##VIDEO ID:HTC6JPRJNpI## council member buer here council member D benedetto pres council member Higgins here council member Sparta presid council president rudo here every once in a while we have this extreme pleasure of recognizing one of our employees for particular action or a particular situation where they deserve to be recognized once in a while it's an occasion where that employee did something very very heroic in terms of actually saving the life of another individual I think you've all may have read the comments in the paper about Corporal Rosetta retto and uh we thought that tonight would be a wonderful opportunity school has started vacations are over people are back and we would like to hear the story from our chief and from p retto and I understand also that the father of the gentleman who was uh saved by the actions of corpor retto is with us tonight we'll be glad to hear his comments and recognize him as well so Chief meeting is yours good evening everyone and uh as always it's awesome to have an opportunity to be here in front of the community and the council um and everybody that came out tonight and all our officers especially to recognize one of our own they do an unbelievable job uh our guys and girls do an unbelievable job daily sometimes they do something just a little higher and above that uh so I'd like to recognize corpal Steve Steve retto tonight for his actions on June 20th uh that occurred on Greenwood Lake uh he was out boating with some family uh with another friend and some other family and there was a boat accident nearby in which the uh male sustained a serious life-threatening injury to his leg from the propeller uh the male was pulled onto the boat by people on the boat and Steve just happened to uh stop nearby when his kids took a break on the tube and um he just happened to stop in the exact right place at the right time uh so he went right over there to help them um assisted with putting on a a tourniquet on his on his leg make makeshift tourniquet which was out a rope that was actually on the boat uh called 911 got everybody rolling all the services and uh helped get them to Shore and then once they got the shore they changed the tourniquet out had a metac ready to go got him down to hacken sack Medical Center and uh from what I understand he walked out of the hospital 20 hours later by some Miracles so I think that part of the story is honestly probably best told uh by his father Mr rosabal if I to invite him up please thank you so much Corporal I appreciate you moreing you'll ever know and chief thanks for your hospitality and for wel sir would you please go to the podium and give us where we go over there y sorry about that it's okay wrong so uh perfect so uh I'll just give a little bit of a story uh I'm going to try and remain composed because this is the most emotional thing I think uh I'm ever going to endure uh but rest assured the emotion is from a happy place uh when my wife and I were home and Joe was up at the lake um we got phone calls all of our phones started ringing hers mine the house phone and we knew something was wrong and all I heard was helicopter and we knew from Greenwood Lake and as a former uh law enforcement person I knew we were in some trouble um the trouble really stops there in the sense that the Corporal was in the right place at the right time and I won't go into detail how that happens but I'm spiritual and I'm going to say it has to come from up above uh and it did because a helicopter picked him up W Milford and all their efforts and I'll be down talking to West Milford as well I've already visited with them and uh suffice to say my wife for trying to piece this all together we drive towards hackensac not knowing which hospital he's going to be and sort of an angel from heaven what do you think appears but Air1 is flying right over in front of us and they're landing on the roof uh the hospital staff knew we were in the lobby and Dr Stephanie boning came out to greet us and brought us right to Joe uh laughing conscious and and doing uh his his his his best uh to take it all in stride which was a miracle and then uh the doctor briefed us and said that he is singly the luckiest patient that she's ever seen in in the trauma one facility which means he missed everything that could have been bad and uh that's why he got to be released within 24 hours from hacken sack's amazing facility amazing staff people took great care of him they took great care of me and uh really the story that uh would probably be something that's so terribly sad and so tragic uh turned out to be a very very joyous story Joe dropped off his freshman year college orientation a week ago uh he's at Lehigh University uh adjusting as best could be expected with a slight wimp um but it's really slight so he's doing really well and I wanted to thank all of you I wanted to thank for whoever hired him or decided for him to become a police officer uh for the rest of the team uh that I know uh every town has a an amazing team but there's something special about Vernon and forever I'll be thankful from the bottom of my heart for all of you and for the taxpayers that make this happen and hopefully they understand what they have here when the phone rings for 911 these guys are going to come over from your beautiful area and speed as fast as they can to render Aid uh just like the corpal did on that day to give me my son back and and for that I'm I'm truly thankful let me stop there thank you so much for your time I appreciate all of you thank you my honor to present to Corporal Steve bero this life saving medal and award that goes on his uniform [Music] a congratul he can't he can't leave without saying I said you can't leave without saying something mayor cor I do I do have one one other thing and you know one of the things that I try to do around here is you know I try to try to bring us all a little closer so I do have a little something here just from upstairs that just acknowledges that that kind of commitment you know especially you're you're off duty you're enjoying yourself but and you know what you went and you and you did what you signed up for and and thank you again so I do have just a uh a certificate of appreciation uh from from our office upstairs thank you very but again it's just a little IND in addition to to what you have appreciate that thank you so thank you thank you very much proper Retta perhaps you who have some comments step right up the chief said it already in the right place at the right time I just just a reaction something that I knew I could help and I did and anybody standing here would have done the same thing um I'm did not think it was going to have this outcome so I'm so grateful that it did I when I left him I thought it was way worse than it was um Mr Rosen bomb coming here is a above and beyond more than I I would have ever expected from from somebody so it's it's nice um it's amazing that he took his time to come out here and um show his gratitude and I appreciate it more than you could know so thank you for uh thank you thank you your act actions during that time while Mr rosenbom said it may have been prophetic I can't help but agree with him but I also think gives Testament to the type of training that our police have that when this a situation like this comes up that they're able to step forward put the shock of the situation or problem behind them and know exactly what to do and I think for that for all of you because you all receive this type of training you're all to be commended for being available to the public and certainly you uh your actions make us all proud and make the force proud as well thank you so much for acting as we had hoped you would not something like this congratulations on your your recognition and certainly Mr we're pleased that one of our officers could have been on scene and handling the situation in such a professional and successful way uh our best to your son we hope that he uh gets rid of the limp and that he uh goes through his next four years as happily as possible I'll bring him by Thanksgiving break you're quite well I really appreciate you more than love or know more than I could ever express thank you anybody else wish council president do you think we could take a picture perhaps with the Corporal and Mr rosenal and certainly that would be great we could put it in our on our atrian um I can I can take here too sorry where you want where you want us to go not the ladder get the ladder counc are you guys counc are you guys gonna get in the picture you guys are all gonna get a picture right flag the chief that's the chief where's the chief well Pat didn't do either and he's up there yeah Anthony you better get up on a couple steps one okay great thank you so much John you guys don't want to stay for the bills list or anything might need resuscitation next on our agenda we have a presentation I'm sure all of you have seen comments written in the paper or passed around town about progress on the Legends project what's happening there and this evening we are pleased to have the two principles who are working together to put this program in place and they've agreed to make a presentation uh to the public on uh the current status and what they hope uh this is going to be looking like when it's something like it when it's complete it's these are renderings these are not actuals but uh they're all based upon uh what they're hoping to achieve uh for that property uh we have with us Mr Charles everheart and Mr Eddie dubing and they are uh as I said the principles on this and perhaps uh Charles if you'd like to thank you the public a view of what's going on so um you want me to speak here or speak just to turn can so um Eddie and I bought the property recently weend on keeping the building in the structure intact uh we don't plan down uh we plan we plan on um keeping um most of the architectural Aesthetics of the property um it is we just want to bring it back to um Quality and a standard and safety that is um something to be proud of we have some renderings here which um we share so this is um the exterior of the building as it is now and we plan on uh being able to bring it back up to um a standard that is going to be very attractive U but we we don't plan on changing you want to keep intact the original quality and Architectural design that was built when um when it was built back in 70s by and and um on leaving the balconies way they are re changing all of the W doors um and bringing up polishes and making very attractive facility our programming is um currently going to have about a 300 room hotel to be a fourstar uh Hotel they'll have a lot of amenities to beverage IND there's a a banquet facility as well as um bit of a cabaret this is what the lobby did look like and this is what our textual rendering our design people have pretty much said that we're going to be trying to attempt to bring back um to to a standard that is um you know currently um um at the property um and then we're going to have some residential um units there about 150 um folks will be able to buy into buying condos of the property and then we'll also have some kind of a spy area um that we still working on design some of the renderings that we've had from design the city has been very supportive of us in all of our um challenges and because the property has been abandoned for such a long time the property is very challenging both from the inside and certainly light safety nobody lives the property currently and um we're working with our construction folks and our design folks in order to try to get um the property up to um um a standard that we're able to start construction this is the outdoor pool area which is again same design that's there now just brought up to a nice New Standard that we're that we're talking about and um we're trying to get this all in place so constructions can start the beginning of next year um and you know part of our monra you know escape to you know wellness and um nature so you know come up to the area and enjoy the appalation trail the outdoors the skiing all the other things that it does and and while we're doing that're in the process of trying to um work hand inand with the city so that we can um generate a lot of new jobs be able to Career taxes that are part of the property and being able to um get the project into everybody will be proud of pretty much um but um anything else you want me to cover oh I think you have you have any okay I'll leave these renderings for you so great next meeting I come up we can go use them again great thank you for coming you everybody thank you so much coming in than Council this evening you for items for discussion first one is a discussion of a potential ordinance or development of an ordinance for food trucks um we've received comments and requests for these trucks to be brought into uh certain areas um work working with certain vent you know certain businesses in town and I think it would be better if we were able to have them operate with an ordinance in mind uh that we can uh present them with and uh that way there would be no problems in terms of misunderstandings and licensure permitted where they're available where they're they capable of going where they're not capable of going um all of you have received a an ordinance basically a uh a Target ordinance that we can begin working from however one of the things that I thought that I should bring to your attention is that the ordinance that we're looking at is being developed for a an area that does not necessarily have to go before the L use because it really doesn't have any uh necessity however that becomes predicated on what you think needs to be included in you can be looking at you know uh when we where these trucks can go and once we begin once we begin to put restrictions on the availability where they can go such as what we such as what was done with the Cannabis uh ordinance where they're not permitted in any r R1 R2 R3 zones then it becomes subject to uh consideration and review by the luse board not so much that they have to pass on it but that's our perogative but what we have to do is after a first reading and after developing what we think should be in it it would be part of the first reading and then it would be sent down to the land use board they would review and provide us with their their thoughts and concerns and send it back up to us then we as a council would review it and either apply them or uh pass it as is in cases where there was a substantial change would then be considered uh for a first reading if those Chang those changes are substantial enough so uh all of youve had a few days to read this uh you have any questions or comments concerns it looks like there's a $20 fee to do the background check yeah to cover the cost of that is there a fee in here for for actually getting the permit for that day when they're going to be here that that is a uh an activities fee right am I right no no it don't there'll be a separate fee for a separate fee yeah an activities fee or whatever well for to license your your food truck in the town food truck food cartan just for the application yes right well for the background check background check yeah so then the light the the licensing fee would be a yearly fee then okay so not per events I mean would that that would be something um normally it's a yearly fee if you no I'm not saying I want that I was just curious okay yeah however that brings up a good point one of the places that has been looking for this has been one of our local businesses Brewery um if the presence of a food truck were there on a regular basis there might be a requirement to have them relicense say on a six-month basis because of the nature of what they're what what's currently going on um and again that becomes part of what we would have to uh begin talking about or including in the uh well even the the eight hours you know when you're talking about a particular business eight hours might not even be enough right you know if they open at noon for lunch and then they go through till 9 or 10 with the band later you know and have the same food truck there right um You might want to consider extending that time right I I not to Pigeon actually sent this to um our police chief and he Rec mended maybe a 40 hour 48 hour limit in case somebody wants to be there for the weekend yeah if there's a festival or you know like heaven Hill has their Autumn Festival if they had something yeah right that's a good that's a good recommendation uh I believe all of you have also received copies of other ordinances surrounding communities [Music] look at that to see what's you know looks included I think it becomes necessary for us to decide where we want them perfect example might be aake Community might want them during 4th of July celebrations or something and there might have to be some consideration on that for that um another thing might might be um you know at a local Festival something um where where they would be asked to uh to attend um these generally would come from the organizers Andor the vendors themselves a business um so I just wanted to give the council an opportunity to kind of put their two cents in on these situations I don't expect there to be an outcome that's going to be something that's going to be answer every question I I would expect that within probably the first six months we're going to be back here talking about the same thing because questions will have come up that we not we didn't think of but I I do know that many of the businesses have contacted the mayor and have asked you know what the procedure is for this and uh to that uh you know for the benefit of the community we should begin to look at it as uh something that can be uh legislated and legislated clearly and fairly it's a good idea it's a trans in the state a lot of towns I know I went to one two years ago it was a winter festival up in West Milford having them everywhere monair paramas and uh it's it's it's a big deal there's a couple things in here that have to be looked at for example says that uh if anybody was honorably discharged and has a Peddler's license I don't know how many people are walking around with ped's license but uh so that has to be investigated just if that is a requirement and then uh the next line says any exempt firemen would be excused well you might want to add EMTs in there as well yeah okay oh I think it's I think it's a good idea I agree with those couple comments and changes but I think as it stands it it seems um appropriate um question private residences are private residences restricted from calling these trucks in say for a party or for birthdays or anything like that well um yes and no so the resident is not if you want to hire a food truck it's not the resident's burden to do anything other than than book the food truck right the food truck should be required to get a license right okay um so it's really the burden is on the you know the food truck I think what you're probably going to find is you have two different groups of of food trucks one are is gonna be the group that simply comes because there is a onetime know it's a food truck festival so you get people coming from all over the state who happen to come for a special event whether it's Fourth of July event or some other special event then you're going to have the people who are regulars whether they're on the birthday party circuit and people continuously hire them for birthday parties and special events or whether it's somebody who's associated with a restaurant or something that's kind of semi-permanent so um you know I think that anybody who's going to regularly do business here or expects to is Gonna Come make sure they're going to know the procedures they're going to be license they don't have a problem um and uh and same thing with anybody who's coming for a special event they're they're going to know that's their business you're to know it um that doesn't mean somebody weend somewhere that's a non-regular food truck vendor who happens to get hired to do a party um and if that happens and theoretically then that food truck vendor um you know would could be you know far from doing business again or could you find that kind of thing but that's that's assuming to catch so that's so would we need some type of to add that to this we can make sure it's clear in terms of you know business and if they violate what is the what are the consequences I don't want it to be horrible but like some type of yeah you know you don't have a health inspection sticker right something it's the same kind of thing as any business we can it's probably already covered by a generic or one of your broader ordinances but we can make sure either we put it in there or we specifically reference refence the other that you know we we could um yeah take action against a fendor who doesn't do it I don't want to ding someone if they made a simple mistake but if you've got a repeat defender or something you know well that's the real issue is you want to make sure that the food trucks that are serving your public are safe and and healthy that's really the goal here is to make sure you don't have some random food truck that's yeah that hasn't that's just not sanitary that or you also don't want somebody who just camped out indefinitely that you hav't otherwise regulate those two things together um so we'll take we could take a look at that okay so apparently they are not allow out in the town at all correct um so what um our zoning officer is doing I believe is issuing a um a temporary outdoor activity permit for um the food trucks that I believe are right now going to the brewery um so that they can operate we've had food trucks at Maple Grange by Town sponsored events and we don't have a yeah no so it it pro it probably matters a little bit in terms of where and what event so if you have a private event your house the food truck's pulled in your driveway you know that may not be an issue if it's serving the general public yeah it's more likely to be an issue if it's on public property so we need to we need to do this sooner rather than later I mean yeah yeah the biggest problem too is just to decide on um the Zoning for them um where you want them allowed you know how long you want them to be there um and that's there's nothing like that in this ordinance so that all has to be added right we can take a look at the land use aspect to it um some respects if it's just a temporary event it may not be a land use f just a pure regulation just governed by this body on any of your other licensing functions that you do um but if you're talking about somebody who's setting up a permanent or somewhat regular business activ um you know going back into you may not want to allow food trucks necessarily the side of the road right or or you don't want them in a residential Zone like a permanent stationary everyday event but yeah somebody has a birthday party or you have a late Community they wants to have an event you don't want to ban them from no you limit it to um you know private property invited by the owner whether it's a Lake Community or someone's home a brewery is also private property those are all you know those are all instances and any anything that I can think of unless they park on the side of the road they're all instances of private property inviting the food truck to to come to their event or whatever so I I don't think we want to have food trucks like along 94 I don't Envision that like right okay yeah I don't so it's more it's more these yeah Lake communities you know homes an event at Maple gra for you know softball or something yeah so how's this going to be enforced because a lot of the things I'm hearing is happening on the weekends and we don't have anybody to enforce these things on the weekend so what what's I mean you mean like a zoning officer going out and looking yeah yeah and to see if they have the proper like yeah your your police officers could issue tickets once it once it's the ordinance is done because it would be a missal violation to be an ordance violation just like any other orance violation so if you're getting complaints about a um if it's a temporary thing someone says hey you know this guy's not licensed and he's out there if you're talking about a zoning issue well then you'd have to have a zoning officer go out in terms of uh there's two aspects it's a land use issue and it's a licensing issue so a food truck that comes in not licensed would be violating your ordinance and your police officers could issue a ticket issue a ticket in violation of ordinance you know whatever the number is but my point you know there's a birthday party food truck is there who's ever going to tip off the food truck is not licensed you know what I'm saying neighbor and I want the food trucks here I I but to me it's like there's no sense in having something unless there's a way to enforce it I you know that's how I feel so far it seems like whatever we're doing what's going on down at the brewery seems to be going just fine and why do this if if there's no to enforce it even though you say there's a way to enforce it it it will never be enforced I know you know the fact that it's been going fine doesn't necessarily mean that there shouldn't be an established procedure that other other businesses can follow I I agree but again it's so a truck shows up to XYZ business on a Saturday and starts serving food who's ever going to go and say oh do you have your licensing from the town did you do your application did you do this nobody's gonna do that well how about truck XYZ that came as a competitor and maybe nobody's inviting two food trucks to the same event I mean I'm not gonna have eight food trucks in my driveway for a birthday party I I just I look it is what it is carry on I I just think that it's it's you're you're going going through something that will not be enforced that that's all there's no way to enforce it if it's happening on the weekend yes you're going to have police so police officer is going to go up at Food Truck at a birthday party and say hey can I see your applications oh you don't have it get out of here and then you're the kids room birthday party room I mean it's just it's senseless well Brad I think I I think if if something becomes an issue I think you know and it's happening on the weekend then we would have to make that consideration for for someone to go out there and and take care of that I just to say that we can't do anything know it's kind of opening up The Floodgate but if if but we you know have things in place but if something gets taken advantage of or kinded way then then we will make those combinations to make sure that we force our our ordinances I think the issue is more um uh inspection versus enforcement in other words um it's unlikely that someone's going to go around randomly checking you drive by and say oh there's a food truck let's check it like a like a health inspector might do annually at a restaurant right I think from that standpoint yeah the random birthday party that issue unless there's a problem because hey you might know that there's one food truck that consistently causes issues you start getting complaints on because should have put your party parked in the street made a big mess left now it's Council president's house same trucks again there and we say hey now we know this truck's a problem so now we're on the lookout for it the mayor says hey you see that truck out there make sure you go and take a look at it um but random enforcement I would not for like the the one-off events I would not Envision that this ordinance would would address that it would be the problems or the routine the brewery food truck the the permanent stationary ones that want to park on a random patch of dirt by a highway and just allow anybody to come up as part of their normal business plan that kind of well and then this this I guess would protect us from that too because if we specify that we don't allow that exactly if someone does do that we have an ordinance right because that's the one you will get a complaint about Brad if some guy just puts a food truck on the side of 94 yeah yeah the private property owner happens to own that piece of land there's no other use for it they enter into a agreement with the food truck that allows them to come there every every day from you know 10: to 3: to serve a lunch crowd um and they're operating a business where you're not allow not when you're not allowed yeah exactly okay any other comments okay so we'll take this take your comments under advisement and written up while a few few meetings back we had questions regarding the signs ordinance and one of the issues that was brought forward was the kinds of signs that were being used and that were not as an approved sign in our uh in our Cod um also there were there have been requests from newer businesses that are looking to get established they've been asked if it's possible to have the uh these signs uh displayed over a longer period of time for new businesses um could be you know the uh the little triangular penants coming off or around in front of the property uh this would be for a limited period of time I've spoken to the mayor and he he believes and he's recommending that the council look at this and maybe for a period of 60 days that it be permitted to so that people begin to know that there is a new business in town and so let's see if we can't move on it another [Music] thing there's something kind of unique we don't permit roof signs and however if a roof sign were located on the roof it's not there but there still I guess you call them the fittings for that sign it would be okay to reinstall but if it wasn't there if there isn't anything there the person says how do I hang my sign what do I do with it so I I think we need to see if we can't develop an answer for that kind of question uh and and provide some relief to a man who's put significant amount of money into developing his business and all he's asking for is a way to advertise that business but in a way that is with taste and within our code and our and our theme uh we have to be fair about that because I look at what was done with CVS that they uh have they they comply with all of the signage requests that the council and the L use board asked them to and it's was in great taste right now and I don't think we want to do anything to kind of you know go against that so um uh Mrs bueri and I had spoken recently and perhaps you may have some comments or you want to um defer these to later meeting well you did you brought up the roof sign um and I you know I don't want to limit a business's potential to advertise and and draw attention to their business um however there would need to be some type of restriction or or um an ordinance with guidance on what you know what would be acceptable for a roof sign I think the way we when I was talking with the land use board they they was they was recommending that if you don't have an exterior wall to put you know your your signage right that that's when a roof sign should be allowed okay when you don't have that ability um yeah and then there's got to be guidelines on the size that that will that stay in effect we're not not looking to change the size or anything lighting oration color yeah it needs to St provides you know uh Fair yeah that's fair because you know a business needs to draw attention and needs to get customers and we want we want them to succeed yeah and and just one other thing I just want to touch on when when I was on the campaign Trail when I met with a lot of business owners one of the biggest things uh really was the grand opening part of it uh 30 days was just too short and I know that from my business too 30 days which is very short um well I think if we look at in terms of weekends that's only four weekends yeah that's you know it's annoying I mean I I mean my location was a little tough even though it's a it's a pretty popular uh strip strip mall um but I mean it was still people didn't know we were there so you know I I I'm asking for you know if at least this for 90 days originally but some people may have an issue with that but but at least a 60 day that's reasonable I think that's reasonable um what about the enforcement do that issue has you know come up in the past right um so you know you hit day 61 are we then sending you know sending out a a zoning officer to remind them to take those signs down or um there is uh something in our ordinance that and we'll we'll leave that right there's a certain period of time that has to down violation yes we going office a will issue Z viation I mean I I again I don't want to be dinging businesses I but you know they don't if you have the ordinance then you do need to be able to have a way to enforce it absolutely absolutely well as long as they enforce those stupid feather signs and floppy arms one in front of your house yes I swear I was gonna do it the car dealer guy catches face I can't sell that house yet sry maybe that might work why don't you truck and put a ro sign up there and you'll be good thank you any other comments oh do we have a written ordinance in place already yeah because Mary did a nice job by providing us with all these other towns I just don't see ours okay yours isn't there it's on the top of my pile sear one yeah it says right on the uh right hand [Music] okay it's in small print there Bill all right thanks got it thank you inting they saw paper M of council have received a copy of the bills list do we have any mayor's comments mayor May comments and public comments thank you council president uh I figured out I I I would start with some sad news fortunately um we uh of the passing of Fire Marshal Lou Hast um Lou Lou is our fire marshal here for I think it was over 10 years or 10 11 years I don't have the exact dates but uh leis I just want to just go through a little section so please bear with me Lou was born in hackin saac uh he started his 43-year career in firefighting service with the hackin sack fire department Lou served as a volunteer fireman and I was also a fire inspector for many different municipalities including Patterson Ramsey Loi Rosell Park and Elwood Park Lou is a proud member of the loif fire department for more than 30 years serving as a former Chief of the while also holding a position with the LOI fire department honor God he was a life member of the LOI exempt fireman's uh Fire Chiefs Association and a graduate of the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice awarding him the title of arson investigator Lou finished his fire service career as the Fire Marshall for Vernon Township um I I don't know if Lou no Lou was Lou was was was something else you know he I don't know if he knew and I and I shouldn't speculate if he knew he was passing but he he always said to me he was uh training for his replacement um and you know it it's been you know a little a little difficult Lou Lou is uh was a friend and uh you know he'll be greatly missed I've been in touch with his his wife um and I just want to I have a little thank you that she that she sent me and and she gives her her thanks for Vernon Township support and she did write here thank you for uh attending Lou's service and for your unwavering uh support from from excuse me trying to read it from the day of his accident until until then he admired and and respected you and always told me that you were not only his boss but also a friend and the reason why I'm even mentioning this is because blue was the type that would be friends with all sorts of work of life and you know one of the things and we when I went to to the wake it was you know we had I mean it was VI and belief also I mean we had four motorcycle clubs col them clubs that were in the same room together so Lou was the type of guy that was was just friendly with with everybody and uh you know it just said so uh add of respect and and remembrance of Lou I would just ask if we could just have a moment of silence thank you some more sad stuff but uh this Wednesday is September 11th we will be holding uh a remembrance ceremony right here in front of the survival tree uh at 6:30 p.m. we will have all of our Emergency Services bag pipes uh Ali Thomas uh who's who sang during um my swearing in ceremony um she'll be there as well uh but just a lot just a lot a lot of people will be will be um honoring uh the remembrance of 9911 the tree that we have in front I don't know if many of you know was was and someone correct me if I'm wrong which was a a Seedling from one of the survival trees from from the Trade Center and not many townships um have this tree we do and uh quite honored to to to walk past that tree every day so it's uh near and dear to me so that's one of the things that I always thanked the former mayor for for for doing and and never forgetting um so please don't don't don't ever forget um we'll move on from that last week we uh we had our first historical preservation commission meeting so we um this meeting um we were able to put our uh our chairman Vice chairs and all all the people in place so I looking forward to working with them they uh you know history should be preserved and and those those his historical locations they'll work with the land use board and we'll make sure that we we preserve the history of ARA Township so looking forward to that um other updates uh we are close to completing our camera installs so um I made uh comments about an incident that happens here in uh one one of our pull down curtains over so by the zoning department which was a large hch hook that was adhered to not handles fortunately we had no cameras to see how this was done so uh I've ordered for cameras to be installed throughout this building so every corner of this building material will be reported um so that's just about done another thing this year we we budgeted for uh a DPW one DPW worker we had someone that left we did hire to uh we had two part-time uh summer help um staff members they're also members of our volunteer fire department was Drew and Nick um Drew vangor and and ex stes so I am pleased to really have them on board these guys have you know worked you know tirelessly through through the summer to and you know like I said this is like a it's kind of a package deal we get to have our our our firemen you know in town uh I spoke with the commissioner uh the other day and he said that you know these guys don't have to go because one of them belongs to the High Lakes um fire department and the other one is in Vernon so but they will all be able to um to respond to every uh Fire Department in the town so it's not just their dedicated one so this is something to really you know have in place is you know volunteers sometimes very hard and and uh especially the these guys are much needed so we we kind of wrapped it all up into one so it's good I'm happy they're on board so all right also um Town facelift project so that's still moving forward um we we've gotten a verbal okay from the county U we are just waiting for that for that stamp so uh the our engineer is working with the county Engineers so we're hoping within within two weeks we're hoping maybe this week but two within two weeks we'll have that final and we'll start moving forward U so that's going uh also and it's one one of the uh agenda items is the Hometown Heroes project so I'm looking forward to that this been a very long overdue project that uh that honors our Armed Forces uh men and women who who serve and still serve um so there'll be some some guidelines on to who can be um you know I guess um put in you know we can't just have you know someone who was from served in lived in California and served there you know here in Vernon right so there' be some some guidelines to to that but most most of it will tie right back into Vernon Township so um that is going to kick off on Veterans Day which will be that's when we're launching the program it will you will be able to go online um and put that information and we'll have all of that stuff um put out now some of the things these things cost a pretty penny um and I think you we the polls I think alone are like $70 and then and then the banner is another hundred and something dollars so and the total um for today is like two two 250 it's we we're we're kind of now not down however I'm going to be working on getting donations to help pay for at least a PO at least I want to get the polls paid for which I think is like 3,000 and change this way I think the cost will be what we say 125 125 so this would be 125 which would be a reasonable price um for someone to sponsor somebody or family member um we have about 40 Telephone polls but I I did extend it down uh past the flats all the way to where Smokies is or used to be so we're going to extend it down there kind of just bring this whole Loop you know down here and around so we'll have that map and um all that wrapped up and uh so we'll we'll we'll we'll have that I'm looking forward to that but uh that's that's all I have uh C pres thank you thank you very much mayor may I have a motion to open the floor for public comment mve moved by Mr Higgins is seconded by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying I I oos motion carries is open to the public for discussion of current agenda items only limited to three minutes anyone wishing to come forward and address the council good evening good even L from Vernon um being that you were talking about signs and also on the economic development committee uh we had a discussion about the signs and being that also we want to encourage businesses to thrive uh it's sometimes a problem for the businesses um like the brewery because he's not on 94 and so um in discussion because we have a lot of tourists because locally you can go to the brewery but I would think the brewery would attract a lot of tourists he I'm I believe he has a little sign there but if it's temporary it's not going to attract the tourists going by so and what I've noticed in other towns is that they have um uh sign with maybe a few businesses that you have to turn off so if on that corner for instance you have hardware store and Brewery so people who are going on 94 sees oh there's a hardware store keep that in mind because I when I was new here I oh there's a hardware town here I didn't even know and so it helps and I'm sure it will help the brewery as well because it'll attract tourists and regarding Church Street here um 94 um Everybody seem seems to have their own little sign and when you're driving you can't make out what's there it's just maybe name of the you see obviously you see a florist and you just don't know and again I'm thinking as a tourist if I drive by um I'll see that there's a cafe there or the the restaurant there but um when I talk to the owners of the inner love which their food is healthy and but they have a hard time attracting from 94 so if they put a little sign there there's even more signs so it they all get lost so if they kept continuity where like other towns they have a one sign again you would say either restaurants this way or um a professional business Municipal Building or you do have a little police line there that shows that the police department's that way but to keep 30 seconds 30 seconds okay to keep the charm improve it I just see we got to keep continuity and if everybody works together to make it look more attractive so other businesses will Thrive thank you so that's what we our conversation was at the committee thank you for your suggestions thank you he could you just uh send me some pictures of what what you have in mind I I would like to hear that we'll set something up where I'll come by the you know the committee and and and have those discuss so I think it's I think it's it's good to present what what the vision would like because we don't want it to be you know too commercial looking but but we wanted to fit into our de thank you all right is there anyone else pushing to come forward Steve dun just a couple questions on the bills list there's a check 262 267 $140,000 to Copa Services PS2 replacement just wondered where we were without that's done or nearing completion these charges that are going to be charged back to Mountain Creek if we could just get some explanation of where that stands and then the other one was um $1,000 62346 for iPads CDW government Inc $112,000 worth of iPads we get an explanation as to what that's for the anyone there to address that sure um so for the iPads I just brought that one off um that was from the bond ordinance from last year for thank you um the bond it was approved Bond ordinance last year as part of fire equipment so they will be using those um on scene as well as um a lot of their training software Etc yeah that's why we just purchased the iPads for them um so that's the fire department and then the other one was for Copa services so Pump Station 2 the brand new one is finally online which is incredible um um as the council knows and just to refresh the memory Mount Creek will be paying for that so once everything is done and settled and we are done with the loan from I bank and that goes out for permanent financing um there will be a uh Debt Service schedule that's generated and that will be built to mount Creek in addition to the current debt service schedule they pay right now for the bonds from 2008 so they will be ultimately responsible for that um but it's done it's it's done it's online home Station 2 is online aw yep um will be uh some demolition that's happening at Pump Station the old Pump Station 2 um so if anyone Drives By that's what's going on um you know that was part of the bid with Co thank you very much good evening an Larson also from Vernon I just wanted to comment on the sign uh issue that you were discussing and you me a little bit of temperance when it comes to enforcing signs for example you mentioned the floppy the floppy blow thing the air things you know it's very hard to start a business we're not a bustling metropolis and it really hurts to think that our ordinances could prevent people from earning a living and actually remaining in business in this town we do everything we can to get people to come here and then you know if that sign brings them business today they did it because they needed it they didn't you know they could go home and make zero dollars at the end of the day and we're going to be all up about what kind of sign they have that's not the right attitude in a place like this where we're trying to grow grow the the the economy up here it's an oppressive economy we're in right now in 2024 hopefully things will get better but they may not and we have to do everything we can to help these people stay in business so thank you for that thank you they say right no no sign is a sign of no business right so anyone here anyone else to come forward if not I'll ask for a motion to close the FL to the public Mo moved by Mr spart is there a second second second by Mrs benedetto all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries members of the council have received copies of drill's list um are there any questions on the build list thank you for adding the uh charge to senior trust line that was nice to see thank you see no other comments move on all members of the council have received copy of the minutes of our regular meeting of August 12th May I have a motion to place those minutes on the floor for consideration Andor uh addition or correction moved by Mr SP is there a second than you second by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I I motion Carri ask um consent there are a number of different items on the agenda on the consent agenda if you have an item that you would like to have separated from the total um please let me know and I'll have it separated and we can discuss it separately yes on the ordinance 2418 2418 B and escros okay that'll be separated that's an ordinance talking about the resolutions so resolution 24 - 235 amended refund for totally disabled veteran block 530 lot 123 Bundy resolution 24-23 resolution of the township of Vernon County of Sussex state of New Jersey authorizing the sale of specific equipment to Vandergriff burrow resolution 24237 block 302 lot 3 munes canceling taxes for totally disabled veteran resolution 24-238304 block 601 lot 26 uh fkfa FKA block 26 8.22 Lots 30 31 and 32 resolution 24-240 resolution of the township of Vernon authorizing the award of cc- 3- 2024 telecommunication system software and Hardware provider through the compet comptitive Contracting process resolution 24241 resolution urging the United States Congress to allow expiration of the deductibility cap of state and local taxes uh also known as salt resolution 24242 a resolution authorizing the authorization for submission of the township bver chapter of the Sussex County Waste Water Management plan to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to njac uh 7 colon 15- 3.5 parentheses G close parentheses 6 May I have a motion to have these resolutions placed on the floor for consideration or passage I'll make that motion motion made by Mrs bueri there a second second second may we have a roll call vote I'm sir um I just wanted to make one quick comment regard I'm I'm very pleased to see the um Hometown Heroes Banner on that it's been something that's been talked about for a long time in our town so um that's just a wonderful thing and I will be um one of the first people putting an app application so thank you great any other comments yes on uh 24240 the purchase of the new telecommunications the phone system is that a purchase or a lease May the contract um purchase a service well yeah so purchasing a service correct and and we own the equipment or they own it and a lease or is it a purchase um well it's a contract right so essentially if the contract ends all the equipment goes along with that if it ended after however long leases um I don't I don't know I would need to look into what happens at the end of that contract right we would have to do another competitive Contracting process yeah that's real important because if it's if it's a lease then you're using the equipment they own it at the end of a period of time you either have to purchase new equipment to replace that equipment or you can use it if it's a purchase for as long as you want so it's really a big uh big point I think I think the idea for the township was that we would go out for another competitive contract because the things that are included in this um award are substantial and substantial money saving items so we would want to do a a continuation and do another competitive contract for the same yeah but the the term contract is is fine if it's a lease contract or it's a purchase contract one of the two and that very important to distinguish that so you know what you're signing because it looks like a great program I mean this is uh Improvement we've heard all the long distance charges and the rest but it really comes down to it's just over three equipment yeah I think it's over 300,000 in five years um I think the number that they have here is 990,000 I think will a little bit more than that again all of our emergency service buildings we we'll have free internet High speeed internet all that stuff getting done savings and service goes out to those guys um yeah like I said there's no there's no upfront costs with with anything um it is a lot of Hardware probably in in like I said in five years um like everything else right we would have to please so it's it's really important to know that that question if there's no uppr on cost could be a lease could be purchased it could be lease to purchase or could you be just a lease you really have to know who's um and I believe it's probably it's probably at least because obviously it is a lot of equipment butth like everything else it's five years um and uh who owns the the who owns these telephones now now do we own the my understanding we do I wasn't we do but we they don't work half the time they don't have like a separate payment for them so yeah is it's going to be running our 911 system too downstairs yeah because I have this service and it's horrible what service is that planet yeah for phone or Internet I just changed to it I have it for internet I changed to it but I assume the phones will be voice over IP right and I changed to them two weeks ago and I've had and I I did have War DSL and constant disconnects during the day while I'm working um have you contacted them yes may be something wrong so yeah I'm just yeah I mean I don't know if it's just me I don't I know in the beginning uh because I I just had mine and it there was a little issue in the beginning but I re rebooted my router and and it's it's been Rock Solid since so that was my only thought I'm sure know I'm sure we would have heard more about it if everybody was experiencing what I am but yeah they'll be put to to fix the problem yeah is there on the basis of If This Were a lease versus a purchase okay it right in here what would your concern be well there some lease agreements say this is a fiveyear term you're getting the equipment no money up front you have a monthly fee that you're going to pay and at the end of that five years now that lease is up and you're going to enter into a new lease with new cost to replace the equipment to upgrade it at as opposed to if you own it your it's your equipment do what you want but there perhaps we might want to table this get a claric there's a note in the contract that says Planet networks will continue to own and maintain all equipment wiring SES UPS units Etc and will repair or replace any devices that have any problem at no cost for the entire contract ter so during the term they own it they own it because they're responsible for doing to them so they so it is a lease you're they're you're leasing it from they own it they own it and at the end of the term what happens that's the question we would have to go back out competitive contract I think that's I mean that's an interesting question um what happens afterwards if we then own those that existing equipment um we don't own it they own it no yeah my understanding of this is that there's there's not a scenario under this agreement where by we all we end up owning it it's you're releasing the equipment and they you know you complete the term of the contract and go with somebody else then they would theoretically take their phone with them and a new vendor would come in and give you new phones um obviously if you extend the Contra or if you enter into another contract with them for another five years well then obviously the phones uh stay um but right now that's U I'm not I don't recall seeing anything that says that they can end up owning them at any point in time right you really have to determine what happens at the end of five years and ask them for a price on purchasing it you may have both in front of you maybe you five years that stuff would be probably absolete proba have to that we would be required to do something anyway yeah at the end of the contract y and as for the 911 system the for dispatched they're regular like the um phone going into like if you were going to call the regular basic phone that would be handled through Planet network but the 911 system is not oh okay okay thank you that's that's goes through uh the state all state has okay yeah so that has nothing to do that actually makes me feel any other concerns council member bueri yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins abstain council member Sparta yes council president Ruda yes motion carries introduction of ordinances 24-18 an ordinance of the township Council the township of Vernon County of Sussex state of New Jersey amending certain portions of chapter 250 entitled esos and chapter 330 entitled fees of the Township Code may I have the motion to place this on the floor for introduction move by Mr Higgins there second second second by Mr call please I had questions on that right um the one I told you about we don't take it until the second but go ahead at our last meeting Mr MC stood up and question the resolution I didn't comment then so I remember what you said and the question was a good question is this just a raising for the fees for no reason is there a reason what's the purpose why across the board are we raising all the fees is is really the question what's what's the impetus behind it what led to this I I went back to our budget and I see that the uh building department has a budget of $59,000 on the year and their income from their fees is $493 so they're close to a break even just a way that was the way yeah that was to get it that was the way to break even we you know the where the fees were let's just say let's just use the let's you use the the the number 100 right so 100 is is the fee for many other uh municipalities and I didn't want to be exactly there so we actually brought it down and I remember going over this with you uh council president we we we brought all those numbers down a little bit U because like I think the last time we did any kind of fee ordinance was was many many years ago so that's what we wanted to just kind of for it to kind of pay for itself um you know for the most part and again we're not we're still not you know we're not where most municipalities are we wanted to bring it down just a a little bit um because I understand you know today today's is difficult to for all sorts of construction costs and things um right so that's that's why why we got that number did we compare our fees to other towns yeah yes we did we do have that I think we did it to I think like three municipalities yeah so we definitely didn't go above what they are but we we we kept it down just a little bit when's the last time we raised them do you know I think it was 200 I want to say 15 don't hold me to that but I think 2015 may have been the last time uh a fe uh for the building department I look that up quick but I think it was 2015 R call please I I'm sorry I've just have one quick questions this is for introductory but yes it was introduced on August 12 yeah we there was um change a a change in one of the the fees there was an ordinance that um was adopted for the construction um check right um and there was a fee in there and it didn't coincide with the fee that was in here so okay we this is a totally new Interruption August 12th means yeah we're we're reintroducing it we have so a yes vote on this would be a binding ordance on the first reading that's why I asked only the first reading okay council member bueri yes council member D vetto yes council member Higgins yes council member sorida yes council president Ruda yes motion FES ordinance 24-19 an ordinance amending the Vernon Township municipal C chap Cod chapter 428 pedaling and soliciting may I have this as a motion for I'll make a motion moved by Mrs pieri there a second second second by Mrs de benedetta R council member Bui yes council member D benedetto yes council member Higgins yes council member Sparta no council president Ruda yes motion carries adoption of ordinance 24-17 ordinance Township Council Township of Vernon sesk state of New Jersey amending certain portions amending certain portions of chapter 518 entitled Towing of the Vernon the Township Code may I have a motion place this on the floor for public uh hearing I'll make that motion moved by m FY is there a second second seconded by Mr sparter all in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries this floor is open for discussion of ordinance 24-17 and 24-17 Alone um by members of the public you have any questions or comments please come forward seeing no one coming forward on this I ask for a motion to close the floor to the public on ordinance mve moved by Mr spart is there a second second seconded by Mr Higgins all in favor signify by saying I iOS motion carries may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 24-7 I'll make that motion made by Mrs bueri is there a second second second benetto any questions or comments on this our term not may have a roll call council member Brer yes council member D benedetto yes Higgins yes council member Sparta yes council president rudo yes motion carries thank you public comment the Flo is open open we have a motion to open the floor I'll make that motion made by Mrs B is there a second second seconded by Mr Sparta all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries floor is open open and is limited to 5 minutes on any topic who wishes to address the council please come forward hey Don Gerard con Vernon resident um I came last time for uh jcpnl I had a testing company come to my house uh need a testing uh company which is T did their tests um showed that there's inconsistency about 2,000 kilowatt hours we started a petition many of our other neighbors and stores are dealing with the same thing with daily Bean their bill is up over $22,000 oh my God right there his bill is over $1,000 for a single family house I'm over 600 contacted the board for utilities they don't want to do nothing they give me the same story I work in the industry I deal with testing companies this is what I do I contacted them tried to show them proof evidence try to explain to them they want to have jcpnl do their own test controlled facility they want to take the meter and bring it somewhere it doesn't work that way if there's an issue at the source of the the issue the test should be done there it's a CT scan they do the test they perform perform the test at the issue when it shows there's a problem then they could determine what the issue is why it's reading fast maybe the voltage or amperage is too high and that's causing the meter to start so doing my research into this asking them what first of all what kind of testing equipment do they use they would not give me the information so it has to be certified and calibrated every year by NFPA 7D standards they won't give me any of the information they won't give me a cut sheet of what they're using or how they're testing second um with all the information provided and the name of the the meter I looked into it there's multiple other lawsuits um PG got sued because the meter explode to cause fire to people's houses um if it's not put on a certain smart function it too high um in Europe uh 4 million people have issues with the same exact meter because it reads one out of every three meters read high and they they charge overcharge um we posted stuff we posted petitions we also posted on County sites and everything um on that I had got harassed by um a lady Linda de Dei McGee Sussex County Board of Elections um why would the board of I don't know I don't know maybe getting paid off the guy Mario and he told us suck it up and pay the bill um that may be nice for for a couple of bucks but for someone who's up over $ thousand doll yeah that's I try I called the office I just want to try to get some help do matter where we're going we're not getting anywhere uh doesn't matter what we do who we talk toties they give me to run around uh jcpnl another thing that they did after reported this and I got the test done they tried to steal my meter here caught them on my ring camera so I got evidence maybe I should put police charges I don't know that's why I'm asking maybe someone give me information um then the lady called me up because it was Lady Lady from JCP and I'll have her name and everything what's her name um Linda philps so she called me we uh basically through the uh Board of uh Jersey Board uh public UTI Public Utilities we had an agreement that they would come do a test at my house she called me said oh we're going to do the test and then we'll call you back we'll set up a meeting tomorrow tomorrow and then five minutes before the meeting she cancelled it and then I said okay but you guys are not going to take the meter I want to done tested at my house where I'm present to observe the meter because the Jersey Port uh Board of utilities they only have regular individuals they have one guy or two guys that are engineers and under them it's just normal people that don't understand what they're looking at how the testing supposed to be going um then once uh that happened they had a meter guy come to my house I caught him on my ring camera and he had the meter if I made him put it back I think and um basically she called me up apologizing it was misunderstanding this and that after we already discussed that a meter wouldn't be it to be tested at my house after I had my own test done and then ERS a problem so never lie we have a contact at jcpnl were this to be a sporadic thing but obvious one obviously this gentleman knows what he's talking about secondly the the difference es we're hearing you know unless somebody proves otherwise are quite substantial outrageous and the fact that a good part of the community is on jcpnl I think it behooves us to see if we can't use your good offices to have to schedule a meeting with our representative and if necessary then move from there uh I go back a few you know back to the 2011 in 2012 when we had a major problem with restoration of services because jcpnl was so slow in restoring Services because of down lines yeah that it created a major problem we had outages with families that were online for like over a week week and a half some cases and you know there was a major inconvenience and not even an inconvenience at that point became a health issue right so you know if we can do this uh you know I'll be glad to sit in with this and you know and uh perhaps maybe we can have uh this gentleman as a representative if it's permitted otherwise what we'll do is we'll see if we can't look into this and come back and you know contact you personally I don't know if I really want to have this become um you know a weekly ISS a monthly issue no I know and I got 300 signatures I believe you back yeah I and and I I've gotten a lot of emails and phone calls about it too um we did reach out to our contact jcpnl and and I did provide a statement of what he said now I know that that was yeah it's generic and it's nonsense yeah um I also do know that our assemblyman uh Michael and Gort uh was C of dealing with the issue at one point but what I what I'll do is I'll follow back up with him and see it's something that we well but another thing too uh I know is is it do you think it's it's the smart meters that that problem for exact yes now there's an opt out link now maybe maybe you could educate me on that too but but because they provideed me with an opt out yeah right so what they're telling you is you could opt out at a smart meter you're still going to get another digital meter that reads the same exact way it just doesn't send Wi-Fi signal to them so basically they don't need meter now that's why they're saving money on that and now they could just oh you're using your stove your pool and your air conditioner it's a different charge we're going to charge you it reads it differently it reads it from your house right different voltage different ampage going through now they don't have to send anyone to come read that now it's night time it's different rates it's daytime different rates the meter reads all that it's fine it's also now radio frequencies right rad radiation at your house that's another lawsuit multiple States right causing cancer one of the things that's another topic but it's a lot of different things besides that what they'll do is just give you another digital meter you're not getting your old meter by and that's the problem it's the same exact meter same company same brand that's what I have to deal with can you provide me an email with all of that information that you not there not a problem you have my information I do you can okay y not a problem I don't know what else we can do you know except apply you know pressure this way when the last time this happened you know we threaten to go to we did we actually went to the Bureau of Public Utilities and to see if we couldn't move over to Sussex rural um do they have the Brad do they have this problem with their meters um or is it similar as a as a member of the of the board of directors for csex I don't think it's proper for me to okay I understand I didn't know you were that high up I have Sussex Rural and I'm like has my bill has gone up a lot lately I'm like I wonder if I have a smart meter I'll find out Bill's a fraction of the jcpnl bill it Bill's a fraction of it you know it's it's outrageous it's for J just a little you know is there a possibility that the older Meers were under reading also if it's not on a smart setting it over reads that's another issue that came up and there's lawsuits about that as well I see um I'm you know that's their they have installers I don't know how they're trained or whatnot I could tell you from I'm I'm a safety director for one of the biggest electrical contractors around the way the gentleman installed it he didn't have his proper PP on he didn't do it the proper way or follow nfba standards so um I don't know how they're train if they're trained properly to install it correctly or not so I can't that's the only thing I could do but nothing else um which I could 20 seconds thank you thank no problem thank you guys thank you thank you there any anyone else wishing to come forward good evening CL thic couple of qu couple of comments on your resolutions which you just approved so I'll move it along fast uh under resolution uh 240 telecommunications in there you're paying for uh telecommunications for the MUA is a semi-autonomous organization and I assume they're going to give you some money but that's not my question it's 37,000 a year but that's not my question my question about the telephones is this the township compensates reimburses employees for the the use of their phones how much is that their cell phone cell phones yeah no Township's been doing that for a while okay so we don't know that one but anyway resolution 24242 this is concerns the MU again the great Field of Dreams here uh you are authorized to take over lsbury Hollow a discharge the surface water um what was the purpose behind [Music] that h i mean it's in the ordinance or in the resolution that's why I read it you might want to read it it's uh 006 million gallons per day that's is okay you're talking about um when you do an amendment to the Wastewater management plan is for the entire Township we're not amending what's currently there actually it's it's not for the entire Township it covers the entire Township but it's the excuse me service area Okay so she doesn't know the regulations it's not for the entire Township as far as the MUA is concerned they're concerned with the service area for the you were that's my point maybe technicality but should get flued on it but anyway lounsberry Hollow 6,000 gallons a day and the MUA wants to take it over but that's not my question and they apologize that's my question my question is are they going to put out a pipe to lsbury hollow take over that surface water discharge or are they just taking over the facilities you know that or well to answer that question I'd have to say that we what you're saying on the first part of the situation that you're correct I don't know if you're correct and i' have to check on it and I would have to go back to the to the MUA director yeah I I have a 10 I have a Mr mlac I have attended all of the meetings I don't recall the uh any you know Arrangement uh where whereby we are taking waste water from the lsbury hollow you talking school yeah school I know but it's in the resolution says l oh I looked it up that I can't talk about so as part of the backup this resolution is to uh provide an application to the county it's a requirement by the county that we do this resolution um to do the application to the county and then the New Jersey departmental protection for expansion of the sewer service area um as part of this application there's a written portion called the Wastewater management plan that is what we're doing the chapter Amendment for um the chapter amendment is for all of Sussex County so part of this part of what's written in here um there's a table it's table 1A that says additional NJ DPS minor permitted facilities within buron Township so obviously the sewer system that we have that the MUA runs the township owns is not the only sewer system in bernon Township the schools operate off of their own sewer system which is why it is required to be listed in here there is no application to include theirs into our sewer service area right into the township sewer service area that we talked about it is just required to be included in the existing Waste Water Management plan as a treatment facility that exists within bur Township and submit it to the to the so they have an all-encompassing report as to what's going on in this so we are not taking their waste water I was wondering why you pointed them out because there's another uh discharge to groundwater in the township it's called Hit valy and they have a permit from the njd but that's not in there that being said they are in there they thought absolutely they're in there I just saw I just saw it they saw it yeah yeah it's in there I was on the so is Legends so is Vernon tantri High School yeah Legends is I mean they're all in there because they all have the state wants to know what's going on in the entire town so they can make an educated decision as to how to move forward yeah I yeah my problem was I was looking online and I didn't see it there but anyway moving on to ordinance 2418 Fe and whatnot on the soil conservation uh you're producing the fees from 750 to 500 uh you're going to have uh uh 300 for lots that are already uh there my comment is with the permit that susex County used to charge 250 for plus the 4 400 that the township used to collect 450 Township used to collect for that s conservation permit add them all together it came out to 750 now we're going to reduce that down to 500 and 300 for lots that are currently there question is why we do why are we doing that yeah is this part of the program that you had the comparisons made I I you know for the soil I I would have to get an answer for you on that um no just pointing just pointing it out I an answer for it because at the end of the day and do what you have to do yes and that's my comments thank you thank you thank you I just want to just one thing um as for the cell phones correct me if I'm wrong like I don't know if he's referring to like say I have a I have a uh a Township phone right I know this certain certain people not everyone um because of their duties and roles um require you know a cell phone um so that's I don't think no one's submitting like I'm not submitting my personal bill in for reimbursement so if you see things on the bills list such as like you know Verizon you know cellular phone um that's like like the DPW director he has a you know a cell phone too the chief has one certain you know commands have those pH but it's not for every employee no I was talking about the personal I my I having a conversation with apologize I can't hear everything he say but my comment was about person and the township compensating employees for the then 37,500 the new network and a couple phones how much is it for the I'm sorry right we should move on do you have a comment could you just comment quick on that real quick you don't mind um yes so there are a number of employees um right in the township paying for separate cell phone and a separate cell phone plan um some of those individuals still need to be contacted so there are a few individuals who not his chosen to um reimburse them for their it's not for the full amount it's $50 um per month which obviously does not cover standard s plan today but that is what's paid TOs and it's tax earnings tax thank you thank you okay is there anyone else again and Larson with Glenwood um in reference to the Jersey Central issue I also was impacted dramatically from a 150 a month Bill two people in the house to well over 600 so I thank you for bringing that to our attention and for your help but when Mr Ruda you asked what what you didn't know what else you could do you could get Jeff uh we could get Josh gimer to do something just like Jeff Andrew is Jeff Andrew is working as an advocate for the people and actually candidate Mary Joe ginart is also committed to working with him should she win the election so I think maybe if we got Josh to do something for on behalf of the taxpayers it might be helpful thank you thank you I people are paying that I'm Justin poan um I'm the gentleman with a th electric bill um my suggestion I called Sussex Rural and they kind of explained it to me I'm about four houses away from getting Sussex rural they said that they use jcpnl lines but it's a different service now just like cell phone bills you could choose through about five six different carriers most expensive least expensive but you have options and then when you call your carrier they'll say Hey you call I'm sorry you call them say I can get this much all right well let's work with you when jcpnl doesn't have anybody to work against they're going to gou you so Sussex rural kind of explained it to me uh correct me if I'm wrong I will try I called them they said they have all these solar Farms all over the place so anything that they don't own like whatever they owe jcpnl they get from the customers anybody who has susus rural I have they have houses probably as big as mine are paying maybe $300 a month my electric bill during the winter time which I understand is 150 but jumps up to $1,000 they're saying oh it's your AC it's your it's your pool my pool is not running 247 my AC is not running all 24 hours of the day um but when there is no competition I think they just decide to let's just gouge them so I don't know what we can do to get maybe soll in here they said it's just not their territory um I I I can't comment on this I but I can't no I was saying I can oh oh you can I'm sorry so back in in 1937 the FDR signed into National rication Electric National rural electrification act okay and what they did at that point in time there was investor owned utilities such as jcpnl that serviced areas and they weren't willing to go out into the rural areas because it wasn't cost prohibit it was cost prohibi for them to do it so uh FDR signed in the ACT allowed farmers and so on and so forth to go for low interest to no interest loans to bring electricity to their farms and so on and so forth so they have running water and so on so at that time those areas that were served by the I uh investor owned utilities stayed investor owned utilities and all the other areas that they weren't willing to service then went to rural um electrical co-ops the BPU is very hesitant to um give up a regulated territory to a uh Cooper that is not regulated by the BPU although we do follow BPU guidelines such as uh moratoriums shut offs disconnects stuff like that um it the the chances of something like that happening um the BPU approving something like that would probably be slim to none I I understand your concern and I totally agree with you that competition is always the best case scenario as far as Sussex rural um using jcpnl so the transmission lines that go through the valley is owned by First Energy which is a jcpnl company okay we have two we have two delivery points that come off of jcpnl one being averon substation the other being um um watered substation um so we do pay our energy to um jcpnl albe it through transmission uh line so part of your bill is always transmission distribution so the distribution end of it comes from susex worldl but the transmission end of through through jcpnl so that's that's how that rates break down so I I don't want I just didn't want people to get the impression that Sussex roal is selling JCP jcpnl energy it is just provided by jcpnl for us to purchase so okay hope that helps in some case okay thank you guys you thank you hi everyone so um my name Isis sorry Dallas um my fiance is Gerard and he's the brains in this not me not this is not my field this is his field um I'm only the one hosting everything putting everything to try to send that out to the community so you know we have nothing to gain from this we're doing this because it's not just affecting us it's affecting from senior citizens that don't know how to go on the website to petition don't know how to contact jcpnl and fight it or they just let it go they don't fight they just be like okay that whatever I have to pay it and they don't even know have the means to pay it um and it $300 $400 increase which is 100% increase in our rate and our B excuse me it's dramatic um and they're trying to pull excuses of year to year I mean sorry not year to year uh summer being the reason why the charges are high it's we're comparing he's been living there now for 12 years and comparing from year to year it's drama I so just with that proof alone is showing that it has to be the smart meters and this is something that I was I don't know you know he should have probably brought up too that it's not just here we're trying to set the president here but it's in every Community it's not just ours so we're the ones trying to make action and then I have Linda and Mario so I'm the one posting on Facebook and they're attacking me or saying that my man is selling energy electricity excuse me I don't know how his company does that but that's not what they do they test um so I really do hope that you do contact him and that we can at least in this town make a move where we can stop this or at least get it checked if we're using electricity fine we'll pay it but it's an outrage it's not a small amount it's affecting our like we said the daily be right that's a staple to this town you know and that's a big increase and now it affects them from probably hiring more employees or maybe have to make Cuts now you know and Mark wasn't able to come here Gina but I'm sure that they would this as well you know it's it's wrong so please do help us and because the community needs it and I know people are watching I'm sure probably Mario's watching as well and Linda so I'm stating their name again because they're two out of the four or five that I have on my list that were attacking me on Facebook or sorry defending jcpnl and trying to show me their bills that their bill only increased by $7 which is great if it didn't affect one out of every hundred people then great but the 99 people that it is a fighting it's a big number so we're stating it because it's if you know you're getting the emails as well but JC even jcpnl even told Gerard that they have thousands of complaints so it's a big issue and then I really do hope that we can set the president to you know make changes because I think you guys do have the power we're small people compared to our you know councilman you know or the mayor so I think you guys have more power than we do at least to get us to have the them tested correctly to leave it at thank you I'm just want to make a comment so I am going to it's not you just trying to sell electric by all means because again like I said I've gotten a lot of emails a lot of phone calls about it so it's it's not just you guys it's a lot of people I I will take another stab at it from a different direction and try and try to go that route but again remember that jcpnl is out of burnning Township's control I I really wish I could you know put up for auction and sell it if that was case but you know I get that but then you have half the town with suss rural maybe if that's out of our control maybe get it in your control give us a tax break then no we have nothing to do I understand I understand your con believe me I I do understand sorry Hi Kathy witty I live in Vernon uh first of all I will tell you when I sell a house people really want susex rur they have a choice between two houses they want Ro I have susex Ro that said did did they not need jcpnl did they not need a permit to change these meters out can they be considered being that it's have a problem but maybe Mary Beth doesn't have a problem with it could it be many are defective a certain percentage are defective and could we not insist insist that BPU come up here and physically test if they put in 100 meters test 10% of those meters test 10% and show us that the meters are good because there have been recalls there have been lawsuits they have sent back not not JCP but other energy companies I know of have actually sent them back the meters that they tested and they were not good they sent back truckloads of these things over the time out of state so I think that it's on Vernon to say there's a problem and J pnl we need you to be and BPU we need you to test how many meters do they put in so far do we know we would know that information why would we I think we should know how what why I don't know put it out there put it out there in your in your blog in your on Facebook saying jcpnl change your meter we're taking a survey that's all we're taking a survey did they change your meter know how many were put in as jcpnl how many they put in and then say this many we want to test 10% I think that's fair of a of a public utility to say yes okay we'll show you that we're right you're wrong we'll test 10% am I right I'm I'm not saying you're right or wrong no I'm just saying I'm just saying it just makes sense more like a lemon law kind of a deal right now being that these are so out of whack I mean my bill went up I again I have S my bill went up a little bit nothing like this we don't want new meters at all and and correct that because they don't want to do it correctly excuse me thank you sorry but they they really need to do some you need to do something insist that they they come in and test 10% I think that's more than fair thank you thank you Mr counc President if I could just comment very briefly I'm the I'm the township attorney U for those of you who haven't been here before um but uh just just I want to make sure everyone kind of understands one thing here which is state law supersedes the the local municipalities ability to regulate businesses the same way they do all the other businesses we talk about town so I think what is just trying to be communicated to everybody who's concerned about this issue is that legally you know the council can't pass a regul a resolution or an ordinance binding on a utility and say you know you must do this by force of law from the township the state law really exempts um utilities even if let's say for instance JC P wanted to put up a big utility poll going through the town they can come as a courtesy you know that you could they can come in front of the Plenty board just to hear comments but if the township shut them down from doing that they can just do it anyway it it's so I so I think what what everyone just trying to communicate is that it doesn't mean that the township can't use its political leverage it can't use its bully pulp but it can't use uh you know other instances where there's relationships there but I just want to make sure from the legal standpoint that that I just want to make sure that everyone kind of understands but we couldn't pass a resolution of support support yes binding by law where you can force them to give you a report or force them to retest or force them to remove meters um that you don't have the do you no but we we've you know we've gotten the resolutions from Sanderson against the Delaware National Park and so on and so forth so yes why don't we start a resolution of support uh and spread it amongst the communities of susus County and ask them to pass it as they have done for Us in the past and maybe that way it will get some attention um at a state level um through using our our legislative um friends it's a good start is uh are there anyone else I am also a proud user of Sussex rer electric very happy to say Steve dumo council president Roto I came before the council about three months ago and made a statement about the Rink Memorial and I mentioned tit andat mayor's actions were a tit for Rinker Pat while I while I can't stop you from talking I understand that you know at this point this is not to be brought before the council okay well I'm going to make my comment and um I don't expect any response and if there's legal action involved um I'd asked the council at that time to meet with the mayor try to find some way to seek a resolution and I impelled all or encouraged all of you to do that well I decided to take it upon myself and meet with the mayor and I did and I'm not going to not going to get into all the details but two of the things the mayor told me was that he had been had been inundated with calls to remove it and had been contacted by the injured girl's father to remove it I come to find out later that in his own writing the father of the girl said that um the mayor had reached out to him as opposed to him mayor and also claimed that he knew nothing about the monument being there until post started to appear on Facebook about there being an issue I know that you had a meeting on the 20th with Mrs Rinker and the mayor um I found that out on Facebook through an opra document it would appear that you made an attempt to try to come to a resolution uh most of the mayor's Arguments for doing it were pretty much discounted as couple of that I just gave you and um also when to say that he had received a lot of calls that was up that people were upset that the sign made it appear that the rankers had donated the whole part and nothing can be further from from the truth it clearly said this sign donated in memory of Jason Rinker um Mrs Rinker came with a Resolute with with a document that would resolve the issue that she would have made a statement uh complimentary of the mayor she would have paid to put it back she would withdraw her petion with with withdraw her claim legal claim and that would be the end of it the mayor I understand in the meeting made a comment about he was going to prepare a new document um for how these would things would be handled going forward I understand I wasn't there just from what I'm reading that you told him that that would have no bearing on things that were done previously this was done with the full knowledge of the mayor and the council and um m i I truly believe and will always believe that the mayor did this because of actions that that Mrs Brinker took against Tim which I in no way can do in fact I have said to the council which she did was it was reprehensible I cannot believe that our mayor with an opportunity to put this behind us and for the community to see that okay we're all going to work together we're going to find a resolution here which instead expose the town to legal action just to dig his heels in something so minor um I really find troubling I wanted to come up here mainly just to thank you the attempt you made um I think others have as well we are where we are so now we pay legal fees for something that should have never happened in the first place thanks for your Indulgence thank you is there anyone else wishing to address the council seeing no one else come forward may I have a motion to close the floor to the public move move by Mr Sparta is secondy all in favor signify by saying I I iOS motion carried um Council comments Mr Higgins yes I uh also a Jersey Central Power and Light customer my highest ever bill been here for 46 years $152 last month it was 300 wow that's not up to the Thousand that I'm hearing but that's double something's wrong and it was right after the uh the meter was changed the previous month it was so it's double two two months in a row so whatever I can do to help I'm here and uh I'll sign the petition it's uh it's really wrong we we actually hosted the people from Jersey Central who came in here and explained their program to us for an hour yeah and uh I think they owe us some answers we were kind enough to bring them in to give them the opportunity and uh it's not working out the way that uh they projected it to be so that's that's my first comment on that secondly very happy to see that our CFO is here and I thought it was a very good thing you were here this evening because there were a lot of questions that we just wouldn't have answered and it would have gone to the next meeting and come back with answers you know because you weren't here and it was uh a lot of important questions I appreciate the fact you're here and you answered them and uh those you didn't have answers for I'm sure you'll come back but there was a it it it was a plus for the meeting that's it thank you Mr Ben okay so uh well I want to put the Memorial Business behind us as well I do want to make a comment about the treatment of Miss Loro at the last last meeting I thought it was abhorent and embarrassment to the town sorry about how Miss Loro was treated while she was speaking that was really inappropriate it was an embarrassment and um I hope not to see anything like that in a meeting going forward we're all adults and we should act as such the second comment I made at that meeting was actually about a wildlife re-education or Wildlife education program for people moving up here from south of um I was contacted by a wildlife sanctuary that is offering to help with that education so I don't know how to move that forward but we have resources Now Yep by the way there are pamphlets within the Township offices you know things like living with bears and you know what you need to know oh good because you're absolutely right people come up here and for example my daughter cannot put her garbage out the night before yeah because when she does she finds it screwn all over there you go there every Wednesday is an early rise get it out there when the Bears aren't around so yeah we'll look wanted to let you know that I understand your concern thank you no comment for me I would like to to add to your comment Mr Higgins I go back to a period of time when I mentioned that jcpnl uh was uh somewhat remiss in cutting down trees you know branches overhang and we lost a lot of power a lot of places lost power and uh took a long time for them to put it back up to get it back running um it required us council at that time to make a very very strong overtures to jcpnl to the extent where the mayor at that time went and had personal visits to Bureau of Public Utilities had personal visits to state representatives and Senators asking and listing their aid you know basic basically it was using the bully pulpit and uh bringing whatever pressure that the council the township could and and having this uh problem resolved fortunately there was a move some movement on the part of jcpnl but it wasn't because of rates it was just getting more people on the the uh on the workload so to speak and uh getting rid of the overhanging trees and servicing these areas that where there was a problem because of uh you know falling Limbs and so forth and they had to schedule their uh their pruning if you want to call it that earlier in the year rather than just starting at October which is kind of a little bit late so I understand the concerns for the community for the people that these people have raised and whatever we can do I would suggest we you know if we have to go back to that to the heavy Hammer that we do so you know I don't know what else we can do uh federally I do we still have I mean Congressman gottheimer still has his office here he's I believe on a Tuesday he's available for I have consult so sorry I have a cell phone c number and of course we can also make the number for Parker space who's our Senator find out where he he left off um I know he he was this this concern so I I'll see where where he left off last thank you uh children are back in school uh please watch school buses I heard a disturbing fact that someplace in the middle of our country it was in Missouri or Kansas that buses of people were passing school buses on a routine basis I I you know and I find that hard to believe I mean you know the big yellow buses with the gate and the signs and everything else are painted that that very very loud yellow simply because to say we have children here and our around board so please be very careful and observe the the No Passing uh on school buses I I get nervous sometimes because they stopping and and I'm coming the other way and then I stop and the lady sticking her hand out you you can come but meanwhile I got guys behind me beeping me you know you know there probably something that we could probably find out from the bus company if they have anything place I do know for an example like New York City Lane that city bus parked in that bus lane it takes pictures and will send you that F yeah right so so there may be some camera system I'm assuming I believe the cameras are just on the inside of the bus but if we're if we if we do hear reports of of this happening in our town obviously I'd raise that to the Chief and and get enforcement out there but and and I believe those those fines are they're steep yes absolutely very absolutely Miss piri um I don't have any comments except for my daughter Melody won the state poster for the bus stop safety one year yeah so I think I was on the school board so I don't know it it's 2016 maybe 2017 she created a poster her art teacher submitted it and she was the winner she got $50 oh eleminated poster so but obviously people are still running spend it or frame the 50 I'm sure she sent it that was a big year I think it was the same year she won the cooking competition tooz very it was a big year for her all right thank you uh may I have a motion to adjourn mve move by second the better seconded by Mrs bueri all in favor signify by saying iOS motion carries meeting I think Robin might have been her teacher that year yeah I remember when she said one the the cooking yeah yeah and so