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Hi. Hi, Alex. >> All right. >> We're We're good. >> Recording in progress. >> All right. Welcome back to the public session of the township committee

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meeting on this Tuesday, July 14th. Uh please rise for the flag salute to the stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. >> Okay. Hello everyone. Greg, uh I'd like

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to open the first hearing of citizens. Would you please provide guidance? >> Members of the public are now welcome to come up to the microphone to address the township committee. This is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are not topics scheduled for public hearings tonight. Those present may step up to

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the microphone to be heard. If you're watching via Zoom, you may speak during the public comment sessions by following the Zoom instructions to raise your hand. Whether in person or online, when you're recognized to speak, please mind the following procedures. Please say your name, spell your last name, give

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the name of your street. You do not need to give your street number. All public comments will be limited to three minutes. Rather than use any of your time answering questions, the township committee will wait until you finish speaking before responding. There are two public comment sessions on

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tonight's agenda. Each member of the public will be limited to one comment of up to three minutes during each public comment period. Written comments submitted to the township clerk before 3 p.m. today will be read during the public comment sessions. Written comments are subject to the same

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guidelines as oral comments. Duplicative written comments may be summarized rather than read in full according to the guidelines issued by the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services. Uh Mayor, we did have I did receive one

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written comment. Um, uh, this is from, uh, Megan Chaff of Garden Street. Uh, she says, "Mr. Lacanti, I'm unable to attend tonight's township committee meeting, but would like to voice my support for the resolution to approve funding for the

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construction improvements to be made to the library of the Chadams. Thanks so much, Megan Shaff." That's my only written one. >> All right. Thank you. Is there anyone online with hands raised? >> I do not see any hands raised. Okay. And we can invite citizens up to the

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microphone. >> Melissa Davis, Davis, Gleon, Lisa Drive, Chattam Township. First, I'd like to thank the township committee and the environmental commission for their dedication to preserving Chadam's beautiful tree

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canopy. I think everyone here shares the same goal, protecting one of our community's greatest assets. I'm not an arborist. I'm a pharmacist with a background in global phco vigilance where my career focused on analyzing large amounts of real world data to

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identify patterns that involve improve public safety. With the help of my son Devon, I'm applying that same data-driven approach to better understand Chadam's tree management ordinance through an anonymous community survey. We're asking questions such as

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which tree species are being removed, which tree species are being removed, why are they being removed, what does Chadam's residential tree canopy actually look like, and are there opportunities to improve biodiversity? One example is the tulip tree. If our

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survey shows that tulip trees account for a large percentage of removals, that doesn't necessarily mean they're poor trees. They are magnificent native trees. It may simply mean they were planted on lots that are too small for a tree capable of reaching over 100 ft

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tall. That kind of information can help us refine planting recommendations rather than eliminate valuable native species. I'd also like the committee to consider the value of interior trees. I understand the ordinance emphasizes perimeter trees to preserve Chadam's

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treeine streets and I support that goal. But healthy, mature trees located elsewhere on a property still provide tremendous public benefits. They capture storm water, sequester carbon, improve air quality, provide shade, support wildlife, reduce temperatures, and

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increase property values. A tree's environmental value is determined by the benefits it provides, not solely by its location on a property. I also believe it's time to review the large caliber replacement requirement.

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Many arborists recommend smaller native trees because they establish more successfully, expand species diversity, and are significantly more affordable for homeowners. Finally, I'd like to share a major concern. I'm worried about the ordinance's unintended consequences.

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I've spoken with homeowners who now view mature trees not simply as environmental assets, but as financial liabilities because of the significant replacement costs they may trigger. I'm also concerned that those costs may discourage some homeowners from removing

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trees that are genuinely hazardous or declining. A successful tree ordinance should inspire residents to plant and care for trees, not to make them fearful of the financial consequences of owning them. I respectfully ask the Chattam Township Committee to initiate a comprehensive review of the ordinance

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using current Arbor cultural science, community input, and objective data. I truly believe we can preserve Chadam's beautiful treeline streets while creating an ordinance that promotes biodiversity, recognizes the environmental value of healthy interior trees, and is practical for homeowners.

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Thank you for your time. >> No, we probably can. Thank you, Miss Gleason. We appreciate that. I believe that uh someone from the environmental commission may have reached out or responded to an email that you sent, but we will definitely circle back with you and get everyone um together because I

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know that's an active project that they're working on. >> Oh, great. I know how emails and letters get lost sometimes. >> Yes, >> I said um yes, I I I understand that emails and letters sometimes get lost. Um so that's why I'm bringing it up

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here. And I I would also like to have data to actually collect to present something concrete. Thank you. >> Appreciate that. >> If I might, mayor, if I make a quick comment. >> Absolutely. >> I don't have to leave my own house to have this what you gave to us uh pretty pretty clearly uh defined and there's

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been a lot of background work uh by a number of people including the environmental commission. uh this is really something that's been a uh a long uh effort uh to try to get to solution very specifically as you have categorized your sheet here. So thank

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you for re uh recitalizing uh the effort to hopefully move things forward. >> Great. >> Hi. Um, I'm Christina Mott and I live on Nicholson Drive in Chattam Township and I'm honored to serve as a trustee on the board um for the library of the Cadams

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since 2021. Um, I would like to clarify that my comments are informed by my role on the library board but are not meant to be an official request on behalf of the board of trustees. These are my personal comments. Um, I'm asking you to please find a way to give strong financial support to the library of the Chattams

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Capital campaign. I wanted to share some points that might not be obvious when people think about this project. The renovation project is rooted in the infrastructure challenges that have resulted from six additions in 100 years behind the walls. This is in a unified building when we deal with HVAC units

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and their ducks, the electrical, plumbing, or other utility lines. That means repairs and upgrades cost more or require complicated workarounds. This isn't a request for a nice to have pretty library. This is the request for to help the library reconfirm the

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reconfigure the building to fix its HVAC problems, replace utility systems that are past their useful life, make changes that will make future updates more cost effective. Two, the cosmetic changes to the library would be the result of opening and taking down walls in order to redo

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wiring, pipes, and duct work. There are silver lining, not the focus. The plan to complete the renovation in a single phase will help save money in the long run in two ways. First, construction cost for peacemeal renovation has inherent increased costs such as potentially paying twice for a specific

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wall to be renovated um appropriately during different phases of construction. Second, the overall project will escalate over time due to increasing construction and labor costs as we've already seen. Estimates today are about three times more than they were when the library first asked for funding in about 2015.

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Three, we are one of very few joint municipal free libraries in the state. That means that our library budget encompasses normal library functions as well as the functions municipalities usually take care of such as building maintenance and infrastructure problems, union negotiations, and other functions

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people would normally think of as like HR functions. That means our library budget, which is usually kept at or close to the state mandated levels, needs to stretch further than it does for other libraries. The state mandates don't account for the financial responsibilities our library shoulders

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compared to the majority of libraries in the state. when you make decisions about providing for the library, I ask you to please keep that in mind. Um, I probably am running low on time, so I just want to say that I admit what I'm asking for isn't exactly fair. I know that none of

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you were elected committee members when funding was withheld for the project and um, at that time it was more financially in reach. It was $4.5 million 10 years ago and now the figure is hovering near 12 million. The escalation in costs

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reflect the change in labor and construction costs which rose dramatically over COVID and have jumped annually since. Without strong financial support from both both municipalities, this project cannot be completed in one efficient phase. The rate of increase in costs mean the library will be perpetually trying to balance the needs

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of the residents, its failing infrastructure, and the disadvantages the organization faces when trying to hire and retain educated professionals to perform their library roles while balancing unusual tasks such as hauling dehumidifier water. I know that the requests won't be taken lightly in the

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love for our libraries strong. financial realities may make what the library is asking impossible. As to each of you think about what you wish earlier committees had funded and then ask what that you make your best effort to get for the funding that we need now knowing the need doesn't go away. It just grows

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as time passes. Thank you and sorry for going over time. You >> Megan Herb er Lafayette Avenue. Uh my son Charlie and I are here to show our support for the library project. Um I also want to support the initiative uh

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to for review of the tree ordinance. Um and on a positive note, I just want to say we were so excited to see the installation of the sidewalk on Spring Street finally after more than 10 years. So >> Hi, Morin Kelly. K L Y U Mountain

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Avenue. Um the first thing I want to say is a big thank you to everybody here, especially our mayor who just went through a very trying thing with this storm and people out of power. Um for once I was kind of glad that um we seem

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to have our power from the Longill um station, which which was a blessing this time. Uh but I I just see the damage all around and I know that everybody has been been the recipient of a lot of complaints. So I want to acknowledge

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that I know you worked very very hard. Um I'm here um in support of the library naturally. Um I am coming to you in my role as the president of the friends of the library. Um so I spend a lot of time there uh doing a lot of mostly the book

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sale stuff but other stuff uh that we we do. Um, and I can't um reiterate u Christina's whole idea that it makes more sense for this whole project to be funded and done all at once. The peace meal thing is

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just going to cost so much more in the long run. Um, so I want you I know this will give be given serious consideration and I want you to uh do the best you can. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. I'm Lori Deiosi, de

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capital B I A SSE. I live on River Road and I'm here also to support the library. Um, I do hope that you will give adequate and incredible uh con consideration for the uh renovations of

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the library. The library is a true community center and it always has been. Um, my husband and I will celebrate our 45th anniversary at the end of the month and we've always lived in Chattam and we've always been strong supporters of the library. Um, I'd like to say my children were raised at the library.

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They went to story time. They went to craft time. Um, as they got older, that's the center for research because you didn't have computers at home quite that quite yet then. Um, and even now it's still a community center. Um, I'm retired. I can go to the library and see

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people. If I were to work from home, I could go to the library and see people. Um, it really is a community center. Um, as definitely exemplified when, uh, the library was open during the storm last week, last week, week and a half. Um, as

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a cooling center and as a charging station, um, on a day when they're closed, uh, staff came in and actually the director volunteered to do that. um which I thought was ex was was incredible. Um I would also like to say

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that um the library is an equalizer in our community. Um in a way that I look at it um Chattam has become infinitely more diverse than it had been when we lived when we first got married and lived here. Um and the Chattam helps to

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equalize that diversity. If you want to learn how to cook what your neighbors are cooking, you can learn at the library. If you don't have a computer, you can go to the library and use the library's computer. If you want to have an outdoor party and you don't have a canopy, you can get one at the library.

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Um, it's just an amazing resource. If you want to start a garden, you can not even pay anything and go get seeds from the library. Um, it's just an amazing resource for people. It's 2026, however, and the library needs to live for

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another hundred years. Um, so things that are that are not so um strong now as far as the facility goes need to be stronger. Things uh need to change and need to evolve over time. And I hope that the library can stay a strong

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community center as it has been. Thank you. >> Thank you. Happy 45th anniversary. >> Hi, Mike Kelly. Ke Ly Mountain Avenue. Um, and I'm here also to speak in support of the library improvement project. Uh, first I wanted to say thank

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you for all the time and attention you all give to meeting the the needs of the township with uh the township's limited resources and uh uh both the township committee and and the departments that uh I think did such a great job this past this past week with the storm. But

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um I'm coming at the library uh support from the uh from my personal uh perspective as a trustee on the historical society, the Chattam Township Historical Society. And um even though I was born and raised in town, I'm continually amazed at the the history

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and the stories that are preserved in the uh in our township museum, uh the Little Red Brick Schoolhouse. Um but one aspect of the improvement project is to expand and improve the uh the space for the historical uh collection in at the

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library. And uh I think that uh it's hard to imagine a uh a need for the township residents that uh that surpasses the library in general and specifically for the historical society to be able to uh share some of the books

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and maps and other resources that the that they have to to be there for the uh the use of the of uh people who use the library. So, please take that into consider consideration and I hope that you can see your way clear to support uh support the library project uh as much

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as you can. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Andy Hollander. H O L L D R Fairmont Avenue. Uh I am privileged to be the president

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of the board of trustees of the library of the chatams um uh Mayor Roland and deputy mayor McHugh and thank you deputy mayor McHugh for participating on the library board. Um it's very much appreciated.

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We've been talking about expenditures and uh the library of of course has made a request of um the committee and also of the burough council. But I would like to speak for just a moment about savings,

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not just expenditures, but savings. What's the library's value? Well, you've heard from our residents. Let's talk about return on investment as well. Take uh this book for example. It's a a book by uh Bruce Chadwick, an oral

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history of Gettysburg, the tide turns. So, uh, retail this book, uh, goes for $32 and I encourage everybody to support their local book seller and their local movie theater. But if you choose to come to the library because there's easy

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access, you can take out this book and you can save $32 that you otherwise would have spent. And if you take out another book just like it, well, that's a dinner for two. And if you take out a museum pass,

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that's dessert. So that's about $80 in savings just right there. And all free if you're a card holder of the library. a board book for a a toddler, children's

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books, 15 bucks. Uh you'll know better than I. My kids are pretty much grown at this point. Um but they add up. And museum passes $20. You can stream movies by canopy um from the comfort of your own home.

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Movie ticket costs about 15 $15 these days. uh children's programs, adult programs, magazines, newspapers, databases. All of these are free with a library card. We

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estimate an average of $190 per card holder per year in savings. That's $190 of savings. Family of four savings is about $750.

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So taken together, the Library of the Cadams has saved our residents about $3.9 million just over 2025. Um, so let me be clear, support your local book sellers, support your local

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movie theaters, but when you choose a library, either in person or when you uh access it online, you have access to a wealth of resources that save real money. The library is our community center.

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It's also a strong return on investment that residents already benefit from. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I think I have part of this message is in my mayor's message, but I think I'm going to say it now because I think it's

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timely. Uh so tonight we are introducing an ordinance in support of the library of the Chadams. Thank you to everyone who reached out to share your perspectives on the project, people who signed the petition, people that would stop me on the street to have a

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conversation about it. Um, we are lucky to live in Chadam and many of us are very fortunate to have homes, food, amenities such as internet, cable, Netflix, but there are people in our community and neighboring communities who may not have those things. And that

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is one of the reasons why the library is so important. It's called a third space. So, it's a place that's outside of your home and your work where you can gather and you can learn and you can get access to media and the internet and just be. So, I know I'm a huge supporter of

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library. We all are. We've all had our families there. My mom was a member of the Chattam Women's Club. So, every time I walk downstairs, I see the plaque reminds me of my mom. The only scholarship they had was named after my mom. So, it really it's it's special.

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Um, un Andy, we buy books in my house, but then we give them to the library for the sale. So, we haul all the bags. So, there there there's no question that the library is is incredibly important to all of us. And I know that this renovation has been a long time in the

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making. And in addition to the programming and the services, the library really needs upgrades to the infrastructure. So we had a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions. Um I'm a CPA, I'm an accountant. So I

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said, "Show me the numbers. Let me look at the budget. Let me look at the detail." And when we dug through it, the critical infrastructure upgrades are what need to be done first. And that's what we are committing to. And if you

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need help with demolition after last week, it's a storm. I will happily grab a sledgehammer and come over there and just start taking out walls to take out some of the stress. But I said, I'll I'll grab a paintbrush and I'll paint when it go comes to that time. I think there's members of the community that

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will jump in and help because this is a big expenditure and a big budget. The challenge is I'm also on the finance committee. We have a lot of mouths to feed in the township and um it's really hard and I have this

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personal experience because I have five children. You can't give one child a steak dinner and one child a Ritz cracker. So we have a lot of competing priorities in the township and we are doing our absolute best to maintain safety, security,

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you know, and balancing fiscal responsibility. There was a time where taxes were not raised. Some people think that's a flex and that's great and that's cool, but at the end of the day, if you work outside of the home and you don't get a raise at your job for six

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years, but all your costs are going up and you're digging into your savings, at some point something's got to give. So, we are very happy and pleased to commit $1 and a4 million dollars in 2027 to the

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library for capital improvements, and that's what's in our resolution tonight. Trust me, I wish I could give everybody every thing that they wanted. I would love to do a new police station and a shiny new firetruck and ambulances, everything. It's just not the reality

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this time when we had crazy increases in health care and just two wild storms that cost us a lot of money and now we just had a third and we're wondering if where there's going to be FEMA reimbursement. So long story short,

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we're happy to contribute to the library as much as we can. This is for 2027 and I look forward to hearing more of your comments, your questions, and your support. Are there any other >> might I comment, mayor? Go ahead.

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>> Uh, as well, I think and not speaking for everybody, but certainly in in consistent uh outlook with the mayor, a huge component to get this done or at least get started done. And uh the commitment was made or trying to make a

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resolution that's uh introduced tonight um based upon a lot of talk over a lot of time and and getting nowhere and we need to start and so looking at the balance with the uh family coralary I like that one very well very well put um

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we [clears throat] provide the the library put so much work together in just presenting the facts and presenting the uh the issues and uh uh the budgets where it was where it is today. Um and certainly the crowd here, the um what

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we've heard from uh from all kinds of voices and uh put together and the and the foundation and their work and uh getting this at least started. We had the presentation on the amount requested from each of the municipalities. Uh that

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was clear, it was concise, it was very well presented. Um, you know, kudos to uh the director uh Miss Brosky and of course Kevin Sullivan in their presentation both to the burrow and to the township. Um, but the however

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however is in fact the real numbers. We did make a commitment at that time during the presentation that um we the request was not just the amount of money. The request was for direction. And so uh tonight what we're trying to do is at least start a direction because

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without uh some kind of a start of direction there's no proceeding and it'll be another 10 years before anything happens. And so uh between the municipalities to work things out. We've looked at um from the finance committee perspective. We look at the balance of DPW, the police, the fire, all these

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other things that are demands and the fact that we certainly um all of us want to minimize tax impacts and and raises and those kinds of things. Uh so we that number really um generated from a lot of

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different factors. Um and so that's what we proposed to get us started. And so thanks to Debbie King for giving us numbers and a lot of back and forth. And so she did a lot of great work. Um we [clears throat] looked at both the shortterm impacts at least to get going and then the longer term impacts of what

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we do. Uh where are we going to get the money if you don't have it? Uh that means debt. Uh what does debt do when it increases? It creates more risk. What does more risk do? It creates more expense. So um all of these things build upon each other. And so with an overall,

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you know, 40,000 foot view uh rather than the individual things, this is where we've come up with this um hopefully um aggressive start to get things going. It's not in 26, it has to start in 27. So here we are with this

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commitment and uh this will be introduced tonight so that at least some planning can be done by the library, the foundation, and everybody else involved. if I may join into the discussion. So, originally I had planned to pull this

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out of the consent agenda so we could have a discussion, but given everybody's here and I think it's important while the residents are here, you know, that we have the opportunity to talk about that. So, I appreciate that. Um, you know, I echo the the points that were already made. We haven't had a discussion, the five of us, to have a

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conversation about this. So that's the other reason uh you know uh Marty being on the uh the library liaison and also being on the finance committee I had conversations with him to understand kind of the history of how do we get to this point and to understand like what exactly are we talking about there was

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also the pressure my understanding is from uh the the grant application to submit and to get you know for some kind of commitment from the towns quickly but knowing we have I mean just to put some numbers around it three and a half million going out the door already

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committed for fire trucks. Uh and there's a couple more that the fire departments need. Uh and this is not a nice to have, this is a need to have. You don't want to leave your your fire department short. Uh and we had pressure this year, a huge amount of pressure from uh health care costs that skyrocketed

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uh I think it was like 750 $800,000 on about a $17 million budget. That's a huge amount of money. So uh and that's just the beginning of it. So there's all kinds of financial pressure that we had to weigh in, but we all are big advocates and proponents for the library. So trying to figure out how do

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we uh lend our support, help you to move forward in that process with the grants, you know, we still have the opportunity next year as as we see how you know what happens with the financials. There's there's opportunity down the road, but right now, you know, I feel like this

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number is is fiscally responsible and this is the number I'm comfortable with right now. And I'm I'm actually really pleased because I didn't even think we were going to get here to be honest. I'm really pleased that you know the finance committee, the CFO really kind of, you know, crunched the numbers went through

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the books. You have to look project forward all your capital uh requirements over the next, you know, 10 years and refine that and when are the when are those payments going to need to be made and what does the debt service look like. So I appreciate all the work that went into that and and I know it's not

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optimal, but hopefully it's a place to start and supports you when you're going back uh to complete the documentation for that for that grant money. >> Um I'll add a little bit of context as well too. Um not to reiterate all the points, but I appreciate the um

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presentations, the materials, the petitions, all of the voices. Um and thanks to the friends of the library. You did a very effective job of flooding our inboxes with email. Um, but the emails came in both support and against.

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Um, and uh, I actually took that as an opportunity to challenge whichever side somebody was on. Um, and I found actually a middle ground with everyone. Uh, even people who said they were opposed entirely.

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um I pushed back on them suggesting that the library was a very valuable resource to a lot of the people who I was elected to serve uh and is there no part of you that believes that we should be supporting the library and the infrastructure and in order to support it and I think they came around and

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likewise to the people that cut and pasted and sent us uh a staunch support I challenge them as well too because there's a cost associated with this and the cost is going to be paid by the taxpayers ers as well too in the long term for all of this. And I think what I

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found was that a lot of people didn't really understand that and they kind of realized that there has to be a cap on this in some way. So to echo the comments [clears throat] where you guys all arrived at um uh it's probably where I would have arrived at as well too. Um

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I think it's the responsible thing to do and uh I support uh this initiative. If I may, mayor, it it it became abundantly clear to me that it was a a polite exchange of 10 plus years of of constituents of the library coming

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before uh the governing body uh with a need. Uh the economics around that need has escalated over time much like many other things. Um and the challenge was trying to address it in one false swoop which was the original framework of the

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ask. Uh and while uh we are um obviously ardent supporters of library and the services are provided to all the constituents and we'd love to um uh satisfy that need in one fell swoop that really wasn't uh

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with in the cards uh for the budget. Um, and I think sometimes it just takes a little bit of courage from the governing body as as opposed to saying, which you've heard time and time again, well, see what you can do and come back to us, right? We we wanted to be honest with

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you and have a little bit of courage and say here's what the township can do um in order to move forward as opposed to just kicking the can down the road and and and hoping for a halfbaked miracle or hoping for some other variable to

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come before uh both parties here that would solve the problem or at least materially solve the problem. Um, so I I'd like for everyone to consider this in in the proper framework, which is it's a start. It's a real start. It's a discreet start uh to address the real

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problems that the library is challenged with and to be able to continue to provide these services to uh you know, the many card holders uh and and beneficiaries of of what's being uh offered there. Um and and with that, I I you know, I commend the finance

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committee. I commend the other members uh of the committee. um before you the mayor uh and the staff and in really trying to put together something that works um is concrete um gets things going uh and is uh can be accepted

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within the framework of the budget. >> Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you. >> Any other citizens? Anyone online with any questions or anything? Okay. All right. All right, I think we can close the first hearing of citizens and we can move on to the workshop

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session. Uh, Mr. Shotti, do we just go ask if anyone had any questions on monthly reports or any questions on the reports? Receive any? Can we bring up any report? >> Yeah. >> Any of the reports that were included in the packet yet on

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>> on the engineering documents um particularly yesterday uh construction work. Um I I would just like to reiterate the the timeline is of particular importance here because Estrain is a field that will start being in heavy demand come this fall

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>> and um while it's 90 some odd degrees right now uh it will quickly become much cooler and uh schools will be back in session and consequently recreation will be back in full force. Uh so I would like to just make sure that um uh just for not just aesthetics but ongoing

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safety for that particular asset that we can hopefully get that job done. before school starts. Yes. Uh it did say that the start >> start line start date was unclear. So uh I'm hoping that we can achieve that before kids are out there. >> Yeah, that's the plan. It's going to be done before the school year. That's uh

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why we held off until after the school year as well. Um unfortunately because we held off so late to wait for the school year. The storm hit. As you may have noticed yesterday is currently blocked. The uh trees are down. There was a tree at the front entrance over there. Uh DPW's been busy focusing on

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all the roads and more of the important access. Um but you know it's important to note that these reports are uh there's a deadline for these reports and it covers previous month's activity not upcoming activity. So when the report was sent in at that time a date had not been set. We didn't even have a pre-construction meeting yet at that

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time. Um but then a we did have a pre-construction meeting to follow uh and uh we are just waiting for some uh shop drawings. uh engineering's got to review those and then um they will be able to start uh the goal is this month

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and should be no more than two weeks. So um hopefully in a week or two >> July. Yeah, fair enough. >> Thank you, Mr. Shy. >> Yes. >> Um I this isn't necessarily a question, but it's related to the uh assessor's reporting in general and more of a PSA

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for residents. So, um the uh I I don't know if others got their notice, but if you're like me and you weren't home when the assessor came around to uh evaluate your home and you got repeated notices and just kept forgetting to call them up and telling them to come in, um now's the time to follow up. And uh as we've

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explained to residents, you want to allow them to come in. This is I'm sorry, I should preface what I'm talking about. This is for the uh county's mandated townwide reevaluation. Um, and you want to encourage them to come in because otherwise they're going to evaluate your your house at the

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highest uh value under the assumption that work was done uh you know to bring it up to up to date. So, you want to make sure to allow them in and they will allow, which I've discovered when I finally did call to schedule my appointment, uh they will allow for a Zoom that you can, you know, kind of

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take. They're really just looking to see what's updated and what's not updated. So, um so you have that opportunity. So just a reminder to residents um I don't know what the cuto off is so I did not uh drill down to that part of the assessor's report where he gives us the

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update. Um but I do know that the note that I got just said to get in touch with them within the next week. I mean certainly the um final emails are going to come out around late October I think is the date. Uh that's when everybody should about late October early November everybody should get their notification

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around that time. So, you just want to make sure uh to to if you haven't had the assessors in to take care of that. >> Any other questions? >> Only thing I do want to highlight though is uh just recognition and praise for

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our office of emergency management, our police department, fire department, EMS, and public works uh for their work through the storm. This was uh very hitting storm for Chattam Township. Um there's just a lot of coordination that needed to happen, especially with various utility companies, a lot of road

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closures. Uh we appreciate the patience from the the public. Uh DPW is canvasing the town, still canvasing the town. Uh they are uh picking up debris from people's curbside. So um uh you know, look out for them. Um but we will

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continue to do that through the end of the month. >> Thank you. Okay, next item, the uh electricity auction. >> Thank you, mayor. So, uh last I'm sorry, two years ago, uh we did a uh energy

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auction for electricity for the municipal usage uh for all of our buildings, parks, uh and facilities. Uh that, uh was a two-year contract went out to bid uh about two years ago around October of 2024, there thereabouts. Um

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we uh are coming up on the expiration of that contract uh this fall. The consultant that I've been working with uh alerted that alerted us to that and we're just making preparations for that. I believe in your packet you should have gotten a uh sort of snapshot of what

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that usage looks like, what the rates are looking like. Uh as everybody around the state of New Jersey hears and even nationwide, electricity costs are going up. So our costs will also be going up. We're expecting at least a $20,000 increase. uh however that will be

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mitigated would be worse if we were not doing this. So uh in an effort to save taxpayers money uh keep cost under control and find savings wherever we can uh we do this uh reverse auction uh we do it not only for the buildings but then separately on a different type of

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account for all the street lights as well. Uh those are tariffed at a different rate. Uh that contract is still not over. Uh but I just wanted to alert you to that fact that we are looking to do that. see if there's any concerns, objections. Otherwise, we would like to run that auction uh coming soon in the next month or two uh as we

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did in the past because the rates are valid only for 24 hours. We would run that auction the morning of a township committee meeting. So that way we can then uh have an analysis prepared for you to review at that township committee meeting that day and then vote to authorize that contract. Um I will, you

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know, unless there's any issues or concerns, we can do that in August or we can delay that until September. the proposal that um was in the package. Um >> that's just a sampling. >> Yeah. Yeah. So he he caved and said these are sort of you know really

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fictional numbers and when the auction sort of get gets into gear the numbers are actually lower. Um have we done like a look back analysis to see what you know the X's and O's were as as a result of having done participated in this reverse auction

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over the current contract versus if we didn't >> well we'd be going at the current JCPNL rate which is higher than it's almost always higher than these auctions. So if we did not do this then we'd be at the current JCPNL rate and uh it would be

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subject to increases when they make petitions to the BPU. So they recently did that. The good thing for us is we had locked this in at 2024 rates. So for at least these two years we've been locked in at those rates which are lower than the JCPNL rate. So, your $20,000

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comment is based on what we >> That's based on the fact that if we were to go out to auction today, obviously the rates are going to go up. >> Uh, and he's estimating based on our usage and the sample of these rates that we would be looking at almost a $20,000 increase over our current rate. Not

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necessarily as compared to the JCPNL market rate. So, we would still be less than the JCPNL market rate if we went out to auction. If we did not, I shouldn't say we would. If we do not, then we don't sign the contract. Uh we we're not obligated to go along with any of those. We would only be doing it if

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there's a savings. So a lot of the factors uh you know come into play. Obviously oil, gas, uh all sort of the market conditions that would impact uh you know what these biders and how many biders are we even willing to bid. Um,

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so we would be able to review those and he'll prepare an analysis as he did two years ago to look at how it compares to the current J16 outbreak. And he also does uh a bit of forecasting to look at what those rates are looking like to say, hey, you know what? You might want

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to wait another two months. You might want to wait three months. Rates are going to go. Right now is a better time than waiting for the winter. >> Thank you. >> Did that answer your question? >> Yes. So, if there's no objections, we can run

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that auction uh in August uh or we can hold off until September. Any preference? >> Are there any pros or cons to timing? >> No, he's recommending sooner rather than later just because one, it gives us more time before the contract expires if we did want to go out to auction again if

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we were happy with those rates. Um but, you know, not a huge difference. >> Okay. Yeah, I think August should be fine. >> Okay. So, what we'll do is I'll be in touch with all of you uh that day just to send you the results to let you know what we're looking at and the recommendation because I won't have

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anything prepared for you for the agenda packet on the Friday before. It will be the auction that morning and usually around noon. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mayor. If there's nothing else on those, I would just like to uh

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see if there's any questions or kind of comment on resolutions that are on the agenda since we don't Uh since we don't have a separate workshop meeting, uh there are a number of items on there. Nothing should be of really any surprise or

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huge debate. Uh are there any questions on any of the resolutions? Uh right now we're still technically in the workshop portion. We haven't moved in I was asking the >> I I will jump in real quick and I apologize. I didn't send this in sooner.

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the um uh river road is that the one the river road paving contract >> um in terms of what was budgeted because I think >> we are higher than what was budgeted so that was one of the items I was going to mark on

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>> that's about $30,000 more than what was anticipated last meeting uh John Rushki our engineer came to the meeting and we uh suggested that we may want to hold off on paving roads this year because of the high costs of uh asphalt, fuel, all

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those things are going to create uh increases in costs. Uh so what we had based on his estimate for River Road, what we had incorporated into the capital budget uh fell short $30,000. We were planning on using some of the remainder of those funds for other roads

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patching if we needed. Um we had some locked in for improvements at the intersection of River Road and Fairmont. uh obviously not knowing what what exactly is gonna you know that's going to look like. Uh so we if you want to

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proceed with that we can get this done this year. Um however we are going to be very very tight on capital for roads if we do want to go ahead with this. >> What what has Mr. Rush deemed um as far as the condition classification for for

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the these sections of river >> for this section of river? uh pull up that memo right now. And just to uh to note for the record that this is partially funded by grant funding as well. We've got municipal aid

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grant funding for this. >> And in lie of like a wholesale repaving classic job, right? Um would would we be considering a stock app measure between now and before the frost comes? in order to buy time.

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So the cycle >> the first question was as far as how it rates um based off his memo you know and other roads >> it fares in terms of its rating it's at about a 63 you know what that means not much unless I give you the whole breakdown but other roads that we were

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looking at for this year also in the 62 63 range so uh however the volume of traffic on that one is significantly higher >> um and therefore also because of the length of it the budget for it is also higher than others. Uh under the municipal aid grants, we have, I

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believe, two years to complete those. So, we're trying to expedite, you know, originally we try to expedite them. We get the grant, we would like to immediately move into having that completed. Um but as I mentioned, the big factor is with the war and everything going on right now, costs are

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high all around and uh road paving is no different. Uh to your second question, um we would still have to draw down from our capital funds to do those improvements, which would just then reduce how much is available for the

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following year. >> You know, I get the math on that, but I was just wondering if that the >> you anticipated doing that for this year or >> No, >> unknown at this point. >> At this point, no >> further consultation with Mr. Rush. Yeah. Okay. He is out of the office until next week. So the bids came in

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just before uh or the same day as as out of office. >> But so you are looking for us to though approve proceeding. >> Well, one of the items I want to bring was raise this issue to your attention because we did talk about at the last meeting and and the consens. Let's bid

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this one out first because this one would be a bid. The other one would be an award of contract under the Morris County co-op. Uh it doesn't need to go out to bid. However, under that co-op contract and state law, they are permitted to demand adjustments for fuel

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uh and asphalt. So, uh those rates when they go out to bid at the county level or as any co-op would be subject to adjustment. So, this kind of gave us a barometer for what we're looking at. Are they going to be within estimate, a little bit overestimate or or more

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overestimate? And so, 30,000 on a cost of uh toal resolution I can add real quick 78 we were estimating about 431,000 and uh the total is let me pull that

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resolution up 46 it 462 so about 31,000 on a $462 $462,000 contract is the increase. So uh and we are you know because of the

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budget year as the finance committee knows and all of you know from the f from the budget presentation we are very low on funds this year. It was very tight year. >> So sorry you keep saying you wanted to talk about this. Are we talking about it now? We're going to later this is talking about it before we get you know

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before we get to that. So, it sounds like you're recommending not doing this, but I feel like we have a grant in the hand and we're taking care of a large chunk of >> We don't lose the grant, right? I mean, we still we still have the grant. We can >> if we do it next year. >> Yeah. Yeah. We have two years to do it. So, uh we were This is the first year.

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It was almost the first year after the awarded grant. So, we still have time to do this next year if we wanted to. >> But the budget impact this year is 30,000. uh $30,000 to about $31,000 that would have to come from other other capital other projects

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>> or other places that you could find which otherwise next year we're going to still be dealing with the same conversation if we wait till next year to pave the river road >> but it'll cost more money >> it could cost more money or if the you know depending on again fuel and what

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happens there might be some relief We had others in the road recommendation. I believe we reviewed that last month and uh maybe two or three months before that about the road recommendations. Uh we were looking at uh that road and two others, but it

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doesn't look like we're going to be able to fit in those other two, especially if we're taking an additional 30 $31,000. >> Usually the roads cost more than 31,000. So here's So I'm >> No, no. So we had two other roads that were going to cost more money. They

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there was old capital funds that we're tapping into. We're going to try to do three roads, the grant funded road and two others. >> Um but given the way this went, >> that money is not going to be enough to do those roads. And also because we're

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now taking $31,000 in funds from those to do this, we are definitely not going to be able to do those two. >> Okay. So, is this one priority relative to all three? You have three. >> This has higher traffic. So, uh you know what you determine is priority, but in

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terms of rating as far as condition, it's on par with others. But obviously, this is a much higher road, higher traveled road. >> Okay. I think I think you answered it for me. It sounds like you should go ahead. Okay. Um T, did you have something else to add?

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>> Yeah, just um one note and Greg, I can send you the um change, but the resolution um awarding a contract extension for the snow plowing services. Um I'm changing the language in number two. There's not actually going to be a

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contract extension that's going to be executed. It's just um we just need the adoption of the resolution. So it's a unilateral um at the township's option. You get to choose to extend for a year well two one

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year periods. So by adopting the resolution you are um expressing your desire to extend. So we don't need to have a contract extension. it the wording of it. I had it like we were gonna sign something

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which we don't. So, I'm just um revise that language and I'll send it to Greg. >> Yeah. And you can still adopt the resolution tonight. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Uh any other questions on resolutions? Okay. Um, so mayor, that concludes the

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workshop portion. >> Okay. Thank you. Then we will move on to the regular meeting. Back to my message. And it's about our other significant topic. Um, where do I even

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start? Last week's storm of July 3rd came with almost no warning and did about as much damage as Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but within a 15minute window. Um, Hurricane Sandy, there were I don't know if you remember that all the trucks staged in the parking lots waiting for

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it to come and waiting for it to happen. This we did not have that. Uh, it left us with thousands of homes without power. And I've gotten the numbers. Um, we had 2528 customers of a total of 4589,

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which is 55% of our customers in town were without power. Um, we got through um JCPNL was overwhelmed on a holiday weekend and many of our staff were away. Um, and all the homes were restored as

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of Thursday night by I believe 8 8 o'clock, 8:30 p.m. Um, while there was some frustration, let me tell you about the DPW that was working right after the storm and as early as 6:00 a.m. on Saturday to clean up Colony Pool. That's

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so so that people could go there on a 100 degree day and get stay cool and get something to eat. Um, and day and night for the next week and still picking up all the debris. If you drive around town, you'll just see it piled on people's front lawns. Uh, and the senior center, the library, and the

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Presbyterian church who offered to open as cooling and charging stations over the holiday weekend. All manned by volunteers. And our tireless fire department, who's not only responding to transformers and trees that were on fire, but also the multiple calls of carbon monoxide issues resulting from

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generators. uh and the police department who were constantly out placing cones around dangerous areas, responding to so many calls, keeping the list of outages up to date so that we could prioritize the neighborhoods and homes for JCPNL, including some dead-end streets where

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residents were unable to get out and the emergency squad who lost power in their own headquarters, but still answered every call for our residents. There were neighbors helping neighbors getting ice to keep necessary medications cold, bringing food, volunteers cleaning up

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colony pool because it was an absolute disaster. We're clearing debris for their elder elderly neighbors and bringing them up to the curb. Our DPW opened the compost center for additional days this week and we'll still be collecting the debris across town, including the county roads, but it will

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take a little bit of it'll take a little time. Um, so thank you to everyone who rose to the occasion, stepped in when needed, supported neighbors, and offered words of encouragement. The silver lining for me after an incredibly challenging week was that I got to meet and interact with so many neighbors that

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I had not met before, and it was really wonderful. So now we can move on to committee reports. Uh, I will start with mine, the um Chattam Township Historical Society. So the red brick schoolhouse has a beautiful new floor. Um, it's gorgeous.

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And while we were moving things, we had a pod in the parking lot and we had to move everything out so they could put the floor in. Um, it was really pretty cool to just, you know, pick up something to move and then you look at what you're carrying. It was like a cool old map. Um, and other documents, um, as

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we were boxing up files. Um, I brought a few 20somes over there to help and they, um, you know, were equally as enthusiastic about some of the cool things that were around there. and um they got to see a whole other side of the museum which was really cool. Um and

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you can check it out on the first Sunday of every month from 2 to 4. Um that's it for me. Um Committeeman Alpar. Um, not too much to report either. Um, other than, uh, you know, a staunch supporter obviously of our first

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responders and the fire department in particular who handled both fire departments handled, um, so many active uh, uh, emergencies, if you will, um, that took place in town. Um, obviously a shame they there was no parade for them

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to march in, but um, you didn't have to go very far to hear a siren going off in town uh, and see a fire truck go by because uh, all the first responders were very busy. Um, in talking with um, the chief at the uh, Chattam Township Fire Department, he wanted to stress

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once again um, and I think more people are paying attention to this meeting than most of our meetings. So, if you're listening, um, any kind of emergency should not be left as a message on their general mailbox at their fire station. Um, and that includes my alarm is going

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off. I don't know what this means. Um, which happens quite a lot. Um, so that is an active emergency. Please call 911. It will activate the 911 response. um they are more than happy and they always respond uh to come out and check out anything that's going on that you might

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even think is not an emergency, but it actually is. Uh so please please please 911 is your first call uh to uh for any kind of emergency. And of course um you know I've I've witnessed and uh as part of the emergency squad, you know, we

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support the fire department with a lot of their drills. Um, and it's really spectacular what these uh women and men do. Uh, going in and training in fire buildings and putting out extinguishing fires and dealing with so many different

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things. Um, if you want to participate, uh, they are always looking for new members. So, please consider signing up. Um, uh, it's an amazing service that they provide. >> That's it. >> Great. Thank you, Commman Choy. >> Mayor, I do not have anything to report this evening.

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>> All right. Thank you, Committee Ewalt. >> Uh, I think we're all going to be echoing some of the same message, but I think it's so important because we all had different touch points during the storm. And I, um, you know, I also want to, uh, give my thanks to many in the community. Um, I definitely want to

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thank the senior center. They were the first to raise their hands and open their doors. And not only was it uh, the volunteer board members who turned out, it was also the staff. Um, and I, you know, ran into committeeman Alperowitz. uh as he was trying to pull away a big

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tree limb from the entry and I was moving away twigs from the entry [clears throat] and um you know people kept turning out throughout the day uh to try and help and make sure everybody was taken care of. So I really want to thank them uh for their efforts and again also the Presbyterian Church and

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the police station and library for opening up their doors. I was at at least two of those facilities charging up my devices. Um, I also want to echo the thanks to the fire department and our emergency uh squads of both fire departments emergency squads. I did run into uh one of our dedicated volunteers

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in Chattam Township uh fire department and he talked about how he hadn't slept in three days. Uh they had 30 at least 30 calls that the first three couple of days uh of the storm. The vast majority of those were due to carbon monoxide

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alarms going off. Uh because the generators were placed too close to windows, doors, drier vents, you know, openings. Uh and normally when people test these things, they're not tested for very long. So you wouldn't have your, you know, carbon monoxide detector

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going off. So just a reminder to residents, one, try and get that generator a good 20 feet away from any openings to your house. Uh, and two, um, to make sure to have a really good carbon monoxide detector near where you have your generator. Okay, we want to keep everybody safe and you know, and

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also just to make sure our fire department is focusing where they need to focus during these emergency events. But I really have to commend them because these are this is an all volunteer group. Uh, and in the midst of them trying to deal with their own storm issues, uh, you know, they're out and answering residents calls. So, we do

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really appreciate their efforts. Um and then Colony, I wanted to thank uh the DPW, the staff uh and the volunteer members. Um I had called uh you know right after the storm uh recognizing that this was a problem. I was already

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texting the mayor and our administrator uh and the first thing that mayor said was we're on it. And uh Rich, our DPW director was already back on his way into town. So um they were, you know, all over this very dedicated. They were all there early, you know, a few hours

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before Colony opened and volunteer members showed up and staff turned out to say, "What can I do?" I mean, just really so heartwarming and and truly appreciate everybody uh stepping up to do what they can to help our residents. Um, speaking of Colony, well, actually

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before I shift to Colony, I do want to, uh, thank the mayor who had her at times, uh, we love our administrator and he always helps out, but he was away and at times she was doing both jobs and having to hustle, uh, the state and hustle JCPNL, uh, and deal with all of us who were sending messages from

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residents. So, uh, I'm sure that was, uh, frustrating as well. Uh, she was never home. I I don't know how things are being taken care of there, but she's always uh you know around town figuring things out. And then our administrator did come back from his vacation early uh to help out. So really appreciate

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everybody um stepping up and doing what they did. >> Our administrator who was also trapped in from a from the storm and couldn't leave from his vacation. So it was >> Oh, I didn't even realize that. >> Oh yeah, he was he was trapped himself. So [laughter]

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>> it's crazy all around. >> So the news generally about Colony is great. I mean, they've had a wonderful opening to the year. I didn't get to say much in the last meeting. Uh, unfortunately, they were down uh for a few days, but they're back and up and running. Um, and then I appreciate everybody who kind of hustled because of

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uh they weren't down initially and then uh unfortunately as a result of all the work that was going on and then subsequent storms, the power did go down and that affected some of the equipment. Um, but they really hustled to get the new equipment in place to make sure that the water, you know, was at the level

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that was safe for, uh, our members to, you know, to enjoy the pool. Uh, and they got that back open. Uh, they have a whole list of events that are coming up, including all kinds of, uh, uh, you know, they're bringing in bands for concerts, uh, all kinds of fun

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competitions, lifeguard appreciation night. So I encourage residents uh and also by the way they were open to our senior uh citizens when the temperature was over 90 degrees. So I hope folks are taking advantage of that as well. Um but things are going great at Colony and I hope everybody uh takes an opportunity

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if you haven't had a chance to join or go uh that you check it out and and hopefully if you don't join this year that you you know look at it again in the future because they're really doing a wonderful job and our um I've heard great things about our Y management. So I'm very pleased to that as well.

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>> All right. Thank you, Deputy Mayor McHugh. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I would, uh, nothing really new to report from the standpoint of open space. And I'd like to focus from the standpoint of my library report to focus on the whole idea of what we're talking about all

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evening and the resolution that uh, will come up shortly here this evening uh, that we look to consider and approve. But I would like to take a minute uh to echo a lot of what happened this week and a lot of what's been stated before. Certainly between EMS, between the the

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fire guys, between um the police, the emergency response team, uh the administrator coming back early, uh you know, all the first responders and all the community that really did come together in in a real true community, uh which is terrific. Uh, but I would like

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to shout out something that uh I don't do often uh but want to this evening and that has to deal with our mayor. Um, thank you mayor for stepping up. Um, you really did and uh I witnessed some

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really great and uh I I shouldn't say pushy but aggressive uh pursuits of not just JCPNL who she met with and chased down and and expedited for anyone who was stuck in a in a dead end or somebody

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who was uh having uh issues getting JCPNL to show up to remove a wire from a tree so the tree could be removed and and all those things. uh but even to the level of meeting with the governor herself um and and getting the direction and the input and so um I thank you for

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that uh because uh as we have a lot of great volunteers in our fire service, our emergency squad and and all those things, we have a great volunteer mayor too. And so I just want the residents to recognize that. So thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that.

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>> All right, that's it for the township committee reports. So we can move on to the approval of the consent agenda. I think we discussed everything but is just to make sure is there anything that anyone would like to pull out or discuss further?

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>> I don't think we discussed it. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Uh I make the motion but just making sure everybody's paying attention. The uh resolution for the library is part of the consent agenda. Yes, but it was

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discussed earlier. Pretty much everybody was here for that discussion. >> So, I make I make the motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second it. >> Okay. >> Mr. Al Perowitz, >> yes. [clears throat] >> Mr. Troy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes.

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>> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. We will now open the second hearing of citizens for tonight and the same guidance that was previously given by Mr. Lanti applies. Are there any new questions online or

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hands raised? >> I do not see any hands raised online. >> Okay. Any members of the audience? >> Thank you. Uh, on behalf of the library, we appreciate Andy Hollander. H O L L A N D E R Fair Fairmont

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>> Avenue. >> Um, just wanted to express our gratitude. Um, I know I'm speaking for um, Karen Brodzky, director of the library, who's here. Um, Christina and everyone else can speak for themselves, but uh, we've

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appreciated the partnership that we've developed with, uh, the committee. Um and uh thank you for uh um expressing your confidence in the library. We look forward to continuing to work with you to make this library a

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special place in our community. >> Not needed to make, it is to retain. And you know we all have uh come demanding between you know the wants and needs and you've been very careful and uh and diligent about that. Uh, but then there's the want and have and we're

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giving you what we have. >> Christina Mott, MOTT, Nickel Drive, Chadam Township. Um, I just wanted to thank all of you for your strong support for the library. Um, I know that this wasn't an easy number to reach and I appreciate all of you taking it very

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seriously and and showing that support and I really appreciated all your comments earlier tonight. Um, in addition, I just wanted to um comment on something that um Mrs. Ewald mentioned about the tax assessor. Um, I didn't have any um, you know, door hangers or

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anything saying that somebody had been to my house. I just got a letter saying, "Call us in seven days." So, I just wanted to make you aware that there might be some residents who are on vacation for maybe more than seven days. And hopefully there's going to be some leeway in that um process as people, you

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know, open their mail and and see these notices. Um but thank you again. >> Yeah, if I may. Um I I informed our administrator the same uh experience with me. I received no knowledge whatsoever until the letter came and it felt like a fire drill for me to have to

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call. Um, so we expressed that u and when I called I told them I'm I don't know if I'm an anomaly but uh hey I kind of was part of the process of approving this. >> Um so I think they've been informed as well too. So

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>> Craig, you are no anomaly. [laughter] >> They're coming to my house tomorrow. >> Some some some might beg to differ on that. >> All right. Okay. Anything else? Anyone else? Okay, we can close the second hearing of citizens.

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And is there a motion to adjurnn? Do I move? >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> I [laughter] >> thank you everyone. We appreciate everyone coming out.