WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=YXo2aenBVBA

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: YXo2aenBVBA):
- 00:00:02: Meeting Called to Order, Pledge, and Invocation
- 00:01:32: Conference on Horseback Commendation Presentation and Explanation
- 00:05:28: Earth Day Proclamation and Environmental Stewardship Discussion
- 00:08:48: Taiwanese American Heritage Week Proclamation Reading
- 00:12:52: St. Matthias School 60th Anniversary Commemoration
- 00:17:43: St. Matthias Continued: Remarks from Father Tom
- 00:22:18: Sierra Leone Independence Day 65th Anniversary Proclamation
- 00:30:04: Closing remarks from Sierra Leone Community Speaker
- 00:31:00: Public Comment: Phyllis Beiel on Opiate Settlement Funds
- 00:37:08: Public Comment: Theodor Chase on Watershed Management Plan
- 00:39:15: Public Comment: Linda Powell on the Nessie Project
- 00:43:44: Public Comment: Deborah Inman on Council Conduct
- 00:47:04: Council Responses to Public Comments and Clarifications
- 00:49:07: Council Comments: Singh, Embarrison, and Francois
- 00:55:58: Council Comments: Vasinella, Onjaka, Wright
- 01:03:43: Council Comments: Karazzi and Kramer
- 01:05:54: Township Manager Report: Upcoming Events and Announcements
- 01:10:02: Council Discussion Item: Shade Tree Commission Report
- 01:25:11: Shade Tree Discussion: Tree Variety and Location
- 01:33:51: Approval of Warrants and Introduction of Budget Ordinance
- 01:36:24: Resolutions: Self-Examination of Budget and Hearing Date
- 01:37:34: Municipal Budget Discussion: Increase and Reductions
- 01:44:31: Budget Discussion Continued: Explanation of Budget Percentages
- 02:19:30: Further Budget Commentary and Board Discussion
- 02:45:22: Ordinance: Accepting Conversion Conservation Easement
- 02:48:12: Ordinances on First Reading and Adjournment


Part: 1

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This work session regular meeting of the township council is called to order. Madame clerk, in accordance with the open public meeting act of the state of New Jersey, adequate notice of this work session regular meeting of the Franklin Township Council was made as required indicating

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that this meeting will take place at the municipal building at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. If we could all stand for the pledge of allegiance and then remain standing for the invocation by Councilman Shupendu Singh.

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>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. So let us take the next few moments of

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silence to each seek in our own way whatever sources of inspiration will grant us the strength and power in our thoughts and decisions to be for the benefit of all people at

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all times. Amen. Madame clerk clerk please call the role. >> Councilman embarrass >> here. >> Councilwoman Francois here. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi >> here. >> Mayor Kramer >> here. >> Councilman Oni Jaka >> here. >> Councilman Singh >> yes. >> Councilman Vasinella

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>> here. >> As our township manager put it. We now have 18 uh commendations and proclamations. Uh but the first one will be conference on horseback commendation. And I'm going to see if I can set a new example by not reading all the

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proclamations, but talking to the people who are involved. And Mr. Lort will join me at the podium and call the others up. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, >> these are accommodations for the conference on horseback. And I'd

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like to call up George Luck, >> Kim from the Kingston Deli. Kingston Presbyterian Church and the the um Presbyterian Church. That's on. Huh?

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>> Oh, United Methodist Church. Excuse me. >> Stand over here for proclamations. >> I'm not used to I'm on the wrong side. Um, >> we've been talking about that. >> That's right. >> And it's not going to change. >> So, George, if you want to introduce

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everybody >> as we hand them out. >> This is the 50th anniversary. the conference on horseback is something that I'd known about for um 30 years because I like uh revolutionary war

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history and uh I've been mayor for about 10 and a half years. It was only about 6 months ago I learned that the conference of forceback happened in this very town. So, we did a reenactment as part of our Franklin 250 um celebration and these

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people were instrumental in making it come off the way it did. I just want to there is another person who was instrument instrumental in doing this and that was Glenn McParland and uh Glenn was crazy going down at the

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beginning of it and uh he did a great job and you'll see more about the you know our our uh coins that that actually Glenn designed for Franklin Township and I just can I put a plug in? Sure. We're

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the only ones in the state of New Jersey that I know right now that have actually designed our own coins and they're going to be available. >> The first set, they're out there now. We made a thousand. There's only 250 left.

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And the next batches, we have those and they'll be uh available at the library and different uh places within the next week, I think. Um, but those are really special, too. So,

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George, >> pick me to talk. >> All right. I just wanted to introduce Reverend Charl Dixon from the Presbyterian Church, Kim from the Kingston Delhi, and Herb uh Mertz from the Kingston United Methodist Church.

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And I I just again want to thank uh the mayor and the council for uh this recognition. Uh it was really uh a work of love to be able to bring that conference of a horseback to life and we look forward to doing the actual 250th

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next uh January. So uh thank you. I think I speak for everybody that we really appreciate the recognition but really wasn't necessary. It was a lot of fun to do. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all. Um, so who is doing Earth

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Day? >> Prom. Okay. I thought you said otherwise. >> I thought you going to come in with this was years ago. This month is the 50th anniversary. Relax.

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>> They only come in every 10 years. >> Good evening. >> This is here. >> Today, as we mark Earth Day, we reaffirm a simple truth. Caring for our planet right here in that begins right here at home in Franklin Township. We are

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blessed with parks, open spaces, and a community that understands the value of stewardship. This proclamation is just not symbolic. It is a commitment to the to cleaner air, healthier neighborhoods, and

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sustainable choices that protect our future. Let us work together as one community to ensure that in Franklin, we pass on to our children, what we pass on to our children is

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greener, stronger, and more resilient than the one we inherited. Today I'm pleased to invite my former uh colleague, Councilman Chase and Environmental Commission Paul Witski

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today to receive the proclamation yesterday's proclamation. This is not an a proclamation just for the environmental commission. It encompasses everything the township's been doing. the open space committee, the shade tree commission, the council

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itself, the 60 volunteers that showed up two weeks ago to help us clean Cely's run and got tons of garbage out. This is really a community res resolution and we appreciate the recognition to introduce you to

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>> and since we've had Earth Day, you can now mow your lawns. Well, it's really it's a matter of maintaining some early flowering small plants that typically will flower in your lawn if you give them a chance in

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April. I have the honor to serve with uh Dr. Chase at the planning board. I'm telling you he holds every applicant to the exacting standards that he has established in terms of uh uh the

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protecting the environment and and planting trees and he knows his plants and trees. >> Okay, Dr. Karazzi will be um issuing a proclamation for the Taiwanese American Heritage Week.

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>> Yes. Good evening everyone and I'm really honored to be here one more time to uh recognize another group of our community members and this time is the Taiwanese American and some of them are here. So would you please come forward and join me?

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>> Now it's a blessing to live in Franken Township. Of course, we have so many uh community members and you're going to be hearing another one pretty soon. So, but I'm going to be reading this proclamation to recognize the Taiwanese American Heritage Week actually. So

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whereas Taiwanese American Heritage Week is celebrated nationally during the week of May 17th each year to honor the contributions, culture, and history of Taiwanese Americans and their enduring impact on

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the United States. And whereas Taiwanese Americans have enriched our nation and our community through outstanding achievements in the fields of science, technology, medicine, education, business, and the arts, strengthening the fabric of American society. And

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whereas the township of Franklin is proud to be home to a vibrant Taiwanese American community whose members contribute greatly to the civic, cultural, and economic life of Somerset County and the greater region. And

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whereas the values of hard work, family, education, and community service that are hallmarks of the Taiwanese Americans, American experience reflect the finest traditions of Franklin Township and the state of New Jersey. And whereas the

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mayor and township council believe it is fitting and proper to recognize Taiwanese American Heritage Week and to celebrate the rich cultural heritage and many contributions of Taiwanese

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Americans to our community and our nation. And now therefore, be it proclaimed by the mayor and township council of the township of Franklin, County of Somerset, state of New Jersey, that the week of May 17 to 23, 2026,

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dear hereby designated Taiwanese American Heritage Week in the township of Franklin and all residents are encouraged to learn about, celebrate, and honor the heritage and achievements of the Taiwanese American community.

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Thank you so much, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. into the picture. >> Thank you uh mayor uh and the council uh members. Uh we uh Taiwanese American uh in our uh community deeply honored to

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have this uh recognition and hope we can like keep unite as one to uh uphold the value uh we we all share the democracy the freedom and the self-determination

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and all. Thank you. Thank you everyone. there. >> So there's a proclamation from the governor, right? >> Okay. So here's a proclamation also from the governor >> for that. So that's wonderful. That's great. Congratulations. That's

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beautiful. Thank you. Sure. Mr. Vasinello will be commemorating the 60th anniversary of St. Matias's school. So since they only come about every 10 years, I will read the whole proclamation. Now, just a little tidbit,

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I personally have a lot of friends, family, relatives that have worked and continue to work uh in public school, public school systems, everything from food ser food service workers to superintendent. But like many things in this country, um you have choices and um

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with that um in education is religious-based schools, also known as paroial schools, of course, private. We're talking about parochial schools tonight. Well, we were blessed in the 1960s. Not only have St. Matias Parish uh start up here um when there was

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literally onethird of the population give or take a few thousand of what we have here today. And along with the parish a few years later came St. Mthi School and uh although I did go to Pine Grove for kindergarten the oldest school still still open in Franklin Township

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public school I spent eight years at St. Matias and went on to proal High School as my three sisters did also. How are you? Uh um anyway, um and my son and nephews and many other people. Um whatever school

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you choose is is is whatever is right for you. Um I was happy and thrilled to this day that I got that education, strict as it was, but we had a lot of fun. Um so I'm going to read a proclamation that just highlights some of the high points of it. And I believe

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it's the oldest continuously running paroial school um in Franklin Township. and continues today to um run K well they didn't have it back then now they have K through eight and I think even preschool and God knows so many other uh

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uh things connected to the parish for the children but um we're here to celebrate 60 years which is not easy u for any school let alone uh Catholic schools that many are closing or merging so really we have a gem here in Franklin

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Township enough said about that I'm going to read this procla oclamation and then uh the new pastor, Father Tom, um and some others will come up to receive it and hopefully say a couple words. So um whereas St. Matias School was founded

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in 1965 in Somerset, New Jersey and has proudly served the children of Franklin Township in Somerset County for 60 years providing a Christc centered education rooted in academic excellence, moral development, and spiritual growth for students from preK through 8th grade.

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And whereas in 2001, St. Mthi School was honored as a national blue ribbon school by the United States Department of Education, one of the most prestigious recognitions in American education and has been named best elementary school in Somerset consecutively from 2021 to the

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present. I did not know that reflecting his substained commitment to educational quality. And whereas in partnership with the Catholic community of St. Matias and school families. The school nurtures students to develop strong moral values and essential life skills, preparing them to serve as responsible citizens

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and faithful disciples in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world world. And whereas the mayor and township council of Franklin Township recognized the St. School has been and continues to be a cornerstone institution and beacon of

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faith-based education in our community and wish to honor its dedicated administrators, teachers, staff, families, alumni on the occasion of this remarkable milestone. And whereas the St. I school community will gather on Saturday, May 16th, 2026 to celebrate

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this joyous 60th anniversary milestone with a special community celebration, bringing together current families, alumni, parishioners, and friends to reflect upon the school's proud history and look forward to its bright future. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the

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mayor of the township of C Franklin and the township council of the township of Franklin, county of Somerset, state of New Jersey, that the township of Franklin hereby congratulates and honors St. Matias School on the occasion of its 60th anniversary and that Saturday, May

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16th, 2026 is hereby proclaimed St. school day in the township of Franklin and extends his deepest gratitude to all who have dedicated themselves to the school's mission of faith, learning and service to the community over the past six decades.

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And I I just brought a little a little visual aid to uh suggest how things have changed. I didn't go in the 60s. I was here I was here in the 70s. Uh I as far as I went to school there but have actually had u some family or relative I think up until this decade somebody

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enrolled if not multiple people back then we had to wear wool ties no air conditioning wool ties so it's a little bit different of a world but it's evolved you do have air conditioning um I know at least far back since my son went there they get to wear polo shirts

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um so it's a little bit different uh in that way but um just as good if not better and the values it teaches and the academic excellence that comes out of it. Um, Father, uh, Tom, the new pastor, please, uh, if you'd like to say a couple words and anybody else here,

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which you're contingent and ironically, uh, I just found this. This is from the 50th. We all look a little younger. Um, but I don't know if the camera can see it, but that's from the 50th. So, sorry to take up so much

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time, but since you only come every 10 years or so, I figured it was worth the the uh the time. >> Picture and then I'll say >> uh Sure. >> Sure. >> All right. >> All right. >> Did you get it with this? Yeah. And then one with all of us.

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>> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. Can we could you get the Franklin? You want to picture everyone? Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Charles. Thank you, uh, to everybody on the council. Uh, thank you to our mayor. Um,

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I have not had the privilege of being here too long, uh, since August. And uh that's when I was named the pastor of St. Matias. But I inherited a really rich legacy within our town. And uh part of my goal and part of my vision is to

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to keep that going. You know, we want to be a place where people feel welcome. That's part of our motto is that all all are welcome. you know and another thing um you know with Catholic education and really p private school education it can be you know economically challenging but

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I think the one thing that makes particularly Catholic education stand out is we care much about formation as we do education and that's really important because formation is really about the whole person we want to form

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morally upright people we want to form people of faith people that are going to be good mothers good fathers fathers, good siblings, um people that are going to be responsible in the community. Um so so that's that's really important to us as is, you know, having the highest

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quality of education that we can provide. On May 16th, Saturday, May 16th, we're hosting a big festival. Maybe many of you remember the carnival days, right, when St. Matias on JFK had all the lights and the rides. So we're we're not quite there yet, but we're

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going to have a festival to honor the 60th anniversary of the school. We have a Christian rock band coming. We have food trucks. We'll have plenty of games for the kids. We're going to be giving tours of the school. Um there's there's going to be a lot of cool stuff going on that day. So, it's a really great opportunity for everybody in our

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community, whether you're Catholic, Christian, or otherwise, anything. Come hang with us. Let's get to know our neighbors and let's celebrate and give uh you know give thanks for something you know in our town that's uh really really thrived and succeeded over the years to help you know help help our

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citizenship in this town and and and help uh you know the town to to flourish in the state of New Jersey. So I just want to thank everybody and uh I hope I'll be invited back. Thanks. >> Oh that's another one. Okay. Thank you. >> For our ne our next prop proclamation is

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the 65th anniversary of S Sierra Leone independence. >> Okay. Whoops. My glasses. Uh Well, here we're back here as we are every year. This is a little bit of a milestone. I don't have a picture from it, but I remember the 50th

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>> and the big parade and and u that was 15 years ago. Um boy, we're all getting old. But uh here we are to 65th and I'll just read this proclamation here. um uh and myself my colleague um Councilman

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Aljaka have a couple words to say um but let me read this. Whereas the Republic of Sierra Leone gained it its independence from Great Britain on on April 27th, 1961, ending over 150 years of British colonial rule, marking this year as the 65th anniversary of

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independence. And whereas many local Sierra Leoneian organizations and individuals in Franklin Township are dedicated to the principles of civic, economic, and educational programs by encouraging the teachings of African culture and social contributions of largely West African immigrants. And

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whereas the Sierra Leoneian American community has established deep roots in Franklin Township, contributing significantly to the rich cultural diversity, civic engagement, and economic vitality of our community. And whereas the township council and all citizens of the township wish to

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acknowledge and acclaim the contributions of our Sierra Leone community to the life of our community. And whereas Sierra Leone's path to independence represents a triumph of self-determination and democratic values, principles that are cherish cherished by the citizens of Franklin

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Townships and the United States of America. And whereas the celebration of Sierra Leone's Independence Day is a time of freedom, responsibility, peacefulness, and loving that reminds us of the sacrifices made by numerous heroes and freedom fighters to secure

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freedom cherished today. And whereas the youth of Franklin Township and its environs have distinguished themselves through exceptional academic achievement, bringing tremendous pride to their parents, guardians, and families both here in the despair uh and

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home in Sierra Leon, whose applause and celebration of these accomplishments reflects the enduring value and community places and our community places on education excellence. And now therefore, we Councilman Charles Onjaka and James

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Ainella and Mayor Phil Kramer on behalf of the entire township council do hereby proclaim April 27th, 2026 as Sierra Leone Independence Day in Franklin Township and encourage all residents to join in recognizing the cultural, social, and economic contributions of

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the Sierra Leoneian American community to our township and to participate in the various celebrations and educational activities commemorating this important occasion. This is for you. >> Councilman, you want you want to get a

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picture? I think another one. That's beautiful. >> That's good. Thank you. >> Um, >> okay. Go. Thank you. >> Uh first of all, I want to use this

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opportunity to thank all of you and to wish you all happy independence. Um in as much as African community is part of Franklin

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Srian and Selonian community since they since after the war they migrated to United States. They have been significantly outstandingly

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show difference in Franklin in everything they are doing. to do it to support the p the cause and the freedom that is in Franklin. The diversity in Franklin can enamorously been seen among

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Syrialonians. I not briefly I will say continue with it. We recognize that and everything will work out well. Thank you. On behalf of the Sierian community here,

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you see a cross-section of us. Um, I don't know how much I'll have to say thank you. Thank you to our mayor, Dr. Phil Quayman, and Council Chara, James Vasinella, and the rest of the people I see here.

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I know them by name, but for time, I don't want to call off them. They've helped us in various ways. Um 15 years ago we did celebrate our 50th anniversary and just like um uh James

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Basinola our councilman said he's been our ambassador and he was there with his child and you know he's a big man now. He's a grownup man now. Yes. So we're happy here. We're just going to say that I just want to iterate it what um um

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councilman chaser said um May 2nd on Saturday we having our 65th anniversary and we're coming up and it's a challenge. It will beat the 50th anniversary. We're ready for that and we

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invite everyone here to be there and the heritage everything that portrays us that exemplify us and those ties that we have with the Franklin Township will be portrayed to the highest. So I thank you very much for giving us that cohesion,

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that inclusion and enjoying that diversity. Thank you so much. No. Um I'm I'm just saying that we've spoken to the police department. Everything is in order and a lot of help has been given. Like we had the last Junentine where we met at the Junentine

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at the middle um Franklin Middle School. That's where the procession will start 10:00 a.m. And it will continue to the park n Williams Park and we'll be there. We'll have speeches and some of you guys I don't want to take you up but you're going to be saying some nice speeches on

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behalf of of the township and the county Somerset County and New Jersey the state assemblymen. I just want to go on and on. And then we have I think um one of the councilmen said it. We call it like a showcasing our we have intents there

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and then you're going to see profoundly who we serunions the resilience and everything. All the people you see these are heads and they've they've they've they've done so well and we have been here in this township for over 30 years

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and we have kids who are now in high places in various segment various um aspect of the workforce of Franklin Township and that is due to the compassion and empathy that Franklin is known for. So thank you very much.

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Uh, it's time for public discussion. I ask for unanimous consent to open to the public. Seeing hearing no objections, we are opening to the public uh for comments. We have five minutes of peace. No yielding of time. May only

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come up once. Speak about anything to do with government. Please state your name and address. >> Phyllis Beiel, 6 Alma Court, Somerset. Good evening, town council members. Uh I am here tonight as uh the co-chair of

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the Franklin Township Municipal Alliance Committee for the Prevention of Substance Abuse and as the chair of the uh same municipal alliance opiate settlement funds advisory committee. And before I forget, I want to thank especially

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uh public safety director Frederick's, Councilwoman Francois, Deputy Mayor Karazzi, and the other members of the opiate uh funds Advisory Committee for uh their support. And I'm very happy that we are coming together

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as a team to work on deciding how to best utilize the uh opiate settlement funds that have been coming into our municipality for um three or four years. But I do want to point out to you that uh on the agenda there is a resolution

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to vote to approve or disapprove uh this resolution for community and recovery champion program for an amount of $20,000 for one year of services and that those funds will come from the opiate settlement funds. Um I urge you

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to vote yes on this resolution. Uh the uh advisory committee met virtually last Tuesday and it was unanimously uh agreed to put forward this recommendation which is really our role is to just provide advice to town council about how those funds can be uh

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utilized along with working with um our police department. Um, Communities in Crisis, which will be the uh nonprofit that will be providing these uh services, is a nonprofit peer recovery center that supports each individual's

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unique path of recovery. Credentialed peer recovery specialists take a person first approach, prioritizing safety, responsibility, and meaningful support for all. By the way, peer recovery uh co coaches are uh have been found to be an

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evidence-based effective way for one assisting people who need treatment to get into it because they have that first person experience of knowing I have been where you are now and I can I can relate to what you're going through and once

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they get into treatment of helping to keep them in treatment and to continue to get the support they might need for vocational housing other services. The first five years of drug-free or sober living are critical. So, if you think

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about it, you might say, "Oh, this is great. Soand so went through rehab and he's done or she's done six months and everything's going to be hunky dory now." It's a long-term road, but people do recover. People are living in in uh

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sober and drug-free lives. And uh it is possible. It's hard. It's not easy. And we know that there are stories of that aren't successful, but it's so important that that this support be maintained. So, I just want to make you also aware

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that if and I'm saying this partly for the public, I hope who will listen or be watching this that um our community and crisis uh hub which is at 873 Hamilton Street um announces two new youth related initiatives.

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Um, one is teen smart recovery meeting and just so you know the model for a long time has been NA narcotics anonymous and there are teen NA meetings but a lot of teens don't take and younger people don't take well to the NA

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approach and smart recovery helps teens and adults they're also adult smart recovery meetings to make positive life-changing um decisions by managing their thoughts handling challenges and building a life that feels good and in control. It's a different approach. It's

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kind of like really stopping, thinking about what you might be facing, looking at that choice. Am I going to go to this way or am I going to go that way? And so, it's a slightly different approach um that works well for many people. So, they are now offering at the 873

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Hamilton Street location uh teen smart recovery meetings on Thursday evenings. Um and also they uh CIC has formed a youth uh recovery committee and they are looking for uh young adults and uh teens

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who have lived experience to help advise on uh how to what would be good to bring into uh into our community. So um that was pretty much there was just one um oh our opiates fund opiate funds advisory

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subcommittee could use some more representatives. We don't have anyone who has lived in uh been in recovery for a period of time and has a picture or a voice of wisdom. Uh we would we're still looking for someone who may uh fit in

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that um that role. Um so and I think uh there's also going to be Narcan training going on at um also at the hub on uh May 19th and that's for anyone ages 14 and up. Everyone should know how to use

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Narcan. So, they will be having a training there that day. And I think that I'm sure I'm forgetting. That's pretty much it. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? >> Theodor Chase, 159 Old Georgetown Road.

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Some weeks ago, I asked council uh where they were on joining the lower millstone watershed storm water management plan. As you know,

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this is a integrated plan involving those parts of all of it of a number of communities that are in the lower Millstone watershed, including

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69% of Franklin Township. At that time, I was just told, "Oh, it's under legal review." And I hadn't received any further information about that although I'd sent a couple of emails. But uh last night at

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the watershed institute annual meeting I was happy to talk with Mark Herman uh the township engineer of Montgomery Township who's really taken a leading role in organizing

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this joint plan. And he informed me that you had in fact approved this and in fact promised to send uh the financial contribution that all the towns are asked to send

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based on their amount of imperous surface within the watershed. As I said, well Franklin has a large area in the watershed really the whole east side of it. Fortunately, there's not too much impervious surface. Uh,

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so I thank you for approving this and joining into this integrated watershed plan, which is really the best way to do it. Thank you. >> Thank Thank you.

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Good evening. Linda Powell, 22 Buffer Drive. Um, one of the things I've appreciated uh from this council, from our environmental commission, and living in this town is your dedication to uh keeping the environment safe, um, caring

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about the land, the air, the water, and the health of our residents. Um, we've have had, I would say, a thorn in our side, but it's been more like a a sort of damocles hanging over our head or a guillotine hanging over our head. And

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that's called the Nessie project, the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project. Um, we I first learned about it in in June of 2016. I think the first person I contacted was our mayor. Um, the first

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community meeting I went to was at Councilman Singh's house. Um, and we've defeated it several times with the help of people from New York State and we thought it was a dead deal.

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However, when after Trump got elected and he wanted to pay back his fossil fuel donors, um we heard about this this meeting that governor of New York, Governor Hul was having with him and immediately I

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thought, uhoh, it's going to be Nessie again. And it was along with the Constitution pipeline. Um so we're asking people to call and write Governor Cheryl Um, this was approved by Governor Hokll

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and Governor Murphy before he left. And it's the same project. It's it's just as polluting as it was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, four years ago, two years ago, all the times it was denied. It's going to pollute our air. It's going to

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pollute our water. It's going to cause health crisis especially in our area because of the um gas powered gas compressor station which is highly polluted and being a health care professional one of the things that I looked into was all the health impacts

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and there is not a system in our in our bodies that will not be adversely impacted by the type of pollution that this compressor station would spew into our atmosphere and undo a lot of the good that's been on. So, uh, if there's

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one more permit that it's needed, one more license that's needed by, um, by the Tidelands Resource Council, and there's going to be a virtual meeting at 10:00 a.m. next Wednesday. And if you want to get the details of

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it, very easily, just look go to clean oceanaction.org's website, and all the information you'll need is right there. how to sign up, how to get on teams, etc. But we're also asking people before then as well as after then to call Governor Charl at

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6092926000 or to um email her. One of the ways to email her is constituents.reations um NJ.gov. And um even if you don't want to speak at the meeting, we're trying to get as many people as possible to join. This

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might be our last our last harrah to stop this this project which includes not only this polluting compressor station in our township, but also um a a p a new pipeline underneath Raritin Bay,

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which will drag up industrial toxins that have been laid dormant underneath the seabed for decades. And this will be resuspended into the bay and affect our shore our shore economy um as well as uh

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come into the wetlands and and affect our drinking water. So you know explain to uh Governor um Cheryl that this project uses frack gas. She thought it doesn't and none of the gas is for New Jersey. We get nothing from this project

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except the pollution and the costs that it's bad for our health, bad for our air, bad for our water, bad for our wetlands, tidelands and shore, bad for our economy, bad for our climate, bad for New Jersey, and bad for the earth. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Deborah Inman, I N M 67 Roberts Road. Township council meetings ought to provide residents with a safe space to raise concerns and share concerns about their neighborhoods or wards free from

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retaliation. Such gatherings should encourage open expression, allowing individuals to voice their worries without hesitation. The conduct observed by several council members have been inappropriate and

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lacking in courtesy. Councilman Abarrison, your outburst at the last last meeting was unwarranted, abrasive, and downright rude. to set the record straight. No one or or shall I say I was not making an accusation. I

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just posed the question that the public had a right to know where Councilman Wright maintains a residence in the fourth ward. Your reply was quite personal and this platform isn't the place for such response to valid

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questions. Mr. The von locker often responds to residents concerns or questions with a very abrasive tone that can sometimes come across as intimidating. In an email dated 1012025 to Mayor Kramer, I raised concerns

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regarding unprofessionalism and disrespect demonstrated by several council members. I expressed my dismay at how the current council responded to a resident in a manner I found truly appalling.

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After the meeting on 414 2026, I conveyed these same concerns to Deputy Mayor Councilman at large Karazzi. Additionally, I noted that most residents are hesitant to attend these meetings due to apprehension about being

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subjected to disrespectful behavior or feeling demeaned when their when their perspectives do not align with those on the deis. It is inappropriate. It I'm sorry. It is disappointing that taxpaying residents whose contri

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contributions fund their salaries must endure inappropriate behavior from those elected to serve and represent them. I have expressed this behavior and I refuse to tolerate being addressed in a

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manner that lacks respect or professionalism. Lastly, I encourage all members of the day to reflect on their past actions and strive to interact with positivity with residents who attend the meetings that voice their concerns and ask their

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questions. Anyone else wishing to speak? Seeing no one come forward. I ask unanimous consent to close public portion. >> Without objection, public portion is closed. Uh we address the public. Um

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Miss Beals, thank you for your comments. Uh it's uh on our consent agenda, the resolution for $20,000. Um I bet it'll pass, but but I don't know.

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Um, Mr. Chase, thank you for following up on the watershed issues. Uh, without Councilman uh, Patnik here, it's good to have you snapping the whip behind us to remind

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us. Um, Miss Pow Nessie is it's like Chucky in the movies. you just can't kill it. Um, thank you for reminding us of that, Miss Inman. Thank you for your comments.

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Um, >> Mr. Mayor, could I just add add one comment to Councilman Chase that there's a a force of habit uh to Miss Dr. Chase's uh Dr. Chase, I don't I don't know if Mark had mentioned to you at the meeting that that project is now being

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funded by a D grant. Yeah, I think it's one of these where you spend the money and then you get >> correct. It's a reimbursement grant. That's correct. But it nonetheless is it >> we get the money back. >> We do. That's it, Mr. Mayor.

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>> Okay, Mayor, if I may, um, last meeting, Mr. Iman and I Mr. Walker and Mrs. Iman asked a question about the uh Councilman Wright's residency and uh I mentioned to both of them before the meeting that uh

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Mr. uh Councilman Wright lives in Ward 4. So I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. >> Um council comments, we'll start with Mr. Singh. So, I want to start by um thanking Miss

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Beiels for her um meaningful community message. It's important and I support that. I also want to thank uh Miss Powell um for being part of

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protesting the compressor station with William Transco uh and the N project. Uh it's been a 10-year fight and I want to thank everyone and there is a large portion of my first word that's been part of that

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protest. So I want to thank everyone for all the tireless effort that has been made towards it and I personally continue to support that protest as we go along. We got one more gate um to to

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get through and I hope um that permit gets denied. Um, I also want to report that I had the opportunity to attend my first environmental commission meeting last week and um, what stood out to me

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was the depth of thought and depth of commitment of the members of that commission and their commitment to practical

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local solutions And I know one of the finest from that group is out here tonight, Mr. Witzki. Um I always say this good policy starts with informed discussion and one of the

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discussions that we had last week when I was with the environmental commission was uh the solution of portable solar and uh I would like to uh share a

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message not just with my word but with our entire community that uh everyone should look at it. It's a solution that drives sustainability and it's a solution that drives affordability. So, and just for those two reasons, we

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should all take a look at that. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Coun Councilman Embarrison. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um yeah, this last couple of weeks uh we had a number of uh

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uh events uh in township. Uh one of them was my favorite uh sponsored event to def France u to benefit uh the food bank uh to to I'm sorry to to the France to the France.

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>> They got to chuckle out the gallery over here >> to the France. Um I used to live in France for whatever that is worth. Um anyway, so I think the u turnout was slightly lower than uh last year because

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of the weather. We think uh although it was raining the previous night uh the day started out cold but kind of improved throughout the day. Um last year I think they raised about 130,000. I'm not sure what the final number is

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going to be this year. Uh hopefully match that or even more. Um, I'm a proud sponsor of that event every year. So, if you go around town, you see my uh picture on one of those uh the boards that they have all around. I was happy

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to do it every year. Uh, other than that, um I there was a land use meeting. We discussed some upcoming ordinances um and some other issues. um part of the uh county workforce

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development board. We did a I participated in in a site visit in Hunan County Educational Service Commission as a moni it's a monitoring visit for the money that they receive from the board. Uh so we went and uh spent an afternoon

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with the good folks there who help um uh SNAP res recipients um get to work by training them uh in various uh programs uh that they offer. So it's a very good program that they do

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and they have notable success in getting people off the roles and and get into employment. uh very good project. Uh and then we continue to meet with the YMCA folks uh to uh

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ex continue to raise uh uh money for the YMCA. Uh we are all um doing that uh whenever we get a chance. Hopefully that'll become a reality in the near future. That's all I got. Mayor, >> thank you. Councilwoman Francois.

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>> Yeah. I'd like to report last Saturday, April 18th, we had a resource fair at the youth center and it was a really nice job training, vocational training. The kids came with their resumes. They applied for jobs. We had over 26

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businesses there. We even had summer youth employment opportunities from the township. And um we even had free brunch and I was able to eat pancakes and waffles and French toast and bacon and turkey bacon

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and eggs. It was it was quite a brunch. It was but it was a really really nice event. And more importantly, we also had the uh motor vehicles uh mobile unit there so that the kids could apply for their driver's license.

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and I actually got an appointment and was able to finally get my Real ID. So, it wasn't just for the kids, it was also for the parents. The parents were bringing their kids with them to get their driver's license. So, it was like a 360 degree event for the for the

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families and the kids. And it was I think we had quite a bit of uh parents that were there that really enjoyed really really enjoyed the uh opportunity for the kids to get um exposure to what type of vocational training would be out there, what kind of summer

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youth employment opportunities are available. And we plan to do that every year. This is our third year doing that. Every year it gets bigger and bigger. This was the first year we had a brunch and the kids seemed to like that a lot. We had a DJ. It it it was a nice event. It was only from 9 to 1 and the kids

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showed up very early. They were there early. They were dressed to impress. It was a nice event. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Councilman Bassinella. >> Thank you, Mayor. So, I've attended a handful of meetings. I'm just um one being Shade Tree. They're doing a quick

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report uh as they update council yearly. I'm not going to get into that. Uh we had a public safety meeting. Uh we're reviewing uh some options of how to utilize a piece of property township owns for hopefully um uh an asset maybe

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an area of training to our firefighters and first responders. But we're reviewing that and we'll bring um uh ideas and final uh decisions to the table here or to the to the public. But uh we're going through that process now. Uh but whatever we do hopefully will

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increase the uh what is now a very high standard of uh first responders especially volunteers in our community and uh perhaps even be able to make it even a higher standard. Um I'm congratulations to everybody here with the proclamations. Um, by the way,

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I echo I don't Councilman Singh is much more has been much more involved in the Nessie situation, but I I echo having been following it for the entire duration on council. Uh, echo what he he said. Um, we'll see what happens. Um, and just

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real quickly, uh, to follow up, I do want to acknowledge St. Matias once again. Um, public education is the backbone of education in this country, as it has been and always should be. But um there are choices and and and it does require sacrifice. My parents put four children through Catholic school and a

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lot of sacrifice to do that. Whether you're putting one, four or 10, um it's a personal choice, but um I know a school in the community uh works with with with people uh if you desire to be there. I'm sure it'll find a way to do it. It's not for everybody, but um I'm

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uh grateful I had the opportunity and any sacrifices involved have been paid back a thousandfold. And uh there's a few schools, not just St. One, our our deputy mayor very modestly uh was involved with launching. I'm not going to get into other schools, but we have a

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great public school system here, public uh school district, and we have some other really great options um in our community, and we're all blessed um for those options. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Councilman Onjaka.

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>> Okay. Um thank you, Mayor. One, the HRC will have their next meeting June 24th. you know May is not going to be possible on May because of the because of the memorial

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day. So and um father Lance from Matias the new pastor will do their presentation. Okay. One more thing that um I want to use this opportunity to express our

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happiness the African community >> how we are being accommodated in uh in Franklin you know we are part of Franklin and most especially being led by by Srian community they came out immediately after the war and they were granted um

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asylum so they've been here more than any of this West African country and uh they've they've had a full integration but one more thing left is uh we the African community we are trying to find

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a place we can build our hall and display our culture and display our artifacts. It has been our demand for a long time but hopefully one day we know it's going to come by. We we will

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succeed in getting one. Thank you mayor. This is what I have. >> Thank you, Councilman Wright. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Uh, first I want to thank the the council for allowing me to uh have a couple days off for personal reasons. I

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appreciate that. U things happen in life and we all have to step through the gates. So, I did my little thing. I'm glad to be back. Uh, one quick message. Um, some I received an email uh and it had

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something to do with the Somerset County recycling program about the bins that were placed out, the blue bins. >> I received the big bins that look like garbage cans. I received them over in front of my house. Um, and my in-laws,

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they live two blocks away. They are still operating on the small bins. And a couple of times people have asked me, "Well, why did you get them and why didn't I get them?" I was a block away. So I didn't know. So I went up the chain, went up the food chain as it

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were. And the county said, "Well, they received money for them. They got grants to send uh for those bins and not everyone got them in town and we may not be getting them all over town as it were at one particular

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moment, but I'm going to rely on somebody's brain that I think has a little more in-depth knowledge even though I'm put him on the spot for this. And that's going to swing down there to the big guy at the end. >> Sure. >> And say, "Bob, talk to me." So, I

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attended a a uh a conference at the county about a month and a half ago, and one of the topics that was discussed was this topic in particular. Um and the the uh the director of public works um Vinnie Russo spoke at that event and

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advised all of us that uh unfortunately the roll out of the larger containers um has been delayed um for a number of years now related to their ability to procure the trucks that are we'll call

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them one-armed bandits for lack of a better term. those trucks, not only do they lift up the the containers, but those trucks also sort the materials inside the truck before it's brought to uh the uh recycling center in Bridgewater uh that the county operates.

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Um so that they do not anticipate for several years being able to continue to roll out the larger containers for those who have not received them. Um it's it's simply a matter of being able to procure

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the uh the necessary vehicles to utilize those large bins. Um so that's the answer in a nutshell. Um, so those who have them, I mean, I I I don't I have them and and and what I note is that

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often times my recycling is picked up with a standard garbage truck as opposed to the truck um with the arm to lift up the large buckets because they only have um a small number of those trucks and they're insuff their fleet is

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insufficient in size to cover the entire county and they've already overextended with what they've uh put out uh up to now. So that that's not the short answer. That's the complete answer. >> So it's going to be a little while

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before >> I I would not anticipate it for several years. >> For several years. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Because at one point I thought it was a grant that was given out, but uh it was just flat out >> we ordered them. >> We didn't come through and can't get

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enough trucks. >> Exactly. >> Okay. Yep. >> So, I hope that answers that question for everyone out there in the view and public because that's definitely a timely answer and I thank you for giving it to us. Other than that, uh I'm done, Mr. Mayor.

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>> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and and Councilman Carl Wright. We are happy to see that see that you're back. Um so let me start by u thanking uh councilman Ambassum for

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being a sponsor and I happen to be a director at Masid Ali and also president of Sodic school which is a private school similar to San Matias and I'm happy that both of them actually were sponsors of the tour of the Franklin and

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you'll see our logos on the big board so we really happy to be able to uh to become a sponsor. Um I also wanted to uh really recognize uh Mrs. um Phis Fisal.

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She has been an amazing contributor and the chair for the municipal alliance opioid funds advisory subcommittee and we really thank for all the work you do. Really, it's amazing. and my neighbor Linda

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Powell and my uh partner in the Democratic Committee. I really appreciate what you do. You know, I enjoy seeing you walking in our neighborhood with your husband and uh it's always uh uh blessing to see you

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when you walk and have the opportunity to talk to you. So, so much so thank you so much for all you do especially for this project. Um, I guess um that's it, Mr. Mayor.

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Okay. Thank you. Uh, I would like to thank the enormous number of people who wished me well during my illness. Um, I can tell you now that uh after several

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studies, it is not life-threatening. Has to do with my digestive system. and you don't want to know anything more. >> Um, >> Mr. Manager, your report. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have several events upcoming that I would like to

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announce. Um, one of them is to be held here in this room tomorrow between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. And it is sponsored by Assemblyman Danielson. It is a senior fraud forum. Uh it's in collaboration with the other people up here minus the township

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attorney. So that means the mayor and council. Um I believe the mayor is going to be in attendance. I would imagine several council members as well. Um the why attend? Speak directly to professionals that specialize in frauds and scams. Educate yourself on the different types of scams from local law

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enforcement as well as state and federal officials. learn how to protect yourself and your money and find out what to do when you think you've been scammed. Um, so senior fraud form courtesy of Assemblyman Danielson and mayor and

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council. Um, the next three items I have to go to an email that was sent to me by our special projects manager who said if I don't um announce these, she's going to have me pay for it tomorrow. Um, the

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first is to be held Saturday, May 2nd from 1:00 p.m. to 400 p.m. The Not Quite Wine and Cheese Art Opening to be held at the Senior Center, 505 Damont Lane. Come and enjoy an eclectic mix of local artists at Franklin's third annual art

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opening. Experience the arts, meet the artists, purchase original pieces, and enjoy refreshments as you step into our amazing gallery of Franklin Township's most talented artists. on Wednesday, May 6th, uh from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. QPR,

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question, persuade, refer suicide prevention certification course, also to be held at the Senior Center, 505 Deont Lane. Franklin Township residents and community members will have the opportunity to take part in a free evidence-based suicide prevention

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training on May 6th as the Franklin Township Stigma-free Council partners with Empower Somerset to host QPR question, persuade, persuade, refer a free suicide prevention certification course. And then finally,

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I think I have one here. I do. Available now is the Franklin 250 passport. It looks like this. And there will be I think there's some out in window at at various locations within

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the municipal complex. They will also be at all of the locations listed in the uh passport. And let me explain to you what this is. Franklin Township has officially launched the Franklin 250 Passport Program, an initiative designed

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to celebrate local businesses while encouraging residents to explore the community in honor of America's upcoming 250th anniversary. Residents can collect 15 passport stamps at participating businesses for a chance to win prizes.

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Passports are available at participating businesses, the municipal building, or the community senior center. I think I just said all of those things where they would be. Um, completed passports must be submitted by Friday, September 4th. Winner will be announced at Franklin

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Day, which will be after September 4th. So, if you are able to go, you don't necessarily have to buy anything, but if you go visit the businesses, some of them have coupons for discounts. Um, here's Amwell Auto Clinic was at the corner of Amwell and Cedar Grove. Bam

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Desserts, uh, Confectionally Yours, uh, Degloio Realy, Franklin Park Diner, and a number of other businesses. I won't sit and read them all, but if you get 15 stamps in your passport and give it to us, then you'll be entered into a uh,

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raffle for prizes to be awarded at Franklin Day Festival. So, and that is what I have to report today, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Mr. Manager. On to item number 10 of council discussion item. Uh

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the uh the agenda can uh are available next to the clerk so you can follow along but number 10 is council discussion item shade tree commission report. Steve Gahuli Mr. Gahuli is going to cast some shade

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on us. >> No no casting shade. The good kind of shade. Good kind of shade. Oh thank you. Oh thank you clerk. We're trying. We're multimedia this year. We're going to do some some slides instead of just talking. And I'm going to keep it very short. Uh just wanted to give the

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council good evening. I'm Steve Galuli. I'm the the chair of the Shade Tree Commission, your volunteer uh panel that manages the trees and shrubs on public property in the township. So, one of the things we do is to uh incre try to increase the amount of trees in town. Uh the other thing we do is try to do more

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public outreach. And so I thought it'd be uh a good idea to come back and talk to you about what we've done over the past year and where we're going with our goals in years to come. All right. If you could go to the next page, unfortunately, I don't have an any good

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news for you on the status of our tree cover or canopy cover for Franklin Township. Uh for the year that the most recent year we have data, which is 2023, uh we've lost uh a couple hundred acres of tree coverage over the town. Uh that's just a result of the natural

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removal of trees for developments whether it's a warehouse, residential or commercial developments. Uh older trees being removed, replaced by smaller trees. Uh what we're trying to do as the shade tree commission is we can't certainly plant thousands and thousands of trees to replace all the ones we're losing. But we can plant trees in key

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locations and study the canopy and try to educate the public so that we can make trees available to them at lower cost. So we'll talk a little bit about how we're doing some of that. Um what else are we doing? Yeah. Um the the the area we're focusing on uh this year also is in wards four and five, one of our

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more densely populated areas of the township and also uh part of the township that was identified in our public health survey um as having some health impacts from the environment. Uh what we're doing there and we'll talk a little bit more about that is focusing some of our efforts with our community forestry management planning um to put

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more trees into those two wards. And if you go to the next page please, there is some good news for this year. So, that was that was the the tough news. The good news is we planted over 60 new trees in parks and roadways along the township. Our DVW crews have been extremely busy. And I I can't say enough

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about how expert and how professional they are about identifying locations for trees, getting new varieties of trees. You'll see in Rucker Heights Park, we now have coffee trees. They don't literally grow coffee. That's just what they're called because they look like their bark looks like the color of coffee. Um, they're robust, strong trees

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that put up with drought, high temperatures, and dry times, which is becoming more common in the Northeast United States as our climate develops and changes. We just finished and we're in the middle actually of our uh community tree sale. We sold uh we had 20 trees for sale, white oaks and

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service berries, which are service berries are more um they're called an autumn glory. They they are beautiful red trees in the fall, white flowers in the spring. That's more of a flowering shaped tree. And we have the good old mighty white oaks that will grow pretty much anywhere you put them. Uh they're great for tough areas in the town,

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especially where there's thin top soil and some of our shale. So um good news this year is we had almost twice as many residents buy trees from us this year. We have a few trees left over. And what we're doing with the trees left over is partnering with the uh Meadows Foundation to plant trees on the historic properties in town. So, we're

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going to have some trees at uh uh and especially one particular tree is going to go in to the Vanlu Sudam House, one of the oldest uh uh houses in town. Uh we have one of the uh Salem oak trees. We got two from the state. If you're not familiar, the Salem Oak tree was a

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600year-old tree down in Salem County. Um, it was literally the place where the early Native Americans met with the early European settlers to talk about how they were going to uh coexist in the Delaware Valley, uh, southern New Jersey area. This tree had been there literally for hundreds and hundreds of years. The

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the original inhabitants uh, said that it had been there as long as they had been there. So, beautiful, beautiful tree. Unfortunately, it passed away a couple years ago. Uh what the state did was just before it died by coincidence, they gathered up all the acorns and started growing new trees from the acorns from that tree. So every

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community in New Jersey got two of those. We have two. One is planted out front here. You'll notice out by the old schoolhouse is a little fence to protect our little Salem oak tree. Uh it's doing well. The tree has not escaped the fence yet, but it's getting bigger. So we might have to make a bigger fence. Uh the second tree will go in in a similar

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type enclosure to protect it from deer. uh down at the Vanloo Sudam House as soon as we get a location identified with the Meadows Foundation. Some of the other trees will go in um at the Woff Garrettson House and the um gosh, I can't remember the name of the house on East Avenue, but we're going to put some down there as well. Vinn Wickl, thank

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you. to replace some of the trees lost uh to storms and flooding down there. So, the idea is that we're again we we focus on the properties uh that are public properties in the town. uh we can put some trees around to improve the the tree cover uh and improve some of the shade cover as well. We're doing right

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now we have a consultant from an engineering company. We needed uh someone who's certified in this area to do a tree inventory in wards four and five. What that does is not only tell us what trees we have and where they are, but it also tells us the health and type of the trees so that we can inform a plan for what we can do to improve that

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tree coverage in WS four and five. Uh so the tree inventory is a necessary input into the next big thing we're required to have by the state which is that community forestry management plan. That plan is broadly described as what we're going to do about our trees for the next 5 years or so. Um all the towns in in

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the state of New Jersey are required to have a forestry management plan. Uh all the towns in New Jersey are a little bit behind on replacing their plans because of the shortage of certified arborists to help us with those plans. We were able to get uh someone who is certified to do that work for us. And uh what we'll have coming out of that is a

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focused plan on wards four and five with an inventory that helps us look at where we can put the most trees to impact things like heat island effects, which is where you have a lot of asphalt paving that heats up in the summertime, replacing some of the trees that are there with larger ones to provide shade and improve the community and the uh the

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air quality in that area of the town. So really exciting. We're hoping to see that planned soon. There's a lot of work going into that. I get questions from the consultant every day on that one as well. And I'm I'm leaving the best to the last, Mr. Vasinella. The the big project we have coming up this year. We

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are we also just finished our uh Tree City USA certification. We just hit our 24th year in a row uh as a Tree City USA city. I thought we were doing well and then I found out that Pamis has been a Tree City USA for 50 years. So, oh well. We we'll we'll try to catch up to them. >> Um we're also continuing a lot of our

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community outreach. We were just at the community green fair at Franklin High School on Saturday with the environmental commission, with the uh open space commission. Um and we're trying to make some more inroads with the board of education and with some of their personnel to help start putting trees on their property as well. So although the Shade Tree Commission and

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the DPW does not manage the trees on board of ed property, uh there are grants and funds available from the state to help with that with increasing the number of trees on school properties and we're partnering with the school board to try to get more interest in that and help them through the application process to get those grant funds to put more trees on school

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properties. One of the teachers came up to me on Saturday and said that her kids at Elizabeth Avenue complained that it's hot out on the fields and they would love to have some shade. And she asked if we can give her a tree. I said, "I would be happy to give you a tree, but you can get trees for free from the state. You just have to fill out the forms." So, we're going to try to

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partner with Elizabeth Avenue and some of the people there to get those forms filled out and get some of the available funds from the state of New Jersey. And of course, I buried the lead. Here's the biggest thing we're working on this year. One of our uh key projects is going to be reforesting uh Castleton Park, the area of Castleton Park that

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used to be the Bartha Farm, Bartha House down there. So, that's going to be we're going to call it the Bartha Woods. It started as an idea from the DPW to replace a few dead trees in the I guess the eastern part of Castleton Park that's down near Eastston Avenue. Uh coincidental with some work going on, some industrial work going on from a

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pipeline company. The conversation began with what if we put in two or three trees? If you remember, Mr. Vasadella was there for these meetings and we said two or three trees would be great. What about five trees? What about a few more trees? And then a couple of members of our tree commission, Mary and Bob and uh Ellen, all said, "What about a hundred

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trees?" We said, 'How would you do that? And we started looking around in Montgomery Township and other areas of New Jersey. They've done projects where they uh use some advanced uh tree arboring techniques to plant smaller trees in they look like plastic tubes, but it helps the trees uh be it protects

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the trees from uh pests and from deer, but it also encourages the tree to grow quickly. Um and we uh now I'm proud to say have released a bid request for uh contractors to help us. We have a complete plan laid out for planting a 100 trees to reforest the Bartha Woods in Castleton Park. Hopefully, if the

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bids come in on time and if the contractors are ready and all the all the ducks get lined up properly, we might have trees in the ground by this summer. So, that would be lovely. If we didn't make it to this summer, we might make it into the have the trees in for the fall planting season as well. Some shrubbery around the trees, some covered

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areas. Uh what that going to do for us is a couple of things. It's going to not just add to the tree canopy, which is valuable in and of itself. It's going to change the nature of that area of the park, which is the hill that goes down to Eastston Avenue. And it's going to provide kind of a wooded grove feel to

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that part of the park. It's going to provide sight lines to block, you know, the view of Eastston Avenue from the rest of the park. And it's also going to provide a whole change to the sound uh aspects of the park so that it's quieter, it's greener, and it's going to be a little more enjoyable. That's just

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the next phase of our work. So, this is a bit of an experiment. The first big project we did was a couple years ago with the the tree plantings on Hamilton Street. That went pretty well. We're following up with uh engineering with the contractor to replace some of the trees that didn't make it and a couple of trees had been hit by cars, that kind

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of thing. Uh that project went well. We learned a lot from that project. Um this project is capitalizing on that with some of the newer technologies and some of the requirements we're asking from the biders. Um and our next project we haven't even started thinking about yet. So hopefully we'll start doing that kind of focused adding of trees to the to the

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parts of town that need them the most to really make an impact where we can. All right. And my last slide. >> Oh, well, two more. Sorry. Uh you I think you guys know this. We I've I've bored you with this stuff before, but why trees matter. And I I included a

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picture of Hamilton Street. And if you look on the right there, that's the area in front of what used to be um was it the Somerset Pharmacy. uh John Shoe store. Uh if you notice just along that sidewalk there, that's one of the areas where we planted for Hamilton Street. What that's doing is it's going those

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trees are going to change that area from being sort of an asphalt landscape of of kind of hot in the summer kind of that bleak looking just a parking lot between buildings into a green corridor where you're going to have trees on both sides of the road. It'll take a couple years for those trees to come in, but what you're going to see is this is why trees

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matter to an area like that in our town. Uh the trees will reduce the overall air temperature in that area almost 10 degrees on a hot day. Um they'll reduce the amount of energy needed to cool buildings by shading them in the summertime and allowing heat uh sun through to heat them in the winter time.

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Uh 15 trees are enough to offset the carbon footprint of each person. So for each 15 trees we put the uh down Hamilton Street that offsets fully offsets the carbon footprint of a one resident in town. And actually having tree cover in your neighborhoods will increase your home values four to 5%

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just by the trees. So So it's economically valuable. It's it's environmentally valuable and it includes improves the community and improves health in the community. So that's why the trees that's why we're we love our trees so much. And then finally our last thing here are our goals for the year

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coming up. As I mentioned, we're going to reforest Castleton Park. We're calling it Partha Woods in honor of the uh the original owners of the land. I think that was donated to the town to form the park. >> So, >> we're updating our community forestry management plans and getting our uh

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urban forestry uh accreditation up to date. That's it's all the paperwork's into the state for all those kind of things. We just have to follow up with the the forestry guys to get that done. Um we we're going to start working a little bit more and I think you'll see some things coming back here to council. We're going to work with environmental and open space to try take a look at our

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tree replacement ordinances. There's a couple of areas of the ordinance where we think we can do better. Uh, one of them is specifically on the requirement for how many trees get replaced when a developer or a builder has to take down trees in order to make their project work. So, naturally, when you go

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through, you have to take down some trees. The developers try to replace as many as they can. Sometimes they can't replace them all. So, we have an ordinance that says if you can't replace them all, you have to put funds into our tree fund. What we'd like to do is two things. Increase the cost of each tree to represent the true cost of what it

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what it would take for our town to plant a tree. and also to look at the formula used to make sure that they're including all the trees that are being taken down. So the the formulas are a little generous in my opinion um and the costs are a little low. So we don't want to

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end up accidentally um uh helping developers take down trees. We want to make it as as uh as close to one for one replacement as practical. It's some towns I think Princeton has gone to a onetoone replacement. I think Jersey City has well as well. I don't think that would be practical for our town.

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Some of these developments that go in, I think we had one recently came through the planning board that would take down over a thousand trees. It wouldn't be even if a developer came to us with a truck and said, "Here's a thousand trees. Where do you want them?" I don't know that we can put them all in the ground at once. What we want to do is make sure that we work with our

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developers and the residents in town that that uh when we do development, when we do have to have new building, we don't want to lose our canopy if we can avoid it. Um, we're going to increase our community outreach some more. Uh, one of the things we really, really want to do better at is helping the town understand

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the trees we put in the ground, especially things Carters like Hamilton Street, letting the business owners know down there that uh the tree in front of your business is a shared resource. Don't don't be uh don't be shy. You can water it all you want. Uh let us know if you see something happening to it, if someone uh drives into it or if the

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stakes fall off or something like that, who to call so that we can share the ownership of those assets. They're very expensive. We'd like to make sure that they survive. Uh we'd also like to do a little bit more as I said with the board of ed and with some of the school organizations to get the knowledge of trees and the value of trees into younger hands so that they can do more

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with them over the years. And of course get ready for our tree our 25th year as a Tree City USA community next year. So thank you very much. Just wanted to give another uh huge compliment to our township staff, our DPW, and all the all the teams uh at Franklin that not only

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put up with us, but also support us tremendously with hard work and expertise um in managing the trees and doing the actual work. We just we just talk, they do the work. So, um it's been a great partnership, and we're looking forward to another year. >> And I just want to mention one thing.

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We're dealing with a budget tonight. Everybody should know that I believe 100% of all these projects we've done are doing and want to do come from a a trust fund that you cannot use the money

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for other things or budget or anything else. So just so people know, this is not only wonderful, it is money that otherwise would sit dormant and is not have any effect on the on on the budget. >> Absolutely. Thanks,

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>> Stephen. Great job uh planting trees in town. I I have a thought and I'll just throw it out to you. A couple of years ago, I happened to visit u Branch Bookbach in New York northward. Uh they have these cherry blossom trees all over

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the place. A lot of people go there, visit. Um can I just float that idea? Maybe we should have cherry blossom trees, hundreds, thousands of them throughout town. So we make Franklin a destination uh for tourists, our

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visitors. >> A great idea. You know, actually the um the town years ago planted pear trees out in front of the municipal complex here. Uh before pear trees now are not in favor because they're they're an invasive species and a bunch of other things. >> Legal matter,

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>> you're not really supposed to plant them anymore. But they but they're gorgeous for the first couple of weeks of the spring when they're white and then they smell terrible and they spread and all that kind of stuff. Eventually those trees will be taken down. Eventually they'll be too large. They start to split and fall down. Um, I would

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recommend that they be replaced with a cherry grove or something like that. That would look much much more pretty and right here in the middle of our municipal complex. Uh, we could do it in other places as well. It's really just a matter of the cost and the finding the locations. >> I have a comment. So, I know you're

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doing a lot, but one of the things that came to my mind as you were talking, a lot of the education needs to go to the residents. I'll use myself as an example. My house has about 25 trees in the backyard and some of the trees are

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like overhanging my house. And so when the landscapers they come, they tell me, "Get rid of those trees. You need to cut them trees down. You shouldn't have trees too close to your house." Not only that, they the trees bring in bugs. You can't open up the windows. And so, and

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then so most homeowners, what they'll do is they'll say, "Cut down the tree, right? because they don't want to be bothered with storms and what what could potentially happen. I've had like four or five trees fall down on top of my house. I'd have to get them cut down. And I bought the house cuz I love the

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trees, but now I found that the trees have been become a liability. So, like even though I know I love trees, but to a certain extent, if we had more of a a residential education campaign to let people know

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that they shouldn't be cutting down trees, you know, to make your house more beautiful, the facade and all that kind of stuff because we need the trees. I think that would be helpful as well. >> Thank you. No, I think that's a great idea and I think you hit on exactly the right point. I I've talked to some of my

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neighbors who have similar experiences and what I find is that uh you don't know where to get good advice, right? You be careful of the person who shows up with a chainsaw and says you I I make a living cutting down trees. You really should cut down your trees. Uh but at the same time, trees can get too

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large and the wrong kinds of trees can be or trees get sick. That kind of stuff as well. U but but I totally agree with you that it one of our goals is to educate our our residents on the different types of trees and when to who you can use to manage your trees. U it's

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really interesting. I learned uh that when you talk to professional tree management people, arborists and that kind of stuff, they're like talking to a doctor. Like if you talk to a doctor about someone who's sick, they're very very black and white. Like do this and stop complaining and take your medicine and move on. Arborists are the same.

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They're like, "Ah, cut that thing down and plant a nice one." You know, cut down that tree. It's too big. Get a get a good tree in there. Uh but but it's it would help our residents a lot, I think, to have some more resources. We have some on our website on the township website, but it's not enough. People have to come looking for it. So, we want to get out there a little bit more and

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be more visible. >> Yeah, I think it would be helpful. >> I I think Mr. Gulli is a little modest though. I'm looking at the website right now because I knew that there were resources on there and there is a page that is um called

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uh hold on recommended trees to plant in Franklin Township. And there is a list of what looks to be probably about 75 or so different trees giving you the width group, how wide it grows, the

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height group, how high it grows, what its mature height is, um its common name, its botanical name, and planting directions, uh and and what have you. Um what trees fall within the public service right uh tree right place

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guidance. See, because that's an important thing, Councilman. You talk about um flowering trees and and things. So, flowering trees are beautiful for a short period of time, but they also create a maintenance issue. They clog gutters and catch basins because the

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flowers fall off. And public service has a very very specific list of trees to be planted in the public right away under power lines. So I you know so those are the kind of things and this this list right here talks a lot about that. So

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you know there you go you're a little modest as I said Steve there is some great information on our our shade tree commission website. People should go to to that website if you are interested in planting a tree in your yard. Sometimes you have to take a

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tree down and you'd like to plant something in its place and maybe you can plant something that would be less threatening to your home in the case of a storm. >> Absolutely. >> One of the things that PSCG does very very well with us is they have that right tree right place program where

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they'll help homeowners and and the public uh figure out what type of tree to put near their power lots. They don't like to the worst thing you've ever seen. You drive down a street, you probably see the big old tree with the center cut out. They have to protect their utility lines from that stuff. And our crews, our DBW

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crews are actually licensed and trained on how to protect the utility lines from from the overgrowth of a tree like that. That was the wrong tree. They they planted the a big huge tree underneath a power line. So, if you'll notice on Hamilton Street, the types of trees our arborists picked out to plant there only grow to about 8 or 10 feet. And those

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are all approved by PSENG. They won't interfere with the overhead lines. They won't they won't lift the sidewalks because they have very uh vertical roots instead of horizontal root systems, that kind of stuff. So, We learn over time if you go back to when uh like the neighborhood I grew up in behind St. uh St. Matias Church uh the developer came

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in and put in buttonwood trees which were beautiful and uh buttonwoods are notorious for lifting sidewalks. Uh the town I think I would imagine back in the 1960s was excited about thousands of free trees by a developer and then the town 20 years later had to come back and repair all the sidewalks and remove all

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those trees. But what a council woman, thank you for bringing that up and Bob too because it really across the board, not just PSNG, what you plan and where you plan it is basically the most important thing that you can do. And um uh maybe Councilwoman

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I would love to see as a fall a project not planting but to have a town hall that brings together the people in a practical way to deal with the things. I know exactly what you're talking about and uh kind of bring it to the people. Although the shade tree does um public,

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you know, manage and plants public. We can we can definitely do that for um you know and and help for the people on their private land. >> Yeah. Cuz when I bought my house, I had little little trees in front. They look so nice, but they were so big and they grew up so high. I had to get them cut down and I almost cried because I was

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like, "Wow, these trees, you know, you want to keep the trees, but I had they had to go." >> Yep. Yeah. >> So there's no there are no comments at this portion of the meeting, >> but you can get together with Mr. Cahuli.

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>> You can talk to Mr. Guli after he's done. >> So um anything else? >> That's all. Thank you very much. I don't know if you've noticed, Mr. Mayor, we've turned Mr. Vasinella into a tree expert as well. >> That was that was the hardest work.

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>> I'm just the we busy we >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Uh item number 11, approval of the minutes. There are none. Item number 12, approval of the warrants. Time to pay

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the bills in the amount of 6,373,97643 on April 28th, 2026 are presented to the township council for payment. Do we have a motion on the warrants? >> I move that the warrants read be paid. Second. >> Move and seconded.

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>> Any discussion? Anyone would like to pull an item. >> Madame clerk. >> Councilman Barrison. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Francois. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi. >> Yes. >> Mayor Kramer. >> Yes. >> Councilman Oni Jaka. >> Yes. >> Councilman Singh.

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>> Yes. >> Councilman Vasanella. >> Yes. >> Councilman Wright. >> Yes. And now the main event, the ordinance on introduction and first reading of calendar year 2026 municipal budget.

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Ordinance number 452-26. Ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank uh for the foregoing ordinance is presented to township council for adoption on first reading, posting,

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publication in accordance with law and public hearing. and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be held on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Do we have a motion to introduce

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>> moved and seconded? Um so this is um the appropriation to or the ordinance to allow us to exceed or create a cap bank

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uh for appropriations. Appropriations have a cap. Um we're we've usually been under the cap. We're going to go over it this year, but >> not the appropriate >> not the appropriate. Okay. >> No. So um we can by not exceeding the

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cap bank year after year we can save up to a time that we have to. Um any other discussion? Madame clerk. >> Councilman embarrass. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Francois. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi.

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>> Yes. >> Mayor Kramer. Yes. >> Councilman Oni Jaka. >> Yes. >> Councilman Singh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Vasanella. >> Yes. Councilman Wright. >> Yes. >> Resolution 26179 authorized to read the self-examination

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of the budget resolution as required by DCA. Do we have a motion for that? >> So move second. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Madame clerk.

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>> Councilman Era Barrison. >> Yes. >> Council Councilwoman Francois. >> Yes. Yes. Deputy Mayor Karazzi, >> yes. >> Mayor Kramer, >> yes. >> Councilman Oniaka, >> yes. >> Councilman Singh, >> yes. >> Councilman Vasanella, >> yes. >> Councilman Wright, >> yes. >> And then authorized introduction of 2026

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municipal budget to set a public hearing date. Do we have a motion? >> So move second. >> Second. So we have discussion uh on that. Is now the time you'd like to

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% >> this this is by So you're introducing the budget. So now's the time for me to talk. Is that what you're asking for, Mr. Mayor? Yes. Now is the time for me to talk. So, mayor and township council, um the

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calendar year 2026 budget, which you all should have received, including the library and grants, is set at 75,289,36155. This is an increase of 1,371,30.74 from the calendar year 2025 budget. The budget increase is mainly due to a

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01:38:00.880 --> 01:38:18.080
$3.373 million increase in several statutory mandatory operating expenses. Primarily a net increase in the township self-insured medical benefits costs of $1.067 067 million, which is an increase

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01:38:18.080 --> 01:38:35.679
of 8.61%. This increase is significantly lower than the New Jersey state health benefits plan increase for local governments that is recommended at 36.2% for this year. The amount included in the calendar year 2026 budget would have

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been significantly higher without employee contribution increases and had we not utilized $3.44 44 million from the medical trust account to supplement part of the costs. The calendar year 2026 utilization of medical trust

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account funds is a $1.44 million increase over the calendar year 2025 amount. an increase in liability and workers compensation insurance uh at $131,496. An increase in the library tax of

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$74,688 which is as per a mandated state formula. an increase in utilities uh as street lighting and fuel of $213,000. An increase in the snow removal budget due to the two large storms earlier in

345
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2026 of $250,000. An increase in recycling and trash removal costs of $460,000. an increase uh for the reserve for uncollected taxes of $300,000 which is also per a mandated state formula. An

346
01:39:50.719 --> 01:40:06.320
increase in overall salary and wage expenses and and this is I just want to stress here this is the overall salary and wage for all funds and departments water utility open space budget. This is

347
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an overall increase of $728,62 which is a two 2.3% increase over 2025 and is less than the current inflation rate of 3.3% for the 12-month period ending March

348
01:40:23.679 --> 01:40:43.440
31st, 2026. There was also a decrease in state aid of $239,000. uh the budget reductions that were made after the budget hearings uh that were held uh earlier this year. Uh there was an elimination of eight budgeted but

349
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vacant staff positions and the summer seasonal DPW positions for a total of $669,000. The elimination of 14 bonded capital projects that were proposed at the budget hearing. Uh those projects

350
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totaled $1.92 million. However, bonded capital requires only a 5% capital improvement fund appropriation. Therefore, this equates to a $96,400 reduction. The reduction of operating expenses in the legal accumulated leave,

351
01:41:15.840 --> 01:41:32.480
salary adjustment, and tax appeal reserve for a total of $1.17 million. Additional key budget items. Utilization of fund balance of $10.32 million, a decrease of $1.6 million from last year.

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This dis decrease is due to insufficient regeneration of fund balance over the past 5 years. Without sufficient regeneration of fund balance, the township will continue to use more of its uh more of its quote unquote savings

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than it puts back. Utilizing more than is regenerated over time will ultimately lead to a structural deficit. Decreasing the amount utilized together with raising the amount to be raised by municipal taxes will help to avoid that scenario.

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Road paving, sidewalk, and storm water capital projects are budgeted at $3.75 million. These projects will be bonded resulting in a capital improvement fund appropriation of $187,500. Movement of $413,000

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in employee cost from current fund budget to open space trust fund budget. The open space trust fund budget for 2026 is still $484,165 below the 2025 budget due primarily to decreased appropriations for cash

356
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capital projects and decreased debt service. Amount to be raised by taxes. The calendar year 2026 amount to be raised by municipal taxes is increasing 2.729 million from 38,993,310

357
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to 41,722,842 or 7% increase allowing the township to handle mandatory increases while still maintaining a high level of municipal services and stabilizing the use of fund balance. Township assessed valuations increased

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from 16 bill697 million plus in 2025 to 17 bill366 million plus uh uh or a $668,928,800

359
01:43:39.119 --> 01:43:57.119
increase in assessed valuations. That's a 4.01% increase year-over-year. The average home value of $555,485 in 2025 has increased $17,56

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or 3.07% to $572,541 in 2026. Due to this increased value, the average home will see a municipalonly tax increase from $1,299.83

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83 to $137410. An increase of $7426 or 5.71% again for the municipal only portion of the tax bill.

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>> So, thank you. I was going to You could put up your slide or my slide. I >> I will. I just need you to put on this HDMI. >> So, I'm going to go over uh I I had a discussion with a this is Riley who

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called to complain um that uh tonight is also the night that the school board is passing their budget. Um did I know that? and she wanted us to change our schedule be

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because of that because now people can't come to both. I pointed out to her that we're introducing while they're passing so they can still come to our budget when it's time to comment. Um I also pointed out that this has been this is

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our usual day for meetings and they changed the day for their meeting but it also became a discussion of um what she made the point that we should really point out what we are cutting what we

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are doing to prevent as much of a tax increase as we're going to uh increase. uh it so uh Mr. Vorlocker and I spent hours and hours and hours and came up with this uh spreadsheet which will be

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available on the web. Um these I want to put point out these amounts are rounded. They're approximate. Uh exact calculations for some of these values would be actually very time consuming.

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Uh and not all items are included. But um the uh budget increase by uh roughly 1.1 million. The levy is 41,723,000. That means a 1%

369
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tax increase by the town is roughly $400,000. So for every $400,000 we increase the levy, that's a 1% increase. So um if you look at this, these are the

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things that increased our expenses. These are things that we couldn't control or um would be difficult to control. things like our liability insurance,

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uh, that went up 172,000. That's roughly4% tax increase by itself. Recycling and trash, 460,000. You can read the uh amounts of the tax increase next to them. Snow, because of the large amount

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of snow, we have had to put more into our trust. Some years we don't put money into the trust because it didn't snow. We have enough. But this year we have to put money into the trust so that there's money for next year. Remember the snow

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season for this year continues in October, November, and December. Utilities, street lights, and fuel. That's going up for everybody. Um it's $213,000. Decreased state aid. the manager

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mentioned that's that's essentially an expense to us because it's less revenue. $239,000. Healthc care up over a million. Salaries, uh, our people are out there. We have contracts with them. There's been

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inflation. They deserve and need raises just like people at home do. So that's uh over half a million dollars. Um revenue for uncollected uh taxes. That's a state requirement, a

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calculation that we make. We have no control of that. Um it's probably put in the law years and years ago when towns didn't uh budget enough for people who didn't pay taxes and had trouble paying the schools and county their share. So

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we we have to carry that $300,000. Uh vehicle fleet maintenance up $60,000. Document imaging up $80,000 for a total of $3.4 million or that by itself would be an

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8.4% tax increase. Um, so we tried to mitigate that tax increase by looking at money we spent last year that was left over. And I'll explain the danger of that later on. But

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the um the amount of legal fees for our construction um department we decreased by 20,000. the accumulated leave. Um that's basically we have to have a fund.

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The state doesn't demand exactly how much money we have to have it in it, but we have to have a fund in case for instance, ridiculously for instance, if the town were to go bankrupt and no

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longer exist, all of our employees would deserve money for their vacation time that they didn't take. So, we have to put money aside um for that. And um we're putting 400,000

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less aside now for there's going to be more things like that that we're not putting aside for our employees. I don't want our employees to panic should we actually hit these limits. We could take money out of the fund balance. The problem

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with that is we'd have to do an emergency expenditure. and emergency expenditures. When you do that, you take money out of our fund balance, which we have roughly $20 million, so we have plenty of money, but it goes into next year's

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um budget. That's money that you can't use in next year's budget. You're going to get no benefit from. So, it it it really is a a penalty to you to do that. But, we're taking the chance that we won't need that money. So, we're um

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we're not putting that into the trust. Uh general legal, sorry, we're taking $200,000 out of that, hoping that uh Mr. Renown won't ask for it later. Um salary adjustments. Um we're putting on uh

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saving $50,000 less. That's for people who get raises in the middle of the year. um tax appeals. We've had very few tax appeals in the last year or two. So again, we're going to take a chance and

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not fund that by $500,000. Uh again, if that we hit that cap, we can go to fund balance, but I've already explained the penalties of doing that. Uh to so the total operating cost, the

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total of all that is about 1.2 2 million or 2.9% that were trying to save uh and not raise taxes. That that's downward pressure on taxes. Then we looked at employees and these

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are no one has been laid off. We're not planning to lay anybody off. These are positions that have not been filled for some time. >> No, >> no. Some of them have been filled very recently. There is a sacrifice here, Mr. America, but they're not. Not all of

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them have just become uh some of them have just recently become vacant and now we're not filling them. >> And and the problem with that is yes, you can save money, but our business, we don't make a product. We don't make a widget. We make service. We provide

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service. And when we eliminate these positions, that's less service that we provide. So if we take out DPW seasonal positions that we constantly getting calls, hey, can you mow this field in this park,

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this soccer field, etc. It's it's hard when we don't have those positions. It's harder to do that. And you know, right now we care about that that we want to save the money. But I'll tell you, this summer when I get a call, I want to call

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that guy and have him make that go away. So there's there's pain to this. And I'm I'm not asking for anyone to feel sorry for counsel. It's a it's an honor to be here. But there we also want to serve. And when we can't serve, there's pain to

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us for that. Um, so building inspectors, two positions, $120,000. Fire inspector, $60,000. Uh, someone working in the, uh, uh,

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uh, court, $40,000. DPW, seasonal positions, $30,000. Part-time custod custodian, 21,000. Truck driver, 86,000. engineer inspector 45,000 economic development business

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associate. So that's basically Vince Dominic who if you've dealt with the town and had an issue with the town, you probably know his name. He he had all kinds of titles, but he was basically our fixer. He found out when there was a

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problem. He found out that there was a problem and he figured out how to make it better. He retired. It's a big loss to us, a hard one to fill, but we're not filling that. That is a extreme loss of service. Um total employee uh costs. So

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although you add all those up, it's half a million dollars plus another 166,000 for the social security that we're now not having to pay. So there's 1.7% uh

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tax decrease or pressure downward on the taxes. Cannabis, the reason I put cannabis on I I I don't really look at social media, but sometimes my wife makes me look at social media and there was a complaint

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that the cannabis fund has brought in 60 $600,000 this year. Why are my taxes going up? Well, for one one small part of it is it brought last year they earned 60,000 $600,000

401
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worth of revenue that would equal $600,000 in taxes, but that last quarter is collected in the first quarter of this year. So, we don't get credit for it this year. So, that's $450,000,

402
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not 600,000. That's $450,000. That's a little over 1%. That is not going to hugely change your tax bill, but it is it is 1% that we're bringing down, but it's not going to make, you

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know, the school tax go away. Um, so that's all a total of five pressure down 5.7%. Um, what's this? Capital cuts. Oh, Mr. Uh the manager mentioned things that we cut

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before uh we even went to budget hearings about 1% uh there and then the things that we people heard in budget hearings such as the salt barn, vehicles for the police, etc. that we cut out. But the thing

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about capital um items are if we're going to be bonding for them this year, we're really only paying 5% of those costs. So, while we cut thousands and thousands of dollars,

406
01:56:49.679 --> 01:57:05.920
um it really comes out to only $100,000 off your taxes. Um and then this is where the money, this is neither an adds to the your taxes or decreases your

407
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taxes, but it's it adjusts where the money is going. And so the first one is medical benefits reserve trust utilized. And I always make a mistake when I s talk about it. So Mr. Manager, get me out of trouble

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here. >> So yeah, I'll get you out of trouble and hopefully we don't get into trouble by utilizing that much money. But then and and we'll go back to what you said earlier is that we would have to do an emergency appropriation. So, we are a self-insured

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uh municipality for medical benefits, which means that our um our administrator, in this case, Etna, provides for us a couple different figures annually. One is they refer they

410
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provide for us um an amount to be budgeted for IBNR. IBNR is incurred but not reported. incurred but not reported means we we operate on a calendar year budget. So any costs that we pay um from

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the current year budget have to be incurred in the current year. But as you know medical bills often come from the prior year. They go back and forth with disputes over billing and what have you. So we need to budget an amount that is

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um for the prior year. So we have that amount that's budgeted and then we have what are called fully insured equivalent rates that are provided to us by Etna. and that is if we were fully insured, our uh PO1 plan

413
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would cost X amount of dollars per month for a single, for a a a couple, for a family and and those are the equivalent rates and that's what we used to develop our budget. Um, for this particular year,

414
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we utilized a reserve trust, which is where all of our monies go in from our employee contributions, our prescription rebates,

415
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everything that we get that comes in goes into this trust and out of that is a portion of our um expenses paid. However, our trust sat and on January

416
01:59:33.360 --> 01:59:52.880
1st at a little over $5 million. We should maintain a minimum of $4 million because that's basically the health insurance fund balance. All right, that's kind of like you hear the mayor and council members talk about the

417
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municipal fund balance as kind of our savings account. Um, and in this case, this trust account is our savings account for our self- insurance. Um, we should really not go much below

418
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$4 million at any given time. Um, and this will draw us down to about $2.5 million by utilizing $3.44 million. Now, I appreciate what the mayor said that that 8.6% 6%

419
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really doesn't um doesn't represent anything, but it absolutely does. If that money were not utilized from the trust, that in and of itself for health care benefits would

420
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mean we would need to do an 8.6% tax increase on that one item alone. But because we have had some good years and not utilized all of the money

421
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budgeted and what happens with self- insurance models in in municipal government in New Jersey is that all of the unexpended funds if there are any in what you have budgeted goes into that trust as well. So that that is your fund

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balance. It returns to fund balance right just like a municipal budget. So that that $3.4 million absolutely represents an 8.6% tax increase in and of itself. So thankfully we have that ability to use

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that money to bring down the overall cost of of medical benefits. But just like the fund balance, if you spend more than you return, ultimately you hit a structural deficit

424
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and you can't use that anymore because it doesn't exist and then you have no choice but to increase taxes by that amount or make cuts elsewhere. >> So I I know that was lengthy, but I think this is a very important part of

425
02:01:59.360 --> 02:02:16.320
this year's municipal budget. Um thank you. In addition to that, open space is going to be charged this year. Um for uh some of it is an increase small portion is an increase for things

426
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like the manager's salary will be paid a little bit by open space because he spends an enormous time on open space but also the our DPW workers health care um uh costs are going to be paid out of

427
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open space. Uh people on open space committee, I know we're not going to be happy about this. Um and I understand that uh we purposely put, and I mean this with respect and uh gratitude, we put tree huggers on the open space

428
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committee because they're there to protect the open space. Um and they're not going to be happy about this. But the public we've we're we've had some great years in our budgeting. This this

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council in the last 10 years has had four years with zero tax increase. That's unheard of in in this century. There have only been five years with zero tax increase. Four of them were under um while I was mayor. Um but times

430
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are different now and we can't give we can't gift open space money uh or open space fund with taxpayer money. Um uh it's it's hurtful

431
02:03:42.639 --> 02:03:58.560
uh to us. Uh it means less open space that we might be able to buy. But this was a decision that uh well the uh financial oversight committee made and is passing on to the full committee um

432
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to pass. Um the last item I have on there is catalpa and I wrote out the word zero. Uh again, my wife pointed me to some comments on uh social media where if they're raising taxes this

433
02:04:14.960 --> 02:04:30.400
year, why are they spending so much on the park? The park money comes out of the open space fund. The open space fund is for open space, recreation, historic preservation, and farmland preserve. It has long been

434
02:04:30.400 --> 02:04:45.520
planned to take money out of the open space fund to pay for Katalpa Park. So the opening of Kataba Park or the construction of Cal Kataba Park is not raising taxes at all. And I saw this on

435
02:04:45.520 --> 02:05:02.880
social media and some of the people making the comments or at least letting those comments go by without correction are people that come to these meetings and know better. And I was uh a little shocked that they didn't make that correction. So I needed to point it out

436
02:05:02.880 --> 02:05:21.440
here. Um, so I hope that this shows there's a number of places where we're putting the fund balance kind of on guard for things that might happen. And that's why when some people see that we have a $20 million fund

437
02:05:21.440 --> 02:05:38.239
balance, they say, "Why don't you just use that money so we don't have to raise taxes?" Um, and this is one of the reasons why. And the manager has a great explanation of why not just use fund balance for increasing

438
02:05:38.239 --> 02:05:54.000
>> my my my little so so often times it's difficult to understand >> fund fund balance is by the way is the money we have in the bank >> right so easiest way to explain it >> so imagine that you have $20

439
02:05:54.000 --> 02:06:11.119
we have 20 million imagine you have 20 and you spend 10 and then you earn seven. And the numbers are relevant. Think about multiple multiplying it to get to millions. So you have 20, you spend 10, and then you

440
02:06:11.119 --> 02:06:26.960
earn seven. So now you have 17. And now you spend 10 again. And you have seven in the bank. And you earn seven, and now you have 14. And then you spend 10 again and you have four. And you earn seven again. And now

441
02:06:26.960 --> 02:06:41.920
you have 11. And now you spend 10 and you have one and you earn seven. But now you only have eight and you can't spend 10 anymore. You can only spend eight and you spend eight

442
02:06:41.920 --> 02:07:00.560
and you only earn seven. So now you have seven. And that is a structural deficit. And that's what will happen. And what the pattern has been over the last five years is that we have

443
02:07:00.560 --> 02:07:16.159
kept budgets relatively flat and not increased budgets. The costs and the amount of money necessary to buy the things that we buy has gone up. So the amount that returns

444
02:07:16.159 --> 02:07:35.440
to fund balance is less because if you budget 20 and you spend 10 and you don't get to 10, you keep going down. And we went from $28 million to $20 million.

445
02:07:35.440 --> 02:07:52.000
And we were have a cash management plan that says that we should maintain $20 million. And what's happening now is we used nearly $13 million last year

446
02:07:52.000 --> 02:08:07.679
and now we're using slightly over $10 million this year. And it's a two-year process to return you regenerate fund balance from the the not the last year's budget but the budget year prior to

447
02:08:07.679 --> 02:08:24.239
that. And we returned roughly nine. So, we had a $3 million deficit, give or take a few dollars, um, on fund regeneration, and this year bringing it down to a

448
02:08:24.239 --> 02:08:41.599
little over 10, the hope is that we we regenerate 10. But the likelihood is because we've decreased the amount that we've budgeted by cuts that we've made, there's not a

449
02:08:41.599 --> 02:08:58.000
lot of leftover in two years. It's not it's not next year that this will affect. It's in 2028. This year, next year will be affected by 2025. Um and but unless there's only there's

450
02:08:58.000 --> 02:09:15.040
only kind of a couple different ways to fix this issue. There's util utilize less fund balance, right? That's one part of it. And then either generate more revenue, the primary source of revenue in municipal

451
02:09:15.040 --> 02:09:32.079
government is taxes by far. Um or significantly cut spending. And when you cut spending, you cut services. So that's the dilemma that this council and I to a great extent have to deal with.

452
02:09:32.079 --> 02:09:48.480
Um the the call in this particular circumstance this year was initially for a tax increase of over 10%. That was at the recommendation of our financial advisor.

453
02:09:48.480 --> 02:10:05.440
through a number of cuts, through some adjustments in how things are paid for. Um, and and and more fund balance than what was recommended. Still more fund balance

454
02:10:05.440 --> 02:10:22.400
than was recommended by 1 one $1.2 million than recommended was 9 million. We're in the 101 102 range for this budget year. >> Um, by doing all of those things, we

455
02:10:22.400 --> 02:10:37.920
brought that from, I think, 10.57% recommended tax increase to a 7% tax increase. That 7% tax increase, I have to stress, I know the mayor did that earlier, is that that is on the

456
02:10:37.920 --> 02:10:53.679
municipal portion of your tax bill. Um, and I don't know, do you want me to bring that screen up, Mayor? >> I want to in one second. I want to make one not correction, but explanation. When we were at 28 million, we purposely

457
02:10:53.679 --> 02:11:11.280
brought it down to 22 million, the fund balance, because that was too much to have in savings and we spent that on capital uh items. Um, so and we paid cash for them, not bonded for them. uh basically to return the money to the

458
02:11:11.280 --> 02:11:27.360
public uh by buying things that were needed and moving the town forward and and one of the reasons why Mr. Mayor, so there were two years that our expenditures

459
02:11:27.360 --> 02:11:42.800
were far less than normal and that was 2020 and 2021 because for a great deal of those two years, municipal government operations came to a standstill for the pandemic

460
02:11:42.800 --> 02:11:59.199
and we used very little of our municipal funds in the general operations of municipal government. Um so those the the years following those years had had good

461
02:11:59.199 --> 02:12:15.360
um fund balance regeneration and then it then it fell off the cliff as inflation went up significantly, the cost of living went up significantly and the cost of doing business went up significantly.

462
02:12:15.360 --> 02:12:33.119
So, um, we, this budget is so tight that as the manager basically just said, in two years, it's not going to return the amount of money that we're used to. It may only we we're spending 10.1, it may

463
02:12:33.119 --> 02:12:53.360
only return 8, 7, maybe 7.5. And that's that's going to that's going to hurt. I actually you look for the ideal amount to raise taxes and there is no ideal amount.

464
02:12:53.360 --> 02:13:10.880
There's no formula that says uh that's that's the amount. It was it's painful to us to raise taxes because we know where you are out there. We know about affordability. We hear it every day. uh some of us has more money

465
02:13:10.880 --> 02:13:26.800
than others, but there are people up here the affordable affordability matters too and they're they are our friends and we care about that. But we also have a responsibility to the town to keep it solvent. So this is uh again

466
02:13:26.800 --> 02:13:40.960
I'm not looking for sympathy but this is was not an easy decision to come to and it might have there was there was part of me that wanted to only do to do not only but to do an 8% tax increase not a

467
02:13:40.960 --> 02:13:58.079
7% tax increase to be more on the fiscal responsibility side. Um okay next. Oh you already got it up. So, I hate using tax rates because towns will talk about how they

468
02:13:58.079 --> 02:14:14.880
reduce the tax rate year after year, and that's because of what the assessments did, not because they're spending less money. But within one year, within one assessment in one town, not between towns, but within an assessment within one town in the same year, you can

469
02:14:14.880 --> 02:14:30.800
compare tax rates. And it's useful in seeing what percent of the tax that you're paying goes to which entity. And by looking at the tax rates in column B, you can decide how much uh each of the

470
02:14:30.800 --> 02:14:46.320
entities in column A, what percentage of the tax is going that way. So this shows that the school district is 61.2% of your tax. This was last year. We don't I don't have the county uh tax

471
02:14:46.320 --> 02:15:04.239
rate yet so I can't do it for this year. But the last year the school was 61.2% the county was 15.6% 6% we were 13.5%. Um municipal open space was 2.9%

472
02:15:04.239 --> 02:15:22.400
and then um both the u municipal library and the county open space were 1.7% and the fire districts on average were 3.5% of your tax bill. So the thing that I'm pointing out here is we are when your

473
02:15:22.400 --> 02:15:38.960
taxes go up, you can blame 13 and a half% of that on us. Um most of it goes to the school. I'm not saying the schools don't deserve it, but uh the tax rates go up on us. and

474
02:15:38.960 --> 02:15:55.520
Rosanna sitting over there and she was the tax collector for a long time and she pointed out that even when we didn't raise taxes at all, people complained to us about how much taxes went up. Um, and that's okay. That's our job. We we put

475
02:15:55.520 --> 02:16:11.040
out the tax bills. You come here to pay for them. We understand. But we do want you to understand that we are 13.5% last year of your tax bill. And then the last charge. >> And Mr. Mayor, I I I I think that I

476
02:16:11.040 --> 02:16:28.000
might just make one correction to this and I and I'm probably right about this. Not 100% sure, but I think the decimal point on fire districts is in the wrong place. I think it's actually 35%. Not 3.5%. >> That could be >> because it is at 06.

477
02:16:28.000 --> 02:16:42.719
>> Oh yeah, that that makes sense. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Uh, >> no. 05 is >> No, you're right. No, no, you're right. It is 3.5. No, it is 3.5. I >> was adding the number just to make sure

478
02:16:42.719 --> 02:16:59.760
that we come to 100 and that's but with 3.5 comes to 100. Other >> it comes to 100. It is right. I I stand corrected, Mr. Mayor. It is correct at 3.5%. >> Yeah, >> okay. >> It's only to one decimal. Put two decimal points instead of three. And that's kind of what threw me off.

479
02:16:59.760 --> 02:17:16.800
And not to mention Councilman Vassan of telling me that there was something wrong with the numbers. >> Well, there's two there's three um digits. If it it need to move like the one has four. >> Well, see when you when you have a zero on the end of a decimal point, there is no zero. It eliminates. >> That's what got confused. That's Excel.

480
02:17:16.800 --> 02:17:32.800
>> That's Excel. >> All right. And one more good info. >> Yep. >> So, I disappointed many people on council because I didn't have any graphs. He does, >> but I'm allowed one chart with way too many numbers and this is it.

481
02:17:32.800 --> 02:17:50.800
>> Um, so this is for calendar years 2024, 2025, and 2026. Our tax increases were 6% 2.6% and then this year 7%. Uh, in yellow is the list of the average

482
02:17:50.800 --> 02:18:07.800
home prices for each year. And then the next is the municipal tax. Uh went from uh roughly $1,217 to $1,297 to $1375

483
02:18:08.000 --> 02:18:25.679
year after year. That's an increase in 2004 of $80, last year of 2000 I mean 24 of $80, last year of $79 and this year of $78. Now earlier Mr. Vorloger said $74.

484
02:18:25.679 --> 02:18:42.719
Uh, my math is probably off here, but the point I'm trying to get across because I I didn't round off the tax rates when I do this. Uh, and if I did, it would probably come much closer to his value. But the point is in the last

485
02:18:42.719 --> 02:18:57.439
three years, it's roughly the same amount of tax increase. We're roughly increasing taxes $80 each year. So, while this sounds like this is the largest tax increase percentage-wise

486
02:18:57.439 --> 02:19:13.120
of my mayorship, um it's the dollar amount because of the way assessments went, etc. Um is roughly the same as the last two years. Um not patting myself on the back, but I'm just

487
02:19:13.120 --> 02:19:30.080
pointing out the facts. And that is the end of my long talk. And that is the end of mine as well. >> So we have any other discussion? Mr. Mayor, I I just wanted to make a comment here. Um you know as a member of the

488
02:19:30.080 --> 02:19:47.120
financial oversight um I have seen uh what a great job our township manager and his department heads did. We started with almost over 14% tax increase and with with several

489
02:19:47.120 --> 02:20:02.240
meetings and discussions and questions and and so forth we came down to 7%. So I really wanted to uh commend what what you did uh Don your manager as well as the rest of my colleagues that uh you

490
02:20:02.240 --> 02:20:19.680
know questioned every every number and so it's it's uh I know it's painful to see even a $1 tax increase uh but uh I think what what this department did his our our uh manager department leaders

491
02:20:19.680 --> 02:20:36.000
did and the police department as well is really commendable. So I wanted to just recognize what the job great job they have done. >> I just I just wanted to add to that um as the newest member on the council and the newest member on the financial

492
02:20:36.000 --> 02:20:54.319
oversight committee I kind of jumped on a moving train. Uh >> I say that's that's true. >> In med school we call that drinking out of a fire hose. >> Exactly right. I I I I was pleasantly surprised.

493
02:20:54.319 --> 02:21:10.880
Um this budget is an outcome of long hours, a lot of work happening in the background, a lot of conversations, a lot of rigorous analysis, difficult tradeoffs, difficult

494
02:21:10.880 --> 02:21:28.080
trade-offs and thoughtful debate. Um, it's about maintaining a balance between a commitment to fiscal discipline while protecting services

495
02:21:28.080 --> 02:21:44.800
that all our residents need on a daily basis. And the conversation that we had about the fund balance, it was a learning experience for me that you need to regenerate money on the fund balance

496
02:21:44.800 --> 02:22:02.680
as you take money away from it. And it becomes not just a responsibility for today, but to build a township that works for us.

497
02:22:03.120 --> 02:22:18.399
for years to come. Um I I know we talked about yeah we are a service organization we don't make products and widgets. Reality is there are a lot of service organizations that exist in the world. I work for a service

498
02:22:18.399 --> 02:22:33.680
organization that is $60 billion and there is a lot of sacrifice when we look at budgets year on year. those budgets almost always shrink. We are different because we provide

499
02:22:33.680 --> 02:22:50.800
services to ourselves, to our residents on a day-to-day basis and some of them are truly essential services and I think that's the big distinction that I personally learned in the process. Um, are we not going to make sacrifices? Heck yes, we are going to

500
02:22:50.800 --> 02:23:08.319
make sacrifices. We did make a bunch of sacrifices this year and I think we will continue to make those sac sacrifices in the coming years. But there is some education like the conversation that we just had between the mayor and the township manager. I think that education

501
02:23:08.319 --> 02:23:24.399
is important. I learned I'm sure there are many many many others who would listen to this conversation, come and ask questions and get educated in the process. That's what I wanted to say. Mayor Mayor, I just have a quick comment. Um,

502
02:23:24.399 --> 02:23:40.640
so I'm not in the financial oversight committee, uh, but, um, a couple of our, um, colleagues, uh, have, uh, questioned pretty much every budget item the financial oversight

503
02:23:40.640 --> 02:23:56.560
committee came up with. Trust me, we put them through the ringer and we held their feet to the fire. And I I think the outcome is a fair budget. Uh you know, everybody is not going to like it, but that's what we got. I I just have

504
02:23:56.560 --> 02:24:12.080
one comment. Um township manager, if you can just explain our budget is $75 million, whereas our tax levy is $41 million. Uh so I know that the balance is uh the the other revenue items that we generate. If you can just make a

505
02:24:12.080 --> 02:24:28.319
quick comment on why we couldn't increase that further to balance the tax. >> Why we couldn't increase what >> the the revenue uh items that we generate in >> so okay so the the the revenue items and

506
02:24:28.319 --> 02:24:48.080
I'll tell you what they are um the primary revenue items if you give me two seconds. Just have to open up a spreadsheet for myself here. So we actually did increase revenues besides so like I said earlier the the primary source of revenue in a municipal

507
02:24:48.080 --> 02:25:05.280
government is taxes right the amount to be raised by taxes our miscellaneous revenues um equaled in um 2025 the amount realized was um 9 million

508
02:25:05.280 --> 02:25:22.319
uh846,420 $20. Those are miscellaneous revenues. So those are um fees collected, construction fees from the construction department, all permit fees, fines from the municipal court, um hotel tax,

509
02:25:22.319 --> 02:25:38.560
cannabis tax, all those all of those are miscellaneous revenues. Okay. um that that amount in the 26 budget is anticipated at an increase of $108

510
02:25:38.560 --> 02:25:55.359
million $108,000. So, one of the one of the things about a municipal budget in New Jersey is that when you anticipate revenues for the the current budget year, you can only anticipate them at the number that you

511
02:25:55.359 --> 02:26:09.359
realized unless you can justify why you're anticipating more. Um, so that's you can only go so high. that that what that does is it it means that the state

512
02:26:09.359 --> 02:26:26.640
is saying to a municipality you can't um overestimate your revenues to maintain a false level um in your budget so that you don't have to raise taxes right I mean because ultimately

513
02:26:26.640 --> 02:26:41.359
that will that's like a house of cards it will collapse so that's one state aid obviously we talked earlier state aid is a source of revenue and state aid is down about $240,000 from 2025.

514
02:26:41.359 --> 02:26:58.399
Um there was one one element of state aid that was not provided is not to be provided in 2026. Um delinquent tax collections. Um obviously when people don't pay their taxes and we don't have a 100%

515
02:26:58.399 --> 02:27:15.120
collection rate. So we budget as a source of revenue the collection of delinquent taxes because it wasn't collected in the prior year. If it's collected in the current year then it's it's it's anticipated revenue. Um last

516
02:27:15.120 --> 02:27:32.479
year um our budget was $2.4 million. We realized um more than $2.4 $4 million in collections of delinquent taxes. So this year it's $2.5 million. That's $100,000 of additional revenue, but it's $2.5

517
02:27:32.479 --> 02:27:49.359
million of anticipated revenue. So the overall revenue um that that is anticipated, right, is the same amount that we budget because we have a balanced budget. So, but we have all of these other sources

518
02:27:49.359 --> 02:28:04.080
of revenue and then we have the amount to be raised by taxes and then we have fund balance. And in a municipal budget, fund balance is anticipated revenue. What you utilize to

519
02:28:04.080 --> 02:28:20.720
balance your budget and fund balance is just considered revenue. So the diff it it's it's in the end it's very simple math, right? Once you do all of the other calculations, it just comes down to we anticipate this much in revenue

520
02:28:20.720 --> 02:28:37.359
minus taxes. We have this much in expenditures and the difference is the amount to be raised by taxes plus fund balance utilization. And every municipality's go um budget uses fund balance unless

521
02:28:37.359 --> 02:28:54.720
they've spent their fund balance down so far that they don't have sufficient fund balance to use. that and that's really it. But those are the sources of revenue, right? We have some some taxes, some fees. A big portion of it is construction fees and

522
02:28:54.720 --> 02:29:09.760
and so you have good years and bad years. If the if the if the development drops off, then builders aren't paying us as much money in development in uh construction fees. So, our construction

523
02:29:09.760 --> 02:29:27.439
revenue will go down. there all those tradeoffs. Yeah. Uh Mr. Mayor, one of the things that uh is important for everybody to recognize that by having a healthy fund balance, we will get a better bond rating.

524
02:29:27.439 --> 02:29:42.960
>> So, and and Mr. Mayor actually he was emphasizing that we got to keep it a healthy fund balance. So our goal is to keep around 20 million so we can have a better bond rating and we will pay less interest and so forth. So it's a is a

525
02:29:42.960 --> 02:29:58.560
really a great benefit to have that. So I think it's important for everybody to know why we want to keep it at 20 or above but 20 is kind of a number that we think that gives us a great opportunity to keep our uh uh bond uh rates lower.

526
02:29:58.560 --> 02:30:14.080
>> Thank you. Anyone else? >> I just had a a question. I'm just just curiosity. and and mayor that was uh very helpful information uh for what it's worth at least to me and I think to a lot of people in the public much better than the charts and

527
02:30:14.080 --> 02:30:30.319
graphs in my opinion >> I love the graphs >> I know you do >> it's a compliment mayor >> I didn't even have a form >> I shouldn't have said anything no seriously um I'm just curious did our hotel taxes uh and I know it's not a lot of revenue but did that go up or down

528
02:30:30.319 --> 02:30:45.520
the last couple years >> sorry >> down >> okay no I thought it would be unfortunately but cuz that used to back in the day uh be more helpful because it was higher. Um have we ever are we removing all of

529
02:30:45.520 --> 02:31:01.680
the seasonal >> no DPW jobs? >> No. Those that are funded out of open space and those that are funded out of the water utility will remain. Those that are funded out of the current fund budget are eliminated. I can't eliminate

530
02:31:01.680 --> 02:31:19.040
full-time positions and continue to pay high school kids summer jobs. It's just there, you know. >> No, I I was just curious. >> No, I'm saying so that's when there are there's there's an equal amount >> out of the water utility and then um a roughly equal amount out of the open

531
02:31:19.040 --> 02:31:36.880
space fund um for seasonals as there have been every year. Sometimes we have good turnout for those jobs and sometimes not so good. We already have a couple filled already. Glad to hear. I'm not >> We were at the um resource fair that Councilwoman Francois spoke about

532
02:31:36.880 --> 02:31:53.200
earlier for those water utility and open space positions. >> Yeah. Well, no, I'm glad to hear that because that's been the main stay in our township for well at least 50 years that I'm aware and probably much longer. And I just think it's a wonderful thing. I

533
02:31:53.200 --> 02:32:13.040
know we have to sacrifice, but I'm glad to hear you're able to keep the hotel keep a lot of them. Thank you. >> The hotel tax is down 33,36584 from uh from 25 to from 24 25 uh collected taxes was down over 133.

534
02:32:13.040 --> 02:32:30.080
>> That's a third of a percent actually in >> 11. Yeah. Okay. U but no, thank I'm really glad to hear that some of those jobs and hopefully next year they'll all be back there. It's been a great um I I know people now that talk about 30 years later about their experience and um for

535
02:32:30.080 --> 02:32:46.560
what that's worth. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I just a question. >> Yes, sir. >> And you just mentioned it >> the hotel tax. Have we decreased

536
02:32:46.560 --> 02:33:01.680
in the hotel space that we've had in >> No, actually we're increasing >> documents. >> There's more hotels being built. Yeah. So there actually the room number number of rooms the the the former Marriott decreased the number of rooms available.

537
02:33:01.680 --> 02:33:18.080
But I it so I I I the hotel industry baffles me as far as the construction of new hotels in the world that we live in right now. the hotel industry on on in our town was to primarily target

538
02:33:18.080 --> 02:33:33.760
business travelers. Um that and that you know they I remember if you I'm sure you all do too that the the rack rates during the week were quite high and then they would run specials on the weekend to try to get people to just go go hang out at the hotel for the weekend because

539
02:33:33.760 --> 02:33:49.680
they had no one staying there on the weekends. Um, and with the advent of Zoom meetings and remote me, it's just amazing to me that there are still people traveling for business in the numbers that they used to that they would be building new hotels, but

540
02:33:49.680 --> 02:34:07.359
nonetheless, they are. Um, there's one under construction on Atrium Drive right now. Um, and one that was just completed to replace the Travel Lodge on Eastern Avenue. So, there's a number of them, but um I I don't think it's a matter of less rooms because their occupancy rates

541
02:34:07.359 --> 02:34:23.520
are in the 40% rate at best. So, there's plenty of rooms to rent. It's just that people aren't staying in them as often as they used to. >> So, that that's not something that we would if we did count on them way back in the day. That's something that we're not.

542
02:34:23.520 --> 02:34:40.160
>> So, it rebounded a little bit after CO in 2023. It rebounded a little bit and now I I think we've we're starting to see where it's peaked. It it it's right now it's at about 1 point

543
02:34:40.160 --> 02:34:56.880
hold on I'll tell you exactly what it is. >> As we look that up question he Yeah. Go right ahead. >> I I I will just say that we are starting to see a rebound because with the uh back to work guideline from almost every corporation globally which is almost 5

544
02:34:56.880 --> 02:35:13.040
days a week at this point. We will continue to see a little uh rebound, but it's probably not going to be as the township manager said back to where it was prior to co the one thing that I I will say that um I wasn't here for a

545
02:35:13.040 --> 02:35:27.600
little bit, but listening to my financial uh my colleagues that were on that committee, I'm sure the arrows were flying nice and heavy going back and forth >> and I appreciate that. and then coming

546
02:35:27.600 --> 02:35:44.000
out and having explained it. Um, reminds me of going to college. Do you eat today or do you pay your college bill tomorrow? >> Yep. >> And sometimes it was pay your college bill tomorrow because you got that incomplete if you didn't pay to get

547
02:35:44.000 --> 02:36:01.680
certain things done. Um, so I would just like to keep our our residents in mind that you want things, but you don't realize it's going to cost you in the end. And um,

548
02:36:01.680 --> 02:36:17.280
if you say, "I want 55 million cops on the street because of crime." Well, it's not going to cost me the 25 $25,000 for the first year cop. it's going to cost me $25,000 plus benefits plus hospitalization plus everything else

549
02:36:17.280 --> 02:36:32.800
down the road. So, it's not just that one time fee. You have to include all the other little pieces to the puzzle to make that one person hold that you hire. So, in eliminating the position, I

550
02:36:32.800 --> 02:36:48.160
just didn't eliminate that $30,000 a year position. I eliminated all the health benefits, all the pension benefits, all the sick days and and all that kind of thing. But we need to remember um

551
02:36:48.160 --> 02:37:04.160
we're not a small town anymore. We're a growing town and you're going to need things. People complain about the streets not being paved. People complain about garbage. Well, we don't do garbage. You got to pay for your own garbage. But I still get emails for

552
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garbage. Um, so be careful what you wish for because when the council gives it to you, it might come with a price tag and you

553
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may not like it, but it's there because you wanted it. And we as the township fathers as it were, I'm including women also. Um we're trying to make that budget so that you don't have to spend

554
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more money because I do live here. I don't want to spend any more money. I I live here. I pay taxes. But you got to have something in which you want it. It's going to cost you, Jerry,

555
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and and and my colleagues might hate me for saying it, but it's going to cost you. And that's the one thing that we're trying not to have you pay for a lot because I'm going to get hours back and forth. They're going to get arrows back and forth. And uh it's going to cost. I

556
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I hate to say it that way. I asked the town I mean the the mayor because if we raise our budget, the board of education raises their budget, we need to have a meeting to say, "Hey, where are we going in this township? What is it actually

557
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going to cost us in 5, 10, 15 years? What is it actually going to look at?" Health care cost we can't control. That's something the township manager said you can put in a black box and just put it there because it's a moving target.

558
02:38:40.399 --> 02:38:54.800
Um, we have obligations. The board of education has obligations. We have students they have to pay for. There are kids. There are grandkids. They got to pay for those. You want us to pay for

559
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our portion which was what? 12 12 >> 13% >> 13%. >> 13%. The boards of education was what? >> 60 61%. >> We got to come together on that program. Uh maybe we could do a little more synergy. Maybe we can do a little more

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bouncing back and forth. I know we do the maintenance program together. >> So that's that is some cost savings there, but maybe we can look for more. >> It's a cost savings for them. We do the work. >> They pay us for it.

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your back. You ain't going to say >> but definitely in all sincerity when you look at our budget I got to hand it to our finance committee. They did a hell of a job and I appreciate them for looking at it for actually looking at

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it. But again, next year is going to get uglier. It might get better. The board of education might get uglier. It might get better. We need to start working on things and putting things together. Now, >> Mr. Wright, I'm getting I'm getting a

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text that they can't hear you. Is your mic on? >> Okay, he's on. >> Yeah, I could hear him pretty well. >> Must be going down. >> Okay, >> must be tough for me to be quiet and step back. >> Okay, so I want to point out one thing. Uh Carl, that was interesting and I

564
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agree with most of what you said. Uh the mayor and I uh uh have slightly different view on on on the budget, but that's why there's nine of us. Um if you all had the same exact view and approach, there'd be no reason

565
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to have a council. Um but I do want to acknowledge I know one thing near and dear to his heart, he kind of skipped over it, I think, in the presentation, uh was it sounds measly, but $25,000 that uh we were going to give to the 250th committee. um that is struggling

566
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to raise money, please uh support them any way you can, but you know, I I'm going to say and everybody on the committee, but probably Phil and I or mayor and I uh lovingly and for the better of Franklin but heads a little bit over the decades, but uh you you uh

567
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just don't talk to talk, you walk to walk, and I I know how important that was to you. So, uh, it's a little thing, but a, you know, you're you're practicing what you preach and and I appreciate that and and the work

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of the rest of the committee. I think we uh hope maybe get a little next next couple years it'll be very interesting and quite frankly I don't know if it's going to get better or worse but um I'm sure we'll get ahead of it and we learned a lot this year and uh the committee uh go we'll go back to to it

569
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and put in those hours and um we'll see where we land next year. But I just wanted to point that out. >> Thank you, Miss Francois. I don't think you >> Yeah, I I got to jump in here real quick. So I think the key message and to take away from this whole budget discussion that we've had at financial

570
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oversight, it's very easy to make simple decisions and as Carl Wright would say, kick the can down the road. But when you think about the fact that the method and approach that was taken, we need to take regarding spending and cost cutting and

571
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estimating future revenues, estimating what costs could be potentially be. you have to really look at at what the long-term impact is based on the decisions that you make today versus what could potentially the impact will be long term. And so we had to make sure

572
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that we were not just looking at what the easy decision would be this year, but we had to think about the financial solveny of the future of the municipality long term. And so you you don't have a crystal ball. You can't figure out what's going to happen in the

573
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future, but you know what you have to deal with today. So, we needed to make the most financially, fiscally sound decisions, which were painful. We could have made some easy decisions, but we did not do that. And so I would like to commend everybody on this council for,

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you know, um, biting the bullet and doing what was best, doing the best thing for Franklin Township and the residents. Even if we're going to have a lot of people that may not be very happy with us for raising taxes, we're being fiscally responsible and we made fiscally sound financial decisions about

575
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what was best in this budget. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you. I think Oh, you have not spoken, Mr. Oni Jaka. Yes. >> Yeah. I know it was a very tough decision for us to take on this budget.

576
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But the the part that uh interests me most and I'm worried about is the layoff and uh as it goes down there is no layoff in this is a very positive move and a greatest achievement at this

577
02:44:02.319 --> 02:44:18.880
critical time. There's no layoff in Franklin. So it's a good thing for me to express my feelings. Thank you mayor. >> Thank you. I think it's time for the vote. Madame clerk, but what have you

578
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been doing all this time? >> Listening. Councilman embarrass. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Fruis, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi, >> yes. >> Mayor Kramer, >> yes. >> Councilman Oni Jaka, >> yes. >> Councilman Singh, >> yes. >> Councilman Vasanella, >> yes. >> Councilman Wright,

579
02:44:35.359 --> 02:44:50.160
>> yes. >> Regrettably, I have to go back one resolution. I think it was worded wrong. The last one, >> it's authorized. It's it reads and my script anyway authorized to read self-examination of budget resolution. I

580
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think it should be authorized self-examination of budget resolution is >> okay. >> I think we on that. >> I think just your script is wrong. I think the resolution is correct. >> Oh, okay. >> The resolution is correct. >> Have to redo it.

581
02:45:04.960 --> 02:45:22.160
>> No, no, you you I as I said that you just needed to leave out that word in your script. >> Okay. All right. fixed. All right. Now, now we are on to public hearings and adoption of ordinances on second reading. Ordinance number 453-26.

582
02:45:22.160 --> 02:45:37.760
Ordinance accepting a cons conversion conservation easement in uh permitted Wow. permanent access easement for 31 Borhees LLC in connection with premises

583
02:45:37.760 --> 02:45:54.479
known as block 113 lock 10 1.01 block 119 lot 26.01 01 and block 132 lot 9.01 in the township of Franklin County of Somerset State of New Jersey presented

584
02:45:54.479 --> 02:46:10.840
for public hearing and final adoption. Public hearing is notice as required. Uh we are open for public hearing with unanimous consent and no objection on this item only. Anyone wishing to speak?

585
02:46:16.960 --> 02:46:37.200
I see movement. Okay, here we go. >> Right. Thank you very much for the details on the budget and of course I didn't realize how complex the process is and uh the hard work which goes on which definitely is in this whole uh system. So that's very good that you

586
02:46:37.200 --> 02:46:53.120
have paid due diligence to create the budget. Uh however of course if you have to look at the budget uh it used to be about 58 million 10 years ago. >> Sir this is only about the ordinance that was just not any other public topic.

587
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>> Okay. >> It's only to address the ordinance that's up for adoption. >> Okay. For the budget right? >> No no the budget that the ordinance that the mayor just read from the agenda >> is theation. >> The conservation ement. It's only for

588
02:47:08.080 --> 02:47:24.560
the conservation. Okay. >> The public hearing on the budget will be on May 26th >> and you can of course come to the next meeting during the general public portion and speak then about the budget. >> Uh anyone going to the school budget as

589
02:47:24.560 --> 02:47:40.000
well? >> No. >> No. The school budget final adoption is tonight somewhere else. >> At the >> at the school board the school board meeting >> at the board of education meeting. We'd have nothing to do with their budget.

590
02:47:40.000 --> 02:47:56.399
>> We Yeah. >> Sorry if you've waited all this time. >> Two people away. >> Anyone else wishing to speak on this ordinance? >> One question. >> No, sorry, you can't. This is a not You just can't speak up. Sorry. Afterwards, you can stay and ask all your questions.

591
02:47:56.399 --> 02:48:12.640
>> Um, anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance? I ask unanimous consent to close public portion and the will without objection to have a motion to adopt. >> So moved. >> Do we have a second? >> Second.

592
02:48:12.640 --> 02:48:30.160
>> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Madame clerk. >> Councilman Barrison. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Francois. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi. >> Yes. >> Mayor Kramer. >> Yes. >> Councilman Oniaka. Yes. >> Councilman Singh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Vasanella. >> Councilman Wright.

593
02:48:30.160 --> 02:48:46.080
Either one will move here >> as next three. >> Oh, okay. >> Um, so now we have ordinances on first reading. These ordinances have to do with the fact that we're going to be passing a budget and then we have to

594
02:48:46.080 --> 02:49:01.600
once we pass the budget, we want to spend the money uh to get capital projects done. And this guy makes me read all of them. >> No, not pass them all together. >> Correct. Sorry.

595
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>> Oh my god. I'm I'm not the one who makes you read it. >> No, his law partner makes you want. I'll read them, but you're going to have to vote on them separately. >> All right. Ordinance on introduction and first reading 40 ordinance number 454-26. Bond ordinance providing for uh 2026

596
02:49:19.120 --> 02:49:37.960
capital improvements and equipment acquisitions buying in the town of Franklin in the township of in the county of Somerset. State of New Jersey appropriating $8,49,100 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $6,979

597
02:49:39.920 --> 02:49:57.359
$79,145 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. The foregoing ordinance to present the township council for adoption, first reading, posting and publication in accordance with law and public hearing and final adoption in a meeting of the

598
02:49:57.359 --> 02:50:17.760
township council to be held on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 7 p.m. No. Shouldn't this be the May 26? >> He just handed to me. >> Why would you want it to be? But because

599
02:50:17.760 --> 02:50:33.040
we're not passing the budget until May 2. >> No, Mr. Mayor, >> while you were out, we adopted an emergency appropriation for capital so that we could do the capital projects before the budget is adopted.

600
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>> You go to the hospital one night. >> Well, that's what I can I tell you >> and you guys just leave me >> and and I believe our township attorney was absent from that meeting as well. So, we did lots of business that you don't know anything about. I watched it online, but I didn't pick that up. Okay.

601
02:50:49.200 --> 02:51:05.840
Sorry. May 12th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. >> Do we have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Madame clerk. >> Councilman.

602
02:51:05.840 --> 02:51:22.560
>> Yes. Councilwoman. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mayor Kramer. >> Yes. >> Council Jaff. >> Yes. Councilman. >> Yes. >> Council Vasel. Councilman Right. >> Ordinance 455-26 bond ordinance providing for various

603
02:51:22.560 --> 02:51:40.080
2026 capital improvements for water utility by and in the township of Franklin in the county of Somerset State of New Jersey appropriating 45 4.58 million. Therefore, and authorizing the issuance of 4.588

604
02:51:40.080 --> 02:51:57.279
um million bonds or notes of the township of uh of finance, sorry, bonds or notes of the township of finance the cost thereof to finance the cost thereof. The foregoing ordinance is

605
02:51:57.279 --> 02:52:12.560
presented to the township council for adoption on first reading posting publication in accordance with the law. Public hearing and final adoption and a meeting of the township council will be held on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Do I have

606
02:52:12.560 --> 02:52:28.240
a motion to introduce? >> So move. >> Second move and seconded. Any discussion? >> Madame clerk. >> Councilman Barrison. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Francois. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi. Mayor Kramer. >> Yes. >> Councilman Onjaka. Yes.

607
02:52:28.240 --> 02:52:43.040
>> Councilman Singh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Vasinella. Councilman Wright. >> Ordinance 456-26. Capital ordinance appropriating 293,500 from the open space trust fund to pay

608
02:52:43.040 --> 02:52:58.399
for various capital acquisitions and improvements for the township of Franklin and the county of Somerset. State of New Jersey. The foregoing ordinance is presented to the township council for adoption on first reading po posting publication in accordance with

609
02:52:58.399 --> 02:53:15.279
law and public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be held on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026 at 7 p.m. on the council chambers. Do we have a motion to introduce? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion?

610
02:53:15.279 --> 02:53:33.600
Madame clerk? >> Councilman. >> Yes. >> Counciloman. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Consent agenda. Items A through O is listed on the consent agenda portion of

611
02:53:33.600 --> 02:53:51.439
this meeting are presented to township council for Topshin. Do I have a motion on the consent agenda? >> Second. >> Move and second. Any discussion? I have it. Separate out. >> Madame clerk.

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02:53:51.439 --> 02:54:10.160
>> Councilman embarrass. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Francois. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Karazzi. >> Yes. >> Mayor Kramer. >> Yes. >> Councilman Onjaka. >> Yes. >> Councilman Singh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Vasanella. Councilman Wright. >> Councilman Vasinella's gone too. >> No, it's going.

613
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They're running like >> this term extended. >> So I'm not that the meeting is long. >> We have no resolutions to be voted on separately. All business, any boards, committees, commissions, queenships,

614
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loyal. Anyone have any appointments to make? >> No. Okay. Uh we have no executive session. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. >> I.

615
02:54:43.760 --> 02:54:51.479
>> Oppose say nay. >> We are adjourned. Be well. Franklin.