thank you Al and it just connect great uh welcome members of the public you got to talk to me first sorry we good recording in progress okay thank you Mr lanti welcome members of the public we concluded our executive
session and now on the public session portion of our meeting if we could all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation godible withy and justice for
all we shall proceed to the first hearing of citizens Mr lanti could you kindly provide guidance members of the public are now welcomed 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 are watching via Zoom he may speak during the any of the public comment sessions by following the zoom instructions to raise your hand whether in person or online when you are recognized to speak
please mind the following procedures 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 3 minutes rather than any of your time uh rather than use using 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 3 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 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 thanks Mr lante do we have uh any written statements or anyone online uh no hands raised online thank you Mr M I now invite uh members of the public should they desire
to uh come before the mic and make a statement I see no one coming before the mic I shall now close the first hearing of citizens we move on to reports Mr Mr Shah thank you mayor uh I would
recommend mayor if uh okay with you that we start off with our engineer um since he is here and on the clock um agre is okay yes welcome Mr rushki yes always mindful
mind thank you John just be careful your pH all right um so uh John did provide his report and there are a few items uh that we would like to discuss are there any questions for his report though first the general the monthly report before we
get the WPC and the road and we also talk because it's so old this is just for my own clarification on the uh the safe routes grants and where we are in the 2014 a laf at Spring Street where does that actually run yeah
wow those been going on for a long time and and basically the the um the Lafayette Spring Street Project 2014 that that's uh from the um where the trail comes out by the first aid
Squad um it's going to be a path a sidewalk that would continue to Lafayette so it made that interconnection and then the um near the the school up by Pine from Pine to Shunpike that section on the east side
of the road we have so another sidewalk on the opposite side correct okay that's where my question comes correct is there is there neighbor support for that um there's mix support for that um there was one or two neighbors that that uh we had multiple public hearings on this application when we were going through
the process and um and in fact some of those objetives have um moved so so it it's um and some of the concerns that they had um with trees some of the trees actually have been removed from storm damage so it's it's kind of
um the concerns that were raised were were were somewhat diminished over the years and and where we stand with these it's been a nightmare frankly regarding these safe route to school projects um the 2014 I believe we bid it four times
and every time we've bit it the contractors um have incorrectly submitted uh some of the federal forms that are required and if they don't complete those forms correctly um we cannot award it and so we we have the last round uh we received it on January
9th we received the bids do has yet to provide comments if they the bids are acceptable or not and I just emailed them recently with Z so we're going to try and give a little push on that because it is unexcusable how long it takes for them to review bids you know they're simple forms that you can should
be able to review and determine has he fill them out correctly or not um so hopefully we're going to get an answer on on that and then with the timing of such it may work out well that the project will hopefully happen this year during the summertime when school's out
okay so the the other two um the 2016 Grant um we we had a uh the these are grants for both um design and for um construction and the design portion was
done through a consultant that was retained by the do and uh they they they completed the design and and uh the do had questions on the the consultant's work and that dragged on
for a while to to resolve that and and uh it's back with the deal you know the revision of plans have been changed and and they're with the do to review those final set of drawings for 2016 and so um that's where we stand so hopefully and and that Shunpike as as it
it says in the report you know one one's basically on the North side the south side of of of shanike and the 2018 unfortunately their position is is that they're not going to uh you know push that project along and until the 2016 is is completed out the b not done but at
least completed and and ready to go out to bid when you say today you're ref do thank you do okay thank you so I wish I had more positive things the report but I've been think I've been reporting that for the last 10 years it seems well that's that's good game PR much
yeah any other questions on his report yeah on that same subject Mr rushki so on the website there's there's there was a video presentation which covers some of not all this work um but there is no I I don't believe there are any
references to actual designs or schematics or visual representations of what what the project is okay so for the benefit of members of the public is that something that might be you know selective documents or I schematics that might U be available and published on
the website for for the public to review at least what being considered they may have been there already but in the migration the files are there still putting files where they belong so I I think they were up there I thought they were too but we'll make sure that the most current ones are there and just
follow up with that yeah what I saw was just a uh a video presentation which was good yeah we had folders for each uh project and supposed to be files in there for that so I'll confirm great thank you that would be appreciated okay anything else on the
report John was there anything you want to highlight from that report or that's it um no I I I just mentioned the tax maps that we had they uh it just that the the tax maps the the the we went back to um you know we've been going
through multiple revisions with with the state and the state actually uh came back you know they they've actually it was more than just updating the tax map it was a reconstruction of the tax map we actually added multiple sheets and and so they they kind of went back from
day one of reconstructing the tax map so I I am I do unfortunately have to ask for a budget amendment on the tax maps because the the work just ended up being far more significant than what was anticipated so um I'm just work you know we we have a final version uh that went
to the state We believe We we've addressed all their their com to date I'm just we wanted to get assurance that when I come for a budget amendment that it's a final Amendment and that they'll have to bring it up again so it may be something that next month or hopefully we just get a letter out to you
regarding that um all right so then moving on um we'll start off with the uh I guess we'll do some of the easier stuff the 20125 road resurfacing program let's start with that one um this is just giving you as the governing
body and to start the dialogue in the public on the roads that we're looking at for the 2025 uh Road Improvement program uh kind of give you an overview of the process again for those that are new as well and those that may not recall uh this is part of the planning
process for the capital right this is the the road work that John assesses with Rich we have a matrix of all the roads that they evaluate every year and they look at the the top ones that are really bad trying to fit in based off of linear you know length of the roads and
how bad they are how much Works within a reasonable budget we are planning again this year $500,000 in road work um and then after we adopt the budget then we adopt capital and then we will do a resolution to award a contract most
likely to the county uh Co-op uh contract winner to do that work um so this right now is just to give you a sneak peek and see if you have any feedback on the roads before on moves ahead with starting to come up with final documents for them so uh you have
before you his his roads for 2025 and um along with cost estimates and and some additional technical details um as I mentioned it's been reviewed by John and Rich from DPW uh and they are we all concur that
these are the roads but if you any opinions or request us to reconsider something we welcome that so I can just EXP on that and let's see do do you have any questions or concerns or on the roads
yeah your hand oh May yes thank you um so I I just want to make sure I follow the the numbers correctly so uh the contribution so 160,000 listed for Hillside that would be the contribution from the townships outside of the
correct funds right correct correct and then um 319 for River Road or well actually is that part of that's not part okay that's where I'm getting at so then if 319 is out then we're looking at about 448 in terms of correct uh right
Capital correct for the township okay so 44 okay wonderful I understand okay so I missed that because I saw something like two where where's the difference I'm missing the difference I saw two
288 I finally got that dag sorry uh paragraph C there's 288 uh so those are those are town roads that John's recommend are five roads totaling 288 but in addition uh there is
the 160 uh to cover the balance of the grant for Hillside Avenue so we got a grant from the dot but we have to pay a portion of that okay so that's where uh you get the 288 and the 160 got it thank you yeah because Hillside they we do
have some uh additional drainage work that we're doing and that's why that cost is a little higher it's it's a little higher than usual just because we're doing that drainage drainage work and how does that compare to W year expend in terms of the total amount expend plan expend it's about the same
right John you know we target 500 um we come in a little under and the balance of it tends to be whether it might be potholes curbing you know things come up during the year uh that you know maybe replacement of whatever manhole resetting certain things because it's
all part of that road work that we're setting aside that road work Capital Improvement project that's where we tap in from those extra funds okay yeah when we add in the dot and the amount of square footage that we're Paving it's from a 10,000 foot level that's a
reasonable amount to be sustainable of making sure that we're keeping up with the roads we're not letting them deteriorate to to a point where we're reconstructing them um it's it's a u it's reasonable amount that we're allocating each year and John does a great job with estimating them but they
are still also estimates so if you never know what happens we'd rather be slightly under have you know 500 budgeted and that way we're not you know in the middle of a project trying to figure out where we're going to take money from make end me this year we had actually reduction I think you guys the
change order last meeting uh that was the change order that we did right last correct meeting before there was a couple thousand reduction but you never know what happens yeah one of the because these are unit price contracts and we don't we do an estimate approximate square footage of the road
so we can calculate it but um one of the big variables that we're we're obligated to pay under the New Jersey public contract law is is the um an asphalt adjustment and a fuel adjustment and some some years it's it's a break even other years you know there there's been
years where it' be substantial deficit where we had to really pay a lot more for that for that that cost so um there there was at least one year going back where it was questionable if we should even go forward with it because the fuel charge was so significant um but we watch that and we'll bring it to your
attention if something like that happens again but okay and our goal is to have a contract awarded so that we have the work done before school starts that's that's our goal but it all depends on the budget process and uh where we fit
in line in the queue we tried to like last year we tried to be very quick to get first in queue with with the contractor because that contractor is doing towns all over the county and U yeah this year the uh it's it's was the contract was won by Tilcon which is
large enough to do you know multiple contracts the contract that had it last year it was Riverside Paving who was just a smaller contractor and he in fact didn't get to all the towns that uh you know put in for request for pavement so we were actually frankly lucky have
several towns that I know we made a call yeah well we made a call yeah call we did we did um I'm make sure I'm reading this right so it's just the roads review the final recommendations right the 60
through whatever 64 from Del down that's his but was AO included so be these one two three four five these roads and then that one so for the benefit of residents because I don't know they this we're talking about Delwood Farm Road Ferndale Wexford and
overl as well as I was just doesn't look that way I was just curious if with the detours in place right now we that create any of those roads create
further aggravation of drivers uh even for lied period of time it doesn't that way yeah it shouldn't it shouldn't most these roads they're they're Mill and paid within a day they're milled and then the day they're paved so it goes quickly so yeah section D is just roads
that were it just kind of gives the committee an idea of where roads are likely going to be on next year's list and then the only other question comment I have is we keep deprioritizing Britain Road yeah I was gonna bring that one up because we keep waiting
for the rolling NOS you know some kind of resolution yet EPA to come back and that's just been dragging dragging dragging so uh and who knows where that goes in the current political environment so um but I don't know that people complain maybe but it's it's a
mess my world's a mess yeah and the DPW does keep up with the potholes and to do what they can to to patch it you know they do a reasonable job patching it and keeping it uh you know just just safe and but it's you know but like I said people have not been
complaining not that you know they we should be waiting for people to complain to pay a road but you know it is a concern that you know we really that that could be another 20 years before that super fun happens so maybe it is something that we ground yeah just just
kind of bite bite the bullet and just do that one and just or is there a cheaper way aside from between patching and repaving is there some you we we can we you not from a from Brit you know it really needs a
structural repair we could do like micro Paving and stuff all that does is seal the road and makes it and prolongs it but it's not going to Britney's at the point where and and the amount of cracking in the road it wouldn't be uh it wouldn't be worthwhile doing it we're not going to get any substantial benefit
by doing it you know we would do it and then we would the results within a year or two we'll see it start cracking again so it really does need a millon pave yeah and the worry if we paved it is that you trucks would be going through to the road's going the road's
going to be destroyed when Once the trucks start coming they hundreds of Tandem trucks are going to be running through it and so they're going to ultimately do that and will the EPA fix the road possibly as part of that negotiation that we have with them that they they damaged the road but yeah I
mean best case once if apaa came back again minimum two I can imagine we're not going to get the letter probably before the end of the year um I talked to our attorney on that today actually so we're probably looking anything actually happening you know a few years
out yeah yeah do we want to put that I mean I don't even know that where we put it but relative to River Road we have the a gr not River Road sorry Hillside is submitted that Grant oh was awarded was
awarded so it would have to make up for you know because of its budget 112 we'd have to take out about that much of Roads from from the budget so let's say it's you know you either take out three roads or two roads it seems like is the
easiest way to do it I feel like you could take out four and five and replace it with that it's not an exact amount but it's 8,000 off we have we've got that cushion if you want to do something like that John do you have thoughts on that
or yeah well you're right it's it's otherwise we just have to increase the amount we want to do this year it's it's we can't increase the amount because I'm presenting the bud we cannot that's fa enough fa enough it is
taken out it's Tak out two roads and and you know Britain Road a lot of times when you have a road of this size sometimes a lot of hous will break it into two phases you know do do do one phase this year another phase next year so we could you know possibly think of that but then again we're
taking out two roads at that yeah well if you dried in half and maybe you're just taking out Overlook and just uh that Al just may raise more questions conc yeah I I would suggest if we commit to it a full lot yeah one less scene
especially going right across um the so so uh consideration of substitute it for the equivalent dollar amount or putting a stake in and committing to adding it uh next cycle
yeah would be the two considerations you don't have to make a decision now but uh we've got time but it yeah we got time on that but we don't want to forget about that and uh okay and I can also talk to to Rich and
see if he can just maintain it one more year just just to and then we just can one more year if it's to make that work we take a close look at it I mean if there's is there would be the best way so is there a consensus is for for additional discussion and then maybe
Circle back with Mr rushy where I'm sorry I does it waren having uh a bit more of a dis discussion on on the subject matter and then circling back with Mr rushki yeah I mean things like these if there's no factual in there's nothing
more dating you need than what are you punching than to maybe sleep on it or if you want to consult with anybody but I mean how does it as it stands now how does it look what is is there a feeling one way or the other if people the five of you don't have an A
Feeling one way or the other or do you have a preference if You' got the preference then we can make the decision tonight I mean I I'm not familiar enough with the conditions of in all of these roads so I I think I need over
personally to me so maybe you want to drive around and then we can revisit this in April okay yeah if we're not on Rush that would be okay excellent I I will say a final note that Mr rushki and and Z during my time here
the the planning process for this has gone quite well from what I've observed um it's it's been disciplined we've stayed uh very tight to the number if not underneath which I'd love to see uh as far as planning and budget um so hat off thank you to uh the
controls and processes here thank you very much um so that's that for roads we'll revisit that in a workshop in April um this one's a big one uh actually before we get to that one let's do pool real quick so um we do have a little bit
of time on that recap John John and I were were talking and trying to recap as far as whether there was a consensus as to what to do with the pool walls and um you know we've heard from from the members of the last meeting um I think what John I don't speak for you but I
think what we agreed upon is that we just make an ink kind replacement leave things as is um unless there's any further modifications to the walls that are requested would the stairs be included in those yeah that's there a lot of
things that's the one that's the stairs uh so I think we there's only one set of stairs on The Snack Shack side and so people wanted at least another set of stairs on The Snack Shack side on The Snack Shack side well there's one there
already there's one there already yeah the thought the thought was in kind you we'll just do it similar we'll keep the same am steps we'll keep all the side slopes we'll do everything it's just the one side by where we have the laps at the very end of that wall it's very steep I'll just you know settle that out
so that all the side slopes are uniform and just kind of keep keep it the general config that it's in now okay because I thought we also had a safety issue again on the Snack Shack Snack Shack side where in the deep end um you
know where there's been some concerns that kids can't be seen I know there was a little one who kind of was sinking there and some adults saw them because but the message that I heard was there was not good visibility so there was some discussion about whether or not to straighten that
out somehow so that at least in that little section by the um by the diving boards okay and then the other area we were talking about that I thought uh the members were on board was the vertical
wall over on the lap L side but where we left off was I mean got mean that was the feedback but I didn't know that we there was a consensus on those that's why you know we want to come back and ask is there a consensus from you as to what you want us to do on this with the
with the uh going from slope on the uh on the swim lane side going from the slope to the straight um would that be a significant cost differential probably less expensive to do you know vertical walls versus the slopes yeah the slopes going to become more difficult to pour
right yeah okay thanks so is there a consensus on why don't we recirculate that less set of drwings because we're trying to everybody's trying to stir up their m
okay there is a version of the drawings on the website so if we can put that up we did have them on the there is a drawing I don't know it reflects yeah I frankly don't recall was a set of drawings we did put
that on the website um but it's in any event let let's put a a singular version that we're all going to critically consider yeah and put that on the website whether that's the current version on the website or a different
version what what's our decision timeline on this to do the project obviously we'd like to authorize the bid Well we'd ra like to award the bid no later than July August okay so if you go back from there and let's say a
month that John month of being public right so now let's say July to give us Au cushion back to June and then may authorization to bid right yeah we need yeah the sooner we go out to bid the better cuz what happens if we have to
rebid because of a problem and then sometimes it it takes a contractor time to get the contractor signed get all the bonds in place the insurance and that takes time so sooner the better I I would love to go out the bid in April if we could yeah yeah well we also said
originally we said we were going to survey the broader community so at a minimum we want to post this and get input from the but the survey was going to be not on the drawing on the broader Community because they don't the at least what I had envisioned was the survey was more on planning from the
pool perspective overall right like it's why member we're asking everybody in town that people don't go there they don't know what the pool's like what their input's not going to be they may not weigh in we have the email address of those members but for the broader Community was more of for long-term
capital planning for the pool you know what sort of improvements do we want to make at the pool what are priorities for the pool what would attract more members to the pool I certainly left off that that was going to go hand in hand with this because it would seem that you're going to have Capital plan to improve
the pool facilities that that would go hand in hand with this survey that's where I kind of left off last yeah I that's again I mean I emailed you on that we can chat later about it that's now what the intent of what I had envisioned when I said survey because I was the one that chimed in and
said we're going to do a community survey it was more of capital planning and you guys saw that two of you saw was more of you know broad Strokes what are priorities for the township rather than specific plans for the pool because again if these families
aren't members they're not going to the pool they're either not going to care about it they're not going to weigh in or they don't doesn't affect them they don't know there more of how do we get those people that are not members to consider joining okay and so I mean we could pivot on it
but um you know again as long as we if we're if this group comes up with a consensus and then we're posting that and giving the public time to their input then that's fine okay so John uh will we will recirculate the the last set of plans
you remember what they were it was I I thought they were just having the now it was the it was upgraded it was upgraded to just show the vertical wall by by the the the swimming lanes and then going back to that side walls side slopes and
so it was I thought we did update it based on our last discussion so I'll check that okay okay all right uh okay now the Beast the WPC
memo uh so this is uh set the stage this is the product of uh John's work or John and his team's work on the uh contract we authorized them for them to do which was to prepare preliminary design and
cost estimates for planning for the next phase which would be to go to the ibank um and so John conducted his report there's the memo John yeah so um just as history the plant was constructed in the
1960s and in the 19 in about 1990s uh there was a major um upgrade of the plant um for two reasons one there was changes in in regulations and then the plant was also increased in capacity to accomodate to credential Center that has
now drw the farms you know so credential actually paid for that some of that Improvement in 1990 to have that done so there was some there some major improvements in the 90s and we haven't had any major improvements you know we've been up upkeeping various components but we never had any really
major renovations to the plant until you know we're proposing now um we're looking at three different components in the plant um the the headworks the headworks is basically um everything flows to the um to the plant by gravity
and then and then at the headworks is basically a pump station that pumps it up to a gradient in the in the high the highest treatment part in the plant which then it flows through gravity through the plant so it's just a I'm going to lift the water up to a high point again so that it flows gravity
through the plant to treat it it's it's the um basically we have pumps in there we have a common U that grinds it up and um so we don't have any other treatment at that at that point at the head works and so um which is uncommon it really is
an older design that you know the way it was done and and one thing with the head works is that it is a um it's frankly it's it's 60 years old we certainly got it service life out of you know we had out of this component but it also is it's a it's a confined space very
difficult to operate the equipment um you actually have to stand on a small elevator that brings you down into the into the uh into the lower level in order to to work on it so um it is something that that it's it's at its useful life it's it's not a very um you
know employee friendly sense from from a safety aspect when you're working on these pumps in such a confined space that that so so with this we're we were proposing to have a a more modern um design of a headwork system system which which also incorporates um removing um
rags and other solids out of the system before it gets it gets passed on into the treatment process because right now um rags and other components they they they all they are is grinded up and then pumped into the the treatment and then we're we're adding that sludge and that
those larger rags and such it's just Havoc to the pumps and so you know if we can remove that and and remove those solids um the treatment system will work better in the sense that you know less mechanical you know potential for mechanical problems and other issues so so it's it's it's an expansion of the
pump system where um no longer there'll be an elevator that you have to co down to to service the pumps and service the commuters but it would um be a a large concrete structure where you would go into a stairwell and you can walk down
safely and work on the equipment and come back up so it's it's a larger larger component so so it's uh and and like I said the it's right now it's basically a tin can in the ground it's just a matter of time before the steel the steel is starting to show some some
corrosion so it's at its useful life it is something that we have to uh replace um another component that we're looking at is um and again this has not been touched since the 1960s is the head Works what also hasn't been touched
since the 1960s as the primary clarifier and that's that's the first treatment compon component in in the in the treatment train and and that also is is has not been and no major modification to that over the years and if you go up and look at it it looks like it's 60
years old you know even even the the rack itself is starting to tilt by because it's it's rotted out and and it's just something that just needs to be replaced at this point in time so that's a that's one of the component and and then the last is is this is actually towards the end of the treatment train
of of of the various different treatment process is that the uh post ation we're aerating the uh treated effluent before it it's discharge is um that tank is also it's an older tank um there some minor modifications were done to it in
in the 90s but nothing major um it just it's a Concrete well wet well we're not looking at a complete replacement of that but um a lot of the equipment is the original equipment the walls need to be repaired and things so that's not a major you know rip out replace but
that's a just a major overhaul of that that facility so so we we come up with with an estimate of of the cost and and the cost you know we developed that working with the uh the operator of the plant and looking at um you know what's a practical way of of addressing all all
of these um and so we came up with a cost and and ultimately like like Z said it's it's a very substantial Improvement at this point um the the estimated cost is is in the $6 million range which would includes you know the financial cost the legal cost the engineering cost
the bonding and such and the we've added some contingencies also and that just to make sure so you know the step would be is to go through the New Jersey I Bank um New Jersey I bank is is a very um it's very lucrative in the sense that
you get a very low interest rate for for borrowing to to do infrastructure basically it's it's a um you're going out to to um going out to bond for you know AAA and you get a very good rate um when they go out the bond but then half
of that is bonded the other half is is supplied by the federal government at a 0% loan so you're taking a very good rate that going out for a bond sale plus zero and you're adding it up so it's usually about half of what you would get do so it's a very lucrative um financing
program um there is some bells and whistles with that program because that comes with the federal component and and typically um you wouldn't go you wouldn't utilize this program for a small project for you know usually a lot of people say 50 thou $500,000 if it's
less than that then with all the the red tape that you go through with to go close on the loan it's not worth it it's just it's almost the benefits that you get from the from the low interest rate you're paying for all the other things that you have to do planning documents and other things with the federal requirements but but above that it is a
it is a very economical means of doing that so there is basically a process that we have to go through through and so um you know if we want to move forward with this project you know the next step would be to actually um prepare U preliminary plants and
specifications we do have some permitting that's associated with it uh because the entire plant is located in the wetlands transition area so there are some Wetlands permits that need to be addressed um and then the loan process itself the the loan is is you know it's like filling out a mortgage go
through all these these these forms of paperworks we do have to do a planning document and there's a number of steps that you have to go through um we wouldn't anticipate this having a component of major cultural resources because sometimes you get pulled into a
chipo and they get pulled in with other components of the federal requirement you have to do an archaological study as part of it but we didn't have to do that because we took a loan out when we did the E Pump Station when we abandoned chatt and Blen plant we took the same Loan program and so we didn't have to do any extensive so we don't anticipate
doing those extensive studies either because we we just didn't have to do it the last time so um yeah that's the general process first process is getting a scope of work and proposal to do all that work correct correct so that way you can
consider that that uh correct contract and then yeah that that's you know because that that's you know what's typically done is is their seed money just to get the the the preliminary design done so they're not bid ready drawings plans and specs but they're enough to start the loan process to show
that that that that it's enough to to get get into the loan process and it's a substantial amount of work you get you get that but it gets you into the loan process and then once you're in the loan process then there's funds you can pull out of the loan to finalize the design and finalize everything associated with it and pay for the planning documents
and such John in the in the uh looking at the risks of time from what you've looked at um is there anything that um says we have to move sooner rather than later it's any any danger any kind of imminent failure
um oh that's hard to predict but I don't want you to prove me but no we've we've we've uh you know we've tried to bring things to the committee before the intimate failure is going to happen you know you know this this is not something that I would
recommend kicking the can to another year or two it's it's we're at a point it's this year where we really should be doing this because we've been talking about this for at least two years three years and so it it is time I don't think we've waited too long but I I don't want
I would not and there's time just to get us to that point oh yeah yeah exactly bringing it back yeah the I Bank application is is is cumbersome take time you know by time by time funding is set for the preliminary design and we do that and we get through the lawn this it's going to be a 2026
construction yeah but uh but we've um but yeah I I know think we it's something that we need to expedite you know we can still think the normal course which we're recommending the budgets and go for the process thank you then what's the
um I guess life expectancy I guess of like say we did everything and you know gave the okay like how how long can you barely bre easy for before you feel like you're going to have to approach oh it's it's going to well you're going to these
these the concrete head wall had you know this were last um 60 70 you the actual concrete that we pour you that's going to be you know pumps some pumps can only last maybe 20 years so you know we've be replacing pumps and you know we've even replace plumps and the
headworks and things but more more of but replacing plumps is maintenance you know that's that's up so we wouldn't be looking at um you know these is you know these three components once we do this work there wouldn't be any major Renovations for for within our lifetime
it's it's many years okay and what's the I mean the loan process of that is uh how long of a term of a loan is it's 20 years it's 20 years so originally when you were doing
rough kind of draft of what needed to get done the number was 10 million is this the prioritize or or is it just we have a tighter estimate well we we have a tighter estimate and and uh you know we kind of reeled it frankly we real in the operator of what he wants he
wants to need to what he what he wants versus what he needs and so we kind of reeled that in and and so and that that was kind of this exercise is that um I do have preliminary sketches and such of what what is proposed so we're able to sit down with him and just go over
exactly what what is necessary and uh you know come up with what's reasonable so that's why we we got back it's it was you know it was look the the the highend versus the worst case scenario versus okay now we're looking at and and and the Six Million May I think six million
is is a reasonable number that six million you know will it go down to five or certain going to try to make it go down to five you know we're going to look at Value engineering as we go through the process and where we can save costs and try to reduce that further um and ultimately when you you you make bond for six million But
ultimately you close on the final amount so that final amount may actually be less um so it you you'll end up closing on the whatever the the final costs are on the project okay is there anything else in your that that's left out of this that
you really wish you could do I mean I guess to your your point you reeled them in a little bit so this you know this is I I think this is I'm not looking for more money no no I no we a slashed a lot out of this it's we we've we've balanced
you know what what the what the Practical needs are and so you know there there there could have been additional um you know things that could have been added to this but there was really no value to it um um you know one of the things that initially we're talking about is removing um having not
just the rags but also look at you know pulling out sediment and and you know anything that stones and things that that that is common on some of the larger plants but we really don't see that amount of accumulation occurring in the plant and in fact we we we have that
going to into the primary clarifier and and and periodically we pump out the the primary clarifier where they're being collected right now and it's not a substantial amount so to invest that money to keep take it out of the headworks where it's not being an issue it just you know those types of things
that you know we we could have had it but it just it was it was something that we really didn't need so those are the things that we started to look at is is what is there truly a need and you know and U so yeah I just want to ask from a
financial perspective um you know given we're talking about half uh no interest rate and then the other half low which I assume is low relative to Municipal Norm Municipal Bond funding so not that we want to bypass cheap
funds but WPC is in good Financial shape and I think they're sitting on a bit of fund so but we're still looking to access debt for the entirety of the Six Million I gu yes yeah okay because there's other this is not the only Capital project this is the capital
project that John's working on with respect to larger I things that would really Merit ibank work there's still other things I mean you'll see for example today uh looking to replace some pumps and motors over there and and we have some generators to replace on the
pump station so there there's other work in the system right and there are other things that come up so you know we don't and you know yes there's some money in there but nowhere near um it's in good shape it's not great shape financially but we we don't expect we're going to
have to raise sewer fees we need to do a rate study especially when you undertake a project of this magnitude you really should undertake a rate study I don't know when the last time in fact I can tell you just from knowing that the ordinances written on our books where we still have you know essentially like two
districts we still have two taxing districts granted they're still the same the the rate is the same but we have two taxing districts so you really need to do some clean up on that when we're taking on debt of this magnitude also you want to make sure that you your rates are looking forward to being able
to pay those as well as any other operating expenses so while we're good now probably when we finish this or or concurrent I think we should really look at doing a rate study and that would realign the rates that backs a
question what entails a rate study um I mean a rate study will look at a lot of things not just um infrastructure and future improvements current improvements debt um payment history over I mean
money you're just diving into all the the num it like whether it's more like looking at as a business operation and because it's a utility and it's supposed to be self- sustaining now and for the future you want to make sure that the rates that you've got ensure that it
will continue to be a self- sustaining self liquidating operation yeah I mean given I don't think those rates have moved I don't think the entire time I've lived here definitely in a long time that's a big sign that you really are due for rate study but I also know
financially we were in great shape so I but that again that now you're depleting that great you know we've been depleting that slowly over the years um I don't know how it used to look 10 years ago 15 years ago I know again it looks good now
it's healthy we're not in bad shape but we're going Tak on $6 million in infrastructure improvements there we want to make sure we stay in good shape and don't fall behind later on where it is a problem and then you're looking at wow massive rate spikes it's good to
have incremental and that's what unfortunately a lot of times like well no we don't want to raise we don't want to raise we don't want to raise and you're looking at wow you're going from you know a dollar to two dollar whereas it should have been every couple years we're raising in a quarter um and so that's I think something that would be
appropriate here is it advisable to head down this Capital commitment path without doing the rate study I mean we should have I think you're going to account for it in the r study either way it's not like they're they're really doing a deep dive they're looking at all the you know everything that's
associated with that and the fact that we have this is helpful as well it's you know it's not like there would be that much greened out of waiting versus um you know until waiting for it to be done um is that what you're suggesting you
know wait well I would imagine I would imagine the public would be keen on understanding well GE is is is the potential rate change going to be di Minimus or is it going to be much more substantial but the work needs to be done I understand yeah well you could do
a simple ammonization schedule you know over 20 years 6 million just you know 1% interest over the 20 years and kind and then divide that by the number of homes and that will kind of tell you what what it might be kind of what this may be impacted would be okay
and I also just want to be clear in making distinction between because this it's a substantial investment um between statistical life versus realistic life so you made multiple references that the equipment's old and I I just want to be uh for again for
the members of the public the changes being made Investments being made here not because notar because these things are old it it is well I beyond statistical life it's that we have potential critical points of failure
these things are are held together with bubble gum Scotch tape and give me an understanding for well G you know it's time to do it versus because you know accounting and actal studies tell you we should be doing it versus we are we are really you know nobody wants a you know
Mission critical failure in your sewage system so so the the head works I'm sure at that time the man ufacturer probably said the warranty on on that steel uh structure that you're putting into the ground was probably 30 years and so we got 60 years out of it so you know we
we've and then the head the the John just explain what is a head works so the public understands you say head Works um and I think it's helpful to understand because it's a very critical component yeah it like I said the all the entire
gra entire sanitary sewer system that we have is all gravity everything flows down downhill and and it's all the pipes are are such that um and in order to get a gravity once the the effluent coming from Once the the sewages gets to the plant it's at a very deep elevation
because it's all running gravity we're taking an Interceptor sewer that that's at the plant that goes all the way up to uh Hickory Square you know mall it's it's that long so it's a very long pipe that we have with these interceptors and and by time you get to the uh the plant
it it the the piping is is 20 ft deep plus you know in in that range so it's very deep so we basically you're pulling it out you're pulling from that that sewage that's coming into that man last manhole you're putting that into the headworks which essentially is a pump station and and essentially that pump
station is now pumping it up to the primary clarifier and then from the primary clarifier is up on the top it's the highest point on the in the plant and then from there it all runs through gravity it runs through the oxidation tanks it runs through the primary filters it runs through the filters it
runs through all the so it's gravity so so John if the headworks fails headwork fails like what is a likely failure point at the headworks given its age it if the headworks fail sewage is just going to flow into the it will overflow frankly some probably back into some
structures because it happens it you go and and it'll just overflow environmental mess inability to process and backups in in holes so you definitely want to get ahead of something like that yeah and
and we we've had over recent years you know that we've had to we've had some issues with with valves and other things going wrong with this structure where we had to go and uh rent tanks for bypassing and stuff and it it's very expensive in my first year we had a major electrical component failure
correct and that was generator and standby staff for and and those are cust a lot of the equipment there is custom specific to you know these type you don't run out to you know Home Depot and replace one of those parts we were
waiting for a while on Parts there too and that was um that was that cost us quite a bit of money not just on the parts but also the Staffing and the generators and the backup remember that right yeah oh yeah yeah yeah no it was a major cost a lot more so yeah no that's that's that's one of the reasons why
we're we're saying that this this state this this this component is starting to cost us money and it is one of the most critical component INF pieces of infrastructure that the township maintains right John in the plant if um just where
we are the timing here from the standpoint of the head works and the primary clarifier in your memo Etc are there other components that were five or 10 years away from doing the same thing are there other are there others that are that major that were coming down the pike that an expectation is okay
yeah yeah the the the oxidation ditches that's another major component um we just you know that's one of the things that are in the concrete itself we've been inspecting it there's no major problems with we don't Envision the oxidation ditches having any major
problems with that um you know same with our sludge tank we don't see much uh you know anything in the near future with with that um like with the oxidation I do you do see the pump the pumps we had to replace the pumps and things like that um the primary clarifiers they're
probably next in in line because those were uh modified in the '90s maybe we have another another 10 20 years before we're doing those and so those are probably the next components that need to be changed out by that time you know the the the filters were probably um
maybe getting next um so um and then like said the the the um oxidation Iration Basin that's going to be done at this phase um you we recently redid the um UV disinfection trough so that was recently done so that's not a major
component so um you know there are other components but you know the it's not like we're going to come to you next year and say oh we got another another problem you know it's not going to be that sense you know the this is just you know the last one was done 30 years ago and this is due for these remaining
components that w't done thank you so what are we authorizing or planning to at this point nothing uh just it's a report on the work product that you commission um and in that line of next steps uh John is working on the scope of work and proposal for me for
the next step which would be to prepare ibank documentation design documentation um and to move forward with the process right so would anything be forthcoming for the next for the April worksh meeting right
johnil worksh thank you thank you Mr rush I actually understood all that more than you care to know you learn when you're on the township committee I know I want to go that I can say you just wanted to go
down the drain and Away anyone wants a tour of the WC oh yeah I've been there at least to you going through a sewage processing facility not the most attractive thing but when you see really what kind of an
operation is running behind the scenes people don't realize it's just down Tanglewood and how truly critical it is and why you know it keeps up our our plant staff up at night and they do a fantastic job do very conscientious all
of them good night everybody thank you thank you John night good night Mr shotty what would you like to cover next that's it for engineering so we can go to the top mayor if that's okay wonderful all right uh so starting at the top uh Administration ordinances and resolutions these are some items
that uh we are planning for the next uh next next count committee meeting I'm sorry the 25th um and if there are any delays go into the April meeting giving you a 30 60 outb first one is the municipal Alliance uh Grant application
is an annual Grant application um I don't know if there's any questions or concerns on that one it's pretty routine okay I'm just going to keep going until you stop me copy release um also somewhat administrative function however because it is a long-term lease
5 years even though it's below our thresholds uh my interpretation both the public contracts or anything above a 2E agreement the governing body has to approve um this is a copier over the police department they've been operating on a copier that's out of lease now uh and really making it last as long as
possible but now it's getting to the point where it's having a lot more issues than it's worth uh next is the uh we talked about this briefly in the executive we're hoping to have a resolution to amend uh adopt the an amended agreement for Vernon
Grove uh I'll skip over four for a moment uh another one we're looking to have an ordinance to uh effectuate the sale of that outlier parcel that U uh miss m Miss Capon has been working on uh
over on River Road adjacent to 482 490 River Road um and then ratification of uh the appointments that I'll be making for the pool manager and the assistant managers uh pool manager we have uh received I'm sorry we've extended and
received an acceptance of the pool an offer for the new pool manager uh I'll be meeting with him this Thursday we'll be discussing the assistant managers um but you have their resumés I'll be discussing them with him uh talking to them and then all go well extending
offers of employment to them uh later on so uh any questions on those items no is really great uh I think we had uh had a real concern about trying to lock it in place by this
time it worked out it's just really terrific so yes and thank you all for your support on that and then uh so I'll go back to fees update um there was a memo at the last Workshop meeting that we reviewed prepared by our our land use
manager our land board manager uh there were some questions on that and um Miss Kon and I also spoke with her uh the secretary manager to the boards uh and have a revised memo that makes it a little bit more clear what she was
asking for uh and those these are the fees that she's looking to amend she provided the current and the proposed alsoo had provided the uh fees in New Providence and at The Bureau for comparison uh and the justification for
this is because uh they haven't been increased in quite a while the costs have gone up everything um you know postage certainly you can imagine postage has gone up in 20 years but also uh the costs for advertising and uh providing notice in the papers uh as
well as the staff and and our overhead so uh it's a nominal increase uh really when you look at in the grand scheme of things um and it's comparable to what the other towns uh are charging as well it's hard to compare exactly Apples to Apples because of the language that some
towns use and how they uh categorize their fees uh it's not like UCC where everything is uniform um so this memo uh is very is much more clear I think than the last one so hopefully helps you guys
understand what we're looking for any questions yeah no that was confusing because I didn't understand that the it was completely different from what we received the last time yes okay and I I spoke with her about that and Miss Kon
spoke with her about that and we've got it cleared up okay um okay because I was even confused as to whether we were talking about the recommendation that was made last time that original one that she was referencing notice of the advertising we do have a section in our
ordinance related to no you know advertising costs so that was the understanding went back to then draft the ordinance and then we realized the draft that misson was working on was not actually the intention based off of the
memo so now we have a memo to clarify what the actual intention was okay thank you do we plan to have a draft ordinance for the next meeting so thoughts on this I'm sorry my question if we on this so we
can dra the ordinance I have no guess one question I have is um that you would like to add a 12 amended site plan currently we don't charge anything and we're going to 400 which I understand is market rate but I
guess um what how often do we get amended site plan requests or is this a common thing or is this a an unusual [Music] item I I'll I'll say this um I'm not familiar with uh Chad on planning board
in particular but planning boards in general it's very common to get amended site plan and I think the typically the amended site plan the process and the amount of work that your that your um staff and every it's the exact same as
what as submitting a site plan so and I when I talk to Callie that's exactly what she said and I I agree completely so having a fee for that is to me completely Justified and appropriate so if they have to amend a
site plan based on planning board feedback resing board feedback we would still charge the Fe different so if you're before the planning board and you haven't gotten your approval yet and there and you're still have an active application and they say oh wait you know do this and they say okay well
let's adjourn till next meeting and we'll make that change and we come back before you that's not amended site plan that is oh um we got our approval it's been six months and you know what I decided I didn't want to actually build what you gave me the approval for I want
to do something different and so I want to come back back and change my my my site plan I want to get a different approval for a different project is sometimes there are field changes that are beyond the engineer's authority to approve on his own and things need to go back to the board
which would why part of why this would be necessary yeah or I went and got my approval and then I built something different than what I got my approval for and so now I have to come back and get approval for what I actually built that's also would be an AAG
Lifeline over right field changes okay well everyone needs to be re noticed right well it depends on if you need a notice to begin with so some site in the event yeah so in the event you know yeah if you need notice and not all applications for site plan approval
need notice so only if you have variances would you need notice uh need to provide notice so that's you know amended but yes if you have amended site plan and you would need notice same thing
any other questions or concerns can we move ahead with the draft please proceed okay thank you okay so that that's it for administration uh moving on clerk submitted his report any questions on
his report yes I have a question so I saw that um you had talked about some training you did for for the online payments for pet licensing yeah that we could do online pet licensing you go a time do you have
a timeline uh that should be sometime soon um um our administrator had a meeting with our construction official today where they discussed that because um it's sort of in tandem between me and construction because they'll be going online for their payments as well got it uh now that we've gone through the
training uh we're waiting on stdl Activa that now uh Jack and I talked about wanting to have April 1st be our going live uh do you know did you and Jack um in your meeting come to resolution when um sdo is going to go live with the
online payments yep um we are hoping April 1st um I was mentioning that in my budget and I will be publishing something on the website about that as well wonderful that would be a nice convenience for resid yeah so yeah Jack and I felt like something clean like that beginning of a month rather in the
middle of a and it's also the beginning of a new quarter and then that way once once we know that for certain then we'll start advertising that okay I'll hold off but I do have questions on the construction side of that so okay that's it for Clark all right and now for
construction oh I'll ask the question um so does so would residents be able to process any that are related with construction through STL um almost all fees You Construction
fees yeah yeah what is there any particular I'm just wondering if they have to come in at that point because they sell schedulings online scheduling is online um I mean right now they still can't submit the permits online uh
that's something we're working on and obviously require State approvals and all but uh we are moving in that direction besides submitting a permit paperwork I don't think there's really much of me for of them to come in okay and then we're not bypassing since
they're coming in to submit that permit anyway and they want to give a check we're not they're still allowed to deal oh yeah people are still allowed to deal will accept all currency okay cool thank you yeah since the the process for online payments is similar to what I'll deal with with uh dog licensing uh when
when people come into construction to submit their um permit uh the system will allow the construction Department to have a button where if the person doesn't have cash or check the con construction department will be able to um send them a link through sdl to their
email to uh basically invoicing them through through the system then they could then pay online through a credit card great wonderful welcome you thank you Mr shahadi Mr lanti especially making e a
bigger reality is definitely Mr L and Mr Daniels they've been and our CFO as well as king and her team they've been working hard on on making this possible so yeah thank you every I know it's been something we've been trying to put in place for a while so yeah it's just always a matter of juggling priorities
we we start and then uh something else comes up um okay uh the next is I'll kind of leave to finance till the end since there's only one other thing left I think is or actually two two small things Public Works
uh we've got a resolution we're looking for your consideration at the next meeting to replace some pumps and motors over at the uh plant those funds were allocated and budgeted for in the 2024 capital budget so uh you know now we're actually Waring the contract any
questions on that you did receive a resolution um in your agenda packet I'm sorry a resume uh and that's for the servicemen at upw that look and so we would have a resolution on the
next meeting for that one as well it's been a very difficult time time and just process to get this is almost going on nearly two years trying to fill this vacancy uh well over a year year and a half maybe it's not just the problem that we're dealing with though but it's
a problem that towns all over are dealing with the the pay is not as lucrative is what they're able to get in the private sector and uh the requirements of a CDL are people cumbersome especially I'm saying nowadays you know you've got legal
marijuana which impacts your ability to get a CDL because it goes by federal standards and you know some people don't want to make that commitment and then also um you know getting the training and going through the school and and all
that comes with it so um one thing we will be keeping in mind as we go into the this year um one thing that I have to deal with is the Teamsters contract renegotiating DPW Teamsters contract so um our right now our starting scale for
step 14 is about $45,000 and trying to pull somebody with a CDL to come work in a job as intensive as DPW pulling them from other places we've had people asking for 70 80,000 or refusing to come here for anything less
than that and um you know that's that's not just a chat issue just want to let you know that uh that's the reality that we deal with with our our pay scale and trying to recruit talent to work at
DW I mean this candidate looked like he had a very good background so yes that looked great yep okay um any questions on the DPW report okay any on the police report I did skip over that one sorry
okay believe no uh tax collector report all right and uh finally tax assessor we got the report from the tax assessor um and we also have a resolution that uh concerns the tax appeal for a property that we've been
dealing with tax appeal for for several years we did talk about that in executive at the last meeting uh any questions or concerns with moving forward with that okay yes on the tax assessor so I had um sent you a question which we don't have to address that specifically
but the what you had sent we saw examples of the the letters yes yes some of the communications to Residents uh what do you do you call do you know it sounded like maybe June those would go out I thought they no there's really so let me back up the tax
maps uh this kind of goes back to the T tax maps the tax maps have to be approved by the state in order for us to move forward with this process until that happens we can't move forward the other component that's holding that up is also the state approving the contract for the reval company that we awarded as
well they're not going to uh we're not going to be able to move ahead until they do that as well we don't know when either of those are going to happen uh they probably aren't going to deal with the contract until the maps are done so until they give us the stand for the maps then we'll wait for their approval
on the contract and then at that point we'll evaluate you know public education and in letters we are still well within our timeline um you know the original timeline that our assessor U Mr Sherman put together had us you know we're still within that time frame we're we're good
so we will have plenty of opportunity to give notice to the public we'll send out those letters we will include in those letters a date at which um the company and our assessor will come here also and either present to you at workshop and to the public or we just do a separate
Standalone meeting for the public uh we'll consider those but we'll include that in the letter look at the letter the brochure um we'll have the videos and and educate the public as much as possible being mindful of we don't want to do much of any of that work during
the summer months where a lot of people are away and then so the because um the tax assessor we definitely had it in all the meeting minutes anytime since he's presented is there you have a separate page on the website right for the tax the re I believe I believe we do um yeah
and that should be if you check us populated with all the everything so in the me we did have the timeline on there I'm remembering as we're talking about it I do recall um putting a whole entire timeline on there the steps okay um and some information from
the yeah Town Town ordered Ral yeah we do have that on there there a post great from February 1st of 2024 uh including all the steps and uh estimated great thank you okay uh if there are none then I'm
going to just quickly queue up the presentation for the budget and uh that will that will be it I'm going to promote that one to panelist so that way we can while the clerk is setting that up I do just want to know so under Finance also
um we uh are we've got a resolution for Budget transfers at the next meeting any questions on those okay and then um pending this conversation and uh discussion uh the goal is to have our budget introduction
at the next meeting thank you Mr lanti uh next slide please so for the 2025 Municipal budget uh the theme was responsible decisions resilient future um this is my third presentation here on the budget and i' like to have a theme for for every
budget just to kind of uh give a some context to the situation the finance subcommittee this year uh Deputy Mayor Jen Roland commune and Marty McHugh both of them uh amazing you know just really their insight has been tremendous uh
both of them with business experience their Deputy Mayor she's got a Finance and Accounting uh background over decades and she was on the finance committee last year which was also helpful and committee McHugh he operates an independent International Business
Development firm of over 20 years as well so having their perspective has been very helpful our CFO and assistant treasur uh you know also their their input and their assistance in in preparing this budget is invaluable our
CFO has been here uh for over two decades and knows all the ins and outs of the town and that is tremendously valuable so I want to thank them both for all their hard work next slide please uh so since I started here I've been realigning the budget process to
start earlier and earlier each of those three years with the goal that we finally achieved in year three and that's to start the budget process in September so that way we have a uh a budget process with breathing room and
that meets the state t guidelines and deadlines for having an adoption of the budget uh department heads have been really wonderful at adapting and meeting these challenges so that is what the timeline now looks like starting with the budget in September the budget process in September having department
head meetings reviewing the the finances from the previous year closing the books to really understand what our actual expenses were what our real revenues are are not just what we've expected and this takes time uh by the time you're
processing invoices to vendors and receiving even those invoices we had a number of finance committee meetings in February and and March as well um in total there were probably about two dozen meetings that were held uh meetings and calls between staff the
finance committee the you know discussions with various elected officials all the department heads and our Auditors uh and then the budget present the budget was presented to the finance committee in February and their input and their scrutiny of the budget resulted in in further revisions uh up
until noday today uh the last two weeks have been quality control making some more changes uh just today we we shaved off another $83,000 where we could really trying to get that budget as as lean as possible in a responsible manner
uh our CFO worked with our Auditors to get the state versions of the various budget documents prepared and get it ready for introduction uh at March 25th so that way we can adopt the budget on April 22nd next slide please
2025 was a budget year marked by what I would call unavoidable challenges and I'll talk about those but the finance committee conveyed to me the sentiment that they have the confidence in residents and taxpayers of our community to really understand when we're going through tough times and that tough times
may call for tough choices uh they believe that the taxpayers deserve honest open transparent dialogue about the realities of Municipal budgeting and like everyone at home is experiencing Rising costs uh the costs to operate government are also rising and nothing
will change that fact and that taxes for municipal government taxes are the primary source of Revenue to operate so any Maneuvers to minimize the levy this year will really only just be shell games that either defer that responsibility or have the same impact and that those are things that we wanted
to avoid we wanted to avoid the you know pitfalls and quick fixes like having a downward trend of our fund balance every decision in the budget affects the fund balance at the the end of the day and we are keeping within the adopted fund balance of the township and we want to
stay firm in adhering to that policy that ensures the stability and the security in case of an emergency and it also ensures that our borrowing is at the most affordable rates it possibly could be we wanted to avoid increasing borrowing where it's not necessary just
to offset expenses that can be absorbed by the annual budget that Trend will also only make it more difficult to re in spending and just keeps the can down the road to Future taxpayers and burdens future elected officials uh we wanted to have conservative Revenue projections
not overestimate and or get too close to previous numbers of the risk that we're not going to realize those revenues things like tax I'm sorry like interest rates or developer fees and we want to appropriate only as much as is actually needed next slide
please so the challenges in this uh budget themed responsible decisions resilient future uh is fulfilling our end of the bargain uh when it comes to Union contracts these are the backbone of the the township and they ensure the safety and security of our Township our
DPW and our Police Department uh in addition to annual contractual increases this year we had a nearly $32,000 additional expense for retention of those employees um at least $100,000 in
additional costs in this budget year and each budget years predicted for the next 10 years with regards to affordable housing obligations and fourth round anticipated costs costs like Medicare and Health Care each of those that's 14% And 16%
increases this year the utility costs everyone's either seen the headlines or noticed that electric costs are going up 20% uh in New Jersey uh it's something that's happening Nationwide but definitely in New Jersey fortunately we
were forward looking last year we went out to auction to purchase our electricity through other suppliers and we locked in rates uh but we still had an increase not as bad as 20% but we still had an increase and at least this process helps us have stability for future budgeting uh
years Revenue uh is decreasing development is decreasing in chattam uh like in many other places after a boom from the pandemic uh but that affects our developer fee Revenue uh for affordable housing it affects the assessments it affects permits and fees
as well uh outliers this year we had a $140,000 expense as an outlier for legal settlement we're burdened with paying the legal fees for the plaintiff after defending the township at the Supreme Court for really following the directives and the guidelines of the
State Attorney General and the mor Morris County prosecutor's office we did what we had to do we upheld the law unfor as we understood it and as we were directed to and unfortunately we lost at Supreme Court and that that $140,000 has a huge impact on this year's
budget uh but I do want to emphasize we've not added new staff so while the workload is increasing with with plenty of more uh burdens on on the staff we have not added new staff we've completed our transition to the cloud which has releas reduced our res Reliance on
in-house hardware for maintenance and upkeep costs we launched our inaug uh our newsletter with an inaugural bulletin uh sent out this month we're and we're providing more services online with the first set of services for online payment starting April 1st so
we're trying to do more with less uh from a capital planning perspective Appropriations for our Capital Improvement fund this year are at $575,000 that's an investment to the Future a bulk of that will be road work as we discussed earlier today uh six
roads will be paved uh and that is to ensure that every year we have a maintenance cycle so uh the town doesn't fall into a rut of of not Paving roads and having to cat play catch up uh 2025 is capital budget and that'll be a
discussion in uh as we go into Capital discussion after we adopt the operating budget but you'll see that that is focused on the essentials Public Safety roads vehicles and apparatuses and equipment for for the big ticket but
actually needed items to to allow our Public Safety and our Public Works Cru to do their jobs effectively next slide please uh I always like to include the slide in every budget presentation uh the numbers change ever so slightly from year to
year but it's important to note here that while we collect the taxes for from the residents and Commercial properties only about 177% of that of every dollar that's paid is used to actually fund our
services the rest of that that 83 cents we write a check to the County to the schools and to the library and so the only thing that's within our control is that 17% uh for the municipality and for open space and I think it's important to remember for for the public that you
know as a municipal entity we're not a profit-driven corporation we're not selling Goods we're not selling services we're providing services that are essential and yes we try to generate Revenue with but within the constraints of the law and without growing our operations unnecessarily therefore the
primary source of our Revenue to operate is going to be taxes there's no other way about it and those taxes directly support the services we provide for the community so every dollar that we we receive is accounted for for the services that the taxpayers are receiving uh there's a direct
correlation there and I think we've been doing a great job thanks to the hard work of all of our employees of striking a balance of providing those essential Services as efficiently as possible while only levying taxes to pay for those Services next slide side
please um another thing I'd like to you know uh give an overview on for those from the public who aren't Familiar of what bud Municipal budgeting it looks like on the one column we've got our Appropriations and on the other side is our revenues uh those are the major
categories of our operations and to the right are the major categories of our revenues the difference between those two is what we have to raise in taxes and that's what you'll see below uh that's what's called the Lev uh you'll see that later that's the difference
between those two so as Appropriations go up and we try to hold the line on spending and not have it go up much and revenues we certainly like to improve as much as we can our revenues coming in from Grants and we did lock in great interest rates uh with our bank through
negotiating um whatever that Gap is between the two that's that's the levy um and unfortunately also Economic Times people are hearing What's happen interest rates we've been seeing our interest rates cut so even though we negotiated great rates they're now
getting uh cut again so we have to adjust our our Revenue projections next slide uh just to give a snapshot of what 17 cents of every dollar paid pays for all these things a lot goes on uh not
just uh all those that we pay for but also the subsidies we provide to tremendous resources in town our Volunteer Fire Department departments our volunteer EMS and our Senior Citizen Center and they provide excellent services for the the subsidies that we
provide them next slide these are the top six I call these movers and shakers the notable expenses um what is that the biggest item uh in the 2025 budget and you'll see there's almost $380,000 increase to this year is
emergency response and Public Safety uh that is police dispatch fire hyd fired departments uh maintenance the contributions to EMS everything related to to to Public Safety that you can think of is part of this this figure
here the other large chunk of change is the almost 2.9 Million on insurance health and liability insurance Public Works comes in third at almost 2.5 pensions and Social Security costs
1.6 uh this and those what you'll see that's a great thing that went down this year but it'll start to level off that's because as people retire um and unfortunately some people become deceased our pension actuarials catch up
and that's almost a two-year lag but this year is at 1.6 million 1.5 nearly 1.5 in debt payments on principal interest for old bonds and bands and um other other debt that's been issued and our Capital Improvement fund is next the
sixth biggest item here and that is money that we allocate to go to capital projects without borrowing and or the down payments to borrow uh this year we are expecting about near about $2 million in uh capital projects uh but as
I mentioned this also includes roads and the rest of it will be apparatuses for our uh fire departments and and vehicles for PD and DPW so the sub total of just these six items is almost 13 and when you look at that out of our total budget our total appropriation $19
million just those six items make up almost 70% of the budget uh one there's a reason that there's an asterisk next to our total appropriations of 19.1 uh and that's because we are baking into the budget a $1 million grant that we've
received um from the state in previous years uh with grants they have to be booked as appropriation and Revenue you can't spend the money unless you've noted it as an appropriation but you also offset that with a revenue on the revenue side uh so that's why it looks
like such a large jump uh because there is that $1 million Grant in this year's budget the more important thing is as we look at the levy that's as I said the gap between the Appropriations and the revenue that's the levy and that will give you more of a realistic idea of uh
some increases so the remainder out out of these six items 5 nearly 5.9 million is paying for everything else next slide so this is what I was referring to here right our Appropriations this year are at about $19.1 million our revenues
at 7.3 Revenue went up over last year again we've Incorporated that $1 million Grant um which affects the revenue number so the amount that we're raising by taxes that we have to raise by taxes this year is $1.8 million
uh you'll see our net valuation taxable uh which is what's known as the tax base or our ratables that's really the lowest increase in many years uh last year was a 2.3% increase uh the year before that was
1.65 increase it's been over 1% of an increase in the tax phase uh for several years uh this year it's only 0.9% so one of the lowest that's been in a while but that deals with as I mentioned before the pace ofel vment starting to catch up with
reality next slide and uh as I mentioned the importance of a fund balance what people hear is the Surplus um why we did not use more than 3.5 we've been holding the line at about $3.5 million for the last
few years using our our fun from our fund balance uh what you'll see in the third row net fund balance after budget adoption that's what we would be left with after after we use that 3.5 uh the figure that you'll see at the top uh I'm sorry in the increase surplus
of operations and let's say 2024 you look at that 3.45 uh so that's the one two three fourth row down in the 2024 column that 3.4 figure that's how much rolls in to the fund balance so that's what we're
quote regenerating so when you look at that line that regeneration is is not trending in a direction that we want which is why we're holding the line on how much we use the fund balance um that is a tool that a lot of people easily dip into they're like well we'll use
more of the Surplus to hold the line on the levy but that has a domino effect and and can adversely affect your your future budgets uh so we're we're holding the line at 3.5 uh and we're confident that as a safe number with this budget and it
still keeps us within our fund balance polic of being between 10% and 15% of our total expenditures next slide uh so I would say mission accomplished we've made some responsible decisions uh we are planning for a very
resilient future in this regards uh there's a nominal increase in the tax levy uh we're maintaining Services no Services have been cut the fund balance is still healthy and we're still making uh Capital Improvements that are necessary for the township
next slide uh and that the next slide and the reason I keep this uh as the last slide is because it's the sewer utility because this does not impact taxes because it's the SE utility it's self-liquidating so the revenue has to support the operations uh this year's budget for the
sewer utility is 3, 315,000 as opposed to 3,277 from last year uh modest increased of 38,000 over the previous year uh our plan goes and under goes a very thorough analysis of the real costs that are are
there we're not looking to beef up uh necessarily a huge savings over there unless absolutely necessary for future capital projects they've held the line on any discretionary spending really the the biggest increases and the only increases have come from health insurance costs and the costs that are
appropriated for pensions and benefits uh appropriated to the Sewer utility but they've been dealing with Rising costs uh the chemicals that they need to process sewage at the plant and uh as with anything else electricity costs other utility costs uh so they do a
great job over there it's it's just six employees dedicated full-time employees uh running that that utility uh keeping chatam flowing um and they have Debt Service uh annual Debt Service of about
$573,000 and that's to pay for those historical infrastructure improvements uh and as I mentioned earlier that we will likely be calling for a rate study though uh the rates here have not changed at the sewer utility in a very long time but major
infrastructure improvements are needed to make sure that that is uh stable and safe and able to operate without any issues so uh we can plan on and expect some major improvements in the near future that concludes the budget
presentation for 2025 any questions or rather I'll first I'll turn to the deputy mayor and the committee men if they have any comments or uh anything they'd like to add I would just like to say that you know the whole process that is in place
to get to this point is very intensive involves everyone we're not dictating you know costs and and things to departments it's a very collaborative effort um we are incredibly lucky to
have you know the staff and everyone that works for us for the for for chadam Township because you know our staff goes above and beyond you know when we are really kind of trying to manage expenses on a day-to-day basis I you know in my
day-to-day life I build budgets I build forecasts I prepare financial statements this is what I do every single day and this is a fiscally responsible budget costs are increasing that is is you know that is a given um we've seen it and we
did everything we could to try to sharpen the pencil um but unfortunately if there are several years where there is no increase in in taxes or you know if we're not giving chatam Township AR raise everyone that works outside of their homes understands the concept of
getting a raise at your job and it helps you cover the increased cost of living so um I really just want to thank everyone that was involved I think that this is you know an incredibly fiscally responsible budget with everything that was discussed tonight from the sewer
treatment plant to the tax reevaluation to Colony pool to you know increased litigation expenses to affordable housing I mean the list goes on and on there's things that we cannot choose to ignore so I think choosing to ignore
those things and kicking the can down the road is just from what I do on a daily basis is fiscal responsible so I really just want to um you know happy to answer any questions open it up for discussion but I think you know it was a
very collaborative intentional and really good discussion period every time we met to go through it either in person online or even you know over email to to finalize
things I'll just concur with um with the deputy mayor had de give it actually a very good summary thank you Jen um and also just want to from my standpoint also thank all the administrator and the administration and every Department that
uh really sharpened their pencils and and provided input and uh and reasonable looks at things so thank you so um that's a two cents for $100 of assessed value increase which translat
on an average house of about 860,000 to about 170 a year right uh just I can tell you just but you're good with your numbers so I you you've been doing this quite a while too
so I don't want to mislead anybody um so one the only question I have otherwise um because I realize there's been a lot of pressure on the budget um and everybody's been trying to hold the line as best they can can um open space yes where is that two we're at two cents are
we keeping it at two cents I think we're looking to keep it at two cents because there are with Colony pool there's a lot of work coming down the line there and um you know with the feny property there's goals and ideas there and we
want to actually uh start to work on that so I think the best thing to do is keep it at the two cents so that way we can carry those plans out without having to borrow okay and we kept the rut the same uh the rut is the same as last year correct okay uh and uh committee woman
your question or rather the figure you came up with the difference uh for average household was how much I was saying an average household of about 860,000 which I think that was the number and I said 170 a year is that a good number uh yeah I'll say it's about 171
and7 nice back I don't doubt her calculation on that she's very good at it okay um I'm just trying to think of what other Stone we have we've unturned in the past um okay I'm good for
now I mean not to dwell on not to dwell on the 171 but you that's $10 just over $10 a month uh yeah you know that's with all the costs that we've got going up uh that's all we're asking for it's an extra $10 a month yeah well I know it's
been very difficult to get staff as you had you know talked about so um yeah it's understandable I had a question I just lost it um we got a couple of forun breaks on Staffing yes I'm sure that other question in my
mind at some point if I may ask question in commital if you think of it just but me up um so Capital commitments about 2 million total yes that's inclusive of Road resurfacing the truck commitment um
you've allocated 575 how much of that is unallocated or un uncommitted um it's pretty much all committed right so whatever our Capital plan you know we and we we do have a capital plan already but uh and we will
present that as we do every year with the capital process um all of that's committed because whatever is not rather we want to use it all so we don't have to borrow right so we've got about let's say $2 million in capital that's expected for
2025 if it's not being used if that 575 isn't being used then we have to borrow so of the 575 we like to use that the bulk of that for the roads so that way we don't have to borrow it for the roads and delay that process you know we
introduce an ordinance they have to go stop if we're borrowing uh if we don't if we're self-funding it we can move ahead much more nimbly with uh with using those funds so the rest of it will be for down payment on whatever it is
we're looking tomorrow um so when it comes to Road resurfacing the funds for that work will be drawn from more than one bucket they'll be drawn from that bucket the capital Improvement fund with obviously with your approval but
that's what we've been doing is is taking out the capital approvement fund we won't need to fund with debt because we have those correct yes so when you said 2 million Capital plan we're not we're not uh looking to inur debt for 2 million we're looking 2
million less than 575 that'll further discussion with finance committee will refine that you know if we need to move things I'm just estimating right now total for capital projects is about $2 million how much we're going to borrow nowar TBD will be
meeting I think we we're looking at a meeting on either 24th or 25th and then we'll be going over that next so that way in April or May you'll then have a presentation on the capital as they did last year and then we can move ahead with an ordinance at that time for what we're borrow and what we're self-
funding yeah um and the other thing I was going to say was more of a St then a comment I always you know I look at Surplus because it looks like we have room but we don't really have room and especially when you see that trending you know decline in terms of what we you know
we're using the same amount but the balance the retain balance is is declining so uh and it looks like it's going to continue to decline so um I I I'm comfortable where're you know do we have room because in terms of your the
range what is it 10 to 15% so relative to the 10 to 15% we have room but that means we're probably not going to have room next year correct exactly and that's that's the big warning is that you know you start going down and all these decisions it's great
to have a very lean budget um sometimes and sometimes you will call for a little fluff here and there you won't you know you'll round up on certain numbers because that all regenerate so what you don't spend regenerates Surplus so the leaner you get the less room there is for money to then regenerate that Sur
plus that you're not spending so then you just start looking at you hope just to break even if everything is going according to plan but not everything goes according to plan every year yeah and then the other piece is the 140,000 is a onetime hit
presumably it's a onetime hit but then next year we'll have to start kicking in for the reval so uh pretty much all that 140 will then get eaten up by the cost of the reval years the the plus side is you won't see
a spike it'll just be level at that point so you're not going to have a huge Spike from you know 140 to 280 and it's going to stay level at that point which is a good thing for you know the cap calculations and increases but that 140 is not going to go away for another five
years yeah okay approximately 140 and you're anticipating the deposit for the fire apparatus in6 uh not the deposit right so we we're not we're not putting down the money until
imminent delivery of the of the apparatus correct correct any of both apparatus we purchased one for Chum Township and one for Green Village uh those payments are not made until delivery so probably not until 20127 at at the
earliest okay yeah but the money has been set aside for those the moneyy has been appropriated authorized and set aside for those uh only because it was on the last slide there was a figure about the
sewage had 5 70,000 so is there still there's still money like in debt that's being paid off and how does that affect the what we talked about earlier
with the renovations yes so um there is still debt uh there's loans there's uh I believe I think one of them is what Mr rushki referenced is there was a previous ibank loan that was issued so we're still
paying the debt on that The Debt Service on that so what would happen is again we would look at you know let's say it's $6 million 20 years we figure out those calculations with the iank obviously we know what that is so let's just for the
sake of clean numbers just say 6 million divided by 20 that's what the budget would then go up by every year for the sewer utility just again simplifying that's not actually how it works when you calculate interest and amortization schedules and payment schedules and all
these things but that's let's say that figure that's what we have to expect about that much for the next 20 years to then add to the Sewer utilities budget so that becomes service payment that gets added and so again when I talked
earlier about the rate study those are those okay is the is the sewer utility collecting enough Revenue to offset those expenses if our expenses are going up and we're not collecting enough Revenue the rates need to go up so that's why we really need to but
sometimes you take on debt and old debt starts to fall off and I don't know exactly you know what debts falling off and when so again part of the rate study you're looking at when date when debt is coming off when debt is going out and as I was explaining to the mayor earlier
before the meeting you know they're not just linear payment schedules always either you know they some of them have curves to them so depending on where you are in that payment schedule those rates might go higher might go lower like you saw in our debt service I think this year I believe uh there's a slight drop
off because of where where we are in the payment schedule staying on that on the WPC so if you just did back at or can you do back of the envelope math assuming you know the 6 million commitment and I understand half
of it virtually zero interest but still you've got to advertise over 20 years um so if you took that burden or Deb partial Debt Service burden and advertise burden um I I would like some insurance that
the WPC will be still financially robust so I understand it's not a uh business line so it's not necessarily profit but understanding what the unencumbered cash is annually for the WPC can it
comfortably sustain whatever that advertised and Debt Service burden is for the 6 million you follow yes yeah yeah so um I I if we could figure out you know if we can have an understanding that that
that's going to be oh yeah I mean we're that we're we're just starting so Y and I understand that's outside the budget and you know the financial there is going to dictate whatever the the rates are um but we do have ultimately
these are Financial Obligations to the residents right yeah what that what that overage is that goes into our fund balance for the WPC at the end of the day so it's just like we have a fun balance for the township we have a fun balance for the WPC uh the fund balance you didn't mention that on the slide
what I I did not mention the fund balance on I didn't give the numbers for the WPC but the fund balance as of January 1st for the store utility is about 2.5 milon questions for your work thank you thank you sub committee committee
woman uh so unless there are you know you can either relay that to to me directly or to the finance committee but if there are no changes that's the budget that we're looking to introduce on March 25th can we get to we didn't have I will send I'm sorry I will send send all that
to you okay was literally down to the wire today making changes so I didn't want to send you uh Inc correct information but I will send that today and that's it mayor Mr Shi thank you very much um we shall move on to our
second hearing of citizens Mr lanti anyone in the digital world there are no hands raised great I invite anyone in the public to come before the mic you sure I see no one so I shall
close the second hearing of citizens um do I have a motion to adjourn so moved I will second all in favor I I I a thank you all have a good evening
thank you we keep you awake Tom thank you Alex's