Delano Township committee meeting of March 3rd 2025 beginning at 7 p.m at the Delano Township Municipal Building 770 coopertown Road Delano New Jersey take two take two yeah yeah we're
recording okay uh roll call please Janice Mr Bartlett still here Mrs Patrick here Mr mcf here Mr alette here miss Seuss here thank you also present Mr Schwab our town ship administrator Mr
Fox our Township engineer Mr heinold our Township solicitor Mrs lore our municipal clerk Mrs Russell our Deputy municipal clerk Mr Fenimore superintendent of Public Works Mr Waring our acting police chief and please rise for the flag
salute to the flag the United States of America the repblic for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all sunshine and live stream statement please please be advised that proper of
this meeting has been given in compliance with the open public meetings act in the following manner written notice has been mail to the Bron County Times and PR post and published in the December 30th 2024 editions written notice has been posted on the offal Poli Board of the township of Delano at least
48 hours prior to the meeting this meeting of the Delan Township committee may be transmitted via live stream on YouTube video The streaming of the meeting is not intended to be relied upon as formal Public Access under the open public meetings act and if the technology is disrupted for any reason
the township meeting will proceed in person as an official meeting in accord with the official notice thank you uh first on the agenda tonight we have resolution 202- 46 resolution of the committee of the township of Delano County of Burlington
New Jersey authorizing the appointment of chief of police basil waren can I get a motion please I'll make a motion Mo motion by Mr mcfaden second by Miss fatrick roll call
please Mr Bartlet unequivocally yes Mrs Patrick of course yes Mr MC yes Mr Arlette yes m s absolutely yes thank you I will now administer the oath of office to Chief as a
learn I fir do s orir swear affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States I support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey constitution of state of New Jersey that will bear true faith and allegiance that will bear true faith and allegiance to do the same to
do the same and the government established the government established in the United States the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people that I will Faithfully I will faithfully and partially partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the
office of all the duties of the office of chief of the best of my ability of my abil thank you [Applause]
everyone for coming out love you bro haris did yes so happy thankful just looking forward to be got a great group of guys we just great wonderful Township and
support every yes thank you and congratulations so excited to have you as and our talent was very lucky to have you at the uh so thank you very much for taking the job she M turn for the next portion of
the hereone so we are going to have uh up next on our agenda we have a special presentation our annual Lawrence D Sterns officer of the Year Award presented to patrolman Jacob lner so I was fortunate
um it's really easy making a decision this year for this award this is tomman J loser two years he's done an amazing job he hasn't missed a day of work yet at all uh but he's great in the last year
he led our department of category statistically um including over time he's always looking to help ask questions and he definitely was U preserving of this of this award so without further Ado Jacob gratulations being 2024 Lawrence Steve St officer
year [Applause]
read congratulations do by the microphone congratulations patrolman Jacob lner I have a proclamation to issue to you this evening honoring you as a recipi recipient of the Lawrence D Sterns officer of the year award whereas
it is the desire of the township of Delano to recognize patrolman Jacob lner for his dedication and commitment to the township of Delano's Police Department the residents of the Delano community and his profession as the recipient of the Lawrence D Sterns officer of the year award whereas Jacob lner was hired
in March 2023 and currently serves as patrolman and whereas patrolman lar exhibits a positive work ethic coupled with an encouraging attitude as a police officer and whereas patrolman lner's competence together with his character and desire to learn and embrace new
training opportunities demonstrates his ability to grow thrive in our police department now there therefore be it proclaimed by the township Committee of the township of Delano that Jacob lner is hereby commended for his accomplishments as a recipient of the Lawrence C Sterns officer of the year
award and witness whereof the mayor myself Deputy Mayor and committee persons have caused these present to be executed and the Seal of the township of Delan was fixed on this third day of March 2025 congratulations
[Applause] [Music] and the chief quit ready yes we're going to take a quick five minute recess to
allow everyone to head out of here although it's going to be a really fun meeting if you want to stay thank you everyone for coming have a great night have a great night have a great night have a good night enjoy go enjoy thank
you do you want wait hold on do you want to take a quick picture for the yeah sorry that thing you open that door back yeah all right still noisy let's continue
on meeting is back in session and it's going to be our public comment session so the meeting is open to the public for comments and questions this is session one please state your name come up to the podium and address please
oh got push we anyone seeing no one we'll close this session to the uh to the public uh move on to comments and reports professionals we'll start with um Mr
Fox thank you um everyone has a copy of my report but I'll bring you dat I can hear you you have to move like put the microphone yeah no there there you go that's better
thanks the uh 2024 L BL um project that is the um grant that the re for equity and test Subs if the plans are done they've been approved by B uh so they're ready to go
out to bid uh be talking with um needed to advertise and and receive bids but they're already together so with the next few weeks be advertising that project and that's for the spring Paving we want to do correct start in the
spring when when plant reop which getting ready to reop now um so that'll be within the next couple of months that that we started okay the 2024 um local money
program we met with the uh sub committee and we switch things out initially that was going to include Delaware Avenue from W Hazel um and then also Second Street we took second Street off that project and we're going to down to
Delaware from Cedar to Haz so that stret 2024 CDG Grant that's the project that uh has been done uh my report has the um when we're
going to be receiving B next week be awarding the bid on the 17th meeting 17 um and the anticipate construction start around April 7th or so I'll give you a list of that project
includes uh 15 ramps and what we have in there is we have alter so if the going high we still award it and and cheap we canward and once BS come in we'll discuss it um with with the staff and
our recommendation on what mat we want to do with the amount of money that we see gr so at at the next meeting you'll have a I'll have a list for you of what next are going to be getting done the um 200 a street uh you know we
applied for the hsrm grant U we approved by DP for that there's two stages of that Grant um has to go to the economic development agency development agency now for their approval other one actually first depart
but DP moved it and except approv to to the EIC agency um I have a phone call into them and have not heard anything back which is not surprising have people to see when they do it's not a quick
process generally but it's it's in work will be happen uh the z um Wood Park that project is at the f as well um my report has a schedule um same thing rece bid on
12E 17th the next meeting that that project proper and we expect to start construction around the same time as as ramps which is APR 7 and deadline for completion on that is
part of specification is um June 27 has to be done the list and all the work by by June 27 that's all I have uh thank you Harry um you are you did submit your your cost
estimate for a 401 Creek Road for the inspections uh yes so I gave an estimate but I I I didn't go for yet I we can do okay with number uh are you are you is has the
work commenced yet on that are you waiting for our approval no we we've already started okay we we don't want to hold things up so yes we've already started um and and then some research which I'm not too sure in St me I don't know what how much I should say
in public just we're just talking about due diligence review with respect to the inspections for purchasing 401 Creek so um er has provided a uh figure for the estimated cost associated with that um
mayor I think the discussion was as long as they're they know to proceed with that where we in good shape and then I guess Harry you'll give a formal uh formal proposal and you guys can approve it formally at the next meeting okay perfect as long as they're moving forward we're in
shape yeah as far as the like details um we can talk about that at our subcommittee meeting thank you Mr heinold that's a nice segue right into 401 Creek um I just for the people who are following uh what's happening with
401 Creek the township is under contract now as of February 10th um the anticipated uh Target closing date is June 10th and um obviously we have have uh a number of due diligence items to go
through most importantly the uh engineering environmental re review type issues that we were just talking about but there are a number of other things related to title uh survey um and other uh contract requirements that both the sellers
counsel and we are working through um but um that process thus far is moving forward quite well and um we'll keep uh obviously everybody updated as we move through that
process um and that's really I want to talk about um in terms of public discussion tonight thank you Mr schw Township administrator okay thank you um actually as a followup to what Doug's talking
about 401 uh our bond count prepared Bond ordinance to introduce it to your next meeting so we'll get that started so we have the funds available for the June 10th closing uh number one number two uh we got our notice from the organization
that goes out to bids for electrical work Electric Supply I'm sorry for in the state it's like a joint Insurance Fund and they've gone out to bids and and we're supposed to receive them April 1st they will receive them let us know what they are some years believe it or
not the Statewide bid is no better than than what PS is providing so one of the things to note is that it's not necessarily a reduction over last year we dropped down by 15% to what it was when we started doing this and now we're
at that level if we hadn't done it we'd be paying 15% more so we continue to work through that uh we also I got a notice from the uh New Jersey court system that they're doing their annual inspection of our Municipal Court uh in
the end of March they do this every year we always get a great report and uh I'm sure we'll get the same thing when this one's done um I think that's uh Fern you're going to talk about the cross no it's not on
this agenda just so you know we the Berlin County cross acceptance planning process that Fern is spearheading uh working with our planner uh we finally got the notice on all the survey information that they need by the end of March and that uh for we'll work with b
and our planner to make sure that everything's submitted for the Statewide plan process called the cross except process and Beverly Russell's a big help in helping to put that information together uh I looked at some of the
stuff it's a little bit over my head but uh she's helping me through it and I think in one respect she might be taking a lead on some of this stuff so thank you Mrs Russell and then we're moving forward each week
doing stuff on the budget if everything goes wonderfully we could introduce it as early as the 17th not we'll introduce it April 7th meeting so we continue to have budget meetings as often as we need them so it's a it's a tough process and
hopefully we'll get through it not too distant future that's all I have can we make it warmer in here I feel like the air conditioning is on thank [Applause]
you oh thank you all right department heads we only have one the man the myth the legend Mr fenmore yes um we put out a half a ton of patch
potholes uh we put a uh some back up at Newton's Landing the big sign that the wind grabs and wiggles Until It Breaks and then tractor and trailer ran it over
so uh we removed three trees at West Avenue that's the only trees we really had in town we had a lot of brush come down but uh no thank God no trees were down uh we put up one handicap sign we
cleaned all the storm drains along on the river and we're cleaning storm drains now we're up to 26 storm drains uh we're cleaning out uh we got the Lea turned uh we put
up the exhaust port at the trailer where the the gator for the police is going to go and both of the ball fields were done cleaned up and raked up and uh dragged the infields and so the
fields are which is the first for us usually takes us sometime in March the end of March to get done all this but uh the weather was good last week and we uh kicked through it and that's
it thank you um um one other thing that while you're talking about 401 Creek you know they had that line go down there and it blew the water meter out I don't know you knew that in front of Keith Mor property it actually burned a
hole in the street and I mean it made a big hole but where run to I guess the water line runs along there okay you can see in the driveway apron how it cooked the line and went
right to the water meter there and I guess it blew it out that explains why American Water was out there the next day yeah so one of the things that we should make sure that we get checked on is that s line cuz there's a force main there and I don't that's probably
plastic maybe I I don't know I forget so if that burnt I mean it burnt a line of asphalt like you wouldn't believe and why it would burn that had something had to be there so just make sure it we get
it checked out I check it out it was actually burning under the asphalt I was out there for eight hours while we were waiting for PSC and to so we could put the fire out that it burned and it it it was 8 hours we were waiting on PSC andj yeah so that's probably why Contin to
burn all that time yeah it was live we couldn't put the fire because the wire was live it was 13,000 volts why couldn't they get out there sooner there it was they sent the gas guy out they sent the gas guy who said it's electric I can't do nothing yeah there was all
those all the trees came down that night everywhere throughout the county the county was hit hard um while we're talking about storm drains sorry did you have something else Harry have you talked to um the people with Newton's Landing yeah
uh um I I did I spoke with um George um and he is going to look into it get back to Here by Wednesday he's indicating that they feel that they only damage two
of the three of the the inlets that were saying the third one was already damaged it didn't look like that way to me when I first looked at them and I got to take another look at it and and see um there may have been an old cracken one that they just made worse but that
that's very there's one of the inlets that they don't think they're responsible for did you you think it's three it is three you're going to have to have that argument then I thought it was more than that well there's more than that that
down that are missing pieces of metal the last sorm that we had just those and and there actually the good thing about all this I guess is that they the the the heads are not the proper heads for St management so they
should have been replaced and should be replaced anyway so it's kind of blessing that they're going to have to replace it and it won't cost a 10 of any money yeah but so they'll have to submit their plans to us before they can install ABS
I told them um that they have to we want to inspect their work um and have to propose on what they're going to be doing first and then we will approve that or not and uh expect the work as they do it is there any kind of building
uh permit they have to get for that or it's just an engineering sign off exactly yeah great thank you is that it John so are they are they qualifying to do that do they have an engineer or somebody or is it necessary no no need for an engineer
but they'll have to get a contractor that's that does drainage work right you know they're not going to be able to just do it right but um they'll submit that to me um and if we don't agree with what they're going to do we won't proceed and and would you be out there
during the install make sure there's no damage underneath and yes because there at least on two of them um the block has been damaged as well right so it's not just the frame and Great Frame and great and and we do top probably two courses a
block okay so yeah I'll make sure that they do it great yeah just keep us posted after Wednesday I I just don't understand how they lifted the whole head up left the head up like this in the air yeah and it was
unbelievable he thinks the skid steer did it oh it did that's definitely what did it yeah is that like a bobcat yeah okay little tiny thing yeah okay anything else John
no all right moving on to the consent agenda items consent agenda items are considered to be routine and will be enacted with a single motion any item requiring discussion will be removed from the consent agenda all consent agenda items will be reflected in full
in the minutes does anyone wish to remove anything hearing nothing resolution 2025-the for three-year term resolution 25-48 resolution requesting permission for the dedication by Ryder donations
for the township of Delano's 100th anniversary celebration required by njsa 4A 5 29 resolution number 2025 49 amending the rates for outside employment of
police officers payment of bills account out of the current fund $661,000 all right meeting is open to the public for comments and questions this is session two please come up to the podium state your name and address please if you okay R are you all
right now he just sends emails now seeing none I'll close this session to to the public uh we have discussion items new Township seal design Matt yeah um as we talked about last year I think
it was early last year um and I'll pass this out this is just a rough schedule pretty much every town around here throughout the state everywhere has a Township seal and we don't yeah like some way to
figure out where we are in the courtroom yeah exactly yeah um there two down yeah down um and this was just a very rough design I had not uh done anything with it except just put it together I think we have to change it
to 1852 though 1852 yeah that's when we were technically established see we were we were going back and forth Janice about that we we decided that it would be 19 for for the hund anary okay gotta
I took your design and I sent it to a graphic artist Susan Mata because I I thought maybe she could add give us a little input okay um so I sent it to her because I just thought that it would be nice to have it
done by graphic artist okay I've taken graphic art class I know that yeah but for the basis of the the uh design um the eagle represents the Eagles that are native to our Riverfront and throughout the town uh the tree represents us being
a tree City uh the two wavy lines represents our Creek and our River of course and the sunset obviously represents the marvelous sunsets we have uh every evening here over the river so and the
creek and the y in the winter time right yeah there's a lot of them throughout the walls of this quro now so people in the audience can see what we came up with and this is just the concept yeah
welcome anyone's feedback of course some of the feedback that I got was just that where the sunset and the water is might just be a little busy with all the colors there and the lines so if we can incorporate that in some other way um a
little less busy yeah it's a little busy CU I think it just takes your eyes to there so maybe just yeah we could shade figure that out different colors but I think it's cool to have the the state of New Jersey behind us there
yeah maybe should be aved a little bit more but anyway I did the state take the Liberty to send it to Susan I didn't know you had taken courses um that's okay welcome her welcome her feedback as well yeah I'm looking forward to
it I'll put this here in case anybody wants to come up afterwards and look at it uh thanks for taking the initiative on that though because we definitely want to have something and Our Hope was to get a big vinyl of it and put it behind this big white wall be so it
doesn't look so Industrial in here we like colors I brightened up the place with some artwork so trying to make it a little more welcoming were you an interior designer [Music] also say interior no I'm talking about
her say she SE and shops like was I an interior designer um okay so um we have our next next discussion item is going to be our 25 budget preparation discussions so if we want to we're going
to take a a brief recess so we can gather our documents and um I think the decision was made to go back to the conference room it's just a little easier for us to discuss numbers that way so um it's still going to be a
public meeting so you guys are welcome to join us in the conference room if you want um but we're just we're probably going to be in there for hour or two discussing budget stuff and um trying to finalize our numbers um you know tightening up some
line items so the minimal tax increase to Residents so that's what we're going to be doing so we're going to take a brief um I guess five minute break we'll reconvene back in the meeting room at 10 of