sir meeting to order here here here here notice of this meeting was provided to the barnville news and Courier News file withk and postly on
the municipal bulletin board on December 5th 2024 please stand for the welcome to the February 24th meeting of the barn this meeting is being conducted in the CC
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motion all right we have a couple of presentations tonight um we have our planet this the cwell here um as all know we're in round four of the for of Housing and I thought it would be an opportunity for the public as well as
the council and some of our newer council members to get an understanding of the whole process and how it works and how it's going to AFF us so the floor is yours thank you mayor good evening mayor members of council I have a PowerPoint
presentation we're going to follow along uh basically giving as the mayor said a broad overview of the fourth round of affordable housing what are obligations are how they were dra where we are in the process and where we plan on going
how we plan on addressing uh and beginning sense uh these obligations so as soon as we that ready okay so on March 20th 2024 Governor Murphy signed into law the legislation that amended the fair
housing act and essentially laid the groundwork for the fourth round obligation of what we're in uh 2025 to 2035 that legislation aols the Council on affordable housing um which was kind of in a bance during round three
anyways um but officially abolished it and established What's called the affordable housing dispute resolution program and that program kind of takes the place of what Co used to do and also takes the place of what the courts were doing in R three of reviewing and
approving certifying our housing and Fair Share Plans as well as resolving disputes that arise uh during the process so there are some significant changes to the law which I will go through um next slide so the dispute
solution program it's really kind of a court-based program sort ofaa judicial um is set up outside of the courts but in order to access it we submit uh declaratory judgment actions it's retire it's staff with a retired M Laural
judges as well as some current Mount Laural judges and that program is charged with resolving disputes uh through the program essentially that come up that arrives and I'll talk about sort of different uh deadlines that we
have and uh different times when different parties can object to what a municipality does through the program uh so program judges will issue orders going throughout the process uh approving or um disapproving essentially
our housing Island spare share plan and they also issued a directive which says for some additional obligations outside of the fair housing not for housing elements and Fair Share Plans and I'll talk about those as well also set up how the program is slated to work since it
was sled up in the legislation but didn't really have a place in in the function until December of this year very rapid um it's gonna be tough um so next
slide so what is this mean our next big uh deadline is June 30th uh we have to adopt the element and fair share plan uh either on or before June 30th but within 48 Hours of when we adopted it needs to
be submitted to the program So the plan uh basically covers 2025 to 2035 so it's our our fourth round obligation and we have a bunch of uh deadlines in between that I'll talk
about so uh next so we have some key Milestones you can keep going so we met the first deadline we had January 23rd January 31st 2025 uh was the deadline for the buau to accept dca's obligation or propose our
own obligation uh what we did through resolution 25-30 was adopted on January 27th was accept the DCA obligation of 113 prospective need units uh the present need which is a rehabilitation need was set at zero so we don't have to
address those that was filed on the website within 48 Hours as required and then filed uh with the program through declaratory judgment on January 29th so we met uh the first two deadlines so we're in good shape so
far uh the next deadline is the this Friday the 28th is the deadline for any interested party to object to our number we did accept dca's obligation that was presented so we're hopeful that there
won't be an objection but you never know in this case so if it's not objected to then our numbers essentially become valid on March 1st and we can move forward if it is objected to then the program has essentially till March 31st
to resolve that objection and that's what I mean when I say that they're very quick deadlines to try to resolve issues within the program and then our next milestone is that Janu uh June 30th deadline for the
housing element and fair share plan uh that also includes ordinances and resolutions and there's a little bit of a conflict between what the regulations say and what the directive said from the program
about having ordinances and resolutions I currently am interpreting it that we can put in draft ordinances and resolutions um because the regulations say we have until March of 2026 to adopt ordinances so fingers cross at that is
really what we have to deal with because just getting the housing plan done time is a lot to try to expect to have ordinances drafted and adopted as well as is a lot so um once that's submitted by June 30th we have until August 31st
for any interested parties to object to that plan once that follows you can do the next slide then if there objections then the plans reviewed essentially by the program according to affordable housing
regulations of the directive and then if the plan is need to be compliant we get certified at that point if there are challenges there's a process set forth a settlement conference then a session and then the
program is supposed to issue a decision within 10 days of any session so again it's very rapid decision making if there is any objections keep going so the March 15th deadline is the following deadline by the statute that says that all the
ordinances and implementing uh ordinances and resolutions all the compliance documents if you remember from round three there's a lot of work to do after we adopt the plan uh by the regulation standard that's March 15 2026
so as I said what we've done so far is we adopted uh the 113 minutes as the perspective need and filed that with the dispute resolution program so you can go to the next slide and that was based on the DCA
obligations so I'm going to go through how those were calculated just so you have the background as to why we adopted that number so the present need was really about uh facilities that are lacking Plumbing kitching facilities more than
50 years old overcrowded happily the Burrows in good shape we don't have any substandard units that we know of that were registered in any of the Census Data so that present need is zero so the prospective need obligation
is is the one that we need to address uh we're in Region Three so the whole obligation is is based on The Three Counties in region three and three factors one is developable land household income and then jobs and
employment data so go through how that's calculated um the reg three perspective need what starts off when you when you say you know you look at it and you think there's a big obligation for a lot of the communities and this is why
because when you started when the way of regulations started out in order to calculate the base of the regional need they essentially took all of the household growth during the round three period and multiplied it by
40% and for that number for Region Three it's 11,604 so the regulation said that 11,604 units had to be spread throughout the three counties of Region Three next
slide so it's that Regional perspective need multiplied by Municipal allocation factor that factor is developed through equalized non-residential valuation factor which is aoxy for jobs and
employment an income capacity factor which is essentially evaluating how much higher income some communities are versus the lowest income community in the region and then a land capacity factor which determines how much available land the community might have
to spread the units out over so the equalized non-residential valuation Factor was based on the the value of uh non-residential development in the community during round three which was 1999 to
2023 so that non-residential growth value was essentially divided by the value of the overall region and then you get your percentage from that scroll down one more so for Bernardsville you can see
the numbers you got a 36% non-residential valuation Factor so of the total regions uh development of non-residential growth you had 36% the income capacity factor is very
convel but essentially it's a of two measures uh one is the sum of the differences of the municipal medium income uh versus a household income of the floor uh lowest median income
community in the region which is per Amoy so $100 less than their median income so you take Bernardsville median income and subtract that median income and you get a number and then there's a sum of all the differences of those
medum incomes in the region and those are weighted and multiplied by the number of housing units you have in your community don't don't even try out but there's a there's a calculation for this
uh some Med income in burnard spills $220,600 uh households you have to per Amoy less than $100 so you can scroll down so the measure a is subtracting uh the per Amoy floor income
less and then the measure B is essentially that number multiplied by the number of units and then those two are averaged and weighted you can keep going down averaged and weighted so you get 2.48% now on both of those first two
factors those are really kind of set by the statute and how they were figured out and they were also set on census data and and then for the equalized you know non-residential valuation it's based on tax assessment data DCA
certificates of occupancy so our review of that is there really wasn't the ability to present an alternative number to those two factors now the next one we felt like we could potentially but I can explain to you why we did not for
Burnsville they can scoll down so so DCA looked at all the land throughout the region and determined um with various factors environmental uh waiting based on state plan areas Etc how much available land
you had in the burrow and how much you had in the region they found 9.58 Acres now we could have gone in and said some of those weren't realistic or maybe they were wrong but what it really did
was when you multiplied it by the total acreage in the region you came up with 9% was such a small small number that even if we got rid of that whole land capacity Factor you only went down by four units so we felt like the risk and
reward of trying to challenge that number present an alternate number really wasn't there if you had an atire Lan capacity and we were talking 100 units difference it might have been worth it to say what this one isn't really developable and a lot of
communities did that and you might have heard about that but in this case because the number was so low already even if it went to zero it wouldn't make a big dent in your overall obligation so you can scroll to the next one so we had that
11,604 units of prospective Need You Average all of those factors that we just discussed you get 0.98% and you multiply that by the number of units and that's how you end up with your 113
units so on fourth round crediting uh and bonusing framework so basically we have the present needed zero so we don't need to address that perspective need is 113 we have a maximum 25% of permitted
bonuses so we assume that we're going to maximize our bonuses we're going to try to plan for uh 28 bonus credits which would get us down to a net new unit requirement of 85 units So within those we have what's
called like micro requirements you know 50% of all the units need to be family a minimum 25% need to be rental 50% of the rental need to be family rental and then there's the income split overall 5050
low and moderate and then of the low income units 133% need to be very low income one change we had in this round was the maximum number of age restricted units it was 25% in the last round now
it's 30% so you can have a higher number of age restricted units count towards your plan U but there's a maximum amount of age restricted bonuses that go along with that of 10% which is three so one of the things we're going
to be looking at for Burns still now in the fourth round and this probably makes complete sense to you knowing knowing the community as you do that there's not a lot of vacant land obviously uh DCA came up with the 10
acres um but the vacant land adjustment reduces your obligation based on the amount of vacant land and this is something you do after the obligation is accepted but during the planning process so I just want to make you aware that this is something we're considering
and a process that we'll go through as we develop the plan so just for uh sake of of tonight's discussion even though DCA said there was 10 acres let's say we found we went through the process and found 20 acres the way a vacant land
adjustment works is you take the vacant land that you find you multiply it by an assumed density that would meet a inclusionary Zone density so for instance 10 units to the acre so 20 * 10
units to the acre would be 200 units is your development capacity and then you multiply that by 20% Which would be your set aside and you come up with 40 units so 40 units would actually be what your realistic development potential is based on the
amount of land you have in the community so that's something that we'll be looking at with your 113 unit obligation and you subtract 40 units from that you have What's called the unmet need that's the 73 units that kind of gets put to
the side it's still there but you don't necessarily have to address it or plan for it and there is also a new regulation um Within These new standards is that 25% of your RDP must be met
through Redevelopment 25% so you address your RDP so let's say it's 40 and and we zone or we find ways to address group homes successory apartments whatever programs we come up with we address the 40 units then we're
required to do another 25% as an overlay uh through Redevelopment which be another 10 unit so that's something that we're looking at I just want you to be aware of as a way that we're not really
expecting to be able to address 113 units in the this point next slide uh so what are some of the mechanisms that we'll look look for extension of expiring controls so any
existing units that are set to expire so they get 30-year controls so there may be some from prior rounds that are set to expire during the third round Jack's really good at doing these um and he'll find those and he'll extend them and we can get extensions for those so you
essentially get new credits for units already there which is great uh existing properties that can be converted to special needs facilities they look for potential group homes uh non-residential properties that might
redevelop uh we look for if there's any transitional housing units in the community or group homes that were developed sort of during the round three process we didn't know about if we find those we can get credits for those um potential new zoning inclusionary or
100% affordable accessory dwelling units and then again we'll look for opportunities to maximize our bonuses and I'll talk about so the bonus credits for round four are different than round three in round three it was all about sort of the two
for one rental unit round four they changed all of the bonus credits I think to incentivize different types of units so special needs get a two for one uh but most of the other ones get changed to half a
unit per um credit so for sale units that are developed with a nonprofit partner for instance getting half a bonus credit um something within a a half a mile of a Transit facility half a bonus credit age restricted units half a
bonus credit uh units with three or more bedrooms above the um minimum required you can also get half a bonus credit for those um next time conversion of non-residential space to
Affordable so if you had old Office Buildings or um repositioning uh shopping centers you can get half a bonus credit for those Redevelopment gets half a bonus credit the extension of controls gets half a bonus credit if
their rental units uh 100% affordable if you have 3% of the project cost or contribution of land um uh gets one unit credit so that would be a two for one uh very low income above the
133% minimum you get a half a bonus credit and then Market to Affordable uh you can also get one bonus credit those on are tough obviously the market is really hot right now so next steps by June 30th Is We're
preparing the housing element and fair share plan as I mentioned before this special directive added some things that we have to do um we have to do site suitability analyses for every inclusionary zone or proposed uh
development we also do have to do concept plans for proposed development to show that it can work and then we're supposed to come up with a credit worthiness of all existing units now that one's a tough one and one I hope we can do by March 15th and not
June 30th because that means getting all the Deeds all existing units um so it's going to take some time and then uh we have to include within the appendices as I said all the ordinances and resolutions that implement the plan and
I'm hoping that that's draft ordinances and resolutions by the June 30th deadline um so we have to submit to the program it the plan needs to get reviewed by the special adjudicators are called this time which is the special
masters from last time which are planner was hired by the program to review our plans and fair share housing center the figure they got in there um and then everything obviously the housing element is adopted by the planning board
and then all the ordinances and resolutions are adopted by the council here so do they have a time limit on review um that's a good question I I I don't think so but since we have to have a final final
by March 15th I would hope they would be uh doing it relatively quickly let's see one more slide so obviously implications of not complying with the deadlines as is loss of immunity from Builders remed lawsuits um
EXO generary zoning lawsuits which leads to loss of authority over over your zoning which is the standard but it also coalesces with these deadlines that they put into place which makes them more um difficult and Urgent to
need and um that's that's it I'm happy questions that you know they there's these deadlines are so close and yet it's a 10e program you know what we have to do this so fast for something that's
going to extend over 10 years just yeah it it's it's a little extreme seems extreme and somewhat unrealistic but I mean we're here we are we're going to do our best I I think that's why I just can't see that we
could have adopted ordinances by J you know because we have to figure out what we're doing with our plan first and then I can see drafting ordinances and resolutions and having drafts in there and then reviewed by the program and
then potentially you know adopted after that especially if those comments I mean why should we go through and adopt everything and then get comments back and change so I'm hoping that's the way it goes I I I'm assuming that things might change
just never know with this municipality has to have this in by June 30th how can they revie I mean we had over 300 municipalities par participate around three so I assume it's going to be at least that if not
more so that's yeah to actually review in detail yeah I I don't know how many there weren't that many special Masters in round three there might have been 20 so that's a lot do we know how many they have
now us a clue no I don't hi Jessica thanks for the presentation um just one quick question I saw one of the slides listed the list of mechanisms and one was called conversion of existing property into a special needs facility can you just describe a little
more what a special needs facility is he so that would be a facility disabled people they live in essentially as a single family residence and each
bedroom counts as an affordable unit most people who live in group homes are typically on social security so they count as very low incs um they usually are units that fit right in with the community they operate
like single family caregivers that stay with them but it's um it's kind of a low impact unit that's something to consider I one right down street and they're the quietest neighbors yeah they really
are yeah thank you that was very helpful U question about the um so the other communities in Region 3 if they were to contest their numbers so it sounds like we're not doing that but there's like there's 11,000 number that they came up
so like let's say a bunch of communities successfully challenged their numbers and they able to lower their numbers does that impact our 13 number or is it's a good question I mean I've heard some people speculate that the numbers
would be redistributed but I don't know how in all practicality that gets done I'm hopeful that if we accept our number that's it AC the 13 you certainly argue that's our yeah it seems like that
11,000 then will somewhat get reduced some communities will successfully you know challenge it communities that have really large Bacon Land really that lot ruction how did they determine
District the regions it's it's really they just kind of [Music] slice just stuck anybody else that was great and I we get PowerPoint posted ons
thank you so much do we have sub committee yet okay we do soon we'll need to meet soon yeah okay next up we have the library
and vision yes no I just um my presentation is going to have a lot more pictures oh thank you for this opportunity to present our strategic Plan update this is the Strategic plan I presented to you last February with our yeareview data at
the end as well as the activity that we have in motion on our Capital plan that was our goals of our strategic plan so give you go next SL we have five big goals that were in our strategic plan I'll give a few little updates on each of them I'll show
our bottom line for renovation and then you'll have time to answer them to ask questions so this is the Strategic plan cover um and if the next one this this plan cover 23 to 28 um and this is you know the just to
start there's a lot of new faces here the whole point of a library and I I think some people know this and some people don't but I don't know it might apply to it's more than just books right we're a community we have teams volunteering we have seniors connecting we have adults working from home from
the library we have babies learning to love burning and learning to read we have their caregivers connecting with other people and learning how to raise their families we're we have a lot going on every day um and if you go to the next slide we're trying to communicate
that better about all the opportunities that everyone in our community has some of our communication initiatives are newer but we're trying to amplify our resources and attendance um and get our services out there uh through social media through our website through our
occasional printed matter through I put some calendars or some brochures with our calendar coming up at your your chairs there uh so that people are fully aware of all the opportunities they have at the library and a big part of this is amplify our collection which is the next
slide we had a great year for circulation we had over 150,000 CS um uh you'll see there the left half is is our youth and fiction and non-fiction for adults and the upper right corner is our
traffic between our other main libraries we really get a lot out of that Consortium relationship that we have through Maine and also through the State Library we have inter Library loans and if we have to we go outside of New Jersey to to fulfill inter Library loans and the bottom right corner is um our
electronic circulation that little slice there is our electronic magazines but we have this growing and growing sector of ebook demands e audiobook demands newspapers magazines it's the way of the world and it's thriving and we're we're
doing our best to support throughout the community um to the next slide yeah based on that number of 150,000 for the circulations other communities that are similar to our size and is that that's a good question we're
we're a very active Library we also have like a lot of other people throughout meain come to our library because they like it a little better than their home Library nearby or what have you um for our size you can look at our size by the size of our town you can look at it by the size of our budget you can look at a
lot of factors we're a very active Library we used to be a blue star or goldf star or something star Library um but we're we're still doing very very well uh our peers in region 12 nationally go all over the country we
have comparable circulation and you'll see later that we have hugely better programming and that programming helped Drive the circulation and help Drive our attendance so I I have to get you more information about that but we're doing well and we're we're doing just about as
well as we we have over the past few year in circulation um if you go to the next slide we have some challenges in circulation um we've had some new initiatives we've offered online newspapers we've cooperated with m the rest of main has on boarded to the Wall
Street Journal so we got a little money back and now we get a better price through the consortia U we offer New York Times online not everybody in Maine does that um we've sort of worked the toggles on hopla and and Libby our ebook vendors and ebook platforms so that we
can try to meet the needs of all the holds uh We've also tried to rign in the costs there so we we limit your hoopla checkouts but it's to the point where everybody's pretty much getting what they want in a reasonable amount of time for Hoopa instead of having to log on on
Sunday night at midnight so the next ground of funding opens up through the week um we've been an early adopter of this Palace project through the state of New Jersey that's still an emerging thing but we were pioneering the way with getting all of our liby content and then bonus content from the State library and the palace project app we'
just added Comics plus which is graphic novels and Comics this is huge for kids aged kindergarten through 12th grade especially um especially the middle school age it keeps kids engaged in reading and it's
um it offers higher vocabulary and building into it it's useful to the schools they're excited that we've on board Comics class because the visual cues make it easier to handle more complex themes and more complex vocabulary uh we're working with the talking Braille Center to help people
who need large print or need audiobooks and the specialized players and titles that they have through the the talking book and brow Center in Trenton and and we get a lot of support from our friends our friends support a huge part of our electronic uh materials they support just about all of our large print
program they're they're great buddies um and the foundation of course supports us overall very well so we we get a lot of support from throughout the community to do this we've had some Supply change challenges lately um our main book vendor the main book vendor for New Jersey that's on the state contract is
uh having some challenges fulfilling the books they're having some challenges at the publisher level getting the books to book vendor we're working through it we're we're shopping another vendor and we're we're getting there um another big challenge is ebooks cost more and more and more money every day that goes by
they just know there's in demand and they they hold you and they they get you um a a book that's a hard cover that might cost you in a bookstore $30 the paperbook will cost me something like $17 with all of our discounts another dollar or two to put the plastic cover
on it and put stickers on it and all that but that's same book in an ebook um could be $54 and we can only circulate it 24 times and it'll disappear in 24 times or two years if it's in the audio book it might cost $94 same thing 24
times and disappear in two years so we try to balance you know encouraging people to use some resources over others and we get deals in different ways that we we try to drive our clients to those um but at the same time meeting everybody's needs for the best sellers
and for for what's in demand we try not to let people wait too long but it's it's a constant balance that the circulation manag are are always navigating um where there are also fewer and fewer did you have your hand up I'm just going to say real quick Palace project is that the one where they
archive the um newspaper and and stuff in like the last 100 years yes we get the we have the Burnville news AR and that's through partnership with the local history those um volunteers are there every Tuesday and Thursday and
they um also archive additional materials like photographs and genealogical records marriage record steps certific with doing local is that news online but then we have additional content that we
Supply yeah no we have very rich local his care resources and we we're constantly striving with a lot of volunteer to even better um the ebooks I think a lot of people were surprised the ebook is more expensive
than the hard Cod bookon to buy a book always like you know 20 bucks for the book but if I get it through whatever Kindle or something it play five GES right so why is that they flip in this scenario they're our limitations in
platforms and like we do have books that are five, and we have books that we can turn on like it's called cost per circulation there might be a bestseller that it's $94 to buy it but if you turn on cost per circulation it's only $4 per circulation but then you risk 40 people
circulating okay um and it's it has to do with Publisher battles Publishers versus you know it's because people it potentially licensing it and it could intellectual property yeah stuff
beyond my pay grade that um we're getting them for the best price as possible always but there are limitations to that platforms so go next SL we also have um oh this is our
electronic circulation you can see this is from 2021 the little doct are each year in between and um it's just how people are increasingly choosing to read so so we of course have increasing circulation um we have a variety of titles not all of
them are $94 a book uh but a lot of them when they first come off the press is hot that's why you might have to wait a little while they are um go to the next slide thank you anthy um programming is another key thing that keeps people coming in the library it's something that makes them satisfied with their
Community um that we have all these opportunities we have a lot of adult programing choices that we've optimized and added to over these past two years we're trying to serve our underserved communities better we have an ESL class we partner with the county of Somerset to do that they give us the teacher um
it's been a wonderful program um we have great youth engagement we have you know 40 people at a time who want to go to story time last year and we're just starting it up again Katie Bruce started our first story times again today yeah so people are signing up for them with a
new registration tool which works much better than is Affordable um and we have unteer program the teens don't always want to come to go Library program but they're very interested in volunteering they sh their books they do our bulletin boards and they really want to read to
the little kids it's adorable like that that's their number one thing that they want to do that lome how do you want to serve the library want to be small children so we set that up um and we have a lot of Partnerships going we partnered with wck to bring story time to the pool and the quanas park we
partnered with the Sterling Stables all across the county we're trying to to form Partnerships and we're trying to serve every segment of society we want everyone to be able to get something great out of the library and we feel like we're doing that if you go to the next slide you can see this is some of the
national Benchmark data in the second column our appear in 20121 and we only have 2021 to that's the most recent that's how many programs they did we did a bit more we did about 30% more and then the next year we did even more in 2003 23 was about the same as 2022 and
last year we did great we offered tons of choices and that translated if you you can skip two slides we have some pretty pictures of some programs there's kids there's officer 10 and this has been the number of programs that we've offered just blim
and climed and people are very satisfied with it um and you'll see our attendance I have at the end of the presentation which we're getting close to um that has also plumed it's not just like we're offering things and no one's coming people are are coming and very very
happy too so getting into our facility that's been our other big big big goal that has been really worked this year we did a capital plan we've revised the capital plan already we brought space planners so we have been trying to um
make the most of what we have bring it up to current standards and make it even better we want to be a shining star in this community so if you go to the next slide our our plans to rovate oh this is our facility Capital
plant let me this um we gutted replaced and repaired the restrooms that were leaking and that were disaster that's completed and finished we're very excited about that our facility plan also called through parking that's kind of in your All Hands um I know you're
working on it and that we we hope to to improve that we're also doing things on RM to space out story tunes of a backup there we have 25y old furniture we 2y old carpet we have paint all that stuff and including and we have
wasteful aged lighting we have lighting that has balanced some bulbs Bast you can no longer get we're constantly trying to nurse some of those lighting fixtures along we also wanted to improve our technology and connectivity that's something that's more in the back of the house that you don't really see going on
but we have firewalls we have to maintaining we have Wi-Fi that was brought up last week from 90 megabits a second I'm using the right unit to well over 6 um so we have Wi-Fi that reaches more users at one time that is stronger and
that um is faster for those users so we've used a space planner though to add more meeting spaces that's something everybody's been calling for everybody put over our one little meeting room people want more places to zoom to meet to conference to meet with other nonprofits across town the Garden Club
the um Farmers Market the book clubs everybody needs meeting spaces we are trying to reuse all of our shelving um and we we've done that pretty successfully because it's expensive and just focus our budget on we're replacing carpet paint
replacing broken carols awkward tables so the cheers have a place to sit and work we have a lot of tutors a lot of other libraries don't allow tutoring we do um and that has a need there that not after school Market we're replacing the
he those hexon desktop p and we're adding L to your areas and the big thing that like might be most visible in this is we're working on a really magical children's area so if you go to the next slide this shows some of our the blue is new and the red is reused you can see
all of the shelving and a lot of our circulation Des circulation deaths cost a fortune there's a lot of things that we are working very hard to be as Thrifty and economical in spending our budget on the places where it will matter most so if you go down a little further this is the aerial view on the
left of our meeting pods that are going in it's the structure you'll see more soon but it um allows for two three room three two three person rooms and one six person room we're adding some lounge and charging Furniture in the runda and then
the far south Wing will have these benches with laptop pods that you can plug into and you can work and work from home or do your grad school whatever is you're doing if you go down a little further this is what the glass pod will kind of look like it's a it's a basic rendering of it um clear on all sides
for our love birds keep them a little uncomfortable but also so staff knows that there's people in the building so they know that you know privacy is something that you want not too much of in a library but enough um this will go we've had to shrink some of our collection um to make room for these
meeting rooms but there was a lot of empty shelf space we didn't use the bottom shelf and a lot of non-fiction a lot of fiction we're compacting things to make room for what what the community really wants you go down another one this is our teen and tween areas um computer desks for them places for them
to gather to do their group projects to linger to read to find things they're excited about learning about you go down a little further this is the beginning of our children's St um we're going for science museum not Chuck-E-Cheese but
we're looking for play areas um people want places to be with their kids they want Furniture where they can sit down next to their child and read um and they want a place where they can linger and meet other families and other caregivers and connect and have the children connect and learn uh if you go down a
little further this is the big seaing area around the big activity table that everyone will gather at um it has bookshelves behind us and that's where a lot of adult fiction is right now so rather than having the children area squeezed into that elbow between fiction
and the main entrance of the library we're giving children's area the wing and removing the children's stuff to become teen and twin um if you go a little further this is using an existing Lego area have but it'll be an early childhood lingering
spot um for Legos and trains and plastic [Music] igas and if we go down a little further that's the aerial version of what it look like you can see those two big curbs and upper right corner where those Lounge areas are the green splashes are
tree displays they're um there sort of like woodland forest nature theme that FS town or GRE shapes your commiss and all that um that's what it's going to look like and to engage the community further if
you go down a little further you see that the the community relies on a good space and they rely on good programming to really come into the library make the most of our collection make most of their space uh that's our staff on the right they make all of this happen they
are really an 18 and theyve blown our yearly statistics out of the water this year um if you go down to the next slide this is our program attendance um the all those programs have resulted in all of these people coming to the water
um the top line is children and of course we expect more people to ATT the Children's Program that's the children and the cargivers and the bottom line is adults all which have increased dramatically and have been very successful so if you go down again that's our Memoirs Club that's going I think 20
years now um they have Memoirs and cofy uh they they get a good turnout some of them are still the original members we have teenss that volunteer that's our summer reading out on the Pao community room got flooded we had stories out there it blast but we just kept making
it happen and they they did great and that drove go to the next slide our daily oh this is our program attendance keep going there it is our daily attendance um our daily attendance over the past two years
just keeps climbing this is more than 7% growth in one year and compared to other libraries compared to Regional libraries um I don't know that this kind of growth is sustainable but that means we have lots of people coming in the door who are happy in our library sustaining its
services and thriving so if you go down again this is the number of new card users we've had over 400 people sign up for new library card you already have a lot of library card users but it's a big thing you come to town you get your new library card and you start using all your great electron
resources you keep going if you work in town you can also get a library who works in town get library card anyone who goes to school in yeah to the staff being middle schol some people you have to be a teacher you
just have to work in town everybody can get a library card some of the things we're trying to do in 2025 we're trying to offer more cage story times so that they're not quite so overloaded with 40 50 people trying to be at the same one um trying
to restore our preo evening hours right now we close at 5 on Thursdays we'd like to stay juil 9 right now Monday Tuesday Wednesday at 8 he'd like to stay up until 9: for pre hours and we're awkwardly piing people out of the building at each of those times throughout the week um so that's one of
our goals and the other big one is this Library interior renovation and we're celebrating 25 years at our one Anders C Road location if you go down to the next side this is the the bottom line stuff why does this cost so much money it just all costs a lot of money we have gotten
the best prices we can through the New Jersey contract in the educational Cooperative that we belong to um it's a lot of part it we have a 77,000 ft facility it's done at PR bailing wage there's installation costs it has to be
carpeted going to last another 25 years the painting costs a lot um we're not getting new light fixtures again for economy it might be prettier or more fun we're just getting one but we can change the that's go um and hopefully lower our
energy cost um the ADA compliance door we have one on the exterior door but then there's another set of doors when you come to the library which are constantly open which means we have no wind break our HVAC dos are horrendous it's a big W in space of course they're horrendous but we hope that by having
now a button that will let the interior door open and close that we'll be able to leave them closed and keep some of the wind out and some of the bees out and some of the heat out throughout the year to um just function better and take more load off of our air handling units which are constantly fussy um the
meeting room structures and its installation and Fabrication is expensive um but it's adding a lot of flexibility to our space and meeing the a man that was brought out in the strategic planning process from surveys and focus groups and with expert advice
from the space planners um most of this is being funded by two specific requests one that was left to the rary board Library board and one that was left to the friends that's the Maria Reed estate and the blue and
shine fund both of those are totaling quite some bit of money I don't have my glasses on I have to either be able to read i p the board but it's it's well over 90% of this project is being funded by these
gifts so if you go on to the last this is where you guys get to ask questions if you have any about our renovation or purposes are or if you want a further aside sometimes we have some people come visit the library and I give them a little walk around and try to explain to
the funding Works operations or anything to thank you the community room stay like multi-purpose I guess yes we have we're great it's wonderful that we can divide our community and going on one side we
can have painting and painting with balloons I think they did today um we have different programs going on on both sides all the time and sometimes we open the whole thing up for um larger programs we were able to get the carpet
in there replaced and the painting redone like last year when there was a flood from one of the toilets that took out the community Insurance process to remediate so they're not that's the part would you like to introduce your
board members yeah this is Nancy ver she's president of the friend vice president this is johnon he is president for quite a few years now we have to
the and Justin is from the library Foundation they do a wonderful job of supporting us through a grant every year for operating I have to say um with our senior group you know we've been trying through the mayor Wellness to reach out more the seniors and I we did a survey
of them last year during the Centennial and their number one place for learning Recreation whatever they all check the Linberg get a really good support from our senior community because there's you know we don't have our own Senior Center
yeah and we've kind of become that well that's great they love playing majan they love coming to talks they love Mee they they do a lot of our gardening in the entry the the Garden Club is a lot of senior volunteers um we don't have a senior Club that's why we ask for the senior statis
well for you didn't mean to surprise you at your first meeting of the library board that happened it wasn't our it wasn't our intent no but it's been quite a process uh
br's executed fabulously we're looking forward today uh finally spending some of our patrons and requests that have to us
most yeah people have been calling for iterations of a renovation every six years or so since the library was built um but it was really clear of the strategic planning process that people are ready for things to change up a little bit and that's why we came with the capital plan consulted
professionals speak the community um of your committees that were onun facility yeah thank a good experience um how in terms of timing will you the library be closed
at any time parts of it closed at different times Well we intend to fully keep open throughout all of this a mini library in the community room so we're going to have the new books in the community room we'll have a few computer stations like they did during Co and we'll hopefully have some programming
continuing in half of the community room so like ESL needs a place to meet our tax preparers need a place to meet tax volunteers operate Library um we do anticipate and this is I'm still working with the the creative Library Concepts
that is wrangling all of these vendors um we'll have some payment going on within the library and Carpeting and there will be sections that close off at different times uh throughout late March into late April and then it's being pushed it was supposed to start right after spring break for the schools it
might start in may there's going to be about two weeks where most of the librar is going to be inaccessible and staff will be working to either shift things in the library or they will be serving the mini library checking people in and out um and we have some if we run out
things to do we have some archiving work to do for the local so we we intend to keep in Z we also want to do some Outreach with our youth service staff then to the local PR and go out and bring stor into them so we'll be busy y the uh archive I don't
if you've ever been in the history room but it it is amazing what they have in there and um that's where we got great stuff with a centennial from them and they will do a a history of their home you want to know
right yeah they also have they found in a corner um Edward spinning who donated most of the local history room initially when the library was opening he um was the engineer for the
cross country train trips for president RoR rosev there were two cross country train trips and we have these interesting maps that no one else has and menus of the weird things they at and one of them is framed actually getting it preserved
and then we're framing so there there's a lot of neat stuff in great well thank you anybody else just want to say Fran done a fabulous job with the library over the past couple of years and headed up the
interview process there so well done yes thank you forward to you don't have to stay rest long as you vote for the roof I'm happy next is approval of minutes we have
second all in favor make sense okay good thank you um we now have an open session for any items that are not listed for a public hearing if anyone in the public or on
Zoom would' like to speak um there's a silver x over here CX you're on camera very good good evening my name is ke kylin I'm the Pres Chief the Burnal Fire Company first aid Squad I'm here to speak on its behalf I
would like to start by thanking mayor Kos administrator nthony M and all the members of the burough Council for their help and support over the years Burnsville fire company is an all volunteer combination fire and first aid company been in existence for over 125
years in 2024 we responded to approximately 395 fire calls including five structure fires in town numerous alarm activations carbon oxide alarms wired down brush fires and car accidents and an
overturned gas lean tanker caring 7,500 Gall of gas which landed on top of two passenger cars and was leaking fuel in addition to the fire calls our first aid squad has responded to hundreds of calls with medical assistants in
2024 since I was a young kid I dreamed about becoming a volunteer firefighter like my father my uncle and my grandfather I joined the Burnville Fire Company when I turned 16 years old never did I think that someday I would be Chief I honestly had no interest in
becoming Chief no desire to have the responsibility for the safety of these men and women volunteers who run towards the danger however it was the path that was chosen for me I'm proud that our members have put that ultimate trust in me I love the
burill fire I love being a burill firefighter due to the very nature of our business we put Public Safety as well as the safety of our volunteers and the public at the Forefront of our mission we very much appreciate all the support that the burough has given us
over the years and we appreciate the partial support for our man ated emergency radio upgrades we look forward to continuing our conversations regarding a much needed much overdue new ambulance whose funding has apparently been put on hold for the time being
during the past few years the number of emergency calls have increased while the number of volunteer members has decreased the number of hours required for training has and will only continue to increase as will the cost to operate however the amount of income donation
that we received seems to decrease I along with all the members of the Burnville Fire Company first aid Squad are looking forward to working and collaborating with you while being fiscally responsible towards our endless mission of Public Safety I invite each
one of you along with all members of the public to reach out to me should you have any questions any interest in joining our organization Or would simply like a tour with B thank you for your time than John 16 so walking my dog the day and
remember way back when we got a bunch of money to do the bo boiling ter connector half million memory st4 1.4 and I realiz probably a lot of engineering hurdles we had to get through and probably cost proba $4 million now is there a chance we can get
that money and apply something similar just to be able to use it versus have spent already in I wish it was that easy I me Bo now 1.4 is probably a$ million job sidewalks you know of like kind like kind exchange if you will I it's
possible I thought i' put it out there for the universe maybe something would happen I think we're still looking at doing the walkway and you're right um there were things that I don't want to say in public that went wrong with it the Department of Transportation has
the funding it went immediately from the federal government to the state the the amount of paperwork and qualifications and with the
law appes with the law yes and I was it it was really there's so much to do that we're kind of looking at rethinking how we fund this because we you know the neighborhood needs it the neighborhood wants it I think it's great project
for the whole Community um and for the businesses as well as the residents it's just figuring out how we get it done yeah figured as much but know you know you can't do it just because the economic work anymore could be at least take the money and you know get those
amenities just somewhere else Unfortunately they won't let us think they I think we do have a sidewalk project we two parts so um the sidewalk and road repavement is part
one and that is supposed to be awarded by June got extens until June um we had to change the path so instead of going straight down um West West it goes down West makes a
right on Prospect which I think already had the sidewalk and then left on Center then to boil now because the other way there was so there were so many problems with it so that I believe is supposed to be
awarded the bit awarded by that way new sidewalk so Prospect already has them I think they're okay Center has some but um they would have to be reden so
um and then the say West I think West doesn't happen the West would happen I don't think needed to be fixed but then um would happen have place and extend
and then it will end at boand and then phase two would be the way down at the train station and um unfortunately that uh fil Grand very specific and with the problem
that we talked about a few months ago is in order this part of the reason why we change the rout the sidewalk that was going to go along border and ter needed to have a retain wall on the other side to hold up the side of the Hill the side
of would be supported um it was designed and then do said the wall wasn't big enough and the size they wanted to make it not possible like economic so we to change the and
then proposal for changing the way [Music] down anybody else in the public and you know I just want to say uh Keith John turned up so fast um we very much appreciate what you
do I mean we we as well are volunteers so we know what that entails in the AM of time and all the training requirements that you have to go through and you know I look forward to congratulations on being Chief and I
think we look forward to opening the community getting things worked out you can get what you need and we can I do have as the public safety chair I do have it on for our next agenda to
discuss what can be done I know that there's some mations with all different things which I replied to you know but it is on our calendar we should have done it in February but we didn't meet because the chief was Ill when that happen so next meeting something you know app to you
thank you we have someone online oh okay Caroline du hi Carolyn Duff uh Crestview Drive in Bernardsville New Jersey um I just just a quick comment to just voice my support
for the library I'm very excited about the new plan um we're lucky to have uh you know so much Town support for the library which is obviously so crucial um I'm very excited to see the possibility of extended hour because obviously we're doing this wonderful redesign of the
library but it of course we want to make sure that everyone is able to utilize that you know particularly on Thursday nights it's a great place I hang out there a lot with my kids my little ones right here um you know I I work sometimes from the library uh have
meetings at the library it is you know beyond also just taking out a ton of books all the time is such a vital part of the community um and we're so lucky in Bernardsville to have it we're lucky to have I don't know if she's still in the audience um but we are just so lucky to have like such a great staff at the
library and just really you know it's it's just a great resource um like Fran said it's not just about reading books it's it's about a whole Community Center and a place for people to gather so thanks thank you and BR is still here so
she heard anyone else good all right then I will close the public session um and I will open the public hearing on ordinance 2025 2014 an ordinance repealing ordinance
2024 2011 entitled an ordinance vacating a portion of Bernard's AB adjacent to block 114 L1 and this is on a recommendation of our engineer yes anyone want to be heard on this Orin
this seeing none I will close the public hearing um Rich why don't you that the approval of 2025 2014 read the whole thing read the whole
thing and ordinance repealing ordinance 2024 was that [Music] 2024 [Music] final Mr yes Mr Mr yes train
yes Mr I'm sorry uh now we have ordinances to introduce sewer eth RS an allocation and amending chapter 16 of the bill hold intitled
sewer regulations be introduced by title pass on first reading published according to law that a public hearing be scheduled for meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Monday March 24th 2025 I'll
second all in favor or any discussion vote we talked about it last Mee so all in favor I heard the old by the way the old last that's sure I move
at6 calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation L and to establish a bank the inod by title PS on reading published according to law and then a public heing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 700 p.m. Monday March
242 all in favor okay um jam that ordinance 202527 Bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of new radios for use by the fire company of the burough of Bernardsville in the county of Somerset New Jersey appropriating
250,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 2375 bonds or notes of the borrow for financing such appropriation be introduced by title pass on first reading publish law that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting
beginning 7 p.m. Monday March 24th 202 I second discussion and I can just say I know there's been some question as to what the actual costs are going to be which um I don't know if Jack if we were
to have to change the number is that a substantial change yes we have public and since these I know are take a long time to get we should move forward with this but if there's a change maybe there's a we can use a secondary uh
funding source could we do that like use some part of capital if we have to do another ordinance appropriate Capital add additional amount well we're going talk about Finance right yeah so I mean I think
honestly because of the timing that we discussed because it takes so long to get the radio I mean as it is this ordinance is not going to be able to used until uh I think it's like April 20th or something the middle of April
because U maybe a little earlier than that second reading be March 24th and then whatever 20 days after that is so maybe that's the 14th anyway that there's 20 days St perod so um that is the time that we can
come so let me ask a question what when if we're introducing it can we change the number now yes you can you can change the number on that doesn't mean we have to spend it all they come
in less that's correct and you can introduce by title so that the numbers would be in title and then I think you mentioned there were two more radios we haven't counted so if we were to change this to 300 doesn't mean we're going to spend 300 if
the num come easier to go backwards than to go forward yes does that makes other words better off going higher and then coming down underneath right right okay so yeah is the 2375 need to change all
we [Music] got yes if you appropriate $300,000 you be $8,700 in [Music] 5% just talking 5% down P the
am Asos to okay got it all right so reintroduce you should reintroduce it with that I move that ordinance 2025 that's 2017 on ordinance providing the acquisition of new radios for used by
the prior bur of Bernville in the county of Somerset New Jersey appropriating 300,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $285,600 for bonds or notes of the of the burrow for financing such appropriation the introduced by title
past on first reading published according law a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7M Monday March 24th 2025 now I second yes I second and um Al are you good with this I didn't hear if
you had said something yep no that it all makes sense to me I just said that one question um clarifying what we were doing but it makes complete sense okay good all in favor you can do bonds there but um thank you from the fire
department for your consideration thank you thank you um so now we have resolutions 2539 to 2549 I think we added a couple from our last meeting because um we do
have a new person um if you know Isabelle is the tax yeah office when you come in you know Isabelle um she has a GRE to this position so yeah B anticipate
this yeah um rest I think we all saying that we had to so I move that resolution 25-39 to 25-49 be adopted do we need to explode 46 for you
or do we Mr Mayor 46 Mr trainer yes Mr Ry yes Mr yes yes okay okay oh mayor's
update um seem it's so long since we um January 31st I attended my first um the league of municipalities legislative committee meeting I am on the finance and tax committee um it was
interesting because what each committee does is we review any proposed legislation um and decide whether the league is going to support it or not um on the 1th of February I had another wedding I was count I think that
was 17 I don't know and then we had the mini yeah so really it was really if they do a great fundra with that program was I can't believe they so
out uh on the 3 of February Congressman Cy is at the library they have a congressional app challenge this is fascinating um high school and I think they were soft they create an app and submit it
and then they uh are given recognition and awards and we had one of our um BHS students Daria tiag was an honorable mention so um Congressman King was here to give him
that award um and they each had to do a uh video presentation of how their app worked and what resources they used and what programming just it was really impressive um I did finally find we did
find a roofer to give us an estimate on the train station roof 138,000 didn't think was bad because there's aestus in it so that becomes a major project since the roof is the
responsibility of New Jersey Transit um we've wanted to kind of help the process Along by giving them an estimate and giving them um the uh proposal from MV and try and show them that this is going to help
their ership and they need to do it so um we'll see how far we get with that uh Main Street we I attended their program they had uh Kathy Gman from the New Jersey Eva come and do a presentation on all the grants that are
available for small businesses which they're pretty impressive so uh I think the people that were there were all signing up and um that was Joe oswal so um we had a mayor Wellness committee meeting
um I attended a program by the summer to County Business Partnership because we're members of that that is on women's heart heal I attended the YMCA campaign kickoff event which they're already pass their 50% Mark I attended the state of
the county breakfast sponsored Again by The Business Partnership which is really interesting because they had the um Chief Financial Officer of Unity Bank talking about know how the economy is going in somerson County um
the County Administrator Colin Mah bridgew common general manager which I thought was interesting um that they're really investing a lot more into that wall that they're keeping it them allall I thought it was going to be changed but
it is not uh and then R Valley Community College president Mike MCD and they are adding a lot to that college but they're adding a lot more um business training business development uh we had a meeting with the fers Market Committee and it I think
we're going with u those of you know mine English took over husband and she's pretty much done with it so Recreation will be taking over most of the administrative work and then the committee will be doing the actual
volunteering at on Saturdays um then I did another wedding that must have been 19 and our Somerset Hill Public Safety Committee uh we we meet about every 3 weeks Bridgewater is doing this program
where um they have it's it's a drone for the police so as soon as they get a 911 call the Drone goes out to check out you know what's happening and report back so they know isn't that F I know it's the
coolest thing 100 grand for each drone um but Bridgewaters having a demo of this particular one but fasting Ridge also um they have a drone and one of their officers is a train pilot so they are doing you know kind of their own
thing this one that bridg is doing is available 247 if you have a b one train pilot when pilot is available but you know what a great idea they had a PowerPoint they were showing how much more
effective it is before they even got to the scene they could tell that it had deescalate or it wasn't what they originally thought it was it was really or they knew you know they could tell what to bring because oh you know we're going to need an ambulance because of this
and it's the new uh the new technologies so something to think about I also wanted to mention no did we this January
23rd it came out last it's about 10 right well this is for this year that they went they not they exceeded yeah I thought it just no I think they do it every year no
I mean I thought it came like the fall yeah it says it was calculated from January 2024 to December [Music] 31st all right that's it for me AR you gonna say it say what
State statutes and we end up at not just 100% but that's so tiny 109 yeah so they go above and beyond what is required by law so I think
that's pretty impressive for a small town like us to have that that level of O extend yeah okay now okay um I just have a short report a
couple of things you talk about our confence last week but I'll just mention again um the parking lot lights were installed in the uh H parking lot um seven lights they I think were officially
turned on last Monday and Tuesday um they are they have a sensor so they come on that D um they're supposed to have a timer so they go off like say5 hour later they didn't install a timer but he said I'll
be so then they go off you know it it's varies nobody's called to complain yet that they're on no no so and they're definitely on I've witnessed them yeah so that so like if if it gets started
five they would go off at 10 and they could start at at you know 7 they walk at midnight and that timing really work because the later it stay the later it stayed lighter the field is
more um the LA mve to the end of the um turfield which hopefully everybody finds a lot of
use for there and I think it doesn't interfere all the people here thought that it was a much better location and DPW took down the old school board while they were there um and then big news is
that the I don't think we talked about this but OB deal closed onth February 14th yay so we sold it we got the money and we paid off the b y thank you know when they're G to start working
there um I think they're using the exting building [Music] I mean I mean there's no um to accept the departmental month reports accept the
monthly all in favor uh we don't have any correspondents I believe um do we have any unfinished business oh we do have new business um yeah this was added to that uh having the mobile Motor Vehicle
Commission um yeah earlier or the end of last week M that they could again come with the uh mobile van um on either April 1st or 4th um he didn't give me
any any more information than that I'm assuming he want be in a library parking lot again because that's where they were last time because the train station couldn't do internet um Library there were a lot of uh issues
last year I don't remember what they were um but it was very confusing for the library it was a little bit disrupted they weren't allowed to use our Internet having trouble getting internet so I did mention to him I said
oh there were a lot of issues um last year responding he responding so um if they do want to come you would have to approve that because
so could they do it on would be on the home insurance or the store owners insurance but yeah maybe it would be more appropriate like in um I always want to say the Kings but it's not Kings the Burnsville Center you know that's such a big if they were over on
the side that you could ask them if they mind I mean that would be so much so much through there be I think it be yeah be safer too unless people coming and going in the narrow driveway of library and I
think did you check if they give [Music] usur I just didn't want to bring up for the first time said is how about Kanas or po grounds I'm my traffic wise and then uh the pool parking
lot I guess problem is that um well the it's full day that's true and that's where [Music] don't her situation you know you want to have somewhere imagine that
it sounds like you know they should to Mak sense sitation Starbucks yeah that seal would be brings more people into the big wall
is sp that's a good idea another Open Session if anyone in the public would like to speak is yeah I'm here I was checking to see if anyone else was still looks like it's
just me Church like one might be like at a private mall so yeah so they've done that yeah [Music] no I do too I um okay nobody I the public second
home at the same time have a motion to Jour all right have a good night everyone see youer