##VIDEO ID:iBhN1ocpz5Q## then we're test e e e e e e e e e e e e public meeting of November 12th 2024 of the township of Washington Township Council adequate notice the meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the Township Clerk to at least two news papers in January and this meeting has been posted on the township bulletin board electronic Message Board WCTV and on the township website please notify the municipal clerk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance to Council meetings the fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door on your left please silence all cell phones if you are unable to attend the council meeting in person and would like a topic to be addressed at a council meeting please send an email to the township of Washington contact all council members at one once TWP of washington. us could everyone please stand for a salute to the flag I to flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for stand one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all than you roll call councilman Casio here councilman Sears here councilman om man here Council Val here council president to sen here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Peter calamari Township administrator D Carlo Township attorney Siobhan Bailey and Township Clerk Susan wowski and I know I'm going to jump on the mayor here because Vince coito is here and he's gonna take it from there thank you good evening everyone thank you for coming out um I've been looking for to this since uh last year's birthday when you were 99 uh looking forward to doing this Proclamation so if it's okay I'll read it from the day is here then I'll come down to present it and hopefully you can say a few words Vince and while I'm reading it please keep an eye on the screen for some uh fun pictures as I'm reading it so Proclamation whereas Vincent Vince cruso was born to Dominic and Angela on November 11th 1924 in Bayridge Brooklyn New York making Vince a member of the greatest generation and whereas as as a child Vince attended PS 204 and ps201 in Brooklyn New York and whereas growing up as a child in Brooklyn he was friends with a kid named victone who he stayed in touch with until his passing and whereas Vince was drafted into what was then known as the Army Air Forces training Gunners on B17 and B24 aircrafts as well as flying on them as an engineer and whereas Vince met his wife to be Elizabeth at Pine Lake in the township of Washington where they moved after getting married and whereas Vince and Elizabeth had a child Michael and whereas Vince has been a lifelong New York Yankee fan patiently waiting since 2009 for them to deliver Another World Series championship and whereas for many years now Vince has been a staple at the township bagel store solving the world's problems with his many friends and whereas on this occasion of his 100th birthday I wish him GI and Don which in Italian means to your health for another 100 years now therefore in recognition of Vince's 100th birthday I the mayor of the township of Washington do hereby Proclaim November 12th 2024 as Vince cedo day in the township of Washington [Applause] happy birthday yes gendon Vince if I can ask you to say a few words about your 100 years and what you've seen and uh you know just Enlighten us as to you know what it's like to be 100 well uh I guess the only thing I can tell you is clean living and uh uh doing things in moderation I don't know about the clean living part but maybe some moderation in there all right well thank you so much it's been an honor for me to work on this and to present it to you this evening thank you very much Happy [Applause] Birthday Thank you Mr Mayor my hope I look like that 100 God bless okay thank you everyone we ready to resume sure payment of bills resolution number 24-35 authorized payment of bills October 18th 2024 to November 6 2024 do I have a mo so move second second discussion I had raised a few questions with uh the administrator I had ra uh sent them in uh early this morning anybody I don't know yes council president I'm prepared to answer the questions thank you Mr car the first question was uh for vender Boswell Engineering in regards to mapn Brook uh the question is is the charge directly related to the emergent sewer issue or the larger mapic remediation the answer is it's a charge directly related to the Emergen sewer issue uh we have a sign an agreement Proposal with BOS engineering for $449,500 and that was to prepare the plans and all the uh necessary paperwork to go down um to the state of uh New Jersey DP for us to obtain the permit to start preparing that work uh the next question was pertaining to fire department turnout gear how many sets were purchased there was a total of five sets purchased uh with the total expense being Valtech rescue 40 for okay now that was already answered Boswell engineering this was the pre-demo survey in regards to the swim club the question was if it was related to 450 pasak road so it's not it was to the swim club uh Lombardi door sales and service was what was the expense for it was a motor vehicle accident involving one of the fire trucks as the volunteer was exiting the Emergency Services building one of the panel doors for this one of the storage compartments on the truck swung open as the truck was coming out of the garage and it hit the rail for the garage door causing some damage we submitted it to uh to our insurance company we have a $2,500 deductible there was some damage to the uh fire department uh fire truck as well uh part I'm sorry do we know how much the damage was to the fire department truck um it was a couple thousand I you know what I don't again I'm sorry I don't like to throw out numbers unless I know I don't want to give a false impression what it was um but the uh it was all paid for except for their $2,500 um deductible uh the next question was partek Pete corporation uh the question is is this charge in addition to the change order approved at the last meeting or is it support of the change order the answer is no it's part of the expense approved by the council for the overall project no change orders in regards to the clay and that's what partch Pete is excuse me is for clay uh Suburban sprinkler uh why are we charging the general maintenance the summer camp trust the answer is the kids damage it during the sprinkler I'm sorry during the summer camp it happens every year and that's how we make the we pay for the repair is by using summer camp program uh funds to to uh repair those damaged pieces storton Stevenson $ 5,675 for a load Bank test for ESB building question is what is the load Bank test and is it one time or annual it's annual it's required for us to get our fire inspection approval uh basically with the load bag test test is it's testing the operation of uh the generator in um coordination with the building so that will be a yearly charge Traffic Safety Service uh $3,590 OEM other miscellane expenses the question is what is this expense related to and it was for U parts for let me see NOP it was a light kit sorry I have notes all over the place it was a light kit for the Light Tower we had needed two we bought one last year and then we bought one this year so our our light towers are the ones we had that were not purchased brand new uh we're in need of this to keep it operational and then there was a reimbursement to a police officer for $67 28 cents from the police 1033 program and it was parts for a UTV I believe it was a bed Miner which leads to the answer to the next question next question was get loaded transport for $1,800 pay the police $10 33 program uh it was a UTV that was shipped up here from Jacksonville Florida that was obtained through the 1033 program and that sign that saved us significant funds that we would have had to ask for next year um through capital and that concludes the questions uh given to me by Mr Olman thank you Mr just to followup to that um when we see had the budgetary uh discussions early earlier in the year uh we had talked about acquisition of equipment via 1033 and just understanding what is being acquired was I don't recall this being discussed prior to I guess it being acquired um a particular reason I'm not sure what the question is are you ask I'm not sure why we so I think uh there was an observation that it's great that the 1033 program exists and we get these pieces of equipment on the flip side they're not always new and there is uh expenses related to that in the ongoing maintenance so The Upfront may not be there but there's a run rate to uh run them and expenses related to maintain them uh and at the meeting I believe it was discussed that uh the administration would advise the council uh before items were uh acquired via the 1033 so if this was acquired via the 1033 the question is you know why wasn't it advised for the council well what's interesting is that I actually do not remember that conversation but the interesting part of it is that when Mr Des Senate asked asked for a 5 to 10 year plan of capital I did tell the council that we were looking to get two utvs from the 1033 program so I'll uh you know I'll regroup with the mayor I wasn't I wasn't under the impression that we needed Council commission to get a UTV from the 1033 program especially when it would save the town 20 to $30,000 per vehicle which was mentioned to the council so if I'm wrong mayor if you could correct me no no um I don't recall the conversation either but the nature of the 1033 program is if we don't jump on it when we see it that day another organization will it's not like we have the luxury of putting a reserve on it until the next council meeting um and so uh if that conversation came up I'm pretty sure I would have said the same thing is that you know we're just not afforded that luxury of waiting potentially two or three weeks till the next council meeting because like these things go up and as soon as they go up especially things are relatively shape you people are jumping all over it mayor I think it's also to point out that we're not privy to a mechanical inspection especially to a UTV that's in Florida so right now I'm only aware of a $60 expense we made to reimburse a police officer so if again if I need to get Council approval for every expense we do just let me know we'll really B down the looks here well councilman yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council bz yes council president to sen yes PSA PSC is replacing existing electrical and gas meters with new smart meters throughout Township as required by the BPU please be sure to respond to any letters requesting meter replacement if you do not reply your service is in Jeffy of being shut off please visit our website for further information are they almost done with this program I because we've been reading this for and Mike can I make a quick comment about that I have placed numerous calls to them because they left a tag on my door that they needed access they don't return calls I'm just waiting for them to start billing me and then you know yeah cuz we've been reading this for over I can't believe they haven't replaced all of them I know Town Hall elevator the modernization of the Town Hall elevator is currently underway Township employees are prepared to assist residents that aren't able to utilize the stairs we encourage the use of the exterior Drive box for paying taxes as well as other correspondents the township of Washington has added the recycling coach app to our website on the Department of Public Works page recycle coach is an address based app that educates Resident how to recycle materials appropriately for their area by downloading the recycle coach app you will be able to obtain your curbside collection schedule sign up for alerts and quickly learn how to properly dispose of different waste materials there is no debris bulk pickup for the remainder of the Year and no special pickups the DPW is closed on Tuesday to allow for full weeks of leaf removal the township is currently seeking members for The Advisory Board of Health if you are interested please contact the mayor via email at mayor atwp of washington. us the township Council of the township of Washington is hereby soliciting RS Andor letters of Interest qualifications from Township residents to be appointed to the zoning Board of adjustment as an alternate position for the vacancy terms as follows 1 through 12312 please visit the clerk section of the website under the fors page for the application the quanas club is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to proving the world one child and one community at a time the Kanas Club of the pasak valley formed for the township and Westwood meet on the second Wednesday of each month 6:30 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center if anyone would like more information please contact Paul Ralph culi at 516-5813 n or pasak Valley Kanas gmail.com Town Hall will be closed on Thursday November 28th and Friday November 29th for the Thanksgiving holiday our next council meeting will be held on December 2nd thank you the report of the administrator thank you Council this is my response from the meeting of October 21st as Council I was not in attendance for the October 21st 2024 meeting however I discussed the meeting with mayor cam Mar there was nothing from Council or residence for me to specifically report back on I did receive a council inquiry via email since the last meeting uh that was from councilman Olman he emailed me on October 30th 2024 regarding Road Safety while DPW workers are cleaning up leaf piles specifically on County Roads councilman Olman asked me a simpler simple similar question as a resident at the November 9th 2022 meeting at the next meeting 2022 I reported to the residents and Council that on November 10th 2022 I spoke to both super intendent Lawler informing Casey regarding their safety of the DPW workers when working in the street Mr Lawler advised that the daily uniform of all DPW workers is the neon green reflective vest and were shirt Mr Lawler had no concerns regarding the safety of his employees Mr ler stated if they are on a County Road or dangerous curve they will have a DPW vehicle followed behind his employees and the DPW is aware that they can request police assistance if necessary on October 30th 2024 I spoke to Mr laer regarding the safety of DPW workers Mr Lawler advised that the truck and vacuum have factory installed strobe lights that's the vehicle that was observed on Van urg by Mr ol the crew continues to wear the appropriate safety vest or colored attire the crew is not in the lean of traffic rather on the passenger side of the vehicle Mr Lawler explained that it is a moving work zone so it would be impractical to have a sign place behind them if Pam hour exists which is rare they will have a pickup truck follow the crew police are occasionally involved with extra hazardous locations I have trust in the Judgment made by our DPW leadership regarding crew member safety of course any additional safety measures that can be taken is in the best interest of our personnel which was discussed with Mr law some updates the remodeling of the elevator is complete however some additional electrical work and fire suppression sprinkler work is near completion uh there is an update since I wrote this to the council all work has been completed today we're just waiting for uh the Division of Community Affairs to come and inspect the elevator we're hoping the elevator will be approved and back up and running uh this week Swim Club properly this evening Administration is requesting the council to approve the Professional Services of bosel engineering for a preliminary site assessment and remedial investigation the proposal is for $78,000 this $78,000 will be funded by the capital line for the property Improvement Administration has already signed a proposal with Bosell engineering to begin the process of applying for the njd Hazardous discharge site remediation fund Grant this proposal is for $7,500 this $7,500 is being paid for with local Recreation Improvement funds I'm sorry local Recreation Improvement Grant funds the grant is awarded there's a strong likelihood that the funding would cover a majority of the cost just mentioned as well as the actual remedi ation of the property I'd like to also report to the residents and Council that I reviewed this Grant application with our grant writer that we have on retainer and it exceeds uh the expertise that he would have it was better suited with the expertise of our engineer the township received an njd remediation compliance notice on October 15 2024 indicating that we must submit a confirmed discharge notification form which was completed and also to notify the njd once the the township hires an lsrp which is a licensed site remediation professional Council approves this evening's resolution for bosal Engineering Services this will be completed ASAP additional no trespassing sites have been installed on the fence on the west Place side of the pro of the swim club property it's important to note that Administration is following the recommendations and mandates established by njd and Boswell engineering regarding this matter Mr can I ask you one question while we're on the subject not I don't want to stop you what is the I know we have the $78,000 proposal from Bosell on top of the 7 is the 7500 included in that 78 or is that on top so you had different charges we're at 855 with that and what is the final do we have a ballpark estimate of what the final remediation plan could cost I wish I could tell you that sir I'd be so you know irresponsible of me to throw out a number but it won't be less than the original proposal Bosell hasn't even offered one yet right no to actually remediate the site has it hasn't been anything but again we're hoping that Grant will cover not only um the 7500 but the 78,000 and the remediation to the site so this 78,000 is the key to identifying how far we have to go correct okay thanks sir I do have a bunch of other updates they're short um that have come in uh Sher field the con apron is complete we can't drive over it but it looks excellent it's going to work well it looks great uh the final inspection completed by NJ do for Calvin Street we should be receiving our final Grant reimbursement we received the 75% reimbursement a few months ago we're just waiting for the last 25 um I'm also happy to say we successfully and finally received all outstanding dot Grant reimbursements from previous year's road projects uh we are making significant process on clearing up the outstanding invoices with aelina engineering Mr lesp is working diligently to close Old escro posos for en aelina engineering that I told Council about a few uh meetings ago they're dating back to 1999 I can't really tell you why it was done other than it seemed to have been practiced back in the early 2000s to uh open up escros for what the amounts were going to be anticipated to be used whether they were used or not uh we are working with the township engineer to have the the bridge lined striped on uh Ridgewood Road and at East Glenn the county did do the bridge on Washington Avenue um I guess technically they weren't supposed to so we kind of made out so we're working with the Turnpike Authority to come and stripe that bridge on Ridgewood uh we're also working on Saddle River for the shared services for the Municipal Court we're just waiting on a you know an operating expense amount so we can uh begin uh further discussions on how much funding will cost and we'll bring that to the council at the appropriate time I did tell councel I just want to mention to the public we cleaned out the storm water system surrounding Memorial Field I think that's going to have a big impact on the drainage around that field um certainly not going to accuse anybody but there was some objects found in the system other than water uh there's plastic bottles plastic Whiffle bats balls rocks Etc um you know just asking the residents to make sure um nothing else goes down those those storm drains on the field other than water uh the wreck equipment is being done as we speak at Garder field and the update on the M squap S Brook is um it was submitted for the D the emergency permit with d they send it back saying that um there's more work they're requesting so I'm in the middle of working with Frank Rossy from the from Boswell engineering as to what needs to be done in order to comply with I don't want to say the extra mandates but basically to address the deficiencies that NJ um DP found in the permit uh Mr Rossy said it's common for them to ask for additional stuff based on the submission so we're working on that as well uh the only other thing to mention is that I did receive a couple of emails requests from Mr Man this morning that's going to take some research for me to get back to uh Mr Man and the council I'll be hoping to have that information available to for the next council meeting in December and that concludes my update thank you council president thank you Mr D mayor I'm sorry M just follow up uh Mr D the drains on Memorial Field for those types of items to get in would it be would someone have to do it purposely or is it something that's just there was I think if I remember correctly there was like two tons of like dirt and clay and all kinds of stuff and there was big rocks in there so the the big rocks who knows how long they've been in there um the baseball bats you know the the great sizes you know the size of the squares are like this this big so a plastic gatorade bottle could have been like forcely smashed through there maybe the whle ball bat could have just fit in there you know it's clear that the water didn't take it down in there but um we are working with uh Beck Meer engineering to come up with a plan for a retrofitted grate that has smaller smaller holes so just water's going to get into it and there's one great that's not doing any good because the surf you know the height of the surface the water's not even getting into it so there's a couple more repairs we want to do there uh to make it more efficient to to stop foreign objects and one of the drains needs to be lowered like five or six inches so water can get to it so and then just to follow up on the my concern about the DPW [Music] um so last year when you responded there would be a DPW behind the employees uh now that's not the case or it's only if Manpower exists uh you know after I sent this on the 30th they happen to be on our street or on vanberg uh yesterday and you know I'll forward these pictures uh that I took out of my front window uh or front lawn and then uh when I as I was driving up van urg and when we talk about them wearing safety clothing that's neon I can assure you uh that that is not a safety outfit there's no neon on that uh in addition you know it's not only for the men but it's also for the drivers on the street so you know we have buses school buses going up and down vanberg and I'm sure other County Roads and in the case of vanberg which is quite narrow from the Hillsdale border to just before you get to Iha uh there's no room to maneuver and you know I have some images and I'll forward them to you where a school bus is going completely against the uh FL of traffic they're crossing a double line and I guess I understand that we have to pick up the leaves uh and I understand that uh there's an expense associated with it and I also understand that we haven't had an accident yet but I don't I I guess is there a hesitancy to do something or because nothing has happened we're we're not doing it we we choose or El not to address it more aggressively for lack of a better term and I appreciate that question but I I also think you already know the answer that I would never Overlook something because it hasn't happened um not to dismiss the importance of your concern but we're really in a catch 22 with the moving work Zone on Van urg and vehicles having to go into the other lane of traffic I mean we wish we could prevent but those vehicles take up a good portion if not all of um one of the lanes yes you know so it absolutely will be addressed if they're not wearing the appropriate attire and I most certainly address the conflict in what was said to me last year or two years ago about the vehicle and then I'm hearing about it being when Manpower um exists so I happen to think this one's probably more accurate I certainly don't think the superintendent was lying or you know just trying to get me off his back um but as you can may know or as you can imagine it's an all Hands-On deck um it takes every bit of every seasonal we have um the superintendant out there himself once uh the IND the DPW that's assigned to janitorial services is done with the buildings they're out there everybody so you know that's only 10 of them so that's like two Crews and as you can imagine our phone is off the hook with residents that had a desire that their leaf pile would have been picked off a week ago as opposed to you know when it's getting done so again it all goes into the equation with safety of them as well as the motoring public certainly need to take it into consideration you know but we can only we can only do so much you know I hate for that to be the bottom answer but you know we certainly could hire police officers for use of overtime to Baby Satan again I don't mean to say that in a dismissive manner but you know there's a lot of things taken into consideration you know I'm disappointed to hear um that someone wasn't wearing the appropriate attire especially when I report that it is and it's for their own safety you know forget about what I think it's for their own safety so I will follow up on those on on that thank you thank you any other discussion I mean Mr Mayor sorry thank you Mike Mr is your microphone on is your microphone thank you for having on that's it okay that's why I'm multitasking way like being told turn on Mr CLA mine is on thank you Mr may please okay good evening everyone uh Recreation news if you're interested in volunteering to coach for the 2024 2025 basketball season please contact Dan scary a background check for all volunteers 18 volunteers 18 years of age and older as required the teen center program is now open the program is available to all Westwood and Washington Township children in grades 6 to 8 at no cost basketball pingpong Billiards and air hockey are just some of the activities available on Friday nights from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center parents must register their child in advance at register. communitypass.net Westwood I'm waiting to hear from Westwood mayor Ray Royo regarding the SE charge for the township participants in their recre programs I will see him tomorrow night for the monthly meeting of the pasca valley mayor Association and we'll certainly bring it up with him again Police Department news members from the Department assisted with and participated in both the wicked 5K walk run and the George School TR Retreat events they also attended two election day training courses hosted by the Bergen County prosecutor's office they have started voluntary self-defense tactics training to prepare for 2025 mandates fire department news this past month the department responded to multiple Co and fire alarms as well as reported odors of gas and one gas leak the department responded to the parkway for a crash with a report of a car experiencing a smoke condition they also had a vehicle leaking gasoline the members were able to contain the leak from spreading until Hazmat and a toe responded members visited one of the schools for fire prevention month the department hosted their annual ragam muffin event some members of the department visited the fire academy to utilize their car fire Simulator for training the department also coordinated an evacuation drill at the Chelsea Assisted Living facility this includes Ed members of the police department the Fire official and ambulance Corps this will now be an annual event which is mandated by the state the department attended the Fire Academy graduation for three of their members congratulations to them all one of them has been a firefighter for over 30 years and due to paperwork not being handled correctly Years Ago by a different town he had to go through the training process again we greatly appreciate his dedication and desire to continue to help his neighbors the the academy runs over 6 months for the fire one training class consisting of two nights per week and some weekends the department has also asked me to remind the residents that during this drought the state has mandated the ban on all open fires for example fire pits that are not gas or electrical as well as fireworks to name just a few these are dangerous conditions as we have seen in Rockaway township and other parts of the state and a lot of people may know we had a small brush fire behind the high school so when you think it can't hit here it can so please be careful with uh anything you're doing outside that could start a fire DPW news the DPW prepared its equipment and vehicles during October for leaf collection crws began collecting leaves the week of October 14th the leaf collection program officially started November 4th in zone one yearly garden and household debris collection programs ended during October and will resume in April 2025 residents can currently bring debris to the DPW Yard Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. after leaf collection the DPW Yard will be back open on Tuesdays from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in addition to the Saturdays there are also no white goods pickups being scheduled until after the leaf collection season members of the department also ass assisted with many events that took place in October Town day shredding and the 5K just the name of few DPW facility I'm pleased to present to the council and the public this evening revised plans for the building in working with the superintendent of the department we were able to reduce the number of Bays needed for their operation from 5 to three in addition to freeing up more space at here at Town Hall this will also have a lower cost than a 5 Bay building putting that savings to another property for storage of equipment should we find a suitable one zoning office there were a total of 30 zoning applications reviewed for the month of October Library October flew by with a slew of programs and Outreach events they're thrilled that construction for the new Ada entrance ramp and parking spot is complete a plethora of programs were offered this month from paper quilling to steam book clubs books for treats Halloween cookie decorating family Lantern Blaze and a senior puzzle lunch over 4,000 visits to the live Library have taken place as of this writing in October thank you to everyone for visiting and using your library pick up of orders place for the annual Thanksgiving pie and cake event will take place at the library on Tuesday November 26th election day I would like to thank both Sue wowski and cor Cornelia Lisa along with all the pole workers for their efforts on Election Day I do not know for sure but I am confident this election broke any recent election turnout for inperson voting in town even taking early and vote by mail ballots into account they kept everything moving along and when they World lines everyone was taking it in stride and having friendly conversations with each other the mayor's Wellness campaign I want to thank director of Health Judy beckme and the members of the health Advisory Board in putting together a walk around the lake on November 3rd for the campaign we were blessed with nice weather and I was pleased with the number of people who turned out for the event the montauri school I'm happy to report they broke ground at the former Charlie Brown's location they told me baring any significant weather delays they look forward to making quick progress at the site Veterans Day we celebrated Veterans Day yesterday and I was honored to be invited to speak at the ceremony our local veterans do much in support of our town and in assisting their fellow veterans and getting the help they may need so Tom thank you for putting that ceremony together and everything you guys do thank you Mr y public affairs we had another successful Town Day event I want to thank director Sasha Lopez along with the entire team the town organizations and the sponsors without all of their support this and many other events that take place in town would not happen I was happy to participate in the Halloween 5K fun run walk with my family I'm sure councilwoman HZ will go into more detail on this event our annual tree lighting EV will take place on December 6th uh just want to wish everyone a uh safe and healthy and blessed Thanksgiving thank you Mike that completes my report report of the council Miss VZ yes thank you so um Washington Wicked 5K and kids fundr run took place on October 20th thank you to VFW Post 6192 for being our title sponsor as well as all our other sponsors Town departments volunteers here the mayor and the administrator uh we had a great great day the weather was perfect for a good run um the residents that ran the 5K came face to face with the wicked Hill of Washington as we affectionately named it um if you know you know that Hoover and Jackson Hill is quite a challenge uh but my ultimate favorite part was watching all the kids race down Ridgewood Boulevard East in their costumes we have a bunch of great pictures if you have not seen them I welcome you to take a look at the album on our public affairs Parks and Recreation Facebook page uh the kids were all dressed up uh many of them running hand inand with Mom or Dad and it really made all the stress of putting together a Halloween fun run uh totally worth it uh thank you to all of those who came out to cheer our participants um I saw a few people along the Route at the end of their driveways with music cheering um so it was really really a great time um luckily I still have a little one so I can enjoy a lot of these uh Halloween festivities the fire department I attended their ragam muffin parade with my little one uh we really appreciated the longer route so she could show off her costume a little longer it was very cute to see all the kids dressed up you can never have too many Halloween festivities so thank you to the fire department for putting that together um the guitar program so councilman Sears has been doing a lot of great things with our veterans um in on October 21st I stopped by the guitar lessons being given and it was lovely meeting many of the participants and watching them in action I'm glad I was able to just watch and not play because I don't think anybody wants to hear me play but good job councilman here I heard him playing a couple Tunes couple chords a couple cords but you guys it really was a fantastic um Endeavor a great great thing you got going there um and then speaking of veterans yesterday was the Veterans Day ceremony that was also a very beautiful ceremony we had a beautiful day we actually you had an eagle make two Eagles Two Eagles that's right take uh grace us with its presence so thank you to all the Veterans for your service um you are the reason that we can enjoy these fun activities um and keeping our countries and our families safe so thank you thank you for everything that you do for us and that is all thank you Mr s thank you council president uh I would like to start off with um I met with the president of Monclair State and we're going to do uh we're going to get some more graduate Studio students to do another study okay uh the study that I picked is going to be U environmental uh basic basically the canopy and the amount of carbon monoxide within the township um I just want to give you some statistics back in 2019 I told the uh the committee of the Town we've lost 23% of our canopy as of 2024 we only have 46% of our canopy left that's a total amount of several thousand trees coming down um in 2019 I mentioned the surface temperature was 110° in 20124 the surface temperature went up to 125° we are literally cooking ourselves um which also leads to health issues skin cancer asthma breathing difficulties so the goal is to look at where we can put more trees back into the community see where our high volume of carbon monoxide's coming from and hopefully we could bring even if we put 10% more trees back into our environment it will definitely help us out so um I'll I'll keep the counil of breast um on um when we're going to kick this project off uh also um I met with while we had a zoom meeting um uh administrator Mar Caro and myself had a zoom meeting with substainable New Jersey and Public Service Gas and Electric on charging stations since we won the silver certificate Award of planning this is our next step to get funding so there's a couple of requirements that I have to work on to fill out and U the person Michelle there will assist us getting funding for charging stations um I'm not going to tell you it's going to take a month or two but we're on the path of of getting um some charging stations in play uh I want to Echo Council uh uh woman's uh Miss vz's comments on everything that has gone on within the community it it makes us a stronger Community um on the veterans end um we now have a donation page it's VFW 6192 org if you would like to donate to uh the veterans within the township we'll be more than happy to take your money uh Miss fet mentioned about the qar program I started that program a year ago and it was only three veterans we now have 11 Veterans in the program awesome um and I want to thank the community because they donated a lot of differents for us and some books so we have we have actually uh to I actually had a u a meeting right before here and uh we just took on another member that's going to be 12 so we are we are growing and um they're just strumming away you know I'm just a picker but some these people really know how to play but it it's been good comrad ship but we do need donations to keep this program going so please uh reach out to VFW 6192 and donate thank you council president thank you Mr oh one more thing I'm sorry I just looked over here um back in February uh I had a traffic study done by Easy Ride on speeding on Beach Street and Colonia um we are going to do a followup to see if there's any difference or changes that might have been put in play I will keep the council aress when this study is completed thank you thank you council president Mr CIO yeah I'll keep mine real short and uh to the point uh obviously A lot's going on in town I thank all the council members and all the members of the community uh for what they're doing a lot of festivities going on and done very well in might end I just like to bring up about uh Veterans Day you know we set away we set aside one day a year to remember our veterans 11 111 and I'm sure everyone knows the significance of that number the 11th month the 11 day of the 11th Hour where all wars were supposed to end and unfortunately we' been more Wars than we care to mention and there's still some Wars going on around the world um so I thank every veteran every day for what they've given us and there's a group that I'd like to uh mention that I think a lot of people forget they're the veterans that died before the United States was the United States before there was a country and those people seem to be forgotten because they really made this country so anytime you see a veteran or someone wearing the uniform please thank them even though it's not Veterans Day and that concludes my report thank you Mr Cass Mr Alman yeah I just uh would like to uh again thank the veterans uh for their service and you know allowing us to have the freedoms that we do uh specifically Mr Sears on the de uh it's greatly app appreciated uh for your uh sacrifices as well as your continued efforts to uh give veterans uh recognition and uh activities so greatly appreciated thank you Council I think the other thing is the uh election day um thank you to Sue and Cornelia the uh election uh I feel went smoothly there was you know in social media you know certainly know when there's a problem and it was very quiet uh there there were one or two comments and there were 10 comments in response that uh things were smooth uh things were taken care of so uh thank you to uh again to Sue and Cornelia and all the poll workers uh you know it's uh one of our uh great privileges to vote and the fact that we could do it uh you know uh without issue in the township is uh really a testament to uh the organization so thank you thank you Mr um everything has been said I'd like to thank all the volunteers and staff for the township uh Fire Department police department uh tpw and all the other departments that made all these events that we've had in the last month and a half very successful also want to thank the VF W for a great ceremony yesterday um you know at the uh at the uh with the two bald eagles that decided to show up for the ceremony that's awesome um it's important that we teach our children what the true meaning of Veterans Day is and um I was honored to be at the ceremony Mr Sears you did a wonderful job as usual I appreciate all your efforts you do and um I think it's important that we teach our children the importance of Veterans Day and it's not just a day off of work um it's important that we realize that these brave men and women gave their lives some of them and some of them still are fighting the war that they lived years ago today and it's important that we honor them and do whatever we can to help them and I appreciate all your efforts on Mr Sears of what you're doing with the PTSD and all that so that's all I have for tonight uh motion to open the public comment period of the meeting move second all in favor there was no one in the audience so do I have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so move second all in favor I ordinances adoption second reading none introduction first reading none resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined to have the unanimous consent of the council will be enacted in one motion should any item require independent consideration any council member may have such item removed from the consent agenda does anyone have any item they'd like to be removed from the consent agenda at this time yeah Mike can be p 357 and 358 just for questions 357 and 358 any others Okay resolution number 24- 351 authorize refund for release of engineering performance guarantee balance block 45102 lot 3 in the amount of notic see $2,731 resolution number 24352 authorized refund for release of engineering escrow and performance guarantee balance block 4215 lot 9 and the amount not to exceed $996 resolution number 24353 authorized refund for release of engineering escrow and performance guarantee balance block 2206 lot 6 in the amount not to exceed $696 125 resolution number 24354 authorized refund for release of engineering escrow balance block 2322 Lot 19 in the amount not to exceed $28.25 resolution 24- 355 authorized can cancellation of any current tax liability and all future property tax bill due to US veterans permanent disability block 3103 lot 251 and refund the tax over payment of not to exceed $81.15 resolution number 24356 authorize cancellation of any current tax liability and all future property tax bill due to US veterans permanent disability block 2201 Lot 8 and refund the tax over payment of not to exceed $575 53 do I have a motion to approve these as submitted Mo second roll call Council M CIO yes councilman seers yes councilman Omen yes Council woman bz yes council president the Senate yes resolution number 324357 authorize agreement for preliminary site assessment and remedial investigation to BAS engineering Inc for Block 2301 lot one Swim Club property in the amount of not to exceed $78,000 do I have a motion so move do I have a second second discussion yeah I just had a quick question from Mr Dar Carlo about the funding this isn't a this isn't a capital line that we have is that correct I'm sorry Sarah was oh no problem no no problem the question was the $78,000 that we're approving or may approve tonight right um that is a capital line at this point yes do does that does any of that money come from the the grant that we got for open space can we utilize that is that why we're not using it or exactly so I checked with Ken elijio from buron County open space on all the grants we do have and with David buor grant writer and unfortunately for this service we can't use the so that's why um and again I was it earlier this year or late last year Council approved D the money that we did receive for the open um space Grant to create a capital line for the Improvement okay of 464 Richwood Boulevard more so that's where that 78 coming from so it's so really is it is that money just in a different just in a different form yeah so okay yeah I guess so we got a couple of Grants we got local Recreation Improvement Grants from buron County open space and we have a DCA local Recreation we can't use any of that money to pay for that 78,000 the O the the open space I think it's the Burgen County open space land acquisition grant that we received a couple years ago we finally got the money it was like just let's agree it was 464 okay we receive that money from the county once we received it we could do whatever we want with it if you want to buy 15 new police cars or a new fire truck or okay dedicated to a capital specifically for the improvements of 464 and that's where the 78s come absolutely but that but that line item was dedicating to Future improvements again like you to say it dismissively but we're you know where are I going to find 78,000 so I look at it as a Improvement to the property it's site remediation I just want to understand where it's really not money that we're that the township is putting out it's money that we got granted that we're putting in a line in a capital line item for future use and we using this for that future use is that I want to say yes but that's not accurate so the way I understand the purchase of the swim club is the township put up their own money first right because I think it was like say 735 right and then we receive that 464 so technically it's Township money but if you if you guys remember I had told Council there's two things we could do we could either put it in the capital Surplus or we could create another Capital line towards the Improvement 464 and again we keep our fingers crossed there's a strong likelihood that we're going to be getting well there was but there was also there was also discussion on the day is to reduce our original 735 outlay and put the 436 back into the budget right into into General was that when you were on the council previously that was one of the things that was discussed talk about and when and when the 436 was was decided not to pay off the loan it was put into the capital trust fund to be used as Improvement I agree it's a stretch to say it's an improv it's an improvement but it is needed for what we need to do but it wasn't there to not five out of the $5 million proposed green Great Lawn it was going to be 43 we didn't know at the time right so yes so at the time we were hoping it would be a future swing set or something you know future great one um but unfortunately we're this is how we're funding the initial so we could take the full no you can't no no but we're going to end up taking that 436 and remediating the property probably but you know a lot of money to spend just on preliminary and we're going to go final and do more yeah okay thank you Mr car I appreciate thatc any other questions for for on this resolution gentlemen ladies yes oh hold on um we have a motion the on page seven there's a breakdown of Boswell vers contract contractors do are we responsible for Contracting the contractors or are they a subcontract with Boswell I think that's probably the best way to explain is they're a subcontractor so we're dealing with Boswell B Boswell only and that's how we get well I don't want to say that's how we get around the bid but because it's Professional Service you they will hire the contractors to do the the excavation and the test Waring and all that yeah again I don't know what what part of scope of work it is but that's why they broke it out as um you know but to answer your question specifically yes we're going to we're going to contract with Boswell if you approve it for 78,000 out of it um is the breakdown of Boswell and the contractor and there's potential again that might not all of these eight scopes of work will have to be done again you know we keep but they're accounting for everything that um may have to be done in that proposal okay and just a followup to that so we did an initial assessment of the property and that highlighted an issue that we're now addressing uh with this bid to understand the scope is is that a fair statement yes remember you had the question on the bill list um as to what that one defense was for that was the pre-demolition survey so they went in and they were supposed to identify any hazards above ground INR in the building storage of chemical materials so that was all that I forget how much that was it may have been you know I you know I hate throwing out numbers but it was somewhere between the 13 and 16,000 range that was different that led to the indication of the different hazards yes now this proposal is more specifically for the identification of the pcbs in the soil so my followup question to that was so are they only assessing the contamination or are they does this include the development for lack of a better term of a plan to remediate I I believe it does it's all so it's going to get to the plan so again not prepare the plan well again I don't I don't want to test you know seven or eight pages wor the scope of work that I didn't memorize so you know to answer that fully I'd want to look through this but um the way I understand it is it's all the prep work to come up with the plan I don't know if it actually includes the plan um but you know yeah that's it again I just want I I'm just trying to understand the progression and you know what the next you know they may do this work and say you know those readings that's it and you know it's you know a very small cleanup effort contained or they may find that it's like you know let's hope it's not but they may find that I guess my question is they're just going to lay out the playing field they are not putting the plan to remediate so there's going to be another engineering fee to do the plan and then there's going to be the execution if it's not including the scope of work then yes but you know I believe you're reading it correct from this that's why I read it there's going to be a second there's going to be a second there's going to be a second phase to this once they identify how little or or big the contaminated area is right they identify what the contaminants you know are and where they're located then they'll prepare a final plans ins specs to go after for bid for remediation which is not included in this is just the preliminary groundwork to get you to that location that effort okay thank you roll call councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council woman valz yes council president to Senate yes resolution 24- 358 authorize the removal and replanting of trees in Carriage Court in Garder field to amaroso Tree Service Inc in the Mount not to exceed 20,600 do I have a motion so move second so where are the trees on Carriage Court they they're the ones on the burm that separates the road from the parkway but who owns those streets that's that was my question I know in the past that was a road we made very when I say recently the last 30 years right yeah that's recent three years that's crazy right um but I don't know what the what the uh who I can't figure out who owns those treats well that's the thing I don't know what the I know it might be the town property but I don't know what the stipulation is in the um I don't know if it was an ordinance or whatever in order to make that road so that's my that's my concern are we still responsible to replace those that that the tree line so because we don't own any trees anywhere else well that's what I'm saying we don't other than our parks but on roadways we don't own any trees Yeah in our Parks well yes but along roadways we don't own any trees so why would this be any different than the other roadways in town a couple of issues on Carriage that I found out the um developer that extended that street he built that and he built the burms he put the wrong trees on the burms those trees are supposed to be on flat surfaces and they're not on flat surfaces number one one number two is there is a Waterway drainage system on the other side of that firm that these trees are falling into and that becomes store water problem now so when I went down there I actually walked that storm water Trail and it's it's just loaded with dead trees absolutely and they all the pine trees that were planted but there's oak trees laying down too I've seen Oak a couple but that's not where the bunk head is and the warrant drainage system is um well I guess the question is the the agreement with the developer did that fall on our responsibility that's what that's that's the the key if it does I'm willing to do the 20 20 grand for the trees if it's not in there 30 years 40 years I'm not I'm not willing to do it because it's not it's not the taxpayers responsibility so I really would like to see what the the um contract or develop the plan was so you do have that answer Mark I have no idea I don't you know I did ask you know Mr Sears to help me as coordinator of the Green Team and I know he was working with DPW and M Mr R Roso the last couple months because we've gotten several calls from the residents on Carriage rept regarding the safety issue them coming down and then the Catch 22 is you take them down and now looking at par um and then that's when Mr Sears kind of gave me some historical facts about but the trees that we're planting they will substain that burn and everything yeah they're not the type of trees yeah but what happens when other people ask us for trees to Parkway noise like that there's a lot of people that are joining to the parkway there's a lot of people that are the parkway whole yeah we could line two miles of Parkway because we did this one stretch and but this happens to be with in the storm water problem correct I'm not disagreeing with that I know but if we start lining there like I I can understand taking the trees down and not replanting them a lot of them were dead been really dead I I personally would like to table this one because I don't think they're not going to plant them like soon are they were they plan I think that's what we were we were try to get them in before the freeze okay and part of it was also Gardener field you know I don't obviously Gardener field I have no with that whatsoever it's our field you know we have to take care of it we did a lot of work on got it that's actually the last Park that we need to clean up and uh with the evasive plants and and everything that's growing on the fence line the goal is to go back 10 to 15 feet and then you remember all the storms we had when all the trees came up well this will be a natural barrier that we're putting up that will help to prot protect I have no issues with G I just have the issues on clarage because I'm not disagreeing that there's issue there I think we need to do a little more research the developers you know the plans on can we can we table it until we find out more information I'll make a motion to table can we can we table that portion but continue i' would like yeah can we can we proceed with the gardener and table The Carriage Court until we have the other information is that okay that's okay with you i' appreciate that I have a motion let's let's approve the 20 because we don't know what the breakdown is right no we I look at it in detail yeah I got two quotes got two different so yeah the other quote was like 20 almost 27 yeah was more than the guess so it doesn't make it dirty if you're willing to approve the 20 but but I understand I will not spend that money yes I would I'm fine with that I appreciate personally approve the 20 and let's find out what our liability is with that burn okay thank you may I ask a question though sure um are there just because you were talking about trees along the parkway are there grants out there for trees that we could you know apply every and just keep adding we I have applied for grants for the last six years let's say and every time we get accepted and right before they're being shipped oh they're going somewhere else because of the status of our community we don't need to pay for exactly so I I think the problem we have Miss well is that this area is really the only area that nobody owns that side of the street there's no houses that bu that side of the street you know it's just a curb line in a burm where every other place there's it's somebody's backyard so if we start putting trees in people's backyards and we we're kind of yeah you know if they want trees they got to buy them themselves I'm saying once we establish who whose property that is it's got be 30 years Carriage Court is at least at least 30 30 years old e that's what I was going to ask we can look and see if we have any developer agreements there has to be because those all those houses were by one developer 30 years ago you think at least at least 30 years so I'd like to make a motion to yourself Steve doesn't matter it's happen anyway Caron dat me at this point carving Cofe can I ask a question about gardener yeah so you know I know it's a long way down the road uh but there was talk of potentially tying In The Swim Club with Garder does any of the you know where is this it's this is this is on the other side of the fence going north okay yeah the ti is on the southern end and uh this is on all on the Northern okay I I would like to make a motion for the 12,000 um 800 and then we'll table the 7800 for later that's okay with everybody because that includes all the work at Gardener for the I thought you wanted the I would I would go with the 20 and let Mark find out what's going on I have no problem I have no problem putting the money there but if we're not liable for it I I'm sure Mr is not going to spend it no but I there's a partment that wants to ask you for approval to take down the trees then I think if we take them down we're setting PR we not setting precent because there is times where it's iffy and it's such a dangerous condition and I can't say that here that it's it's just better for us to go and get the tree but I think what's a bigger problem is we take these trees out and we don't put them back and then we have the parkway as their front La so all right I I appreciate that I I know my marching orders and that that's how I'll handle it I don't know where I'm going to start but so 20 right the no I mean start with trying to figure out no no no yeah but we're g toot and we just have to remove the sales tax that he shows on there also is there actually an amount though or does it just say sales tax I don't know that's why I didn't do the math yet he knows Zer okay all right just yeah I think the numbers do add up yeah it does add up no sales tax okay all right yes roll call who's going to make I'll make a motion to second roll call thank you councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes counc yes council president yes motion to adjourn to conference agenda so move second all in favor all next next meeting of the township Council will be on I had one question before we adjourn we'll do it in conference we do it in conference well it had to do with the the consent agenda it's just a a Qui question okay um and I guess it's for Shaban um I recall and maybe I'm incorrect here but Mr PA said that when we were doing consent agenda you could just read the resolution numbers without having to read the entire description just to speed up the process I was so I know we did it for a little while and then we went back so I don't you I'm just wondering for time purposes bless reading for you right I don't mind but I was told I had to read them I think we we did it for um the U uh Recreation all the funds we took those off we took them off under a c we discussed them after read them and then we decided to take that off so so the question is do you have to for consent agenda do you have to read the description I I know for sure you have to read the title of an ordinance you know for that purp purpose I would think you do have to read it people at home that might not have an agenda watching I thought he had said because it was posted that was so I don't know I fig I don't mind reading them if if I don't have to I I you know it'll save us five minutes but I don't really care either way so if you can just let me know what the legal thank you pleas that's it that was it all right um next meeting of the township Council will be on Monday December 2nd 2024 beginning at 7: p.m. sign up for nixel text 07676 2 888777 key code TWP Bergen thank you under conference agenda DPW building and site plan thank you Mike um if uh if WCTV can put up page one of the uh building do we have a copy of this Mr Mayor it's in it was in the packet here it is okay I didn't see the site work on it that's why I was that's yeah the site work is in here yeah no not that one the one that has like the layout of the building it's a first floor plan uh that looks like it thank you so as I said in my report in discussing with the DPW um you know and space constraints that we have to deal with up here um and a meeting with the engineers we decided that uh the department can be amply served with a three Bay building instead of a five um with a full story up above uh if you can show page two please of that um that gets them uh all the space they need you know for their operations and like that um and so you know it it it helps significantly in a number of different areas um if now if you can go to the site plan Please Mr Mayor can we just um go back to page the first floor please of course you don't mind no not at all the first floor you said first Flor one thank you thank you Rick so we have the three utility we have the elevator machine room storage and utility rooms coming into the bay three correct can we just make sure that the with pios and everything those doors are in tight proximity to a vehicle being parked there and you can't get through that aisle when those doors are open okay so can we ask Mr iino if it's you know to our best entrance to make that 3 and 1/2t wider so this way a Personnel can walk through there while those doors are open yeah or you may know even better than me Mike since you bring it up can we maybe do a pocket door where it goes right I don't think I don't think so for fire rating right that's what I was thinking they're fire rated doors but um if we can make that aisle there like three and a half foot wider this way if somebody's got a door open or needs to be working in those rooms they're not and again I don't know fire codes if maybe the doors can open inward instead of out into the room I don't think so okay yeah ask them than for that okay uh yeah thank you for going back to the site plan um it it shows better uh up there because it's in color um but the area in blue would be the footprint of the building um behind those two yellow objects which would be two garbage trucks park there there's ample room for a salt shed that shows there and then that third one by itself would be uh parking for a third garbage truck so the department you know the yellows are garbage trucks correct the yellows are garbage trucks yes um and like I said behind the two there's ample room for assault shed um and so the department feels that this would fit their needs uh like I said in my uh monthly report the cost savings and uh if you want to bring that that slide back up now I'm sorry what was the green one you said the sa that yeah behind the two garage I know it's hard since it's not in color but in in the upper portion of the site plan Mr Mayor oh okay okay yes across like directly across from the two garbage trucks okay can we see if we have room there if uh Mr beckme can uh is this a beckme plan or is this a Boswell plan this is Beck it's still marked Boswell so just oh cu the survey Boswell had done the survey so it's really so across from the two garbage trucks would we be able to put a couple dumpsters there for um Recycling and uh white goods or something so people could dump during uh Saturdays instead of having to wait um I know other towns provideing you know just food for thought y okay so if you miss recycling you mean no like like sometimes recycling is a week and a half away and you have a party or something you want to go dump it somewhere you know you have dumpsters there like towns have for like small small yeah like you know come up with a couple cans dump them there you know we wouldn't be emptying out the whole town but at the firehouse yeah okay okay maybe we could use them for grass you know instead of putting them in the trucks like we had talked about putting the grass and the dumpsters whatever um yeah I'm sure there's a way around it my concern would be um you know that grass tends to smell at times and at least in the garbage trucks it's somewhat contained in the dumpster it would couple dumpsters there just to dump yeah um and so Mr io's updated cost for this um if you all on that page is uh just uh 4171 million uh which is a significant reduction off of the 5 Bay Area uh and like I said it takes up a lot less space which you know anyone who visits Town Hall knows every inch of space is at a premium for parking and other things um and so with with the savings you know I would ask that Council keep in mind if and when we find a location to maybe uh put storage of their equipment that you know we earmark some of that some of the savings for that purpose and so U you know I'd like to get maybe council's approval to take this to the next step with Mark you I don't even remember whether these are coming up with bid specs so counil the next step if we uh go with the three Bay TW story which you I definitely um piggy back off the mayor I think it's the great the best option and we've certainly reviewed a number to death almost um it's about $1.1 million less expensive than the five bay version but as soon as we you know uh affirm what we want a building then we can get the numbers from uh Beck Meer for the site you know the council was it was important to them to and get a you know precise amount of Number the only other thing I'll tell you is um that will be part of the site development would be the salt shed the salt shed price is not included in that 4.1 on that price just and neither is the site worth and neither is the C you may be closer to your original number once you add those two things in yeah but they were always additive anyway so I'm saying it's you may get back to your 5 point something number once you add those numbers up yeah but again it would have been 6 million plus any still yeah either either design I think that's important con uh topic to bring up is either design even if it was the five bay we were still to acquire property to put somewhere and there definitely would not have been enough room on site to put a salt Dome and you you know you want that at Town Hall you know even any property we're not going to want to go there for the Sal even though it's only used a couple times okay so so that would be the next step you guys so can we make a can we can we can we take a quick poll can I just ask a question please oh sure go ahead um if I recall there was a wash bag in the original on the five bay one yes but there's there's no yeah um if it's not labeled uh there's no reason to remove that so yes it would still be there right okay so it would yeah so it would be Bay one or Bay three okay yes so we'll get to put that in yeah this was just so you could bring it to the C yes thank you can you can you go over the process to reconcile going from 5 to three the square footage The Bays because the five has been in front of two separate councils for over you know over a year uh and you know we had I felt we were not being pressured but we were being asked to you know assess this and do we want to do it we've been waiting for the site costs associated with the five bay so we could understand the Allin and now there's a quick pivot to a three Bay which you know the things change but it just seems to me we're putting you know 10 pounds of alone crap into a five pound sack so how do we get how do we get all that material all that space all the equipment that was going into a a five bay building that had significantly more square foot into this and still be functional and you know workable for the DPW um the quick answer to that is um you know we're always reviewing things until a shovel goes into the ground and so uh in talking about it with the architect with the engineer with members of the department um we kind of said hey we have two bays that there's really just going to be storage of equipment and that equipment you know really doesn't need to be indoors necessarily and so we we kind of said all right well that being the case and you know then let's let's look at a three Bay option and you know we know we're going to have to rent space somewhere or hopefully find Space to put this equipment but uh you know everyone understands how tight space is here and so we're always looking at you know ways to conserve the space here and hopefully find a suitable place off site to store uh in addition to what we were going to store on the five bay concept to store what would have been in those extra two bays we're not compromising this the the the Integrity of the other equipment by keeping it Outdoors or not properly stor um we we wouldn't be compromising the equipment um you yeah and I always equate it to you a car these days even though it's heavier Duty equipment and from when I was in the trucking business um you know these vehicles are now and and equipment is meant to not meant to be outside but it survives okay you're not really impacting its life cycle and hopefully if we find a another piece of property suitable even though it wouldn't be fully indoors perhaps we can just you know cover it with something where you know let's say it's covered from the elements but the size might be open but again the department was uh you know was fine with us uh taking this option they said any you know any life expectancy that would have been increased by the storing it inside is negligible to the benefit that the town gets as far as the cost and the space up here toall so the 4.2 million does does include 300,000 for site Paving utilities and Landscaping drainage but it does not include a build out of the rooms upstairs and everything like that correct in the it system do we have any energy management systems included in this sorry let me go back to this if you can go back to that slide Ricky it does include 300,000 for site Paving utilities landscape and drainage so the only thing not included on here is the salt shed yeah and and but we have a build but we have a a Furnishing number and an i number and a Energy Management number and all that CU I just want to make sure we're including everything well again um as he says you know this is uh expected to fall you know 4.2 million so he's saying use 40 to 44 as the range um you know I I don't remember Mark if we got into that level of detail you know Does it include it cabling and thing I mean I I would think so but I can't say 100% that we spoke about it at that level just yet yeah I wouldn't want to you know say something that I'm not accurate I I mean you know we confirm that up with him also and uh now with a few uh things that have come up and you know give you a firm number at the next meeting make sure it includes all of those that last paragraph but it doesn't really say it it professional fees I mean again it's apples and orange is the emergency service building and this building in terms of the scope uh and the land that's being the site itself correct but we know that the site work for the ESB was significant you know to me $300,000 just doesn't seem enough enough uh you know when we look at the site that's why we gotta wait for Mr beckme to give us his cost opinion once he finalizes it better idea the you know when I look at the site when you look out here this retaining wall that go you know the um the access down to the bottom down to uh pasak Road um that access road I mean was that built or has that been rebuilt to support this type of no it has to be built it doesn't exist there is no retable so that but that's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying is that that's why I'm asking is that all included in the site workor because it doesn't appear to you know like and the you know the fall off to was it Valley bank now yes Valley Bank yeah you know that wall again uh you know I know it it's clear it wasn't included so I'm not saying that it's wrong I'm just saying that we need to be real about what these expenses are okay well again I think the intent was make sure that the council you know with our explanation as to how we got here was okay and you know assuming no big changes which I'm not hearing any uh you know we'll have the engineer and the architect you know now refine these costs to get you a more accurate number okay thank you of course so we're good to go with I believe so two Story 3 Bay what's that good to go with the twostory 3 Bay as far as the next level for PR I think we got to get I think we just got this on Friday so I think we got to look at it I think we got digested that's why I was going to ask the council to digest it and talk to everybody you know get comments back for the next meeting so we can have an answer for Mr Beck Meer and Mr iino that's okay with everybody because we just got it on Friday so if we can digest it for the next meeting come up with questions to it's Mr Mar is okay if we send them directly to Mark so this way he can get answerers for the next meeting if you don't mind just copying me and also I'm not saying Naka I'm just I'm just asking you know um and yeah unfortunately we only have one meeting month uh so I'm going to say you know is it okay if we give the professionals the okay to refine this you know this plan to get you better numbers for the next meeting taking into account that you may have additional questions after you've had the month to digest it I'm because again the DPW has been very patient us Mr yes Mr Alman out no because I I but I mean I would like to lay this out against the other PL that's what I wanted to do yeah and you know uh again I appreciate that the mayor has had these detailed discussions with the members of Staff uh I mean they have to live there but you know sometimes uh you know they may be accommodating they may be accepting of this uh because they want it done not because it's the best end result so well I I can tell you that is not the case they they wouldn't they know this is going to last them 50 years they wouldn't you know go along with something just to go along with that they feel this can suit their needs well into the future so I guess if we can we I I would like to just have you know firmer numbers yeah and like but that's what I'm saying if more if more questions come up if we can have them answered for the December 2 meeting and then that's when we'll we can as the expression goes we can walk and chew gum at the same time they'll work on the numbers you counil work on M okay we'll send the questions over to pleas yeah to the mayor Mr Dar please yes um just one other thing when you if you do send them please copy soon so she can get them to the rest of the council so we're all in the we don't create a uh a sunshine BL violation right so just um again the buildings are different the I don't know how different the security systems are but I think the bid the original bid for the ESB was like 20,000 and it wound up being over 50 uh so if there's a need for a security system in the building uh you know when when you say security mik do you mean more like uh access controls yes okay yes just want to make sure we're talking the same thing I always call it Access Control yeah okay uh next item Memorial Field infield rehab change order uh at Memorial Field um I want to thank if if I could just I know it's your item ahead so I want to thank uh Mr scary Mr Dar Carlo and myself and the mayor giving us the opportunity to do this but when we put this bid out we didn't realize that Memorial Field included bringing thousands of yards of clay to redo the infield and when Danny scary looked at it he said well why don't we have grass there and stop some of the runoff and it was a great idea so when Dan called me I said well why don't we go back to the to the company and say Hey give us a credit for all the clay and install the sad there right which will help it run off across that vast amount of infield and it'll be a true infield baseball field then and it came back that I believe Mr de what is it a $1,000 differential th it's about a $1,000 differential wait can you can you explain that a little bit the original so so memori Memorial Field has two Fields it has the the the softball field closest to pasak and has the baseball field closest to the school when the gentleman that is is doing the field rehab quoted it he figured they were both softball fields so he was going to Clay infield both infields does that make sense to you yes and then when Mr scary looked at it he says well why are we spend and the clay is the most expensive part of the whole project is buying all this clay for these infields he said why am I buying all this clay that always washes away we get all the complaints of the yellow clay running down Pas gak into the lake into the lake wherever um so why don't we put grass in the infield it's supposed to be and save all that money and the differential to Grass it instead of putting all that Clay is $1,000 plus so that's why Mr Dar Carlo put this on here correct Mr car I hope I didn't steal your but no you supported it I appreciate it and it was a great it was a great idea by Mr scary I wish we would have thought of it sooner all of us but we you know we were all I guess you know thinking of just getting the project going rather than you know the nitty-gritty like we did at the end and I think it's very important to say it again um Mr scary did tremendous amount of work he would not give up until we got the best prices possible absolutely so just to to tell numbers to the uh the council the original proposal for the baseball field was 15,990 the new proposal will be $ 27,886 and that's to replace what would be clay with the sod and and level it and make it nice and safe and um will save us money from having to repeat all the clay all the clay yeah and probably not getting into the the uh storm water system that we just cleaned out the difference between those two numbers is 11,895 the anticipated savings on the clay is 10,800 so that's where we come up with the anticipated extra expense once you Hammer all the things out of $1,000 and that's the drainage and the replacement of the clay I do want to bring one more uh thing to the attention of the council uh and that is we will have to put a sprinkler system in under that side but again it's a great investment um and that will be $7,000 but I have funding in an existing Capital line for the Improvement of parks and Fields in the township and again Dan worked uh tremendous got three quotes it started out at 10, 8500 and then down to 7600 so again I didn't I don't want you guys to girl Mr scary's been working very hard on this I've spoken to him sometimes more than my wife during the day which I he's doing a great job your wife here that oh no she knows not doing a good job she knows he's called me I mean he's done a phenomenal job getting this all off the ground and and coming up with this great idea to Turf the infield and save us years of Maintenance headaches because I know you know God Rest Your Soul mopit used to always complain about how much clay they dumped on that infield every year the DPW so it'll stop that from happening on an annual basis so that's an awesome thing thank you and um so if anybody okay with the the additional $11,000 yes do we need to take a vote on this uh I'm good with it I'm good with it m you good Mr alond you good I'm good thank and just to clarify you're most likely not going to see a work change order yeah but the specific reason it's coming for you is because the council approved the expense and resolution y so you probably won't see an act an actual uh a change order but we will have to over enumber the the uh purchase order for what's the name of the company in in not part I forget the other one it's like I don't whatever yeah yeah so you might not see that but you know about it okay best practices survey lfn deficiencies where we did not receive points and I think it's my responsibility to take that on and explain um what we're going to do about it and why to the council so the the first thing um you know Council specifically Mr Casio um wanted to know about our deficiencies from last year and how we can improve and that was um introducing a lead abatement ordinance which Council approved this year so we did make improvements from last year as you know we scored a A 40 out of a possible um point total of 46 the points are actually different I just want uh better than that I just want to take you through a mistake or two that was made by the way 35 was the number you needed to obtain to get state aid and we obtained a 40 which should actually be like a 42 I don't know if Council has it in front of them but I'll I'll bring you your attention to specific questions that we were deficient in and the first one is number 22 this is the one we got to use so we do not have we don't have it here so it's question 42 it's regarding the environment and it's have one or more public electric vehicle charging station's been installed on Municipal property it was worth half a point obviously you know the answer is no but you heard Mr Sears earlier in the night state that it's something that we are working on to try and get so question number three 23 was when purchasing new vehicles does your municipality have a formal policy to purchase hybrid or Al turn in a few Vehicles well of course not because we don't have a charging station so we put No it should have been na so we would have actually gotten a half a point there so again that was just a mistake you can't go back unfortunately and change any of your answers so that's the first two uh the next question would be on um question 33 Financial Administration and it says njac blah blah blah establishes a schedule of minimum dollar amounts for tax collector shity bonding however to provide a higher level of security for public funds municipalities are encouraged to adopt the more stringent schedule for tax collector sh bonding specified in the law has your municipality adopted the more stringent shity so we do what is required if we had done additional to what is required we would have got a half a point so by saying no so what is the what what is needed to do what we need what is the cost of doing what I don't know the exact cost but you're absolutely right that's the the main word there is is the uh is its additional cost so we do what's required if we did more so we are we are finding out what that cost is uh question 34 is basically the same it just pertains um to a different department within the uh within the township and it would have been another half a point so we're looking into how much that's going to cost but again we do what do what's required um question 39 you know this was mistakenly put No it should absolutely be yes and we would have gotten another point the question is for any Municipal officers and employees not required by contract or Municipal policy to make health benefit contributions following the chapter 78 health benefit contribution grid is your municipality requiring those employees to contribute at least 1.5% of base salary towards health benefits the answer is yes we mistakenly put no we would have gained another point there just a few more um question 51 it pertains to shared services state law requires a copy of each shared services agreement to be filed with the division of local government services has your municipality filed with the division the most current copy of each shared services agreement under which your municipality provides one or more services to another local unit we should have put Na and we would have um acquired one point we put no uh Miss wowski put me in contact with someone down at DCA and we confirmed that it is the lead agency that's responsible for doing this so we're not the lead Agency on any of our shared services although we have shared services with Emerson the county um pamis so it's not our responsibility and I confirm that so if we had put na we would have received another point so it is not something that we were deficient on uh the next one or the last one's 50 excuse me for one second do we have a a way to correct that next time we have someone calling those the the municipalities were sharing service with to make sure they submit we could but ultimately it's not our responsibility it's the responsibility once it's signed off Sate for pramis to do it or for the county they would lose points not us right so there's no way for me to check there's not like a database I can friendly reminder hey perhaps get your stuff down to you're going to f us up and so say they said yes and they really didn't it's not going to affect us because it's their responsibility okay well we could say we just have no have to put na yeah we just have to put na we would have got a point for and the last three are 59 6061 and it's a very similar issue it has to do with us uploading um contractual agreements such as like with with the PBA or with the teamers or any employment agreements so that is something we were not doing that total about two and a half points myself the CFO Miss teski Miss wowski uh Miss A and Miss taboka are all taking a training session I think it's next week or no it's early December John on how to learn how to do this so it sounds like it's just easy you have to upload like the contract it's never that easy there's all kinds of financial information we have to put in so we were to fish it in it we have a plan to rectify it and we're taking training courses on how to do it so that that covers all of the deficiency questions and again I'll turn it over to John if the council has any other specific questions I think you think you went over anybody have any additional questions I think we got all the answers thank you thank you very much Capital review recommendations yes give me a second to just get this okay you if you if Council goes to the Excel spreadsheet I know it's small I don't even think I can read it with my glasses on but uh Council have requested us to do a review this is not all inclusive of everything it's just to get us started just to kind of tell you what's going on what my recommendations are and uh if everyone agrees we'll prepare a resolution for December 2nd to carry through the recommendations but as you can see in the uh the leftand column we had an open ordinance um all the way back to 97 if you go all the way to the right under notes I explain to you why that is um previously to us cancelling old poos that we didn't know about from 2006 2002 and 2002 that were um open for aelina engineering we closed those POs out which obviously unencumbered the money therefore putting a balance back in those Capital lines so on those three those first three it's all associated with closing out POS for aelina those were funded sources it has the balance there for you our recommendation is to cancel it and they will go to Capital Surplus as a matter of fact the first four I apologize were all I had a question Mr Thea really quick in item number two from 2002 yeah would you be able to provide the council where that Brook stabilization and Engineering was done I'm just curious if it's in the same location that would fix now I'm not trying to point blame but I just want to see if it's the same location I can certainly look into that I don't know how I'll make out goes back over 20 years so it might be a little difficult but I will check all right um thank you and then as we just go down the line uh you know again it had to do with cancelling numerous POS for Mr aene engineering and again it wasn't his fault I think it was just the practice back in the early 2000s of how they um that actually thank Mr Alman because he had provided me with a memo I had never seen before um from a similar conversation had to do with open open POS or open ARS that kind of helped me out with that and then you just see those other ordinances that have leftover balances anything that's funded will be go into our Capital Surplus and anything that's unfunded which is the last two um will just reduce the amount of borrowing we may have to do in the future so what happened to the Salem Road sewer system repair it was significantly overestimated so all the work was done I think we if I remember correctly again we funded a line C uh the capital line was funded for $325,000 to do the improvements and it came out to be like 80,000 but the work was completed oh the work was completed yeah the only thing we need to follow up on is is eventually resurfacing Sail on road okay so again this was unfunded but it we re closing it out we'll restore the balance back to zero and we will not have to borrow money once we eventually do so if um as council's go with that recommendations $1 19,41 1527 would go into Capital Surplus I'll prepare resolution and then those other two will just be cancelled and it'll just basically fall off the books we won't have to you know borrow any money because it was unneeded and again I'm not totally done I just did the easy ones you know a lot of these a couple of them have to stay open because we either have a performance bond you know with the you know because of the commuter lot or a performance bond with um you know Calvin Street things I have to keep open with some balance there um for the next year so if council's good that I'll have that prepared for uh you guys and girls on December 2nd just the question on the where the funding where the monies are going so when we say it's funded uh let's look at the first one uh ordinance 97 das4 and there's roughly $6,000 that doesn't need to be spent at this point uh the ordinance is basically being closed out when we say it's funded is this part of our one of our long-term Bond issuances I want to say yes I just don't know which one you know again but sure sometime in 96 or I'm sorry after 97 or after um we borrowed money and John if you know a more specific answer that you could help Council out with please chime in yes if you if it's funded that means at some point you did you probably took out a ban to fund it a ban but was that ban converted probably you know keep in mind this was a long time ago but it was some some type of b a note Bond whatever the case may be whereas if it's unfunded that means you haven't exercised that yet okay you haven't taken AC understood so I guess my question is um if these are funded and if they were funded with longterm bonds we're going to take this money and we're going to put it into Capital Serv plus I I guess if it was funded with long-term bonds I would much prefer that this go into a reserve and be used to as part of our uh Bond payment next year because why would we in my mind why would we want to use money that we borrowed and are paying back over however many years it's pay you know why why not just use that money and retire use it to retire the debt not to put it into Surplus I I guess coun coun if I could respond for that um I I'd like you to keep in mind that when these capital accounts are set up they're not cash transactions like when the council approves it it's not like the money is going into Capital Bank account so uh so what happens is if you don't spend all the money you set up in those Capital lines it it it doesn't go directly into into the bank account you have it's a different procedure it basically goes into fund balance and what what happens is when when you set up Capital lines you you're increasing what what what you what you what you would need to borrow and then so if you cancel it you're you're reducing it and it go it would go with capital fund balance and then I believe I'm not 100% sure but I believe at some point you could take that money and possibly transfer it to the current fund to help you to borrow money uh you know in that situation so just keep that in mind it's not you know I that's why I I always try to explain that it's two separate uh transactions setting up a capital line is not is not giving you the cash you you get the cash when you do a Noe or a bond isn't that what we're saying here so if I go down to it's like the fifth line the road improvements so there's three years or four years that we did uh Road improvements and there's $ 7200 when I I'm reading this that the town went out and uh bonded or securitized $100,000 and they only spent 93,000 and this $7,000 is a residual and if it is I'm saying we should take that $7,000 and rather than put it into Surplus retire that initial $100,000 borrowing and you're saying that that's not the case John just let me jump in here for a second John yeah yes the simple answer is all check the way I understand it is it's got to take the route going to Capital Surplus I totally understand what you're saying put it towards the principle of what we know I don't think we can just make like an extra principal payment like like you can with your car but we do fund two lines in the current which is one for principle and one for um the interest I'll double triple quadruple check to see if it can take a different route and go towards you know there is I don't know the name of it I don't remember the name of it actually say it's like six words but there is a reserve to reduce future principal so when we when we do receive money we we have put money into that it was just my understanding when we cancel a capital it goes in the Surplus so we might have to put it in Surplus and then transfer it over to there but I'll see if we could take a direct route so I'll have that I'll have that answer for you yeah I mean it I think you I totally understand understand where I'm getting at you know it's it's really um okay I got thank you Mr Mr D just I know it's not on the topic can we uh just I know because it just came up can we reach out to Mr God heimer's office and find out what the status of our grant is or you have an answer Mr Mar we just haven't thought on the uh the grant for the gr for the yeah um no I haven't heard anything for a couple months but uh if I remember you just follow up with yeah I mean if I remember correctly uh you know it's us it's Federal funding and so I'm not surprised that that process takes a while once things escalate further up the line but we can certainly reach out and see if there's an update yeah thank you had said something about hearing back in April of the following year yeah that that could be that that does ring a slight but we'll reach out yeah the grant uh revised storm order Control Ordinance yes pretty self-explanatory you know we were informed that we had to to update it um actually thank M wowski for that kind of brought it to my attention we uh I conferred with our storm water control um I just don't remember sending it to the planning board that's to who what plan board no uh please disregard how Mr Sabino wrote that go through he should it confused Mr rowski too it should have said Administration so the council had nothing to do with it so don't allow that to confuse you so I went through all my agendas I'm I don't remember sending this to the no that's that's on the first line of um Mr sabinos it should have said Administration so that's the route it took we got it we got it revised it had to go to the township planning board it was um Mr burges our ma our Master planner um Township planner he wrote a supporting letter it was approved by the local Township Board it then planning board it then had to go to the County planning board they approved it and then it comes to the council for the first reading so we got all the prior approvals we needed uh now it's in the council's hands too is everybody okay we putting it on the December second agenda for first meing thank you um under miscellaneous 2025 Zoning Board of adjustment members if anybody is interested in becoming a member of the Zoning Board of adjustment we have I believe a total of three openings right with the one one still needs to be open the one that's still open two open and then two openings so we have four opening so if anybody is interested please send your resume for in qualifications to miss wowski at the township website um as soon as possible uh under Clos session resolution number 24359 450 pasak Road listo proposal and the ambulance shared service negotiation the township anticipates not returning to open session when we are complete do I have a motion to enter into Clos session so do we have do we have that resolution yes you in your packet all in favor I we'll take a five minute recess to have uh yes Ricky shut off the cameras thank you