will pay 20% and the state will pay 60% of the cost for easels The state will also pay half the soft costs We pay the other half and the county provides legal closing service and all that kind
of fun stuff So and they will also the county will also hold the easement on this property They have hold all the ements that we have here What do you what do you consider a soft cost Soft costs are appraisals We do two
appraisals Those appraisals have to be with state agricultural development committee approved appraisers They then get submitted to the state The state does a review appraisal and they come up
with a value somewhere between the high and low of those two appraisals Then the next thing would be uh a title search Make sure that the owners own this land right And the last one is the
survey Okay And I estimated the two appraisals at $5,000 The title search which also includes a little fudge here but about $5,000 and $10,000 for the
survey Thank you And what happens now is um if if you guys give me support to do this then go to the state and um they already have this They said they would accept it before you got excuse me
before the committee approves of me going ahead with it And I just thought that would be a good idea if the Senate if something needs changing we can do it quickly My guess is going to cost it's going to take about a year That's kind of way most most of these things go
because you have to approve it Then we have to wait for the county and the county has to approve it after you approve it and then the state after that That's probably three or four months That to me seems like it could be done in parallel but it's not So So how much
how much do we need to budget for How much do we need to budget for Um I came up with How are you I I apologize I had I had another thing I was supposed to bring Um No no there's another page said 49,000
Um estimated to be 245,000 with Blair's town share at 49,000 Right Is that what you wanted to But that's roughly it other than I assumed at the time I did that that the county would also chip in 20% of those cost but they
won't the soft cost So there's there's 20,000 in soft cost that we'll pay half and the state will pay half Once it's completed the state will pay half Can you wait on this Because we haven't looked at the budget
yet and there was money taken uh put into open space last year and I don't know what we're going to have and it's it would really be terrible to commit to something that we're not sure we can do Do you do you have a time frame of
when we have to when we'd have to jump on this No but assume Well I got I got an even better question Okay You're Joel Green You're the open space guy Yeah
I'm being let on here No You know I love open space just as much as you Okay And I love preserving it What about this property excites you Why this because you you've been dormant for a while because we we haven't had any any money
really to spend and and well dormant with farms because no farm but we we haven't been able to jump on any any pieces of land for for a while now Um and so much fun last time So yeah you got a you got a field named after
you But I mean this this came up What what about this is enticing to you It really does in well there's two things Number one if we're successful with this these owners have another 60 acre of the block that
they would consider that they think they want to want to do it You've got uh the the block farm is very close to this The race is close to this party for there's a
there's a lot of contiguous in your mind Yeah there's a lot clearly it's not open space It's not open right comes out of open space money The tax money right But it'll continue to be farmed Yes It has to be farmed right The
state comes in every year and make sure that they they're farming it They haven't built a factory or a strip club on it right That kind of stuff What's the penalty if it's not being farmed I don't know Well if it's not
farmed you don't have farmland I think the farmland assessment money is probably the biggest driver for them to keep farming it because they don't pay that much more money in but it could be it could end up being preserved farmland
but not being in the farmland in the in the qualified farm program They don't they don't lose they don't lose the the farmland We don't lose the farmland uh uh development rights No you don't You don't own it The
county will I'm saying the development rights are gone no matter what But if they don't farm it they just lose their farm assessment as far as I know And I think legally to farm it
or by farming it they can lease it out That's that works I've never heard I never heard of anybody It could happen Certainly What do they do They still have to refile the RF1 and read every August to qualify for that Otherwise the test will continue
even if they have Are they they doing hay there now As far as I know but it's a good piece of land Good good drainage flat Yeah we won't have many because that's over where is it goes all the way up there
It's by who by by Kenny's house Ken's house Kenny's house That's right next right next door It has it has good development potential That's that's why we want to get his apartment It doesn't have 700 in front
of you You can't put much on there You could do as far as development is concerned Yes bring a town You could bring a town road in just like Partridge Glenn right across the street and you could end up with six or
eight breakables Residential homes are not regulars Yep Then why am I paying $18,000 taxes You're saying how many kids are going to the elementary school or the high school Doesn't matter how many It doesn't matter cuz each kid pays each kid we're
paying a per pupil J This is basic stuff We pay we pay the way Okay Well your real estate taxes do not cover the cost of the kids in the school That's not the rate of the chase I'd like to see it preserved as a farm
Of course Me too Yeah That's our goal That's why we don't jerk when they're ready to do something We don't want to jerk around too much We want to get it as a farm bill That's done We let we let another farm go and we become just like every other town in
Jersey And that's we're not that We're different here We we we are preserving something that doesn't exist in much of northern New Jersey anymore So I I agree in in saving every farm we can Okay And I I don't know where I left off
about delaying this but um we're not we're not delaying it With all due respect to to our finance chairman this is what we had the open space tax for exactly it last year on everybody a penny and a half It would be nice to
for everybody that complains about taxes in the town Well I don't hear too many complaints about pay Oh you have I think they'd have to go they'd have to go to the school board for that Honestly if if we haven't had a farm that's qualified or been in a good circumstance to be
able to be preserved for some time I think we sort of have to embrace it Um whether or not you want to table it because we haven't done a budget yet doesn't matter right So let's look at those two things separately Did Did the committee approve it No that's why I'm
here No the the open space committee You ready for this one All right There's two There's an open space committee and the state agricultural development committee requires us to
have an agricultural advisory committee There's three of us There's me there's block and they approve I'm sorry next is not
I mean certainly welcome we talked originally about him on that one but that's it So the egg advisory committee I believe it or not I texted both of those guys when I found out about it and
within 15 minutes they both responded and said they approved it Um the open space committee is has approved it by by email to me too So that's kind of where we're at
Um I really don't want this is not going to surprise you but I really don't want to delay this because I would like to be there's that other 60 acres that's hanging on next to it which would also be end up being
close to 100 acres of additional farming So um which we couldn't afford to do this year I don't think right You we probably won't be able to No we would not have to come up with the money until next year
Okay Because it's going to take a year It's of course that's But what we're saying is immediately though for down money for the appraisals could be about 5,000 Is that right appraisals are first that
sets up the um the certified market value which is between the two appraisals and then we we go on a contract and uh my guess would be that's going to take 3 months 3 or four months So um and
that's assuming nothing if the appraisal comes in lower than what he thinks I mean if the seller or the owner of the property is he um dependent on a certain number I told him the four to six I was
going to use five but I asked him if you pick four he said yes that's generally what I did was I said anyway that's good you know it's a it's a gentleman's agreement but I I haven't had probably
um so my guess is um like I it's going to be about $50,000 plus orus when the budget presented Okay I'm sorry That's not really how it works Part of the budget process we're going to build
it in there And and frankly not not to be uh with all due respect if we had to borrow money in open space as how we do it it's not the end of the world to do that to
to do properties like this That's why we have the open space hat and we've done in the past for worse things 55 million debt We used 5 million of the reserve That's not that's not against the open spaceship
Part of our taxes It's not against the open taxes Open space is a town tax The general budget's a town tax We have two town taxes We'll have that discussion about one of the discussion of the budget workshops
but I'm very confident that we um so basically what I'm asking for is you're okay to pursue this and allow me to go out and get two appraisals 5,000 So move
second Let's get a roll call Mrs Roenberg I can't really say that Mr Lman yes Mrs Lance yes Mr Deputy Mayor Or Yes Mayor Morhead
Yes Well thank you Appreciate it Thank you for the work you do Joel Thank you Appreciate it Our public comment portion of the uh meeting Do we have anyone who would like to really I didn't think you'd have
anything to say You just want to come sit and watch us come up Well that was also very interesting I like that Trying to keep the trying to keep the town green Yeah it's all in line with the the greater good world on the scene
and everything Absolutely Could you drag that microphone a little closer to you so I know where you're Interesting note By the way I was watching the video I don't know if you guys ever watched but the one with Brian is in the back of the room talking He didn't come up when he was talking And you can hear it pretty darn well on the on the YouTube video I
was really surprised I brought the mic up but Should I push the button [Music] The exact since it seems so important to We're bringing you acted like it's working
We're bringing you the carry under mic Just hold on a second Maybe that doesn't work Sorry Just start talking really loud There you go Now if we could just keep
the highway from collapsing in good shape Yes You have to sing Do not get Do not get Tara started on collapsing the highways There's one button
It's green It's not acting like it's green speaking to it Hello Hello It's working It just needs to record now
Hello Hello Hello When I say can you hear me you say yes Can you hear me Yes Shall we continue Yes Good evening Tara Mesinati with the the hat of municipal liaison for I80 and
611 Um so tonight's a new topic and that is the Explore Act I didn't talk to you about that yet did I Okay sounds like you're about to I am I just wanted to make sure I'm not repeating myself too much So in December the Explore Act was
passed into law by our tribal government It is um focused on amongst some other things resolving or addressing and um quantifying visitor use impacts to
national resources from due to national resources on local communities So we have the Delaware Waterg National Recreation Area the Appalachian Trail Middle Delaware Wild and Scenic River uh
specifically with the hat of I80 when uh there's overflow parking in Dunfield Creek their parking on the shoulders in the escurve So that's why how this easily falls in my purview Um but
there's much more to it the visitor use impact when our rescue services are up on the up on the mountain um bringing down injured or lost hikers They're out there They're not available as well for our local communities because they're up on the
mountain um or a river rescue um and other ways that we are impacted right now because of visitor use So the explore act allows for within the ne sometime this year there's going to be 10 pilot
programs for gateway communities which is what we are for national recreation areas which is what that is This is not a national park or whatever other kind of units are out there Ours is a recreational area
and there's going to be 10 pilot programs Tonight Warren County passed a resolution um which is going to go to our our our um our federal legislators asking them to do whatever
they can to help see if we can become one of those pilot programs So part of that resolution is going out to the municipalities asking if you guys would consider a support resolution for that So I figured I'd come over and make sure
it's okay that you're aware that it's very likely that a resolution will come before you next month if that's okay And I'll I'll be present to answer any questions Why not Right Absolutely And and not for nothing even if um if we don't get that
it's just we're out here like here's a hoop regarding all of this 80 um impacts because of the recreation area the more attention we get on it maybe at some point uh we'll break out of the dust wall
Very good Okay thank you Cool Thanks Ter Just leave us there in case someone else has a please Thank you Okay Good seeing you You too Ter Chuck I I'm just going to because your your
eyes are darting back and forth I know you got you got something for me We never get to participate though painting next week Okay Thanks sir Okay Uh Chuck Walsh 34 Central Road
Columbia Um haven't been here in a little bit Um I just want to do a little bit of an update on both the Wow Oh there's a hand
Okay great um about the New Jersey Transit project and the Amtrak project What you're looking at for the the audience as well this is the Amtrak project New York to Scranton
but the New Jersey Transit project is from Port Morris to Andover So just for clarification the Andover project 7 and 12 miles extension onto the L one cutoff
Um Roseville tunnel project is I would say almost wrapping up They have a little bit more work to do but the tunnel itself is pretty much done for all kinds of purposes The tunnel if you look at the map is just a little bit to the right of uh
Andover So that is on schedule and um but the question is when does New Jersey Transit start their service to Andover They've been saying end of 26 being 27 Um we'll see with all the stuff
that's going on in Washington that affects any of this We don't know Uh looks like the state is going to be kicking in a whole bunch of money from corporate tax now for New Jersey transit purposes So that might help So anyway that's one thing Um now the packet here
I gave you is just a couple of pages from Amtrak study which they did back in 2023 Uh it's about 35 or 40 pages at least And uh that was submitted to the
FRA the Federal Railroad Administration back in March of 23 Uh at that point 95 corridors submitted their applications to the FRA to be included in what was
called FRA corridor ID program 16 billion which came out of the IIGJA the infrastructure bill back in 2021 Um that was whittleled down to did I say 95 It was whittleled down to 69 at
the end of 2023 last December another couple months ago that was whittleled down at least those projects are moving forward in the the process which I'll explain this in a moment is down to the six of which this
is one of uh this was submitted um and will be included in what is called a service development plan Um there are three steps in the FRA corridor ID program There was step one which
the 69 were approved to be in step two which is where we are right now with scrant with five other quarters and then step three which is where you start doing preliminary design and then
ultimately do the construction Um but this is actually going to be an integral part of step two with the service development plan for the um the Scranton corridor The Scranton corridor is the
only corridor which got a an Amtrak study by the way Um somehow they managed to get it They and so it's kind of unique in that respect certainly It's unique also It's the only order which of all those under consideration except
one that um is totally publicly owned Um I don't know much too much else I can say about because of my voices So um there there's no
real well I say deadline in terms of the or time frame which the the actual project that we're looking at here for grant was actually be completed They're hoping to get through step two at the end of this
year maybe And so we're talking I I'm hesitant to give a type of dates but we're looking probably beyond the New Jersey track And um they do have money They've received about $5 million
in funding from the FRA And there's also funding that's um been received by it's from a different process or different what they call Chrisy grants which are that's about $9 million which
was received last October that's in a little bit more of a tenuous type situation because of just the way things are going but um I don't there any questions if my
voice is chucked What Just out of curiosity Uh do you know the other five uh corridors Yes Um geographically from the west it's Vancouver service in Washington state Um
they're in step two Texas highspeed rail They're in step three uh the down eastern service um from Boston to St Main um Atlanta to Savannah in
Georgia of course Scranton Service as well and the other one is the front range in Colorado six and those are the that's where we are right now we're down to and quite frankly this project because of not only
this uh study we're looking at and the fact that it's all publicly owned right away There's also the ad of some of these other projects are really maybe a little bit ahead of themselves Like I'll
use the example of the the Georgia project They don't even know which alignment they're going to use looking at a it's a long circle down but there so I I'd say we're probably in the
top five at least maybe in the top four at this point so um in terms of the station in Blairestown we'll see you know it's it's still going along and it's as I said it's a little tenuous you know to some
extent at this point because of what's going on in Washington but um at least in terms In terms of the money that they do have which is about $5 million that ENDOT has and I should explain there's actually a team that is
working on this It's PNDOT New Jersey Transit the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority um NGO and then together also with Amraat that they that that team will continue
on and there that's where the service development plan comes in and that's really the documents which it's not like this you can just just send this in but there's what is in this is probably a a very it's a lion share of what the
service so up yeah I think so but um it's still a very long process and uh but I think we're okay No that's that's why I figured this give me an update on this at this point with
Chuck We'll see So Congressman uh Godheimer was was really in the forefront of this but he also represented this area Is he is he still the one he's still carrying the ball on this Is he is he the person in Congress and New Jersey delegation that's
carrying the water or anybody He has endo his his end is in his um district Now if you look at that map that's that's the only part of the whole entire quarter does his district Um Congressman
Kane has the rest of the the the cut off at least you know the early portion which will be rebuilt Um and how engaged is he Does he need to be engaged or re-engaged or re-enter We were talking to him but that the fact that he would be hearing from new folks would not be a
bad thing Okay I mean he called he called the mayor the other day and I don't know what they talked about I honestly I didn't know you could have been talking about this right I thought it was a telemarket I thought it was like a rooc call Hi it's Tom Kane And I'm like yeah yeah He goes Rob I'm
like oh yeah it really is Tom Kane So yeah we we could certainly I got to sell you know we can work somehow Chuck are any of those other projects you mentioned are they at the point where service design is looking at it or are we well ahead of
they're all in the all either step two the only ones in step three is Texas highspeed rail which has had its own set of issues um because it's a large project and highspeed rail is you know it's a new thing So um so
uh are any of those ahead of us Um I would say the down Easter but that sort of makes it's extra service for an ongoing service Um once again I think the Georgia thing is probably well behind us I think that's um it's got a ways to go
I mean we've cleared a lot of hurdles that those other folks haven't yet Yeah And I think that we're over all in a I want to say a good place I I'd like to think that that's the case Um there's a reason for optimism I'll just put it that way Not not to be um overly
confident because I think uh you know not I've been with this project four years and there been ups and downs So as a result you sometimes look at it and say okay we're we should be in a good place but now you always have to be looking behind and making sure that's
the case Yep But um um but I'd say I'm not sure about Colorado There's like a competing um project out there so I don't know what's going on with that Washington I don't know I I suspect that probably Okay
Um so uh we're and and the thing is that the FRA would probably handle all you know it it it was scary when they first approved 95 corridors because like how can they possibly handle that many to
actually be uh evaluated which they they you know 69 is what they brought it down to Well that's a lot But when they cut it down to this number then it's like okay now we're talking about a more manageable number as opposed to where you have their the workforce having to deal
with dozens and dozens of supporters which of course also involves the politics of having to deal with all those different um disparit um districts you know like this This goes through one two three four five congressional districts Some of
these you you can figure probably maybe going out you know every single project 95 goes through five different districts That's something about it's like almost all of Congress and actually was there 46 states that were
represented in that 95 So it's politically it's a you know big deal Have have they done any uh signal installations or anything in that rose gold tunnel yet They've just been rehabbing the tunnel itself Yeah just
rehabing the toddlers There's not going to be any track yet for a while And that's probably going to be something that's going to occur I don't know if it's going to occur this year or not but I I suspect next year To be quite frank New Jersey
Transit has kind of been dragged kicking and screaming about this They they they've been never overly thrilled about doing the project They certainly didn't never want to go beyond and over So when Amtrak came and that really changed the whole ball game because now it's they're
off the hook in a sense but they they're on the hook because they still they still have to finish their part of the project We can't do without it But at least they it isn't like when we started
this I said New Jersey Transit came in almost 30 years ago They were thinking about having New Jersey Transit go to Strand and New Jersey Transit had no interest in going to Strand I don't even know if they have any interest to go to Blair But you know it just you know from
their perspective that was something they just didn't want to do Now it's it's not you know a real problem in that respect because you think they would want that federal Well you know some people they've asked me like well what happens if you know Amtrak came in and put
Amtrak or crypto under the transit extend service to Blair Town Yeah I mean no one's talking about that but is it possible you know short gas I don't think you want to actually say that that's something we count on but we could have short
Okay Very good Thank you John Thanks Thank you Any other public comment before we move along Mike Yes Good evening Good evening Mike
I want to commend you guys for pushing open space and preserve farmland That's outstanding I want to talk to you about 50 Mount Vernon and where that's at right now We were supposed to meet with
the judge uh Monday Unfortunately one person there's two people involved One person that owns that property has said that they would reduce their part of the cleanup percentage The other
person continues to postpone any type of court action continue to do that this Monday by claiming that his attorney position So that's where we're at right
now Couple things though I would like to request your help in sending a letter from the committee and uh Mayor Morhead to New Jersey D both uh both entities that are looking
to get the school that coastal and um topless department Okay that would be great That would help out a lot But if I could send you some things that you would like to see in it Yeah that would
be awesome Yeah we'll talk about that Absolutely Because right now you have a lot of runoff that's continued It's been there for over 40 years now So that runoff is running into the which is going to snow We should go
out and see I would really like to see them test the water that from there at that stream above the property and below during a big month The D should be looking into
that Maybe that will entice them to push this along a little bit quicker cuz the longer it stays there the more that's running into our river Sure deeper it is going into the ground and we don't want that going through the
ground You need to show us anything on the map Mike no I'm good with that map I've seen enough maps I think I can see your house He really likes the the map Yes she can see my house right Yes I
know I like that Does that mean you're spying on me Everybody Elon Musk's doing it Don't worry Maybe we can get him to help us out He's busy right now Hands full You guys have any
questions Keep up the good work Mike We appreciate it Yeah I had a question for you That 50 m burning property was listed at 5800 in
taxes Originally it's a five bedroomedroom 6 plus acre lot with a detached garage apartment So hopefully they still don't have that type of perk Consider how many
problems they cause Well I think they had a building that had Yeah Which means they improvements to that house Maybe they never filed never finished never got a co they question Yeah Nobody's living there anyway I've seen cars that are
considerably bad You should check with the zoning Just one call for you not to pass it through us but one call to Linda and it'll be taken care of That's the proper
place There may or may not be a C there So hopefully you can push this along question You have my email right We'll go back What's that They don't have a container
Unfortunately no But we have a rash of container sightings lately It's on the board You would think the board would would tell everyone But didn't Monday we went to that meeting Michael and the state was there talking
about all these great things that they'd like to see done in all communities So he's saying now he has the ear of the governor once a week So I just asked him to pass on to the governor to assist the D in facilitating
some of these things forward That's their job It's about like talking to New Jersey Transit I realize that since he said he had the year I would ask him to take him a few things At least make sure
Yeah we we had a call Go get him Bob We had a call with the D a few weeks ago and it was just as frustrating as any anything else you could think in the contact Tom Ferrell has been outstanding He answers all the questions He's
already it's between the court and delaying it after because they're already ready to start the cleanup and the bring it back to it They need the person with the most
percentage of fault to go through the process which go where we zoomed in on you Good Zoom in a little bit more Mike any uh any other
anything else Anything else to bring before the committee All right let us move on with department head reports for the month of January Blairestown Ambulance Corp We just just lost our rep from there Claire'stown
Fire Department host company number one Department of Public Works Police Department Tax Collector Township Clerk Banket and Abandoned Properties We'll address our uh our uh reports uh in our committee uh
reports at the end but we have a motion to accept our January department head reports So move second All in favor All opposed Okay Just would like to just note as we move past this that was one of Joanne van Walenberg's initiatives
that vacant and abandoned properties years ago and it's collected a lot of money over the last six or eight years Yeah still going So good job Joanne for collecting the money So we'll spend it I'm sure you will Let's buy a farm I
just want to find out the service there was a deposit of $500 What is that for us Yeah I think that's abandoned That's your money Yeah it was 28,000
Yeah Still going,000 Uh we have uh two minutes to approve tonight January 1st 2025 are re reorgan reorganization meeting minutes and January 22nd 2025 are public session
meeting minutes So move I have reviewed both of them and I would move that they reflect as approved All right All in favor for approved Yeah Do what she said All in
favor All oppose We approve those minutes Uh all right So we have a a couple of uh couple of ordinances actually a public hearing and adoption tonight a 202501 It is an ordinance to repeal chapter 55 of the code of the township
of Blairestown entitled affordable housing Essentially just taking out uh the affordable housing uh wording out of there because does not exist Um so we'll open it to uh the
public Any uh any questions comments from the public on 202501 Seeing none we'll close the public hearing section here and move on to a motion to adopt So move Mayor we have a roll call please Kristen Mrs
Van Hawkenberg yes Mr Lman yes Mrs Lance yes Deputy Mayor Orcott yes Mayor Morhead yes An introduction tonight 202502 calendar year 2025 The ordinance to exceed the municipal appropriation
limits and establish a cap bank We uh pretty much you gave it to me right I gave it to you You lost it again Are you asking about the ordinance Yeah
I gave it to you when you came in the I did it's just to go up the bank is for 3 and 12% Right So and it's a little part of last year Last year we had 50,000,000 So
which was what% of the total 3 and 12% if you don't use it for a year two years you have two years that you can use So so you going to move that I'm sorry You
going to move that All right I'll make a motion to approve the Okay I'll second it We have a motion in a second All in favor I All oppose There we are
on to a uh pretty short consent agenda tonight Four items 202535 resolution releasing executive session meeting minutes They're pretty old and they brought back some bad memories 2020 was we were in the the
midst of the uh of co then we're talking about Zoom meetings and oh my goodness 202536 redemption uh cancelling tax sales certificate 20242 block 803 2.02
2 202537 resolution to support publishing legal notices on official government websites which is a really good thing as we watch print completely uh you know evaporate around us We have to have
other ways to get um the notices out there for our meetings and what have you 202538 approving vouchers and claims Any discussion on any consent agenda items one through four Just one question Um
for 35 some were not on the board So they were already moved You're moving the resolution for that to be All right So I would move that we bundle them together and vote for second agenda I'll second that motion Okay Roll call please
Mrs Maya Yes Mr Lman Yes Mrs Lans Yes Deputy Mayor Orcott Yes there Yes Uh unfinished business I don't see anything here I was told to take Jones Farm off Yeah Thank you very much We really cleaned up the unfinished
business On to new business Uh we've got a uh New Jersey Fireman's Association application for membership for Brandon Casey Um and uh do you need a motion there I
believe we do I'll move the resolution I will second Is there an expense incurred here Do we have to He's already made a fire school so I don't um But you know what Let's be
safe and sorry Sure Let's do a roll call please Mrs Vanberg yes Mr Lman yes Mrs Lance yes Deputy Mayor Orca yes Mayor Warhead yes
Um unfinished business We probably could mention the Walnut Valley Firehouse Yeah probably I put that under the course Well that's one that came after I posted it No it's not It's in I think it might
have been in correspondence But really it is it's unfinished business Um yes This is what we're getting for our our money our 26,000 Uh they'll be collecting um more
samples for the vertical groundwater Uh I have to ask I got to call I'm going to call because I recall I need to get on my email when I first came on just geo works Yeah No we're on Ge Works
Yes Um when I got on the committee I had used the um password from when I was on three years ago and I got on to my old emails from 22 from 17 through 22 or 15 through
22 In there is a lot of the geo works information and I believe they did do a vertical test in there Um I wanted to get a hold of Deb Wal She will remember probably better than me And I remember
talking to Melanie about the vertical test Oh I think they did I I think I remember that from originally when they first started because they mentioned Whit in there right And they said and Whitney didn't do it so they did But um
I'm going to I want to talk to her about that and find out is that a duplication or is this something that they don't realize that they did back four or five years ago I think in that last email this this flurry of emails that went back and forth here they they explained
why they're redundant So yeah that it's it's another requirement from the state that was handed down and yeah just and someone gets gets money out of it So all right So anyway they'll have a small drilling rig um at the site
and um we'll see what hopefully those tests pass with flying colors Yeah that's been that's been going on as long as those uh the the Yeah as long as the minute the executive sample All right Um
so uh we also have a facility use application for the Blairestown 4th Karen you have the uh Actually I'd like to recognize the rare occurrence that we have other people who are on the committee in here today So if you guys
wanted to come up and say something can't be launched Jennifer Carmichael 55 on the road there about your face today before the committee and uh I would like to bring with something that you said earlier about our town
being a little different than a lot of the other town in New Jersey and trying to keep things old fashion and art and that's what we like to do with the Fourth of July celebration and we're here asking for
permission to use the park again uh also for your continued support and uh sanitation for the event for the restrooms and garbage disposal I don't think you're going to get a no
from anyone up here Uh it is it is one of it's one of the best events that that Blairestown has throughout the year and and like you said it is very old timey We have a really good turnout People come from all over the country just to come home for
the 4th of July and celebrate with their families Yes Come to park So nice Um a uh a motion to support the uh I would like to make that motion also All in favor All opposed The end
Thank you Thank you Thank you for selling it so well Mr Mayor do you want to do the other facility use while we're on facility use Yeah we have uh the facility use for um that is for the Memorial Day parade Yes
Yeah I just I know you have I know you have a comment about that right Because last year there was a bit of an issue Yeah With us having some additional expenses that we were not aware of and I don't think we should be paying for bad pipes I think
we've been paying for the bag We've been paying the pipers for years We just didn't for some reason came up just right But well we were asked this year Um it is um it is the really our only
expense to honor our vets and our fallen um vets throughout the year And I I I I just don't see it as a it's one of the only musical uh performances we have during the parade as well I know we we
they do hire two back bands I I I get that But uh um did you talk to John Crook about that I did I did What John Crook Um well he said he he may he may be able to get the price down a couple hundred
if they sell a few more ads but really everything that they do and all the funding for the parade is you know through through the sale of ads Um and 2500 Is it 25 Yeah I got those notes for you if you want to go through them Um I
asked today to get the numbers from 2032 23 and 24 to get a better understanding of what money we're talking about Um the biggest money of course is the police open Um because it's an all hands-on deck type of an event where all of them
will be will be there Um I believe what uh Christine described to me is that typically uh Scott will allow maybe one officer to go on vacation during that period of time but otherwise uh there would be two that would be rescheduled and everybody else would be on overtime
and that's yeah because if we need it we need it But um the whole point is the expenses have gone down over the years The max it was was um in 2023 It was 2,700 Um but it's gone down since then
We've got down to 2600 and we've got another one for 2200 So um for whatever reason or however it works out the cost of the porter johns the cost of the piper uh the two pipeins if we had either down to one pipe in or less expensive or negotiated or whatever um
that's a I mean they are trying to control costs of the time at some point Yeah I I unless you've uh stood in the cemetery and heard those two pipe bands
fire up the back pipes and play Amazing Grace and every hair on the back of your neck and arm raises I I don't think there's anything else that can that can compare to that So I would I would hate to uh I would hate to cut that out It's
a it's a very special part of the uh the celebration I make the motion that we uh approve that facility use the expenses incurred I'm going to agree but I'm also going to say we'd love to see a copy of that contract before the event rather than
after total What is it going to cost us What's the total not to achieve $2,500 I believe it's in there is it not Did Did we not All we ever get is the facility useful They don't give us a contract There was nothing didn't even
put anything on there about it I'm pretty sure he just said it was going to be the same as it has been prior years He got something other than I did No Well well I I I don't know if he said a price I'm pretty sure he said it was
2500 So our requesting for support approval of our annual Memorial Day parade is attached We aren't proposing any changes So the PB and DPW duties remain the same We welcome request concerns or suggestions in the course successfully a
successful event A copy of the U facility use form is attached There is no dollar amount I've never seen a dollar amount I've never seen a contract We always have to do something with the NGO So you have I haven't 2400
That's just for what That's for the That's for the Yeah I even tried to get uh there's there's another band out of Hacketstown It is a uh drum and F core They're it's kids and
they're amazing Uh I've never seen anything like it until you see these like little kids playing instruments and playing songs from the Revolutionary War Um but they are in such demand we can't get them We probably save money if we
could get them but they they are they are taken that weekend I already asked about that Sorry the question was raised What's the cost for So um was Christine's estimate that it's $2,500 for cops and $1,000 for DW Uh depending
upon how much day of the week it is a lot of things can be done in advance right So unfortunately because it's Memorial Days on Monday on Sunday weekend uh there's not that much that they're going to do on Sunday I can't see the DBW cost They didn't clean up on
Monday morning That's right That's right And most of the time they have they're not going to clean up on Tuesday Yeah So those were her estimates and that really hasn't changed Okay So what is it 2,000 for 2500 2500 for
2500 for the bank 2400 and 1,000 for up to,000 but depends again because it's a Sunday Yeah I don't I don't see how much overtime could be incurred on on a Sunday I don't think they're
calling it They're not calling on a Sunday No not at all No I would I would say 20 what is it 2500 2400 motion that we we need a motion and a second and then we'll just do a roll call since we're spending money Right I
I think I made the motion that we we did with and and Deputy Mayor Work and Mr Lman told maybe second Okay Roll call please Crystal Mrs Van Benberg Yes Mr Lman Yes Mrs Lamb Deputy mayor worker
Mayor Mayor Yes Yes I I expect you to cemetery this year Well no Did anyone else take it that way I expect you in the cemetery this year On Memorial Day with me
All right All right Anyway uh what else do we have Pin wheel Ah the pin wheel garden Okay So the pin wheel garden is uh for
domestic abuse Is that uh sponsored by Daisy Yes Um and so we're gonna have a proclamation next month for that So I saw they they want to do it by the they said by the sign right But they also have a banner they
want to set up There was a banner involved So what if we did it where we used to put the banners up between the trees Um and then we can put the banner up I think Do we still have the uh the batter holder out there by the uh by the road We put the
other 4x4 sticking up Do we still have All right So we have that And the pin wheel garden could be directly in front of the the town hall along the road there It doesn't make much sense up by the uh up by the sign if they have a banner Or they could do a pin wheel
garden by the sign and we could put something on the sign instead of Yeah let's try to figure that out Yeah Yeah Okay So I'll get But yeah we're in total support of that Okay And I'll tell them that we are doing a proposition next month also So
okay Awesome Uh some correspondence uh just uh high level stuff here Uh uh if you haven't read the sign I'm talking to you at home If you haven't read our sign don't use those containers Do not rent a container
Do not buy a container It we have two right I I actually um Mr Mayor they were But now we have a lot going on So So the container thing is not on there just right now Okay It'll probably Well I'm talking to you I'm talking to you thinking you're going to bring home a container put all your
stuff in it You can't have it in this town It's been a law for quite a while actually in any town Yeah Yeah It's it's uh you can't do it I mean maybe across the river you can get away with stuff like that but uh here we don't allow it And we've had like two of them back to
back All of a sudden people are are buying these shipping containers I can't can't do it So there's more Um then we have uh that um the the mayor from of is it Long Branch or Long Beach Long Beach Is there is there Long Beach
New Jersey Yeah Yeah Long Beach Yeah Really Long Beach Is it near you No Where is that LBI Oh it's down there Okay So they they're they've been uh yeah they've been trying to get a lot of uh mayor's signatures together uh to
oppose the the wind uh farms offshore which I you know sounds like at the federal level that can be dying quickly So I thought it was by executive order but Yes Yeah So I'm not sure what why
they're they're still moving forward with that but Well I I I sort of read into it that they were protesting against uh knocking out anything that's that has to do I thought I thought they were protesting the nuclear plant too shut
down Oh no Well yeah they want they're the their letter is stop the wind go back to nuclear because we we're shutting down nuclear plants and we're running out of now I I see that we're getting a uh an almost 20% rate hike on
electric starting in June That's big It's already It's my my electric is $300 a month It's just it's getting I mean just one more reason why people don't want to live in this state
So or maybe that's just a way to force us to go to solar Well there's that Yeah So that that that could be too Uh what else Anything else in there We
bsentennial history marker grant Not going to do that Okay Sorry All right All right From the township you got anything for us Actually I have a few things Um I know it's only February but we have already started um preparing
for our shredding event and our cleanup week So shredding event is going to take place in uh on sorry May 16th which is a Friday It will be from 8 to 12 at the municipal building Uh cleanup week is going to be Memorial Day week uh like it
has been the last 3 years May 27th through May 30th April 28th I think we're going to start handing out vouchers Uh the Warren County Board of Election did officially approve Early election is going to be done here in the municipal building Because it's a
nonpresidential election it is only going to be for 3 days So it's going to be June 6th through the 8th So it's just that weekend Um for those of you who don't know the election in June has been changed to the 10th All five districts
are going to now be in this group We're going to do it all together So everybody's not going to be scattered One last thing um Carrie went to a seminar yesterday Um it was about um affordable uh senior fees and we did
sign up with Escape to do a presentation and also to do assistance in applying for um the anchor program because they are looking for them to do more digital than paper and they have to do it not us So uh we are looking to do
May 21st which is the week after the senior event um with a backup date May 28th but I'll give more information once I have that And that's it for me All right Very good Committee woman All right I did two seminars One was in
Munachi which was a refresher for municipal government and then Karen and I went together to do the budget workshop down in Wester But there's a lot of information that's on the New Jersey uh
municipalities website that's extremely interesting and important about finance and all of this and um so I'm just suggesting maybe if you want to take a look at it it gives you a lot of good information out of the pages
Um so we have our certificates that we went So it's always good when you go to any event and the town pays for it that you report why you went and what it was all about All right As far as finance
Christine and I and Karen Karen sometimes can't Yeah every every Friday when we um commit shows also at 1:00 to give all the budget um information Uh we are
going to do the budget workshop on May March 22nd So if everybody can mark their on their calendars that's a Saturday Um and then we will do um April 23rd an introduction to the budget and
then May 28th will be the uh public Um I guess it go work Will you be bringing in the departments prior to March 22nd Um
Christine and say um we're not we're not going to be doing any budgets We're not giving them any money I'm sorry Did you say 10 to 10 to 12 Um and I do apologize Last last year it wasn't 9 It wasn't nine It wasn't
like it wasn't What are you doing 10 to 12:00 on Saturday Oh jeez So 10 10 to 12 We're not putting an end time We're not putting an end
True question No later than 6 p.m Okay It's true We've done this and it's been 20 minutes and we've done this and it's been 3 hours Well we'll have a lot of information for you But I would like to get some of the information done before that meeting
There's a lot to go over that meeting Will you will you be having we be bringing in a different department prior to that meeting Well I would hope that in each each of the um managers of the department have ready to
present to the good prior to the 22nd Correct Well I hope so because there was a workshop So you need to know what we're doing I I think the original vision was that each liaison should be able to come in
and advocate for whatever numbers or whatever wish list comes from the individual department So that's something that each of us should be preparing our own So I'm really one All right One
one um just information Uh the DCA uh eliminated having any of the fire extinguishers in the transfer ownership They've eliminated fire extinguishers They don't want anybody fighting the
fire They want you to call the fire department immediately They've got issues with that So two weeks ago uh new law came out and what they want now is that labels be placed near every
secondary power source So by your main box you have to have a label that states whether or not you have other power sources in your house solar generators etc And uh so I asked uh the gentleman
from the DCA the fire division Um why don't you have the specters labels with it Because there's all different types of labels There's a label for solar There's a label for each each different thing And you have to put them like all of the boxes This is for new
construction Huh This is just for new construction Well it's new construction and transferring any sales of homes that Yeah any house that comes up ownership So what's the label say This is the only one Uh one and two
bedroom one and two One and two ones Yeah So I know I looked up these labels It's a million different labels I have three I know Um shared services I had uh sent to
pension I sent a pension uh information on how we are to um whether or not the money that comes in from the towns is pensionable or not Um I'm still waiting
for another response We had two responses Both said it is pensionable Um but then we did get uh the mayor's office involved and they uh picked us up with somebody else in pensions and I had to send the contracts
to them So they're reviewing the contracts and they will let us know whether those salaries are pensionable or not um senior events We are this Wednesday uh March March 5th Wednesday March 5th assembly
will be here We are serving refreshments Um and we hope to get I think we have what 20 20 signed up You said about 20 people so far All right I in the acne I'm getting every senior citizen I see and asking me where I'm going to come to
the meeting Um and I think it's going to be nice because he'll be able to tell us you know what's going on in the state and we'll be able to ask him some questions regarding um hopefully they'll be able to answer us with some things on financing and what we can expect Is that 9 or 10:00 That is now 1:00 1:00 1:00 in
the afternoon and it's free and we have refreshments Um we are also doing other events uh one in May uh we already booked the office of aging uh coming so that they can present some information
to senior citizens on you know what's out there what they can apply for when is that is May what's the date right May 14th I believe 14 14 yeah May 14 and then in September I haven't
talked to Carrie yet but I do want to ask her we would like to have Carrie come as the tax collector to talk the seniors about you know all different things about filing all yeah okay good and then December
11th right December 11th is it Christmas or 17th shoot I think the 11th December 11th is the Christmas party didn't just plan the 11th so it is the 11th and
that'll at the end of the round Okay Thank you committee member Yes So uh Walter and I and uh Mr Pasky and Mr Suk the four of us went down to the county's office on Friday to uh get
the ball rolling with the cross acceptance meeting for the housing issue that we talked about recently Um we looked at uh their presentation and their requirements that we're
responsible for filling in on our uh on our worksheet Um our planner is going to be doing the input on that Um but we sort of laid out what our uh ending looks like in terms of
affordable housing Um and the county is going to advocate for us with So that's Friday Okay I always ended with that's all I got I thought maybe a Saturday update but
Friday was good It was just Friday Committee woman Lance Thank you Um first um thank you very much to DPW and Blair'stown Pose uh for everything that they did for during the recent snows and power outages Um in general what ends up
happening is that uh you have people hopefully that knock on their neighbors doors and and do check on them but you also have some people that don't ask for help and they they uh who really don't find out about it until afterwards and you run into them and you realize oh no they really were out of power for 2 days
or 3 days or whatever else I did get a couple of phone calls I don't know if anyone else did but um I spoke to our emergency management coordinator and he asked me to mention that um if you uh if you are disabled or dependent on oxygen
or certain uh medical equipment to selfidentify with the power company on their critical care program so that they understand that that's uh something that's happening in your home I know in certain circumstances that's like along
the first lines of homes to be able to be restored but beyond that are the your information is kept completely private It's not operable either And right Christian it's not overable because it's not with us It's with the power company Yeah Well that could be And what does
being on that list do for you And so some of what it does is it allows them to have an understanding of uh the the power company to have an understanding of somebody who's on oxygen uh if they have um well visits that need to happen or to be able to notify the ambulance
squad or the police to be able to have access to their property It depends what it is You know if it's a a power outage if it's flooding if it's if it's flooding then obviously you want to have an idea who's critical care within that area But does that does that just put them to the top of the list on getting
restored or are they actually like bringing out a generator See you would think so but that's not that's not something that they typically do It just they're looking for identification so they have an understanding what the risks are Yeah Um so anyway that was the mention is that if if that pertains to
you you should be uh on First Electric JCPL So you should be on their list on their critical care program Um also take care of your neighbors That's all I can say for that Um next I have U Blairtown Historic Preservation Committee Just to save the date Saturday June the 28th at
Warren County Community College is um the uh bsentennial celebration that's going to be held there and I believe we will be very well represented there Blairtown uh historic preservation should be having a table or you know some type of an activity go on there So that'll be something nice and to be
proud of Um they're working on two plaques right now that they would like to have posted for the sale of oak trees at new park So um so that those would be people would look at those trees and have an understanding of what they are and why they're special Um Joanne
already mentioned about the senior citizens events and the we talked about having Carrie come in September but uh the timeliness of the information that we really need to get out has to be before September unfortunately So that that might be something that we would be
looking for to have happen at that meeting in May instead Uh only because um there's two programs that uh we've had for a very long time The PTR the property tax relief program for seniors and disabled in New Jersey and the New Jersey Anchor And those this year are
going to be combined into a new program which is called stay and J Yeah um it doesn't matter because yeah it's the 14th so down to the 10th So that was the the one design for that The other thing is it's not necessarily
going to be Terry that will be representing it will be somebody from the office or from the state So her availability is is not u you know the main thing here Um also wanted to mention that um the summer day camp program has just opened up for
registration Um early peri fee for that is $95 until May 21st and after that it goes to 105 Um it's a really great program that we have It's really the envy of a lot of other towns that don't have as big or as long program It's two weeks again this year So that's
something nice Um that was what I have except that I see that Bob Halverstat was able to come back from his medical call So I appreciate that Bob did you want to talk about uh I mean I can tell you out of the four rigs we had we had 31 calls in five different towns and the
squad drove over 625 miles but I need whatever information that you have to give me about what's going on with Milton closing with St Luke's Farland Corps How I got that position I wasn't
there one meeting That's how it happens That's what happened So I'm going to address the community after the the masses that turned out to be uh the camera Okay They can't see Joanne right now Now they
can't see Go that way Go that way That way That way Dance Stand Go back Right where the table is Come on Come on Come on who's usually behind the camera and has the best angle possible I couldn't even
imag run a rescue squad which is done by St Luke's will no longer be going out uh unless they come up with something different Glass town will have to be mutual aid for milk because it's a
mutual aid company and we'll be going there for rest home or whatever else is needed here and unfortunately it's taking away some of the uh calls we have here Then we'll have to go down the neutral aid and maybe get 95 US or independent which is 73 to come cover
us I hope it changes I hope uh St Clair can find some group to run on a a man stamp agency Other than that it's a scramble Whoever shows up shows up Uh our department is basically scrambled
which means if you're on duty you respond from home Uh however during the day sometimes we actually have people in our station who respond Actually we've been doing very good this year We've had some of our members who spent a lot of time at the building Have a couple of other things
Uh the the uh the main room at the Glasstown uh first aid squad has been hosting and this is the first time it was a it was a clinic They weren't called a clinic It was for EMS for fire for police We gave them a complete
medical workup which included blood testing blood work uh lung capacity uh stroke uh ultrasound of uh your art and is at no cost to them Whatever your insurance paid that's it It's really expensive You
spend a a day a day there It's amazing equipment It's free to anyone who wanted to go You just show up I'm the first response Now I'm not talking about the general public Um we have uh two new EMT
members who just graduated recently They'll be joining us live One of them is my daughter-in-law She's up there now the other one just traveling a couple days ago Um oh also uh uh troop uh 140 scout
troop 140 spoke to me They want to have a tour of the first day squad which I will bring them around They're going to set something up And also academy wants to come again this year and they come with a light guard group and a tour of the first day squad Uh that I'm going to
set that up the next week Uh other than that back to you with us That was wonderful Thank you so much We appreciate that The update on on uh the uh lack of stopping of services in a neighboring town is they weren't doing
well Uh they move to an area where they have more calls Otherwise they would sit stamp and not answer any calls So fingers crossed we'll get somebody otherwise Do they have any um volunteers that
could join you know the ambulance to help out a bit No there's no fire department Some of them are EMTs but they don't have an operating uh St Luke's head certified state Um
however when the fire department comes out to call the USB he will work upon on a patient until we get there So they're not but they can't transport It's a massive problem So we have to come up whoever's around can bring a wig and do
a transport It's only one patient We've had many calls to check two and three patients We need numerous weeks and we kind of run out of the first responder person but so far we've been public has been we
haven't been find out that scary though I'll tell you a lot of seniors in this area Well Bob you would be aware of this So um St Luke's gave plenty of notice that
they were going to pull out Yes And what are the other municipalities like Bolton What have they what in the meantime What are they talking about talking proposing to do Well are they just everybody doing nothing Right now it's nothing They're trying to negotiate with St Clair They
are trying to negotiate St Clair to have a league come in or respond to some calls because St Luke's is going someplace else We won't know until March 1st when we start actually find out answering calls or not
Okay And it's it's a it's uh difficult because when you what uh Tara who spoke about earlier the um the visitor impact um route 80 um not just what the uh rescues on the trails and not just
drowning possibilities or or accidents that are in the gap there It's difficult because it's funny you mention that because I believe the park service has uh EMTs and park police who's going to be handling a lot of these calls now to walk them out and so we don't have to
actually spend manpower going up there and taking them out We'll be here for a maybe a transport but police and we'll be answering some of those calls cuz they're already there We don't have to wait for a response from anything else No no that's it Thank
you very much Bob That's everything Any questions Anybody out there Thank you Bob You are amazing Don't make me gag you Bob As they say land the plane Well these days planes aren't landing or taking off very well Upside down Yeah Uh
okay Well over to uh little presentation here Joanne had asked a question Do you need Do you need us to move that at all It's a good way of answering your question that you left in the bills You talk you were wondering about Frederick
Burough uh their their building for Footbridge Park but that had to do with the land swap they were working on And then for the benefit of the public the land swap this is the this is the foot bridge Here's 94 This is the foot bridge And this property right across this is
our our pavilion The property line runs right across that pavilion And this is all the state right away uh that goes with the PK trail believe it or not which is funny because can you imagine So we're going to take there without knowing that We're going to take about
2/3 of an acre right here Uh it's a smaller lot We're going to take this lot and swap it for we have to do three times as much So two or three acres over here on the frontage We own this whole We own this oldest green as us We're going to give them We're
going to give the state the kill frontage right here already this will give the sake of kill frontage to equal to three times what we need here The skate the skate park is roughly right about in here So just I just wanted to let you
know that's that's why French was had that charge in there for doing some preliminary engineering work We've met we met with the D a couple of times now both in the park and online mayor and I on their open space and we're we're working through that process to get that
property back You're giving them the the property by the river Yeah The back of the diner all the way on the river the riverfront not on the other side not on both sides
On both sides we'll lay out on this side But as as their attorney complained you're giving us water That's right The state but that's a more envir I mean that's what they do right It's environmentally sensitive area So the state already owns this side right here
right The state owns this This is a the kill is right here Yeah Correct So the state owns this side We own this side So we're going to give them the frontage of this side Okay I have a concern Um during the period of time when at such time they they do
whatever repair they're going to do to the foot bridge the actual foot bridge we're going to have need for a temporary foot bridge or temporary bridge of some kind The types of bridges that we can select are really really limited because it's clean and it's wetlands and
whatever else Um so there are three or four different kinds of bridges that our Army Corps of Engineers and it's just like what's the length of the bridge Here's the base on the right side Here's the base on the left side Use the tracks in between That's it Um very very simple Uh but you know up to a certain weight
So there's no motorcycle So we need to actually have access to both sides That will be up here That will be up this back here It's going to be behind the diner up in here If it's going to be it would have to be here from what
you're talking about Yeah So what you're talking about further south from here we already own the other side of the river And is there any legal requirement for us to put a temporary bridge in That seems a little seems a little
nonsensical but you can just drive a quarter mile a year if it's two years I don't know We've closed down we closed down Route 80 I think we can probably close the footage that we'll cross that bridge when we get to it
So is that all that It is not It is not That was just to satisfy your warm up Um I had to try Uh talked about cross acceptance We have a very nice a very active group the
chair and the vice chair of the land use board and your two township committee representatives on the land use board are working very hard on the whole cost acceptance plan It's a nice little cohesive group That's funny Um I'll give you a little an update on
uh DPW a few things they've done in the last month Uh you may have noticed that the Blair Towns sign across from the new Philip 66 in the little island there The lights were bad on that side They had they redid all the lights and fixed them
back up again So that works nicely They've been working on Cobblewood Road in anticipation of the overlay this summer Oh we have um they're they're working on getting that road ready for the uh state aid
road project and by removing some guard rails building up the building up the shoulders and things like that at the intersection of Four Corners Road excuse me and Cobblewood Road if anyone's noticed the old Birmingham House which was a disaster sitting there That's all
been torn down and raised and they're going to be rebuilding that We noticed uh right at that intersection there were two giant there was one big sycamore that hung right into the road and there was another big tree right next to it Um at considerable expense we really should
have taken those trees out However we have a very good informal deal with the tree turning outfits that use our property for parking and Eric just tells them "Hey we've got two really big trees Go take care of those for us and they
just take care of please." It's always pleas Um so that worked out very well We got those trees down and we saved a lot of money on that Um Charlie's been actively talking to Donnie uh keeping him keeping him in the mood down south and getting his butt up
here as soon as it nice weather breaks Has he said anything lately He should be here soon I had a conversation with him just recently He figures about 2 to 3 weeks Beautiful Beautiful U we had we had we had some questions about the the playground today with one of the
residents They said there were some things that needed to be done It had become a little worn They needed some polishing as well will get the bullet spray You know we get sprint and we'll fix up some other little hazardous things Dress will take care of that Now um we have talked at the at the land use
board level and I've talked to some of the people on some of the tax people We're looking to um in an effort to preserve our quality of life here but also in an effort to protect the groundwater here in increasing the lot
sizes from 5 acres to somewhere around 10 acres We're having those preliminary discussions with our planner now to see what we can justify I mean we by by rights you just can't say "Oh we want to go to 10 acres." But the fact that we're now a tier one's uh stream design uh
tier one groundwater discharge designation municipality things of those nature that will help us be able to justify ting Um and that's we're going to be working on that If anyone has a problem with that they should speak up Um
we're kind of hold that happy Good The the last thing I have is a very interesting uh problem that we run into You guys saw it uh when you did the bills today Alex the
cat So in January we had a cat problem Remember the cat or December we talked about the cat cocktail and all that stuff And the bill we get from the shelter where they pick up a stray cat The bill was like $500 Now they have Alex the cat They
picked up this cat It's almost $600 It was damaged apparently Got hurt It was in in an accident was so So I guess I picked it up and had to do it
Look at me I I'm looking at you because I remember I remember way back when your your statement about cats Yeah You understand You have a position on cats She has a position on cats Well I like cats Don't get me wrong because I have to work with your CFO I better say I like cats but I don't feel that we need
to be taking care of them Yeah Feral cats stray cats It it cost It's a lot of money that we I thought I thought there was And he said unless they're unless they're injured So they
had to do something Okay Is that all That's good enough for me All right Thank you very much Uh let's uh let's see I'll start with um our police department Pretty interesting things
this month Detective Beachch arrested a suspect who had scammed an elderly resident out of $50,000 worth of gold Detective Beachch uh worked numerous hours and arrest a male from Somerset County Press release
will be coming on that A resident attempted to buy a car and was scammed out of 19,900 for a fraudulent online listing and Detective Beachch charged a suspect from Illinois went above and beyond to help our residents and spent
many hours to close the case and help the victim Uh February 13th Corporal Herzer and officers attended an assembly at Blairestown Elementary School and uh Corporal Herzer did a K9 demonstration with our new K9 rigs and Dr John from
the Admiral Mansion was honored by the student body for donating the vet care for Ricks Uh on the 27th of January officers responded to a vehicle versus dog motor vehicle crash Dog passed away on the
scene There was a second dog that was not involved but was taken to an animal sheltered by ACO Robbie And through an investigation it was determined the owner of the dog had allowed the dog to run loose on numerous occasions from his home in Hardwick Ultimately the owner was charged by the New Jersey State
Police for animal cruelty And the full press release is available on the uh Facebook uh page for our police department And uh the Warren County Chiefs Association donated a ballistic shield and two ballistic helmets to the
police department So that's good That's what we have to uh buy down the line Um as for the uh Blairestown Post Company number one they welcomed a new member Mike Rose to the ranks He's already a firefighter His firefighter trained and
he's ready to go In the month of January they responded to a total of 30 calls for service 23 in Blairestown five in Hardwick and two in Nolton Now on the uh on the the same uh topic Blair'stown
Host Company number one has a membership application that uh we need to give our stamp of approval on tonight Jared Van Bealenberg It's a common name in this town Just a just just I've heard that name somewhere before
Uh shock comes with uh yeah it comes with a lot of great recommendations and the investigative committee that they sent out uh approved uh his uh his membership for application just waiting on a a nod from us tonight I'd like to make that motion being the assistant
fire commissioner and I'm going to say you know there's somebody here who outranks you and uh being the fire commissioner second that and uh I like his name So uh all in
favor that of the membership application for Jared Van It's a distant relative He's your nephew Don't have to abstain He's a good kid He is a great kid All in favor I agree with
that All of There we go Congratulations Jared We'll see him probably on Tuesday night at the next fire meeting He's handsome That's a That's a good quality for a fireman He's strong So our uh our our deputy mayor Oh
actually before I get to that before I get to the uh the fluff um the fluff uh our uh our our deputy mayor and myself we met with Jim
Saris their name from uh Energy Source and they are a company that does uh most prominently EV charging stations And this town doesn't have one EV charging station that I know of
I have one in the garage Yeah Uh we have Don't you have a charger Has one Yep Uh but you know no I mean a few years ago when we started talking about this it was probably 5 years ago you would see a Tesla you know every now and
again in town And now that the proliferation of EVs uh makes it kind of necessitates u charging stations Um Jo oh this is revenue generating actually We could we could charge for putting
them up at the warehouse right at the warehouse So we have a we have a Tesla supercharger in Colombia There is a supercharger I think in uh the Wawa in Augusta but really there's one thing in between
Panther Valley has it as well If you type that's all Tesla that is a that's a that can go either way You can you can charge a Tesla there if you have an adapter But uh but that's just one I I've been saying for years now that it would be great to have at
least one downtown We have a lot of uh a lot of layer Is there anything we can help you with I haven't even gotten to your fluff fluff Um anyhow uh we we we accompanied
him around a few parts of the town Talked about uh perhaps down the line the police department um getting an EV vehicle to uh to test out There's a couple out there that have already been approved for use around the country The Ford Mustang Mache E being one of them
Nice thing about EV in in police use is that the idle time which accounts for an awful lot of of uh of wear and tear and just the the time spent the the police vehicle the time spent during the day a
lot of it is downtime a lot of idle time and the cars never turn off an EV that idle time burns very very little power So you could you could idle for a long time And having one charger out back here perhaps you know a um like a level
three charger where they could do it quickly would be great or even a level two charger where because we're not a 24-hour police department we do have midnight to 6:00 a.m uh for charging we could get away with uh less of a uh an expensive you know
probably be a $10,000 charger instead of a $50,000 charger Anyhow uh we downtown we went uh we went to the village and uh looked at the parking our lovely parking lot that that we have there And also uh we thought about perhaps by the
firehouse because they have three-phase uh wiring over there we could put a level three charger in by the firehouse fast charger So anyhow that that was uh that was that I thought it was it was you know a step in the right
direction forward Um now for what I've been holding until the end because it is probably the most important thing we're going to discuss tonight There is no discussion It is just an announcement of a great
proportion Walter this guy right here Walter Orca has been appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the New Jersey Senate to the Delaware River Joint Tollbridge Commission So congratulations Walter that uh if you
could do something about getting those tolls lowered we we'd appreciate it You can do nothing about that though I I Well I'll find out I'm going to do a meeting I I would point out that the meetings are in Pennsylvania and it's so lucrative that I have to pay my own toll
And congratulations Thank you Yeah Congratulations this past weekend Now if if you don't know anything about Walter you you would think that he is a fine cook He's a well-rounded individual and he would probably be great in the
kitchen but hearing from a few me members of his family he stays away from the kitchen like it is full of anthrax He doesn't go in there at all So misogynist after all That being said
that being said he did win first prize in the Blairestown Masonic Lodge chili cookoff and he won by quite a margin It was a really good chili So much so that he had family members down there
recording the incident or event Uh how many contestants There were 16 contestants And before or after he was named commissioner of the Del River was before Yeah Um the war
and he did this by going on YouTube finding a video where gentleman said this thing has this this chili has won 79 awards right Something like that Uh and uh he followed it step by step and
wouldn't you know it that was right That's why the guy's got like 750,000 followers Uh so congratulations on that I think that that far uh outshadow overshadows the Del serve that recipe to our seniors and
ask for no what we're going to do is they the fire department for next month's meeting We usually spring for a meal one once a year He and I are going to uh pitch in and make a gigantic pot of that stuff Yeah And uh so they'll get
to taste his uh his amazing culinary talent Hopefully dessert So what I'm into donate dessert Very good All right I don't know Anyone can top that but I'll open it up for any public comment now at the end of the
meeting here Anyone have anything to to add Question No community can encourage Lars Creek to become a creek for recreation purposes
Did they ever open the trails back up after co No Okay Not yet There's talk of it You can walk It's a sensitive area That's why they won't let anybody up there They're afraid somebody's going to
do something to their right That's why would be a good thing for them to take a look at right Well they there was a visitor center There is a visitor center but they haven't allowed anyone in there for a while You can walk up there
You can walk right in But where do you park I've been in there recently Yeah I think they take away a lot Yeah You can't like I I live on the corner of the valley and not burn I I can ask to go
walk up there I've done nothing I Why would I walk all the way up there It's all uphill Sounds like it was downhill Yeah Oh no I have been up there I do know
what it looks like Mike maybe you could take that on and investigate that in the next week or two And if you can't get past the front gate we'll find out who to talk to Take that take No no that's not a You take that
microphone and you go up to the guard house Just start interviewing him and asking him why you can't commit Maybe they're Maybe they'll go no camera No camera Just maybe they'll say you can't commit Bring it Maybe Charlie and I can do that It is very No no camera It's
much more effective without the camera May rest of my you know an award-winning chef he cooks one one thing or one thing anything title forever anyone else have
anything to bring before the committee motion to adjurnn we have a motion to adjurnn I'll second all in favor I opposed Thank you very much everyone