Please here Mr. Mr. Rivera here Mr. R here Mr. Trainers here may here. Notice of this meeting was provided to the barns and courier news file with the municipal clerk and post
municipal board on December, 2024. Welcome to the April 285 meeting of the Burns with Bal Council. This meeting is being conducted in person in the council chambers through Burough Hall and is being broadcast live on YouTube and on Zoom to
make it as convenient as possible for residents to attend the meeting. Members of the public who are here in person and those attending remotely on Zoom will be given the opportunity to comment at appropriate times during the meeting in accordance with the following guidelines. Members of the public will
be allowed to speak during the open sessions and during formal public hearings on the agenda, including public hearings on ordinances. Comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker, which will be monitored and enforced by the borrow clerk. Comments containing
offensive, profane, or indecent language for language constituting hate speech will not be permitted. Remote participants will be muted unless they are unmuted by the clerk, and remote participants will not be able to unmute themselves. The clerk will mute remote
speakers at the expiration of their premiere any inappropriate or offensive comments. All speakers, whether in person or on Zoom, shall state their name and address before making their comments. Speakers on Zoom shall activate their camera so that they can be seen by members of the
governing body and the audience. Failure of the governing body to provide a live broadcast of this meeting or technological problems encountered during the course of the meeting that affect remote viewing and or participation will not invalidate this meeting or any action taken including
but not limited to the adoption of any ordinance resolution or motion. Okay. Johanna, would you like to do the honors? Our first item on the agenda is a presentation from the environmental
report. So I will evening road. I have the honor tonight presenting the environmental stewardship award to Kathy Redmond. Uh just a quick history of the award. uh it was introduced by um went to the attention
of the environmental commission by Rosalie Valentine back I think in like 2004. Uh we thought it was a good idea. Uh the way awards are the way we get these awards is by um a nomination from
a member of the environment commission. We have no set time that we adhere by or criteria. So, they vary. Uh, right now they're not mounted on the hall downstairs. I was going to do a count uh for you, but uh please look at them.
They give a brief description of why we recognize each of these people. The first person was or first award was for medical farms because of their beautiful uh scenic visa adventure or town. The
last one was Mary Hazelton for all her wonderful work with um making our trails usable by our residents. I can say a lot. I have a
pages here, but um I think the most obvious of of that all of us would recognize is the plantings of the burrows rain gardens. Rain gardens are particularly important because they're one of the best management practices for
solving or mitigating storm water issues. Kathy was involved early with this and has continued to work with Dr. Chris replica of Rucker's water conservation department and consequently
thanks to Mayor Canoose and our works department we have two rain gardens on M road that uh protect our map area and we have two at the public library all of which are functioning
well. Kathy worked closely with Ruckers and Maryland headquarters to achieve this. She um she motivates and organizes volunteers for reading and other maintenance of them. She has provided the library with
rain garden and native plant manuals for references for the public. Kathy and Ron installed a rain garden on the property and she recently presented two programs on rain gardens at her local library for
residents. She's a beekeeper and an advocate for pollinators. For some examples, she's worked on pollinators display at the trunk and treat event. Brought some of her live bees with her. She harvested
made a plant seed pods from her garden and gave them away at and ate an environmental commission table at the full farmers market. She and Ron lent and towed their garden equipment wagon
which the EC members fashioned into a pollinator garden complete with their beehive boxes to participate in the Burnsville Christmas parade. She also is a contributor of her time and her knowledge for the environmental
garden, the community garden and in 2020 garden which the EC's planted in honor of all seniors who missed out on her graduation ceremonies during co Kathy organized styrofoam collection
at the green team waste event and now at the pel waist collections. This is important now especially because of the increase of styrofoam while people are ordering and having
deliveries from online. A real win-win downtown pro project is the EC and G um environment commission and green team volunteers collecting compostable or organic scraps
from some of our local restaurants and transporting it to penis empty for their fertilizer. Kathy served the EC very well. She was on subcommittees. Two important ones were the promotion of
electric electric vehicles and their chargers and she was awarded a grant for the burough EV acquisition in land use. Her understanding of storm water mitigation is invaluable as is her knowledge of the
latest and JD rules and concerns concerns were tier and four. Kathy worked on upgrading the environmental resource index. This is required by the NJD and sustainable New Jersey. She works well with local
printer for this and other publications. Partnering with Rland headquarters for the latest revision of the ERRI is saving the burrow money. She designed the EC sandwich board as
well as designed the decals recognizing green businesses in tent. To be more inclusive, she worked with Diane Begner to translate to Spanish flyers on recycling and disposal practices.
Kathy's ability to communicate well with people from various associations and affiliations serves Burnsville and its natural environment very well headquarters Ruckers our library municipal
personnel the school system other environmental commissioners as Baston Ridge bedminister longill Madison etc. Currently she is working with Burnersville students winning design winning design
posters for promoting recycling which will be mounted on local recycling containers. I apologize for any omission in this tally successes which I am certain I have made. I know this list could go on
and on. I shall leave it with this. We very much appreciate Kathy for these accomplishments and now for her active participation as a member of the green team. Visit her at the burrow's second
gleamed bear celebrating mother's appreciation. Mother Nature's appreciating the last pages in the third Saturday, May 10th at the uh train station should be very nice. And so get
this out. Sorry for my slow voice. I'm dealing with signs and then Take the old lady glasses. And thank you council for our support of the environmental vision green team in
the past 10 years since I joined EC and hopefully for many many more. And more important I just want to take two minutes to thank one person who's here physically and one in spirit. Sherry Froley who was one of the first recipients
of John Spencer some of you know who was on the EC and started recycling here in the 70s. Could you introduce the members of the environmental commission that are here tonight? Oh, sure. Just so the council knows who they are. Sure. We have a cast
member. Yeah. We have Tom Boats who is a wonderful advisor. Kathy Hson, another great advisor. Jeff Hammond who is now also chair of the green team. And
Michelle got me join by the way. Yeah, we have another new environmental person here. She's chair of the great congratulations. We like to celebrate
things. It's nice celebrations. Um Jeff, you're up next. with the adopted drink program. So yeah, I'm just following up to a discussion that we've had in the past and to give some additional information, the adopted drain program.
Um something we proposed last year um got to buy it from John McDall and then he left. But I talked with Kevin since then and he was in agreement with principal with the idea but there was a question about the cost. I did reach out to Handline University which sponsors
the program as part of their environmental studies program and uh through some with charm and charisma. We got the price down from $4,000 to $900. Yeah. lost my first board, but
um the idea there would be it's a $600 registration fee and then there's some other technical stuff that they can do for us um in terms of tracking the response which was an additional 300. Then from that point they're on uh the yearly registration fee to be able to
use their uh copyrighted material and name is $600. Um it's the program has been in 11 states now. Um, it's got about 11,000 I think the number was communities, 800 sites in New Jersey,
not 800 communities, but 800 plus drains. Um, it was adopted, I think BS in this area by Westfield. Then it was picked up by Berkeley Heights in 2022. I spoke with the environmental commission BS Berkeley Heights who um is in charge
of this particular program. And uh they've over since 2022 have collected 5,000 pounds of debris from the drains. And she's was very excited to tell me that's the equivalent of three elephants. I didn't fact check
that will. Um and that was recently picked up just within a couple of weeks ago by Mark Plains. Not showing more township. Um, and uh, they've already got 30 households signed up. So, what I'm here to do is to see what kind of
support we can get for the program. Frankly, the Berkeley Heights Westfield started out by getting a grant for the initial month cost and then because it was so successful, it the maintenance fee of the $600 a year is funded through
their EPW. Um, I'd like to be able to bypass the grant process and and go directly towards some sort of support or cost sharing in uh the green team in the bureau. Uh, and and then if that's and I know you're talking about the budget a little bit later in the meeting if that's not feasible, at least get the
go-ahad from you that we can go ahead and pursue the program, start to get people lined up and then we'll find the money afterwards somehow. And this is if you maybe explain to people what exactly the program is. Okay. So, um, and I don't know how many
drains we have here in in in town, but as anybody who lives in some of our hilly areas, you know, when you've had heavy rain, um, if there's a lot of debris that gets caught up in the drain, our DPW goes around periodically to clean these off. The idea of the this
program is to get households to adopt the drain. That's the name. Um, and then they're on their own. I mean, there's no nobody looking over their shoulder. They can do it weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever. They clean up the drain, bag the stuff, put it in
their trash. Um, and it's self-reported. Uh, it's it's beneficial to the DPW because it helps reduce some of their manpower costs. It's definitely beneficial to the to the um, you know, integrity of the water supply here because you're keeping things out of the
drains. Um, the [Music] U program is expanding naturally. the um it's pretty much self-reported in terms of it not now. The way they keep the thing going is if you have various
contests. So, um, yeah, everybody names their drain and you can come up with a clever name for the drain and bring a contest and that's good for the kids and and it's also really good to get penetration into the middle school and the high school after this and and then you can
also get a contest for um who the most that quarter or that month or whatever. and and for example uh in Berkeley Heights they've used some of the grant money to get to buy rates and they give the rates as as gifts as was just an example. So that's the program in short
sounds great Dr. um thanks all the work on it really appreciate it. Uh so you said it's 900 initially and you said the breakdown was 300 for registration being in the kind of annual expense of 600 600 is the registration 300 annual no 600
and 600 register okay 300 technical stuff so 600 yes 600 yeah right the 600 is the registration and then they're going to continue to 595 or something they do it based on the population of
your town so you It's a sort of sliding scale. And is there I assume then you get all the logo and promotional material things too. Right. And and of course that's where the thousands of dollars of cost was because they'll they'll be happy to sell it to you as as part of the
registration. You get uh the samples and you can then copy them yourself or you get them reduced yourself. So you get Yeah, you get that material. Anybody else? Sounds great. Yeah. Um,
do we have in the GPW budget? I mean, I think we can scrape $900 together. That's what we have. Oh, I thought from John McDall you did you can pay you you pay them for the the
GIS mapping but uh basically I'm not sure we really need it if you can identify which our problem grains are. I guess there's two ways of doing this and one everybody sort of does it is um they put up a map and say here's our drain you want to adopt one bottle here. The
other way to do it is if we have these I'll make up a number 25 problem drains that are really really accumulate material. Well, we know what those drains are. We could find people directly in that area and solicit them to see whether they'd be willing to do it. So you you know you could use a GF
but you don't need but I think I think that it was you had to give it to them to put on the site like well that was that was part of my negotiation that it doesn't us yeah we don't need to do that with
them thank you thanks the green team for coming up with the idea moving it forward. Thanks. The self-examination of budget resolution. We have a presentation on that or is it? Yeah. No, the
presentation just how much? Yeah. I heard it was just that we had to do that. Yeah, we have to do that. You got it. Yeah. Thanks for coming. So need to move that resolution. Yeah. I move that resolution
25-73A health examination of budget resolution. Uh roll call please. Yes. Yeah. Yes. 2025 budget. So do you want to put up the last one?
Okay. So, yeah. It's been our chair. So, budget committee was Ross and myself and Al and of course CFO Leslie who previously and of course our administrator and
um they put a tremendous amount of time open sourcing. So, yeah. So, thank you, mayor, and just going to thank the people you just named. So, thank you. No, no, it's great. But one thing I do want to maybe say for the public's benefit um the
budget uh requires months of of not just work and us meeting as a committee, but um really starts actually all council. So, I actually want to thank all council members um who really kind of talk to kind of share with each other, what our priorities are, why we um what we're
hearing from the public um what we want to see in both this year's budget, but also subsequent budgets because they all build on top of each other. And uh it's a lot of work over the course of many months. we engage not just with each other and with the finance committee with the support of um our administrator
and our uh CFO but also want to thank a lot of the members of the administration who we met with um in the you know different departments throughout the bureau um police department, public works, etc. as well as those who have strong association with the bur directly
related such as the library and the fire department and others that spend time to sit down maybe multiple times over the course of the end of last year and the beginning of this year with the um with the finance committee. So, what we're about to see is um what we rolled out in
the budget presentation last month. And then after I give the remarks here and take you through some uh slides that are really for the public's benefit of kind of like a user friendly version of the budget, we'll open up the public hearing and hear any comments from the public. Okay. So, go to the next slide. Spirit
bottom line up front. Um here are the key takeaways for this year's budget. Uh so no tax rate increase for the fourth straight year remains flat at 0.5 um which we're really excited to do and I'll go into this in a little bit. It increases non-discretionary items. These
are kind of items that are either mandated or really core items such as utilities which really we cannot change. So those increases on health insurance, contractual salaries, utilities, liability insurance, etc. really place like a strong um cost on the budget that
we can't move. And so what we really play with which I'll talk about is the discretionary items. Um we increased the use of cash for capital purchases in order to reduce our further debt service. Um we a lot of that was also due to the sale of the Audi dealership which I'll talk about soon which helped
to allow us to reduce our debt service. The burough valuation has increased for the fifth straight year demonstrating really positive momentum in all the investments that we've been making into the burough's value. The budget makes key investments in line with the community's priorities as we hear from council. Investments in public safety,
including uh starting the budget for the new ambulance, radios for fire, EMS, increases in the fire department and first aid squad. It's the first increase on the both the allocation we give to the fire department and the allocation we give to the first aid squad in many years. We want to thank the fire
department for their partnership and talking to us about their needs as well. Um as well as allocation for operating funds. We fully funded the library request and so we want to thank Brand and the library board for all the not only work that they've done but um kind of being uh very transparent and open with us over the course of months of
what their needs were and um how we can partner with them. Securing fiscal stability by utilizing less fund balance. We completed the sale of the Audi dealership which is 65 Morristown enabling debt reduction. um adding new taxpayer to the tax roles which will contribute to our fiscal strength,
enhance local revenue and boost the visual appeal of our downtown. Obviously, the bur still faces a lot of headwinds, inflation, state aid remains flat. That's really putting the burden on a lot of municipalities throughout the state. And then just a reminder that what you'll see represents about a quarter of what the overall tax burden
is also due to the county and school taxes that they receive as well. So on to the next slide. So here's our revenue and appropriations. Um what you'll see is kind of a year-over-year increase. And if anybody was of interest, you can go back, you know, as far as you need to
on what either of these um any of these items are. Um the biggest increase is this other revenue from 3.5 million in 2024 to 5 million, 5.1 million in 2025. That's really due to the sale of the Audi dealership, which the sale from that created significant revenue for the
bureau that we then turned around and used for debt payment. That's saw a revenue total increase of about $2.7 million. And um and uh then we go to the next slide on non-discretionary expenses. So this is what I was talking
about in the upfront the summary I placed about 21,000 for liability and workers comp, 163,000 for health benefits increase of 41,000 utilities. Um debt service that's from the dealership 1.4 4 million and non-discretionary increases
um of 1.6 altogether. Um so you can see about 61% of the budget was um obviously significantly from the sale of oh sorry the 50 Morris count the 50 Morristown set. So the sale of that up to um
counted for uh the budget differential there. Next slide. Okay. Okay. So just to break it down between mandatory core discretionary but um expenses that we have. So um mandatory this includes about 21 million to 57% of the entire
budget. This is the services the burrow is required by law provide um the CFO clerk the accessor the tax collector as well as insurance the health benefits and recycling core services. This is where we you know we could play with the funding but we're not going to. um
essential services like public works, IT, and the payments for our utilities. Discretionary funding, which really only represents about 4% of what we actually control about 98 $850,000. Um these are not essential and nor required by law and these are things
that we choose to prioritize such as recreation, the pool, library, historic preservation, etc. Allgether building up to a current budget as you see of $21.2 million. Next slide. So just kind of a breakdown here of um
the kind of the pie chart that the increases in the budget uh represent. You see the largest increase was due to debt service and capital and second largest being contractual salary development. Next slide. Okay. Just a reminder you got a
Benjamin Franklin there. Uh we the burrow of that $100 the burrow is $25. Municipal open space is a dollar. County open space 1.5. Library 1.7. County tax is $14. Third largest expense and I think all taxpayers know this are really
the school taxes that we pay anymore. Okay, next slide. Okay, so let's spend a few minutes on this. This is the bur valuation. As you can see, from 2020 on there's been a significant increase in the value of the assessed value of the
burrow. Um we've actually had a growth every year from 2020 on representing I think it's around Yep. 625 million dollars in total. So um this is good news, right? So the average uh New
Jersey home value has increased to Port Zillow by 6.5%. This is at 8.8% in Burnsville. We're growing faster than the average value in New Jersey. This represents really because of um the burers becoming more attractive. like this is the representation of the collective uh assessed amount of all
properties in the burrow. That's not only the value of your house, the value of your land, but also any improvements that you made that are done independently by the tax successor, not anyone, you know, council or a b leadership. Um the just to remind
everyone so um you are we are assessed the soil value for our land collectively obviously the increases from you know 226 million over the course of the year that means for the most part everybody's properties whether you own commercial or residential property in the bureau
properties have gone up um you are assessed your taxes both based on the property value and therefore if your property value is going to go up the overall amount you're going to pay and taxes are have um we think we've done our part in the bureau by keeping the tax rate itself flat. Um that recognizes
that we can continue to control our spending by maintaining the same exact rate on the burrow, but the increase in your property value will of course translate to higher taxes on your assessed value. We think there obviously some advantages of that um of the overall increased valuation. I think
most people recognize that it represents that the burrow is becoming more attractive, that more people want to move here because values are growing up, the value of your specific property has increased in value. And then eventually, hopefully years and years down the line, when you go to sell your property, um it's worth more than what you bought it
for and you get the return to the value um of what you purchased at that point, too. Okay, next slide. As I said, here's the last few years. tax rate um has either decreased or not increased at all for the four
consecutive years. So 2022 we remained flat, slightly decreased in 2023, 2024 the rate remained flat. In 2025 the rate remained flat. Um we were h we're you know we know that this is important to try to do our part as much as possible to maintain um taxes as reasonable for
burough residents. And so even though residents obviously will have higher overall taxes if they are if their values go up in the property, we are able to we're proud as accounts to be able to maintain our rate flat. And um obviously I should also say that the
burough municipal tax rate like I saw showed on that dollar slide is just one part of it. Um other boards such as school the school and the county would also have their own rate and would have to do the same for taxes to make flat. Okay, next slide.
Um just a kind of some other um you know just wanted to kind of sort of more detail when we talk about the the rate everybody is assessed not only the municipal tax but a library tax as well and an open space tax and these how those these are how those rates change
here we are contributing to the black and you also see we broke out here as requested um I know a number of we had a couple requests including from the paper uh to show what the 2025 average residential assessment is. So the average residential assessment has
really gone up in Vernville. It's $975,000 and the average home altogether pays $5,000. Um obviously the big that's our municipal not so you're going
to pay higher than that based on the school tax and the county tax. So okay next slide. So, just another breakdown and we're going to put all these online so you don't have to take screenshots or um
chat notes, but uh these are how the appropriations really break down. Um trying to get a specific as you know where where you can see 1%. I won't go through it all. Um but yeah, the biggest ones are DPW obviously with this road
improvements that we continue to do, public safety, all-inclusive, fire, um police, etc. everything that we spend in the public safety bucket um salaries etc that you consider okay so I wanted to spend maybe the last minute or two going just through the
next two slides on the capital program for the year um so we tried to be you know very down as much as um specific as possible on where we're spending our capital allocation for the year you could see um
you know police SUVs the ballist IC vest for the police. Um computer upgrades, body warn cameras, which we are required to do, I believe now, recording equipment. Um the police department capital expense of $235,000. Emergency management, command
vehicle, mobile radios, departmental total for the e office emergency management of $43,000. Public works, new pickup truck, radios, uh skid steel trailer, altogether, um $137,000. Next slide.
Okay, so engineering totals, you could see the breakdown of um specific road improvements, the mill and pave projects. Um just I have a question about that. Let me just pull that up real quick. I just wanted to be
specific. That um is for Hard Scrabble, Holly Ridge, Dogwood, Sterling Road, Cedar Lane, and Skyline Drive. and uh the public works committee, the public works department does a great job of looking at all the roads in the bureau, grading them, how deteriorated they are,
prioritizing them, and then we work collectively with the um public works team to then prioritize those inside of the budget. You recall in years past, we'd actually sometimes pause all spending in some areas to really make an investment like we did in Burnham's app, but required an ent to title
refurberation that cost I think three and a half million dollars between everything. And so we've tried to be diligent as to like really invest where we need a strong upgrade or just continually to upgrade on a rotating basis. Um recreation program uh $15,000
recreation there. And then just a couple of large administrative items that you'll see $150,000 is really it the IT expense when we decided to contract for it in the bureau as well as repairs on Burough Hall that we anticipate making. And then we have a resolution later on
where we're going to talk about security cameras and door security. We have 175,000 budgeted there. This is really a long upgrade that we've needed on um a number of secure cameras and properties really at the past of the police department and um the
library station um the full ground the library 48 48 42 cameras and eight doors. Yeah. Yeah. So a big investment in security
and uh One last thing, it's all funded with cash, no additional debt in the budget adding in this budget adding to um the burough's debt total. So, uh with that, these slides along with the actual detailed deep dive budget is online. Um
happy to take any questions either from council, but thank you to everybody member of council for their input and partnership. And with that, back to the public. Okay. Um, so it I will now open the public hearings and then the budget.
So anyone who has any questions, please come up on the uh silver. Uh, just a question about the um security. Did something happen at those publications that for that kind of security? Well, Franken tested that.
Somebody took out the drop box. Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the fourth time, right? Um it's just I don't think we've had any specific incidents, but there have been over the years where uh you know there
may be a car left there and or somebody tries to open a door, somebody tries to unlock something. Yes, I can add some things. Um, so we have had um people in our
buildings overnight. Um, we have we have cameras. We have cameras um but they're out of service more than they're in service um because it was not a good system to begin with when it was bought. Um we do have some uh
requirements that certain places be uh videotaped. I believe we have to like for example the ballot box we have to have a year in over a couple years ago for a year's worth of footage. Right now we have no footage because the camera
anymore. Um so uh there are incidents that people trip and fall and then they see the burl and we have no photographic or camera evidence to prove whether they did or didn't. So um something I had mentioned is one case
like that and this whole system pays for itself in in one incident. So, um, and then I know, uh, I think it was the environmental commission, um, part of the door access beside
security and not having to paint lock when employees leave and here the police department. Um, uh, downstairs in the library um, where the summit is, uh, because that was where people were sleeping.
um here just as a matter of convenience as well. The environmental commission comes for meetings and the doors lock because there's no employee who's here to open it at night. So what it does is it enable us in addition security
enables us to put doors on schedules so they can open at 8:30 in the morning when we open it and close at 4:30 they can reopen again automatically at 7 o'clock for a meeting or whatever. So in addition to the security um in addition
to knowing who has access to your who's going in and out of your building there is a matter of convenience too for the door um control as well but um uh most of it is security for the is the camera that's and I think you also said
it's the same system that the school is using so the police then have you know easy access to all the cameras you know on a unified system which I Yes. And um uh it includes um
uh all of the all the parts, all the installation, all the cabling. Like a lot of our buildings are very hard to access. I mean this the walls are 3 ft. So um they're hard to access, hard to work in. So the labor is more intensive
to get the cameras in place. So, this includes all of the cabling, all of the work, all the installation. It includes a 10-year warranty for replacement parts. Um, and then it includes the all the system that's involved where the
police can it's it is a high-tech system. Um there's uh AI involved where they could like search through if they if God forbid a car hit something in the parking lot, they can search through for a particular license plate that you know
somebody saw or something like that. They could search for a woman in an orange shirt, you know, like there's there's a lot of things that will make the police job easier. you know, they don't when they have discovery, it helps with their accreditation because the
inside cameras, they'll have a camera in the jail cell that they don't have now that will enable them to meet the criteria of accreditation. There's so many benefits and I know it's a big chunk of money but our security here is
like nonexistent and um I you know we got to talk about later but it was on the agenda was going to come on because he worked on it with Jade with along with Kevin Murray for TPW and we've been
looking at this for like a year so um we had paired this down it was and we got rid of like a lot of the extras, you know. Um, so also uh over at the library like the the book drop or
the parking where we have numerous companies um we would have cameras there at the polo ground. Um we spend a lot of money on those feelings. So it's good to have you know cameras there for vandalism. we're knowing people are, you
know, the police, it allows the police to be alerted if somebody's in a building at night or when they shouldn't be or on a field. Um, so and then eventually we'll have a pavilion there and we always intend to put counters there after that. So, like I said, I we
recognize it's significant amount of money. Um, but it's long overdue. It's, you know, it's really the latest technology and and it's not just like, it's not like, oh, it's thing. It's I
think it's essential to Y agree. And the beauty of it is that we're not adding more debt, you know, that is coming from capital to do it. So, yeah. Anyone else?
[Music] Yeah, just stand on the silver and silver. Hi, power 56 Mail Road. Long time. Uh, I was interested in the budget presentation. I uh looked over the budget that was introduced a little over
a month ago. on um one of your slides al you showed that the valuation of the burrow has gone steadily up. Uh I looked in particular at 2022 comparing comparing it to 2025. Uh the valuation went from 2.388
billion to 2.817 billion as an increase about 17 or 18%. But when I looked at the budget and compared year by year, what I noticed is that over the last three years, the total appropriations by local government has
gone up by over 25%. Now, the burrow hasn't grown by 25%. I read the Burnsville news, well written, every week by Charlie and Associates. Uh, I haven't read of a human thrive for
25% more in the way of services. So, I I guess I have a little trouble understanding what is behind the 25% increase in the total appropriations in the last 3 years. Now focusing a little
more specifically on 2024 to 2025 so that we're now looking at a one-year interval. The increase in the appropriations was between 14 and 15% around 14.7 or so. That's the largest increase percentage wise in total
appropriations in more than 16 years in the world. Nothing has come close to that in that increase. There was maybe one year when the increase in appropriations or was maybe 11%. But it is often a small
fraction of that. So I I I'm having difficulty understanding. I follow the municipal budget. Not that hard to read. It's hard to understand where the fiscal discipline is that ought to be applied in the burrow.
Just to ask um sir, did you account for the Audi dealership revenue in your calculation? The what? The Audi dealership revenue in your calculation? I looked because that was a one time revenue increase that brought up the I looked at total appropriations. I did look at
um total local tax revenues for municipal purposes. also that's increasing year by year for year from 2024 to 2025 by about 8.9% or so. I did look at the increase
at the the revenue from the Audi dealership. Um the other thing that uh interested me is on the subject of debt reduction over a period of couple of years over the last couple of years the burrow sold bond anticipation
notes last two years not this present year about $3.3 million. Now, we're lucky this year the interest rate that the borrow has to pay on bond anticipation notes went down.
And so, we're left with a uh a financial picture in which the borrow borrowed when the interest rates for bond interest rate notes were high and now it's paying down debt service when the
interest rate is low. I'm not sure I understand that. So there are couple a couple of points of interest. I did make Howard, your time is up. Thank you for your time. Yeah, no problem. No, we'll get back to you.
For sure. I think um you know, Nancy or Leslie, I know you're on Well, I'll welcome your comments. All the historical details right in front. I do think you're accounting for the sale of the odd dealership as a revenue, which spiked the revenue associated with the burrow's budget this year. If you would
take that out of it, it would have been around $19 million. Um, which just in 2023, we were $17.7 million. So, it's not too much of a significant increase. Like I explained, I actually think that that actually um it skews it, right? Um
we've also at times have made strong investments like the $ three and a half million dollars in one single year to burn Zab um and uh the continual investment that we can try to make in the polar grounds to expand areas there. So I think it's accountable. I'm happy to break it down and look at the
historical knowledge of it. Um I don't know Nancy or Leslie if there's anything you want to add to that as well. I think that service is a huge part of it and I think that there's a question that this year the difference is out. I mean it's $1.4
million. Um and um Leslie did let me know uh about the bond anticipation notes. They're not in debt. They're an annual rules. So um we're lucky to get an interest rate that we did, you know, um as low as it was this year. Oh, so
you roll it over, you get a new interest rate. Yeah. You have to go out. It's a sale every March. Okay. Anybody else? Hazelton. Uh, I just want to follow up on the discussion of cameras because I
hear a lot about what we're going to be doing. Um, where we have some large capital investments and large buildings and stuff, but while we're looking at that, maybe not really expensive cameras, but I'm concerned about some of our exposure at some of our open space properties, particularly Kurt Patrick
Park, where we have open access uh, and we have buildings there and I think it would be easy for people to get in there and cause trouble. We've got a dry situation. and a lot of fires are happening. It might not be a bad idea to have some visibility there because we won't be able to get the police officers
up there very often. Yeah, too would be a good spot. Yeah, I did have some I'm sorry I left that out bonds or the capital ordinance. We did explore
um individual uh cameras. They're not part of this technology. either off the shelf I guess is what we say for um Kuanas Clammont. We can add Patrick because also um an ongoing problem I
think is still continuing. Charlotte Hill open space uh I brought this to the attention the police there is a big problem there. There is a person who um one of my neighbors had taken a picture of his license plate some time back. I've talked to uh the detective sergeant a couple of times. I'm sorry I don't
remember what his name is, but we've got access coming in along that roadway with some high clearance vehicle and there are fires being set in there and we're just asking for a major complication in there if we don't find out it's that.
So, wow. So we did I could talk to adding that to the list but it was something we couldn't because of the locations and they uni I guess geography of them we couldn't include them in exist because they're not connected to any of our
servers or whatever. Yeah, but when when I do like an individual like right discuss it. There was some concern about whether where our property began, but I'm pretty sure our property goes from that railroad track all the way
through that access road and that is an easement on our lane. Uh I'm not 100% sure, but we've got land in there that's at risk and it's already happening. All right. Thanks, Carrie. No, it's okay.
Anyone else? Anybody online? All right, then. I can't tell if online wants to. Let me I think he might. I'm not sure. Is somebody on Zoom or Yeah, I asked him to
unmute now. I can unmute. No, still, right? Raise your hand. [Music] Can you hear us? Hi Peter. Is this Am I on Peter Tober?
Yeah, this Peter Tober 114 Crest Drive. Um, I have a question as to how the roads are selected as part of the budget for improvement. I don't think the DPW does a good job at all. Um, our road hasn't been touched in 17 years, 2008. Uh the other neighbors in my
uh complex have been promised in 2024 and 2025 that something would be done for our road. It's were rated the seventh worst road in the town and I just heard about six roads scheduled for replacement. Do we just randomly pick and choose? Um two of the five sections
of road in my development have been reserviced in the last two years and they're in far better shape than mine. So, I would really like an answer as to how roads are selected. Is it just random? Because I've got different answers from different administrators. My neighbors have done the same and I don't think it's a very transparent,
fair, and open process. Thank you. You want to address crust specifically or do you want me to just talk about public works? I mean, I did assure you that we uh that it's on the list for next year that we had already done our
budget this year. um that uh ranking that is online it's a little misleading because there's a lot of things that are taking effect like drainage and things like that. Um you know I'm I'm not going to I I probably shouldn't even say this but
Kevin and I did drive up there recently and like I personally did not think the road compared to other roads was was that was that bad. And again, I know you live there. I don't. But um I did assure Mr. Terra that it would
be um for next year. Yeah. And I guess the only thing I would add to that is um public works department reviews the road list and grades all the roads um with our public works committee. Um I know public works wants to talk about
it. they that is reviewed by council and there are times when council has intervened and said we really want to prioritize this road because what the administrator is pointing out is it's not just the straight paving of the road sometimes the road needs to be deconstructed and reconstructed but um
you know refurbish additional drainage etc. So like for example, Bernard's a would be a good one where they needed they actually waited for so long but the road really deteriorated and we as the council decided to intervene and say we're going to pause all the road projects in the burough this year so we
can take care of birds out. So um that's a little bit of how the process works to expand that but I think there's also priorities in terms of the amount of travel on a road. Obviously, if it's a through road, it's going to get a higher priority than if it's a culac. And
that's a pulite. Yeah. And sometimes what happens is on a big road project, if it comes in under budget, they have leftover pavement, we'll do some of those public sites. It may not have been scheduled, but they'll add them in because they're short, you know, and they're easier to do. We did that last
year. We did additional competition last year. No, but sometimes that happens. So, but we can't commit to saying yes this year'll be extra. All right. Anybody
else? All right. I will close the public hearing on the budget and Al I move that uh resolution 25-73B adoption of 2025 municipal budget be adopted. Second roll call please. Mr.
Zino mayor. Yes. Mr. Trainer. Yes. Mr. Runes. Yes. Mr. Mayor. Yes. All right. Uh we have minutes to approve for March 17 and March 24. Anyone want to move? I need to approve the minutes for March 17th and March
24th. I'll second. All in favor? I now we have another open session for anything that's not under having a public hearing. So if anybody has
anything Yes. 397. I just want to follow up on the Highlands council and where we stand with that. Back in December, we had gotten accepted and we had said that we were going to move forward with the Highlands preser and just wondering if the uh if we're going to go forward with
the ordinance to make that happen. We are. Um I think we're waiting for our planner to put the ordinance together for us. Is that correct? Yeah. Um because we got because she's also working on our affordable housing which is due the end of June. We kind of gave
that priority but we will definitely be doing the ordinance probably next month. I think I think she's been next month. But yes, we are. I don't know what standing is with applications or things that might be happening between the time that we say we want to do it and then we
actually do it. So I I don't know what that would mean, but I think if we're moving forward with it, it's best to move forward with it. Yeah, we are. I think it's it's part of it is also you have to designate, you know, your downtown corridor, and so there's a lot of effort involved in it, but we are
definitely a moving ahead with it. Thank you. It's been a while. It's nice to see new faces and old ones. Um, familiar ones. Thank you. Thank you. Agreed. All right. So, the first um is a
comment. It's an unabashed plug for an invitation to the next Friends of the Library free concert series. And I know the mayor is a wonderful musical groupy. And so on May 18th, it's going to be a very um energetic mariachi band. So
please swing by if you can. Always a lot of fun. May 18th. May usually it's a Sunday. Sunday at 3. Yeah. So it's a fun. It's a lot of fun. Piano and Marima was your duo, but it was it was good,
wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So we and it's new music next after that is a a real country bluegrass with a fiddle and a drum and you just we have a little bit of fresh energy there this year. So it'll be it'll be nice. So that was the
first thing. Um the second thing is I remember when we first went down to three minutes there was all the council also said that you know somebody was talking here that you could talk a little over and you'd allow that. I mean, this gentleman was just talking nicely and having conversation with you
and so it felt uncomfortable for me that the 3 minutes was interrupted that he could have just finished his easy conversation with you. Um, it's just part of you know this is always difficult. Um, this is a council meeting held in public. It is not a public it's not a town hall meeting. It's not a
public meeting. So what we try not to do is it's not a Q&A and a back and forth. It's a opportunity for the public to share what they're thinking, right? If you know for questions and answers, you know, we don't have resources here with
us to kind of get that's why I kind of said we'll get back to Howard with the answers. I appreciated that. Yeah, I didn't mean to cut you off. Just that you did it. the time. I'll give you anything that needs more depth. We like to do, you know, one on
one or, you know, with a separate meeting than to take time in it because we're just trying to get through our resolutions and things. You managed to She did. I So, my last thing in 41 seconds, so don't beat me, Anthony. All
right. Is about the flash vote. Uh oh. Well, I would like to hear about that. Like who's you will you're going to hear in my report. Okay. Like so my questions will like who's preceding that? How many people in town? How who's formulating
those questions? How is that information going to be used? Um did you have to pay for it? Because I understand there were government fees to it. And one of the things that I did sign up um but it was in perpetuity some and I hate when I see
that in a in an obligation or something and that was your referral. So yeah, but you always have the option to not do it. When they send it, you can say no, not this time. Right. Okay. So, but I'm going to explain that more as part of my report what the whole program is. Okay.
And how the results and so forth because for example, even on the website of Clash Vote, the example that they give like how would you rate the overall quality, the advantage of Pokemons? Well, that's great. You can say they're great or they're awful, but you don't know the details of why and what that
might mean. So, that was my concern with it. I imagine that as a group you've talked about that there's a lot of implications to that. So I will be looking forward to that. Thank you. I had a quick question about the library music. Um is does it do you ever do it
outside the whole patio? We have to kind of harvest that. Yeah. Yes. I guess the short answer a lot of it depends on the weather area is on the front side and so that's uh what's that? Yeah.
the music presentation like a mar just seems like more thank you totally different 30 seconds I just want to remind everybody about the green fair on Saturday May 10th go on down to
get to seedling you know find out about uh all the kind exhibitions we're going to have. The second thing is just remind people or maybe you didn't know that Communities in Crisis is having their their gala at Bidler's elbow on um on the 15th and um
you know you can come down and support that organization and learn more about it as well. Thank you. Yeah, I am very sorry I'm going to miss the rain fair. I will be in California. I don't get away much but you know it's never a good time when I
go. Sorry to miss it. Uh, anyone else? Yes. Um, I have a question also about the um survey sorry flash. Who uh creates the questions? Because of course how a question is
framed or the depth of the issue that is being questioned on any level goes a long way to indicating whether it's going to be a useful ill illuminating vote or not. So I would like to hear
when you discuss it what who's going to be in charge of creating those who's going to be in charge of analyzing the data that comes in. There are a lot of very complicated questions in the bureau and a lot more I'm sure to come just
given how things are going. Um, and so I would like to just have insight into who will really be in charge of that process and how that will Thank you. Okay, great. Thanks. do this whole last
poll, but just to add a question because I was involved in the all the polling that we did associated with the rec plan and we had one group that was mailed to a very
a statistically significant sample to get something back and then we had another poll that you could answer as many times as you wanted. So I was my question is will this be a one one shot answer poll or will somebody who has one particular thing in mind be able to
respond 50 times and skew things in one direction. Yeah. They won't but thank you. Anyone else? All right. I will close the public session. Um moving on to ordinances.
Uh, I will open the public hearing on ordinance 2025 2018, which is amending section 11-4 of the borrow code entitled registration and maintenance of properties pending foreclosure to bring it into compliance with the recent court decision. Anyone want to be heard on
that? I would love a public hearing on that. Um let's start with Rich pass ordinance number 725 form on final meeting and adopt as
roll call Mr. Rivera. Yes. Mr. Rud. Yes. Maine. Yes. I will open the public hearing on ordinance 2025209 and ordinance wait I'm doing this again 2019
bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of a new ambulance by the bureau of Burnsville in the county of Somerset New Jersey appropriating $350,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $312,200 bonds or notes of the burough
for financing such appropriation. Anyone in the public wish to be heard on this ordinance? No. Okay. Environment. Um, so I just want to give a a brief thank you to the council finance committee as well res
uh for proposing this um this purchase of the new ambulance or replacement of the ambulance. Um for those who don't know, we have two ambulances in town. Um uh we call them sort of their numeric designation 175 and 176 and this is a
replacement of 175 which is about 24 years old. Um and uh bordering on its last leg. Um we would like to continue to provide a comfortable ride to the hospital for those who need it most. Um so this is a replacement for that ambulance um that's uh slated for the
coming year. So we really appreciate you working with us and you helping us out in uh forming our mission of you know providing safety to the residents. Thank you. Thank you. And for those you know I have to constantly remind people these are all volunteers. Our fire department
and our first day are all volunteers. So um it is amazing the amount of time and training they go through to serve this community. So thank you. Um Harrison, what do you do with the old ambulance question in what what happens
to the old ambulance? Uh there's a potential deal can be sold for whatever you know scrap it is like dump deals we do it on you can I think it's in our right we have the title there's only certain ways
you can dispose one of them is so whatever value is left in the um the engines that we use are the laps we do so carry it at
um um so but yes and you said 24 years old uh just about it's a reflection of their care for what Yes. Thanks, Harrison. Okay. Anyone else? And I will
close the public hearing on this ordinance. I move ordinance 28.520 sorry I'm sorry 19 ordinance oh I'm sorry I move to pass I'm sorry I move to pass ordinance 2025-209 on final reading and adopt as
public second reading yes [Music] Mr. Yes, yes. We don't know. We have to wait for Jeff. [Music] Yeah. Just don't let the door.
That's a good one. Um, we have some ordinance for introduction. Um, these are for capital improvements on that we just went through. Yeah.
I move that 2020 2020 approaches [Music] 1.79900 from the capital improvement fund for various equipment improvements
as listed in the 2025 municipal budget be introduced by title pass on first reading published according to law and public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May
27, 2025. Second. All in favor? I think we can do that with three. Yes. Four. That's right. Yeah. You have another one for reselling.
Oh, right. Yes. Sure. Ordinance number 2025-201 ordinance reszoning lot 2 in block 62 and amend second 12-2.2 and two of the bureau development regulations entitled zoning map be
introduced by title pass on first reading published according to law and that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning 700 p.m. Tuesday May 27th all in favor opposed all right we have one more um and this
is the process we've been working on for uh replacing our police chief so that we have a process in set in stone pretty much. So the following time um or did you just do that one? Um I
move that ordinance 2025-2022 an ordinance establishing the promotion process for chief of police and supplementing and amending chapter 2 of the burough code entitled administration being introduced by title passed on first reading published according to law that a public hearing be scheduled for a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday May
27th 2025. I'll second. All in favor? I oppose. Okay, moving on to resolutions. Um I think we talked about most of these
last week, didn't we? Um with St. John on the mountain, that's it. Uh just authorizing as a shelter, which we do every year. um the salaries, the grain building practices.
Thank you, Jeff. Is it we got that one? Um and yes, thank you to um our people for being your members for joining the fire and so we have um people that are going to be available
during the day to help. So that's great. We have an grant, an $88,000 grant to our recreation pavilion. So that's great. Nancy, um Dan Wetter is coming back to Shade Tree. So that's
terrific. Um we're doing an officer charge department. I think the rest of it I think that's pretty much it. Okay. Anybody have any
questions? Do you want to move it? I move the resolutions 25-74 approved 25- [Music] 91 please. Mr. Romero.
Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Mayor's update. Um I did attend a the member campaign at a town hall which um they do them
quarterly which is great because we get to um it's a zoom meeting with all the other um mayor's wellness committees through the county. So we get to share ideas and find out what other towns are doing and uh it's very useful and I attended a
program by the uh business partnership on AI and never self co-pilot scary stuff. Uh and then on the 31st we had our flash boat kickoff. So what flash vote is, it is a scientific surveying
method. And what we did with um I know Nancy and I met with them several times. We went and I guess you guys all had the program. They create a panel of about 200 people that are randomly just by you
know I mean I and I I put out uh I think to most of the emails I have and then we'll be putting it on the bubble that anybody in town can sign up because you don't know what the survey is about. It's just saying if there's a survey you'd be willing to fill it out. So we're not saying it's about this subject
and then oh I want to fill that out because I hate that. you know, you're not getting people signing up because of an issue. They're just signing up because they want to be involved in decisions made in town. Um, however, when you take the survey, the results
are immediately given to you. So, you as the person who filled out the survey will see the results. You don't have to wait like we don't get them and then, you know, maybe we're not going to share them because we don't like the way they came out. they are immediately available to us and to the people taking the
survey. They um the the 200 that forms kind of the panel is what they use for most of the questions and then you can open it up.
So, say if you had uh for an example, they did one in Canada for a an ice rink that they had that was open for skating and then in the summer they used it for other events and things. And so, they
wanted some people were pushing saying we want to have it ice skating all year. So they used their study group, you know, the 200 people or however many was and said, um, if this was possible, which would you like? Would you like it to be open all year? Would you love, you
know, and they're very, it's maybe eight, 10 questions. It's not a very involved, intense um, questioning. And what happened was they got a fairly good from the middle to 200 people that they kind of like the
fact that it was varied. They had skating and whatever. Then they opened it up to anybody in town. Here's a survey about how you want to use your skating rink. And of course, all the skating people sent it to all their friends and they sent it out and then it
skewed the results like they so they can pull out this the panel from the the you know people that are trying to skew it. So you can see the difference. Um it's really I mean I I thought it was fascinating. Um we get to do up to I
think six surveys a year. They have lots of samples. They help us develop them because they are professionals in statistical uh you know how you word questions. I remember taking that course in college uh on the way that you have
to work questions and open-ended blah blah blah and how you can't phrase it. Well, do you really, you know, you can't skew the words. So, they work with us as part of Yes, we pay for it. It wasn't a lot. It was a couple thousand dollars.
Um, but we have access to their professional people who know how to write surveys. Um, know how to research data, understand data, and I think what the council's goal is, it's information
that can help us in our decision- making. It's not a vote, you know, it's not, oh, the people said this, we have to do it. It's really giving us information to make our decisions. Um, it could be a simple thing about just community satisfaction or it could
be do you want another chfield, you know, it could be on anything that um, so we haven't quite worked out which what kind of survey you want to do yet. still trying to build our panel, which is why some of you got invited because I
just randomly any emails I had sent down. I think we just made the first hund. I think I think we got 100 and then I have to um now put it out on the bubble for people anyone else who wants to sign up that they didn't care about
it. So, it's really, you know, and some people who don't want to do it. It's really for the people who care about the community and want to, you know, get to weigh in on things that come up. They're not necessarily going to be controversial issues. It could just be
something very general that helps us. Did I answer everybody's questions kind of question I do have a question based on what you just said is and how how is is there a way guarantee I guarantee
scholars follow that kind of like all demographics are reached you know you you want to make sure that you are you are making sure that the panel there's different parts of the population who want to go not just an age group
Yeah, they too. They do give that a strong. Yes, they asked us for all that. We gave them an awful lot of information. Um and they then look at whatever we gave them and then look where there's where things
are missing if you know we got 100 people that signed up and they're all from you know you know so we do try and do you know by neighborhoods and sections.
Yeah. Yeah. I used to build on that. But if if they started with my email list or Michelle's email list or Kathy's or Bob's or or in ours or yours, we all have email lists that are skewed in a certain direction towards our own friends. And I think that if we started
with mine, I would object and say that that isn't going to give us a starting point with that first hund. I'd like to say mine is not skewed. Anybody who's ever written to me gets on my list and sometimes they're not always nice. Anything that you know if you get my
newsletter that's the list that I use and it goes to you know really anybody that's sent me an email at any time in the last seven years. Yeah. Yeah.
Even if they're complaining, I put them on the list because I figured, you know, maybe they get my newsletter, they won't be so angry. First of all, you don't want my um the good example because that's what I was thinking like let's say
somebody another three acres of wooded property or adding lights that are there in the evening. And so it's not just adding more vehicles becomes more complicated that might not just be addressed the simple quick question. No, but I think
if we have um and if you go on their I don't know if they have samples. Do they show you samples of some get that one? Yeah, that was very Yeah. So I I think it was not nuanced enough that they Well, I think because I'm thinking of
the one with the ice skating thing because they did go through, you know, what the cost would be if we did this. Okay. You know, are you willing to, you know, have your taxes go up if you were to have are you willing to have land
cleared? Is it okay if there's skewed a little bit like oh the council realize that there are other things you know that it's not we're not in solely focused on you know a single survey or certain
issue surveys that's going to govern our next year to the having professionals and a company that specializes in this because I know if we made up our own survey it probably would be even no matter how hard you crime. You heard it has a bias to it. So, I think the fact
that these people don't know our town, you know, they're just giving us a way to have people give their input. So, and that's that's our goal is that then we have some information to help us make decisions. knew that was the goal. I
think it's a noble goal and just getting there and we always say there would be a public meeting with whatever you decide of course. So there [Music] Oh, we need to take that
vote. Okay. Can we just do the roll call? You know say it again. Jeff just a roll call on the budget. [Music] Right. Mr. Yes, Mr. Ruth. Yeah, your trainer.
Yes. Yes. We're good. We're good. We got the vote. Okay. We um actually and I attended the fire company dinner. Thank you so much for the
invitation. Yes, it's very nice. Um, I did a ribbon cutting for society and real estate which is a real estate uh just real estate and marketing. It just opened there upstairs from
um what is you know where uh Spar Jeie is in that building. They're like on the top floor there. So, if you want to stop in and say hi, they did a beautiful job on re redoing that building. It is magnificent. Um, I attended a a
fundraiser for heart works at the Burners Inn. I met with Emily Labdun of City Lifestyle magazine who if you get those in the mail, sell some pills. They've been very interested in our community and connected them with other
things to make sure every every month there's something to I attended the Easter extravaganza that recreation did it in the porum that day. So they had it in the middle school gym. It was fun. And our administrator was there,
the husband and the uh the DJ they had when I was uh they let me say a few words and I thank Nancy for coming and he said, "You know, all the times I've done these things, I've never seen an administrator here." So thank you. Here.
They had a great time. They did. It was outstanding. They had the the Easter and it was hard to control an Easter egg. Brother, but it was a lot of fun. The petting zoo was there. I mean, it was it was really a a good afternoon. Um, I attended a
lunch and learn by the um League of Municipalities on the state budget which is 58.1 billion proposed. We need 6.3 billion surplus. Um there is no um additional municipal relief
funding. So we're not getting anything there. State health benefits, we're getting double digit increases this year. Um, part of what the league is trying to do on uh the health benefits is right now they're advocating for some
short-term relief to those cost increases, but um advocating for, you know, long-term reform because, you know, those are numbers that we get hit with and have no don't know what's coming uh how big the increase is going
to be every year. What's next? I went to the library board meeting, but I think Fran did a good job of covering everything in our last meeting. So, you got your little calendars for May. Um, I attended a webinar by
downtown New Jersey on restaurant trends. And the thing that struck me on that was what some of the restaurant owners were saying is they never expected they would be making mocktails. That that it's a whole new trend because people are trying not to drink as much.
I thought that was really funny. Then I had another lunch and learned energy tax receipts and public notices. And if you know anything about the um energy tax receipts, there is a tax you pay in your
utility bill that is for municipal rel for them for the utility companies to have access to our poles and our easements and all that. when it was first added all the money came to the municipality.
Then the state what was it? Um trying to think when it happened but the state at some point said you know what it's kind of time consuming for of you know you have to collect all this and blah blah and go this we'll collect it because you
know there JCP now is writing all these checks to all these towns or PSCG. So they're going to write one check to the state and we'll then we'll give it back to you. We'll issue it out. you know how long that lasted. So what happened was they
started not giving us the money back uh using it to offset the budget. Um so the League of Municipality has been really advocating we did a resolution we're going to do another one tonight and so in 2023
um they finally gave us back 75 million. I think right now there's 330 million that we should the town should be getting that they're not. Um so they appropriated 75 million that they called
it municipal relief fund and we got that last year and they spread out over burrows. Um in 2024 they up to 250 million. Um this year it's staying at 150 million. So, we are still advocating
for full restoration of those funds. Um, you know, that would make a huge difference for municipalities to have that money back. But good luck with that. Anyway, so that's the status of the uh energy tax receipts. We are going to be doing a
resolution. A lot of towns, I think last time we had a a letter that uh four or 500 mayors signed that we sent to our senators and the governor. So hopefully it will work again. But as
for the public notices, um those of you who are my age who loved getting the Star Ledger delivered and don't anymore, uh since many newspapers have stopped publishing, um we are required to publish our public notices in print. And
so was it um they did a little quick duck duct tape um and said that we could do them online um but that is suns setting I think June
30th. So, they're still working on um they I think they're going to extend it, but the newspapers are now going to be required to give them all kinds of data. So, what we're advocating for is
that we can post it on our website and that would be enough the public notice and um they're surveying each of the municipalities to find out how much we ask for any time to um notice the meetings
bids. We we do a lot of advertising. So, what else? Actually, the Summersville City Lifestyle had a um reception at Marini the other night. That was really nice. Main Street, what's going on with
Main Street? Um we will be having music on Main on June 6th. It's a Friday night, so there will be bands at different places. We're getting permission from some of the different merchants to have
a band or a combo, so you can walk around town. It's reminiscent of sounds around town. Um, but that'll be June 6th. Um, July 20th, it will be the car show at the train
station. This year, we're going to be doing a taste of the town. On September 23rd, it will be at the Burners Inn, who have been so generous in letting us use the ballroom at no charge. So, we're going to try and have all our local
restaurants do have tastings and this will be a fundraiser for the fire company. So, we're hoping um that all goes off well. Business improvement grants. Main Street has been giving um up to $2,000 to small local
businesses. And if you've noticed, have you seen that pre lately? The mural that was from the grant from Main Street. So, we're doing a little photo shoot there tomorrow. I think it's gorgeous. They did. They're the first ones to get the grants and we're, you know, still
working and hopefully we'll have that coming up soon. So that was my report. Sorry to take so long. Um Nancy, did you have something?
Yes. Um New Jersey American Water has started um replacing the uh galvanized steel pipes that go along the street houses. Um they're doing it pretty hard.
Uh there are not that many still around. Um but you might have already got contact they're going to reach out um by mail um and then they will follow uh anything on our website but if you do
get contacted by them it's legitimate um there's a map we'll put a link to the map you can look up your show have um galvanized by so uh just want to let It's not exclusive. Um, and it's free.
You know, they're likely different. So, Oh, really? Yeah. [Music] Um, the good news is the walking path construction uh contractor to break the ground tomorrow finally. So, that will uh be done hopefully in the next few
months. Um, as you mentioned, you have the resolution to accept it. We got the $88,000 grant from um the uh CCA for the pavilion. So, um I mentioned this last week. Uh Tony HR was
really instrumental in helping me with that. Um and Dr. Thank you to for you know they just uh earned their salary for you know several years. So
uh now I will work with um the new engineer with and with Tom the new director to put some new plans together. As I mentioned to um the cost have already come down because of like school work every day.
Um TWW will be digging the trenches for work. So that also the top down will get a pavilion built for much um
world on Monday May 26th at 10:30 a.m. the far open on May 31st. Um, and again, thanks to Tom, he's been working pretty hard uh doing that because he's been kind of taking it in
uh his style of sound. Um, and Maline English who work on it for so many years, you know, will continue to volunteer um at that market, but we've kind of taken ownership of so uh Tom
with the vendors and the whole setup. Um and I just you also referenced this earlier. I just want to congratulate Chief Remy on his ultimate retirement. left will be May 31st digital May 31st
and this name Captain Mutal the officer in charge which is essentially the same thing but acting police chief affected on June birth and thank you to the departmental monthly reports
I move to accept the departmental monthly reports. Sorry. All in favor? I was thinking correspondence. All finished business. I want to do business. Um actually got
from the CFO some of the answers to the gentleman who asked about the budget. Yeah. So, I just wanted to maybe enter in the public record and this is to say I didn't capture everything. So, if you send the questions or you talk after the meeting, I'm happy to capture them and work with the finance department to get
you all the answers that you need. So, um I mentioned the Audi dealership and the large percentage of the budget and it was a one-time hit that we're that's hitting our budget this year that's really skewing the way the budget looks. It represents 7% of the entire budget
this year. Um, if you took out the Audi dealership, which is a one-time item, then I'm just going to talk about the average increase on both the burrow municipal budget as well as the valuation. From 2022 to 2023, the burough budget increased by 5.6%,
valuation increased by 4.5. From 23 to 24, we went up 5% and the burough municipal budget, the valuation went up 6.1%. And this year um it was
7.3% the um 24 to 25 and they said the valuation 8.8% closer to 9%. So the average of increase in the burough budget over the course of those three years has been 6% and the average increase in valuation has been
6.5%. So I do think it's a fiscally responsible budget. I think we were able to do all this despite inflation and I think everyone's accounted for the significant amount of inflation. the cost of materials that have risen up, the increase in salaries, the increase in the statemandated health benefits,
significant increase in utilities, um increase in roads and the cost there that we've hit. And as I said in the presentation, um our discretionary we can actually control only represents 4% of the budget. It's about you know $850,000 $900,000. And even with playing just that 4% over the course of the last
few years, we have increased maybe not all but a number of the roads including the significant reverberation of Bernard's increased security like we've talked about before, but that also accounts for the um cameras that we installed that stop some of the car thefts that have happened in the burrow and the partnership with the police
department. um helped to advance the recreation program including improvements to the polar ground and probably one controversial thing the pickle ball courts that we put in and um you know and also you know uh helped to fund a number of the areas that you talked about core such as funding fully
fully funding the library increasing the fire department allocation etc. So I just wanted to provide additional context. I know there was more questions including the debt servicing etc. And I didn't capture all that but we can talk afterwards take it down and then I'm happy to answer it offline.
Thank you. Thanks Leslie for the quick. Oh was anything else any new business? Okay. And we had a resolution to uh the security upgrades. Jeff, would you have
any generous? Yes. For just the only thing I wanted to say and I and I emailed Nancy earlier about this about it did seem like a a pretty t high number. Um and I and I didn't want to come in 11th hour. I know they've been
working on it for a year and looking at you know what do we actually need? what it would have cost. Um, so so I'm I'm I'm in favor of it. She sent me a very thank you for a very detailed response back. Um, I still tend to think that
um perhap you know and certain areas certain buildings maybe require a lot more uh sophisticated equipment. But it seems like what we're talking about with some of these like outline properties where you can get the off the shelf like you know main blank those types of things which which are pretty advanced
and they're pretty cool like it just seems like we could use more like some of that maybe do like a combination between the sort of the higher end sophisticated stuff and then the offtheshelf stuff. Um, so I'm not gonna vote against this. I'll prove it. But as
you're looking at that, there's any, you know, I don't know, like the library, you know, hallway, you know, if we're worried about someone sleeping there, like it seems like a blinking camera could could cover that. So just just asking that they kind of look at what
where we're putting the cameras and and sort of just take a hard look at it and say, "Okay, you know, any of these can we replace something a little bit more off the shelf?" And we all we are fortunate to have him here. So who's done a lot of the research?
Good evening. Nice man. Sorry. Yeah. Good evening. Uh we work on this for a year. Nancy tasked myself and Kevin from road department to look into this with
the task and goal of having comprehensive unpacked um then security right um some stuff is plug and play um but I think when you see quality we're getting out of this um partial passes anything that I would put
in my house right um but it also puts it in one package so in the midnight hour when we're trying to do an investigation or we have a problem all of our security suite is in one package, right? Um if an employee gets terminated, if there's an unwanted person you've had a problem with, this new vendor that we chose,
which is actually the cheapest a we looked into, um it doesn't have facial identification, but it will learn through AI and say, "Hey, we don't want Al here anymore. The administrator when he's here, sorry, back on you." And the administrator police chief can get a text message when it identifies Al on
the property. Right. If we have a cleaning service and we remove somebody from the cleaning service, we can say they're only allowed between hours of 5 and 7 PM. If they're not here, if they're here after hours after that, send us an alert. Um, same with access controls here and the library. Um, if we
terminate an employee or somebody retires, we don't have to do the expense of changing all the door codes. We just remove their RFID from them. Um, the current system is a punch key for access control, which isn't the most secure, right? And then the cameras are far um
inadequate and outdated from what modern technology and what people would assume a burrow has for um technology and security in our locations. No, that's that's the thousand level overview from what you can research this vendor online. There's obviously a lot
more stuff that we can do securitywise with that that we won't accept. Is it a system you can add on to? Uh we chose this on purpose that the assistant we could add on to and the one key component from this we got from it was that the data is stored with the vendor
and backed up by them. So we don't have to maintain a server with terabytes information and a backup server for accreditation for us or we need to have a backup of that data stored. Um 10ear warranty on all parts for the vendor we chose. So if the camera goes bad in year 9 and a half we got a brand new camera
with a 10ear lifan um out of it. So, we tried to be frugal. It was the cheapest of four vendors. I know it's a big number. We did, I don't know if I said this before, sorry to interrupt you, but we did pair it down significantly. I forget 50. We were up to 50 and we got
it down 177. So, we it was apples to apples for this campus. We This was $30,000 less than the same competitor. And then we expanded out the other properties to make sure we had one package for everyone.
Thank you. Thank you. Good information. Anybody else have questions? Nope. Thank you for all the work on it. All right. I move that resolution 25-93 adopted. Sorry.
Second. Um, yes. Trainer. Yes. Yes. item. Yes. Now we have the user for
uh the energy receipts. Show us the money. Yeah. Yeah. We want it back. Um I move that resolution 25-93 be adopted. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Yes. Okay. Uh now we have our next open session if anyone would like to be heard again. Anybody online? All right. Close the public session. Uh I guess we had executive contract
negotiations. So thank you all for coming. Yeah. Thank you.