Did you move up to the lower level? >> You didn't feel slip sliding? >> Yeah. No, they they >> very well. You can tell because the concrete is just getting eaten away. >> I don't know if Ready? >> We're back.
>> Recording in progress. >> Okay, welcome back uh to the public session of this Township of Cadam committee meeting on this Tuesday, January 27th. Uh will we please rise for the pledge of >> allegiance?
To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nationy and justice for all good evening. Thank you everyone for joining tonight. Um, we had more than 16
inches of snow this weekend and I really hope everyone was safe and warm and didn't have any significant issues. Um, as usual, our DPW and first responders were on top of the situation, working around the clock to keep our roads and parking lots clear and our residents safe. JCPNL did not report any power
outages in Chattam Township and for that I am grateful and hopefully that is still true. Um, if there is an issue, please let us know. Um, please, if you are able to, um, please clear the walkways in front of your homes so that people are able to
walk if needed. I know there's a lot of snow. I know it's kind of a hassle. Um, there's a lot of discussion today about it. And, uh, contrary to some possible belief, there is no ordinance and no enforceable law in Chattam Township that
requires people to clear their walks. But if you can, please do that. Um, it creates a safety hazard if the walk is not clear. There's an awful lot of people, students going to school that are walking the streets and we really
don't want to have anything terrible happen. So, if you're able to, please clear your walks. If you're not able to, um, please reach out. If you want to reach a neighbor, if you want to call me, I will we'll definitely get volunteers and I'm sure there are people that will be happy to help you clear
your walk. I'd also like to acknowledge um an incredible loss to our township community. Um and we lost one of our neighbors, Nelson Hurt. He always showed up for the community, for his neighbors, for his students. He was a model citizen
who will be greatly missed. On a fun note, um we have a lot of winners here in town in our students and our sports teams. Uh, this Chattam High School swim team girls won their 17th straight Mars County Championship, which
is a longer streak than some of the swimmers on the team have actually been alive. Um, CHS fencing, both the boys and the girls won the Mars County Tournament. Um, high school boys and girls basketball are headed to the Morris County tournament, seated sixth
for the boys and fifth for the girls. Um, at the middle school, three female students took first place in New Jersey's regional future city STEM competition. They won a $1,250 and a spot at the national finals in DC this weekend.
Um, the highlight for me this past week was attending a Cadam Unified basketball game. The play unified club at CHS comes together to engage, interact, and form special relationships with all the students in our own school as well as the students of ECL, ECLC school. Uh the
goal is to have everyone to feel accepted, included, and seen. So the game was at four o'clock on Friday against Milbour. The crowd was loud. There were blue and white pompoms everywhere. There were buzzer beater three-pointers, and it was really an
incredible game. We were there. Um the energy and the joy were palpable. It was a really nice feeling um in these long dark January days. So I highly encourage anyone who's able to attend. Their last game is tomorrow at 400 p.m.
at Chattam High School gym. Um it's a great way to fight the Winter Blues and be with your neighbors and watch some pretty amazing basketball. You will not be disappointed and I guarantee you will leave the gym happier. Let's see. So, there was another topic that's been gaining some attention
around town related to ICE and ICE activity in our area and apparently go like a weird little well-funded task force that's been created around town. Um, people that are looking to support ICE in their unconstitutional activities. But I really, you know,
there's words and there's actions. So, these are just words at this point. And I frequently tell my kids and myself, don't open the umbrella until it starts raining. So, um, for now, um, I will just encourage everybody to follow the
law, follow the constitution, and abide by the laws, and there will be zero tolerance for any harassment of a citizen or overstepping any of these boundaries. Just wanted to make sure that's clear. So anyway, um
the days are getting longer. It's almost February. Everyone can enjoy Super Bowl 60 next week, next weekend. Um and again, please always reach out if you need anything um related to any township business or anything personal. I just
want to make sure that everybody is uh is safe. And now we can move on to township committee reports. Um, Craig, will you start us off? >> Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Um, uh, couple of announcements. The
Environmental Commission is, uh, hosting on Thursday, February 5th at 7 p.m. at the Library of the Cadams in the Lund room. Uh, they have a partnership going with the Great Swamp Watershed Association along with the Chattam Burough Environmental Commission and the
Madison Burough Environmental Commission. and they're hosting a free seminar on light pollution and how it affects uh us as well as the wildlife in our community and what we can do to mitigate the risk. So, I encourage
everyone to show up on February 5th. Uh early in the year, uh several of us attended the installation dinner for the Chattam Township Fire Department. Um, and it was a really terrific evening uh where uh the first responders of our
uh volunteer fire department uh were sworn in to took their new oaths of office to protect and serve uh the township of Cadam. Uh Chief James Sakadado uh swore in along with his lieutenants and there were two um awards
gi actually three awards given out that evening. Uh, one was the distinguished service award to Richard Gentles who is the president of the Chattam Township Fire Department and uh, two awards went to uh, uh, Barry Dykeman. I don't know
if I pronounced the last name correctly. One was the firefighter of the year award and the other was the chief's award. And what's really important to understand is that he personally responded to 315 calls that the Chattam
Township Fire Department received over the course of the year. And if you're wondering how many they get every year, uh it was around 355, which is incredibly impressive that he responded to about one every single day uh in the year of 2025 and uh certainly
deserves the attention that was given to him that evening. Uh, and speaking of all the other thanks, as the mayor said, um, DPW has been hard at work, uh, from the end of last year up until right now, uh, more
snow has fallen, I think, in the last several years. uh and they've done an exceptional job uh cleaning our streets as well as uh all of the volunteer fire departments uh both the Chattam Township Fire Department, the Green Village Fire Department as well as the Chattam
Emergency Squad who were out there uh with chains on their vehicles responding to uh numerous calls that took place over the last couple of days and obviously all winter long as well too and as well as the Chattam Township Fire uh police department who have always
been present uh during every single one of those calls as well. So, special thanks to all of those organizations. That's it. >> Thank you, Committee Woman Ewald. >> Thank you. Um it's been a relatively quiet start to the year. Uh the planning
board did have their reorganization meeting. Um and that group is uh well, um staffed, if you will, to uh you know, manage applications this coming year. So, uh we're in pretty good shape in the planning board. Um, and then the senior center, uh, they had their first meeting
of the year, uh, and they've begun, uh, they're actually pretty far along with planning for their, uh, spring garden tour. Um, so if anybody's interested in either, uh, you know, having their garden, uh, as part of the tour, uh, although they have a lot of gardens already, but it's always great to have
uh, many on the um, you know, on the tour. If you're interested in that or in sponsoring, uh, please reach out to the senior center of the Chadams. It's a wonderful opportunity to support that. terrific organization. Um, and I think that's the highlights for me for now.
>> Thank you, Committeeman Choy. >> Thank you. Um, I I largely have nothing to report other than uh the wellness advisory committee is scheduled for um is upcoming scheduled for February 4th. So, subsequent to that, um we'll certainly update uh uh the other members
of the committee and the public at large. Um but nothing else reported. >> Great. Thank you. And Deputy Mayor McHugh. Yes. Um uh let's talk about the library first. The uh library is continuing to support the community's interest in
genealogical research by hosting a introduction to Irish genealogy. I kind of favor that one. Uh the day of that one is uh January 28th. Uh in this class uh you will learn how to begin your research and find resources for both the
US and Ireland. Uh for current retirees or adults approaching retirement, there will be a presentation on the four stages of tax planning uh in retirement. That's at 700 p.m. on January 29th. Uh there you'll
learn about how tax planning changes and how to avoid social security and Medicare tax traps. So avoid the traps. And one last one for those of you who are chocolate lovers out there. Uh come enjoy a chocolate tasting at the library
on February 3rd. We will have Mark Chinsky of Anju Chocolatot. Uh we'll share how chocolate is made and the evening will end with a fourpiece chocolate tasting. Um I will make one other mention uh mayor and that is as
far as uh the open space advisory committee. Uh we do have uh a leadership position open. If you know someone or you are that person that would like to contribute, uh there is an opportunity there. We've had a very very long uh history of some excellent leadership in
the open space and uh a possibility for a great volunteer here in town to uh join us. Thank you, mayor. >> Perfect. Thank you. A couple of updates. Um the historical society will be open this weekend on
Sunday, February 1st, um from the hours of 2 to 4. And Chattam High School has just been recognized as an AP honoral school um with accolades towards their AP program.
And now we can move on to the first hearing of citizens. Uh Mr. Lanti, if you would 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 the microphone to be heard. If you're watching via Zoom, you may speak during any of the public comment sessions by following the Zoom instructions to raise your hand. Uh whether in person or online, when you
are recognized to speak, please mind the following procedures. Uh please say your name, spell your last name, and give 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 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 uh in which they request them to be read will be read during the public comment sessions. Written comments are subject to the same guidelines as oral comments.
Duplicative written comments may be summarized rather than read in full according to guidelines issued by the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services. Thank you, Mr. Lanti. Are there any comments? Were there any comments uh sent in advance or is anyone
>> uh nothing requesting it to be read? Uh we do have one hand raised on Zoom if you'd like me to bring that in. >> Yes, please. >> Uh Mr. Carr, uh you have three minutes starting now.
Okay, my name is Stuart Carr, C A R from 3 Crestwood Drive in Chattam Township. Couple of items tonight. Number one, I sent an email to folks a little while ago, apologies for delay, on the open space trust fund uh use and the
allocation of funds within that trust fund versus in the operating budget. I'd like to have Mr. Shahadi perhaps make some comments in that and if it's easier to do it by email afterwards, that's fine as well. But the gist of it is to get the uh operating type items back
into the operating budget. And I include in operating items, things as the uh fixing and improvement of different things within the recreation department and colony pool and all that. That all belongs in the operating budget and the open space trust fund is for the
acquisition and preservation of open space within the township. And those funds were dedicated for that purpose. So, I'd hope that it would return to that exclusive purpose. That's item number one. Item number two, I uh raised in the December meeting in the 16th or
whenever it was of December about the Chattam Township Planning Board and getting the uh meetings televised going forward versus what they've been doing here before. Other towns, not that we follow other towns, but other towns such as Chattam and other towns around here
do have those meetings uh televised. I think that would be appropriate. The third item for tonight would be uh to put together some kind of a report or some kind of a summary of the incremental use of funds coming from the
uh former uh Dixieale property. Probably a million million and a half dollars of incremental tax revenue that was not here up until just a couple of years ago. That's a lot of money representing I don't know four, five, six% of the taxpayer maybe 10% of the taxpayer take over the last couple of years. just
would like to get some kind of granularity as to exactly where that has gone in the budget because that is a pretty incremental incrementally you know material number. So that's it for now. Again I appreciate everybody's time. Uh congratulations to Deputy Mayor McHugh and Mayor um on your respective
appointments and uh thank you again to Mayor Choy and Deputy Mayor Ewald for um your work over the past year on this. Thanks for your time. >> Thank you Mr. Carr. We will get back to you via email. >> Any other questions?
>> No other hands raised. >> Okay, we'll open up um to the microphone if anyone in the audience would like to come make a comment. Okay, then we can close this hearing of citizens and move on to the introduction of
ordinances. Tonight we are introducing three ordinances. 20261 amending the fees for building and housing. 2026-02 amending the fee for zoning permit and 2026-3
the leadbased paint inspections. 01 and 02 are really revising our fees that have not been updated for many years. and we've done a lot of research and looked at um comparable fees around
neighboring towns and we came up with our um our new fee structure that are included in these ordinances. Um ordinance number 2026-03 is a state mana statemandated ordinance um related to lead based paint
inspections. >> I don't know if we open it question. So, no. Um, we dealt with all that at the workshop. So, now the time would be for a motion to introduce ordinance 202601. >> Okay. Is there a motion to introduce ordinance 202601? >> So, move.
>> I'll second. >> No. Uh, committee discussion if you so choose. Otherwise, we can proceed to vote. >> Okay. Is there any discussion? >> Um, I guess I would just make clear to residents, well, a couple things. One, this is an introduction of an ordinance. So, if there's any questions, there will
be a public hearing and uh you know, residents certainly have an opportunity uh before this is adopted in February, >> four weeks, February, >> the 24th of February. >> February 24th. So, you've got a month um to submit any questions and and to hear
from the administration or the committee regarding uh the fees. But the reality is um you know, these are use fees and if the people who are using them are not charged for the use, then all the residents pay. So, That's where uh you know we wanted to make sure that these
fees were in line um were brought up to where they needed to be. So um yeah. So I support the introduction. Do we move to a vote? >> That's up to you. >> Yep. So we I'll move to a vote on >> if I may. Thank you. If we could just um
state the the title of the ordinance before we >> just I know we all have it before us but >> for the public >> just for the public and for the record let's just state the title. >> Ordinance of the township of Chattam County State of New Jersey amending the
township code chapter 11 building and housing section 11 uh-1.3 fees. >> Thank you. >> And um are you calling for a vote? Yes. >> Okay. Mr. Aleritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Troy,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Public hearing on February 24th. >> Is there a motion to introduce ordinance
2026-02? Ordinance of the township of Chadam County of Mars, state of New Jersey, amending the township code chapter 30, land development section 17.1 fees subsection A.
>> So moved. >> I'll second. There any discussion? >> Okay, we call for a vote, please. >> Mr. Aleritz, >> yes. Mr. Troy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland,
>> yes. >> Um, intended uh public hearing on February 24th. And if I may ask our attorney, since this is amending chapter or it's actually it's adding chapter 31, so then it wouldn't need to go to planning board. >> I'm sorry. Say that again.
>> Since it's not chapter 30, then it would not need to go to planning board. Correct. >> Good. Yes. So, public hearing on February 24th. Thank you, Mr. Ponti. Is there a motion to introduce ordinance 2026-03 uh adding chapter 31 leadbased paint
inspections to the township code? >> So, move. >> I'll second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Okay, then we can call for a vote, please. >> Mr. Al Perurwoods. >> Yes. Mr. Troy, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Yu, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes and public hearing on February 24th. >> Thank you. >> Can now move to the approval of the consent agenda.
This is resolution 2026-047 through resolution 2026-056. >> Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> Mr. Operitz.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Troy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Okay, we would now like to discuss three additional resolutions.
If um you would be able to announce those, please. >> Sorry. We have resolution 2026-057 uh which is resolution of the township committee of the township of Chattam County State, New Jersey. author
authorizing the execution of an agreement terminating the Colony Pool concession agreement with Legacy Hospitality and Entertainment Group LLC. Um and then the second one um is
resolution 202658 which is resolution of the township committee of the township of Chattam County of Mar State New Jersey authorizing the solicitation of bids for an operator for the colony pool concession stand for the year 2026 pool
season in accordance with the local public contracts law. And then we have resolution 2026-059 resolution of the township committee of the township of Chattam County, New
Jersey authorizing the execution of a service agreement with Madison area YMCA for the colony pool facilities and u these will all be voted on separately. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. L. So, just to give a little commentary, um
2026-057 is related to terminating the current agreement that we had for a concession stand at Colony Pool. And then 58 is um the resolution to go out to bid for a new vendor um at Colony Pool. Um and
then 2026-059 is related to appointing the management um of Colony Pool for the upcoming season. Um we're excited to talk about um an agreement that we will have with the Madison Area YMCA
um who will be managing the pool just as our other managers have been. Um we have a one-year contract with them with an option to renew. uh and most everything will stay the same in my opinion. I know that um this is a really great move for
the township and a great partnership for an organization that's you know been in our neighborhood for decades and um we're really looking forward to a successful and fun season. So I don't know if anyone else has any comments or anything else to share. Yeah, I have a
comment um if you don't mind. Um and that is I would really like to thank um the administrator and uh Tiana Miss Capone for all the work they've done to get this to where we are. This is an exciting prospect. I think uh this
professional management who knows how to run a nonprofit and uh and uh not not intentionally but uh to a great degree Colony Pool has been a nonprofit of sorts. uh this this I think is a very powerful thing and and uh what people don't see necessarily is how much work
had to go into this. Uh so I would like to uh throw some kudos out to our administrator and our township of attorney. Yeah, I'd also um just add that um I'm sure we'll all add something here, but
um uh we've heard a lot from a lot of residents about Colony Pool over the last I guess since I've been in this position, which is about a year, two months or so. Um it's taken up a lot of time for everybody. Um there have been a lot of issues that have happened with
Colony Pool in terms of management as well as the concession stands not living up to par. Um I think these actions tonight um are direct response to that in a nothing but a super positive way
that um will uh provide a lot of relief to everybody and not take away from the essence or the soul of Colony Pool at the same time. I think this is a big big win for a lot of reasons. Um so in addition to what the deputy mayor said
in terms of professionalism to the pool, um I know there may be some concerns about the um uh the uh what word am I looking for? Um I guess the essence of the pool and kind of what it represents.
uh and none of us see uh any of that changing uh only it being enhanced and improved uh and making it a better place for everyone to visit uh during the hot summer days which are really hard to imagine right now since it's so freezing cold outside right now. But uh I'll
second the uh the kudos to the administration and the legal team as well who have really done an exceptional job to get us to this point tonight. >> Um I guess I'll I'll jump in as well. Um and I echo uh all the appreciation and the sentiments to our administration uh
and to the team who's been working on this. Um we really spent a lot of time talking through uh this arrangement and trying to make it um the you know a wonderful experience for all of our
members at Colony. um where I was a longtime with my family and it's a a cherished part of our kids experience, our family experience here in Chattam Township and you know as everybody's mentioned so far the intent was really to just uh expand upon that. We're we're
working with a uh tried andrue tested uh recreation management company effectively. That's what the wide does and they have a huge uh bench of uh folks with varied experiences in recreation. So, we're excited. You know, we talk about rebuilding the tennis
camps and we talk about having pickle ball and we talk about having, you know, bringing back yoga. These are all things that they could do with ease. Um so, we really saw this as expanding on, you know, all the wonderful things that we already have at Colony. Uh and they're
they're fully on board with um you know maintaining things like our fees so we don't have to worry about uh some crazy thing going on with fees um you know and in maintaining that kind of family environment and and the um the spirit and the atmosphere we have there now. I
mean I think they appreciate uh what a special place it is. So uh we're excited to work with them and we're hoping the members are excited to work with them to just continue to build on uh everything that's wonderful about Colony. I without trying to be repetitive, I I will try to add some substantive new
perspectives. I think uh every now and then you get good fortune and I think this is a prime example of uh good fortune and a lot of hard work uh to bring to bear what I think is um potentially very fruitful um cooperative agreement with a community partner,
community partner that's been operating uh in this area for a vast number of years. uh highly reputable uh incredibly well resourced particularly when it comes to uh pool facilities uh pool assets. Um you may or may not know but they recently expanded their pools at
the Y. Um so um as committee woman Ewald inferred, they do have substantial resources and and uh a very strong reputation as an operator. Um and the ability to have them uh run uh what we clearly all
understand as a treasured asset in our township uh to enhance uh the program there um and bring to bear really a vast um uh capability in terms of resources, experience. uh I think we've experienced
I think the limitations and some of the challenges with um you know kind of smallcale operations. Um so I think this is uh a fortuitous uh and as fortuitous and potentially um uh beneficial uh
partnership. So, um I think it's pretty clear that uh all the members here on the committee are in full support of it. Uh and we've got uh super high expectations and look forward to uh kicking off 20 2026 uh on the right foot here.
>> Um one other thing just as a note in case people aren't aware that the YMCA is a nonprofit organization. this isn't meant uh as a revenue um mass generator for them uh as well too. So I know there were some concerns out there
about uh branding or things that will actually increase the revenue or increase fees and as others have mentioned uh things are not changing in that regard too. um they're not out for uh making a profit here in given their
nonprofit status. Uh as well as uh lifeguards and others that are currently employed by Colony Pool will get sort of preferential consideration from the Y uh to continue those employment opportunities as well too. >> Thank you. >> And just a quick comment on the
concessions. Um it it was not lost on on this committee the the feedback feedback uh that we've received over the uh past season. Um we hear you. Um I personally met with several members and I know other members on the committee have done so as well.
So um you know we look to uh take decisive action to write the ship here um as quickly and effectively as possible. Um and I think the first step here was um uh uh concluding the relationship uh with the prior uh vendor
and putting ourselves in a position to um find another one or entertain other viable options uh that would be suitable to the membership base at Colony. Um so um not just the agreement with the Y as an operator for Colony uh but also um
putting ourselves in in hopefully a uh a position to um make the concessionary services there uh much improved from from the prior season. >> Appreciate that. Thank you and former Mayor Troy for all the work that you did, all the conversations you had with
the Y last year to get us to this point. And definitely um every member of this committee did ask a lot of questions and um really in the best intention of what Colony Pool could be for our township
and to have as few headaches as possible. So I appreciate all the work that everybody did to get us to this point. We're really excited. So now we will be working on these individually. So is there a motion to approve
resolution 202657? >> Make a motion to approve uh 2026-057. >> And I'll second that. >> If we could just uh read the title since that was not listed on the agenda. So we did, >> right?
>> We did >> the whole thing. >> I read all three of them at the beginning of this discussion. >> Okay. Just so we know which is which. >> Yeah. This is the termination of the colleague concession. >> Okay.
>> So Mr. Peritz, >> yes. >> Mr. Choy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Zwald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mchugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. Okay, moving on to 2026-058. This is the resolution to
um authorize a bid for the concession stand for the upcoming season. Is there a motion to approve resolution 2026-058? >> So move. >> I'll second. >> Mr. Oper,
>> yes. >> Mr. Troy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Zold. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Roland. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Uh the next is there a motion to approve resolution 2026-059
which is related to entering into the agreement with the Madison area YMCA for management of the colony pool. >> So I move. >> I'll second. >> Mr. El Peruritz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Troy. >> Yes. Mrs. Huald,
>> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Would now like to move to the second hearing of citizens. The same rules
apply as stated previously. There anyone online? >> Yes. Uh first up is uh Mr. Carr. I saw your hand first. Hi, Stuart Carr from three Crestwood Drive in Chattam Township. Once again,
one followup and again uh thank you for the double uh bringing that up a couple years ago, the double uh comment period in the same uh uh same session to enable those of us with less than uh stellar attention spans to be able to remember something else. Um on the open space
trust fund issue, again, that is a little bit time sensitive because obviously we have the 2026 budget uh being crafted by um uh Mr. Shahadi and Miss King and and the group. And again, I'd like to have consideration of moving
those items out of the open space trust fund back into the operating budget in time for the calendar 2026 budget. And obviously, if there's disagreement with that, that's fine. But I'd like to propose to have some public discussion about that well before early March or
mid-March whenever the uh budget comes out in order that we can do kind of a fisher cut bait on the issue of getting that back into the operating budget and having the two cents exclusively for acquisition debt service and preservation of open space. Thanks again for everybody's time and terrific work
on this uh colony pool thing with the Madison Y. It sounds like it'd be a terrific initiative. Thank you again. >> Okay. And next up, uh, Mrs. Berggo. >> Hi. Can you hear me?
>> Yes. >> Okay. Aaron Berggo, Candace Lane. Um, I'm calling tonight to say, uh, that I'm happy Colony is finally getting some much needed attention. um very happy to hear that we are breaking ties with the
former concessions vendor. But I I do also want to say that I'm um not thrilled in the least that this decision about bringing in the Madison Y was done um completely behind closed
doors without any transparency. Um, I am the chair of the Colony Pool Advisory Committee and we were not involved at all, let alone the members or other citizens in town. And I I it sounds like we're not going to have an opportunity to have any input either because the
ordinance was already voted on. So, it was introduced, voted on, and no opportunity for public comment. It's just really disappointing. I hope it's a good relationship. Um, I'm going to try to be optimistic, but I just wish there could have been some transparency, some
public involvement, especially from those of us that go to the pool and spend hours at the pool. >> Okay. >> Anything else? >> Thank you. Are there any other comments? Uh, we have no other hands raised.
>> No other hands raised. Okay. And if there's no one else that wants to come up to the mic in the room, uh, then I guess we can close the second hearing of citizens. >> Do we I'm sorry. Do we respond to anything along those lines? I mean, can we or should we to her comment?
I mean, I just loosely speaking, I I mean, as much as I can, I think that there are high sensitivities to what can and cannot be discussed when you're in a contract negotiation phase. And while I'm sure all of us would have loved to
involve a larger committee, there are only so many things that can be done. And I think limiting this contract to a one-year agreement um allows that opportunity to see how it all feels for everybody's sake. And this
is not the end of the discussion. It's actually kind of the beginning of the discussion. Um, so I I think what I'm trying to communicate is I can totally appreciate and understand where that message is coming from, but sitting now
in this chair, uh, being kind of new to this, um, there really are not a whole lot of opportunities to involve members of the public prior to a contract negotiation actually being discussed and formed. Uh, and I just think it's
important that it's communicated. >> That's all. >> Yeah. I mean, just to add to that, I did have an opportunity, you know, knowing that this was coming up to speak to some members of the colony advisory committee, unfortunately, not until yesterday. And as everybody knows, I've
been haunting this committee and our administrator and our attorney asking when we could speak to the advisory board. you know, we we are fully aware and it's of course most prudent to get people involved who are going to be impacted, but unfortunately when you're dealing with contracts uh and the and
the Y had their own board that they had to deal with. So, uh unfortunately, you know, this was, you know, the best that we could do and uh Craig brought up a good point. We did build into the contract that ability and they have it as well to terminate after a year. So,
you know, we entered we we had to engage in a new management contract. Um, and the the Y is expert in doing this. I mean, and they're doing it for decades. And many in our community, I mean, we've definitely spent many years at the, you
know, Madison Y uh and had great experiences there. And I know many others in the community, as a matter of fact, the people I've spoken to, many have had great experience. So, um, I think it's a positive and I think if we all kind of work towards it, I mean, it's going to be a I'm excited for a great year. We're going to have new concession. We're going to have a new
pool. Uh, we're going to have a new management company and hopefully they can bring in some new and fun programs. So, uh, yeah, I I would hope everybody would stay pro positive and work with us to try and make it the best experience and just keep building on that. Thank you.
Okay. If nothing else, uh, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Yeah. So, moved. >> I'll second from >> to leave. >> All in favor? >> I >> I
>> I >> Thank you. >> Good night, everybody. >> Good night. Thank you.