is that wire wrapped around there i don't know this let me know when you're ready good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our March 18th council meeting our first order of business is a call to order and a rise for the pledge
of allegiance so please rise ledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all second order of business is the reading
of the sunshine statement and roll call by our municipal clerk Mrs lauren Stats this meeting of the Denellan Burough Council is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of March 18th 2025 was included in a list of meetings that was
advertised in the courier on January 9th 2025 and as a teleconference was noticed on the official Denellan website on March 11th 2025 and on the public bulletin board on North Avenue on March 11th 2025 and has remained continuously
posted as the required notice mayor Sento present council President Sigman here mrs albertson here mrs lance here mrs rios here mr scott here and Mr
vandermark noted absent item number three on the agenda is the swearing in ceremony for patrolman Andrew Mortensson and Eric Ortiz uh the two resolutions are number 135 and number 136 uh before we motion and second to them individually I'm going to
ask that uh Lieutenant speak to the council about the candidates patrol Morrison is 31 years old and a resident for River he's engaged to his fiance Jane and they are due to be married this fall pro Mortonson is a graduate of the Ocean
County Police Academy he was first employed as a class 2 officer by Seaside Park Police Department and most recently the Island Heights Police Department morton Mortonson is excited to further his career in a growing community you want to just do both at the same
time okay you're next troll Noriz is 27 years old and a resident of Union Township he is a graduate of Union Senior High School and holds a BA in criminal justice from Kenyan University trman Ortiz is a
recent graduate of the alternate root program in the Mammoth County Police Academy as excited to begin his law enforcement career in Denellan adding another bilingual officer to our department can I have a motion and second on number uh 135 move second segment rio Sigman
roll call please mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes can I have a motion and second on number 136 move it rios second albertson roll call please mrs albertson
yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes okay Mr morgensson start with you sir let's go right in the center so you family's got a nice shot how about that
do we have the oath of allegiance bible and repeat after me i Andrew Mortensson I Andrew Mortensson do solemnly swear do solemnly 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 in the Constitution of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in
this state and in the state under the authority of the people so helping God under the authority of the people so help me God congratulations thank you sir bad thank you sir father
I Eric Ortiz I Eric Ortiz do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States 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'll bear true faith and
allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the
authority of the people so help me God okay thank before we continue I'll just say thank you Officer Mortensson and Officer Ortiz for joining the Denellan Police Department you're going to be amongst some of the well all of the best in our
area and I would say the state itself uh the mayor and council here support and back the blue and that's unwavering and it's never going to change so you have our full support and endorsement so God bless you please stay safe and congratulations and you're learning from some of the best here so good luck to
you you're welcome you are more than welcome to stay but uh if you don't want to listen to a council meeting you don't have to so there's a lot of great eeries in Denellan so enjoy one of them when's the big day
fall wedding those are hurry wow was it something we said remember we are on record still yes okay okay item number four on the agenda is
our the approval of our meeting minutes our regular meeting of March 3rd 2025 can I have a motion and second please move it segment second rios any edits comments redactions to the meeting minutes as they currently stand okay without hearing can we have a roll
call please mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes item number five on the agenda is the adoption of ordinances tonight we have 2025-08 an ordinance to amend and
supplement the general legislation of the Burough of Denellan chapter 202 public parking section 18 handicapped parking uh can I have a motion and second move it rios second albertson we'll open the floor to the public to only comment or question
2025-08 we ask that you please state your name and address is that something going on heard a bank okay without hearing any members of the public we'll open the floor to mayor and council discuss 2025-08 just so everybody remembers this is a handicap parking being added in
front of St nicholas uh Visyine Catholic Church on Madison on Madison Avenue okay without further discussion can we have a roll call please mrs albertson yes Mrs lance yes Mrs rios yes Mr scott
yes Mr sigman yes okay item number six on the agenda is resolutions we have 137 through 141 uh Mrs stats if you could read through them and let us have the opportunity to discuss them if needed resolution number
137 is to pay the bills move it segment second albertson mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes Mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes resolution 138 is authorizing the
municipal clerk to administer all temporary retail food establishment permits for the open air market from May 4th 2025 to October 19th 2025 move it sigman second rios mrs albertson abstain
mrs lance yes mrs rios yes Mr scott yes Mr sigman yes resolution number 121 139 is to award a contract to CME Associates to perform engineering services for the rapid rectangular flashing beacon installation
improvement project and the South Washington Avenue and New Market Road Pedestrian improvement project move second segment as everybody recalls this is part of the $170,000 grant that we received for the uh push button
rectangular uh pedestrian crossing signs that will be at uh Grove and New Market and uh as well as South Washington Avenue and uh Orange Street right had a blank Orange Street um so
this is them to begin the services around that and again we have a $170,000 grant that the state provided us okay resolution oh sorry i'll take a roll call uh Mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr
sigman yes resolution number 140 is a resolution to authorize the release of a performance guarantee to Commun Associates LLC which is 150 North Avenue move it Sigman second rios
mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes resolution number 141 is awarding a contract to Caffrey and Tree Landscape for Tree installation and transplant in
the downtown and not to exceed $10,150 move it sigman second albertson mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes okay item number seven on the agenda is
our consent agenda we have resolutions 142 through 150 i'll let uh council have a few moments to read through them if there's anything you want to identify and pull out just please let us know for record and then we'll vote on the rest as consent without hearing any can we have
a motion and second on the consent agenda 142 through 150 move it rios second sigman mrs albertson yes mrs lance yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes and Mr sigman yes
okay uh item number uh nine on the agenda is council reports uh council member Albertson okay the fire department is h department is happy to see a number of residents joining the department in the past few months the
new members will be attending fire school in the upcoming months the fire department is still looking for new members to join our department me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me membership is open to anyone 16 to 18 as a junior member and full member is open
to anyone over 18 visit our website www.danellanfd.com or email join dfvdanellanfd.com for more information the friends of the Janelan Public Library on March 24th at 6:30 p.m stop by the library for George and Martha
Washington A Love Story this live performance is free to the public all proceeds from friends fundraising events help to provide programs such as this as well as museum passes summer reading program events and prizes and so much more follow the friends on Facebook and
Instagram and that's all I have okay thank you Councilwoman uh Councilwoman Rios yes um registration for the 20 Oh sorry board of Ed registration for the 2025 2026 preschool year is now open for more details please visit the Dental
School website read Across America was a great success a special thanks to you to Miss Willoughby for organizing and hosting the dignitaries of Denellan and surrounding towns during the March 11th meeting a tenative budget presentation was reviewed if you have time we I
encourage you to take a look at the proposed figures for any questions regarding the board's budget please visit the school website at tanchools.org or contact Superintendent Dan Ross directly for more information next board meeting will be April 8th at
7 p.m uh Tan Public Library um offers a variety of exciting programs for all ages for children five and under join us for our Saturday musical story time at 10:30 a.m if you can't make it on Saturday we also have musical story time every Thursday at 10:30 a.m plus
Twilight Story Time on Tuesdays at 5:15 p.m for older kids tween and teens don't miss gaming day every Thursday at 3:30 p.m in addition to our great programs Canalan Public Library offers a variety of helpful services we provide vaccine copying printing notary services and a
range of items for checkout including Chromebooks hotspots headphones and cassette players visit us on Facebook or our website or stop in in person to discover what's new at the library buildings and ground report the
multi-purpose office is anticipated to be finished by the end of this week the Department of Public Works has cleared the tra brush surrounding the fieldhouse two emergency fire exit signs were replaced in the fieldhouse the security
camera system at Columbia Park which is shared with the board of ad is approximately 75% complete parsa report parsa is continuing the CCTV inspection of our sewer system with their current
focus on North Avenue and that's all thank you okay thank you Councilwoman um Councilwoman Lance yes from recreation uh the recreation Easter egg hunt is scheduled for Sunday April 13th at 1 p.m
at Columbia Park exclusively for kids in preK through third grade and Denellan residents participants should bring a basket and can take a photo with the Easter Bunny afterward the spring open soccer program is still seeking parent
volunteers for weekly practices that vary by coach availability coaches are still needed for preK tok first through 2 grade and third grade to fifth grade denelan Recreation is introducing a new adult recreation tennis program for
residents aged 18 and above starting April 16th and running through June 11th on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m at Columbia Park Tennis Courts the program is free for Denellan residents with a $15 fee for out of town
participants and registration is required softball and baseball season is right around the corner softball season opens on April 5th with rookie and minor league teams competing in the Somerville League denelan's annual opening day parade and ceremony will take place on
Saturday April 26th at 10:00 a.m starting at Washington Park and ending at McCoy Park where the ceremony will be held teams should gather at Washington Park by 9:40 a.m and that's all okay thank you Council President Sigman
uh yes uh at the previous meeting it was requested that I work on uh the document that the Shade Tree Commission puts out uh adding language about what to do if the trees are not doing well and if you need them removed uh so I am working with Ken uh to add that information to
the already uh fivepage long document uh information document that goes out so we are working on that and we'll have that out soon okay thank you anything else that'll be all other than um just my I guess monthly reminder to
uh volunteer as a coach uh you don't have to be a uh a great athlete to be a great role model that's all okay thank you Councilman uh Scott so the DPW has routinely cleaned the downtown burrow
parks and properties they continue to clean and inspect the catch basins throughout the burrow uh they're working on the multi-purpose office brick repair around the new downtown trees they walked the brooks and streams and cleared debris as needed they cleared the catch basin lids throughout the burrow after the recent storms and then
most importantly cleaned debris from the trash trap uh they've begun the ball field prep work on the ball fields in preparation for this sporting season and the mechanics division has serviced the police fleet as the maintenance is required or breakdowns arose uh also
serviced the DPW fleet uh they've begun removing the snow equipment cleaning the spreader units adjusting the chains greasing the pivot points and coating the chain with anti- rust agent to prepare for summer storage and they begin readying the summer equipment for usage servicing adjusting linkages on
the sandpro unit and ready the ball fields for the upcoming baseball softball opening day and a reminder curbside branch pickup takes place March and April so uh after that you have to bring in the public
works that's all I have okay thank you um lost my page okay um mayoral town hall our first one for the year is on volunteerism uh the next mayoral town hall event will take place on Wednesday April 23rd at 7 p.m
at the George W hodgeik firehouse located at 231 South Madison Avenue uh the Burough of Denown offers a variety of opportunities to get involved in our community through our various volunteer boards and commissions and always remember you don't have to necessarily be a voting member to be involved you
can still volunteer with them attendees will hear directly from some of our many volunteers to learn more about their roles in enhancing our community and how you can get involved you can join us in person or online through Zoom if you're interested in attending you can RSVP at tinyurl.com
uh denellan town hall and all that information will be released publicly um New Jersey American Water Prospect Avenue from Grove Street to Center Street and Whittier Avenue New Market uh to Center Street phase one of the project started on Prospect Avenue near Grove Street intersection and will
continue south toward center street the phase this phase includes the installation of new water main and new water services and fire hydrants to each home second Street phase one which is second street from Madison Nav to Schwarz place uh we had a pre-construction meeting with the contractor CME and Burough staff on
March 6 uh we expect to hear from the contractor this week regarding a start date for the project so stay tuned on that washington Avenue Street Lake project we also had a pre-construction meeting with CME the New Jersey Department of Transportation PSENG and
Burough Staff on March 6 the NJ DOT and PSENG are working on some detailed electrical work near the intersection of North A and Washington A once that's completed uh we'll expect a start date for the project uh this project will include new LED decorative light poles
and a treecape on Washington Avenue from Denellan Avenue and First Street and from North AB to the railroad bridge and again this is part of one of the New Jersey Transit Village grants we received a couple years ago a report from our engineers 635 Boundberg Road
bids will be received on March 27th at 11:00 a.m in the council chambers councilman you president you spoke to the rescue squad to stay up to date with the administration even though we report this out every single meeting um okay and just for the record council
president uh Sigman is going to be uh the rescue squad's interim liaison um so he will be handling some of the business work with them but redevelopment matters will go through administration so it'll be nice to see
that all start getting done uh Comcast oh I will note too because I saw some comments saying on Facebook yes it's being remediated yes it's going to be done to D standards because we have a D grant and even so D is involved heavily regardless if we had that grant or not
uh so any conspiracies around that uh let's stamp those down okay public thanks comcast work cme continues to monitor the ongoing work by Comcast um there's a TA TA set aside grant that
comes available every few years uh so CME has submitted costs for the TA set aside grant application uh it's due in May a pre-application meeting is scheduled for March 20th in which they'll attend at 2 p.m and basically what we've submitted every year for this because they we have a we already have a
project basically modeled out for it is improved streetscape along Route 28 so um uh so that's that's going to be the proposed project um lighting agreement with PSEG uh CME has helped the bureau modify the lighting agreement with PS&G
in relation to the DOT changes for ADA improvements uh the DOT is requesting confirmation on some of these modifications so uh we'll report back on that as it information becomes more available uh New Market Road in Walnut Place place walnut AB walnut
Street i grew up on that street why' I put Place walnut Street intersection um CME inquired about the status of the project with the county a signal agreement resolution may be adopted at the March commissioner meeting as we remember we put forward a resolution and approved that the town would be
interested in working with the county on easements and ensuring that a traffic lights get put on the corner of New Market Road and Walnut Street uh so the county is also preparing a scope of work for construction documents and selecting a consulting firm um so uh it's a a step
in the right direction but um for the public that is counting on this intersection to have a traffic light it's going to take a little bit longer just because the uh the bureaucratic system that we have to go through to get it done uh New Market Road and South Washington uh Avenue
intersections um the engineers awaiting a response from the county regarding the operations review for this intersection if if council and the public remember we put in a request for them to review again the new traffic light at the Dell and
crossings project the Denell station and where it meets New Market because as they come out make a left off the new market across the street it's I the only reference I can have is Frogger um unfortunately uh so um we've been
requesting that the county look at it and we time everything and I mean we've made the recommendation that maybe the light sets red for several seconds so people can have enough time to cross all directions we'll see they're reviewing it um that's my main report tonight um I
would like to note I watched the not the immediate past uh board of education meeting but the one prior um I think there was a presentation done in which a question from the board of education president was the influx of kids is it coming from all the redevelopment
um I will put on record it is a variable you know it's about 50 kids last time we checked last uh um in December which is the fourth quarter of the year for us um I believe it's their second quarter and uh so about 50 which is actually 25%
less than what's been projected um based upon the projects that have are open and operating um so it's a variable um I would note based upon observation that a lot of our single family homes have sold
over the last several years where older constituents residents were living and everything is cyclical um so they moved out or fortunately may have passed and so younger families are moving in and they have children and I think you can if you drove around on Christmas Eve
with the fire department it was past years it was like just a handful of kids on threeb block radius and this year it was like every house almost had a kid running out so it's a sign that our town
is becoming younger younger families and I would argue that uh more children in the school district is a sign of a healthy school system which is a sign of a healthy community which is a great pillar for our property values um so
while yes the redevelopment will attract school age children we're not lying about that never have it's been transparent from the day every project is discussed it's not attracting the majority of students that we're seeing come into the school district um so I'll note again on the record every time a
project comes to come online we provide that information to the school district we have a great line of communication with the superintendent and business administrator they're provided the address and the projected number we both have a joint tracking system um and so
every so often we'll check in with the school saying based upon the project how many kids we do comparisons and so we can say again we're about 25% underneath the overall projection for all projects that are open to date um so which I
think last time again was around 50 so um I just think it's important to note that because we are going through revitalization of our downtown that has mixeduse development um and I just don't like the I don't want to put the perception or allow the perception to be
out there that the influx of kids are all just from the redevelopment projects so it's a variable but it's not the majority okay so just wanted that on record and I look forward to seeing more about the budget i highly recommend you just look at
those numbers see what you know what they're working with okay do you know the numbers not off the top of my head okay well you wouldn't mind reporting back and we'll I again council implore you to watch the
meeting just like I implore anybody to watch our budget meeting which is happening on a April 7th so um I do have a follow-up question about that if there's time um so you said that was asked to the board of ed or that came from the board of education that
question about how many kids are coming in it was a question pertaining to a study that was done about the percentage of increase of students that have come into the district which is appropriate not no one's questioning that um but the question from the board member was could
we argue that the the influx of students the number the whole I shouldn't say the whole number but the influx of the student number was from the redevelopment projects and my response back is it's a variable but it's not the majority and we're actually 25% underneath what was projected
understood thank you okay thank you say how many student increase it was i'd have to go back um I think it showed is it about 13 or 1400 it might be um
you know again I I I'm not complaining about school age kids i think a robust school system is a good thing i I so um I just don't want the perception out there that the school population has drastically increased because of
redevelopment it's a variable no one's arguing that we'd never say it wasn't going to be it's just not a majority of the population increase that the school has seen so okay anybody else okay wonderful uh next item on the
agenda would be uh number nine council discussion i don't see anything on the agenda so I guess we're moving on from that item number 10 is department head reports legal uh no report there okay thank you clerk actually yes you do have
an update so make sure that's on because this is an important one uh the school made a request last month to relocate the election out of LMS and it has been approved by the board of election commissioners the new polling locations will be district 1 and two at the
Denellan Senior Center which is 216 Orange Street districts 3 and six at the Denellan Firehouse which is 321 South Madison A and districts four and five at the Denellan Public Library which is 100 New Market Road the burrow will notify
all the registered voters that are affected by this change by mailing out letters in the next couple of weeks informing them of their new polling location we also post this information on our website and Facebook page and on the day of the elections there will be a sign at the school informing the public
if they do go there the change of the polling locations as well okay that is it thank you and there'll be ample enough notification beyond we will continue to make public announcements here uh through our website through the mayor's message we
also have if you can write something for the den report sure um and that just be additional and the school did agree that when primary date comes there will be it will be posted on site correct everybody knows where their voting districts are yeah and there'll be a map up there as
well perfect so okay and then the letter we'll be also sending a map too just in case no if they don't know their polling location and they can always call the clerk's office too okay thank you i found we found Brian found some of the
numbers here um so in 2023 2024 Faber had 400 sorry 640 kids currently there's 620 so that actually dropped in um LMS they had 333 now there's
336 three kids in Danellen High School they had 401 now there's 412 so okay thank you i just wanted to put my comment on record because that that question was asked on their record so I
just think it's appropriate um so okie do uh administration okay uh police [Laughter] anything going on in the tax office back
there Dawn okay okay okie do so I we hit everybody up okay item number 11 on the agenda is public comments we ask that the you know if you're here in chambers or online
please state your name and address we're here to answer your questions hear your concerns okay thank you um well there's um a resolution to enter into executive session so
um there's no further action to take place okay there's no we do not anticipate action to be taken place after resolution 151 which is to enter into an executive session um we will go offline
I guess you can say for the executive session and then we will go back into public session noted again that there's no expectation of any further action so can I have a motion and a second for resolution 151 move it sigman second
rios i Mrs albertson yes mrs l yes mrs rios yes mr scott yes mr sigler yes okay thank you everyone we will uh be going into executive session and then we
will be coming back out of it so um