Good evening and welcome to the township committee meeting of May 27, 2025. Miss Bra, please call the role. Committee Fredding here. Committeewoman Hand here. Committee Leani present. Deputy Mayor Payne here. Mayor Cherelli
here. Administrator Ferrer here. Attorney Willard here. Okay. Please rise and join me in a salute to the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation.
Please be advised that in accordance with section five of the open public meetings act, chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975, notice of this meeting was made by the posting on the bulletin board at the Hillsboro Township Municipal Complex and notifying the officially designated newspapers that
this meeting would take place at the Hillsboro Municipal Complex at 7:30 p.m. on May 27th, 2025. Executive session, if deemed necessary, to begin at 6:30. We did not have an executive session today. So, uh, let's move on to the approval of the
minutes. May I have a motion and a second to approve the regular meeting minutes of May 13, 2025? So, moved. Second. Get that roll call, please. Committ Bing, yes. Committee Hand, yes. Committee, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, yes.
Mayor Jelli, yes. May I have a motion and a second to approve the executive meeting minutes of March 11th, 2025? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Committeeman Britt, yes. Committeewoman Hand, yes. Committee
Leanne, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, yes. Mayor Churley, yes. May I have a motion and a second to approve the executive session minutes of March 25th, 2025? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Committee
Bing, abstain. Committee woman hand, yes. Committee Lefani, yes. Stephanie Mayor Payne, yes. Mayor Jarley, yes. All right. Um, before we get into our committee reports, a few general announcements. Um, first, our Veterans
Day breakfast and Memorial Day parade were a huge success this past weekend. It was my honor to take to make remarks to more than 140 veterans and attendees at the breakfast as as well as to address the crowd at the Garden of Honors ceremony and introduce our grand
marshal Mike Shnagel. Uh Memorial Day is a day set aside to honor our fallen heroes. Lest we not forget the commitment made by our servicemen and women so willing to lay down their souls for freedom, for our freedom, and for the freedom of our great nation. And we
take Memorial Day to say thank you to all of them. The Cherelli side of my family or my uncles who fought in World War II were fans of President Franklin Delano Delano Roosevelt who stated, "Those who
have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. And we cannot let that happen. We cannot forget." And that's why Hillsboro will continue this tradition to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and freedom. So, thanks the township for
continuing to put this event together. Um, UNICO uh bench dedication. On Saturday, May 18th, 2025, I was honored to attend the UNICO bench dedication of chapter members and botchi
ball players Joe Bellano and Doug Rig. There was a great turnout uh to honor these two longtime Hillsboro residents and and with their families uh and and relatives. So, it was a nice event and they were happy to get install the uh
plaques on the bench. Um the uh Hillsboro Business Association proudly hosted its first collaborative business networking event with the Somerset County Business Partnership on May 13, 2025 at Flounder Brewing. Uh, I
had the pleasure of speaking to business owners and attendees about the specifics, the benefits, I'm sorry, of networking among our local businesses and encouraging them to network and discovery discover the variety of professional services that are right in front of them such as legal, accounting,
information technology, marketing, hospitality, food services, uh, any kind and entertainment. So, if they need if there are needs, if they have any of those needs, those services are right in that room. uh and also reinforce the message that our uh office, our business
association are here to serve them and answer any questions and facilitate these cross business relationships in Hillsboro as well as Somerset County. So, it's a it's a free service or not free service, but doesn't cost businesses anything to call and consult and and make those connections. So, we
thank all who attended and helped make this event a success with special appreciation to Cafe Piaza for their delicious catering. Uh, and uh, don't forget to save the date for our next event on June 26th, 2025 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the
landing. Um, on Thursday, May 22nd, I along with Committee Woman Hand attended the Robo Raiders High School Robotics Team's end of season banquet. Uh, I was invited to open the dinner ceremony as the first VIP speaker and I
congratulated team 75, team 428 and the three feeder teams on their spectacular season. Um, we're going to see them again here for a proclamation on June 24th. So, I won't go into details until then, but uh, just an amazing season that they had. Uh, they went to the
nationals and and we'll talk more about that on June 24th. Um and let that same night uh I attended the Sunnyme Elementary School multinational festival. It was their second festival. Uh I was asked by the the elementary
school HSA to stop by and I experienced the diverse dress, food, cultures and performances of Hillsboro and the Sunny Meat family. My kids went there. My actually I forgot my wife went there. Uh it was a and and I was able to visit and
ex exhibits from Mexico, Colombia, Italy, China, Panama, Russia, Jamaica, India, and the Philippines and Uruguay among others. So uh and of course there was some food there. So kids were running up to me with empanadas and Filipino rice and um it was it was a
really good time. They had a full house. So, uh, and the way the kids that got up on stage to dance, I mean, they're that they they had the guts to get up there in front of everybody and dance and and, uh, uh, just pretty unbelievable. So, it was a fun fun fun
event, their second one. Um, so that's all from my uh, general announcements and now we'll go to the reports from the committees. Uh, starting with committeeman Britting. Thank you, mayor. You've been busy. All right. So, first from the administration office. So from primary elections coming up, right,
Mayor New Jersey primary election is only two short weeks away. The dropbox is now open for all mail and ballots. Early inerson voting begins Tuesday, June 3rd and uh Sunday, June 8th. The primary election date is June is Tuesday, June 10th. So as you guys can
see, uh it's now a uh it's it's it's within ingrained in our system now that there is an early voting period. So get out and vote. Uh poll workers are needed. So, the Somerset County Board of Election is hire election board is hiring voters to serve as poll workers for the upcoming primary election on June 10th, which is the formal day that
we all go in at the end on 2025 if you don't make the early voting or don't mail in your ballot. Uh training is provided uh prior to every election and poll workers are paid $300 per election. For more information, visit the Somerset County Board of Elections website. So, calendar submissions needed calling all artists. And I know we have a lot of
great artists in Hillsboro Township. Some of the little guys over there are probably pretty good, too. I coach one of them in baseball and I don't know if he's a good artist or not, but if he is, she has to submit something, Brandon. All right. So, uh, Hillsboro Township is again working with town, the town planner to produce a 2026 color printed calendar that will be mailed to every
resident in Hillsboro. As always, the township calendar will be a collaborative effort and residents will submit photos. For the first time, the township is collecting digital images of artwork created by Hillsboro residents instead of for photographs of local scenery. The artwork doesn't have to be township related, but it's preferred. We
would hope it would be. Uh deadline for submissions is August 1st. See, please see tomorrow's E-News for more information. The mayor will bring up at the end. E-News is very important. If you're interested in getting the up-to-date news, go to the website and sign up for e-news comes out very frequently. Miss Break and her team do a very good job of keeping everybody
informed of what's going on. So, uh economic and business development. So, these are for farmers. This Hillsboro is still a we is it 40% preserved open space, right? So, we still have a lot of farmers in this town. Uh Hillsboro Township is proud to have hardworking farmers as a part of our Hillsboro business association community. Our farmer our farmers would not only grow
food but also help drive our local economy. Supporting them means uh supporting all of Hillsboro. If you own a farm and are not yet listed in the HBA business directory, we encourage you to register. It's a great way to stay connected and promote your business and we will absolutely work with you on that. That's fantastic. Not many towns
have as many farms as we have. Health Green Living and Wellness Fair. The annual green living and wellness fair will be held on Saturday, June 7th in conjunction with the Hillsbor YMCA hot 5K. Uh the fair, a rain or shine event, will be held from 8:00 am to 11:00 a.m. here at the municipal building. Uh the
participating local businesses, uh let's see, uh we'll share informative presentations to raise awareness of the various aspects of living a healthy lifestyle, including making informed nutritional choices, long-term planning decisions, and the benefits of a green lifestyle. The there will also be health screenings and interactive dance and
exercise demonstrations. I think this is another great event the township host to try to have people live a better daily life. I think it's great. Hazardous waste day. The next household hazard household hazardous waste day will end or will be held, excuse me, will be held on June 14th, 2025 at the South South
County uh public works garage at 410 Roycefield Road in our town, Hillsboro from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Items that will be accepted include gasoline, oil, rechargeable batteries, and pesticides. Please see the Somerset County Recycling website for complete list of acceptable items. If anybody remember last year,
there was a fire in one of the the trucks because of uh I think there was a battery in it. So, it's important if you have this type of hazardous waste to use this. It's an effective way to discard items that are that could be dangerous. So, that's a good that's a great service as well. Human resources. Hillsboro is hiring for a variety of positions including building department inspectors
and summer clean communities help. Please see tomorrow's e-news for more information on available employment opportunities with Hillsboro Township. Recreation. We all know Hillsboro is well known for its recreation. So, summer camps, keep your child active and engaged this summer with Hillsboro Recreation 2025 summer camp offerings.
We offer a range of activities including soccer, basketball, golf, and tennis, as well as theater, robotics, cooking, uh, comics, and more. It's a it's a it's a nice little uh it's a nice little pallet of opportunities the kids have here. So, you can register today, and our recreation department has a really good
digital website relative to other towns. It's very easy to sign up. Monarch butterfly contest. As you've seen the mayor around town, he's been trying to help preserve the monarch butterflies in the town. So, as a part of the mayor's monarch uh monarch pledge, uh we invite young artists ages 18 and under, there's a couple of you in this room, to spread
their wings and creativity to save the monarch butterfly poster contest. Submit your artwork to the recreation department by Wednesday, June 4th, so coming up pretty soon for a chance to win prizes and have your artwork displayed for public voting from June 9th through 15th at the Hillsboro Municipal Building. Just a little bit
more for me. Social services. So, social services for the younger audience in the crowd too is a really important department that help people in need. our senior population, number of different areas within the town. That's a really important comp, really, really, really important. We have a a growing senior population in this town. It's important that we continue to support our social services department the way we have
been. So, barbecue distribution. The social services department will be hosting a barbecue distribution in June. If you'd like to support the community assistance network, which is CAN, CN, I think they have a really cool uh Yep. Yep. There's a really cool logo for it there. is helps people uh with food. Food pantry donations and assorted
condiments such as mustard, relish, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, and ketchup are all greatly appreciated. Uh the one thing about the can I'll say too is if you're looking to donate, always bring in what you think is right, but if you go on the website, they will actually tell you what the people of the town actually are looking for and what they need. So, it's actually a better way to do it. You can look at it and see what's
going on. Sometimes they need uh the need for food, there's feminine products, there's toiletries, other different types of items that need for help people in need. Uh Hillsboro Township can for over 40 years. The Hillsboro Township Community Assistance Network Food Pantry has been trusted source of support for local residents now thanks to the drop in egg prices. Uh
the pantry is pleased to reintroduce fresh eggs to its regular offerings. See, makes a difference. Eggs are a versatile and affordable source of protein, making them a valuable addition to any household's grocery selection. It's also really, really good for you. To learn more about or support the pantry, visit the Hillsboro Township
website. And the last component we have here, at least on these notes here, and then I'm just going to recognize a few kids in the high school, uh, are seniors. In recognition of Older Americans Month, theme themed, flip the script on aging, the social services department hosted its inaugural event for Hillsboro senior residents, uh,
senior residents. This initiative was spearheaded by Hillsboro High School student intern Harkin. Great job, Addison. As a part of an internship program established in partnership, where is she? Where where we have Where? Come on. She's here. Come on. Where are you? Raise your hand. Good job, Addison. Good stuff.
We are the best students in New Jersey. Uh she established this in partnership with Hillsboro High School. The program feature two themed sessions, mocktails and games and mocktails and a movie, both of which are exceptionally wellreceived. Now, I just wanted to go and I think the Hillsboro Township Public Schools does almost as good as a
job as the Township uh uh administration office of promoting what's going on to challenge them a little bit. I think they do a great job. I just wanted to recognize um some of the the children's classes. Um, they had a coffee card at Amsterdam, so it's another great way of giving back. We don't have any pictures up here, but I thought it'd be good to shout out for the kids. Great job with
that. Um, we also have uh the the uh the Hillsboro track and field team. For the fifth consecutive year, our incredible athletes have clinched the Skyland Conference Championship. How cool is that? I mean, I feel like every time we turn around, the Hillsboro kids are winning something on everything, which is great. It's also you learn more from
losing, but it's also pretty good to win fun to win. So, um, I also would like to, uh, there's one of the teachers, um, there's, uh, uh, Miss Shurik, which is actually one of my children's, uh, teachers. I didn't recognize this, but she won the Woods Road Elementary. She was nominated as a wonderful teacher and
the Applebee's Above and Beyond Teacher Award. So, I just want to thank her for that. And the last item that I will bring up is um, from the Hillsboro um, the uh, Hillsboro Rocks. For the fifth consecutive year, our amazing public schools have been recognized as one of the best communities for music
education. That just shows you we're not just athletes. We're musicians. We're into robotics. We're into STEM. This is a great town to live in. So, keep doing what you're doing. And if your children are not involved in something, please get them involved in everything. All right. That's all from me, mayor. Thank you. Thank you, committeeman. Next is
Committee Hand. Excellent. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. Great to see all of the faces out there. Um, and in addition to what uh, Committeeman Bing talked about, um, we had Jack Manetti, one of our very own Hillsboro lacrosse players.
Congrats to him for 100 points. That's a a fabulous milestone. And in addition to the girls track, which was their fourth consecutive Somerset County Championship, we also had boys volleyball. They won the Skyland um, conference championship. So, it is it is
amazing. feel like um we have a a terrific thing going on with the school. So well done wildlife preservation. So the wildlife commission they will be delivering a presentation tonight. Um and this is regarding their hunting season. Applications for the new season
will be available on the township website in June. The lottery to open, you know, to fill the open spots will be in late July and a mandatory safety meeting in August. The other item would be around Alzheimer's and brain health
awareness. So there's more than 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer's. That's one in nine people over the age of 65. Nearly 12 million of us Americans are also taking care of someone with Alzheimer's. So and those
are unpaid positions. People are taking care of family members, etc. there's um various signs of Alzheimer's whether it's memory loss um difficulty in completing familiar tasks new problems with words um decreased or poor judgment so all of these things um are you know
please keep it in mind and it is important to um you know read more about this and and get early diagnosis so please look at the e-news tomorrow or on the township website for more information thank you back to you mayor thank you committ
woman, Committeeman Leani. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'll echo what mayor, deputy mayor, mayor, former mayor Bringing said and committee woman said, I mean, Hillsboro Township Schools, we love winning. That's hard to say. I started that when
I was mayor. Just keep winning. It's great and everything you do. Um, the building department is working on the expansion of paperless correspondence. Is important for residents provide all email addresses when applications in order take advantage of the SDL portal access and the expansion of upcoming
digital permit correspondents. Hard believe anybody doesn't have an email anymore. Maybe people are just reluctant to give it, but please uh please provide that when you fill out the application. It makes uh us contacting you uh much easier. Uh township policy requires
property owners to conduct a or hire engineering testing agencies for soil, water, wetland, flood plane or similar testing to obtain a township engineering permit. Usually these companies require access routes into largely wooded areas due to the new NJ D mandates. The
township must monitor these routes to determine if any trees over a 6 in caliber or more are being removed. See the engineering website for more details. from the planning and zoning sustainability. Uh take a drive into Hillsboro's municipal water story
developed by sustainable Hillsboro steering committee. The water story aims to identify challenges posed by water in and around Hillsboro and gain an understanding of how to address these challenges. With this, the committee encourages all residents to view their interactive water story page to learn about the goal and purpose of the story
and take a brief survey located at the township's public input community engagement portal engage Hillsboro. Here you can provide insight to topics like water quality and hazards as well as submit photos to illustrate your feedback. Visit sustainable Hillsborough
page on the township website to view the water story, excuse me, and take the survey. As the mayor said, we're still in our uh continuing our master plan review. The Hillsboro Master Plan subcommittee is pleased to announce that the deadline to take the master plan use
survey has been extended to June 15th at 11:59 p.m. There is still time to give your feedback on Hillsboro's current and future land use patterns. The survey will only take about five minutes to complete and will give Hillsboro crucial insight into the community's vision for
the township. We encourage all members of our community to help us shape Hillsboro's future and let your voice be heard. Visit engagehillsboronj.org to take the survey and stay up tod date and all things master plan. Call the planning and zoning office with any
questions. Uh as we've all talked about, open space uh in in this township is a primary uh priority. Uh we always look to to do that wherever we can. I think we're about 40% preserved open space at this time in this township. Hillsboro's police yet announced that on May 1st,
Somerset County officially closed on the 402 acre Hillsboro Golf and Country Club from the state of Bryce Thompson I don't remember that is that all the way down Wartsville Road. It was a uh golf course right nestled into the uh Sland Mountains was a beautiful piece of land
and uh we were proud to join Somerset County in the purchase of this project to New Jersey Green Acres by contributing 1.45 four five million of its our own open space fund which is approximately 20% of the total cost. The county will soon invite the public to
provide input on the master plan to give the the passive development restoration and use for property including potential uses for the existing building. So stay tuned for that if you'd like to get involved with that mission. And lastly, the public
works department is currently in the process of sweeping roadways. It's actually NJ D mandate. We need to do it twice a year. Uh we have added photos to the side of our street sweeper to help depict the preferred way to keep the streets as clear as possible when the roads are being cleaned. Items such as
garbage and recycling cans can be kept off the roadway for collection. Also, grass being blown into the street from lawnmowers can easily be directed back into the yard. So when you see the sweeper in your area, please do whatever you can to create the least amount of obstructions to maneuver uh for them to
have to maneuver around to do the best job possible. Um the pro sweeping program will continue into the fall months until our leaf collection program begins. That's all for me, mayor. Thank you, committeeman and deputy mayor Payne. All right, don't fall asleep.
I'll be fast. I promise. Okay. So, first and foremost, I just want to make everybody aware for the seven people that watch this online and the 30 of you that got bored to death tonight. Um, that senior assassin is a ongoing senior
ritual, right of passage, whatever you want to call it. So, right now, the seniors are assassinating each other. You may see water guns. You may see cars as I did tonight before I left here where my daughter was trapped at her friend's house making cookies. Um, so
they also have to run in their underwear or and bikinis like bathing suits. So if you also see children a muck, I'm just going to leave it at that. Just, you know, it's sort of kind of a little under control. Um, feel free to yell at
them gently. Understand that we were all kids. We all tried to have fun. This is their right of passage as Hillsboro seniors and this is what they do. Um and she did not get assassined tonight yet. So stay home, Emma. Uh other than that, that was my big
thing for that. Um for the police, we have a ice cream social that's coming out uh up rather cone necked with them at the ice house around the corner on July 9th from 6:00 to 9:00. In addition to meeting the local police, the first 100 kids are going to get a free cone.
National Night Out. Uh, save the date for that. The police are going to be hosting the second annual National Night Out on August 5th from 5:30 to 8:00 at Mountain View Park. Come for fun, games, demonstrations, and much more. And lastly, the Veterans
Information Session that I have been doing quarterly since I took office will be held on June 21st from 10 to noon in the senior activities room. this uh session we are very excited and expecting a representative from the
VA from the Lions facility rather um VA hospital and as always veterans and family members of veterans are welcome. So if your loved ones are deployed feel free to come anyway. If you know you're caring for a loved one but you're not military come. And they don't have to
live in Hillsboro to come. So we have people, we have a pretty big group that comes every year, every session rather from Montgomery. So if you have friends in Manville, it's close enough. We don't uh turn anybody away. That's it. Mayor,
thank you, Deputy Mayor. Uh I have a couple of more announcements. One is the family funday. Our annual Hillsboro family funday and fireworks will be held on Saturday, June 28th. Uh it's a community favorite really. Uh, come
early for food, fun, and music, and settle down after dark to enjoy the fireworks display. The Independence Day celebration will feature inflatable amusements for children, food tent, carnival games, and promotional information from local organizations. Uh, the food tent will include
refreshments such as pizza, chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, kettle corn, and more. Live music will be provided by Gypsy, a true Stevie Nicks experience. I think the show was cut short last year from a thunderstorm, but we got we got half a show. Seven
minutes. Uh so this will lead to the main event, their their their concert, uh the annual fireworks extravaganza. As always, there's no visitor parking at the event, but shuttle buses will begin transporting people to Auton Road at 5:00 p.m. Uh see tomorrow's press
release for more information on that. on uh I recently was joined by township administrator Anthony Ferrer, uh township clerk Sarah Brake, engineering director Tom Bellinger, and uh Corporal Mike Leo, and Sergeant Chris Geraldi. We
all attended a meeting with the New Jersey Department of Transportation and really to talk about the Route 206 projects. That's that was the main focus. Um there was a video in the e-news last week that kind of summarized uh in real time what we felt coming out.
But uh we really focused on traffic safety. Uh the project is in a different phase now where they have a contractor. They're waiting for some design issues to get resolved. They're working on secondary utilities which are PSENG. Uh and the cable company's moving
moving their lines. Uh sometimes it happens at night, so you don't always see it during the day. Uh but that's been the main um focus right now. And so when they're ready to go, they're ready to go. I did see one of the jug handles paved over by our house. It was I don't know when they snuck that in, but so
there is some work going on. Uh I'm setting expectations right now. They're saying that this phase, which goes up basically up to Camplain Road, is going to be done at in November 2026. So two more summers of fun. Um, then we talked about the bridge project and then we
also talked about uh the local I call it local 206, but the old the old section of 206 is going to be milled and repaved next year. So, they're getting their uh design completed for that work. You may have seen some of the roads painted, some of the u sidewalks worked on. So,
three big projects. Uh cooperation with our traffic uh department was was big and important and uh we're hoping to, you know, keep the lines of communication open. And there's a new some new new team members and uh you know we'll when we find stuff out we will communicate it to the public and um
you know we just been dealing with it for so long now. Hopefully the the at least November 2026 date is something we're going to we're going to track. So um it was a good meeting. I mean it we're like I said we're in a different phase now that they have a contractor.
Um, so the last bit I have on Wednesday, second to last May, on May 14th, I attended the New Jersey Clean Communities Council, um, grant awards ceremony with Rich Res and Justin Barlo from our Department of Public Works. I'm
pleased to announce that the DPW, uh, clean works, clean communities program received a grant of $126,198 and they're already putting it to good use. They've hired some summer help for uh, cleaning the community. They're seeking involvement from volunteers and they provide all the all
the uh they buy all the material and supplies to do that. So we were there in um where did I go wrong and I always say you know I love the big checks but you know the only thing better than giving big checks is is getting big checks. So here it is. I cash we cashed it already
and uh so congratulations to the clean communities. I know there's a big sign at the end of Beakman um where they're calling for volunteers. So, um, it does, they say it's not to beautify the township. It's not for that, but it really is. That that's the side effect of of cleaning up litter and, uh,
keeping the community clean. So, we look forward to the DPW coming up with creative ways to do that. Uh, the last bit is the mayor's wellness program. We partnered with Robert with Johnson Barnes Health for a blood drive on May 20th with
refreshments provided by Starbucks. Um, thank you for the many employees and residents who donated their muchneeded blood. So, it's always a good thing. Um, lastly, stay connected. As always, you can stay connected with all events at via the Wednesday mayor's e-news and
Thursday's experience Hillsboro bulletin. Be sure to follow and like the official Hillsboro Township Facebook page, X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram. Tune in to the Hillsboro YouTube channel and sign up for the Hillsboro alerts for traffic and emergency notifications. So, that's it
for our reports and announcements for things going on around the town. We have four proclamations tonight. Um, so let me come down to the floor. [Applause] So for Pride Month, the month of June
was designated Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots which occurred in June of six of 1969. The Center for Disease Control recognizes that LGBTQ plus teens are at high risk of being victims of violence and have increased suicide rates. It is
imperative that young people in the community, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, feel valued, safe, empowered, and supported by their peers, educators, and community leaders. Hillsboro Township is dedicated to fostering acceptance of all its citizens and preventing discrimination
and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Hillsboro is a welcoming community and an exceptional place to live, learn, work, play, and raise a family. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed, the township committee urges all residents to recognize the
contributions made by members of the LGBTQ plus community and to actively promote the principles of equality and liberty. [Applause] I just want to thank you, mayor, for
again recognizing um this important month um uh and making our all of our colorful families feel welcome. [Applause]
[Applause] [Applause] We we ran into each other at the the uh HBA event and uh but I had and I had heard about you as executive director for the state and I said oh from Hillsboro whenever had happened I think
I saw it on LinkedIn or so I was just interested you know it's nice nice to meet you and it was coincidental I knew exactly who you were so so great um so Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive involuntary movements and vocalizations
known as ticks which affect people of all ages, races and backgrounds. It affects approximately one in 50 children and adolesccents with an estimated 200,000 individuals living with the disorder in the United States. Individuals living with Tourette's syndrome face unique challenges
including social stigma, discrimination, and misunderstanding, thereby necessitating education about the disorder. Tourette's Syndrome Awareness Day, which is June 4th, right? Highlights the importance of create creating supportive environments that
foster respect, empathy, and inclusion for all people regardless of their neurological differences. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and the Hillsboro Township Committee, do hereby recognize June 4th as Tourette's syndrome awareness day and encourage all residents to educate themselves about
Tourette's syndrome. Sure. [Applause] I'd like to thank the mayor for this uh recognition. It was great to meet him a couple of weeks ago. um as he said uh threat syndrome affects one out of 50
individuals. It's um um lot of people a lot of people don't know about it but it is in our community. It's in all communities and I'm really grateful for this opportunity and if you want to learn more about us um our website is uh njcts.org and we also have a pretty active Facebook page. Thank you.
[Applause] [Applause] [Music] Madison want to talk also. I don't want to scare you. Sure. All right. Good. Madison Campbell, wrestler. Uton Road
Intermediate School sixth grader. Madison Campbell is the first ever female wrestling New Jersey state champion in Hillsboro for the 2025 girls junior division, 80 pounds. Yeah. [Applause]
She also won the 2024 New Jersey USA Wrestling State Championship Girls Junior Division at 75 pounds. Yeah. Great. Madison was the [Applause] Madison was the 2024 co-ed Central Jersey Junior Varsity
League Champion, most outstanding wrestler award winner, and the 2025 co-ed Central Jersey Varsity League third place league finisher. She's been invited to represent New Jersey and compete in Indiana for the USA Freestyle Women's National Wrestling DS. Great.
[Applause] Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and town Hillsboro Township Committee, do hereby commend Madison Campbell for her successful season and commitment to the sport and wish her success in all her future endeavors. So,
congrats. No. You sure? All right, let's take some pictures. Okay. No, that's okay. They might want After this, one of my family come [Applause]
to come up. Yeah. See, I knew they would. Everybody [Applause] Come on up, [Music] Deon. Congratulations.
Devin Milano, a Hillsboro High School freshman and a member of Boy Scout Troop 1776, has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Congratulations. Devon's Eagle Scout project consisted of painting hang painting, hanging a chair rail, and
fixing up the entirety of the Fellowship Hall at Nanic Reform Church. The project project took nine days to complete with over 50 volunteers and approximately 410 hours. Devon served as uh chaplain's aid, a cooking instructor, and is currently the troop guide for
service for service. Devin has completed 20 more merit badges than are required for an Eagle Scout. Excellent. Devin is also on the high uh high Hillsboro High School junior junior varsity tennis team and is a member of the medical minds club. He's been a team leader on the Hillsboro Chase Thanksgiving project for
five years, serving as co-director last year and ran a blood drive in 2022. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and Hillsboro Township Committee, do hereby recognize and extend our sincere congratulations to Devon Milano for having achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, an honor for both himself and for
those who guided him with with best wishes for a bright future. So, [Applause] congratulations. I just wanted to thank the mayor and committee for giving me this award. And also, if anybody has any
kids in here, maybe you could try the program. It's pretty fun. So, that's all I have to say. [Applause] Thank you. [Applause]
All right, that concludes our proclamations. We have two presentations. Um, first up is uh Sanjanna Bada representing vote 16 New Jersey. Uh, she's here to discuss lowering the
voting age in some local elections. [Applause] Can I start? Okay. Hello everyone. I am here speaking as a representative of Vote 16 New Jersey. We're a state and federal
organization that is working to lower the voting age in local schoolboard elections to 16 and 17. So, just to give you guys a quick introduction about myself, I'm a senior at Hillsboro High School. I will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall,
double majoring in economics and public policy. I am primarily here today because I'm the Hillsboro Board of Education student representative, so I serve in a public position within Hillsboro. I am also an engagement committee member at Vote 16 New Jersey, which is how I got involved in the
organization in the first place. I joined about a year ago and I work on the organization's outreach and social media and I have experience advocating for similar similar legislation on the local, state, and federal level. I've lobbied for aquaculture legislation at
the national level with an ocean conservation nonprofit called Earth Echo International. I'm also the co-chair of the youth advisory board at Energizing Young Voters, which is a branch organization of the League of Women Voters. And with that organization, I've lobbied for civics's education and
police reform legislation. So, just to talk a little more about some of our accomplishments as an organization, give us a little more credibility. We were recently endorsed by the New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and his 2024 State of the State address. He also recently endorsed our
campaign by reaching out to our co-founders and letting us know that it is one of his primary motives to help advance our campaign before he leaves office. We've also recently had a similar successful campaign in Newark, which I'll talk more about shortly. We also have a coalition with the New
Jersey Institute of Social Justice and the NAACP Youth and College. We've introduced a bill in the state legislature by Senator Stack. We've also attained resolutions of support and have active engaging campaigns in Jersey City, Atlantic City, Mont Clair, South
Orange, and Livingston. Yeah, we also maintain strong support from the organizations shown on the screen. And just to highlight again, we have very active campaigns similar to this going on in multiple different cities across the state of New Jersey.
So, I want to talk a little more about our campaign in Newark and how that worked. So, we were able to unanimously pass an ordinance granting 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote in New York schoolboard elections recently. And this ordinance passed unanimously. This didn't only happen
with the help of the organization. There were many New York high school students that showed up and advocated for their right to vote. Now, this happened at the township committee meeting, but also at a New Jersey vote 16 youth summit. You can see Phil Murphy on the screen. Him and state senator Raj Mukerjee came to
the event and gave panel addresses as well as speeches. And this happened at the Rucker Newark campus. Many Newark high school students showed up as well as the entire vote 16 New Jersey team to try to educate Newark constituents about what this ordinance would mean for
them. You might be wondering why not wait. Why should we try to pass this ordinance now? Well, the youth is a very underrepresented demographic in the Hillsboro school board. In addition, by allowing them by granting them the right to vote, we can drastically increase
civic engagement. I know in my experience, I've learned a lot about civic education in the past couple years within the Hillsboro School District. By giving students the right to vote and use that information, we're increasing their civic engagement for future elections. it's almost practically
guaranteed that they're going to continue to vote for the rest of their lives. In addition, we could also dramatically increase voter turnout. Now, the total votes cast in Hillsboro schoolboard elections increased from 27K in 2021 to 40,000 in 2024. And we can
continue to increase this by allowing engaged, active 16 and 17 year olds to vote. I've also mentioned this point that we're underrepresented within school board decisions. Students deserve a right to choose who's making decisions about their daily school
experience. I just wanted to also debunk some of the myths and opinions that we've heard from a lot of constituents over the years. The first one is 16-year-olds aren't mature enough to vote. Vote 16 is a partisan
ploy. And why 16 and not another age? So for the first myth, sorry for 16 year olds aren't mature enough to vote. There's a concept called hot and cold cognition. Now hot cognition has a lot to do with impulsive
decisions. Cold cognition has to do with thoughtful, significant analytical decisions. It's been scientifically proven that both 16 and 18 year olds, which is the current voting age right now, they have the same brain development. So they are biologically
capable of making the same thoughtful decisions as an 18-year-old is for vote 16 is a partisan ploy. We cannot predict the voting behavior of a new voting block. We don't have any information on that. We don't have any trends in the
past. In fact, when Austria, the first country to do so, implemented 16-year-old voting ages, voters under 30 voted for right-wing parties more than any other party. And lastly, why not 16, not another age? 16 and 17 year olds
include most of the high school population, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. In addition, they live at home with their families and they're still in school, which increases their likelihood of voting and turning out to make a decision that's going to directly affect
them. Now, all the arguments I've made so far is generalizable to the entire state of New Jersey, but I'm going to talk now specifically about why this is important. In Hillsboro, we have a very robust civics education curriculum. In my experience, having taken Mr. Robert
Fencer's AP government and politics class. We've gone into senior health classes and registered seniors to vote in Hillsboro elections. In addition, we learn a lot about government and political systems, and allowing students to vote will give them the opportunity to use this information in a real life
practical scenario. School issues also disproportionately affect students. Now, I'm on the board of education. Recently, there was a state aid and school budget issue where the state proposed a proposal to increase taxes in order to in increase the state aid that the board
was receiving. The only way that students, which is a demographic being most directly affected by this decision, could have a say in this decision is by showing up to the board of education meeting and speaking. They did not have any other influence in this. And lastly,
the school board representative is a non- voting member. This is all the more reason to help pass this ordinance because there are no students within the board of education that have a direct influence on the decisions made. This ordinance would allow students to have
an indirect say in what's being passed. I want to talk a little more about some of our partners. I mentioned earlier we were endorsed by the governor's office. We're also backed by the New Jersey Attorney General. We are backed by NAACP Youth and College and the New Jersey Institute of Social
Justice, which is providing us with a comprehensive team of attorneys and legal resources and even funded the implementation of the Newark Ordinance. I also want to talk a little more about the logistics of this process. Now, step one is what we're
doing here today, discussing the ordinance. The next step would be to pass the ordinance. After that, I'd have to work with the county clerk and the township clerk clerk to figure out the logistics. School board elections happened in November, meaning that I would have to work with the county and
township clerk to figure out how we're going to create special ballots for 16 and 17 year olds to be able to vote. Potentially, the next step would be 16 17 year olds vote either during the November 2025 or the 2026 schoolboard election. And the last step would be to
maintain the voting procedure to ensure that this continues into the future. I've also provided a sample ordinance here that was passed in Newark. There are many things that need to be changed about this ordinance because this applies to a city and not a township. For example, the word corporation council would be changed to township
attorney. City clerk would be changed to township clerk. Municipal council would be t changed to township committee. But this template can be tweaked with our comprehensive team of attorneys with the new at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice as well as with help with the attorney general's office who is
ensuring to help us smooth over any legalities that we face while trying to pass this ordinance. That's it for my presentation. I think I can answer questions now. I believe I'm able to.
[Applause] question. Sorry. There we go. Thank you. Um, no real questions at this point. Um, I I I am curious
about how we have influence over the board. Um, and that that dynamic, the board of ed, I should say, uh, that dynamic would concern me at this point. So, um, so we're kind of discussing it. We have we've only seen a piece of the
ordinance and and I know that there's a lot there's bound to be a lot more to it. Um, again, from my perspective, I I I don't know how the board of ed would feel if we were to tell them that we think that this is what should happen. And I I think there needs to be a a
coordinated effort with that as well if if there's any interest. Um, and also as well the county clerk. I mean, we don't really run the elections, so it's it's a uh it's something that, you know, it's
uh we can't make a decision tonight for sure, but uh I mean, you did you did a very nice job coming up in front of an intimidating supposedly intimidating audience. Uh but um again, nice well done. and um you know, you've obviously
are organized and and have a future uh based on where you're going to school and what you're planning to do, too. So, we may not this may not be the last time we see you. Um does anybody else have comments? One question. I was kind of intrigued by something that you said. So, you mentioned that there would be a
separate ballot for 16 and 17 year olds. What would be the thinking and logic behind that? Um if they're voting in the November election, that's also I think some of the state positions are up for election then, too. and they wouldn't be able to vote in that. It would just be local schoolboard elections. So, I
believe we'd have to make a separate ballot. It's an abbreviated Yes. ballot. I'm trying to say. Yeah. Be able to vote on that. Understood. Thank you. Great job. Give credit. Yeah. I guess my question would be, have you made the same presentation to the, you know,
board of ed? No, I haven't yet, but I I I'm definitely going to look into that. Um I also some of the argu legal arguments made in other townships is that the New Jersey state constitution doesn't prohibit municip municipals or like township committees from regulating
certain aspects of special elections. So I can definitely connect you with a team with attorneys or the attorney general's office, but I think township committees should be able to regulate or alter certain aspects of special elections under the New Jersey state
constitution. Councelor, I was gonna say, do you have any knowledge? No, nothing about it other than what I've read in the paper about Newark, so that's the only thing I know about it is what Newark did.
Um, I'll have just one question. Obviously, you're representing your yourth on the board of ed. Um, do they is there a movement from within your group to have this, right? I mean, you
go through all this and 50 people vote, 500 people vote, 10. I mean, do you have a sense of where the momentum is for this type of initiative? We have a lot of students that are going to speak here tonight during the public comment section. I also am in debate, mock
trial. There's a lot of students that take government and politics and there's a lot of students that are majoring in polit political science in college. So, I'm sure we have a lot of momentum within the Hillsboro community. One last question. In New York, you said that now that was completed, right? Yes.
What percentage of the students actually voted? I'm not sure about the specific statistical information. I can I can definitely send that to you if needed. So, there were 1,800 eligible 16 and 17 year olds in Newark and 67 of them voted. So, like 3 4%. Yeah. 2.3. A part
of that also is poverty is very big voter suppression and New York has a lot of districts that are suppressed by poverty. So a lot of those students are not able to leave their discard their responsibilities such as work and job and family issues and they also don't
have as robust of a civics education curriculum as Hillsboro does. I would say I don't think that you should be in a position to have to defend that. I think any additional vote is positive and anyone who wants to have their voice heard um would be fantastic. So I think
67 should be celebrated. I think anyone voting in Hillsboro should be celebrated. So well done. I look forward to hearing your presentation at the board of ed and I would ask you to continue asking questions whether it's of the county clerk or whomever to um to
see how this could come to fruition. So well done. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Sanjanna. Uh next we will hear from Tom Ross from the Wildlife Management Commission. All right, good evening everyone. My
name is Tom Ross. I am the new chair of the Wildlife Management Commission. You're probably wondering where is that suave deary charismatic Bob Matros. Bob has decided to retire and move down south. Tom, can you move that mic up a little bit or just get closer to it? Absolutely. Perfect. Thank you. I
wouldn't make a good lead singer. I know. So, I'd just like to present briefly tonight uh some of the results of the last hunting season. All right. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. She's trying to shake Tom up. All right,
you got one more. And as usual, uh during the 21 years of, uh we've been doing this program, safety is a number one priority. Um we have a safety meeting before the hunters get their their permits. We have an individual from the fish and wildlife
come out and give them safety debrief. Uh so we always uh we always push the word safety for them. We understand that, you know, hunting on the township property is a privilege and we take it very seriously and we understand that we're only allowed to do this if we're
safe. So safety is definitely the word of the day. So after the hunting season, we require all individual hunters to return a survey. So we had a 97% return rate, which was which was excellent for this year. So that's what this uh data I'm
going to present to you is from. So, we had a total of 170 deer that were taken. That's a high number for us. Last year was the second highest at 146. You can see some of the individual numbers here. We did have one turkey harvested
and one coyote harvested by our own Bob Matros. Uh, lots of the hunters have seen coyotes. A lot of them are on trail cameras, but they're very difficult to connect with. So, congratulations to Bob for harvesting the coyote. and we had,455 days hunted. So, that's another
total as well. So, as you can see here, the uh the number of deer vehicle collisions throughout uh throughout 2004 and onward has trended down mostly, ticked up a little bit. In total, we've had
4,757 deer marked for pickup over that time period. We are very proud to continue our relationship with Hunters Helping the Hungry, the venison food bank program for next season. Last year we had 24 deer donated. That's roughly about 900
pounds of venison. Our participating butcher is Vinnie Ro and son out of White House, New Jersey. And the cost of that, which goes which comes from the permit uh permit process, we have a $100 permit fee. So all the money that gets
paid to to Vin and his son get paid through the program. So that was $240. And I should note that since its inception in 1997, the hunters have donated in New Jersey more than 255 tons. That's a big number of venison to
participating food banks. And that equals to about 2 million meals. And we're talking about 400 charities roughly throughout the state. So, we're very pleased to continue that relationship. So, some of the proposals for next season, there are too many.
We'd like to continue the hunters helping the hungry program. Um, as usual, what we do, we have someone from fish and wildlife, as I mentioned, come out to do a safety debrief. We'd like to have him continue. And we're going to be cancelling our participation in the fall turkey hunting season due to the state
actually terminating it. Um they're noting that due to the the no lump the no I can't speak tonight the low number of female turkeys the population has come down so they want to just put a uh put a damper on that until the
population comes up. So that is my presentation. If there's any questions I'd be more than happy to uh to address. I have a just a quick question for you just for the public's knowledge too. So, do you do you see a direct correlation between um uh more deer that are hunted
and a lower incidence of car accidents? You know, that's that's that's difficult. There's a lot of different things that go into the number. There's traffic patterns, there's weather, there's construction. So, I can't really sit here and say that there's a
statistically significant difference. I mean, when you look at Hillsboro Township and the number of, you know, overall and the number of acreage that we hunt, I would say it does help. Obviously, there's 170 less deer out there for people to run into, but
statistically significant numbers, I would say no. I I couldn't stand up here and be honest and say it's it's 100%. Does Do you have um Do you know how large the herd is in Hillsboro? in Hillsboro. I do not I know
Somerset County has a has some had some statistics and was collecting it. So I I just was curious to know how the overpopulation, you know, it's larger than the average or what would be expected. You know, I'm really not sure. And you know, the problem with, you
know, numbers is that a lot of times, you know, the deer aren't I mean, they are deer, they're animals, but they're not stupid. So they like to go where where they're safe. So a lot of time the deer are more inclined to habitat areas where there isn't a lot of hunting and hunting allowed. So we see trends over
the years where when I talk to friends and hunters, they see less and less deer over over time, but then when you talk to land owners, they're like, there's more deer than I've ever seen in my life. So it kind of depends on, you know, where you are and who you're speaking to. But I think overall the
herd in the state is I think it's gone down a little bit number-wise, but don't quote me on that. Okay. Um, any other comments, Tom? All right. Thank you. All right. Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
You're much better than Bob. All right. Uh, thank you for joining us. We're going to take a brief pause before continuing with our budget and consent calendar. Okay. All right. We're going to get restarted. What's it? Yeah, they're
they're clearing up. All right, welcome back. Uh, moving on. The first order of business tonight is the 2025 budget. It's 8:45. Um the 2025 budget prioritizes investments
that will keep Hillsboro financially sustainable. Uh the budget intentionally invests in in resident public safety while funding best-in-class police department. Township committee is deeply engaged in bettering roads and infrastructure and improving our oldest and most utilized buildings.
public works and the municipal build municipal building. By actively listening to resident concerns, township committee focused on ensuring that tax dollars are spent efficiently with long-term and sustain sustainable thinking in mind. [Music]
Um, so may I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution authorizing the 2025 municipal budget to be read by title only? So moved. Second. Comments from the days. Any comments from the floor on
this motion? Seeing none. Roll call. Committee Bringing. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committeeman Piney. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor Chickelli. Yes. May I have a motion to
open the public hearing for the adoption of the 2025 municipal budget? So moved. Second. Okay. comments from the deis. Did you want
to now? Yeah, Joe, please. Thank you. Um, good good evening. My name is Joe Monzo. I work for Phoenix Adviserss. When this budget was introduced about a month ago, I was the excuse me, I was the interim manager. I'm sorry. Sorry, Anthony. Um, I do not want to be the
interim manager. Thanks, Joe. Get one of those fancy cars to drive around. Uh I was the interim chief financial officer until your current chief financial officer started uh two weeks ago. He's in the audience. Uh I thought I would sit up here because I was the CFO of record when the budget was introduced.
Um so just to give you the process. Um you've done the resolution to read by title and text. Um the next uh official action of the governing body is to open the public hearing which you've done. Um once the public hearing is closed, I have presented an amendment to the
governing body based on the Department of Community Affairs's review of our budget. They have recommended that we need an amendment to that budget that does not require a separate advertisement. So if that resolution is adopted and then the next action of the governing body would be to adopt the
budget as was just amended and that would end the legislative process of the 2025 municipal budget. Um, so the DCA did review our introduced budget. They had a couple of uh review comments um between myself and the auditor. We took
care of those and we got the green light to adopt uh I believe last Wednesday to adopt this evening. So if there's any questions about the introduced budget either from the public or from anybody on the DEIS that was not that were not answered at the last meeting, I'm here to answer those. Other other than that,
I'll let the legislative actions just take place. Thank you, Mr. Monzo. Um any comments from the deis on the or the adoption of the the budget 2025 budget? No
comments. All right. Um how about comments from the floor on the 2025 municipal budget? Okay. All right. See no takers. Can I have a roll call?
I'm sorry. Motion and a second to close the public hearing. So moved. So moved. Second. Second. Jeez. Whatever. Wherever. Uh roll call for that please. Committeeman Bringing. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor
Cherelli. Yes. for Yeah, we have still. Yes, we have been for five minutes. We all just voted. No, but I Right. If he didn't hear, we can obviously hear the comments. We're all here.
Well, we we do have another that's not the final pass, right? Because we have to approve the amended budget. Well, the um in terms of the public hearing since you opened it and closed it and I'll leave it to the attorney to decide, but um the amendment is a resolution that is not uh open for public comment because
it's not a resolution that requires a separate advertisement and then a separate public hearing. It's a very minor, you know, in terms of the budgetary and statutory requirements. It's a very minor adjustment to the budget and then the next vote is the adoption. So, there's no more public
hearing opportunities unless you were to open the public hearing back up for the gentleman. But again, I'll leave that to the attorney and to the committee. That's up to the elected officials. If you want to reopen the hearing and vote on to reopen the hearing, you certainly can do that if you so choose. I would
make a motion to reopen the public. Can I have a motion? Can I have a motion to open reopen for public? Motion and a second. Second roll call, please. Committ Bing, yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committ
Pony, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, Sure. Mayor Turley, yes. And I'll just say, Mr. Brooke, you've been to these meetings enough before. I think we had plenty of opportunity for you to get up. The fact that you were tardy or looking at your phone or something doesn't prelude the
fact that you were late. So, in the future, since you always been to every meeting we've been to for the last five years, I think you know the the role and I uh Are we out of order? No, we're not out of order. The man has been here more
than me almost. He's an adult and I think he should pay attention and he knows how this rolls. So, you now have the floor. A thousand mayor copas former mayor Lean and I apologize. I was listening but it wasn't clear and nobody else was getting up and I was
back there saying okay thank you for your time. Um budget item and this is it's a long bunch of pages. Page 32 out of 90 was uh
where I saw this and so um hopefully I'm Are you speaking of the actual state budget the document that was online? The you said page 32. What document you're referring to? I ask your question. The one in the package. Oh, sheet 10. Um, which was
page 32 out of sheet 10. Right. The revenues. Go ahead. Right. The revenues. Right. Right. I My apologies. The revenues. Okay. I'm not an accountant. I don't play an accountant on television either. So, I just happened to look at this and saw this. So, that's where I
saw it. Hopefully, that makes sense. that page, right? Okay. Um, on sheet 10, $868,32, I think, is money that is being taken out of the open space fund
presumably to fill a hole in the budget. That's not correct. It's 868,132 is uh revenue being uh taken from the open space trust fund to pay for the principal and interest on a note that was issued at the end of last year
for an open space purchase. So there's two ways to handle that from budgetarily within the state budget law. Um and I am an accountant. I do play one on television. So um you can bring the revenue in from the open space trust fund and show it the
way it was shown here. And if you do that and then the debt service in the budget, which is on sheet 27, would be the gross debt service for the entire township. That's one way to do it. The other way to do it is to show the net debt service on sheet 27, not show the
revenue, but the revenue would appear the the debt service payment from the open space would appear on sheet 43 of the budget document, which is a page dedicated just to open space. Then the effect is exactly the same. The open space trust fund would be paying its
appropriate debt service on the property that was purchased in 2021 and there was a note that was issued rolled over in I believe November of 24 and the principal and interest due on that note um is
being offset by the revenue coming from the open space trust fund. So So you mentioned property purchased in 2021. Do you know what property that was and pardon? the Mandel tract at the corner of um Hamwell
and Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton. Yes. And that I I know you just said a bunch of things, so let me try to clarify if I can. The 868132 is for the acquisition of the property. It's for the It's for the the
township borrowed money, went out to the bond market and issued a note um for $13,395,000 in 2021 and they've been paying that note down principal and interest since 2021. So, this is the
debt service on that. It's the same way as you went and got a mortgage and you paid the principal and interest. That's what this is for. the p the property was purchased in 21 with money that was borrowed from the market. They issued what's known as a bond anticipation note. Um and every year that note comes
due. Um and they keep rolling the note over u until it's time to either issue long-term debt for it or to pay it off without issuing long-term debt in the 10th year, which is required statutoily to be paid off in 10 years or issue
long-term debt for it. So the purchase of the Mandel property was no money was taken out of open space. Is that correct? It wasn't Mandel. Okay. I thought it was Mandel, but it's the property at the corner of Amwell and Hamilton. Yeah. I don't know that. I
thought it was Mandel. I'm I'm not 100% sure about that if the the attorney is trying to correct me, but Well, I guess my question is if this money is coming out of open space, why was the purchase of this property not taken out of open space? the the purchase. You can either take something directly from open space.
That would have meant you would had to pay $14 million directly from your open space trust fund, thus depleting your open space trust fund down to about $5 million. Or you issue debt to borrow the money to purchase the
property and then you pay the principle and interest on that like most towns do for other for capital purchases. Does Amwell Road hit Hamilton? I'm sorry. I don't understand this property. Mr. Willer, do you know what property
we're talking about? See, he's on his phone, so don't blame me. He's probably looking it up. So, so my only concern with regards to this money, and I'm still not clear. I know you've mentioned debt. My belief with open space dollars is that they should
be spent out of the fund for open space, not for some sort of debt recovery. It's the same thing. The the the tax rate that was approved by the voters said that the t the funds for open space, the 2.8 cents that are raised as part of your open space budget can be used for a
variety of things, preservation, etc., etc. One of those is the purchase of open space. So you can either purchase it directly or you can issue debt for it. It's the same thing. So you have to pay the principal and interest is the same as paying for the property in whole except you're paying a a carrying charge
because the township did not want to take $14 million out of its open space trust fund and pay for the property directly thus um diminishing the val the amount of money in the open space trust. They could have done that. paid $14 million
in one lump sum and there'd be $14 million left less in the trust fund for other purchases. Okay. And I understand that. My one last comment is I think that's fiscally not responsible. That's because I would suggest that spending the money from the
open space fund is money we have. Taking debt is money now we owe. And this 800,000 could have been spent differently if we had spent the money directly and not gone into debt. Well, if you had done that, there would be $14 million less in the open space trust
fund to do anything with. So, it's a pretty significantly sized purchase. And to take the entire amount out out of an open space trust fund that only gener that generates about $2.5 million a year, that would have been fiscally irresponsible in my opinion. And this
budget was reviewed by the Department of Community Affairs. That was not a question that was raised by the reviewers. It's a common practice. Um if if that number had been put on sheet 43 in the debts in the open space budget, nobody would have even seen it. Nobody
looks to sheet 43 in the budget document. It wouldn't even have been a question. And the same exact process would have happened. The open space trust fund would have been paying for the debt service. it just wouldn't have been as um I don't want to use the word obvious, just wouldn't have stuck out as much because it's sitting there by
itself on sheet 10 of um the revenue section. So, can we expect $800,000 taken out every year going forward? We can expect whatever the debt service is on that property to be taken out of the of the open space trust fund. Yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I got to
answer one question on that property. We've been um I'll say politely waiting for the county to buy this property from us for open space and it's been sitting on the freehole on the commissioner's desk, excuse me, for over a year now
spinning with the county a approval. Um and they seem not to be any hurry of preserving this property yet. It's on their wish list that they published 20 years ago in their planning. So, we have since um gone to the SADC and to the state and they have agreed to purchase
it and we're in the process of dealing with the state. We're not waiting for the county anymore. So, that was the plan. County kicked the can down the road. So, we went to the state and that was as of last week. And if that happen if that just if that happens, when and if that happens,
um the purchase price will be used to pay off the note that's currently outstanding, right? Because the note is there's been a couple principal payments on the note. It'll be used to pay off the note and to the extent that that value is more than the than what's owed in the
principal that money will go back into the open space trust fund. Can can I just get clarity which property is this? This is on the mintell property is what I'm talking about when I appro we approached the county to purchase over a year ago. He's saying it's not No, but I'm talking about what we've approached
the county to buy different different purchase but that's okay. But uh there's nothing there's nothing un uncommon about uh using open space trust funds um actually to actually go out bond and purchase a property for open space purchases and then use open space trust
funds to pay off the bond. Uh many municipalities do it. It it's a it's a common practice. I know Mr. Brookke, you seem not favor that practice, but many many municipalities do in fact employ that practice to in fact buy properties and then use the open space trust fund to uh pay it off. No. And Mr. I
appreciate that. I just couldn't find where that money was going to and it looks like it was just used to fill a hole in the budget, but the explanation is slightly different. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you,
Judy Hos Hillsboro. I wasn't going to get up tonight, but I very clearly remember when the Mandel property was purchased. It was not purchased for open space purposes. It was being purchased to eliminate the possibility of
that wetland fililled property being used for affordable housing. The headlines in the newspaper said we stopped affordable housing. Actually, that's not true. 14 million property. It was uh it was tagged for warehousing from another
builder and homing. So, we bought we did buy it to present to prevent building and possibly preserve it as open space in the future. Okay. But, uh to be to be fair, because I know I was there, uh and so was I. Yeah. And and you're
misremembering again. Conveniently, uh we said that we bought it to control it to prevent any building fuzz with the possibility of of putting it to preserve farmland and open spaces. Exactly what we said. Correct. But you didn't follow the proper procedures in order to do that. Sure, we
did. We bought it. We just didn't finish. Yeah. With That's what we've been trying to do with the county. The county has been dragging their butt for two years. Yeah. All right. Well, even as it may, you're paying a lot of debt on it right now for no reason. You had over $21 million in the open space trust
fund, Mr. Monzo. You had $21 million in the open space trust fund. Okay. This was a $14 million debt. And by the time you got around to I don't mean you, but by the time the town got to um to paying
the debt, the rates were well up from 21, which is a historic low in debt rates. Correct. In 2021, when the town issued its first note uh for the purchase, the interest rate was 68%.
um to borrow the to to borrow the money to pay u for the purchase in the fir in the year in which they purchased it. When that note rolled over in 2022 and then in 23 and in 24 the rates have escalated. You're correct. Um but the
point you make about the trust fund. So the $21 million number is getting kicked down kicked around. Um there's actually $15 million left as of the end of the year because the township has committed to two purchases of almost $9 million
directly from the open space trust fund without issuing debt. Um so when those properties close, the township will make $9 million in payments. That's bringing that's bringing the balance down to about 14 or $15 million. If the township
if the township had spent the entire $14 million for this tract, there'd be about a million dollars left in that trust fund. So, I think I think why would that be a problem? Because you could always go for the next open space purchase and go into debt for that rather than one of
the largest purchases that have ever been made in this town. Why would you do that? You have $21 million sitting there. That adds another $2.5 million this year and 27 next year, etc., etc.
That that's continuing to generate additional tax revenue from the open space tax. So, if you have $14 million in there and you have another $9 million debt, the last time I looked, that's $23 million. And frankly, I'd much rather go
out for debt on two million than 14 million. Okay. But this was never stated to be a purchase for open space. If it were, it needed to follow the requirements of either green acres or farmland
preservation, neither of which were done. That would have required all sorts of environmental reports and examinations, which Green Acres would have done. The county would have done that, too. And you wouldn't have had to pay $14 million because if you were
going to partner with this state, Green Acres would have paid 50% and the county would have kicked in and you would have probably been left with 20% of the $14 million. So, I just don't understand why anybody would think with 21 million
growing dollars in a trust fund for open space, it makes sense to go out for debt. Meanwhile, the debt of this town has been going through the roof. It's $51 million. Not to mention additional debt
to the Somerset County Improvement Authority. Not to mention additional deferred payments for things that were never done before in deferred payments. We never had our capital budget using
$850,000 for the down payment and then going out for debt on police cars and IT improvements. Are you kidding me? Those things I mean I got to watch. It's old
already after a year. I mean it improvements, police cars. What was the what was the other thing um that was amusing? DPW equipment archiving. That's a capital expense now. I mean, come on. We're mortgaging this
town's future here. We used to have a township committee that said pay as you go with everything. And I know in the introduction you made a point of saying that's not always the best way to go, but it's been the history of this town
that that's the way they went. And yes, it has resulted in a lot of messed up roads. And yes, I am very much in favor of repairing roads. Roads need to be repaired. But there has to be a plan.
And it can't all come out in a year like this when you have the board of education. I mean, you have wrong numbers in this budget. Your numbers relating to um your numbers relating to um the
entire tax impact on residents of this town has a 20 $122 million number for the for the board of eds tax levy. It's 144 million bucks. Okay, I don't know about you, but that raises my taxes a
hell of a lot. Not to mention the fact that we have AV assessed valuation going up $700 million every year. $700 million. You would think $700 million would give every jurisdiction, board of
ed, county, and township the ability to come in with a flat tax. you have all this extra assessment and guess what? Out of all of that assessment, according to your numbers, $25 million of that is coming from new
construction. So the, you know, the balance of that is coming from the same people. It's coming from your 86% residential taxpayers, which everybody in this room is. Is there a question in there somewhere? Yeah. My question is very
nice on the gimmick side, but when you have a pot of cash that you can use, can I ask you question one quarter of what you're paying? Do you know what the local purpose tax rate increase is with this budget? I'm sorry, I can't. Do you know Do you know what the tax rate increase
is with the budget that's being proposed tonight? With the budget being proposed tonight? Yeah, I know what the increase is. Actually, this you know, I don't know. Are you talking about the No, the the introduced budget, the amended budget, the amended budget with mistakes
or what? Oh, I I take exception to your characterization. Do you know what the local purpose tax rate increase will be when the council adopts this budget? That's correct. Because a whole bunch of stuff down the road in terms of capital and debt. Mayor, the answer is she
doesn't know. She doesn't know. Move on. All right. Excuse me. Excuse me. Do you have any other topics? Yeah, I have a lot of topics now that you asked. Um, okay. I have obviously a big problem with this and you know, as far as you're
saying that the county needs to come in and save you. I think that's a little presumptuous. No, it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't the county said they had indicated a interest. So, we said okay, we'll wait for the interest and they kicked the can down the road. So, we're done waiting for the county. We're going to the state and you need to make these
disc have these discussions and make these decisions together before you make a move. It's not that hard. Do you have a question? Yeah. Questions about this budget. Um, are we having a separate time to talk about the amendment to the budget?
Okay. Well, here's the deal. You know, just like David, I thought somebody up here was going to make a presentation. And when you have a public hearing on the budget, I was sort of hoping somebody would come up here and say, "This is what we're doing, and this is why we're doing it." Okay? These are the
new initiatives that we're bringing to the township. Okay? I mean, all I see in this budget to be perfectly honest, and I'm not saying this as a criticism of you, I'm just saying it because this is what it is.
You've got a mess on the revenue side and you're making up for it with tax levy. You got a mess on the spending side. You got a mess in your surplus. You are down to Do you have a question, please? No, I'm making public comment. Okay. I don't need to ask you questions.
Okay. Okay. I really don't need to ask you questions. We normally comments to five minutes. Give you the benefit of my We normally do five minutes and you're way past the five minutes. So, I was talking about open space. Now, no, your your comments are five minutes. You're way past five minutes. So, if you have a question, ask question. Are you in charge of the clock here? I've g you've
been on for 20 minutes now. Okay. Well, if you don't want my advice, that's okay. All I'm saying, and I could deal with this in a very different way, but be that all as it may, um, let me just see. Well, most important, what you're
asking about was addressed when the budget was introduced 35 days ago. Excuse me. what you're what you're commenting on as far as presentation of of what's up here was presented 35 days ago at at the uh township committee
meeting. Okay. Well, I would like to know what kind of contingency you have. You want me to ask a question? What kind of contingency do you have when you've drained your surplus to historically low levels and you you know you give out you
create these situations where um this cannot be sustained. This is a budget that is just not sustainable because when you're losing revenue and you're not reducing your expenses, how are you going to deal with
that next year? and going into debt is not my idea of a solution to the problem. This used to be a very nearly debt-free town. Now you've got debt, the board of ed gets debt. We're getting
assessed left and right. And and it's not going to get better next year. And it would be nice to know that the township cared about it enough to remember that you raised the debt and
raised the taxes one month earlier and didn't remember doing it. I mean, care about this stuff. Show the public you care. I'm not feeling it. It's all I have to say. Thank you. Is there anybody else with
comment on the budget? Yes. Come on up. You know the process. Ron. Hi, my name's Ron Yod. I live in Hillsboro. Yep. Just a quick question. Why don't we have
Yeah, Mike. Just a quick question. Why aren't there The budget's a big deal, obviously, one of the biggest deals in town. Why don't we have separate public hearings instead of limiting them to a
township committee meeting? That's my question. Please give me an answer. Well, we other other municipalities do that, by the way. We've uh this has been our practice for years. We've we introduce the budget. We work on the budget from the
end of the year and uh you know gave 35 days for any public comment for communication to the the clerk for any any discussions any needs any comment 35 days uh you got an extra week this this month and
uh here we are so Joe I don't know if you've what your practice has been I would just say from a legal perspective we're doing it in accordance with the procedure set forth by the new New Jersey state legislature who felt this was the appropriate way to do it. Mayor, for the record, um we did ask for public
comment uh as you mentioned over 30 days ago to the township clerk and out of 43,000 people, we got one one question. So, and I'll I'll speak up because I think the point there was even with the master plan where we are having sessions
and I attended and it was an interesting discussion where there was presentation and folks um feel comfortable speaking in person. That is what I've advocated for. And just because we haven't done it in the past, don't know why we can't do it in the future. I don't know about all
of you, but I don't do things the way I did 10 years ago, 15 years ago. So there's something to be said for looking at the world a little differently and I would like to hear from all the residents whether they're in this room whether they're on the phone and I think
if we had or I'm you know on the video so I think if we had sessions like what are we afraid of so to be I'll answer part of the question 98% of the budget is the budget I'm suggesting the mayor the well I'm just saying from doing the budget on on the on this on the um
liaison to the fiance 98% of the budget budget is what it is. There's no there's really no movement of where what goes where. You know, we have and I think Mr. Monzo presented this in in the U 35 days ago what the discretionary spending was,
which I think was 4% roughly of a $40 million budget. That's the part that we can say, do we buy a truck? Do we pave roads? Do we do IT upgrades? Everything else is basically just like your budget
home. You got these bills come in, you got this money comes in, they marry up. Whatever is left is what you got to decide if you're going to to on vacation to the beach or you're going to a great adventure. So, in my opinion, uh the
staff meets and and does the wish lists and and where they are and comes out and and they spin it. the public doesn't have really any idea of what that entails and it would drag out the the process of the budget even longer than
it is already. Um, and we've been and we've been going through this for three months even with Joe Monzo's help to try and do that. So, it's not like we have millions and millions and millions of dollars of discretionary we would take the input from the public though we'd
love to hear it at any point. Unlike the master plan which is a holistic vision of what's going to happen over the 10 years where public opinion is needed and and brought in because it's a a it's not governed by a timeline which the budget is b it's not governed by finances which
the budget is and c it is something that may or may not legally have to happen which the budget has to do. So for that reason is why the budget is done in my opinion the way it is to be the most efficient process that it was and for
the last 20 years. You know we've been recognized by all sorts of agencies for what we do up here. So I don't think that what we're doing is wrong. We've never tried to hide anything from anybody. In fact, uh Mr. Ferrar's office is more than willing to talk to anybody
that comes in on any variety of of things. But where it comes down to the why and what it it would inquire and what it would take, you would have to all the people that you your salary people, you'd have to pay overtime to and bring them or give them comp time to
sit in here and have meetings, which would then cost us more money because now we're paying them more money to sit here at night and talk to people in public about all the questions they may or not have, which would not be fiscally responsible, just as an ana example. Um,
so we hire the professionals in our building to give us what they need. We hire our our uh CFO to put it together in a form that is presentable to the public and then we present it to the public. So it's not trying to keep this process away from anybody. We are very
open. The numbers are there. Whether you may agree or disagree on on do we need to do it? Well, yes. A lot of the stuff you think is there, but you don't know the reason for it. If you just ask a reason why we're upgrading the it because we're at the end of service and it's a lot of the stuff's mandated by
the state. We have to update the police uh um software because they made us change all the radios. They made us change the band. So we had to change all our IT stuff to meet the state mandated requirements for the police department. They don't give us any money for that, but they say you need to have it
done. So a lot of the stuff that's in there, you see it. If you like to ask why, those are the questions we can answer. Because we have to, not because we want to. Mr. Brooke, a couple weeks ago, you came to open space and asked us to consider
buying land. We could have never done that if we had spent it all years ago. We would have never had the coffer that we have today if we had foolishly bought the land outright then. So to continue
making open space purchases, the best way to do it is the way that they have been doing it. In addition to that, I think the majority of the public would severely disagree that underfunding our police and DPW, two departments, Mrs. Hos, that
touch the public on a daily basis would go over about as terrible as any idea. Thank Thank you for your comment, Committeeman Payne. Um, did we open this back up for more comments? I'm a I'm a
woman, but thank you. I don't think we closed it. Excuse me. Committee woman. You said it about You said it about both. You said police capital expenses for police cars. Why they're in the capital budget when
they're not a 10year life? They're always in the capital budget every year. Motion to close public hearing. Any other public comments? We're not here to shout back and forth. So, please this is getting shouting. I'm in a motion to close public comment.
Motion in a second to close public. You asked if there's any other comments and I would just like You've been up here already. What have you come up with this time? I was called up and one thing I would like to certainly make clear to all of you. When you acquire open space, the township has been going in a loan since
2014. So for every dollar that we spend, we get zero. If, as Miss Hos mentioned, we partnered with Green Acres, they would pay up to 50% and then the county would have paid. And so instead of our going it alone, we need to partner.
Okay, that's with the golf course and it still wasn't 50%. All I'm saying is we're not partnering for any of the acquisitions since 2014. We just partnered for the golf course and it was not near 50%. It can be up to
50% but it helps to spread our money much further as was indicated about budgets. If I can get somebody else to pay 10 20 30% of an acquisition, I'm going to do it. But we're not doing it and we need to do more of it. That's
all. It's more fiscally spreading our dollars further. Thank you. Motion and a second to close. So moved. Second. Roll call. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committee.
Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor Jarley. Yes. Um the one comment want to make after hearing a lot a lot about debt
is 90% of the construction in the in the United States is funded by municipal and state debt. So we're not doing anything crazy here. We This is ASCE. I was down in DC.
We were lobbying for for funding and keeping the the low rates uh on the uh on municipal bonds. Uh bonds built America bonds are building burrow now. We're paving roads. We're giving the DPW
what they need. They need a new uh upgrade of their facility. They need they need new women's locker rooms. Same with the police here in the in the uh municipal building. Um, we have common areas that serve the public that need need to be refinished and repaired. We
have projects in the library. Everybody complains about the roof leaking. Well, we're going to take care of that. So, this omnibus DPW budget, I'm sorry, bond is going to fund all that over the next several years. And uh we wouldn't be
able to do it if we didn't have the excellent bond rating that we do have. and and we wouldn't be able to hit the road running with paving as we have without having these bonds in in our pocket to to to uh get these capital
projects done for our infrastructure. Same with storm water. So, we're we're working on storm water projects as well. And um that's my comment on on the the the minor debt that we have. We we still
have the best debt ratio in the county and um it's the smart thing to do and we're not uh uh we've got a lot of work to do and looking forward to what they do this year uh starting this year. So
um sorry we need now a motion and a second to approve the resolution amending the 2025 budget. So moved. Second uh comments from the deis.
Any comments from the floor on the resolution for amending the budget? Nobody. I thought our acting CFO said it wasn't up for public comment unless I wasn't hearing. Right. Did say that but uh I
know I had eye surgery. Statutoily statutoily if there was a public comment on the amendment it would be had at the next meeting. Um but again committee's discretion in terms of public comment on anything on the agenda. So I was just given what the
statute says with respect to an amendment. All right. So have it miss sauce. Okay. If if I'm speaking, I think that should count against my time, but if other people's are are speaking in answer to questions,
that should not come off my time. Just saying. Um, I've looked at this amendment. Um, does anybody know what the SFP is? Supplemental fire service program. You know, does anybody else know? Our CFO
knows. Just I'm not. First of all, I'm not your CFO, Christian. Oh, our former CFO. Um, I was only your CFO for two months. It's a supplemental fire service program. It was a uh it was a it was a grant program that was I I didn't hear what you said. Supplemental fire
services program. It was a grant program. Did you still not hear me? I'm nodding because what I saw was summer food service program. Well, I don't know where you saw that, but SFS budget last year. Well, that was incorrect. SFSP
stands for supplemental fire services program. Okay. It was a it was a stateun grant program until about 15 years ago. Uh and the state discontinued uh providing the funds to every municipality in the state of New Jersey.
Um but they required the towns continue the appropriation in their budgets without an offset of revenue from the state. That money goes directly to the fire company. Okay. Why is that not in the fire budget? The money goes directly to the fire company
based on the conditions of the state grant that existed for many, many, many years. The same conditions still exist except the state doesn't pay the town for it. That's the only change. When I put the budget together, when I put the budget
together, I neglected to put that amount of money as a line item in the budget. When it went down for DCA review, they told me that money had to be budgeted. So, it's in the budget as an amendment. Okay. And why is the budget being amended as to the amount of
surplus? Because there was a mistake on the there was a levy cap calculation. The township has a restriction on how much they're allowed to increase the levy cap to 2% levy cap plus exceptions for debt service, etc. There was a
miscalculation on that that the DCA again based on their review said that that was $88,000 incorrect. So they have to have us amend our budget to reduce the level of taxation and I took that money that
difference from the township's fund balance. It's $95,000 difference, right? The combination of the mistake on the levy cap calc and the 11,000 is the 95,000. Yes. Okay. Well, um, is there a plan to
regenerate the historically no low surplus numbers now that you're taking more money out of it when you originally thought it could only be $1.7 million and now is 1.8. That's not really That's not really a question. That's not really a question for the amendment. The plan to regenerate the surplus is the same
plan that every town has is to uh have an expectation that the revenues they put in the budget, they will realize more of those delinquent taxes, uniform construction code, taxation, whatever the numbers may be. Um cancellation of appropriations from the prior year.
There's a litany of reasons how a town replenishes its its fund balance. um when I put the amendment together um using another $95,000 did not seem to me or to the committee when I suggested it to be a big leap. So I put forth that
amendment. Okay. And so both of those items are the direct result of the Department of Community Affairs reviewing our budget um over the last 35 days. So this is the review that DLGS does. Correct. They're not going to come back afterwards and make sure all the
numbers are correct after this. No. Oh, that's a shame. Okay. Excuse me. Excuse me. No, that that's Stop. Excuse me. Okay. There's a mistake here. Excuse me. There's a mistake here. There was a mistake already. The DCA has asked us to
correct it, which this governing body is about to do. Um, and I applaud them for doing that. And then the budget will be adopted. No, there's a mistake on this amendment. How? So, okay. The item um total general appropriations H2 says
four 4.686 million and you're moving it to $4.7 million. No, it should be 4.697636.80. Okay, I'll take a look at that. Thank you. Okay. Um otherwise, it would add up to a
14317 difference. Thank you. Okay, not to mention the fact that your category of total operation, you have two categories of total operations excluded from the cap. The first one should be total other operations excluded from the
cap. That's on sheet 28. And then the total total operations excluded from the cap, which also includes shared services and grants. That's on sheet 25. Otherwise, people might think it's the same line since it's not identified differently.
So just trying to be helpful. Any other comments from the floor? Seeing none, roll call. Well, before we do that, do we need to amend the number? Because I just used a calculator because I could not do that math in my head and it looks like the H and I can show you. It looks like I
don't need you to show me the budget 317 versus the 1137. The budget document the adopted budget document will reflect the correct amendment. DCA has approved that amendment. So I just meant for for Miss Break to be able because you sign off. If there's a mathematical error for a
few dollars, I'll send her the adjustment in the morning. A corrected copy. Yeah. Just wanted to note that. Yeah, we're good. We'll make the adjustment. Yep. As noted. So, roll call.
Committee inverting. Yes. Committee woman hand with the change. Yes. Committ Pani. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor Trelli. Yes. So, may I have a motion and a second
to adopt the 2025 amendment? Wait, are we not opening this up? It's the amendment. It's the amendment. No, the adopt the budget approval resolution to amend it. And now we have to adopt the budget as amended. Adopt the budget
as amended. Yes. Correct. So, so moved. Second. This is to adopt the 2025 municipal budget as amended. Correct. Just roll as we discussed. Correct. Yeah. Roll call. Committee in voting. Yes. All the reasons the mayor
stated. So I'm sorry. I had questions on number four. We're not on a cons. Oh, on the resolution adopting the budget as amended. We're not. We just accepted the amendment and now we are on to number four which is accept is the resolution
authorizing the adoption of the actual budget with the amendment attached. Yes. I have a question. Okay. Right. Ready? Yeah. Two questions. All right. You said you had a question. Um yeah. All right. So two two for the price of one. Two-parter. Thank you, Mr.
Monzo. So this could be to the mayor or Mr. Monzo. So, the first one is for um Somerville Business Park. Are the are the county and the schools um participating on a proportional basis
for those? I think we were taking 600,000 versus the 800,000 in years past. I'm not quite sure what your question is about the county and the schools. Yeah. So, I'm asking if they're um participating like as far as um that payment that we're taking in for the
Somerville business park. Are they participating on a proportional basis? Do they get some of that money? No, that's municipal funds. That's a m that's a municipal revenue. But are they're getting they're are they getting taxed from that property? Just I don't know. I don't know. Uh so I I can answer
that. So that that that deal was made it's like a 30-year deal. It's been here way before any of us. And um the voluntary payment is what they call it, which is the fire department gets some of the voluntary payment as well. Um it's by occupancy. So as some of us know
here, there was a fire, half of it burned down. They would only now pay on half of that. So per the contract, it's $200,000 to the township um guaranteed uh as a voluntary payment. That's a it was a 30-year contract. So to answer
your question, um, no the county the county nor does the school get any of that. It's on is the property assessed? It's not exempt. Correct. I'm not sure because the contracts like this on federal property. It's on
federal property. No, Anony's correct uh and and you are correct that uh the county doesn't share that and the school doesn't share that. It's a pay payment to the township by way of an agreement like Anthony indicated. Okay. In the 30-year deal, do
we know just like where we're at in the 30-year just for reference or no? Uh there's probably another I I want I'm just guessing because there's a gazillion contracts maybe like 10 10 more years and then it just automatically um renews. But we have a very good relationship with this
honorable business park and we have Mr. Greenstein delivers his check on a quarterly basis or calls me. So, uh, we have meetings there all the time. So, thank you. Pretty confident. All right. Second question was the, um, annual
Amwell Commons pilot. Are the is is the county and are the schools participating on a proportional basis for that? The schools get none of that money. That's what a pilot's for. Uh, the counties get their 5% by state statute for both
pilots that we have. Okay. Okay. That's a that's a statute. Every town in the state of New Jersey that has a pilot is required to pay the county 5% of their So the amount of money you see in the budget is revenue. That's the 95% of what the township expects to
collect. The 5. It's a paper entries. We only we only uh anticipate the 95%. Okay. Thank you. Break. Want to continue the roll call, please? Committeeman Britting. He already voted yes. So double yes. Yes. Yes. Committee woman
hand. No. After careful consideration and analysis of the municipal budget as introduced on April 22nd, I am voting no on this adoption. While I support the police and our essential township services such as DPW, I cannot in good
conscious and with my commitment to the residents of Hillsbor to be fiscally responsible support a budget that will take an additional $2.8 8 million out of taxpayer pockets. This is an additional 10.6% increase on top of last year's
increase. We are currently in an unstable economic environment caused by uncertainty at the federal level with a possible recession looming. As a result, Hillsboro Township has an obligation to do everything within its power to reduce the tax burden on our residents. This
budget does not do that. We have a spending issue. We have a debt issue and we are on a fiscal slippery slope. The budget development process would benefit from more direct citizen input. The more input taxpayers have,
the more likely they will understand how decisions affect their pocketbook. It is time for this township committee to be a leader in fiscal responsibility and to demonstrate sensitivity to our taxpayers needs. Committee in the Ponti.
I didn't prepare a statement there, but I'll just say this. Um, there are some people who sit there and cast judgment without deeping going deep into the weeds. And then there's some that that know where the township is and what's best for the township. Um,
the roads need to be done otherwise we'll be further behind. The DPW building needs replaced. The building here needs to be fixed. Um, and the people that uh live here now as well as the people who live here 25 years from
now and take part of these improvements should pay the burden, not everyone who lives here right now. And that's what bonding does. It defers the payments to all the residents who will use it over the next 30 years. So though it sounds nice to
say that we're going in debt, we are the lowest debt ratio of anybody in the county at like.35%. We have a nine billion dollar ratable coming into this town which is one of the highest and Mr. Monzo went into that last year. Um our we have a
double A bond rating. So all what does that mean? That means the professionals who know who run the numbers say Hillsborough you're running it the right way. So I can take the political rhetoric out of it and just tell you that
um there is work that needs to be done in around and we are doing that without taking a large tax burden on the public and that you will feel the benefits for the next 30 years if you choose to live here that long if I'm still here. But um
so I'm happy with the budget that was presented at a 1 cent increase less than Yeah. Well, I was rounding up 710. Thank you, Joe. Um which gives I think it was like a $50 a year increase
$50. Uh so we're I I gave you your time, so that's enough. Uh whereas some other places including the county have about a $300 increase. And then our not to cast
shadow, the people down the hall from us just passed a $21 million increase which is going to increase your taxes $350 to $400 over the year. So who's run the ship right? In my opinion, I think it's the group that's right here. Uh and I'm
proudly to say that I approved this budget. Deputy Mayor Payne. So, I just want to say also uh Mrs. Hos, I really truly wish that you were still on the board of ed with the math that you can do in your head and they
certainly they certainly need you. Just keep going. And thank you. Um, and excuse me. I said I wish you were still.
So that said, I think um, Mr. Monzo, we started with Okay. So, Mr. month. We started with a negative number to work on this budget that then
through8 cents point sorry 7 cents brought us to a slightly positive budget and I thank you for your effort Christian I thank you for your input to this process as well. I know it was like secondary but also important.
Um the time that we took to go through this detail by detail is important and I thoroughly appreciate this body's time on that and thank you. Yes, I approve the budget. Mayor Tickley.
Yes. and with some comment that as Deputy Mayor Payne indicated, we came in with some headwinds uh on the revenue side. Um we think that that's going to turn around, which is how we replenish our our with some of the construction that's going to be starting. Um we
overcame those those headwinds. Um, we've uh, you know, we we've leveraged the financial stability and power of the town to set up our staff to provide
infrastructure for our residents. We're we're in a different time now. Not criticizing the past, but I'm saying we've got a changed environment and what we need to do. And um you know, we're giving our township police, our township
staff, our township DPW and engineering the tools they need to deliver uh um projects, capital projects and uh maintenance for the town. So I've already said yes, I I agree with uh this
budget and looking forward to managing Mr. Ferrara managing the staff to uh stay in within budget as we always do and um thank the finance committee, thank the staff, thank uh Mr. Monzo for his help and hopefully
setting the path for Christian to move in. So, um I don't know if if uh I defer to Mr. Monzo if you have any final comments and thoughts. Um, no. I just I always like to tell the committee and anybody who's listening what the next process is just so everybody understands
how it works. So, when the budget's adopted tonight, it'll be sent down to local government services over the next day or two electronically into their um budget document platform. Um, the state
will then certify uh the tax levy. They will notify the county tax administrator of what Hillsboro's uh tax levy is for uh local purposes and for open space per purposes. Um they will take those two levies along with their own levy for
2025 and the school levy and they will strike the total municipal tax rate and then they will present that information to the township tax collector and the assessor and the collector will print the tax bills um for the remaining two quarters of
2025. That's the technical process. Okay, that's it. That's it. Thank you, mayor. if you something totally separate which has nothing to do with anything. I just want to thank Joe for being here because it's his anniversary and I want to wish him and his wife Kathy a happy
anniversary. If he doesn't get out of here, we won't be able to wish him more anniversaries. Actually, it is. If it was my 20th, I'd be in in Europe somewhere, but luckily it's only my 19th, so I All right, I'm here. Thank
you, Joe. Thank you. All right, on with the work. Uh, consent agenda. We have items 1 through 11 on the consent agenda. Um, am I missing a page
here? Um, so for items 1 through 11, we're going to hear all comments from the days and from the floor first on all the items. And after that, if any committee members would like to take an item from the consent agenda separately for voting
purposes, I'll give you an opportunity to do so. There's no need to make to take separate items separately for the purposes of commenting or questioning. So, any comments from the deis on the entirey of the consent agenda?
I have a question on number five and this would be to you mayor or possibly to attorney Willard. Um this is regarding theou between um Hillsboro and Rarenboro. And again this
just again not I have no issue with the exchange with the street sweeper etc. My question is really around liability. Again, when I looked at theou, it looked like um we would be providing manpower to the other township in exchange for
the street sweeper up to the tune of $25,000. And again, I just I am concerned about the liability and and anything with our um DPW staff in another town doing work for them. And if
um either of you could address it. Uh Anthony, they've done these I know they've have they've had these in the past. What's the goal? Yeah, we we've had success with Ron Township in the past. Uh Bratton Burough, sorry. Uh with a garbage truck that we utilize with our
senior program and in kind services when we helped them out and we did uh some of their uh trees. So, same thing here. They're giving us a sweeper which will help us tremendously and in kind services could be uh what we're thinking is like a brine brining some of their
roads and and we have a good relationship with them and we feel comfortable. Uh but to answer uh committee woman uh Han's comment. Yeah. Would there potentially be some liability? There could just like when we do shared services, right? We my CFO is going to
drive over to uh somewhere and could he get in an accident? No, we god forbid he would. when you do shared services or you do things like this, there's there's always something that could happen. Um, so yeah, the answer is I guess yes. So we're willing to take that chance like
we do in every other town for shared services. That's why we have insurance. And Mr. Willard, did you have anything to add to that or? Um, no, nothing. This came from the DPW. It didn't seem like a a big deal. it was they're getting a 20 uh street sweeper which the DPW uh
director um indicates he believes it's about $25,000 value and in return he would provide in kind services whether they if Raron needed specialized equipment that we had we'd lend it to them um and also if we have we have certain uh we obviously have a bigger
department than than Ry Burrow so we have people with some kind of technical expertise if they needed any technical expertise in something um we we would provide that in return as an inind service. He would keep track of that and and they they would work it out between the two people from the DPW. But in
return, he indicates that we need this street sweeper because it also has a vacuum which we're able to uh vacuum, I guess, storm drains and so forth. So, he found it a valuable piece of equipment. It was around liability. I understood the Sure. As far as liability, each part there is a provision in the agreement
that says each part is responsible for their own their own employees and their own employees negligence. Correct. Correct. All right. We're responsible for our own employees and our own employees negligence. Understood. Even when they're they're somewhere else. Okay. My other question
um was on 10. And again, the way I read this and there was lots and lots of backup. So, I'm going to look at at Mayor Cherelli as well as um Attorney Willard for this. So it looks as if um
the you know in this amendment or in this resolution we would be returning the half million in escrow to the group who you know says that they have um you know cleaned the property. There was
some question in the Penoni report around um you know some of the debris couldn't actually be determined if it was still contaminated. So the whole point for me was why would be we be returning what's the rush to return this half million dollars to this group when
there's really no independent um authorization? It may not even be audited for the next three years and the the the debris pile is in question whether it's contaminated and the Hillsro township we're going to own a
piece of land that's contaminated and the developer will have taken their money and left. So why would we give that money back right now? Um I think the I think then it's just misunderstanding what you're reading. No, in in fact um they hired a license uh LSRP to clean the property. that
licensed LR SRP has certified that the property is clean. So that uh licensed LRP did submit what was required under the statute the re remedial action outcome for the entire site. Uh that was was requested in our agreement and by
our professionals. Um I asked our professionals to review it after that. I wanted them to review everything that was submitted. They did review everything. um and they put together a report and quite frankly I could just tell you in the usual course kind of once you get the rao in a commercial
transaction that's it transaction's over here's your money the transaction's over that's what usually happens in the usual course they reviewed this they pointed out a couple minor things uh but they indicated I spoke to Chris personally he said listen these are nothing items but
all I all I would do is put put together an agreement that basically says um to cover cover our asses that uh to so to speak that we enter an agreement with them that says if anything comes up in the audit period that they'll take care of it. Quite
frankly, between me and you um I don't know if I'm entitled to that, but they agreed to provide it, so I'm taking it. Well, I guess my point is NJ has a three-year audit period. Lots of lots of cuts right now.
Not I don't have faith that NJ would be able to come and audit that property. Hillsboro Township um is in a position it's over. Well, I guess my point being, you know, you use the example they hired an LSRP. Look, I tell my kids to clean their room. They tell me they cleaned
it. I don't know. Trust but verify. I like to go up and check that room. You know, I think that we should out of that money have an independent group. not the LSRP who cleaned it up but have an independent group because Penoni in their report still says there's question
an LSRP is the is the contractor in he's independent he has a license and is his license that's that he puts up that the D will accept that his RAO just like any other contaminated site that we deal with in the town that we're dealing with in the county the LSRP is a licensed
site remedial if he gives the approval he is essentially on working on behalf of the and given the power by the NJ D to act on their behalf and then they do have the right as you said possibly to audit three years from now. Whe whether they will or not, that's up to them.
Probably not. Uh on a on a site this small and the remedial action on this was very very menial. There wasn't a lot of contamination here. It was just some debris that was on the property that uh they cleaned up. So, but to answer your question, the LSRP is the law in the
state of New Jersey. whether you like it or not, they they've been given the power in their license to to issue this RAO and I'm I'm sure the mayor in his in his position has seen this before also. Um so on the flip side, we've been waiting for an LSRP to give us an RAO
for other properties that uh has been seven or eight years now we've been waiting for that LSRP to finish the the remediation. So um it all depends on the site. The site was relatively nominal. There wasn't a lot there. the other site that we were going to buy also that one
hasn't been given an RAO yet that's still being cleaned up to standard. So that's essentially what uh we have been given and therefore you know to Bill's recommendation we can we can finish closing on the property and committee lean I want to follow up with that pen
is not saying not to return it they are saying you should return it they're just suggesting get this agreement that's what I'm doing right that that's what I'm doing they're not suggesting and they've reviewed all the documents and they have no problem with it they indicated there's there's no issue they're just indicating that per
regulation the D has the right over a three-year period to do an audit and if they find something deficient to take action. So all they're saying is given that regulation, you should get an agreement
with them to make sure that they remain responsible under the regulations for the property and the seller I mean the seller has willing to do it. So that's all the agreement says, but they have done what they were contractually obligated to do and that is provide an
REO for the entire site and they did it. Okay. Any other from the DES? Not how about comments from the floor on consent agenda items 1 through 11.
David Brookke. It is item 10 also. And I'm concerned about consent agenda item number 10. I'm going to ask you to reconsider the passage of this resolution since its conditions will not adequately protect the interest of us,
the taxpayers. Why, you say? Well, as was indicated before, there was a licensed LSRP paid for by the owner of the property. They identified contamination at 1170. It's not clear what level uh of
remediation occurred. Um, and whether any of this contamination has contaminated groundwater or has the potential to contaminate groundwater. The concern about the LSRP, it's the fox watching the chicken coupe. They're being paid for by the
owner. And we've seen this on other properties, including one of the warehouse properties on Homestead Road. The LSRP does the minimum necessary to get by and the likelihood of an audit by
DP is 10%. 10% one in 10 chances that D will actually audit it. Um, you may recall that I spoke with all of you or most of you on November 28th, 2023. I spoke with you about ordinance
202315 and I spoke with you about mistakes in the acquisition of this particular property. Mistake number one, you approved acquisition of this property purchased by Redcom in 2021 for 1.05
05 well 1,ion50,000 and we paid 5,300,000 more than five times the purchase price in two years of ownership. That purchase violated our
own ordinance 773 which specifically says that you cannot acquire property beyond the fair market value. our town assessor appraised the property at 958,000 back
then. So that was one of the concerns. Mistake number two, you only had one appraiser come and look at this property, not even an independent one. And DP, Green Acres requires two to look at it. This appraiser did not conduct
any environmental assessment. That's also required by Green Acres. a reopening of the ordinance hearing that occurred last year. Can you just ask a question on what the consent agenda these issues and no one in New Jersey purchases property especially with open space monies without
conducting at least one or some environmental due diligence as Mr. Willard was aware at the time. Okay. And indicated that that wasn't a problem. Okay. Okay, so contamination has now been found and my concern about releasing this
500,000 is that it's plain simply wrong. One thing we know about environmental contamination is that it's predictably unpredictable and that we often find things later on. Um, yes, there is an
RAO. Um, but if any of you are relying upon the D audit to determine compliance with the proper conclusions as to this response action outcome, um, we're likely never going to see that, especially considering they're only
obligated to audit 10% of each of these reports in a year, right? So, we have a one in 10 chance that they'll actually audit this report. I'm not a betting person, but I wouldn't be betting on that likelihood. Look, to
me, the better alternative than releasing this money is to require RedCcom to pay for an independent audit, right? That way, and the township chooses the auditor. That way, at least we can have some higher level of assurance that we're getting this
property without any further environmental liabilities. Why? because you are all concerned about making sure that we protect our rights, right? Protecting the township's rights by not releasing this escrow. Otherwise, we the
township taxpayers may find ourselves paying to litigate further cleanup or liability should we find additional contamination. And by the way, one of the contaminants that at least I saw was mercury. I don't consider that a benign
substance. So once we own the property, we're going to be liable for any environmental responsibilities that come up. And to me, that would be mistake number three because I believe that we really need to
make sure that we are protecting ourselves, protecting the residents from any further possibilities there. And that's the concern about the LSRP. I know it's the law, but it's um honestly not a good law. One last comment if I
may. Mayor Chikarelli, I believe you have a conflict of interest in this matter. Um and I think as to this matter, I would ask that you recuse yourself for item number 10 simply because I believe there
is a relationship between yourself and RedCom in some format. Thank you. Um just just as a matter of response because for those who might be listening I just want to make sure they don't get the wrong impression based upon what was just stated. Uh so number one we did do
an appraisal of this property when we purchased it. We entered into it based upon appraised values. Uh number two with respect to the contract as in any contract you have a contract of sale and in that contract of sale there's a due diligence period to do an investigation. During that investigation, there was
some indication that there might have been past, you know, there was some debris piles on the property. So, based upon that, we asked them to take care of it. We had a meeting with them and they agreed. They had a LSRP. They hired an LSIP. The LSRP did in fact take take care of it. They remediated the
property. They did everything. They provided they reported the reports. They submitted everything to the DB and they did what they were contractually obligated to do and that is to provide a remedial action outcome for the entire property. They originally wanted to do it just for the debris fields. We
requested it for the entire property and they agreed to do it and they did it at their own cost and expense. So they did that. Now, as far as uh the the the representations that somebody's being hired and they're falsifying documents and not doing it to to
standard, we had Penonia review it. So, we did have somebody order it. It wasn't just their LSRP who did this. Their LSRP did the work. Then our LSRP from Penoni reviewed it all. And after reviewing it
all, they indicated that they don't believe there's There's a problem here. They indicated just that there's a regulation. The regulation allows an audit by the D up up up to three years. Uh I think the last comment from the commentator, Mr. Brookke, was indicating
that well, what's the odds that the that they would even audit it? Well, that's the whole point. We don't think they will audit it. Therefore, there's nothing else to do. But if they did audit it and if they did find something, this agreement would say, "Oh, you guys
got to go back and correct it." But we agree. I don't we don't think the the DP is going to do anything because the LSRP has already issued an REO for the entire property. This wasn't like a highly contaminated site. So again, uh I would
say it's just the opposite. He talked about attorney's fees and and litigation. If we don't approve this, there'll be attorneys fees. There'll be litigation. There'll be interest because we'll be in violation of a contract for not returning their money.
That's all. Any other comments from the floor? Judy Hos, just a really short question. um November 28th, 2023 from your minutes. Mr. Will, first of all, five
people came to the microphone to allege that there was contamination on these properties that you were buying. Mr. Willard is not aware of any environmental issues, which is fair. It's not your job. And further, during the contract phase, an analysis will be
done and the township will not buy contaminated land, quote unquote. Watch the videotape if you don't believe the minutes. Okay. Okay. Did you close on this property on
September 12th, 2024? Property was conveyed by seller to buyer. Correct. Why was it closed on when you knew about contamination on the property? And how does an escrow help when you're talking about mercury? Okay. Because we have LSRPs.
I don't pretend to know environment. Maybe I don't either. Okay. So, we don't. So, I just So, we're on equal footing. So, when I contacted did my LSRP and I said, "What's the worst case scenario?" He said, "It couldn't cost
more than $100,000 to clean this property. It couldn't cost more than $100,000." They, because they wanted to close, were willing to put an escro of 500,000. Why did they want to close? They wanted to close because they wanted to take the proceeds of sale and use it
to clean the property. He wanted to have that money to clean the property. So that's what occurred. So exactly what you said in those statements is exactly what happened. This is so common in a transaction, it's not even funny. You
go, you enter a contract, you perform your due diligence, and then the seller has an opportunity to remediate. That's what occurred here. We entered into a contract. We went through our due diligence. We asked the seller to
address some environmental issues and they did it. I don't know what the issue is. Why are you giving the escrow back? What's that? Why you're giving the escrow back? Because it's their money, right? And it's their money. What do you mean?
Their money is set there to ensure that the environmental remediation is done properly and and it's been done and RS RSRP has verified it's been done. He's not saying it has been done. All he's saying is the NJD per regulation has the right to
audit it for up to three years. And if they do find something, you might want to have an agreement with them that they'll come back and address it. And if it happens after three years, we get sucked. If they won't do it after three years, that's the whole point. The whole point is you guys are you guys are
turning it around. The whole point is nobody thinks the the D is going to do anything. You know why? Because there's no issues with the property. That's the whole point. There's no issues with the property. There's I know you want to create an issue. I know it's political season. You want It's Mercury. Okay.
It's not garbage. It's Mercury. All right. that doesn't respect we'll respectfully disagree with one another. All I will tell everybody on the deis and anybody else that's listening there was nothing uncommon about this purchase. Um it is the same as any other
purchase. However, talking to my partner at the law firm commercial transaction usually the RAO would have been it and they would just release all the funds and there wouldn't be a further agreement. The only reason we took this extra step was because
Penoni put it in the report that says it could be open in three years and you might want to get an agreement. There you go. I said good for Penoni and we're doing what they're recommending. And Mr. Ferrara, you're a star of this. Any other minutes as well?
You said that there is no cleanup required on the properties. They are clean. Thank you. Any other comments from the floor? Seeing none, I have a roll call, please. Oh, hold on. Hold on. Um,
I think make a motion to take 10 separately. I make a motion to take 10 separately. Can I have a second? Second. Second. Do we need a roll call on that or just uh No. All right. So, would any uh anyone else like to take any other
items separately? If you ask, make a motion. All right. May I have a motion and a second to approve consent agenda items 1 through 11 excluding number 10? So moved. Second.
Roll call. And that's on 1 through 10. 1. Okay. Committeeman Britting. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committee Leanne, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, yes. Mayor Chigarelli,
yes. May I have a motion and a second to approve item number 10? So moved. Second. Roll call. Committee Britting. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. No. Shocking. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor
Payne. Yes. Mayor Chigarelli. Abstain. Uh, no public hearings tonight. We'll go to the claims list. Pardon? Nothing. May I have a motion and a second to approve the claims list 202510? All right, we're accelerating here. Comments from the desk on the
claims list. Any comments from the floor? All right, seeing none. Roll call, please. Committee man Bringing. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committee man. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor Tickelli. Yes. All right. No new
business. Public comments for matters not on the agenda. Miss Break, please read the statement regarding public comment. The township committee welcomes input from the public. Please state your name and address and spell your name for the record. You will be given one three-minute aotment for your comments. Please understand that this public forum
is not structured as a question and answer session. Comments are to be addressed to the mayor. Again, please keep your comments to three minutes. Thank you. You've waited patiently all night for this. Hello, my name is Lily Campbell and I'm a senior at Hillsboro High School. In
the fall, I will be attending Syracuse University as a political science major on a pre-law track. Throughout the last four years, I have assisted the high school community in a multitude of ways, including being president of the National Art Honor Society, creative director of Spanish Honor Society, and a peer mentor. These experiences have
prepared me to be a better leader inside and outside of Hillsboro, New Jersey, as they have forced me to think outside of the box, work outside my comfort zone, and speak up for issues I believe in. Vote 16NJ would strengthen my voice. We push a society in which everyone has a say in what directly affects them. Once
an American citizen turns 18, the age where people move out of their childhood homes, begin contributing to their community, and seek out a higher education, they acquire the ability to vote for what they believe in and for what makes their adult life more convenient. A school board vote is different. The decisions made on a
school vote on a school board vote do not directly impact the majority of the voters. They impact the students and the educators. Vote 16J changes this, giving 16 and 17 year olds the ability to vote for what they believe in and for what makes their scholastic life more
convenient. As a member of different boards in my school, I have seen the complications that have come from poor funding and organization firsthand. We don't have the luxury of adjusting our numbers to these township changes. Instead, we end up illquipped, something that becomes a student board problem very quickly. If every student
president, VP, and secretary had the ability to directly vote for who they believed would benefit their programs, these equipped societies would be less of a problem. The voters would be the people who actually see the impacts of these votes. Now that I'm 18, I'm able to use
my voice to better my community. But what about the students in the same positions as me, who were born just a couple months later? We all have the same preparedness, same experiences, same training, and same expertise. Why should I get to have a say while they are all deprived of this right? Vote 16NJ properly represents the student
body, the young leaders, and the Hillsboro community as a whole. Thank you for your time and commitment to the betterment of Hillsboro Township Public Schools and our board of education. I urge you to consider this ordinance and the impacts it will have on our district. Thank you. May I May I also
say that's that's Lily Campbell, too. Her uh she is a fantastic artist. She was one of the three pictures hanging in the mayor's office last year. So, she's got a good future ahead of her. So, hey everyone. My name is Aditi. I am currently a sophomore at Hillsboro High
School. I just want to begin this by saying that from an early age, I've always believed in the importance of having my voice heard, whether in the classroom, at home, or anywhere else. In fourth grade, I had my real first taste of advocacy. A 200 signature petition to
get Diwali uh fully recognized by the school board. For me, Diwali wasn't just a day off. It was one of the few tangible connections I had for my to my cultural heritage. As nine-year-olds, we didn't spark immediate policy change.
But that moment ignited a fire in me. That was in 2019. In 2023, Diwali officially became a recognized holiday in our district. The reason for the de for the delay except for co the lack of student advocacy. As the president of the HHS
debate club, I've come to understand just how essential youth voices are in shaping policy and progress. This truth became especially clear during my recent trip to Washington DC where I had the opportunity to explore the law more deeply and actually got to roleplay in
our conferences. I was struck not just by the formality of these institutions or the magnitude of the decisions being made, but by the president, but by the presence of students just like myself who were remarkably informed, confident, and ready to engage. These weren't just
kids on a field trip. They were young leaders armed with facts, armed with policy briefs and personal stories. They challenged perspectives, asked sharp questions, and held their own about controversial topics. Watching them advocate whether on climate change,
civil rights, or education reform made it undeniably clear students aren't the leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of right now. And what better way to lead than in our own school systems. We're not just impacting our community. We're also paving the way for
younger students like I was to have a voice to speak up and ask questions and be the change makers we are meant to be. The vote 16 NJ ordinance does just that. And while I'm not 16 yet, I've seen my friends take on jobs, drive themselves,
and have leadership positions. So why should a number be the only determining factor about the impact they can make on their community? It just doesn't make sense. I'd like to thank Sanja, vote 16J, and our very own mayor for standing up to have student voices heard. And as
you said, even though there might be small votes, every vote counts. Thank you. And I urge you all to pass this ordinance. Thank you. Hello, I am Nerv Banuji and I am currently a junior attending Hillsboro High School. I would like to start off by thanking you for your dedication to
make Hillsboro a better place and for giving us the opportunity to speak today. I stand in strong support of the vote 16 NJ movement and the ordinance where Sanja Nabada is trying to get past. Since I entered high school at the age of 14, I've been an active member and leader of the model congress team,
which currently is composed of over a 100 students. Now I am 17 and I've engaged in debates upon topics from recreational marijuana to affordable housing to education reform. And I have gone on government simulation conferences everywhere from Washington DC to Boston. And along the way, I along
with countless other students have gained immense knowledge on politics, critical thinking, and decision-making. I want to specifically highlight my time at the nation's capital and the eye-opening experience it was for me. Seeing the National Mall, various museums, and the inner workings of our federal government showed me the
foundation of America, democracy, and the ideal of having the most amount of people represented fairly in our democracy. I think this movement and ordinance masterfully brings together both of these ideals. It lowers the voting age to get more people
represented in American democracy and allows passionate students to engage in democracy after attaining significant knowledge. Admittedly, there are two large arguments that I see against this. The first being that 16 and 17 year olds may not carefully vote. However, I
believe that anyone who takes the the proper steps to register to vote and actually vote in these elections will be more than capable of making critical decisions. And the second argument is that 16 and 17 year olds do not live in the same conditions as adults. But I think that they're still impacted that
the deci of the decisions of elected officials and should have a voice in who is elected. Alongside myself, there are countless 16 and 17year-old students who are engaged in politics and want their voices to be heard in our democracy. So, I ask that you please hear these voices
and work to lower our voting age to 16. Thank you for your time. Thank [Applause] you. Good evening. Uh, I'm Daniel Shapiro. I'm a sophomore at Hillsboro High School and I am 16 years old. I'm
I've also been a two-year officer at uh Hillsboro High School's Model Congress and Model UN Club. In my opinion, it's vital that our township and our district allow 16-year-olds to vote in the school board elections. 16 year olds can drive. They can have jobs. They can pay certain
taxes and do other things which all contribute to our society. They're responsible for a future and and they have higher civic knowledge than most most people over the age of 18. In the 2020 election alone, over 50% of young
eligible voters chose to cast their ballots. It's about time we let 16-year-olds have a say in school board elections at the bare minimum. I've also been to conferences in Washington DC and at Ruckers, and I've seen countless of 16-year-olds, even younger people, have
so much knowledge about the government and its workings, and I feel that we should have a say in our government. Yes, most adults have completed high school, but times have changed. Not only have we grown alongside uh evolving technologies, but but what we learn and
how we learn has also changed over time alongside the shifting political atmosphere. Uh we 16-year-olds know what life can be like uh in with extracurriculars, balancing our social life with honors classes. I mean, for
for example, despite our high school's alleged no homework policy, I spent countless nights past 12 a.m. working on assignments or projects, and I've barely gotten enough sleep because school starts at 6:00 a.m., and I need at least 8 hours of sleep at my age. The school
board makes deci decisions that influence these policies. And if we're allowed to cast our ballots for the school boards, no matter how many people vote, it's important that we have a say in what our high school does, what the school board does, and who's on it. Thank you for your time, and thank you
to Sanja Nada for inviting me to be here. Thank you. Hello. My name is Addison Harkin. I'm a senior at Hillsboro High School. I am the president of the French honor society and have been the captain captain of the varsity field hockey team and I intern here at the department of
social services. I'm attending Nor Eastern University in the fall where I plan to pursue a double major in English and political science on a pre-law track. I hope to use my experiences in Hillsboro High School to further educate myself and others throughout the next four years of my life. Vote 16J is an
incredible opportunity for students within our community to voice their opinions and fulfill their civic duties. As citizens, we have a responsibility to participate in our government and petition for what we believe in. Voting has the a possibility of empowering young people around our nation. And the
most empowering moment of my life was my first time voting. In this building on November 5th, 2024, I walked into this building with a smile, with a sense of joy and hope. While the experience was quick and I really only just hit a couple of buttons, I left with a true sense of passion and pride for this
country and for myself as a citizen. And I hope that everyone gets the opportunity to share that same feeling that I felt as I left the voting booth. At HHS, students are told to stand up for what they believe in and voice their opinions when given the opportunity. In AP government and politics, which I took
last year, we were taught basic civic responsibilities we have as citizens. But Mr. Fster also taught us how to become true citizens by expressing our beliefs and fighting for change. But as students, we do not we don't have the opportunity to to vote on our behalf and within our district in the school. The
opportunity students have is not given to us. Even though we are the ones that are being uh have to deal with the policies that are implemented on our behalf, we can provide the perspective of students through these voting procedures and the abilities that vote 16J is providing for us. And it would be
an incredible opportunity for all of us to be able to be be in the voting booth and have that power that we can get an opportunity for school boards to represent who we are as students and not just the larger population besides us. And when students are provided with the opportunity to vote in school board
elections, we are giving them a chance to properly represent themselves and engage with their civic duties. Not only will students be able to have a say, but it will encourage civic discourse within all communications of life, which will elevate their communications later on in future elections that they will be able to participate in once they turn the age
of 18. Um, this ordinance will allow students to vote directly on those that influence their education and students will be properly represented and given the opportunity to be active members of our local community. I'd like to say thank you so much for your time tonight and I want to thank Sanja Natada for inviting us all tonight to speak with her and I hope you all consider the
possibilities vote 16J to offer has to offer. Our constitutional democracy demands our participation in all federal, state and local elections and we have the opportunity here today to extend our rights to young voters in local schoolboard elections so that they have a say in the policies that affect them the most as well. Thank you. Thank
you. Hello. Um, my name is Dia Wagner and I'm a senior at Hillsboro High School as well. Um, next year I'll be attending the University of Michigan and majoring in biology on a premed track. Um, I'm also currently serving as the president of our Jewish student union at HHS and
also the Habitat for Humanity Club. Um, I believe that vote 16J is an amazing organization that gives teen an o that gives teens an opportunity to express their opinions and their political interests. As someone who recently turned 18, I grew excited at
the chance to participate in our civic responsibility through voting. However, I believe that students younger than 18, ages 16 and 17, should also have the opportunity to express their beliefs and fight for their values for our country. Students are underrepresented in both the school board board elections and
other local elections. In November of 2024, I was not yet able to vote and express my opinions for our country and our school. As the individuals most greatly affected by schoolboard decisions, I believe we should have the right to voice our own opinions through voting. As a leader of the Jewish
student union in our school, I believe it is our right to say what um it is our right to have a say of what majorly impacts our school. As a leader in our school, I think it's very important to voice our opinions for progress and change. This ordinance would allow
students to have that power over their own community and school daily life. Thank you for listening and thank you to Sanja Nabata for inviting inviting us all to speak here. And I hope you will all consider how vote 16J would positively impact our students, future leaders, and young community members.
Thank you. Thank you. Send them home. Hi committee. My name is Duncan Campbell. I live at 64 Chamberlain Drive. Thank you for your time tonight. You've got enough Campbell. So my niece, that's my daughter. Um, you know, I'm not going to
give you my statistics. Um, I'm happy we're smiling now, but I want to talk to you guys about a very serious matter. in Hillsboro. Most of my community is here with me tonight. Um, I'll give you some of my history. I'm a son of Hillsboro. I was born here 47 years ago. Graduated
Hillsboro High School, married my childhood sweetheart who also went to Hillsboro High School. Went to law school, traveled the world, worked in different countries and cities, and came back here to raise my family. My kids are the fourth generation to live in Hillsboro in my family. We love it here.
It truly is one of the greatest places to live in America. But our great place to live in America is being attacked and encroached upon in Western Hillsboro. Unfortunately, last December, Hidden Hills Horse Farm was sold to Los
Amigos's Ranch, which I understand is three distinct separate companies. That land is zoned rural suburban. And according to Hillsboro legislature chapter uh Hillsboro general legislation part two chapter 188 article
5 section 188-98. There are specific uses that are allowed for that land. That land is preserved farmland that is zoned to be a horse farm and only a horse farm and
related activities to a horse farm. I did not know that horse farms had 5- foot by 5 foot speakers that they would put in their backyard. This horse farm constantly violates noise statutes to say nothing
of the daily zoning law violations that go on. They put these violations on social media, on Instagram, on Facebook. It's not a violation, too. But groups of people sitting around pouring bottles of
alcohol down each other's throat to pass for a good time at 1:00 in the morning, 20 feet away from where my children sleep is not one of the best places to live. It's not the good life that we advertise. It is to me it's being taken
away from me and my neighbors on a daily basis. I got home from a concert at 12:30 at night on Sunday and I could hear the bass coming from their house. These people are not interested in running a horse farm. Go on their
social media. They want to be an event venue. They want to be a store. None of which are allowable uses under chapter 188. Chapter 211 also details noise code violations that they continually
violate. There are many farms in Hillsboro. We saw the farms. It's a farm community. I worked on the Evers farm in Beakman Lane in high school and college. Farming is part of our DNA here. This is a farm that has no intention of being a
farm for a primary use. at 10:30 Sunday night two weeks ago in the middle of a rodeo that they advertised in town with alcohol, hundreds of people bullfighting that they got a permit for. I get it. We called them at 10:30 at night. We
asked them to turn the music down. They were rude. They said, "This is what we do. They are not a horse farm. They have no intention of being a horse farm. They are a disco.
They have no intention of being our neighbors and we are left to continue. I don't know how we are coming to you for help recourse to come back to the good life and get our community back to the one
that we love. We have a wonderful community. There's many, you know, bigname country classics, all these great places to live in town. We know our streets the best. It's quiet. It's wonderful. It's pretty. And
oh, by the way, it's taxed incredibly high. The horse farm is not. We are paying you to live in Hillsboro. They are not. They are breaking the law. They don't want to be our neighbors and they want to drink
alcohol, you know, at 1:30 in the morning. We call them. They ask them to turn it down. They say okay. They crank their engines up on their cars as they're pulling away. Who's drinking and driving? All of them. How many people actually live
there? All questions we don't know. But it's wrong. It's not right. And it's not the Hillsboro I know. Thank you. Thank you. So, M Mr. Gamble. Uh if I was going to say, is anybody else coming up regarding
Los Amigos or did you speak for the uh development? Yeah. I'll let somebody else come up first if they want to speak about it. If somebody else would like to speak. Well, it's about just about this topic. Thank you. My name is Lorine Swasan. I
live at six fleet court. I um our house is further away than the Campbell. My windows shake. We called the police um because we weren't brave enough to call and actually ask them to turn it down after we heard the response that
the Campbell got. The police told us there's really nothing we can do. Your recourse is to come here. So that's why we are here. I sent you all an email. Thank you for responding very quickly. But this is, you know, houses in our
development um have been sold very recently and all of them are advertised as having this idelic horse farm in the neighborhood. That's I've lived here for 25 years. Many of my neighbors here have lived here for 25 years. In our house,
we've never encountered this. We've never encountered um people not wanting to be neighborly here. You know, I was on the board of ed for nine years. And you know, the the thing that I love about this town is that everywhere you
go, people are smiling at you. They want to be your friend. They want to be your neighbor. We are accepting of all people, as one of the proclamations here showed tonight. And it's not about what type of music they're playing. It's the loudness of it and the other activities
that are going on. My drive on River Road all the time. If there are if there's drinking and driving happening, that is a concern for our community. Um, but we can't My husband and I were out trying to do landscaping. I we couldn't
even hear ourselves think or talk to one another, which could be a problem with our marriage. No, just kidding. No, we we you know, we we had a hard time. You know, we we basically gave up and said, "Let the weeds grow. Let's go in. We can't do this." and we can't do it
repeatedly weekend over weekend. So, we're here for your help. Um, appreciate anything you can do. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Hi. Um, Rich Prince at 70 Chamberlain Drive. Just like you gave them a permit.
Someone gave them a permit for that. Like on May 18th, they have a flyer $50. They had a concert. They didn't have a horse rodeo. I mean, they had a rodeo, but they had a concert. They advertised a concert. I can't get a permit for an 8 by8 shed on two acres and they got a permit for, you know, for this concert.
Like the PA was worse than the music. Like there was a someone on a PA just yelling and screaming for like throughout the night. The other piece like there's probably $500,000 a year in taxes. Like bring the assessor down while they're having one of these parties to reassess my house and lower
my taxes. Thank Thank you. Hi, my name is Trevor Sers. Uh, I live on Orchard Drive. I really don't uh hear it at night. I I'm usually in bed around 7 o'clock, but uh I I read the noise ordinance. It looks like it
was very well written. It has decibb forcement officers. Uh I I don't even know. Uh it looks like the the code covers the complaints that my neighbors are are
are here about. Uh who is the enforcement officer? Uh do they have the devices to me measure the decibb and enforce the existing code that we have? Uh I was a police officer for 25 years.
I I gave people summones for uh bands playing and neighbors neighbors uh complaining. I I All you have to do is enforce the good noise ordinance that you have now. That's all I have to say.
[Applause] Okay. Anybody else from that area? So, we've um as uh Miss Soyan said, I rec when you said you're on the board of ed, I I'm like, that's where I recognize
your name from years ago. Um we've you know, the police have investigated um our health department is going up there tomorrow, I believe, with the county. Um the county are really the ones who enforce the have the equipment
to enforce this the noise ordinances. So, we're getting them involved. Um, a Oh, from the from the usage issue. So, uh, yeah, I said health. Yeah, building and health. Um, so we're investigating it
and you know, I hope I I don't know if they're going to do something this weekend or not, if they're planning on it or if it's ad hoc, if they're advertising. Um but we're on it and we'll I guess we'll communicate what
results we have and what steps are being taken. Um I know the police have reported that you know the number of times they were up there on the various days and um you know if they got up there and there was no noise then what are they going to do? So it's it's other
than issue a warning but um uh so you know hopefully these they hopefully they are encouraged and will act as good neighbors that's what we want as a as a business and that they um they operate according to the ordinances um I know
with farming operations there's little cautals and all kinds of things that that can be done but um so our zoning department you know this covers multiple departments in at the township and so we're involving them when we can and when when we want to so or when we need
to. Um so we're you know we're we are we are looking into it and hopefully we get this resolved and they act neighborly. So we appreciate you all coming out. Yep. Anybody else? David
Brookke. I listen to the students speak and their enthusiasm, their optimism, their civic commitment, their energy, their encouragement with regards to how
government and how to be an active citizen in the town. I think not for not not even forgetting the passionate side of it. So, sorry, Chief, can you take your caucus outside if you don't don't mind? Chief. Chief,
can you take the caucus outside? True. All right. Sorry, Dave. So, thanks. So, so, so look, I mean the passionate
nature of youth, right? It's amazing. And they will all be better adults if we encourage them to be part of our society. And so, I don't know anything about vote 16 ordinance, but I would ask
all of you to please take a look at it. And don't do it because I said, because if I said it, you probably won't. But I still think it's a great idea. And maybe the one thought for all of you is that if you don't pass this ordinance, when they turn 18, they're going to remember
all of you. And then maybe they'll be out voting for somebody else. Three other things. I still want a podium. I still think this township should have a podium
so that people can feel encouraged and not discouraged when they get up here. Second, your agenda. I had conversations today. The agenda comes out at 4 to 5:00. That's just plain wrong. You don't
encourage public participation. You don't encourage good government when people in the town can't see things that are going to happen, especially like the budget and the final details. It really would be helpful for you to think about
earlier dissemination. And I know it's all draft, but so what if you issued something wrong? You simply just correct it in the final and you go from there. Most governments in 48 hours.
I'm I'm not sorry. The agenda is not out 48 hours before. Oh, okay. Yeah, let him finish. There there's a draft, but then it's got nothing in it. I was just concerned about the
requirements of the law. uh uh that but okay so so but but it's an empty agenda basically and so it it's hard for all of us who want to play a part to see it and that doesn't matter whether it's what party you're in even though I am part of the
opposition as you all know the last thing that I would like to simply suggest to you is you have the opportunity to film here right I love the back of my head okay and so I'd rather do this all the time and talk to the camera. But in order to be polite to
you, I face this way. You have a camera right up there. So why not tell the guy that runs the camera when people are speaking to show their faces? It's not hard to do. You got that camera. When Mr. Willard's speaking, that camera goes
on him. Hold on. Because he's an important I have a face for radio. I don't want to be on TV. Me, too. But there are some people and I think it would be helpful to think about using that camera for when people are speaking. Thank you again for your time and everyone. Thanks again for
listening. Thank you. Attorney Willard, would there be a problem with videotaping people without their consent? No. Right. Okay. They're here. Just asking. I don't know if you wanted to say something but transparency or not.
Uh come on. I I feel bad because they asked me what the estimated length was and I I apologize. I I was I was we didn't even get through proclamations in an hour. You I apologize. Holy cow. That was I I
am glad I I I just witnessed these high school students speak tonight. So I was happy I was here to hear them because it's very impressive. Can somebody please tell They're not here anymore, but had nice type speeches. I I got this
chicken scratch here I wrote. When I retired, I threw my printer out. Anyway, I'm Salio and I have lived in Hillsboro over 30 years. I'm here tonight to urge you to prioritize the paving of Montgomery
Road, mile and a half unpaved stretch that significantly impacts the quality of life and safety to those that use and live on this road. Unpaved roads generate excessive dust, which reduces visibility and poses health risks,
especially for children, elderly, and those with respiratory issues. This section is also as hazardous during rain or snow. Emer um increasing the risk of accidents and emergency response delays.
There are so many potholes that cars drive on the opposite side to avoid them and risk an accident. I know paving involves an investment, but the town is wasting money maintaining this section.
Uh paving would avoid adding gravel and grading this this at all the time. The paved road will improve the quality of life, increase property values, and improve access for deliveries, school buses, and residents. I have used the word paving
so everyone understands, but I'm talking about um the application of uh chip sealing. So, I have already had a uh sitdown meeting with um Rich from DPW, Anthony, and
Sean. And uh the email response I got was that Hillsboro has no plans to pave this road. I took a poll. Everybody lives on Montgomery Road and the adjacent
roads. The majority want it done. I have the signatures to prove it. I could send them here if you want. But no plans unacceptable. It's got to be a plan. We all pay
taxes. Why are we being discriminated on? It feels like discrimination. 2025. We don't have a paved road street sweep. My street can't happen. Thank you for your time. And just for clarification, I'm sorry because I'm
looking at a map on McGomery Road. Just can you just give me the two points? The the part that is um unpaved that you're asking to be paved. The whole top section. I'm sorry. Just from from David's Lane to Shoren Lane. Okay, that's what I was
looking for. Thank you. All right. That's it. Um, may I have a motion and a second to adjurnn? Motion.
Second. Roll call. Committee Britting. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committ Pani. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes, Mayor Chickley. Yes. Thank you. Time is 10 45ish.