[Music] Good evening and welcome to the township of Clark Council meeting. It's Monday, April 21st at 7:30 p.m. Roll call, please. Council member Hoff, here. Council member Hund, here. Council
member Maserella, here. Council member Maniti, here. Council member Okconor here. Council member Tol here. Council President Smith here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty andice for all. This meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of
meetings to the star ledger union county hawk union county local source and tap into clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board and town hall reserved for such announcements the official website of the township and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken
at this meeting. Okay. Thank you. We're going to move to communications from the mayor and report of township officers, Mayor Albanesey's. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, couple of things going on in the community. First, I want to mention um a big thank you to
Colombia Bank for contributing and planting a red maple tree at Curryfield. Today is Arbor Day and uh we want to thank them for doing that. can't have enough trees. Um, an update regarding
fallen heroes. Um, I'm pleased to tell you, uh, first I want to thank you to all who have contributed thus far. We have some pledges, uh, we're expecting, very excited about, but we did, uh, receive a very generous donation from
the American Legion, $8,000. Uh, the check was presented last Thursday. Uh so thank you very much to Butch Sweet for coming by and giving the check to um former captain Bill Duffy and myself. Uh we're really pleased uh
so that we can order the monuments and continue the project. So thank you so much to all the members and all the board members of the American Legion. Um, as far as some of the things that are on the agenda tonight, I just want to mention that tonight, um, we'll be
welcoming hopefully, uh, our new acting CFO, Christy Vieira. We have total confidence in her and, uh, we're very excited about her taking on the position. Uh, she'll be taking her exam later on this year and, um, we we expect her to pass that and take on the
position. So we are a civil service town and in that regard in order to fulfill the replacement of her position that she had uh we'll be going through the process and our business administrator has his hands full with uh that as one
of the items many items he's covering at this time. In addition we have Joe Diorio on the agenda uh who's a man of many skills. I've known him um well for many many years. He's been a mayor um um and he is a CFO
and a QPA and he'll be assisting us while we have an absence in our QPA position while we get folks trained and tested to take over that position um to replace that opening. Um moving on to the
budget. Um I'd like to make a few comments about the budget. Uh tonight we'll be introducing our municipal budget. And please note the municipal budget accounts for 30% of your final tax bill. It covers all municipal services. This includes public safety,
parks, recreation, roads, um senior services, recycling, planning and engineering, and the public library as well as much much more. And to get to the bottom line of things, um, for this year 2025, the
average home home has an equalized value of $527,000. So that's the average value of a home. The total municipal increase, including funding for the library, is under 2% this year. The average increase amounts to $48 per year for each
household, average household, and that's 300 $3.95 a month. The overall budget, including all revenues and appropriations, increased 2.75 million from a total of 30.8
million to 33.6 million in 2025. But I'm pleased to advise you that 1.7 million of that uh 2.75 million is related to grants received, which I've mentioned to you in the past, including most notably
the $ 1.5 million purchase of a new ladder truck for our fire department and a grant also for the rehabilitation of the Robinson House. The largest increases outside of our contractual salary increases come from the ongoing increase in health care
costs and that amounted to $491,000, an overall increase of 12%. That's about 4% less than the um average value for for those participating in the state plan, which was 16%.
In addition, our communications department reflects an increase of $23,000, and that's related to investments for on-site desktop support and cyber security monitoring. While costly, it is absolutely necessary in
today's environment. On the revenue side, we had a decrease in one-time state municipal relief fund aid from the state of New Jersey, and that was a reduction in revenue of $186,000, which we received in 2024. I'm pleased to provide the
township council and the public with a budget that demonstrates our continued commitment to striking a balance between providing, as in the past, a wealth of services while controlling costs. And that concludes my update, Mr. President.
Great. Thank you, Mayor Albanesey's Council Member Huff. Sorry about that. Okay, I'm doing the library report. Yes. Okay. Sorry. Um I wanted to do the the report from the library. Um they have several events that are coming
up. They are doing um paint a pot plant flower on Thursday, May 1st. And all of the details can be found on their website, on their Facebook page. Um, they really do a tremendous job putting the information out there if you want to take a look at it. So, um, you can get more information about all of these, but
there's also like the teen craft break, which they're doing cat squeegee art on Monday, May 5th. The Seeing Eye Presents, which is a visit with Seeing Eye Puppies, that is happening on Thursday, May 8th. They're doing Female Spies of the Civil War on May 12th. And
something I think that's phenomenal is meet a police officer. That's going to be on Tuesday, May 13th at 3:30 and celebrate National Police Week by coming to the library to meet some real life officers and listen to a story. They're also going to talk about their jobs, show off their gear, answer questions,
and even let people check out their vehicles. So, that is what's going on um in the month of May. Again, you can look on their website, you can look at their social channels. They have a plethora of information that's easy to find. And also, it continues to amaze me all of the services that the library offers
with everything that you can lend out and cornhole and microscopes and borrow all these sorts of things and use the 3D printer and such. Um, but it does still amaze me that uh in March they had a total of 8,245 visitors and had
6,149 website visits. And I don't have anything to add beyond um the board of education I know had a wonderful meeting in which they celebrated certain people. So I encourage you to look at their page as well or you can watch the video from the meeting and uh continue to celebrate
um those educators who have been receiving different honors and such. And that's the conclusion of my reports. Right. Thank you, Council Member Hun. Thank you, Council President. I have the Clark Police Department monthly report for March where we saw a total of
1,956 calls for service including but not limited to 125 ambulance requests, 63 alarm calls, three criminal mischiefs, two for DUI, 10 for fire department requests, 14 fraud identity
theft, seven motor vehicle and residential lockouts, 80 motor vehicle accidents, 17 shoplifting and thefts, and we had a total of 17911 calls and
1,274 miscellaneous calls. There is a total of 11 adult arrests including but not limited to six for shoplifting, one for warrant, two for burglaries. The youth aid bureau handled a total of 16 cases including but not limited to one
for simple assault, one for harassment, one for disorderly conduct, two for terroristic threats, and three for truency. That concludes my police report. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Yes. Thank you, Council President. This is my DPW
report for this evening. Electronic drop off will be April 26th, 9:00 am to 1 pm in the DPW yard behind this building. Your ID as a Clark resident will be required. So, please
make note of that. Spring cleanup, final pickup starts April 28th. And please, ladies and gentlemen, do not put plastic bags in the biodegradable uh in biodegradable bags. Uh they will
be inspected and if they're in there, they will not pick up the bags because we have no capacity to um uh to accept them. Um so please make note of that. May 6th begins grass pickup, grass
clippings only, please. No branches. uh twigs, plastic, and uh DPW again will be con in uh conducting inspection of those bags before they pick them up. Um so
please limit that to the grass clippings. And to schedule any DPW services or pickups, go to www.ourclark.com hourclark.com and click on the tab for online services. This covers permits,
bulky and appliance pickups, tree trimming, tree removal pickups, mulch deliveries, potholes, and access accessory. Please um let us know what appliance and metal you're scheduling to
be picked up so we could have the proper vehicle to pick that up. Bulky and appliance pickup appointments are required by Thursday, the week before your scheduled pickup week. If you have small bulky
items, and if they're scheduled to be pickup, please put them in a bag and don't leave them loose at your curbside. Uh, and no paint or chemicals will be accepted. Free mulch uh root
mulch is now available while supplies last. Please um email dpwourclarklark.com for more information. Thank you. That's the extent of my report. Thank you, Council Member Amenity. Thank you, Council
President. In the month of March, the Clark Fire Department responded to 46 calls, bringing the total to 121 for the year. Um these calls included but not limited to multiple odor and alarm calls. Five incidents were pertaining to
motor vehicle motor vehicles including three incidents on a garden state parkway with one enttrapment. Two calls regarding down power lines throughout the town. One call for smoldering mulch at a resident's home. Um the Clark Fire Department also responded to a fire in a
public garbage can in the Rawway River Park which was quickly extinguished. Um, additionally, the department assisted the Clark Police Department in responding to a bomb scare at the ALJ High School this past month. Um, thank God and fortunately everything was uh
okay. Um, and I would like to thank the uh members of the Clark Fire Department for keeping our town uh safe and for their continued hard work. The full department report is available at the clerk's office. This concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Thank you from the Clark
Volunteer Emergency Squad. In March, the squad added a new probationary member and one cadet. They held their awards dinner at the Westwood where they recognized the following individuals for their years of service. Sylvia Constantino, 45 years. Brian Butterley,
10 years. Katherine Sheldon, 10 years. In addition, the following members were recognized by the North Jersey Blood Center and our medical director, Dr. Matthewa, for special service. Star of Life Award individual who made decades of dedication. Gary Wagner. Community
service recognizes an individual for work done in support of the squad. Susan Elachi. Shining light award providing dedication during a probationary year of service. Rob Maluso. Distinguished service award. Distinguished service achievement for answering the most calls. Katherine
Sheldon. Squad's life member. Michael Janeiro. pre-entered a uh preeed a 2CU class for the second district squads which are volunteer squads from Union counties plus a few others on EMS and the crime scene. Over 50 people were in
attendance. The squad hosted a regional course on expanded scope of of practice for EMTs with Dr. Leia as part of the new protocols made available by the by the New Jersey Department of Health OEMs with close to 60 attendees.
With regard to call volume, there were 106 calls in January with seven mutual aids. This does not include any calls that were dispatched and canceled on. Total hours responding to calls is approximately 691 man hours. Of course, this does not include any hours the members are on duty when not on calls
and year-to- date call volume is 364 calls. With regard to membership, for those who would like to assist the squad but may not have time to be to do the EMT training, we are accepting applications for people who are interested in becoming drivers for the ambulance. Must be 18 years of age with
a clean driving record. Anyone interested can email the squad at www.arclark.org or membership atclarks.org. With regard to servicing the community, the squad's training officer, Michael Hakowski, presented two CPR classes for
two for township employees. The squad hosted three blood drives in March and is looking to expand the number each month as the need for blood is increasing. And the squad hosted Girl Scout troops working on their first aid badge and an Eagle Court of Honor. Respectfully submitted by Lorie Sheldon,
trustee. That concludes my report this evening. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Tol. Thank you, Mr. President. From the Environmental Committee through Mark Hayden, the chairman, the annual Rowway River Cleanup shall be conducted this Saturday, April the 26th, 2025 from 8:45
to 12:00 noon. All interested in participating are asked to go to the Winfield Park Dam. You go in from the outside of Winfield along the parkway and it takes you right to the back end where the dam is located in the falls. Please wear appropriate clothing and bring a bucket and gloves for collecting
the garbage. The cleanup is under direction of Clark's own Joe Zebo who will be giving an instruction instructional tour for the importance of helping mother nature with the cleanup of itself by removing man's waste. If you have time this Saturday, I know everyone's busy doing their own worlds
with the sports and the kids and that's wonderful. We appreciate you're involved with your family, but if you can give a little extra time to go down to the Winfield Park Dam this sun, Saturday morning, rain day is Sunday to help clean up mother nature. These are the things that kind of get in the way sometimes. And we had to give it a
little bit of help at bringing back our stuff and put it in the proper location. So, it's recycled. Rivercleanup do rivercleanup.comcast.net for all those details on the river cleanup. And if you'd like to participate and again, Joe's running this. The reservoir is
done in the fall. The spring is the Rowway River. Refreshments will be offered to all participants and all are welcome. That's all I have for tonight, Mr. President. Thank you for your time. Great. Thank you. From the pool and recreation department. The Easter egg
hunt was held on Saturday, April 12th from 12 to 2:00 p.m. in the Brewer Recreation Center. There were a few thousand people in attendance. Uh there was plenty of crafts, entertainment, snacks, games, raffles, and pictures with uh the Easter Bunny. I want to
thank Ralph Bernardo and his staff and the numerous volunteers who helped set up work the event and then cleaned up afterwards. Uh if you're interested in any of the spring classes that are underway, uh there's still time to join them. Please stop by the recreation
office for details. Registration is open for the Clark Community Pool. You can go online to rclark.com and under recreation tab there is a pool registration tab and all the information is on that or as always you can stop at the recreation office and if you have
any questions you could always contact Ralph Bernardo at 732-428400 or his email is rbernardo@ourclark.com. And that concludes all our reports for this evening. Now we'll move on to ordinances appropriations and claims. Thank you Mr. President, for the record,
uh, no objections have been received in connection with the proposed ordinances. First ordinance is 25-09, an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 347 entitled vehicles and traffic, adding article 11, motorized bicycles and
scooters, section 347-65, motorized bicycles and scooters of the code of the township of Clark. Great. Thank you. At this time, I will open up the public hearing on this ordinance and this ordinance only. If anyone would like to come forward, please do so and state your name and the
town you live in. And you'll have five minutes in duration. Okay, seeing nobody, I'd like a motion to close. Thank you, Councilman Tol. Thank you, Councilman Hund. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay, I need a motion to adopt the ordinance. Yes, I'll
move it. Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Can I get a second? I'll second it. Thank you, Council Member Huff. Any discussion or questions? Jim, do you have anything to add? Or Mayor Alanise? Uh, yes. Yes. Uh, as we discussed at when this was introduced
over the past 12 months, we've gotten a lot of um complaints and more and more issues about the safety of our children and also those who are driving in the streets. And uh it's very important um that we implement this safety issue so
that everyone understands what the rules are. And um that's that's pretty much it in summary. It's about safety. That's number one. Great. Thank you. Okay. Roll call, please. Council members Hoff, yes.
Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol, yes. Council President Smith. Yes. Ordinance adopted. Next is ordinance 25-10 and ordinance to amend chapter 117 entitled
clothing donation bins section 117-7 limitations on the locations and numbers of clothing bins of the code of the township of Clark. Great. Thank you. At this time, I'll open up the public hearing on this ordinance and this ordinance only. If anyone would like to
come forward, please do so. State your name and the town you reside in. And you'll have five minutes or duration. Okay, seeing no one, I'd like a motion to close. Thank you, Councilman Okconor. Can I get a second? Thank you, Council Member Hun.
All in favor? I. Any opposed? At this moment, I need a motion to adopt the ordinance. I'd like to move that, please. Thank you, Council Member Hun. Can I get a second? I'll second that. Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Any uh discussion on this? I believe. Go ahead, Jim, if you want to give a quick
summary. This was just a request for the bids for veterans organizations. They still have to comply with all of the regular rules of pickup times, cleanliness, etc. So, it's just uh one exception um for veteran organizations.
Great. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Roll call. Madam clerk. Council members Hoff. Yes. Hund. Yes. Maserella. Yes. Maniti. Yes. Okconor. Yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith. Yes. Ordinance
adopted. Ordinance 25-11, bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements and the acquisition of new information technology equipment and a new automobile vehicle including original
apparatus and equipment in by and for the township of Clark in the county of Union, state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $1,50,000 to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the
issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds. Great. Thank you. At this time, we'll open a public hearing on this ordinance. If anyone would like to come forward on this ordinance only, please state your name in a town you reside in, and you'll have five minutes in
duration. All right. Seeing no one, I'd like a motion to close the public hearing. Who's that? Councilman Okconor and second was Council Member Hun. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. At
this time, I need a motion to adopt the ordinance. Yes, I'll move it. Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Can I get a second, please? Second, Mr. President. Thank you, Council Member Tol. Any discussion? Go ahead, Mayor Alise. Thank you, Mr. President. This
$3.3 million um bond ordinance includes 1.6 6,440,000 in grants. Uh for basically our DOT grant, $694,000 for Valley Road, the fire truck, we're getting 75 cents
on the dollar for that. It's $2.3 million of the ordinance and we'll be paying down 800,000 and the balance from grants and the Robinson House. I think you're you're doing ordinance number four. We're on ordinance three. Sorry. Yeah, we're doing the road improvements,
the uh ambulance and the uh it. Okay. And it was 1 million50. Sorry about that. No problem. Do you have anything to add on that? No.
Go ahead, Jim. Do you have anything? No, I think you No, it's the first one. Uh 2511 is for the 700,000 for roads. the 325 for the ambulance and $25,000 for the computers
for the it. Correct. So, yeah, it's just the, you know, the standard that's about what we spend on roads every year. Uh, a little bit more than a million, but then we have the [Music] 4 694,000 coming in from the grant. And
then the again the ambulance is unfortunately costing $325,000. And we want to upgrade our server so we have some redundancy and upgrade a bunch of computers that are reaching end of life so we can have um
new Windows versions on it. Great. Thank you. Can I get a roll call, please? Council member Hoff, yes. Hund. Yes. Maserella, yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith,
yes. Ordinance adopted. Ordinance 25-12 is a bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public improvements and the acquisition of a new firet truck, including original apparatus and equipment in by and for the township of Clark in the county of Union, state of New Jersey to
appropriate the sum of $3,340,000 to pay the cost thereof to appropriate state grants to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issue. uence of such
bonds. Great. Thank you. At this time, I'll open up the public hearing on this ordinance. If any would like to come forward, please state your name and town you live in. And you'll have five minutes in duration. Good evening. Hi, my name's U.
Oh, there should be a button. Is it Is the light on? The green light on the mic itself. higher. Okay. Hi everybody. My name is Jeff Alexander. I reside in Clark. Um I wanted to comment on this last
ordinance. I just went and did some research uh comparing what we do to some other towns and just questioning you know the expense of a new firet truck. I don't know the details of the truck or if it's what it's replacing. When I
compared Clark to Union, Cranford, and Westfield, what I found was uh Clark, which has the smallest population, I think, currently has six trucks. And the information I could find indicates we have 40 firefighters. I don't know if
that's full-time employees or includes volunteers or not. The other town's union is four times our size, also has six trucks, 24 firefighters, and they answered five
over 5,000 calls last year compared to what I could find on our on our town, 478 calls. Uh Cranford, it's 24,000 people, about the same size, has five trucks, responded to 4,300 calls. at
Westfield population is about twice of us. Clarks, we uh also has five trucks and responded to 1500 calls. So, it seems like we're either either my information's wrong or just something seems off. It seems disproportionate to
the number of trucks we have, the number of firefighters we have. And I just question whether we actually need to spend this kind of money on another truck. And my second question, I guess related to that, is what happens to the truck that's being decommissioned? Is
that sold? Does the township make money off that or do they just kind of go, you know, into where fire trucks go after they're done? So that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Alexander. Anyone else like to come
forward on this ordinance? Okay, seeing no motion to close the public hearing. Thank you, Council Member Tol. Can I get a second? Thank you, Council Member Okconor. All in favor? I. Any opposed? I get a motion
to adopt the ordinance. Yes, I'll move this as well. Thank you, Council Mezerell. I get a second. Second it. Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Go ahead, uh, Jim. Um, so I'll take some of that. I'm not a fire expert and I can, you know, follow up with the
chief Sarasa. However, you know, there were multiple different types of trucks. So, we got a lot of truck, a pumper truck, we got a Quint, and we have um some rescue trucks. So, there's, you know, even though we may have the same number of trucks, it is for fire safety
um you know, specifically on the type of vehicle that we have serving specific purposes. And you know the answer we have uh don't hold me to this. I believe it's over it's approaching 25 or maybe
close to uh 25 years old. The American uh Lef France um ladder truck. That ladder truck will be donated um donated. It'll be auctioned off as soon as we get this. We also have the option to trade it in as a reduction of the cost. We
will have to see where we are at that time. Right now, we're looking at at least a year and a half to 2 and 1/2 years before it's going to be delivered. Uh, one of the reasons why we needed the ladder truck is not only some of the size of the buildings, you know, in in town, um, but also, you know, to help
out in mutual aid and in other towns as other towns help us. So, I mean, at this point, the there is a need for the new ladder truck and like I said, it's it's part of the overall uh vehicle response or the number of vehicles and the type
of vehicles for the uh overall response to keep the town safe. And just to add on to that, so um except for the chief, we do have a complete volunteer fire squad. So, we're fortunate now we've opened it up to, as you know, council um
members can join from other towns because not everyone works in town like they did years and years ago where they were able to respond. So, we are grateful to have the many volunteers that we do have. As far as selling the truck, I did work in a town where we did sell a truck. Believe it or not, there
are people that collect fire trucks. We sold it to someone in Florida and uh as James mentioned, we can do it through auction or get a deduction on the um once we process the purchase order. We'll see what the prices and look look at that. Um as far as the number of
calls, that seemed very low. I don't know if you were looking at a monthly report, uh but we can gather that information. So 474 you said for the year. 480 last year. Yeah.
Okay. I I just feel like I see them every day on the Parkway. Uh you know, responding to calls, but um Okay. Turn your microphone on. Mhm. I said I'm not sure the exact number, but we can
get you the exact number. So, a little over one a day is what we're saying. Yeah. So, as far as uh I'm sorry I mixed up that ordinance before, but um uh let's see if there was anything else. I don't know if I completed the whole thing. I guess I was talking about the Robinson
house. We're getting um $146,000 on that $346,000 improvement. I think that sums it up. Thank you. And the first half of that was the Valley Road um combined. Yeah. $694,000 for Valley Road uh is the
total cost. The grant is $437,000 and for the fire truck um $2.3 million. as Jim mentioned, it's going to take a year and a half to two years to get that firet truck. Uh there's a long lead time uh throughout the United
States for fire trucks. May I? Yes. Go ahead, Council Member Hoff. So, I know you just gave uh Mayor, I know you just gave that the amount of the firetruck, but I just want to reiterate this is coming from a huge portion of a grant, right? Correct. 75
cents on a dollar is. Yeah. So, I I I thought that was incredible. All right. Thank you. It was from our Senate President friend Nick Guti was a big uh uh move movement on getting that grant for us. So, we're thankful to him for that. Anyone else
have any questions or discussion on that? Okay, we're going to go roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Mini, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol, yes. Council President Smith,
yes. Ordinance adopted. Okay, when you're ready, we'll move on to introduction of proposed ordinances. Okay, the first ordinance is 25-13, an ordinance to amend section 33 of chapter 347 of the code of the township of Clark
entitled vehicles and traffic. Can I get a motion? Thank you, Council Member Tulka. Get a second, please. Second. Thank you, Council Member Meny. Any discussion or questions on that? It's pretty cut and dry. Just a stop
sign at the end of King Street where it goes into Bartell. Trying to take my job. Yeah, anytime. Saving your voice. Anyone else have any questions on that? All right. Uh, roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes.
Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol, yes. Council President Smith, yes. Public hearing on this ordinance will be May 19th. Ordinance 25-14 is an ordinance to amend
chapter 240 entitled parks and recreation areas article 2 entitled use of facilities section six entitled fees of the code of the township of Clark. I get a motion please. I'll move that please. Thank you. Council member Okconor. Get a second. Please. I'll second it. Thank you. Council member
Huff. Any discussion or questions? Jim. Yeah. This is just something like we do you know for all of our departments, all of our fees. is we look at the surrounding communities and actually our fees are still a bit lower than some of the surrounding communities but it's a
community outreach. It's you know to um you know we want to have people you know using recreation so we don't want to make it you know too cost prohibitive but we are increasing all of the costs. I believe those fees have not been increased for over 20 years as well
correct or um about 20 years. Yeah. Great. Okay. Okay. Anyone else have questions or discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Maniti, yes.
Okconor, yes. Tol, yes. Council President Smith, yes. Public hearing on this ordinance is May 19th. Ordinance 25-15 is an ordinance to amend various sections of chapter 358 entitled motion pictures of the code of the township of
Clark. I get a motion, please. I'll move it. Thank you, Council Member Maserella. And second, Council Member Tol. Thank you. Any discussion or questions? Go ahead, Jim. Yeah. So, this is one of this comes from the state film ready um
committee and one of the things that they did is they have a website. They have the availability of what towns have a process in place to, you know, film in. And they came out with a new set of guidelines. These are this is a breakout now of the new set of guidelines uh for
turnaround time you know in costs depending on you know what number of days that they're going to be filming etc. So we're just staying consistent so we be remain a film ready community. Great. Thank you. Anyone else have any
questions? Okay. Roll call please. Council member Hoff. Yes. Hund. Yes. Maserella. Yes. Maniti. Yes. Okconor. Yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith. Yes. Public hearing on this ordinance is
May 19th. Ordinance 25-16 is an ordinance to supplement ordinance 24-17 entitled an ordinance to fix minimum and maximum salaries. I move that please. Thank you. Council member
Hund is the mover. Can I get a second? Thank you. Council member Okconor. Any discussion or questions? Jim? Yeah, this is to add the um the police director salaries to our salary ordinance. We never had it
before. Um and it gives us the flexibility in the event that we want to add a police director. Great. Thank you for the explanation. Anyone else? All right. Roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund? Yes. Maserella? Yes.
Miniti? Yes. Okconor. Yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith. Yes. Public hearing on this ordinance will be May 5th in town hall. Okay. I'd like to move to payment of claims. Councilman Okconor. Thank you. I have reviewed the bills for the month
totaling $472,37057. Thank you. Great. Thank you. All right. At this time, we will move to the citizens hearing on the agenda. I'm going to open the meeting to the public. The public comment portion of the meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their
concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA 10 col4-12A and the code of the township of clerk. Each person addressing the council shall give their name and the town in which they reside to the clerk. All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed
five minutes or duration. At the conclusion of the statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond. So, at this time, if anyone would like to come forward, please do so and state your name and the town you reside in. And you'll have five minutes. Please
come forward. Hi, Jeff Alexander of Clark. Again, I I just wanted to comment on the Clark Library and really give them a shout out. Um the librarians there do a great job and um it's a great asset to the community and I just wanted to get that
on the record. I have two grandkids. They have all kinds of events all the time at the library and my grandkids really enjoy going there and they just all very friendly and and do a great job. Great. Thank you. Uh just uh for the members of the
town, this is just for agenda items. Uh, so if there's anything not on the agenda, you could bring up. So, okay, Mr. Grieves, you want to come forward, please? Hello, John Gre from Clark. Um, I just had a couple questions about the, um, appointment of Mr. Olrich to DPW
director. Um, I guess I was just curious. Um, you know, it seems like it would be a job that would take multiple hours per week and, you know, he's probably pretty busy with the, um, business administrator duties. So, I was just curious. It just seems like that
might be a lot for one per It seems like a job for two people and one person is doing it. And, you know, I've been concerned because it seems like the DPW has reduced its workforce over the last few years. I know a few years ago it was uh 19 full-time workers and two
part-time workers and now or the most recent data that I was able to get from last year was uh 14 full-time workers. Um, so it just seems like additional people that are working directly for just for DPW would be important because we're putting a lot of strain on the
existing workers. Um, so I just, you know, I'm just concerned that I guess it seems like a job for two people that one person might be doing and um, there's that. And then, uh, regarding the budget, um, I just wanted to know when that might be available on the website. Um, I haven't been able to see it just
yet. And that's it. Thank you, Mr. Greavves. Isn't the budget uh was We would require your vote first to adopt it, council. Then we will certainly publish it tomorrow. We'll get right on it. Thank you for the reminder. I think I mentioned at the workshop that
that's how the process would work. Just so the public knows. So once the council has presented the budget from the administration, uh they have an opportunity to review it, question it, and hopefully tonight they're going to adopt it and um then it will be posted on the website for you to
review, ask questions, and then we'll have a hearing next month at our regular meeting. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Anyone else like to come forward? Good evening, Jillia Collins, clerk. I have two questions, possibly three,
regarding resolution number nine and resolution number 10. Um, maybe I did not know this that um we have a chief financial officer. Now, we're going to have an acting chief municipal finance
officer and we're going to have a qualified purchasing agent. It seems like a lot of people to handle the finances of Clark along with our business administrator, Mr. Olrich.
Um, also, um, I don't know if Miss Kablisa is still employed with the town and is Miss Fierra taking over her position or is it an additional position and what is the salary? And same with Mr.
Dioro uh his position as a uh QPA which is mandated by the state of New Jersey according to the notes on here. Um I don't know if you are aware
that he was fined by the New Jersey Local Finance Board in 2024, a fine of $750. and he paid that fine in October of
2024. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Collins. Anyone else like to come up on some of the agenda items? So, regarding Miss Koois, she is no longer employed uh by the town. She ended up leaving, took a business
administrator position, I believe in another town. Um, finance director in Summit. Finance director in Summit. So Christie worked for Jen uh and was in the process of taking all her classes and she has a few more classes to take.
So she is going to be the acting chief municipal finance officer. So basically sitting in Jen's position, but until she passes the test, she can't get the full title. Is that correct? Correct. We received um approval from the director of DLGS
um Mike Roberts. So um that's that's exactly correct. Jennifer resigned. Um and Miss Kobiscoco is also the qualified purchasing agent as well. That's correct. So it's not a statutory position, but it enables us to have a
higher threshold of $44,000 when going out to bid. Um, so I believe that um, Mr. Diorio is going to work on a case-byase basis on an hourly for an hourly fee when he reviews a bid
or what have you or whatever documents. And on the DPW reduction in manpower, I don't believe we've cut any services and some of it was uh, I believe retirements. Correct. Again, you know, we we backfilled as time, you know, so
we don't run into issues. the the plan is always to have people who are coming up through the ranks as people are approaching retirement. So there's a couple of years that we have some overlap. In addition, we broke out like you saw a couple of meetings ago the um
the cleaning service from the DPW. So that all used to be part it is a situation where we are now you know putting people in in the right buckets or in different buckets to you know track expenditures related to different services throughout the town. Great. All
right. Thank you. Go ahead. Council member Okconor and uh Jim do you feel that you have the capacity to take on this additional responsibility? Um the DPW department has been operating without an issue uh for many years. It's
more it's it gets into a little bit of technicality of the director backshree. Uh one of the things is we need a shade tree director to review all of the plans when they come in. So it's more of a title. I mean if we had a
director of DPW and a shade tree director separate, it wouldn't be it's just a title thing. It's the minimum salary within the range. And this was the whole thing that um the former mayor was acting shade tree director that you know there was a big deal made out of.
Um so we need to have a shade tree director. Uh there is some stipulations on uh acting. I don't have them in front of me but acting could only be for a certain period of time in certain conditions. As such the those conditions
are not a available right now and I'm taking over that role as the shade tree director to deal with any type of shade tree. As for DPW, it's going to operate the same as it has. No issues. You know, if there are any concerns, they're
always coming to me anyway. So overall, I'm responsible for all departments within the township anyway. So it doesn't it's no difference than anything that's been going on. Thank you. You're welcome. Right. Thank you. All right. At this time, I'd like a motion to close this portion of the
meeting. Thank you, Councilman Tol. Can I get a second? Thank you, Council Member Hund. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. Now, we'll move on to resolutions. First resolution is appointing Christy Vieiraa as acting chief municipal
finance officer effective March 26, 2025 for a term of one year subject to renewal as permitted by law pursuant to NJAC 532-2. I get a motion. Thank you, Council Member Manitic. I get
a second. Uh Council Member Okconor, thank you. Any uh discussion? Anything to add to that? I believe I summarized it a few minutes ago. Yeah. I mean, it again, it's it's all been approved by the state. It went through the state. This is just the
final um requirement that we need to do is is send them a resolution from the township to uh formalize the the agreement. Great. Thank you. Uh roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Minity, yes.
Okconor, yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith. Uh, yes. Okay. Number 10 is appointing Joseph Diorio as qualified purchasing agent for the township and increasing the bid threshold pursuant to
NJSA4A1 11-3A and NJAC 534-5. Thank you. I get a motion. I'll move that. Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Get a second. I'll second that. Thank you, Council Member Maniti. Uh any
discussion or questions up here? Jim, do you have anything? Um the only thing, you know, just to uh answer the one question. I mean, he is certified by DGS. He's been uh you know, he's his license is in good standing and you
know, I don't know the specifics uh per se, but he is uh by the state he's a licensed qualified QPA. Right. Thank you. Uh roll call, please. Council member Hoff. Yes. Hund, yes. Masarella,
yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol, yes. Council President Smith, yes. Number 11 is confirming the appointment of James Olrich as director of public works/shaderee at an annual salary of
$1,750. We got a motion. I'll move it. Entire council. Uh, you move that. You could do. Is everyone a favor? Entire council on that. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. We're going to do an EC on that. Uh, any further discussion on that?
I don't think anybody better for the job. Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Masarella, yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol. I've got a couple of potholes
for him, but yes. Council President Smith, yes. Next is the introduction of the 2025 municipal budget. Do you want to read this into the record now or do we got to do the motion first? Uh, I'll read it into the record first.
Please do. Okay. Municipal budget of the township of Clark County of Union for calendar year 2025. Be it resolved that the following statements of revenues and appropriations shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2025. Explanatory statement. Summary of
current funds. section of approved budget year 2025. General appropriation appropriations within caps for municipal purposes 23,513,74922 appropriations excluded from caps for municipal purposes 9
million 12,023 local district school purposes and municipal budget zero. Total general appropriations excluded from caps$9,12,023 reserve for uncollected taxes based on estimated
9850% of taxes collected $1,100,000. Total general appropriations, building aid allowance 2025 for school state aid 20240. Less anticipated revenues other than current property tax such as
surplus miscellaneous revenues and receipts from delinquent taxes 11,456,152.75. The difference the amount to be raised by taxes to support for support of municipal budget local tax for municipal purposes including reserve
for uncollected taxes 20,868,49547 additional for local district school tax zero minimum library tax 1,31,124. Be it further resolved that notice is hereby given that the budget and tax resolution was introduced by the municipal council of the township of
Clark County of Union, state of New Jersey on April 21st, 2025. And be it further resolved that said budget be published in summary in the Union County Hawk in the issue of May 1st, 2025. Be it further resolved that a regular a regular meeting for the hearing on the
budget and tax resolution will be held at the public safety building 315 Westfield Avenue on May 19th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. at which time and place objections to said budget and tax resolution for the year 2025 may be presented by the taxpayers or other
interested persons. Great. Thank you. At this time, can I get a motion? I'll move that. Thank you, Council Member Maniti. And I'm going to second that. Uh any discussion? Jim or Mayor Albanese? Do you have anything to add other than I think um you know the
mayor went all over all of the highlights of the budget uh and as we discussed you know with the the council. I mean it's a it was a tough year. We got it down as low as possible. um you know about $50 a household. The average
household is a any increase is you know an increase but it was you know it could have been a lot worse and some of the surrounding communities are a lot worse. So we we did a really good job of you know keeping down the um keeping down the tax increase without reducing any
services. Thank you. Council me Connor, I'd like to have some comments from the finance committee. Sure. Based on the 2024 and 2525 budget data, significant variances were identified and explained through the comments provided. The total expenditures for departments with notable changes rose from approximately
30.85 million in 2024 to 33.6 million in 2025, reflecting a total increase of about 2.75 million. This growth is driven by both controllable and fixed cost adjustments often tied to strategic initiatives or staffing changes. Of the
2.75 million, 1.7 million was associated with an increase of expenditures related to grants received to rehabilitate the Robinson house and purchase new ladder truck. We were further benefit from a benefited from a reduction in debt services of 166,000. As a result, the average taxpayer will only see an
increase of $48 per household or $3.95 per month. As the mayor had alluded to earlier, controllable expenses accounted for approximately $570,000 of the total variance and reflect strategic decisions made by individual departments. For example, the
communications department saw a $23,000 increase due to investments in on-site desktop support and cyber security monitoring. The clerk's office added $62,000 to its budget to hire a deputy clerk in anticipation of a staff retirement. The public works department
increased its budget to allow temporary summer help and the tax collector's office adjusted spending to accommodate changes in billing services. These shifts represent targeted efforts to improve service delivery, streamline operations, and respond to staffing needs, all of which fall within the
discretion of management. Fixed expenses totaling approximately 765,000 of the overall variance were primarily driven by contractual and nondiscretionary obligations that departments have limited flexibility to adjust. For instance, the engineering department saw a notable increase tied to ongoing
contractual engineering support and permit compliance efforts. Similarly, several departments, including police, fire, and emergency services, reported rises in fixed costs related to unionmandated salary increases, pension obligations, and insurance premiums. These adjustments reflect structural
costs that support core municipal functions, and are often dictated by labor agreements, state requirements, or multi-year contracts. Overall, the 2025 budget reflects proactive planning in both discretionary and non-discretionary areas. The presence of a clear justifications in
the comments indicates thoughtful allocation of the funds. Balancing the need for operational upgrades and service continuity with fiscal responsibility. Fixed costs remain the large component of the budget variance, but controllable spending highlights
strategic intent. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Get a roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Masarella, yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol, yes. Council
President Smith, yes. Public hearing on the budget will be May 19th. Number 13 is award of contract to the yard LLC for grass disposal services in the amount of $18 per cubic yard. I get a motion. A motion. Thank you, Council
Member H. Second. Council member Hun. Any discussion, questions? Jim, do you have anything? I mean, this went out to bid. Um, and we're taking the lowest bid bidder was at 21.25 with a additional fuel charge of $50 per visit uh versus
the $18. And again, this is only the transportation, not the disposal cost. Disposal cost to build separately through the um county. Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. Council member Hoff, yes. Hund. Yes,
Maserella. Yes, Maniti. I would like to abstain. Yes. Okconor. Yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith. Yes. Thank you. Number 14 is award of contract to T Fiatakus Construction Incorporated for the year 50 community
development block grant curb and ramp improvement project in the amount of $16,540. Get a motion. Moved. Thank you, Council Member Tol. Get a second. Second. Thank you, Council Member O' Conor. Any discussion?
Yeah, this is um to do curb cuts uh handicap curb cuts on Wat. Uh and again, we went out to bid and the um the low bidder was at 16,540 and that's the one we're going with. Thank you. Uh roll call, please. Council
member Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Maniti, yes. Okconor, yes. Tol. Yes. Council President Smith. Yes. Okay. Now we'll move to uh consent agenda resolutions. Uh the following items are
considered routine and non-controversial items by the township council and will be enacted upon by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda to be
discussed and voted on following approval of the remaining items listed on the consent agenda. Madame clerk, you Thank you. Number 15 is authorizing submission of a grant application requesting $250,000 and execution of all necessary
documents by the mayor andor business administrator for the 2025 capital project grant program to upgrade the Sexton pump station. Uh 16 is approving Edward Fines as class one special law enforcement
officer effective April 21st until December 31st, 2025. 17 is authorizing submission of a strategic plan for the Clark Municipal Alliance Grant for fiscal year 2026 in the amount of 13,194. And 18 is authorizing Oops. 18
is authorizing the tax collector to apply sewer account balance adjustments as credit in the amount of $38,919.20. And 19 is authorizing the tax collector to refund overpayment of sewer fees in the amount of
$420.34. I get a motion to adopt the consent agenda. So move, Mr. President. Thank you, Council Member Tolk. I get a second. I'll second. Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Uh, roll call, please. Council members Hoff, yes. Hund, yes. Maserella, yes. Meniti, yes. Okconor,
yes. Tol, yes. Council President Smith, yes. President Smith. Council President, I'd just like to um congratulate Edward Fines and welcome his him as a class one special law enforcement officer. As you recall,
we've been looking for specials, so thank you to him for uh responding to the call. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Is there any new business on the calendar? There is no new business. Okay. At this time, we're going to go to public comments. I'll open the meeting
to the public. The public comment portion of the meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA10 col4-12A in the code of the township of Clark. Each person addressing the council shall give their name and the
town in which they reside to the clerk. All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed five minutes or duration. At the conclusion of the statements or questions from member of the public, the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond. So at this time if any would like to come
forward please do. Good evening. My name is Michael Schulman. I live in Clark, New Jersey. Uh I wanted to talk about something that has been addressed on and off at these meetings and the workshop meetings for I don't know probably longer than we've
all been coming to these which is traffic issues here in town. Uh I was asked to come here for some folks who live in uh my ward specifically on Featherbed Lane uh who have seen as many people have in this town
just a influx if not steady steady stream of speeding cars, other traffic violations. I know there several months ago there was a massive accident uh right on Featherbed um almost next to
the Deutsche Club and Featherbed Lane school. Uh and that's an area that is obviously traveled every day. Um and when there's not standstill traffic at rush hour, it becomes a raceway. And this is an area that as just mentioned
has two schools. Uh the Deutsche Club, a community service organization, uh and is an area that I think is in desperate need of some sort of traffic control system. uh folks that I've spoken to, I believe some of them had
written into the town uh because there's been some folks organizing in that neighborhood and they asked me to speak tonight about possibly the installation of speed uh tables, speed humps, frankly just generalized enforcement uh in the
area because with two schools there doesn't unfortunately get the crossing guards like the public schools at but there's hundreds if not probably close to maybe several hundred students uh and their parents traveling back and forth and I
was just trying to go through a little bit of history. I know people have been bringing this up mo uh meeting after meeting in different neighborhoods. This is not a unique problem necessarily. And back at a workshop meeting about a year and a half ago, uh there was a another
individual asking for same type of relief on a different neighborhood and it was mentioned by uh the mayor's predecessor that uh we don't put in speed humps or speed tables. Uh and in fact noted that they're apparently unlawful. So, of course, the person I am
did some digging and there's nothing in the state or county statutes that prohibit the construction of these and these are town roads. So, it really would fall to us traffic and engineering to actually look into this. Um, and I
was curious to know, I guess question-wise, uh, can there be a study, I don't think there's been one recently, one hasn't been mentioned, at least I've been coming for now, for several years, um, to really confirm the need for these so we don't get a worse accident. Uh, and
the idea that was mentioned by the individual that we don't put them in is it is impacts DPW, snowplowing. And again, I think an irrational explanation because every other town has speed control devices and all of them have
plows and leaf pickup and other machines that go on the streets without issue. So, I was hoping that after tonight, um, the council would strongly consider, uh, actually taking some action and requesting that the town engineer and
the folks in charge of traffic in, uh, I'd say in alliance with the police department to look into some of this so we don't get uh, a serious accident again that results in something worse like we had a few months ago. Uh,
thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Showman. Hello, John Greavves from Clark. Um, I'm here to kind of follow up on the uh question I had about pilots last month,
which was um would the council consider um splitting some of the revenue that's coming to the town from the pilot programs with the school? Um because under the pilot program, the town actually gets more money uh from
the pilot money than they would if there was a normal taxing structure. And in the case of the Walnut Hill Apartments, you know, you have 26 additional students going to the schools there. Um that puts the additional burden on the school, could some of the money that's being sent to the town be put into the
school budget? I know that you guys mentioned that there is the ordinance where um the town pays some money, but that money is the money that was received before the development was there when there were zero students. And I believe it's about $55,000.
Um, and I believe that the town gets a little bit more than $500,000 under the pilot program and they would get about 260 275,000 under a normal taxing structure. So, if we take the excess over what a normal taxing structure
would be and give that to the um the students. Um, so there's that. And then um I didn't really know much about the QPA that was being appointed. Um I I heard from um the other resident that there was um a fine given. I did a just
a quick look right now. Um it seems that that was because of a conflict of interest thing um based around a sale and um it just seems like there's an ethical dilemma there and I'd just like to say that that doesn't sound like a good thing. I don't know more than I
found out a few minutes ago, but um it certainly seems troublesome. Um and I guess you know with the pilot program I is there any additional um uh ordinance or anything because that particular ordinance only applies to the
Walnut Hill apartments. So any like Cubmart and any additional pilots I know that there's another pilot that was proposed but then um had to be taken off the agenda but it seems to be just delayed and will be coming soon. um it does not seem that that that additional money that that that is still
insufficient. Not even that amount would be um applied um under the the current setup. So um I'd just like to see if you guys could address that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gre. Hi, Nancy Toasquez
Clark. I guess in one of or two of the meetings that I missed, we no longer have to give our address. Just that I noticed that. Um, second, I must be the only person that really doesn't like to
hear the use of grants over and over and over and over again. I'm not saying we don't need a new fire engine. I'm not the fire engine chief. I've done no analysis in the fire engine, the age of it, whether it has any parts that don't
work anymore, need to be replaced, how much maintenance is going on in it, but I ask myself, I wonder if we weren't get getting 75 cents on a dollar, would we be buying a new fire truck? Then I see grants mentioned again later on in
consent agenda resolution 15, consent agenda resolution 17. What is there a money-making machine that just prints out money with the word grants on it? It all of this money is coming from the taxpayers. If it's
coming from the state, the state is taxing everybody in the state. And they're not only taxing me for my fire engine, but every single fire engine in the state. We're all being taxed for all this stuff. And I think I'll go, you know, we'll go from here to the county.
I go to county meetings, grant and grant and grant and grant and grant. And I ask myself, is really all of that necessary? And I don't know. I'm not one to say is it is or it isn't. I'm not challenging whether it is or it isn't. It's just a personal thing. I guess I'm
really getting tired of hearing the word grant because it seems like money is being given out very freely to towns, to counties, and to states. And the state of New Jersey is not a cheap state to live in. So I'm like I said, I must be
the only person that doesn't like the word grant. Grants. I used to work at WT Grant, so that I liked, but not not giving money out and nothing. I really like the business administrator, James Olrich. And I'm
wondering though, an annual salary of $1,750. Does that mean when we really get a public works director, that's all that public works director makes? I'm I can't get I can't wrap my head around. Are there more hours
needed? I know when I worked in business as a salaried employee, I got job on top of job on top of job on top of job. And if it took me 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week to do it, I still got paid for 40 hours. So, not not saying Jim doesn't deserve the
$1,750. It's nothing against Jim personally, but um I just can't wrap my head around why there's an annual salary of $1,750 for a director of public works. Thank you.
Thank you, Nancy. Anyone else like to come forward? All right, we'll start answering some of those questions. Uh, I'll start with the, uh, grants. The politicians in this country starting at the federal level down to the state
level. Uh, the tax money goes into the federal government, goes into the state coffers, and everybody in public office likes to get reelected. So they take grant money and they offer it out like candy uh to a lot of the from the federal government down to the states and the states down to the to the
individual counties and towns. Uh we cannot uh give grant money out but if people are going to offer it to us uh we're going to take it. Uh that's just the nature of the beasts unfortunately. So until the federal government changes and then the state government changes uh I don't think that's going to change.
Anything else to add? Uh may the money is not offered. It is offered. Yes, it's advertised that there are grants available. We pursue the grants and we've been successful, but believe me, we don't in Clark get our fair share of
what the other towns in this state get and we are proud of getting those grants. And if you have a specific question on one of the grants, um, do grant, the grant for the, uh, restoration of, uh, part of the structure at the historical house or for
the fire department truck. And maybe we would have pushed things a little bit further to get that $3.3 million truck, but I assure you, it's needed. Um, and I'm relying on the experts when I do say that.
Um, that's all I have on grants right now. I don't know if you want to add anything, Jim. Yeah, the only thing I would add is that all of these items are necessary items. So, the $250,000 grant that we're going to apply for is a Sexton pump station, right? So, it's a pump station, sewer pump station that we
need to upgrade. The roof on the Robinson House has been, you know, falling apart. Uh, I mean, places a little bigger than my shed. And unfortunately, it's a going to cost us 300 almost $350,000 to replace it. Reason being is because it is um an
historical building and you know it doesn't only benefit the township of Clark, it benefits the state, the county and this is another one of those uses and um you know Nancy I agree with you a million% right personally doesn't say anything about the council or anybody
else but you know if they're going to be giving the money and these are expenses that we need and we could use some of that money to offset our cost. I mean it makes total sense to do it. So I just want to add on to that. So one
of the grants we got was the curb cut grant. So I've been going to those meetings for over 20 years. CDGB. We don't have lowincome uh situations thankfully here as much as some of the other towns surrounding us that do get
those grants. They get large grants, hundreds of thousands of dollars. We get 16,000 35,000. It was hard to even get to that amount, but I'm happy to give my time and participate in those meetings to make sure the money is doowled out
correctly from the community block grants. Um, I guess maybe one thing you could do is go to the state and some of the other organizations if you feel that the government's giving out too many grants
and maybe either direct more money our way or tell them to eliminate them. that might be a good idea. But um from my own point of view, I think it's important for the citizens to understand that we are working here to get as much in
grants as we can. I know our schools in particular haven't gotten their fair share for one reason or another. Maybe legitimate, maybe not, but we do try to get grant money. And uh from my own standpoint, I will continue to do so and
I'd be happy to discuss it further with you, Nancy. Thank you for the comments. Thank you. Uh on the DPW shade tree, I believe the 1750 is the low end of the salary um scale that we have for scale. I just looked it up. It's $1,750 to
20,000. 20,000. So that's the minimum. Great. Thank you. Back to the pilots again. Mr. Greavves, the student enrollment is down. I'm going to give you the exact number. We have 11 less students in our
school district as of three weeks ago. We have 2,286 students in our schools and that comprises ALJ, Comf, Henley, Valley, and the preschool. And last year at this time, we had
2297. So we had 11 more. The school gets their fair share of the money they asked for from us. We are, if not the only one, one of the only towns in this state who does give back some money from the pilot programs. Every other town that we
know of or contacted keeps the money for themselves. And again, whenever there's tax appeals, we have to foot the bill 100%. We don't go to the county and say, "Give us your 20%." We don't go to schools and say, "Give us our 50%." So, you get up here every meeting and
you ask us about the pilot programs and until the school comes to us and says they need more money, which they don't because they have a surplus. Um, there's no need for us to give the money. So, go ahead, Mayor Albanese. Um, so, Mr. Greavves, I looked on your website and there's a little lesson
about limits on levy increases and information about the board of education and it clearly states on there you wrote the state cap on levy increases. New Jersey law caps the annual increase in the school tax levy at 2% of the previous year's levy. This cap is
intended to limit the tax burden on residents and requires districts to manage their budget within this constraint. Exceptions to the cap, certain exceptions are exempt from the 2% cap and you outline the items that are exceptions similar to what the
municipality does. And then you say if the voters want to, they can increase the cap more than 2% if they need more money through a referendum. So are you do you want us to take money from one pocket and put it in another so that go
that goes within the cap? I'm not sure. What are you looking for? You're explaining and giving a whole history. No, I I'm just going to state this and you can answer it next time. No, I'm not going to have a discussion about it, but I'm just pointing out to the citizens of Clark that on the stronger Stronger
Clark website, which you're involved with, I believe, um it clearly explains how the tax levy for the board of education works, which is just what the president pointed out, which we've pointed out at previous meetings as
well. Thank you. Thank you. And uh Mr. Shman on the speed bumps. Uh speed bumps are not illegal. You can get speed bumps, but there are a lot of restrictions to them. So Jim, if
you want to. So, you know, just high level speed. Can you lean into the microphone a little bit so we can hear you please? Sorry. Thank you. Okay. So, so speed humps uh must be 200 feet from any intersection. There must be a minimum of 300 feet between individual
speed humps. should be placed within the property line positioned under street lights and on roads with less than 3,000 vehicles. So, um, feather bed would not qualify under those circumstances.
Also, I believe that the accident that did happen there, the woman was ill. She became ill. It was not a uh reckless driving or or over the speed limit. Just to make that clear to the citizens as well because it was extraordinarily
amazing that the woman and her son young son lived through that accident. Okay. Captain Akaboo, I don't want to put you on the spot, but maybe I would. C can you do you have a minute to come up and explain how you the police do their traffic studies just to the
citizens? Thank you. Captain Mike Akab with the patrol division. I'm not a traffic expert. Um but um you know we will be be deploying the radar trailer in certain locations and we will have proactive enforcement
out on Featherbed. Um to answer Mr. Schulman's question, we never as far as I been the patrol captain, Feather Bane, Feather Bed Lane was never a problem area. Um, but as far as with
um the traffic studies, I can have our traffic department and speak to Detective Captain L in regards to uh potentially put out a device out there because I believe we did a traffic study within the last year or two on feather bed. It may be longer. I don't know. We
can ask Captain L. We could we could always check that out. Yes. But again, and we have had complaints on featherbed, but I get a complaints on a lot of streets. And I think it was Mr. Greavves who told me traffic's not an issue in the town. But as I said before, and I think he's probably got a tape of
me saying traffic, traffic, traffic. That's what people are concerned about in this town when it comes to the police department. Um, so yes, it is a problem. We ask that people do not speed, but
they continue to do so. And um as our officer in charge said, we'll be doing some studies, get some equipment out. Um and to the citizens, please be mindful when you're driving. You're coming off fast roads. Keep your mind on the road.
As we mentioned this evening, we're passing a ordinance to protect children and others, adults who drive motorized vehicles, which may be small and not expected when you're driving down the street. I I walk a lot in town. People
don't expect walkers. You have to be a defensive walker in this town. In any town, it's New Jersey. Everyone drives. We're not a We're not a city. We're a suburb. You must drive. So, please be mindful. Um, I don't want to admonish
anyone, but I appreciate all those that do do follow it. But, you know, I see it every day. I've got the Ring uh camera messages that come up about people speeding all the time. All the time. So, please be mindful. You have anything else? Thank you,
Officer Akaboo. And um for the month of March, we did have 234 motor vehicle stops and 38 radar details. So, it's uh it's a big significant increase um from the past month. So, great. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
All right. At this time, we are going to close uh this portion of the public comments. I get a motion. Move that. Thank you, Council Member Hung. I get a second. Second. Thank you, Councilman. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. We're going to go to professional comments. Mayor Alban, is
there anything further to add? Um this weekend we have the little league parade, correct? And softball parade. And softball. And um so in light of that, we're going to make a change, right Jim? On the uh announcement that was made about the
electronic drop off. We're not going to have it this weekend coming up. We're going to change it to May 1st. May 3rd. Okay. So please make a note of that. Hopefully you're still tuned in and make a note. May 3d will be the electronic
drop off. Great. Thank you. Council member Hoff, do you have any closing comments? I have a few. Yes. Um, I wanted to say especially as the newest member of council, um, with the cost of things
increasing and I'm working hard on trying to get educated and I feel very good about those who compiled um, and spent so many hours, especially in the face of recent changes that have occurred um, regarding changes to grants. Sorry, Nancy, but I'm going to talk about grants a couple times. Um,
it's amazing to see just how much are really in the budget is such a fixed cost. Uh, but to see how fiscally responsible that this feels. So, while I've said it privately, I do just want to say publicly thank you um to the b to the mayor, to the business administrator and my fellow council members for
helping me dive into and and start understanding um but obviously seeing the tremendous work, the time, the knowledge that goes behind this budget and I appreciate it immensely. Um kind of as an addition just talking about getting educated and understanding
what's going on. um the pilots, you know, ju not to jump on that as well, but it it's been very um rewarding and and very clarifying getting further education about the pilots. Um I know that, you know, there's we've talked about it. It's come up multiple times
that there's been meetings for members of the public to understand it. There's so much information online and I think um our council president does a great job each time, quite frankly, of explaining um what's going on with the pilot programs. Um, but I also want to say I've heard this a few times this is
a pretty friendly group and I think a very transparent group with information. Um, and I keep hearing, you know, occasionally at meetings people say, well, you know, I'm people wanted me to ask, people wanted me to ask. And um I just want to say as somebody who would come to meetings and ask questions or
reach out or send messages or emails, there's so many ways to get in touch with the proper people in town that um I I would want to encourage people to take advantage and uh get their questions answered as best they can. Um so kind of switching up um the egg hunt this
weekend. It was the first time I participated um in the back end as opposed to as a mom trying to knock eggs out of you know overbearing kids little hands when they were younger. And um but you know under um unsurprisingly Ralph and his team did an incredible job. It
was so wonderful to see I had I you know I knew it was a big undertaking but to watch all the volunteers working together. the fact that everyone that you passed at all the different stations and functions that they had going on, everyone was smiling and those smiles are the results of so many people
volunteering. Um, and we got to hold little chickens from the shifer stand. So, I thought that was so wonderful. Um, and again, apologies to my neighbor Nancy. Um, but I already had it in my notes about the grants. Um, but I did just want to say watching a neighboring town get the, you know, just um, a very
close neighboring town have to come out of pocket 100% for the fire truck that they really needed. When I got on to council, I thought that that was exceptional that we were able to take um, advantage, but it also requires work to apply for a grant. And quite frankly, if we don't if we're not the recipients
of it, um, someone else will be, I don't think they're going to cut off grants. Uh, but I think I'm I'm personally um as in business you look at different grants and sometimes they're huge undertakings to apply and fill everything out. So, I was already planning to just say thank you. I thought that that was great and
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday. Um, my daughter's last year in the Clark girls softball parade. So, that's all. Thank you very much. Thank you, Council Member Hun. Yes. Thank you, Council President. Just want to thank Jim and his staff as well as well as the
mayor and council members who worked on the the budget. Um a $50 increase for the entire year is is tremendous for the town after everything that's happened as Councilwoman Hoff has said with all the different changes that have gone on the
last several weeks or months. So Jim, thank you very much and please pass that on to your team staff. Um what a great job on that. Uh, congrats to the EMS employees or I should say members who received the rewards that Councilman Okconor mentioned earlier. That's
tremendous that they're recognized for their efforts. It's a volunteer organization and to receive those recognitions really means a lot to those individuals. Um, and just real quickly, thank you to the mayor as her she explained the budget at the beginning of
the meeting. I think she pointed out all the key points that needed to be mentioned and that uh explain or pass along for people out in television land if they were listening at that point to give them a good understanding what what makes up the budget and how we go about that. So that's all I have. Thank you
very much. Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Yes. Thank you, Council President. Um just to make a quick comment on uh traffic around our community. Yes, we do have a lot of traffic. Um, that's primarily because of
the surrounding communities funnel all of the traffic down towards Central Avenue and entrance and exit on the Parkway. Um we're probably one of the highest um traffic
um issues throughout Union County because of the accessibility of the parkway to the surrounding communities. So where do they go? They travel through Clark. Yes, there's a they they do travel at excessive speeds. But I was
been telling a lot of the residents because they do call me quite frequently and they're concerned about the traffic uh and the speeding uh and I uh I tell the um the people that call or when I
see them on the on the roads um get involved. um be um proactive and if you see something as I've always said that doesn't seem quite right whether it is in by your home or whether it is
vehicles traveling. Call our police department. Take a tag number from the vehicle. Take you everybody has cell phones. Uh take a take a picture of the vehicle. Get involved.
That's going to be the biggest deterrent because then you're going to call police headquarters and give them the information and all of that and give them the tag number and they'll follow through with that. But what happens is people like to talk a lot about it but they don't want to get involved. Um, so
you should you rather than speaking a good uh talk about traffic calming, what the police should do, what we should do about traffic calming. Ladies and gentlemen, you're part of this community like the police department is like we
are, get involved. Take um um take the tag number or take a picture of the tag number if you see speeding. pass it on to our police headquarters. They'll follow it up. Uh and if you see anything that doesn't seem quite right in your
neighborhoods, call our police headquarters. They're going to respond quickly to ensure your safety. So, that's all I have until next month. Be well, stay safe, and God bless. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Meni. Uh
thank you, Council President. Um just one of the things when uh you know about motorized bicycles um about a month ago I was on Madison Hall Road. It was later in the evening and there was a bunch of young kids on these motorized scooters um wearing dark clothing. And if you
know these motorized scooters are uh black uh or dark colors and a lot of these cars that we drive today don't make the sounds that we did five, six, seven, even 10 years ago. They're a lot more quieter. And anyway, to make a long story short, uh one of the kids was driving in the middle of uh Madison Hall
Road and uh I almost uh hit him. And the reason why I bring that up is as a father and as a grandparent, I think as parents, we should, you know, ask our children number one not to uh be careful with these motorized bicycles. I know they're out there and a lot of people are buying them for their children, but
we have to be very careful. It's they're dangerous and uh they're not going to take responsibility and drive down a road like Madison Hill Road. um there could be uh you know a fatality or somebody could get seriously hurt. So I bring out to the community just talk to your children. Uh there's a lot of new uh drivers on the road including my son
and they're not always looking out for these bikes coming off the sidewalks and things like that. So um just something you know I wanted to bring the attention to the community. Um second thing I know was mentioned with the Easter egg hunt. I thought it was a great job by Ralph. He did a wonderful job. Uh brought a lot of the community together and it was
just an awesome time. And uh uh just uh it is spring and uh our sports are in full season. Come out and support our sports teams. We got baseball, we got soccer, I'm sorry, baseball, softball, lacrosse playing at the high school. We got Clark Little Leaf starting up, Clark
softball. So go out, support our children, and uh look forward to seeing everybody on Saturday. That concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Thank you. Uh first off, Jim, great job with the budget and uh again like like you your department as
well as all the department heads because it's never a fun time when you got to put together the budget because you can ask for everything but you don't get everything. So it's a it's a hard job and uh and thank you so much for that. With regard to the fire truck, so as many of you know, I've been on here for
years. My dad was a volunteer Clark fire member life member and I remember and I'm going to take a little out of Brian's book. He's probably got something going in his head. mid70s, Ramada Inn went up, which is now the Holiday Inn. And because of that, we needed to get a snorkel. The snorkel was
basically a bucket truck. It was it was lime yellow. And uh that was the beginning of what we needed. And again, we need we meet the needs of the community. And uh you know, I wholeheartedly voted for the fire truck. I I you know to to show up at a fire and
not have the apparatus to do your job to me is is unfulfilling. And remember we have volunteers. They're not paid. So they're missing time with their families. I remember my dad running out Christmas Day to go to a fire. and um to
go to a fire, to leave your family and not have the apparatus to help you either save lives or put a fire out to to to um stop further damage would be um disheartening. So, uh uh with that with regard to traffic, as the mayor
mentioned, traffic, traffic, traffic, why is there so much traffic? It's not just Clark, it's all around. You can't get through Westfield, Clark, or anywhere because of traffic. So, where does all this traffic come from? It comes from the state mandating that we build on basically every square inch
that's buildable non-stop with no money for infrastru infrastructure. So they leave the towns with the price tag of them collecting taxes and just getting people into into the state and um let us figure it out. We're the ones that have
to deal with it. Um, no one's driven right since co since co I mean you drive the parkway, turnpike, route 9, 22. No matter where you go, people just don't know how to drive anymore. And when I say that, what I mean is they think they
know how to drive, but speed limit is not a limit. This is a suggestion. And I know as Kathn Akaboo talked about as the head of patrol, he's done a lot, his department's done a lot to try and slow down traffic, but unfortunately, we
can't have a police officer on every street at every moment. So, there are going to be times when people speed. Um, so I know Captain Akaboo and his team do the best they can, but again, it's New Jersey and they're
building on every square inch that is buildable. So, you want to start someplace, start with the builder's lobby because they're the ones that are getting it done. That concludes my report. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Council Member
Tol. Mr. President, I'm going to keep it quick. I'm going to pull this stuff out of my brain. I'm going to throw it out there. Fire trucks. He said it all about the personnel, but I'm going to throw the other stuff. I agreed with Mr. Armstrong's comments to a butt because the fire trucks are regulated by the
state of New Jersey and those regulations change constantly. So, we're ordering a truck. Remember this folks, listen what was said. We're ordering a truck not for this year, not for 6 months from now, but two years from now because it's cheaper. Plus, they also have to they're not just like go out
down to a car lot and buy a car or a truck. You're ordering specific vehicles to meet specific requirements of the state. And those requirements change. One year was about cabs. You couldn't had to have a crew cab. You couldn't have that. You had to have this. A whole bunch of regulations are constantly put
on these mach apparatus, these machines, and they constantly change. And the towns have to react to that. The fire department reacts to it. And as Pat said, they're volunteers. They Well, we need to have the updated equipment so we can do our job. In the middle of the night, when you hear those sirens, you know they're doing their job. And they
should have the, as I always say, safe, clean, and green. This town needs the safest police department, which we do have, and we have great leadership. This town has the greatest fire department because these guys love and care for the community. They're giving back. So, if we're giving them a new toy or a new, excuse me, I didn't mean to be
disrespectful, but I'm saying something that makes them get their job done better. Let's give it to them. What's the problem? You going to say no to that? That's ridiculous. Now, King, Dr. William Robinson Plantation, just listen. It's a museum 1690. There's
nothing else in the state that matches up to it. Museums have regulations, have rules and regulations they have to abide by. In 2005, 2006, we did a we put airplane wiring across the center so the thing didn't collapse inwards on it.
That brought the structural back to it. But over time, another what, 20, 19 years, 20 years, the roofs start to leak because they're shingles. They're not a roof with tar and and all the rest. So, what I'm trying to say to you is it's a 1690 museum, only one in the state of
New Jersey, one of the most limited ones in the country, except you go up to New England, Boston, Massachusetts area. It's an issue that we're supporting something special to give to our children. So, if we spend some money, yes, it's it's something that's appropriate. We're not wasting money.
And as I they said before, the architectural historian who comes from Cranford, nice lady. Boy, does she because she's the only specialized person to do the paper the documents on the house before it can even be touched. You go get do have improvements to your house, you know what the architecture
cost you? This is tenfold that because it's a 1690 farmhouse. So, I'm going to leave my comments now because it's late. to those we lost in the last month. Deborah Fallon, longtime Clark resident and a neighbor of mine on Dorset Drive, ALJ, class of 74 alumni. Anthony
Marzano, US Navy veteran. Ivonne Legan, a longtime Clark resident. Charles Reichlet, loving husband of Nancy Aenowski, our former health officer and a friend to Clark, New Jersey, a very nice man. With that said, folks, it's always something in this town, but we love our town. We give back our town,
and we keep giving more because that's what it's all about. You got questions as it was said before by Jessica Hoff. Just ask them. We're here to answer them. Thank great Easter. Easter's over with. We're going now towards uh Memorial Day, right? I'll see you then.
Uh Jim, you have anything to add? Nothing to add. Okay. Counselor, you have anything, Mr. Dugan? No, thank you. Madame Clerk? No, thank you. Okay. Uh just in closing again, the softball little league parade kicks off at 9:00 am this Saturday morning at the Exxon
station on Westfield A and proceeds down Westfield A uh past municipal building where the softball players go into their complex and the little league makes a left and goes to their complex. So please come out and line the streets. I want to thank the American Legion for
their kind uh donation to the uh memorial um out in front of ALJ High School, which uh we'll start working on and ordering I guess the plaques and everything. It's all ordered. All right, that's even good news. So again, thanks for that. And at this time, a motion to
adjourn. Thanks, Council Member Tolk. Second. Second. Thank you, Council Member. Who's that? Okconor. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. See you next month. Thank you. [Music]
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