##VIDEO ID:ryAHhLfv5H8## Palisade Center currently but the minute they realize this is opened the fact that they could save on sales tax I can't imagine what the traffic is going to be like coming through town I don't know if anyone has from Council has gone to any of the paramis meetings but I would hope that you would and just if they didn't like our DPW over there I mean what are they going to say now when Lynwood Avenue was backed up and I just went up Lynnwood Avenue the other day at 5:15 to go to the doctors I could not believe the traffic now so with the opening of a Costco I mean whoever thought of putting it there with Route 17 being the nightmare as it is so I'm just asking if uh somehow someway I'll even go with anybody who wants to go I'm not a proponent of there I know I go down to Teeter Baro and that's a bad site to begin with we went down the other day we turned around we came back home it's like nope not going to do it so I'm very nervous about what what it's going to do with the traffic on pasak and lywood thank you my last request is a minor one one minute left Mrs Li sure and that's just with the holiday season as you plan for the tree lighting ceremony could you put as many vendors at my curb in front of my house so that it's sort of a deterrent last year we found quite a number of kids playing touch football on our front lawn which okay but they broke my lights so I'm just asking load it up and put as many vendors there okay you don't have to worry about putting horse horses put the people there block it up and we'll be very happy you okay thank you Mrs good seeing you guys you too just can I just make one comment I I think uh I appreciate your comments about Costco coming in uh you know living on Van emberg I think that's just going to be a straight thorough fair from you know towns north of us uh you know it's going to be a 7day a week issue especially the weekends uh during the fall with Demis Farms it's already a nightmare they back up from the lights you know past Clark and up and urg towards Iha but I think the the thing that I would uh say to you is you might want to revisit uh the discussions about the DPW at the Charlie Browns because a number of individuals um who you're asking for help to go speak to paramis and voice an opinion uh voice an opinion that paramis should mind their own business and you know worry about yourself will worry about the township so you know it's a sort of uh you know Karm as a as they say and now where we as a Council as a Township may want to voice our opinion I think they have every right to say screw you you know we wanted something we wanted our voice heard and we were told after the fact that we're not interested in what you have to say so you know I think uh you know I personally uh agree with you but I feel that they'll be like you know Screw you you know we our residents and our officials came to you and you basically said you know get the hell out anything else yeah Mike can I respond too sure um about the parking in the fire lane uh the police have stepped up their enforcement but I will tell them on the weekends if they could keep a better eye uh they just said in general but I'll tell them on the weekends um somewhat to what councilman Alman said about the Costco on 17 um I I hope hope they're not open on Sundays I hope that's part of the Blue Law in paramis so no it's not oh okay um and perhaps maybe the council at least would want to pass a resolution uh showing opposition because Council does that on time to time I think we did it like for a power plant in North bergon and things like that so maybe a simple reso just to show uh our opposition without actually attending a meeting and as far as the tree lighting vendors I'm sorry to hear that that happened last year spoke to Sasha today she was taking one or two days off and was going to start to plan tree lighting later this week so I will certainly mention that to her sure thank you mik thank you anyone else in the audience like to come up seeing no one anyone on no motion to close the public comment period so move second all in favor I I ordinance adoption second reading an ordinance ordinance number 24-18 an ordinance amending chapter 223 article 3 of the ordinances of the township entitled parking standing and stopping resolution number 24- 338 authorizing second reading and opening of public hearing excuse me public hearing for Ordinance 24-18 do I have a motion second roll call councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council bz yes council president to Senate yes motion to close public hearing for ordinance number 2 4-8 councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council bz yes council president to Senate yes motion to adopt ordinance number 24-18 at second reading by title do I have a motion Some Mo I'll second it roll call C CIO yes councilman SE obain councilman om man uh yes Council Wes yes council president Des yes introduction first reading ordinance number 24-19 an ordinance adding chapter 288 lighting outdoor to the township of Washington motion to introduce and pass ordinance number 24-19 at first reading by title do I have a motion I'll second it roll call celin cassum yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council wz yes council president Senate yes resolution number 24339 authorizing publication of ordinance number 24-19 and scheduling a publication do I have a motion second roll call councilman CIO yes councilman sear yes councilman Omen yes Council wz yes council president the Senate yes resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined to have the unanimous consent of the council and 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 wish to have any of the items removed at this time um I would like 341 removed 341 you're good Okay resolution number 24324 approval of the corrective action plan for the 2023 audit resolution number 24-34 authorized submission of chapter 159 budget mment for Community energy plan agre Grant 2024 resolution number 24342 authorized cancelling of Grant receivables and appropriated reserves resolution number 24343 authorize cancelling General Capital funds Grant receivables and Improvement authorizations motion to approve consent agenda resolution as presented some move second roll call councilman Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes Council BL yes council president to sener yes resolution number 24341 authorize the resending of a resolution authorizing refund of engineering escra do I have a motion some move second discussion Mr uh Dar Cara Mr Mayor so I know we've talked about this previously Mr Dar car you weren't on you weren't here for this but in my previous life the CFO of two of my municipalities would send me a kind of a a thank you letter for conducting business in the town for the year of 2024 and if all my invoices were not received by December 31st 2024 on January 31st she was going to release all the engineering esro money for any in in being held by the township at that time and that's how it went on for almost 25 years and I don't understand why our our professionals can't get you know payments in within you know the entire year and US keeping residents escrow money for long periods of time because what she would do is on January 31st if I didn't respond back saying hey this project is still active this project is still active she would send back all the escrow money Mr Corin and it would help the books because all that money would be gone right we didn't have to deal with it the residents were happy because they got the refunds whether it was small or large depending on the size of the project but we didn't have any ability then to go back like if if I didn't answer that was it I didn't have a I didn't get a get a jail free card so I don't know if we could adopt something like that because it worked very well and you know you could talk to Mr vincey about it because he knows exactly what I'm talking about because he was the order he was our uh he was the person in charge of all three town so um but if we can introduce something like that I think it would help us and it would clear a lot of you you know get the residents their esro money back quicker also if there's any remaining but it would also keep us on our toes where there's a shortage right because it would identify within a 12- Monon period or a three-month period or a two-month period depending on when the esro is deposited rather than you know two three years later calling somebody and say Hey you have no money left but you want to close out your project but you owe us $500 or you owe us $100 so just food for thought if we can come up with some kind of um policy I think that would benefit to the residents and to our council president if I could um in general the esro uh is a a big project that that we definitely have to work on I know joy and grace are have been working on that but um I think it was put on a side for years and it's you know changes have to be made with that it's it's it's something I hope eventually does happen it's it's it's it's definitely something that's been on our radar but it's we have to get more proactive with that I think okay thank you can I add to that if you don't mind sure Cassie you know um the thing is we have all these esos for different things for our res and sometimes people really forget that they have money in escro like I had I I did an addition back in 2005 and I got on counsil in 2011 I found out you were home like $300 but you know you know people forget after a while you know can we put something that's why she did in a 12mon period there was that would never happen because she would release all the all the it is there it is the the people's money and if it's not used you know it's it should be returned to them as as soon as possible again we all forget that we have stuff out so that would be wonderful thing to do I'm sure we have I'm sure we have a few residents that probably have some dollars sitting in our bank so I'd like to get back to the residents if we can so all right thank you roll call councilman Casio yes councilman seers yes councilman Alman yes Council bz yes council president Des sen yes motion to adjourn to the conference agenda do I have a motion so second all in favor I next meeting of the township Council will be on Monday October 21st 2024 beginning at 7 pm sign up for nixel text 07676 to 22 888777 key code TW wpb R GN let's go to the conference agenda know it's I see y there it is okay Administration uh clarkfield infield Rehabilitation project change order Mr Dar Carlo yes I very quickly Council had approv resoltion just Ed uh field Pro Enterprises to come in and Rehab the infields of Seven Fields at four um park locations and the contractor was proposing an additional expense of $5 5460 that I provided to you was for material labor for additional work at clarfield to correct the um drainage B originally it was really to make the field safe and playable once he got there and started doing the work uh he recommended the additional um work to correct the drage and that's how you see the one thing I provideed for you I wish I could tell you this work hasn't already started but by time I found out about it it had started by the contractor I did have a nice polight conversation as to the way we would have liked that uh that to have gone better in a different uh different order and then also if if you look at the original invoice there was the need for three more uh three extra containers to take away um spoils from the locations on Sherry field so that was addition of three containers at $995 of $2,985 and the addition of $ 5,460 which came to just under a little bit of um $88,500 I will have the money for it Council approved the C Capital line for a total of 146,000 about 40 of that was going to be for the clay we anticipate spending less than was needed on the clay which will give us uh the allowable funds to pay for the additional work at Clark I also told them I need you to get over to Gardener and Memorial before I meet with councel and determine and make sure there are not going to be any additional expenses once you get to those fields I did speak him myself today and assured that there will not be any additional um incurred expenses when he gets to Memorial and um Gardener field later this month and in November so again at some point when we reconcile the final bill you'll see an additional work uh if okay for field Pro Enterprises for just under $8,500 for those two expenses the extra containers and the extra drainage work at clarkfield thank you so is this a change order or is this I mean I'm I'm using that terminology for you know lack of better words you know usually when I see the change orders it's you know for major projects that involve either Architects or Engineers like the road program but again for a lack of better term since since the resolution came before you um as the council to approve the expense for the original encumber which may have been like 106,000 I don't remember what it is it'll now be um over encumbered an additional amount a little less than 8,500 so if this was say this was like a $6,000 Bill and it went to$ 7,000 something we didn't bring to the council as long as I had the funds we would just over encumber the purchase order but here the appropriate thing is to bring it back before the council uh so you know about it so I guess you know again for lack of better terms a change order is the best terminology but you anticipate the clay less expensive we do yeah I reviewed that with Mr scooty y okay may I over the years I've seen bids come in and obviously this was a bid quote to do this there always $5,000 or6 tagged on to this thing why was this not picked up in the original bid I mean it seems very funny that this many Feld and it goes out to bid and over the years I've seen this come back as they're doing the job they tack on another $5,000 $8,000 um I don't know how you can control this but it just seems put it this way it seems odd you know they do a they come in and they do a bid and a quote they look at the field and then miraculously they find this here or that there is 5,000 6,000 so I don't know what the solution to this problem is I share your concern so did Mr scoary we weren't happy about especially the order in which it was done but again it's a small business owner um you know he was concentrating on making the rehab safety oriented and playable and then when he got to the field and brought in all his equipment that's when he identified the drainage problem so I think in the long run yes it's not what we would have liked it will be to the benefit of the field for the future thank you I I agree with that Mr DEA that the end result is we have a better field but you know just sort of piling on time I mean if if a should he absorb some of this I guess is my question did we offer to split it with them I mean I Bartered with him with the containers he didn't he didn't charge us for the work that it was removing the additional believe me we had good conversation and I wouldn't have brought this to council unless I thought it was appropriate and responsible thing to do at this point so his his pound of flesh is he loaded those containers at his oh yeah absolutely yeah so you know we believe me we had a very thorough conversation and you know respectfully between him and I and Mr scoary but again the work will be done it's appropriate you know um it would be good work you know I wish I could have controlled it from its Inception but unfortunately it wasn't given that option because I didn't we didn't know about you know okay Community Department lot Mrs wowski well it's a Tommy year again where we put it in front of the council and now that we've got a f lot um it was asked a couple months ago how many people are taking advantage of it uh we gave you a number of and a list of about seven people um at that point you said you might want to you know some questions asked about should we raise the fees so what I've included in the packet since it is October the current ordinance the way it stands I gave you I had surveyed a few towns and put it into a chart along with going out to the websites and you showing you what they are charging um the administration had gone out and counted the spots we have 24 spots for fire department and 29 spots for the communter lot and again we only have about seven people and personally I've gone by car park on my occasion so um whatever you would like to do if you want to have a discussion about it at the next meeting on the conference what you want to do after reviewing uh whatever you'd like to do you let me know and we'll just move forward if there's any changes yeah uh just a quick question um Mr Mayor are we doing Drive buys with the police on the lot are we doing a count who's there because we sold seven maybe there's 15 cars there I don't know I don't go that way so are we doing like a survey or something like that um not to my knowledge but I'll certainly ask them um I drive by it on a semi-regular basis I have to say even if there's seven there on any given day that's a lot yeah but I'll as them to drive through I can tell you that three is the max I've seen in that lot in two months I think you're right if if if that's if that's the case we three or four I don't think we really should raise it like you know we'll have no one uh the fire department more parking spots so so very quickly so very quickly uh moving on there was three emails sent to the entire Council uh one from a resident regarding the exit 168 light which I said will be added to the next um conference agenda Mr Dar Carlo and I spoke today and uh he will have an update on what's going on with that the second email was regarding collecting scales tax on food I advised the resident to reach out to the state of New Jersey Division of Taxation on whether it's valid to be applied because it's not for C perview and the third was regarding uh cars backfiring um it's very difficult to see you know to know when these part you know these Mufflers do cause backfiring I know if you live on a County Road you may hear it more but unfortunately the police are very limited because they have to witness it you know they're not going to if you live on B Street if you live on Beach Street you hear it all the time too Mr Sears you're absolutely right so Washington uh any major Ro I hear and and you know it scares the heck part of the Motor Vehicle Commission it scares the heck out of people and uh dogs as well and attest to that so you know just so you know I responded to all three and uh let me ask um Council if uh Can a citizen make a complaint if they get if they get a license plate number on it or that would be something we' have to ask let me ask Council first because she would know oh miss counil our counselor our legal our legal expert yes you can always go in and swear out a complaint um a resident has the right to uh you know call for the enforcement of ordinances by that procedure okay so if you if you witness someone on a regular basis get their license plate number and you know take take let the resident know right might just I I did answer that person about the exit 168 late this afternoon copied all the couns I I copied you on the original appreciate that y all right uh motion to adjourn so move second I all in favor hi I thank you everyone --------- ##VIDEO ID:-IsED1IO1Ro## oh e e voting locations are open to every registered voter in the county so no matter which early voting location you visit the new machine will have your specific ballot if you're interested in voting by mail your application must be received by our office no later than a week before the election mail and ballots can be cast by mail deposited into a drop box or be delivered in person to the Board of Elections no later than 8:00 P.M on Election Day voting has never been more convenient for more information visit bergencounty clerk.com or contact one of your Bergen County elections offices reporting in progress good evening everyone welcome to the regular schedule public meeting of oh nice September 9th that's October 7 202 of the township of Washington Council adequate notice the meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the Township Clerk to at least two newspapers in January and this meeting has been posted on the township bulletin board the electronic Message Board WCTV and on the township website please notify the municipal clerk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance at mayor and 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 once TWP of washington. us could everyone please stand for salute to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Music] roll call councilman Casio here councilman Sears here councilman here Council bz here council president Des here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Camari Township administrator Dar Carlo Township attorney B and Township Clerk Mr wowski and also Mr Vincy is here our um and Mr corkin is on Zoom okay presentation to 2023 audit review presented by Mr Vincy of lch Vincy and Bliss good evening Mr Vincy good evening everybody okay just as a matter of highlights for the 23 audit uh financially the district uh the township continues to be in excellent Financial condition you end of the year uh with just about $3.1 million of surplus uh which is about 250,000 less than the prior year but I think when you look at the size of your budget roughly $16 million um that level of surplus is still very healthy um in addition to that and I know the township is undertaking a revaluation of real property uh just wanted to remind the governing body that you do have a reserve for tax appeals of $350,000 uh and that Reserve can be used in the future should you have to refund any tax Appeals that do go against the township uh so uh just want to bring that to the governing body's attention thank you there are two recommendations that are included in the audit uh both really touch on procurement um purchasing uh first one really deals with State contracts um a lot of government entities enter into agreements with co-ops State contracts and I think was very important at the time that those contracts are uh entered into that the documents are retained in the finance department as well as that the governing body has provided a resolution to award that contract um the second has to do with uh the issuance of purchase orders in certain situations we realize that the invoice was the work was already rendered prior to the purchase order being issued obviously you would like to have the purchase orders issued first you do not want the department heads um bypassing the internal controls within the finance department where they are spending the money without having the monies encumbered in your budget um both were really not significant but I think both do uh still require some improvement you know within the township record keeping any questions from the governing body go ahead um the contracts awarded through uh State contracts does that also include uh Cooperative purchasing yes well they're different but the basis is the same so that if the township enters into an agreement with a contract that was awarded by a co-op the township Council would also have to ratify that too and do we have to uh approve the contract or do and or do we have to resolve to participate in the co-op I think initially you are required to pass a resolution that you will be uh utilizing the co-ops um agreements and then at a time that you utilize a vendor that the co-op has awarded you then as a Township Council need to approve that individual contract okay with that vendor and just one followup on that so and my uh the contract or the um Co-op escapes me at the moment but I believe the council at one point resolved to participate in year one let's say and we've used that Co-op multiple times uh multiple years in your opinion does that need to be resolved every year or is once enough for forever my opinion is that it should be done annually so resolve that annually that we're participating yes okay and and I think the a lot uh of the government entities whether it's municipalities or school districts are utilizing co-ops because the co-op with their bulk purchasing can get better Financial deals for all the participants I think what's very important as those co-ops increase the documents that they have approved with that vendor needed to be need to be provided to the local government so that when you do receive the invoice from that vendor the terms of the contract what you are paying and that's very important and we've seen some uh other government entities where there have been documents that are just not on file and yet those invoices are being paid I'm not saying that's done here I just think generically that's important okay Mr sen you mind if I ask yes Mr viny what does that look like like when you say that should be so if if a co-op awarded a contract and part of the agreement was that the employee of that vendor would be charged at different hourly rates then the invoice that you receive from that vendor should be submitted to you detailing those same hourly rates I mean when you said it should be I think it was not reaffirmed but you said it should be done yearly oh it's the interest of the township Council to participate in say the middle sex jointure it's an annual resolution that you want to participate uh with that something at like the reorganization meeting you could do it at the reor as long as you know then what co-ops you are interested in that is I think you've asked of us before something similar and I think we had said we had gotten information that once you're in it yeah there's certain ones certain co-ops that say we they're not required say best management practices to do it every year I think a resolution has a limited life span too you have different governing bodies I don't think it hurts to memorialize that so so Mr viny is that is that same if we enter let's just say we're buying a new a new Tahoe for the police department right under the State Co-Op and the first resolution should be is to enter into the State Co-Op to buy that Tahoe but then when they pick uh blank Chevrolet as the vendor we should amend that resolution to include blank Chevrolet as the vendor would you just have a separate resolution utilizing that vendor that's correct so that's something we need to yeah well it was it was no no I'm just saying that one and do you mind if I just expand it go ahead no problem Mr C just hold he was I cut him off now okay it was a general question can we just make it a blanket one any State Contractor or does it have to be vendor no it has to be vendor specific vendor specific okay what we were omitting was when it was a state Contra or what we were failing to do was when it was a state contract or a co-op over the bid threshold of 44,000 was bringing the resolution before the council so if I'm correct it was only applying to expenses over the bid threshold so when we went out to bid you guys knew about it because you gave us permission to do it and then the awarding of bid why I didn't think it was necessary is because most of the time it's approved under the capital ordinance so I was looking at it as redundancy but when we made the recommendation we immediately instituted that's why you guys have seen and ladies have seen um resolutions come before you because it was State contract so I think with State contracts you have to keep in mind that there is a expiration of that contract and if you are utilizing a vendor and that contract has expired you will not be able to retrieve that contract from the state purchasing website that contract is purged off their system so the document at the time that you are approving the purchase order that state contract should be attached because otherwise it's difficult to retrieve later okay we do okay uh any other questions go ahead um just uh there's a Aster and a footnote that the second uh the purchase orders being encumbered uh was a prior period And I I you know is it a timing issue um because the prior year audit is you know only presented uh you know I guess in August but we indicated in our uh corrective action plan that this was going to be addressed so was it addressed at some point during the year and you're calling out ones that's prior to that or is it something that was not addressed may have been addressed I don't think it's still addressed fully I don't think it had to do with commitments that were rendered prior to the release of last year's audit okay and and it's a common issue that we do have with government entities because some departments tend to manage their own budget and they tend to go one step further and actually have the work done in good faith but un fortunately you you still like to follow the purchasing procedures of the township thank you I just wanted to expand on it it it is an extremely hard um one to fully overcome with you know zero not violations but you know what I mean so in October of 22 when I've been here for two months there was this more significant problem and we made a lot of changes including changing the purchasing policy and then that it's training and breaking old habits and I was very kind of disheartened to see that it wasn't necessarily worse but you take 25 random purchase orders and in 22 22's audit it was n out of 25 and this time I honestly tell you it was 12 out of 25 so either he's really picking the right ones that you have a knack for it um but I know I know for a fact that there's absolute Improvement in this because I every one of these passes through my hands and then part of our standard policy is if the invoice is dated prior to PO there has to be an email a memo style explaining wise sometimes it's just a mistake on the part of employee I reviewed the 12 and um a few of them came from last year's summer camp program and as you know there's a lot of hands in it you know some some people that go and make a purchase and it's under you know it's above the $100 petty cash so we have to p to a PO other times and i' I've seen it we ask for a quote from a company and they put the order through with a quote so now we're getting the invoice prior to the date of the PO and it really is simply that the invoice date and the PO date so I I do tell you honestly that there has been significant Improvement I don't know that there'll ever be zero circumstances I mean stuff just happens and I I know that probably sounds like a you know a crappy excuse um but everybody knows the policy we do have a policy there has been Improvement um it like I said it's disheartening I thought it was going to be a lot better so it's something we continuously work on Mr viny I have a question regarding escrow accounts um is there a Best management practice we seem to have an issue with you know bills coming in late from from our either professionals or escrow accounts not being funded correctly and then you know you know what the law is the town is now eligible to pay their professionals and you know the homeowners are basically off the hook unless we file suit against them Which towns don't do because it's just too expensive is there any kind of best management practices we can introduce because I know like in my prior life you know December 31st if I didn't have all my bills in it was Zero we're getting zero and is there any other municipalities where you have experience with that where you've instituted some kind of system to prevent that from happening uh that situation has uh occurred in other municipalities I'm not saying we're yeah no what some towns are actually trying to do now is basically have a meeting with the joint bodies the boards to make sure that it could be the fact that the level of escrow that you're asking is too low is too low and that the Le the dollar amount that has to be paid up front needs to be increased based on the spending that the township has realized and incurred by their professionals um we definitely have more towns that are running into that situation because as you said they will not go back and ask you know for additional monies but unfortunately the professionals are still do their amount you they did professionals are not always handing in their invoices in a timely manner which complicates the accounting side for the uh finance department okay Mr sen I'm sorry Mr do you mind if I comment on that too so that was another problem we recognized we actually was one of our very first meetings with Miss Bailey back in um July or August when she first came and we met with the the two ladies involved with Esra we really only have one contractor that we have that problem with um that has a very outstanding AR not in Balance but with dates so we are working on it and we're Consulting with Miss Bailey on what's the lawful approach as far as how long the township has um Mr Cork's got to be the bad guy and say you don't give me Bills by December 31st you don't get paid there's really one and I met with that that contractor the other day too uh it's not the first meeting um so we have recognized it you know and we're working on it to see how we can get recog Mr vincey remembers my CFO in Waldwick and she was that was oh yes you know who it is he was great at that are there are there two issues is it one we're not demanding or collecting enough escrow upfront from the resident and the reconciliation or the the billing process I believe it's typically two issues where the professional may not be providing their bill timely and then when they do it's too late it's too late and the escrow balance is insufficient to pay the bill and that's where we have suggested that to try to meet with the um the boards and have them increase the level of Escrow because whatever is not obviously the the regulations require detailed documentation of the work done by the professional and whatever Balan is remaining will be you know refunded back to the uh the applicant sure and is that something we can lean the resident on or we have to uh negotiate and can we put a tax lean on them I would have to look and see if that's one of the enumerated automatic tax a slippery slip yeah well if you're not if you're not paying I mean thank you Mr vincey any other questions for Mr vincey yes just yours oh you g yeah I just have one more so Mr vincey this it wasn't raised in the audit um as an exception or uh as an issue um when we were doing the budget uh earlier this year uh one of the things that I tend to do is to go back through the ledgers to see where the uh expenses came from in the prior year to project the next year I mean some people think it's a little too detailed I uh you know so my question is when we receive a reimbursement for a Insurance claim for instance uh you know a police cruiser is damaged and JF pays us is that typically taken into income or is it netted against a expense line and my feeling is is that it should be taken into income outside of the expense because we we're netting down the true expenses and it sort of um makes it difficult to judge what our run rates are and you know there are a number of examples of that and I would just like your opinion on you know in general what what it best practice is without understanding the specifics so if you you use the uh car insurance example MH and a cruiser was uh ended up in an accident where the GIF provided you with a $10,000 insurance settlement toward the purchase of a new car then typically that $10,000 will not go in income the $10,000 will be a credit to the budget line item where the cruiser was purchased from okay so and that's very typical of most types of insurance settlements because as a government entity you then have to pay for whether it's a repair to a building whether it's an acquisition of a truck or a police vehicle so typically those Insurance monies are uh netted against the expense that is very that is typically the common all right if the claim is say two years ago and the expense occurred in the prior years then in your example it would go to income okay so I think more has to do with the timing of when you anticipate spending those proceeds so if it's if it's a you know it happens in January and it comes back in March it would go against paying the repair bill or the new purchase correct but if it comes if happens in January 2022 we get the check in 2024 then it should go to income correct okay any other questions for Mr viny thank you Mr viny okay thank you have a good night thank you moving on payment of bills resolution number 24337 authorized payment of bills September 20th 2024 to October 3rd 2024 do I have a motion so move second any questions the comments um I had sent some questions to Mr Dar Carlo uh I don't know he had a chance an opportunity to review them and well me and you discussed them this morning I didn't know did you want to go over them again I'm more than happy to [Music] um so uh no there's no need to go over them again um I guess the would you be able to provide those to sue so she can send through us to the council it it was all all done verbally I mean it be EAS say it again now than to have to provide it in writing take away time from something else but I I have I just that's fine I I'm sorry Mr Roman I thought we had spoken about each and every one of them but I have no problems discussing them openly okay uh the first the first uh was a question is why while the issue predates me the township has had issues with the timely payment of invoices from aelen and fury engineering 2018 based on open P's invoices and known project assignments um are we current with AF engineering um accompanying this email was was a very beneficial uh memorandum that Mr Oman provided me that was written and provided to council by a pre um my predecessor Matt cavalo and it was just regarding this issue so since I've come we've been a come here in 22 we've been aware and been trying to rectify outstanding invoices with azeline and fury engineering most recently um again I told you we spoke with Miss Bailey and our escrow team here from finance and we were trying to determine lawfully how far back can we charge people Escrow in the township uh with Mr aelina being a very incredible amount of institutional knowledge always being there for the township i s it only correct to uh pay those bills with the oldest one being from 2011 so the memorandum that was written by Mr cavalo uh kind of highlighted highlighted this problem and I think they probably only missed one uh that was Prett PR 2018 since then um there was I think one from 2019 a few in 2020 and a few in 2023 all of which I was unaware of until we received the AR so this kind of goes back to um the problem of a purchase order you know I kind of what I alerted um Council to last week you know that and us rectifying the problem so in order to rectify the problem I've met with those professionals and restated to them that no professional uh service is to be rendered without my approval without me providing a purchase order so when those Services were rendered without me doing it one I then get a recommendation on the audit and two I don't know there's an outstanding invoice so for sake of discussion let's say there was seven or eight outstanding invoices they all totaled under 2,000 I had them supported by the voices I fully believe that you know the work was rendered and and Mr aelina was deserving of the payment so that answers the question as to why um it was on the bill list so the 23 23 bills we were able to use um Reserve money from 23 accounts to pay anything older than 23 um we had to use 24 money to fund it uh because we're out of that that uh Surplus year so that kind of answers the PO can again I just interrupt so I I think the key here though is that the memo that I forwarded to you uh some and some people may not be familiar with it they may not have been on council at the time was probably 10 years of Bill Bill Billings and you know 150 or 200 lines and I think that you know further to our discussion the the the thing to call out now is that we're in a situation where it's a handful of bills that is you know nominal amount of money in the scheme of things so the process works uh you know and which is what you explained I mean my concern was that we had another list of 200 bills that were an issue and you through a process that has been implement mented have you know identified and are clearing these as quickly as possible so I I to me that's the story that you know that was really the question is do we have something else building up and we don't so I think that's a good thing yeah thank you and as far as I know we have no outstanding Township owed bills to like any of our professionals so we took them up there's escrow bills and it's exactly that and and again you know you know that the joy and grace they work very hard to get the residents um to replenish the restro and that's the only reason why the bills would go for any length of time not being paid um and we dealt with you know we we conferred with Mr per at the appropriate time whether it was a year ago year and a half ago as to what can we do and really the only thing we can hold back on is their se you know but if they don't care you know what I mean unless it's a a situation where they shouldn't be inhabiting the house or something but a lot of times they're minor stuff like a pool or an addition um and we've even gone so far as hey what if they come back to us and ask for a new project and his answer was you know don't hold up the right thing to do is to not hold up the new project because they haven't satisfied the old project um so again we you know I'm glad we're identifying and I'm happy to tell you we're identifying these things before they are recognizable problems to the council um but yes we we should not have any the only thing we have are a few leftover open purchase orders from 23 but that's because maybe something was on back order and we haven't received something you know maybe a piece of fire department equipment um but we're getting you know close to zero as we got to have them done by the end of December as well the second question uh was based on prior discussions I mean Mr Olman was under the impression we had a shared service for motor vehicle maintenance why are we sending cars out for a 10-minute oil change cost scheduling you know again it just brings up the uh the conversation that we don't have a fully operational DPW building I do know from speaking with um DPW members once they're up and running you know they're more than happy to start doing those minor um service calls on the vehicles whether it's you know rotating the tires or you know a 10-minute oil change um but for right now since we don't have the the proper location um to conduct those service that's why uh we're going out for those expenses go ahead so again F further to our discussion you know the reason I asked this again was we have a DP uh tpw building that we're considering I'd asked about a pit uh maybe that's not the solution maybe it's a lift I think Mr De Carlo mentioned the possibility of a lift and if we're going to do that that's an expense that we need to ensure is captured in any proposal that we receive and you know so it's not we capture the complete cost of the building not only the envelope but also kidding out of it the third question was can I explain the relationship between the reserve for snow plowing in the purchase of concrete block as you know we have I don't want to call it a makeshift um salt D I'll probably get myself in trouble with New Jersey D but it's sufficient for the amount of time that we uh maintain salt storage at DPW so in preparation for the season we have to make that as solid as we can to prevent salt storm water storm water runoff that has contamination from the salt so in doing so we had to create a concrete uh bed on the inside of of where the uh you know where the storage unit is that's pervious doesn't allow it we had to put a concrete lip in the front to prevent water from coming out and we had to get some of what we call those big concrete blocks better known as Jersey barriers to fortify the structure so the the weight of the swt pressing against them isn't isn't uh breaking the Integrity of the structure itself and we and it's more than appropriate to use the the uh snow trust for expenses related to those ass assciated expenses uh the next question is shouldn't this be fixed at the Construction company's expense Mr ran I think it was um a thermostat replacement at the emergency services building but the uh the two-year maintenance even though it was it expired 923 um it did not cover the expense of this this is more of like a wear and tear expense I don't really know why uh the thermostat but I know it wasn't wouldn't be covered by contacting the the construction company uh um to have it uh you know fixed the last one is uh just Mr ran just requested um basically a vehicle inventory for cars trucks and motor vehicle equipment um which I have no problem providing and I'll provide it to all council members so you can see our Fleet and that that concludes the questions from Mr Olman thank you any other questions roll call Council Casio yes councilman Sears yes councilman Omen yes councilwoman bz yes council president to sen yes PSA for October 7th to 2024 PSC engine is replacing existing electrical and gas meters with new smart meters throughout town as required by the BPU please be sure to respond to any letters requesting meter replacement if you do not reply your servic is in Jeffy of being shut off please visit our website for more information important election updates September 21st is well passed already October 15th is voter registration deadline the clerk's office will be open until 900 p.m October 26th through November 3rd is early voting period October 29th is the deadline to apply for mailin ballot by mail November 4th 3M deadline for inperson mail and ballot applications November 5th is the general election polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. there is a video posted on WCTV which is running on three ways to vote so if you'd like to I know WCTV has times posted right Sue on the top of the hour top of the and in beginning and the after program schedu program Town Hall elevator the monitorization of the Town Hall elevator is currently underway and hopefully will be completed by November 4th Township employees are prepared to assist residents that are unable to utilize stff we encourage the use of the exterior Dropbox for paying taxes as well as other correspondents the township of Washington has added the recycle coach app to our website on the Department of Public Works page recycle coach is an address-based app that educates residents on 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 the township of Washington's first annual Washington Wicked 5K kids fund run will be held on Sunday October 20th at 9:00 a.m. fund starts at Garner field please visit our website for registration information the next paper shredding only event will take place on Saturday October 19th 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Bethany Community Center parking lot 605 pasac Road bring your papers documents to be shredded paper must be dry any damp or wet papers will be rejected no plastic bags books binder clips or three- ring binders the township is seeking members for The Advisory Board of Health if you are interested please contact the mayor VI via email at mayor TWP 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 alternate position for the vacancy terms as follows 1 through 1231 2025 please visit the clerk section of the website under the forms page for application the Bergen County annual job fair will be held on Friday October 18th from 9:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. at Bergen Community College please visit our website for more information the quanas club is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time the quanas club of the pasak valley formed for the Township in Westwood meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center if anyone would like more information please contact Paul Ralph culi at 516 October 21st thank you Mr Des Senate ask one question sure how does the town shred there internal documents so I guess my question is we've I've accumulated quite a bit of council