##VIDEO ID:aefFyUdwEe4## in compliance with the open public meetings law I wish the state that on December 6th 2024 the notice of this meeting of the upper toship committee was posted on the official Township pull board and the Upper Township website emailed to the Atlantic City Press the Ocean City sental Ledger the harl times and fil file with the toship 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 flag United States stands the r please uh Mr Corson pres Mrs Hayes Mr nappen here Mr Panos here mayor Newman here all members of presid uh pleas on the minutes we approve the regular and close session minutes from November 25th 2024 second please Mr Corson Mrs Hayes Mr nappen Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried uh we'll start down let's go right to left tonight as we stage right stage good evening everybody thank you so much for coming out as always uh the Upper Township uh is hosting our free rabies clinic here uh it's January 25th February 22nd 1 to 3 p p.m. rain or shine to be held at the shore veterinarian Animal Hospital 73 hope Corson Road in seille um also just want to quickly reflect on the wonderful moment that we just had honoring all of our individuals and and what they're doing in the township um my son was sitting in the front row I was trying to sh Shuffle him off the wrestling practice and he didn't want to leave he wanted to stay and see all the story so I'm looking at him in the front row saying trip go outside your mom's got to get you he was going like this so that was a cute moment for me as a dad I'm sure he's going to want to say he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up home yeah um I do have a cool story this is pales in comparison to some of these but it isn't a dog save situation for manual control I got an email uh my mother's dog got away the gate blew open they notified right away we were driving around searching calling but without their uh the help of Shore Animal Control and putting picture up on their website we would not have gotten him back so fast so Shore Animal Control continues to do a good job and that's all I have tonight thank you sir um so just I'd also like to just thank all the not just the First Responders that we recognized tonight but all the First Responders in our community we're very fortunate to have not just such a great paid great paid staff but so many Volunteers in our community as well you know I'm kind of reflecting back in when I first took office one of the first things I did was swear in the volunteer rescue spot officers and I remember that during that talking to them and saying you know I work in healthcare I understand that the job you do doesn't always come with the thank you so it's really important that we do recognize them and say thank you um and I do know so I just like to extend my gratitude for them once again um outside of that I'd like to also thank everyone who attended the Christmas tree lighting last month um especially the Upper Township Middle School band and choir for their lending their towns to make it a great evening and also Patty weeks and her Coral group come down and that is all I have thank you Kim uh I once again you know this is one of the proud moments of my entire firefighting career not just the political side of it but it just was uh it was a good good ceremony good event and uh uh I I truly truly appreciate how U not only this committee but also the Committees prior have always supported us and every way shape or form that they possibly could and we look forward to that support to continue um and were what you saw tonight U recognized um just a small portion of what goes on that was only nine nine incidents okay um they did today they might add two more to that category so and I'd like to ask those remaining on committee uh if you could keep this tradition live and I'll make sure that you do and we'll probably do it in a in a different uh uh not to perform up but on a on a uh like February or March for the prior year um because we just wanted to give this this try out and uh it worked out very well and quick easy and I think it is nothing against what we do here but I really think that they' much rather have a certificate like that to describe what happened than a where on this which is fine but that way we can do it all at once and everybody can be here we do it the winter buy except for today so uh so it doesn't stop so thanks for that and uh thanks for all your support and thanks for everybody that did that and was here for that ceremony Curtis yes I just thank you J for putting together orchestrating it and I'd like to thank all our Chiefs that compiled all the information that was a lot of work and it was a fabulous event and it makes me proud to live in our community where we have that kind of volunteers and and dedication without those people they can change lives every day and they are greatly appreciated not to interrupt you but the big thing that I wanted to get across probably more than anything is the fact that it just doesn't happen it's not happen no it takes years of training and coordination and planning meeting and not meeting and for it to come off the way us not always always successful but most cases it is right Jonathan Carter yes thank start so uh just wanted to say we're also uh preparing for Budget season Barber has gotten everybody's proposed budgets in we are going to have a difficult time next year we've lost state aid we've lost uh potentially the court systems so we going to have to tighten uh 600,000 is state aid which that equates to little over a p I believe right yeah yeah oh that's repen refet so yeah so we're going to have to be very Vigilant and we're going to TI up our BS here so uh we have that long road ahead of us so just getting started so allk Le not um I do want to Echo the S of my um col up here to say what a wonderful presentation that was um I started my my uh first respond career back in 1997 so couple years on and you were right when you said earlier really want to be here but all anyway so know none of us out there doing for for the AES you know soog the job you do is certainly certainly appreciate any that um I'll be short here but uh I do want to thank the entire board here for the past year um particular Mayon um mayor for maintaining constant open mind Communications and our teamk that we had um over the past year I found my my personal schedule increasingly complex with my ability to devot the necessary time Township um that's not fair to employees it's not fair to Residents um so tonight will be my next Township community you sorry hear that Mark but understand understand I couldn't do this I would retired right now have a job but if I didn't had the job I had when I was gainfully important so all right uh G um we'll take it off guard I mean is it is a calling and I don't think you know what quiet strength you brought to the board even in law enforcement myself and having supervisor all right of I saw you as a confident I saw you as a Conor I saw you as a realist the thing that we did with the board over the past three and a half three years started with M Signs ends with uh communion centers lights the OEM room your it expertise you know as a cop I understand to it's a tough it is a tough profession for cops but we do live in that realm of integrity and and honor um but I I truly want to thank you for the opportunity you gave me and my family and U I know you do great things uh one of the last acts of of kindness that that the commiss the committee and I have talked about was using that LG Grant so that was the one we were successful with the uh Senor Center and we're going to reapply that we're going to utilize humanos is format vision of the eding cameras the various locations you know the col field got struck by lightning we've been struggling to kind of keep that one alive the Mana steeld and some of the accidents we had at the Fe point unfortunately the troopers were able to identify that vehicle for us um but I think a great um use of that Fund in that direction maybe we'll name a little pinle camera well committee and pancers I think By Design you didn't give people much notice so they couldn't formulate any words but I do want to thank you for your service and I'm sorry to see you go that's all and I just want to add not to think we've met but I really appreciate you and your staff's efforts that ceremony you're welc really took L to put together uh Tony mayor just um also Mark expressing my gratitude it's an honor really to work with you for two years and and um you know I just wish you the best since you're not going to be here next week I wish you a Merry Christmas year and your family and also I wonder you know nobody's nobody could ever read the Clos session resolutions like you can so it's it's an art form so I miss that as well uh thank you anything else no thank you um Barber um Mark just um it's been an honor with you and um good luck to you with your future endeavors um I do also have a request for uh Sarah in my office um to continue on with her Finance classes and um take another class she's looking she's already signed up for One to begin in January she's looking for next one in March at a cost of$ 76 it be abouts a week probably about ORS so just looking for that approval second Mr coron yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen Mr panco mayman yes motion carried okay ran thank you Mr Mayor I also wanted to start out with saying thank you and uh good luck to Mark um I know didn't work together too long but it was a pleasure um moving on to engineering um the first one being safe route to school we have our initial kickoff meeting with do scheduled for next Monday um which will really be our first meeting with do to go over the requirements initial plan um to move forward into design and then ultimately construction there's it's going to be Zoom right for team yeah yeah virtual call I believe teams y okay um so yeah we have that meeting into 16th so next one up athletic Court resurfacing so uh we finalized the bid specs and plans um now over with uh to Township review um I'm targeting really mid January at the latest to go out to bid for the fencing and that puts us in a good position to start construction in February and then uh ideally be finished up April um really end of April at the latest uh reconstruction of putam Avenue this is another one of those dot Municipal aid grant projects uh so our survey work has been completed we're now in the middle of design um and I'm expecting that to be completed by early January uh and going out to bid in February or March of next year uh we could either push to have construction completed by Memorial b or push construction off until fall of 2025 so we'll really see uh how that develops when we get bids in from contractors and that's that's all I had for tonight okay we will now open it the U it up to public comment for public comment anyone from the public would like to comment C committee now you'll have to speak up because I think our speakers are not working today for something not but the audio will be captured yeah the audio is captured but we don't have the speakers working okay uh Natalie n um Mark um it's a concern and a surprise to hear you're leaving um I want to wish you good luck as well I have um some papers for the board is it the same on you're give today on uh let me preface if you will my family invested in Upper Township property and paid Upper Township taxes since 1950 also I hold a 1988 Pennsylvania police Commendation and what I need is for you to understand so the papers the five documents I provide tonight I find it troubling confusion Mr coron you took my dignity and my Integrity like do you remember what you did 17 years ago 19 frankly I remember you stomping on the graves of my deceased family 1995 Ste Mr Corson there were guinea hens on Highway 50 Petersburg you publicly stated I had a pig get loose and I solved that I took it to the slur now what is that 1.5 2.5 million 50,000 White Pine digs no I did battle two neighbor disputes plural I lost oak trees $50,000 a white black red oak trees $50,000 B was Kate May County Court when Department of Transportation cut 100y old limbs on Highway 50 Boon property block 456 lot 13 historical seedar trees Joon berky noted now see in your packet you Curtis Corson Jr on April 4th 1995 sign chairman Upper Township zoning board approval it was planning chairman planning board thank you your actions supersede my 1991 subdivision K May County map number 4556 errors and Emissions a cut and Pace job your 199 5 subdivision in my opinion you and Shelly Lee bomb secretary with engineer Paul District changed the K May County Maps Upper Township digital maps with a signature you Mr Corson changed my 1991 property Deeds block 456 l13 nasty rules for the $50,000 how many zeros is that seriously I want to know who the retired Sheriff from SE is can you tell yet I don't think Sheriff ever had a Sheriff you SE go ahead but there's not one coming here I I hate to I'm trying to cut you off but I think we it you're probably I mean you can enter this into the the record and you have your F we're asking you to live it to 5 minutes okay but what you have here is something that's going to have to go through some sort of legal this is not a question for this board this is more of a question for the planning board and and our attorney I mean M Mr monzo I don't know if you want to jump in and comment on this on what's going on here because I mean there's I don't think there should be a discussion about it here uh it's a little confusing to me so I need need to get more facts to get the history of this in order to to respond to the committee and and then we can so what I want to ask you to do NY is if you could if you could kind of wrap up your comments for us because we're not going to be able to answer any questions about anything that occurred in 1995 okay or 96 or who was employed here at that time so if we could get the information you have get it to Mr dearo and then we'll get it to our attorneys and if any action is needed from the counc committee I'm sure they will take that action if it needs to be referred to the planning board either the County planning board County tax assessor or the zoning board that will that will be handled as well I mean there's this is really not the place to adjudicate this for lack of a better term is that okay thank you okay we got Palumbo two cousins and pal how s FF block 476 slot 17 100 dennisville petersb road but tonight Anthony monzo is the Upper Township solicitor and Gary dearo is the Upper Township administrator that's correct thank you thank you anybody else from the public good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Craig Rees I'm the superintendent Upper Township Public Works uh I was just informed this evening that uh committee M Panos is going to step down and I was trying to save my dribble and my speech for the next meeting but uh I just have to tell you that Mr Panos has been an asset to the township and asset to Public Works he's been in contact with me weekly uh see how things are going uh any problems uh any problems that crop up um he's been in constant contact with me diligently working to upgrade our equipment and help us keep on the right track um it's been a pleasure Mark to work with you sir um I appr appreciate everything you've done and I thank you for everything you've done for the township and for Upper Township Public Works thank you uh anybody else from the public okay hearing none close the public portion of the meeting and we'll move on to 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 remove the consent agenda call the Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried under ordinances we have the public hearing and final adoption of ordinance number 14 2024 an ordinance adopting an amendment to the Redevelopment plan for the be's Point Redevelopment area within the township of upper County of Kate May state of New Jersey thank you mayor um Jim malie's here and I'll defer to him on the explanation of this this uh this discussed your your last meeting made an amend have do the be uh the beas Le Redevelopment and it is uh making changes on the on the Redevelopment plan to U establish a minimum height for buildings in order to qualify um the the project for a a c do that will be is expected to be a little bit quicker a little bit easier in order to accommodate it the other Vision made is to make explicit that the plan that a pro the project cannot move forward to site plans that the planning Board review until there's an agreement with the township Redevelopment with the township so that's kind of the back stop for the township for uh for the project moving forward and that's pretty much it to add to that the planning board has been informed and is exactly what's uh along with it if if I can also add uh Mr Mayor that you know that this is Waterfront development only there is a maximum height as well and cafer does have regulations on maintaining uh a view caror between buildings so it's not like there'll be a wall of buildings obstructing view so there are some strict regulations for highrises that kapper requires as part of the approval process thank you anybody from the public would like to comment on ordinance number 14 of 2024 yeah it's Nat I understand that that whole project is going to be a minimum of 60 foot height that is not necessarily true I Mr mad won be the entirety of the buildings but be teered um but this language has been requested in order to get the capital under a different C I know it's a little bit confusing for us as well is why we have this agreement provision to make Jim can you explain that that that's an important point because it was one that I assing so tell um Mrs N that's the triggering mechanism for control is what you were talking the Redevelopment agreement so the plan the other plan Amendment that's being made is that there need be an agreement between the township and and the project developers uh a Redevelopment agreement that the scope and all the parameters of the exact project this is um this change that is being requested is language that's required for their CER review their timing is critical because they're trying to make sure they're in that CA review before those regulations that are out about the the real regulations are about the resiliency regulations that could probably big damp project minimize project so that's what this work it's not every building the project concept right now so what's the minimum then the the minimum is um is is is that the listen I'm with was confusing for us but but the request from the developer is that you requires this language um is not going to be all parts of the building are going to be 60t and it eventually has to come back to the township for review back so how do we know that they're not going to come in for a waiver to exceed the 100 foot um well they can always they can always request that of a board um but it's just up to the plan board am I correct though with with the Redevelopment the board can't Grant waivers or variances there had to be Amendment to the plan use Varan they can both requirements they could a height could 10% 10% over 10% triggered so yeah it's still it would be in the hands of the government just like they're making amendments here um the hand of govern decide what that project is plus the D through cafer will not approve something that exceeds the the V the uh zoning and that's why this is being put in place because you have to be consistent with the local zoning through the D so does this have something to do with Governor Murphy's executive order 100 no that has to do with li height limits flood level limits that has to do with off onshore stuff offshore on the beach so this this just rest assured n this just allows the developers to go to cafra for review doesn't even mean that we're going to get get approved from cfra has this just allows them to do it and all and whatever plans they come up with have to come back to not only planning board but the governing body and they will be discussed as then we have not seen and we have not seen any plans so the CER regulation is already in place yes that's all state regulation yes refence to Coal develop it's not something that's changing that in no those regulations will stay in place the the there are proposals to change it during year some time 25 but this is getting because the application will be made this will be under the existing are we assured that um turbines aren't going to come here there's no plan for that here whether there are out in in the ocean I make no Claim about that who knows who tomorrow thank you anybody else from the public on ordinance number 14 of 2024 car none I'll close the public portion and uh accept a motion to adopt ordinance number 14 of 2024 move we approve ordinance number 14 of 2024 second to call the rooll Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos May Newman yes motion carried number 18 we have the public hearing and final adoption of ordinance number 15 2024 and ordinance establishing salary ranges for the township of upper for the calendar year 20124 again this is the culmination of wage adjustments and motions and hirings and recategorizing categories and titles and so over the year over the uh year we were able to uh create titles and then what this ordinance does is is memorialize all those changes in 2022 but we used to do at the beginning of the year now we do at the end of the year your next stop will be the member of okay at this point I will will open up uh for the public comment on ordinance number 15 of 2024 seille um quick question how are the minimums and maximums of the salaries determined because it seems the maximum from 2023 to 2024 is significantly higher so I'm just curious how you came up with um 2023 was 100,000 it's 125 ,000 maximum maximum now so I'm just curious as how we use I use a state minimum I use other ordinances I look for other buali we try to do a retention program we try to do a um recruitment program and so those been the maximums give us the ability to put in ranges if somebody comes in with a little bit more education or experience um but that's all they are minimum and maximum so the salary ordinance will pin salary resolution that actually pinpoints the employes a lot of what I looked at a lot of those salaries are existing positions so is that considered a raise a percentage or is it just is there is there a formula I'm just curious It's it seems well it's not either it's just a rank right so an employee that uh goes to school or employee that get certifications and so we have various program that we be doing um outside of the entity or municipality bringing them inside and so then we have to add siphons and they have or they not classify as SI they have to be du to include so you have to go back to all the various IRS and perk standards and everything else so if it doesn't give me the range relative to what we can do for that employee then we're limited so it doesn't it could be a zlion dollar on the tie and it could be a zero me so it gives you an opportunity it gives you an opportunity to work within those parameters as what that's what the range does and then we do a resolution a salary pinpoint resolution as to what the end salaries are for those employees that's based upon the range of the ordinance two ordinance and resolution there are certain um positions that people have two titles so and the ranges for both of them is that like how does that work when the person under perk and under under Civil Service I mean I can only put one title in camps right and so when you do a duties to include um the employees compensated for that so in my inhouse title is different than the state level camps title and that's reflected in title so if you're bringing an employee that's doing the duties to include um they get compensated will that be the pinpoint salary be in the resolution and when is that resolution presented resoltion reiz reorganization at reorganization okay I thank you thank you is very very complicated so I mean appreciate it I'm not a numbers person I've said it before but IRS that's why we hire Specialists to do their job so but it's just what just as a you know a citizen looking at it you know see the range and it's like okay how does this when we did our when we did our evaluations our still at the bottom third of county is collectively paying their employees and that that creates uh you know that creates an opportunity for the island communities to steal my employees so what I'll do is I'll uh I'll educate them and I'll acclimate them and certify them and next thing going some El and so so what so now I'm back to trying to recruit an employee at a salary that's one3 of what C city is paying because they have a tax Bas you don't have the tax so it's it becomes a dance it becomes a big dance and then again on the Personnel side you are um you are you are completely pigeonhole into the eepic systems and the cam systems and the mball systems and and what we can do as for employes you can't have big enough raises and you can't have small enough raises and there desk aits and there's all these different things that uh you know one problem you have with an educated employee Workforce is there an educated employee Workforce right so they all know the buzz words and they all know what should be done and this is a very small um employee base so that everybody knows but everybody's getting paid so what we tried to do is put them all in their categories and their class and their titles by Civil Service each each person has a a title in a class and try to build that format that's there balance and equal to at least get everybody on the same page relative to the but the Rangers give me the ranges and the pinpoint ordinance tells you what it was and so we had a massive um um um retray that SP bar hadit she was in office for close to 60 days page um and we're still kind of finalizing it now so those the the way that the board has been doing their personnel um ordinances and resolutions gives us that flexibility to kind of moralize what we did at the end of the year because otherwise if it was if there was an ordinance then I would have to ask Joan to put it in the paper and say we're making an airbr specialist SL heavy truck driver that's not of the ordinance then it's got to go into the paper and 600 bucks because Marlo needs to get paid and you know and everybody and and each time you do that you know so the new the new way we've been doing it and we got approval from the state and from our wonder is to have that flexibility throughout the year and then do it I think the first time that they are Gary referred to it as a mat it is a matrix you ever seen the movie it's like what the heck's going on here but what it is it just gives us the ability to pay uh where we are and to try to do like there's a lot of titles in there that have ranges that there's nobody in them but we might have to do that in the future so it's just just gives a ring might say $150,000 tax person that's fing that might not come anywhere close to that but it gives us the ability to do that and to compete if we get good employees we're going to keep them too that's that's if I can if I can add to just so you understand a little bit far um the the ranges sometimes will we'll put the max up higher and then it'll stay that way for a few years before it changes again so the ranges did increase the Maxes did increase this year but it probably won't increase for another few years yeah the minimum the minimums did not go up by much but the maximums went way up no one's advocating for minimum out say yeah salaries get tricky so I understand cost no listen 70% of your budget 70% of my time as Personnel well it's just what it is well it's it's as a taxpayer you know we're getting hit in every direction so I just you know really curious as to how and why and I appreciate the answer and it's one of the things that we've tried to do over the years even in my prior time on C committee was that we tried to get stop stop writing ordinances we wrote ordinances so it would allow us to change things by resolution like we had fees and stuff like that in there every time you're write an ordinance like I said B's got to get paid and uh Tony's got to get paid and all it just costs a lot more money to do an ordinance so you do one ordinance you put the range in there and then you set salaries by resolution that can be done that's done by the CL office I mean some stuff we said like the program we said a minimum charge and then we change it by resolution yeah having to do an ordinance again right that's another reasoning behind having a salary you look at you look at so you know we gracious enough that to not have tremendous paring or any kind of heavy litigation for the public works gr um but I think was a win for both of us um our health F we just doing it today was $10,000 difference per policy per employee they didn't go to the other uh umam so you got so it's $110,000 difference and I got 100 employees you got a million bucks coming and so if they stop their feet and they dig in and say no we want this one well you can throw as many soft B from the back room as you want but someone's paying and if we don't have a good relationship we don't have the ability to kind of go with Public Works what they did I think again I think it was a win they a little bit they got a little bit more money but it was a win for the committee to get on their healthare that they now have what's called a preferred plan so the town allowed pivot to a preferred plan as long as it's equal to or better than and that's just not Public Works they L the way but that's Township wi and that's something very unique in in the county relative to what this what you're saying um it's a it's a heavy LIF for it's emotional it's um um involved uh you got families involved you got Health Care involved got people trying to make it on the outside you got people counting somebody else's money um you know all F minutes asking I appreciate it as always um I love the communication so thank you for taking the time and answering the question it was pretty helpe appreciate it thanks anybody else want to comment or number 15 of 2024 uh Natalie n um the desk audit I read a newspaper article it talked about there was a request for um a desk audit can desk a is something specific to an employee that an employee would then um request so the municipality does not request desk board that is something that an employee feels is that somebody else is working at a title uh there something um in their job specification because we all have titles we all have job specifications that link to those titles so they feel they are uh someone else is doing their work and whatever deficiency or inefficiency there is then that employee is allowed to to put desk in through to the search nothing the that's an employee based action so goes to Civil Service I'm sorry what civil service this is a civil service corre so it could be just one employee it wouldn't be yeah employe that thinks that their job count paper and someone else is counting paper and and and you know if the if Civil Service decides to take their case uh that's Bo start um with regard to the salaries did all the salaries go up yes the ten why got a based upon the culmination of the Union contract everybody in Township got ra fulltime employees that's my that's my conscience every fulltime employee and the um C back in 75 the committee board what does the committee board get um they did not get it they part time that's why said part time oflo they don't get benefits and they don't get they get fix so how long I mean has the salary been the same for years or it's been the same my probably 12 15 years been since my last I don't know specifically so please don't write it down if you you know the fact we get you the fact I think it might have increased maybe 5 years or so ago off the top now the get a little bit EXT that's always but I'm saying one get Grand the other gets 135 and then the mayor gets an additional 6,000 and they have never came to my office ask who they have never come to my office ask who the committee thank you anybody else ordinance number 15 of 2024 caring none I'll close the public portion and entertain a motion for adoption of ordinance number 15 of 2024 move we adopt ordinance number 15 of 2024 second call the RO Please Mr coron yes Mrs Hayes Mr naen Mr Panos yes Newman yes motion carried under new business we have the Stockton Coastal Research Center third quarter Beach survey he Ryan that's you you're so uh we we have another 15-page report here that I'll keep very brief um Stockton uh Coastal Research Center uh surveyed Traer beaches at the end of September and as we expected uh the beach has lost significant amounts of sand um totaling roughly 112,000 cubic yards um um so that's 25% of what army Corp is placed uh in shrair in January of 2024 um specifically as we all all are aware it's uh centered on the Northern side of shmir um Williams Come See all right thank you very much uh pleasure on the bills I hereby move that all claim submitted for payment at this meeting be approved and then Incorporated in full in the minutes of this meeting call the rooll please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr napen yes Mr pan Coast mayor Newman yes motion carried um Mark the last session one fo Association time ccan follow the matter discussed s public noen individual Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen Mr Panos mayor Newman yes