##VIDEO ID:z_DiG1TxyZk## what e e e e e e he now the United States of America just before down if we just have a moment of silence this last week the the burrow we lost somebody in the burrow family somebody been retired prank Spencer um who long long time uh Public Works uh we were talking a little bit about him downstairs tonight that always kind of a copy little smile on but a guy that knew where every stinking pipe in this town was underground he could walk you anywhere and tell you oh yeah sure runs here that's how it goes this is this he was uh he was just he was an ace he was a great guy so we just a second to remember Christ B okay thank you resolution commission this meeting resol resolu Friday January 10 minut january2 and a motion to F rep second the second reading in public hearing 1799 to receive municip budget appropriation limits and to establish a c so this is an ordinance U that we do every year uh you have to authorize exceeding the um the cap um and to enable you the ab borrow if you don't use up all the cap to bank that part of your cap um for another year that you may need uh we're later tonight going introduce our budget which we aren't going to need this but for Good Housekeeping we adopt it every year just in case something happens we have so that we can uh we have more flexibility with respect to our budget this is the public hearing on the um on the cap coordinates anyone like to bring anything before the commission this is your opportunity to do so anyone okay H mayor yes commission lowski yes yes have second reading in public of ordinance ,800 apprting $230,000 with General Capital Improvement fund for improvements to BR own properties so this is um this is taking money that was in our budget from prior years and what's called a capital Improvement fund when you're getting ready to to spend it you need to do an ordinance to say okay we're going to spend this money now on this this is money that's going toward the pocket park um the completion of that work on the P at the Paca Park we uh got a contract's been awarded we're hoping that work starts in the next month six weeks uh hope the weather holds up for us so we get that going but the pocket park will be coming uh coming shortly this is the uh public hearing on this ordinance anyone have anything like to bring the commission this is your opportunity to do so anyone okay mayor yes yes M Robinson yes so next we have public comment on the resolution agenda so if anyone has any questions comments anything they want to know about any of the resolutions that are on the agenda this oh sorry we'll get we'll get it then any any um anyone have any questions or comments on any of the items on the agenda okay all right we've got I I missed we have one walk-on one additional ordinance which is an introduction of an ordinance that is a granting to the Department of Transportation a temporary easement on um it's the triangle kind of down Haden Avenue on the other side of 3 130 dumping Donuts I imagine for construction work there going to be storing some things on that triangle which we own it's granting a temporary easement this is an introduction of it final reading will be public during a final reading will be our March 3r meeting okay h mayor M yes mow yes yes okay resolutions uh appointing M as fire captain for the bur of Collins with fire department yes reporting Paul Bono as Lieutenant for the bur of Collins of fire department yes appointing Carl J theii as firefighter ENT for the bur of col fire department can't believe this but yes so we're going to administer the o it's only the beginning of Judge discussion administer o um she how do you want to do [Music] this bring any family members anybody never good little I st I'm Matthew do Solly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and Allegiance the same to the city and to the governments the government established in the United States established in the United States and in the state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully partially and justly perform all the duties all the duties as fire captain for the fire department as fire captain for the fire department according to conratulations I been participated in some of the task force that have gone to other parts of the country after that happen and okay um [Music] good job eyes I swear that I'll support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to thear True Fai and to the governments the government established in the United States unit and in this under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully partially and justly perform all the duties all the duties as Lieutenant as Lieutenant for the B of col and Fire Department fire department according to the best of my ability [Music] job so um I I have had the Good Fortune to work this is the third generation ofs that I've had work was our our superintendent of Public Works before uh Grandpa J lived in the house in night Park was the kind of the gatekeeper and those are days when different things got done in policing of par kept control and really really um everybody knew who Carl was um and so we're really proud that the tradition of L Carl has been working uh doing inspections for fire department I I call do swear do swear support the Constitution of the United States support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the Constitution State of New Jersey that will bear true faith and allegiance to the Saint I will bear true faith and allegiance to the saint and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that will Faithfully that will Faithfully partially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties as fir PL or ENT all the duties as fire or ENT for the burrow of col of fire department for the B of col of fire depart the ability according to the best of my ability so another job in the burs let's do the next resolution G Willi and so these are appointments of of new police officers this appointment will allow them to be begin their uh time at the Academy once they uh complete that time we'll be back for swearing in um of those officers that time so yes yes and uh you are well most of you that are here for the festivities you are free to go um you're welcome to stay if you want to hang in for all the rest of the meeting but you are free to go I just ask you try to keep it as quiet as you can so that we can get through uh just our bus and keep along okay uh congratulations again to our it's easier okay okay ready deal this one he okay all right thank you for down appreciate it all right let's dep so this is a a step in the construction of a road under a public works project where we are releasing the performance guarantee because the work has been completed and now maintenance Bond put in place that helps cover um any expenses there might be if you know there's a crow something happens in the um the in the roadway down the RO so they get rid of the big performance guarantee the whole contract comes in with a smaller maintenance bond that yes yes number one and this is a ruction reduction there you go affirming the of Civil Right policy and signing of the group this is required annually yes introducing and approving the 2025 bu okay so the tonight we're introducing our budget um been a been a bit of an effort this last year and I want to just spend a couple minutes talking about uh some issues with the budget uh we so all good so we um the the big the big hurdle and the big obstacle this year are what I'll say are still kind of uh pandemic hangover issues still issues with respect to uh getting coming out of the changes in the business community in the world with respect to mining employees retaining employees um all those things that are affecting the the private world the Private Industry same thing going on in the governmental industry um probably the top is police officers um not only pandemic but also issues that went on during the pandemic um there's there's no longer the long lines of applicants to become police officers um same with firefighters it's become very difficult um every municipality I know is struggling with attracting and retaining um police and firefighters um so what it has led us do this in the last six seven months we have finalized and reached agreement on our police collective bargaining agreements and our firefighter collective bargaining agreements and kind of undone the the work that this governing body did and 15 years ago to achieve cost savings by by lowering salary scales we now have had to go back to change that the salary structure to increase those salaries in order to attract candidates and to retain those candidates uh we tonight we appointed four police officers every meeting we're swearing in one or two police officers and we're not changing our numbers because we're losing officers and we're replacing officers so this um this change that we've done in these collective bargaining agreements have um are going to going to put us in a much more competitive Marketplace we think it's going to be very successful in a attracting and retaining firefighters and police officers comes at a cost um it will our police salaries will our compensation packages will increase this year by a million dollars uh fir planers it will be 200 300,000 okay so we have huge hurdles on on the budgeting in order to make that uh make those changes to keep the that we have and also to not break the bank okay so the budget we're introducing tonight we have made changes adjusted other line items there was a grant private grant writer we were going to bring in we're not doing that we made a lot of changes and cuts in the overall budget so that the increase for the average homeowner um this year under this budget is $70 a year okay so the U and that number after the revow our average property value went from 230,000 to about 440,000 450,000 so the average increase is is roughly 70 bucks um and the it's I my hats off the work that not only we did but Cassandra Betty Joe our CFO um the collective bargaining unit and the work that was done because this was this was while there's increases in this this was a very different negotiation it was a Cooperative because the bargaining units wanted to make sure that things were done to for the betterment of the department so that we made sure that we attracted and we hung on to good Personnel um so I want to thank them for their helping this um and so this budget's introduced the public hearing will be well it we're scheduling it for March no guarantee it is March because we have to wait for uh the state to give us a final okay and tell us we can move forward okay so that's what the budget is go ahead yeah I just wanted to to to Echo your than of course of course are super staff but to the to the bargaining agents you know contracts are not always easy and we try to be as transparent as we can and and really work on the solutions and it's a credit to to the to the unions the associations that um we were able to come to a solution relatively easy and you know I think we have to realize that losing people comes at a cost to to keep going around and around to find Recruit new people hire new people that it's the Lord saying stop talking we only knew that would work so thank you she just car one around good okay all right go ahead roll call Mayor yesi yes yes confir confirming compliance with njac 5 Po 30-7 and conducting loal exam for the for the conducting sorry a loal examination 2025 Municipal budget so the state ordinarily reviews budgets of every municipality goes over the ball make sure they're all okay and gives approval on it um if you've been good and done the well you get gold star and you get to do what they call a self examination so that's what this simply is saying that we'll be doing doing that self-examination of the annual budget it it lessens the review at DCA for um for final approval of the budget they just take a cury look at it and then we'll be able to to move forward okay yes authorizing rff licenses to colle with rotary children Lexia centers and colle with c collective yes yes yes authorizing the re advertising for BS for the gateway to downtown College and rejecting the bids received on November 26 2024 so this is the U the transportation Grand stuff is that what this is is Bump out that Atlantic the bump outs okay so this is where additional work we're doing on the bump outs on the main ones is at is Atlantic and coling that where we've had those kind of temporary posts for over a year um Vis to do the construction work to redo that there was um there were some among the biders when they submitted uh and so we did not award uh to avoid any legal filings and so we're going to read vertise go back out and hopefully we get cleaner bids that apply so that we can award that project okay yes yes and improving to General um some some things coming up col Community Theater is presenting for you Friday and that is Friday Saturday this weekend and next weekend um I'd like to thank everybody for the their hard work lindsy specifically person for the um the gala it was a beautiful success of we raised another $10,000 and that paired with last year's $10,000 raise will take us on our way to our inclusive playground equipment it doesn't Bill equipment is extremely expensive but it's been a long planning process and we are much much closer to being able to start that and get those installed and we St special for down down the bid so um we have a sweetheart basket valued over $1,200 $500 cons in cash shop your local stores and enter to Land's um entry forms at the stores good Lu well uh just want to give you a couple Library updates first of all I heard they F this the lunow law but uh starting in December of 2024 um the library has has changed their policy and no longer inter for regular collection uh books CDs you listen folks still want you to bring yourself back on time be a good neighbor be a good Patron and do that but you know this is sort important thing not include everything Museum library libraries to uh help us are are still there but um we feel like this is a good thing to uh take care of especially those extended use fees U for the PA so just wanted to let you know that that's there and thank you to the sta for that um MLK dadd if you remember was R day weatherwise but you know we had some great turnouts great activities at the library one of them though because of the weather uh Community quilt um was something that we were having folks working on that day um it continues so if you have children um eight or over they can make a panel for Community quilt that will be on display at the library and possibly at other other events um give under kids you can do it as a family event um but it's kind of a neat way uh you don't have to have any particular skills it's iron on uh stuff but just want to let you know about that February 15 my God it's a family bird walk fantastic is this so uh you know one of H one of our great volunteers Rene is going to lead a walk through the neighborhood to uh count Birds this is a part of our participation to the great backyard bird count um so you know come dress for the weather no registration required but that's uh you can find all this the library website aw.com it's all over um I'll say maker day because that's in March I'll say kid financial literacy that's starting in Spring too lots of good things the library that can so I got thank you um few different things one is um the work on the DPW the facility DPW is moving ahead very well we expect that Public Works will be moving to that location this month by the next meeting you think they're going to be in we do think it's G yeah and um and with that the other moving that's happening is before the pocket park get started Sarah his produce will be moving around into the to the building in the back there going to be their new home uh you have Sarah in the back the PO Park sit that FR um I want to share with everybody we candra and I met last week a week or so ago following up on a meeting like in last November with um new leadership at Habitat for Humanity um they um they have been talking to us and trying to kind of expand their reach outside of the city of Cam in and get to more of the Suburban areas and we had hoped to have an mlu together for tonight but we probably won't have that together until next week uh we're going to form a partnership with them in terms of working with us on converting uh more of our Rehabilitation of of properties um into affordable units uh working on a program that that they have funding for can get funding for that will help with I think the target is going to be seniors um who are will would be income qualified to help them um with code violations on the house make some repairs in the house we did something very similar to this practice here long time ago the neighborhood preservation program that we got State funding on this on the west side for had a really good success but we were able to leverage it with a county program a couple other programs to give a senior that needs some help um the ability to get some some either uh free money or usually there were um loans that you had to be in the house for five years and then the loan would forgiven but um we're working with them on that and then the third thing the third part of this is with abandoned properties we've been in a relationship with with st Jon's Carpenter Society for a few years now uh they do what they can right now I think we have one property that's under construction but um we're hoping to expand that habitat because they get free later they get all you folks to come out and help them out so uh we're hoping to EXP expand that to get a little more activity with them uh we expect March we think we'll have an ml together with March so that's all I have uh this is the public session anyone have anything you want to bring for the commission this is your opportunity to do so sure Stevey 439 Pon Avenue um just an update over the weekend I met with the Board of Education to present our work on school budgets State funding local taxes and the relationship between them uh we also shared our website with you all as well as folks in town to help inform the discussion and build on our shared knowledge base we've been very happy with folks asking questions and showing interest throughout the last month we learned that many other districts and towns are going through similar struggles and conversations uh we are continuing to seek Solutions at the state and local level to properly fund our schools and Pace fa fairly and I appreciate your time in addressing these concerns uh I do have a question there is no pressure to answer tonight uh I've been learning more about the cap bank and I read that the cap Bank could be um additional property tax revenue for the borrow uh if that's the case um could this be part of future conversations and allocating a portion of those fund supporting our souls sure so so what what that means thanks thanks for your words St but what that what that means is we just rate TKS right the C the C Bank says you can go over what what the cap is and so we would just like we talked before like we just add another $500,000 to our budget okay to to go to to you know to write a check and give it schools that's all just it just mean raising passes I said few times to you the school board has that same Authority okay they have speak for them but they have limited Authority and my question is for the amount of money can raise um through the local tax levy can a portion of that be contributed to school operating budget that is what my specific the bank if it's the banking of the you asked specific question was the banking of the cat the banking of the cat means we didn't raise the taxes that high so by using up that M we would raise the taxes all the way up to the max increase the taxes and then turn that money over to the school yep so can that be done yes we can be thank but you mentioned operating expenses I I I think operating expenses are are are difficult those are continuing and if you you know if you invented something for one year you have to make sure that it's Contin if it's not school doing what their St really supposed to do which raise their own stuff or they operating it gets difficult and if that money comes in from us that also sends a signal to the state to say oh well you're getting some Aid that's not normal that could they're L thinking of what they give us so we give enough giving money residents that to to the school district and the state could go okay well then if you're paying it we'll L like those risks are out there I think we've talked about especially around the rep plan it where we have shared interests in recreational facilities and stuff is capital plans because Capital plans you know first of all they have join use and um you know provide that value and then there's sort of a discr thing that we're paying down right So eventually that comes off the so I just I just want to sort of mention that's me personally yeah and we we've said that we that's what we set the last pilot like that we're holding those funds the idea was to do it on on capital projects the school would have to pay for that okay that's all thank you you sure anyone else I yes name and address yeah J 89 Mill Avenue um I think if cins wood is where we want to be then we know that schools are part of that and we also know that you guys are not in charge of that but you are like adjacent to it so I guess I feel like to kind of follow up in a sense is what can the public do to help facilitate these negotiations because I hear you have M like you have pilot money right um but I guess and I hear that the Board of Ed wants to work with you guys so I guess my question is as a concerned citizen how can we help make that happen like how can we help so you know and what are you guys going to do to find out from the public if we would like those taxes to be raised for that reason like is there anything that you guys are planning on I know we've done tons of surveys about other stuff right so what what kinds of things can we do to keep colins with where we want to be which includes the schools which again you have a small C of I think I have questions later well let me just address it this way no one from the district has ever spoken to us mentioned asked a question about having the burrow Fund in any way anything at the schools never okay that's never happened so we're I'm H we're happy to have the conversation okay it it it keeps we keep going over kind of the same things where we talked about at Town forums that for me the entity that spends the money should be the one that raises the money and they have that authority to do that like if we if I'm going to go out to the taxpayers here and say we're going to increase your taxes $500,000 it's go to the schools I don't know what they're going to do with let go to them okay like to be responsible the borrow would want I'd love to have that discussion we can sit and talk about it what what are the needs I'd love to go over the budget I think you were here when I went through what we've done with this year's budget okay like we're increasing a million three our operating expenses this year but we've made Cuts in other areas to balance that budget so it doesn't break the bank and that's what usually happens and I don't have I don't know the school budget inside out I don't know well I don't know where they're at but we're happy to have that discussion no one from the schools have ever Ever Raised it with us we have raised with them oh my gosh two years ago before we started the rec plan that we would be dedicating pilot money to do fields and do like do stuff that we would do we would share we would do them all together told them that two three years ago before we started the rec study like that's part of the plan we've laid it out there we've said it publicly over and over again U so and we're not sitting on piles of money it's just not I know that's how it's portrayed but we're just not I know but you ask the question because you heard that's all like the the Surplus that we have in our were required to it's not M necessarily and um we do have plans to reach out to the school board and have a conversation with them that is that is in the very near future and with every attempt we can make to build a relationship with the school the district yeah I I I was just going to say I think we all agree we want the best schools possible for our kids we don't want to overstep our our our boundaries I they're 11 people with two two other you know sing District people that that are to those positions you know if you want me just to go in there and take over and do it of course I can right but but but I am asked that all the time why hav you why don't you do that why don't you fix it not you I'm sorry not you but that comes and it's I I just frustrated and by the way my kid freaking PL I'm very happy with the education in spite of their being challenges back then and challenges now I'm very Happ and I hope that people that are here or considering be here understand that these are special this already is a special school and it's great things can we do more can we do better yes I think we should we should we should always be looking for that um and you know willing you know willing to be a part I think what you said is how do we do together is an important part and and I feel like it's the only way some of that might be budgetary but some of it might be creativity how do we how do we use volunteers how do we use parents how do we use you know anything you know to to to to improve you know um the education that students get the environment that they learn those are all important things so thank you by the way I don't want you to think that it's you know yeah I have to believe there's a partnership to be had there there has to be can't just be it can't be too entirely separate we have thank you okay anyone else go bird