7, 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 July 4th, 2025 and on the public bulletin board on North Avenue on July 4th, 2025. five and
has remained continuously posted as the required notice. Mayor Sento present. Council President Sigman here. Albertson here. Lamb here. Rios here. Scott
here. Mr. Vandermark here. All right. Uh before we move on to item number three on the agenda, I just want to take a moment to uh recap about uh what
transpired over the Fourth of July weekend. Um so as power has now been fully restored across the burrow from what we understand from PSEG. Correct, Mr. Miller? Okay. I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the storm that hit our area on the evening of July 3rd. Uh
the storm caused significant damage, down trees, power outages, displaced families, and left approximately 2,200 residents without electricity on the first night. That was Denellan alone. I believe was upward of over 40,000 in the region.
Um in true spirit of Denellan, our community came together like it always has with neighbors checking on neighbors and family and friends supporting one another. I'd like to thank our office of emergency management led by our OEM coordinator, Homer Mosley. Our fire
department led by f uh Chief Bill Scott. You're usually over there. Our police department led by Chief Smith. Rescue squad led by Chief uh Best. And the Department of Public Words works led by Rich Herkert and Alex Miller for their incredible efforts. They all worked
around the clock to keep our residents safe, provide timely updates, and begin the cleanup process throughout the town immediately. I also want to thank PSNG for getting crews out to Denellan quickly to start restoring power. I'm grateful to our partnership with the Denellan School District, which opened
up the Denellan High School cafeteria as a shelter for our residents in need basically immediately. Um, I extend thanks to the governor for checking in on us, Senator John Bramik for offering his support as well, and to Assemblywoman Michelle Matsacudas for her continued outreach. To our residents, I thank you for your
patience, strength, and unwavering support of one another. There is still work to be done over the next couple of weeks to clean up storm debris and repair damages, but I have no doubt that we will all move forward together. Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to remember the three individuals in the neighboring towns who tragically lost
their lives as a result of our storm. Our hearts and prayers go out to their families and friends in the communities during this difficult time. So, let's just have a moment of silence for them and also our crossing guard Victoria who passed away over the weekend too. Not related to the storm though.
Okay. Thank you. Item number three on the agenda is a presentations. We have two this evening. First up is the fourth round fair share housing plan and we have Dan from uh DMR Architects. I believe he's joining us virtually.
Yeah. Uh good evening everybody. Can you hear me? Yes, we can Dan. Great. Uh thank you mayor. Thank you everybody for uh having me tonight. So um uh I'm going to uh give a disclaimer before this presentation. So, uh, Dan Habin,
uh, the affordable housing planner for Denellan. Uh, uh, I prepared this plan as an employee of DMR Architects. As of today, I'm actually with TNM Associates. Um, the due to the transition, uh, we don't have a updated, uh, presentation.
Um, but, uh, the material is still pertinent to tonight's meeting. So you uh may all be aware that on uh June 23rd uh the date on this uh presentation covered the uh Denellan planning board adopted the fourth round housing element
and fair share plan that I'm discussing tonight. And uh typically what comes next after the planning board adopts is that the uh governing body of the municipality is supposed to take certain actions that show a commitment to implementing the affordable housing
plan. Uh and that includes uh adopting a resolution endorsing the housing plan, a resolution approving a spending plan, which I will explain uh further down the line, and a resolution committing to uh funding uh any portions of the spending
of the affordable housing plan that cannot be covered by affordable housing trust funds. So, uh uh please go to the next slide. So, uh, a little bit of history for everybody. Affordable housing has been
the law in New Jersey since 1975 when the New Jersey Supreme Court decided in a case called Mount Laurel 1, uh, that every, uh, municipality in the state has a constitutional obligation to create an opportunity for affordable housing and
to accommodate the growth necessary uh, to provide for affordable housing. uh regardless of whether the town is big, small, uh growing, uh slowly, quickly. Um in in 1985, the state legislature
passed the Fair Housing Act, which uh codified the Supreme Court's decision and it created a body called COA. They were responsible for uh making the rules uh and um enforcing the rules for determining how to uh how many
affordable housing units every town had to create um and how those units could be created. And uh the act created a mechanism to uh penalize towns who that did not comply with the Fair Housing Act uh with something called exclusionary
zoning or builder remedy. uh and that uh is is that uh if a town does not comply with the rules uh in the Fair Housing Act rules established by COA at that time, um a uh builder could uh bring a town to court, tell a judge,
hey, this town is not providing their fair share of affordable housing. allow me to uh exceed um within the uh the confines of the state law uh the zoning that is on uh the the zoning that is in place on these
properties that I have some sort of control over. So that means that uh if a town did not uh comply with the fair housing act, prepare uh the plans uh and uh uh take the actions necessary to meet their constitutional obligation, a
developer could uh uh just as an example develop a multif family uh building or a large project in a single family neighborhood where uh you would normally want not want that kind of thing. Um so uh the the the bureau has uh
prepared uh fair housing or fair share plans in the past. In 20 uh okay well this presentation was never updated. Uh in 2016 you um entered into a settlement agreement with fair share housing center. Uh and what that uh what that uh
settlement did is it established how many housing units you had to create and uh you would meet those uh that obligation at the uh the the project that's now called the Nell and uh through the updating of the um
redevelopment plan in the downtown to make sure that any redevelopment in the downtown that created housing included affordable housing. And so, uh, these affordable housing, um, uh, plans and rules basically operate on 10-year
cycles. So, the last cycle, uh, technically started in 2015, which is why we are now again having to, uh, deal with affordable housing. Please go to the next slide. So, uh, like I mentioned, COA used to make the rules and enforce the rules.
They failed at doing so for uh about 15 years between 1999 and 2014. In 2015, the courts took over and uh in 2024, the state legislature took action to uh to replace COA and create a new system for
uh uh complying with affordable housing. So, uh, the governor signed a bill last March 20, uh, 20th, 2024, uh, creating a new set of rules for the creation of affordable housing and preparation of affordable housing plans.
And one of the requirements of that rule was that every town had to adopt a plan to meet their affordable housing number by June 30th, which you did by adopting uh, your planning board rather adopting a housing plan on June 23rd. um any redevelopment plans or ordinances
necessary to implement those plans have to be adopted by March 15th of 2026. So, one of the uh requirements in that ruling uh of uh or that that bill that was signed in uh 2024 was that uh the New Jersey Department of Community
Officials, the DCA uh was tasked with determining or estimating how much affordable housing every town would have to create um based on a long-standing formula. And for Denellin, uh this the state determined that you're afford you
had to create uh a realistic opportunity for 23 affordable housing units to be created by 2035. Um, and it also required you to provide a funding um uh a funding uh source and
a program to rehabilitate existing substandard homes in Denellan that are occupied by incomequalified low and moderate income households uh up to 79 units. So it's not that you have to re uh uh make sure that 79 units are
rehabilitated, but you would have had to fund uh the rehabilitation uh uh fund have enough funding for rehabilitation of 79 units. Please go to the next slide. Now luckily uh the rules have mechanisms
for towns to reduce those obligations. Uh in a town like Denellan which is largely built out, this is particularly helpful. Uh so there's something called a vacant land adjustment and what that vacant land adjustment uh is is we do an analysis of how much actual uh vacant
land is in Denellan and vacant being defined as uh undeveloped and um unused and to uh make an assessment based on a certain uh uh uh rules and constraints as to how much affordable housing a
property could accommodate. So, there was only one property that we identified in our analysis, and that was the uh the 130 South Second uh Street um uh redevelopment site uh that is uh was designated as an area in need of
redevelopment. Uh last year or the year before, uh we determined that that would accommodate uh up to six affordable housing units. Now, um there's another piece of the legislation that has been subject to a lot of debate debate and uh
numerous interpretations. And that piece is a section of language that says that any town that gets a vacant land adjustment has to um create a plan that provides for uh uh the that provides mechanisms for
creating number of unions equal to 25% of um the adjusted perspective need. And nobody really knows what adjusted perspective need means. Um but uh what we've done is we've prepared a plan that um would satisfy the most extreme
versions of that interpretation which is uh the assumption that 20 that the adjusted perspective need is this thing that has historically been called the unmet need which is uh the perspective need assigned by the state minus the uh number of units that we determined you
could create through the vacant land adjustment which is called the realistic development potential RDP. uh and that would be five units. So rather than having to plan for 23 affordable units, we have to plan for 11 units, which is six units from the
vacant land adjustment plus five, not 11, plus five uh units uh from that 25% rule. So uh plan for 11 units, not 23. We also um were able to do a structural condition survey in which your uh
construction official was able to drive around town and take a visual survey of how many dwellings in town actually uh are in substandard condition based on exterior um uh uh assessment. So that was done in March and we were able to
bring down the uh rehabilitation obligation down from 79 units calculated for by the state down to 21 units. So that means that the the bureau only has to uh ensure the funding of re uh enough to funding to rehabilitate 21 units in
town that are existing substandard condition occupied by incomequalified persons. Uh next slide please. So how do you create affordable housing? So the way that uh Denellan has been creating affordable housing is through inclusionary development. And what that
means is that anytime anybody um does a uh redevelopment in the downtown uh they have to provide 15 uh a certain number of units have to be affordable. So if they're uh units are rental, which they typically are, it's 15% of those units
have to be affordable. if they're for sale, um then 20% have to be affordable. Other options to uh provide uh or create affordable housing is to support group homes uh like uh the uh ARC uh or United
Way that provides special uh or housing for people with special needs. Um if a municipality has uh available land or excess funds, they could use that land and funds to um uh create housing. uh where instead of doing the inclusionary
formula where just 15 to 20% of the housing in a project uh is affordable, you could provide land or money to make sure that there there's one property where all of the units are affordable. Um that is uh challenging to do in most communities. Um most communities don't
have the funds to do that. There's uh up to 25% of your the vacant land adjusted number. So, six units up to 25% of that can be met with what are called bonus credits. What that really means is that um uh certain number of
the affordable housing units in your plan can be counted twice. So, uh if you break that down, of the six units that you have to create uh through the vacant land adjustment, you only really have to create five affordable units. One of them is this bonus credit uh where one
of those five units is counted twice. Um the rehabilitation program that you have to operate is funded typically from development fees. You just have to have ensure that a pool of money is available uh that a uh qualified homeowner or uh
renter can um uh apply to the program that the town operates uh and that the funding will be available to fulfill their application to rehabilitate their their housing. Um the uh typical amount
for uh per unit for a rehabilitation program is 25,000. That's normally what you need to actually have a a functional program. Um so and as I mentioned uh you don't have to seek out those households. You just have to make sure that they could find the information to apply to
the program. Uh next slide please. So this map shows you where we are satisfying that 11 affordable housing units and and just remember the 11 is made up of the six units that we determined could be created um from 130 South Second which if you're hopefully
not color blind is that red um property on this map. And the remaining uh five units of that 11 uh unit requirement is being satisfied by a continuation of the enforcement of the downtown
redevelopment area. Um which has uh if it was to be fully built out, it has sufficient capacity to meet to continue to meet your third round affordable housing obligation and your fourth round and may continue to be uh helpful and useful to you in the fifth round. um uh
depending on what your fifth round number may be, which in the fifth round of course would start in 2035 because as I mentioned they run in 10ear cycles. Um next slide please. There's other uh pieces of the um
housing plan that um uh we have to create. So there's we have to have a assessment of the demographic and economic conditions in town and use available data to project um employment and population changes over the next 10
years. Um with the compliance plan as was uh uh just as I described it's it's you have to identify the number of units that uh we're required which we're required to uh provide 11 units and how we're going to meet them. We're meeting
them in the um downtown redevelopment area and the 130 South Second Street redevelopment plan area. Um we have to demonstrate that the plan is compliant with state the state redevelopment plan
uh as well as with the regional sewer um service plan. Um, and then uh there's another uh uh piece of the plan that uh is anybody able to tell me for sure that we have the copy of this because it sounds like there there may be an issue
with um whether we have the spending plan available for me to project. I don't know who's who's um projecting this right now, but if you're able to pull up the spending plan, just let me know. Dan, Billy only has the presentation
that's on the screen now. Okay. All right, that's fine. Um, so, uh, All right. Well, that's okay. We'll have to figure that out. So, um, so I I shared the spending plan, uh, prior to leaving DMR. Um, uh, I'm I'm
sorry that it's not on the, uh, on uh, available. Can can can anybody tell me if the the council members received copies? So, at least I know if you uh uh have had the opportunity to review it. I also can't see you guys if you're gesturing with your
the presentation. They were provided whatever was sent over to Lauren via uh I believe the MR architects. Okay. All right. So, um uh uh we may not be able to act on the spending plan tonight, but what I'll here's what I'm going to tell you about the spending plan. So, the spending plan
is a document that we're that uh every town's required to uh to uh adopt or approve. Um it's approved by the the governing body. And what it uh does is it states that um the the municipality expects to receive a certain amount of
revenue into its affordable housing trust fund uh over the next 10 years um and that it will uh spend that funding accordingly to implement the housing plan and to meet certain other requirements. So um the affordable
housing trust fund is uh typically funded by development fees. Those are fees that are collected whenever uh a new um uh dwelling or a new um a mixeduse or commercial building is uh
constructed and those funds that are specifically deposited into your affordable housing trust fund to be used for affordable housing purposes. So your spending plan projected a certain amount of uh revenue over the next 10 years based on certain assumptions and uh it
uh stated that you would um uh allocate funds uh as necessary for what's called affordability assistance. And that is something that is required um by the state. You're required to set aside. Currently I think the rate is 30% but I
think that might be changed at some point. 30% of every dollar you've ever taken in has to be reserved for this affordability assistance. And that's the program that is usually something like security deposit assistance or down payment assistance for somebody moving into an affordable unit. Um just to make
sure that they have the ability to at least get their foot in the door for that affordable unit. Um because people may not have the cash lying around to to um to pay a security deposit, for example. Um, and the rest of your funds can either be spent on creating
affordable housing, uh, funding your your rehabilitation program, or um, uh, uh, administrative costs, meaning my my fees or, uh, your affordable housing attorney's fees, others others, uh, fees
that are involved in affordable housing process. And so what your spending plan uh said is you will comply with the affordability assistance requirement and that you also have enough funding to fund a portion of um your rehabilitation program. I think we the number that we
came out to was you could potentially fund up to uh 18 of the 21 units um that are required uh in your plan for you to have a funding to rehabilitate. And uh and here's where the resolution of intent to fund comes in. And that's a
resolution that states that uh should there be a shortfall in affordable housing trust fund balances that you will use other means to fund your affordable housing obligations. So uh should you have the 18 the funding for 18 uh uh to rehabilitate 18 dwellings
and a 19th person comes in and you don't have money in your affordable housing trust fund uh to fund it, you will have to find some other source of funding to rehabilitate that unit. um you can direct them to the county's program because the county uh currently at least
operates a uh affordable housing rehabilitation program. Um uh but um um but uh if if that program is uh
threatened by for example federal uh funding changes because the counties tend to rely on CDBG grants from the the federal government then you would um need to use something like uh uh one of the states programs or you may need to
bond and then pay yourself back later if if possible through a collection of um development fees. So, um that's the uh the the spending plan. Um uh uh and unfortunat I'm sorry that you
guys don't have it. I I since I'm no longer with DMR, I don't have an on me either. I thought that um uh you would all had it. Um uh any ordinances or redevelopment plans that need to be adopted? um to implement the plan. And we're really talking about
the 130 South Second Street um redevelopment plan. Um that would have to be adopted by March of 2026. Um and resolutions executing the plan. That's uh really just uh the uh the
resolution of intent to fund and your resolution endorsing the plan. Uh you can go to the next slide now. Okay. So, we've adopted the uh the uh housing plan on June 23rd. Tonight, we'll be uh endorsing the plan.
Uh hopefully um we'll be able to do some of these other resolutions. So, uh within 48 hours of the adoption of the plan, you were your the the uh your attorney was required to and successfully did submit your plan to the
state. So, um we are uh we're uh done in that respect. um a developer had or an interested party has a a two-month window to challenge your plan um which uh ends on August 31st
and that challenge can only be successful if it is success successfully able to uh show that your plan doesn't meet your obligation which um I I think we very well do um and I don't think that that'll be an issue that it's in
the past it was a lot easier for developers to just say I have a site you should have included my site in your plan. I I don't think that that's going to be the same uh world that we live in this time. Um and uh just for general knowledge your affordable housing uh after affordable
housing is built over the next 10 years um uh uh you have a administrative agent. You you have a contract with a group called CGPNH and they're uh very uh good at what they do. They make sure that uh the people going into the affordable housing in town are actually
qualified to do so. Um and they make sure that the money going between the town and um uh the project is is uh done so appropriately. Um any development uh in the plan and we're really just talking about 130 South Second Street uh
has to just because it's in the plan doesn't mean they could dig start digging right now. It means that they still need a redevelopment plan from the town. Uh that uh then they still need to provide a plan that complies with the redevelopment um plan. They need to come to the planning board for uh review and
uh and comment as they any other applicant would. Um so uh that's the good news that just because something's in your plan doesn't mean it's going to be you know uh built tomorrow. Um I think the next slide is just opening up to questions uh and and comments. So,
why don't we uh just go to that. Thank you. And uh open it up. We'll open the floor to council first to ask Mr. Hin any questions pertaining to the presentation. Um Mr. Halbin, I would ask there's a
document on our website that we had to do clearly for transparency and compliance purposes. Yeah. Burrow of Denell and fourth round housing element at fair share housing. Um would that have the spending plan in it? I you know let me let me take a let me take a look. I think I don't know that
it would because we had to send it separately. Um uh so uh it may be that there was uh something. I don't know. Let me see here.
Yeah. No, it doesn't look like it. Okay. So, we'll leave the council to the floor to ask Dan uh questions pertaining to the presentation that he's just made. Uh Dan, is there a deadline for submission of the spending plan?
No. Um I I uh you know it's um there's not uh it's uh historically you try to do it as close to the adoption of the plan as possible. Um the rules, the
fourth round rules and the the guidance that came from the the uh courts on timing for everything were a little sloppy and uh it's been a little bit unclear about what's exactly expected, but uh I I think that it's you know a
lot of towns are doing or are adopting them later. I think it's, you know, okay, so for purposes of this evening's meeting, we meet our obligation should council move forward and then the spending plan can present it on August 7th council meeting. That's right. Yeah, I think I think that that's fine. I think that that's
appropriate. I want to make sure everybody sees what the plan is before it gets So, we'll track down on where that miscommunication was between DMR and in your transition to TN. Um, but we'll get our hands on it and it'll be dispersed appropriately and publicly presented.
So, thank you, Dan. Uh, council, any questions for Dan? Uh, councilwoman uh Lance. Yes, I do have a question about um the vacant lands or vacant lots as you had mentioned. Um, so are we are we meeting
our affordable housing um criteria I guess um in our downtown redevelopment area or are we looking at other vacant lots throughout the town? No. So, um, all of our affordable
housing obligation can be met from the 130 South Second Street, uh, site should it be redeveloped, um, or should a redevelopment plan be, uh, adopted and then it's subsequently redeveloped. And then the uh balance is uh this five
units um uh uh additional that um you we are we're the plan addresses uh is being met through the downtown. And just for a little bit of context on that five units. So in historically when a town got a vacant land adjustment,
there was a very open-ended requirement that uh a town had to provide a town had to make sure that the the number that came out of the vacant land adjustment. So in our case, six units had to be uh created within the 10-year um housing
plan cycle. And then anything excess of that uh meaning the difference between in our three units signed from the state and the six units that we got out of the uh vacant land analysis uh had to be accounted for through
passive uh means meaning um uh it could usually meaning overlay zoning where you uh uh if a commercial use for example or industrial use no longer serves its industrial or commercial purpose, then
the zoning, the overlay zoning would kick in and require uh uh multif family with affordable housing. Now, in the past, unfortunately, that uh unmet need was enforced unevenly across towns where some towns had to zone for every unit of
that unmet need. So, in our case, it would have been 23 - 6. We would have had to plan for every uh 17 23 - 6 is 17. you would have had to plan for all 17 units, but uh so some towns would have had to do all 17, other towns would just kind of be like, you know, do what
you can. Uh and the new rules made it uh a uniform rule that said you just have to plan for at least 25% of that gap. So the 25% of uh the 17, which uh and you round up is uh uh five. So, so, um,
that's sort of the long way of explaining that this, uh, in continued enforcement of the downtown redevelopment plan is sort of our form of the, um, the overlay zoning, the the passive form of zoning that should somebody in the downtown want to
redevelop their property, obviously, they can continue to do so. and they will uh provide affordable housing units toward um that that will probably be over the course of the next 10 years in excess of five units just based on the success of uh the downtown so far. Uh
that was a a very long way to answer your question. Did it answer it uh satisfactorily? Yes, it makes sense. Thank you. Yeah, I mean I I would note that um the obligations that we've been able to meet and what we have to meet in the new and
the fourth round um I think we're in a good position to keep where we're developing these projects in the redevelopment zone and inclusive of affordable housing maintains where dense living should be around transit and in the downtown versus some towns are having the conversation of how do you
knock out forestry? How do you do more layovers in uh single family uh zoning? Uh Danell and we're keeping it where it makes most sense in the downtown where it makes sense for people to be living and shopping in a more dense population and respecting that we have neighbors
that uh neighborhoods that have single zoning and maybe duplex zoning like a two family and we're respecting that in those zonings. So I think um for us as a municipality, for our small town quaint charm, this respects that and um so thank you to DMR for the efforts and the
team that the at McMandam in Scotland and B am I pronouncing every name that's in there? MSNB uh to getting us to this point where we're keeping it within our redevelopment zone because um I think we'd be having an entirely different conversation if we were sprawling out to single family zoning. I would definitely
be in opposition to that. So um I think this is a good plan. Um, council, any other questions before we hand this out over to the public? Okay, we'll open the floor to the public to ask any questions to Mr. Halbin. We just ask that you please state your name
and address. Well, Dan, I think you did a a pretty good presentation, so thank you. Um, if there's no further comments from the public that are either in chambers or online, we're going to close that portion. Okay, without hearing any, we're closing
the portion of this presentation and I know there's subsequent resolutions on this agenda uh related to this. So, um, Mr. Hin, thank you. I just ask if you can stay online just in case as we get to the resolutions any additional questions come up throughout the process. Certainly. Thank you.
Okay. Item number two on the agenda is our sewer utility conversation for the evening. Uh this presentation will be done by McManaman Scotland and Bowman. It was right in front of me as I said too earlier. I didn't even look down. I'm happy. And uh NW Financial. So I'm
actually going to come out to the audience on this one. So welcome to the floor Francie uh Dan Marionello from NW Financial and they'll introduce themselves. So thank you. Good evening. I'm Francancy McManaman, McManaman Scotland and Bowman. We serve
as special Oh, I don't actually need this yet, but thank you. We serve as special counsel to the burrow in connection with a potential sale of the burough's water uh uh excuse me, wastewater system. So, the bureau started this exploratory process back in
March with a presentation uh providing an overview of the process of a potential sale of the burough's wastewater system. That was followed by action in April that the burough council took authorizing the issuance of a request for bids under the public
utilities law for the sale of the potential sale of the wastewater system. Uh on April 25th, 2025, uh the request for bids was issued as required by the public utilities law. It was published notice of the request for bids was
published for six consecutive weeks. on June 6th uh 2025 the uh bid one bid was received in connection or in response to the request for bids. So that's just a very brief overview of the process that's brought us to this evening. I'm going to now
turn it over to the NW team to um provide some more detail on the process. Y thank you Dan Marinello from NW Financial Group. Good evening everyone. Um so we were brought on to um both
assist with the process of going through the um the sale process um and then also with looking at the results of the sale and making recommendations. So I'm going to go through just a real brief overview
of Dunelan system itself. Um a couple of major points up there. 87,000 ft of sewer mains, 335 manholes, three pump stations, not a not a big system in the world of municipal sewer
systems, but certainly obviously uh as important as it gets for Dunellan um with three major pump stations. As mentioned, the system is managed currently. We obviously own the system. The the burough owns it. Parsa, Planefield Area Regional Sewage
Authority, has managed this system for us. Um um along with helping to process the sewage to get through to the Middle Sex County Utilities Authority, which is where the wastewater gets treated. Um the system manages, you know, over 160
million gallons of sewage uh in a year. And just to set the stage that the current rate, as you can see on the screen, is $365 a year. uh for single family, multif family and other residentials are per units within
those buildings. And then the non-residential commercial is $4.25 per thousand gallons, which is also have a minimum of $365. That's the current rate structure. I know that it has increased slightly over
the last year or so. Um that's where it is today. Why why requesting bids for the sewer system? I know back in March there was a presentation by staff to discuss why we were going out there. There's there's these four potential um bullet points on
the screen are typically why towns go out to to look at um selling of sewer systems or water systems for that matter. Aging infrastructure is a big one. Obviously, everyone can relate to that. Um any systems such such as this with pipes as old as they are are going
to have significant capital improvements. those capital improvements are very expensive. When looking at trying to manage the cost of those capital improvements just within the small community, it gets expensive. Um, so the goal, one of the goals looking to
sell the system would be to allow those capital improvements to be spread across a much larger user base, which is what the owners or potential buyers would be able to do. um potential financial benefits. Obviously, a big reason to go out and
look for um potential sale and partners on this. And what you would do by pro the process of selling a system requires you to take the proceeds of the sale and use those proceeds to pay off debt. First have to pay off the debt within the sewer utility of which there's about
2 million. Um and then the remaining amount would go to pay off any general obligation debt, other debt that the bureau has within its general fund. Um rate stability. Um obviously another big reason trying our best to keep rates at
an affordable level for u the residents and Dell, but at the same time understanding that costs of operating this system and everything is rising, but especially within the sewer structure. Um most of these things to give you an example even just buying equipment to you know a purchasing of
equipment in one system that has you know 20,000 residents in its community is a lot easier to accept than a community that has you know eight or 9,000. So the impact is is u much more expensive in smaller systems. And then long-term risk mitigation any potential
environmental or financial risk that may come up. It's always you always look to see if there's an opportunity to um to push to push those those risks over to a private entity that does this all the time. Fortunately, here we don't have uh
any real environmental risk as we've been dealing with. So that that piece of it is not as important as really as the financial um ramifications of it. Then the bid came in as mentioned by uh by Francancy. We received one bid. That's important.
Obviously, when you're looking to um sell a system, you know, in a competitive process, you hope to have more than one bid. Competition breeds uh better pricing. Uh we received one bid. Um New Jersey American Water. Many might be familiar with New Jersey American
Water since they run the water system here in Denellan and in many other uh communities. um just to put a couple of the bullet points that were included in their bid about the number of uh communities that they service and obviously have and they
they understand Dunellan very well of course since they've been here in the water system. The bid itself had three main components among many others but the real important ones are listed above purchase price of $5.5 million.
It included spending 2.5 million in capital improvements over the fi first five years. I mean, that's important as we had identified some things that we felt needed to get done and so they committed to putting that kind of capital improvement in. Um, however,
there are many more capital improvements that will need to get done. Um, this was just part of the bid that they that they um submitted to us. And the bid then when it came in, it's you have to accept the bid as it comes in. It's not a negotiation. So, there's not an
opportunity to go back to them and try to work with the price or change the capital improvements or change the rate structures. Their bid is their bid, and you either have to accept it or reject it. Um, included in their bid was a 7-year straight rate structure,
10% increase in year 1, zero, and then 3% out through year 7. Modest increases. Um um however they they certainly do impact the price that they that they um provided to us and we'll get into rates
in a later date, but it's important to know that that's the bid and it was either an acceptance or a rejection of that structure. Um I keep hitting the wrong button. Um so just a real quick on the rates, you know, $365
is a low rate. I know everyone has a different, you know, uh, opinion of whether or not it's low or high. Everyone's incomes are different. One of the ways that in the sewer utility that you look upon whether or not the cost of sewer um is an appropriate one, too
high, too low, one of the ways that people look at it is a percentage of the median income within the community. Um, in Dunellen, we call it the bill to income ratio. If the median household income is $84,000 and your sewer rate is $365 a year,
you're at 0.43% of your income going towards your sewer bills. New Jersey American Water Provided within their bid, just so that we have it as a baseline, the majority of their customers are at about 0.74%
of income to sewer bills. That can get much higher than that as we've seen in other communities. It just so happens that that happens to be New Jersey Americans average, but there are many communities where that is much higher. We wanted to share with you a few of the uh other communities
um and their rate structure. So Dunellan, as I mentioned, 365, South Planefields 400 a year. Manville, which was recently sold, is at a $220 residential flat fee and a usage charge
of $4.3 per thousand gallons. So if you're looking at that, it's the $365 in Denellan versus the 498 in their bill in Manville. Bound Brook when you use their residential flat fee of $62
plus the residential usage charge of $659 you get an average estimated bill of about $516. There is a residential unmetered there are some unmetered residences in Bound Brook and they got a flat fee of $489.
Somerville's ordinance is a flat fee of $384. In addition to the flat fee, you have to you have to pay a user charge of $347 per thousand gallons and a purchased
wastewater charge of $521 um with which is related to the treatment of the sewer. So their combined um annual bill is $982. every I will tell you you know even trying to come up with real comparative
analyses on what other communities charge in sewer versus Denellan it's not an easy thing to really come out with every town does it very differently um there's one town we're working in right now where there is no separate bill for sewer it's just in your taxes the cost
of the sewer system is an appropriation in your budget and then it gets charged in your tax bill so you're really paying as a percentage age of your assessment, not based on your usage. So, there really is a is a number of different ways that communities bill sewer.
Obviously, if you have sewer build based on your water usage, um it really levels the playing field with that you're you're being charged for what you're using. Um, in Dunellan, just to give you an
example, your flat fee of $365 a year is equivalent to $4.25 per thousand gallons up to, I think it's 89,000 gallons a year in usage, which is slightly higher than the average person. The average
person in today's world uses about 69,000 gallons of water a year. So if you wanted to take any of these rates, $659 for example in Bound Brook and your own home, a typical home is about 69,000
gallons a year. Um, and that's the that's the gallon that's the usage that we used to estimate these bills. Um just in summary again we looking at it financially but really in its entirety the net impact on the
sale on of the sale to the budget in Dunellan was generally limited. I and I say that because the $5.5 million sounds like a lot of money but it needs to be used to pay off debt. And when you pay off debt it's not as if you're getting a $5.5 million injection into your general
budget. you're paying off debt which then decreases your your budget expenses going forward as you would have paid off debt. Right? Your debt service is an annual line item in your budget. By using the 5.5 million to pay off debt,
you're reducing that debt service number annually. Um so it's not a true onetoone in that sense. So we really looked at it as to what is that impact on an annual basis to the burrow and it wasn't in our opinion it wasn't as strong as we would
have liked it to have been. you know, the sewer utility, uh, in addition to paying for all of the sewer costs that you have within the system, there's obviously shared costs that the sewer utility takes on, um, staffing and other
costs within the Dunell and general fund that are on the that are within the sewer utility, your CFO and other other staffing that gets shared. Once you sell the utility, those shared costs are no longer shared and they come back into
your general fund. So any costs that are like that go to offset the savings you would have had by lowering your debt service. And that was really the financial analysis we did. um the sewer rates and the rates that were projected by New Jersey American.
The truth is that the the sewer rates are going to the they're going up in that in their projection because they're doing the work because they're looking to make a profit. And so they're looking to increase rates in order to get to that point. The goal of this system is
is not necessarily profit. It's to make it work um and be safe and be there as a reliance of a system for years to come. So capital improvements is enormous in in what's going to end up being the results of whatever rates the Dunelan is
going to end up charging for its customers. Um but it's something that's going to have to be reviewed. Um ongoing operating and treatment costs are also increasing. The Middle Sex County Utilities Authority manages your wastewater treatment and each year their
costs are going up. So, it's a system where in Dunellan, as I mentioned, with your $365, it's a really low rate and and the burrow has kept rates in the sewer system low for a long time. Um, and what you're starting to now see is because of
the cost increases, because of capital improvements that are going to have to happen, there is going to have to be a review of the rate structure that you have within the burrow in order to make sure that you are um going to be able to treat and manage the sewer going
forward. Whether or not that was with a sale or not with a sale was the determination was the review that we did. Um along with the rest of the project team which included you know um your consultants and staff. Um it was to
reject the bid review the right structure that we have currently to see and determine what it might nec might be to to take this on ourselves. um the system has been managed and run uh very well by PRSA and
the um the future capital improvements are going to have to be done. So we're going to go back and look and review those uh that rate structure. It was good to go through the analysis though because it definitely gave us a chance to see what the market is for the system. Um I will say that it it may or
may not be as true a market number as you would think because we only got one bid. Uh it would be nice to see more of them come in. Um there are more than one buyers of municipal systems out there. So um um but it was good to see what
they felt was the value of it and where they thought rates would need to go. Um but in the end it was the recommendation of the team to reject the bid and now go back and review the structure ourselves. So, I'll be happy to take on any
questions you have any. I guess I have uh one question. Um I don't know if you can answer this, but do you have any ideas of why we only had one bid? Was is that typical? What do you think the reason? Well, I can answer you want to consider.
I mean, it's more of a legal question. I'm not sure why we didn't get there's at least three biders out there. One chose not to bid at all. We did not hear from them at all. Another one, Violia, which is was formerly Suez and United
Water, they sent the letter in and determined that they chose not to bid. Uh they felt that the bid parameters were such that um was either too stringent or they felt that the board of public utilities was not going to allow them to stick to that rate structure.
Um, we felt that they misread the bid in that way. Of course, the BPU has ultimate um, say on where rates need to go. Um, did I say that right, Francine? I don't want to step on the lawyer's toes, but that's exact. I mean, so they sent the letter in and said they
wouldn't be bidding for those reasons. Two questions. Um, one, the rates in which American Water proposed um, the 100 333 and then what was that? 10 zero and then five years of 3%.
That necessarily doesn't have to hold true. They can still increase beyond that, right? That's the understanding. Or would they have to stick to those percentages? They would have to stick through those percentages unless the BPU determined otherwise. You still have to go based on
the BPU's determination, which they review each year um and approve rate increases. Okay. So they could still feasibly bring those that 3% year over to them and say we really need a 10% BPU can approve it. I believe so. Yes.
Okay. Um, at any given point if we if if council decides that we want to continue maintaining ours and we go through the analysis and let's say within the next five years we do significant improvements, does that increase the value of our system to then consider
going out to bid and hopefully other other entities bid on it? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. any investment and and I'm sure we're going to determine that there there are real capital improvements that need to get done. So once you look at that you will be increasing the value of the asset.
Okay. So I guess the argument could be is that we could always go back to analysis and see if we need to rebid if that is the option. Um any other council members have questions or statements to legal counsel or our financial analysis
analyst? Okay, we'll open the floor to the public for any questions. We just ask that you please state your name and address strictly to this item on the agenda. Bob Snider, executive director for Planefield Area Regional Surge Authority. Uh just to go a little bit
further into your question about capital improvements into the system, you have to keep in mind that yes, it will raise the value of your system, but not so much in their eyes. any of these private equity or private
investment firms that are purchasing the systems are purchasing the systems because they're eligible by BPU standard to make between 7 and 9% return on their investment capital investment and they can recoup the purchase price. So
overall, while you might think that would be beneficial in in, you know, in thinking about, hey, we're making it worth more, at the end of the day, it's not to the p to the public or to the residents, if you will. Um, I will
commend the professionals for for keeping an open mind throughout this process. Um, and I will just say that um, Parsa remains steadfast in providing the best and uh, most technology and and everything that we can for the residents
of Denown. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Snder. And we appreciate the relationship and partnership we have with Parsa. We do appreciate it. And uh, so um, you know, any other members of the public have any comments or questions? Please state your name and
address. Homer Mosley 113 pro place and Dell said a couple of things. Uh you did address some of them in terms of uh you know possibly caps on the rate increase because as uh New Jersey water as a
public utility is subject to New Jersey uh what about about other other private biders? Are they subject to the same um uh constraint? Yes, I believe we are too based upon the BPU.
stand. The other thing I thought about too was um uh this whole concept of having the sewer bills incorporated. I think we had I had this discussion once before incorporated into our tax bill because there then it
becomes a deduction as part of real estate taxes as opposed to you know being separate. So you know that's something I thought about. Well, we can address that question. Um, our CFO is here and he's been here for many years. It once upon a time was
within our our municipal budget. Um, when Governor Christie did the 2% cap, uh, budgets were hemorrhaging and the the decision was made to create a sewer utility in which this this fee was created or tax if some people want to
call to um to take it outside of the municipal budget. Otherwise, there would have to been other decisions made in terms of personnel, uh, other capital improvements we would have to be making on like roads and other projects. Um, so it once was, but um, I think once it's
out, it's the best that it's personally policy-wise would be staying out because then you're look around the room on who we're letting go on other quality services in the municipality. And I guess one of my other concerns is that uh, I know one of the objective is
to pay down debt. Um I have some concern in terms of paying down debt over here and increasing debt over there. So uh I think that's something that really needs to be monitored. In other words, if by pay using this let's say if we went through this exercise and actually uh
decided to accept a bid from some place to pay down debt capital debt um I I would be I would hope that the the council would be very mindful in terms of not paying down over here only to
increase that somewhere somewhere else. Fully understand that point Mr. Mosen. Okay. And then again as a as a senior as a senior. Not a senior. You're my age. I thought I wish. But anyway, uh you know, I'm always concerned uh about, you know, the
seniors who are um who a lot of them are on fixed income and so therefore any any increase no matter where it's at, uh hits pretty heavily upon the senior population. That's understood. And I believe in our current ordinance under sewer utility I believe
there is a freeze at some point for seniors in which with American water had we gone that was one of the other variables we considered was the only people the seniors that are within that program currently would qualify. Anybody aging into that population that would have prior previous previously qualified
would no longer qualify. So you would get the increase regardless. Sorry Dan. Did I steal your thunder? Okay. Okay. Any other members of the public? I saw Mr. Best standing up.
One minutes. Um, if I get the numbers uh correctly, um, it looks like they were New Jersey water about a $2,500 investment into the town per resident
per res. Um, so the question would be how would they this amount of money just right. If we were to do it ourselves with the same amount of money into capital improvement
$1,000 per res at some point this for-profit business is going to attempt to cost even if you cap their rates that they can increase for seven years. The end of seven years something else
somehow. So, while I can see the benefits of selling the silver system, I I have a question whether a for-profit business is going to end up being better for the uh citizens.
Thank you, Mr. Best. Any other members of the public pertaining to this item only on the agenda, whether in chambers or online, please state your name and address. Okay, without hearing any, we will close that portion for discussion and we have
yes, we do need to take action. Um, so we have two options for this evening. One is an introduction of an ordinance that I believe Francancy has um in play in place and that ordinance would be to
um accept moving forward to a referendum to place on the November ballot and let the residents of Denellan choose or there's a resolution to reject the bid and maintain the sewer utility as we currently stand knowing in that we would
be moving forward to subsequent months of doing an analysis. If you were to ask me, I would do the resolution in rejecting the bid and maintaining the sewer utility. So, um, those are our two options. Do we have the resolution number and the ordinance
number? Ordinance number would be 2025-17. And then the resolution number we could add for 276. Can I do that now on the floor? Yeah, I would have to amend the agenda
to uh but add that specific resolution. Okay. So, let's do it this way. Is there a motion and a second to reject the bid and to maintain the sewer utility?
I move under resolution 276. Move it. And I heard Albertson, I think. Um, and let's do a roll call. Okay. And then let's take a roll call. Mr. Albertson, yes.
Lance, yes. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Yes. And Mr. Vander, yes. Okay. So, thank you uh to the team. We look forward to the future presentation.
and hopefully we can hit the ground running uh the sooner rather than later so council can get their heads around that and the public has the opportunity to see that presentation. Um so I think based upon uh approving that resolution to reject the bids we no longer have to consider the introduction because we
effectively rejected it. So um who will kindly notify American Water if we have to? Thank you. Thank you. Always best from the legal team. Get home safe everyone. Good tomorrow. Good evening.
Good evening. Okay. Should we take a roof? Okay. Um I was debating a recess, but let's just chug along, right? Okay. Um, item number four on the agenda is the approval of our meeting minutes, our
regular meeting of uh, June 16, 2025. Can I have a motion in a second, please? Move it. Segment. Second. Rios. Are there any comments, additions, or redactions to the meeting minutes as they currently stand? Without hearing any, can we take a roll call, please?
Yes. Mrs. Lance? Yes. Mrs. Rios? Yes. Mr. Scott? Yes. Mr. Sigman? Yes. And Mr. Vandermark. Okay. Thank you. Say yes. Mr. Vandermark. Councilman.
He's unmuted. Okay. So, okay. Just noted. Not here. Okay. Uh moving on, we have item number five, the introduction of ordinances. This evening we have 2025-15.
Councilman, is that you? Councilman Vandermark. What's that? Uh, can can you give us the vote to the floor on the approval of our meeting minutes on June 16th? Yes. Okay. Thank you. We have your vote.
Um 2025-15 and 2025-16. This evening, we do have Sandy Glacio, one of our redevelopment council legal counsel on the line. So, as we go each one, you can kind of brief council on them. And then at the uh August 7th meeting, there'll be a more of a a more
substance um presentation because for those who u are new in the audience this evening, happy to see you all. I've not it's some unfamiliar faces. Uh introduction of ordinances is just that it's an introduction. There's no discussion. Maybe uh somebody will briefly discuss it just so it's
summarized and then um it goes to a roll call whether council wants to introduce it or not. If it is rollled and voted yes for an introduction, then at the next meeting within a 10-day period, um it is publicly heard and possibly adopted, if not amended, and then
reintroduced, etc. There's a process. Um but in between the introduction and the public hearing, which in this case for these two, if they're moving forward tonight would be August 7th, you can pick up these ordinances at the clerk's office or find them online for your review. Okay. So, with that, can I have
a motion and second on 2025-15, an ordinance approving a 5-year tax exemption for a new multi-dwelling rental project to be constructed by Chelsea Builders LLC at 440 North Avenue pursuant to the 5-year tax exemption and baitment law in chapter 115B of the
Denellum Municipal Code. Move it, Sigma. Second, Albertson. Sandy, if you're lying tonight, do you Well, you are online. Can you briefly just uh brief council on this? Yeah. Yes, mayor. This is uh uh the introduction of an ordinance granting a
5-year tax exemption for that property. Uh that tax exemption allows the redeveloper to uh finance the property. When uh there may be a shortfall when there's a shortfall, uh the redeveloper submitted
an application that was reviewed by the administration and its professionals. Uh and uh the recommendation was to uh grant the uh the tax exemption. Um and over the five-year life of the
exemption, the taxes gradually um increase year-toear according to a graduated schedule. Uh that is in the financial agreement that was included in the package. Um, so there'll be a hearing uh on this at the uh the next uh
council meeting. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Glacio. With that, we'll take a roll call. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark,
yes. Okay. You can have a motion on 2025-16, an ordinance to approve a long-term exemption and financial agreement between the burrow of Denellan and 441 North Urban Renewal LLC. Move it, Sigman.
Second, Rio. Mr. Glacio, would you like to uh brief council on this one? Yes, mayor. This is a a similar uh application for a tax exemption for a property in the redevelopment area at 431, 435, and 441 North Avenue. uh but
it's being granted under a different uh law, the long-term tax exemption law, which is associated with uh properties in the redevelopment area. It's for a longer uh term, 30 years from the finishing of construction or 35 years
from the entry into the financial agreement with the uh with the applicant. Um uh similarly uh this provides for a uh what's called an annual service charge payment to the bureau instead of
a uh instead of regular taxes. Uh and that is calculated using a formula based on the annual gross revenue that the project generates each year. Uh and that also uh increases over time until the
end of the exemption period. Uh again uh this u there will be a full hearing with a presentation at the second reading of this this ordinance at the at the next meeting. Uh and there is a resolution later on the agenda related to this
project which uh amends the redevelopment agreement with the existing redeveloper um to allow transfer to a it's called an urban renewal entity which is uh the type of entity that uh must be formed by the redeveloper in order to enter into
this tax exemption and provide for a community benefit payment by the redeveloper to the bureau of $74,200. Uh, that's also on the agenda tonight. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Glazio. So, roll call, please. Mrs. Albertson,
yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark. Councilman Vandermark. Okay. Well, passes with those who are able to vote. Correct. Moving forward.
Okay. So, as noted, both ordinances will be at the clerk's office and on the website for your review. So, on the August 7th meeting after the presentation, you have the opportunity to ask question. We got disconnected. Hello, Councilman. What uh I got disconnected.
Okay. We're happy you're connected. We appreciate being connected to you. So, 2025 16, did you hear sufficient uh information from Mr. Glacio? Yes. Okay. So that voted yes. Thank you. That was your vote. Yes. Correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you.
Okay. So as noted August 7th there will be a presentation in which public has an opportunity to address uh both items to our legal counsel and our financial team as well as mayor counsel. Okay. Item number six is resolutions. This evening
we have resolutions 261 through 275. And I'm going to ask that our municipal clerk, Mrs. Lauren stats uh read them out giving us the opportunity to discuss them if there needs to be discussion. Thank you. Resolution 261 is to pay the bills.
Move it. Sigment. Second. Albertson. Mrs. Albertson. Yes. Mr. Lance. Yes. Rios. Yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. Mr. Sigman. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark. Yes.
Resolution 262 is to amend resolution from June 2nd, 2025 number 233 to hire summer camp staff for the Denellan Recreation Department. Move it. Segment. Second. Lance. Mrs. Albertson.
Yes. Mrs. Lance. Yes. Mrs. Rios. Yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. Mr. Segman. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark. Yes. Resolution number 263 is to hire summer tennis coaches for the Denellan
Recreation Department. Move it. Albertson. Second. Segment. Mrs. Albertson? Yes. Mrs. Lance? Yes. Mrs. Rios? Yes. Mr. Scott? Yes. Mr. Sigman? Yes. And Mr. Vandermark? Yes.
Resolution 264 is to approve a grant submission for the Second Street improvements phase three project. Move it. segment. Second, Lance. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott,
yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark, yes. Resolution 265 is to approve a grant submission for the New Market Road Improvements Project. Move it, Sigman. Second, Rio.
I do apologize. I let the uh two uh 64 get ahead of me. Um but uh so these were the grants that we were discussing based upon the NJ dot municipal aid transit village safe routes to transit um uh in conversation with CE. I'll go
back to 264 really quick. I apologize. Um the the recommendation and why it's on the resolution this evening is because we've gotten a grant for phase one which is Madison to Schwarz. Phase two is Madison to Washington and then phase three would be Washington to uh
Jefferson. So then in effect one entire street would have been done through Brent. So I think and it completes one street. Um then now back on 265 um reviewing uh some studies we've done things that the mayor's traffic and pedestrian safety task force has worked on with like the NJTPA and
recommendations. Um the new market road improvement project uh Mr. Miller, correct me if I'm wrong. That basically fixes the sidewalks and finalizes a sidewalk system on some areas that don't have sidewalks. Okay. So, that's what this grant is for. So, in effect, accomplishing uh one of
the plans that we have in place from one of the reports that were generated through studies that we've conducted. So, that's why they're recommending this. The ones that they recommended this evening are the ones they feel that are strongest student actually getting funding. So, that's 265. I apologize that
I let Second Street phase three get past me. Okay, I'll take a roll for 265. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark,
yes. Resolution 266 is to approve a grant submission for the Madison Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, and Jackson Avenue lighting improvements project. Move it. Segment. second land. So much like the decorative lighting we've had throughout the downtown and
the ones that we received grant-wise to complete all of Route 28, um it's recommended that and why we're moving it forward to complete some of this side streets that shoot off in our redevelopment district that would are like the entryway into our downtown and in effect helping complete the overall
decorative lighting. Um, so I think part of the process of doing some of these grants is just to make sure we complete some of the projects that we've kind of over time started. So that's why this one's being put forward. Okay, I'll take a role. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance,
yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark, yes. Resolution 267 is to appoint Jaden Carabalo as a junior member of the fire department. Move Albertson.
Second segment. Mrs. Albertson. Yes. Mrs. Lance. Yes. Mrs. Rios. Abstain my position. Mr. Scott, abstain. Position of the fire department. Mr. Sigman. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark.
Okay. Well, thank you to the junior member Caribelloo uh for stepping up to the plate and volunteering. Uh as we always note, our community is built on the backbones of volunteers and that's how a lot of things get done in this community. We congratulate them. We thank them. We encourage more people to
step up to the plate to volunteer for one of our many agencies whether through municipal commissions, the fire company, rescue squad, OEMs. Uh we welcome volunteers and we encourage people. So, thank you uh Jaden for stepping up to the plate.
Did you hear Mr. Vandermark's vote or no? Did he say? I thought he voted yes. No. Mr. Vandermark resol. Okay. Resolution 268 is appointing crossing guards for the 2025 2026 school year.
Move it. Segment. Second. Albertson. Just for the record, Mr. Miller, Mr. Olsen, this includes a crossing guard for Madison and Denellan, we're adding one at that intersection. Okay. Thank you,
Mrs. Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Task. We should be very happy. Sorry, Mrs. Albertson. Yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Mr. Sigman. Yes.
And Mr. Vandermark. Mr. Vandermark. Okay. Moving on. I got disconnected again. Was that a yet? Mr. Yes, Mr. Vandermark. Yeah, I just Yes. Okay. Resolution 269 is endorsing the
burough's fourth round fair share housing element plan. Move it. Segment. Second. Rios. Rios. Um, is this inclusive of the spending plan? Okay. Okay.
Mrs. Albertson. Yes. Mrs. Lance. Yes. Mrs. Rios. Yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. Mr. Sigman. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark. Yes. Resolution 270 is to approve a sidewalk
cafe license for Ducas Cafe. Move it. Segment. Second. Rios. Mrs. Albertson. Yes. Mrs. Lance. Yes. Mrs. Rios. Yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. Mr. Sigman. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark.
Yes. Resolution 271 is approving a third amendment to the redevelopment agreement by and between the Burough of Denellan and 87 1879 Mars Associates LLC and authorizing the mayor to sign assignment and assumption of redevelopment
agreement for assignment of redevelopment agreement from 1879 Mars Associates to 441 North Urban Renewal LLC. Move it sigma. Second Rio, as Mr. Glacio noted, this uh provides a
a community benefit contribution to the burrow for uh certain streetscape and pedestrian safety infrastructure improvements related to the project. Um so this way there's improvements to the streetscape, any pedestrian safety and trafficcoming measures in the area that
not only help the project but also benefit the general community. Um, we do believe it's part of the developers, uh, corporate partnership, I guess you can say, to help the immediate area in need and make improvements, not just for themselves, but the community as a
whole. Um, so uh, they've been kind enough to negotiate this, and it is a a community benefit donation that u is specific to streetscape pedestrian safety, which we know we both need in the downtown. So, um, that's what this
resolution is for is that amendment. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark, yes. Resolution
272 is the conditionally designating Charles Spatchanti as the redeveloper of certain property designated on the burough tax map as block 34 lot 28 more commonly known as 620 Bookrook Road and authorizing entry of interim cost
agreement move it Sigma second Rio so what an interim cost agreement is is you have an interested party who wants to develop their property or developer has bought a property wants to develop it. This is uh Mr. Fatipani. He is a long-standing um business owner and
property owner in Denell and has family in Denell and he wants to develop his property at the location noted. Um so this uh for those that are don't know what a interim cost agreement is basically sets up the structure for him to put into escrow funds and uh indicate
that he wants to be designated a developer of his property so he can develop it. And so therefore, the escros cover the professional service costs that are in process of coming up with a project that makes sense and adheres to our redevelopment plan um before formal
redevelopment agreement and presentation are made before council. So um that's what this is. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark,
yes. Resolution 273 is to authorize a chapter 159 for pedestri pedestrian safety enforcement and education fund. Move it segments. Second Albertson. Um Mr. Miller or Mr. Scott or Lieutenant yourself too if you want to address
this. I know this is a a grant that was provided um by the state that I believe Sergeant Delbuno applied for that's going to go to uh as it noted uh pedestrian safety and traffic safety enforcement. So um anything else you
want to add before council takes a vote? 15. Okay. All righty. Take a role. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. And Mr. Vandermark,
yes. Resolution number 274 is authorizing the award of a non-fair and open contract for planning services to address affordable housing in the burrow. Move it, segment. Second, Albertson. So this is re um Harbor is our alternate
municipal planner. Um with the transition from Dan to TNM um we are working now with Harbor um I guess assuming beyond our spending plan presentation. Um we're going to work with Harbor for the affordable housing
elements moving forward um on compliance matters and ordinances that might need to be drafted related to that before the end of the year. So that is why this is in place. Um so this way we can have a consistent planner.
That's probably the best way I can put it. No questions. Mrs. Albertson, yes. Mrs. Lance, yes. Mrs. Rios, yes. Mr. Scott, yes. Mr. Sigman, yes. Mr. Vandermark,
yes. Resolution 275 is granting approval to the Nellan Arts Inclusion and Culture Commission for the Adams Theater Company to produce plays in the park. Move it. Albertson. Second. Sigman. Okay. Mrs. Albertson.
Yes. Mrs. Lance. Yes. Mrs. Rios. Yes. Mr. St. Yes. Mr. Sigman. Yes. And Mr. Vandermark. Yes. Okay. Item number seven is our council reports. Um,
Councilwoman Albertson. Okay. I want to give a shout out to Alex Miller, Mayor Sundo, Rich, and the DPW employees, Nell Fire Department, Police Department, Rescue Squad, and the Office of Emergency Management, uh, for the
quick response and hard work these past few days. The fire department had responded to 32 calls out for service in June and they have a total number of calls for two 2025 of 188.
They had a hazmat call for uh five hazmat calls, 12 false alarms, four service calls, two EMS calls, six good intent calls, three fire calls. So brings it to a monthly total of 32. In
addition to emergency responses, the fire department has attended several events and held several drills. So on 65 and 18, the probationary members continued in-house training. Um and on 66 they supported the devel
torch front. They held a monthly meeting on monthly office work drill officer drill on 69. On 612 they attended the bike rodeo at Faber. On 618 they had a monthly instruction drill with the SCVA
fit testing. On 6:21 they held their bianual street fair and on 6:25 they had a meeting the monthly meeting. Um they're happy to have a number of new residents
continuing to join and um they invite people to come and join them. Uh the new members are attending fire school right now. And if membership is open to everyone, 6 to 18 is a junior member and full member is open to anyone over 18.
Visit their website www.danellenfd.com or email join join fd dfdellenfd.com for more information. Um while they did do quite a few calls in
June, they have already exceeded that number this week. Um operating they started operating their apparatus uh 6 pm on 7:30 and through the weekend. Um so between 73
and 75 they responded to 61 emergency incidents. Um, thank you all for what you've done and um, continue to do. Uh, in regards to the storm, if your American flag has been rendered unusable due to the damage from the storm or if
it's just unusable and you'd like to get rid of it, please drop it off at the American Legion. Um, and they will ensure that it is properly disposed of flags can be dropped off in the building if someone's there or on the front porch. There's a table there. Um, and I'd like to give a shout out to the Dell
and Municipal Alliance because they held their annual leadership academy on June 24th. They had 30 high school students participating in team building activities and leadership training um community resource officer conduct came and spent some time with them the
students and interacted with them. It was a very rewarding experience for everyone. So, look forward to seeing everyone um at National Night Out when you'll get to meet some of these students when they're working. Thank you. That it. Okay. Thank you, Councilwoman Rios.
I didn't think I had one, but Public Library. Don't forget to register for our summer reading event. Registration may be done by contacting us by email or visiting us in person. Also, log into our website and check out our Facebook for great programs this summer. Buildings and Ground Report. The
following parks had trees damaged to the July 3rd storm. Columbia Park had two trees. McCoy Park had eight trees. Warcraft had two trees. Gavoric Park had one tree. Washington Park had four trees. Public Works will be addressing
these issues over the next week. On a side note, Living Hope Outreach Church will be having their food drive giveaway this Saturday at 11 a.m. while supplies last. This event happens every second Saturday of the month. The church is located at 2011 Whittier Avenue in
Tanellan. Please bring your own bags. That's it. Okay. Thank you, Councilman Scott. For DPW, they continue to rout routinely clean the downtown area and all parks and properties, weekly lawn and landscape maintenance for the burough parks and properties, maintain the ball
fields, and they ran cardboard to the dump. And like everybody else on the 3rd, they had a nice busy day and continue through today. Uh crew was called in to help with road clearance after the storm and work late into the evening. They continued to work on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 4th
through the 6th. They collaborated with the crews from Rich's tree service, clear as many trees out of the way as possible, enabling PSEG to access and start repairs of the utility lines, and the crew has been working tirelessly through the storm, and we're all grateful for their service. That's my
report. Okay, thank you. Councilwoman Lance from the recreation department. Summer camp is in full swing. Right now they have 50 children registered. Registration is open and ongoing, but you must register three business days prior to the start date. Campers so far
have enjoyed a welcome luau, a Fourth of July barbecue, and a trip to the Jersey Shore where they visited Jeninson's Aquarium, the boardwalk, and the beach. Campers will be heading to the water park later this week. If anyone is interested in continuing to join, they
can email the WCK program coordinator kelly cedar at kcardenber.com. On Thursday, June 26, recreation spring players enjoyed wreck night at the ballpark at the Somerset Patriots Stadium. Players and coaches got to walk
on the field prior to first pitch for a pregame parade and enjoyed fireworks after the game. Fall soccer registration will be opening up soon for preK through 8th grade. Last year we had a record turnout. Keep your eye keep your eye out
for more soccer information. In the meantime, we are looking for volunteer coaches. So if you're interested in coaching this upcoming season, please contact again rec program coordinator Kelly Cedar at kcaterano.com. And the recreation department also looks
forward to helping the police department on national night out on August 5th. That's all. Okay. Thank you, Council President Sigman. Uh yes. Uh I have been noticing a lot of those uh slow down. This is uh not a racetrack signs around town. Uh it
is exciting to see some of our work uh come to fruition uh throughout the burrow. Uh also uh heard a report back from Rome Pizza that they had started seeing the uh participants of the walk to school Wednesday program come in and
redeem their uh certificate for a slice and a soda. Uh also want to add my name to the long list of people thanking Alex Miller and the DPW Police Department, Fire Department, fire department members and uh and Mayor Sento uh for all their
hard work. uh that wild and crazy night a few days ago. Uh it took a while, but sounds like everyone's back to having their power. So, thank you all for your hard work. Thank you, Council President. Um Councilman Vandermark, anything to
report on this evening? I have nothing to report this tonight. Okay, good to hear you, my friend. I should be back in council chambers next month. Forward to it. Okay, my report for the evening. Um, did
a storm recap. DPW will continue to clean up throughout the rest of this month. So, please bring the debris to the of trees and stumps uh to the curb um for collection. ASL recycling 95gallon automatic side load bins for recycling have started being delivered
today. Well, the past several days actually. Right. Okay. Uh if you do not receive your bin, please contact Burough Hall and the administrative assistant will keep a record of any missing bins to ensure that residents receive them. As a reminder, the bins cannot be used uh
before August 13th recycling collection as the MCIA will still be using uh backload trucks until then and we'll make sure we continue to update on social media as well as let's do a few e notifies and email blast just so everyone's on the same page.
uh second street dot project. The mill and pays phase of the project was scheduled to start today. However, due to the extent of tree damage from the July 3rd storm, we're delaying the project to give our residents sufficient time to remove branches from the street, allowing our public works crew to remove them and prevent damage to the newly
paved road. Uh we should have a new scheduled date from CME and the contractor crossroads paving within a week. So, look out for that information. Notices were delivered to the doors. Yes. Okay. And when updates come, they'll also be sent out to um doortodoor. Uh
New Jersey American water main water New Jersey American Water Man project. The water man has been installed on Lehi uh Street. Uh the next phase will be the installation of water services. New Jersey American Water has just started the water man installation on Walnut.
They'll be replacing 85year-old 8in water manes with 12-in water manes. Uh the water American water has begun work on Palaski Street section to complete it before the school opens in September. Anyone who needs to go to Faber for summer program can use Palaski Street to
access Walnut Street and then proceeds onto High Street. Um Alex, I do have a question. Well, a note. Um, I had a few residents that live on Walnut that were informed they were not they were allowed out of their properties but not allowed
back in when they were notified that they'd be able to get in and out of um their street to get to to and from their homes. Um, I just want to confirm residents are allowed to get access to and from their their homes.
accessed and make sure Okay. Okay. Thank you. That was my next. Could you coordinate efforts and improve the communication between contractors and departments? Um, so allowing residents to get there just cuz
they were noticed that they can. So, um, if they can't, they need appropriately noticed, but my understanding is they can. So, let's make sure they can. Um, a report from our engineer CME. Uh, the Washington Avenue street lighting project. A site meeting was held with PS&G and the issues that were being
viewed by PS&G like the the down by St. John's where they didn't want to place the street lights. Well, they wanted to place the street lights, but they didn't want to put conduit underneath the sidewalk. They wanted to remove these nicely wellestablished trees. That issue has been resolved. So the trees won't go
and the lights will go up. Correct. Okay. Which is nice. And I know our sha tree commission will very much appreciate that. Um so the uh the engineers are requesting a schedule from the contractor for the commencement of work which will be very nicely done. Uh
the railroad cohort project on South A which I know is a long time coming project. Um we're working with the I bank. They've requested that the engineering agreement be uh provided for that project and uh CME is preparing it. Uh the army corps has confirmed that
their model shows a downstream system will have the capacity to take the flows from their project once they have completed their construction. So basically, as we all remember from several meetings ago, um project was stalled based upon before we got to the
I bank because with the Greenbrook flood control project happening along the Greenbrook on the north side of town, um and us being closer to that project after 50 years, um uh CME had to prove to the Army Corps that
the water that would be flowing through the South Avenue Culvert would not be impacting greatly the Greenberg flood control project once that's up and running. So, a plan has been put in place that we can continue with uh construction of the project, but the covert that we will be building, and
correct me if I'm wrong, Alex, um will be built, but it has to be shut until the Greenbrook flood control project is completed. So, once that's completed, the project at the culvert can be opened up and everything can flow the way it's supposed to.
Did I miss anything? So the new opening will be we have now one other Got it. So be restrict understood. So, I think we may be seeing the light and I
hope I didn't jinx us on that one. Which one? I think it was 1999 the cold started and then Greenbrook Flood was 1973. It's the year my mom graduated. So, you
know, sorry, mom, but uh it's been a while. So uh uh CME continues to monitor the work being performed by Comcast which several parts of the town are up and running. Um so that is good. Um CME's requested that
the status of the New Market Road and Walnut Street intersection project uh from the county. As you know, we are trying to work with the county to get a traffic light at Walnut and New Market. They say it qualifies. Um so they've requested that from the board of
commissioners that adopted resolution to accept the design contract. Um once the contract is executed, they will hold a design kickoff meeting which they expect to occur hopefully later this summer, early fall. So um getting closer to that, too. Second Street phase 2 field
surveys have been performed and the design of the project is underway. Um as we noted tonight, uh the following local aid applications have been submitted to the NJ DOT for the municipal aid. um improvements of milling, um partial reconstruction, surfacing of portions of
Second Street between North Washington and Jefferson and other enhancements such as storm drainage, driveway reconstruction, restoration, etc. uh that CME will be submitting on our behalf. Transit village grant. The project generally consists of installation decorative lighting along the first block of the streets
intersecting North Avenue, State Highway Route 28, including Madison Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, and Jackson Avenue, and including some sidewalk restoration and street trees. So, that's nice. We love trees. Uh, safe routes to transit. Uh the project generally consists of
improvements along New Market Road from South Washington Avenue to the shared municipal border with Piscatoaway, which includes the removal and replacement of existing deteriorated sidewalks, ADA ramp improvements, turf restoration, driveway apron restoration, and other related work. So, uh hopefully we get that grant because we got the South
Washington Avenue sidewalk restoration grant, which would be nice because it'll have two main corridors connecting us to um another municipality that needs access to our train station plus the residence that we currently have. uh in effect completing what they call the
last half mile I think they call it of getting to a train station. So that's it from myself this evening. Um let's head over to our department head reports. Legal anything Mr. Robertson I guess from legal no news is good news.
Thank you clerk registars's office. No reports tonight. Thank you again. Great job on the elections and how you handled everything with the moving around of I said it the last time but you deserve great kudos for how you handled it. Thank you Mr. Miller. DPW business admin.
Thank you very [Music] [Music] Homework. this car show up on the scene. Uh it's just just it is a good thing to say. Uh less
stepped up, helped out at the shelter. you know furniture see and all while this going on everybody left their homes and they had no power no generator going on or whatever else
and also Billy was on vacation no one would knew it but the message the mayor and I probably thousand text You know it starts right from the top. So
good to see everybody really moving and working public situation. We'll be back. We understand more stuff. We got a great team. Good job everyone. Lieutenant, anything from PD?
You're yielding your time to Homer? OEM, Mr. Mosley. Oh, thanks. So, uh, you're a Canadian now, too, huh? Yes. Yes. Why not? I'd like to echo uh the uh the sentiment about the uh
various departments uh the PD, fire department, DBW, the rescue squad. Um did I miss anybody? Of course, OEM. Um, one of the things that uh this provides an opportunity to do is to look at this
situation because we actually did an exercise, a live exercise and see how our uh did we execute on our EOPS, our emergency operation plans. Um, there's always a need for improvement, but I think uh and I'll be coming forth with
some uh recommendations regarding that. Uh again, I would like to especially thank uh Bill Scott uh because he provided a command center and a uh EOC at his fire department. In fact, uh Bill
took on the uh uh took on the uh action of uh actually recording the impacts to the town so that we had a better picture. So, thank you for that bill. I mean, that's something that usually OEM would be involved in terms of getting the common situational picture. So
again, it's very important that again that we have some representations of departments at at EOCC just for that very reason so we could all look at the general conditions of the town. Um on on some positive things again I like
to especially uh uh thank um Chuck Lopez who's acting as deputy coordinator. Uh he mobilized uh our SER team uh Denise Allen, Sharon Stewart, Ingred Franco as well as Chuck
to uh man the shelter uh and also the uh the rescue squad which kind of maintained it till we got there. Um also, uh I know it wasn't mentioned, but I'd like to mention the fact that uh of course, Mayor, I thank you for your
leadership. you and Alex, but I also like to mention the fact that the Carol Fund uh came through. Um the my next door neighbor at uh 109 completely lost their house. Um there's
a family of five, three children uh cat and dog and and across the parents. uh the um the individual the baby uh was basically un debris was um taken off the baby. Luckily, God, you
know, intervene on this because the baby just came away with a few scratches on his face. Thank God. However, this this family is uh especially the kids are are are especially traumatized because of the fact that they are special needs children and uh one of the little boys
keep on asking uh when are we going home daddy? So, uh but Carol, thank Carol fund. Thank you, Terry. Uh Carol fund stepped up to that. Um we have some good news. Um Chuck Lopez
has initiated a process based upon his presentations about CERT um that several um a number of residents have has have requested CPR training. So he's um working with the library to see
uh if we're going to be doing that on the August the 6. So um stay tuned for that. Um, we also have two residents as a result of of Chuck Lopez again doing a presentation. We will have two residents
that will be attending the SER Basics Academy in Saraveville. So, that's good news because we always use more SER members. And um I think that's my my report is that's my my my deputy here has everything to say.
Okay. You don't Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay. So again, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mosley. Thank you for what you do. Uh rescue squad, anything to report this evening? Uh in the month of June, we wanted to
call u one of those for fire rehab and we in June had a fire. Uh two of them responded to were motor vehicle accidents. uh attended also in
town the bike radio, the electrical graduation and the street fair. Um I'm also happy to announce that uh our squad received um funding from the Verizon Foundation
grant of $1,500 uh and uh thanks to the very hard work of staff of uh uh office. Um, the state department of health is finally agreed that we have
the volunteer EMT training comp. Very nice. Thank you. And Alex, you guys are staying communication in terms of transition. Good. Okay. Okie do. Uh, I don't see any
other department heads here. Um can't hear from fire just yet. We heard from your report. Um at this moment in time we'll open the floor. Item number 10 on the agenda is public comments. We ask that those who are here in chambers or
online please state your name and address. Just so we don't cause confusion. I'll open the floor to people on in chambers first. We ask that you please state your name and address. Without hearing that, we'll open the floor to the members joining us virtually. We ask that you please state
your name and address and ask us your questions or make your statements. I will do one last general blanket for everyone who is here in chambers and online. Please state your name and address if you have any questions or statements. We're all ears.
Okay, without hearing any from the public, we'll close that portion of the meeting. We're moving on to item number 11 on the agenda, which is resolution 277 for endurement before we motion and second, August 4th of 2025 at 7 p.m. is our next council meeting in these
chambers or you can join virtually. I hope people participate. Uh, so with that, can I have a motion and second on resolution 277? Move it, Segment. Second on Lance. All in favor?
Any nays? I'm waiting for that nay