drive and and and like you said Mr Mayor we we recognize that Grant monies are rarely available for the planning and the permitting but Grant monies are available for the actual construction um so unfortunately you have to Pony up some money up front do the planning and the permitting and then eventually the grant monies you know will come so act Engineers was hired to do the necessary surveys we did a bimetric survey where we measured the water depths we did some geotechnical testing we did the design and we prepared and we're ready to submit the permit applications the design and you have a handout and it's up on the U screens um first sheet was the location which you're all familiar with this is a um this is the design it's about 1,300 linear feet um it's proposed along the 1970 um Shoreline so you can see how um since 1970 how far out the shoreline used to be and where it is now um The Crest or the top of the revetment um and it it sounds fancy but it's really a number of different types of stone that and and I'm not an engineer and and they're scoffing at me in the office now as I I describe this but it's a number of different types of stone that are layered um and it's a it's a revetment it's a it's a rock sill the crest of the sill is um about 4T and um mean or the average high tide in this area is about one and 1/2 ft a higher high tide is about two so about two feet of the of the revetment will be visible even at high tide cuz navigation and impacts to navigation are always you know in our mind when we design these even though they're they're close to the Shoreline um the the wave Breakwater in this area is about 2 ft so um it was designed with all of those considerations um in mind um you have the full setup so then so we were ready um and then we got a call from the Strath Meir um fishing and environmental club and the Strathmere fishing environmental Club um called and and Gary and I were a little we were a little hesitant we're you know we're like this sounds too good to be true and you know if it sounds too good to be true then you know it usually is but in this case um the Strathmere fishing and environmental Club um was allocated um about $ 1.5 million um Jeff Andrew um appropriated about $1.5 million for resiliency projects um and Strathmere fishing club um is the expected recipient they still have to go through the ground Grant um application process they've submitted that Grant application but um but it looks like you know they're going to get about $1.5 millionar and so they called Gary and I and said we we'd like to take a million of this or so and put it towards the Strath mirre living Shoreline um so the the thought that if you if you if you design it and you permit it and the grant monies will come seems to be and you know and I don't want to jinx us know but seems to be happening here so um their application is in for the grant money um it's not a matching Grant of any sort it's you know here's the money um they're not willing to spend all of it on us they are going to save some of it for monitoring and some other um projects that they're looking at the strair fishing club has a member who is a um a very well respected Coastal engineer and so before we so we paused um submitting the Perman appc ations we gave him the opportunity um we welcomed the opportunity we got a free environmental uh Coastal engineer review of our design he had a couple of minor comments we made those revisions and the permit applications have since been submitted um to the D and the Army Corps of Engineers D has about 90 days to review it um after it's administratively and technically complete Army Corps is about 6 months they can't issue until D issues um but they follow you know right behind we did a um pre-application meeting with all of The Regulators state and federal um once a month they bring everybody the DP us Fish and Wildlife National marine fisheries Noah Coast Guard they bring everybody to the table once a month and they talk about these projects and you you actually have the PowerPoint presentation um it's a little outdated but it was the preliminary this is what we're considering this is what we're thinking about we floated it into in front of all these regulators and they all came back and said yep we think this is a great project we think it will work we think it's appropriate um we think it has minimal disturbance um you'll see it's not a a uniform um revetment it has fish windows so that the area behind the revetment doesn't trap um fish and uh juvenile fish um has these fish windows so it has flow between it and the expectation and the modeling suggests that um it will naturally a create behind the revetment and the sediment will build up and we'll restore our historic shorelines and have a project that results in some flood protection and some resiliency you know to that area um of the township obviously fishing environmental club with their the million dollars that your is probably not enough sufficient money right it's probably not um we we'll have to do some additional detailed geotechnical investigations and then there's construction estimates um I Ryan and I have asked that question like what's this going to cost to build yeah so that's that's something also Doug G me uh even uh is willing to prepare but essentially I I think he said the million will be close to doing the full extent um but essentially they will provide that funding and then we'll just cut the length at whatever extent we could provide so we would start at the the dock and then ultimately hopefully get to the end but if uh our funding run short we just end the wall at that location and then look for additional funding to complete well we actually at one point we put this out for bid years or uh not bid look for uh F grant money and I think there's a lot of players at the table that would have funded money like Ducks Unlimited whole bunch of absolutely so even after we get the permit we're still going to explore additional grants um for the project and I think that's part I mean if we can get let's say another million dollars and not maybe spend all that money yeah and then there's there's other areas that the rush Crossways eroding every day yep um so that that's our initial plan um I will say one item that I will need a motion from the committee tonight is as junetta mentioned uh there needs to be geotechnical uh soil testing completed before construction I know initially uh we wanted to include this or act Engineers wanted to include that as part of the design the committee pushed back at that time um so now our plan is we'll get the permit and then push the geotechnical work as a construction cost so the contractor will do the geotechnical work and that would be funded either by stman fish and environmental Club as a construction cost cost or a potential another Grant as a construction cost so something the township then won't have to uh pay initially before permits are received so with that said it's an $1,000 fee for the application for the geotechnical permit and that is a motion I uh really am requesting from the committee tonight I recommend that as well just just a piggyback on Janetta Ryan's ability push this forward it was it was it was a u very methodical well thought out the initial plan was just a um Boer plate and it had no real teeth or Direction relative to what was being put together we we had the funing devel for the yes I'd like to make a motion next meeting we have a resolution authorizing ,000 expend second somebody's got War Mr Corson Mr coron yes Mrs Hayes Mr nain yes Mr PCOS mayor Newman yes motion carried any have any other I just had one question I don't know answer this are there any like shortterm or longterm maintenance you know that's required for this once it's installed in the place we we built the shooting Island one on the um for Ocean City um there are there weren't any um maintenance costs associated with it there were however monitoring costs associated with it um so DP wanted three years of monitoring um mainly topographic mainly survey um some some Critters you know some ological monitoring because the expectation is in addition to this rock revetment that's providing flood resiliency it's also providing some habitat value and and ideally oysters and other you know shellfish start and algae and things start living there um sorry so yes there there could be some there could be some monitoring costs associated with it but we don't expect any maintenance cost thank you there probably more information than you wanted to know the backstory but I thought it was important to put it in context Fram and Stu like that anybody else have any questions well I guess this rebut will stop the erosion or swell it down cuz right now when the Banky Ro like you lost almost 100 foot of banker and honestly all that it's right out there it's it's in the middle I mean it's and that's right you're absolutely right that's what causes a lot of the dredging you know issues is the sediment that's that's eroding off of our marshes and it's eroding off the marshes for multiple reason storm damage and also wave action from the boats and the Jessies and all that I think a lot of people they slow down for the no wave zone for boats but they're actually would do it should be reversed speed up for where the boats are and the docks and the bulkheads and slow down for the marching I mean I think there's got to be the the intent is to create an armored Shoreline and let the sediment accrete and build up behind it and then the plants come and the critters come and we restore um you know these these Coastal marshes they're incredibly important they're our first defense and as what was the storm not Sandy but the one after Sandy that's when blooded real bad it all came in it didn't come from the ocean all came from that way through Randy roach's yard everybody's yard through the camp that's thank you very much thank you very much keep all moving forward there we have the consent agenda all consent agenda items listed below are routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion if the mayor or any Committee Member wishes a particular agenda item to be considered separately it will be removed from the consent agenda and acted on separately we approve the consent agenda items number 2 through 21 call the roll please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes yes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos yes mayor Newman yes motion carried excuse me sir s right out not there yet under ordinances we have the introduction and first reading of ordinance number 15 2024 an ordinance establishing salary ranges for the township buer for the calendar year 2024 and what will be the uh December 9th okay I'll move to the introduction of uh ordinance number 15 of 2024 with the public hearing the final adoption s set for the December 9th meeting second you call the rooll Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappin yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried your pleasure on the bills I hereby move that all claims submitted for payment at this meeting be approved and then Incorporated in full in the minutes of this meeting second second call R Please Mr coron yes Mrs Mr na Mr Panos May Newman yes motion carried [Music] um that resolution inth opene one contract coun two contract negotiation assist three contract negotiation C associat safe for school uh four potential liation inv Drive number five update to the cultural development Board number six personnel number seven contract negotiation shared services agreement for municipal court services number eight potential liation press I also circumstances under discuss cond antip discuss session disclosed public upon determination of the C committee oblation no longer serve by S confidentiality with respect appointment personel matters such discussion made public when form action is taken when individuals involved consent that can made public see with respect contract negotiation such matter made public when negotiations have ceased and there is no reason confidentiality respect liation matter discuss publication complete pleas Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappin Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried will take five so