All right. Stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
In accordance with chapter 231 of the open public meetings act. Adequate and proper notice of this meeting has been given to the public by publishing a notice in the Glenidge paper, Glenidge Voice, Monitor Times, and the Star Ledger and posting said notice on the bulletin board in the municipal
building. The agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www. glenrienj.org. A public comment period will be held as listed on the calendar agenda. Please state your name for the record and note that comments will be limited to three minutes per person.
Madam cler, please the yes madam mayor counselor here here zim here law here here here mayor man is present madam mayor you have a thank you we have uh two sets of
minutes April 14th and April 28th I'd like to take them for a motion to adopt together unless there's an objection to that yeah you guys want to see Yeah, if that's okay, then I'll entertain a
motion. I'll move for the adoption of the April 14th and April 28th minutes. Heard uh the motion by councelor Meyer. Do we have a second? Second by councelor
Roll call, please. Yes, madam. Mayor council. I Zimit. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. I. Six eyes. No names. The motion carries. Thank you so much. Any communications?
Madam Mayor, I have no comments from the mayor, but I do have a proclamation. Uh this is a a pledge uh to support monarchs. This is part of having the burrow of Glenidge be part of the
National Wildlife Federation's mayor's monarch pledge, which is a a national uh initiative. Whereas the monarch butterfly is an iconic North American species whose multi-generational migration and metamorphice from caterpillar to butterfly has captured
the imagination of millions of Americans. And where In 1996, more than 1 billion eastern monarch butterflies migrated to Mexico. But in recent years, the number has dropped to as low as 56 million, a decrease of more than 90%.
And whereas monarchs have lost an estimated 165 million acres of breeding habitat in the United States to herbicide spraying and development. And whereas monarch caterpillars exclusively eat the leaves of milkweed and adult
butterflies feed on their nectar, including milkweed and native plants. And whereas cities, towns, and counties have a crit critical role to play to help save the monarch butterfly. And a number of organizations, schools, and
individuals in Glenidge have already launched projects to support monarchs, including planting pollinator gardens at Clay and Benson Street parks, Freeman Gardens, and at our schools, selling native pollinator plants at our annual arts and ecoair, and ing properties to
be part of Glenri's pollinator pathway. And whereas monarch butterflies as well as other butterfly species, birds, bees, and bats help move pollen from one plant to another, fertilizing flowers and making it possible for plants to produce food needed to feed people and
wildlife. And whereas every resident of Glenidge can make a difference for the monarch by planting native milkweed and native nectar and pollinator plants to provide habitat for the monarch and pollinators in locations where people live, work, learn, play, and worship.
Now therefore, I Deborah Mans as mayor of the bureau of Glenidge along with the members of the burough council do hereby sign the National Wildlife Federation's mayor's monarch pledge. and I encourage other city officials across our great nation to take a stand with me to ensure
that future generations have the chance to enjoy this iconic butterfly. So, we'll sign that and we'll let our great environmental advisory commission committee know um a lot of work to support this. Thank you for the time. And with that, uh we'll open it up for
comments from the members of member of the p members of the public. Um, if you'd like to come up, if you have any comments, okay, I'll count to seven. There's a second opportunity at
the end. Um, and we'll be doing the budget presentation if you're here for that and we can do Q&A during that. So, with that, I'll turn it over to councelor Lewitz. You have a large agenda in front of you for the finance and administration committee. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Leading off my agenda is
resolution 94-25. Um, as we do every meeting, we resolve that the claims listed in this resolution be approved and warrants be drawn to the same, including roughly $432,000 from the current fund and
smaller amounts from the other funds listed in resolution. So, I I move resolution 94-25. You've heard the motion by councelor Lequit. Do I have a second? Heard the motion by councelor
Lewit. Seconded by councelor Zimit. Any discussion? Seeing none. Madam clerk, please call the ro. Yes, madam mayor. Councelors. I Hugh. Hi. Zimit. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. Hi. Six eyes. No names. The
motion carries. Next. Madam Mayor, I have resolution 95-25. Uh whereas New Jersey state law has authorized the local finance board to adopt rules that permit municipalities in sound fiscal condition
to assume the responsibility normally granted to the director of the division of local government services of conducting the annual budget examination. Um and whereas we have fulfilled the other conditions necessary
to locally uh certify. Um therefore we resolve uh that the budget has been locally examined by our CFO Matt Lacy and so I I move the resolution. You've heard the motion by councelor
Lewitz. Do I have a second? You've heard the motion by councelor Lewitz, second by council law. Any discussion on this resolution? Seeing none, madam clerk, please Yes madam mayor councelor leovitz I hi
zim hi law hi meer I Moody I six eyes no names the motion carries next I have resolution 96-25 um this uh resolution uh acknowledges the that the budget as advertised can be
read in full at the public hearing or may be read by its title only uh if at least one week prior to the date of the hearing it's been posted in a public place and copies have been made available to anyone requesting it. So I
I move resolution 95-25 to authorize the budget to be read by title. We've heard the motion by council for resolution 9625. Do I have a second?
Can I just Yeah. Should that be uh I believe it's 96 96. Oh, sorry. I got I self corrected. Oh, there you go. [Music]
Um you've heard the motion by councelor Lewit, seconded by councel Hughes. Any discussion? Further discussion? Uh seeing none, madame clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam mayor. I Hughes. Hi, Zim. Hi, Law. Hi, Meyer.
Hi, Moody. I six eyes, no. The motion carries. Okay, great. So, we're going to have a budget budget presentation now. We're going to ask our council members to move out into the audience. Um, so can get a clear view
continue with That's it. Okay, just wanted to be sure that I could see both the audience and the presentation. Um, so thank you everyone for coming to the council meeting and
this presentation. I'm going to present the 2025 municipal budget. Um, and I would just like to mention that this presentation and the budget itself can be
viewed or can be read at Glenidgej.org. So the uh the agenda uh This presentation uh is first to take us through the budget process. Um to elucidate the goals and
objectives of the budget. Um to go over the uh elements of the municipal budget. Uh and finally to bring in the water utility budget and the swimming pool utility budget.
There we go. Next page, please. So, uh, first the timeline. So, we're close to the end of the timeline that's presented here, which began last year um with our CFO Matt Lari monitoring and analyzing the financials of the bureau
uh and providing updates to the administration and the mayor and council. In November and December, the departments met with Burough Administrator Mike Kelly and our CFO to
review their current year budgets and discuss the 2024 budget requests. In the first quarter of this year, u the finance committee of which I am chair held meetings to discuss the bureau's
finances, capital projects and operating goals. More recently, we have introduced a budget in the council and now we are moving toward the next
steps. So, On April 14th, we introduced the budget um filing the annual financial and annual debt statements. We passed the ordinance uh
involving regarding the cap bank uh and introduced the budget and the userfriendly budget to the burough's website. Between then and now, the budget has been submitted for review to the state of New Jersey, which has given a green
light and the summary has been posted online and in the official newspaper that I believe. And here tonight at this meeting, we're holding this public
hearing uh and we will adopt the budget and the bank. So, Glenbridge has a long-term conservative budgeting philosophy. Our approach is to uh
implement sustainable budget practices while providing a high level of service and maintaining predictable property taxes. Our fund balance policy follows the recommendation to maintain a fund
balance as high as 25% of annual general fund expenditures. Ours is about 20%. So we're within the letter and the spirit of this guidance. Accounting wise, we don't follow GAP but
a modified cash basis form of accounting uh which is consistent with a kind of pay as you go approach. U that's reflected also in our capital and debt policy uh in keeping with the AAA rated
municipality that we now are again we're using debt issuance in a conservative manner beitting the pay as you go financing that's been our
hallmark on this next slide you can see that um inflation been a factor in our budget over the years. Although in the past couple of years, the rate of inflation has risen faster uh than the
budget. Nevertheless, it's certainly a source of stress on the budget now and going forward. But we can take some comfort in our having uh risen about 15% in the same length of time
that general inflation has almost 22%. On the next page, you can see the uh comparison of the three major items that our taxes go to.
The dark line is the municipal tax levy uh that this body is most closely associated with and responsible for. Um the taxes going to the board of education have risen at about the same
rate. More recently, Glen taxes going to the county um have dropped off a bit because so much development in the rest of the county that The general tax base has in the county
has risen faster than on the next page you can see a comparison of the increases in the municipal tax levies of Glen Ridge and other towns to which we
can compare ourselves. So uh over the preceding five years our taxes our municipal tax levy rose just under 3% um which is uh in the middle of the
range of comparable uh I shouldn't say all of these municipalities are comparable because everyone has a unique uh set of uh taxable property some commercial, some
less. Um, but we are can compare ourselves favorably to the most comparable towns that are close to us. So, um, this table puts it into
perspective. Where do our tax dollars go? The largest portion of the tax collected res going to the schools. That's about for an average household that would be about
13,954 or about 61% of the total tax levy. The the county of Essex is getting about 17% of what each of us is paying in property tax. Uh the municipal government is getting 21%
and the library is getting roughly 1%. So, some of the headline numbers of the municipal budget this year. Um, first, the net taxable value of the town is about $1.7
billion. This has risen not very much from last year, 3%. The next the net taxable value is defined as the total value of all taxable property. Uh and the tax rate which is
now.771 77 per $100 of assessed value. That's calculated by um dividing the net taxable value by the tax levy. The average tax paid per household is
rising $156 or about 3.1% from last year. Here you can see um a range of home assessed values and how much
each household would be paying last year. this year in municipal tax, municipal tax not so so again that's an increase of about 3.1% or
$156 for average household in town. So what are the drivers of the budget here? We've highlighted five of them. Uh most important is uh salary and
This is uh over half of the 2025 budget. Uh note that most of the employees in Glen Ridge are members of one of three different collective bargaining units. Uh and their compensation is going up an
average of 3% this year. That's covering 184 employees. Uh the next item and frankly most problematic is insurance health insurance in the state of New Jersey is a source of real concern. Uh
the state health benefits plan has increased 43% uh since 2022. This honestly is a crisis that we're trying to grapple with and find ways to to
remediate. But uh it's an accomplishment that we are managing to increase household taxes by 3.1% given these uh health insurance cost increases. The third element is uh
capital financing savings. Um we have refinanced our short-term debt uh in such a manner as to save a significant amount and blunt the impact of those
health insurance cost increases. The fourth element, the the cost of the things we buy, the asphalt and just all all the materials. Um,
everything costs more and that's definitely a factor. Finally, the last element is the cost of our general liability insurance. Uh, not rising as fast as health insurance, but it is rising. So those are the major cost
drivers. So um here is how the budget breaks down. Um we've got the pie chart to show you the major elements of it. Largest portion is public safety and that is both
the police service and fire service. The two of those combined 27% of the budget. Uh then the trash and recycling pickup is just under 16%. Insurance as we just discussed
rising costs that takes up about 10% of the budget. uh statuto includes things like u pension expenses and so on and some of the other major items
recreation about 6.7% public work 6.5 administration 5.5 and the library which is gem in our town is 4.8% % of the total
budget. On the right, you can see that for the average family, all those things collectively work out to $43 a month and you can see the uh the allocation of that
monthly. So on the next page, here's the summary of the revenues and expenses in the budget. Uh in total, our Municipal budget is increasing from 18.0 million to roughly 18.5 million. That's an
increase of about 2.6%. The so the major elements in that first the uh utilization of the fund balance. I previously spoken about the the need to preserve the fund balance at
a healthy percentage of the uh of the budget. Uh and in keeping with that utilization of the fund balance is going down a bit. Municipal receipts,
fees, various non- tax revenues are budgeted to increase about 8%. Uh the library tax, it's um being funded at the minimum third of a mill.
So that's a that's a sort of statuto minimum set by state law. And finally, the municipal in total is rising about 3.4% the impact on the average household is about
3.1%. So on the expense side salaries and benefits increasing to 8.9 million from 8.5 other operating expenses increasing to 7.85 million from 7.5 million and capital and
statuto actually declining a little bit to result in a budget balanced between the revenues and expenses. So briefly there are a couple of items that are not part of the general budget. First being the water
and utilities. The water and utility is operating in good shape. Um, part of the reason for that is that the management of accounts has been cleaned up. Um, so
we know uh more accurately uh who's using what water and what they paid and what they owe. And to improve that, we are replacing all of the water meters in town.
And there's a resolution about that on the agenda for tonight. And finally, the uh swimming pool is uh also operating uh quite nicely. Uh we're able to set aside
$65,000 for current and future capital needs. um and we can accommodate the uh seasonal minimum wage increase as well. So, thank you all for listening to this presentation. That is the Glenidge
Municipal Budget for 2025. [Applause] Sure. Are there any questions from the If not, we'll get back to our regular So, um, to get through the rest of my
agenda, Madame Mayor, I I have resolution 97-25 to adopt the 2025 municipal budget. Um, here we see a general summary of all of the items in the
budget. So, I moved the resolution. You've heard the motion by councelor Lewit. Do I have a second? I'm sorry. I'll second. Okay. Uh, you've heard the motion by councelor Lewit, seconded by councelor Zimit. Any uh further discussion on the budget
resolution? I'll just say thank you to Matt and Mike for working through the budget. I know it was very difficult with the health insurance increases. See no other discussion. Madam clerk, please call the role. Yes,
madam mayor. Council I. Hughes. Hi. Zimick. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. I. Six. No names. The motion carries. Thank you. Next I have ordinance number
1822. Uh an ordinance by the burough council amending chapter 13.04 water service system. This is for the record that this ordinance has been published and posted in accordance with the law. I declare
this meeting open for discussion of this ordinance and this ordinance only. This being the time and place for the public hearings. So if you have any comments on the ordinance, please come forward. So I I would like to encourage everyone to facilitate the replacement of the
water meters in their homes if you haven't done so already. Uh just noting that this ordinance is encourage that. Uh, also it does include a fine of $100 for non-compliance as of September 20th.
Uh, and $25 for each additional day thereafter. So, don't get fined. Um, let those water replace water meter replacement in the house. Exactly. All right. With no further comments forthcoming, I declare this
public meeting closed. Madame Mayor, I move that ordinance 1822 be adopted. May we have a second? I'll second. You've heard the motion by councelor Lewit, seconded by councelor Moody. Madam clerk, please call the role. Yes,
madam mayor. Councelor I. Hughes. I. Zimit. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. Hi. Six eyes. No. This ordinance is adopted. So uh next I have ordinance 1823 an ordinance establishing titles for
non-union and other employees of the burough of bridge and fixing the 2025 maximum annual salaries and other compensation for those titles. This is for final reading. Is it first reading? Okay. I don't know
if we had that. Yeah. Yeah. It's not I'm missing a line on the agenda. We don't know what to do if you don't tell us what to do. All right. Um, may we have a second for the introduction of this ordinance? I'll second.
Um, thank you, Councelor Meyer. Any discussion among the members of the council? Seeing uh no further comments forthcoming. U Madam Clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam mayor. Councilor Leitz. I
Zimit. Hi Law. Hi Meer. Hi Moody. Hi. Six eyes. No need. This ordinance is passed on first reading. I refer ordinance 1823 to the municipal clerk for the purpose of statuto publication and state. Are we still with you council? We are
still with me. Uh two more items. Uh second to last is 98- resolution 98-25. This is to authorize estimated property tax billing for the third quarter of 2025 while the state finalizes things
down. Heard the motion by councelor Lewood. Do I have a second? Second. Heard the motion by councelor Leftwood. Seconded by councelor Hughes. Any discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam mayor.
Councelors I. Hughes. Hi. Simmit. Hi. Law. Hi, Meyer. Hi, Moody. Hi. Six eyes, no resolution pass. And finally, Madame Mayor, I have resolution
99-25 to authorize the refund of a tax overpayment uh from a resident. For the motion by councelor Lewit. Do I have a second? A second. For the motion by councelor Lewit, seconded by
councelor Moody. Any discussion on the resolution? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the ro. Yes, madam mayor. Councelors I. Hughes. I. Zimit. I. Law. I. Meer. I. Moody. I. No. The motion
carries. And that's it for the financial. All right. Thank you. Exhausted. Um, Council Hughes, public safety. Thank you, Mayor. Uh the public safety committee uh met this evening. Uh we spent the better part of the uh meeting
uh in an interview uh with a candidate for the new position of police captain. Uh and then we went over the balance of the agenda. Nothing major to report. Uh and I have uh resolution
100-25 to offer tonight. Uh be it resolved that in accordance with the statute uh the mayor and council approve a raffle license for an on premise 5050 submitted by the high school home and school association available on June
3rd. Uh looks like it's the country club. I move the resolution. You've heard the motion by councelor Hughes. Do I have a second? I'll second. You've heard the motion by council Hughes. Seconded by councelor Lewitz. Any discussion? Seeing none. Madam clerk, please call
the role. Yes, madam. Counselor. Hi. Hu. Hi. Zimit. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. Hi. Six eyes. No need. The motion carries. Thank you. That's all I have. That's all you have. Thanks. Councelor Zimit, community affairs and public relations. Madam Mayor, I have nothing
uh formal to report, but I would like to talk about two upcoming events. Just to remind the public that uh this Saturday is the arts and ecovenue as usual. Um great event every year. Lots of uh lots of local vendors
and uh selling their wares and uh raising awareness about the monarch butterflies and things like that we can do to to help bring in more monarchs. Buy your pollinator plant at the eco. There you go. Yes, buy your pollinator plants. Uh I know we'll have bike tuneups and you can bring there'll be a
clothing swap where you can swap clothes. You can if you have clothes you just want to donate, you can take those. Lots of good things going on on uh Saturday. And then Friday the 23rd, which is before our next meeting, uh I have to remind everybody we'll be uh
Grub and Roses at Freeman Gardens, which is an annual uh food truck and live music event. Uh that's a big fundraiser for the gardens. Um we'll have six food trucks. We will have a bunch of local bands, a lot of lot of local great local talent. So coming out to Freedom Gardens
on Friday the 23rd. That is all I have. Those are great events. Um I do want to commend council Zim on the comm's team and and our other counselors. We are aware that New Jersey Transit might be striking next Friday at midnight and and you know Mike and the
team is trying to develop some just communications materials so people can understand um options that are out there. Uh but New Jersey Transit is recommending people work at home um if they do go on strike because it'll be very difficult to get in the city. Um
thank you. Guess what? We'll be updating everyone as soon as we have a plan. As soon as we hear more. Exactly. Thanks. Uh, councelor Law, public works. Okay. Councelor Meyer, parks and w
nothing to report this evening. Councelor Moody, planning and development. I have a resolution tonight, Madame Mayor. Uh, I have resolution 101-25. Uh and this resolution is uh for
specialized software maintenance and geographic information systems. It's a contract with a company named spatial data logic. Uh the software is primarily used by our building department and our
utilities crew. It gives them kind of mobile access and geographically pinned uh data uh in the field. And given the nature of this specialized contract, we have the ability to enter into a
non-competitive contract. So, this resolution uh does just that. Uh I would like to make a motion to approve this resolution. You heard the motion by councelor Moody. Do I have a second? Second. The motion by councelor Moody,
seconded by councelor Hughes. Any discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam mayor. Councelor I. Hughes. Hi Zim. Hi Law. Hi Meer. Hi Moody. Hi. Six eyes. No names. The
motion carries. Thank you. Anything else? Uh no. That's all for me this evening. Thank you. Uh Mike, Mr. Zali, anything? So in regards to water meters, we we're
down to the final 350 houses, which is great. This is far different with folks work at home now. We were at a real clip here, but what the uh the installation crews, what they're doing is they're knocking on doors and they're placing
door hangers. Um those are legitimate. They have IDs. If you have a question, give us a shout. If you're concerned, call uh the PD there. We we know who they are. We have they have photo IDs on them. But um if there is somebody knocking on your door, you find a door
hanger that is from us and uh we're just looking to gain access to swap out your water meter. It's literally 15 to 20 minutes um to get done and then we're in and out. Pretty seamless. And additionally, just a public awareness, uh the revaluation project has has
begun. The revaluation teams are out there again. They have photo IDs if they're at your house um or if you're concerned somebody's knocking at your feel free the public uh public safety can confirm their identity and that they're they're working on our behalf.
So those those both of those activities are going on and it's um as as I said it's very interesting going through this this is our third reval and our second water meter change with the amount of people that are able to work at home how how more readily we're sites are
accessible um to us and we're moving quite quite a bit faster than they have in the past. So again just If you're concerned for a minute, just call us and we're here to help you. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, I have no report.
Mayor, just with the arts and eco fair this Saturday, um going to be shut down from Bloomfield to um Lincoln Street, sorry. Um for the majority of just a
If I may Sunday, right? Saturday. No rain. Unless there's a rain. Even then it would only even able to work through. Yeah. They they
have a prep meeting where they work through uh any accommodations that need to be made. Yeah. Hopefully there's no wedding. Could we recognize uh Pastor John Samson who's in the audience tonight who's who's from the Glenbridge Congregational Church? Welcome. Do you
want to come up and introduce yourself? No, that wasn't a question. So, good evening everyone. Um I'm John Samson. Um today is literally my first day as pastor of Congregational Church. It's a real honor for me to be here in
Glenn. I am originally from northern New Jersey. So I've lived in West Orange, Montlair, Rutherford, um but most recently from the Aderondex. So it's quite a bit different here. Where in the Aderondex? Uh Kee Valley, which is in the high peaks. Pretty nice. It's pretty
here too. So driving distance back anytime he wants. Uh so I just I just look forward to how paths will cross in the days, weeks, and years ahead. Thanks.
I do. If you could exchange or figure out how we can exchange uh information with the chief, uh sometimes we do have opportunity to call on our faith leaders in town. Um and so it would be great to have your contact information. Sure.
Sure. I actually I stopped by the police station before and um was looking to set up a meeting with you. So Oh, perfect. So you're around tomorrow, I hear. Yeah, I'm right. All [Laughter] right. Great. Appreciate that. Um, all
right. Um, Madame Clerk, no. No. Okay. Just remember, you want to say anything about uh the primary like in the dead, you know, and we can push out some additional information. Sure. The um primary is coming up June 10th, which would be the second Tuesday after the
second Monday um in June, which is different than every Um, all polling locations will be open. Um, vote by mail is already in the process of happening. I know the um, ballots have already been mailed out. Um, our dropbox is open in the front um,
for mailin applications and that will be open until the um, till 8:00 p.m. on election day. Great. Yeah. And I might have missed it, but maybe we can push out an email or two just to remind folks because I saw a statistic um, maybe
less than 10% of the know that we have a primary coming up on pretty bad. Although I also what heard that our dropbox is like the most in Essex County. So very convenient. Um
okay, great. Uh any other we don't have any new or unfinished business? Any other comments from the public? Any forced public comment? Pastor John, any volunte? Hi, Phil Johnson. Just one question with
regards to the potential New Jersey transit strike. Um, when will communication be going out? And number two, is there an opportunity to use the jimies to transport people to cars, the light rail? I'm just curious to know what it's like you were
in the meeting. All of the above. Um, so we have Uh we Mike and I have a call Wednesday afternoon with NJ Transit. They've done a call for elected officials. Um maybe give us a temperature read on on how things stand.
Uh but this week, Mike's been working on contingency planning. Um there's guidance from NJ Transit, but we have been looking at the Jitney um seeing if there's an opportunity to get to the the parking ride behind Staples and in a way that doesn't frustrate everyone and
makes sense. And and also highlight the local bus bus lines um which we'll be adding a few and then there's some private service carriers that we want to highlight as well just so we'll plan to try to get that out in a couple days and
just keep in mind Jersey transit capacity is about 20 20% of what it would be with without without the train so it's even if you're able to get to a bus um be prepared for delays crowded
condition. So, um you know, bear with us as we work through this, but again, if you do have the option to work from home, um they're definitely recommending recommending that as well. So, or get to be good friends with your neighbors and carpull into the city if you, you know,
want to get to know some people as well outside the outside the Yes, outside the commuter tax zone. Thanks, Bill. Appreciate that highlighting that. Um Okay. Council Mike motion to adjurnn. All those in favor? I
I meeting is over.