this special uh meeting of the township council for budget review is called to order Madame clerk with the open public meeting act of state of New Jersey adequate notice of this budget hearing of the Franklin Township Council was made as required
indicating that this budget hearing would take place remotely via Zoom at 7 p.m on Monday March 10th 2025 We could recite the pledge of allegiance 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 Please call the role Councilman embarrass
here Councilwoman Fwell here Councilman Karazzi here Mayor Kramer here Councilman Nonjaka here Council member Bataznik present Deputy
Mayor Roudine here Councilman Vasinella here Councilman Re here Um to a motion to open to public discussion So moved Second Second All in
favor say I I I post say nay Motion is carried We're open to the public Five minutes No yielding of time They only come up once Please say your name and address Do they have a phone number they can call in
Yeah They just have to raise their hand Mr Mayor raise their hand for if they're on here But is there a phone number to call Yes there's there is and there's no one in from phone calls
Okay Anyone wishing to speak raise their hands Seeing no one Seeing no one I'll motion to close the public portion Second Move and seconded All in favor say I I
Say nay Motion is carried We are closed to the public Um Mr Warlocker it's your show Thank you Mr Mayor Um the first uh
budget is human resources Uh the human resources director Raven Williams is here with us I'm going to share her budget and then probably turn my camera off because my face will be close to my laptop screen
I assume that's all present uh able to be viewed by everyone Yep Looks good So the human resources budget is proposed at $137,600 a decrease of
$615 from the 24 budget of $138,215 recording in progress Um there's uh just some minor adjustments as you see $1,000 decrease in medical expenses uh including physicals and some slight
increases for professional association dues and other contractual items Um Raven do you have anything to add to that No nothing to add Any council members have any questions
Just thank you for keeping the under the budget That's wonderful Thank you Okay If that is everything for Raven I can So I'm I'm
prepared to move on to the assessor I just want to make sure if uh our assessor Mr Caribelli is here I don't see his name but he's indicated that he was logged in in a text message So perhaps he's here under an assumed
name Mr Caramelly if you are out there under a different name please raise your hand on the screen We'll see if I see if I can get him on the phone Otherwise we'll move to the next Just give me one second So Mr Caribelli is trying to get logged in and
he's having a difficult time right now So I'm going to jump to the next item on the agenda which is purchasing which is Cindy Bellinger Cindy you're out there I saw your face earlier Yes I'm here Okay So scrolling down the purchasing
budget is proposed at $118,245 in increase of $4,345 The bulk of that in postage at $ 38.85 [Music] uh with a slight adjustment for of $460
for conferences and meetings So Cindy do you have anything to I You can explain postage Go right ahead I think it's kind of self-explanatory with postage So postage is up because the postal
service increased the postal rates Yeah that's out of our control unless we don't mail as many things Denny what are the typical things that you you mail Well I mail nothing because I'm I'm of the light the philosophy of
everything has to be automated and scanned and everything else So I mail everything that I can So unfortunately we have to mail tax bills and water bills and all of those other bills and and correspondence that's mandated to
come from the town Uh that so it's primarily our required items to be mailed Thank you Are there any other questions for Cindy voice
Can you hear me I'm sorry I I can Yes Yeah I just said it's pretty straightforward Thank you Cindy It is Okay So the next one on our list is municipal court I just open up that
spreadsheet We'll have two budgets to discuss here First is the court itself Share municipal court is proposed at $32,300
uh which is an increase of $200 Uh there was a $300 decrease uh I'm sorry $3,000 decrease in printing and binding um a $3,000 increase for professional
consultant and specialized services and a $200 increase in books and publications Um Kayla Martinez our court administrator is here Kayla do you have anything to add to your budget
No the um professional um and consultant increase was due to interpreting which is a requirement to have a human being interpreting in court sessions Yes When necessary Okay
Why why did printing and binding go down Um our officers are now utilizing e tickets more So okay great [Music]
Any questions from council If not I'll stop sharing this one and open up the other one for the court Bear with me Which is the prosecutor budget which is primarily salaries but we should include it here Here we have the salaries for the
uh the prosecutors there was no change in the salaries for the uh the principal and associate prosecutors as well as the uh alternate prosecutor So $86,900
uh budgeted last year and $86,900 budgeted this year Any questions on the prosecutor We pick them and we set their pay Not much t you do So I didn't think there would be much Exactly Mr
Mayor So that is the court And if you have no other questions for Kayla we can now go to assessor because Mr Caribelli is here Any other questions for Kayla on the
court Okay Mr Mr Caribelli has gotten in So I'm going to share his budget momentarily The assessor's budget is proposed at $117,700 That's a
$5,550 decrease from the 2024 budget of $123,250 Um there was actually an increase in the line for um postage and ex and and uh express
charges Here's more postage For those of you who saw the other mention of postage uh there is a $600 decrease in printing and binding a $1,000 decrease in conference and meetings a $1,000
decrease in education and training and a $100 increase in professional association and dues and a $50 decrease in other equipment and supplies Mr Caribbelli anything about your budget
that you would like the council to know Uh nothing uh nothing new Pretty much same old same old Uh some of the expenses went down Uh printing and and binding Uh they no longer print the tax list for us It's all digital So saved a
couple dollars there And some of the conference fees and education since we're short of deputy assessor Uh obviously we have we won't incur those expenses at least momentarily Uh but otherwise um I think it's pretty much the same as I've had since 2010
Okay Council members any questions for Mr Caribelli He's no longer paying for facts email and internet Why was he paying I I believe that those charges have been combined in in another budget Those are
for the the handheld devices that the assessor uh the field inspectors take with them Okay Thank you Good job Anyone else Any questions before I take
the budget down Thank you Okay recreation Stephen Dah our recreation director is here tonight for the recreation budget Stephen bear with me and I will open your budget
momentarily He'll be here for two budgets One is uh pretty straightforward That's senior transportation But um opening up the recreation budget which unfortunately I wish I
could make them open faster but my computer will only go so fast Perhaps I should discuss it with the IT director later in the budget presentations So this is something that I just kind of want to explain before we get into the
discussion on the budget The 2024 budget for recreation was at 105,530 That included all of the um the other expense budget items the general fund budget items for the youth center last year The youth center has
now been split out Um we'll have that following recreation Um but the uh the finance officer met with both the youth center director and the recreation director
There was an evaluation done of those expenses in 2024 where cuts could be made Um the youth center uh is funded primarily from our recreation trust Um so the budget at
$50,900 with the $23,000 $500 reduction is also reflecting the move of uh the youth center into their own budget Um so the the adjustments are are perhaps I don't want it to be
deceiving but there are adjustments made to this budget that include not only reductions because there are reductions here as you'll see when we bring up the youth center there is an overall reduction between the two departments from that
105,530 but the recreation budgets currently sits at 68,730 So Stephen do you have anything that that you can add to what I just said Uh the only thing that I'll point out um if you look under professional association dues um we're working with
the youth center cuz we incur a savings by doing our association dues together Um so that's why that line is a little bit higher but um the youth center and I have kind of worked together to make sure that we have that savings together for those association dues
And this year we've also included $1,000 in education and training That was a move that used to be under conferences and meeting and it was split out to education and training Okay So council any questions for
Stephen on this budget Bob it's not the budget but just for what it's worth I was trying to show my video It says the host has locked me out of showing my video Arista go ahead I let you in Okay there you go Not that everybody
wants to see me but I just didn't want people to think I was you know disappeared Thank you I have no questions Thank you Bob Okay you're welcome Uh I just have a question Hello Sure Hi So question Education and training I see that a thousand department requests and then between 25
24 says thousand So there was nothing last year and then we're just asking for something this year So it was moved for it was moved from conferences and meetings because it better describes the item that was utiliz that that funding
was utilized in prior years that as opposed to conferences and meetings there's a reduction You split it out You took it out from there Okay Okay Thank you Any other questions on this one I have a
question Sure So what was the rationale behind breaking out the two budgets I'm just curious Because they're because they're no long they're each under a department head Now they're separate departments so they have separate budgets Got it Makes sense Thank you
You're welcome Any other questions on that one If not I'll move on to as I said there's one small budget and then Stephen I'd ask that you stay during Wendy's in case there's any of those other crossover questions that that you might be able to
hand help answer But the next one is senior transportation It's a oneline budget item So and well we're paying the county that much more Exactly
$1,849 This is a 2% increase annually under a contract for shared services for Somerset County Transportation to operate our senior transportation bus So it goes from 92423 to
9427184 to be exact [Music] So this is just an annual contract I didn't think anyone would have any questions but I want everyone to see what the town pays for the county to provide our the driver and maintenance on our bus
I have a question Bob Go ahead Mr Councilman Thank you Have we done a comprehensive review of whether or not we need more services whether part
of this contract you know expanding more substantially our senior transportation availability or otherwise if not to go with the county But have we really done a comprehensive study I mentioned it because you know it's related to the budget because if
there is a need or a need going forward it would obviously affect the budget So I thought it was appropriate to ask now and if we did what what did we do to kind of find that out and what were the results So I mean I think that you certainly would have known if we did a
comprehensive study because it would have been announced at at council meetings as far as that's concerned Stephen has there been so No the answer is no we haven't And you certainly would have known about it Um Stephen has there
been a additional demand for senior transportation that hasn't been met by the current contract with Somerset County It has We're We're currently not filling up our bus for all of our three social clubs and the other uh the other programs that we typically use that for
So we're currently meeting that need Now we can still work with the county to find out those numbers as we go along to see if that need increases Okay Yeah No I just wanted to make sure cuz sometimes the need grows and then we obviously have to reexamine I haven't
heard any specific complaints I have heard people ask for more senior transportation but not specific to the clubs So what I have a comment to make The only thing that I've heard often from the senior represent the leazison for the senior committees is the the
transportation at night They said that they'd like to come for example to the council meeting but they don't have any transportation or they don't want to drive and so is there any consideration to uh extend the hours or provide some
sort of trans transportation in the evenings Well it's my understanding right now that Somerset County does not have evening bus drivers for the transportation department in Somerset County So for any of the routes that
they run So I we would that that would be an expansion of their offering if we were to try to do that It would have to go beyond Somerset County I have a comment Sure It's a spending
money comment the sound system at the senior center community center Every time I go there's trouble with the mics Do we need to invest So that would be a question for you
Stephen So um those microphones for lack of a better way to describe it eat batteries So they often go through batteries we probably out of anything with our sound system equipment buy more batteries than anything else So I don't know if it's the I don't know if it's the microphones Um I don't know if it's
the sound system Um we can certainly investigate and see what it is Uh but usually they are left on because it's easier to for the seniors to just pick it up and use it as opposed to them understanding how to turn it off and turn it on or mute it to save some of that energy in there So that seems to be
the the biggest problem we incur with them Mr Mayor besides the uh the sound system that whole area often is a topic of discussion to upgrade and make it looks very look nice
So I'm Steven is in the loop and I hope uh we will address that as well Okay Any other questions Mr Mayor No Next budget will be our youth center director Wendy White with the youth
center budget I'll put it up on the screen So as I said the youth center budget is is proposed at $96,07 Um which clearly is is far less than the
102,730 that the total recreation budget was for 2024 And it also is in in a when added to the recreation budget for 2025 there's still a significant decrease in
the OE budget And that has much to do with um moving the youth center into their their own budget And uh two two things related to that programming a a significant programming grant that is
being utilized currently to fund um a number of youth center programs That grant having been received from the state of New Jersey uh with a matching grant to the Somerset Community Action Program to provide uh youth center
programming Um and uh I'll let uh Wendy White the director take it from there Wendy I know I saw your face She's there She's Can you hear me She was just there Yeah there you are Now now we hear you Wendy Okay All right
Computer problems No I I was saying yes we received a uh DCA grant uh that we are currently spending down through the end of this year Uh so we've been able to really dramatically increase the number of program offerings to youth center members So we're really happy
about that So um after this year obviously we'll take a look at what our programming um cost will be um and that will be reflected um in our next budget uh very much like uh recreation uh the education and training dollar amount
used to be in conferences and meetings um and our association dues um for NJRPA uh we're sharing those with um Steven and recreation for the cost savings So is there formula error there Um Bob on
the education and training it's not picking up something right that's just a year-to-ate budget when it's a zero in the year to date it's going to have there's no the the formula has nothing to divide it by
Wendy how much is the grant from DCA the DCA grant was $750,000 really it was 1.5 million uh whereas SCAP um received half um they have the matching part of that and then we have 750,000
So you mentioned that um if you if that is not renewed or if it's not awarded next year we will see that in this budget Well we won't see $750,000 in the budget
But um you know obviously that grant and and thanks to Councilwoman uh Francois for her advocacy and in supporting the grant um you know it won't be that dramatic but you know there will be um you know some potential additional costs
with regards to programming Um you know the the good news is that we've been able to partner with a lot of people in the community So a lot of the um offerings and programs prior to getting the grant u we were able to provide for free Um so we can certainly uh make sure that we're looking again at that model
so that it can continue to be cost-effective for the township The the other thing is Councilman and I and I think Wendy can touch on this a little bit the $750,000 is not only paying for programming but it's also paying for
other things as well um that are uh being utilized as now more permanent purchases that can be used for years going forward as far as equipment is concerned Yeah absolutely When we first uh moved in the building we had to
borrow um a lot of things from recreation and you know Steven has been very gracious and kind in that regard Um but having um to kind of transport things from building to building uh was a little cumbersome But with the grant we were able to buy things like our own you know speakers and microphones and
podiums and things like that so that when we have programs and presentations um with or without the students or with township uh we're able to set those things up right in our building And do you want to touch a little bit on transportation for your building and what you're doing in reference to that
Oh yeah So uh we piloted uh successfully this past summer a shuttle program Um because one of the things that we were finding is that while we got a lot of foot traffic from uh youth that lived in the area uh there were a number of parents who were inquiring about you
know is it possible to get some shuttle support um for their student for their child who would also want to come to the youth center you know there's still a lot of parents who will drop off uh their child to come pick them up because they're able to do that with their schedule uh for work or what have you
but there were some parents who inquired And so um one of our staff members pulled together a kind of a a map of the township in terms of the key areas where we could pick students up and we utilized one of the recreation vans
again borrow from uh Steven And we use that during the the summer to shuttle kids at specific times back and forth to the youth center And we're also going to use uh some of our funding to buy our own van Um so that um you know certainly
we love borrowing from from Steven uh but having our own van will give us that much more flexibility and we can accommodate that many more students um easily because it'll be right there at the center And what we're able to do with the youth center is utilize part-time employees Uh
the the uh transportation doesn't require a commercial driver's license because the van is smaller than that that would require a CDL So we have uh a number of part-time employees in youth center In fact a good portion of the
overall staff works on a part-time basis so they can provide that service um when the when the peak season is in swing especially during the summer Yeah And it's coming up So we're excited about that
Wendy is that fund for multi-year or is that going to be utilized in a year That is that a multi-year uh amount of 700,000 the grant No it's it's just for this year Um you know and so it's not I I don't believe
it's something that's you know automatically renewed Um so you know certainly we hope that there'll be other opportunities as we you know approach the new year Um but that grant um is through the end of this year right And that was a one-time use grant that if you all recall was uh obtained by
Assemblyman Danson Yeah it's uh it's a great great grant We hope it's multi-year Yeah the kids the kids love it you know we've been able to really um expand you know our programming in areas like uh ACT um SAT
um sessions that we're covering um which a lot of parents appreciate So rather than paying a few hundred out of their pocket you know we're able to you know cover those costs and have the students take those prep classes in the youth center Uh we do drone programming chess
chess with cops um art programs It's it's really exciting because we're getting more kids that are coming in because we have more of a variety So so so so last week we learned we took a tour of the YMCA in
PCA there We learned that uh the county the counties have something called a recreation trust fund and there may be some opportunities to request funding from there for any of our programs So that's that's an avenue that we can
probably pursue Okay And and we also still have a couple of uh corporate supporters that um are providing um just kind of like lumpsum and some inind support as well Amazon um continues to step up They actually
stopped by the center last week with you know a snack donation um and some other things So I have a question If we did not have that grant 750,000 how much will that have impact on the budget that you have Do you see a
sharp increase No I don't Um because one of the things that was very helpful to us when we first opened really was our partnership So uh we have gotten a lot of support not just from Amazon um but also the
Canalwalk Men's Club um the Franklin Women's Club um you know just there's another the TripleB Foundation Um there's a number of organizations that allowed us to um offer programming that was free at no cost Um the Franklin
Police Department has been very supportive as well the um the Chess with Cops program and the um they also do an art program and all of their programs are are free So um no I don't see it being a dramatic increase next year I just think we were fortunate to get this
huge grant this year and we're just trying to spend it down so that we can offer as much as possible while we have it Um but we can return to what we've done um perhaps with a a little bit of extra help um in the in the next year but I don't see it being a sharp
increase because we've you know since we've been open we've had a lot of support to make sure that our programs are um you know cost effective and and mostly free Thank you You're welcome Any other questions before I take the
budget down Quick question Um as part of the uh transportation issue youth that are of the appropriate ages during the school year is there a built-in option that their bus will drop
them at the students at the youth center which seems like it would be a very efficient approach for some youth We're not we're not getting a lot of students riding the school bus because usually those students are participating
in afterchool activities at the school Um in terms of those schools that are further away especially the high school um we're getting you know mostly from the Franklin Park area and and when the students actually get home um versus
leaving directly from school So I know that Oh I'm sorry No no I I thought you Yeah that makes perfect sense That was actually the follow-up question as I know there's a lot of youth in that corridor and obviously not the best corridor for you know someone to ride
their bike and whatnot So uh we have a way for them to go home and then sufficiently get all of these children up that corridor to the youth center You're saying they usually go home take a pause and then come to the activities That makes a lot of sense but you don't
see any transportation issue with make we're make sure we're accommodating all that youth right So so far so good I mean we're getting a nice mix Um we still have a lot of parents that pull up right to the front and drop their uh child off and then they come and pick them up Um so parents are still you know
driving them back and forth along with the shuttle along with the foot traffic So you know right now we have multiple streams of uh attendees if you will Yeah Well I I think it's still worth and not not a highest priority to see if um certain uh you know if if that would be
an option that that children could be dropped there there may be no need It's just maybe that then maybe they'd go right to the youth center and alleviate the um the transportation aspect both for the for the parents and and the uh the child's benefit So maybe we could
look into that going forward I know we can't speak for the school board but I think they would probably be open to something if it didn't uh you know it it didn't create a a big burden for them So anyway just food for thought and um just trying to make it as accessible to
everyone as possible but thank you Uh thank you for the great work You're welcome I have to step away for a minute Deputy Mayor you have the helm So are there any other questions for Wendy before we or Stephen for that
matter who's still here I see I have I have a question for Wendy So so far of the $750,000 that we've spent on the grant how much is remaining We have a little bit over half a million So there's still a significant amount that we have to spend
And I I wasn't under the impression if we didn't use it by the end of the year we would lose the money I was not under pressure It's not that we're going to lose the money We can ask for another extension Um I've been talking to Jennifer Underwood That's our contact at the state Um and she she just told me
you know if you can't do it at the end of the year just ask for another extension So okay Probably have some money left over next year I would imagine Yeah We have a half half a million dollars left Yeah And then SC still has some money left as
well Yes they do Wendy one more question Are we offering any tutoring to uh students that they come there Uh we have uh we have a small tutoring program Um it we don't get a lot of
students for tutoring because usually they get that from the schools Um you know we do have a quiet room Uh the library um is also a space that offers you know computers and tutoring and things like that But when we've extended those opportunities we don't get a
significant amount of students That's because the K the kids come there and they want to play They want to have fun And that's what we finding out believe it or not They want to do three things They want to recreate socialize and decompress Yes Right
And they school they come to the youth center they want to have fun right They they've said to me "Miss I was already in school Why I'm in Why am I in school again?" So it doesn't mean that we don't we do offer it for those that you know have the interest but again it's not a significant amount of you know response
So okay anyone else last bite of the apple No I was just going to say the youth center is a place for everyone to have fun fun and games They love it there They love it They do They do They want tutoring They they
definitely don't want any tutoring No No And we're having the the Medley's March Madness uh basketball tournament finals um this Saturday um I believe from 2 to 7 So if you're in the area come on out Thank you Thank you Wendy Thank you
You're welcome You're welcome Okay Thank you for promoting as always Wendy I would never expect anything less Um next up on the agenda is Mr Healey who's got several uh budgets under land
use Uh Mark are you there with us I am There he is All right So we'll start off Mark with the planning budget Something that's near and dear to your heart So the planning budget for
2025 is proposed at [Music] $186,250 which is flat on the budget of 186250 from 2024 Uh there's a just a a minor shuffling of funding an additional
$5,000 moved from professional and consulting services uh to legal services So legal now at 130 over 125 and a reduction from 55 to 50 for professional consultant and specialized services The
remainder of the budget remains the same Mr Healey what do you have to add to that I don't have anything to add Council are there any questions on the uh planning board budget which is also the zoning board budget for that
matter Uniform allowance We have inspectors uh that are work in the zoning department and they're put in clothing that identifies them as township employees Okay Anyone else on this
one If not I'll move to the next And the next will be it's that one here Planning board gone The next will be the engineering budget The engineering budget is proposed at $141,345 Um and it is flat on the
2024 budget at the same number Um all items are budgeted at that same number The bulk of this uh is in professional consulting and specialized services which is the contract um for our township engineering
services Are there any questions on the engineering budget hearing None I will move to the environmental commission The environmental commission shows an increase of
$4,400 Um that increase is reflected in other contractual items Um that is the contract with Kenyon planning for the sustainability officer uh position uh
that serves the environmental commission and I'm sure you're all familiar with Tara Kenyon's work as it relates to the environmental commission and the work that she's done with uh with Safy Ken and special projects on a variety of of
projects related to sustainability She's also the leader of the green team uh for sustainable Jersey for the township Are there any questions about the environmental commission
budget If not I'll move to another exciting budget line which is the historic commission The historic commission budget is $1,000 and it is $1,000 uh flat Um the items
there are for I believe Mark if you correct me or even Vince who's here The $1,000 is for mandatory um is it for the mandatory classes or is it for some other item Yeah it's for
it's for classes and uh on occasion they will attend um the state historic commission um conference every year Sometimes they do sometimes they don't but that's that those are the two main expenses Okay Any questions on the historic
commission budget for Mr Healey or me Hearing none I will stop sharing And that completes the land use committee budget So if there are any questions for Mr Healey at this time now is your opportunity Hearing none Thank you for
your attendance Mr Healey I'll see you in the morning The next budget is the economic development um budget I believe we have Mr Dominic here Very true
Let me just get to you Mr Dominic The economic development budget is if I can scroll here my mouse will let me is proposed at $15,500 which is flat from the 2024
budget of $15,500 Um the first line is uh related to the Hamilton Street Advisory Board position um that um is a stipen for Mr uh Mr Dominac for holding that position The
remainder are conferences and meetings and professional association dues The association dues are the membership with the Somerset Business Partnership and the chamber Oh and that's right And the Township Chamber of Commerce Thank
you Does anyone have any questions for this budget or Mr Dominic Hearing none I'll bring you all back to your Hollywood Square
screen Thank you Mr Dominic See you in the morning See you in the morning Next budget is construction code Construction official Barry Wilbur is here tonight with us Open up
that budget momentarily The construction code budget is budgeted at $391,775 Um the budget for construction code is a little bit different than most departments in that all items
um where it for instance there's a line for um software licensing There's a line for office supplies Um the the entire budget for the operation of the construction
code department um is done within the construction code department as the department of community affairs also requires a separate budget to detail all of all of
the expenses related to construction the the Uniform Construction Code Office um so that it it has a direct relationship to fees charged and collected for the various permits issued by the
department Um this budget is flat at 391775 Does anyone have a question for Mr Wilbur That's a academic question Um do you have um an idea how much uh
permit fees we collect a year of everything put together Uh that that information is available I don't have it in front of me right now We we do a monthly report that shows where our standing is and that report
also has to be sent to the DCA My understanding Councilman based on a conversation with our financial consultant is that um the 2024 uh fee collection was down from
2023 Um so I think that that's reflecting a slowdown in certain aspects of construction in the township Yeah I don't The reason I asked is is there a uh is this year a requirement to
uh meet the u expenses by the fees or the township is required to um subsidize or or not No actually but the fees the fees are intended to cover the expenses of the office and not just these
expenses but there's also a calculation done for all aspects of the the so heating electricity so utilities telephones all of those things are broken out in the DCA budget there's there to be self-
sustaining from fees right that's that's the point I was trying to make okay great thank Yes And and that's exa you're you're exactly correct They the construction department is completely self- sustained by fees
collected And that's why things that like we've consolidated many years ago office supplies but there's an office supply line in this budget for that particular reason because they're to be self- sustaining from fees
Gotcha Thanks Any other questions for construction Okay thank you Barry See you tomorrow The next we have is fire prevention Our fire prevention director John House is
here Yes Opening it up now John There we go Okay Fire prevention budget is budgeted at $7,910 a decrease of
$1,071 from $8,981 Um in my career Mr House has been the most specific budgeter of all department heads sometimes to the penny in this case to the dollar Um
well and so Mr House do you have anything to add to what I just said about your uh OE budget Uh no I don't The only uh the reason for the decrease was last year we had to purchase uh we got a new fire code so we
had to purchase the books the code books for everybody and that was the decrease otherwise it would have been the same but that's it and I just like to draw attention to the year to date 1231 at
98.72% one the thing that uh John house does is he only budgets what's he what he needs and he spends what he needs however There is another source of uh financing for certain pieces of equipment that our uh our fire
prevention department utilizes John you just to explain a little bit about the penalty trust Yes Um a lot of our other expenses are are covered under um when a penalty is
issued Um that money has to go into a trust fund that can only be used for fire prevention So that's where we we go for whenever we need things other than what we budget for
And what type of things do you purchase out of the trust Um we do some of our training That's why we don't have training under here We we uh cover our training under that Um some of the equipment that we need
Um I'm trying to think of some of the other stuff Turnout gear for the firefighting aspect of Yeah correct Yes exactly All the all the gear that we use all that comes out of that trust fund Are there any questions on the fire
prevention budget Hearing none Okay Thank you Any questions for John before he's gone about anything related to the fire prevention office budget or anything related to the fire uh penalty trust
Thank you John for a great job Thank you Okay the next department is information technology That would be our new information technology director Christa
Hegodus who I think is also running this meeting on the back side So um Christ I will bring up your OE budget first So the IT budget is the first that you'll see a significant increase in
from 2024 We'll have some discussion about the primary uh cause of that Um the uh IT budget is proposed at $692,95 an increase of $21,794 uh with $192,544 of that
201,000 in the software licensing line Christa are you there Here Can you hear So Christa yes I can hear you Krista is there something I I think we should probably focus most on the software licensing line Can you
explain why the increase of of $192,000 in 2025 Yes Um primarily um there's a just I know we're going to talk about um cyber insurance compliance with um mandated
software Um there's more purchases that were made um uh that were that were made last year that we have to continue to be um at the top tier for cyber insurance Um but also all of the in the uh software has
increased about 10% um across the board So that's mainly why the increase But I did actually find a discrepancy um of 26,000 that will come off of this
and will and will be charged to water Um there's census software license that was um under capital and it was moved to the IT budget but census is um the water meter reader um software and that will
be charged to water So it won't go away it'll just move to another budget Correct And I'd just like to draw attention to the fact that out of the um $692,000 budget
$553,000 of it is in software licensing So there's not a significant amount more over and above the uh the software licensing Um and the IT department is obviously responsible for the maintenance of all
of our equipment that is outside of uh warranty So that would be the maintenance of other equipment line at 026 for $71,000 Um and you can imagine that there's a lot of IT equipment out there that often times
needs repair uh that is sent offsite and not done inhouse given the nature of the repairs Christa can you repeat again the number for the water software that's going to be moved over 26,000
Uh just 26,000 right 26,000 Correct So are there any other questions here on the on this budget We'll move to the capital budget once we're done with this one for it I had one question Uh go ahead So just the question I had is a maintenance of
other equipment is 71,000 That increase is it due primarily due to the cost of things just going up Because I'm looking at the line across I see it's like around 60 62,000 and then it's jumped to 71,000 this year Kristen what I'm sorry what was the line
I'm sorry Was the the maintenance of other equipment went up by $7,400 Was that because of inflationary cost increases for repairs or some other reason Uh hold on a second Let me look Sure
Um that is the [Music] um I actually don't know what was last year's I didn't look um what it was 63 636 No I mean what was added to this from
last year that have um to be honest the enable backup um our backup and um the we used to have hardware for backup
and it actually is now um cloud-based so that actually be moved to soft uh software next year but everything else I think we had last So I don't know what the increase was So um probably due to inflation because every like I said
everything has gone up um quite a bit when we got quotes We didn't add anything So I have a question too um the AI are you expecting any changes in this cost or additional cost as a result
of perhaps implementation of any AI in the in the township operation I do not have any plans No So for those of you who may recall um how long how long have you been in
this current position now Christa One month One month Um Bob McQueen our our former IT director was primarily responsible and did have an opportunity to go over this budget both with me and Christa prior to his departure Um so
Chris Christ has kind of hit the ground running So um if if there if there are questions like what was just asked we can certainly look at that And at the next budget hearing Crystal will be there as well because she'll be running the meeting on the back end Um and we
can see if we can get an answer for that question as well Um Councilwoman Dean thank you I appreciate it No problem Are there any other questions on
this portion of the IT budget Yes Bob By the way Christa great work and um I know you've been here a long time and understand this much better than us council people So my question is this and tell me if I'm assuming assuming uncorre incorrectly I'm assuming that
all of the security of all the personal and financial information related to well water and tax comes to mind There may be other areas obviously those are the big areas where people make payments So assuming all of that security falls onto the IT and the work you do there in
that department are those aspects of um those costs related to that relevant to say water and tax are they build under your department and I before when you were talking about something being build to water it triggered this
question So um more if just a technical question I totally understand if that's something uh you don't have ready tonight I'm just curious cuz I see security Go ahead Thank you There are a lot of um software lines that um get
split between water um and it actually code So yeah not everything is we take care of the payment like we do the purchase orders but they do get split out t taxes tax uh not taxes water just
water um and construction and um it okay I imagine hopefully not but those costs just may increase obviously we want to make sure all that is as secure as it needs to be
the the answer the quick answer to that So I'll I'll answer a little bit here because it also plays into what Christa touched on and and I think I can expand on it a little bit So our cyber security that that not only protects the the financial aspects of the town but the
overall network um so as you're aware and we'll talk about it at the next meeting Um we're a member of the Central Jersey Joint Insurance Fund and I know that you've done your cyber security training as have all the council members and all of
the staff Every employee who has the ability to touch the network is required to take that training Well within the joint insurance fund is a cyber security insurance policy where we're required to
meet certain levels of security as it relates to our software and hardware and network connections So a great deal of that software licensing here and in some other departments um are directly
related to uh the costs associated with the protection of our network Um and if we don't meet those standards it has an adverse effect on our insurance and our
ability to uh make a claim should there ever be a cyber security attack on our network So that that is exactly why we're spending the money on those things uh within that software licensing and
also as far as the hardware is concerned that we'll talk a little bit within the next budget that we're going to talk about tonight So yes that that is exactly why we're spending the money Councilman
so that we maintain a a high level of security on every aspect of our network Thank you You're welcome All right Any other questions on this part Nope Nothing else Thank you
Okay Next up is the IT capital budget And I'll just bring that one up as you're doing that Bob welcome Christa to the team Thank you So for those of you who don't know and I
and I I am very happy and and welcoming Christa to this level of of uh involvement Christa has been a township employee in our IT department for 23 years now Christa 24 24 I short changed
it by a year So I I I have the utmost confidence in Christa She has a absolute full understanding of our network and all of the things related to it So it was kind of a a no-brainer to see her move up into the director position
Congratulations Congratulations Yes Congratulations That's good So now we talk about tech Go ahead Joe No I was saying don't forget uh well some a lot of people may not know she was also instrumental in us literally
getting our TV station on the air over 20 some years ago well before I got on council when very few people very few towns had it And I think that was the best community outreach government transparency initiative we've ever done
And uh thank you Okay So now I'm going to see if I can manage to use my IT skills to share the IT capital budget on your screen Okay So there are a number of items here and and and this is a a
five-year capital well actually six-year capital plan because we kept 2020 on it Um but this is uh uh the yellow column is 2025 and I'll just move down the line
here Um there's uh $85,000 requested here for computer printer server iPad replacement program That's an annual replacement program for end of life hardware Um and then Chris this is something I'm
going to ask you to explain Um server room UPS refurbishment updates at $50,000 So every building has um battery backup units and uh the batteries need to be replaced at uh during some time So we
have one big huge wreck in our server room that gets maintenance every year and the batteries need to be replaced this year Um there's a I'm actually looking into getting all of them on the maintenance plan because a battery goes
down and um hardware will go down So um there are some at the police station that did go down and we had to replace So that's what that's for Okay And the next one is telephone system upgrade at $75,000
the hardware and software are all out uh end of life um come August of this year So I am working to get that upgraded and this is our Cisco Sorry Go ahead Sorry Go ahead Go ahead I was No I think I think you're about to
answer I think you're about to That's our That's our our Cisco uh VoIP telephone system throughout all of our buildings The the Yes I mean I Yeah I hesitate to call them hardline phones
because they're all uh internet protocol phones now We don't have um Well we we have a very very very select few for um the police department of old copper um
pots lines for um redundant backup but that's it Um and then the next is video surveillance upgrade at $75,000 So the police put a uh request in for
additional cameras Um they did ask for pan uh pan tilted uh zoom cameras which Moroi is who we go with and they do not offer that Um so we have to add you know
their goal is to have 360 degree um coverage security coverage of the complex Um so we have to add a few more cameras to get that full 360 degree
There's a number of areas of the municipal complex that are that are have weaknesses that have been identified by the police department as far as video surveillance Um so that's that that cost is for that purpose
Um the next is municipal WAN upgrades core municipal network and core switches $60,000 So again the um our hardware and switches um we have to continuously keep
up with the um the end of life ones So this is to replace some of them Not not all of them would be and as you can see in the years past you don't want to hit the 125,000 mark every year so it gets split out We'll replace some of them
that are needed Next is township network expansion resiliency wifi fiber domain 75,000 So there was talk about Wi-Fi in our um municipal complex um
for events that are in that are held here like fireworks um sometimes Franklin Day Um now the idea I guess was to have a closed Wi-Fi um but also we could um have it the
guest Wi-Fi for um for people to but mostly for staff to be able to um access the network while they're out there And that would be staff to include the police department Correct Anybody that's Yeah they were thinking along all the
way down the um the line of of trees between the you know the library and the municipal all the way down to wreck Okay Wi-Fi upgrade at the gazebo Um so they put Wi-Fi at the end of the
building um of the municipal building and it's not really reaching over to the gazebo very well It's very intermittent So we're looking to get the Wi-Fi extended out to the to that area for when we have
events at the gazebo Okay And door access system replacement in the public safety building So another request by public safety um they want to add
uh for security to provide more security for confidential areas that they don't have door access to You're talking about the card swipe Yes I'm sorry Yes Yeah Okay Digital signage And I know that
this is interior digital signage within our building Um and I think not just our building maybe this is more than one building This is actually Yeah Well we I know the um prior IT director asked for
many years for it Um but the community center actually um Steven had asked for to utilize the there's TVs in the rooms but then also there um I don't know if there's actually hardware there
yet but to get signage for the the rec center the community center sorry that so that's what that's for phone system router and switches $30,000 Okay that is actually end of life now Um
so we have to replace the routers and switches and it's I got my quotes and it's actually higher than that So I have been trying to um bring that cost down that I got
quotes for and see if we're they just quoted us on exactly what we have and if we really still need everything we have So that's that is being worked on right now Video surveillance upgrade outdoor So this is a cons I'm not sure why it was
separated but this is really more cameras um for the outdoor area Um that there were cameras um uh we were we're going to put cameras where the um where the fire car the
trucks park um in that little the old sally port the horseshoe and the sallyport Yeah there's blind spots around our building as well So they said the first one was for blind spots for the police department This is
for the municipal building itself Yes Line 51 MDR So an MDR is manage detection response for cyber insurance requirement to be compliant for tier one Can you explain
what manage detection and response is So that's the software that actually monitors our network um to um let us know if there's anything coming in that shouldn't be and it actually will block it um turn it uh
shut it down off the network and then contact us Okay gazebo lighting $15,000 This is um right now there's lighting there and it's um a like at home system just cheaply
bought and put up Um it does have some issues with it So um this is for a commercial a commercial system to manage it better iPads for recreation $2,500 A request by Wreck for
[Music] um for the camps So they're offsite and they would like to be able to um conduct registration at the camps Municipal Court recording system $30,000
So this system is over 10 years old It as Kayla puts it's um on its lif line It's I mean I um it's on life support So it definitely needs to be replaced and we are working on getting that
Now then the last one the last one is one that excuse me Chris and I had a discussion about and I've had an opportunity to review what this is It's part of our GIS um function and I'm going to push this one to
2026 So this last $125,000 will be coming out and will not be included in the uh in the capital budget Um this is something that our GIS technician would use Um it it's it's a a
technical piece of uh software I guess I would say um as it relates to mapping and it's not something that we have to have done I know it says last on 2005 It's not something that we need to have done at this time Um I think it can wait
until 2026 So the budget is actually down Um yes So with that 125 out it'll be a lower capital budget in it than last year Correct
Yeah One of my questions was going to be uh is there anything um on the end of life uh replacement items Um they still work they still function Uh it's just an expected
expected life uh is probably come due I was uh going to ask uh if there are items that we can postpone to maybe next year on the C on the end of life items that still work for it purposes Um no
because security um we don't get security updates anymore We would be putting ourselves at a risk um hardware that goes down we would no longer have support um and then we would potentially be you know um users would potentially
not have access uh to the system So anything that comes you know a computer that's um end of life it's going to be your or out of warranty I should say Yes Because we usually have one or two
sitting on the shelf Um but 20 2012 server um OS is coming to end of life So any of those servers have to get upgraded or we will no longer get security updates Um for Windows 10 that's becoming end of life So we have
to be at Windows 11 to be um to get security updates And we have to have compliant machines to be compliant with our insurance Yes So and at the same time it's it's going
to affect the speed of our computers too Well it you're asking if it will increase the speed of our computers Yes it will Will it affect the speed of our computers If we don't update is what they're
saying is if we don't update then we might have some lag right in information sharing or go going but if if they do update then they will be part of that renewal update system Yes Okay Then we need then we need to upgrade it then we need to upgrade them I I do have
a question on one of the line items Um Bob if you can scroll up I think you said 30,000 for routers phone routers and switches right Is that not part of the top lineup that has hardware and softwares for the phone for 75,000 No So each each um building there's one at
each building There's a phone router Um and that that does the the the switching for the calls What the other line item is our actual hardware It's actually VMware of of call manager and Unity
That's where your um where the software lives basically um how we control our phones how we control the voicemail and and that that type of thing So these phone routers are um that's where everything gets hooked up into the network basically I don't want to be
technical but and then anything that if there are POTS lines that are 911 like the police have um cards on theirs that have the the 911 hooked up to it or their you know that kind of thing So that's that hardware is um actually the
reason it even got brought to my attention it was the um paging system at the police department is also connected through there and their paging systems down and I can't get support for it because they're out of warranty
Okay good questions Does anyone have any other questions on the capital budget items There are at the bottom of this page other capital items for water Uh since Chris Well I think that it might be you can go through them but it might
be beneficial to have Carl in that uh presentation because he might have some uh some information or do you feel comfortable handling it now I do I do The video surveillance is actually um for there's been an unident
identified vulnerability within the pump stations and water tanks So they want to add uh cameras to those stations Um and those and those and those vulnerabilities I believe are identified by the D
That's my understanding Yeah the SCADA server rebuild So that is along the lines of 2012 issues Um uh uh the OS needs to be upgraded the hardware needs to be upgraded the firewall This is uh was put in um
2018 and for the um importance of what SCADA is which is our water utility is is needs to get upgraded So and Rockwell is the software and we're a few versions behind
And this is the system that controls all of the pump stations and uh interconnect and valves within the water system So now you covered it And then the last is that there is a
a Oh no I'm sorry That's it That that's the that's the IT capital budget in now complete without Carl So are there any questions on the technology capital budget or any items
on it that we haven't touched on Thank you Christa Thank you for being there to make this work No problem Okay Christa I'd say you could leave but you can't Um uh but the next on our
agenda is the last on our agenda which is the uh clerk's budgets Ann Marie Yes I'm here I thought you might be I'm still here So the first budget in the clerk budget
is the clerk budget Third budget is proposed at $61,819 which is a $13,615 increase over 2024 with professional consultant and specialized services up $12,000 as the
bulk of that increase of 13615 Amir you want to touch on that Yes Um that is for the preservation and imaging of our vital statistic books Um some of them are in really bad shape and
they're permanent Um but SA is actually out there She can explain it much better than I can as the regista See you So tell us about the registars's books and why they need to be restored and
it's the old birth certificate um book from 1925 to 1986 Um the binding is uh apart Um some of the pages are ripped out and stuff like that So um it needs to be restored
And so I I I'm just going to ask a quick question because I'd love to know how far back do our registar records go Um we have records from some records from 1925 to current Um I know in 1930
there was a fire So some of the records got burnt in the fire So it's just it's not many but it's some from 1925 And we're required to keep them that far back
Yes Wow that's amazing Amory how far back to the to the books go for the clerk's office All the way back to 17 98 1798
when we were incorporated Y years ago What' you say How far They're handwritten Oh yeah and SA how far back do the death records go
Death records um all vital sets I think is 1930 the current we do have some like yeah because of the fire Okay So are there any other questions on the clerk budget Bob I think there's a
question from the audience on the chat group Yeah there's a question You could answer that as a courtesy That would be nice It's I don't know what it's in reference to but the word tier one was mentioned and I think some people in the audience were not sure what that was
referring to Thank you Sheep I I just Mr Mayor Go ahead and answer it But we It's I don't see it I have it says what does tier one mean Tier one where the IT budget when it
came to the I'm sorry I'll turn chat off but um I could answer her It is the cyber security um insurance has what is it two or three tiers Three tiers Three tiers
So the cyber our cyber security insurance within the joint insurance fund has three tiers Tier one tier 2 and tier three Um there there's an obligation to work towards obtaining tier three level At tier one um we've
risk uh significant exposure should we have a cyber security attack um as far as what the township would be obligated to pay for anything like ransomware And and so tier three is what uh the
goal has been set by the the joint insurance fund and the in municip uh the municipal excess liability joint insurance fund which ensures the township for those uh costs over $300,000 um that all municipalities in the the
MELIF uh shall obtain tier three certification on their cyber security um practices So it's tier one is the lowest level Okay back to
the explain the task at hand here Okay So that if there's no other questions on Amarie's clerk budget I'll move to the next one which is the council budget The council budget is proposed at
$20,298 which is a $958 decrease from 2024 is 2156 And there's no increases to the 25 budget just um two two decreases There's
one increase and that has to the increase um leave dues Oh I'm sorry 451 Yes I see it Yeah I'm I apologize Last line there And um your all of your faces on my screen are blocking things on my spreadsheet so I
need to move that away Professional association dues up $451 Otherwise two decreases in uh conferences and meetings and education and training questions on the council budget
Okay last of the night elections Election budget has an increase of $2,800 uh from 37,000 24 to 39,800 in 25
um with increases in the two each of the two lines 2400 for printing and binding and 400 for other contractual Amory the printing and binding that is um where the sample ballots uh come out of
and with the ward election with the five different um sample ballots it needs to be increased a little and the other contractual items that $400 is the increase to renting the armory for the
two elections Federal government keeps upping our our lease The state of New Jersey increased our lease Any questions on that one I'm sorry What are the sample ballots I thought the ballots came from the county or
somewhere else The county prints them but we pay for them Oh okay Okay And that in that keeps increasing the printing cost that we get when we get that bill I always have to hold my breath because I pray that I have enough
in there Is that by state I'm sorry Is that by state Is that by state statute that the township is responsible um to the county for the hard cost Yeah
Thank you Okay Any other questions about election budgets So my question is did do we have a summation of all of this dollar-wise Well we're not done yet Mr Mayor but we
do And in fact at the last financial oversight committee meeting we went through all of the appropriations for tonight and next week's budgets So we do I that's that's will be part of this I
think summing up after uh we complete next week Okay And Mr Mayor the meeting is back to you So council discussion on budget items only Anyone have any more questions or
issues Hearing none Do we have a motion to adjurnn So moved Second Seconded Moved and seconded All in favor say I I Post say nay We are adjourned
Thank you Have a good night Good night