call this meeting to order. It is 6:30 p.m. >> Okay. Um, Dr. Roach, will you please do the roll call? >> Yes. Mr. Anonson, >> here. >> Mr. Perugi,
>> yes. >> Mr. Schmidt >> Miss Davenport >> here. Dr. Roach, are you done with the roll call? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Oh, I didn't hear. Okay, I'm here. >> Oh,
>> okay. >> In that case, I'm here, too. >> All righty. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance >> to the flag >> of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands, >> one nation under Godisible, >> indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Give me one second, please. In accordance with the provisions of
chapter 231, New Jersey Public Laws of 1975, the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by giving notice of the meeting to the corer news, posting the agenda in the public library of this building 48
48 hours prior to this meeting, delivery of this notice to the Franklin Township Clerk at least 48 hours prior to this meeting. And mailing notice to those persons properly requesting to be mailed notification of meetings at least 48 hours prior to this meeting.
Believe their executive director I'm sorry, Chairwoman. Uh, what did you say? >> I believe there is a little bit of change in the um agenda um with regard to the connection fee.
>> Uh connection fee. Uh we're we're presenting the resolution for the new connection fee. >> What about user rates? >> And that would be that would be that's presented right after that. Uh just for
uh the record and for uh the knowledge of anyone listening, the connection fee is a function the auditor uh provides in in compliance with the statute uh where we take our rate for an .edu an
annual .edu EU and it's factored against the cost of providing services uh the result of which uh determines our new connection fee every year. Uh that new connection fee is
standby. New connection fee is uh $3,915. >> And at this time, we're going to have the budget introduction. >> Um well, uh on the agenda, the next one
is the user rate. Uh the user rate is a separate uh resolution and that is bringing our user our annual user rate or our cost of edu per year to
the customer to $410 per year. And that those two are what our budget is based upon that we will be introducing tonight. And um
also introducing the uh resolution to introduce the budget as well. Um did you want me to kind of summarize the budget and display it on the screen? >> Yes, please. >> Okay.
Let me share my screen. Okay. Again, um for everyone's edification, this budget is effective June 1st, 2025 to May 31st, 2006. Um I'm just going to go through the
three main parts. Uh the first part uh is section F which go through the revenue. >> Can you can you increase the size of that so we can read it please? >> Yeah.
F uh page F1 is just basically what we would call balance sheet. The top is their uh revenue then followed by the appropriations and then the anticipated surplus. So uh talk about the revenue uh with a
with a a user rate increase that we're proposing tonight. We will u be a pro uh we should have a revenue approximately 17,500,000 and change. Uh that's always an
estimate, but it's a pretty accurate estimate. Under appropriations, um there's no significant changes other than a new position or bookkeeping
and appropriation sees normal increases in every category with the exception of healthcare. And we are experiencing the same healthc care experiences that everyone in New Jersey is experiencing.
That's a 20 to 30% increase. Our salaries uh increase anywhere, you know, from 2 and a half to 3 and a half%. Uh the only thing that it was unique in our appropriations which we'll go down is um you know what let me let
me go down a little further to appropriation schedule. Is is there any way Joe that you can increase the size of that more than that or is it just take it off the page by doing that?
>> Um maybe it's just my eyes. I don't know. >> I mean it's hard for me to read it that big. Um all right. So on on page F4 uh you'll see you'll see um
to the left you'll see the rows called cost of providing services and then underneath it there you'll see that line item treatment. We're estimating that for treatment we'll be spending about $ 8.9 million.
Most of that goes to Milix County Utilities Authority. We see significant um rate of incline over the last 5 years. We get estimates from the Melix County Utilities Authority and we either
agree or disagree on their estimates. Uh we normally agree with them and we pay our estimated amounts on time every every quarter. But those are going up um not only because of rate increases but
one uh we have new customers coming online but also we have aging a very aging system that has holes in it and groundwater lots of groundwater goes in there needlessly which is why we're we do a lot of um significant
rehabilitation projects. So um all the increases in the cost of providing services may it be admin or otherwise are expected increases
but uh the treatment is the one that we could actually work on um to minimize those expenses going through the years forward. Um, which brings me to my what next and my final section. We'll go down
to uh page CB5, which is the capital five-year capital improvement plan. And if you pardon my uh scrolling, uh, you know, I'll go to CB3.
Okay. And uh chairwoman, for the record, can I also note that I've noticed that um Commissioner Councilwoman Francois is in attendance of the meeting? >> Yes, I'm here. >> Welcome.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Um so to that end where I told you uh like 58% approximately 58% of our expenses go to Middle Sex County Utilities Authority for treatment
um a small portion goes to uh New Brunswick and a another small portion also goes to Southbound Brook because we send a very tiny bit of our sewer to those two towns. uh that that all goes under treatment
to help minimize any waste in that system. Uh you know because if fresh water groundwater gets into our pipes, it ends up in Melix County and we have to pay to treat it. So the the the capital project at the top is the
Brooklyn area rehabilitation. Uh we we're halfway through it. We already see a significant improvement in the um amount of gallons per day, per quarter. Uh the flow rate during and
after storms. That's an $8.8 million project. Half of which uh the money is being given to us by the federal grant and the remainder that we are paying uh through a loan, half of that is interest free. So that
is a really good project. We're doing a very similar project uh also this year at uh with the Belmont Drive trunk line that goes over from Belmont Drive to Elizabeth Avenue. As you see Shirley Avenue,
um this year we we'll only be spending about a h 100,000, but the following year we're going to be spending a few more uh millions of dollars. Actually, it will be to be precise, it'll be about $4 million to rehabilitate that pump station. That
pump station is on the capital project because um the electronic controls and the pump system and even the wet well is antiquated and if it breaks down, we won't be able to order new parts.
Instead, we would have to go on um manual uh surface level bypass. Okay. Wesson Canal uh West Canal Road pump station rehabilitation project. Uh as we we've discussed individually,
we're pushing that off the five-year plan. So, it'll be maybe year six or seven or so forth with the exception of $350,000 that we're going to spend this year to purchase the land
so that we have the land when we are ready to move forward with that project. If we don't purchase it now, two things will happen. One, at a minimum, the price will go up. Number two, uh we run the risk that the land becomes unavailable. maybe it's developed uh
already. So, I made the uh strategic decision to keep it on on the board just for that purchase of the land for the for the development of the project. I've I've rescheduled it so it doesn't exist within our 5-year plan, but it's still
on our board of projects. It's just not within the f uh next five years. The next project is Commerce Drive pump station. It's right across street from our office. It faces the same scenario or similar scenario Shirley Avenue. We have antiquated electronic control
systems, um backup generator, uh and pumps. We're rehabilitating that. Um that's going to be $2 million or less. Uh we are replacing two vehicles. Uh one vehicle is over 20 years old. The other
is maybe 15 17 years old. uh in one of the vehicles instead of replacing it with a pickup truck, we're going to get a van so we can pack the van with equipment and supplies which are um will remain protected from the elements and
secured. The next three um projects are manhole rehabilitation, pump impeller rehab and eg grinder pump replacement. Those are annual maintenance. Those are annual capital maintenance items. They're
always on our five-year plan. We are always anticipating to spend money on them. Even when we we don't spend money on them, it's on there just to let everybody know, hey, these are common expenditures for capital improvement,
renewal, and replacement. And um just for transparency, we leave them on there. And we estimate 75,000 for manhole repair, 50,000 for pump impeller, and 30,000 for e- grinder pump
replacement. We do and also when one of those three come up, we normally do most of that if not all of that work with in-house labor and skill set. So, that being said, that's the quick overview of uh the budget. Uh it's a good
conservative budget. Um, one could argue, you know, we we could have been a little bit more aggressive on uh Rolan replacement and rehabilitation. Uh, but, uh, taking into account uh, the economic times right now and the status
of the sewage authority, I think we have a little breathing room. So we um you know we we developed this budget in um in good faith to um maintain what we have in proper working order while still
moving forward in our rehabilitation program. I will note probably our next rehabilitation projects that would go on the next budget at least for a discussion would be rehabilitation rehabilitating the collection system
in the Hamilton Street area and in the Foxwood Drive that second phase. We did the first phase. we now have to hit that second phase because that would be the next two oldest systems and the two areas that we know we have a lot of eye ini.
And that concludes my summary of the budget. >> Thank you. >> Is there a motion to open the meeting for public comments? >> I'll make a motion to open the meeting. >> Is there a second? >> Second.
All in favor? >> I >> I >> opposed. Seeing no one is here for public comment. Is there a motion to close the meeting for public comment? >> So move.
>> Second. >> All in favor? I. Any oppose? Motion is carried. Now for the minutes. Are there any questions or any changes to the minutes?
Okay. See that there are no. >> Is there a motion to accept the minutes as is? So move. The second. >> All in favor? >> I
>> I motion's carried. Uh now the executive director for your professional summary. >> Thank you, Chairwoman. Let me just stop my sharing. Okay. The our solar electric vehicle uh
project, we did communicate uh recently with our solar vendor. They still continue to collect our data and make assessments. Um we're hoping that they give us a report sometime next month. Uh but they're under no obligation. It's
just my hope and uh belief that we will get a report from them and hopefully uh we can have a um a beginning of drafting of our solar project starting uh next month. the high bay garage. We uh we we're
continuing to work with the land surveyor to delineate the meets and bounds of the conservation area and uh we'll be um designing and constructing the drain system which is basically a detention trench and that would be uh
that would need to be approved by the Delaware Rican Canal Commission. Other than that, the project's been done for a couple years now and we're just waiting. You know, this is the tail end of uh the DRCC approval process.
Somerset Street uh pump Somerset Street pump station rehabilitation project went uh through great. It's been completed. Uh we're only at the very final administrative steps where we are uh finalizing the final pay application and
that's being processed. All the certifications have been signed and sent to the NJD for a final with the final change order. So, we're just a few inches away from uh administratively closing out that project. The Brooklyn
Avenue area sewer rehabilitation project uh that I mentioned earlier uh that also is going great. uh we did have a um uh we did identify a slow pace in then uh in the vendor getting their laterals
done. So we had an on-site meeting with them. Uh we believe they have shown an improvement and the pace has picked up. Uh in the last month um we went from 38% to 46% uh lateral work being completed. that
includes the main to house the SSL and the uh LCR work have been completed to uh an average of 46%. The excavation work uh was also completed with that pipe repair
and we are we did notice a high very high level of cost for uh traffic safety. So, we had a meeting and a number of discussions uh and that that is being addressed and we're going to lower the cost of traffic safety while
still maintaining a high level of safety. The um the federal grant money that's being administered by Somerset County and Franklin Township uh shown great progress. To date, the county has sent us 2,843,874.35
cents out of 3 million. And to date, the township has sent us out of $2 million, they sent us about $629,857.35. Still $1.3 million left uh to go through the township.
So that's really good news. And and that uh grant money, as I mentioned earlier, as all of you know, uh is going to pay for the Brookline project. H about half of it. The Western Canal Street pump station
rebuild. Uh again, we moved that main portion of that project off the five-year plan, but certain things are still going forward. Um, one, we did receive a draft agreement to purchase the the lot from them. That a draft
agreement was reviewed by staff and the attorney. We sent uh I sent a copy of that agreement to the insurance broker. We have since received a certificate of insurance from the broker to cover us um
for that property and that agreement should be in a state now ready to sign in the very near future. The only other thing we're going to be doing in the near future with this project is I did direct CME engineering to continue their work uh to obtain the
NJD permits for two reasons. One, it takes so long to get that work completed. And when you do complete it, those permits are good for 10 years. It would be a shame for us to have wasted the work we've done already and not received
the benefit of it. So, um, I felt it more prudent to get them to continue for it. And once we receive those permits, they'll still be there ready for us, uh, to use when we move forward with the project. Um, we did also receive the right of
entry to that PSNG pro property in the meantime for CME engineering to conduct their wetlands delineation. Um the good news is that we are actively looking uh the engineer and myself for
alternative funding sources for this project that hopefully if we're successful enough we could move forward with this project regardless of our finances if we can get either grants
somewhere else or um loan forgiveness. So uh as things develop I'll report that to the board. pump the Commerce Drive pump station rehabilitation project. That's the pump station right across the street. Um we
did do a a site walkth through on September 12th which uh addressed the bypass plan and we have been waiting for and we expect the construction to begin this month of 2025. We expect we expect everything to stay
in the green category and move forward as planned. So, Shirley Avenue pump station. We haven't uh put that into a full gear yet. Uh the good news is the land sale documents have been fully executed and they are being recorded with the county by the attorney. Once we
have completed that, hopefully by next month, uh I should be able to present something to the board for approval so we can move forward at normal pace. That that concludes my vendor project summary. Uh if there are no questions, I'll go into the executive director
report for discussion items. Is that okay, Chairwoman? All right. Um for revenue for the month of September, we received in checks that were deposited $526,772.79.
Year to date, we collected 4,397,6487. We have an open balance of non-metered billing of 3,63,49.95. Penel fees generated for the month were average at $13,188.98. The expenses as of
August 31st for the month of August was 2,415,4544.95. A year to date fiscal yeartoate uh expenditure is $3,4,20019. Our cash position as of August 31st, 2025.
Unrestricted, we have 2,995,810.73. Under the restricted category, we have 11,994,53626. Under designated, we have 7,593,24566. We have a total net cash position of 22,583,59265. Under discussion items, uh my first item
is the budget. Tonight we are we are and have introduced the budget for 2526 fiscal cycle. We do have a resolution two resolutions for the budget. One is the resolution acknowledging the uh
resolution the budget introduction is late and the second is the resolution to introduce the budget. This budget was based on upon discussions with um quite a number of stakeholders, board members,
electeds and consultants, attorneys and auditors. and uh also taking into into consideration our net cash position and our capital needs. The budget is uh based upon receiving a
budget is based upon receiving a revenue with a rate increase of 2.9%. Mhm. >> And uh I will also note that the uh audit for 2025 is still in process, but
all the on-site work is complete and they are uh still trying to um reconcile complete the reconciliation of our micro fund database versus our new admins uh database, the finance
system we're migrating to. But everything seems to be going well and quiet as expected and um hopefully in the next month we will be able to complete it and present the the audit to the board. Um I I'll just repeat again that we are
uh also introducing a resolution modifying our new connection fee for the year for internal engineering. We have one new connection for the month uh of August. We are expecting 98.8 uh
connections for the fiscal cycle and the TRC applications process for the month were 10. All projects are going forward as expected. There's nothing not in the green. For our uh our standard resolutions for
the month, we have payroll, operating expense account, renewal replacement, and escrow. We do not have any general fund or north track resolutions. For the additional resolutions, we have several. We have a resolution concluding
a fence easement agreement. We have a resolution for a license agreement with the NJ DP for uh Wesson Road pump station. We have a resolution for our sewer connection fee. We have a resolution to
engage the electric supply services online auction as we do every year. Have a resolution to engage a telephone company maintenance agreement that we um we do every year. We have the late budget resolution.
We have a agreement renewal with RICO for our two copers. We have a resolution for that. And finally, our annual user rate modification. And that concludes my report for the month.
>> Thank you. Excuse me. >> Um, are there any Excuse me. Do we have any committee reports? Negotiation personnel committee.
No. >> What about the municipal liaison? >> Nothing to report at this time. >> What about construction? Excuse me. >> Mr. Chairwoman and everybody. uh me and Joe had a
detailed technical meeting yesterday uh on all the projects running projects completed projects and incoming projects we went through the budget also 2025 26 we came up to the magic number of 2.9 we
discuss about that and I think we are in a good shape for as far as the running projects are concerned that's all about Thank you. Um, excuse me. Is there anything with the safety? I'm
sorry, I'm losing my voice here. Were there any issues with safety this month? >> It's my understanding, Madam Chair, there was no accidents or or injuries for the month. Um, I will report uh myself and another uh operations uh staff member that were out on
disability. I returned yesterday, Monday, and the other person will be returning to work tomorrow, the 8th. So, we should be in good shape. >> Good to see you. >> Thank you. You too. >> Okay.
And now for the resolutions. Approval of the resolutions will be done by consent agenda. All the items listed below are considered to be of a routine nature, thereby requiring one motion and one second for all items. If any member
wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda, please advise me at this time which resolutions need to be handled separately and they will be addressed and voted on separately. Excuse me. All
right, one second. I have my paperwork mixed up here. Okay. Um, resolution number one, excuse me. Payroll account fund
15756,941.88. Resolution number two is the operating expense fund $220,45640. Resolution number three, renewal and replacement account $345,19220. Resolution
number four is the escrow fund 10,17150. Is there a motion to adopt these resolutions? >> Motion to adopt. >> I'll second. >> All in favor?
>> I I >> Any oppose? resolutions are adopted. Okay. The following resolutions will be voted on separately. Resolution number five, resolution authorizing the execution of a fence
easement agreement with the owner of real property located at 5 Shirley Avenue, Franklin Township. Is there a motion to adopt this resolution? >> Motion to adopt. >> A second.
>> All in favor? >> I. Any >> oppose. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number six, resolution authorizing the execution of a license agreement with the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection for an access driveway to the authorities proposed pump station on Western Canal Road. Is there a motion to adopt that resolution? >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor?
>> I. Any oppose? Resolution is adopted. Okay. Resolution number seven, resolution modifying the sewer connection fee for the fiscal year of June 1st, 2025
through May 31st, 2026. Is there a motion to adopt that resolution? >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I
>> I. >> Any oppose? Resolution is adopted. Resolution number eight, a resolution of Franklin Township Sewage Authority authorizing the purchase of electricity
supply services for public use on an online auction website. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution? >> So move second. >> All in favor? I
>> I >> any opposed? Resolution is adopted. Resolution number nine, resolution memorializing the automatic renewal of maintenance service agreement for telephone equipment with Teleico.
Is there a motion to adopt that resolution? >> Motion. >> Is there a second? Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> I. >> Any oppose?
Resolution's adopted. Resolution number 10, late budget. I'm sorry. Was there a question? Resolution number 10, the late budget budget resolution.
You all had a chance to read that resolution. Is there a motion to adopt the resolution? >> Motion to adopt. >> Is there a second? >> I I second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Any oppose? Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 10, resolution authorizing the renewal of of a lease agreement with Rico USA incororated.
Is there a motion to adopt that resolution? >> Motion to adopt. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> Any oppose?
>> Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 12, resolution modifying annual sew sewer service charges to residential and non-residential customers to be effective November 1st, 2025.
Is there a motion to adopt this resolution? So move Is there a second? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I I Any oppose? Resolution is adopted.
>> Chairwoman, can I ask a quick question? Um Joe, we had a resolution to um submit a late budget. Did we also want to take a separate vote for the introduction of the budget? >> You're going to need to
>> Yeah. and memorialize that at the next meeting. >> Yeah, you have to because both both of those resolutions >> are uh prepared for us by the state. >> Okay. So then we'll take a vote uh and then we'll complete the uh resolution
memorialize it. >> Okay. So is that resolution number 13? >> Yes. To introduce the budget. >> Resolution number 13 to introduce the budget. Is there a motion to adopt that
resolution? >> So move. >> The second. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I >> I. >> Any oppose? Resolution is adopted. >> Mr. pack. Is there a need to go into
executive session? >> There is not. Madam Chair, are there any other items that are needed to be addressed this evening? With that, since there are none, is
there a motion to Sorry. Okay. Is there a motion to close the meeting? To adjourn to adjourn a second. >> Second. >> Seconded.
>> All in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> Anyone opposed? >> Being adjourned. >> Thank you, Chairwoman. Thank you, uh, everyone on the board, staff. Good night
all. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.