God. the meeting to order. >> Thank you. Okay, go ahead. >> Okay. I'm now going to call the budget workshop meeting of February 26, 2026 to order at 6 PM. Um, we'll all stand, please, for the pledge of allegiance. Um, Yansy, you have a flag.
>> Uh, Molly and Asher. >> Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, >> one nation under God, >> indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. For all. >> Thank you. Um, city clerk, can you please meet read the statement regarding the open public meetings act? >> This budget workshop meeting was called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law. Notice of this meeting was published in the record on
February 9th, 2026. In addition, a copy of the notice was posted on the city's website, the bulletin board, and the municipal building, and filed in the office of the municipal clerk on a formentioned date. Notice on the bulletin board has remained continuously posted. Please take notice that in accordance with the open public meetings
act NJSA 10 col4-6 at seek the local finance notice and local finance notice 2020-21 establishing standard protocols the city council of the city of Englewood adopted resolution number 076-2-3-26
authorizing the city of Englewood schedule of council budget workshop meetings for 2026 to be held remotely via Zoom. Members of the public who wish to participate in the meeting may do so by calling or clicking on the links below at at oh I'm sorry 6 pm
or by dialing 6465588656. Uh please see link on our website. The webinar ID is 960 8158940 and the passcode is 688440. Individuals will be able to fully
participate in the meeting, including providing public comment. Public comments may be submitted by 3 PM on the date of the meeting, either through written letter or email to meeting at city of anglewood.org. All written comments shall be read during the public for uh forum portion of the meeting and
shall be subject to the same time limitations for public speaking. Duplicative comments shall be noted for the record and sum summarized. The agenda for the meeting can be found on the city's website at www. cityofanglewood.org. A separate meeting will be used if close
session is required. Proper notice haven't been given. The municipal clerk is directed to include the statement in the minutes of this meeting. >> Thank you. May I please have a roll call? >> Councilwoman David >> present. Don't see councilman Wilson. Councilman
Toker >> present. >> Councilwoman Wasadski >> present. >> Oh, sorry. Council President Prom Wasadski. And then uh on his way is Councilman Rosen Swike. He will join when he
arrives. Uh also present is Mayor Michael Wilds, city manager Robert S. Hoffman, Deputy City Manager John Burkner, and CFO Michael Calfman. >> Okay. Thank you. We're going to start uh with the fire department. Um Mr.
Calfman, do you want to start by giving us an overview? >> Sure. >> So, the um fire salaries last year was 7,11,000. This year it's 7,797
which is an increase of $696,000. The uh overtime last year was 1.2 million. We left it the same at 1.2 million. We spent 1,180. So it was uh we were uh right on target.
Uh, O and E. Other expenses, we budgeted 427,000 uh $429,000 last year and this year we're budgeting $438,000 which is uh a $9,500 increase which is 2.21%. >> Okay.
>> Sorry, just for the record, Councilman Wilson is now present. >> Okay, thank you. Um, Chief Kaplan, you can uh start your presentation, please. Hi, good evening everyone. Let's see if we can get this to work.
>> Did you want to do a share screen? >> Yeah, let's >> Asher. Uh, can you let the chief share his screen? >> It's set up. >> Can we see that? I don't know if >> Not yet. >> How's that?
There we go. >> There we go. Okay. >> Good. Okay. >> Yep. >> All right. Uh this is a little bit different than uh how we've done this in years past, but uh as you guys have said, you want just the numbers, so we'll go by the numbers. Uh so, as Michael said, salaries and wages, just a
comparison of salaries and wages from last year. Last year was 7,338 uh,000. 7,338,000. We've had a little bit of an increase to $7,797 uh,000. Um, what are the reason for the increases? It's basically due to
contractual obligations. Uh, we have a significant amount of step raises for, um, I would tell you almost all of the firefighters, as I keep telling you, um, over the last few years, we have so many young firefighters who are still in steps. Um many many firefighters are
receiving um contractual step raises um over the next few years. Um and also both the firefighters and fire officers um settled their contracts at late 2025. So there were a lot of uh increases there. Um Michael um put a uh
anticipated 3% increase on all the salaries. Um so that's also one of the reasons why you're seeing uh an increase for salaries from 2025 to 2026. Uh, one thing to note, um, six firefighters were being fully funded by a safer grant that's continuing through March 1st. So,
basically over the next day or two, and then those become the city's responsibility after March 1st, we'll receive um the final payment from FEMA, which is a pretty significant um amount of money, but after March 1st, that funding stream ends. Uh, we still have four firefighters being fully funded
through safer through 2027. And then we have two firefighters slated. Um if we can move forward with that hiring, those would be funded by safer um for the next three years. Um I talking with Mr. Hoffman and HR, we would hope to do that, get those people hired by June. So
um that those funding streams are still in place, but it's something that um we've talked about with Mr. Hoffman is we just have to anticipate, you know, those grants coming coming to an end. And so this is the the six firefighters is the first one coming to an end
currently. Um just talking real quick about staffing and manpower. Our current staffing is actually 60. Um we had one uh fire officer retire last month. So we're actually at 60 fire officers. Um the hope is that we would be able to replace that fire officer and it is
budgeted to replace that fire officer this year. Um this is the first time since 2017 that the department is fully staffed. Uh like I just mentioned, we're hopeful that we can add those two additional firefighters with the safer funding. Um that would give us 63 firefighters and fire officers. That
would add um like I had been saying for the last two years, that would add an additional firefighter to each platoon. That would really be where I think um we need to be. And that that's what the staffing that I I've been pushing for for the last three or four years as I was the chief to get that that magic
number of 63. I think that's a really good number for Anglewood. Um, I know that Michael always asks, um, I think that there's a possibility of up to three retirements in 2026, although no official word has been given to the chief's office. That's sort of firehouse rumor right now, but I think that is a
possibility. We still need to finish our entrance exam that we started last year. We kind of are just in limbo right now. And we also are talking about doing a promotional exam sometime in 2026. And then we just had one of our part-time fire inspectors um resign. So that
position is vacant as well. So we'll need to replace that um sometime shortly. Um I know that this is the a hot topic and I'm sure there'll be lots of questions. Overtime is is certainly an issue in the Anglewood Fire Department. Um it's we kept it in where
it was basically budgeted and we're keeping it um budgeted for the same amount as last year um at $1.2 million. There are a variety of reasons for the overtime. Um the biggest one and you'll see in the next slide is um staffing shortage. And you say, well, how can it
be staffing shortage? We have all these firefighters. Um staffing shortage is a term we use when we drop below the minimum manning. U minimum manning is three officers and six firefighters. That can be for a variety of reasons. That could be firefighters using PTO, whether that's vacation days, um sick
days, personal time um for just, you know, all those things that they're contractually obligated or contractually allowed to use. But, um when we just don't have enough officers or firefighters and we drop below that minimum meaning, um when I advance the next slide, you'll see that probably
over a third of our overtime costs are caused by staffing shortage. And I and I'll kind of u uh expand upon that in just a second. Um recalls, whether it be a company recall, a platoon recall, or a full department recall, we still put rec we still use recalls quite a bit. Um I
use the baseball analogy a lot. Um it's we don't have a a deep bench or a deep bullpen. And so when a fire company gets committed to an incident, whether it be um a house fire, a car fire, a mutual
aid call, we call people back on a recall to fill the bullpen to to fill the bench. And we still do quite a bit of that. We just our fire department isn't as big as Tene or Hackinack, and we don't have a bench to pull from to staff the firehouse when we get caught
up on um you know, extended incidents. Um, fire watches. We've done a tremendous amount of fire watches, especially during the cold weather right now. Um, we've been doing a lot of fire watches for broken sprinkler pipes and broken water pipes. So, fire watches kind of, uh, um, commit ourselves to
overtime, but the good thing is that we've been reble to reimburse ourselves for that. U,, we'll talk about that again in a second. Administrative details. Um unlike the police department that has a very large um administrative staff and and officers assigned to administration, it's really only myself
and the deputy chief assigned to administration. And so we use firefighters on overtime to um help us with administrative details and unfortunately that's on overtime. So there is money um allocated for that. And then finally there's training. Um sometimes we pay people um to attend
training or to come in on training. It's simply very very difficult to conduct training while on duty. Um like we did 10 calls today and how do we conduct a training class while it's constantly being interrupted by emergency calls. So sometimes we we bring firefighters and
fire officers in on overtime to conduct the training and get it done um so that we can actually complete the training class so it's not interrupted. Um, some of that is funded by grants and and you'll see that that number that's actually a pretty big number that's been
funded by FEMA grants. So, this graph just shows you where we're at with all the different overtime reasons, but you can see that staffing shortage. Um, $435,000 was was for the staffing shortage. A large number of that is from the
officers. Pro almost all of it. It's very little of it is from the firefighters. And that's because we focus so much on hiring firefighters. But it's something that we really need to take a look at and look at the reasoning behind that um as we move forward. Mr. Hoffman and I have talked
um a great deal about that. Uh the training is $62,000. Like I just explained, sometimes we just need to bring people in where the the classes aren't interrupted and get that training done. Um this is an interesting one. The next one is the FEMA deployments. You know that we have a few firefighters
that are part of the FEMA uh system. They go out on deployments to help during disasters. Um, but all of that money, so that's almost $54,000, was completely reimbursed by the federal government plus an administrative fee on top of it to um help us for our troubles. Uh, we talked about the
recalls. So, company recalls, platoon recalls, um, second alarms. So, you see 165,000, 155,000. Um, we kind of go a little bit further down. Second alarms, $57,000. That's the cost of doing business um, to have fires. We talked
about the administrative details. um weather. So, in 2025, um we didn't have that many storms, so we only spent uh almost $20,000. That number is going to be much higher this year with all the severe weather. Uh fire prevention recalls, fire prevention details,
firefighter firewatch, all that money is reimbured now with the passing of the firewatch ordinance that we're getting that money back. It's all um been build out and most of that has been um recouped. The grant training, like I said, we have so many FEMA grants out there. So that $136,000
has all been u recouped back from FEMA. Um the FEMA backfill again that money has been recouped. So a lot of so not a lot but some of those costs are reimbursed from various places. So what can we do about the overtime costs? So Mr. Hoffman and I have talked a lot
about this and I've talked, you know, one-on-one with some of the council. Uh we need to revise our policies to reduce the amount of manpower for recalls. Some of that is contractual and we've we've started to at least have some conversations with the two uh bargaining units on how we can do that. We made a
change as of January 1st to reduce the amount of manpower the response to mutual aid which potentially reduces the need for company recalls and that's paid some small dividends already. Um we're restricting the amount of administrative overtime that's distributed and all administrative overtime has to be
approved by my office um ahead of time. We're going to try to renegotiate the amount of time firefighters and fire officers receive when responding to recalls, but again, that's dependent on the collective bargaining agreements. And that's something that we're going to address um as the contracts come up. But that's again dependent on how the
contract negotiations go. And then again, talking about staffing shortage, we need to look at staffing matrix mat matrixes and see if there's any way to um reduce the amount of overtime. We're very aware that the number is very high. We are trying to have those
conversations with the the bargaining units. Uh Mr. Hoffman and I talk about it basically every week and we are making attempts to try to reduce that number. Couple important notes just for wrapping up the the uh overtime conversation. Like I said, FEMA deployments and
backfills, we re got reimbursed um almost $79,000. Grant funded training in 2025, we got reimbured $136,000. Fire watches were build out. um almost uh $67,000. One thing that we've never talked about in the past is fire prevention fees that
are build out or collected. Um life hazard bills $120,000. Non-lifehazard bills $210,000. Type one permits $27,000 and type two permits $900,000. And penalties collected is $52,000. So, for all of the
fire prevention costs, um, our employees and fire prevention related expenses, we are making quite a bit of money to fund that. Um, and finally, last but not least, our grants. Last year, we were received a safer grant, like I mentioned, which is $415,000 to pay for
the two firefighters. Another assistance to firefighter grant for $247,000, um a hazardous material grant for almost $12,000, and we received four sets of um swiftwater gear from the 200 club valued at $6,000. So, real quick, going over
our operating budget, postage, we budgeted $5,000, but we spent $10,000. posters is a very difficult thing to um nail down because it's not um it's not build monthly. It's build only once a year. So, it's sort of a moving target.
We really have no idea how much we're spending. So, we're just kind of like taking a shot in the dark, but we've increased it to $10,000 for 2026 to try to nail it down. Our hope is to try to lower that cost significantly with our new software because all of the correspondents should be going out via
uh email as we get our software up and running. So, I think that 2026 we'll still use a bit of postage, but hopefully in 2027 that number comes down. Um, printing and binding budgeted at 1,500. We spent 940 last year. We're keeping it the same, but it's mainly for
stationary. Um, uh, you know, things that are printed at the printer for fire prevention. Vehicle maintenance is still a a huge huge overhead expense. We budgeted 130 last year. We spent 161. So, we increase this slightly to
$135,000. Uh, a couple things to note here. We were notified yesterday that Pamas is going out of the firetruck uh repair business. They've been a huge help to us over the years, probably 10 years. They've always had our back to get our trucks back on the road, and losing them
is going to be a big hit to us. We've been using Hudson County Motors, which is on the Bergen County Co-op, but it's a for-profit business. they are not um they're not looking to help our bottom line, so to speak. So, it is it is a big uh hit to us. We just started using
Angire on Dean Street this year to doing our smaller vehicles. We're really hoping that's going to save us quite a bit of money. We've already seen savings um doing oil changes and small repairs there compared to even Pamis. Um but again, I can't emphasize this enough. The average firetruck is 14 years old.
Um, the oldest truck right now is 32 years old. And currently I have two trucks out of service. One will be back in service tomorrow, but the other one has to be towed out of headquarters and it won't be back in service till next week. So, the vehicle maintenance issue is not going away. It is important that we continue to fund um vehicle
replacement. Um, the only bright spot is we didn't need to borrow any fire trucks from another municipality in 2025. I can't tell you the last time I could say that. Um, so we are definitely on the right track to uh getting our apparatus back the way it should be.
Specialized services, we budgeted $60,000. We only spent 24. We lowered this a little bit in 2026 to $55,000. What are we spending it on? Promotional exams, and basically anything that doesn't fit into a nice category. Reimbursements, easy pass, drinking
water, uh, what whatever just doesn't have a good category. Books and publications. We budgeted a,000. We only spent 263, but it's for textbooks for classes and programs that we're sending people to. Motor vehicle parts budgeted 2,000. Just spent a little bit over
that. We pushed it up a little bit. It's for bulbs, fluids, wiper blades, things that the DPW might not carry. Um, we keep a pretty well stock cabinet um for any parts we might need in the firehouse. This is an interesting one. Janitorial supplies budgeted 10,000. Basically nailed that. Uh, we increased
it to 135 this year. We're the only department in the city that cleans its own facilities. We're responsible for procuring all our own supplies. Our toilet paper, our paper towels, our cleansers, everything. Um, and all the firefighters obviously are cleaning the firehouse on a daily basis. Um, the
price of these supplies have skyrocketed and I'm not even sure that 135 is going to cover it. Uh, office supplies budgeted 3500. Again, pretty much nailed that. Keeping it the same, but this is for all the office supplies for both the administrative and fire prevention offices. General hardware budgeted
5,000. We spent 3,300. We're going to keep it the same. But basically, these are all the things that we buy at Home Depot. Brooms, mops, uh storage bins, anything that might be needed in the firehouse or on the fire trucks that we can get at Home Depot. Training aids and some supplies. This is another important
one. We budgeted 20. We spent uh 17,000. We're going to keep it as is, but we utilize a lot of outside vendors to deliver some classes, whether it be EMT reertification. We sent several pieces to arson investigation classes here, water rescue, and even we sent our last
firefighter to Mars County and they charge an out of county fee that we had to pay for. So, um we do spend money for um different various training if it's not in Bergen County. Uniforms and accessories, we budgeted 25, we only spent 14, but this is for
all the uniforms for both suppression and for fire prevention, badges, helmet shields, uh you name it. sweatshirts, shorts, pants, shoes, belts, and it's interesting to know that um in the fire prevention contract, they're entitled to a certain amount of uniforms per year. So, we're contractually obligated to
provide that. Uh different memberships, we budgeted a,000, we spent almost three, so we increased it to 2,000. This is membership for the mutual aid groups, to the National Fire Protection Association, to the Bergen County Fire Association. I think that 2,000 will
cover it. We missed a um uh a year for the mutual aid, so we actually had to double up last year. Um office equipment. This really should be called software. Um we're in a uh transition period right now with software. Uh Mr. Hoffman and I have been talking a lot
about this. First do is the name of the software that we just transition to. Um and so like while we're in transition, we're sort of like straddling between the old stuff and the new stuff. Um and it and it's expensive. Um, I I have high hopes for it. I think it's going to answer a lot of our our problems in the
firehouse, but we we have several different plat uh software platforms. The goal has been and will be to try to reduce the amount of software that we're using in the firehouse. We've shed some of it already. I hope to shed more of it um during the year. This also pays for
our internet in the firehouse, our cellular plans for our phones and our tablets in the fire trucks. Again, we're looking to try to reduce, not increase, but again, the software goes up every year, and some of them have pretty steep increases, so it's hard to keep this line item flat. Uh, building supplies
and materials, again, stuff around the firehouse. Um, elevator maintenance is like $3,500 a year. Um, some of the things that's not covered by buildings and grounds at the DPW. Uh, this includes the the kitchen hood and the suppression system for the hood. Um, sometimes we have the electrician come in and do upgrades to the building,
things that we need that the DPW just doesn't cover. Um, this is an important one. Um, this is for our turnout gear, uh, cleaning and and inspection. This is maned by mandated by NFPA. We did a great job. The deputy chief actually spearheaded this. He found a new vendor
that comes to the firehouse. They do all the cleaning and inspection on site. You can see the picture of the truck. They back right up to the garage door and they do everything on site. They did it over two days. Not a single piece of equipment had to leave the firehouse and all the repairs were done on site. We used to send the equipment out. We would
lose the equipment for weeks on end. And we don't do that anymore. So you can see that we only spent um $15,000. Before we were spending over $20,000. Uh we expect to see even more savings in 2026. U chemicals and gases. This is the equipment we need to calibrate our gas
meters. Uh we budgeted 5,000 but we spent over uh 1,200 almost 1,300 so we increased it to a,000. Uh this is another difficult um budget line motor fuel basically gasoline and diesel fuel. We budgeted $20,000 but we spent almost
30. Again the biggest problem here is that the DPW doesn't charge us back until the end of the year. So we have no idea how much money we're spending. It makes it very very difficult to budget this. So, um, Michael increased it to $22,000, but realistically it's probably
closer to 30. So, again, like we have to budget that throughout the year and make sure that we're not going to go over. Uh, maps and flags uh budgeted a,000. We increase it to 1500. We put out um flags um for all our deceased members in the various uh cemeteries throughout Bergen
County. Equipment repair and maintenance uh budgeted 15. We actually spent 20 almost 22, so we increased it to 17. This is all our air pack maintenance, our rescue tool maintenance, things like that. Uh emergency equipment replacement. So, this is replacement of equipment. We
budgeted 40, only spent 31. So, we just we lowered this slightly. This is uh replacing all of our smaller hand tools and things like that. Uh emergency supplies, we budgeted a,000, basically spent that, kept it flat. Um tires,
budgeted 10,000. We only spent $5,000, but I can tell you that we've already replaced eight tires for over $6,000. So, we're well on our way of um exceeding what we spent last year. Um real quick talk about capital budget. Um we are looking to uh continue the
firetruck sinking fund with $600,000 and we would do the same thing in 2027 and that would fund another pumper in 2027. You can see how important this is to um lowering the maintenance cost and making sure that we have um adequate fire apps on the road. We'll continue the two-way
radio replacement plan. It's working great. We put 21 brand new portable radios in service last year that is compatible with the um the county digital trunking system. Um and that is definitely paying dividends. Our airpack replacement plan, this would be year two
actually um yes, year two of our airpack replacement plan. So, we would have 20 new air packs, and that would be over the next um five years to release all 50 of them. Our annual PPE replacement plan at $50,000, a new SUV for fire
prevention. We have three old Ford Escapes that are 13 years old, and the cost of repairing them is um more than what the vehicles are worth at this point. Um, one of the things that we're looking to do is buy one set of Nomx uniforms for every firefighter. The Nomx
uniforms are nearly $500 a set for each firefighter. It's just too expensive to include it in the regular operating budget. So, Mr. Hoffman felt that we could uh put it in the capital. Um I have no uniforms from when I first started 27 years ago. So, the longevity issue is is there. They last a long
time. And then finally, we're looking to do a longevity project for our rescue truck. The rescue truck um is 28 years old at this point, but we're looking to keep it for probably another eight or nine years. there's a significant amount of rot on the cab and we we've talked to
the body shop. They feel that they can they can take care of all the corrosion and rot and ensure that it's going to last um the 35 years that we need to until we have the funding in place that we can replace the truck. Funding to replace this truck is probably $1.5 million. So, a little bit of money right
now will ensure that we have um a rescue truck that will last for as long as we need it to. Um that's about it. I tried to go as quickly as I can. Mr. Hoffman. Um, this is just a quick picture. I don't know if you saw on social media, we conducted um, some great elevator training at Anglewood Hospital a week
ago. Um, it was all grant funded, but I really love this picture. All the guys together um, at Angledwood Hospital was a great great host. They let us work on all the elevators within the hospital. But um the greatest story about this training was after we conducted this training, the very next day, these guys
made a rescue at the self-s storage building on Grand Avenue with the tools and techniques that they learned in the class and successfully rescued a person out of the elevator there, which we would have never been able to do if it wasn't for the training that we learned. So, I love the picture. I love how you can see the elevator sign over it. But
we had a great time and thank you to Angled Hospital for hosting us. That's it. If you have any questions, I'd love to be able to answer them for you. >> I did such a great job. No one has any questions. >> Oh, sorry. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Um, so, uh, city clerk, can you just acknowledge
that I, uh, signed on at 60:09 p.m. >> For the record, uh, C council president is present, and I will write down 609 p.m. Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Chief. I see we have uh some questions. Uh we'll start with uh Councilman Wilson.
>> Good evening, everyone. Um thank you, Chief. A great presentation. It was pretty smooth. Um I just have really one question. Specialized services, does that include Well, I didn't see it, so I got to ask
about um recruitment. Do we have a line budget for that? Uh we don't have a specific line item for recruitment. Um and and like I said, like specialized services is like a catch all. So if we had expenses involved in that, that would be the
appropriate place to put it. That's a great that's a really good question. >> Okay. Um and and are we planning to possibly slide that in there somewhere because that's very important that we get uh the recruitment information out to our citizens. Um, I
think that's I think that's a a fair question. Uh, I would note that I think that the guys took I'm I don't I'll be honest with you, the guys took it upon themselves to do the recruitment for the last test. I'm very proud of the job that they did, especially the videos
that they produced that went out on social media. Um, that was without any prompting from me. That was basically do what you think is necessary and I love the videos that they put out. It's extremely professionally done. Um, and that was without any input or direction from me. They took that upon themselves
to do that and I'm very proud of the job that they did. Very, very good. >> All right. Um, I I saw the videos myself and I thought they were amazing. Um, so kudos to the department and the guys that put that together. That was terrific. And if we can keep that going
and it's not in a line budget, woohoo. >> Yeah, that didn't that didn't cost us a dime. That was just good old sweat equity. And we actually got a lot of feedback from uh neighboring departments um commending us on our job well done. They they were very impressed that we were able to put that together.
>> So thank thank you chief for what you guys do and keeping us safe. Um great presentation. >> Thanks Mr. Wilson. Mayor Wilds I saw that you had raised your hand. >> You're muted. >> Sorry guys. U thank you chief. What a
wonderful job. Great presentation. I just a word of commendation first to your to your team. I just see the firefighters at everything important. We had a crescent lighting and there was a what looked like a battalion who showed up just to show support to the Muslim uh
community at city hall last week. Um there's something in the ethos in the soup or somehow in the training that just brings uh Ang's bravest together on so many accounts. I just had a particular question. You also did a wonderful job on the presentation uh
this evening. Um the relationship with EMTs since I'm familiar with that with the hospital. Do you feel that there is enough medical training in the department on scenes in the event that you're the first responder rather than the hospital showing up? Have you any
intel on that? >> Um I think it's I think it's okay. Um we have a several um I would tell you probably 15 firefighters that are trained as emergency medical technicians and like I mentioned in the presentation
um we did spend a fair amount of money last year to continue that um certification for those members. Uh the goal this year and we keep getting emails that I would say that when the um uh Homeland Security shutdown ends or is
lifted shortly um that the AFG grant will open up. The AFG grant that we are going to apply for for 2026 will be for first responder training for the fire department. We haven't done departmentwide medical training
in well over a decade, probably longer. And you know, we've done all this great training, swiftwater training, uh, you know, elevator training, whatever, you know, all these different things. And, and I think that, you know, the most bang for our buck right now would be to do the first responder training for all
the members from the officers down to the newest member. I think that's the most value right now. So, that's the focus. That's the focus for next year, >> especially with mother nature testing our metal in so many different ways where we may have to respond to another community and then have medical training
could create better opportunities to save brothers and sisters in other neighboring communities as well as mutual aid and so forth. Um the final question for me and this is something we're we're going to convene um this the planning board is going to be meeting in about an hour less than an hour. Um with
the development that we have in our city, the greater apartments and the infrastructure, the wear and tear that it has in our department. Um I would I would love to somehow have a presence. We are lucky to have uh Kevin Wilson, a
former firefighter on the planning board, but how can we in some fashion get more intel from your good offices as to the anticipated effects? We have a church that's on for tonight. It's in the industrial area. There's going to be
a certain volume of people, which is good because they'll buy coffee. They'll go to restaurants after church services, but that's going to have an extra effort now for our fire department if, god forbid, there's a fire. I remember years ago seeing a fire
hydrant that was jerryrigged in Rock Creek because we got a truck and we had we couldn't we didn't have the right hose that could get to the fire hydrant. So, they had to come up with some elaborate connection to that fire hydrant. How do we know that in real time your good offices are connecting
with planning and development? >> Uh, I know we're short on time, but the short answer is is that um my staff reviews any application that goes to the planning board. We're only allowed to make recommendations of what we would like to see in those buildings. And it's
the builder is not obligated to to take all those recommendations. Sometimes they're very good about it and they, you know, it's not a big expense and they don't, you know, it's it's not a heavy lift, but sometimes they they push back and they say, "Well, we're not going to do these things." Um, it's great to have
a a collaborative approach where the builder and the fire fire department can work together because it is it's not only firefighter safety, it's also the occupant safety at the end of the day. And that's important. So, we we do review those plans. Um, it is an important it is important. Obviously,
they're always going to meet, you know, the minimum code, but sometimes it's important to go beyond the minimum code, but we we do have several uh fire officers who are very very good at reviewing those plans and making recommendations on what and what could always be better.
>> Wonderful. Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you for those questions. Anyone else have questions for Chief Kaplan? Okay. Um I have a few questions. Um you know, thank you uh again for the dedication of uh of your team. Also,
thank you for the presentation for focusing on on the numbers which which we're doing this year. So very very comprehensive. I um you're counting the paper clips there. So I appreciate that. Um and and and uh one question for you
at this uh you know you've tal you talked about the overtime and um the mutual aid. Um what you know what's the vibe in the state you know when you go to your chief meetings and stuff that we have this
unsustainable model of paid fire departments really performing a lot of the services for volunteer departments throughout the state. I don't you don't need to talk about you know the valley and what's going on here but I'm just saying is there any sense of that that there's a
knowledge that this is not going to be something we can do for the rest of our lives like this. >> Um I think that's a great question. Um I think certainly statewide it's trending it's certainly trending away from
volunteers. There are pockets of of places where they are still doing okay. Um, and there are certainly places right in our backyard that are struggling. And I think that the city of Anglewood is seeing um, the direct result of
municipalities that are, you know, our neighbors that are are struggling and I'm going to choose my words carefully here. >> No, you don't have to talk about it. I'm just saying it's >> but it but it's it's it's trending in the wrong direction. >> Yeah.
A and you know the cost of living is high and people are working longer hours or working second jobs and it's more difficult to volunteer than ever before. Um, and people don't have time to volunteer anymore. And we've seen we even we we've seen it in Englewood where
we used to have a volunteer ambulance corp and people had time to volunteer and that went by the wayside. And the same the same thing can be said about a volunteer fire department, you know, in neighboring municipalities that it's the same thing. They just don't have the time to commit to the fire academy and
to commit to going out on fire call. It's the same thing. and and eventually it might not be this year or next year but in 5 years I think you're going to see a a paid model or a part-time paid model days versus nights or things like that um and it's people are more reliant
on if it's not Anglewood it's Tene or Hackinack or a combination thereof um and we are going to many many many more calls um to help out our neighbors. >> Okay. Okay. Um,
again, any uh final questions? All right, then. >> I just I just want to say one thing if I could before. Um, in in the budget spreadsheet for the salaries, it's a 2.5% uh on top of on on top of the steps. That's the way you use 2.5
assuming we assumed a 2.5% increase. Just want to clarify. That's all. Okay, thank you for that clarification. >> All right, then. Thank you, Chief. >> Thanks very much. Have a great
>> All right. I believe the building department and code is next. >> You let uh Walter in, please. while >> while he comes on. Oh, sorry, Wolf. Let me just do this quickly. >> Um, last year we budgeted 1.36 million
for salaries. This year it's $1,000 less. Um, other overtime remained flat and other expenses went down uh $2,000. So, it's uh from
1725 to $170,5. >> Do we have the numbers for their revenue 25 versus 24? So, in the in this in the packet that you guys got, I have the revenues >> that we have for I could tell you what
it is. The revenue sheet is is not You don't have that in your packet yet. All the revenues, but I could tell you right now if you want to know. >> I want to know. >> Okay. So, this year, one second.
This year the total revenue for the department of Mike was a million 96 615. You have different numbers over there. >> I'll I'll tell you what the revenues are in Edmonds. >> When will that be available to us?
um when when the the rest of the uh the completed when we have the amount that the uh tax rate when we get all the revenues in that we're going to get like we have some revenues that we're not sure what they're going to be. We have some expenditures that we're not sure what they're going to be like the BCUA.
So once we get those those numbers finalized you'll have the completed uh all the completed numbers. So, while M is um is is looking to give you the um the the revenues from 2025 uh versus 2024, one of the important
things to keep in mind is that um part part of the expenses in the in the construction office has to do with property maintenance. The the prosecutor's salary uh is is partially in property maintenance. So, we a couple
years ago we increased the the prosecutor who um so that they would they would have there's 22 sessions a year that are related to zoning and property maintenance issues. Um and whatever whatever the um
whatever the findings are in court uh that that uh that goes to um that does come that comes to the city but it doesn't come back to to the construction office or to property maintenance and zoning but that policy was in place last year
as well I assume >> that is correct. So if we get the 24 revenue, it's still comparable. >> Correct. >> Now, now for 2024, do you want to know what we >> actually collected or what we budgeted?
>> What we collected? So you you just said the revenue for 2025 was about 1.1 million. >> Yeah. And >> what was it for 24? I'll tell you one second. I'm just adding up a few numbers because 1,100,000.
>> So it's flat. And we anticipated more because we raised the fees. >> Okay. >> We ra the fee ordinance went up and then we had a new say the fee ordinance went up in June. So it wasn't the whole year
and there weren't any large projects. So >> okay. >> So it was kind of flat. >> And when the fees went up in June, were they implemented right away? because we know sometimes there's a delay between an ordinance being signed and uh being implemented.
>> It was the end of June when it went up. >> But was it implemented immediately or is there a delay just from certain paperwork or so? >> Certain paperwork. It was about a two week delay. >> Just two. Okay. >> Off the end closer to the end of June.
>> Okay. And we had to get them to set up the new the new fee ordinance in the computer. >> Okay. >> But that that was weeks, not months. Okay. >> No, wasn't it wasn't forever. >> Okay. All right.
So, uh, Mr. That budget's uh your floor. >> So, as Michael said, we went down a little bit on the budget on both the both the salaries and the overhead budget. Now, mind you, $100,000 of the
overhead, well, $85,000 of the overhead budget for elevator fees, and that's a check that comes into us, and we send right back out. I don't I don't even know why it's budgeted for it because it's just it's flat money.
We just received a 20% a 20% administrative fee, which I'm looking to change to 40% administr administrative fee next year because the state says you're allowed to go up to 40 now. Okay. So, the more the elevator takes in, the
more we actually make. The the rest of the the line items are pretty flat. Is there anything that anybody's particularly interested in? I'm sorry. I got a frog in my throat here.
That's one source of income that's going to go up next year definitely. And the other source of of an income is the state has also realized that we're all going into this digital age, the technology, and they've allowed us to
charge a technology tax once we start using a program that takes everything digitally. And it's it's a pretty reasonable number. It's like $2 per thousand on construction or $2 on a permit for or CRO
certificates and CCO certificates. So it's >> Excuse me. Could you could you just speak up just a little bit, Walter, please? >> I'm sorry. So the technology >> sir, I'm start paying off >> almost immediately. It'll start paying
us back once we change the ordinance and that we are working on with SDL. We've had a a meeting earlier this year to go digital. We have um our IT person and Michael Coffee. We're working with SDL to coordinate all the the background
stuff of how the payments are made and what mechanisms you need to go digital. So if you would like me to go line by line just to Is anybody of interest to that or are Michael already went down to the
overtime pay? We have an overtime budget. I'm sorry advertising budget. We added at $400 last year. We used we advertised one item and it was $150. Um, >> sorry. I'm not sure that that's that's
necessary, but what we should talk about is that the SD is SDL because we do, you know, we we do want to go digital. We want to be able to have people submit things electronically. And there was there was a delay with SDL in 2020 uh
2025 with some with with um with with the uh with when we digitized some of our some of our information and and the porting over. So, um that needs, you know, we've had some glitches with SDL. We're still trying to work through them.
Slowing us down a little bit. slowing down production a little bit in the office, but we are trying to work through those because at the end result, we need to go digital. They have the components. They just have to set us up with the components.
And again, once the once they get theirelves in gear, I know they were just taken over by another company, so that might help us or hurt us. We're soon to find out. We have a meeting March 3rd with them. the whole office so that they can
understand the new regulations that SDL will be giving us and how to operate the equipment and and we're we're trying as hard as we can to get them to move along. They just seem to have have hit a a sour spot in their careers over there. Maybe 300
other towns using them. Not 300 other towns are on digital. I think there's only two other towns that are actually digital. But we're we're trying to get to that point. That'll that'll relieve us much of our postage and of our paper. If the state
will we won't have to print out or we don't have to purchase permits next year once we go digital. We're holding back on ordering the typical $1,700 order of permit applications.
So SDL is a like a vendor, a software vendor. >> They're a software vendor. >> Spatial spatial data logic. Is that what I'm saying? >> Yes, correct. And they deal with 300 other towns in the state. Some people have had problems with them, some people haven't. I think it's I
think it's the the overhead change, the >> management change. >> Well, have you used it in any of your previous municipalities? >> Uh the answer is yes. I I did and um No, they were um they they were good and and
um there has there has been problems with with them here here in Englewood, but we're we're addressing it. >> Okay. >> And I have faith that once we get it all together, it'll it'll work well. Just takes a little time. >> And what's the timeline on that that
we're looking at? >> Um our next meeting is March 3rd or 4th. just introduce us to the new to their new programmers >> and then we'll go forward with that. >> Okay. Yeah.
>> Any questions for uh Walter? >> So, Mr. Tay, I see your hands up. >> I thank you uh Mr. President. I um um Walter, can is there any way I can either meet you offline or try to figure out uh a breakdown of the 1.1 million
income of what percentage is UCCC? What percentage is other permits? >> Yeah. Well, UCCC was 933,000 and the other items are 163 >> and 163 is just sort of miscellaneous or
>> CCOs's certificates of continued occupancy when you purchase a home. certificates of rental properties when you rent an apartment and zoning ordinances. Um, actually when when you apply to the board,
>> it comes through this office, there's a small fee that we collect, >> but we they're very minimal fees that we collect for zoning. We might have to change some of those. >> Okay. And uh, one last question. Can you give me a round estimate of how many permits were opened in 2025 and how many
were closed? I could give you how many were open, how many were closed. >> Well, at least percentage wise, like did we close 30% of them, 80% of them? >> I didn't I didn't take that pull that number out of there's a there's a whole different screen you have to go to.
>> That's okay. Do you want to meet this week? >> I mean, or next week. >> I can give you anything you want. It's just it's just a matter of knowing what I need. >> Sure. Pop it out of the machine. Sure. >> We did how many? We did 2244 permits this year. >> Awesome.
>> We released 2244. We reviewed probably 2600 or 2200 at least. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry. We released another There's another 200 that are sitting in the drawer denied and waiting on information and not moving.
>> Okay. And um how many out of the 20 what did you say 2400 were released? >> 2400 were >> 2244 were released. Okay. >> Probably 200 miscellaneous that haven't been moved upon.
>> So, you've closed most of them. Then, >> uh the closeout parts, you'll see the closeout parts when we go to the the tax office. There's a a list of closeouts basically. Yeah. Show us what the taxes look like.
Give you the sheet with the tax. One second. >> So, we had we closed out enough to bring us in $10 million in ratables. >> $10 million in what?
>> $10 million in ratables. That's not $10 million in taxes, but we closed out that many permits this year. >> Every time you close out a permit on your house, like your kitchen, that's a ratable that they had. you know, you remodel the kitchen, your house goes up whatever it is, two cents or three
cents, you add an addition to your house, you build a you build a new home. So with all that when it's closed out, you $10 million worth of ratables towards the tax base. >> So then people would pay a percentage of that ratable.
>> Yes. And it's um >> 78% or >> um actually the the realized number was actually $272,759. I spoke to the tax assessor just so I had a because I had a feeling somebody
would ask that question tonight or something similar to that question that kind of gives you an idea of what what goes on. >> Okay. So that's a a tiny percentage. >> Oh yeah, your taxes don't go up a lot for every item, but they do go up. >> Okay. >> It's
>> all right. Great. If you can send me the percentage number of how many were uh closed versus open, that would be great. >> Oh, yeah. I could we could print out almost any report you'd like and any report that we do not have SDL tells me they will make a report for us. >> Amazing. Thank you so much for your uh
>> for your time. Thank you. >> Right. Well, uh Mr. Wilson, I see your hands up. >> Um good evening, Walter. Um hard to hear for me to hear your your presentation, but thank you for your presentation. Could you just uh refresh me what the stipens are for? Sir,
>> excuse me. What what what is that? What was that question? >> What the stipens are for? >> The stipens. >> Where do you see a stipend? >> Oh, the stipen in the salaries. >> Sir, >> let's see which um is there anyone in
particular? because there's there's one for there's one stipen being paid to the to the planning board secretary, right? So she every every planning board meeting she gets she gets paid. She
doesn't work for the city. So they pay her on a stipen system. The city pays her, but she is not an actual employee of the city. No, no. It It shows up on several different employees. I just >> Yeah,
I'm looking for the >> I I guess Walter, that might be for the weekend coverage. The nights and the weekend coverage. >> No, the 12 clothing allowance. >> Is that for the clothing allowance? >> And then there's >> Okay. >> And then there's for the uh one of the
employees, one of the employees is the uh secretary, the board secretary. So she gets, you know, a certain amount per meeting. So that that's to cover the meetings. And then the other one is the uh housing inspector
and he gets a separate stipen. Walter, what was >> his stipen is for he's the supervisor of >> Yeah, >> he's he's the supervisor and he's the safety manager for the office. It was a combined stipen for supervisor of property maintenance
and housing. Thank you. Thank you, Council President. >> Thank you, Michael. I was just >> No problem. Yeah, no problem. >> All right. Any other questions for Mr. Deput? >> Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Walter, for your time.
>> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Is the city clerk on the call on the meeting? >> I'll go look for her. Okay, great. Okay, Yansancy. Oh, Michael, any uh numbers for the city clerk?
>> You're muted. >> I was saying salary was doubled. So, her salaries went up uh 100%. >> Congratulations. Okay. >> The whole department went up $6,000, a 2% uh increase. and uh other expenses uh
went up $7,000 from uh 202,000 to 209,000. Um that increases mainly for the uh service contract for the mic microphones in the uh in the court.
>> Right. Um I really don't have much of a presentation. Um if anyone has any questions. Well, I guess the big question is uh what's the burden of uh Oprah requests uh since the new law was passed?
>> No change. It's actually been more. >> Okay. >> Now, now we also have the uh police department, their own custodian of records. Our numbers didn't go down that much. >> Went down a little bit, more or less. >> Okay. And who mostly does that in your office? >> My deputy.
>> So, that'd be Molly and Samaza. >> Just um just Molly. Okay. >> Yeah. >> You know, but it it should be noted that we're we're probably closing in on the equivalent of four full-time employees that are responding when you look at all of the hours in all of the departments
that we're responding to OPER requests for. So, it's um uh the the clerk's office is the coordinator of it, but um there are there are requests that come in every day that go to each department and they have to be responded to in a timely manner. And um there are also
times where the the city the city attorney's office has to review some of the um some of the responses because they they >> um to make sure that there we're not sending stuff out that's a matter of litigation. >> We received several massive requests this year.
>> All right. Any questions? Uh yeah, I see Mr. Wilson, you have your hand up. Just one quick question, Yi. First of all, I I don't know how you do what you do, but thank you for serving the city
the way you do. I still haven't figured that out. Um, what what is what is the most that we're getting um opas from? What department? Cuz I thought maybe if it was the police that would have relieved some of your burden. >> The police department was just
complicated Oprah requests. Um they weren't the bulk of them. the bulk of them is the um building department uh for the we have a lot of turnaround in the sales of properties. Uh so we get a lot of uh opas uh asking for records on
on the properties that are either for sale or in the process of being sold. Uh so that that's the bulk of them. Um so we work with the building department on those. They send us the records. We go through them, redact them, send them.
So, it's a lot. >> Okay. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Uh, the city clerk. >> I will note though that I I think my revenues uh just from on our end on our ledgers, we're not noting that our
revenues have gone down. Um, a lot of that has to do with the filming permits. With the Real Housewives of New Jersey not filming this past year, they had large permits that would they would take out. Um, for my department, that makes a difference. So, that's gone down.
And then outdoor dining seems to have slowed down as well. >> Right. >> That's all I have. >> All right. But everything else is the same more or less. >> Yeah. >> Uh specialized services I think went up because a lot of those programs are
under our department. >> All right. And we know where to find you. >> Yeah. >> Always. >> Okay. New dig. The new digs are good. >> Yes, they're very nice. Thank you all. >> Okay. Great.
All right. Then I think we have HR and finance next. administration administration council HR finance that's all that's all together so I'll just go through >> all the numbers for them and then Mr. Hoffman wants to say anything he could
say and then then we could go questions. So for city manager salaries went went down a little bit 548,000 to 539,000.
Um other expenses went down a lot. uh went down $100,000 from uh six uh from $165,000 to $59,000 6,000 mainly to do with contracts that we uh did last year we didn't do this
year. Uh human resources went down in salaries um from 410,000 to 344,000. Uh that's due to
some uh positions that we uh we weren't sure about some positions that they were in the HR salary. Uh other expenses went from 127,000 to $55,000 that went down also $72,000. So so far
administration is uh given the biggest cuts. Uh mayor and council salaries stayed the same. Other expenses went down also from 114,000 to 19,000. That's $94,000 down. This has to do with contracts. Also,
the Liberty School that we had last year, um finance, salaries, and wages went up from 510,000 to 598. Uh Mr. Hoffman will talk about that. Um,
other expenses went up $4,000. Um, from 167,000 to 171,000. Uh, tax collector salary and wages went up $6,000 from 27,000 to 213. These are
contractual. other expenses went up by $4,500, which was uh the increase in the tax sale costs, went from $39,000 to 44. And finally, the tax assessor went up in
salary $6,000 from 193 to 199, which contractual. And then uh the other expenses went down from 98,000 to 28,000, which was a decrease of 70,000. that has to do with uh some of the uh revaluation expenses
that we had last year. >> Yeah. All right. And uh council president, if you want >> I can give an overview of some some of these add some add some more information
and then the c then the governing body can ask questions. >> Yeah, please. >> Sure. So la last year in both the city manager's budget and the council's budget we had we had the O and budgets we had money for for consulting
services. So we had it for um for for the you know for um for Mr. Albert for doing for doing work on providing the ba the basis for um the uh the community center which is which is now um now
moving now moving forward to the next stage. We had money for um for seed money for the for architects which has been which had been transferred into into an ordinance. Um and then uh we we
also had some some um money in and uh in the city manager's uh oe for um for for um for studies that were related to the to the GIF particularly cyber security and back backup and things of that nature. So those have been completed and
we don't we don't need to have those funds this year. But that's that's part of the reason why last last year when we were looking forward looking ahead to the future, we had money in in Owen for both the city managers line as well as
the uh the governing bodies line. And um now we're we're implementing some of those some of those recommendations uh based on um ba based on the study studies that we did that were related to cyber security and to and to backup that we need to
have in some of our key departments and one of one of them is finance. So that's so we've we've taken a deeper dive in there and we're going to make sure that we have the the proper the proper um protocols in place and then uh cross trainining and things of that nature.
So, so those were those were some of the things with H with HR. Um we had had um we had had funds funds in place for uh doing um doing um
mo moving over to electronic forms and uh we wound up doing the pivot on the on the health insurance. So we will we will pick that up again in 2027. But we do have we do have some money in the O and E there so that we can um we
can take advantage of of of some of our software contracts and and go to the next phase so we can go we can go paperless as much as possible. And um then we have we have funds for training in um in the in in finance in
in HR and um and some of our other departments. So that's that's the overview. >> Okay. Are any questions for Mr. Hoffman? >> Uh, yes. >> Yeah, please. Mayor, >> thank you. Um, Mr. Hoffman, there was a
major undertaking in trying to retrieve our files and our documents um and also the improvements that you made um with the old jail cell which was storage of some of our documents uh at city hall. Maybe you want to kind of
touch on those improvements. >> Okay. Um thank you, mayor. What we're doing is we um we have invested in digitizing all of our files that were in storage. We had files that were in storage in Patterson for decades.
They are now all gone. Um and the governing body should be thanked for that because uh we put money in the operating budget last year and the year before mainly in the clerk's in the clerk's line in one of the years, but um that has now all been cleared out. it's
it's been removed from uh from storage. Our monthly bills for storage will will be reduced. But right now, those those files including large plans 72-inch wide plans are being digitized and um in the near in the well, I'll say
in the future, we will we will have access so boards, commissions, all of our departments will have access to information that we didn't know that we had. So, it's going to be uh it it can be recalled by block and lot, by street address, by other other items. And um
it's been a massive undertaking. There was at least four tractor trailer trucks worth of material that was taken out of storage. We had over 2,700 boxes of material that um that is now now being uh triaged and and gone through. So,
that's that's the term I will use. and we're we're excited about some of the information that has come back to us uh right now and we're we're going to be happy to share that with the governing body at a later date. I don't know if Yansancy you wanted to uh comment on on
any of that but we recently had a couple hundred boxes taken out of the engineering storage area and um it's being it's being cataloged, cleaned and digitized right now. So, thank you All right. Any other questions for Mr.
Hoffman? >> I I see Councilwoman David had a has a hand up. >> Oh, I sorry. I didn't see this. >> Please go ahead. You're muted. >> Thank you for doing a wonderful job,
Bob. And also, could you please explain to the um the attendees also about the renovations that were done and what they're going to be used for? And I think that was excellent. It was a beautiful job you did downstairs in city hall and the other rooms as well.
>> Okay. Um well, thank you. Yes. what we're what we're uh doing uh what Councilwoman David is referring to is um city hall is 104 years old this year and we've uh we had
chronic uh issues in the basement with related to flooding and broken pipes. They they have been repaired and we have set we're we're in the process of setting up the basement uh with four conference rooms and uh and employee land. So, it's not it's not done yet,
but a couple in 2024, the then governing body authorized the um the renovation of of the basement. We're not having any offices down there. We're not storing any files down there, but we are we do need space for meetings
meeting rooms. So, we are we are uh we've set it up for conf for conference rooms and um for, you know, for for an employee lounge so that people don't have to eat at their desks. um if if if they don't want to. And uh we're we're
excited about that. The it's almost done. Uh when you walk down there, it's it's energy efficient. We've brought in air from the outside and we're looking we're looking forward to uh being able to have that have that open so that um
we can be more productive. So, >> thank you, Bob. And thank you and keep up the good work. I was really impressed. >> Okay. Thank you, Okay. All right, then. Uh, thank you, Bob. And we know where to find you as well.
>> That's true. >> Okay. So, this uh concludes uh tonight's uh budget agenda items. And again, um, please, anyone on the council, let me know if, uh, you want anyone from
tonight or last night to return for March 11th. If they don't hear from you, I'll assume we're all set. Um, I'm now will open the meeting to the public. Any member of the public wishing to speak is asked to raise their hand and to be placed in queue to be called upon to
speak. Speakers are requested to give their name and municipality and have three minutes to speak. Uh, we have one person with their hand raised, Diane Jensen. Um, can you allow her to uh speak, please? >> Diane, please unmute.
>> Good evening, council. And I wanted to give a special shout out to Yansancy for a blessed holiday. >> Thank you. >> And thank you for all you do. Um, I'm going to work backwards. And one of those things I'd like to say is that
some of these Oprah requests come in because the city council uh does not read names of for for instance the zoning board of adjustment where the public is supposed to comment on them and we don't know who we're commenting
on. We get no names. Then a vote is taken and during the vote the names are not announced. So we can't even comment on them during the public comment. The second time we have to comment on them. And I had to
actually put in an Oprah request to to the city clerk's office. What a waste of time for everyone. So I think the council uh and the planning board and the zoning board in being more transparent can assist and reduce uh the
amount of requests unnecessary requests. That's one. Um also uh this is being recorded on a a webinar. Um I and I think uh we strategically the city
manager's office needs to look at uh a a platform in which all our meetings uh are done hybrid uh where the public can participate. It can be uh livereamed in
real time and the public can participate. Other municipalities do this. Um I don't see why we can't and and of course that that's a uh that comes out of the city manager's office uh because it involves so many uh all
the boards and and all the meetings. Um I also would like to comment uh uh for instance you know today we're going to have a planning board meeting. Do you know how is the public supposed to comment on the amended affordable
housing overlay zone map when it's not available to the public? That's terrible. So again, now I now I can't comment at the meeting on it. I have to Oprah it. What a waste of time. Um, and
then, uh, I want to get to things like I do want to, uh, really thank again, uh, city council president, Dr. Rosenw. Thank you for sticking on the numbers. Thank you for the questions you asked tonight, especially of our fire chief
Jeff Kaplan uh with respect to volunteer fire departments versus nonvolunteer fire departments and are we carrying the burden as taxpayers and what can we do about that with respect to mutual aid and the like and the same with uh uh Mr.
Tokyo. Uh thank you for making comments about you know uh in the asking about the revenues the increased revenues and the like. That is very meaningful. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Thank you very much Yansy. I'll I'll put the other things in writing
regarding uh the volunteers in the fire department in other towns such as Bergenfield and the like. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for coming. Uh we have another person with their hands uh raised. Uh Peter Jansen.
You please let him in. >> Peter, go ahead. Unmute. >> Uh good evening, council. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Excellent. Uh I'm going to be very brief. Uh I'm looking for uh a single number. uh when doing budgets typically
uh you have your eye on some kind of uh you know some kind of bottom line figure you're going to try and get to and I'm going to ask directly uh if you have it it's the total appropriations number uh last year's budget I believe
was like 81.6 6 million. Uh I'm just looking and and if you don't have it tonight, uh could you please bring it to the next budget hearing because that really sets the tone for all the presentations that come forward and and really helps everyone understand
what we're trying to get to. That's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Council President. If I may, I think >> No, no, no. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. >> No, Michael. Um, all right. >> Do we have anyone else from the public?
>> No one else has their hand raised. >> Okay. So, I'll now um close the public session. Uh, Mr. Hoffman. Um, so when will the appropriations number be available? As I know you'd said, we're still waiting for some numbers.
>> Uh, yes, Council President. We we're hoping for next week. We're still waiting for the BCUA sewer utility bill, and we we can't put that together until we receive that. >> Okay. Thank you for that feedback. All right. Um, do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting?
>> Yes, you have a motion. >> All right. Got your planning board meeting with 10 minutes to spare. >> Okay. >> Bye. >> Bye. >> Thank you everyone. Have a good night. >> You too.