##VIDEO ID:pacGw1JwgnQ## one God forever and ever amen amen thank you re rever Savage all right we'll now have the flag salute pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all for all no Mr notice was provided in compliance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 to the Burlington County Times Trenton Times and the Philadelphia inquir stating the date time place and the agenda to the extent it was known additionally notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk and it was posted on the website uh and on the bulletin board very can go right into your mpal update good evening we are online now yes I apologize to the people online we had some tech technical difficulties um so far we just had roll call and prayer and a flag salute and the compliance statement so we're just now getting into the manager Municipal updates yes good evening uh mayor and council members members of the public um our full um uh report for the month of September uh has been sent to you individually and it is available online for the residents viewing pleasure uh but I'm just going to highlight some uh things out of that report and additionally um that have been transpiring here in Willingboro as always we start off with our finances the report the finance report outlines General gen revenues that were generated in September uh with an accumulative total as of September 23rd or 20 September 23rd 2024 totaling 2, 8,739 it also reflects a summary of expenditures that include employee salaries wages health insurance bonds uh payments totaling 3,795 349 and the monthly allotment to the board of education for 3, 278,00 $18 uh was dispersed uh our Public Safety Police Department currently there are uh 71 sworn officers on January 1st 2024 police licensing was uh put into effect for all New Jersey police officers this year 20 Willingboro officers were required to be renewed for their licenses and all 20 were renewed without any issue uh since uh during September um we yielded fewer calls for service than we did in August our Patrol Division answered 2,299 calls for service resulting in 59 summonses and 31 arrests our newly formed Traffic Division handled 412 incidents resulted in 105 summonses seven impounds and three arrests and the uh police U handled 70 ordinance violations uh for the month of August they issued 26 summonses in relations to that and there was one impounded vehicle our fire and EMS Department had a very busy weekend supporting our neighboring communities with a very significant house fire um and aiding in an accident on the um where New Jersey Transit train um was involved in an accident in Mansfield Township resulting unfortunately um in death and several in injuries on the riverline train of which had stuck a tree had struck a tree that had fallen on the tracks so we thank our uh fire department and EMS being uh ready willing and able to support our neighboring Community um and the state overall in times of need our DPW uh during the month of September inspected uh 505 catch basins they cleaned 422 greates our street sweeper collected 55.6 cubic yards of materials during sweeping operations for the month uh DPW collected 48 30g trash bags off of our main roads and 65 30 gallon trash bags of material collected from our Parks uh they address seven potholes that were uh lingering and have been doing wonderful work replacing benches and repairing uh the restrooms at br Park just to highlight a few of the activities the last time we met we had just had our clean communities cleanup um and I really didn't have any statistics as to the volume of material that was collected I'm just going to ask Mr Mr gains really quick to highlight some of those numbers very quickly good evening year we had record high first time we've ever had over 100 participants in our King so thank you all one residents that are actually participated in the clean up uh we spent four hours uh covering two acres two miles of land throughout P ship and then also we had another break break in this year was accumulated trash bags trash and we collected 102 bags of trash this year various locations in town among the uh two bags of trash we uh collected five bags of um plastic and recycle materials three piles of brush three tires with rims 1 155 gon rum and one ice cooler that was actually be able to uh PL up in our um this year we actually did a little thing different this year we actually gave out dog sign a Pick Up After Your Dog that was a hit every resident that participated actually got sign and I encourage all residents in wro if you do want a sign you can always come to the depot during Depot hours Thursdays between 10:00 a.m. and 400 p.m. on Fridays uh 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and on Saturdays 7 a to 2:30 p.m. um this year we had a another partnership with u CH this one was different this year we partnered last year with rton this year we partnered with Del R um they gave us 100 Chick-fil-A sandwiches that we gave out to the public and we also had four giveaways so that were right fo off and that were one by res in town um one trash recyc container one rain cat Barrel um one clean electric vacuum and my favorite was a household F compos which was a pretty much with all that being said this was a success and every single year that we're having this program this bigger better more residence in town so um I believe this program going thank you so much yes thank you Mr gains who was our clean coordinates commun clean communities coordinator as we all collectively put our energies at in efforts together to keep Willingboro clean uh to continue on with the report our inspections department completed 1,170 inspections they issued 543 violations of 42 summonses and collected $133,000 in revenue for the month our zoning department has received a request for in uh interpretation proposal um the Julie authentic Mexican Cuisine is looking to relocate their business from 320 Beverly ran cookus to 621 Beverly ran cookus Road the application was approved however there have been uh no certificate of occupancy applications or inspections have not been completed um as of yet to date also on another note our Starbucks is uh looking to open sometime in the month of November and we will be coordinating a ribbon cutting uh event with them um as well our Community Affairs Department uh there's been an upt in in homelessness Po in the homeless population here in Willingboro uh due to Residents not being able to afford uh rents or mortgages or their tax obligations if anyone is requiring referrals there are people in our Community Affairs office and the library who may be able to point uh you to support services or emergency housing and if anyone knows anyone in need or more information they can contact contact our senior center or the library for further assistance also there are programs um that can help residents who qualify keep their heat on during the winter months and information on those services are also available in our Community Affairs offices and the library and if anyone needs assistance in filling out those um applications I'm going to ask Miss Jackson if she would come at this time and give a a summary of the activities that are going on in Willingboro for the month of October into November good even good to see everyone so for the month of for the remaining weeks in October on Friday we will have our 13th anniversary of our open mic night this year's thing is homecoming so we will have have a challenge between our willber high school and Kennedy High School Alone Come rep your class and join us for effectivity the door open at 6:30 and that will be on Saturday the 19th will be the annual IND for the sale that's from :32 at Pen Center we en encourage you to come on Saturday somebody's may be your treas say trash on Saturday um October 26th will be a busy day in our Township we're going to kick off the morning excited about Elling our Township's first inclusive playground that will be at BR Park the ribbing party will begin at 10 A.M includ day face painting giveaways for the kids and we marks from our Township officials and we do invite everybody to join us for that Mone in our recation in community and then on that same day from 10 to two we'll be anual take that day that dedicated residents to clean out their medicine cab cabinets anded unused or uned medication that will be to also here so and closing our the DAT will be our annual trunp r Treat that will be from 2: to 4 and that will be at the P Center so we invite everybody to join us there is still an opportunity if you want to volunteer or be a trunk for that event you can do that the deadline to respond is Monday October 21st and just to close out surveys for the township science and Performing Art Center are still available the science survey will conclude on Thursday and then the WX survey will wrap up at the end of this month always having questions or need more information you can follow soci thank you thank you Miss Jackson and generally on October 2nd um the county of Burlington and Willingboro DPW worked very closely together to clear some debris from our manholes number 3036 3039 and 3040 I did was able to share some of the photos with the council members um of the the material that was removed from um those man holes um and the county is going to go ahead and continue to Jet back those lines it was just a massive amount of silt and debris buildup in in the in the storm drains I could equate to like a blocked artery somebody been ready to have a a massive heart attack that's how bad they were um but we we really believe that um once these pipes were cleared um that will allow the water to properly flow um relieving the flooding issues um over on Baldwin Avenue and over at uh babbit Lane so we're going to continue monitoring them as well at the previous council meeting the council did authorize the administration to purchase 12 digital radar signs that we were looking to install at various locations throughout willing Barrow uh This was done in response to multiple complaints from residents about speeding on different roads in different areas in the community uh unfortunately is it's impossible to have police officers posted in every street around the town um you know to to address excessive speeding uh we have utilized our mobile signage but according to various reports uh received radar speed signs are very effective way to calm traffic and reduce speeding in residential areas school zones um and other places where safety is a concern and these signs are equipped with a radar sensor that measures the speed of approaching Vehicles displays the speed limit and alerts drivers if they are driving above the speed limit as well as collect data um as to when uh violations are mostly occurring which will enable us to help uh deploy our Traffic Division uh determine when and where more stringent enforcement um applications would be practical so those signs should be coming into the township relatively soon and we will be looking to install them at various locations throughout the township uh phase two of our 2023 Road placement program is open for bid the bid period will be open or will close on October 23rd we are looking to do barington Lane East Brook Lane Elder Lane Globe Lane H Brook Lane Hopkins Lane um Main Street which is a little tiny strip of road behind um the East Ridge Shopping Plaza uh Mayfair Circle messenger Lane Pine Street and shefield drive in conjunction with that pscg will begin Paving soon um the following roads as part of its gasline replacement program um when we did our our first phase of our our road pro project PS NG got in and did what they needed to do before we went and paved the streets so they would not come back and dig them up to go ahead and move forward with their project because they were able to do this before they took the monies that they would have spent repaving Those portions and give a credit back to the township and because of them uh because of that uh they're going to pave curve to curve uh the additional roads that they have been working on as well which is a good um one handwashes the other so they're going to be Paving um magnet Lane Hazelwood Lane Hazelwood Circle Harris Lane Hawkins Lane Niagara Lane um mandolin Lane and milbrook so when you collectively think about the roads that we have done in Willingboro uh just this year there will be a total of 40 roads that will have have been paved or will be paved in 2024 and along with that the eagle L the Eagle Lane drainage project is also out to bid uh work will soon begin on our 2024 sidewalk replacement we will begin replacing 8,346 Square F feet of sidewalks throughout the township um and along with the uh Road Place replacement projects that I just mentioned they also did have a sidewalk component um in certain areas along those streets and um as a final note our cleaning contract for 2025 will be going out for bidding soon and uh that's all the things that I have to report to you on this evening does any council member have anything from Mr Harris question councilwoman withfield thank you mayor thank you Mr Harris for your report um I'm always glad to hear the progress of the township I did just have a couple questions um on some of the things that you mentioned and one was um in regards to DPW um the corner trash cans that we had discussed a few meetings ago I just wanted to know where we were in that process I know they were ordered but I don't know if they've come in yet and when they will be installed well the trash cans have been ordered they are a few weeks out from delivery uh but DPW has identifi the locations for those CL can placements and they have begun to install the concrete footing um at each of those locations so when the cans do come they will be ready to install in into place oh great glad to hear that and then um lastly um your talk of the sidewalk Replacements I'm not sure if it's our responsibility but I know it's a County Road the sidewalk on Veterans Parkway right outside of the JFK track um is in great disrepair um so if you can make sure to add that location to your um repair list that will be greatly appreciated and that is scheduled to be done that sidewalk and veterans in the front of JFK as well oh perfect you're already on it thank you so much thank you any other coun pero um thank you for your report Mr Harris um I just have a concern and I guess a question uh for clarity of the roles and responsibilities of Public Works um because to my understanding in public works um positions is to clean up the community areas the debris um Left Behind from drivers um cut the grass do the edging water the grass plant flowers um there's been uh quite a large number of dollars spent on purchasing lawn signs and t-shirts and big signs clean up wooling Barrow and um that's Public Works job so and the job of the residents is to take care of their own property lawn so if a resident grass is overgrown the inspection department comes out and gives them a citation and at the time that Public Works comes out to cut their grass they can get a bill so why are you spending so much money and forcing the community to come out and clean up wooling Barrow when that's what Public's Works job is to do in addition to the taxpayers pays public works right they pay Public Works to make sure roling borrow is clean the sanitation department picks up wooling bro's trash which we all know we're struggling with that because it's a one-day pickup there's one trash bin so um whose idea was it to spend money additional money on lawn signs and t-shirts and ask the community to come out and do Public's Works job because at the end of the day and I will close here if that is the case then honestly everyone who came out to clean up wooling Boro should receive a tax rebate for their property so I have a huge issue with that can you please explain that so thank you councilwoman prone just for clarity we do not have a sanitation department so uh we contract for our trash pickup so Public Works doesn't technically pick up trash um however when you are talking about the clean communities cleanup that is a strictly volunteer basis where the community comes and volunteers to help keep their own community clean those monies are not of supp those projects are not supported by taxpayer money those are uh Grant monies that we receive from clean communities expressly given to municipalities throughout New Jersey specifically though for those purposes to buy trash cans to buy recycling materials to educate the public to do anything that is related to clean communities so although the money has been spent those are not taxpayer dollars those are state funded Grant dollars that are used to support the volunteer project of clean communities and what is public's Works roles and responsibility exactly as you laid them out to cut the grass and to water the lawn and clean up the community and and they do all of that I just reported that um clean Public Works uh the street sweeper collected 55.6 cubic yards of materials Public Works collected 48 30 Gall trash bags off of our main roads they collected 65 30 gallon trash bags of materials from our Parks they collect brush they clean up the streets they do a whole lot so exactly what you said Public Works does Public Works does so what is the what are the people picking up if Public Works already picked up the trash then what are the people picking up well councilwoman PR I I wish that once the trash was picked up it stayed away but but Willingboro is a hot bed for litter so yeah the the community comes by and picks up trash that other people leave on our streets okay thank you for that Mr Harris if you can forward that information about the clean community so I can see where the money is going and that it's actually coming from a grant and not from our tax dollars and I'd also like for Everett to also probably um from UIA um just get me a bill list on everything that was paid out from clean community so this way I can verify that what you're saying is actually true thank you and I like to might want to add for that is that the clean communities is not unique to Willingboro this is done all across the state it is all done across the c um country I've been to uh plenty of mayorship Mayor conferences where this is a big initiative because part of cleaning up yes the Public Works has the ultimate respon a responsib responsibility however it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to keep our community clean we do have plenty of litter people throw their stuff out every day I see it on the street so I mean it is okay I think and residents that showed up they are they want to be there nobody's forcing anybody to be there but um like uh Mr Gaines was saying it's growing every year because people are getting invigorated they're getting excited about keeping their community clean so I I definitely applaud that initiative um but again it's not just for the public it's not unique to Willingboro this is a grant that goes out across the state and across the country and just for for the record during the summer months we hired two clean Community ambassadors who work four hours a day uh just driving around picking up trash on all of our you may have seen them driving around in the cart with the little which was also purchased by Clean communities money not taxpayer dollars make sure it's not tax dollars if it's coming from a grant I love it great so that's my question if you said it's not I just want to see a record of it so if you can just get me that later be great thank you Mr fa you okay thank you um Mr Harris you had mentioned um how many streets we clean up in 2024 what's the forecast I'm sorry not um Street repair Road repair what's the forecast for 2025 so I don't have a forecast for 2025 yet outside of looking at um the additional RADS that we may need to work with psng uh to repair um you know we're getting into the budget period so we're going to see what um our finances will allow us to accomplish in in 2025 but I hope um that we will be able to do as much as we were um this year but realistically there are some other things that we have to take into consideration we have to consider what we're going to do with country Cup pool Penny Packer pool uh we have some other initiatives that are underway um that will need to be addressed as well and although we we made great strides in um our road Pro projects will be um ongoing and extensive uh continually and we're still in alignment with psng and their dig up we're kind of um aligning ourselves with them in their schedule yes and vice versa I guess and vice versa okay um Council councilwoman Whitfield didn't mention about the sidewalks and um the Kennedy JF JFK and Veterans um that was very important so thank you for bringing that up but just in general the sidewalks for all the children walking to all the schools are they we just want to make sure they're cleared and um safe yes for our kids um walking to school anything else okay anything else for that was my report okay um you can begin resolution and ordinance people know don't call me at don't call me on Tuesdays at 7 o'cl but no there's always one Al righty uh for your consideration this evening is ordinance number 2024 which is an an introduction of an ordinance to improve Municipal operations and efficiencies through departmental restructuring and amending chapter 3 article 10 of the Township Code relating to the depart Department of of police after uh many conversations with the police department and um our internal um reviews um there has been a consensus to transition the police department back to a chief um and uh reincorporate the public um the uh public safety director in with our office of emergency management so it will be an oem and public safety director and then the police department will revert back to having a uh a police chief so that's what ordinance 24 is related to ordinance 25 is an ordinance amending and repealing chapter 252 um section 9 which specifically is related to disorderly conduct um there are many uh activities that occur in Willingboro and because our ordinances do not have um very clearly defined disorderly conduct language is very difficult for the the judge or the court to prosecute individuals or even knock down a more serious offense to something less uh if warranted so uh we reviewed those ordinances uh we had conversations with uh the court the prosecutor and our attorneys and uh they crafted a more viable um disorderly person's ordinance for the township ordinance for public hearing and final adoption is ordinance number 18 um which is an ordinance amending uh ordinance 202-1638 article 18 entitled left turn prohibitions of the code of Willingboro this is prohibiting a left turn out of the high school onto JFK During certain periods of the day ordinance 20 as an ordinance establishing uh the working test period for Willingboro Township employees again this just codifies um Civil Service rules and requirements uh in as an official policy in our uh employee manual ordinance 21 is an ordinance adopting a policy related to property and Equipment reimbursement ordinance 22 is an ordinance amending the Township Code um entitled prohibited conduct and this one is specifically related to persons who put um debris uh grass clippings leaves and things like that in the curbs and along the sidewalks and um along with that is our commitment for us to keep our stuff clean as well after after we cut the grass and ordinance number 23 is an ordinance um uh to amend the code chapter 370 entitled additional regulations um by amending article specifying the placement of certain types of Articles within person's properties for example um you know soccer goals and bounce houses and trampolines in in the front yard um those would be relegated to Backyard activity so that's kind of what ordinance 23 addresses a resolutions being presented for your consideration is resolution number 240 which uh is a resolution to take all the necessary steps to apply to the Burlington County Library commission for the Willingboro Public Library to join the County Library System resolution number 241 is a resolution supporting the relocation of the Willingboro Public Library to the Kennedy Center at 429 John F Kennedy way resolution number 251 is a resolution authorizing in an increase to the not to exceed amount for Remington and Vernick engineering for the provision of engineering Services related to the design of the pickle ball courts and the Jake Place playground uh which will be coming to mil Creek Park resolution number 252 is a resolution authorizing refund of overpayment of taxes resolution number 253 uh authorizes the payment of bills resolution number 254 authorizes an an increase to the not to exceed amount for Triad Associates for the provision of administra of services to the township of Willingboro Triad is uh the organization that handles our affordable housing uh for the township and um many may know or not know that the previous COA has been um abolished and now affordable housing is being relegated back to the Department of Community Affairs um because of this transition there has also been some changes to financial reporting requirements and things like that um so Triad as well as our co- attorney have been very busy the last few months dealing with um these transitional uh operations on behalf of Willingboro Township so we needed to increase the not to exceed to cover their additional unanticipated expenses uh resolution number 255 is a resolution authorizing an award of a fair and open contract to TC landscape Serv serves or Construction Group for emergency board up services for Willingboro Township Whenever there is a a fire or an instance where uh a house needs to be boarded up this is the the company that we have contracted or will be contracting with to perform those Services after we went through a fair and open process to um solicit um bids for these Services resolution number 256 is a resolution amending a contract vendor for uh from Central Jersey equipment LLC to deer and Company for the purchase of ground equipment specifically a side arm Mower and C tractor the council did approve this resolution at the last meeting um but because the name of the vendor was incorrectly listed in the resolution we just needed to redo the resolution uh with the correct contractor's name which is John Deer uh um uh deer and Company resolution number 257 is a resolution authorizing the execution of a public donor agreement between Providence house and Willingboro Township for the year of 2024 the township does uh include um a sum of money uh 25,000 in its annual budget to support the Providence house this is just the resolution to authorize the execution of that payment resolution number 258 um is a resolution establishing a not to exceed amount for HVAC Services provided during the 2024 contract year by Hutchinson Plumbing Cooling and LLC resolution number 259 is establishing a not to exceed amount for um termite and pest control services provided by Eastern termites and Pest Control uh resolution number 260 is establishing a not to exceed amount for fire Alarm Monitoring and inspection services board for B safe LLC their Prim the primary company that monitors our fire alarm and equipment at the JFK Center resolution number 261 is increasing the not to exceed amount for serian Edwards buac and Nolan Inc for the provision of affordable housing or they are our co- attorney um their services increase from 3,000 to 4500 and we're just giving them the additional or authorizing the additional 1,500 in compensation resolution number 262 is a resolution to increase to not to exceed amount for Mainline commercial pools Incorporated uh they are the company that has been doing our pool openings and closings uh this year we were riant upon them to supply us chlorine because of changes in rules and regulations we were no longer to obtain them from uh the WM wmua um as we had done in the past so that's just increasing um their capacity to get paid for the services they provided and finally resolution number 263 is a resolution approving the township of willing Barrow to authoriz a memorandum of agreement to partner with new New Foundation uh to host an annual Scholarship Golf Outing and those are all of the items being presented to you for your consideration this evening thank you I'm going to open up the floor for uh public comment on agenda items only anything listed here please state your name and address for the record public comment for agenda items only is now open even good evening Marcus King 1352 L uh agenda item uh 24 um with this change and improving the operation is this going to be an increase to the Township's budget and also on agenda item 23 2423 um I get the the having things in the front yard but if a person gets an approval to have a block party and they shut down the street does that limit them from having um a house on on the front law just a question thank you my name is Don schas from the friends of the library um we're asking for a delay until March uh 2025 um for Resolutions 240 and 241 that's when um after the the 2025 master plan is completed I'd like to respectfully note three themes number one surrender uh resolution 240 surrenders authority of of the library to the Burlington County Library System despite legal issues um of whether a referendum is necessary number two downsize downsizing a space of 42,000 square feet to a 12,000 to 17,000 square feet with no plan of how this um is to be done I have a DI I have a diagram of the existing Library which is 42,000 square feet and I'd like to know how you're going to be able to take that existing space and all of its functions um to um a space no greater than 177,000 even with shared space the third theme is throwa away throwing away not just books but workers workers with experience caring workers I can name many of them by name history that it took six years of planning decision making and construction for the existing Library three possibilities throwing away possibilities that could be realized through having um expert Architects there uh not just any kind of architect can do this kind of work and a dialogue a real dialogue with citizens and last throwing away any questions that we might have questions about costs for example how much is this going to cost the the existing Library cost 8.22 five million I know that uh there were many funds that came from uh because it was a Brownfield site so um those are the um the themes that I wanted to mention so I do hope that you'll uh delay the um the resolutions until March 2025 when the resolution is uh when the master plan is completed thank you thank you what's your name again I'm sorry my name is Don schaus I'm with friends of the library okay thank you hi my name is Rosemary bender and I'm also against both moving the library and combining it first of all Rosemary can I get your name or excuse me address 132 Penny Packer Drive um if the residents of Willingboro don't even know about the library moving how do um companies how they have they addressed moving into a space that's not even that's still occupied you propos the space Central located in a very busy street especially for children on bikes and also on uh walking there's nothing around it the library is now a where it has now is a grocery store Bank food sitdown places fast and regular readers Dollar Tree Cleaners laundromats hairdresses and other things it's close to the senior housing and personally I'd like to get everything done at once the library just got a new air conditioner so how much more could Carpeting and paint be um the computer would have to be new anyway and there's plenty of room to carry out the many programs and future programs as he had stated 42,000 ft is a lot different than 12 to 17 will there be enough space to carry out everything have you seen everything in the library has actually had on their accounts space is inadequate will it be location in the back front middle will children have room to play and will they be able able to get there will the grandparents be able to get there we need a better designer have you any funds to redesign the building how much is it going to actually cost and for fixtures and everything else as far as the other question I'd like to ask who's ready for a possible legal battle we voted for it we should have a right to say where happens what is the actual advantage of this proposal right now we have the advantage of both system why change what will be the cost of future cost of the Burlington County Library willing bur is a very distinct and diverse community and our library caters to that we will be able to get the same of the library levels of bureaucracy going from person to person and many towns competing for it I just wanted to say one other thing' Please be aware that monetary concern individual we'll have we'll have we'll we'll hold those two resolutions till after also for another four minute you're quite welcome Dr Corvina Francis Denton boxwood Lane thank you for your time and for allowing us to be here again one more time I want to start by saying um the library has worked hard to create the ad hoc committee and selected the members of the committee as we proposed at our last meeting and on today 10:15 we were provided with confirmation that the Township Clerk will be scheduling a committee meeting between the township and the ad hoc committee that was created so we're grateful for that um we met with the friends of the library and we also had an opportunity to speak with the staff of the library some of the comments that they made were already presented so we check them off the list so I'm just going to read a few more for you into records They are we are proposing that a consulting firm with knowledge of Library functions and operations being be um consulted to examine the possible need and how we would downsides to fit into the space at the Kennedy Center the question was asked what would the cost be to Residents if we prepare the space to move the library a charet process was utilized in the previous relocation and design of the Town Center would this process also be used for the move to the Kennedy Center an extension is being requested until we've had an opportunity to continue your Communications about the move to the Kennedy Center or the possible move towards the Burlington County system we're also asking that in both cases the questions was questions were asked what will be the status of Staff pending employment what will happen to their benefits will staff be remained will full staff and be retained should there be a move to the Kennedy Center what will happen to earn time and acrude time as a part of the Strategic plan for the 20242 year the library is thank you like I said we'll withhold those two resolutions for further discussion anyone online for public comment for agenda items only uh yes mayor Shirley dworf Miss stillworth if you're talking we can't hear you I'm not talking I was not talking but I am talking now uh good evening everyone uh thank you my I just have a couple of comments about agenda item 240 and 241 okay in reference to two let me start over I did not give my address I'm met uh Newport Lake Okay resolution 240 I am not in favor okay of the willenburg public library becoming a part of the Brookton County library system and also I do not support the idea of moving our library to the uh Kennedy Center until it has been determined that adequate space is available to accommodate a full service Library thank you thank you m Dorth uh Brown good evening council members good evening mayor um resolution address name and address please 78 executive Lane resolution 20242 does that resolution apply to um councilwoman Peron because of her discourteous behavior towards the mayor what is going to happen with that and resolution 2024 24 can you explain in more details and resolution 20248 what are the hours for the uh cannabis and resolution 2024 240 I'm for the county system I said that before and resolution 20242 I'm for the library being moved to the Kennedy Center my concern about the library was the incident where when you had to do the renovation for the AC there was no notice sent out to the community community wasn't aware of the hours and there was no transparency of open-minded to provide something else for the kids for the summer those six weeks or seven weeks kids had no access to books nobody came out and said to the community or come to the board meeting about how to apply that so I'm trying to figure out are you for the community right now thank you very much thank you Miss Brown okay Don uh good evening my name is Donovan pots I'm at 71 messenger Lane um I'm speaking a reference to the library being moved to JFK um I'm not with that move and I also agree with what everyone also said something that I didn't hear anyone state is um um the old library building being used to rent out for commercial space or events um last council meeting one one of the council members brought that up saying that that building can be used to rent out and um I think that we have enough vacant buildings around Willingboro to use for instance we have two old Banks one being across the street from the fire station we have an old bank across from JFK in that Plaza we also have an Old Firehouse across from McDonald's that have been vacant vacant for years that we don't use for anything those could also be places that we could rent out for events so I don't see the old building for the library um being being that that's all thank you okay Angela Crawford sorry I um Angela Crawford 92 mon place I am just waiting for a direct answer as to whether or not uh 2024 240 and 2024 uh 241 are mutually exclusive I think we keep dancing around it but nobody ever says whether or not they're mutually exclusive so I would just like an answer to that okay thank you Miss Crawford yes Zoom user Zoom user if you're speaking we cannot hear you you're on mute okay good evening Valerie clay Shetland Lane Willingboro continuing with the list um by um Dr Denton uh could a six-month extension be provided for effective communication and presenting fact findings and this is in collaboration with with the council and the ad hoc committee so we can um we can clarify and collaborate more is there a deadline for the use of the funds from the grant mentioned in the previous Council meeting and okay I think that was let me see we have the consulting firm and also we've we've also received an offer um from my son Dr Uh Kevin Clay to help with securing grants to expand offerings of um with the library for free and he would he would help us with that in order to um help grow our library thank you thank you Miss clay all right seeing no one no more public comment public coma for public comment for agenda items is now closed all right Mr Harris um Mr King had a uh question about the increase in taxes um due to ordinance 2024 20 2024 24 he asked if there would be an in increase to to the budget and there is no anticipated increase to the budget we would just be right now we currently have three captains and one of those captains would be transitioned into a position so there would be no additional expenditures um anticipated uh in the budget for that transition as far as you know permits for someone to have a bounce house during a block party or something like that then they would have express permission to um use their properties for those purposes um but just storing or housing a bounce bounce house on the front yard um would not be permissible okay all right um there were quite a few people that had concerns about moving to um I'm sorry moving to the Burton County Library System um again Council will still discuss that um after the next public comment um Mr Harris do you do you have any comments about the size and the downsizing of the library because we did do some studies and do and I'm going to ask Sean if he will at at this time share those uh few photos um you know this was just not an out ofthe blue discussion that the Council woke up and decided to do recently um this had been discussed previously uh we had um hired our engineer to go and assess um the JFK Center uh initially when when they first were were uh having issues with the HVAC with the HVAC and they were coming back with cost proposals of around a million dollars to replace the HVAC in the library and at that point that was the orig original Catalyst about us investigating what it would cost to transition the library to the JFK Center we did enlist these the services of our engineer they did take their professionals and go and review the space which was the former library in uh the JFK Center they did take information um that was utilized regarding our current Library usage I believe at at one point prior to co um boot traffic in the library was about 150,000 persons uh during the course of the year um and since covid uh it has increased some but now they're just about a third of what it used to be um if you go into the library and yes it is a very massive space but if you look at um you know the setup there was a lot of dead space in the library that's not utilized they have rows and rows and rows of book shelves with a few books on them um that are are empty um the library has uh difficulties with keeping the facilities uh wellmaintained and cleaned um and these are just some of the considerations that were behind um transitioning the library to uh the JFK Center uh along with it being a more Central uh location um adjacent with our community center I understand that individuals have uh personal feelings about um whether the move is a good move or a bad move and and we are respective of those um individual feelings but this is just not an outof thee blue thing that we just undertook um uh recently um somebody had mentioned about um adequate space um 12,000 ft I don't know where these numbers are coming from because those were numbers that were never laid out um by fire engineer um I don't know uh if you well most people wouldn't be aware that um uh Andy Kim uh will be vacating his offices there uh after the election in November uh so that space along with the current U footprint of the library would all be incorporated into the total usable space in the library uh which is still under um planning and and review and the the question question is what are the costs what are the costs what are the costs um we did receive $3 million in grant funding from the state of New Jersey to transition uh the community center and expand that the the footprint of the community center and part of that consideration was also the inclusion of the library um I don't know what the totality of that project will be but the $3 million was a first step in and the the inclusion in the of the library library to the JFK Center was a part of that overall project so it won't be a standalone separate project uh specifically related to the transition of the library um it is not something that is going to happen in the next year uh because we still have to go through the the the design proposals uh we have to go through construction so we are talking uh some time but I do think um and again you just would share just the conceptual pictures of what that space uh could look like that is not going to be what it will look like um those were just um possible renderings uh from The Architects so I think you know the council has done uh due diligence in researching this um and bringing it to the Public's attention um and I understand that everyone has their personal feelings um but you know ultimately really would is the best operationally and and cost Effectiveness for the municipality and then can I just add um uh Dr I mean Miss clay asked um were there deadlines to use the funds for the renovation of the JFK Center uh there are deadlines um off the top of my head I believe that we need to be substantially moving along in that project by June of 2025 does not have to be completed um but we need to be you know moving forward so we just can't sit around and wait um and we are making a strides um in that and our requirements with DCA we've enlisted our engineer and and those things so we are moving along in in that process okay and do you have any insight um and I'm I'm going to say specifically for this conversation for the move um to JFK any any foreseeable downsizing of the staff or employees I don't see why there would be a downsizing of of Staff or employees your operations are your operations we're not downsizing the operations we're just changing the location and um and again this is just part of the the the rhetoric Behind these types of activities that are unfounded I don't ever remember anyone ever saying that we were going to be downsizing our Liv liary staff we were say we were going to relocate from where it is over to the JFK Center okay and just for some context also um Mr chalice had brought up um a brown field I'm I'm not familiar with that um but please correct me if I'm wrong in terms of moving the library over to the um Route 130 area um we also had two colleges over there at the time when we were thinking about expanding um our library and since then they have closed down so um the immediate need has been downsized a little bit is that that's correct oh okay right and that's just for context um Miss Crawford asked if 240 and 241 were mutually exclusive um as indicated before they are definitely mutually exclusive one can happen both can happen or neither can happen so um they definitely are mutually exclusive we can decide not to go to Baron County library system and still move or go to the Bron County um go to the Bron County system and still stay at the Route 130 um property so they are definitely mutually exclusive um also miss Clay did offer that her son would um help um secure funding and grants um which appre apprciate and then Miss Brown um I didn't catch I I wrote down most I didn't catch everything yeah she had some questions about ordinance 25 okay um and I'm not going to address the the questions related to to that um but ordinance 24 um it was related to um uh establishing a position of of a police chief um reducing one captain and having a a police chief I don't know what additional explanation um she's looking for in relation to that and then again she mentioned ordinance number 18 um which is the operating hours for the Cannabis business which I believe was extended till 10 o'clock p.m. 8:00 am to 10 p.m. right and just for the purpose of the public you can um just um restate the purpose of 20 2425 that was definitely specific for um or that came from the uh Court the judge in the courtroom that is correct um you know certainly disorderly uh behaviors uh maybe lwd behavior in the street um you know those types of of activities They Don't Really regulate actions of the governing body correct yeah I just I think she was a little bit confused that ordinance if she didn't hear you properly has to do with inappropriate behavior in the community such as as Mr Harris said nudity spitting correct violence thing not violence but like anything inappropriate in the community it's not nothing to do with our uh Council meetings and then Mr Don um had mentioned um commercial space I'm not sure um councilman Anderson you didn't say commercial space per se you said Economic Development um which the difference between the banks and some of the properties that were mentioned is that Willingboro owns that property versus um some other um opportunities for economic development that we don't have control over our own the difference is that the library property we do own any might want to add anything else yeah and specifically related to that property which is the the which was an old bank across from the firehouse I believe at one point a church was looking to move into that location and then they kind of backed out of the deal and subse quently a uh like a a bodega type store was looking to move in to that location and I don't know what their particular delays are but there is activity happening in that one space he did mention the the empty Firehouse across from the McDonald's and that too were plans for that and they fell through and plans for that and they fell through um so it's not like things aren't potentially happening there they're just out of the control of the municipality correct yes so yes like um like Mr Harris said there is yes definitely um some interest but again we don't have control per se outside of the land use but we don't have control of what the owner does with that property um so you know our hands are a little bit tight on that but um the library for instance would be under willing Burrow's um control um did you speak to the part about the referendum um somebody asked something about the it was you spoke so no I didn't speak about it I said I will um Reserve those for after for public comment the second public comment okay um all right you can move on okay for for the ordinances for introduction uh ordinance 20242 an ordinance to improve Municipal operations and efficiency through departmental restructuring and amendments to chapter 3 article 10 of the Township Code relating to the Department of police can I get a motion in a second so move second move by Dr worthy second councilwoman Peron any discussion roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes ordinance 2024-25 an ordinance repealing and replac chapter 252 section 6-9 with sections 6-10 regulating disorderly conduct can I get a motion in second moved second moved by Deputy Mayor Anderson seconded by councilwoman Whitfield any discussion roll call please councilwoman perone yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes okay um public hearings are scheduled for the November meeting November 6th um ordinances for public hearing I'm opening ordinance 20248 for the public hearing if anybody wishes to come forward and address the council please do so being nobody came forward I'm closing the public hearing or ordinance 20248 and ordinance amending chapter 20 amending 2021-22 of the Township Code of the township of Willingboro um can I get a motion in a second so move second moved by councilwoman Whitfield seconded by Deputy Mayor Anderson any discussion roll call please councilwoman Peron no councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor Macintosh yes okay ordinance 2014-19 and ordinance amending chapter 356 article 18 entitled left turn prohibitions of the code of the of the Willingboro Township I'm opening the public hearing oh sorry go ahead if anybody has any um comment please come forward with no one coming forward I close the public hearing uh can I get a motion in a second so second moved by Deputy Mayor Anderson seconded by councilwoman Peron any further discussion roll call please councilwoman perone yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh Yes W 20242 an ordinance establishing a working test period for Willingboro Township employees um I'm opening the public hearing if anybody wishes to come forward please do so being that nobody came forward I'm uh requesting a motion in a second so moved second moved by Dr worthy second and by councilwoman Peron any further discussion roll call please councilwoman prone yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes ordinance 2024 D21 an ordinance adopting a policy related to property and Equipment reimbursement uh I'm opening the public hearing please come forward being no one came forward I'm closing the public hearing can I get a motion in a second so moved second moved by Dr Dr worthy seconded by Deputy Mayor Anderson any further discussion roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor mayor Anderson yes mayor Macintosh yes ordinance 2024-25 an ordinance to amend the code of the township of Willingboro specifically chapter 31421 entitled prohibited conduct I'm opening the public hearing please come forward being that no one came forward uh I'm closing the public hearing can I get a motion in a second so moved second moved by councilwoman Peron seconded by councilwoman Whitfield any further discussion roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes ordinance 2 20 24-23 an ordinance to amend the code of the township of Willingboro specifically chapter 370 entitled additional regulations by amending articles specifying the location I'm opening the public hearing please come forward being no one came forward I'm closing the public hearing can I get a motion in a second so moved second moved by councilwoman Peron seconded by deputy mayor Anderson any further discussion roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson mayor McIntosh yes okay um moving on to the resolutions um we're going to withhold 240 and 241 and so after um public comments are there any other resolutions that yes any other resolution that anyone would like to take out just one um 263 263 okay any others 263 okay I make a motion for a consent agenda of resolutions 2024 d251 through 262 second second move by mayor McIntosh second the by Dr worthy roll call please councilwoman prone yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes I make a motion to approve the same second moved by mayor McIntosh seconded by Dr worthy roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor Macintosh yes okay so resolution 263 do you want to vote on that now I know you said 240 and 241 you wanted to vote on later we can do that now 26 263 would you like me to read it by title no just need a motion for 20 resolution 2 24- 263 still moved second moved by Deputy Mayor Anderson seconded by councilwoman Peron discussion yes thank you so um just this is one of the items that was on our last councilman uh council meeting um pertaining to the um establishment of the golf scholarship and golf tournament no scholarship committee and golf outing so I understand that it's been Consolidated and it's no longer committee this is now um the Scholarship Golf Outing the annual Scholarship Golf Outing um I did read through this and um I have a a just a couple of concerns one where it speaks to be it further resolved that the Deputy Mayor Nathaniel Anderson Shall Serve as the liaison of the new New Foundation so again um as I spoke earlier with resolutions you know adding someone's name um to we don't know where Miss counsman Anderson's going to be in 2025 right he could be the mayor so now if he's the mayor in 2025 but this resolution says he's the deputy mayor do we now have to revote and change that he's the mayor and it only can be him so I think like the name again I think that should be pulled and um maybe perhaps the wording could say alazon should be appointed um as needed you know because it's going to be an annual so this would be the the first time you're having it 3 years from now it's another annual we don't know who's sitting up here so that's one and then the other um the only other issue I have with it now is the um it says further resolved that the mayor is authorized to execute any necessary agreements with new New Foundation defining their duties and responsibilities regarding the Scholarship Golf Outing I have an issue with that because according to the fauler ACT we are governed as one the mayor is is hate the title of it but it's the week mayor because we vote as to what we're going to do as far as going forward so at no time is the mayor making any decision solely because of how whatever because we told it she could so um maybe the mayor attending a meeting but not executing so that part about that sentence I think um it says executing any necessary agreements the mayor is never voting on any agreements on her own or on his own so I would have an issue with that outside of that I think this sounds a lot better um and it makes more sense to me um I didn't see and it I did read through it that new New Foundation is responsible for administering the annual scholarship event so to me that it says including not limited to the collections of funds so whatever funds is made they are handling that our Township is not our finance department is not and I did see that they are to get $10,000 not to exceed $10,000 of um proceeds for putting it together um so again that's the only issues I have naming the deputy mayor and then the mayor executing agreements to goes against the fuler act for the council manager form of governments so I'll provide clarification on those questions um as far as the appointment the resolution as drafted would authorize the deputy mayor for this year if there is going to be an addition a different liaison or reappointment of deputy mayor in 2025 it could be rephrased to make that appointment at that point in time as well um and then as far as the second question with it being further resolved the necessary agreements for New New Foundations duties would be the mo MOA that you've referenced it's been attached it's not beyond that Authority which if council at this point in time does vote to approve this then mayor has been authorized by the governing body to effectuate that M MOA it's not an extension beyond that this is okay I and thank you for that so with regards to the mayor piece the deputy mayor piece um again um you know our reorg is in January so it's in a few months so again um if the lay on must be umel Anderson until 2025 the net date should be added here because um unless even if he's voted again to be Deputy May in 2025 this needs to be the dates of not to exceed one year or something needs to be added to that effect um I just think it causes confusion um going down the line by putting people's names and really really could be resolved by just not putting his name there but either way if you can add that what you stated about the date that it's just to the end of this year which is 2024 right is that what you mean as far as the date this would be for an annual resolution for one year that there is okay an appointment all right so then would would anybody be opposed to just taking um the lon can be appointed and then we so we can take the name out and asmb should be appointed um is there any clarification in the um language of executing any necessary because that's pretty much on all resolutions but um if because like like for any of them like if we approve something the mayor has the authority to sign oh just to sign so you're just execution the mayor's not making decision okay they would everything would have to come before Council um and then from the council's direction um whoever the mayor is will have the authority to sign okay copy thank you so we're okay um have to do do we have the backtrack because they amended so you're okay with the liaison should be appointed and quickly okay I think that would makes more sense okay and okay with the mayor's language on that one that's pretty standard right yes that is pretty standard for other execution of agreements okay once voted on yes okay do we have to do we have to take back your to take back the second and motion so you can take back the second and the motion and make a motion to amend this resolution so that the language reads uh be it further resolved that a late liaison is to be appointed for the period of 2024 to 2025 um and with that language I can then you can pass the resolution as is I can amend the language and have it updated for the clerk to post that okay I'm fine with that okay all right I resend my motion and I resend the second I'd like to make the motion to accept the resolution with the suggested uh amended changes second moved by Deputy Mayor Anderson seconded by councilwoman worthy roll call please councilwoman perone yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor Macintosh yes okay did we want to approve the treasurer's report can I get a motion and the second so moved second moved by councilwoman Whitfield second by Dr worthy any discussion roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes for the approval of minutes did everybody get a chance to read over those review those y okay all right you can got okay we're g to vote in Block yes that's okay all right um can I get a motion in a second to approve uh both draft sets of minutes so moved second moved by Dr worthy seconded by Deputy Mayor Anderson any discussion discussion mayor yes um I just ask one final read before they're published I know they were draft there were a few comments questions clean up that needed to be done so just request that's done before um they're posted okay of course thank you anything else I'm Excuse me yeah can I get some clarity on what uh Council worthy just stated yes so what we received were just their dra the draft of the notes so the draft of the minutes um and so there were just like some comments in there where they were you know um Mr fault and Miss saino were um sharing comments like they just have to finalize it it wasn't yeah I don't think it's any I just don't want a copy that a draft to go up I want to make sure that um they remove like their notes working notes uh before it's published that's all okay got it thank you anything else roll call please I didn't WR that was discussion oh my apologies councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman withfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes all right we can provide your updates okay so today was the final uh voter registration deadline uh it closed at the end of the business day we had quite a busy afternoon we had a bunch of people come in so that that was great um the next major deadline is October 29th it's the vote by mail um ballot deadline um that's the date that they can receive the vote by mail ballots um VIA mail um the the deadline to submit your vote by mail ballot application in person is November 4th um early voting will take place from October 26th to November 3rd uh at the library from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and then on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m uh the voter hotlines uh voters can reach out to if they have questions 609 265 uh vote um [Music] um and I have a list of all the vote by mail um excuse me all the early voting locations in the back um anybody can vote in any of these locations you don't have to just go to Willingboro you can go to any of the towns listed it's all that large um and then the only two things I have I have um a shred event that's tentatively scheduled for December December 4th um and then we are moving the dog clinic the rabes clinic uh from May to January the reason we're doing that is the statute requires that the dogs before they they're licensed their vac the rabies vacine has to be good through November so having the rabies clinic in May doesn't really make a lot of sense this way people can vaccinate their animals before they're required to license this will prevent people from getting unnecessary late fees um it just made more sense to move it it made more sense for the residents and made more sense for us so um I've already sent the we've already sent the notice of intent to the state um we will be scheduling that this is tentative uh I will keep um public information posted as well as you guys if anything changes and is there something we can do I know um the difference between May and and um what did you say January um the weather um I know it's been outside all the time I was thinking of switching it um there were a couple different locations I had some preliminary discussions I was thinking about uh attempting to do it at either the DPW or the recreation center again this is preliminary I haven't had a formal conversation yet but I did take that into account I will make everybody aware of where it's going to be held it's not going to be held outside in January that would be crazy right right so yeah I mean but you know the dogs the animals so I mean so just yeah we just work that out just keep it updated on that of course um work with Mr Harris to see if there's anything that we can yeah and do and the shred event that's going to be open to the public and to the employees I have to destroy records as part of my job as the records custodian so one of the things I like to do is open that up to the public as well so people as a community service people can shred their confidential records so I'll keep you guys posted on that as well okay um I was thinking about doing that potentially at the recreation center potentially at the library yeah just make sure the schedule of is okay um with the other with the town um Township manager of course thank you anything else for Mr uh no okay moving on to unfinished business um do we have any updates about the pools is there any further information collectively we have to make a decision as to whether we're going to invest Monies to do an overall evaluation of the pools um or if we're just going to kind of look at at our potential costs and maybe um just look at replacing moving forward with the replacing we got a couple of of estimates from Engineers to do evaluations on our pools and um two of the three estimates came in subst over $100,000 a piece and the one engineer that came in below that uh was the one that has been currently working with the township um and pretty much knows the condition and status of the pools but even that was a $40,000 Bill to produce a report to which we should already have that information um so um you know we're looking at uh the potential cost to make the repairs at the Country Club pool which are looking to be around $400,000 um in align with that you know we're just looking at a half a million dollars uh for one pool and it might just be a worthy investment to um evaluate um the cost to rehabilitate a good Rehabilitation project on one of our pools um and instead of spending um you know the money just feeling around trying to fix and trying to fix something that's 60 years old I'm sorry maybe you said it already do you have a cost we got uh we got two two uh estimates to do over 100,000 in piece to do the evaluations of our pools and and not the evaluation like to get a whole another Pool like to yeah okay my cost and and the engineer's cost will be substantially different okay okay um but it it's not a cheap it's not a cheap um uh Venture um but again it would depend greatly upon um the what you're looking at as a final project product so I just asked the governing body um for the next well we have three we um for our uh November our first November meeting um if everybody can take a look at all the correspondents that Mr Harris has sent out already and if there's any other um clarifying questions or questions we reach out to Mr Harris and have some um sort of further discussion and come to a some conclusion by the next council meeting and yes thank you mayor um I did have a chance to look over the information that was provided by Mr Harris um I agree that some of those um assessments uh quote were pretty outlandish in their um cost numbers um but I know as a council we had talked about either redoing the pool or considering an aquatic center with an indoor swimming option um or something of that sort um I think if we would like to go down that path of an indoor swimming option or something of that we wouldn't need a full assessment of all three pools I think that would be a waste of money to assess you know areas that we don't intend to use any further um but uh instead creating a transition plan of something while the new facility or pool was being designed and um constructed that we make um minimal necessary repairs to um keep at least one of the pools operating and and functioning okay that sounds good and Mr F just keep that on the um agenda um is there any other unfinished business councilman Peron yes um the unfinished business that I'm going to speak to tonight is the Veterans Day Parade as it pertains to the parade and events committee um I am speaking as the liaison and also as a resident of Willingboro and how disappointed um I am including the committee so I would like for us to clarify um understanding because um we received an email rather I received an email from Mr Harris that the mayor was not in favor of holding the Veterans Day Parade that email came in September um and then it was further clarified that the mayor was unsure if the rest of council wanted to have a Veterans Day Parade I wanted to bring to everybody's attention that in January 30th 2024 Four Women were appointed to the parade committee two of the women one was the wife of a soldier military Soldier the other her father served in the military and myself my father served in the Vietnam War so and Korean War we hold that parade very passionate to ourselves and why we want to be a part of the parade committee now why am I only speaking about the Veterans Day Parade most may know I'm from New York originally raised in New York we have the Puerto Rican Day Parade the Caribbean day parade the Thanksgiving Day Parade the Veterans Day Parade there's even a dog parade but in my 20 years of living in Willingboro there's only been one parade and that's the Veterans Day Parade so not only did the committee the five of us which is what it says we're supposed to do according to the parade resolution of 2016-12 it says it right here whereas the township Council finds that it is in the best interest of the township to establish a special ad hoc Committee of citizens and Community organizations to support and develop parades for the community and whereas the committee will act as Advisory Board to the township Council to plan assist and support parades and similar events whereas this is the one of the most important parts of this resolution whereas it is the intention of the township Council to solicit and appoint who individuals we appointed Four Women to this committee individuals and representatives of the community to serve on the committee in accordance with chapter 16 a code of The wooling Boro Township and it's also identified as Citizens access boards and commissions I have that codee right here and I did speak about it at the last council meeting not to go too long with this topic um but I want to be very clear for those who are listening okay um here's what it reads okay says here purpose the purpose of this chapter is to for foster the openness of governing and provide citizens with information concerning various appointed Municipal positions with exist um which exist within the township of Willingboro New Jersey this chapter further provides for procedure whereby a citizen can indicate his or her desire to serve in a particular appointed position finally this chapter provides notification process so that those who have indicated desire to hold the position will be notified regarding action taken it further goes into definitions of certain vocabulary it speaks about directories and authorities of the board which is very important because that's about process and what they're allowed to do so remember let's remember I just read the parade resolution and what did it reference this chapter 16 so it says the Township Clerk shall comply and maintain a directory of all local authorities boards and commissions such directory shall be made available upon request from the Township Clerk posted on the township website and bulletin board for for official notices um at the building okay moving forward and along next block posting vacancies that speaks to if there is a vacancy on the committee the committee must notify the council and what does it say the Township Clerk it goes into filling vacancies it is the committee's duly responsibility not the council unless essential for proper functioning or carrying on business of local agencies upon vacancy is occurred a vacancy shall not be filled for a period of 21 days from this poting in order to allow interests of persons to submit applications applications is the next category and just to summarize it it said well I'll read this part verbatim the Township Clerk shall maintain application forms okay as well as the posting of the application to these committees set applications must be completed by any person interested in serving an appointed Municipal position this is all speaking about commissions boards and committees it speaks about your name your address personal information letter G says anybody interested they can have the education or prior volunteer experience or work related experience I spoke about with the SOP the SOP says if you have a work-related experience you're not allowed to volunteer that goes against our chapter 16 that sop really again I'm encouraging our solicitor to really really this is why you're here ma'am CU you you have studied law so we have these ordinance in place so this way when we have ideas you just kind of apply it to what we already have as in place so it speaks to that right there um lastly filing applications maintaining filed applications and a applications review okay nowhere does it say the township Council votes on whether or not we put on a parade or not lastly well second to last the the council we voted our budget we gave the parade committee we appointed the people first then we voted on really it was supposed to be 35,000 during discussion but they said we needed to take $110,000 to give it to the jazz festival committee because they needed more money so then we went down to 25,000 so that's what the committee had $25,000 okay the the committee started their feet started working sending emails to discussing what we're going to do for the parade back in May reserved rooms did everything contacted the military which by the way okay the mil everybody confirmed that they were coming except for I guess who us because we contacted um Fort Dicks they said they were coming and because they advised me to have the parade not on Veterans Day they were actually going to send their own troops so we have people that's actually serving in the military they were going to come just to Willingboro to honor our veterans in uniform the Willingboro High School band the superintendent confirmed the students were coming Burlington Township Ro students confirmed they were in attendance they don't even live in Willingboro but they were willing to come here and help us honor and salute our veterans okay um Buffalo Soldiers motorcycle club they were confirmed that they were coming and we had a few people who we wanted to honor that actually work for our community and honor them and say thank you and they work for our community and they served in the military and as the liaison I didn't even get an invitation to the discussion that not to move forward Mr Harris emailed me conf confirmed the mayor said do nothing else you know what you know what she supposed to do in September print out the lawn signs how many people remember seeing clean up wooling Boro lawn signs we see it all over have you seen one veteran parade coming lawn sign no the flyer was already designed I said when are you going to advertise the mayor said she's not sure if the council wants to have did we have a discussion about the parade at the last council meeting no I spoke to staff here how long ises it take to shut the street down we're going to need about two to three weeks so therefore yes I had to send out letters to all the people who were interested in coming to Willingboro to the elected body committee okay elected officers to a what town a town that was built for veterans and we couldn't even support the people who we appointed to this committee the we gave them money to put on a parade so there was no confusion whatsoever that no one on this board was confused that they were putting on a parade a Veterans Day parade and I will close there because again like I said we don't put on any other parades but the Veterans Day Parade so I think that was really wrong at what you did and it is it is sad but I would like the mayor to speak to that I'll speak to when I want to anyone else have um anything to say about that I would just like to um point out one thing that um councilwoman Peron so eloquently read um as part of the parade EV parade and events resolution um is that the committee exists um to act as an Advisory Board to the council um and I think that's the critical part that you're missing in that resolution councilwoman Peron because the no committee under this Township except for the Quasi judicial boards um such as the zoning board and the planning board um has the authority to cart blanch plan any um event or spend any Township money without the um approval of the body and I think that's a practice that we have done um for a number of years now any events that are going on it is talked about at the council meeting approved D and then the committee goes on and continues planning um and not one time this year did the topic of a Veterans Day Parade come before the council I not against having a Veterans Day Parade I actually support having a Veterans Day Parade but it was never presented to the council for us to vote on and I understand yourself and the committee has worked diligently to make arrangements but it was never presented to be approved um and I think as an advisory committee to the council the council would have to approve that event to move forward um and I just wanted to point that out um for the public and um uh just state that if we allow this it sets a precedent that any committee can plan events spend Township money taxpayer dollars without the approval of council and I do not think that is right that is all I have thank you mayor Madam mayor yes um just to piggy back off what uh councilwoman Whitfield said you know we were expected to get a report and update I know early on the year you didn't have a lot of members on that board so as you started to fill it um we understood that there may be a possibility of a parade Mr Harris even said we reserved that date we reserved the banquet hall but there was no information that actually came back to this Council now it's my understanding that you were working behind the scenes uh with Administration but once again it never came to the council so our our our take on it was once it got I think in August or September we started hearing but nothing officially came to us so speaking with the majority of council members we said well if it doesn't come to us you know it may be too late to do the actual parade because a lot goes into it but if you wanted to do the uh banquet the program that you did the the two years ago which was great there was we were all for it we don't want to make it seem or appear that we're against the veterans we love our veterans so that program that interior program I believe the majority of council supports that it's just that trying to do the parade and doing it right I think it's just not enough time for us to prepare accordingly because it did not come before us for the approval so I think that's what the disconnect was and even though it was conversations going on with the administration we were still unaware of if it was happening if it wasn't and then as the last meeting came about you know we had to abruptly stop that meeting so we didn't really get a chance to continue the discussion but no one here is against the veterans we love our veterans like I said we're all for the interior parade but trying to now do an exterior Parade from whatever point to whatever point the time frame is so short and one thing you know I I I do say is if the township is going to do something we want to be represented in the best possible light that we can be we just don't want to put something on just to say we had it so I just think that there may have been some miscommunication where it didn't come back to us which we would have supported but nothing came back to us and then when I saw the communication you know that you sent Mr Harris and everything about not being on that's when we like what's happening so it's not that we don't support it we do but to do the parade at this late juncture I think it just puts everybody you know in a unpulsed you know Council should be approving it and if it would have just came to us I don't think we would had an issue but what happened it didn't and then all of a sudden we start seeing the emails that's all thank you and I'm just going to speak for myself that um when this was brought to my attention it was September so let me just be clear about that it was September when it was brought to my attention and what I said was just all right we'll put it on the on the schedule we'll put it on the agenda so that we can vote on it it was very simple there was no mayor sto the stop the parade so I'm saying that on the record there was no you're spreading this narrative that is so off and ridiculous and all you had to do was bring it to the council you're you're you're being so um resistant to that that's just basic colleague uh respect bring it to the council I and to be honest it it would have pass pass I'm I I I it would have passed you had your votes you decided not to bring it in front of council for whatever reason I don't understand but you make this narrative that nobody cares about veterans you have no idea what anybody does with the veterans you have no idea what people do for their loved ones for the community for the veterans so you spew this stuff and this negativity and it's you all you had to do is bring it before Council I put it on an agenda because it was brought to me that you were moving forward okay I don't have a problem with that bring it before Council unfortunately last council meeting it got um shut down but that's all you had to do so I don't know what you're making this story that everybody's against C veterans and all that it's a parades and events committee that means it could be any parade you could have did any parade you wanted to you still have to bring it before Council and that's what any organization any committee any org any Committee in an organization does never ta Rogue you never just do what you want to do just bring it before Council I don't think anyone up here had a problem with you doing any parade and that's all you know but you make these stories I'm watching emails and I I figured it was a misunderstanding I was going to call you back but then you create these problems on the emails that's ridiculous so again like I said no one was against the mayor was not against holding the parade I put it on the agenda on purpose so that we can just vote on and you can proceed that's it it's I don't see where the commotion is coming in and you know all you have to do was I mean you could have talked to any of your colleagues to see what they thought about the parade nobody was against the parade I promise you I promise you that but again um even the last the last meeting we were like okay well just put an agenda I for one was going to say okay I didn't have I don't have a problem with it but I think we still have to go through the proper protocol that's it that it is very simple um you know you're saying the the parades because you didn't come to council that's it it's not anyone trying to prohibit you from celebrating the veterans did you want to say something okay I would like to respond to um the three comments um unfortunately your comments come across as like an oxymoron type of a statement because when you appoint the P the people to put on the parade and then you're surprised there's a parade coming it's a little weird number two um to councilman whitfield's comment about the parade committee resolution I'm not missing anything it says Advisory Board what else does it say there to be in accordance with chapter 16 that's very important not just one word and run off with the word Advisory Board it's flagging it around chapter 16 speaks to every type of procedure for any committee okay and as I read to you and I read to you just to keep it short some of the details and the bullets nowhere does it say say the council votes on the type of events you already voted to appoint the people therefore you're not surprised that they're working on a parade we only have a Veterans Day Parade in Willingboro there's never ever been another type of parade so you're not surprised that the people you appoint to the parade committee are going to put on a parade yes councilman Anderson and Deputy Mayor Anderson it does take a lot of time and you know what the women they happen to be all women worked on this committee and they put a lot of work into putting it together in September was where we were beginning to let everyone know not get approval from the council because we already voted for that that's the part we vote on we vote on giving the the committee money and we vote on the people to run the parade to put it together that's what their job we don't dictate and if you wanted to see what was going on you could have attended any meetings or call the liaison that would be me Madame mayor yes you absolutely did was on that email and like you said you were going to call me back it's been a month I've not gotten a call back you told Mr Harris not to proceed that was the last step shutting the street down having the meeting and advertising the event everything else was done but you completely disregarded the work and efforts that was put on for this committee okay so please I I I rather the three of you just be very honest okay because the truth is you wanted to put on the golf tournament okay councilman Anderson asked me in July for $10,000 cuz he needed to give a deposit for the golf tournament and I said we don't have it I told him that Madame mayor you called me too he said I thought you knew that's what they wanted to do I said no I said the parade is the parade committee that's what they're working on so I don't know and then at the council meeting what do we see this botched up resolution Scholarship Golf I'm like whoa okay so I'm GNA close there um just because of the late of the hour but honestly when you appoint people to any of these committees just give them a little respect that they're putting their time in to help the council and the community have a wonderful event okay and again the fact that you needed to vote on whether or not you want to salute the veterans or recognize them do you really have to vote on that have they not served enough of their time for you to be sitting here by the way okay you have to vote on that and it comes AC it's a national holiday do not forget it and I asked that last year when it was forgotten remember the bank was with vented to somebody a birthday party they forgot Veterans Day was coming okay so please if if you're going to just be honest okay you had other initiatives for that money and you wanted to pretend that the committee all of a sudden had to come before you to ask you about a parade when you already pointed them to the parade to put on the parade committee I'm done Madam mayor yes yes just real quick Council Peron how long have you been Le aison on the events and parade committee I would say two um consecutive terms when you say terms you mean two years no terms like so that's eight years okay so if that's the eight year window we've only had one parade So when you say it's oxymoron that we form a parades committee and we are to expect the parade you do one parade in eight years so if we don't know we can't it's not guesswork to us it's not like you had it consecutive all eight years so we say okay we know a Parade's coming we don't know so all we ask is that you bring it forth just as as we all said just give us the respect you you're saying we don't give respect or we just want the same respect from each liaison who represents the committee but it's not o oxymoron if you've been in that position for eight years and only put on one parade so we cannot assume that every year there's going to be a parade that's all I'm saying right this committee was and it was created in 2016 no one did anything since then okay I put the initiative in in 2022 to put it on and then it was blocked last year and I said please remember the veterans in 2024 and what did you do again you forgot you you needed to vote on whether or not you wanted to remember them that's what you're all saying and the oxymoron part about it now hman Anderson is that you vote for the people to be on the parade and what are they going to do put on a parade so to say that it's like you put on the people for the barbecue committee and then they put on the barbecue like you're actually ordering chicken like what is it's like that's what I mean it's you putting people on this committee to put on a parade and that's what they tried to do and then to say you weren't aware you were surprise they didn't ask you then why did you appoint them to the committee to begin with and again I I don't want us to be here at at 10 o'clock um the the chapter 16 speaks for itself nowhere does it say we got to vote on whether or not we put on a parade you put the people there you appointed them you gave them the money now let them do the job and respect them I'm not even speaking about myself respect the people that you appointed to the position that's all I have to say everybody good I just have one thing to add um just to clarify um I I'm well aware of the resolution I've read through it several times as the rest of the um committee resolutions that we have in this Township and many of them are categorized as I said as advisory boards and just to read the definition of an Advisory Board is an Advisory Board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to um the management of a corporation organization or Foundation the informal nature allows an Advisory Board greater flexibility in structure and management um and also it relieves them of legal fiduciary responsibilities so it is a legal issue that they cannot just do things on their own the advisory committee or any advisory committee advises the Council on areas of knowledge Gap or um particular interest shared interests they come together with a plan they present it to council Council approves it or does not approve it and then they continue on with their work that is how advisory boards work um and I'd like to end my U comments there that is all correct but it's the committee shall be in accordance with chapter 16 code of ruling Township so you cannot separate the two chapter 16 dictates how positions are advertised how people are selected how they're appointed to committees and things like that oh it's more to it all right okay so then moving on to new business um I'd like to get the council's consensus on um our second November meeting falls in the week of Thanksgiving I'd like to know if everyone if anyone would like to um reschedule or cancel the second November meeting rescheduled to when um let me see because we have the league on the oh yeah the 8 the 19th so we'll be at the league the 26th is the next meeting um but that's on the Thanksgiving given week so I'm just trying to find a consensus on whether we want to have it or cancel it I'm okay with canceling unless there something coming up that we don't know that month and I'll refer to Township manager okay all right I mean you can get everything in for that because at first that means we would only have a meeting on November 6th which is at Wednesday after the election and there's three weeks later so I just want to make sure we have all the business handled of the township yeah we we'll try to get it wrapped up okay that's try all we can do all right do I have anyone else have any input for the 26 C cancel I'm not sure what the vote's going to be but I won't be here I'll have family in town preparing and okay the following week we go into the first week of December I know in years past we've canceled that but I know for one I will not be there all right so is everyone in favor of canceling that one yes yes I'm in favor of that okay perfect all right um also wanted to get a sense of uh the council's appetite for hiring an in-house engineer um that works on behalf of the township we have our Professional Engineers um but we're looking to see if we want to have an in-house engineer for our purposes to sort out we have a lot of projects coming in and we want to um have an expert on board that can help us um manage all these uh major capital projects and some of our um infrastructure projects Dr worthy thank you Madame mayor um so I've read what Mr Harris shared with us um regarding an in-house Township engineer um and also as we've been looking at the reorganization of the township um I do support an in-house Township engineer uh something that I am really curious about is how we round out the scope of responsibilities so that as projects um Peak and go down we do have a full scope of work for that person um not that they have to be co-mingled with DPW um but there could be some some other responsibilities that they would have I'm just my only concern is making sure that we have a full scope of work when our projects go down because we won't always be peing like we are with projects I do see the value of having someone who's completely committed to willing borrow and staying on top of uh the engineers and the construction teams that are out there doing the work so I do support it um as long as we are very Mindful and demure about how we approach our uh scope of work for that individual but I do think that would be great for the municipality okay I like I like I guess I'm a little confused as to what that the role of that person would be especially because if we have the engineers they're orchestrating the project so how special is this other person and are they working along with the people that are putting putting together the um the infrastructure or is this um a separate engineer working on one of our projects but not necessarily all of them Mr Harris can you explain that the in-house engineer so part of our Engineers um what we pay our contracted Engineers for are things like um contract management uh bids specs um construction management um so so essentially we would be deferring those uh expenses which we are paying for anyway to outside engineers and we'd be utilizing in-house persons um for these types of services some of the benefits of that it would reduce um some of our Contracting fees um being that our outside Engineers usually charge us um hourly rates so every time we get an email $50 every time we get a phone call $50 um and if they come to a meeting $400 where our in-house engineer would um give us advice um Direction and oversee our projects as part of their their job duties um just in five projects alone this year year we spent 251,000 just on contract and construction management um those fees could have been utilized to pay an in-house engineer to do these projects who could also issue our road permits which we pay an outside engineer for uh when we have problems with um uh infrastructure uh we have to call our outside Engineers to come in and evaluate the situations we also pay uh outside Engineers to oversee planning board projects or zoning projects and um you know they could help with um the master planning um and these are some of the things that have having an in-house engineer would be beneficial for the town when it comes to designing major road projects we would still uh utilize outside Engineers to do those types of projects but that would be um the extent of it it would be the the engineering and design portion of the project and then that would be transitioned to um construction management and contract management by our in-house Engineers okay thank you and is that going to be a one person like a group of people like for the in-house Engineers it would be a a one person job and they probably need a a staff yeah yeah Clerk of some sort staff support okay and this would be a salary person this is a salary person um okay yeah I I think it sounds like a great idea and um but I would like to make sure um Dr Worthy's um concerns are addressed because I think that's a good point um because we know we have the es and flows of our projects and um to make sure keep some busyness during the low periods councilwoman withfield um thank you mayor um Mr Harris would you be able to pull um like a job descript I or roles and responsibilities for um this person for us to just look over to um councilwoman Worthy's point of you know what would their responsibilities be outside of just the engineering task um to kind of keep their uh them active yes thank you so yeah we can then we can discuss further I'm at our next meeting but I do think considering a lot of the projects that are coming up I think it would be a worthy um investigation to see if we should have an in-house engineer all right um Mr fault do you have a update on our public our public budget hearings that will be happening they're tentatively scheduled for November 13th and 14th from 2:30 to 4:30 okay and can you explain that for the public so they can yeah so every every November according to our form of government um directors of each department are required to come before the manager and make their budget requests for the subsequent year and by Statute those um meetings have to be public meetings so uh we hold them in a public form and we invite the council to participate in the process along so we can kind of kill two birds with one stone um where you can participate in the budget hearing process as well um I don't believe that two hours is going to be sufficient okay um I I need may need at a minimum a third hour for each day uh no in totality so we have uh nine directors 20 minutes a piece so if you do the math it comes out to about um 180 minutes which is 3 hours so if I have two meetings with two hours each that be more than cover it okay so I think that's what we posted right that's what we have I know you said kept saying one initially but there there was a second one okay so I know the meeting on the 13th so when is the second one the 14th 14th I apologize that that's probably my fault I sent you an email saying just the 13th but then I sent out an Outlook invite for both dates for two hours each okay and I did get the invite and I was confused because I had only received the communication for the 13th okay so okay thank you all right question yes um Mr Harris will we receive a read ahead packet for those discussions yes the directors are um in the process of preparing of those documents uh right now okay thank you all right thank you um also just a update um Mr F I forgot to ask you during the clerk's updates um we did stand out for our professionals um the RFP we we did not but we will for November okay all right um can you provide the council with a full list and I would just like the um the governing body to take a look at those professionals to make sure we need all of them or if we want to add any or subtract anything um you were provided the list of professionals at the last meeting I can provide it again that's not did you do on email or hard copy we did hard I know I got believe I put it with your meeting package but I can email that out separately it's not a problem right so I just ask the governing body to take a look at that if any of them we can come to a consensus whether they we want to keep everybody or add anybody or subtract all right anything else for new business all right moving on to public comment you have four minutes please state your name and address for the record public comment is now open I'm sorry resolutions after public comment yeah my name is Esther Turner and I'm the chairperson for the parades and events committee I'm at Three Wood Haven Lane honorable Madame mayor and distinguished councel I'd like to just read a letter from the parades and events committee um I listen to everything that was said this evening um however we did put something together prior to the understanding of what's going on this evening so in all due respect I would like to read this letter from the parade and events committee good evening honorable council members the Wen World parade and events committee would like to express our concern regarding the recent cancellation of the 2024 bur Veterans Day Parade the township parade honors our brave Township veterans and celebrates their service to our nation it is a time to Express gratitude and appreciation from parades to ceremonies to special events it is also a time to reflect on Veterans impact on this country and acknowledge the challenges they may have fac return returning home or transitioning into civilian life the brunch and ceremony honoring willing burough veterans which precedes the parade is a time to honor Township residents and simply say with sincere gratitude thank you for your service the celebration was intended to let the veterans know that we recognize that they uh put their personal lives on hold for the betterment of our our country's wellbeing the committee has worked in unison to plan and implement this event befitting of the PA patriotic veterans living and serving within the township we worked in collaboration with the council liazon adhering to the standard operation procedures objectives and budget requirements we recently received email notification that the much anticipated event was being cancelled we the volunteers of the committee after planning details since April are very disappointed in this cancellation the wenber residents and Veterans within the community deserve recognition we were looking forward to honoring the Veterans as a community recalling the veteran the wboro Veterans Day Parade of 2022 which took place during the rain it did not damage the spirits of those participating nor the residents that came out and cheered on the parade session we are hoping that the township Council would reconsider their position bearing in mind the well received responses we received of confirmed participation for this year's Parade from our military school and Community Partners thank you in advance for your consideration dutifully submitted the wooling Boro Township parade and events committee thank you for your attention thank you Miss Turner evening again Marcus King 135 T to Lane um I want to touch on a a subject that I understand and I really don't know all of it so I may be talking that a term I know that um during this uh year that there was an issue with the cheerleaders and Recreation and I do know that the cheerleaders are getting ready for their competition and I do know that they're not meeting here in Willingboro and don't have a facility for them to meet in and I guess what I'm asking the council is if we could um have a meeting with some stakeholders involved to find out why is it that we can't have these cheerleaders practicing in a facility in Willingboro these are our babies and they go out and they represent this Township I don't know what the issue is and and I'm not even taking sides what I'm asking for is can we find a place um they they start their competition as of January and they don't have a facility big enough to meet in and it would be a disgrace if this year um they're not successful in in in their due diligence because we couldn't figure out um a place for them to meet the way I understand it is they pay um the kity center for the use and this is outside of the regular football season so I think there is a difference um all proceeds are um generated by the parents and fundraisers so there's no cost the way I understand it for for the competition cheer and I'm not talking about the football cheer we have to find a way to make sure we taking care of our children here in Willingboro put them first so I'm asking you as a council and and and the Willingboro citizens let's come together do right by those young ladies because they deserve a chance and they need to hear from us and I think thank you and hopefully I hear back from you on that matter thank you Mr King Don shth uh friends of the Willingboro Library first I'd like to address um resolution 240 U resolution 240 does mean that all workers jobs will be up for grabs Dr worthy mentioned that uh a couple of times so surrendering authority to the Burlington County library system does mean that all the jobs will be up for grabs these are people that have a lot of experience they're people that care about people in willing burrow several of them live in willing burrow and have lived there for many years on resolution uh 241 the resolution does say that the uh dedicated space will be 12,000 to 177,000 square feet Mr Harris it does say uh whereas the library relocation would use 12,000 to 177,000 square F feet of the available 42,000 square feet of the Kennedy Center located at or 29 John F Kennedy way so we do ask uh for a um a delay in these resolutions to to March 2025 unless there is a way of being able to get material answers um there are a lot of questions that have been raised even tonight uh one is the uh for example the person who uh created that image that was on the screen um if you go back and you look at this image this is from 20 this is from um 1999 9 he was showing the the residence it was it was from five years or at least four years before this thing actually uh um was opened okay we're talking about a process that took six years or more um so uh it will be 12,000 to 177,000 square feet according to the resolution um so what happens to all that lost space um will um we lose free space for meeting rooms and for tutoring um I have several other questions I guess another relevant question is the um is the cost um we don't we still don't know what the total cost is it's never been answered we do know that the total cost um in the uh in 2003 was 8.22 five million and again the project took six years um I so I do have a question can that $3 million Grant be spent on other aspects of the upgrade instead of the library just in case um the the uh the person that that Drew that um that image um what what kind of background do they have the the croxton collaborative um out of um New York um create created this and they were the they were the master um the major Architects for this um they're still there I mean you can you can use the same telephone number that's on this diagram and call them okay because I I've done that um I have other questions but I don't know how much time I have uh who owns the Strayer building does um does the township ow this the Styer building or's someone else own it is it the same ones that own all the other vacant space that's in um the Town Center no there there are I think three owners uh three owners in totality that have a mix of the property as the town and that's um if you if you could tell us how we can use the ex existing space better of the library I'm sure everybody would appreciate that sure we we they can do better uh so instead of you know throwing the baby uh out with a bath bath water please um consider using the existing space better thank you Mr chalice Penny peer I'm like a bad Penny I keep coming back okay I want to know what the advantage of going to the Burlington County Library is um we get all the all the resources of the library except we don't have to we can't take their books out but we can go to the Burlington County Library in the Willingboro Library they cater to us the diverse Community we are our Librarians and staff love us they my granddaughter absolutely adores Miss Tessa we have such a great connection with them she ask me all the time we go into the library I don't want to lose that I don't want to lose the chance of having the choice of what I want to see in my library okay um as far as available I I understand you guys have to look at the money I got to look at the money too I understand that but what about all the places that are available in Willingboro I don't know how many are personally available but what about the taxes on them are we collecting all the taxes what's happening with that disaster of a Mart space do we have the taxes on that um I don't think it's in a personal opinion I've been here the last three meetings and there's only one person that voiced that they agree with moving the library and keep going to the Burlington County Library I don't think we've advertised this enough you should have had the phone tree yes a lot of people don't have have home phones but a lot do I get the phone calls for stupid stuff Why Can't This be made important of a good representation to willing Baro the town people I bet you three qus of them know don't even know what's going on here and I know that's true of most things that happen in it I get it but you have to think of us as a community you have to think of us as being personally involved in our library and our staff and the people that run it I really really wish you don't move the library because yes it is locally it is nicely located for me but it's nicely located for a lot of other people too yes it's close the other one is closer to the older children yes I understand that but they don't have a problem walking they don't have a problem riding their bikes they get any place else they want to go if they wanted to go to the library they'd go so I really ask that you don't move the library and that you don't go with the system because I don't see the benefit all I see is cost bureaucracy and no choice thank you okay thank you um any public comment online uh yes mayor Susan hacker thank you Susan hacker towood Lane I'd just like to say that I think the people of Willingboro should have a chance to weigh in before any decision is made about the library I appreciate the township surveys about signage the Performing Arts Center and other matters and I believe the future of the library is at least as important thank you thank you Miss hacker okay Maddie mallerie good evening Maddie mallerie Hudson Place and uh I have a question I'm looking at my preliminary tax bill for uh the year 2025 and it say say here that I'm paying $83.20 for Municipal Library taxes so my question is if we were to go to the county system uh would we still pay this Municipal Library tax uh would it be excluded from our uh tax bill and would we have to pay more but how does that work if we were to go to the county system and my other comment is that um I'm glad that Mr Harris made the statement that this is nothing new as far as moving uh the library because I felt all the time that this was something that the council was planning and of course it just came to light to the uh tax fairs so you know um just thinking about all of the pros and cons of moving it to the Kennedy Center and also becoming a part of the County uh system I think uh the taxpayers need to be informed a little more about the advantages and disadvantages and how it affects our tax um you know tax as far as Municipal Taxes Library taxes and that's my comments for this evening thank you Miss mallerie okay Terina Williams thank you terena Williams botney Circle good evening mayor MOS Deputy Mayor Anderson councilwoman Whitfield councilwoman Peron councilwoman Dr Tiffany worthy um I originally wanted to just announce that the volunteer Center of Brunton county is asking for entries for their special Unity celebration video project the unity celebration will take place at the Burlington County Library on January 20th 2025 and if you go to the website volunteer Center of Burlington County or vcob bc.org you can get more details on submitting a 60-second video of your choice then when mayor McIntosh um um shared with us that um Congressman Andy Kim office will be moved uh it drew to mind that we met at the volunteer Center of Burlington County's annual MLK Day project on January 20th 2020 and it was such a joy for um myself and the other members of willing bar SDA church to meet Congressman Kim who supported multiple projects including the MLK Day veterans luncheon that we had in 2020 that um that mayor worthy she was attended and and the following year um there are so many people to acknowledge mayor McIntosh she attended and spoke with him um on 2022 so I just want to really say thank you so much to Congressman Kim for your dedicated service and you have been a joy to meet and we greatly appreciate all the hard work that you've done not only for our local Township but for the state of New Jersey May everyone take the time to vote I know I'll be voting for him um in light of the volunteer um the veterans um day discussion that we've had um are listening to while I understand that there's a a protocol that has to be made if I could suggest um having an emergency vote that we can't have it on that day um it would be wonderful if we could have it on Veterans Day uh a group of us participated in the Veterans Day Parade on November M 11 and it was in the rain but it was such a joy to be able to do something for our veterans that we are indebted to I met one at church um out of state and he spoke about how he had surgery but had no um reason to understand why he was still alive and we kept telling him how valuable he is and by the end of church service he um after a lot of us told him how important he is to us and to our country and the world he finally felt good about himself but that just goes to show how important is that we SE every opportunity that we can get to make to remind our veterans how important they are and to encourage one another to take the time to give people their roses while we still can all of us I'm sure all of you of course Dr worthy as a veteran herself know how important it is to love up our veterans while we can so may I please encourage all um if it could be explored having the Veterans Day Parade on Veterans Day that would be really great I take great pride in sharing with everybody how much we love our veterans and I greatly appreciate your time and dedicated service and support to our MLK day um veterans luncheon that we have annually thank you so much oh and thank you to Mr Town who um spoke at our last lunch along with Mr Harris may God bless you okay Rashad Jordan yeah can you hear me hello can you hear me yes we can hear you yeah because I'm Rashad actually live in collinswood but I grew up in Willingboro and my first job was at the Willingboro Public Library um I don't have too much to say since I spoke at last month's meeting but I like to say that you mentioned that space in the current Library could be used more efficiently and actually I'm against moving changing location and joining the county system I think there are ways we can just if the space is not being used officially we can find ways to make better use of the Library without moving since there's so much it's a blessing that have so much space in the library to do so many activities and have so many books and other Learning Materials so I just hope willing bro can find a way to improve the library make better views of space without moving because we're in a great location it's easy to access for many people and and yeah that's what I want to say Thank you Mr Jordan uh Bea Williams okay good evening mayor Deputy Mayor counsel Township manager clerk fellow me um willing B residents and everyone um I I oh willing b um bony Circle yes I we don't want to overlook my daughter forgot um then Deputy Mayor um Whitfield she also yes she also participated in are honoring our veterans so it's a fact we know that our Council love our veterans and when we have we always have some initiative um each year that commemorates our honors our veterans and we always have representation from um the mayor deputy mayor council member or so on so we don't want to depreciate their love for our veterans and their appreciation what I don't understand is because this year we were looking forward to participating in the um veterans parade but um we learned that it was being held on Sabbath on the we're seventh the Adventist so we didn't even bring that to the church because we were wondering Veterans Day I think would have been officially on Monday and we wanted to know why would the parade be on on Sabbath anyway I I think it's you know we should stick to the the holiday day itself everybody is off and that's when we actually should have Veterans Day Parade we were looking forward to it um of course Terina mentioned the veteran that we um he he broke our hearts he I guess he got wounded in the war and he was having surgery and he said he didn't want to wake up he didn't want to live he felt unappreciated and you know we gathered around him we were in virgin we C the Sabbath school teacher said let's you know Circle him and pray and we prayed for him we encouraged him and he the gentleman he was in tears he felt appreciated and I know we have veterans right here in Willingboro who has given their hearts their souls their lives for our country and every opportunity we have to show them appreciation we should we understand that there are protocols protocols to follow and you know you know the semantics you know the rules but putting rules aside after they have been met you know uh a parade is a wonderful thing to show our appreciation for them um yes so please answer um when it's time to respond why aren't these holidays is being held on the official day instead of um maybe convenience using it on a weekend and that would prevent us you know from our church from participated whereas if it was on the weekday that the holidays officially you know we'll be able to participate um thank you for listening and I have appreciate our councel every one of you our deput our mayor mayor McIntosh Deputy Mayor um my Heavens Anderson yeah Deputy Mayor Anderson um councilwoman withfield councilwoman Peron councilwoman Dr worthy our manager even our manager participated in our veteran launching as well so we appreciate all of you and thank you Miss Williams we appreciate you thank you all right so God bless all of you and keep up the good work thank you Miss Williams you're welcome I'm K Fair child Tiffany Tiffy um everyone's talking about veterans I just want to say this real quick um before I get to the library issue I'm ref Friends of the library but um Don shalace who came the guy with the sign he's a veteran and he does a lot of work on behalf of veterans he used to live in Willingboro and that um Steve Silverstein sometimes and Don they do that veterans part in in mil Creek Park sometimes they tend to that Park Ju Just to you know a little shout out to Steve and Don for that but anyway um uh I wanted to say something about the the library um regarding the ad hoc committee I was hoping that by now we might have met and we would have a little better sense of you know what our actual role was and what the expectation was I I know what an ad hoc committee is but because we haven't met and and talking to talked to the liaison I kind of thought that um it seems to me like to move forward with decision it it it seems like you know that was something that would have preceded a decision today um you know maybe I'm not understanding that correctly uh the other thing is that when it comes to space in the library if youve look if you look at Trends in library design they're really they're big they're kind of this um they're beautiful a lot of times they're they have wide space for you know you know for people to do numerous things and um I was thinking I've been looking at like the future of libraries and you can look at some of the new ones there's um like one in Helsinki there's a new one I used to live in Las Vegas there's one in West Las Vegas which is the historically black uh community and what's interesting about that one it'll be up in a a few months I think it's doubling its size that that's what it's doing so that it can maintain you know the cultural heritage of that community and you know when people were using the green book that's where that's the part of Las Vegas they used to go so it's um I wouldn't say a similar but it it is one that seeks to preserve its cultural heritage and it is a it's a large uh Library so the idea of space being utilized in a um in a library I think that was designed to be kind of open it it doesn't mean that you know you can't put more things in there at all but um the other thing is I I hear and I've heard something more than once about the library not uh performing up to par or something like that and if that's the case it seems like it would be um a better decision to give it that opportunity you know if that's really if that has some um you know if that somehow prompted the I think I heard that as much today that that prompted the desire the thought about doing that even though I know it's always been kind of an a you know discussion point about moving to the Burlington County Library System but it sounded like it was prompted by a particular thing I think you mentioned haac system problem something like that and maybe some Oh and about the traffic to the library about numbers of people using it anyway those are the kind to things that can be enhanced with you know real um thoughtful and dedicated planning I believe so and I I I didn't hear for for certain about the uh issue of the legality or you know something to that in fact I didn't hear whether or not that was U requiring a referendum I mean you know an actual thank you Miss Fairchild all right seeing no more public comment public comment may we do have a Shirley Dorth oh okay good evening and thank you I'm glad you didn't omit me this time shirle Delworth Newport Lane I I have a few I few things that I'm concerned about I've noticed that trash bags are being deposited around a the uh trash container at Martin Luther King Jr uh Elementary School I did report this to the acting uh Department of Public Works the bags have not been picked up I just reported it by email yesterday but I noticed today additional bags have been you know deposited in front of the school it's very concerning to me because uh I'm just afraid that other people are going to start doing the same thing so um Mr Harris if there's anything that you could do to you know to make that happen I really would appreciate that uh the other thing that I've noticed is has the township returned to manual trash pickup I noticed I think it was last week or maybe two weeks ago on my street that uh trash was picked up you know the oldfashioned way where you had two um men on the back of the truck getting off picking up trash so I'm just you know raising a question about that and the idea of hiring an inhouse engineer okay it sounds like a good idea to me as a matter of fact it sounds like this would have been a a a good approach even before starting the Performing Art Center um because I noticed and a lot of projects are taking place they in the township and it may be a good way you know to manage money and not be wasteful with taxpayers money hey if we do have an in-house engineer that's all that I have for tonight thank you and have a good evening thank you Miss Delworth it is there anyone else for public comment online um not at this time there thank you public comment is now closed um we'll start with Miss Turner about the parade um being cancelled um no one from the council well no one I did not cancel the parade that was an email that I saw that uh councilwoman cancel the parade all I did was say we're going to discuss it um at the last council meeting but I said nothing about it being counseled that was not my decision that was not um where I was trying to go with it so um I don't there's still time to go with it now only thing the issue is that um this shutting the street down has to be approved by the county so we would need at least a couple of weeks to do that um I after speaking with um staff um Captain bucks he did say they could try to expedite it in a week um it hasn't been advertised um as it was supposed to be earlier in September so at this Point um letters had to have gone out um I would have hoped that at least um at our last council meeting October 1st that it was on the agenda but I Madame mayor maybe you thought you put it on the agenda but you can go back and see that the parade discussion was not on the agenda the only thing that was on the agenda was the SOP and then the other other resolutions um so at this time um yeah I had to cancel the flow everything because we they didn't people didn't get their deposits for the the food they was going to be catering we we we were going to have a live jazz music so um at this time it's it's cancelled for this year um perhaps next year you know that's all I have to say about that yeah okay and just for clarification I think it was removed mistakenly but I did indicate you I mean it was you if you look on it there's a number I think it was removed mistakenly however I had told you that day you know we will definitely talk about it so just for clarification I mean if if we would have got an email at the after the council meeting like at least the next day Mr Harris go ahead and move forward we didn't even get that I didn't I didn't cancel it the next day I didn't cancel it on the second I didn't send out letters until the next week the beginning of the next week because I was like waiting to hear back Mr Harris already had the everything in his hands print the Flyers advertise it get meeting with the with the staff the department to shut the streets down he didn't move because you told him not to you were on that email and so was the rest of the committee so to say you didn't say it you also didn't say no Mr Harris you're confused I am for the parade please proceed but the M what I'm saying is that it still to come before counsil that's what I'm saying and and I mean we're going to disagree on that but okay and that's fine but I didn't cancel it and um it was we were going to discuss that on that last council meeting um it got adjourned for obvious reasons but that's you know it it was it was definitely for discussion and I told you came and you came to see me that day and I said we will def discuss it I even indicated to you that I don't think it's I don't think anybody's against it I told you that that day that we would discuss it so I mean yeah it wasn't on the agenda again a chapter 16 I mean you could have brought it up without being on the agenda I mean for new for new business yeah so that's the only thing it was held up it was um Mr Harris received a direction from you you were on the email and he just waited until he got direction from us um again chapter 16 speaks to the process no nowhere does it say counsil votes on it and you appointed the people to the committee that's the part of the oxy piece you appointed the people to the parade to put on a parade that's what they did you gave them money to do it and then they did it and then you stopped at the time when it's time to advertise and that was in September they didn't start planning in September they started planning when you appoint them to that committee and that was wrong so I don't want to again we're going to like you said we're just going to have to disagree with that one um the facts are chapter 16 it's on our website ladies and gentlemen pull it up chapter 16 our codes for committees and boards and you will see nowhere does it say Council votes on putting on the parade what we do vote on is appointing the people to the committee we don't dictate every aspect of what they're doing you trust that they are adults and they're going to move forward and put on the event they did you blocked them told Mr Harris not to move forward until the council met it wasn't on the agenda of October 1st ladies and gentlemen you can look that up on yourself the jenes are advertised nothing about the parade was up there I did me call Madame mayor text her asking her hey why why did you tell Mr Harris to stop we need to she ignored my calls she did not respond to my text she was on the email cced with Mr Harris she did not respond there the committee was on the emails so please don't don't try to backpedal now and say no we're FR I don't know what you mean oh there's no there there will never be a backpedal I'm I tell you straight up what my intention was um I did call you the next morning to say hey we will meet up and what but what I'm not not going to do is playing your mess okay and that's what I'm not going to do can we just move to another topic um speaking of mar Marcus King um brought up the chair leaders and W can y'all please have a discussion um just to uh wa we um me a discussion even with with a council member um the wreck and the township manager just to um sort that out um we do want to support our chair leaders but um maybe we don't have the full story on what the issue may be but I would like to see that um conversation happen so we can have that that conversation there are cheerleaders that uh we have programs for in in willing Barrow and there were also cheerleaders that I believe that were part of the Panthers organization who kind of split and went their own way and wanted to then utilize space in the JFK Center but the JFK Center didn't have any open time slots to facilitate their usage and that became became the issue it's not a desire of not wanting to um but they came to the table when there really was no more open space to to fit them in so but we can further have those conversations uh you know as we roll into 2025 to see what accommodations can be made okay I appreciate that yes um also Mr Harris even if we don't have the space accommodations for um the competition team um is there a way that we can connect them with other venues in town such as some of the schools or um the other uh churches that have large auditoriums things like that so they um may be able to get space in that way um yeah if there are any organizations that you know that would open their doors to those you know types of activities I don't know off the top of my head um who they would be uh we are not having uh very uh one willing barsh conversations with the school board at this time um but we're we're still trying to uh work those things out okay okay and then um okay one second no no I'm sorry um okay but just let's just see what we can do um but we do have to be ma mindful of um we can't control when teams are split in you know and accommodating I I don't know the background that's what I'm say it'll be a conversation um but you know I know that happens that happens quite often in organizations um and then picking which one we want to go with it gets a little dicey but um definitely have that we would definitely have that um conversation yeah and um I'm sorry Council McCaron no I just wanted to um I remember Miss Williams both of the Williams had asked about this is about the parades I just wanted to speak to that one part about why was it on Saturday okay want me to answer when we get to it I got I got didn't get to them yet okay okay okay and we got five minutes so we'll get there um okay um Mr we'll probably have to do a motion um make can I make a motion to extend the meeting till 10:30 moved by mayor McIntosh seconded by Dr worthy roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor McIntosh yes thank you thank you councilwoman with you um so that'll happen Okay um we have Miss hacker Miss Susan hacker um her concern is um making sure the voice of the residents is heard for the library um input um could could have done a survey right and that I think that's an important thing we want to also I know I'm trying to look at my notes to see who said what um I want to uh Miss Fairchild had brought up the ad hoc committee and the library board um the council could you know the some of the onuses on the library board that could have had the function also these conversations were had and I believe you know if anything they could have also um Been instrumental in um you know hosting these events that we're bringing up now um also with the adoc committee I thought that the scheduling would happen on their end and not on our Liaisons and I didn't think that was your responsibility um yeah go I got the emails on Thursday the email addresses I requested the email addresses for from the committee um and I got those I coordinated with Miss fall I sent a note today just to let you all know we will schedule but I just got all of the email addresses for the people on the ad hoc committee um Thursday afternoon so we are working um on our end to pull together some dates um so that we can check our availability and then we'll send that out uh to the committee so that we can see what their availability is and then begin meeting and then just staying in line with u Miss Fairchild um she said she heard you know some of the performance of the library was not up to par and that was the impetus for the conversations about going to the bcls or even you know some people are tying into moving the library um I am aware that AR liazon did these conversations I'm going to say since 2020 um as she became liaison she did go to the library quite often and was very active in the initial conversations um so the conversation is not saying the library is terrible we're just saying that there was some room for improvement and I think it was indicated plenty of times over the years since um correct me if I'm mistaken 2020 um so that we're in 20124 going into 2025 that's a lot of time um and obviously there was changes made to the board over those years um but that conversation about um improving the performance is not new that's correct okay um Miss mallerie um can you explain the library tax um that's issued on our um our tax bill now yeah so that is the formula that any municipality that has a library um that's used to calculate the library tax portion um in support of the library that that particular dollar amount that you pay which is dedicated to the library that money just comes back into the municipality which is part of our contribution to uh our over $1 million contribution in support of the library if you were to transition to the County Board then that particular portion would be directed to the county as part of the municipality's library of support contributions okay I know that question comes up quite a bit it as people are looking at their tax bills they're seeing right that definite tax um do we have any idea as to whether that number would go up or down if we were to go into the county system I believe the portion that they see on their tax bill um would probably come down based on whatever um the County's uh calcul calculations are for the the taxes can I end um so just based on the calculation the amount would go down but if Willingboro wanted to have more amenities or if there's something they wanted to do different um above and beyond what our required amount to pay would cover then we could of course contribute more but just based on the funding formula it would come down um but it would be a discussion with you know with the community and with the um leadership about what additional things we may want to add that would not be included um but the the formula itself it would it would show that the numbers would come down okay thank you Dr worthy um Mr chalice um did come back up um with the diagram of the library um he wanted to know who owns Strayer um some concerns off the Lost meeting space um and still we didn't you know do we have a total cost I know you said we don't have a total cost yet in um the previous conversation but do we have um a total cost of moving the library uh we do not have a total cost of of moving the library okay and Strayer for the record is not owned by Willingboro Strayer is not owned by Willingboro and I was listening to what Mr sches was saying I've heard other commentary about the library um and it's a little confusing because the township actually purchased that property from um the developer so when you talk about 8.6 million to build the library um I again these are are history that um I'm not really familiar with because it's just not lining up with um what I know as far as that particular building um is involved as a matter of fact you know we're currently having a conversation with the owner of the the that whole complex because when they built that unit a lot of their um utilities were intertwined and um you know their water systems um are in the library and some of the libraries electricity is uh um funneled into the Strayer building Al so now we're beginning to have a conversation with PSC and on how we can separate the utilities so they are their utilities or their utilities and the Township's utilities or our utilities so it was a very the construction that of the building was very mixed and intermingled um and again you know our Deeds show that we purchased the library from the the the developers and there's still you know there's still some concerns about moving your library to a smaller footprint um however you know we are using Architects we are um hiring Architects to um frame that out um the meeting space doesn't necessarily have to be in a library since the whole Kennedy Center is being well half the Kennedy Center is being um renovated you know there's opportunities for meeting space absolutely um to be included outside of the library but in the same building correct correct okay um also as we're still looking you know possibly to move the library um that will be a conversation that we would involve the ad hoc Committee in or the library board one of somebody um and making sure we have the particulars and you know we're accommodating every um every aspect that's of concerned um Miss Rose had um she still wanted to understand the advantage to belonging to the Bron County Library System um some of the advantages uh was um as stated before was um better you know not better access but more um resources [Music] um that the library does offer I mean and and just for context we do have about 4,000 residents that do pay the extra $50 to utilize the library just of just out of context um and M Rose also indicated that you know everyone here she's only heard um one person that they're for the library um and quite honestly I get emails and phone calls about both like I said for me it's about 5050 um some people are okay going to the libr um the brington County Library System um some people are um definitely against it um and it's the same with the um moving the library over to the JFK Center um I do get a lot of positive feedback for that um doesn't mean they show up for a council meeting but um when people see me they they are for it and obviously you know many people against it also um let me see I will move to Terina Williams um councilwoman Peron I'll let you address um the reason for moving the parade that day okay real quick um so I had conversations with the um military back in 2022 I really wanted to invite um some of our troops to Actually March in our parade um our Marines um army and they were willing to come however if we had the parade this is what they explained to me if we hold the parade on Veterans Day the troops are already sending they're being sent out to New York City because New York City has a huge Veterans Day Parade so they said that they would have troops to be able to participate in our parade which they were coming this year um if we did it on a Saturday uh so that's why um we were trying to do it on we reserved Saturday um it wasn't had didn't have anything to do with religion um it was just that was why just to get more participation and uh presidence of our current troops and um in uniform and I think that the children you know the families would have loved it um but that's why that's the only reason why thank you C WR um for Miss stillworth um she said there's bags trash bags at the MLK Junior Elementary School um just for clarification are we responsible for the grounds of the schools we are not those are school property so they're responsible for cleaning and maintaining their their properties um if it's like on the sidewalk then that would be our responsibility I don't I don't know where the bags are but it would be the school's responsibility to maintain their property and if a resident since Miss still wor F call um DPW concerning those um Can someone reach out to the schools to make sure or you know to let them know that that needs to be picked up if it's not you know on our grounds just um forward the message to our school if our resident calls in I will mayor thank you um also um Miss Dorth did um indicate that she witnessed you know manual trash pickup I did too so I was wondering about that also um we're I know we still do The Dumping I don't know if there's extra Manpower um that they're putting on our street so our trash is still collected by Republic and um sometimes they have issues with their trucks and equipment and have to revert back to old school to get the job done and um you got to do what you got to do so but we're still in the same this is not a a right it's not a it's not trans back right okay okay does anybody want to add anything else from public comment okay um Mr fault uh you can do resolution [Music] 20124 240 yes just have discussion what we want to do mic on yeah your microphone microphone yep sorry resolution authorizing Township to take all steps necessary to apply to Burlington County Library commission for the Willingboro Public Library to join the Burlington County library system can I get a motion in a second so move move by councilwoman Peron seconded by Deputy Mayor Anderson further discussion please uh yes um I am not in favor of this um combining Willingboro Township with the county um after communication with the county um and some of the Commissioners this is not um a good move for us um so I'm not comfortable with that decision so for me it's going to be a no good thank you councilman Peron anyone else oh thank you mayor um I'd like to uh I guess uh honor the requests of um some of the ad hoc members and other folks at asking for uh proposal especially with the creation of the ad hoc committee I'd like to um offer a chance for things to move forward okay anyone else I'm ready to vote on it today um but if anybody else has any if anybody um wants to do that wait for the ad hoc or I can vote on it today but um I'm I'm not privy to whatever conversation or information councilwoman Peron is referencing but I did request information uh from the county and have not gotten it back yet um so I would be open to just waiting to hear back from the county from the special um the ad hoc committee um and and making a decision at a later Point um but I don't know if it'll be I'm not sure if I can commit to March I'm really just looking to see that I just wanted the information back I don't have all the information um back yet from the county I would support um waiting to hear back from the ad hoc committee giving them opportunities to get some information from the county as well um so I don't see the need to rush I'm not sure what's happening this year while we have to vote on this right now no I was saying if you some people want to vote down or you know just to um revisit it later but if the if we voted down now mayor would we we still would be able to revisit it once we have um the information as long as yeah I just want to be clear that I I would want to be able to revisit it okay yep okay so I'm prepared to vote okay okay all right roll call please councilwoman prone no councilwoman Whitfield no councilwoman Dr worthy no Deputy Mayor Anderson no mayor McIntosh no all right um resolution 241 2024 241 resolution 2024 241 resolution supporting relocation of Willingboro Public Library to the Kennedy Center at 429 John F Kennedy way so I move second moved by councilwoman Peron seconded by Deputy Mayor Anderson discussion ahead so um this idea of moving um I'm not in favor um most importantly because um again it's already a standing Library we all agree we want to have a library so again I know I mentioned mentioned earlier at our last council meeting just kind of giving it a little bit of a facelift um but with that said um uh the gentleman who brought up the the map of the floor plan and speaking about space um I want to bring to our attention if maybe we haven't really thought about this but having space in the library creates solidarity so you're reading in a mental focus so um moving it to the JFK Center is chaotic there there's cheerlead ERS there's everything happening there and it's not a place of of um finding that reading spot remember when we were kids we go to the library and the library and we say sh we're in the library it should be a standalone place where it is where trees are where you can sit and read and and focus on um whatever you're reading about and using your imagination um just imagine trying to use your imagination at the Cherry Hill Mall okay and you're trying to read chaotic so we're looking to move to the JFK Center at a smaller space so now you're going to have all the books on top of the people the people on top of the other people and I I just think it's a it's a bad idea and I think it should be in a place that that has space which is which is what it has now um we all know we've been in that space and it's spacious because it's a library and it should be so I'm not in favor of moving it to the JFK Center at all okay anyone else for discussion Madame mayor yes uh thank you yes imagination the key word um just being able to reimagine um what the library could be what it could look like and um I think what's a little concerning throughout the conversations is the confirmation bias that's out there not being able to take a moment to imagine what the possibilities could be imagine what it could look like imagine we have uh engineering equipment with sound barriers so that you don't have to hear like you're in the middle of Cherry Hill Mall um imagine what the future of Will and burrow is looking like and what the the children of willing bar would want to see going forward there are lots of um opportunities if we just imagine those things and I don't mean just making it up and having a wish I mean working collaboratively with residents with a team with Consultants with professionals that's what I'm talking about I'm not talking about just randomly throwing ideas up and hoping something sticks and I think the concern in the conversation is the cognitive bias where people are just looking to make sure that this is my idea of what a library is so this is what it is and it has to be this and if it's not that then it's not a library and you know what are we doing and why are we here and that that's a little that's challenging um as leaders of the community as being responsible for being Visionaries to be able to anticipate what's to come for our community it it is challenging to make some of the the decisions and to be faced with some of the decisions but it's the job of the leaders to be able to look many many years ahead to figure out what may work for the town when the when the decision was made um back in around 2000 to bring the library over to the town center it was before my time I was um not here but I've had many many phone calls and visits from residents who said they were adamant against moving the library to that part of town they did not want it there the outskirts of town they thought it was isolated children couldn't get there on their bicycles the conversations went on and on unsolicited conversations from people in the community as I'm trying to go and get my Monday cheap chicken deal at Acme so it's a lot of conversations you know about this and a lot of passion and I would just say whatever the whatever the final decision is I would just challenge us to reimagine we're not saying we're going to copy and paste the library that's not what we're saying we're saying consider what it can be with the technological advances with everyone not having to sit at one big clunky computer people have their own devices they have their own gadgets um and so the library the use of the library looks different now than when they were making the plans in 1996 and 1997 for this 42,000 foot massive space it was different and so I'm just asking for that consideration with all that being said Madame mayor um for this one I am looking to have more collaborative conversations with the at hoc committee um I'm excited that the library has put that step forward um and so I'm prepared to to either table it um or you know uh vote it down and revisit either way yeah I also um agree that the library has taken some steps to be a part of the process to join the conversation um and to really help chart the path forward for what a library looks like in willing bro I stand with um councilwoman worthy um in challenging not just the library but the residents on thinking what our library could look like in you know 15 years 10 years what are going to be the needs of people with all of those technological advances um instead of little study pods do we have you know bicycle powered you power your device on your bike and you work there um in some type of way do we have um you know uh hologram machines I don't know what you know what's to come in the future but there are things that we can do and even in just some of my early research there are ways that we can condense those books down there are ways that we can get Stacks that rotate um so that you don't need as much space and you can still keep the same amount of books and I think those are some of the things that we're looking to do um you know in technological advancement not just cut down on size but really make an effective use of space um in our Township as we we do have space is a limited resource here totally agree that you're good okay so um I would I would appreciate I would say we can table it um and keep the updates going um with the ad hoc committee um and just continue that discussion for that so we have to we have to pull back our our motions and seconds yeah and then make the motion to table to a specific date okay I withdraw my motion can you table it to another year I didn't think you could change in a govern body is it but are you looking to table it into 2025 or are you looking to table it into December we w i don't believe we're going to have enough time to have a conclusive update in December I would recommend tabling it probably until like the first or second meeting in February but there's no change in the governing body right no I mean there's nobody nobody coming on that makes sense okay um you can also readdress it at reorganization but tentatively table it until one of your meeting dates in the the New Year okay okay yep so do we need to so we going to vote to withdraw the other I already pulled I already okay who who did the motion that was I think was the second or a second I resend my second you resend your motion wasn't a second okay all right I make a motion to table uh resolution 20 I should notice 20241 241 until I'll say our first meeting three or or second meeting in January second meeting in January second all right mov by mayor McIntosh seconded by councilwoman Peron roll call please councilwoman Peron yes councilwoman Whitfield yes councilwoman Dr worthy yes Deputy Mayor Anderson yes mayor Macintosh yes okay um moving on to council comments do we have we have five minutes any quick Council just want to thank everyone for coming out and um happy birthday to Kevin Gaines who already started drinking without me hey just told all his listen councilwoman worthy yes just want to say thank you to the community for um the participative dialogue and a reminder that mail and ballot ballots are out and a reminder also uh to exercise your right to vote early voting um start soon and you can vote right at our currently located Willingboro Public Library um I just wanted to um put out there the special planning board meeting that'll be happening on November 12th talking about the master plan and also due to the untimely passing of one of our um dear members of the planning board Sharon Anderson we do have an opening on the planning board so anyone interested please put in your citizen leadership forms um Engineers environmentalists contractors construction workers planners anyone like that would be um very helpful on the board thank you thank you councilman withfield I'll just wish everyone a good evening and thank you for your input on this tonight's meeting all right thank you it is a 1025 uh have a motion for adjournment so move second all favor I I thank you very much 1021 yes