you're welcome looks like we're on TV yeah ready okay it's 70:02 i call the council meeting to order for April 2nd roll call bennett here leosa here millie here
sasso here skiara waki here matthews here please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the annual schedule of regular meetings herefore adopted and posted on the public bulletin board at the municipal building emailed to the Herald News the record the Gazette and all persons who have requested the mailing such since November 19th 2024
approval of the minutes have approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of March 19th 2025 so moved second motion by second by Sasso any discussion roll call waki yes sasso yes millie yes
leosa yes bennett yes matthews yes motion carries public comment i now open a meeting to the public any desires to be heard on agenda items please raise your hand come forward to the microphone state your name well you could speak during that one if you'd like
you can talk about anything else but okay seeing none entertain a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so move motion by Millie a second second by Leosa all in favor i motion carries 2025 budget presentation
presented by Mayor Lane thank you Mr president let me get position okay do this now a word from our sponsor and where's our water you stretch it out
good evening i appreciate this opportunity to present this 2025 budget for the burrow of Forthornne as prepared by the administration and the finance committee to the full council and general public i will move through this presentation and
take time to explain challenges we face in 2025 and key components of the budget yes is this TV on [Music] awkward pause
maybe it's connected to Joe's phone no it's working my phone is perfect now there you go oh there's a light button i see a light turn it on that's what I said there was
no white button for those of you who wish to follow along at home both this presentation and a copy of the budget being proposed for introduction are now online in the news feed at www.horththornj.org so let's get started
rather than keep people in suspense this year I'm going to to dive right into and tell you that the tax rate increase will be 4.5% this year why this increase results from the combination of four
factors sewage health benefits garbage pension all four are beyond the direct control of the of the count of the town to go into more detail about these cost increases the charge imposed by the Sika
Valley Sewage Commission for treatment of our sewage will increase by 22.5% over 2024 employee health benefits through the state health benefits program will cost 15% more
this past fall we bid a new contract for disposal of the garbage to replace the existing contract that was bid in the fall of 20209 5 years of compounded postcoid inflationary increases caused the rate
per ton in the new bid to rise 24.1% and finally the amount charged by the state for the police and fire protect uh pension system has increased 6.6% 6% the combined increase for these four
items amounts to $815,000 as compared to the total increase in the tax levy of 1 million25,000 without these increases the tax rate increase would be a
mere.3% even if the if these four items had risen by a combined 4% the tax rate increase would still be only 1% 1.3% unfortunately as a result of those cost increases the municipal tax rate
will increase by 4.5% this year making the increase for the average homeowner $122 this increase makes the municipal tax bill $2,840 for the average homeowner the
latest share of these taxes goes to for fund our fine police department but a host of other services that are funded as well road maintenance and repaving collection of garbage recycling yard
waste leaves sewer service maintenance of the shade trees our library recreation and health services the taxes also help support our volunteer fire department and our ambulance corp despite the tax increase the municipal
share of the property tax bill in Horththornne remains less than a quarter of the overall property tax bill slightly larger than the county share the largest share is for the schools neither the county nor the school share are under the control of the mayor and
council using its 23% share the burrow funds the wide range of services I listed while review the previous slide and that our residents expect and enjoy where does our general budget
revenue come from 72.2% of the budget is funded by taxes including those received on a delinquent basis state aid represents a significant but declining share of revenue the second largest revenue source in our budget is surplus
26% of this amount is used to fund one-time costs in a budget so that they won't impact taxes with the re with the rest going to support general operations building department fees are required by law to be used for building
department costs only antenna rents mostly for tenants of the Long View Water Tower have been on revenue that we've been able to increase over the years but with the Long View tank now fully occupied this revenue cannot grow
much further all others include a wide range of things such as permit fees pool fees special reserves interest earned on cash reserves and court fines fees in particular are expected to cover merely
the cost of the services being provided not via general revenue where does the money go this chart shows our current fund expenditures are allocated in the budget employee salaries and benefit account
for 47% of the total while our police protection accounting for the biggest part of this new capital costs and debt services on previous projects com comprise 8% of the budget as we look to improve our roads and
facilities our outstanding library and our garage and recycling services comprise significant portions of our expenditures as does sewer service which saw the big increase from the Pake Valley Sewage Commission the state of New Jersey has
imposed caps both on spending by municipalities and on their tax levies in Horththornne it has been prudent fiscal practice rather than these state imposed caps that control our taxes we
are below our appropriations cap and we are allowing 1.6 million dollars in taxing authority to expire rather than further increase taxes the burrow remains in good fiscal health our tax base continues to grow
with an increase of almost 1% in 2025 our tax collections remain strong with at over 99% as we retain a healthy fund balance which gives us better interest rates we when we borrow money for capital
projects the burrow uses grants to minimize the amounts we need to borrow to maintain and improve our infrastructure projects planned for funding in 2025 include payment of Florest Avenue Florence Avenue from 5th
to 11th Greenwood Woodland Highest North Highrest Tanya Terrace Garfield McKinley from Lafayette to Grand View North Wong and Westervelt from Gothal to North 13th Street sidewalk replaced in conjunction
with the paving to be assessed to the property owners renovations of the space on the second floor of the municipal building being vacated by the board of education in order to meet the needs of our police department and possibly other municipal functions purchase of a new apparatus
for fire rescue company number five new bleachers for Wag One Ballfield anticipating grant funding for a portion of the cost drainage improvements on Central Avenue we are seeking a grant to pay for part of this project the water utility budget is just
over $6.3 million and is totally self-supporting from the fees charged to the customers $1 million from water fund surplus will be used to pay off a portion of the construction loan for our PAS treatment
system prior to the permanent lowinterest loan being finalized through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank a major cost and one that will be a reoccurring is for the periodic replacement of the media in the POS
treatment facilities capital improvement projects mandated by the state for PAS treatment and for replacement of the water service lines have caused a need for large rate increases including 9% in 2025 the water utility also has grown
has its own capital budget replacement of galvanized water service lines with copper is a project mandated by the state which began in 2022 and will be ongoing through 2031 a bond ordinance to appropriate
money for phases three and four was adopted last year so that no additional appropriation is necessary this year rehabilitation of our peach tree water tank also funded last year and a third of our three metal tanks and will be
completed next fall and winter this year's budget is somewhat larger than last year's for the reasons previously mentioned our tax levy will be $1.5 million more than 2024 the tax rate is up by a smaller percentage than
the increase in the levy because of the of the 85% increase in the ratable base the average homeowner will see an increase of $122 in municipal taxes in conclusion what I've presented
tonight is a budget that addresses the realistic cost of what it takes to run the burrow of Forthornne to provide a v to provide the various services we all expect and to keep us with our infrastructure needs at the same time we are being mandated by the state to spend
money for our water utility to meet new more robust environmental laws and regulations i have worked with my entire administration burrow administrator Eric Mau finance director Lorie Foley our department heads our boards and commissions to craft this budget which
was which was then reviewed in detail and tweaked further by the council's finance committee this budget therefore is a result of a collaborative effort i urge the council to vote to introduce the budget tonight and then to adopt it
on it at its May 7th meeting thank you everyone for your attention in this matter okay well we were supposed to have comments from our auditor did he call you mayor and say he wasn't going to make it no I haven't heard from him Mr president okay
well I guess we'll circle back to him if he's in traffic u we have no adoption of ordinances old business joe we'll start your way all right thank you um I did send an email in regards to
uh missed recycling on on Ward One District 2 and I was replied that they followed up with the with the vendor and I was further informed that we really have no one that manages the day-to-day
operation to ensure that B&B or whomever the contractor is so I just want to clarify that we have a multi-million dollar contract with a vendor and yet nobody oversees the work they do public works
does no no i was told last night they don't well they they we don't have somebody that follows around and and and ensures everything is picked up if we were to do that that would pro that would be about another million dollar another $100,000 in our budget i can
tell you most places don't when I get garbage picked up at my home there's no one that follows the garbage truck i'm not saying follow i I'm saying ensure that the truck is empty when they arrive ensure that they start at 7:00 as per our ordinance that I've been complaining
about for years ensure that every road is picked up accordingly whether it's via GPS or whether it's I don't know spotchecking one every 100 streets i don't know but I can't imagine we have a multi-million dollar contract and we go
on their word joe we have No no no it's a yes or no question do we have someone that supervises the DPW the the garbage pickup the garbage pickup is is monitored so it's yes or no we don't
have any Dominic please all meetings you always are giving the answer i'm not asking you we don't have anybody in public works that does that but the as soon as full-time as soon as we find out that there's a problem the management company is notified they send out a
vehicle to find out exactly what's going on and what's wrong if anything is wrong so the resident has to report that their stuff hasn't been picked up and then we send somebody and that's out of the ordinary that's correct that is out of the ordinary if you have a business you
apparently to monitor the garbage company i don't think so because I don't get home until way after and then I have to wait until the next day or I get a resident calling and saying "Hey something happened that I didn't get my stuff picked up." Or you could see it on social media hey any reason why this area wasn't picked up i just don't
understand we have supervisors that supervise people in the fire department we have people that supervise people in the police department yet we have a division of our DPW that doesn't get supervised i can't say that it doesn't get supervised we don't have somebody
that that on any full-time basis or in the field goes around and and checks to make sure everything has been picked up we rely on ob sp spot observations by um our supervisors in DPW or by phone calls
to uh uh from from residents to um to identify problems and have them fixed by the contractor the email that Joe sent us it goes to Moren too she she always receives it oh thank you Dom well she does she's she's up in
public works well calls go to her office what is the problem they go to her office but they shouldn't be calls from the If I'm on a fire scene is there a fire chief kind of directing you're talking two different things no I'm not i'm talking about supervision of employees but you're comparing a
contractor a subcontractor to it versus an employee we No the garbage and the recycling don't work for the town it's a contract that we have with them we can't micromanage them the way we could someone that work i'm not saying micromanage i'm saying manage they start before 7 and no one controls them they
have their trucks never inspected because we don't know whether they start full not full we were supposed to have No I Excuse me Mr president i can tell you right now the trucks are inspected be about 7:00 or even before 7:00 at the
DPW garage and they're inspected for number one that they're empty and number two that they didn't start before 7 o'clock and have the start before seven and I've repeated you say call the police I call the police they continue to do it gated does it all summer long well this is the first time you're
telling us that it they're starting now before 7:00 council president they were checking in to look for the plugs as well correct and this is the first time I've brought that up no you've No long a long time ago you
brought it up it wasn't a long time ago well I'm not going to argue with you Joe joe what's the problem starting earlier what's the problem it's an ordinance change the ordinance then there's no traffic early in the morning too then change the ordinance we allow them to start early at the
schools so they will be on there do we have to some Lafayette a Wagar Road they park in the ball field lot they all get out of their trucks hop in the garbage truck and start their way up Lafayette A so you're telling me the truck gets into
town goes to the DPW yard gets inspected drives all the way back down to Wagar Road picks up his staff and then goes up Lafayette i don't know what the order of things is i can check with That's the problem nobody knows what the order is that's not true i I will check with with
DPW when they check in and whether they have their crew with them at the time that they check in or whether they go my point is I'm dumbfounded that we don't have one staff member assigned to even spot check to go around to ensure that what our contract is being we pay is
being done we hire a we hire an engineer to do that for the other vendors we have in town well that's because it's one particular project at a time just using it as an analogy i know but it's apples and
oranges because this is one he's looking at one project when it's getting built they would have to follow the entire route every single day i'm not saying follow the entire route check them in the morning make sure they start at 7 spot check them in ward one on Mondays
or Tuesdays w two on Wednesdays w three on Can I talk now yeah go ahead it was two streets that were missed when we called did they give a reason why they missed them i don't remember that specific instance okay so it was two
streets that were missed sometimes the trucks fill up and they have to go home and come back the next morning to finish a route like walking away sometimes so you know a lot on that day so I mean so it's not uncommon but a mistreat was certainly an anomaly
uh there are people that are in charge but there's no daily supervision so Frank if this was once in a while I wouldn't say it but it's on a regular basis i agree 100% if we have an ordinance that shouldn't start before 7 they shouldn't be doing it and they've
been told i I I was told yes they have so yes they have all right guess enough on that so well no let me back up when we do the next contract for pickup we should put in there that we've had these in the contract for starting too early
and not abiding by our time frames that should be put in the next bid package well Eric won't be here so you remember no I'll be here when we put together the specs okay all right i next thing I'd like to discuss tonight there were 22 cars
parked in the parking lot of the pool lot i did receive the email saying that we need to put up signs have we started putting up signs that say no parking we we have to order the signs made specifically we can't put up those beautiful yellow signs no because you
have to be able to to enforce it you have to be able to cite the ordinance that uh on the sign it it's not an emergency police situation it's a it's a specific ordinance that has to be done we're having the signs made up when the signs get made up we will we will that
are special order both in size and the and the lettering then they will be erected have we spoken to the owner of the property who was eager to sue us with a builder's remedy they've spoken to the owner of the property and we've spoken to the the manager of the fitness
comp the fitness world or whatever their name is Planet Fitness we've spoken to them both excuse me yes we have mayor is that a public parking lot pool is it public technically I believe it is is it open to the public it should be it's a
public lot but uh our ordinances do indicate that it's for municipal use in certain lots the pool's one of them same thing with our municipal building um so yes it's it is not for people to park and go to the gym right um the the But
Eric is correct we cannot issue summones unless we have a sign making that clear once that sign is up then yes the police will be entitled to enforce at that point i still remind you it's still police discretion and I will also remind
you it's it's April 2 so the critical time when I started now it was like five cars 10 cars again the number of cars Joe in April is not significant when it comes to pool season that will be significant right now it's not such a
critical issue that we need to take emergency measures and put up emergency signs we're going to do this the right way put up signs so that by the time pool season rolls around we will be perfectly capable of summoning people
and the they're unnoticed that they're going to get summones so that's the way it should be handled i have nothing else are the signs on order Eric yes yes okay yes thank you no I don't know how long yeah i don't know what they did they give you an
approximate delivery i don't know but I will find out okay people no old business thank you no thank you how about new business Dominic i'm fine i'm fine and Marie I would like to just bring up um Mayor you're doing a terrific job with addressing all the
local traffic issues so just to add to all of your headaches of traffic I wanted to ask have you been um has anybody brought to your uh attention the two offramps coming off of 208 in either direction onto Ga Road by where Paul's
Motor Shortways and then we've got two lanes going into one where there's two offramps and then the left-hand turn it's it's quite challenging it's it's a dangerous zone so I don't know what we can do if anything but you've got the left turn
lane you've got two lanes of traffic going into one that are also becomes the off-ramp lane um right there in front of Paul's so if anything I know it's uh a particular zone there but
um if we could address that if I don't know what we can possibly do well what we can do is I can give DOT a call and have a meeting with them at the site go over it see if they find that there's anything wrong and then we can we can go from there because you've got the
offramp from 28 coming technically north coming off and then the south coming off but they're both coming from the underpass two lanes goes into one lane but that one lane has the offramp coming from 28 the other way and those are the cars that want to go
straight but some of the off-ramp people want to go to the lefthand turn lane it's a lot of cars trying to handle what if you're not familiar with the area it's just a very congested chaotic thing for uh but
also a Maria uh I I I I truly believe what you're saying because I use both ramps also yeah on a on a not on occasion quite often uh but if you notice there's stop signs there if
they're not if they haven't been hit by a car they're up but uh I think we had a car flip over there that is an area where if the police see it i don't know if the police could give our police could give a a thing a ticket or if has to be state police because it's state
property i'm not suggesting that it's a a it's not any person's fault i'm just wondering if there's any way that we could maybe expand the roadway because it's not it's there's just not enough roadway for the driver the amount of
drivers that are coming in that area it's the police are doing their job you're addressing everything prop fantastically but there's a lot of cars coming into one lane and then that one lane half the cars want to try to get into that left turn lane half the cars
want to go straight half the cars are coming off an offramp ideally we would have another lane i I I will call D i'll set up a meeting with them we'll meet there no one's doing anything wrong we just We'll go over it thank you you're welcome Bruce
no I'll seed my time to jail thank you okay um Eric I just want to thank you uh for addressing Mahenny with the uh stone in front of that uh resident's house um
thank you for removing it yesterday appreciate it Joe i know your crew was involved um second um I just want to thank DPW um for going out i had a green team member um was concerned about odors
of the stream between St anony's and the post office um the DPW went out on Monday they didn't see anything but there were dog waste container bags in that stream so I think that was the
cause of of the smell they removed them i just really want to make a point that when people are walking their dogs do not put it into a waterway um it's not really the proper way and it's not um by our ordinance to with the
waste of pets so please put it in a receptor container i'm just doing a public and uh services announcement you know about storm water you don't put things in the storm water like garbage and debris as well as waste items so um we'll be talking about this at Cell
Earthbration April 26th talking about storm water but um I just really want to make a point and you know it goes to your point if you see something say something so um DPW went out and looked but um please as you're walking with your dogs please take it with you don't
put it on someone's lawn or in the street curb thank you Joe um eight between 83 North 8th Street and Gothal Road um there's a new business that doesn't have enough
parking so they're parking up and down North 8th Street on both sides on the sidewalk and the police have been called about it because you can't get down makes it a one lane highway or one lane street and uh the business continues to
park on both sides of North 8th Street i know the street going east no it's going to go west there's no parking on north it's going north there's no parking the other side
which is the was Nola's side there's parking in certain areas but they're taking up both sides cuz I guess they just That's where the sidewalk is yeah sidewalks on both sides yeah but that there's people park on the sidewalk cuz you
can't park it's not enough room to park in the street right but he's parking on both sides of the business that would be illegal john I believe it's an auto body shop not for long not for long all right so
maybe M Frank's on it he doesn't have a state license that's 150 oh isn't that who we're talking about auto body 83 is the firehouse oh well if
it's 150 um they already got closed down cuz they were It was yesterday they had cars on both sides well they're they're in the process of being closed down they don't have any state approval and they don't have any seal from the burrow and they've ran the
business on both sides okie dokie i Hey I'm working for you i hear you man i have nothing else we'll turn to the administrative agenda presented by Mayor Lane thank you Mr president april is Autism Month and
today is Worldwide Awareness Day an international observance dedicated to the rising awareness about autism and promoting acceptance inclusion and support for individuals with autism the autism flag went up yesterday senior residents just a reminder federal
income taxes are due April 15th if you need assistance please call AARP at 9739491745 to make an appointment at the library on Saturday April 19th the Easter Bunny will be at the historic train station on Diamond Bridge Avenue
in Grand Avenue from 10:00 a.m to 2 pm on Sunday May 18th at 1 p.m we will have our third annual Mayor's Walk for Wellness and we will meet at the high school track and mark your calendars to join us for a
great afternoon that's all I have on that and I'll turn it over to our attorney Mr pasqual thank you mayor i was uh I wasn't ready that quickly took me by surprise congratulations to you congratulations to Lori and to everybody at the council
on the budget it's uh tough stuff because the costs keep going up u so here's some good news for you good news for you is that yes our ratable base did grow by nearly a percent last year which is great 085% is really good growth in
the ratable base at the same time Tim Henderson and I were able to settle our largest tax appeals uh next meeting unfortunately you'll be confronted with another large settlement but it is the last of our really what we consider significant settlements because quite
honestly um there's exposure in some of these instances where you have buildings that are where we do need to adjust taxes but overall our ratable base is strong in 2024 we had 15 county appeals filed for
$8.6 million of properties this year we have only 10 appeals filed covering 4.5 million in taxes so that is good news that is much less at stake in terms of tax appeals tim and I will again address
these we'll settle some we'll hold the line on others um I was handed one by our burough clerk this evening filed by Mr spoiled who laughably says that his property has been devalued
um by outside forces not inside forces I guess and is upset that nobody went inside his house when we did our revaluation to inspect the property now we have made it a point of letting him know and others that house is completely
unsafe to enter and therefore we will not allow our assessor or our appraiser to enter that property at fear of death or some other injury as a result of the hoarding condition within the house so
that's when we will hold the line uh but there are others where we'll make necessary adjustments so we add the value of all the junk on his lawn and driveway to the value of the house yeah it would add about $6 or $7 Bruce it's junk did he meet the deadline uh there's
nothing happening i mean everything uh the cases have all been consolidated good news and now it's moving forward the judge who's actually managing the cases is trying to wrangle it all into one pile is there a time frame i mean it's been going on forever i mean
there's there's no time frame this go on for 20 years well Frank I'm being facitious but I know it's not in our control but there's got to be a reasonable even when there is and we get some clearance of stuff off his lawn he just
finds more and puts more junk on his lawn it's a rubbish pile and again uh it is rubbish not trash so it's not a board of health issue but it is it's just disgrace what this man does to our
community and uh you know I guess he enjoys the fact we talk about him though so maybe that's what he does it for um so that covers two topics in one uh the last thing I'll report is on tonight's agenda is a settlement of a portion of
our affordable housing uh litigation as you remember the DCA the Department of Community Affairs was tasked with assigning every community a present and prospective need for the number of affordable housing units each
municipality was to create they gave us the number of 300 our planner John Sabbo used the formula that the law prescribes and said the number should be 183 and uh only a handful about a third of all
municipalities challenged their numbers we held a very firm line and we said look we agree and John agreed there was one property that brought us up to 189
um fair share said "Well what about 250?" And we said "No." "$ 230?" "No." "$ 220 no 215 no." The uh adjudicator former special master said "How about
210?" I said "No not 205 we'll go to 200." So I negotiated and recommend to you resolving this matter at 200 units rather than the 189 units that the
mathematics that we calculate say should prevail um I recommend this strongly to you because the handful of communities that have not settled their cases judges are saying things such as "Well I
presume DCA is right." Which is insane because DCA is telling us we know we're not right but judges are saying otherwise so all that said the difference between 189 units versus 200
we can't build either but at least by reducing the number from 300 to 200 it gives us a much more valuable target to work with so again I recommend this settlement to you strongly john Sabbo recommends it strongly and I hope that
you consider it and not uh just take stands against the you know the process we understand it's a flawed process but working within the process this makes sense so that's all I have mayor thank you Michael and now I'll turn it over to
our engineer Joe Burn thank you Mayor uh the galvanized water service line replacement project phase three uh the contractor is continuing down Diamond Bridge Avenue at which point uh final restoration will be performed uh we're currently working to obtain quotes for
the Lincoln Middle School and St anthony school service replacements uh the Lafayette Streetscape phase 3 project an updated start date and schedule has not yet been provided as part of the middle uh as part of the middle process which is ongoing but a preliminary start date
still remains as uh early April uh the Hawthorne hockey rink improvement um plans and specifications are set to be reviewed by the uh Hawthorne Board of Education and once approved by the board the solicitation of bids can take
place and uh the Hawthorne Library roof repairs uh Pano Roofing uh in a recent discussion with them uh expects to begin repairs sometime this week um but I'll keep on them and Bos will make sure that uh the repairs are done correctly so
that way we stop having issues with the library roof and that concludes my report mayor thank you Joe and now I'll turn it over to our administrator Mr eric Mau um I want to add my thanks to everyone who assisted in preparation of
the 2025 budget Lorie Foley department heads the finance committee to bring us to the point of introduction and to the full council for giving consideration to this action i hope you don't mind but I don't intend to do this again in the future um a second negotiation session
with Ridgwood Water is scheduled for this coming Friday regarding a long-term agreement for the sale of our water to Rididgewood i'm optimistic of reaching a deal that will benefit both municipalities maybe not this week but hopefully in the near future um the Morris County Joint Insurance Fund which
we belong to has announced the results of its 2024 safety incentive program hawthorne is one of just a handful of member municipalities to receive a perfect score as a result we have received an award of $1,000 from the fund to be used for the purchase of
safety supplies uh the fund's commitment to its safety program has resulted in a low rate of workers compensation claims and costs saving all members on workers compensation insurance premiums hawthorne is equally committed to this program for the benefit of both our
employees and our taxpayers i want to thank my assistant Jen Skully for helping us achieve this award jen newly certified as a qualified purchasing agent by the state of New Jersey has also been working with me and the DPW on
bid specs for the purchase of chlorine for the water utility we plan to receive bids later this month for award of a contract in May uh fee ordinance 2367 adjusts several pool fees to correct mistakes from when they were last when the ordinance was last updated
uh bringing them into accord what was intended resolution R63 authorizes the purchase of a new apparatus for Rescue Company 5 using funds authorized sign recently by the adoption of bond ordinance 2362 uh the price is
significantly below what was authorized by ordinance resolution R66 authorizes a contract with the architectural firm Copa and Montalbano for renovations to the uh police department and the second floor space vacated by the board of
education a memo in your packet details the competitive process used to make this selection and finally public works director Bill Heler and I have been exploring the possibility of a shared services agreement with Pay County for the maintenance of vehicles to see if it could result in cost savings for the
burrow and that concludes my report thank you Eric mr president we'll answer any questions that the council may have any questions for the administration i do but I'll let Dom go first dominic thank you Joe i appreciate that joe when do you think you'll be down by Diamond Bridge the business section for the
water lines um do you know i I don't have an answer for that but I'll I'll reach out I'll reach out to my inspection team and I'll get back to you tell administration today no thank you and Eric we did appropriate X amount of dollars for Michael's assessments right
we have enough Michael we appropriated We have money we right now set aside to be quite honest with you the settlement that I'm going to bring you for the next meeting will utilize all of the funds that we have uh
for that purpose the good news is in your budget you are replenishing that money so we should be in good shape this was one property in particular it's the property that was formerly the Curados
at 662 Gothal Road it's a very uh it's an old style building let's put it that way there have been problems with occupancy there there's uh the units of the residential units are older units and frankly they've been tenanted by
people uh who live there pretty well forever so uh the rents are low so all of those things point to reasons why um we're going to have to settle that one or I'll recommend settlement but we're replenishing our fund if that's the
short answer to your question thank you why didn't they get picked up when we did our reval they were assessed based not upon the values of the leases but rather upon the physical attributes of the property so where you
have rental properties residential rentals we're seeing that people can rent these properties at like 2,000 to 2500 a month these old leases are like 17,800 and the owner quite frankly says
I can't boost these people up dramatically um because it's just not the right thing to do and he's right about that um so yeah but if I own a rental property I want to charge somebody a very low
fee I can get my taxes lowered it's it's historic and the thing is you can't just do it that way but if it's something that's historic and you can show consistency of the rentals and there is consistency here um because of that we
see incremental increases but you can't give somebody a 30% rent increase that's unconscionable if you raise somebody 10% yes but if you raised 10% a year at these properties you're still below market um and these are older units so
uh again we think it's justified in at the end of the day henry I'm good thank you Bruce no Raina um Joe you said Lincoln Middle School and St anthony School is about the service lines is there something
different about them is it just because of the length going into the school and the size of the pipe or to replace those galvanized lines um I believe that there were some special considerations as far as how the service lines feed into the buildings um
I believe with was it St anony's um it comes near a existing staircase um yeah I think those are concerns it's also much larger lines than than is specified in our our bid spec so the so
we have to get uh you know we're going to have to get they're going to give us a different price and to make sure that it's a reasonable price i think Boswell's is getting alternative uh prices on those okay to make So they're just larger lines that I think is a 2 inch line okay if if you go out tomorrow
morning by on Diamond Bridge and and Forest A where they have the hole open in the middle of the street you can see it it's a large pipe going in towards St anthony that's different than all the houses and that would make sense that would
make sense okay that was my first question second question um the roller hockey um the bo the specs they've been I know they've been given to the board um will it be on the next board of education meeting to approve those specs
so that we can move forward to bid the board of education along with Joe Perante uh had a meeting last night here okay to review this the committee reviewed the specs and review the plans they had a couple minor minor questions that Joe is going to get answers to and
as soon as the board uh gets the answers I believe that's going to be the end of it and it's going to go on their uh their uh their agenda for to approve the plans okay i just want to make sure we're moving forward and that each of us
hold up our end of the bargain of the of the They've been very cooperative okay um in in this procedure that's great thanks that's my last question joe joe I'll start with you if I can give you some blackout dates for St anony's let's
black out April 25 and 26 and definitely the 11th 12th and 13th 14th of June for what Joe the feast for the feast cooking Black Op there now they're there but they
don't When is your estimate of beginning you said early April right they're there now yeah but they got to get bids on it this is for the St anony's waterline yep um as far as last I heard from my inspector on Friday they
were getting quotes for it so I don't Right so if you get quotes and it's going to take you two weeks to get quotes you're going to land right on the 25th yeah so April 25th April 26th May 11 12 and well if don't worry about June just 25 and 26 but I know that they're
going to be closed for a week you might want to check with the sister on what's best just not 25 and 26 understood and I'll make sure that our good that the contractor you know and our inspectors are aware of the blackout dates and that
we coordinate with Yep the school thank you and then switching pages uh garbage debris pickup at Mary Street lot between Maser it's still there i'd received report from public works that they had taken care of it but I
will go out there with the the director to make sure that uh they see what what you're seeing and just if you go to the base of Maser and look straight up okay you can't it's you know what it is it's people just dump stuff there because it's a huge lot not it's buildable lot
let me just write you don't it's not buildable for low-income housing it's our lot for runoff from Mary Street Tank but it it gets a lot of debris in it and then lastly the ITNS education everybody here if you've seen it it's cyber security education if you do not
see the one that's listed tonight check your spam folder to see that if it got sent there and that is all yeah several there are people who people who completed their cyber security training last fall won't have received
anything i think there were two or three council people who hadn't completed it last fall and they would have received um an email so if you didn't receive an email you know if if you did it last fall you shouldn't be looking for an email so we've done two so far right so
it's the second one that you're talking about yeah yeah the one people that did it last fall don't you know that's this round and they don't have to do it again so Joe was late no I didn't just assumed I got the I just assumed I got the invite because I'm on the committee
nope okay no I did mine i know I did mine i got the certificate i printed it okay can you send it because I'll if if they're making a mistake I will want to make sure that they understand the mistake they're making absolutely fair enough anything else that's all mr
president can I have a motion to record the administrative agenda motion by Bennett second by Leosa all in favor i motion carries introduction of ordinances we have budget ordinance 2366-25 the 2025 municipal budget
appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank pursuant to NJSA 484-45.14 we resolve this ordinance is now passed first reading it said ordinance be further considered for final passage at the governing body at the municipal building 445 Lafayette Avenue Horththor New Jersey on May 7th
2025 and at said time and place all persons interested will give an an opportunity to be heard concerning the same the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish this said ordinance in the record once at least one week prior to said hearing with the notice of its introduction time and place when and
where said ordinance would be considered for final passage have a motion so move motion by Bennett second by WKI any discussion roll call bennett yes leosa yes millie yes sasso yes wii yes matthews yes
motion carries ordinance 2367-25 an ordinance to further amend and supplement the code of the burrow of thorn to revise various rates set forward in chapter 220 fees section 12 parks and recreation resolve this ordinance is now passed first reading
and the said ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the governing body in the municipal building 445 Lafayette Avenue Horththornne New Jersey on May 7th 2025 and at said time and place all persons interested will given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same and the
clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the said ordinance in the record once at least one week prior to the said hearing with the notice of its introduction and time and place when and where said ordinance be considered for final passage have a motion move motion by Millie second second by Leosa is Eric
discussion eric described this is to lower the fees that were there for the junior members or you know underage age under 18 members it's like $5 or something where yeah it was it was an oversight last time that they got a bigger percentage increase so this is to
lower the rate joe I just want to ask clarific clarifying question if you mail it what department will be handling the pre-season purchasing sales we have someone assigned i'm not we I'm not giving out
the department because I don't want people calling that department because they're only handling mailins so but there is somebody who knows exactly what to do with it okay we can discuss after then offline okay and then second I thought we discussed last year that we were going to look into being able to
purchase it using electronic methods yes we did we have signed up for a system the the issue is the company that's setting up has a longer lead time for setup from by the time we transferred the money in November and uh
and and issued a purchase order and they needed 6 to 8 months to get it set up which seems to me excessive but that's what it is so it was not going to be ready by the beginning of a pool season so we will do it so it'll be ready for
the 2026 pool season so okay no other questions okay roll call wki yes sasso yes millie yes leosa yes bennett yes matthews yes
motion carries budget resolutions BR1-25 Certificate of Compliance with the Civil Rights Act have a motion so move second um what is what is this a motion by me second by uh Leosa but the there is no
section for we should have let Mr lure asked his question previously come up and ask him that hey come on up what the heck yeah it's uh we we we said we saw that but I thought he was talking about 26 2367 but okay no problem yeah
we need a microphone i can speak loudly if you like it's got to be t you're pretty good at it that's what your wife said thank you very much i am Jack Lan Winkle Avenue because I asked the
clerk Hernandez to go to the trouble of sending me extra materials related to the uh meeting tonight i wanted to show that I read them i'd like to comment on resolution uh budget resolution 125 in which the council members declare that
pursuant to public law of 2017 chapter 183 you have familiarized yourselves with the contents of the United States Equal Opportunity Commission's enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records in the employment decisions under title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of
1964 i want to commend you for your faith and courage in making that statement the lengthy enforcement guidelines with the 167 footnotes is an invitation to roll your eyes and pretend
that you read it the six Democrats and two Republicans who came up with this requirement probably had good intentions at the time but it hardly seems relevant to the introduction of a budget resolution by the way you can consider criminal
records if it's related to the employment but you can't use those records to discriminate against un u against protected categories i simply wanted to say I read it i commend you and I thank the mayor and the council for the work you're doing on this budget
i'd be lying if I didn't say we did the TED talk from our attorney to give us the the skinny of the comprehensive version thank you i would just note that this becomes related to the budget because the state says it's related to the
budget and the state is never wrong galvanized budget that's sarcasm if you didn't pick up on that roll call bennett yes leosa yes mey yes sasso yes wii yes
matthews yes motion carries br2-25 is the introduction of the 2025 municipal budget can I have a motion so moved so moved motion by Millie second by WKI any discussion roll call wki yes sasso yes millie yes
leosa yes bennett yes matthews yes motion carries br3-25 conduct budget self-examination have a motion motion motion by Leosa sasso second second by Sasso
discussion roll call bennett yes leosa yes mey yes sasso yes waki yes matthews yes motion carries resolutions cassette agenda R63-25 to R66-25 r63-25 is to award a contract for
purchase of a fire rescue vehicle from Pierce r64-25 is to authorize a settlement of the affordable housing litigation prospective need r65-25 is professional services for Boswell for the 2025 road program r66-25
is professional services for Copa Montal Ball first and second floor municipal building improvement have a motion motion uh okay so motion by Leosa second by Mey
any discussion mr chairman if I don't if I may uh I just wanted to make note that the original price that we received for the rescue truck was 1,700,000 uh the firemen in that company
who was on the committee uh were not happy with that at all so they went out uh and uh got some different prices and we came back with one 1.3 so I just want to say thank you to Rescue 5 for being
uh studious and uh getting us a better price than the 1.7 that they originally got and Council President I was going to say the same thing for um Anthony Mezo who really took the leadership and um
negotiated and he really has the best heart for Horththornne but at the same token we knew we do need the truck and we need the tools for them to do their job that they're doing so we really appreciate them going the extra mile and negotiating a a good price for us that
we would be able to do and it's nice to be under the bid bond the bond ordinance that we did so I just really want to thank the fire the rescue five and the guys out there so it's greatly appreciated thanks anyone else
roll call wii abstain on 6325 yes on all others sasso yes mey yes leosa yes bennett no on R 64-25 yes on all the others
okay matthews uh no on 64-25 yes on all others do we have enough to pass it yes you do because I can motion carries motion carries report to special counsel committees dominic we'll
start your way all right i'd like to thank our administration for working very diligently with our committee thank you Eric for doing a great job and to Frank and Raina for the committee we did i think we did a great job do our best to support the people of Horthin thank
you and Marie I don't have any reports um special committees we didn't meet yet this month but I did want to tip my hat to our police department for getting a piece of the pie of the million dollars that uh the state gave out for um cracking down on distracted drivers so
this month everybody pay attention when you're driving we got a little piece of that pie so no texting no texting and uh kudos to our department for paying attention bruce uh yes as a member of the public works committee I think I've been out on
Diamond Bridge ad just about every morning this week uh watching them work and maybe you could go overboard [Laughter] if you're not busy you could do the garbage thing too know much about garbage trucks but I give you like 20
bucks to do it's really it's been an education for me as an engineer watching how they replace these lines how they dig these precision holes they haven't nicked a single curb and those system
they use to run that copper line is just amazing it's been a real education so your engineers been out there every morning and uh they're doing a great job they're moving fast they're very efficient so good yeah we're very
pleased great um just want to remind everyone uh we're having a green lecture at the library on Horththornne recycling program so please come on down 7 o'clock it's going to be in person and learn about the Hawthorne recycling at the
curbside as well as all the activities we have at the recycling center so come on down thanks tomorrow Thursday um April 3rd at 7 at the library moren Cook will be the speaker
not me hey you don't sound too good yeah I was going to say your voice ain't going to make it Joe all right board of health we had a board of health meeting uh we reviewed of all the restaurant inspections we had a presentation of Tao and I want to tell you that they really made a good statement they showed us
videos of the dog chasing geese in town i I questioned how many times they came they showed me signed documents of every time they came my only problem is when I said "You know there are times where you don't even take the dog out of the car isn't it in your contract to get out of
the car?" And she says "We do it for free for Hawthorne there is no contract." Which got me there so yes we have geese no we have no contract that tells them they have to have geese so it might be something
finance wants to look in for 2026 because we have a huge goose problem and deer problem uh it's just those two animals and they made a presentation about both of them but you can't hold them accountable for something that's not in their contract it is in their
contract so she says it isn't there is no extra charge for it that may be what she means oh so it's in the contract she said it's not in the contract because we don't pay for it it It's in the contract that she
doesn't charge an extra line item there's nothing in the bid that says it's just it's thrown in with the overall bid apologize i did tell her I was the guy who voted no for the last 20 years they actually do a pretty good job you fell for it is it in the contract that they have to
take the dog out of the car he drove there doesn't say that specifically in the contract i can assure you so it just doesn't say dog must leave car so all the videos she had the dogs bolting out of the car running onto the
field i'm going to say that next year if I am still the municipal attorney I will review the contract to make sure there's a provision that says dog must leave car absent absent some extraordinary circumstance well she gave a good
example she says so when they pull up they recognize her car sound they all jump into the Pakic River at wag one two three and four those are pretty smart geese she said geese are incredibly smart they run into the walk into there
what she does suggest is that we put a larger snow barrier fence so that they can't walk up and back from there because they will not leave their babies so if the golings are running behind them they won't fly over the fence so
they'll be stuck out in the water she doesn't recommend oiling the eggs she says this is the best way of doing it although they have to be on the field but if they run into a waterway the dogs don't go into the Pic River and I don't
blame them they're They're not that smart Joe they They think if you open an umbrella it's another bird spreading its wings and coming at you she actually mentioned that it's a fact no she says after five to 10 times they get used to the umbrella and they ignore it but not
her car her car she says has a very large valve tap and that when they hear the valve tap coming they go to run oh it was a very long meeting it was as long as almost an environmental commission meeting
do you realize how dull these meetings would be without Joe here what would we do we had multiple question for the nurses report we're eagerly awaiting the answer to those questions as for the shade tree commission meeting that was last night
we had a presentation from Sterling who's going to do our tree inventory um we do have tree plantings coming up in the near future and I'd just like everyone to please pay attention to the library there was a huge planting of daffodils and they have all bloomed and
it's absolutely gorgeous our building looks beautiful too in front of the building too they put they put hundreds of them at the library though so they outlined everything and it it really looks great really does you have to check out the community garden we put
them there too they're not native community garden anyway thank you for your report Joe uh planning board meeting last night was cancelled and the Chamber of Commerce wants to remind everyone to shop local for the spring fling and save the
receipts and bring them to the chamber to enter for a contest to win a prize at the end of the promotional period that's all I have correspondence we have none but we have bills have a motion to approve the bills and forward them to the treasurer for payment so
move second motion by me second by Sasso any discussion roll call bennett yes leosa yes millie yes sasso yes waki yes on the fire department
Matthews yes motion carries public comment i'll open the meeting to the public anyone wishes to be heard come forward to the microphone state your name second plate at the apple help himself jack 319 Van Winkle I'm sorry to detain you tonight but I am old enough to
remember the US bsentennial of se 1976 we had parades fireworks historical reenactments and community gatherings and a whole new series of quarter dollars i understand that back in 1975 Mayor Lewis Bay II created the Hawthorne
Bsentennial Committee they recruited organizations and individuals to plan prepare and execute bsentennial festivities a 7-in commemorative china plate was sold by the Rotary Club and a 6-in mug with the story of the US flag
was sold by members of the town fire departments community events including fundraisers Christmas caroling a bsentennial ball quilting and baking contests were held the observances culminated with an all day town picnic on July 3rd and a
patriotic rally on the high school athletic field on July 4th with musical presentations patriotic readings and a fireworks display i recently learned on the Towncast that Glenrock has a project called Road to Liberty to help celebrate
the 250th birthday of the United States i wonder has Hawthorne developed any plans to observe the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence at a time when there is too much division in this country I would
think it would be a wonderful occasion to bring together the whole community with a common purpose i would ask the mayor especially and the council to take the lead in assembling a team to include the Hawthorne Historical Society the Chamber of Commerce schools library
houses of worship community organizations now is the time to act we cannot wait for the summer soldier or the sunshine patriot thanks for considering this maybe you've already started on this but if not I really recommend it hope you will take it under advisement i already started on it
hallelujah i already have names of people to be on a committee super thank you so much we look forward to it thank you thank you have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting so move motion by WKI
second second by Bennett all in favor i I I motion carries our next council meeting is Wednesday April 16th at 2000 uh 2025 at 7 p.m have a motion to adjurnn so move motion by WKEI second second by Bennett all in favor i I I
Motion carries we'rejourned