Call the meeting in order. Pledge of 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.
Open public Meetings Act. Statement. Pursuant to the open public meetings act, adequate notice of this meeting was forwarded to the official township newspapers posted on the bulletin board and township website on July 16, 2025. This meeting is being videotaped and will be on channel 9.
Roll call. Mr. Doyle here. Mr. Fella here. Mr. Arsh here. Mayor Bruno here. Get a motion to open the public hearing on resolution 11125, the municipal budget. Motion open for public hearing. Second. All those in favor? Hi.
Hi. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Oh, can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Okay. I just wasn't sure. Yeah. Is it better? Okay. Can you turn it? I can hear me. I mean, you I can like
you can hear me. I don't think everyone else can hear you. I just want to uh say that was there any changes or additions or things made to the budget since the last meeting? No. No. Okay. U because I didn't see anything that
um my my question was did we ever find out anything about the contracts with Newfield and Yuna whether we can renegotiate that? Whether we can Yeah. I mean, is it Well, when I see I mean, I'm just gonna let's go with the
bond where we need we need extra things for our police department and I just don't think that they're they're paying their fair share to be honest with you. I mean, I I just think that, you know, the cost have gone up and we need more equipment and we need more vehicles and
in order to do so, I think they have to own up to it. And I just think that we need to really take a look at that what they're paying. I mean, I think it should be fair. We just had a major incident and it pulled a lot of weight, you know, on our town when they have to
go to other towns. So, they get the same great service that we do, but they don't pay nowhere near what we pay. And and I'm just concerned about that because we we need these things. I mean, obviously, you 25 computers are needed. I mean, maybe they're shot after all these
years. And I'm assuming you need one in every car. Yeah. in order to keep up with all the all the information one in each car computer. So, right from what I understand that in order for them to access the
information, they have to be equivalent with the other stuff that's coming in and an update just like I know most of us do with our own businesses and things like that. So, I just think that we need to look at their contract and be able to make some concessions so that we can
come up with this cuz I think we're paying the I left that next door, but they're fiveyear and then they're renegotiated. The last five are renegotiated, re-examined re-examined potentially because there was a
potentially reason. They they both well the Newfield one reverted back to the original five-year deal and added five more on the end. Correct. But at the end of five years what the costs were and then correct move forward for the next.
So that's after five years that's what will occur. I don't know. I I just don't see it. It's just to me I think we should pay a third or third. I mean we have wasn't the announcements based on call volume and call volume line the number of officers only to one. I mean there was a
comprehensive review of of those factors. What was the increase from the previous contract? It was substantial hundred and some thousands I believe. I don't know in the budget it looked like about 25,000 from last year from that's for new field right here. Now are
they not on our courts as well? Well not we do their we do their courts right but we don't do Newfields. We don't keep their money though. New fields we do their courts and keep their money. I don't know. It just doesn't seem I I know that there's probably some
other way to get this, but we're going to be here with with the need for us to bond and we're bonding as Franklin Township residents. It's the same thing like you know, I'm in Malaga and they used our whole firehouse and everything else for this latest episode that they had to
stage and and you know to protect our officers, which is fine, but they never pay anything in their fire district tax either. you know, there's things that we're using and I just think that we're not looking at the whole picture as to what it really matters to have the the
protection pay for it, the increases, the salary increases, all the things. And I think that we're we're paying worthily. And I just want to say that. Thank you. Marshall 67. Just a couple points to ponder. These are things I've brought up in the past.
March 11 meeting, Mr. Doyle, you had stated that now that our budget is under control, we can start fixing stuff in the township. Our budget is under control, why don't we have to exceed the municipal capital? Um, I believe there was changes in the standard and the unforeseen issues that we didn't
know about. Yeah. Yes. Okay. That's why I'm asking. So, what were the changes that that would cause this kind of substantial increase? The lawsuit. One lawsuit. Lawsuit was huge. That one was the major. the major it was a major lawsuit that we had nothing to do with this committee. He was a county
sponsored program that we end up paying for and we got destroyed on it. Had nothing to do with us. When you look at the lawsuit, it's very similar to the amount meaning it wiped out our surplus. Yeah, that's why I'm asking. Uh the other I
talked about some of the salaries before and I'm just going to go back and use the administrative salary for example. Do you realize what household what we paid per household as opposed to other towns for our administrators? Has anybody ever looked into that? We pay $3147 per household for sale.
Just to give you an example, Washington Township pays $8.69. How many houses do they have in Washington Township? Washington Township has $18,32. There you go. But I understand that, but it still comes down to it's the only way you can statistically prove. Ah, you're you're comparing apples and oranges. I mean, you have some question.
What's that? I guess you're not understanding the question. Well, you can look at it that way. I look at you don't understand what you're talking about. Well, again, maybe one day we'll have a class. Yeah. Okay. $5.64. How many residents do they have? Residents? Well, residents can't go by.
You have to split on short. How many households do they have? Households. They have 21,900. Slightly more than we have probably. They do. They do. I mean, we're our households are 5,668. But it still doesn't equate if you actually take that salary and figure out how many residents and you break out the
kids. And I do have those numbers, too. When you break them out what the adults pay and what the household pays and how many square miles we have and what you oversee, we're drastically overpaying by over $48,000. Again, that's not going to lower our taxes drastically. But these are things that you as the committee
have to look at to make sure that what you understand is what you're actually moving on. You understand where it's going and why taxpayers can get upset with certain things and things that don't look right. So, just a quick question. You're saying 21,000 homes and buying land $5. That's $105,000. You better check your math.
That's Bob. Bob Dickson makes $250,000 a year. Then their budget is illegal. They post it every year. That's on the same as we So you're saying the budgets that are posted by councils and cities are not I can I can tell you check first because I know Bob Dickens makes $250,000 a year. And that may be the case, but that's not
what they put in their budget. Are they leaking? Chief and administrator. We look at we don't just make a number of we look at a bunch of towns in South Jersey of similar size for the police. We used to call a lot because if you have an area
that's a lot more crime, a lot more police as opposed to outcome where there more cows than people. So we we do look at it and we do you can split the the pie 50 different ways. At the end of the day, we look at what does
a surrounding town in South Jersey make and what does it take for us to have qualified people. They're the two things we look at, right? We don't look at cost per head because at the end of the day, we can't tell him we're going to give them seven bucks a resident. That's not a real number. I understand what you're doing, but what about, you know, you can
cut the pie a million different ways. Oh, yeah. And you can always find ways to justify your arguments, too. I mean, that can happen. But these are things you can actually look at. And like I said, you can look at the salaries of what each county is paying. But we we've done he's telling you we've done that. I know that. Well, then again, but if you're doing that, we are in the top 10%
of the state for administrative salary. Top 10% as a whole world. Top top 10%. Top 10%. We're 9.3%. You mean as relative to the the population total salary? No. Yes. Impossible. It is not impossible. And it's it's
easily defined and you can look it up. But again, if the budgets are not accurate, then that of course justifies a different kind of stuff. I think the the accuracy inaccuracy is a a broad word. Sometimes there's multiple Yeah, there's multiple portions of an
individual's salary where we don't we're not that broad-based. So that may be one of the reasons, right? And then some probably pay for wearing different hats, right? I understand like have an actual industry. They use different people to cover a job. So it's tougher to think of those. Part of the salary is administrator.
Part of it comes from that utility. Part of it comes right. That's what I mean. So you have to add all of them together. Let's let's not say that violence posting something that's inaccurate. It just may not be comprehensive. It could be the way they break it down,
but it's just what they posted the budget the same we do is what I'm going. So that's a case. We don't have any utilities here. So it'll be just in one spot where like I said even um I work in other towns as well. My salary split under different different line it idles, things like
that. But I understand I mean that could be the case. Yeah. Thank Harry Kennedy 1578 Prize Mall Road. Uh Mr. Mayor, Township Committee, I remember Mr. Fierella was going to look up those numbers for liability
insurance. I don't know if you got a chance, Mark, to do that. Robin did. Yes. Robin did. Yes. Uh what we were able to find out from the insurance company is all of the other towns have the same rates that we do, but we also have uh different
agreements with the DIP. We have co insurance and our $75,000 deductible. Um, so for each case, we're not just paying for insurance, we're paying for part of the legal fees and and the settlements as well and 75,000
deductible for each case. So that's why our uh insurance amount is much higher than maybe other towns that don't have as many cases. Well, again, and you know, maybe it isn't as high as many other towns that have as many cases because it is going to be riskbased in terms of
what your premium is. And I I did get a chance, Mark, to take a look at the uh changes town by town. And uh was interesting. I I looked at Clayton, they went from 187,000 to 193. It's about 3%, a little bit more than three.
Glassboro went from 266, they went down to 256. Class bar is another place with a large college town sometimes some suits involving uh police. I looked at Buuna which I know is near and dear to
you. It went from 177 to 198 about 10%. And uh I looked at Manula it actually went down. So Franklin Township uh despite even Mr. Marsh's insight as the losses. A lot of other towns in the
county had the same program and had the same exposure and had the same problem. And he's right that did contribute to the costs. I'm not discounting that. But Franklin Township had an increase of almost 40% in its liability insurance.
And that's partially because of how well the town is run in terms of dealing with the problem of suits. And as I said, uh, it's a very significant problem when you have a 40% increase. I know it's sort of an interesting anomaly we can talk
about, but it's a very, uh, significant problem. The second thing I'd like to talk about is, uh, salaries. Uh, are there any people that are exempt employees being paid for any other job beyond their exempt employee status? In
other words, is the clerk being paid for any other job that the clerk does that's not the clerk? Uh, is she paid for GIF uh as a representative for the township for GIF? Is the is the administrator paid for anything in terms of purchasing
agent or anything else? All salaries are directly only the clerk salary is the clerk salary. And I know Jonathan very clearly said there would be no more overtime or comp time this year to exempt employees. and thank you for doing that. But there are no sidebar
salaries for anybody. How about cars? Are there any cars that any exempt employees drive home from work? Yeah. No, nobody takes a car home at all. I mean, Jared probably is. Yeah. Well, Jared is public works and he's on call for an emergency situation
and the police, I would imagine, at some time certain officers. Correct. Right. Uh the last point I'd like to ask about is the other expenses for the administrator's office. Uh it's quite a significant number in terms of all the
other numbers for all the other administrative offices. What exactly is that in terms of a breakdown? Uh there are a lot of different things get that get charged to the administrator's line. and copier leases and uh telephone leases different the um
posted machine lease different things like that all get charged under the administrators other government functions the the actual they're not they're not per department so everything is generally done in through the general government goes back to there I mean expended or
paid was 170 till it went up to 199 I know you're not doing zerobased budgeting but you're looking at what choppier expenses or what new things might come in under that uh during the year. Uh the final point I'd like to make is this. Uh again, a lot of the
problems are problems that are systematic, but you have a 7 increase this year. 7 increase in terms of the tax rate is the largest tax increase that I can remember. And I guess I'm the oldest
living former mayor, township committeeman, whatever. Yeah, I know. They go on forever, but seven cents is the largest number I can ever remember that has been imposed upon the taxpayers of Franklin Township. I would do a try
to do a little bit better job in terms of our liability insurance. I would try to do a little bit better job in terms of our lineup and payments. Thank you. Thanks. Um I want to make a point. the uh you brought up the um prochamps thing
about other towns. Hasn't hit other towns yet, but I'm sure it will. I think we were the first one that they came after in the county that they came after. Be a motion to close. I'm sorry.
Nancy Kennedy 711 St. doorstream. Uh just to follow up briefly on what Mr. Kennedy was saying, I I have a couple questions about how the budget was put together this year. So, who was responsible for creating the budget?
Responsible myself. So, did you do it did you do it with members of the township committee or with members of the administrators there? Mostly the administrator and and speaking to the committee as well. Okay. Who? So, who were the two budget committee members? John Keane and myself.
John Kane. Okay. And so you pretty much put it together with input from Mr. Finley and from the rest of the township, Brian, Matt, you know, the the department heads and with the department heads, right? They they give me a proposal, their requests, their budget requests
from each department, and we go through that. And and then once you got their requests, would you make decisions as to what would be given and what wouldn't, or would you go to the committee? Um both we we can talk to the department head and see if it's something that they
need or they don't need or they could wait for for next year or um you know cuz sometimes they they put in there of course a very high number usually on what they're requesting and then we see what you know what's financially
acceptable what we can do needs and wants you know. Sure. Um and I may have missed the answer to this. I think Mr. Can we ask if any of the administrative staff are receiving salaries for anything other
than their main title, so to speak? And I I don't think he gave you a chance to answer. Um I think he was moving on to the next point. So I just wanted to clarify. No, no, they're not. Okay. So nobody receives a statement other than what their salary is is what
their salary is. Nobody gets a sip outside of that. Well, no. The only Jared will be right. No, no. Did he get a stipen for the spray license? He get OEM. Um I don't I mean there's there's people
who have multiple titles like Robin who's the CFO that's all under umbrella of salary. Gina Hayesctor personnel tax collector that's all under the umbrella of one salary. Okay. Yeah. No strengthens like I say
except for some things in the police department and and anyone who gets one is in their contract for example. Okay. So there are some contracts that have employees who may be receiving stipens beyond what is under their specific title.
The only one right now I think is is police and they have things that are paid to them through certain times of the year for college and things like that. Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Can
I get a motion to close portion? Motion to close. Second. All those in favor? I. Can I get a motion to approve all resolution 11125? Motion to approve R 11125. Second. Mr. Doyle. Yes.
Mr. Pierella. Yes. Mr. Marsh. Yes. Mayor B. Yes. Can I get a motion to open the first public portion for resolutions and ordinances below? I'll make a motion to open public portion. All those in favor? I get a motion to close the first public
portion. Motion to close. Second. All those in favor? I. Uh resolution 1125, approval to submit a grant application and execute a grant contract with the New Jersey DOT for Williamstown Road Improvements. Motion R1225.
Mr. Doyle, yes. Mr. Pierella, yes. Mr. Marsh, yes. Mayor B. Yes. Resolution 11325, approval to submit a grant application and execute a grant contract with the New Jersey DOT for Dutch Mill Road phase 4.
Six. Wow. Improvements. Uh, motion R 11325. Mr. Doyle. Yes. Mr. Fella. Yes. Mr. Marsh. Yes. Mayor Burton. Yes. Get a motion to introduce the following ordinances. The public hearing
will be on August 12th, 2025. First is ordinance 1025. It's a bond ordinance appropriating $2,928,500 and authorized the issuance of $2,782,75 in bonds and notes of the township of Franklin for various capital improvements or proposes authorized to
be undertaken by the township of Franklin and the county of Gloucester, New Jersey. Motion 01025. All those in favor? I. And again, that that hearing will be on August 12th, 2025. Can I get what?
We're gonna do a roll call if that's okay with you. Okay. Can I I'm sorry. Roll call on ordinance 1025. Mr. Doyle, yes. Mr. Fierella, yes. Mr. Marsh, yes. Mayor Bruno, yes. Motion to open second public portion for
any comments. Motion second public portion. Second. All in favor? I get a motion to close the second public portion. Motion to close. All in favor? I get a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? I.
Thank you for coming out.